#i have many feelings about the dog parallels clearly

[johnslittlespoon]

something about bucky just wanting to be a good boy for buck drives me insane

GOD same. he could not care less about what other people think of him, but gale? he thrives off of his praise, is so eager to please, to prove he can be good, to make gale feel good.

and what gets to him even more than a simple good boy is when it's preceded by my.

"my good boy" and he's putty in gale's hands, all heart–eyes and soft edges and gazing up in reverence at the blond, ready to do anything he asks, looking at him like he's hung the moon.

he craves to be gale's in any and every sense of the word.

yes, i'm your good boy! yes, i'll do whatever you ask! yes, let me make you proud, let me make you feel good, let me draw pretty sounds out of you and show you how much i adore you. i'd wait at your feet forever like a dog waits for its owner to return home.

[izvmimi]

"You follow her around like a dog, man," Sero says finally, and even if the surrounding ballroom chatter doesn't cease for a moment as the table set for ten starts to receive their first course salads, the parallel conversations among the group of old friends halt abruptly to a stop. Eijiro gives Sero a raise of the eyebrow, then turns to Katsuki, expecting to have to mitigate his hot temper.

The latter clearly has heard the jeer, but he's not the same as perhaps a decade ago, where any one of Sero's teasing comments could have set him off. Glancing back for a second in the direction where you left just moments ago to go to the bathroom, followed by most of the other women at the table, he then turns to look directly at Sero.

"Yeah, that's love, right?" he says, calmly.

Kirishima blinks for a moment, incredulous, then exchanges a look with Kaminari beside him.

Katsuki, as if he hasn't said something highly uncharacteristic of himself, reaches for a bread roll in the middle of the table and then a butter knife.

"You didn't see me follow her into the bathroom, did you?" he adds. Sero snorts, but leans back into his chair.

"I mean no, but-"

Katsuki smears butter on the roll, and sets it on your empty plate, then takes another piece of bread to and butters it the same before taking a bite.

"But what?" he asks. The edge to his voice is back, something that paradoxically puts Sero back at ease.

"It looks strange on you," Denki finally points out.

Katsuki chews for a moment, then swallows, his eyes making a quick scan across the room. At another table, Midoriya's partner is focused on adjusting the lapel of his suit, and at yet another table, Iida is trying to convince Mei to keep her gadgets off the table before the MC starts another toast.

The bride and groom continue to cruise around the venue, and Katsuki cannot stop thinking about how beautiful you would look in that exact dress.

Or something of your own.

"I just can't imagine what the fuck she did-" Sero starts again before Eijiro cuts him off.

"Just knock it off for a second," he says, gently but assertively. Katsuki doesn't pay any mind to him as he observes the table favors.

These flowers are beautiful, but they aren't your favorite. They're gorgeous, but made of plastic while you'd prefer hundreds of real ones.

You've told him small weddings feel more intimate. This wedding isn't in the right season for you, but it's your second choice. You don't yet know how many people will be in the bridal party but you've floated some ideas.

You don't yet have a ring on your finger.

The many thoughts dissipate when your hand rests gently on his shoulder as you slip back into the seat next to him.

"Oh, they didn't bring out the food yet," you say, and Katsuki points to the bread on your plate, reminding you to eat.

His friends are captive audiences as you smile and take a bite, and perhaps horrified as he smiles back warmly, genuinely.

Love does look strange on him, perhaps.

But they'll have to get used to it because it will not go away.

[omegalomania]

ok listen obviously like everyone else i am Fucking Devastated but the fucking sHRIMPLICATIONS here are KILLING me.

the two last "new" songs we got before the hiatus were alpha dog and from now on we are enemies (equally fucked up song btw) and pete namedrops alpha dog as the last song they wrote before the hiatus and it's such a. it's SUCH a fucking. augh.

like it's so painfully and clearly a farewell. the lyrics all telegraph it. your time has passed. never means forever. walk off into the sunset. the discussion of how much effort is required to maintain this life and how they already feel burned out, past their prime when they were all in their mid-twenties and early thirties. and the sheer fucking POETRY of the way it was the last song they recorded - tell rock and roll i'm alone again - until they announced their triumphant return with save rock and roll in 2013. welcome to the new déjà vu.

and oh yeah the last word issued in the song's studio version is the word "abracadabra," which pete cites as the word that christian bales character in the film “the prestige” says he will utter before he disappears from prison. "abracadabra" was a key word in the viral ARG-esque marketing campaign leading up to the release of believers never die...right before fall out boy seemingly vanished off the very face of the earth.

and, OH YEAH, the first shows they played after reuniting involved a multi-song medley spanning all the stages of their career, with one of those songs being the first time they ever played alpha dog, albeit partially.

the notion of the wizard through the curtain speaking to a sense of bitterness (at least if pete's ten year old genius annotation is anything to go by) which is the exact same phrasing to the way joe would later talk about the band's fraught, strained feelings leading up to the hiatus in a podcast with kerrang while promoting his book.

many people have pointed out the parallels between flu game and alpha dog - the way they both discuss the exhaustion of being so visible and constantly putting yourself out there and how taxing that is, especially when you're simultaneously trying to cover up how hard it is. how isolating it is, when the whole world is squinting against the starlight feathering off you. it's worth noting that these parallels are not merely implicit, either. "flu game" is in and of itself an explicit reference to a famous game michael jordan played while sick in which he claimed that he didn't want to give up, no matter how sick and tired he was. and how did pete annotate a specific couplet, ten years ago?

we must make it hard to look so easy doing something so hard

another explicit reference to michael jordan, years and years prior.

and this is the first time they've ever played alpha dog in full. nearly 15 full years after the hiatus started. by now, fall out boy have been together for far longer than they've ever been apart. by now, fall out boy has been in their "posthiatus" era for longer than they have their "prehiatus" one.

i dont really have a conclusion to this. just, i dunno man. something about the repeated lyric "never means forever" on a greatest hits compilation titled "believers never die." something about i'm a star vs. so much for stardust vs. no more stardust. something about motifs that span decades, that span years of hurt and cracked-open wounds that have now been poured over with liquid gold, mending them anew. something about reclaiming old scars and ugly histories and reforging them into something filled with streaming starlight and sun-drenched smiles.

abracadabra.

[stackslip]

OK OK CHAINSAW MAN THOUGHTS FOR THIS CHAPTER UHHH i haven't done this in a while.

love, love the continuation of the previous chapter's yoru pointing up into these regular americans pointing up (possibly giving the gun devil more strength inadvertently?). this series of chapters is gonna be such a treat to read once it's put into a volume

lots of talk about how "freedom" and "gun" sound almost the same in japanese and this is clearly a dark pun, but the thing i also really love here is.... the arm symbolizing the "light"/flame of america/american styled "freedom" falling and replaced by a gun. the bit of the gun devil clearly having emerged FROM the statue, crawling out of it and revealing its ghastly interior, the sham it's always been. fujimoto's works starting with fire punch have always been obsessed with the idea of the image/representation and the many truths it disguises, how ugly realities are turned into stories, or propaganda, or even into merchandise to be bought, sold, covered up, used as justification for idleness or atrocities. belief is what makes devils powerful. the statue of liberty symbolizes deep held beliefs that America is all about pursuing dreams and protecting freedom, no matter what america's actual past and present actions reflect upon it. this is just the nature of that symbol and what it represents laid bare for all to see!

one of part 2's greatest strengths and worst weaknesses has been asa's passivity--which fits thematically, and makes her character that much more realistic and interesting when fujimoto bothers to draw her and put her emotions center stage (and makes it that much more depressing when she barely has a role outside of gawking at new information). but see this--this! this is what i want! this is what makes asa's passivity so devastating as a character! the exchange here is SO perfect, from yoru having committed the crime to asa suddenly being in her place, witness to the atrocity she's let herself be an accomplice to--and by extension, having committed it herself! we've seen that most of her power is fueled by guilt and regret--something that comes to her so, so naturally. and now she's confronted with it. with the results of her actions, of her dreams and attempts to save chainsaw man (to have a friend/someone who could love and understand her). the results of her passivity vis-à-vis yoru. she's committed this atrocity, essentially. she can't hide behind yoru for it. this is her body too.

just an unbelievable panel. the hole looks like it's *bleeding*, like a bullet wound on a corpse. sick sick sick!

see what i mean re asa's passivity being so compelling when used right. how could i forget? how could i get so comfortable? gd. also yoru's laugh is so good she looks so awkward. and most importantly she looks like nayuta did when making fun of asa after making her bark like a dog. sisters!

sick ass design. absolutely TWISTED parallel to when denji last faced the gun devil, with humans helping denji and begging him to save them. TWISTED parallel to makima's "save me, chainsaw man" and asa's own "i'll save you, chainsaw man!". fujimoto king of making narrative parallels so evil you'll feel sick ever rereading the first panels.

yeah uh i'm just gonna drop the parallel here and fucking run and die. isn't it romantic? you understand, don't you chainsaw man? you of all people would get the love involved in this?

the juxtaposition of the ruined city by asa/yoru and the children being led to the slaughter by the japanese government to resurrect denji is just. jesus christ man

[acourtofthought]

It doesn't bother you that Lucien is friends with the man who joked about his mate getting raped? Interesting take....

