#i still have trauma from the nina arc

[thevoidstaredback]

If you haven't watched FMA 03, then you have exactly one week to watch it before we can no longer be friends.

If you refuse to watch FMA 03, then we can no longer be friends.

If you tell people to skip FMA 03, then we can no longer be friends.

If you have not seen Conqueror of Shambala, then you have exactly three hours to change that before we can no longer be friends.

[jeffthekillerzblog]

a major plot point or like the entire thing about my au is just the creeps moving on and having their own character arcs throughout the years and finally heal from their past trauma

(rest is me rambling about my au...u don't have to read if u don't wanna its pretty long)

Jeff's arc is big on him finding his brother and coming to terms with what really happened. jeff is so incredibly stubborn and a big (very) egotistical. he finds it hard to open up and after what happened he feels that there's no point opening up anyway bc he's literally a famous asshole serial killer who's messed up SO many people's lives. another big thing about his arc is just owning up to his actions and apologizing to the people he's hurt. for example, nina. he led her on, treated her terribly for no reason, and was overall just an asshole. after they get into an argument he'll eventually apologize bc like he didn't HATE nina, he's was and prob still is in a terrible mindset and copes in such unhealthy ways. IDK OK I'm rambling but my point is he does eventually apologize to nina not because he needs her or like wants to use her again. he apologizes because he genuinely misses her and BOOM they become besties again after jeff properly apologizes and ya. BUT basically jeff's arc is him finally finding liu after all these years and yeah he apologizes to all the people he hurt (or the IMPORTANT ones) like nina, liu, and EVENTUALLY... jane. but that's WAY into the future (besides nina) he's way too full of himself to apologize now.

Nina's arc is her getting over JEFF. her love for Jeff began when she met him. she already admired him, but he turned into a full on crush. he did lead her on, and it hurt her a lot. shed spent tons of nights alone when jeff was supposed to be sleeping next to her, and she just felt so lonely, especially since jeff was so neglectful. She talks to clockwork about it and they help her realize her self worth and comforts her (she's terrible at it). Nina starts hanging out with Nat and toby more often, and it makes her feel SO much better about herself. Eventually she does get fed up of jeffs bs and they get into an argument and nina decides to leave. she kicks him out of her apartment and she doesn't let him come back. (she does....when he apologizes.....) She eventually learns to love herself and realize she doesn't need a stinky man's validation. Theres also a bit of her coming to terms with her own trauma, but I haven't fully fleshed that part out yet.

BEN's arc is probably my favorite. he's lost all his memories of his past life, and now after he accidentally found out he's NOT just a computer AI program, he decides to take it on himself to find out who his family was, how his life was, and how he died. I wont say as much bc I want to keep it a surprise, but in summary it fucks him up LMAO

ok that's it. OBVIOUSLY the rest of the creeps are healing as well BUT I have not fleshed out their stories yet...oops. so its just three for now. Except MUCH more stuff about the trio bc I love them with my all.. if u have any questions feel free to ask :3

[thesummerpetsalamander]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m living for Frenchie and Colin but I wish they’d explored a different aspect of Frenchies back story this season. like how he finally escaped from his dad (did he kill him in the end or run away?) or being homeless and having to become a prostitute to survive when he first came to the states.

I’m also convinced that Frenchies dad actually killed his mom but he’s blocked it out due to trauma. If they went down that route then that would have been an interesting way of linking his and Colin’s storyline.

THISSSSSSSS!!!!!!

when little nina mentioned his abusive father, and when he mentioned turning tricks’ in a flashback, i instantly wanted to know so much more about his backstory. those were two story arcs that were already set up for him to explore! but instead we get him and colin, which feels a bit rushed and kind of pointless anyway since we know nothing about colin. we know frenchie is going to lose colin, there’s no way this will work out. but we don’t care if he loses colin because colin has no emotional weight on the story. maybe if we got to see colin and frenchie’s relationship develop from the start we’d care more about them, but it was thrown at us just for it to be taken away immediately in an attempt to force the audience to pity frenchie. but we already know frenchie feels regret for his kills. i want to see how other aspects of his past shape him as a person.

we could still delve into frenchie’s guilt for being a hitman — but let’s explore what drove him to become a hitman. like you said, anon, did he have to kill his dad to finally be free? did this + turning tricks in america make him feel like the only thing he was good for was his body — his physical form, only made to please or hurt others, only made to follow commands. we see how he yearns for true individual freedom, but he struggles so much to actually free himself from those who hold the end of his chain. why is that? why does he not let himself to decide his own fate when that is all he wants? does he not trust himself — after a life of listening to others, does he not feel he can think for himself? does he think that if he tries to make his own decisions he’ll fuck up, so he only lets himself do what others tell him? or does he think he doesn’t deserve it — after killing so many people, does he think he deserves to be kept on a short chain for his sins?

frenchie is SUCH an interesting character, and they could be doing so much more with him. i’ve loved how they’ve explored his character over the past three and a half seasons, but i wish they would keep going further. clearly he has issues with his perception of his own autonomy. how did an abusive, controlling father affect this? anon, if your theory about his father killing his mother is true (it makes sense to me), how would that knowledge affect frenchie? how did turning tricks to survive in america impact his own self image and worth. how does selling his body for survival — first as a prostitute, then as a weapon — affect his perception of autonomy and identity? who does frenchie think frenchie is? these are all the paths i want to be explored with his character. if the writers wont do it, give me the pen.

all my kudos to the writers and the actor for creating such a great character. to leave the audience wondering more about your character like this is a compliment — it means we’re invested and we want to see more!!

also anon, feel free to message me to talk more about the show!! having the boys brainrot rn and id love to discuss it. or you can keep sending anons!

