#i wish i could see the other image clearly on my computer but alas i cannot

[preciouslandmermaid]

This is so important & also why I think it’s dangerous when people push the idea of “only gay/queer/trans people can play gay/queer/trans roles.” Because let’s just use an example. an actor is offered a role to play a homosexual character. that actor is closeted, but that doesn’t mean they have to come out for the sake of your comfort/your acceptance of them taking a role. 

Additionally, it limits queer/trans folk. If people say “only gay people can play gay people on screen.” Does that now mean that gay folks can’t play straight characters?? Like?? Do we see the harm this can do towards closeted people? Do we see the harm towards questioning queer people? 

No one - not actors (whom we don’t even KNOW), not your neighbors, your classmates, your siblings -- NO ONE -- should be forced to come out or make comments on their sexuality. 

And it’s primarily targeted at queer folks. I never see people on twitter like “omg Henry Cavill is soooo straight.” 🤨🤨🤨 Like. HELLO??

Simply put: it’s none of our business whether someone is gay/bi/trans/questioning/etc. This is not information for us to speculate, comment on, make memes about, etc. Let people live in peace!!

Idk who this guy is but I’m just gonna leave this here without comment and hope the audience I’m indirecting it at finally understands something for once

[0poole]

I LOVE No Straight Roads

Honestly it’s hard to keep me away from a game with great visuals and even greater character design. I knew from the INSTANT I saw these characters that I was going to love it. I just finished it because it’s (unfortunately) pretty short, and even though I cheesed the final boss through it’s very lenient death mechanics (Instant respawn at the cost of a good rank) I actually appreciated that it wasn’t a pure cake walk. I’ve yet to rematch all of the bosses, but since I had genuine trouble with the later ones I’ll hold off on that.

But who cares about gameplay, am I right? I sure as hell don’t. I would’ve bought the game no matter what the hell it was. I wanted the characters (and the music, although I realized that second) and that was it. 

First of all, I love any world that is super fantastical but cheesy in its concept, ala a city powered by music, and battles between artists using music. Ideas like this only spawn from a mind that wants to create a fun atmosphere, if nothing else, and it was sure as hell fun. I genuinely love when someone goes so far into a crazy idea and doesn’t waste your time explaining it with real world logic. Wanna know how a city can be powered by music? Shut up and look at the cute virtual mermaid. Lord knows I did. Every once in a while, it does you good to just let the player/reader/viewer just revel in the idea without having to go out of your way to make things seem realistic. It’s not about “turning your brain off” or whatever, it’s picking your battles.

Also, I can seriously love a world with great background characters to it. Any game with the right situation to insert the random nobodies you find onto the streets into the art in the credits really played into the greatness of the world’s less important characters, and that’s always a good thing. It’s technically world building. But, since I always love to pick favorites, I’d have to say my favorite background character is easily Mia, the NSR infodesk assistant. It’s funny, because you can literally search “nsr characters” into Google and she’s the third image result. I love how jumpy she is when you first interact with her, since NSR probably spread the word about B2J suggesting they’re rock thugs who’d beat up anyone, so for all she knows she could die right then and there with a guitar lodged in her skull. She’s probably just some intern trying to pay for college. She don’t want trouble.

Also, I just realized that 90% of the characters in this game have the same body structure that I always love, that being having arms/legs that sort of fan out in width into relatively large hands/feet. It’s a kind of limb structure I fall into so much because it just really hits me right for some reason. I really can’t explain why.

Anyways, I gotta talk about the big boys individually:

Mayday and Zuke are an amazing duo. I’m always a sucker for a cute and crazy girl, but honestly Zuke hit so many of the right notes too. I will say it’s weird to pair the martian Zuke with the humanly-skinned Mayday, but honestly it doesn’t even matter because he looks so cool on his own. I love his weird blocky blue dreadlocks, and his weirdly shaped shirt which bares his chest in the weirdest way... And, oh my god, Mayday’s weird Spongebob background flower eyes? It’s little tidbits like that that really make me jealous. How could I have ever thought of that? It looks so perfect, and I don’t know why. And her little booty jig she does in her idle animation? Adorable. I played as her as much as was reasonable not only because I’m a filthy button masher with little strategy but also because she’s so damn cute. I can also appreciate how she has a tough-as-nails persona while still keeping a semi-girly attitude, like with her falling for 1010 and Sayu. Characters are so much better when they’re a perfect blend of characteristics, instead of being all one-note, like how Zuke is the quiet one but gets heated against DK West, and all. 

Honestly the voice acting for every character is great, but I love when Mayday’s VA’s accent shows through. It’s a perfect twang to accent (consider this the only acknowledgement of a pun in this post) her snarkiness. 