I want you to do something for me since you decided to come to my page and ask for MY opinion.

I want you to set aside your own personal agenda and really think about what I'm saying.

I get it, we all have lived different lives and are triggered by different things. In real life, SA is not a joking matter, it's not appropriate, it's not something to giggle about between friends. I never returned to a job the day after a boss corned me and inappropriately touched me and I felt too uncomfortable to speak up since he owned the company. I was inappropriately touched by a neighbor when I was around 9 years old, someone who allowed me to stop by and play with his two dogs since I loved pets so much. I consider myself lucky because neither scenario escalated to what others have dealt with but those scenarios still give me enough empathy to realize the fear of being put in a position where you feel helpless against someone bigger, stronger and who holds power over you.

But the ACOTAR series is not what happened to me or anyone else no matter how many parallels or connections some find. It's fantasy fiction and in fantasy fiction (whether you agree with it or not), things that are serious in the real world are never given the same weight as in the book. Take murder, torture, and using others as pawns for example. These things are done by the main cast of character and nobody bats an eye. In fact, the fandom applauds them for it, turns them into sex symbols for it. Azriel literally tortures people yet many are more interested in the size of his wingspan than the things he's done to people who are unarmed in his torture room. Since Jurian's comments are so offensive and unforgivable, how are you comfortable thinking torture is something it's ok for the fandom to turn a blind eye to when it's a hotly debated issue in the real world as it relates to torture of POWs? Since you're sending me this anon I have to take a guess and say you're an e/riel and that means you're fine with torture in books but not fine with SA comments in books though both exist in real life.

Onto your specific question though, how am I fine with Lucien being friends with Jurian after he made those comments.

Simply put, because I'm reading the story the author is telling. Your reading experience seems vastly different from mine because I'm choosing to read the story as it's actually being told whereas you seem to be reading the story you wish was being told based on very specific things that are personal to you.

If I was basing my reading experience on real life morals and things that personally effect me then I could have never gotten behind the Feysand relationship because Rhys did some pretty horrible things to Feyre UTM. He forced her to drink wine she didn't ask for, he put her in clothes she was was uncomfortable wearing, he forced her (while she was drunk) to dance in his lap in a way she was embarrassed to hear about and he coerced her into a bargain she clearly didn't want, going so far as to twist the bone in her arm to force her to agree.

But I'm not basing my reading experience on real world morals, I'm allowing myself to let Sarah take the reins. I'm allowing an author to lead me so I understand what they're telling me (so long as I'm losing myself in this fantasy world) , to shape my mind, to rewrite the rules. The second I step away from my book I am once again a law abiding citizen of this world who understands right and wrong but in the ACOTAR world? I'm just a spectator along for the ride. I forgave Rhys because Sarah wanted me to forgive him, because her explanations were to serve the reasons for his actions.

"Just because Sarah forgave Rhys doesn't mean we have to listen!"

If you've already decided that she's wrong, that you don't have to agree, then you're no longer reading the book as it was intended to be read. And that's fine, feel free to hate on it as much as you want, but it doesn't change the story she's telling. Your personal opinion DOES NOT CHANGE WHAT'S HAPPENING.

It's the same with Jurian. He said / did bad things, we thought he was a villain (just as we did Rhys) until Sarah told us he wasn't. Until the author said, "this is my story and this is the reason for his actions and now he's a good guy strongly connected to the plot and the other good guys in the series". You can feel free to remain stuck in the past, unable to move forward with the series but that's not why I'm here. I want to know the story Sarah is telling, not what nameless faceless person decides I should have an issue with because they have an issue with it. If the author moved forward and the characters no longer have a problem with something that happened way back when then what good is it doing me to remain stuck in past plots? The plot moved forward therefore I move forward. It's honestly as simple as that.

I don't use the ACOTAR novel to teach me how to behave in real life. I use the ACOTAR novel to teach me what is happening with these characters. Therefore when said ACOTAR novel says "Jurian good" I'm going to accept that because that's the journey we're going on. I'm not sure why you take such issue with a reader simply following along with the story that's being told, isn't that the entire point of reading fictional books?

[jaxplosion]

Been binging Courage the Cowardly Dog lately and have noticed some actual amazing writing in it so I’m gonna rant.

So starting off- courage. S4 Ep13 actually provides a lot of info about his backstory which i find really interesting. We learn that he HAD biological parents but after an accident he caused they were stolen from him and sent away. I honestly think this explains A LOT about why Courage is the way he is. The interesting thing is that this Eps second half is a whole bit about him feeling the need to be "perfect" due to a comment Eustice made (more on him later). Genuinely I don't think that that pairing was an accident at all. I think Courage feels at fault for his parents, which explains his constant anxiety and need to be "perfect".

Courage absolutely SPIRALS in this ep after Eustice says he can't do anything right- hallucinations, night terrors, and genuine crying which we don't see that often (usually he just looks sad). Which makes perfect sense because he's convinced himself that his parents demise was all his fault. He's constantly crying for help by putting his life on the line to make up for what he believes he did. His need to protect others his constant self doubt... it just all makes sense. (We also see him growl in this episode which personally i think is interesting because he NEVER does that with anyone else despite how many evil people he's encountered, so clearly he has a lot of genuine pent up emotion) I also possibly believe that his dialect is supposed to represent him going nonverbal. He CAN talk but the only time we really see him do it is when he's with Muriel, who he feels the most safe around, and in the "perfect" episode when told to speak his words become more and more incomprehensible the more stressed he gets. Just food for thought.

In another ep Eustice visits his mother which honestly... even though it was meant to be satirical holy shit its lore filled.

Ok so Eustice is a POS, it's not a secret he's a jerk and i despise him. However...he actually has reasoning behind his actions. (WHAT???? I know) We see a lot of parallels between him and his mom. Basically.. he treats courage the way his mom treats him. That, along with the hunting episode where we see his older brother basically spit on him and his passions, i mean cmon..this man is an actually decently fleshed out character. A textbook example of family trauma and how it effects you even as an old man, and how it can effect your kids by making them internalize everything.

The fact that a cartoon show from the 90s about a screaming dog was able to accurately and respectfully portray family and childhood trauma is just so.. bizarre to me. I honestly don't even know if they knew what they were doing but damn.

Anyways if you made it to the end yay!! Have a cute Courage gif

[cuttyclowngirl]

Daima EP.7 (Spoiler) Review/theories

• As I'd hoped, Shin removed Panzy's collar. Thankfully it can be easily removed by an easy to learn spell. (I smell rebellion)

• Manpuku dumplings being a type of small food that's worth 2 meals feels like a callback to when Senzu where just beans that kept you full for 10 day's. (Before becoming inta-heals)

• We finally get to see why a Gendarmerie plane flies by Goku in that shot in the OP with adult Goku on his nimbus. (Loving the "defy authority" themes here)

• Shin's old plane broke down due lacking a specific Demon Realm element(mineral) that served as a power source. Wonder if it'll parallel the "sky gold" repeatedly mentioned/seen in the Super manga.

• Yeah, Bulma was about as upset as I expected.

• The Minotaur's solo animated shot from the OP has been replaced by a group shot of members of castle Kadan+the Minotaur, likely implying we'll see said castle members & the king a lot throughout the series. (I find it very odd that the Minotaur's the only one with a drop shadow...)

• Cute little detail of Vegeta shielding Bulma when an unknown plane arrived at the Lookout.

• Ah, Kibito stays behind... Probably explains why he's not in any significant shots in the OP. (Bro is not part of the adventure)

• Panzy being able to spot a Gendarmerie ship from miles away without needing a telescope like Glorio did might explain the super close-up shot of her eye at the end of episode 4. She must have a special trait that'll be helpful later.

• The demons of the 3rd essentially being treated like unruly dogs "in need" of an equivalent of a shock collar sure is gross. Being forced to choose between less freedom or death is a topic that pops up a lot in Toriyama's stories. (Most demons even had the collars placed on them at birth, according to Panzy) The collars being made of a magic infused katchintite that grows with it's wearer is an exceedingly cruel & creepy idea befitting of Dr Arinsu's "mad scientist" title.

• As I suspected, Panzy's collar was going to impede her ability to travel between worlds. Thanks, Shin.

