#i have strong opinions on how possession can affect a character arc

[yuu-mao]

I find it weird some people are disappointed Kieran didn't get posses? I honestly was praying that theory wasn't right

Something about possession being the reason a character does fuck up shit feels like taking away from a character complexity. I like Kieran the way he is, a kid with issues, and I wouldn't like to see that complexity getting muddled with the "he was possessed" argument

[paperpeter]

Nagoya arc in manga and anime: Guren edition.

At one time, it was a big surprise for me how differently the scene with the possessed Guren looks in the manga and anime. Despite the differences, the essence of the scene in both works remains the same and the changes in no way affect the plot, but the presentation and expressiveness itself have a strong enough impact on perception, which allows us to conduct a comparative analysis. In my subjective opinion, Guren's condition was much better demonstrated in the anime than in the manga. Let me tell you why.

Staging.

Compared to the manga, the anime Owari no Seraph looks much more lively and dynamic. The point here is not even in the imaginary fact that the default animation is more dynamic than a static image, but specifically in a more visual and expressive setting. A variety of angles, transitions, demonstration of different sides of the conflict — all that the manga, for some reason, is deprived of in this chapter.

We can clearly see this difference in the example of Guren's appearance in front of the Shinoa squad. While this moment is highly standardized in the manga, in the anime Guren appears before his subordinates after Yu cuts an extraordinary vampire in his path, which briefly confuses the viewer and adds surprise to the scene.

Also, contrary to popular belief, dynamism affects not only the perception of action scenes, but also the feelings of the character, which can be demonstrated both in dialogue and emotions, and in thoughtful directorial techniques. We can already observe a similar thing during the activation of Owari no Seraph in the face of Narumi.

Immediately after Guren impales his subordinates and knocks Yuichiro back, God's Punishment begins to unfold in the blood-drenched sky, riveting the eyes of everyone on the battlefield. At this time, Guren, possessed by Mahiru, peers into the reflection of his eyes in the blade of a demonic katana, drenched in the blood of people and vampires, whom he personally killed. The whole scene is accompanied by manic laughter and tears flowing from his eyes.

This scene works on several levels:

1) Through the contrast of tears and laughter, the viewer realizes Guren's pain from harming his subordinates;

2) Guren's look at himself through the blade shows only his eyes, which builds a kind of dialogue between Mahiru and Guren, and also speaks of his obsession with the goal of killing and inability to cope with it;

3) The demon's sick laugh that accompanies what is happening, shows how absurd the world is, in which in order to save humanity it is necessary to kill people and cause God's wrath.

Just a few seconds present several new readings of the scene, not to mention the wordless disclosure of the inner contradiction of Guren's soul.

Emotions.

So we smoothly move on to the point of demonstrating emotions. I'm not lying if I say that anime Guren is much more charismatic and emotional, which is perfectly illustrated by the example of this scene.

From the beginning of the battle, an inappropriate wide smile adorns his face, which accompanies him until the end of the series and remains on his face even at the moments of the murder. It's the smile of the demon, Mahiru, and the dissonance between her and the usually moral and honorable Guren adds to the viewer's discomfort when watching what's happening on screen.

At the moment when Yuichiro tries to refute for himself the betrayal of such a dear person as Guren, he also smiles while tears flow down his cheeks. At the same time, in the manga Guren also cried, but there was no smile on his lips, which somewhat weakens the transmitted effect of lack of control and weakness in relation to his obsession. Also missing in the anime is Guren's request that Yuichiro run away from him, which I think is right, as the presence of this phrase and others like it knocks down the tension created and confuses the viewer as to who is in control of Guren's body at the moment.

I also add that the external image of Guren works much better in the anime: disheveled, covered with wounds and blood, he seems much more out of his mind than usual, which is why his actions look contradictory than in the manga.

Shinya.

Perhaps the most important thing I wanted to talk about.

Do you ever get the feeling that in OnS manga, Shinya is much softer than in Catastrophe or the anime? It has happened to me, countless times. It seems that in the manga, Shinya is simply not allowed to prove himself on the battlefield or in relationships with friends, and therefore he often seems to be the most spineless secondary character, though he is not.

In the manga, when Guren kills a few dozen subordinates before his eyes and attacks the younger squad, Shinya threatens him with a weapon and demands answers from him, and then tries to convince himself that it was not Guren, but his demon, which you see looks kinda hopeless.

«But in the anime, Shinya does the same thing!» Not really.

Why is the scene from the anime so different that it manages to demonstrate the essence of Shinya's character much better?

First, staging. The opening shot doesn't immediately show us who pointed the weapon at Guren, and the slow camera zoom in on Shinya's face that follows adds tension and drama to the scene. Also, during the conflict, we observe not only Shinya's side, as it was in the manga, but also Guren's reaction to his words, which sets the tone for the atmosphere of conflict and opposition of friends to each other.

Secondly, emotions. While in the manga, Shinya seems overly agitated, confused, and Guren aloof and unemotional, in the anime, Shinya looks angry. Angry at Guren, at his betrayal, and not so much the betrayal of the army, but of him personally, because Shinya always believed that Guren, his selfish Guren, really puts the lives of his loved ones above anything else. This is dissuaded not only by Guren's actions, but also by Kureto's earlier comment, amazed that Shinya still has no idea who his friend really is. That's what makes him doubt, and that's why in the anime, Shinya hits Guren. Hits for a dumb smile on his face that is completely inappropriate and belittling his own feelings of resentment and betrayal, hits for breaking a promise, and this is exactly what Shinya Hiiragi would definitely do in a situation like this.

Guren laughs, and Shinya's face shows a look of disappointment similar to the one he felt back in high school when he thought he overestimated his fiancée's lover. At the same time, the fear that then follows him demonstrates his awareness and true horror at the possibility of losing Guren. Shinya is no longer angry, he is scared and that is why he gives up his position — not so much because of worries for a loved one, but from the understanding that Guren needs help, not condemnation. Not just because he succumbed to the expression of his emotions, as it was in the manga.

Thus, in the anime, Shinya appears as a strong and strong-willed character with a clear worldview and principles, while at the same time having a weakness towards his friend, while in the corresponding chapters of the manga, his image is much more blurred and ordinary.

Results.

Summarizing the above, the characters of Shinya and Guren during the battle in Nagoya are demonstrated much better in anime due to competent directing, script revision and expressiveness of emotions.

This article is only a reflection of my opinion, you can either agree or disagree with these conclusions in the comments ~

[n1kolaiz]

The Six Realms

Okay, so I was pretty close to giving up on writing analyses but I'm back LMFAO plus I see we're close to 100 followers and I just want to thank you guys for being so very supportive <3

Alright, I'm not sure if anyone's ever written about this, but if an analysis like this exists, please do let me know because I'm kind of curious as to what other people think about this, too!

Remember that time Fukuchi spoke about bringing "about the five signs of an angel's death"?

I read a little bit more about it, and as a minor content warning: this analysis will focus on a few religious aspects (Buddhism + Hinduism). So if I get any of the facts wrong, firstly: I do not mean any disrespect to either religion, and secondly: please do correct me if I interpret anything in the wrong way.

Spoilers for BSD chapter 90 onwards + BEAST!AU under the cut!

So I'll start by talking about the Decay of Angels. As we all know, the members include Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Sigma, and Bram Stoker, and their leader, Fukuchi Ochi. After Fyodor's arrest, the Decay of Angels came into light with Nikolai murdering four government officials in a week. These murders symbolise the Buddhist cycle of existence, or otherwise known as samsara: the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

"We are the Decay of Angels—hiding here as terrorists, a 'murder association', five people who will announce the demise of the celestial world."

Nikolai Gogol, chapter 57

Samsara is described to be a concept beyond human understanding. According to Hinduism, samsara is the physical world where every being has its soul trapped into a physical vessel. The Hindus believe that everything has a soul, and due to a soul's attachment to desire, it is forced into a deathless cycle of being born, dying, and reincarnating into a different body. In Buddhism, the ultimate way to break free from this cycle is by obtaining nirvana.

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word for the goal of the Buddhist path: enlightenment or awakening. In Pali, the language of some of the earliest Buddhist texts, the word is nibbana; in both languages it means "extinction" (like a lamp or flame) or "cessation." It refers to the extinction of greed, ill will, and delusion in the mind, the three poisons that perpetuate suffering. Nirvana is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his enlightenment: he became completely free from the three poisons. Everything he taught for the rest of his life was aimed at helping others to arrive at that same freedom.

- TRICYCLE'S definition of nirvana

As Fukuchi mentions in the panel above, there are six different realms of existence. These realms represent every possible state of existence, but one cannot live in a specific realm forever. Depending on whether or not one's past actions were morally good or bad, an individual is born into one of these realms. Basically, the controlling factor of which realm a person is born into is dependent on their respective karma. The realms are separated into two categories: the hellish ones and the heavenly ones.

The Deva Realm: where beings are rewarded for the good deeds they have done. This realm is void of anything unpleasant. It is basically paradise— empty of unfulfilled desires, any form of suffering, and fears of every kind. Religious individuals, however, do not seek to be born into this realm since its attitude is more or less carefree.

The Asura Realm: where demigods are admitted. Asuras are driven by greed and envy, and may come in conflict with human beings since they are quite similar. They are powerful beings, but quarrel with each other quite a bit, making this realm quite undesirable to be reborn into.

The Animal Realm: where beings are given the form of an animal (you probably guessed that lol). Individuals here don't actually have good karma to take pride in, but rather, they are born into this realm to work off their bad karma (by being slaughtered, hunted, or forced to work, etc). Being born into this realm forces one to atone for their past sins by living out their life as an animal.

The Hell Realm: where one is punished for their evil actions. The most merciless of realms, where one pays for their transgressions through pure suffering, methods of which include: dismemberment, starvation, and psychological/physical torture. However, once a person's term is fulfilled in this realm, they are presumably promised to be reborn into a higher state.

The Preta Realm: similar to the hell realm, in which beings pay for their past sins (specifically: greed and stinginess) by having to survive through hunger and thirst. This realm is also known as the 'ghost realm,' because some pretas are psychologically tortured by being forced to live in places their past selves have lived in. They are invisible to human beings living at that time, which pushes them to face the depths of despair and loneliness. Your typical horror movie, really.

The Human Realm: the only realm where one's actions determine their future. The status (social ranking, physical wellbeing, and so on) of a human being in this realm is determined by their past actions, but due to the fact that a person has their own conscience to differentiate good morals from bad, the actions they commit in this realm have the power to determine which realm they are sent to next.

Okay, so now that I've got that out of the way, let's shift our focus to the Book. Very little is known about the Book, but the basic fundamentals of how it works is that whatever is written in the book will come into existence only if its contents follow the rules of karma. In addition to that, only a few sentences can be written into a single page of the Book, and it must follow the current narrative of the story.

If I'm not wrong, the first time the Book was mentioned was by Fitzgerald, who wanted it to resurrect his deceased daughter in hopes of restoring his wife's mental health. The next time the Book is brought up is when Fyodor's intentions to possess it are divulged; his goal was to decimate the global population of ability-users. And now, the current arc has the Book as its central focus, with a single page in Fukuchi's possession.

[ BEAST!AU spoilers ]

The Book acts as the central point of multiverses, with each character's lives differing from universe to universe.

Dazai committing suicide in this alternate universe stands in sharp contrast with how he decided to start up a new life in the main universe.

Oda staying alive to act as a mentor to Akutagawa in the ADA differs from how Oda uses his death to prompt Dazai to "be on the side that saves people."

And of course, the way Atsushi and Akutagawa have their positions switched in the two universes depicts how different their lives would be if they were given the chance to be mentored by different people— these are just a few examples of how the Book houses an endless amount of possibilities.

[ end of BEAST!AU spoilers ]

Hypothetically speaking, this kind of reminds me of the differing realms I mentioned before, where suffering is promised in some realms, and better things are granted in the rest, depending on one's karma, or the deeds they've done in their past lives. In this scenario, perhaps one's past life can be understood as one's current life in a different universe. That's just a personal opinion though. Take it as you will.

side note: Keep in mind that the person who is more or less impervious to the Book's effect is Dazai, with his nullification ability. I wouldn't want to propose any theories in this aspect (I don't believe I'm fully fact-checked ;_;), but I could use Dazai as a raw example of how your choices affect your future. If Dazai had decided to stay in the Port Mafia after Oda's death, or if he even decided to go through with his suicidal fixations, life would've been different for him in the root universe (obviously, ryley) I mean, you could basically understand that from how he ended up in the BEAST au, but imagine if he really did slip up in his decision-making in any of the universes.

Many analysts have proposed that he went MIA (early in his life) from the main universe for a while to figure out how the BEAST universe worked, whilst having the Book to his advantage. Perhaps his actions were guided? I'm not saying he's all-knowing, but he's sure as hell smart. I'm not sure if Kafka was trying to highlight the concept of karma when it comes to Dazai, but if he is, then I suppose you could say that Dazai is pretty much unaffected by the rules of karma, existing as the centerpiece of all the multiverses. No Longer Human is the namesake of his ability, but the book talks about disqualification from societal norms and generally, the world. I was talking about it with a friend, and they reminded me that Yozo (the main protagonist) was pretty strong in his views against society. Like he didn't speak out of total defeat, he spoke out of defense. If there was anything Dazai actually lost to, it was his guilt— "Living itself is a source of sin."

Then again, that's my personal interpretation since everyone has their unique perspective of his writings. In terms of the actual adaptation, you could translate the word 'disqualification' to 'insusceptibilty' when if it came to the Book's effects on Dazai? This side note is becoming really long lmao anyways I'll link a few theories which afflicted me with brainrot down below.

Another thing before I wrap up, the name 'Decay of Angels' stemmed from Yukio Mishima's book entitled 'The Decay of An Angel.' This is the final novel to the author's tetralogy: 'The Sea of Fertility.' The main protagonist, Honda, meets a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki, who takes the form of a young teenage boy named Tōru. The last novel of this series enhances Mishima's dominant themes of the series as a whole:

the decay of courtly tradition in Japan

the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics

Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era

Again, this could be referred to what Fukuchi goes on to say:

Some people view the concept of samsara optimistically, justifying it by saying that perhaps each individual is given a second (third, fourth, fifth, who knows) chance to refine their actions in order to be birthed into a better realm, with their karma being the independent variable.

On the other hand, other people, specifically the Hindus, view the cycle of existence as some sort of plague. To them, the flow of life and being forced to endure the suffering of mere existence in any form was somewhat frowned down upon. Some Hindus viewed samsara as a trap. Besides, having one's soul being limited to a physical body for the rest of eternity was not very appealing, especially since where they ended up at depended on the karmic value their past actions surmounted.

Even so, particular types of Buddhists don't seek nirvana, but instead, like the Hindus, they make an effort to be good people of society, building up their good deeds to increase the likelihood of being reborn into one of the better realms.

As mentioned before, the Deva Realm was the home of angels, the most carefree, gratified beings to exist. Fukuchi describes these angels as the people who don't get their hands dirty, the people who act as the puppeteers of society: politicians.

In terms of parallels, angels were the most fortunate and powerful, but they didn't have anyone ruling over them. A lack of supervision would lead to the abuse of power, which is what I believe Fukuchi was referring to. Deeming himself the Decay of Angels, he sought to prove himself as the 'sign of death that falls on the nation's greed.'

A few fun facts (okay, not really) about Yukio Mishima: he committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) on the day he held a speech to voice out his unpopular political beliefs to the public. Mishima deeply treasured traditions and opposed the modern mindset the nation was advancing forward to adapt eventually. In his last book, The Decay of an Angel, he spoke about the five signs which complete the death of an angel:

Here are the five greater signs: the once-immaculate robes are soiled, the flowers in the flowery crown fade and fall, sweat pours from the armpits, a fetid stench envelops the body, the angel is no longer happy in its proper place.

The Decay of an Angel, p.53

The reviews about this series I've read so far describe Mishima's works to be quite complex; his writings demanded a lot of time to deconstruct and understand. They were highly symbolic, and he was pretty obsessed with death and the 'spiritual barrenness of the modern world.' I think you could attach a few strings from here to the mindsets of the DOA members. Of course, this parallel is completely abstract, but I'll go on rambling anyway:

He should have armed them with the foreknowledge that would keep them from flinging themselves after their destinies, take away their wings, keep them from soaring, make them march in step with the crowd. The world does not approve of flying. Wings are dangerous weapons. They invite self-destruction before they can be used. If he had brought Isao to terms with the fools, then he could have pretended that he knew nothing of wings.

