#i love LOVE what they did with this new interpretation

[windydrawallday]

⬆️ The MAIN REASON why I watched the show ⬆️

And I personally feel like something similar happened here to what happened with TFA and TFP Ratchet? Ya know the quote "This version walked so this other version could run"? Because I respect and enjoy TFA Swindle a lot but this one forged enough charm and even surpassed it in his own way? Idk Idk pretty pretty con man bot and super entertaining to watch! Luv him to bits 💜

[sugar-grigri]

Pochita, if you can read, why don't you speak ?

Wouldn't it be humane to protect humanity and demonic to protect the underworld? And what if... it was actually the other way around.

The interweaving of questions and answers is exactly what this chapter does.

While Yoru sordidly states that children are nothing more than the property of their parents, the one who can't speak, instead of devouring a human as he did with all those demons, decides to go to the blood drive.

Pochita understood what the sign meant. He knows how to talk. But he'd rather hold up that sign and roar than make any demands.

Worse still, he does not decide to give any orders.

It's not words that symbolise order, it's that raised index finger that already in Roman times expressed command.

In the United States, arms are a constitutional right (as recently reiterated by the Supreme Court, which does not admit of any restrictions), a fundamental freedom but also a means of preserving one's freedom, allowing organised militias to fight and protect the State.

You can see how it's all a construction, the weapons are a technological creation, the State is an administrative and political creation.

And that's where things get interesting. First of all, this chapter is highly symbolic and has a very strong political message (oh my god, political interpretation in a manga, impossible..........)

Yoru has sliced off the index fingers of those who support the right to bear arms in the United States. Or campaign for that freedom. But what Yoru is doing. In fact, it's taking it away from them. How can I shoot without this index finger? You can't do it.

It's by taking weapons away from men that they actually regain their freedom.

But it goes even further than that. Why does Yoru sacrifice these fingers? Because it reinforces the fear of weapons. Let's say I point a gun at you (sorry). You'd be less scared if you were as armed as I am. Especially when you're trained, know how to defend yourself and aren't afraid to shoot.

Yoru makes those who thought they were invincible with weapons vulnerable. She strengthens the Gun Devil's power. She contracts with them through her sacrificed child.

Weapons,

freedom,

deprivation of childhood,

of loved ones,

obsession with a mentor,

To think that a god created them.

Remind you of anyone?

Infanticide is what makes you immortal.

The sacrificed demons become weapons, lost between humanity and the demons. Not being human, nor demon, because they have no parents. Even artificial weapons like Reze and Katana display these characteristics. Isn't loneliness one of the ingredients?

Humanity sacrifices its children. As Fujimoto confirmed, they were prepared to do it for eternal youth.

And now you're going to say to me. NOOOO! Yoru too! Just as Makima wouldn't hesitate to do. The demons are also ready to do it.

Yes, because they are influenced by men.

Yoru speaks, uniting with humanity to say horrible things. Whereas Pochita doesn't speak. Worse still, he has chosen not to speak. Worst of the worst, even worse. He'd rather be a dog than a human. That's his choice.

Pochita fights for those he loves, he doesn't sacrifice them.

The demon of birth, it swallows but can spit out. Suspending existence, giving it new life, denying none of it.

Wasn't Makima devoured by Denji proof of this?

Nayuta is the symbol of this rebirth. A perpetual love that surpasses hate.

Pochita loves demons. He also loves those who mean something to him, like Denji. But he also knows that when we become too human, we can end up sacrificing ourselves out of vanity rather than love.

Pochita has sacrificed himself for love, without expecting anything in return as he waits permanently for Denji's dreams.

He is also Denji's lock, preventing him from fully adapting to men.

That's why killing Black CSM was Denji's wish come true. Because Pochita is preventing Denji from becoming normal.

Because he wants to protect him from humanity. Pochita has never been for humanity.

He is simply the guardian of the underworld, all those demons whose existence he guards, a supreme mother. Humanity must endure in order to continue to be afraid. But if humanity is prepared to overcome the ultimate fear of losing its child, then fear is scorned.