[sixofbabycrows]

the thing is even if the writing of the soc spinoff is supposedly better, it doesn’t really change things for me cause the things they did to the crows’ character arcs in sab s2 are pretty much irreversible. they killed off tante heleen, barely addressed inej’s trauma in general and already put her on a slavers hunting ship, so they basically sniped her entire arc and scenes like climbing up the chimney just wouldn’t have the impact they’re supposed to. jesper’s inner struggle with his grisha powers was solved by one pep talk from the shu saint and suddenly it’s not a problem anymore. yeah wylan still has the whole thing with his father, although the way they used his dyslexia only for wesper conflict was in really poor taste in my opinion. kaz already had his face-off with pekka, which also removes his main motivation for everything he did in the books and they used some of the most pivotal scenes of ck already. they haven’t butchered nina and matthias entirely cause they were pretty much sidelined the entire season so there’s that ig.

the thing i love the most about the books is the character arcs and relationships. yes the ice court heist is cool, but it was never the main thing that made these books so lovable - it was always the characters. so they might still recreate the plot somehow, but the essence that made it so great in the first place will be missing.

[suusoh]

Im so conflicted!!! Anna’s such a delicious concept but i’m so salty about Nina being insufficiently explored in monster and i feel guilty for enjoying Anna so much. I mean by all means Nina should’ve had plenty of her own batshit moments given her trauma and the fact that she doesn’t is a disservice to her and to us all. Ughhhhhhhhhhh

Look I love monster and naoki urusawa's writing. But if there's one thing. ONE thing I could criticize about it. It would be not expounding on Nina more. Like she honestly should have been the main character in my eyes. There were some characters who I've thought shouldn't have had screen time and it should have went to Nina instead. Like that's literally????? the other twin??????? like you're gonna drop a mirror analogy, make a theme about the effects of nature vs nurture, and then not- i don't know, SHOW MORE OF IT? OF NINA? If Johan shows the possibility of what could have happened to anna given certain circumstances, THEN NINA IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY OF WHAT JOHAN COULD HAVE BEEN TOO. LIKE WHY DID THEY NOT PUT ATTENTION TO THAT.

Like it's fine if they don't want to make her main character, but it's a sin they didn't give her much... dare I say, depth. I feel like the fandom gives way more depth to nina than the actual source material. I know what they were trying to accomplish in that Czechoslovakia arc, but I still can't help but feel how repetitive their treatment with Nina was in making her just moan in pain and anguish over and over again. She really shined so much in that turkish district arc, that one episode dedicated to just her, and rurenheim.

I love dr tenma but I really do think that some moments of his could have easily just been given to Nina instead. And I do think some characters screen time could have easily been replaced with Nina time instead.

And to think the only glimpse we have of the monster "anna liebert" is just that one therapy session ARHGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Like it may not be a fair comparison, but sometimes I can't help but think of Vash the stampede from trigun. Vash and Nai. Like that's what could have been for Nina!!!

Her character was so under utilized that I just wanna slump into my bed and weep.

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

Really out of nowhere but I rewatched some of fma03 eps and im gonna rant

I'm just so done with smiling politely saying that fma03 and fmab are both great sorry i cant anymore. Just no

So if you in love with fmab im warning you it probably won't be a good read for you, so feel free to ignore this, block me or idk read this and give it a thought

0. I really dont understand the glorification of manga over anime adaptations. Like people who are making the adaptation are not artists and creators themselves? What makes mangaka better than others and absolutely indisputable, seriously?

1. 'Oh no long introduction and fillers' that actually allowed for Hughes' character development before his death. Seriously if i mention his death among my homies I'll get lots of faces clearly going through some ptsd level flashbacks, it was that impactful. I still need to take a breather when im rewatching before diving into that ep.

2. Nina. Yet again got more time to grow on us and thus aquired higher trauma inducing levels.

3. Ishval massacre and aftermath are WAY MORE VISIBLE in fma03. First of all Ishvalans are depicted as human beings, and not some background, and we get lots more on their sufferings, raids on camps, racism towards them, etc etc etc

4. Scar. Oh boi how do i even go about this. So without raging much about that beefy obviously wrong dude who got 'sense' bitten into him and started working with the oppressing gov in fmab, we have a wronged and tormented survivor of a genocide, who was justified in his vengeance and rage, was depicted as an attractive person of color despite his antagonistic role and was seriously almost cheered on in his actions by the narrartive. His interactions with his people and his moral dilemmas made his character possibly the deepest and most thought out one in the series.