The Decay of an Angel, p.113

I suppose you could resonate Nikolai with that excerpt. As much as Fukuchi takes the lead in this whole murder association, I'd like to believe that each member of the DOA plays an equally interesting part in whatever movement they're trying to execute. Fyodor feels it is his god-sent purpose to cleanse the world of its sins, his motto being, "Let the hand of God guide you." Sigma doesn't know where he belongs, since his origination comes from a page in the Book, and is fueled by the desperation to find a reason to live. Bram holds one of the most powerful abilities which is counted to be one of the "Top Ten Calamities to Destroy the World."

What I mean to say is that the DOA members are incredibly powerful, and they're not your ordinary antagonists (or I'm just biased). It's not just overthrowing authorities, mass genocide, and world domination— you could say that each individual is trying to utilize their purposes to their fullest expenditures, and the way they're trying to assert their plan into action is a little more passive-aggressive (framing the Agency, having a convo with a suicidal dude in jail, etc). They're the gray area between evil and good. As they framed the good guys for their own crimes, they're trying to conquer the bad guys for exploiting the innocent as they please.

This post would definitely age well if all hell breaks loose in the current arc (as if it didn't) and Kafka doesn't give us a happy ending.

That's all I have to say for now I guess! Thank you for reading, and once again, if anyone else something they wanna share, feel free to do so <3

sources (tryna follow Q's example ^_^) :

the six realms

samsara

the decay of angels

beast!au

the book

the sea of fertility

yukio mishima

theory: dazai’s emotional/mental state in beast!au

q’s theory: dazai being the protector of the book

theory: beast!dazai and the book

[makeste]

So, which of these desperately sobbing children gets to compete for Worst Day? I... think Shouto's our, uh, lucky winner, but I think Deku, Momo, and Tokoyami all put up strong fights

so seeing as we are finally approaching New Chapter Times again after a very long three weeks, this feels like a good time to do a recap of just how much everything currently sucks for our intrepid heroes. it may seem a bit insensitive of me to go through the cast list one by one and arbitrarily assign each character a number score based on how shitty their day was, but... well actually I don’t really have a good defense for that, lol. whatever, let’s just get to ranking these children’s misery (and while we’re at it, some of the adults’ as well).

Midoriya Izuku

current status: unconscious. currently has a pair of those floppy inflatable flailing tube men dealios for arms. had to watch his teacher and his best friends get hurt and nearly die while being helpless to do anything to stop it. has a new quirk which “warns” him of approaching danger by giving him ice pick headaches, as if he didn’t have enough pain in his life as it is. is being targeted by the most dangerous person in the world. and last but not least, is probably on the verge of his super-secret quirk becoming not-so-secret, and having to deal with the fallout of that.

rank: 9/10. hard to imagine how things could get much worse for this little guy atm. NO HORIKOSHI THAT IS NOT A CHALLENGE. YOU LEAVE HIS MENTOR ALONE.

Bakugou Katsuki

current status: unconscious. got impaled by the Big Bad which initially did not look good, but apparently it wasn’t enough to stop him from flying around in drunken loop-de-loops whilst ignoring Iida’s protests, so who knows. proudly announced his new hero name to the world only to be met with scorn and ridicule and hysterical laughter from that fucking Caillou-looking motherfucker whose opinion he never mcfucking asked for, thank you very much. and also his best friend’s self-sacrificing tendencies are giving him anxiety, and his other best friend’s brother just pulled a reverse Darth Vader on Endeavor and upended hero society as we know it. so there’s a good chance he might be called upon to provide emotional support to one or even BOTH of them in the near future. has... has he actually become the stable friend in the trio. fuck.

rank: 7/10 just because he briefly appeared to be in a situationally-inappropriate good mood for those few brief minutes right after Jeanist appeared. you were having too much fun to get a top score, Katsuki.

Todoroki Shouto

current status: not unconscious but probably wishing he was. older brother came back from the dead and revealed that he was a mass murderer and broadcast all of Shouto’s personal traumas to the entire world before earnestly trying to set him and his friends on fire. so is currently dealing with all of the fun fallout from that, on top of watching his teacher and friends all come within inches of death. will probably be dragged into a national controversy against his will now that Endeavor’s past has been revealed. all of it is honestly so shitty that it’s all but impossible for me to put an irreverent spin on this. I honestly can’t think of a single joke to make. goddammit Shouto.

rank: 10/10. a perfect storm of shittiness.

Yaoyorozu Momo

current status: somehow Momo went from having no mentors that we knew of, to having two mentors, and then back to having no mentors, all in the span of a single day. has to be some sort of record.

rank: 8/10. and the worst part of all is that she was a fucking BAMF during this arc, but she can’t even enjoy that now because of all the trauma. I’m still proud of you, Momo.

Uraraka Ochako

current status: mentally and physically exhausted after spending a day out on the front lines dealing with the aftermath of an unnatural disaster. saw things that were canonically enough to make a grown man have a nervous breakdown right then and there. had a really weird and unsettling encounter with Toga who keeps trying to relate to her by telling her things like “hey Ochako, this one time I turned into you and used your quirk to murder someone horribly isn’t that wild.” it’s just been a very long day for her.

rank: 6/10. stressful af but she’s still in one piece and no one was actively murdered in front of her. sometimes you gotta take whatever wins you can get.

Tokoyami Fumikage

current status: his mentor was nearly burned to death in front of him and he was almost burned to death too, and the guy who kept attempting to burn him was all “YOUR MENTOR’S A MURDERER BTW AND SO YOU SHOULD JUST LET ME KILL HIM”, and so he was kind of put on the spot there and he didn’t really know what to do, and somehow he managed to escape with Hawks anyway but Hawks’s wings were all burnt off, and then a fucking video of Hawks stabbing Twice in the back got broadcast to the entire nation and so it’s like, ???? he didn’t sign up for this??? he is just a little birb??? can he live????

rank: 7/10 because he missed out on all of the other traumatizing stuff, but it’s honestly impressive how bad his day managed to be even in spite of that.

All for One

current status: All for One’s day is actually going pretty good.

rank: 0/10. hey but fuck you, AFO.

Shigaraki Tomura

current status: woke up early from his nap which always sucks. only got to enjoy his cool new Transcendent Being powers for a few minutes before the heroes all ganged up on him and incinerated him a bunch of times and fucked up his shiny new cape. has his old mentor currently taking up residence in his head uninvited and trying to boss him around. found out his grandma was part of One for All?? then slept through all of the fun stuff with the Dabi reveal. also a bunch of his friends are either dead or captured. all in all was not really the best day for him.

rank: 8/10 because he was having himself a grand old time for a while there, but once some of this stuff finally sinks in the Suck Factor is going to go way, way up. also, seriously, AFO is currently possessing his body, jesus christ. just leave him alone already.

Hawks

current status: had to make an impossible choice between sitting back and letting an untold number of people die, and turning on a good but misguided man who was only trying to help his friends. has to live with the trauma of literally stabbing his friend in the back for the rest of his life. may have been rendered effectively quirkless. was publicly dragged through the mud alongside Endeavor, and unlike Endeavor he didn’t actually do anything to earn it (though that probably won’t stop him from feeling like he has). oh and speaking of Endeavor, just found out that the hero he looked up to since childhood abused his family and shit, and so now he has to grapple with that on top of everything else. how fucked is it that the minute he finally got to drop his whole double agent balancing act, his life somehow got even more fucked up and complicated.

rank: 9/10. let Hawks rest.

Aizawa Shouta

current status: unconscious. seems to have lost an eye which may possibly affect his quirk. had to saw off his own fucking leg. met the man who experimented on his childhood friend. doesn’t know yet that said man was originally targeting him and not Shirakumo. oh and also his other other childhood friend just died and he doesn’t know it yet. and someone else sacrificed himself in order to save him. and most of his other hero pals are either dead or wounded too, and all of his kids are deeply traumatized. and the guy they went through all of this shit to try and capture in the first place got away, and hero society is now in shambles.

rank: 11/10. Horikoshi. wtf did Aizawa ever do to you.

anyways it’s getting late and I was gonna throw in a few honorable mentions, but I think I’ll just call it a day instead. feel free to weigh in on any of the ones I missed. Dabi for one is having himself a FINE, fine day. but Endeavor not so much. sob.

[deleteddewewted]

Incel!Shinsou Oneshot: "Why are you acting like that?”

To keep busy I just thought that a oneshot of Shinsou getting self conscious/needy would be cute since we already have his redemption arc rolling in. The next part of the Incel!Shinsou series (Part 3) will have him proving his worth at the Sports Festival. So in thinking of how he will prove himself to you I thought of how will all of those people affect him, especially you. ( This oneshot takes place pre changes, so Shinsou is still his disgusting self but he's figuring out how to woo a woman, especially of your caliber.)

Incel!Shinsou Series:

Part 1: Incel! Shinsou x F!Reader

Part 2: Incel! Shinsou x F!Reader

Incel!Shinsou Headcanons

"I know what you're doin' here. Made your intentions clear. Oh you, you terrible thing, you. Terrible thing, you. Terrible thing, you. Beautiful thing"

TW: Strong Language, Mild Sexism

People were never an obstacle when it came to the things Shinsou wanted. He’s aware that others would do anything for him if he played his cards right. The right words with the right question did wonders for him. So why the fuck couldn’t he have what he wanted when it came to you? You drove him up the wall with the kindness you showed him. He didn’t deserve it and you’re existence almost felt like a punishment from whatever deity that existed out there to make him suffer. You guys were suppose to be studying for your upcoming project that required a poster, a slide show, and one influential person that would help prove your projects point. You left him running circles within his own mind as to how you were so willing to challenge him. He wanted you to obey him not see through his bullshit. It wasn’t like you didn’t listen to him vent, or didn't give him attention, but he wanted to hold you under his control. To be the person you listened to.

In class you where both seated on the extreme ends of the room on opposite sides. You never realized this (you do), but his head would periodically turn towards your direction to look at you, to figure you out (liar). This time, you managed to catch him do it.

“What are you doing?” You asked plainly. You honestly didn’t care that he was staring, everyone does when you dress like you're attending an MCR concert in the middle of autumn.

“You look different....today.”

“Nice.” It was difficult to care. Shinsou was just some guy in your class that you had to deal with. Nothing special really....ok, maybe it wasn’t fully true. You didn’t really know him all that well or anything (Unless it was mocking and belittling everything you did, that was normal behavior for him so it wasn’t surprising to find out he was like that outside of campus.) but he wasn’t all that bad? If he cared for himself a bit more, hygiene wise he would be considered handsome or at least a competent human being (you weren't going to call him a man, men don't act this childish. At least the ones you knew.) Maybe then you would take his opinion seriously, but for now you’ll ignore his...interesting comments he's been throwing towards you today.

“It’s rude to ignore someone when their talking to you, you know?” The neutral face he had now possessed a frown and a furrow to his brows. You still couldn’t process how he took the time to make sure his hair stayed purple but didn’t care for his body odor. (This man dyes his hair purple yet cant bother to shower or use deodorant for once in his life.)

“I’m not ignoring you, I’m just not interested in anything you have to say.” With that you get up and take your things and leave. There was no point in wasting time on someone who couldn’t even look at you directly and had to also sneak glances at you. "Do I really look that unbearable?" you thought to yourself. In the end you didn’t care anymore, everyone was entitled to an opinion and the last thing you need is feeling self conscious because of your out of place classmate.

Shinsou was fuming. How the fuck did you just get up and leave his ass while he was trying to complement you. You should have been more appreciative that he was giving you his attention for once. A bitch like you wasn't even worth it so he doesn't understand why he even tried with you.

He never goes directly home after school but instead to the local theater. It was one of the few places where he could be around others and could genuinely be himself. It was weird, he didn't feel like himself when he was speaking with his "friends", friends that he's never spoken to verbally, never seen, and never would meet. He knew that he didn't deserve this, to have a safe haven when he acts like an ass, yet here he was.

"Good morning Shinsou! How are you? Are you ready for rehearsals? You did remember to read your lines, right?" Shinsou rolls his eyes at his theater mates antics. Monoma never seems to stop but he does know when to tone it down and when it comes to Shinsou he tones it down a bit. (Because Monoma is canonically considerate of others, look back the Sports Festival and the Joint Training Arc.)

"Im good man, yes i did read and memorized the script, dont worry about it." What an odd friendship, the most chaotic gentleman like man out the bunch with the quietist incel in the group. Shinsou should have seen it coming when he was adopted by Monoma but he's running on 2 to 4 hours of sleep so he doesn't really care.

Believe it or not Shinsou does take showers (only for theater) but very quickly and with no care (no shampoo or soap, fucking why man.) Theater means more to him and so making his character look the best they possible can was his first and foremost priority. He puts on his costume, gets to makeup (the minimum, because it's "gay" for him to wear makeup and since the world is unfair and cruel he has perfect skin for a greasy headed asshole.)

"Everyone get a move on! Kodai, Tsuburaba, and Awase! Go to stage left! Light techs, how's it up there?" One of the tech heads shouted out. Shinsou and Monoma got to their positions on the stage and the rehearsals began.

Love, the play was about love. Love that wasn't rejected but also not accepted. He didn't understand the concept fully. Was it romantic? Platonic? Familiar? Admiration? He loved his dad, but he mostly admired him. He worked long hours and middle resents him for not being there for him, yet he realizes that his dad works to give him the world, a home with all the things he wanted. He never had a mother so he never had parental or familiar, again his dad was there but he wanted a parent that would hold him when he came back from school everyday. He didn't have a girlfriend, so he doesn't know romantic. So far all of his characters where villains, or evil in some way. He was starting to get sick of them. Shinsou wanted something more, wanted to play a character that wasn't how everyone saw him as on his day to day life. He wanted a challenge, he wanted....affection. Just to show it. He wanted attraction. Just to abuse it. He wanted...love. To just...maybe...feel...enjoy...understand it.

"You terrible thing you. My love, you're so cold. You've left me hanging on every one of your words. You've made me loose my self, lose my self-control because of you!" He pours everything into his performance, his loneliness, his regrets, his experience. He's been told by his co-performers and directors that he has a great future in the arts, in theater. If he just took care of himself more he would be an amazing actor, not only incredibly talented but also attractive. He would have the world kneeling, bowing to him just from his words alone. He could have anything he wanted just because of his existence.

" You've made me do things i don't want to do...for you." Kodai stands there looking horrified. He's covered in blood, the blood of her lover, the one she left him for.

"No, i-i didn't-"

"YOU MADE ME-MADE DO THIS FOR YOU! You terrible, terrible, terrible thing! You beautiful thing, I've done this for you!...and you still cant and won't love me." He doesn't see Kodai anymore. It's not her face he sees, nor her voice that he hears.

Its you...its your voice. You. You looking back at him while he slowly lowered himself to kneel and crawl towards you. It's you who backs away from him as he starts to cry and hiccup.

"You wreck me, you made me. You leave me in your wake, please let me go!" He sees you and feels you grabbing his wrists back, pushing him into himself.

"Don't you ever let me go...."

You terrible beautiful thing, you.

And here we are again. This was a lot fun to write since it feels more concrete when it comes towards his personality and his full thought process. In many cases people like Shinsou just want attention or some sense of validation, which there is nothing wrong with wanting those things but it's more about the manner you go about it. You shouldn't pressure or force others to spend time with you, but there is always someone out there that will like to give you those things.

Tag list: @blossominglark

[mc-critical]

Who do you think, out of the entire MC franchise, would you say was the best mother? I would honestly have to say Mahidevran since she was so nurturing and compassionate towards Mustafa (I loved their scenes together) and you could tell Mustafa’s safety always came first to her. What are your thoughts?

No mother of the franchise is perfect and as I’ve said before, there is no way mothers in the harem can develop a completely healthy (as we know it) relationship with their children. Still, I appreciate the various types of mothers we saw in MC/K and I usually love the scenes they have with their sons and/or daughters, since they enrich the characters and give them more humanity and depth.

I think I’ll also put Mahidevran as the best mother of the franchise. To be fair, one important writing advantage she possesses over the rest is that her relationship with Mustafa is probably the most fleshed out mother-son relationship of the entire franchise - we saw it develop in the span of four seasons and we saw every possible side of it. Mahidevran’s motherhood is a very vital aspect of her character: her love for Mustafa has always been there ever since her introduction and after she lost SS, Mustafa was all she had left. Everyone around her encouraged her to focus only on him and his upbringing. That didn’t seem so easy for a person who had yet to adapt to the immediate changes of her life and to accept the loss of a person that has undoubtedly been very important to her, but Mustafa has been there with her in every step of the way and the support they gave each other as early as S01 was very profound and human and I couldn’t help but tear up many times. And most remarkably, when she put her past in Manisa behind, when she truly focused the most on Mustafa, Mahidevran’s motherhood became a powerful indicator of her character development and I truly can’t think of another mother who evolved this beautifully.

