#i will stop here

[mistbow]

Okay I can’t say this enough but Sorey as the protagonist really embodies the themes and messages of Zestiria so well that it feels like you can’t truly like Zestiria if you don’t like him. He’s the narrative itself, he might as well be called “Tales of Zestiria” the character.

As an anniversary title, Zestiria puts emphasis on inheriting from your legacy and how to evolve and build on top of that legacy respectfully. From this you can see why the developers would draw inspirations from actual history, and since it’s the Japanese history they’re intimately familiar of, they went with it.

Japanese history has always been highly influenced with spirituality, that’s a fact that Zestiria also tries to bring up. We’ve come so far in these modern times, but that’s also thanks to the many eons of traditions that we’ve exactly come a long way. Think about it, the time we get to live is so short compared to how long the world has lived and will live (yet the world is also still young, it still continues to evolve), recorded in history or not. We’re all connected from the past to the future. If we forget about it and don’t show the gratitude, who will?

I’ve talked about “born Shinto, die Buddhist” but that’s how uniquely pluralistic the Japanese society is. It’s not even moving from one to the other, because both are still practiced, even though people in the modern times often think they don’t have time for things like these anymore.

On one hand, Shinto is really all about how sacred this world is, and that includes your life, so please cherish yourself as well. It is exactly because Sorey, as a mere human who really is not all that special in the larger scheme of things (yet he’s still part of this world, the only one he has), has pure appreciation for the world around him, excitement and curiosity for the mysteries yet to unfold, and the eagerness to pass this feeling onto others that he’s in tune with himself and conscious of the way of the 神. Living in harmony. On the other hand, death is an inevitability of human condition, and Sorey, as the 導師 (a word that also specifically means Buddhist monk for funerals in Japan, as mentioned before), has come to regard death as a way of salvation. Death is often seen as something so sad, so unfortunate, but he has learned that perhaps it can be a release for some. Life is beautiful, life is sacred, but life is also suffering. That is just being human.

This ties in nicely with what he wants to do and what he needs to do. There is passion in both. The things he wants to do, it’s because he knows life has so much more to offer out there, and he has plenty of time and energy for all that! The things he needs to do, it’s because he took upon that responsibility himself, and with that he has to accept viewpoints and approaches he might have had a hard time agreeing with before, but thanks to those his horizons widened and again, death is an inevitability, it must happen. However, both of these don’t exist in vacuum, they’re both interlinked. Both of these are what make a human, human. The more you respect life, the more you respect death. The more you respect death, the more you respect life. A balance is needed here, and in the end, he doesn’t tip the scale too far in one direction, yet he doesn’t lose a sense of himself.

Then you have both Shinto and Buddhism teach you on how to conduct your own self, in relationship to your life, mostly. But you’re not alone, there are others, and they’re different, that should be celebrated! Precisely because there are others that you can shine more in your own way. Each of us has a role to fulfill, and that’s fine, let’s just all work together towards a better future for our successors. In both Shinto and Buddhism, the human is originally pure, yet life makes them be afflicted with either kegare or kleshas. There’s no way around this, that’s just another fact of life as a human, and Sorey accepts this, accepts that malevolence will always be there as long as humans exist, but they don’t and won’t get to define humans, ever. Humans are so much more than the malevolence; humans and malevolence might be inseparable, but they’re barely one and the same. Despite everything, everyone deserves their own chances to come to their own answers.

I don’t know I’m just thinking out loud how much I love Sorey as a character (and subsequently Zestiria as a whole). I’ve been saying this since 2015 but in my eyes he’s one of the most well-executed characters Tales has and I will die on this hill. Not saying it is without its hiccups, but Zestiria is really a thematic masterpiece to me. Everything fits together nicely like puzzle pieces; it starts with this one idea, expands, and then converges again to that one idea.

Just look at him. I love him so much I could combust. The legend that has become “hope” to me.

[gyuworm]

)): omg thank you so much for 500(+2). when i started writing on here i fr never thought i would get like . any interactions and i seriously appreciate all of the love i have gotten on my writing here — every comment, reblog, message, like etc means the world to me. i don’t think or feel like i deserve any of the attention i get here )): im genuinely so grateful and happy >:

thank u thank u thank u <33 !!

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[riacte]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

i can't stop thinking about the lack of shade in gaza. with so many trees and buildings destroyed, there can't be very much shade. it's incredibly hot and there's very little protection from the sun and very little water. my weather app tells me the UV index reached 11 recently. it's inhumane to force people to live in such conditions.

donate to gaza medical tent

donate to disabled gazan children

[edit: if you’re engaging with this post, i ask that you please match my donations if possible. thank you]

[canisbeanz]

Silly doodle bc it was the first thing I thought of when I saw Pomni.

[neurovarious]

[doctormori]

the devil made me do it

[shinybulbasaur]

[captainjonnitkessler]

You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

[hinamie]

I don't want to regret the way I lived

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

[ato-dato]

Aziraphale, I’m getting a feeling You're not taking movie night seriously

[8pxl]

an example of real pixel art and explaining the pixel grid:

Thread on how to spot AI generated pixels by reyhkibanki on twitter!~ Might be a useful read to help you spot common mistakes AI makes when generating pixels. There's also a lot more info in the link!!

[samble-moved]

post itself

false flags

trans/adjacent tags

accessibility features

tumblr live post (thanks for the link, @problemnyatic)

flashing / strobing / lights

unblockable flashing ad

buying ad free

staff @/macmanx guilt trip

list of staff + more issues

[houseofpurplestars]

What really gets me about the sentiment "Don't look away" is that its always used in the wrong context. People may be well meaning, but what they end up doing is flooding the conversation with zionist carnage in a manner not unlike the way zionists *want* their atrocities to be seen.

Rather than thinking, "I must traumatize myself with this image for Palestine," try, "I will not turn my back on the people of Palestine." Watching them die is not enough. Speaking only of their suffering is not enough.

Don't look away when Palestinians resist. Don't condemn them when they fight for their lives and land. Speak for their rights to live and move freely in their own homeland. Do not look away from their life. Palestinians are here, they remain, and they will remain, and they are in the future, and they will live free and happy lives just as anyone else should be able to.

"Don't look away" should not be a call to engage in real life atrocities like its a horror movie. "Don't look away" should be a call to make Palestine the focus of everything. Don't let people FORGET or IGNORE what is happening. You can talk about what is happening without sharing the same ghoulish photos that zionists love.