5. The Rockbell doctors being killed by their own government. That's a waaaaay more interesting and damning detail on our government affiliated protagonists than just dumping their murder on a delirious patient.

6. Homunculi had their own will and desires and a way more developed story arc that had a huge impact on protagonists' morals. Being created by the humans who were desperate to bring back their loved ones and both parties are getting tormented by it?? Characters strongly driven by their own goals and staggered by their relations to their creators vs some indifferent goons in fmab. Just compare Sloths and their impact on the stories and protags.

7. Final conflict being a fight with god and his intricate plans in fmab, versus final battle vs a selfish pretty much usual person who had thrown everyone under the bus in pursuit of immortality. Adds so much more desperation flavor. Suddenly your hero journey doesn't end in epic battle for the sake of the mankind, as you would like it to be. It's just to oppose one awful person with too much power and zero care about anyone else. That's raw and that's way more plausible and relatable in our mundane lives.

8. Overall darker tone and themes of the fma03.

9. MUSIC. I dont remember a single track from fmab, but i went really out of my way in my teenage years to find internet access and pirate fma soundtrack and cry listening to it

10. ART. Sorry but don't tell me fmabs flat colors are anything to 03's soft tones and lighting

So yeah sorry, but I'll take the dark and gritty tragedy over just another shounen with doubtful messages each and every time

[booknerdium]

It’s really interesting to me how the first time we are introduced to Matthias, he is fighting the wolves. Like, he’s being fighting these beings that are so sacred to him, he takes the time to say a prayer over them, and we are reminded several times of his reluctance to do so. But he still does it. This both shows his devotion to his religion, which is a major character thing, and make us expect Matthias to be nicer than he is when we first officially meet him, in his pov (where he tries to kill Nina), while sneakily being like, he’s not the perfect druskelle he used to be, because not only did he aid a Grisha, he killed wolves. Killing the wolves is where he really reaches his breaking point, and his arc in the books is about acceptance of Nina and getting over his religious trauma and building himself back up from the boy fighting the wolves in Hellgate, the fallen druskelle who betrayed everything he once stood for. Idk, I just think Leigh was really smart for showing his lowest moment first, so we could focus on Matthias’s growth and have hope that he and Nina could work out.

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

Let’s talk about cycles of abuse and how characters in Good Omens react to it.

Heaven and Hell in Good Omens are a true ‘both sides suck’ example. This isn’t news to anyone who watched the show either season. It’s made clear numerous times that they both have arbitrary evils that they commit, but only one side (Hell) actually admits that their actions are evil.

And so you get characters like Beelzabub and Gabriel who are both, predominantly, bullies. They have some power within the structures that they’re in and are some of the people spearheading the apocalypse. Other people pointed this out but neither were really afraid of their station so walking away from it, while definitely scary, wasn’t as scary as it would be for someone else.

And then you get people like Crowley and Aziraphale.

Crowley questioned Heaven thousands of years ago, learned they won’t ever forgive him for his existence. And Hell? Well Hell is only every happy if he’s pretending to be monstrous but he’s always one mistake away from being destroyed. He knew that. He’s known it for a long time. He ‘quiet quit’ (gag) before that ever became a thing. And he makes it clear what side he’s really on in season 1. He’d turned his back on his abusers ages ago. That’s not to say he’s thrilled about it, he still acts out his trauma in his plants and pulls away from love, but he’s given up on becoming something his abusers like. He stayed out of convenience but he asked his angel to run away with him years ago.

Aziraphale meanwhile has bought into the lie of Heaven this entire time. He has never once admitted that it’s an abusive system that has never cared about him. He thought the apocalypse was a misstep rather than emblematic. And that’s how he reacted every time Heaven was shown to be monstrous. And so he is the epitome of someone who believes a bad situation just needs new leadership. So when he’s given a chance to FIX Heaven, to make Crowley a ���good guy’ again who smiles easy and calls the world gorgeous, he clings to it. Because this had to have been going toward something. Heaven has to be worth saving. Aziraphale has been telling us for thousands of years that he can’t admit heaven has always been fundamentally broken. And let’s be clear, that’s incredibly naive, but it’s a naive character. And also the thing that might have been able to convince him otherwise, his attempted execution, is something Crowley shielded him from. And that was good for his safety but he was never forced to confront that ugliness that Crowley could never forgive or forget.

And also I should have seen it coming with the arc that Nina goes through which I believe (and shout-out to @mywingsareonwheels for being lovely to talk to about this) was foreshadowing. Nina is in an abusive and controlling relationship with a character who is never seen. All we get to see are the hurtful messages and how Nina reacts. And the way Nina reacted was to alter her behavior in an attempt to save the relationship. The reason it ends, the reason Nina gets away, is because her partner dumps her. Not because Nina realized on her own that she deserved better. And also her arc still ends with her not being ready to do anything further with Maggie.