Mahidevran has very strong motherly instincts outside of Mustafa and I loved how she saved Mehmet, the care she took of Mihrimah during the Janissary rebellion and the understanding she provided when Mehmet was struck with the arrow in E75. Hürrem also had equally strong motherly instincts during the same rebellion as well and I admire her for it, but one could argue it’s a little more surprising for Mahidevran to show them in such a way - back in S01, pre-E16, she didn’t seem to show signs that she could take care of the children of her enemy like that. Not many people would expect a person who has wished Hürrem’s death in her childbirths to do that at all. And yet she did. Once she saved Mehmet, we found out that she didn’t want the children’s deaths at all, even though she did make an attempt on Hürrem’s life when she was pregnant out of hurt and desperation. In fact, Mahidevran’s hate for Hürrem seems to be unbreakable, to know no bounds, except when it concerns the children. Once that happens, this is the only time she’s ready to let go. These are the only times she could ever understand Hürrem. The one scene where she herself went to her in good terms, to the point of her trying to return her ring, happened after she found out Hürrem protected Mustafa. It is clear that children and motherhood are important to Mahidevran, so important they can become the most important things in her life, so important she can leave her enmity with Hürrem for that and that alone. And conversely, her hatred for Hürrem reached the strongest peaks when it concerned Mustafa, as well: once he was exiled to Amasya and once he died, respectively, giving her a whole new motive to live and seek justice from the hands of God.

The advices (E55 and E56 aside) she gave to Mustafa are Mahidevran at her most perceptive - she speaks both from heart and experience and does her best at nurturing and caring for her son, understanding his struggles the way no one else could. Mustafa seeking vast support from everyone comes as much from her as it does from Ibrahim (I’m referring to this scene in particular) and while that sure is a double-edged sword when it comes to Süleiman’s opinion, it did motivate Mustafa to give his all to be the best heir he can be and gave him a certain upper hand over his brothers. Her advices are also her at her most decisive - showing that at this point, she knows what she’s talking about and can easily sense danger and warn accordingly. She has gained a fair sense of paranoia when it comes to his safety (understandably enough) and that is a factor of her advices as well, but it proves that she can be careful, that she isn’t as naive as she may look and that it’s not that easy to deceive her as it may have seemed.

Interestingly enough, before Mahidevran fell out of love with SS, she was fighting with her own loss and winning SS back and her hurt over it may seem to have taken primacy over the advantages she has as a mother. In E10, her first thought was Mustafa when SS appeared dead. Even in E55, she begins to look at her own possible advantageous position that comes with Mustafa only after Valide reminded her that she has her son. The falling out of love has started to the point she can openly think of her own future, but her feelings for SS were still conflicted and she could freely remember all the good times with him and lament them before she considered standing up. Her arc was moving back and forth between Mustafa, Süleiman and her own independence before she completed the full transition and had the chance to embrace the comparatively calmer environment and take full hand on Mustafa. Which is why Mustafa not being a priority at all is exactly Mahidevran at her worst. Due to her will for revenge, it was him she detached from to the point of her not wanting to go to Manisa with him in order to finish her battle with Hürrem in the form of ruling the harem. That was the only moment where she considerably detached herself from one of her best virtues and arguably did the most mistakes, culminating in a definite loss, for that moment. But we can say this was a learning experience for her, the cathartic process that granted her an entirely new push in strength and made her both a better character and a better mother than ever.

Yes, Mahidevran isn’t the perfect mother and she could inadvertently put Mustafa in danger due to her own personal pride being wounded (E48), her tears that could sometimes turn into breakdowns (E23) definitely affected him a lot to the point he was constantly willing to defend her, which, admittedly, could cause trouble (once again E48), but I could understand all this, because when everyone else doesn’t seem to alleviate your pain in the best way in your eyes, you become helpless when you have nobody else to confide in. For Mahidevran Mustafa was the only one she could truly confide in and he was her only tangible source of comfort when she’s pained to the point she can’t think rationally, in a way. There were definetly moments where she was ready to assert her own power through him, involving him in her fights. But once again, these things were stuff she developed out of, now indeed considering his safety first and foremost, telling him to stay away from any and all danger and to not provoke his enemies in any way. She became ready to eliminate all threats to him by herself and that’s also why she commited her biggest sin in the series: it was in a desperate, urgent attempt to protect Mustafa that she killed Mehmet. She thought only about him then, never about herself. (in E101 we see that Mustafa isn’t in the best condition after being exiled in Amasya to the point he was willing to not let anyone close to him and commit suicide and Mahidevran knew this, giving orders to Taşlicalı through Fidan to not leave him alone while she’s gone. With that I wanna thank Joanna for noticing this a while back! <33) She was ready to do anything and everything for him. Her path as a mother is heartfelt and fascinating to me.

I find Ayşe Hafsa to also be a very good mother, though. She was also the most notable in her advices and perceptiveness she delivered to SS. It was for a reason he thought of her as his conscience and seeing how he spiraled down massively after her absence, she may have been a huge part of his justice system, even though there were times where he disregarded her. She grounded him and told him which lines he shouldn’t cross just as she provided emotional support when he left for campaigns or went in the divan.

Her and Hatice are probably the best mother and daughter relationship on the franchise (Gevherhan and Kosem come as a close second), for there we saw genuine love and genuine support, as well. She fell ill precisely for the thought of her daughter’s pain after she learns about Ibrahim and Nigar. Hafsa is more tradition-bound and that may cause her to disregard her children’s wishes or cross paths with them quite a few times, but her motherhood is certainly one of her good qualities, especially when it shined through her flanderization in S02.

Despite of her cold pragmatism, Şah seemed to be a very good mother, all things considered. She was able to put Esmahan's wishes above her own by agreeing to try marrying her to Bali Bey and most importantly, sparing Lütfi Pasha for her sake alone.

I don’t consider Hürrem to be a totally bad mother by any means, especially how, as I mentioned, her motherly instincts can be as strong as Mahidevran’s, but there are factors where she falls a little short for me. One of them is screentime, to be brutally honest: we simply didn’t get much of her relationship with Mehmet for this reason, except for the schematic praise, hope for him to be the padisah and her not allowing him to go to the sanjack. We didn’t get much of her with Mihrimah in S03, either, even though their S03A relationship is the best part of it for me. I love her relationships with Selim, Bayezid and Cihangir much, much more writing-wise and my favourite point of Hürrem as a mother, as I mentioned once, is the S02B Cihangir arc. There we see her genuine concern over him that puts her motherhood to the forefront, we see how terrified she is of his incoming operation and that’s Hürrem at her most emotionally honest overall (and I wish we had more of that!). I love her protective mama bear attitude. I love how she managed to keep her children away from conflict in the earlier seasons (with the exception of little Mihrimah in S02A) and that certainly gave her some advantage.

Her problems as a mother, however, appeared later down the line and managed to prevail, with her mishandling of the Selim and Bayezid conflict being her biggest failing in the whole show for me. Her fixation on her enemies, or Mustafa in particular, dominated in how she dealt with her children in S04, to the point she moulded them for the political game, made pragmatic decisions she explained far too late (like why she sent Selim in Manisa), condemned them for their mistakes more than necessary (Mihrimah) and attempted to make them fully fixated on one goal, to no avail. I get her motives - Mehmet’s death empowered her will for revenge in an enormous way and she is now even more desperate to win the fight of her life that would help her make them respect her, ,,kneel to her feet’’ and defeat them all, but that way she had to make her children fully commit to that same fight, putting their personal feelings and desires behind and sometimes overlooking their own problems. She loves her children a lot and the realization that she had to choose between Selim and Bayezid broke her to pieces, but some problems manage to outweigh that. She’s an interesting, relatable in this time period, mother, but I certainly wouldn’t call her the best one of the franchise.

We didn’t see much of Nurbanu as a mother, but she certainly seemed to love Murad, but show strictness as well. We also saw how ruthless she can get when it comes to the survival of her and her son when she was about to kill Defne's kids.

Defne is a very nurturing mother, from what we saw. She's probably shown as a nurturer the most when it comes to all the mothers and her love and protection of her children is warm, yet heartbreaking, especially because she's ready to take risks she never had when Nurbanu comes for them. That scene was the peak of her removing her loyalties to her in general.

I wouldn’t compare the dynastic sultanas like Hatice or Gevherhan as mothers, simply because they’re not very often shown as such. Hatice wanted to have children so badly, but we didn’t see her much with her living children, which is solely a writing issue. Gevherhan isn’t seen as a mother that much to comment on it, either, even though yes, she clearly loves her children.

Safiye is another deal: she loves her children, but keeping her power has always taken primacy over them. Though it’s not to be denied that their deaths are moments of big vulnerability for her and indicators for the last ounces of her humanity - once Fahriye died, she seemed to have lost some of that humanity. Once Iskender died, she was finally willing to let go. But this humanity in her motherly relationships couples with her moments of disregarding them: as seen with Fahriye and especially, Humasah. There was a hinted resentment of Humasah’s of Safiye, and I’m sure there was a reason for it, despite of Humasah listening to her still in some cases.

Handan is a comparatively good mother. She also tries her best to protect Ahmet from stronger enemies and he is the reason she had fought this war against Safiye and Halime and ended up outranking them. One part she commited suicide was perhaps because she didn’t see any sign of acceptance in Ahmet of her love with Dervish, one of the few things that made her happy in the cage that is the castle. Getting such strong disapproval from her own son… it hurt.

I see Kösem as a mother that cares about her children, but is often forced to couple them with the needs of the country or caves in to the necessity to represent the traditions, as well as the country. That’s why she ended both Ibrahim and Murat, no matter how much she didn’t want to. Her whole arc was about the dilemma of representing the state and her own motherly persona and she fought the fratricide law so hardly, for no one to endure their children being killed no more. She knows best what is like to lose children and that also motivated her in doing what she considered right in ruling the empire, trying her best to stop any failings.

I elaborated in the past on why I think Halime and Gülbahar are very toxic mothers and I stand by these opinions.

I know the ask was about who is the best mother in the franchise, but I want to mention, for the second time, the worst mother in the franchise, is Turhan. Oh god, Turhan. She is the worst mother both character-wise and writing-wise - nor have we seen her show any affection for Mehmed at all, nor have we had that much time to see it, either. She is a one-dimensional thematic symbol, nearly devoid of vulnerability or humanity, and (even though that fits thematically, except for her relationship with her son) that also includes her son.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

[cherryblossomshadow]

Wonder Woman 1984 review

Long, rambly, and spoilery. You’ve been warned. 

I saw WW84. I had thoughts. Let's talk about it. 

I want to preface with the fact that it's amazing that we have another female-led superhero film! I loved Patti Jenkins' work with the first Wonder Woman (and this one too) and I'm so glad she's back for this one. There's obviously a lot to pick through, but first, a couple reminders.

No film will ever be "perfect."

Not every film is made specifically for you. 

It is okay to vibe or disvibe with something. But that does not make it trash. 

Also, please, keep in mind, what I'm expressing are my opinions. I'm entitled to mine as you are entitled to yours. I hope you have a lovely time on the internet, and I hope you wish the same for everyone you interact with. 

Oh, and spoilers obviously. 

Okay, with all that out of the way, let's dig in. 

My overall experience with the film is positive! I had a great time watching it, it got me emotional, and I definitely want to watch it again. That said, I don't think it's better than the first one (although that would have been quite a feat), and that's ok. It's a continuation of a story we've already started, and it doesn't need to outshine the first. 

Okay, after all the hyping up and disclaiming I've done, let's dig into what I didn't like about the film. 

Number one is pacing. The storyline felt very erratic to me? Part of that, I feel, is because we have three (four?) main characters, and we jump between them pretty abruptly. 

Number two is the themes. Now I do like the themes of WW84 (truth and sacrifice), I just don't think they were worked into the film as cohesively as I would have liked? 

Number three is perceived character changes to Diana. And really, some of this is kinda circumstantial, I just thought it deserved its own bullet point. You'll see what I mean. 

So, on Pacing.

We jump between Diana (and Steve), Barbara, and Maxwell pretty frequently. And before I talk about that, I have to talk about my view on the characters. 

a. Now, I love the Mandalorian, but I was not personally invested in Maxwell's arc at all. Again, this is my take, and I know people disagree. Many people feel like Pedro Pascal carried the film on his shoulders. That's cool. He's a great actor. I'm glad he was in it. I just kinda checked out of every scene he was in (when he wasn't with his kid) because I wasn't invested in him. He played a sleazeball on purpose, and it worked. I was sleazed. So the movie kinda dragged for me whenever the camera panned to him. 

b. I loved the focus on Barbara. I don't know Cheetah from the comics, so this is from a movie-only perspective. But I know one of the criticisms of the first film was that Diana didn't really talk to women after she left Themyscira (even though there was a perfectly good villainess sitting right there for her to converse with and have morality debates/fights with! Even Steve Trevor got to talk to Dr Poison!), so I thought it was great that 1) they set up a villainess for her to fight and 2) it was a villainess that she knew, she had talked to, she had formed a relationship with. It honestly surprised me that Barbara was helpful for so long (bc I had seen the trailer and got spoiled that she would become a villain), but I love that she genuinely did want to help Diana, up until she hit her hard limit (giving up her powers). Now, that being said, the Nerd Girl Makeover has been done a thousand times. I knew what her vague trajectory would be from the second she appeared on screen with frizzy hair. I did like that her motivation was not solely "pretty people are mean to me, and I want revenge and/or for this hot guy to like me," but specifically, "I want to be like this really cool girl" and then "I don’t want to be like anyone else; I want to be the best/number one" for myself." But I felt like the absolute inattention that she was shown at the beginning and the absolute worship Diana and later Barbara would get was ... highly exaggerated? And I know this was another criticism of the first film, that yeah "Diana did so well in the real world because SHE'S HOT and that's actually not empowering to women" or something. But like. Watching that part made me uncomfortable instead of seen. Pandered to, instead of impacted. Showing how looks change how society treats you is important, but not to this caricaturized degree. 

c. (and d?) And lastly, Diana and Steve. Or more accurately, Diana and Steve's soul or memories or ??? that has been transplanted into some random man's body with absolutely no one's consent (I don't believe that Diana "consented" when making the wish, because she didn't know 1. That it would even work or 2. HOW it would work.). So ... Yeah. The first problem with this (chronologically, not by importance) is that it's really unclear what's going on? Some rando is reciting Steve's lines from the first film, then all of a sudden he turns into Chris Pine? (Fun fact: my aunt actually recognized the actor from Hallmark 😂 Could you imagine being the guy who gets replaced by Chris Pine for half the movie? Like "yeah, I played Steve Trevor, but they had Chris Pine do all the important parts" 😂😂😂). So, Diana and Steve finally figure out that he's inhabiting some engineer's body because of the wish she made. And then they bang. Or do they bang before they figure it out? Either way, yikes 😬. Not a good look. 

To be clear, the yikes part is that Steve is inhabiting Engineer Dude's body without their consent (without his own either tho so that part's not really his fault), but then he chooses to do things sexually with that body that Engineer Dude didn't consent to (because he's like, literally not home. Whether he's been subsumed into Chris Pine or taken out or dormant or whatever). Oh, and then like, probably doing death-defying stunts with his body is also yikes. I'm not really sure what the rules around body possession are. Cuz you know. 

Anyway, that is a huge issue that is literally not addressed. At all. 

Again, I think they may have been trying to address some criticisms from the first film about Diana "getting rid of the dreaded V-card so quickly in Wonder Woman and then pining after Chris Pine (lol) for the rest of her long life" and how that sets back female sexuality and stuff. Which I get. They actually lampshaded it in WW84, how Chris Pine wants her to move on because "the world deserves her." Which I know what they were going for in the scene, but I feel like they didn't flesh out the journey from Hippolyta's "the world doesn't deserve you Diana" to Steve's "the world deserves you (to date them)" enough. But I digress. 

I'm gonna talk a little bit more about the possession and that "the world deserves/doesn't deserve you" line in my Themes section, but honestly? From the previews, I assumed that Chris Pine was revived from the dead via time travel or something. Body possession was NOT in the the trailers. I think the Dreamstone could have created a body for him out of nothing. Or like "time-traveled" him into the future. So like. Why didn't they? Why introduce body possession at all? So they could make fun of the dude's clothes? 

Okay, back to the pacing part of the pacing section. These three (four?) characters have completely different things going on in their lives (I actually forgot to talk about Maxwell, but he wants to "be the best," and he's gonna do it by giving people what they think they want (maybe) and then taking from them whatever he wants. Yeah idk). And all three do interact at the beginning (brownie points) even if the attempted seduction of Barbara by Maxwell makes me want to throw up. But the themes aren't worked in as cohesively as I would have liked, and the tone changes were jarring, as the film switched between them all. 