• So katchintite was a Demon Realm metal all along, found on the Glind's original home world "Kaishin". Sort of explains why we've only seen Glinds summon the stuff. (Zamasu even summoned some in the Super manga) Glinds having natural/magic control over an element from their home world makes sense to me.

• Aight, so several Gendarmerie are dead, we can agree on that right? A bunch of them just... Exploded. Wiped out. Casually. Goku even gave 1 ship the Team Rocket treatment. Nuts.

• Goku's instant transmission still works, thank goodness. Shin's quick thinking continues to come in clutch. Goku's cute lil run into the bushes afterwards & the lil wave was delightful.

• It feels like Panzy's fascination with the strength & ki abilities she's witnessed so far will at least lead to her asking for a few lessons. Who knows... Maybe she'll grow up to be the 3rd world's strongest ruler.

• We finally find out what Panzy's silly looking gun from the OP can do. "Disabling communications" so the surviving Gendarmerie can't call for backup. (Or at least, that's one of it's functions) But did it actually work? Time will tell.

• So Glind have their original Demon Realm names & their outer world names that they adopt likely as to not allude to their demon origins, since they are considered "gods" in the outer world. Goku was polite to ask if it'd be alright to refer to to Shin as "Nahare", (I'm sure Kakarot can relate) but he was also right about it not really feeling right, in my opinion. (Nahare is a nice sounding name & all, but I, like most, prefer Shin/Kaio-shin) Plus, Shin clearly didn't feel comfortable with a non-demon calling him by his demon name.

• Goku & crew's conversation prior to challenging Tamagami #3 was extremely JRPG-coded.

• A character (Hybis) being offered as many of something they could want but only asking for a small specific number of it (1 large pizza) is a very Toriyama bit. (But who introduced pizza to the demon realm? •-•)

• Panzy has a helpful hacker buddy named "Peral". I like their design & attitude.

• Welp, Goku & crew are all wanted now. That took 2 episodes.

• Gendarmerie planes can fly twice as fast as a regular demon plane, despite the dense air. Probably magic stemming from military privilege.

• Tamagami #3 being loud & boisterous despite coming off as a reserved, noble, mysterious guardian certainly subverted my expectations. Makes me excited to see what #1 & #2 are like. (Plus they're all implied to be stronger than Dabura. SO COOL!)

• I wonder if the mouths on those demon dumplings Goku was macking on were decorative, cuz I didn't hear the crunch of teeth on teeth. (Also, I didn't hear Goku wash his hands after flushing...)

• I sure hope folks who were commenting that they didn't find Shin interesting as a character since Daima began have come around after this.

• Seeing Shin Naruto run gave me whiplash.

• The next EP preview was extra long. Felt like I shouldn't have watched it.

[abuse-ken]

Ito is not an evil murderer for no reason: a meta

I'm going to be breaking down the lyrics and PVs of three songs: Yellow Papa (x), Dear Suns (x), and Flower War. This is a chronological look at Ito's story. Feel free to look them over if you need a review :3 the song is linked in the first word, and the lyrics in the second. I left a second translation for Yellow Papa and Dear Suns because I like the second one better for readability. Flower War has lyrics in the captions of the PV

Before I start: As I understand things, this series of songs by Abuse is centered around a cult that primarily idolizes indulgence to any degree. Especially through Ito and Zoy, we see sex and cannibalism heavily intertwined. For this reason, I interpret cannibalism to be both literal and a metaphor for rape

Ito himself is the oldest of four siblings. He is fully man himself, but serves as a parallel to Ote in that his mind is that of a beast while his body isn't. His mom is a beastman, and his absent father is a man

Yellow Papa

*Please note that Ito is described as "only just learning how to read" during this song, making him around five

The general point of this song (which I assume most people don't know as this is a song that was initially supposed to be Dear Suns, but Abuse cut and put on Abuse Bundle instead) is to illustrate Ito's childhood. Both this and Dear Suns seem to serve similar purposes, both coming out after Flower War to further humanize Ito. This song follows a parentified Ito and his siblings as Ito begs for love from their parents. So fun and chill ty Abuse

We see a lot of talk of meat and being eaten, as is standard with Ito ofc:

Most notably, the line "'Love us, love us!', My mother's fangs gobbled me up, and I became raw meat". Obviously Ito was not literally eaten here, which leads us to the conclusion that Ito's mom is sexually abusive

This leads straight into "That sort of sensation was of falling from the top", tying back to the opening line of "I ate the raw meat that had fallen from the top", meaning one of two things. Either we are meant to take the first verse's lines as autocannibalism, a metaphor for how he is having to take care of his siblings with their father absent; or we are getting our first glimpse at why Ito might be a cannibal: need. If this isn't meant to be taken as an analogy and Ito is eating "raw meat" (presumably people), this paints a picture of him and his family being in a dog-eat-dog kind of world, having to cannibalize other vulnerable people around them in order to eat

We also see his mother ask if he is going to eat her, which he says he is. This is touched on more in Dear Suns, obviously. He cites his reason for eating her as because his father doesn't love her. With the final chorus showing Ito more desperate for his father's love than food, which he and his family are very clearly lacking, it gives us the general themes of Ito as a character:

Love, sex (and sexual abuse), and eating are all one and the same to him

Dear Suns

*Ito is older here, he seems to be at least a teenager based on the illustrations, but there is no lyrical acknowledgement of his age

As I'm sure most people know, this is more insight into Ito as a character rather than any particular event in his life, outside of the detailing of him eating mother and siblings

To begin with though, we get some elaboration on Ito's life before this song and how he came to be at the church. At about 1:43, the PV reads, "one thousand necks have been severed, so many bodies remain, sever the necks of one thousand [millionares?], blood stains remain even in the shower stalls, I'm in the middle of the street, I spend a year in the hospital, I don't know my name, I don't know where I live, 'you are a child, and this is your new family'." This implies that somewhere in between Yellow Papa and this song, while Ito was still young, he was eventually taken in off the street and to a hospital where he lived for a year, the church taking him in as him "new family" afterwards. This is over the line in the song that reads "you must protect your family, carve it into your DNA," which points to the church directing him into the role he takes on in Flower War to at least some extent

At 1:04, we also see a shot of text that reads, "for the first time in my life, I have a purpose" right as soon as the chorus starts detailing Ito killing and eating people, yet another implication that this is something he took on as more of a job than a crime of passion

There's also a shot of him wearing a collar with a chained lead at 1:26, which is obvious enough a sign of being controlled, especially when all the characters are dog-based. There is an inherent dehumanization to all of the characters in this plotline of Abuse's, but it applies to Ito too, not just the beastmen characters. Despite being fully aware of his actions, he is collared, compared to an animal, and dehumanized by the narrative itself

This song especially is full of evidence that Ito was brought up in the church for the sole purpose of protecting the people in their cult. With several lines about "having to protect his family" and especially "protect your family and their connection to you, it's carved into the spiral/(alternate translation above)", it really makes it seem like he's more of a child soldier for them than just the common interpretation of him being a yandere type. There's also the mention of "xochimiquiztli"* which ties in more with Flower War (obviously more explaination later), meaning not only in Flower War but this song too, he is canonically compared to an honored soldier going on what is basically a suicide mission for the sake of pride and protection of their religion

And of course, the song closes with Ito saying "this is wrong". He's aware that he is commiting horrible acts on some level, yet he keeps doing it because he loves his family

*Refers to a death on the battlefield in a flower war. From the Aztec Empire, roughly translates to "flowery death"

Flower War

*Still no age for Ito, and he is pictured as a fox, so it is hard to gauge

To begin with, I'll give a brief summary of what flower wars are. In the 1450s, the Aztecs were going through a famine, and determined that the gods were angry and needed human sacrifices. In order to obtain these, soldiers were sent out into small, pre-arranged battles to take prisoners. Any deaths (or xochimiquiztli as before mentioned) were considered honorable, and the dead would join the god of sun, fire, and war.

This is tied to Ito's character as a whole. He grew up in the church because of growing up on the streets without food, he is heavily tied to sun imagery in Dear Suns and Flower War (while Zoy is notably tied to fire), and Flower War tells the story of his noble flowery death. In my opinion, this is too much connection to brush off as just reading into things. Ito is almost canonically called a child soldier through this analogy alone

This song really only follows Ito's last kill and his own death, which is a mission he goes on in order to kill people who "made fun of father (Zoy)" and "tried to kill Ote". The whole way he goes on about loving his family and his victims (again, love=sex=hunger to Ito), degrading himself, and praising his family members. He also mentions several times (2:06, 3:26, 4:01) that he is not supposed to kill children, which seems to be his undoing. While reminding himself of this rule, which he seems to only follow because someone else set it for him, he is shot and killed

In the final shot of the song, we also see a carnation that is red and yellow, the red meaning love (or specifically love for your mother, bc he has mommy issues ig) and the yellow representing disappointment and contempt. Like Dear Suns, this final moment displays some level of regret for his actions, and a final callback to his mother, who has now been mentioned in all three of his songs

In conclusion: my blorbo did nothing wrong /j please stop pointing out that he is a cannibal every time I mention liking him

[linkspooky]

Bungo Stray Dogs, Chapter 105.5 Thoughts.