And I just don’t think it’s a coincidence that an abusive relationship only ends in season 2 because the abuser gets tired of the abused right when Aziraphel goes back to heaven. Mark my words, that angel is going to have to be forced to see the truth in season 3. And it’s going to be a long fall.

[tealmoth]

also "darkfic au that got out of control" is such a funny description to me 😭 im curious as to why you think so personally i thought it was pretty balanced in heavy and lighthearted moments and considering the themes like the effects of imperialism i dont see why it wouldnt be handled as such. havent watched in a while tho idk

oooohh okay so this’ll be a fun thing to answer because i’ve been desperate to ramble about ‘03 plot points to anyone who will listen all week. so for me, honestly, the darkfic vibes come more from how deeply it dredges into the dark aspects, if that makes any sense?? most of what’s “dark” in ‘03 already exists and is explored in brotherhood, like the imperialism aspects as you mentioned, as well as grief and trauma and everything else that comes prepackaged with fma’s core story. but brotherhood handled these in a very shonen way (which is to be expected, of course). the darkness pushes the characters forward, makes them fight on. even when they’re at the brink, they’re called back by a loved one, or by their own convictions, and it retains an overall positive feel.

meanwhile in ‘03, i get the specific vibe that the writers looked at the story they already had, and asked themselves “how can this be worse??”

(inserting a read more because i’m about to go on a MASSIVE tangent, sorry.)

and so, here are some of the specific darker aspects that stood out the most to me:

the build-up to nina is given far more screentime and its place in the timeline is totally different. not only are the elrics so much younger here, but they’re also essentially a part of the tucker family for the better part of several months iirc. they also witness the direct aftermath of her death at the hands of scar (which is also implied to be FAR more gruesome here), whereas in brotherhood they find out from riza the morning after it happens.

there’s the whole barry ordeal which afaik doesn’t serve much purpose other than it, well, being kinda neat to see pre-armor barry. and i could totally be misremembering here and/or missing something important but the whole episode just stands out to me as “hey, i don’t think that ed’s had enough trauma yet. let’s sprinkle in some attempted murder.”

everything with the laboratory, holy shit. tucker’s reappearance, the attempts at recreating nina, the prisoners, everything with kimblee, the way ed almost activates the array, ALL OF IT is insane in this version.

al’s doubts about his memories and his origins is a longer arc and leads to more conflict with ed in this version.

mustang and winry’s parents. mustang’s suicide attempt. everything with mustang that’s not comic relief (which there’s still plenty of).

as stated in the tags of my first ‘03 post, the utilization of rose’s character is a really intense departure (while interesting!!) that completely took me aback.

the entirely different lore surrounding the homunculi is both incredibly fascinating and a lot to take in, and it leads to them being far more mentally vulnerable and tormented characters than they are in brotherhood. the contrast alone between the development greed gets in brotherhood (using him as an example since he effectively has the most character growth out of the homunculi there) and the development that lust, wrath, and sloth get in ‘03 stands out the most to me.

sloth in general. it’s a wildly fascinating take and, in addition to REALLY hammering in the themes surrounding their mother’s transmutation, also stands to provide even more trauma for the elrics.

and on that subject, the adults are far less present for the boys in this version. that’s not to say that they’re like “parents” or anything in brotherhood, but they’re a lot more openly concerned for them in a personal, affectionate way in that show. whereas here, especially in the early segments, i’m pretty sure that ed could have died in a ditch somewhere and they wouldn’t have noticed for at least a week.

scar’s characterization is more vulnerable here and both his death and the events leading up to it are insane.

and that’s not even getting into everything with dante, which deserves its own post.

with all that said, i’m also not even done with this show yet. i still have four eps left!!

but, all rambling aside, that’s what specifically gave me the darkfic sort of vibe. not to demean the show or reduce it to fanfic terms, or anything; it’s still very interesting and competent writing. but it just gives me so much whiplash when compared to brotherhood’s overarching feelings of hope and the ability to fight back and change the future for the better. it feels soul-nourishing to me, in a way. meanwhile, ‘03 is like a cavalcade of trauma, all provoked by the question “you know what’d be really fucked up??”

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Achemist Chapter 95

This is such a Royai chapter.

Look at Riza's gun. She had the hammer primed and her finger was on the trigger.

Riza's father was the original creator of Flame Alchemy. She watched him be driven to madness by it and is witnessing it all again.

And I'd say Envy isn't even trying to save it's life anymore. It just wants to sow misery and strife among the group even if it dies doing so. They all have so many reasons to hate each other, and them not reacting to his taunts at all is what frustrates Envy the most. Ed doesn't even respond to being called short.

Envy is a being that seems incapable of kindness. The closest it's ever come is when Envy purposely addressed Ed politely when it had consigned itself to death in Gluttony's stomach.

Like all it's siblings, Envy has a sort of ego that makes it feel superior to humans. That sense of ego stems from them existing for a purpose rather than being born by sheer chance. I've mentioned how I think Wrath hates how his life has been directed for his purpose, but maybe all of the Homunculi hold similar feelings.