Another facet of the movie is that the Dreamstone is kind of a mystery. And that was a deliberate Choice™, not a mistake. We're guessing at what the rock is doing and how and why and by who and all that stuff, and that's on purpose, but that makes for a confusing experience. Their approach is to throw something confusing at you and then explain it later. Which is great for worldbuilding. But not always for the Movie-Watching Experience™. So to recap, we're switching tracks and characters with their own separate stories while also setting up several confusing plot points that take a while to unravel. This all contributes to the Experience™, good or bad. 

Honestly, I wonder how much Covid affected this movie? My dad felt like a lot of scenes probably got cut for various reasons, and it probably affected the flow of the movie. If so, it could have affected thematic coherence, too. Speaking of... 

So, Themes. 

The themes that I got out of this film were Truth and Sacrifice. Maybe I missed some; I'm not an experienced Media Critic™. But these are the ones I noticed. 

And actually, these themes are really strong. Universally applicable, and used in all three character arcs. It's just tied in a bit ... erratically?

So working backward, knowing that the Dreamstone is giving you a lie, you need to renounce your wish and accept the Truth™. This is echoed in Diana's flashback, where she needed to accept that she didn't win. 

Working backward again, Sacrifice was a big part of the story for all three characters because Diana was willing to sacrifice her power to keep Steve, but he wanted her to sacrifice him so she could save the world. Barbara was willing to sacrifice her "humanity" or "empathy" or whatever she lost for the power and influence she got by emulating Diana, and she was unwilling to sacrifice that to save the world. Maxwell was willing to sacrifice time with his son to "become the best," but he did sacrifice that to save his son's life. 

And then, full circle, he confessed to his son that he wasn't the best, he's actually a filthy liar. Which, yes, kudos for the themes, be honest with your children, but you can still sanitize it a bit. That speech alone would have traumatized the kid. 

Speaking of speeches, Antiope's speech confused me in a similar way? Like, she stops Diana from "winning" the tournament after cheating, and goes on this weird rambly rant which goes from "accept that you're not a winner" to "cheating is bad and so is lying." Which yes, cheating is bad, but it's weird that she wouldn't have been disqualified at this point for not shooting that last target? Like, did she need to be tackled? Idk, I felt like they came up with the line they wanted Antiope to say first, and then just made her say it. (And also, in other stories, Diana would have been praised for being "clever" and "never giving up without a fight." So like, I needed a bit more preparation for which take they were going for, because the anti-cheating spiel felt jarring to me.) 

And again, I wonder if this is a response to a criticism of this first film. (Warning: WW17 rant gearing up) 

When Diana has her big motivational flashback during her fight with Ares, she thinks about Steve, this dude she just met a week ago, saying he loved her. When she could have been thinking about literally any of the women who had raised her. I personally think it would have been cool to hear some of Antiope's words at that point. Since they set up Hippolyta and Antiope to have conflicting ideas over whether Diana should fulfill her humanity-saving destiny, it might have been cool to see her saying something about humans and how they need her or how she should help them or something. They could even have done the whole thing with not being able to hear Steve's last words, but with Antiope since she dies earlier in the film and doesn't finish speaking. I also think it would have been cool for them to expand Hippolyta's earlier line about "They don't deserve you, Diana," here to like "They need you, Diana," or something. And then Steve's line in WW84 could have been something like "They're with you, Diana," or "They could get to know you, Diana," and her character arc could have been about actually living among society and maybe getting to know these humans that she's saved so many times (which they kind of alluded to when she and Barbara had their little date at the beginning of the film). But I digress. 

So, yeah, I found both of these speeches to be ... Not great? Like I can tell what they're going for and how they tie into the themes, but they're so heavy-handed and they don't actually fit in too well to the moment they happen in. Like as soon as the speech starts, you realize that they started going meta on you. The character isn't really speaking to the other character, they're speaking to us, and they're telling us how this scene ties into the greater themes of the film. 

Oh and they have this great quote from Antiope "greatness is not what you think" and then Maxwell's son wishes for him to be "great." And they do nothing with it :(

As promised, I want to talk about the body possession a little bit more. So again, one of the recurring themes is Truth™. Which is a great choice for Wonder Woman, what with her Lasso of Truth. 

But it's tied in a bit haphazardly. They force it into a conversation about cheating in a flashback at the beginning of the film. And then they talk about how you need to accept the Truth™ in order to defeat the Dreamstone. I already talked about the cheating, and how the "accept that you're not a winner" was kind of a weird path to take to get your point across to a ten year old girl. 

But the Dreamstone. Oh, the Dreamstone. I said before that the movie is a mystery. It shows you things but doesn't explain them. Well, this is a bit of a problem. Because they never actually explain that the Dreamstone is giving you lies. To my eyes, the Dreamstone is changing reality. Steve is back, Barbara is powerful, and Maxwell is doing whatever he wants with the powers of the Dreamstone. THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A LIE TO ME. THERE IS NO "TRUTH" TO ACCEPT, JUST YOUR NEW REALITY. And that made the film less thematically strong (to my eyes, anyway. Other people probably picked up on stuff I didn't). But I feel like this might have been an easy fix? Like you already have Chris Pine in someone else's body (oh! So that's why they chose body possession! Because he's a Lie™! ... Still don't like it) I still think he should have manifested his own body or something but whatever. Barbara's appearance hardly changed at first. If they had people reacting to her as if she was hot when she really looked the same as she always does, then I would have bought your "but the Dreamstone only gives you lies." Instead, Barbara gained the power to walk in heels and then hotness and then the literal power of a God™ (a la Diana) which makes me think the Dreamstone is changing reality. Not bringing lies. 

Oh, also, they could have had Diana's Lasso of Truth stop working for her. I thought that's what they were going for at first, but it turns out that Diana is just losing her powers. They also started with "the Dreamstone will give you what you want most," but then Maxwell started using it to clear traffic? Which by the way, is NOT an illusion. That is reality-bending. 

There were just so many ways to make it obvious that "the Dreamstone is giving you lies," but they didn't use them. Or at the very least, they didn't commit. I felt like they used a little bit of "be careful what you wish for" (mostly on randos that Maxwell is duping), a little bit of "what are you willing to sacrifice," and a little of "you can have what you want, but it won't be real." All of which are valid ways to take a Dreamstone kind of story, but if they wanted to rely so heavily on Truth™ as the main theme, then I feel like more of the wishes should have been showcasing that. Instead, it felt like a jumble of all the kinds of messages we're used to seeing with Wish-Granting Objects, with no emphasis on specifically the "it's all a lie" part. 

Ugh, I'm actually mad now, because I'm trying to think of a story I've heard where this magical thing is granting wishes but they're Explicitly Not Real. Like all the money gets turned back to leaves or whatever (kinda like Cinderella's pumpkin lol). Oh, Aladdin does this, too, because yeah Genie is granting wishes and changing reality, but not permanently? Like, almost all of the stuff he uses magic to do dissolves as soon as we're looking away from it or gets fixed by the end of the movie? And the film is very very clear on the fact that Aladdin is not factually a Prince. 

But this film doesn't do that. They make it seem like the Dreamstone can change reality, then berate the characters for not Accepting the Truth™ about themselves. Maybe if they had made a bigger deal out of Steve coming back in someone else's body, it would have been 1) less confusing, 2) less icky (provided they don't do the sex in Engineer Dude's body), and 3) more thematically coherent. 

Lastly, Diana's perceived character changes. 

This one is probably the most subjective. Diana, as a character, in the first film was very morally grounded and motivated. The Diana in this film felt ... different. Again. Subjective. And also circumstantial. 

Diana is still morally grounded in this film. But she's also willing to sacrifice the world to keep Steve Trevor around. Which feels like a jarring change from her characterization in the first film. She was so idealistic and optimistic in that first film, I couldn't imagine her making that choice. It just felt like such a tone change for her character. How did we go from "Who will I be if I stay?" to "Why, for once, can't I just have this one thing, Steve? ... I can't give you up. I can't. So I won't."

Also, her motivation in this film seemed to center around her loss of Steve Trevor and wanting him, and less around "save the world." Which, to be fair, I'm all for women being selfish in film. Give me women of all motivations and desires. I don't want Diana to be Perfect™. I just want her to be consistent. And I didn't think this characterization was as consistent as I expected. Was her life so terrible without Steve (even though they only knew each other for a short time)? Not to say this couldn't be a valid take on Diana (reminder: I haven't read any comics, so maybe it's not in character at all 🤷‍♀️), but if that's what they were going for, they should have developed the journey from naive idealist to jaded romantic more in order to justify this character change. 

Also, the body possession thing. She's really okay with her boyfriend possessing somebody else's body. I did like the "All I See Is You" line, since it's romantic, but up until that point, we as viewers aren't really sure why Chris Pine and Hallmark Dude are both playing this guy. Then we find out in a romantic line that Chris Pine is just Wonder Woman's view of him. He still looks like Engineer Dude because he is Engineer Dude. At first, I thought that they used a different guy for the first meeting because Diana didn't recognize him. That this was her perception of him until she realized who it was. (I thought this was supported by Chris Pine's more rugged look in this film. But actually they were probably matching him to the body he was inhabiting, since the character really didn't look like himself). Leverage does a similar thing in the Rashomon Job. All the characters saw each other at the same event, but they didn't know each other back then, so they had different actors play their parts until it's slowly revealed that actually the random people at the event were the characters we know and love. It's great. Anyway, that's not what they're going for here, and the ambiguous framing along with Diana and Steve's chemistry is supposed to make you forget that he is possessing someone else’s body! Against their will! (Again, Steve and Diana didn't consent to the initial possession either, but they absolutely consented to what they did together. Engineer Dude did not.) 

Yikes  😬

I will say, she didn't kill innocents this time. One of my critiques of the first movie was that she was so willing to kill Germans. And I get it, Nazis are usually an "acceptable" target in American media. But as a character, she believed that they were innocents who had been manipulated by Ares. And yet, she was slaughtering them en masse. But, in this movie, they're really careful to make sure that she's nonlethal. 

And yeah, that's it.

Asteria was of course awesome. That bonus credit scene was 👌

I'm glad they got Linda Hemming back for costuming after the disaster of Justice League. Unfortunately, being set in the 80's, the outfits are not quite so modest as the first movie. But the important thing was the lack of male gaze in those shots.

The movie definitely hit me in my emotions. I cried three times: first during the tournament, watching the Amazon's being awesome. Then during Diana and Steve's fight, and when Steve convinced Diana to let him go. 😭

As I said, I definitely plan on rewatching. It makes me sad to see how much negative press that the movie is getting when it's one of so few female-led blockbusters. A lot of people are comparing it to the original or to the comics or TV show, when those are just not valuable comparisons. Comic books and TV shows are completely different mediums. And a successful sequel CONTINUES a story, instead of rehashing it. And also, not all films are created specifically for YOU. A lot of the 80's references went over my head, but that's ok. They weren't for me. I don't begrudge their existence just because I don't vibe with them. 

Again, no film is perfect! I think I talked through a lot of its weaknesses pretty thoroughly, but I still think it's a strong film, and I want it to succeed. 

Anyhoo, I hope you had fun watching the movie (even though it's not perfect) and I hope you had fun reading my commentary. 

(Fun fact: I actually ran out of space in my notes app and had to stretch it across two notes)

[francesbeau]

The Moon Signs of Bojack Horseman Characters

Just my opinion, I am not aware of the canon moon signs if there are any. :)

Mr Peanutbutter - Leo Moon in the 7th House: Although it may seem stereotypical to give the character who loves attention a Leo placement, I do actually think this makes sense. A key component of the Leo moon is that they love to entertain others and have an easy flow of charisma. Both things are applicable to Mr peanutbutter and we can see this most prominently through the various types of events he puts on within his house ie. a reality TV show, election campaign etc, etc. Another, more negative aspect of the Leo moon is their childish nature that can be transmuted into arrogance. We constantly see Mr. PB engage in very childish acts, such as buying Diane a belle themed library, and his childish nature can be argued to be one of the main facets of his personality that he tries to eradicate towards the series denouement. As the Moon represents relationships with the parents, specifically the mother, this childishness can be reflected in the parents outlook on life. Whilst there is no indication Mr Peanutbutter sees his parents as childish as the audience we can deduct that they most definitely are, partly from being dogs and also their inability to teach him about ‘important’ matters, such as death, preferring to say that a dead relative has gone to a ranch and is having a relaxing time. Because Leo is represented by the lion another key factor of Leo moons is there obsession with pride, we see this multiple times throughout his trajectory but more importantly we see him take pride in his friends accomplishments, Todd’s various creations, Bojack’s role, Diane’s intellect - this love of other people transpires to his Leo moon being in the 7th house. So, the 7th house is ruled by Libra and because of this people with the moon in this house can place a lot of emphasis on romantic relationships, finding love to be the sole benefactor to their emotional upkeep. He definitely does have his emotional security come from his romances, shown very clearly through his inability to remain single - the childlike nature of the Leo moon comes into shine when in these relationships too as he often only pursues women who are a lot younger than him. Many argue that this is due to a darker desire for unfair power dynamics but I see it as hum just trying to find a woman who shares his youthful ideals, someone like pickles. 

Bojack - Scorpio Moon in the 10th house: Again, it may seem redundant to give the cynical character with a bad childhood a Scorpio moon but I do actually think it matches up well. The Scorpio moons relationship with the mother is known to be turbulent, with the mother often not providing the child wit the correct emotional nurturing. But another aspect of the mother is that she can be seen to be highly secretive, this is definitely true for Beatrice, she is secretive about her affection for Bojack, secretive about Henrietta and secretive about her own family life, never actually recounting any of these tales to Bojack until she gets dementia. Scorpio moons are often praised for their keen sense of ambition, and as we follow Bojack through his later years we often forget that he was a highly ambitious man, writing to secretariat, doing comedy clubs, constantly trying to find jobs. As for the negative aspects, these moon signs can be moody, vengeful and judgmental. Throughout Bojack’s character arc we see him desperately try to expel these traits in himself, failing miserably thus causing a drug/alcohol relapse. This is because these traits are innate to him, through his fixed moon sign. Another thing to mention is that the Scorpio moon is ruled by Mars, the planet of aggression, this helps us to understand why Bojack is so overly agitated of his own emotions and even sometimes the emotional needs of other people, such as Gina. Something else which is quintessentially Scorpio moon is that they are secretive about their feelings, and whilst this is partly true for Bojack we watch within the first two seasons how he uses his negative emotions to create a best selling book, this is because of the moon in the 10th house. The 10th house’s main focal point is career and it is because of this that Bojack has a harsh aspect within his chart - the innate desire to keep his emotions unspoken and the desire to be successful and use his emotions to advance his career. And from this we see that Bojacks desire for recognition (probably stemming from the lack of nurturing as a child) out-weighs his Scorpio influence, this leads me to believe that the moon in his chart has some positive aspect relating to his midheaven, Chiron or north node. 

Princess Carolyn - Capricorn Moon in the 2nd house: I honestly believe Princess Carolyn fulfils every trait of the Capricorn moon, she is essentially the archetype of an ‘emotionless, hardworking’ woman who secretly has a lot of emotions she keeps secret. Practical, sensible, rational and ambitious are all traits of the Capricorn moon that align perfectly to her approach to life. The most Capricorn moon emotion she exhibited was when she looked into the mirror and said ‘serves you right for having feelings’, when I watched this, as a Capricorn moon, I instantly thought that she must have a Saturn ruled moon as she way she represses emotions and sees them as weakness is so quintessentially Saturn. A positive trait of this moon sign is that they can have a strong sense of worth and because of this can set clear boundaries with others - this is something she masters as the show progresses and it was truly great to watch. However, a boundary she always fuses is her emotional attachment to work. The Capricorn moon gets a lot of self satisfaction out of their achievements so it is no surprised Princess Carolyn struggles to create a healthy distinction between these two important life aspects. The episode, ‘Ruthie’ was a perfect example of the Capricorn moon in its fall - with her looking at the prospect of a child as more of a project than a really fun, exiting moment, this highlighting her inability to separate the work from the home life. Much like the Scorpio moon, this moon placements often has a tough time with the mother figure in their life. This is true within Carolyn's life. The Capricorn moon often has a mother who is either too strict, too domineering, too harsh. Or a mother who is too neglectful - particularly emotionally. The interesting thing about Carolyn’s mother is that she is both, she was constantly emotionally unavailable towards her daughter and often neglected all of her children's needs, forcing Carolyn to have to look after her siblings. On the other hand, when Carolyn falls pregnant at 18 her mother switches to the overly harsh parenting approach, conducting Carolyn's life to stay at home and be a mother. This relationship with the mother links closely to the moon being in the second house. The second house is ruled by Taurus and therefore equates to wealth, however when the moon is in the second it can represent a negative attachment to money and material possessions. We see through the fact she grew up in a ‘poor’ household and through her attachment to her necklace which she believes was really expensive, which, of course turned out to be really insignificant and cheap. However, the energy between the Capricorn moon in the second house gives one a fantastic work ethic towards making money - something which is obvious through Carolyn's personality. Having a Capricorn moon makes sense in her relation to Bojack’s Scorpio moon, she sympathizes with his rough childhood whilst also being able to maintain a strong outward show of being the ‘good agent’.