Late. Late. Late. Meta on the newest Bungo Stray Dogs chapter. Dostoevsky easily turning around Dazai’s death trap and then setting each up a death trap Dazai is a twist that many people saw coming. In honesty Dazai and Dos-kun have a relationship much like L and Light Yagami where they are constantly one upping each other and going “I planned this all along...” and then “No, you fool! I knew what you were planning, and I planned this!” It’s even likely that Dazai is probably going to turn the tables on Dostoevsky and set yet another death trap for him. 

However, this quote in the chapter caught a lot of people’s eyes, especially fans of the Soukoku dynamic. Dostoevsky blames Dazai’s failure to kill him on the shallowness of the bond between Dazai and Chuuya. A lot of people are predicting that Dostoevsky is underesimtating the depth of their bond and that’s what is going to make them lose, and others think Dostoevsky is right on the money. 

My thoughts are under the cut. 

1. Chuuya, this is farewell to you too. 

Whether Dazai and Chuuya’s bond is shallow like Dostoevsky surmises, or much deeper is not really a question that has black and white answer to it, because Dazai is one a lying liar who lies, and two not even honest with himself about his own feelings. 

For example, it’s still up in the air whether or not Dazai was genuinely trying to kill Chuuya by drowning him. His words are often at contradictions to his actions. He tries to think of times where they connected, and the panels we are given indicate a sad flashback montage one would have when all the good times you’ve spent with a dear friend flash by your eyes.

Then, Dazai is like: Well, anyway have fun dying!

Dazai’s internal thoughts are obviously in contradiction to his words, after all a whole montage of times they did connect, even an image of them holding hands is shown to us on panel, and then the next thng we’re treated to is Dazai smiling in an over exaggerated fake way and then saying goodbye. 

However, Dazai’s feelings are often one thing and his actions are another. He often makes cruel or heartless decisions that are completely against his feelings because he deems them necessary. He could just be lying about the fact he never had any moments where he connected with Chuuya, but even if he lied about that it doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t genuinely trying to kill him. 

Dazai fully intended on drowning Dostoevsky there and reading his secrets from his body, and acts genuinely surprised when his plan doesn’t work. Which unless Dazai is going to pull a light Yagami “I always knew you were going to get out of my trap, so I set up another trap, a trap-trap!” Then he was making a serious attempt to kill both Dosteovsky and Chuuya. Which might be the true reason why Dostoevsky called their bond shallow, and why Dazai’s plans failed because whatever he might genuinely feel he often acts counter to those feelings. 

They work well together as a team, even after they are separated for years and only briefly reunited for defeating the guild, and then in the movie Dead Apple. However, I would say even if they work well together the relationship between them is a bit uneven. Chuuya clearly trusts Dazai, but whether Dazai trusts Chuuya is up in the air. After all we get this moment of camraderie between the two of them. 

Then, Dazai just leaves Chuuya there instead of carrying him back home. It’s obviously just played off as a joke, but Dazai has a tendency to treat Chuuya, and people in general in this way. He does a similar thing to Akutagawa at the end of the guild arc, giving him the praise he so desperately wanted, only to cut him off again and go back to ignoring him until the next time he conveniently leaves him. 

On the topic of Chuuya and Akutagawa and the further paralleling between them, Dazai treating Akutagawa as disposable or just a pawn to capture a larger objective is specifically what gets him killed in the fight against Fukuchi. Dazai’s long treatment of Akutagawa as more of a tool than a person who trusted him and depended on him has resulted in Akutagawa viewing his own life as worthless and a pittance to trade for Dazai’s respect and acknowledgement. 

It might not even be a Chuuya and Dazai thing, so much as the way Dazai tends to engage with people in general, Akutagawa trusts Dazai, Chuuya trusts Dazai, but does Dazai trust them? Relatonships that are mainly based off of transactions can be viewed as shallow. It might not be Dazai’s lack of understanding of Chuuya himself that Dostoevsky is commenting on, but rather how easily Dazai was able to write off Chuuya as a necessary sacrifice for bringing Dostoevsky down. 

Because, Dazai does understand Chuuya and relate to him. It comes across well in the novels at least which are where we get Dazai and Chuuya’s backstory. Dazai himself in Stormfront, organizes an entire militia more or less to take down Verlaine using his knowledge of Chuuya’s powers as a gravitational user because apparently he thinks all day long about ways to harass and annoy Chuuya. He also seems to be doing this for Chuuya’s sake, but once again if he’s doing it out of genuine affection and a desire to save him, or a desire not to lose a genuine asset to the mafia is up in the air. Like, part of the tragedy of Stormfront if Chuuya just goes right back to the Port Mafia, another organization that only wants to exploit him for his ability and has decieved him into believing he has friends and comrades their. Chuuya isn’t going to find his own humanity, in a giant machine that is the port mafia that treats individuals as easily replacable cogs. 

The next generation of Double Black is also clearly intended to succeed where Chuuya and Dazai failed as a partnership. Like, yes they were partners for several years and they still work well together, but they were a failed partnership. Dazai just went up and left. The relationship and their partnership is broken and has been for several years. The reason why might just be Dazai and Chuya carry just too much self hatred that they only negatively project the worst faults they find in themself onto each other. They’re not really using their shared understanding to grow together, so much as a reason to stay apart. 

“Your birth itself was a mistake. We’re the same. Is there really a point to suffering thtrough all that pain for a life that isn’t real?”

The voice was taunting him. 

“Shut up.” Chuuya spat, but even he knew he was talking to himself. He was most likely hearing things due to the drugs he was given. There was nobody there, but his mind was scartered, and the voice wouldn’t stop. 

“Screw you, Dazai.”

“THat’s the best comeback you could come up with?” 

Chuuya wanted nothing more than to slice off the ear the voice was whisepring into. He could see Dazai’s wavering shadow by his side, and he wanted to gauge out his eyes. 

“That’s just proof that you at least somewhere believe what I’m saying. Because deep down inside, you’re the same as me.” 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m me! I’m not some piece of shit like you!” 

The most recent fight between Shin-Soukoku and Fukuchi failed for two reasons, the first as stated above how Akutagawa considered his own life disposable and the second because they tried too hard to replicate the previous generation of Soukoku rather than focusing on how to surpass them and fight in their own way. 

The end result of Akutagawa and Atsushi’s relationship is also probably going to be them surpassing the previous two generations, by actually growing to like each other and like working together rather than just hating each other and having a begrudging respect. After all, Akutagawa’s interactions with Atushi has led to positive developments with him, including taking up Oda’s philosophy of not killing anyone while working in the mafia. 

Wheras I said before Chuuya and Dazai do have so much in common, but their relationship has been broken apart for years and they’re not really helping each other to grow to the same extent. Akutagawa and Atsushi would also, probably already like each other if not for Dazai. It’s Dazai who set them up against each other and made them hate each other, because he thought their rivalry would lead them to making each other stronger. Which like... what does that say about how Dazai sees his relationship with Chuuya?

 In Beast we’re treated to a brief glimpse at what their relationship would be if Dazai hadn’t pitted them against each other, and they’re both friendly and deeply understand the suffering the other has faced in the past. Atushi even opens up on the secret of his past in a way he’s never talked to anyone about it before. 

So, to sum it all up do I think the relationship between Chuuya and Dazai is shallow? Clearly, not. In the light novels we’re treated to the fact that they have a deep understanding of each other, and that Dazai will even pull out all the stops to fight against Verlaine when Verlaine tried to take him away from the mafia. 

However, does Dazai treat Chuuya as a trusted partner and friend? Not really. Dazai is a walking contradiction, so he can feel all of these things for Chuuya, and then decide to just either push him away, or even sacrifice him for the greater goal of taking down Dostoevsky. Rather than shallow I would say their bond is more uneven and tilted towards Dazai, Chuuya clearly trusts Dazai, but Dazai doesn’t really trust Chuuya enough to treat him like a person. This isn’t a shipping post and I’m not saying there’s no relationship there I spent the entire post talking about the ambiguity of their relationships especially in regards to Dazai’s feeling towards it. However, thematically as of right now they’re a bit of a failed relationship. They’ve just spent too many years apart, they’re not really working together in the story right now as much as they are working against each other, and Shin Soukoku is obviously set up to be a much more positive iteration of Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

prince's gambit highlights & annotations

chapter 1

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

Across the courtyard, a couple of alaunt hounds came bounding down the stone stairs to throw themselves ecstatically at Laurent, who indulged one of them with a rub behind the ears, causing a spasm of jealousy in the other.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

the first thing laurent does in this book is pet a dog. i love him so much.

craft-wise, this foreshadows the shift in damen’s perception of laurent that occurs throughout book 2. his/our first impression of laurent in book 1 is him cruelly demeaning damen, almost like a dog, which is something we’re meant to hate. our first impression here is him affectionately indulging actual dogs who clearly know and love him. this might make the reader ask: why do these animals love laurent, when we understand him to be cruel? is our understanding incorrect, and/or incomplete?

context: in arles, the regent closely observes laurent’s attachments. he can and will destroy anything or anyone laurent cares about. but here, outside of arles, it makes sense that laurent would immediately feel more comfortable being affectionate.

laurent’s hot girl summer has officially begun ✨

Damen craned for a glimpse but, not being an owl, saw almost nothing.