Envy has had to interact with people. It's an agent of strife and discord. But Envy has seen how humans, born with no purpose, can still come together to lead fulfilling lives. Meanwhile Envy, a superior being, is empty inside. Instead of thinking on these feelings, Envy decided to lash out at humans to ease the pain. And it found some degree of happiness to drag others down.

And when Envy was brought low, Ed expressed pity and compassion instead of the cruelty and mockery Envy expected. And that was the last straw.

As Envy died, it referred to Ed by name for the first time.

Roy's eyes are hidden after watching Envy commit suicide. He called Envy a coward for doing so. Was he grieving or angry. Or maybe he was reflecting on his own life. I wonder if Roy's ever thought of taking his own life. Has he ever had moments where the guilt of Ishbal was so great he considered if he should just die right then?

We don't see him alone often, but when he was reminiscing about Ishbal in chapter 58, he looked like he was struggling to not break down and cry.

And that's another plot thread resolved.

Back in Central HQ, the Central troops have decided to ally with Major General Armstrong.

She's lost the use of her right arm, likely broken when she fell through the rubble in chapter 92. She's still very capable with a sword in her off-hand though.

And when Alex Louis Armstrong regains use of his left arm, he puts on a display of his strength and Alchemy. But he doesn't refer to it as a technique passed down from the Armstrong line. It is HIS perfect muscles and superior Alchemy.

Alex believes his skills are worthy to be called his own because he now fights for a cause he believes in.

That scene with the tank firing on Central HQ seems to be the exact same scene of it from last chapter. The same guy is even reporting in.

FALMAN YOU TRAITOR!! Are you sticking with Briggs cause they made you a 2nd Lieutenant?

It’s the final arc so everyone is returning.

Nina Trauma Count: 8

back

[tonydaddingham]

My analysis on their psyche was right but at what cost..

I expected it to happen but I failed to realize that they would start it so late in the season and conclude it in s.3. But in this misery I decided to do more analysis and theorizing. In the context of the ending of s.2 (it's stupidly long and yet this is only half my ideas)

I do feel this was both of their lowests and super dysfunctional, but it needed to happen. Crowley needed to finally talk about his feelings and what he wants because it's valuable. In my opinion that kiss was less of a tempt and more a moment of consolation for himself. "This might just be the last time we talk, I might never get the change, maybe this can change things" he definitely still has his issues. Aziraphale as a character who currently has the arc of someone indoctrinated ends up dismissing and putting down Crowley's entire being.

As for s.3 I think we're definitely seeing them apart for a while. I said it from the beginning, they need to grow by themselves, they cannot dump their problems on each other (parallel to Nina and Maggie). They each need to have their character arc, aziraphale is definitely going to be more overt considering how much we saw how his philosophy is all over the place (the amount of mental gymnastics thus man goes though to maintain his beliefs just reeks of religious cults) but still is stuck in this toxic relationship with heaven.Yeah Neil is definitely gonna make this hard for aziraphale

But Crowley I think is gonna be less overt, though this definitely confirms to me atleast that we need to see how Crowley falls. Every issue stems from there. Both of them need to realize that being kind, nice and loving isn't a "angelic" trait. Crowley makes this reasons to why he's never good enough or unforgivable  and has tendencies to worship aziraphale, trying to do everything he can. While aziraphale thinks that means Crowley wants to be an angel and that he'd be better as it (more into the superiority issue). And then that feeds into Crowley's issue and becomes a whole mess.

Taking time away for aziraphale to realize what heaven truly is BY himself. Yeah it's the reality check he needs. Honestly both of them should just go to therapy. Ones indoctrinated other ones got religious trauma.

Ps: metatron planned this, that look he gave Crowley and the music getting sinister. I almost expected him to walk out and tell aziraphale to kill him off. He knew what he was doing.

@ocean-cloud im so sorry im only getting to your ask now, it's been a mad 36 hours for my inbox✨ i 100% agree with you on every single point; s3 imo really needs to be the complete stripping down and rebuild of their characters, separate from each other, and then look at building them back together as a couple!!!✨

[pareiwheeler]

i know everyone says this, but byler really is the only way to satisfyingly end el, mike, and will's character arc.

for will this season, we as the audience were supposed to realize that will isn't just crushing on mike, he is in love with mike. we see it in almost all the byler scenes, but especially in the van scene. he tries to rip off the bandaid, to get over mike once and for all, but later in the surfer boy's, we see he hasn't gotten over him at all. he is staring at el and mike goofing off and smiling with each other, and he is upset. he didnt rip off the bandaid. he is still very much in love with mike, and its clear he can't get over him.