Todd Chavez - Moon in cancer, 11th House: Because the moon is in its ruling planet in Cancer we see that those with this placement are highly sentimental and open to empathy. This is reflected in his character as he repeatedly empathizes wit the plights of the character around him, always trying to maneuver himself into helping others. This deeply sensitive placement has the negative trait associated with all cancer placements and that is that it is passive aggressive. So whilst Todd is not a massive aggressive character we see the moments of confrontation surrounding him to be subdued and therefore passive aggressive. This placement craves emotional; support and intimacy from the Moher, intimacy that they may not be allowed - we can see this reflected in his kidney dilemma towards the end of the series. As for the moon being in the 11th House, this house can often represent a lack of understanding and a feeling of otherness. Despite Todd's positive moon sign, no one really understands how he feels, ever. His dad doesn't understand his lack of ambitious, Bojack not understanding his need for comfort and all characters not really understanding his asexuality. This placement bodes well between him and Bojack as they both have water moons allowing them to have an unspoken bond, emotionally with one another. Todd never pushing Bojack's Scorpio moon to indulge in emotional conversations. This moon also acts nicely with Carolyn’s earth moon, explaining why Todd took on the role of Ruthies babysitter. 

Ralph Stilton - Moon in Virgo, 5th house: A common trait of any Virgo placement but especially the moon is nervousness. This is definitely apparent in Ralph’s character. The Virgo moon is also known to be critical, both to themselves and to the outside world. Ralphs middle class lifestyle granted him the ability to judge and we can also infer that, through his timid nature, he is self-critical. The Virgo moon’s relationship with the mother can be characterized as fairly unpleasant. With many of these mothers being critical of their children and desiring their children to be perfect. This is definitely shown in Ralphs family who dislike Princess Carolyn from the beginning, his mother is overly critical of his partners here. The moon is comfortable in the 5th house and because of this, this placement gives a person who cares about others feelings and has others interests at heart - this helps to evaluate why he is such a ‘pushover’ to Carolyn's needs. In terms of compatibility, the reason in which he and Carolyn worked well together is down to the fact they are both earth moons and therefore have a lot of the same goals, expressions of emotions and similar experiences. 

Sarah Lynn - Moon in Taurus, 1st House: The moon  in Taurus can be described as the most indulgent Taurus placement die to the vulnerability of the moon, this is actually a really good placement for emotions, making the subject process emotions quite well and be, generally quite empathetic. This is shown in Sarah Lynn’s dying speech to Bojack, where she is openly emotionally and has a magnificent ability in articulating the raw emotions and experiences of her life. She also caters to the emotional needs of others, an example being where she offered to get really high with Bojack when he came to her upset. However, this coping mechanism is de not great and we can relate this to the indulgence of the Taurus moon. This moon loves the finer things - seen through her extravagant house but this moon also loves to over indulge - seen in her addictions. This moon craves emotional security and security in general, maybe explaining her attachment to toxic figures in life. The Taurus moon’s mother may be seen as materialistic by the child. This is seen in Sarah's mum who forced her child into acting too young just so she could be rich. This moon can be argued to be placed in the fist house for multiple reasons. People with significant first house placements can be seen to be idealistic and youthful, this corresponds to the fact that even as she approaches middle age she remains very childlike. The first house also responds to appearances and approaches to life, something which is integral to Sarah Lynn's character and also to her emotional satisfaction, with, in the end, her realizing that it all means very little. In terms of compatibility, her Taurus moon compliments Bojack's Scorpio as both fixed signs are on an axis to one another, explaining their draw to each other, whether that be platonically or romantic.

Diane - Moon in Gemini, 12th House - Being ruled by mercury, Gemini moons are often very mercurial in nature, this definitely applies to Diane who ultimately makes this nature the basis of her entire career, from working at Buzzfeed to writing a book. Gemini Moons have a proclivity to other think every action they do, often thinking that they are making the wrong option. This is such a fatal flaw of Diane's character, from romantic relationships to Jobs she is always shrouded by worry and thinking that how she acts will be perceived in ways she does not want. This is especially poignant in her speech in one of the last episodes of the final scenes surrounding trauma and how it influences her writing. Gemini moons, as a byproduct of the planet mercury, have a natural proclivity to judge others, this cynical nature is definitely a key aspect of Diane's personality, being heightened when she argues with other characters, such as Bojack who, after his Oscar, she judges vehemently. The Gemini moon tends to have a lighthearted relationship with the mother, someone they perceive to be smart and caring, this of course does not transmute with Diane's family and for t his reason I believe that Diane’s moon is square the sun - giving a general variety of tension to any relationship - also signifying a bad familial bond. The 12th house, amongst other things can be seen as the self-enemy. The aspect of yourself that you seem to ruin. And it does seem that Diane's emotional outbursts repeatedly ruin or altercate different situations and relationships she is in. Specifically in the character arc of her trying to write a book. She acts as her own worst enemy, repeatedly self-sabotaging by other thinking about her own ability to even write a book. In terms of Moon signs we see Diane having a massive lack of compatibility with all the aforementioned characters, this just pertain to how it seemed she felt throughout the show, constantly misunderstood by the people around her. 

[megaguardain]

Name: Harold ‘Hal’ Jordan

Nickname/Alias’: Green Lantern, Parallax, Spectre

Species: Human (formerly), Ghost (formerly)

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Eye Color: Brown, White (when GL)

Hair Color: Brown (formerly), Brown with grey streaks in temples (currently)

Height: 5’ 6” (1950s), 5’ 11” (currently)

Weight: 180 lbs

Gender: Male

Orientation: Heterosexual

Birthday: February 20th, 1937

Timeline

1937- Hal Jordan is born to Martin and Jessica Jordan

1955- Hal Jordan joins the US Air Force

1959- Abin Sur, attempting to figure the Blackest Night prophecy, takes Atrocitus to Earth. Atrocitus fatally injures Abin on entry and they crash. A dying Abin sends out his ring to find a replacement. It chooses Hal Jordan. First public sighting of Green Lantern II

1960- Hal Jordan teams up with other heroes in stopping the Appellaxians from invading Earth. He forms the Justice League with the other heroes.

1961- Hal Jordan discovers Thaal Sinestro, his mentor, abusing his status and power as a Green Lantern to rule as a dictator over his sector, in particular his homeworld of Korugar. He is able to bring Sinestro to justice before the Guardians.

1962- Hal Jordan battles Star Sapphire, who is Carol Ferris possessed by a Star Sapphire Gem.

1968- Hal Jordan discovers Guy Gardner, the other potential replacement for Abin Sur, and the two become fast friends.

1971- Hal Jordan meets John Stewart, his new backup after Guy is injured while rescuing one of his students.

1979- Hal Jordan discovers Guy Gardner is alive in the Phantom Zone, and rescues him with Superman. Guy Gardner is rendered comatose after being rescued.

1981- Hal Jordan meets Arisia Rrab. They develop a big brother/little sister dynamic.

1983- Hal Jordan travels with Oliver Queen across America.

1984- Hal Jordan quits the Green Lantern Corps, choosing Carol Ferris over the Corps.

1985- Hal Jordan is recruited back into the Corps after the Crisis.

1993- Returning from a mission in space, Hal Jordan finds Coast City has been destroyed.

1994- Hal Jordan is chastized by the Guardians of the Universe to attempting to revive Coast City. He goes mad with grief and slaughters his way to Oa. Hal Jordan kills Kilowag and Sinestro before absorbing the Central Power Battery. Hal Jordan dubs himself Parallax before leaving the ruined Oa. The Zero Hour Arrives. First public sighting of Parallax.

1996- Hal Jordan heals John Stewart’s paralysis. Hal Jordan gives his life to reignite the Sun.

1999- The Spectre bonds with the soul of Hal Jordan with the pretense of it being a punishment. Hal Jordan’s old friend, Tom Kalmaku, helps rebuild Oa.

2004- Kyle Rayner discovers Hal was influenced by the Emotional Entity known as Parallax, a being of Fear. He, Jon and Guy purge Parallax from Hal’s soul and he separates from the Spectre, passing into the afterlife.

2010- The Blackest Night falls from the sky.

Powers and Abilities

Aviation: Hal Jordan is a natural and highly skilled pilot, able to fly a wide variety of planes and jets due to his job as a test pilot for Ferris Air.

Amateur Martial Artist: Hal was trained in martial arts during his days in the Justice League. Though he isn’t particularly skilled, he can defend himself without using his ring.

Indomitable Will: Hal is incredibly willful, which made him a candidate to be a Green Lantern. He is highly resistant to mind manipulation and control, though he isn’t completely immune.

Equipment

Spectre Enchantment (formerly): Hal was once possessed by the Spectre, God’s Vengeance. This gave Hal powerful abilities to strike vengeance on sinners. Although, Hal attempted to turn the power into acts of Redemption on sinners.

Immortality: The Spectre makes its host immortal, they cannot be killed by conventional means. Even most technology and magic cannot kill them.

Nigh-Omnipotence: The Spectre is one of the most powerful beings in the Universe. It has seemingly limitless power.

Reality Alteration: The Spectre can change reality itself on a whim, enabling it to punish people appropriately.

Nigh-Omniscience: The Spectre is always aware of what is transpiring in the Universe, enabling it to know if it is needed.

Divine Law: The Spectre is bound by the Laws set by God and Heaven. The Spectre is bound and limited by God if it needs to be. This can also extend to those who carry God’s Word.

Weakness to the Spear of Destiny: The Spectre is weak to the Spear of Destiny, due to it being used to kill Jesus, God’s Forgiveness.

Green Lantern Ring (Pre-Ion) (formerly): The User has the ability to overcome great fear. This has earned them a Green Lantern Ring:

Green Energy Constructs: Users of a Green Lantern Ring can create energy constructs by willing them into existence. The User’s constructs are influenced by the User’s personality and mental state, an artistic User will have more stylized constructs while a soldier would have more militaristic constructs. Constructs are limited by the willpower and imagination of the User. Constructs can be manipulated to allow certain people or objects to pass through them, become transparent or opaque, or radiate certain wavelengths like Kryptonite. 

Kryptonite Generation: Green Lanterns can have their constructs generate Kryptonite if they know the proper wavelength.

Force Field Generation: A Green Lantern Ring can generate a force field around the User to protect them from harmful environments.

Energy Blasts: A Green Lantern Ring can fire blasts of energy. The energy are typically lasers or plasma in nature. The Energy blasts can be attuned to different wavelengths.

Phasing: A User can phasing through objects they normally cannot pass through, this takes considerable effort and energy from the Ring’s battery.

Universal Translator: Green Lantern Rings will automatically translate spoken word into language the User can understand and translate the words of the User.

Energy Absorption: The Green Lantern Ring can absorb a variety of energies; from technological, magical and alien.

Scanning/Playback: The Green Lantern Ring can scan the environment in a variety of ways and playback recent events as energy constructs.

Wormhole Generation: The Green Lantern Ring can allow the User to enter hyperspace to travel great distances in little time, this takes concentration to maintain the wormhole and emerge unscathed. If multiple Users use the same wormhole it becomes easier to maintain.

Limited Cellular Regeneration: The Green Lantern Ring will automatically attempt to heal it’s User if they are damaged. However, it can only do so much.

Pocket Dimension: Green Lanterns can access a pocket dimension inside their rings to store items. Living beings cannot be stored here.

Yellow Impurity: Users of this Green Lantern Ring cannot affect the color yellow, save for dire circumstances where their will is strong enough.

Recharge Protocol: A requirement of this Green Lantern Ring is charging it every planetary rotation. On Earth, this means charging it once every 24 hours.

Earth-96 Story

Hal Jordan. He is considered by most to be THE Green Lantern. Mostly because whenever there’s a new Green Lantern thing, it’s more than likely Hal taking the lead role. Granted, it’s not farfetched. Hal is the one who introduced us to the Green Lantern Corps, he is the one who helped founded the Justice League with Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Black Canary (and maybe Batman and Superman too. Retcons are weird).

In MY OPINION, Hal is kinda oversaturated. And too cocky nowadays. At least for a main character. I will admit, him descending into madness and becoming a supervillain was a nice change of pace. Better than completely killing him off for a year and then reviving him. This is what I want to focus on for Earth-96. 

Rather than having the blame shifted from Hal because of a retcon saying Parallax possessed (which doesn’t really make sense if you think about it), Hal is definitely the one who came up with and attempted the Zero Hour. Now, this doesn’t mean he can’t have a redemption arc, that’s kinda what Final Night and him bonding with the Spectre was for. 

Now, you may be wondering, ‘why do you think Parallax possessing Hal doesn’t make sense?’ The reason I think that is because it’s not consistent with how we’ve seen the Emotional Entities use hosts. Yes, Parallax has possessed Kyle during the Sinestro Corps War and Ganthet in Green Lantern: Rebirth, but Sinestro was Parallax’s host for a time and still could control his actions. Why can’t Hal? It makes more sense if Parallax simply influenced Hal, whispered in his ear about what to do and how do things. Like remaking the Universe?

Parallax would remain bound to Hal even in death, having latched onto his very soul. This would forbid Hal from entering any afterlife, he would be stuck in Limbo until he is needed to be the Spectre’s new host. This would allow him for a redemption arc as the Spectre would attempt to purge Parallax from Hal’s soul. After Parallax is sealed back in the Green Lantern Central Power Battery on Oa, the Spectre’s job is done and he leaves. Hal would get a moment to say good-bye to his friends and loved ones before going to the afterlife, due to my ‘Characters Stay Dead, Mostly’ rule.

[plagueamon]

Code Geass MBTI Challenge Turn 10: Diethard Ried - ENTP

Turn 10 marks the first time a type is repeated in Code Geass. The first of quite a few in fact, as our list contains almost twice as many characters as there are MBTI types (not to say that every type will be represented by the same number of people). What this means, however, is that I now have the opportunity to show you just how varying people can be even when they are typed as the same. This mainly depends on such things as ho well developed/healthy the person in question is as well as factors that have subjective importance to their personality and upbringing. Diethard Ried is a very good example of this principle, specifically in contrast to our previous ENTP representative - Milly Ashford. Before I start explaining this character’s functions, please keep in mind, that this post will contain heavy Code Geass spoilers, so consider yourself warned. With that out of the way, let us analyse why Diethard Ried is an ENTP.

Dominant Extroverted Intuition/Ne

Appropriately to his dominant function being extroverted and perceiving, Diethard himself sees his single purpose in life as that of an observer, being motivated by a strong desire to personally witness the most amazing and historically impactful events he can get to. For this very reason he joined Lelouch and later Schneizel, both of whom allowed him to be a part of plans that severely changed the world. On the surface Diethard’s obsession with being where the action’s at may appear as dominant Se, however there are some key differences to consider here. Unlike for a Se-dom, his excitement comes not from the experiences themselves, but rather from how the people he follows actually accomplish things that seem nearly impossible to him. For a person with a dominant intuitive function nothing seems quite as interesting as basically seeing literal fantasies and thought experiments being put into reality. This is why Diethard doesn’t mind getting involved in the wars he wants to record: when what you care the most about is creating a great story, objectivity truly may be a myth for some.

The extroverted component of Diethard’s dominant function can be seen in how the plans he wants to see carried out have no personal significance to him. There is no benefit to be gained for him, no need to reflect on the his or Lelouch’s reason for doing what they’re doing, hell, he doesn’t even come up with the plans and does whatever work he is assigned, no matter how amoral. The sole impressiveness of Lelouch’s and Schneizel’s plans are enough to keep him motivated. Notably, Diethard’s admiration for both of his leaders comes from what they can do, not just how smart they are. Clovis was smart too and  very skilled at manipulating Japan’s population to maintain a status quo. What he was not is a genius who had both the will and ability to change the world into something never before seen, and that is why Diethard was bored serving under him.

Because Ne is a function based on associative thinking and connections, Ne-doms more often rely on their thinking skills rather than their knowledge of any particular subject, and recognising Diethard’s intellect, Lelouch made him a high ranking officer, despite him being a Britannian who is generally disliked by the rest of the Black Knights. Lelouch was later proven right in his assessment of the journalist, as Diethard has shown a gret ability to think for himself when unable to turn to his leader for guidance. As a result he is one of the few Black Knights to avoid imprisonment at the start of R2 and eventually ends up betraying his master, making Lelouch’s path to victory that much more difficult.