The physician rummaged in the satchel and produced one of his endless ointments.

doesn’t this become a running gag? ointment reference #1

That was really too much. ‘It’s cosmetic?’

does damen take pride in his scars, and other physical indications of his experiences? that could be an interesting parallel to the cuffs throughout the series. or maybe he just knows he’s hot either way. or doesn’t want to be fussed over.

he is technically still laurent’s property—has laurent given any kind of indication that he finds the scars unattractive? or did paschal simply make that assumption, which laurent then went along with, knowing it would annoy damen?

The physician said, ‘I was told you would be difficult. Very well. The better it heals, the less your back will trouble you with stiffness, both now and later in life, so that you will be better able to swing a sword around, killing a great many people. I was told you would be responsive to that argument.’ ‘The Prince,’ said Damen.

paschal, sighing deeply as he commits laurent’s exact words to memory: i’m about to become the first homophobe in vere because these petty gay bitches can’t keep their nonsense to themselves

actually, new thing to count—every time a minor or secondary character has a valid reason to complain about damen and laurent’s lack of professionalism in the workplace. this is lamen hr complaint #1 (paschal).

But of course. All this tender care of his back, like soothing with a kiss the reddened cheek you have slapped.

great line.

connects to an ongoing theme: niceness vs. goodness. damen “sees through” laurent’s niceness, as it conflicts with laurent’s meanness that he personally has experienced. in the same way damen has a favorable bias towards kastor and the regent, he has an automatically unfavorable bias against laurent. which is totally fair, given the events of book 1! but this is a new book, and a new stage in damen’s overall series arc.

additional theme for books 2&3: tenderness. a wound is tender; it aches in need of soothing. but what soothes an ache? tender care. if nice is good and mean is bad, where does a concept like tenderness fit in? how exactly will we go from “all this tender care of his back, like soothing with a kiss the reddened cheek you have slapped” to “i think if i gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly”?

Damen snorted. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

a consistent damen behavior: the refusal to admit that he is helplessness, and/or experiencing circumstances beyond his control. i would call it toxic masculinity, but i don’t think it’s meant as gender commentary—it has more to do with being a prince and a king, worthy of the throne. toxic royalty, if you will.

‘If you served the King,’ said Damen, ‘how is it you now find yourself in the Prince’s household, and not his uncle’s?’ ‘Men find themselves in the places they put themselves,’ Paschal said, closing his satchel with a snap.

laurent of vere: the people’s prince ✨

also, interesting juxtaposition with previous dialogue about damen and paschal both being at marlas, on different sides of the battle. can we truly say that damen, at age 19, had put himself there? what does that suggest about his character and his kingdom?

‘Yes, of course,’ said Damen. Then stopped. Jord didn’t notice.

he needs acting classes from laurent

Damen said, ‘If you’re not going to tip your head back, why don’t we go find Paschal? He can give you a scented ointment.’

HA. ointment reference #2.

Damen thought of the ivory and gold casing that held a creature duplicitous, self-serving and untrustworthy. ‘You’re so loyal to him. Why is that?’

really nailing in the damen perspective subversion setup. also, the irony re: aimeric's loyalty!

Damen joined the work, where he was the only man to smell, expensively, of ointments and cinnamon.

ointment reference #3. he’s expensive.

‘Aimeric’s young. He says it won’t happen again,’ said Jord. It will happen again, and once the two factions in this camp start retaliating against one another your campaign is over, he didn’t say.

i love how we finally get to see damen in his element here, after experiencing The Horrors for 13 + prologue entire chapters in book 1

‘The Captain is in one of the horse stalls, up to his waist in the stableboy,’ said Jord. ‘The Prince has been waiting for him at the barracks. Actually . . . I was told to have you fetch him.’ ‘From the stables,’ said Damen. He stared at Jord in disbelief.

laurent wastes no time before assigning damen unpleasant tasks. does this count as an hr complaint? i mean it would be damen doing the complaining, am i counting charges they have against each other? no. they’d wreck the curve.

Inside, Govart was unambiguously fucking the stableboy against the far wall.

“unambiguously”

‘The Prince stays here often?’ The castellan mistook him to mean the keep, not the rooms. ‘Not often. He and his uncle came here a great deal together, in the year or two after Marlas. As he grew older, the Prince lost his taste for the runs here. He now comes only rarely to Chastillon.’

context: >:(

Laurent said, ‘I have saved you till last.’ Damen said, ‘You owe the stableboy a copper sol.’ ‘The stableboy should learn to demand payment before he bends over.’

“honey, i’m home!” sitcom entrance

‘Your virtue’s safe. It’s just water. Probably.’

somebody’s feeling playfulllll

Laurent placed the goblet carefully back on the table, and picked up the knife. It was a sharp knife, made for cutting meat. Damen felt his pulse quicken as Laurent came forward. Only a handful of nights ago, he had watched Laurent slit a man’s throat, spilling blood as red as the silk that covered this room’s bed. He felt shock as Laurent’s fingers touched his, pressing the hilt of the knife into his hand. Laurent took hold of Damen’s wrist below the gold cuff, firmed his grip, and drew the knife forward so that it was angled towards his own stomach. The tip of the blade pressed slightly into the dark blue of his prince’s garment. ‘You heard me tell Orlant to leave,’ said Laurent. Damen felt Laurent’s grip slide down his wrist to his fingers, and tighten. Laurent said, ‘I am not going to waste time on posturing and threats. Why don’t we clear up any uncertainty about your intentions?’

laurent explaining to damen that his behavior in arles was a bit in the most insane way possible

He was so infuriatingly sure of himself, proving a point. Damen felt desire come hard upon him: not wholly a desire for violence, but a desire to drive the knife into Laurent’s composure, to force him to show something other than cool indifference.

they’re so normal and well-adjusted

He said: ‘I’m sure there are house servants still awake. How do I know you won’t scream?’ ‘Do I seem like the type to scream?’ ‘I’m not going to use the knife,’ said Damen, ‘but if you’re willing to put it in my hand, you underestimate how much I want to.’ ‘No,’ said Laurent. ‘I know exactly what it is to want to kill a man, and to wait.’

“yes, and” “yes, and” “yes, and”

Laurent said, ‘When this campaign is over, I think—if you are a man and not a worm—you will attempt to gain retribution for what has happened to you. I expect it. On that day, we roll the dice and see how they fall. Until then, you serve me. Let me therefore make one thing above all clear to you: I expect your obedience. You are under my command. If you object to what you are told to do I will hear reasoned arguments in private, but if you disobey an order once it is made, I will send you back to the flogging post.’

this is their starting place for the book! “we hate each other, we owe each other nothing, we know that we are going to eventually attempt to kill each other—but for now, we are calling a truce and working together”

also. would laurent still love damen if he was a worm 🥺

Another pause, and then Laurent indicated once again to the chair. This time Damen followed his prompt and sat. Laurent took the chair opposite. Between them, unfurled on the table, was all the intricate detail of the map. ‘You said you knew the territory,’ Laurent said.

this is part of why i love damen and laurent so much as a pairing. they have interests and skills in common, and they make a genuinely good team. they’re intellectually compatible, in addition to sexually and romantically compatible.

[jounosparticles]

hellooo uh do you think fukuchi sees himself in the hunting dog members, good or bad? (traits I mean)

oooh this is a really good question!!

this really depends on how fukuchi sees himself. i assume he sees himself as some sort of hero who was forced into a villain role? personally, id regard him as intelligent, brave, strong, strategic, etc.

i also see fukuchi as caring. he really did not seem like he wanted to do the harm but did as was necessary.

as for bad traits, i see fukuchi as conflicted, violent (even if he doesn’t want to be), deceitful, and secretive

i’ll go through each hunting dog one by one.

tachihara

tachihara is very interesting to look at here. his moral greyness and internal conflict between the mafia and the hunting dogs makes looking at his relationship with fukuchi a bit deeper since they both are good people who sometimes side with the bad side.