for mike, the season begins with him lying to el. at the airport we see el eyeing his "from, mike" on the bouquet he got her. the next day, after rink-o-mania, he tries to talk to her about what happened. this starts a fight specifically about mike not being able to say i love you to her. then, we see him make up with will after their fight, giving will what he wants (i think we should be a team, friends, best friends), after not giving el what she wants (i love you). then he spends the time in the van struggling with his ans el's fight saying its something they can't come back from, just for will to tell mike "el" loves him and needs him. at the surfer boy's, he says he loves el, although he blatantly lies in the monologue. he says he's loved her ever since he found her in the woods, but that isn't true. after he did find her in the woods, he takes her in but immediately starts planning on how to get her out of the question so he can go back to looking for will. he tries to send her to pennhurst, an insane asylum. why not just say the moment he did fall in love with her? (ah... maybe he didn't have that moment). then when they get back to hawkins, he genuinley reassures will, and when they get to the field, he stands beside will, letting el go on alone to center screen, not standing with her.

for el, her entire arc this season was about independence. she stands up to mike about how he makes her feel, and in her note (gone to become a superhero again) she signs it "from, el." not love. she goes to prison, and dr. owens brings her to nina, where she regains her buried memories and trauma. she lives through her fight with Vecna again, and when she wakes up, she has her powers back. when she gets out of nina, we see brenner die, where he begs her to understand what he did was "for the best." she doesn't respond, and he dies. she knows that the abuse she suffered from him isn't okay. then at the surfer boy's, she doesn't respond to mike's monologue after fighting vecna. she doesn't talk to him in the van, nor in hawkins. the season ends with her walking up in front of everyone else, alone, holding a dying flower, the same kind that mike got her at the airport. (doesn't seem like they're gonna get back together 😬)

so yeah, if the duffers want to satisfying bring these three's arcs to a close, i don't think mike and el will get back together. el will end up out of a relationship that she rushed into, mike will end up in a relationship where he knows he is loved, and an equal rather than an inferior. will will end up in a relationship with a boy who he has been in love with for at least three to four years, and they will actually be happy for once.

(if the duffers dont fumble the bag)

[getosugurusbangs]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

thank you for the ask! and no, i haven’t answered this question before, i rarely get asks so it’s never come up lol

a couple disclaimers before actually getting into the list 1. these aren’t in any particular order, more just in the order i thought of the characters. 2. from most of these, there are other characters that i love just as much if not more than the character listed, i just put a certain character on this list for more specific reasons, or because i have a better understanding of them. 3. i tried to refrain from adding too much jjk, but it still happened so… i apologize 😔 i can’t help myself (and also, all characters listed are from anime/manga)

list under the cut!

satoru gojo from jujutsu kaisen. what hasn’t been said about him at this point? he’s a very lovable and endearing character in general (obviously) but one thing that’s very cool to me about him, is that a lot of his character is left up to the viewer’s imagination. he’s definitely a character where you can project a lot, and make really whatever you want of him. it can be a double edged sword sometimes, but i still think it’s something cool about him.

suguru geto from jujutsu kaisen. can’t have gojo on the list without his soulmate. there’s so much to me that’s interesting about him that it’s hard to narrow it down enough for this list. as sad as it is to watch, i do really like his spiral at the end of hidden inventory arc. i think it’s very neat how his mental decline really shows more of the true nature of the jujutsu society they’re part of, and how cruel it is to it’s own people. on a similar note to that, it’s very interesting seeing the way geto truly is (his mentalities, his personality, etc. not his morals) get continuously revealed during his defection and post jujutsu high.

maki zenin and mai zenin from jujutsu kaisen. if i was already putting multiple jjk characters on this list, they had to be here too. i looooove their arc together, and everything they’ve (whether on purpose or not) done to each other. i honestly do just think the concept of two cursed twin girls coming from a horrible, at the top of the food chain clan, and attempting to thrive outside of it despite everything, is super cool. i love them separately as characters, but them together makes me even more deranged…

nicholas d. wolfwood from trigun/trigun maximum. apparently i have a thing for dudes who have big tits, are doomed by the narrative, and are associated with a religion 💀 also whenever i talk about trigun, unless specified otherwise, i’m specifically talking about the manga or og anime, not the reboot. anyways, i really like his development as a person over the course of the series. and how in the end, he ended up adopting more of vash’s ways than he may have anticipated. vash and wolfwood’s relationship, considering who they are as people and what they have going on, is crazy to me ngl

anna/nina liebert from monster. i love naoki urusawa’s portrayal of women, and just people in general in his work, and how realistic it is. if you haven’t read or watched monster, GO DO IT!!! it’s one of the best manga i’ve read so far. i haven’t seen any of his other works yet, but i’ve heard good things. i love how she’s an overall badass, kind and compassionate person, while still working towards her goals and simultaneously working through her trauma. she’s just a very neat character to me!

shinji ikari from neon genesis evangelion. i may sound insane saying this depending on how you feel about him but hear me out 😭 he gets a lot of hate, which i do understand, but i do like him, okay? (i’m not going to acknowledge the end of evangelion movie. i will NOT watch it) i think with him, and other teenage characters going through very traumatic situations like him, people forget that they’re literally children going through that? and treat them like they’re adults going through it when they’re absolutely not, and that really bothers me!! despite how he can come off as pathetic sometimes, i do appreciate the way he’s portrayed. he’s overall a very relatable character, and is (at least to me) pretty endearing at times. i like how in the endings of both the anime and the manga, it’s pretty open-ended for him. most of what i say about his character could be applied to asuka, too.