Auxiliary Introverted Thinking/Ti

Diethard’s Ti is expressed in several ways. For one, it makes him a skilled journalist, who is not only good at his job, but also has a deep enough understanding of his skills to be able to use them for his new position as an intelligence officer. Even more interesting is the fact that journalism was basically the only thing Diethard was passionate about before he joined the Black Knights, so it is only fitting that he adapted some of the job’s principles as a kind of personal philosophy: all is well that makes for a good story, consequences be damned. The reason for why Diethard’s Ti is not dominant, however, is that his passion for journalism is not his core motivation throughout the series, but a way for him to support his Ne ambitions. In fact, he has no second thoughts about abandoning some essential journalistic standards when he views them as an obstacle, his belief that objectivity is a myth is a perfect example of that. This also shows that Diethard’s views regarding journalism are affected by Britannian society, which also doesn’t shy away from fabricating stories in media. Knowing that, we can conclude that this is an example of Diethard’s Fe affecting his Ti judgements, which also shows that his Fe is tertiary and his Ti - auxiliary.

 Much like with Milly, Diethard’s Ti gives him an experimental side, and this is seen in how he likes to challenge the beliefs of fellow Black Knights and question the validity of their views. Ti’s situational/subjective logic is a double-edged sword when it comes to these arguments: Diethard notably tends to debate against morally driven characters, specifically Tohdoh and Ohgi (it’s no coincidence that an ENTP and an ISFJ have so much trouble cooperating), showing the ability to deconstruct their arguments by selecting relevant facts. However, this also shows a level of bias, as we can see when the team loses Zero and needs to decide what to do. While Diethard makes some reasonable arguments in favour of looking for Zero, he ignores the dozens of lives at stake, because they don’t matter to him personally. He knows that without Zero he would have no interest in helping the Black Knights, so he skews the argument to make himself appear more right than he actually is.

Tertiary Extroverted Feeling/Fe

Diethard is a classic example of how ENTPs (specifically in fiction) tend to handle tertiary Fe. While he has a good understanding of social rules and obligations and and the ability to often use them to his advantage, he lacks any kind of personal investment in such things and usually sees them as a means to an end. We can see evidence of this at the start of the series, when Diethard was still working for Clovis: his ability to manipulate media in a way that made Area 11 appear like peaceful utopia and pacified its citizens gave him a high position and a considerable amount of influence in Britannian society, yet he found himself bored and ditched his privileges as soon as he found something more interesting to do. This is even communicated in his character design: despite spending a lot of time in the company of the highest members of Britannian society, Diethard prefers an attire that can be describe as plain at practical at best - fully committing to his social circle is something he considers a waste of his time.

Tertiary Fe happens to be the first major point of difference between Diethard and Milly Ashford. Milly is a healthier ENTP, who, while independent, was still influenced by her upbringing and social environment enough to develop a healthy level of compassion, morality and genuine investment in the lives of her friends - it’s what helps her listen to them and eventually see her own flaws. And then there is Diethard. While we don’t know anything about his life prior to the events of R1, he certainly also seems to be a product of his society, but in a completely different way. In a political system that promotes amoral and manipulative methods, Diethard too has absorbed these values when it comes to achieving his goals, even if he has no interest in the system itself. This makes him only use his Fe to satisfy the urges of his dominant Ne (loop) instead of using it to learn from others or make meaningful connections with them. In this sense, Diethard can be considered a foil to Milly, having many similarities, but some crucial differences from one another..

Inferior Introverted Sensing/Si

As the embodiment of any person’s main flaws and weaknesses, the inferior function is often used to give characters an arc, something they would need to overcome. Both Diethard and Milly possess the same inferior function and hence their inherent flaws are similar, but only Milly learns to be a better person in the end.

Ne is a function that is concerned with theoretical connections between facts. It is therefore directly opposed to Si - a function that focuses on the facts themselves and how they are relevant to the function’s user. For characters with inferior Si, such as Diethard, this means that they focus too much on the external and end up lacking substance or a clear identity as people. This isn’t immediately obvious for Diethard, because he is neither aware, nor cares much about his flaws, but it becomes much more apparent as time goes on. Note that throughout the whole series Diethard has not made any meaningful connections with anyone or anything; he is so obsessed with what he wants to see Lelouch do that he is not even remotely concerned with making others trust him or developing any attachment to even his work, making him the amoral cynic that we all know. And while Milly’s more healthy use of her functions allowed her to find herself and lead a much happier life, Diethard only realised what he was lacking in his final moments.

While he did everything to satisfy his Ne desires and was effective in his service, he failed to earn anyone’s trust or respect as a human being, so when it came to his death, even Lelouch did not see it as worth his effort to show Diethard a last act of kindness.

However, please keep in mind that this is only my opinion on the matter and I will welcome any criticisms or alternative opinions to discuss them. If this article was interesting for you, stay prepared for next time, when I shall discuss the MBTI type of Jeremiah Gottwald.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Baobab

yellow-eyed-green-crocodile replied to your post “Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Golden Circle”

What of Ren was the Baobab? Or, rather, it’s removal. In the book, the Little Prince would remove the baobab seed every morning, because the trees brought all kinds of negative emotions and Ren’s Semblance is the muting of those kinds of emotions. What do you say?

Squiggles Answers:

@yellow-eyed-green-crocodile​ Hmm, that’s not a bad concept Yellow. But I was more looking for Ren being represented by an actual character from the Little Prince, similar to how the Fox, Pilot and Rose are legit characters.

Are the Baobab Trees like the Rose in the Prince's story? Were the trees characters themselves or just part of the setting and environment of the planet the Prince was from?

Then again, I do see your point about the Removal of the Baobab Seed fitting Ren and his semblance. Plus I just looked up the nature behind the Baobab Trees and it’s actually quite cool:

“…Their seeds are invisible at first, undetectable until one of them decides to wake up and take root in the planet’s soil. When they are young, they look innocent and cannot be distinguished from the rose bushes (the good plants). However, if they are allowed to grow big enough, they will be unable to get rid of afterwards…”

When it came to the Fox from the Little Prince, one of the reasons why I gravitated so much to this character was because of the underlying lesson it imprinted on the Prince during his travels in regards to taming of the heart, the meaning of love and responsibility. 

It is for this same reason why I could easily picture Nora Valkyrie above any other character in RWBY imparting this message onto Oscar since her relationship with Ren is the very embodiment of the what the Fox taught the Prince; at least according to how I see it.

This is why I started liking the thought of Renora symbolizing the Fox in Oscar’s little prince story since the two are often seen as a pair due to their strong bond and unyielding dedication to one another. I still do like that idea a lot, however if I had to see Ren representing a character from the Little Prince, I guess the message behind tending to the Baobab Tree working just as well.

I can even picture a potential bonding moment for Ren and Oscar with the young huntsman using the analogy of the Baobab Tree to teach Oscar about the emotions of the heart; both the negative and positive. Like imagine it like a moment where Oscar is extremely overwhelmed about something that he is unable to disclose to anyone else.

Once upon a time, in a Rosegarden-inspired RWBY Musing I had posted before Volume 6, I described a theory titled ‘Oscar’s Choice’. In this theory of mine, I depicted a scenario in which Ozpin is gone and Oscar is at his wits end on how to get the old wizard back. He is then approached by James Ironwood with a proposal to separate both his and Ozpin’s souls using Atlas’s experimental aura research. Of course, Oscar is apprehensive about going through with  the procedure given the life-threatening repercussions of it. So Ironwood gives Oscar an opportunity to think things over before making a final decision. However at the same time, the General also advises Oscar not to tell anyone of what the two discussed regarding him undergoing aura experimentation. Classified information and all that rubbish, right?

So Oscar is forced to keep the truth about his potential aura experimentation on the down low. Not even Qrow Branwen was allowed to know which only added to Oscar’s confliction on the matter. Things ultimately get to a point where the pressure of such a detrimental decision starts to weigh heavily on Oscar emotionally. He suddenly becomes very secretive and withdrawn from the group; preferring to spend more time in the company of the General, and the first people to take notice of his sudden change in behaviour are the members of his Golden Circle---Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren.

Since Ruby has been the social link for Oscar highlighted the most canonically, naturally, Ruby is the first person to acknowledge how strange Oscar has been acting lately, bringing it to the attention of rest of the team including the JNR gang who all share her same levels of concern. Especially Jaune who is reminded on his final moments with Pyrhha leading up to the Fall of Beacon with Oscar’s sudden change in attitude.

I pictured Ruby even being forward enough to try and pry the truth out of Oscar by confronting him in a similar manner he did with her back during the Mistral Days, paralleling the reverse of their dojo scene from V5. Unfortunately for Ruby, her confrontation only serves to push Oscar further away from her…or so, she is led to believe.

Basically in the end, overwhelmed by the pressures of the decision and Ironwood and the enormous guilt he felt from lying to Ruby and the rest of his friends about what was truly going on with him, Oscar is forced to come clean. But he confesses to an unlikely ally. Rather than talking to Ruby, Oscar goes to Ren.

I liked the idea of Oscar turning to Ren due to how well he’s able to control his emotions and remain calm in dire scenarios. At the time, Oscar needed that. Since he was slowly beginning to fall apart from everything, what he needed was someone emotionally stable enough to keep him from crumbling altogether (further emphasizing why I like the concept of Ren and Nora representing the ‘legs’ of Oscar’s Voltron of Friendship since their the two I can see keeping him grounded and upright given their respective natures).

So Oscar discloses the truth to Ren, thinking that Ren would keep his secret for him. But in the end, Ren either convinces Oscar to come clean himself or surprises him by instigating the moment for Oscar to come clean. 

Basically the idea I had back then was that Oscar viewed Ren as someone who would put duty before his own personal feelings in the matter (kind of like Ironwood). However in the end, Ren is forced to intervene since he didn’t want Oscar to follow the same path as Pyrhha. 

We rarely get to see how Pyrhha’s death affected Ren and Nora. We know how much it affected Jaune since the narrative constantly draws attention to it.

It��d be interesting to know that, while Ren wasn’t as devastated as Jaune, he still harboured some feelings of guilt over what became of Pyrhha. Given that his semblance allows him to mask emotions, imagine if Ren somewhat possesses a sort of sixth sense when it comes to interpreting how others feel. Perhaps back during the Beacon Days, Ren did take notice of something being off about Pyrhha but rather than approach her himself, he left it up to Jaune since he shared the closer affiliation to Pyrhha.

Then after she died, Ren probably felt bad in the sense that he wondered if he had joined Jaune in intervening with Pyrhha, would things have ended differently? If both Ren and Nora had been there that night with Pyrhha and Jaune at the battle of Beacon, would it have made a difference? Would all three of them had been able to convince Pyrhha to not sacrifice herself? Would it have changed anything?

Somehow I like the idea of that being questions that Ren would sometimes ask himself in regards to what became of Pyrhha.

Could he have done something to help? Would his intervention had made a difference? 

I like this idea since it lends to my theory. From having those thoughts, I can see that as an incentive for Ren to put his foot down and prevent a similar fate from befalling another person he’d grown to care about. I know the show didn’t focus much on how Ren’s friendship was with Pyrhha since their bond wasn’t the main driver for her story and development as much as it was with Jaune. Nonetheless, one can interpret that Ren did care a lot for Pyrhha. She wasn’t just his teammate. She was one of his dearest friends and sister in arms. Pyrhha was family to Ren.

Jaune wasn’t the only person who lost her. Ren and Nora did too. The same can be said for Oscar with his growing connection to the former RNJR gang. Ruby might share the title of Oscar’s closest confidante at the moment, but I believe that Oscar is meant to grow close with JNR as well.

I’d like to believe that Ren cares or will come to care for Oscar a lot as a fellow brother on the battlefield. A baby brother even. The newest member of their growing family. And given the fact that Ren lost his family, I’d like to think that that family dynamic is very important to him. Like I said, I know the show doesn’t really focus much on Ren (which was what made his story in V4 so awesome and one of the best parts of that season in my opinion) still, I think family is important to Ren.

Who knows? Perhaps this is something that he and Oscar might end up sharing in common and even bonding over? Perhaps Oscar will share a similar backstory to Ren---an orphan who lost his original family to an unforeseen tragedy that he couldn’t prevent even if they wanted to and he basically had to watch one of his parents die to ensure that he survived.

Remember how Ren wanted to stay behind with his father but Li Ren ensured that his son got to safety. Ren’s father sacrificed himself so that his son could live on and this was a fate Ren couldn’t change. He didn’t want to leave but he had no choice to.

I like the idea of a similar scenario occurring for Oscar’s past with his family. I’d like to stick to my Pinehead headcanon where Oscar was raised by his father for most of his life until he lost his father recently due to some unforeseen disaster that Oscar wanted to prevent but couldn’t.

My theory is that Oscar only came to live with his aunt on her farm recently. He was probably born and bred in the farm lifestyle but at the time, his family had their own farm that was probably lost during a major catastrophe. After that, Oscar was taken in by his Auntie Pine and had been staying with her but only for a couple of months or so leading up to the events of V4. 

Oscar’s old bedroom back during his introduction in V4 sure didn’t look like the room of a kid whose lived in it for years. It more reminded me of a kid who probably has only been there for a couple of months and the only artifacts he possessed to decorate his room with were a few handful belongings he managed to salvage from his past life in addition to whatever hand-me downs his new relatives gave him to make him feel more comfortable in his new abode.

Oscar’s original farm boy attire also gave me the impression that he either a) came from a background where he didn’t have much to begin with; meaning he was poor and/or b) he came from a background where he had clothes of his own that could better fit him but then he lost it all and the only thing he could wear were what his relatives could give him. His aunt probably gave him a couple of shirts and pants his uncle had that she easily tailored as best as she could to fit his smaller size.

The fact that we meet Oscar sporting a shirt that appeared to be two sizes too big for him tucked into pants that were probably patched to fit him better, held up only by the suspenders with a pair of worn out boots that looked to have seen better days just gave me that vibe. But, as always, this is only my opinion.

And I’ve gone off topic here. Resuming talk on Ren, I’m thinking he and Oscar could probably share that in common. Orphans who lost their old homes and families and had to find them somewhere else. The difference is that unlike Oscar, Ren lost his home at a young age and eventually found his home with Nora.

But with Oscar, I think he’s still searching for his new home. Sure he had his aunt but, like I said, I don’t think Oscar has lived with Auntie Pine for very long. So he probably is still dealing with any repressed emotions from his past with his old family.

I guess what I’m basically trying to voice here is that, should Oscar find himself repeating a scenario that reminds Ren of Pryhha, I’d like to think that he would be the one to speak up about it. I know in the case of this, many people would obviously expect Ruby or Jaune to be frontrunners, however I think it would be more interesting if this scenario is used to strengthen Oscar’s relationship with Ren. Henceforth completing the trinity of him sharing distinctive moments with all three remaining members of the former Team JNPR. I just like the idea of Oscar going through a similar scenario like with Pyrhha and Ren being the person to out him on that.

I like the idea of Oscar trusting Ren enough to tell him the truth of Ironwood’s proposal to experiment on his aura, believing that Ren would have a similar approach to the General---duty before personal emotions as I said. But then Ren would surprise Oscar by being the one to intervene and assist him to come clean before the team.

To tie into your point about Ren representing the ‘removal of the Baobab seeds’, Ren could help Oscar rid himself of the negative emotions he was feeling in his heart ---doubt, guilt, failure---and by doing that, Oscar is able to prevent himself from succumbing to those feelings. 

In a way, you can almost say that Ironwood is the embodiment of the Baobab in Oscar’s story. Perhaps Ren and James can share influence from the Baobab. But while Ren represents the removal of it---a man who is at peace with his emotions, Ironwood is the characterization of someone who has been consumed by the baobab in his heart.

It is said that each of us has a baobab in our heart. We are all capable of emotions, both positive and negative. The baobab represents the negative emotions of the heart. It might be only a seed one day---minor, harmless at first glance without causing much trouble. But if left unchecked and allowed to foster, those same negative emotions---the baobab of the heart---can implode, grow out of control and have devastating impact on one’s personality, interfering with their internal order and autonomy.

Currently,  it can be said that Ironwood has his own Baobab in the form of his fears. And as the series has highlighted since V4, Ironwood’s Baobab had now grown to a state where he’s become consumed by it.

My theory is that Ironwood will be Oscar’s Baobab in a way or…rather, he’d be the one to plant baobab seeds in Oscar’s heart. At first Ironwood will approach Oscar kindly given off the impression that he can be trusted by Oscar especially given the fact that he was one of Ozpin’s longstanding allies. This is in turn will cause Oscar to let his guard down around James or rather, Ironwood will entice Oscar into trusting him by appealing to the side of him that wants to reconnect with Ozpin.

Since everyone else on the hero team, inclusive of Qrow, seem to not want to discuss Ozpin or the thought of him returning from his isolation, perhaps this will be Ironwood’s ticket into getting Oscar to listen to him.