- tachihara is very loyal. he cares about the hunting dogs AND the mafia. this leads him to some sort of moral greyness since he just seems loyal to people instead of moral organizations. you could argue fukuchi is similar, as he stayed loyal to his plan and was very reluctant to fight his own. this is debatable though, since fukuchi did have to betray the hunting dogs regardless.

- tachihara is strong. fukuchi recognized him as a strong soldier before they fought. he possibly seen himself in tachi there since they both had to face hard challenges for the sake of good.

- tachihara is secretive. he’s great at covering a case and fit in very well during his mafia infiltration. fukuchi could likely see himself in tachihara since really fukuchi has been keeping the secret of the war for 36 years. he’s also good at keeping a facade up.

- tachihara is determined. he is willing to fight and die for what he believes in and for the people he cares about. fukuchi could be similar in this aspect as he is fighting for what he believes is best and sacrificed himself for this.

- tachihara is willing. he does what’s best often with a smile on his face. this reminds me of how young fukuchi used to act, maybe fukuchi sees his younger self in tachi?

- tachihara is willing to work with the ‘bad’ side to do what is right. fukuchi could likely understand this, since he is doing the exact same with the DoA

overall, i feel there are some traits that align between the two. i can see fukuchi seeing his younger self within tachihara, as someone who is bright and determined. he also likely would resonate with tachihara being willing to work with the bad side to achieve good. like how he works with the mafia to protect the agency.

teruko

i’m honestly having a hard time finding too many parallels and similarities between the two. they get along well and clearly care about each other but i believe they are fundamentally very different people.

- teruko is expressive. she’s loud with her emotions and how she feels about things. fukuchi on the surface is similar, acting boisterous and friendly to most people instead of straightforward. however, i don’t see him relating to her in this aspect since their execution of said expressiveness is vastly different.

- teruko is conflicted. she couldn’t decide what was right or wrong when she found out fukuchi’s true plan. i would say she sees herself and her internal turmoil within him here but i don’t see it really vice versa.

overall, i don’t think fukuchi sees himself in teruko very much. they’re fundamentally very different people who seem to have different approaches to their work and interactions. although they get along, i don’t see many similarities between them.

tecchou

these two are very similar in combat-abilities but their personalities are very different. their approaches to achieving their own ideals go against each other a bit.

- tecchou is strong. he is supposed to be the strongest swordsman within the hunting dogs. fukuchi is also an incredibly strong swordsman and likely sees himself within tecchou when it comes to combat purposes.

- tecchou is determined. often, when his mind is set on something he will insist on it. shall i bring up the jouno being missing scene again? fukuchi is also determined, he spent years coming up with a plan and executed it well.

- tecchou is just. he believes in doing what is best for everyone and protecting those who need to be protected. fukuchi’s whole plan was revolving around saving millions of people, and while planning for it he still worked to keep justice at bay. i don’t know if i’d say fukuchi sees himself in tecchou here since tecchou is a very do-good person without harming the innocent however i figured id mention it anyways.

- tecchou is caring. he seems to want what is best for others, fukuchi does the same.

overall, these two clash a lot in personality. they are similar in profession however the way they act contrasts and would probably make it a bit harder for fukuchi to see himself in tecchou. fukuchi could relate to the determined, skilled swordsman that tecchou is but they diverge in other aspects. someone who is morally black-and-white like tecchou is very different and unrelatable to someone who is morally grey such as fukuchi.

jouno

i feel this depends on how you see his interaction with fukuchi before they fight. if you adapt it as fukuchi seeing jouno as evil, fukuchi was incorrectly perceiving jouno as a person and therefore could never truly see himself within him. in contrast, if you adapt it as fukuchi trusting jouno would do good behind his back while pretending to support his actions, i could see some traits that could relate them. (sorry if that last sentence didn’t make sense i’m gonna make an analysis on it soon actually!) regardless i will go over some traits.

- jouno is intelligent. he is very good at reading people and their actions. fukuchi is also good at this, however he uses his sword to send signals to indicate of it.

- jouno is secretive. he’s good at hiding things and being dishonest in order to protect something. fukuchi does similar.

- jouno is violent. he’s willing to harm others and often seems eager to if they’re a criminal. fukuchi might have seen himself in jouno here, as he is also someone willing to be brutal for the sake of good.

- jouno is deceitful. he lies and bluffs a lot to hide the fact that he cares. he openly said right before fighting fukuchi that he would consider switching sides if they were to lose; yet when given the chance he denied and attacked immediately. fukuchi is also deceitful, he lied to the hunting dogs about his plan and likely was not honest with the decay of angels over his plan. him and fyodor have completely different goals yet they worked together.

overall, it really does depend here and i am conflicted as to whether fukuchi sees himself in jouno or not. on one hand, he may have seen jouno as someone who was willing to use force for good and was a good fighter, which fukuchi would likely resonate with. but on the other hand he may have just seen jouno as a sadist who didn’t care about what side he was truly on as long as he had power and likely wouldn’t relate to that.

the hunting dogs as a whole

- the hunting dogs are generally selfless and willing to do anything to serve others. fukuchi also acts like this, he was willing to sacrifice his life in order to protect and unite humanity.

- the hunting dogs are powerful. fukuchi, being the leader likely sees himself in his subordinates as he helped the others. they likely reminded him of his own training in the past.

- the hunting dogs are goal-oriented. they dont stop a mission until it’s completed and never fail. fukuchi was also like this, he worked towards the bigger picture for his plan and was set on it for many years.

in the end, i feel all the hunting dogs have very diverse personalities that make any truly being fully visible within fukuchi impossible. they all share some traits and have a somewhat similar moral code. fukuchi likely sees himself a little in everyone as a result of working with and commanding them, as most people relate and act a bit like those around them; but there is not too much that makes fukuchi see his entire ideal set within a specific person.

thank you for the question!! this was fun to look at :)

[bittersweetresilience]

félix and flairmidable as pandora’s myth

because i'm thinking about parallels between them again. this started a month ago:

(plain text in alt. i'm referencing hesiod's myth of pandora in theogony and works and days both because it's the original or, more accurately, oldest surviving account and because it's the one i'm most familiar with.)

briefly, the myth is as follows. after zeus denies mortals the gift of fire, prometheus hides it in a fennel stalk and gives it to them anyway. he is punished with the classic eternal liver eagle situation, at least until herakles rescues him, while mortals are punished with our lovely lady.

hephaistos and several other gods are recruited to create pandora, the first woman. under instruction from zeus, hephaistos sculpts her divine features from clay, athene teaches her craft and weaving, aphrodite gives her grace and desire, and hermes gives her a "dog-like, shameless mind and thieving ways . . . deceits and wheedling words, the habits of a thief." she is named pandora, meaning 'all gifts.'

hermes brings pandora to epimetheus, who weds her, forgetting the warning his brother prometheus had given him against receiving gifts from the gods. pandora has a pithos or greek jar with her containing all of the evils of mankind, and she opens its lid, releasing every spirit within but one: elpis, or hope. elpis stays within the pithos, trapped by the lid pandora has once again closed.

pandora's myth is an etiology or mythological explanation of evil, sickness, human labor, and toil. in a way, to félix, the miraculous are an etiology of the same. why does he feel compelled to obey orders even when they are unfair? why are his feelings troubled whenever he finds something that brings him joy? why is he hurt, blamed, unloved? why does his life seem to be linked to a ring? for him, the miraculous are the answer.

more clearly, pandora is made in the image of men and goddesses and instilled with a devious nature. félix is made in the image of adrien, and by definition their mothers, and he surfaces with a clever, trickster-y nature as well. both are gifts, and both are punishments. the only mixup is which one comes from and goes to whom.

pandora's pithos, funnily also referred to as pandora's box, becomes the miracle box in this story. félix opens the pithos by giving all of the miraculous inside to monarque, leaving only hope, or the miraculous of the peacock. he wears the miraculous of the dog while he does this, with the dog-like thieving ways hermes gave pandora.

with this, the golden age of mankind ends, and an age of toil begins. the released spirits or kwami become the plagues of mankind, such that their concepts replace the names of akumas and sentimonsters as antagonists of paris. and hilariously, the age of toil is the fifth age of mankind hesiod describes, just as the season after félix opens his pithos is the fifth season.