DJ Subatomic Supernova was going to be an easy favorite since he’s all space-themed. Also, I don’t know why I always end up liking the egotistic characters. Not in the sense that I like their egotistic-ness, but in the sense that I like everything else about them and they just so happen to also be egotistic. The same applied with Empoleon (maybe like my 2nd favorite Pokemon) and Rarity from MLP, probably among others. Either way, I’ll never not love space themes. Not to mention he’s got a funky disco theme, and I’m slowly starting to realize that I am in extreme love with techno-funk styles of music. The instant I heard his music he cemented his place into my playlists. 

As for design, I still have no idea what the fuck he is. Clearly AI is at human levels in this world, but if he’s a robot why does he still have hairy legs? But, if he’s a human, is that weird orb his head? Is it just some sort of puppet which he controls from inside his giant jacket? I know I dissed explaining things realistically but I actually want to know with this guy. Even the wiki doesn’t say. Either way, he’s clearly the logical extreme of “being at the center of your own universe.” Even his jacket depicts a solar system, with his hood being the sun. Didn’t see that until I tried to draw him. I really wish this guy wasn’t so tied to his DJ stand so I could reasonably draw him without it. I don’t want to draw his hairy ass legs. It is a great touch for his design though (although I prefer his beta look with pants and long boots, another design trait I tend to gravitate to) since DJs could reasonably not wear pants, since they’re always behind a table.

Sayu is my favorite. It’s so plainly obvious. It’s weird to say that sometimes, because some characters like Sayu are so clearly engineered to be as adorable as possible, to the point where they’re basically a parody of whatever they’re supposed to be emulating, but then they do that so well that they are still likable for what they’re trying to parody. Also, even though I’ve never looked into any vocaloid superstars myself, the fact that they exist and are loved in real life is absolutely perfect to be used as a character design in a world like this. It’s so weird conceptually, but we all know it’s normal and realistic. But yeah, she’s a giga-cutie whom I’ve already drawn and I’ve listened to her theme on loop on many different occasions. Favorite character, favorite track, favorite weapon of choice (What did I say about Empoleon?), which, and I wouldn’t have noticed this myself, looks like the USB symbol you see above USB ports on computers. How crazy perfect is that?

Even apart from my unbridled love for cute monster robot(?) girls, her boss fight is probably the 2nd greatest of them all, at least conceptually. She’s just a hologram, so you can’t touch her, but you CAN disconnect the artists which control her in order to defeat her. It’s the kind of concept for a boss fight that could only work for this type of character. I’m a sucker for the cute girl that provides her voice, but I love how the animator (video editor? the yellow one) actually attacks you with a mouse and lowers the brightness of the setting once he appears. Also, the mocap guy being the deeply-voiced type but still providing the adorable movements of her body. It’s such a great combo of characters, and their little extra art in the credits makes me like them even more. I just wish we could interact with them individually.

DK West was probably one of the most interesting characters visually, especially since I knew of every other NSR member long before the game came out, but I only just heard of him closer to the release. I wasn’t sure where he was placed, but I definitely assumed his gig was the weird shadow demon we saw in the trailers. When I finally saw him in game, I was shocked to hear him speak an entirely different language most of the time, which was really cool. Also, finding out he was tied to Zuke and wasn’t strictly an NSR artist really made him more interesting. You know, if his fucking shadow clone magic didn’t make him crazy cool enough. Even though I suck at his game and am not especially fond of his raps, the visual of him rapping with this giant monster behind him and dozens of weird shadow wingmen by his side hyping him up was probably one of the coolest in the entire game. The dark way they were hyping him up too gave such a bizarre atmosphere, especially since it parallels his seemingly chill and smiley demeanor. 

I definitely hope they’ll introduce new bosses as DLC in the future, and make them sort of in the same vein as DK West, where they aren’t the biggest artists ever, but they want to pick a fight with B2J. I’d kill for any extra content this game can provide.

Yinu is obviously special since she was the subject of the demo they put out for the game. Even though I knew all her bells and whistles, she and her mom still beat me a few times in the full game. Considering she’s semi-tied to story-ish spoilers I kinda want to go more into her in a separate section. It is worth considering playing the game first since it’s not hard (with the easy going deaths) and it’s short length.

1010 seriously grew on me as I learned more about them and interacted with them. I got their shtick when I first looked at them, but after seeing that animation of them touring the city on Youtube I was kinda falling for them. Then, I learned that they’re apparently repurposed navy war robots? I mean, maybe not them specifically, but it seems to heavily point in that direction, with the warship cars and “attention!”s and all. It took me a bit to get into their music too, but once I actually fought them and put their actions to the music I fell in love with it. I swear, Neon J’s weird dancing can has some of the smoothest moves in all of gaming. I don’t know whether they mocapped out those movements or got one of the greatest animators ever, but it looks so impossibly clean his part of the song gets me like 30x more hype than it would normally. 