hitori gotou/bocchi from bocchi the rock. she’s just a teenage girl who loves music and has social anxiety and she’s so real for that!!! it’s been a while since i watched bocchi the rock, and i also just don’t have a lot to say here, i just really like her and the way her social anxiety is portrayed, as someone who goes through it myself.

reki kyan from sk8 the infinity. again, i don’t have a ton to say here honestly. he’s very personally relatable to me, especially in his relationship with langa and such. as a queer person who skateboards, sk8 the infinity is the shit!!

yatora yaguchi from blue period. i love his character development in the beginning of the series, but in general too. i just love how he goes from a (slightly boring) respectable highschooler, on his way to a normal job and life, to then suddenly having a passion for art ignited within him, and changing his entire life’s path. i love how his art’s progression is shown, and various other conversations about art. blue period is one of the reasons i never want to go to art school lol

reigen arataka from mob psycho 100. what can i say, he’s just a goofy con man!! i love the additional comedy he adds to the series, despite his character being a little… sad and pathetic all things considered. he’s a wet cat of a man, but i love him for it, yknow? i also love the voice acting for him in the japanese dub of the show. (sakurai takahiro kinda sucks as a person, but he’s still a talented voice actor) there are also certain things about him that are kinda hilarious ngl..

i hope this is what you were asking for, or at least that you enjoyed this because this took a while to actually write out LMAO

[lilisouless]

Curious to hear more on your thoughts about book Nina vs show Nina? I read the books before I watched the show but it was the show that really made me fall in love with her so im super interested in what you think (I also don't tend to remember books I read very well so if they changed her character a bunch I probably wouldn't have noticed)

I have spoken about it a couple of times

this was a very resumed one

On this reblogg, i explain why i think Nina was done the worst on the show

But overall, i think show Nina started fine on season 2, i actually believed they would save her character. But they gave her this stupid cheesy lines that book Nina may think but probably not say out loud to people that aren't inej.

Season 1 Nina is irrelevant, season 2 Nina started out fine but after the Crooked kingdom arc she matters so little that Inej and Zoya just stand there while she is attacked , and she (supposedly, only her and Kaz know its not) brought back someone from the death, yet no one makes a big deal about it, thats how little show!Nina matters. And she should be way more important, considering she is the one having conection with both the ravka crew and the crows. Not to say she got stripped from her patriotism which was what made her relationship with Matthias and her whole story interesting, Show!Nina apparently worked with Kirigan and it was only waved out why she no longer wishes to and all of her relationships with anyone who is not Kaz are gone.

The sab decided Nina is not important but still use her because the shippy things get views. Show Nina only has charm because of the actress , but she doesn't work neither as an adaptation or a standalone character, she is a result of netflix´s most disgusting sexism

[sainteda]

Hiya! I saw this gifset of Kit speaking about the Wesper slow burn romance in the book vs the fast-paced relationship in the show, and I just thought I'd share it with you 😅

[Link]

hello! <3

thank you for sharing!! i don't keep up with panels or cast stuff at all anymore so i prob would have never seen this otherwise.

i've seen a few people make the same point kit makes, and i think what frustrates me is that the problem with show!wesper isn't necessarily a lack of realism or age-appropriateness (i don't actually know who is arguing that) but the error in the heart of the adaptation. because yes, sure, with older characters certain behaviour will change, so the new dynamics makes Sense (although i would like to say adding more sex is quite literally just the least challenging way of portraying an aged-up character, it is absolutely not a requisite for maturity or realism lol) — but why should it have to?? why adapt a series with the crows as half-fledged, aged-up backdrop characters (who later overshadow the supposed central plot in repeated bouts of cheap fan service) instead of one where they keep their original ages? in the duology, the crows being teenagers is literally crucial to the theme of the story. everything is 10x more impactful and devastating because of how young they are. those ages have purpose. changing them has more consequences than just changing wesper, but i'll never shut up if i start talking about them and i briefly mentioned a few qualms in The Essay, so...

obviously i don't expect kit to say/believe that the show is splintered at its core and tear apart the whole thing but yk 😭

yes, based on the changes, there's nothing illogical about a fast-paced wesper, but also — "if we're a slow burn, everyone's a slow burn" — GOOD?!!!! i have never ever met anyone who doesn't like a slow burn. it's not like slow burns pigeonhole their ships into repetitive tropes; they're universal and can be done a thousand different ways. show!wesper, however 'logical' their development may be as adults (and i'd argue the rush, the forgotten one night stand, the appalling lack of wylan as an individual and the half-hazard attempt at jesper's arc leaves Much to be desired) lacks the deliberately paced mutual longing, (mis)understanding, acceptance, trust, and love that makes book!wesper so great.