This is why I like the idea of Ironwood feeding into Oscar’s desperation to reunite with Ozpin as a means of manipulating the young boy into achieving his own selfish desires.

Since V7 will open right after the events of V6, after Oscar revealed that Ozpin came back temporarily to aid him---perhaps this will provide Oscar the encouragement to try and reach out to Oz in an attempt to get him to return. Perhaps Oscar will see himself responsible to mending the broken bond between Oz and the rest of the group.

Thus, Ironwood takes full advantage of this.

He lets his desperation to finding a ‘new approach to stopping Salem’ feed into Oscar’s desperation. 

When I think of Ironwood being Oscar’s Baobab it makes me like this headcanon even more. 

I like the idea of Ironwood emotionally manipulating Oscar, making him believe that his efforts were to help him reunite with Ozpin when the reality was, James had his own plans for Oscar which involved using his soul as a battery to power an immortal army he’d hope to be humanity’s salvation.

 And do you know what makes this Baobab analogy in reference to Oscar’s relationship with Ironwood so much more fascinating? It is said that in its initial form, baobab growth resemble rose bushes.

What’s fascinating is the symbolism behind the rose bushes and baobabs? At first, they both look distinctively similar but while one grows into something beautiful, the other grows into something devastating and harmful.

In terms of relationships, Ruby is Oscar’s rose. Roses are the good plants, according to the Little Prince analogies meaning that Oscar’s bond to Ruby is the healthier relationship. Meanwhile, baobabs are the bad plants and if Ironwood is Oscar’s Baobab like I’m theorizing here, he is the unhealthy relationship. The one that could prove devastating to him if left to its wilds.

But again, the irony is that rose bushes and baobabs look similar at first and why I’m getting giddy about this is because it makes me think…what if…in the beginning, the main reason why Oscar figured he could trust Ironwood is because the General reminded him of Ruby.

Like maybe Ironwood shared the same good intentions as Ruby...the only difference is their approach. 

This in turn reminds me of something I realized about Ruby and Ozpin which ties into something I noticed about Ozma and Ruby. One hunch that I have is that Ozpin gravitated towards Ruby so much because she reminded him of himself---his first self.

I’ve said before that Ruby reminds me a lot of Ozma given their righteous nature. I also think that in a strange way both Ironwood and Ozpin are the same---they both wish to achieve the same goal in protecting humanity but where they clash is in their approach.

 When I took at it this way, Ozpin (technically Ozma) is symbolic of the rose bush from the Little Prince while Ironwood is the Baobab.

I’m sorry if this is making James sound more like a bad person. It’s just that…I think he encapsulates the Baobab or rather the nature of it more.

Why I like this is because I’m thinking of a scenario where Ironwood’s influence on Oscar even starts to affect his bond with Ruby. Perhaps Ironwood will encourage Oscar to be reclusive and secretive, even with Ruby. 

Perhaps Ironwood will start to see Ruby’s own influence on Oscar as coming between his own intentions for the young boy and thus, he starts doing things to forge a wedge between the two such as enforcing that Oscar stay within his custody at all times or something.

Technically out of everyone on the group, Oscar is a minor at 14-years-old and the dangerous thing about him is that unlike Ruby Rose, who has her older sister Yang and Uncle Qrow as guardian figures and caretakers, Oscar has no one.

He has no immediate family in Atlas. He doesn’t even have a huntsman team that he’s a part of. Yet.

So imagine if…Ironwood takes advantage of that and tries to sort of…I dunno…worm his way into planting himself as Oscar’s legal caretaker while he’s a resident of Atlas Kingdom or something like that. I mean he would have the authority to do that, to be honest.  

I even have this scenario in my head where Ironwood gets Oscar to consent to undergoing harmful experiments on him on the promise of them bringing Ozpin back. However the experiments don’t work and only hurt Oscar in the process and what’s worse is that he can’t tell the others the truth since Ironwood told him not to by the almighty power of Classified Information.

But in the end, Oscar’s secret is found out when he suddenly collapses from pain during a heated fight between him and Ruby when she confronts him on his suddenly reclusive behaviour. After Oscar falls ill, the others find out that it was due to injuries on his body from Ironwood’s botched experiments.

After Oscar falls unconscious, Jaune spends the night healing Oscar of his wounds. During this time, while Jaune does his best to heal Oscar with his semblance, Ruby stays by Oscar’s hand holding his hand through the whole ordeal while Ren and Nora also stay close too.

Basically they both stand watch to ensure that no one comes barging in to disturb Jaune from helping Oscar.

Somehow I just have this idea of Ironwood convincing Oscar that it’s okay for him to sign his life away to be experimented on, only for the others to remind him later that he’s just a kid and that Ironwood had no right even putting him in such a position in the first place.

It’s a weird thought but ironically enough, I can definitely see that being possible. But that’s just me

Anyways, I think that’s all I got to see for now on this topic. As usual, I went off on one of my usual tangents. Take as much from it as you will and let me know whatcha think.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

[houseofanubis-headcanon]

An Analysis of the Joy-Fabian- Nina Love Triangle

I would like to preface this analysis with the reminder that my thoughts and feelings, although passionate, are subjective and open to change. Some of the ideas I express her might be seen as controversial. I don’t know. I’m actually very interested in discussing this plotline. Therefore, if people disagree or would like to add on - please do! I’m also writing this at 2 AM and I am wackers-bananzos.

In the beginnings of House of Anubis we are given three important pieces of information pertaining to this analysis. Those being 1) Joy and Fabian are at the very least friends, 2) Patricia and Joy are at the very least best friends, 3) Nina and Fabian are growing closer. Nina and Fabian’s friendship later causes Patricia to accuse Fabian of being to relaxed on Joy’s disappearance.

My ideas lean with support of the headcanon that Patricia, while maintaining her friendship, did throughout the events of season 1 and beginning of season 2 have a crush/romantic feelings for Joy. This is my personal preference and interpretation, but doesn’t affect the analysis that much. This crush can be hinted at by the behavior exhibited by Patricia. She is very concerned for her friend after Joy’s disappearance, which, although not inherently romantic, is more likely out of a deeper feeling. Patricia’s feelings are also expressed through her opposition to Joy attempting to attract Fabian, Patricia’s explanation also supported by her friendship with Nina. There are other more subtle hints regarding Patricia’s sexuality, but in the scheme of this analysis I will establish an unrequited crush without delving too much into the independent intricacies.

In season 2, and hinted in season 1, it is revealed that Joy has feelings for Fabian and is discouraged by his relationship with Nina. Joy throughout the entirety of season 2 makes it part of her mission of assimilating back into her old Anubis lifestyle to cause a rift between Fabian and Nina. This eventually devolves into Joy blatantly attacking Nina.

Nina also has a part to play in the stroking of Joy’s fire. Other than dating Fabian in the first place, Nina is also very jealous of anyone Fabian is remotely romantic with. This especially includes Joy. Nina tenses whenever Fabian and Joy joke, hang out, or talk, because of the threat Nina interprets Joy to pose. This threat is only heightened by Fabian’s indecisiveness and unassertive attitude that only tends to get him in trouble with Nina and Joy.

This plotline goes back and forth between Nina being too awkward to communicate with Fabian, Fabian being too flustered and confused to do anything about anything, and Joy being a little coo-coo maniac (just kidding, but you know what I mean.)

Somewhere throughout the late-middle of season 2, as Joy becomes more exposed and broken down, Patricia’s distance, originally brought on by her Sibuna obligations, only becomes more prominent. At this point, is where I assume Patricia fully moves on from her unrequited crush on Joy and the two separate. Patricia is happy with Eddie, and Joy has lost Patricia as a friend.

The season’s conclusion involves Joy aiding Sibuna in the Senet task, eventually leading to a fight between Joy and Fabian where they both shout each other’s flaws at one another. This fight is seemingly resolved by Fabian, showing his development, decides to take Joy’s potentially life or death advice, despite her warning not to follow her lead. This shows Fabian to have grown as not only a character, by making decisions that have big consequences, but as a friend of Joy, expressing his trust in her, despite her chaotic behavior. The two solve the Senet task and rescue Nina, Alfie, Patricia, and Amber from the evil Senet dungeon. Joy and Fabian become friends again. Nina and Fabian start dating again and the season concludes once again with Fabian and Nina kissing and their friends being oddly happy about it.

There is more to discuss about season 3, but I will get into that in a bit.

Now for the real shit. Also known as, how this plotline helps develop these characters.

Fabian- Personally, I feel as though Fabian’s transformation throughout this plotline was the best part about it. He certainly grew as a character. In season 1 and the beginning of season 2 Fabian struggled with being assertive, making decisions, and communicating with others. By the end he was still a confused, bumbling dork, but he was one who wasn’t afraid to trust his intuition. I feel like season 2 both had Fabian’s lowest and highest moments of trusting himself and his decisions. The lowest being both throughout this love triangle plot line and the Senet game. (Honestly, I could do a whole analysis on the Senet task. It fucking tested some limits!) The highest was also in the Senet game as Fabian showed both his fight with and trust in Joy. If this thread of assertiveness and decision making continues throughout season 3 I can’t entirely say, but it definitely seems like it isn’t a struggle anymore. Also, his attraction to Mara in “Touchstone of Ra” showed him to be able to handle relationships a lot better than previously, in terms of his instincts.

Joy - Joy’s journey throughout season 2 revolves around her recovery from her disappearance. She is having to deal with both the events of last year and readjusting to school. Joy in season 2 is in my opinion one of the most fascinating moments developmentally. Joy loses everything in this season. She realizes that returning to her school after a year of being away means that nothing is the same. This is what initially triggers Joy to desperately attempt to get Nina away and Fabian back. This was what it used to be before Joy went missing. But in this season, as Joy tries to win Fabian back amongst other things, Joy just becomes more and more distraught. She loses Fabian. She loses Patricia. She loses her reputation after many things, but especially the Jack Jackal scandal. Season 2 is the phoenix bursting into flames. It is only until Joy becomes friends with Fabian again that she realizes and accepts how things will be different, but also okay. And as much as I would like to say that season 3 is the phoenix rising from the ashes, it is not. At least, not in the beginning. I believe the way the writers handled Nina leaving was very poorly. Especially when considering how Joy reacts. In the beginning of season 3 she is immediately after Fabian again. Only when he rejects her, showing his newfound assertiveness, is she turned off and decides to remake herself (aka the phoenix rising from the ashes). Personally, I think this makeover should’ve happened at the very beginning of the season to signal Joy’s new confidence as a different person with advanced understandings. Having Joy pine after Fabian once more simplifies Joy’s motivations to be purely about her attraction to Fabian, bring that piece of her development right to the surface.

Nina- Nina, in my opinion (very much opinion), is one of my least favorite characters on the show and this is one of the reasons. In season 2, more of Nina’s flaws are revealed through her conflict with Joy. I like this aspect. I like to see protagonists as imperfect people with undesirable qualities. However the flaws that the writers gave Nina seemed… incomplete. Nina, to me, being a person who doesn’t communicate well and often blames herself for the bad things happening to other people, wouldn’t be an openly jealous person. Her conflict with Joy makes sense, but it is fueled by the wrong reasons. These flaws only become worse when Nina breaks up with Fabian, but also gets extremely possessive and jealous of him. This becomes especially apparent during the masquerade kiss fiasco. It is understandable that Nina would be upset about that. This is a boy she likes kissing a girl who she does not. I get that she would be upset. I would also get that she would cry to Amber about it. My friends have certainly done that with me. My problem is that the show frames it in a way that makes it seem that handling Nina’s feelings is now Fabian’s responsibility. He needs to save Nina both literally from falling down the chasm, and figuratively from falling into a sadness because she thinks that “Fabian likes Joy more than me!” Once again, these flaws are only made worse by the season finale. After all of this jealousy and possessiveness Nina still gets what she wants. She kisses Fabian. Yes, she did somewhat resolve her conflict with Joy by thanking her for saving her from the Senet dungeon and by accepting her into a part of Sibuna, but that still doesn’t solve this issues that she internally made acceptable. Nina is developed into a character where jealousy and possessiveness will get you what you want. I don’t know if the writers had a plan to solve this issue later, but I doubt it.

In conclusion, this plotline had very interesting aspects tied to it. Fabian developed into a stronger character because of it, Joy’s arc in season 2 was very strong, and Nina began the season with the potential for potential. However, overall this plotline fell flat.

TL;DR - The writers don’t know how to handle character arcs.

[unwiltingblossom]

koukishido replied to your post “I came across a random stupid comment about how Sakura was so weak,...”

I’m sorry, but Sakura may be not weak, that doesn’t mean she’s well written. Yes, she’s freaking strong, but all his story arc is about how she desperately love a killer in hope he change, even if she know he’s bad. She has strong abilities, but each time, it’s like « yeah, she can do that, but hey, I have other character to develop and make flash back about ! ». BUT, if you have another opinion about it, I will gladly read it. It’s good to see the character being loved for once.

Is she badly written, though? She doesn’t get much focus, this is objectively true and because of the fact that Sakura-haters would send Kishimoto a truckload of hatemail every time he tried to give her focus, but is what’s written bad? I don’t think so.

First off, her story arc isn’t actually about her love for Sasuke. Arguably a big part of Naruto’s story arc are his feelings of brotherly love and rivalry and etc with Sasuke, but this is not so for Sakura. Her love for Sasuke is a constant through her arc, but it’s not what it’s about.

Sakura’s arc is actually all about her insecurities and struggle to keep up on a team full of:

1 - The Copy Ninja, a legendary figure in the legend who fought in the previous war while still a child, possesses a Sharingan, and has 1000 jutsus stolen from his enemies, He trained under the 4th Hokage and became the 6th Hokage.

2 - The last Uchiha, a genius close to the level of Itachi Uchiha, with natural sharingan able to copy any technique he sees, huge wells of chakra, a natural talent for genjutsu that surpasses anyone not born with an ocular jutsu, and heir to his clan even if it hadn’t been massacred.

3 - Naruto Uzumaki, son of the 4th Hokage, jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails, the kid with a freakishly huge chakra pool capable of using a forbidden jutsu in an almost infinite way no one else can use, with augmented regeneration and the ability to become progressively stronger at the cost of his self control via nine tails mode. Eventually became the 7th Hokage, the Hero of the Leaf, and basically the #1 hero of the modern age

4 - Yamato, the genetically modified ROOT soldier who is the only person still (known to be) living possessing Hashirama’s genes, allowing him to use legendary wood jutsu.

5 - Sai, a ROOT assassin with an entire bingo book full of high profile VIP enemies he’s assassinated by the time Sakura became a genin, who uses some kind of unique ink jutsu style no one else is seen to use.

Sai is the most normal person ever on her team, and he’s a super ninja assassin that’s murdered hundreds of people and uses a unique form of ninjutsu no one else ever uses.

Comparatively, Sakura comes from nobody important, and her grades in the academy aren’t anything notable, she has no family techniques built up, no blood jutsus associated with her, and nothing grafted into her. She spent her childhood playing around and being girly, not training to kill people, and she’s not a genius capable of learning things in a snap.

Basically...Sakura Haruno is just normal on a team of super heroes, and she knows it. Her character arc is about her confronting this inferiority, addressing the handicap she faces and the pervasive, all-consuming sense of frustrated hopelessness she experiences facing all these things that endanger the people she cares about (who are all endowed with insane skills and magical tricks she lacks).

Sakura Haruno’s story is about a girl who goes from nothing to a legendary sannin figure all on her own power. She learns confidence, she finds peace with her inner and outer self so she doesn’t have to hide her true feelings behind a mask all the time, she finds something that she excels at and she devotes herself completely to mastering it so that she can help the ones she loves. In Wave, all she can do is stand there and try to protect the bridge maker from death even at the cost of her own life. When facing Kaguya, she’s healed the entire shinobi army consisting of 50k men multiple times, fully refreshed Naruto (and his giant chakra tanks) multiple times, personally kept Naruto alive through her own sheer effort alone, rescued Sasuke from wandering an entirely different dimension, and even punched a goddess so hard that the woman ends up stunned long enough to be captured.

Sakura goes from kneeling in the dirt crying because she knows she can’t do anything, while another girl mocks her for keeping her hair long, to falling through the sky toward certain death, readying her fist to punch the origin of all chakra, shouting at her not to underestimate a fellow woman. That’s her character arc.

Now, yes, there’s more to her. She also struggles with the pain, grief, and guilt associated with Sasuke leaving them, with the knowledge that Sasuke is ‘bad’ but the inability to stop loving him anyway, with the guilt of watching Naruto be harmed and blaming herself for this because she assumes is hunt for Sasuke is because of her begging him to bring Sasuke back when she was younger, with her self-loathing for being unable to get Sasuke back herself and unable to kill her love for him enough to dispatch Sasuke as she feels is her responsibility, but that’s not really the basis of her character arc.