So Pochita tried to wipe out the weapons' existence, to devour them. But they still existed. Why? Because they are already the result of infanticide.

being devoured by the demon of birth, mother of the underworld, actually reinforces their existence.

Being devoured by their mother is the reason for their nature.

Whereas weapons are beings born because their mother has killed them.

Denji is the result of the death of the Supreme Mother.

It's not a weapon.

He's a wall.

Hero of the underworld.

A hero of the underworld who has been fighting from the start for the victory of love, sacrificing himself for those he loves and not sacrificing them. So he asks for blood.

And I'm sorry. If weapons really are born like that, they have to look human, and I think this is the last possessed human.

Someone's been ringing the doorbell.....for 100 chapters… it's time to answer it, isn't it?

[honeygrahambitch]

Hi, I'm new to the fandom and unsure who to ask my questions. I recently joined Tumblr and came across your posts while browsing the Hannibal meta tag. I have a few questions: What are Hannibal's feelings towards Bedelia and Alana? I remember Mads once said that Hannibal is in love with everyone on the show to some extent, so what exactly does love mean to him? Also, I'm having trouble understanding the line by Will: "You will only do that if I rejected you" (sorry, I paraphrased). I apologize if these are too many questions. Thanks in advance!

Hi anon! I am in a yapping mood so here we go.

1. What are Hannibal's feelings towards Bedelia and Alana?

They are absolutely women that he appreciates and respects to some extent. Hannibal does not engage with people he doesn't respect. Bedelia is his colleague and...friend? Depends who you ask cause Hannibal did say that he considered her his friend. He doesn't love her, but she matches his freak to some extent. She is a beautiful woman and she is intelligent and most importantly, she probably knows him better than anyone (up until the point he meets Will at least).

He was also very genuine towards Alana. He did use her as an alibi but I stand my ground when I say that he offered her to run away genuinely because he cared about her. She is also intelligent and beautiful, what's not to like about her? (i won't start ranting about Alana now, I have many thoughts ahhhhh). Tbh his feelings towards Bedelia are deeper. Alana did not see him for who he was. She didn't know him intimately enough. He has never wanted to eat her. Hannibal wants to eat people if 1) they are rude and 2) they mean the world to him (because how else to express your adoration). Bedelia did end up for dinner in the end. What he had with Alana was not that deep but it was enjoyable for sure. Alana is more submissive than Bedelia.

So I guess to sum up, both Bedelia and Alana were very convenient both as partners and as pawns for the bigger picture. But his feelings toward them are nothing compared to what he feels for Will.

2. What does love mean to Hannibal?

My take on what Mads said is that Hannibal is an individual who is genuinely in love with life. With every aspect. Life gets complicated? That's entertaining to him. Will did something unpredictable? Entertaining too. Rude people or people he loves are having dinner with him? Wonderful. Murder? Mesmerizing. He loves suits, he composes, he draws, he cooks, he is so full of life all the time. He is a little bit in love with everyone because he finds everyone a source of entertainment and that's really important to him.

Will actually making him suffer is however something he did not find so entertaining. Even if he did find some beauty in all that pain, I am sure he wasn't very entertained. It was a rare occasion where he was really in pain. He is not the same as in the first two seasons. He is more reckless, more impulsive. His little happy narrative was shattered because of a situation where he had no control over. Part of his life satisfaction and entertainment are explained by his need to control how all the subplots develop.

3. What did Will mean when he said "you'd only do that if I rejected you"?

Honestly this is one that I struggled with for a long time and I guess you can interpret it in many nuances. It's meant to be interpretable.

You can either see it as a) "I manipulated you to surrender and you fell for it. I knew which buttons to push. You can't handle rejection. You did exactly what I expected you to do" or b) (my favorite) "I had to say all those things because it was the only way to make you surrender. I knew that you wanted me to know where to find you. While what I said back then does not reflect my true feelings, I had to make you surrender."

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Manga Yuri Club Special Story 8 English Translation

SPOILER WARNING: Takes place at the end of File 9 - Yamanoke Presence in Vol 3 of the novels.