i've already talked about my discomfort with show!wesper as the only built and established lgbtq+ rep considering fivan vanished this season and if you blinked you could have missed tamadia entirely, but i will reiterate again that i think that's where A LOT of people's discomfort stems from as well. i think some people arguing in favour of show!wesper might be missing that aspect because it's a very individual, personal gripe. i won't pretend six of crows didn't lean into the bi promiscuity stereotype occasionally, but i've always loved nina and jesper and honestly never felt misrepresented or offended reading either of them. they were both capable, full characters with plenty of other attributes, virtues and vices like all the other characters. on the other hand, a fast paced lazily aged wesper, the liberal handling of jesper as comedic relief with an established pattern for sleeping around (including during important missions), the lack of mention for nina's sexuality OR explicit recognition of jesper's for that matter, all rubbed me the wrong way. personally. and that's not to mention wylan's disability being used as a prop for wesper angst, making me get angry all over again about the way kaz's disability was handled and inej's trauma and and and...

listen, i could complain forever and still find more to complain about. it'll just go on and on. sorry, once i get started i don't know how to be normal or rational about this show, i hope you don't regret your message and ty again 😭

[where-theres-smoak-2]

I don't think Alina's romantic feelings for the Darkling are gone and entirely replaced by hatred. As we know, the tether only works if she also thinks about the Darkling, which she often does, even visibly in her sleep, but refuses to admit. If it was pure hate/worry about how dangerous he was to Ravka, well she'd have no problem admitting that she often thinks of him as a result, since that would make complete sense. If it was hate, she wouldn't have fallen for Bagrah in episode 5 either. Alina is actually deeply hurt because Alexander did it to her in season 1. Maybe even some form of trauma, like suggests the scene where she loses control of her powers in the Fold. Yet she still thinks about him often, and I think the reason she looks so angry at that simple fact is because she doesn't think about him the way she logically should. after her) think about it. That is to say in hate/worry mode in relation to his dangerousness for Ravka, as I said. There's also all this tension that always crackles between them. Can't make me believe she wasn't actually tempted to kiss him in episode 5.

I also think that somehow she missed Alexander, which may also partly explain why she seems to be more and more like him in her movements or the way she speaks. (Aside from the fact that they're soulmates/mirror of each other/Alina a younger version of the Darkling, obviously) It's like she's looking somewhere to make up for her absence subconsciously. (I've seen this many times in books. The love interest of the heroine who disappears, and whom she loves without being aware of it, but who copies her behavior in her absence in order to compensate for a kind of emptiness)

Even when the Darkling dies, it is clear that Alina was not really satisfied. She had a look of sadness in her eyes, and it was only Nina's call that made her turn away from Alexander's body. She did not turn away from herself. Not to mention that she also granted his wish to leave nothing of him behind.

The fact that there is less compassion is explained by the way of the arc of corruption (that their story is not finished yet) and the impact that such a betrayal had on Alina. She hides emotions that she would like to have disappeared under anger. Alina did not hate Alexander as soon as he put the collar on her. It's wrong. We can clearly see him in the tent, after he told her to make him her villain, we can clearly see that she hesitates to call him back to her. In the fight inside the Fold, before Mal lunges at the Darkling, Alina looks thoughtful after Alexander tells her he's out to save their people. She never completely cut ties. But the months of separations have surely strengthened her defenses against the pain she must have felt since this betrayal. She took the time to actually make him the villain of her story to bury her feelings.

Sorry, but she makes it clear that she imagined a future with him. A life. This kind of stuff doesn't just go away overnight. Betrayal or not. The fact that she got on with Mal so quickly this season reminds me of thinking about relationships after a breakup. Literally, the first time she talks openly about her love for Mal is in front of Alexander, as if to make him jealous.

I always assume that if (in a fiction) you love someone who is supposed to be your great love in the story, well you don't imagine so quickly, a few months like Alina did with Alexander, build a life with someone else. Especially when (along with the fact that Mal is supposed to be her big love in the sequel), well Alina is supposed to have been very much in love with Mal since childhood and have known him for a longer time. However, she is ready in a few months to build a life with Alexander. She tells him herself. If he had told her the truth, maybe they would be together as equals. It literally implies that she would have chosen him.

In all of this, Mal just looks like a childhood crush she's falling back on after a rocky breakup. Not to a great love.

This was my LONG rambling.

All of this ☝️☝️☝️!! I couldn't have said it better myself and think you are right about all of it. Also its worth adding that during that separation were as you said she spent the time building up Aleks as her villain, she believed he was dead, or at least despite still being able to sense him, she keeps telling herself he is dead. So when she is trying to deal with all her anger and hurt and betrayal she needs to put that somewhere and so it makes sense that she puts it on Aleks and builds up this new image of him because he isn't there to act or say something that is going to contradict this new image she has created of him, if that makes sense. So when he does show up again she has to fight to keep this image of him, this villain, which is why when he does anything that might remind her of the man she knew and trusted and felt something for she literally turns her head away and pushes her feelings down again.