Also, their little art piece of them looking at fan mail in the credits is probably one of the most adorable things ever. Even if they’re just Neon J’s puppets, that piece of art really makes it seem like they love every one of their fans. I’m not gonna lie, I might swoon a bit too if they picked me out and gave me some special attention.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Mayday was super sad in her showstopper against them was adorable and hilarious at the same time. The little tweaks they made to the showstopper for each fight were great.

Eve just has to be Lady Gaga, right? Like, an even crazier Lady Gaga. DJSS is Daft Punk (or any artist with a helmet persona, you know what I’m talking about), Sayu is Hatsune Miku, DK West is Kanye West, Yinu is a generic child protege, 1010 is a KPop boyband (just pick one) and Eve is Lady Gaga. That’s just how things are. But, again, this is the kind of boss fight that only this type of character could provide. It’s not just surreal imagery, it’s ARTISTIC surreal imagery. The fight is so mesmerizing in every way, especially by how it starts off so slow and calm and progresses to insanity, as well as the increased emotional investment in the fight making you feel so much more into it than just “That’s the boy band. Let’s fight.” Not only does it get you more invested, but it makes her artistic persona go deeper than just “she looks weird.” She is genuinely conflicted about her relationship with Zuke, and naturally that leads her to literally split him and Mayday apart. That mechanic specifically was the coolest, although I do wish they made it more obvious when you needed to switch over to a different side. I was getting pulverized by her fight too, since there were so many things to pay attention to. Her fight was definitely the best one. 

Tatiana and Spoilers:

Let’s be real with ourselves, the twist was so obvious. I do also think, though, that obvious twists aren’t bad if they’re just good reveals. At some point, a person just has experienced so many stories that “only pretty good” twists are easy to spot. It doesn’t mean that the twists are bad, it just means you yourself experienced.

I feel like her transition from rock to EDM was pretty understandable, even as a non-musician. She was so caught up in what she assumed was popular that it basically consumed her. It’s easy as an artist to want to forgo what you truly want to make in favor of what makes you popular, and clearly since her transition to EDM made her the CEO of the biggest company in the city (world?) that probably made her think she truly needed to change her outlook. Then, when she saw B2J try to bring it back, she sort of coined them as being as misguided as she was and knocked them down a peg. Plus, they were kinda being jerks about it.

It’s kinda like the Trolls sequel, where everyone pegs rock music fanatics as being too stuck up in their own heads to appreciate other types of music, which honestly seems more like the case than the alternative. When I first heard of the story of the game, I was seriously hoping they did put an asterisk on B2J’s ambitions because they were a bit sketchy from the start. 

That’s kinda where I want to talk about Yinu, because she was the true turning point in what they were doing. She’s literally 9 and yet she’s getting dragged into all this BS. When she said “I hate you all” at the end of her fight, and played a somber tune on her broken piano after the fight destroyed it, you kinda got a kick in the face to realize you’re kinda being an asshole to some of them. Sure, they fight back, but they wouldn’t fight in the first place if they didn’t have to. They are just people who play music under a joint name that B2J just so happened to get in hot water with. 

Then, of course, there’s Kliff, who also reeked of surprise villain, and who’s basically the embodiment of the bad side of B2J, where he just wanted to destroy for his own sake and not for the actual greater good. Once B2J realized their mistake, they backed off, but Kliff was so hard pressed to do what he planned on in the first place he wouldn’t stop. I kinda wish he got a bigger fight to his own since he’s clearly a big enough tech genius to divert a whole satellite into one specific building. Maybe the Elliecopter chase bit was his thing, but I do kind of wish he was there to fight against them too.

Even though Tatiana did kind of reform a bit quick, It’s still not too crazy to assume she could see that B2J was just misguided and the fact that they worked to revert their wrongdoings for her sake would make a pretty strong impressions. They clearly can hold their own, so it’s not like she wouldn’t want them to join NSR too. 

Oh yeah, and her boss fight was clock/time themed. If there’s a theme under space that I love, it’s clocks/time. 

And If I am to be respected by the internet, I must provide a negative opinion to balance out my positive one. I will say that the character model physics (like Mayday’s braids, DK West’s vest thing, Neon J’s fluffy neck thing, etc) got kinda funky at times. Especially DK West’s vest, which was completely messed up for every scene he was in... Also, even though the voices are mostly great, some lines felt a bit off. Just a bit. That good enough? Good.

But yeah anyway that’s another favorite game to add to the pile. Eventually I’m gonna have to compile a true list of my all-time favorite games/movies because I do kind of want to have a solid idea of what my all-time favorites are.

[animatevibration-blog]

Mad Titan, Or Last Man

Please note that this is an incomplete assessment of motivations simply because comic book characters will never have an end to their story. I am also not informed on Thanos’ current exploits in the comics since I have not read Marvel, or any comics for a number of years. The focus will be on an older iteration of Thanos and his fascination with death that I believe derived from him growing up in a utopia of immortals essentially. Also, this is not an explanation of the Hollywood version of Thanos since his motivations make no sense and is clearly just political propaganda from writers that don’t know anything about population trends. This is not a super in-depth analysis either, I’ve merely looked at his motivations through the lens of the Nietzschean last man, as well as the underground man from Dostoevsky's works.