(as an aside, many scholars draw parallels between pandora, made of clay, and her pithos, made of the same. with the miracle box as félix's pithos, félix as a child of magic might mean something new.)

pandora releases every spirit but hope. the meaning of this has always been unclear. was hope meant to be an evil? was its imprisonment meant to be a blessing or a curse? certainly félix wants to keep duusu with him, as elpis with pandora. hope and a weapon, a spirit like her siblings, all at once. and his exchange of the miraculous inspired as much debate about his intentions, origins, and consequences. i don't have answers to the questions about pandora, but with félix in mind, i can raise some more.

both pandora and félix were created the way they were by someone else's hand. for someone else's reasons, with someone else's guiding force, seen or unseen. when pandora opened the pithos, was this an act of free will? what about when she closed the lid? what did she feel keeping elpis inside? was it her fault for being pursued by her nature? could it have been a choice?

the same questions can be asked about félix. his narrative is one of grappling with autonomy. the threat of nonexistence dogs his every footstep. was trading the miraculous a choice or a necessity? was his deception the only natural next step of the life he was made to live? was he free for the first time when the miraculous of the peacock entered his hands? did he feel regret obtaining it? did he feel relief?

in the end, as with all stories, there is room for interpretation. there are countless versions of pandora's myth, because the story changes with the authors, with the culture, and with the meaning of hope. so too for félix's story. he writes his myth himself.

[scurvgirl]

I was tagged by @energievie and @callivich to answer some fun Gallavich questions!

What’s a fic you’ve read more than once?

There's A Class for This by @sam-loves-seb. It is just so soft and normal and intimate and it just...it hits all the things for me. I love it so much.

What’s a gifset you always have to reblog?

A few scenes - the club kiss and the van kiss are definitely ones I will always want to reblog because they are just so so good. I also love the "you're so sensitive" deleted scene kiss.

What’s a headcanon you can’t stop thinking about?

Mickey exploring his wardrobe options and fashion sense. He clearly has an eye and a feel for it and I think it is something he would enjoy exploring years down the road when he's more comfortable in his identity.

What’s a fanart you love looking at?

All of them, but in particular I really really enjoyed seeing all of the AUgust dress-ups by @suzy-queued, those were so fun, I love them.

What’s an idea you’d love to create if you had the time/inspiration?

I want to write that fashion designer! Mickey AU so bad. I have lots of thoughts that are very scattered and disorganized.

What’s something you’ve discovered since entering this fandom? A new trope you love? A different analysis of the show? Something else?

My opinion on Debbie definitely changed following some analyses here on tumblr. I think I related to Fiona a lot and saw Debbie through Fiona's perspective and that really negatively colored my perspective. I will say that my ire has turned towards the writers, and writers for shows like this in general tbh, for honestly doing a shit job of portraying a sister relationship, even one as parentified as this.

What’s an underrated trope or concept you’d like to see more of?

I'm not sure!

What’s your favourite season? And has this changed after multiple rewatches of the show?

It switches between season 3 and 4...though I do like season 2.

What’s a plot hole you wish had been answered or resolved?

The cartel???? They after Mickey or not???

What scene or moment do you feel isn’t discussed enough?

In the show or in fandom because those are two separate answers. In the show? We all know that one. In fandom...hm. I've seen so many good analyses, let's see. Oh, this is going to ruffle some feathers but Ian going to Trevor after losing a patient on the ambulance and how that paralleled him running to see Mickey, and how different it was at the same time. Mickey immediately softened his demeanor, immediately put himself in a potentially unsafe situation for himself to comfort Ian. Trevor was thinking of himself in that moment, not about Ian, and I think it really encapsulates the differences between the two relationships. (NOTE: I don't think Trevor was a good romantic fit for Ian, I think it would have worked better as a friendship!)

What line/dialogue/description from something else (a poem, a book, a tv show, a movie, or something else) do you feel describes Ian and Mickey’s relationship?

This song - particularly "I wanted more than you could give me, so certain for a 15-year-old, something 'bout you feels like caffeine, pure gold."

I also like this song for Mickey specifically - particularly "I was far to scared to hit him, but I would hit him in a heartbeat now, that's the thing with anger it begs to stick around // It makes you hurt the ones who love you, you hurt them like they're nothing."

What do you think is next for Ian and Mickey post-finale?

Directly post finale I want them to adopt a dog, I think it'd be good for both of them. It can go running with Ian. Snuggle with Mickey. Be in their Christmas cards that Ian INSISTS they get now. For kids...I go back and forth on this, honestly. I think it would depend if Mickey was serious about putting the work into his anger and identity issues. I don't think they should or would rush into parenthood at all, I mean, they're still really young in the finale - 25 and 27. All things going well, I could see them pursuing parenthood in their late 30s tbh.

Thank you for the tag! I am very tired and feeling kinda shy since I haven't been as active as previous - but if you want to do this, feel tagged by me!

[jackoshadows]

Why do you think there is so much animosity between Sansa fans and Dany fans? I can understand how conflict comes up between Sansa fans and Arya fans given the conflict between the characters but I can’t figure out what the issue is with Dany fans vs Sansa fans. It can’t JUST be because of shipping, right? I’m a big fan of Dany, Arya, and Jon, but I still do like (canon) Sansa as a character and honestly see a lot of similarities between her and Dany. Their stories have definite parallels and anti parallels and I don’t really know why I don’t see anyone else talk about it. Every time I try to talk to a Sansa blog or a fellow Dany blog about it, I never hear back. What gives??

I don't like the both siding in this ask. Sansa fans keep spewing hateful nonsense, farcical theories and made up headcanons in the form of 'intellectual' discourse in the Dany/Arya/Jon tags and then when book fans of those characters respond, the so called 'neutral' bnfs pretend both sides are to blame.

All this explained very clearly here.

And while I personally feel that Dany and Sansa have very little in common as characters, there's a lot of fandom metas/essays/gifsets and fanarts paralleling these two as fandom faves. You should be able to find them on many of the character blogs if you are interested in that sort of thing.

IMO, Daenerys is clearly written as a tier I main character. She drives her story more than any other character in the series as the sole representative of her house and considering how isolated she is from every other POV character. The story in her POV is about her.

If we are looking at parallels, then it's Daenerys and Arya who have a lot of commonality in their way of thinking, their concern for the little guy, in their ideas of justice and dispensing that justice, right and wrong, their toughing it out on their way to the top, their proactive nature in getting things done, to be in charge, their love of nature etc.

With respect to the increase in toxicity from the Sansa fandom post show, then yes, that's because of shipping and Jonsa. A lot of the hate that the character of Daenerys gets is from Sansa fans - especially on Tumblr - because of her foreshadowed future relationship with Jon Snow and they want fanon, self-insert Sansa to have Dany's plot importance and story in the books. It's different on asoiaf sites like Reddit and Westeros.org - the majority of Dany hate on there is from Stannis/Jon Snow fans who are not big fans of a female character being the prophesied chosen one/top dog of the series.

And I point to shipping being the big reason because of my personal fandom experience on this site. This is me going down memory lane but I remember around 2015/16, I wrote these angry, frustrated posts calling out the TV show for taking Jon's book plot and writing that for show Sansa and Sansa's actions in the Battle of the Bastards in season 6. At that time a lot of Dany fans were also big Sansa fans and attacked me for being a 'misogynistic dudebro'. I am not naming names - shit's in the past - but I used to get blocked and get hateful inbox messages for criticizing show Sansa's actions.

During season 6 there were so many posts about Jon Snow being an useless idiot who deserved to die, Sansa was right to not tell him because he's a moron, Sansa's the politician/general who knows best, she deserved to be queen, Jon's the worst for stealing Sansa's birthright else Sansa and Dany would have ruled as best queens of westeros etc. - all from Daenerys fans!!

This was some kind of superficial notion of girl power with Sansa and Dany girlbossing around Westeros, bow down before these Queens sort of thing and fuck the actual book story. Arya was never included in these conversations because she did not wear dresses and Maisie Williams was not conventionally beautiful like Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner and therefore did not fit into these Girlboss headcanons.

And then before season 7 was when we got the leaked spoilers of Jonerys meeting at Dragonstone. And this was when the full toxicity of the Jonsa shippers was unleashed. This was when we got 'Political!Jon' and all sorts of vile hate for Daenerys and more and more Dany fans started to react to that hate from the Sansa fandom.

Fandom always, always influences our likes and dislikes of characters (This is why I stay away from some fandoms - I don't want to end up hating characters) And this is what happened here. The Sansa/Jonsa fandom was so vile that a lot of Dany fans on tumblr stopped stanning for Sansa.

Fast forward to 2019 and the same Dany stans - again, not naming names but the very same Dany stans - who attacked me for being a sexist, male dude for critiquing show Sansa in season 6, started critiquing show Sansa when Dany got the same treatment that Jon, Arya and Bran got before her with the show tearing down these characters to prop up Sansa. Suddenly it was no longer misogynistic to call out how these characters were being torn down in order to prop up Sansa when they share scenes with her 😂😂😂.

That’s why I don’t hold much stock in words like ‘misogyny’ and ‘sexist’ randomly thrown around without context by the stans of female characters to attack people for critiquing said female character. I have been at the receiving end of this for years from the Jonsa fandom because I call out their utter nonsense.