Written by: Miyazawa Iori

Translated by: @hurpdurpburps

-

Chapter 8: Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back

Mum and Mama…

What did she mean by Mum and Mama?

As we rode the elevator in the skeletal building to return to the surface world, the question slowly returned to my mind.

Toriko said that she had a Mum and Mama.

Her dad didn’t remarry.

It was just her Mum and Mama.

Hah.

So, she was raised by two mothers.

I was a bit surprised since I’d never given it any thought, but I suppose that’s how things were.

Mama was a soldier in the Canadian military, and Mum wasn't.

What's “not in the military” supposed to mean? A full-time housewife? Do full-time housewives exist in Canada? Well, I guess they do...

I knew as a fact that marriage between women was possible. The topic came up regularly in the gender studies lectures that I took as part of my general education, and the existence of many different forms of family and kinship was one of the major themes in cultural anthropology. It was probably also mentioned in my high school civics classes, but I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to subjects that weren’t necessary for my university entrance exams. Due to what was going on at home, I’d fallen behind in my studies, so the best I could do was catch up on the scope covered in the tests.

I see…

Toriko had a Mum and a Mama.

While I knew of such things, it never crossed my mind that I would find a real-life example in such close proximity.

When I learnt that Toriko had lost both her parents during my conversation with Kozakura from before, I had assumed that we were in similar situations, but Toriko had her own unique set of circumstances.

I guess you never know about the story behind someone's family unless they tell you…

Based on what I knew, I’d assumed that Toriko was brought up lovingly by her mum and dad.

And judging from the way Toriko spoke, it seemed I was right about her being loved.

But why did she tell me about that, today, at this particular moment? Was that where things were headed? We’d been talking about survival techniques just before, when Toriko said that she’d learnt it from her parent who was in the military- who was erhhhh, Mama… That was about it. While what we were talking about was indeed relevant to Mama, the turn in conversation seemed abrupt.

Oh, right. I remember now.

I’d shared my life story with Toriko on the revolving observational platform. About my escape from the cult and all that jazz [1]. I was confused since Toriko seemed to be in shock despite my casual tone. I suppose that's why Toriko started talking about her family as well.

In the elevator next to me, Toriko stared at the floor indicator above the doors as she restlessly shifted from foot to foot.

Toriko’s instinctive reaction to my story had troubled me, but that was also surely her trying to be considerate in her own way. Thinking along these lines, I could understand the sudden change in topic, and why she seemed to be waiting for my reaction. While her cheerful appearance could be misleading, Toriko was rather clumsy when it came to communicating with others.

Though, she probably wouldn't want to hear that coming from me.

Sorry for worrying you, thank you…

Just as I was thinking that, Toriko seemed to sense my gaze and turned towards me, and our eyes met.

All of a sudden, Toriko smiled at me again. The way she laughed as her eyes roamed, as if she was slightly troubled. Toriko had a habit of doing so when she was feeling shy.

Was there anything for her to be shy about?

A new question arose in my mind as I looked back at her curiously,

A life story was reciprocated with another one. That seemed like a coherent way of connecting the dots. However.

Is this really a correct interpretation of what’s going on?

Could there be a reason that I haven't thought of?

Something important that I’m not seeing-

My mind turned fuzzy just as I reached the thought. Like the way it did whenever I thought of the terrifying depths of the Otherside, as if my brain was politely declining to think about the matter.

Ever since I met Toriko, I'd been constantly reminded of the fact that I was terrible at reading others. Although there'd been no need for me to do so before then.

The bell chimed as the elevator reached the first floor. The sound brought me back to my senses and I returned my gaze to the front.

The doors opened slowly, and there was no one on the other side.

I let out a sigh of relief, having half-expected Satsuki Uruma to appear. Thank God she didn't follow us to the surface world.

"I'm exhausted- what should we eat?" Toriko said as she stepped out of the elevator, completely oblivious.

As I trailed behind, my worries from earlier were already fading from my mind and disappearing into who-knows-where.

At least, for now.