I had difficulty understanding it at first, mostly because I personalized concepts too much that I shouldn’t have, namely Lady Death. Which in turn, made Thanos’ motivations look like an outburst of an angsty teenage boy. You can’t fully personalize a concept in a story otherwise you miss the point, Lady Death is still death itself, the only real reason it was given form is because that’s seems to be the easiest way to relate to values expressed in stories; it makes it easier to embody them through secondary personalization, which is a term coined by the psychologist Eric Neumann. Secondary personalization is an act from which the more something is understood, the more it is refined in the consciousness until it’s anthropomorphised completely, creating almost a god image within the individual. It’s essentially the same as the image of Helen of Troy discovered by Faust when he travels to the realm of the mothers, she was the spirit of unbridled creative generation and freedom that he longed for. Lady Death is the anthropomorphised value of what Thanos desires most, and he expresses it as female because he is male, because it’s that which he lacks, the other part of his reality. That is partly a Jungian notion from which the male takes an inward journey to discover the Anima within, or his inner feminine that is tied to his highest value, making the attaining of that value an almost sexual act of union between being and image, something like that.

“But wait” you may say, “then why is Death a woman to all within the Marvel universe?” Good question, that is because the concept of death has always been a feminine one throughout history; it is the consumptive element of nature that consumes the life that came before so that successive generations may come into being. The easiest picture to express this in is the Ouroboros, the serpent that eats its tail. It is the sphere that contains existence from which death, or consumption is the precursor to new life. Other faces of death are the Babylonian Tiamat, the Malekusian Le-Hev-Hev which translates to “she who draws us in with a smile so she may consume us.” There is also Nut from Egyptian myth, the mother sky who embraces all in death, which you can see her image placed on sarcophagi, and Ta-Urt who is the bestial guardian of the underworld. Death is Feminine because it is part of nature, or the great mother earth, so it’s not surprising that we will portray it as a woman... Most of the time.

For this assessment though, I want to focus on Lady Death as a very singular expression of his “highest art” so to speak, which arised from the stagnancy of Utopianism. So, let’s begin.

What would a man(or eternal) strive for when perfection was already attained? I really needed to think about that for a second because when you think about utopia, the interesting bits are always the struggle to achieve it. That’s where the meat is in such a value system, that’s where all the action is, and that’s when I had an idea. So, what would a man(eternal) strive for when perfection was already attained? Perhaps he would strive for struggle itself. Perhaps when given eternity, what then would be more desirable than the finite? What could you desire more after you are given the universe through society, than to have it all taken away? It sounds crazy doesn’t it, who would ever destroy perfection merely to struggle? Well, a human would... Even in the face of eternal happiness and comfort, simply to achieve one semblance (if even for a moment) of the meaning that comes only from the finite and imperfect, a person would dash it all away.

That is the purpose of Thanos, he craves the one thing that was taken from him by his parents, and the society that believed it knew better, namely death. Honestly, what meaning could you ever possibly find in a world where people have already conquered the most meaningful aspect of it? Things have to die, things have to wear down, they need to decay because the universe isn’t a structured space of rules and laws. It bends, it curves, it’s constantly changing, it’s a flow of perpetual becoming. The speed of light itself is constantly changing, and that is the speed of causality itself, which is the frame from which events can even happen in reality. Laws, structures, immortality are all societal concepts born from consciousness, more precisely the consciousness of the left hemisphere; especially the concept of immortality. Things are always changing, we just cant perceive most of it, and you, are not really you. Everything you are now is the current complexity of a a cosmic lineage that dates back to the very beginning of existence. All the material that makes up your being came from the death of something before you. Whether it be the nutrients you ingest from animals and plants, or the elements of you refined in the cores of long dead stars. You are a process, not an end, and to extricate yourself from that process is to produce a fate far worse than death could ever be, an immortal Utopia.

I had to ask myself, is that really the goal of life, just to transcend it? If like the eternals that happens, what other outcome could you have but a utopia of eternal happiness and complacency? Why would you even want that when what is taken is so much? What other options could you ever have than sacrificing everything that made you human; to place it all at the alter of godhood, so that you could simply keep existing and going through the motions like a machine. There’s a reason why vampires are portrayed as impulsive nihilists most of the time, because what the hell else can you do with eternity once you have it. Of course there is a universe full of possibility within the universe, but it will never be achieved by the eternals because they are no longer part of that process and the only kind progress they can achieve is scientific analytical processes which is very indicative of western culture now, because that’s all they value. Which in turn will probably only lead to them becoming like Celestials, ethereal nothings that don’t exist in reality, that don’t understand the underlying complexity and importance of emotion, and merely act like computers.