Sakura never hoped Sasuke would change because of her love, she loved him knowing it was hopeless, because love doesn’t care if the person is ‘worthy’ of it or not. Though it’s worth noting Sasuke’s hardly ‘a killer’. He kills some samurai in his way after he warns them and he kills Danzo, who is better known as ‘that awful guy we blame everything bad that happens on, especially the Uchiha massacre’. He’s either uninterested or unsuccessful in killing anyone else.

Now, post war she does eventually marry him, settle down, have kids, build a facility to provide mental help to children affected by the Shinobi wars, and become the most prestigious medical ninja in Konoha - possibly the world - but most would argue the main thrust of her arc was finished when she proved herself to be equal to Naruto and Sasuke by contributing equally to sealing away Kaguya - or, perhaps when she saves both Naruto and Sasuke’s lives, and by extension the whole world’s, by closing their life-threatening amputation wounds after their squabble.

Perhaps it’s both. She proved herself their equal and she saved them both, exactly what she always wanted and needed to do.

I do agree that there wasn’t NEARLY enough focus on Sakura and her history (and I wanted more Sasusaku focus), and that she should have been a part of the final showdown with Sasuke, as basically every narrative hook up until that point including what she says to Naruto after the Sasuke retrieval mission failed pointed to her doing it, but that’s not really ‘bad writing’ per se. That’s just the insane Sakura hate squads gradually wearing Kishimoto down until he made sad jokes about how he never bothered to explore her past because it ‘would only make people angry if he tried’.

[chibivesicle]

Both Ogata and Koito seems have “brother issues” specifically with Ogata’s being about his little brother and Koito’s being about his older brother. Do you think this is a coincidence? If it isn’t, how do you think this will affect their development in the forthcoming chapters?

Hello Anon,

Thanks for your question.

Since Koito was introduced, I was under the indication that he was to serve as a foil with Ogata.  Both men are skilled in their own right but one was raised as an elite while the other was raised in poverty despite being the child of an elite.

Ogata is super pale, Koito is very tan, Ogata is quiet, Koito is loud, Ogata is plain looking while Koito is dapper etc.

Koito is the character who first questions why Ogata deserted despite who his father is.  So Koito first serves as the introduction to Ogata’s first flashback.

This conversation shows us that Koito strongly feels that it is in his duty to serve his father.  This then leads to the formal introduction of Koito, the son of an admiral in the navy.   After his conversation with Tsurumi, this leads into Ogata’s flashback with Hanazawa in chapter 103.  I’ve spent a lot of time discussing this in the past so I’ll just leave it with this summary.  Ogata was abandoned by his father once he had his legal son, Yuusaku. 

Therefore, this gives enough info to conclude why Ogata may not see it to his benefit or gain to do things as a result of his father.  It was clear he never met his father until he killed him and part of his reason for killing Yuusaku was for a chance at a “blessed” path.  He got nothing he wanted from this.  He wanted his father to acknowledge him. All he can conclude is that his father hurt him by abandoning him and he grew up in poverty as a result of this abandonment by Yuusaku’s birth.

Koito then is the exact opposite of him - he had everything he needed to succeed, money, support, swordsmanship training etc.  He begins to indicate that he’s not thrilled with the things that his father wants him to do. 

And Admiral Koito is really dedicated to making Koito learn how to be a leader so he sends him off to Karafuto for some tough love/learning leadership lessons journey.

Koito Sr. then indicates that Hanazawa was close enough of a friend (or something like that) to send one of his “suicide” letters to him.

The suicide letter makes it clear that whether made up or not, the public knowledge was that Hanazawa was proud of Yuusaku’s honorable death on 203m hill.

For the rest of the Karafuto arc, Koito acts like a spoiled brat - he runs off to drink the wine, gets in fights with Sugimoto, is the “prince” at the circus, has to be protected by Tsukishima, mocks Sugimoto, Tanigaki, Cikapasi in the snow squall while sipping tea like an elite etc.  And then he drops this info about Ogata.

By first telling Sugimoto that he’s the son of a “loose” geisha and it was a joke made in reference to him in the 27th.  He not only brings this up but the fact that lots of people dislike his personality and he’s one of them - not like he made fun of Ogata but he didn’t disagree with it.  This then leads to his idea that there is only one thing to do with Ogata.

We still don’t know the full backstory of these two.  But it is clear that Koito more than just dislikes Ogata.  He hates him.

So up until chapter 197, I was under the indication that Ogata and Koito are foils for characters who are disliked or ignored by their comrades but one is poor and the other is rich, and one is good at analyzing things and the other is good and fast actions.

Ogata knew who he was when they were rescuing Shiraishi and he got Koito all riled up on the airship to help out Sugimoto and Shiraishi where Koito immediately got super flustered by Ogata making fun of his accent.  I thought that this was just Ogata pissing someone off by knowing a weakness …

But then boom - this happens!  Ogata has him at gunpoint and he calls him a bon bon in Russian!  And Ogata flat out insults him as a rich brat in another language - is this to mock his Satsuma-ben?  Or to show he can mock him in more than one language?

And with this, it leads into a - Koito flashback.  And now there is a clear link - Koito leads to Ogata’s flashback in 103, and Ogata to Koito’s in 197.

By Ogata calling him a bon bon, he’s showing that he’s not just indifferent to Koito, it looks like the dislike goes both directions.   Now, we don’t have enough information to determine if Ogata hates Koito - as far as we can tell Ogata likely hates Tsurumi but the rest of the people he’s dealt with - he doesn’t seem to show a strong feeling of dislike or hatred towards them.  As Ogata’s emotions are understated and Koito’s overstated - perhaps Ogata hates him back too.

The flashback then introduces his older brother who has died (unknown circumstances) but his loss is enough that Koito feels like the wrong son died and that he’s got all the material possessions he could want but he isn’t being paid to by his parent(s).  It is unclear if his mother is alive or dead - we just know his father is still serving in the military.

So now Ogata and Koito are linked by the fact that they are the “ignored” or “forgotten” son of their fathers.

Finally getting to answer your question - this is no coincidence. 

Noda had already set them up to be foils, he’s just added depth to their characters and their opposition yet similarities.  We both feel sympathy for them - even though they grew up in different circumstances we now know that both at some point in time did not get the attention they desired from their family.  Ogata being a child raised in poverty wanted his father’s love and attention (likely not material wealth though he’d certainly take if if offered I’d guess).  Koito a child raised in wealth and likely his parents were either too busy to notice him, grieving the loss of his brother and unable to know what to do with him or were unable to respond to the fact that all of their hopes for the family honor were resting on him vs his brother.

How will their similarities impact their development in the future?

Well this can go all sorts of ways -

1.) They could find out that both of them have the same pain and feelings of not being loved by their fathers.  I don’t see this happening anytime soon … . but we can hope.  But this could help them not feel as alone - since both of them are clearly hurting.  Just like Sugimoto and Ogata make a good team - Koito would work well with someone like Ogata - but I think the ultimate team would be Ogata and Sugimoto as two main characters working with Asirpa.

2.) This never gets resolved and they remain polar opposites - Ogata is north and Koito is south and only the reader sees their bittersweet connection. If Ogata has some Karafuto roots this would make it even more of a stronger distance between the two of them.

Seeing that Ogata has had a much rougher go at things, ya know shooting people for strategic reasons, being manipulated to kill his father and brother, losing an eye to Asirpa… . I don’t see him being very sympathetic towards Koito.  If he were to tell him how lonely he was and how much it hurt - Ogata is likely going to be like - Tsurumi didn’t use you to murder your relatives (as far as we know).

Or since Koito will suffer the tiger’s curse maybe he’ll catch up to Ogata in regards to shitty things that have happened to him?

Or Ogata’s life moves in a positive direction and he slowly improves and learns to be accepted and gains a found family while Koito loses it b/c of the curse until he feels totally alone (this would require Tsukishima to abandon him).

3.) Koito eventually joins Ogata and they fight Tsurumi together based on how much he realizes Tsurumi used him?  The would have to have quite the information reveal/heart to heart to get to this point.  I don’t see how this happens easily - Ogata may not have been fond of Asirpa at first but he worked will with her - Koito doesn’t seem to know what to do with her now that Sugimoto has “gotten her back”.

For either #1 or #3 to happen, Koito is going to have to get over the whole wildcat/scammer thing in regards to Ogata.  Until then, Koito will keep judging Ogata and he won’t be able to move forward.  Based on Ogata’s bon bon comment in Russian, he’s not changing his opinion on Koito anytime soon either… .

Learning more about Koito’s backstory may help us to figure out if any of these are possibilities.

Noda is only teasing us right now - he knows many people are now going to wonder where this goes with another similarity between their characters - but he needs to come back to Tsukishima and Ogata’s terrible father link too …

[gunnerpalace]

Why do you antis use Orihime's jealousy of Rukia & Ichigo’s bond to justify the legitimacy of their ship? They say things like "even Orihime can see why Ichigo and Rukia are the real deal", as if it's not perfectly normal for a teenage girl to feel insecure and to have preconceived notions. I could be talking to some random guy and people might assume we're together. Never mind if he was one of my closest friends. People jump to wrong conclusions all the time. Why can't Orihime?

Like the problem with this argument is that people tend to ignore the context around it, which is the depression Orihime was experiencing during the arrancar arc.

She was feeling useless, insecure, and left behind. She didn’t think she contributed enough in the SS arc, and then she failed to protect Tatsuki and Chad against the espada on top of that. And so, her feelings of inadequacy towards Rukia were not a single, isolated incident (if they were, that would have given a lot more weight to this argument). Instead, it was just one thing on a long, collective list.

It’s important to remember that she was in a dark place mentally at this point, and felt inadequate and worthless in virtually every aspect of life—making all of her self-perceived shortcomings seem magnified, to the point that she focuses on things that *gasp* aren’t actually there, or anywhere near as bad as they may seem to be to her.

Because her being useless isn’t a fact. Her not being able to measure up to Rukia isn’t a fact. All of these things don’t exist as actual concrete truths in the manga; they exist only in her mind. They are insecurities that she has made up in her head.

How do we know this? Because Kubo immediately reassures her/the reader that she has no reason to feel the way she does every single time she expresses these feelings of inadequacy aloud. When she worries that she can’t contribute enough and only ever gets in the way, Rukia refutes that and reassures Orihime that her role in the SS arc was vital and important. When she expresses jealousy towards Rukia, Rangiku refutes that and reassures Orihime that she is special to Ichigo in her own way.

Clearly, Kubo was not trying to tell us “yeah, Orihime’s right, she really is fuckin useless and can’t measure up to Rukia.” This is basic storytelling. He set up how Orihime’s lack of self-worth is affecting the way she perceives things, and then he’s spelling it out through his characters that what she is perceiving is all in her head and not actually true.

Honestly, it’s funny that people even try to use her jealousy as proof of an IR romance when it’s immediately followed up with Rangiku basically saying, “silly girl, you have no reason to feel this way.” Do you see how that blows a massive hole in this argument? That it’s immediately struck down via Kubo speaking through Rangiku?

Again, it’s not really not surprising that Orihime would feel that way given the context of the arc—her growth arc. Her feelings of jealousy were not a testament of an IR romance, they were a testament of how negatively Orihime was feeling about herself at the time. Kubo did not write this to prove that Orihime really is useless and could never measure up to Rukia in Ichigo’s eyes; he wrote it as a stepping stone for Orihime’s development, to show how she was once at a low point and developed

The thing is, when she expresses the jealousy towards Rukia, her fear is that she would never be able to affect Ichigo the way Rukia can, or “get him out of his funks” the way she did….And then she does just that in the HM arc. When Ichigo’s not fighting like his usual self and is about to be defeated by Grimmjow, Orihime calls out to him and completely rejuvenates him with just a few short words. That’s the effect she has on him. And it proves her insecurities totally false.

Immediately, I don’t appreciate being used as some random scratching post for opinions I have never expressed. I am not the representative leader of “you antis,” nor have I ever claimed to be. So I’m not impressed by this from the outset.

I am further unimpressed by it being done anonymously, rather than some effort being made to have some kind of real dialogue.

With that said, I am unaware of anyone having advanced the argument that Orihime is inferior to Rukia simply on the basis of not being able to handle pressure. She is, when all is said and done, indeed merely a 16-year-old. I am also unaware that anyone has advanced Orihime’s breakdown to Rangiku as being the sole substantiation of Orihime’s understanding of Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship. If anyone has, their understanding is very limited.

However, so is yours.

First, Orihime’s feelings of jealousy were not a product of her state of mind during the Arrancar arc. She clearly demonstrated her knowledge of Ichigo and Rukia’s importance to one another when she tried to dissuade Ichigo from going to Soul Society. She also clearly knew and said aloud that Rukia was important to Ichigo during Soul Society. This is a matter of record, and puts paid your notion that her feeling of jealousy arose from “depression.” She was already possessed of it long before.

While I would agree that it was probably a complex of feeling inadequate and feeling jealous that lead to her so-called “depression” (really more of a funk) by the Arrancar arc, you have the chain of causality wrong. Her jealousy did not arise then, it had clearly crystallized by then.

Second, just because Rangiku (or any character) says something, doesn’t make it true, valid, or reflective of authorial intent. Yammy calls Orihime trash. Kubo wrote that. Does it mean Kubo is speaking through Yammy and telling us that Orihime is trash? No. You would call that absurd, and it is. But it’s exactly what you’re doing with Rangiku’s dialogue. The words belong to her, and her alone, and she is a character with her own biases and incomplete knowledge. Claiming that Rangiku’s speech is “special” and privileged over all others is ridiculous.

Third, Rukia is also possessed of incomplete information. She does not seem to know that Orihime went to Soul Society “to protect Kurosaki-kun,” and not to rescue her. This is substantiated by Rukia’s point of view after being grievously injured by Aaroniero. Rukia is a kind enough person that even if she did know, she likely wouldn’t hold it against Orihime, but there is no reason for we, the readers, to agree with that.

Fourth, just because you’re sad and in a funk doesn’t justify getting into a situation where all your friends would’ve died if not for a convenient plot twist, which is precisely what Orihime did in going along with Ulquiorra to Hueco Mundo. Everyone would have died had the Captains not arrived, which she had no way of knowing would happen. Everyone went on a suicide mission because of her and her choices (and further, they all played into Aizen’s hands.) Either she would’ve watched Ichigo get chopped up by Tesla or he would’ve gone Full Hollow then and there instead, with who knows what outcome.

It could be argued that, again, she’s a 16-year-old, and couldn’t have foreseen this chain of events. However, ignorance is no defense before the law, and it isn’t a particularly strong defense of character either.

Fifth, she was also questioning whether Ichigo was a monster and was frightened of him, until Nel basically told her that something was wrong with her and she should cheer for Ichigo no matter what. So if she “rejuvenated” Ichigo, she was herself only “rejuvenated” by Nel. Really then, isn’t it Nel who perked Ichigo up? This is in turn solidified by the events above the dome of Las Noches, where Orihime utterly fails to inspire, which is repeated again and again later in the manga.

Anyway, to my knowledge, nobody really uses any of this to substantiate IR. They use it as an indictment of Orihime. The two are correlated, but separate, and do not particularly rely on one another.

So my answer to your question of “Why…” is that nobody does that. Nobody substantiates IR on the basis of Orihime’s views. However, you have an incomplete understand of Orihime’s views yourself, and even a full accounting of her mental context does not justify what she does and the risk she puts everyone in. That risk is part of the main body of anti-Orihime sentiment, but there need be no connection between being anti-Orihime and pro-IR. Someone who stanned Uryuu or Chad or Renji could be just as mad about it, because she screwed all of them just as hard.

The reason why that risk is viewed as an indictment of Orihime is precisely because she does not grow from these events.

She says she has in the Xcution and Thousand-Year Blood War arcs, but each time she fails yet again. She cannot overcome Tsukishima’s fake memories (and neither can Chad, whereas Byakuya can—Byakuya’s trust in and love of Ichigo is clearly greater than either of theirs), and her shield doesn’t work in Yhwach’s throne room after her long mental speech about catching up to Ichigo.

When the chips are truly down, as they were when Numb Chandelier was threatening to mind-control their classmates into raping Tatsuki until she committed suicide, Orihime never again rises to the occasion.

That she had already done so in Tatsuki’s case (and seemed ready to do so again for Uryuu against Moeh) is what brings her repeated failures in Ichigo’s case into stark relief.

Kubo was indeed saying something through basic storytelling with this repeating motif, I would agree. But it’s not something you would like to hear.

Anyway, if you want to debate this point further, you can do it with this post. I’m not interested in receiving more messages like these in my inbox.