TL Notes

General note: I adopted a more 'literary' prose style to match the tone of the novels. Hence, the translation in this series will be significantly more liberal than my usual analytical posts. Feel free to ask me anything. Feedback regarding translation accuracy is also welcome.

[1] Sorawo says うんたらかんたら here, which is the equivalent of 'blah blah blah' in English, but that didn't really flow well with the other sentences so I spiced it up a bit.

This is probably the most difficult chapter to translate so far, holy shit. I wanted to pass away. My brain cells died at all the inferencing. High context languages are terrible [insert Kozakura ough face here].

List of Yuri Club's Otherside Picnic Short Stories [my translations]:

1. Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up (新宿、初めての待ち合わせ)

2. Hasshaku-sama Epilogue (八尺様エピローグ)

3. Ochanomizu, The First Afterparty (お茶の水、初めての打ち上げ)

4. Ikebukuro, Cafe Meal For One (池袋、ひとりカフェ飯)

5. Naha, After The Big Job (那覇、大仕事の後)

6. Ishigaki Island, A Dazed Vacation (石垣島、呆然のリゾート)

7. Mercedes AMG, The Backseat (メルセデスAMG、後部座席)

8. Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back (異世界エレベーター、帰路)

9. Kozakura Mansion, Pizza Party (小桜屋敷、ピザパーティー)

10. TBD

11. TBD

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Lackadaisy Enrichment

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I am routinely baffled by any criticism of jgy fans' interpretation and defence of his character that can be boiled down to "but genre conventions!!!!" as if defying genre conventions isn't how newer, cooler, more interesting stories end up being told.

[vaugarde]

i still stand by that nuzleaf wouldve been a better villain if they didnt go “oh its ok he was just possessed so he doesnt have as much responsibility for what he did”. cowards. he shouldve done the filicide on his own

[katimanki]

An AU where they grew up as upper class rich kids going to fancy charity events and banquets every weekend.

Mike hates them and is dragged to them against his will, but at least Max is also forced to attend with her family, so they don't have to suffer at these stuck up formal parties alone. The Byers-Hoppers are new in town and are attending their first charity event as members of the rich people community of Hawkins and Mike has a bi panic moment when he spots the family's twins in the crowd. (at first his silly ass almost mistakes them for a couple until Max corrects him)

The Wonder Twins(as Max calls them) seem like an intimidating pair, they are in their element at the fancy events, and Mike is very much not. But when he catches the twins pulling pranks on the sidelines of the events, he gets the courage to try and befriend them.

(this had a companion piece of Mike and Max, but anything I made would just not look even close to what the sketch did, so I just put the sketch under the cut)

[septembersghost]

received an ask that was asked not to be posted, but because of it, and because of the thread sent around this morning, i want to tell you why i never find casual or "satirical" antisemitism or racism funny or acceptable: when i was in highschool, i was horribly bullied. pick a reason - i was out of district with affluent kids, so they made fun of me for being poor, for my clothes, for my curly hair, for my body, for my shyness, for my interests, whatever. in 10th grade, we had to do semester long comprehensive projects/presentations on a topic in modern european history. i chose the holocaust. as difficult as i knew this would be to study with intent, i made this choice because members of my extended family were lost, because we had a dear family friend who was a survivor (wrote a book and ran a shoah museum), and because i was old enough that i needed to try and understand, because this shadow of horror and grief had always been a part of my jewish heritage. when the kids who bullied me realized this, the torment became explicitly antisemitic. i won't repeat some of things they said, but it's still burned into my brain. they mocked anything they could. told me all jewish girls are ugly. and far worse. eventually, a couple of the girls emailed me actual nazi propaganda. one stole a beloved star of david necklace of mine and threw it in a dumpster (i never got it back). because this was concrete proof, we went to administration, and they suspended the girls for a week. the boys who'd made the very worst "jokes" couldn't be reprimanded because i couldn't prove bullying via speech. they kept doing it, just changed tactics. i was told later we could've pressed what happened further as a hate crime, but tbh i don't think i would've had the strength for that. i just kept my head down and tried to survive it until they got bored. they engaged in "joking" racism and misogyny too. they did "ironic" h*il salutes and laughed about ovens. it wasn't humor, it was bigotry. it left permanent emotional scars, not just on me. and those types of jokes? they inflame and encourage and embolden very real and dangerous white supremacy. so yeah. i never find that funny and i never am able to brush it off. if that's oversensitive, fine. i'd rather be oversensitive than callous. and i feel the imperative to listen to people when they're hurt.