That entire society and Thanos himself is a microcosm, most likely of the projected anxiety of a post-industrialized society that puts far too much (to an almost pathological degree) value in a singular system of linear analytical cognitive progress. My god ladies and gentlemen, if eternity was sitting in a lab continually making it easier for people to live for the eternity they have anyway, where all that’s left are mere intellectual and habitual procreative pursuits, I would also think death and destruction would be a far more preferable option, it could even become an ideal. Jesus, just try it for a hundred years and get back to me on how you feel about it. I don’t blame Thanos for pining after it, lusting after it, making it his muse, his companion, the Galatea to his Pygmalion, his reason for being. It’s meaning that matters, not more life, not happiness, not perfection, It’s the meaning in the struggle for more life, it’s the meaning you derive from struggling for happiness, it’s the meaning in life that you derive from struggling for perfection that gives depth to existence. It’s not the result, it’s the process. Death matters because it makes everything beautiful, everything meaningful, everything is something you will never see again, something that will never be again. Struggle matters because it makes you more than what you were, it allows you to change. Now let me talk about struggle more.

To struggle is to be human, to suffer is to truly live. Humans are the only beings that can say life is suffering and have a smile on their face. And humans are the only beings in the known universe that will willfully suffer in full understanding of it. Each person has a vast ocean of dormant potential in them just waiting to be realized. I don’t say that in a metaphorical way, though that’s the best way to describe it. You have a plethora of dormant genes in you that wait for the right environmental factors to be activated and embodied as new modes of being, because humans are action oriented, not cognitive oriented. It’s the notion of wishing upon the stars, each one represents a potentiality of what you could be, and you have a choice, you can pick a star and struggle for it. But if you don’t have to struggle anymore, if you have forever and everything provided for you, you won’t do it, you won’t experience it, because you don’t have to. I say this because Thanos is human, strikingly human, perhaps even the greatest of what humanity could be, essentially he is the underground man in a world of last men.

“I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. Alas! There comes a time when man will no longer give birth to a star. Alas! There comes a time of the most despicable man, who can no longer despise himself. Behold! I show you the last man, ‘What is love? What is longing? What is a star?’ So asks the last man and he blinks. The earth has become small, and on it hops the last man who makes everything small.”

“His species is ineradicable like that of a flea; the last man lives the longest. ‘We have invented happiness’ says the last man, and blink. They have left the regions where it was hard to live for one needs warmth. Becoming sick and being suspicious are sinful to them: One proceeds carefully. He is a fool who still stumbles over stones or human beings!”-Thus Spoke Zarathustra p.13

Of course, it would be very rational to want such an existence, and everyone on his world is very rational, but rational isn’t reasonable, and reasonable isn’t meaningful. People are contradictions unto themselves. They almost never want what they need, or need what they want, or even want what they want. The easy paradisaical life is a beautiful dream full of splendor and joy... Only so long as it stays a dream. If man were to make his dream a reality I believe, well, I know that the moment after he would spit on the very ground he toiled so arduously to build and content himself with its absolute destruction,  just so something interesting could happen in his utopia. That is the folly of it, and that’s what I believe Thanos saw, even if he didn’t understand it himself. That is essentially Dostoevsky's notion of utopia and the values of enlightenment which is basically the society the eternals had made. 

“There are continually turning up in life moral and rational persons, sages and lovers of humanity to make it their object to live all their lives as morally and rationally as possible, to be, so to speak, a light to their neighbors simply in order to show them that it is possible to live morally and rationally in this world. And yet we all know that sooner or later those people have been false to themselves, playing some queer trick, often a most unseemly one. Now I ask you? What can be expected of man since he is being endowed with such strange qualities? Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species, and then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man will play you some nasty trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all of this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element. It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself(as though it were so necessary) that men are still men and not keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar. And that is not all: even if man were nothing but a piano key, even if this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely do something perverse out of simple ingratitude, simply to gain his point. And if he does not find means he will contrive destruction and chaos, will contrive suffering of all sorts, only to gain his point! He will launch a curse upon the world, and as only man can curse (it is his privilege, the primary distinction between him and other animals), may be by this curse alone he will attain his object- that is, convince himself he is a man and not a piano key! If you say that all this, too, can be calculated and tabulated chaos darkness and curses, so that the mere possibility of calculating it all beforehand would stop it all, and reason would reassert itself, then man would purposely go mad in order to be rid of reason and gain his point!” -Notes From Underground p.230-231

The point I’m expressing is that people are inherently chaotic, and that they love it too, it’s the source of our greatest freedom, the dancing star. We would also destroy all that was good for us merely to keep it. That chaos is lethal to utopianism and eternity. Thanos killed his people and worshiped death because perfection had a flaw, it was meaningless. They sacrificed everything for it, and in turn missed the sole notion powerful enough even to propel one to remake the whole universe and succeed... death. But, that’s just some guys opinion. 