The sexism and misogyny occurs when a female character is criticized for doing the same thing a male character is praised for - for ex. Daenerys gets a lot of this because she has parallel arcs with Jon Snow and very often she gets attacked for doing the same things that Jon is praised for. Even the show did this - Dany getting unfair flack for executing traitors when Jon Snow and the North do it all the time. The sexism is in how Arya gets attacked as being ‘male-coded’ because she’s not the right kind of girl. The sexism is in the slut shaming and commentary about how Daenerys is not the right kind of rape victim. The sexism is in the popular theories like political!Jon - wherein Jon Snow turns into LF 2.0 and sexually manipulates and seduces a rape victim.

Sexism is not simply liking a male character or critiquing a female character - there needs to be context. One does not simply throw around these heavy words simply to attack other bloggers to win fandom points. The word then loses it’s meaning.

So yeah, I ended up going on a tangent about my fandom experiences when the show was running. I do think a lot of the beef and toxicity in this fandom comes from shipping and Sansa fans wanting her to be something she is not. They want her to be a tier I main character with the story revolving around her love life as she Disney princess rules the North with sewing and dancing. And this leads to them diminishing the actual main characters and taking away from main characters to give to her. Naturally fans of the main character are going to push back against this.

And Sansa is a classist, sexist character and so her fans espouse classist, sexist viewpoints to justify her actions. Their love for all things 'traditional' and sticking to the status quo - 'Jon being KITN would be boring, he should stay a bastard, Arya being lady of WF is not right as she does not want to wear dresses, Dany will be mad like her father she can't escape her genes, Tyrion is doomed' etc. is based on Sansa being a traditional, pro-status quo character. Hence why there is so much clashing of ideas and discourse happening in the fandom.

So yeah. Honestly, I am just tired of seeing all these posts bothsiding fandom drama and making it seem like all the stans are equally responsible when the majority of fandom toxicity is started by stans of one character - Sansa - with the result being fans of other characters pushing back against their nonsense.

[which-hospital]

I haven’t watched the full episode yet (I know what happened generally) because me and my mum watch it when my dad is at work and he isn’t tonight, but I have watched Teddy and Jan’s scenes, sooooo…

Teddy is, or least was, just a kid with a toy ambulance. And I mean that ‘was’ both literally when he was a kid, and in the very recent series 36 naivety-about-the-job sense. Which has survived a little bit up until this point but I think this episode might’ve killed it off. I actually like the idea of Teddy becoming very disillusioned with the job and still never leaving it. I don’t know if I’ve expressed this in a post before but Teddy has to be a paramedic - it’s the only thing he wants to do, it’s the thing he’s best at, it’s required to keep the tragedy of that family going - but it’s not really good for him. To give the writers far too much credit, he’s the heir to the throne in a Shakespearean tragedy, it’ll kill him and he has no choice but to keep going after it. Anyway, this a great episode for my Teddy Has To Be A Paramedic thoughts. All the horrible things that happened, the fact that he's clearly shaken up, and he's still trying to keep working. That is a kid with a toy ambulance standing too close to the road if I ever saw one.

Sometimes the spoilers focus on something largely irrelevant to what is actually happening in the episode, huh? I don’t really know what to say about Len beyond 'that’s gonna fuck Teddy up'. That’s horrifying. I am really looking forward to seeing how Teddy is doing in next week's episode cause that was……….......… There’s also kinda parallels between Jan (reasonably) telling Teddy he can’t stay with Len and Jan (justifiably) not telling Teddy about Gethin going to Switzerland if you're looking for them. Edit: they also highlighted (…I don’t like to assume the writers intended to anything they did well recently) the fact that Teddy and Jan have both been really alone for a long time, since before Gethin died they’ve only really had each other because Teddy stopped actually trusting Paige and Sah around the time that Jan and Ffion re-broke-up and since Gethin died they haven’t had each other, with that part where Len asks if he and Teddy can get a dog because Jan asked Ffion the same thing when they were planning their retirement-that-wasn’t.

Also, that’s another Jan and Teddy episode with a drugs based plot point (alongside literally everything they were called to in Is The Patient Breathing? and Kezzie, AJ and their mum in Break Your Heart). Probably unintentionally, Ross looms.

The scene where Teddy wants to go back to the explosion and Jan stops him is FUCKING GREAT. Another thing I think about a lot are the ways that their personal relationship inevitably bleeds into the professional. Jan as Teddy’s boss and Jan as Teddy’s aunt. That scene, first of all, has Teddy’s tendency to pretend he’s fine and deny that he needs help or to step back from work. An overlooked trait of his, if you’re asking me, but one that has been there a long time (and that we've also seen Jan sometimes has as well). Also, there is a clear moment where Jan switches from talking to Teddy as his boss to talking as his aunt and I love it. It’s from “I know how hard it is when…" to “I know how hard it is.” when her tone changes entirely and he turns to look at her after looking away. I appreciate that singular moment so much.

Generally? Di Botcher and Milo Clarke, you've done it again (made me feel physically ill about pretend paramedics).

Next week’s spoilers about them: how many times can I say that it’s not the storyline I dreamed of after Gethin, but that I am very excited for their stuff next week anyway? (Especially because “he’s got nobody to talk to about work” makes me foolishly hopeful for a Sah mention.)

I'm gonna go listen to Class of 2013 and Fireworks by Mitski and think things about Teddy until it's next Saturday.

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

House of the Dragon 2x01 : Review

First of all, sorry to deliver this review a bit late (one day after and not the same day) than two years ago. I have a full time job and unfortunately, I cannot wake up in the middle of the night (5am) than sleep even less.

Anyway. Here's my review.

It's seems that this season will be less exciting (not the same) than season one has we already know the outcome / the end.

The introduction with the embroidery is very nice, but I think I prefer the introduction with the blood during season one. But the embroidery is incredible.

Also, the landscapes, especially the one from the first scene, are incredible too.

I don't think I would have opened with the north, knowing that the scene was so short and we couldn't even have a glance of Winterfall. It seems that Jacaerys was only there for a day.

At least, it's confirmed that Dragons cannot cross the wall!

Sorry, but I love Prince Daemon. I really don't think that he is a bad characters, yes he has many flaws, but I really think he is driven by blood, dragon and honour.

What happened to Corlys Velaryon? Where was he injured? Also it seems that this dagger is important.

I love the way Helaena plays. But I would have thought that they would give us a hint between her and Aemond.

WTF Alicent! You are a fucking hypocrite. Both of them, her and Ser Criston Cole. Doing the same thing as they blamed Rhaenyra for doing it. Parallel with season one and Sir Cole's white cloak. Rhaenyra brings down the white cloak as Alicent brings up the white cloak.

The edit and the camera corners are incredible. Everything is in the detail.

Is Aegon crazy (scene at the grand conseil)? No, I think he is just stupid and too much spoiled.

I don't believe and I can't imagine Rhaenyra has the type of a crying lady. I see her as a strong woman, not a weak one.

There was one correct thing coming from Aegon's mouth! The most important scene for this episode : "Our victory depends on the efforts of the smallfolk."

Larys Strong is still plotting (nothing knew here).

Otto is still a cautious and smart man.

I like the return of the White Worm. And no, Daemon is not using her as a lover on the side.

Erryk said something very truth to Daemon during their conversation: "Arryk and I were named to the Kingsguard at just 8 and 10. And we swore the same oath: to defend the whole of the royal family. So what were we to do when they turned against one another?

Interesting relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra? Can they feel each other? Can they communicate with each another? I never saw them connecting the way they did in this episode. There was love definitively.

The camera's way of shooting is incredible.

I don't think that this Rhaenyra is very realistic.

I didn't know that Daemon found a way to get inside King's Landing.

Daemon Targaryen is such an interesting character.

I laughed when Ser Cole was talking about himself, instead of Rhaenyra.

There was something Foreshadowing when Otto talked to Aemond.

The scenery is incredible too.

I love the way it's filmed.

It was incredible for Blood and Cheese to pass in front of Aegon without him and his friends knowing.

There was something very out of place with the statue of King Viserys.

Poor dog!

Is the symbol of rats important? What does it mean?

Foreshadowing regarding the drawing on the wall!!! I really hope it wasn't for Daenerys. It was clearly a dragon burning King's Landing. What wasn't we seen this during season one?

Blood and cheese was very well done, even if I preferred the version in the book.

Helaena doesn't have three children? I thought it was between the big and the small one. Also why the Queen is alone?

And it was even worse when Helaena caught her mother in the act. Nevertheless, I thought that she would take refuge at Aemond's side.

I liked the last scene of the show (meaning) : Alicent's face.

Finally, Daemon truly loves Rhaenyra. There is not question there / about it. There is definitively something there. He did what he did because his wife, his Queen demanded of him. It seems that they are connected in some way.

Good night.