[spearxwind]

Thinking about the time i commissioned an artist i rly liked for something and the result was kind of really catastrophic just from the preview image in the email so i just. never opened the actual image

[inkykeiji]

I have a question about something I’ve kinda noticed on tumblr. When you write fics about a character like Dabi and then give him multiple different story lines and personalities and stuff, why don’t you just make an original character? I’ve kinda noticed that a lot of writers on here will write about a character but then make them pretty different from what they’re really like in the show/book and change some stuff about them, and it just makes me think if it would be easier to make up a new character at that point so that the writer could make them exactly what they want 🤔 idk if that makes sense I have trouble explaining myself sometimes lol

well i can’t speak for other writers, but for me personally (and i’ve said this before) i enjoy taking a character, breaking them down analytically to their core personality traits, characteristics, values and beliefs, and then throwing them (the character) in a new situation and exploring how i personally believe they’d act/behave/respond to that situation IF they were hypothetically in it. so touya-nii, for example, is how i personally interpret todoroki touya the character would be if he were a big step-brother in our universe (aka not in the my hero universe with all the quirks etc) within the specific narrative i’ve created for him. he retains all of dabi’s core traits and characteristics, and they manifest within how he behaves and interacts with the narrative. bmb dabi, for example, is how i personally believe dabi would act if he fell into true love with someone, etc etc etc.

i really enjoy doing this, because i love analyzing and interpreting my favourite characters in such a way and getting to throw them into situation after situation and explore how i believe they’d react, so that’s why i write so many AUs! it’s a lot of fun and a great creative exercise, and i think a lot of us enjoy getting to examine our favourite characters in this way/context/entirely without constraints and expressing our own unique interpretations of them! i hope this helps anon c: AUs definitely aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and that’s totally okay, but all fan fiction written follows the idea of the author expressing themselves and their thoughts and interpretations surrounding a character and/or an event, whether that’s within canon or not! <3

[dekusleftsock]

your blog is feeding my togachako hyperfixtation rn

AS I SHOULD BE IM AN INSATIABLE MONSTER OF TOGACHAKO, CHAOS, AND YOUR MOMS PU33Y

Join me in my crusade of feral frothing at mouths and staying up all night thinking about them

[leatherbookmark]

an interesting thing abt jgy antis is like. where is the source of their, shall we say, negative opinion of jgy? like, 1. jgy is a villain, he does horrible things with no remorse, he’s willing to do everything to achieve his selfish, egotistical goals. --> 2. the source of this claim: this, this and this scene. --> 3. alright, but to me -- says someone who’s not an anti -- this reads differently. that he did all those things, and did them on purpose and without remorse, is not that obvious to me. why do you think that? --> 4. well, obviously because he’s a villain and does horrible things with no remorse.

like... he’s evil because he does bad things, and he does bad things because he’s evil. i’m interested in how antis came by those opinions, but a, unfortunately i have them all blocked, and b, even if i or someone else made a poll, it wouldn’t be authentic because no sane anti is going to say “well, people hated him and wrote all those things about him on twt, so i started hating him as well”, or “i only care about wgxn, you could sell me anything about other characters if your arguments were convincing enough because i zoned out during the parts when wgxn weren’t on screen/pages of the book”. it’s all “written in the book/shown in the show” and “logical arguments you’d agree with if only you could read”.

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 331

Adjective: Old-Fashioned

Noun: Posy

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Old-Fashioned: in or according to styles or types no longer current or common, or not modern; (of a person or their views) favoring traditional and usually restrictive styles, ideas, or customs

Posy: a small bunch of flowers; (archaic) a short motto or line of verse inscribed inside a ring