[sparda3g]

Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 166 Review

There is an old phrase that goes, “Careful what you wish for.” This chapter reassures that this series would never go with your way, no matter how nice and wishful thinking it is. On the positive light, this was a very thrilling action packed chapter that should leave fans celebrated, but the end justifies the mean. Well, not really, but it certainly caused the fans to lose their mind in sadness and anger.

Let me start off by saying that the chapter’s title is a huge giveaway to the reveal of that creature from the last chapter. Hell, I was like, “Okay, I already know who that monster is. Thanks, Ishida.” I was a bit anxious to see the reveal despite already knowing, because when it comes to this series, you can’t be so certain about everything. After this chapter, no doubt I won’t think of a happy place for a long, long time.

There is a brief scene with Kaneki and Ayato to let the audience know their next destination. They’re heading to A20, which is the vast underground beneath the 19th ward. Basically, it does scream for Kaneki to fight against Furuta and maybe Rize. Wouldn’t that be overpowering Kaneki, especially if Rize is to believe to be the same level as him? Either way, that’s their destination and it won’t be for another chapter or so to focus with them entirely. Right now, we got some intense Kaiju battle approaching.

I did tell myself to wait for the next chapter to get a better view of that monster and my wish was granted. The monster is the Owl, Kakuja form and all. You don’t even need Ui to say it to know what that is. The design is every shape and form that resembles Owl; only difference is the face and the size is larger than before. Therefore, we can safely say that it’s Eto behind that monstrosity and the theory can now close…

Right?

The action kicks off with the Owl strikes first in great devastation. It’s been a while watching the investigators getting dismembered like some finale of a series that decide to kill Earth completely. It’s rather bone-chilling and I love it. Watching a Kaiju-esque scene in motion against normal people with no tanks or any heavy artillery is brutal stuff. It is how the scene starts off with “you got to be shitting me…” vibe to a massacre that got me thrilled; all well presented with those use of distorted effect and onslaught display in each panel.

It does seem clear that Ishida is ready to kill off many characters before entering the next part of the series alas part 3. Granted I can’t confirm it with one scene but Misato appears to be killed off with the rest of others behind her. All the fire power didn’t work on it; only for it to fire back. If she did die, look at this way, she didn’t get dismembered to the point of unidentifiable. It is an indication that this is the part where Ishida roll call the characters and kill them off. Prepare yourself.

The preparations before engaging combat with Owl is very engaging; got me really hyped for this intense battle. It reflects the fact that Shinohara and Kuroiwa are no longer with them. Hirako can’t even assist Ui as he is handling this one strong V guy, so the pressure on Ui has gone up tremendously. From here on out, it’s time for Ui to take in charge of this beast. It was a nice added touch with him reciting the similar line about coward from his last encounter with Owl.

I really like the whole formation scene with Ui in charge and gather men as many as he can. It does highlight the number of characters in the field; tracking them for possible death or survivor when the smoke clears out. It’s riveting to see nearly everyone helping Ui out with the sensation that can be best described as calm before storm. It has that finale feeling towards it, especially since CCG’s number one target has been centering on Owl for a long time. It’s like finishing the fight scenario; it will finally end with this.

It’s great to see Shuu and other Ghouls to help Ui out with this as well. Not only Ui has evolved to a bona fide leader, but he has grown to appreciate the Ghoul’s aids for the Human. The days of when he was a hater are nearly if not entirely over. A touching yet possible eerie omen scene is before he roar cry, he remembers Hairu and Arima; lending him courage one more time. I am aware of this calling mean death flag and yes, it has been raised. Will he die? It depends if Ishida has more subplots in mind.

The chapter then shifts to Hirako versus a V guy. It’s possible that it’s the leader, Kaiko, though it’s not really confirmed at this time. For now I’ll call him “Kaiko” until further notice. The fight isn’t just with Hirako; Takeomi, Itou, and Yusa are joining in to assist him.  From there on, we get a round of great battle with solid teamwork and fearsome intensity.

Kaiko is proven to be a serious foe with his impressive evasive maneuvers while taking on four men at once. As swift the investigators are here, he is quick on his feet with those two swords; blocking and dodging moves swiftly. Itou tries to sneak attack, but Kaiko got some impressive sensor to detect ambush and cut him with ease. Takeomi comes in to attack when he was in recovery process, only to block it with his little sword or dagger; close call. I thought it was cool when he tosses that small sword in the air and try to strike him with his other sword and then the small one lands right on the shoulder. That was clever.

The main highlight of the battle is when Yusa and Hirako step in. It’s worth mentioning that Kaiko is pretty taunting with his words; rubbing in people’s faces with his smart ass remarks. Maybe because of recent anime, but I can’t help but image him with Frieza’s voice. It was getting close for someone to be killed off and Yusa is the last victim to struggle to survive. Interestingly enough, Kaiko was responsible for training Arima; so that led him to mock Yusa for being nowhere near his level. Thank God Yusa wasn’t having it and then stabs right on his foot.

The way how it sets up for the finishing blow is dramatic, though rightfully so. Kaiko was close to kill them off and Yusa is the future generation that lives with the name of Arima. Hirako passing him the weapon to finish the job was sweet. Yusa swings and off Kaiko’s face; like really split his head apart. It was brutal yet satisfying. The kid deserves the honor and a medal of greatness. Hm, I guess if I do call that V guy Kaiko, it would mean the V main leader has died.

Right?

The chapter returns back to the team that is fighting the Owl and it’s getting to the breaking point with Kagune dissolving and they have to attack before they all get wiped out. That is until Banjou comes with an assist to recover them. You got to love Shuu’s appreciation. This whole battleground is well coordinated with everyone helping out like one crazy main boss in a MMORPG; it’s riveting as hell. Once they are told to aim for the neck, that’s where Suzuya becomes the star. Thank you, Attack on Titan!

But seriously, how great it is to see everyone cooperating to take out the Owl. It was damn great for Ui to use his quinque and make an opening path for Suzuya to take it out for good. When you combine this scene and the one with the V, it makes a really inspiring and gratifying moment of triumphant. It’s a good feel moment that I would love it to be completely true. If anything, this chapter was outstanding with great character’s evolution, exciting scenarios with slick action, and plenty of satisfaction. Then, we got to the final scene.

The atmosphere of the fan base reminds me of my days in wrestling; actually, it can be said for anything. Have you ever encounter a moment that you was like, “Oh my God, this is nearly perfect! I love everything about it,” and when you reach to the end, the last moment is what overrides your thought and can’t compute anything else? Well, this chapter has done that. Not me personally; I thought it was mind crushing and frightening cliffhanger. Basically, we may have known who the monster is with the chapter’s title, but never thought this would be the case at all.

It’s Eto alright. Just headless, that’s all.

People wished for her, they shall be granted. But not like this. I have read people saying that it’s not her and it could be someone else, notably Hairu. Now let me play two sides of the coin. To begin with, let’s say it is Hairu’s body instead. This does make sense on the account of Ui getting the main focus. It would be a cruel fate for him to face his old friend like this. It would align with his development, so I can see where people think of this. It also makes sense since it’s only a body and the head’s placement is placed with a cross; clearly this is Donato’s work. The timing is on this fan’s side. That said I do think otherwise as well.

Eto has disappeared for a long time, so this revelation, while brutal, is shocking. It does make sense with her being placed here as well but under different circumstances. It was highlighted to be CCG’s sendoff to finally defeat Owl after so many tries; now Ui will grant that victory. Part 3 is inevitable at this point, so if Ui lives and win, there’s room for more developments and taking out Owl would be a start. Hairu could somehow come in play, but in part 3 maybe; unless Ishida just throw it out completely, but we’ll see. The point is CCG is yet again facing the recurring threat.

You probably wondering, “What about her head then?” Donato is using his cross to control it somehow, so say if Eto was alive and conscious, she won’t obey these Clowns, so why not decapitate her and replace with a remote control. The most possible giveaway is the title “E T.” While it is brilliant from Ishida, it freaking hurts like hell because not only it’s an indication of headless hence missing “o,” but it is a reference to Noro, who once called Noroi. Damn… The only question for both scenarios would be the missing head.

The other possibility is Donato created a clone of Eto. His capability is left in vague in a way, like how much can he copy a person in terms of ability and such. It must be intentional from Ishida to leave us hanging. Honestly, I would just wait longer and see how this unfolds. It will ease your mind. Eventually, we will learn the actual story behind this Owl.

The chapter as a whole was a lot of fun and excitement that clearly got overshadowed by the end; at least to the fans. The sensation of terror is well portrayed. The preparation of Ui and his men before the battle was exciting to read through their contribution and dedication. The action was engaging and thrilling with really cool moments. The artwork was very solid with its effect and action set pieces. The ending was something that threw me off entirely and it only got worse with Kaiko reattaching his face like nothing. All I know is we are about to see a lot of bodies hit the floor next.

[probably-enjolras]

Enjolras’ Anon Chapter 9

ughhhh i wanted it to be longer but i’m in too much pain to write more, like yeah it’s 1.6k but i wanted to get to 3k, alas

support me on AO3 cause it’s easier to reply to you that way!

Enjolras went home from his it’s-a-date-but-it’s-not-a-date smiling. As soon as he realized that he did in fact like Grantaire, everything felt so much lighter. There wasn’t a constant sense of dread and misery aviating over him.

He also knew where Grantaire lived. He thought about all the times that he was late, but now he could see R running down his stairs. Enjolras smiled at the thought. Grantaire wants to be on time, he really does. He wants to be present.

Enjolras flopped onto his bed, butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He felt like a teenager again, blushing while thinking about his crush. He had half the mind to scold himself for being so emotional, but it felt too good to stop.

Enjolras pulled out his phone and sent a text to Courfeyrac and Combeferre.

Enjolras: it’s settled, i like him

Courfeyrac: eyy congrats

Combeferre: this leaves the question of ‘what now?’

Enjolras: i mean… dating?

Courfeyrac: that would be the logical step

Courfeyrac: you like him, he likes you, you two go off and fuck like bunnies!

Enjolras: great talk, let’s put that plan in action

Combeferre: yes, and do you have any plan of how to ask him out?

Combeferre: because saying ‘i know you like me because you’ve been talking to my blog on anon for a while and i went on a hunt to find you’ doesn’t seem like the best thing

Courfeyrac: i mean, why not?

Enjolras: ferre is right, he would want to know why i didn’t just ask him right away

Enjolras groaned and pushed his face into his pillow. Why did this have to be so hard? He just wanted to go out with Grantaire, but this whole scheme of how he even figured out it was R was so elaborate it would seem at best a dick move, and at worse a stalker move.

Courfeyrac: dammit why isn’t ‘hey i like you, let’s go fuck’ not enough

Enjolras: when have i ever been anything but extra

Courfeyrac: fair point

Combeferre: you’ll need to get him alone, and at a pretty nice place

Enjolras: not a restaurant

Enjolras: and it can’t be something he likes too much because then he won’t pay attention to me

Courfeyrac: i think you underestimate his ability to pay attention to you

Courfeyrac: hell, i think he underestimates his ability to pay attention to you

Combeferre: how about a picnic? Simple yet romantic

Enjolras: but i don’t want him to know i want to ask him out

Courfeyrac: movies?

Enjolras: nah, it’s dark and not a place for talking

Combeferre: lunch + a walk to that cafe with cats and books?

Enjolras: yes! I can ask him out during the walk and then we can go do whatever, and if it goes bad we can play with cats

Courfeyrac: ok, it won’t go bad, but it’s nice to have a backup plan

Enjolras: thanks for the advice, I’m gonna go talk to him now

Enjolras put his phone down, staring at the messages. He could do this, right? He liked Grantaire, and he had for a while, even if he didn’t realize it. Grantaire challenged his ideas like no one else, and he did it so nonchalantly. He was someone who bettered Enjolras in ways no friend could.

Enjolras sighed, laying down and looking at his ceiling. How do you ask out the man that betters your existence without even trying? Enjolras rolled over, looking at his desk. His computer was charging on top of a pile of books.

Enjolras sat up and grabbed his computer. He entered his password and logged onto Tumblr. He smiled when he saw that he had asks. The first three were random people and Enjolras deflated for a second, but the final one started with a phrase he had come to recognize on sight.

(passionate anon) we went out today, i mean, not in a proper date, but it did feel like it. he was so cute, and it was so easy to talk to him, i wasn’t expecting that, i thought we would only be able to talk when he had some alcohol in him. i hope we can do that again

Enjolras grinned widely, unable to hold in the sudden rush of joy. He rushed to post the messages and grabbed his phone. He took a deep breath, calming the last of his nerves, before opening up his messages.

Enjolras: hey, had a nice time today, wanna go for lunch again tomorrow? i don’t have anything going on

Enjolras held his breath as he watched the speech bubble in the left hand corner. It can’t take that long to answer a simple question, can it? After what Enjolras could only assume was an eternity, Grantaire responded.

Grantaire: yeah! do you have a place in mind?

Enjolras let out the breath he was holding and smiled to himself.

Enjolras: well i know this place, they serve great muffins and sandwiches, and then maybe that cafe with the kittens?

Grantaire: that sounds great! does noon work for you?

Enjolras: yeah, meet you there!

Grantaire: can’t wait

Enjolras laughed, he couldn’t help it. He had set up a time and place for him to ask Grantaire out. He flopped back down, smiling up at the ceiling.

“I’m really doing this,” he whispered. Enjolras sat back up and looked out the window. It was starting to get dark and he could see his reflection in the glass.

His cheeks were bright red and his hair was mess from his pillows, but he had the largest grin on his face. “I’m gonna do this!” he said to himself, louder this time. Enjolras laughed again, standing up to clean up after his day. He kept repeating that phrase to himself, in awe of what tomorrow has in store.

After he showered and brushes his teeth, Enjolras got into bed. He knew it wasn’t late, it was only 8:30pm, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t wait. Enjolras sighed, closing his eyes and willing sleep to come, and after a few minutes it did.

Sleep left after about six hours. If he had gone to bed at midnight or one, maybe that wouldn’t be such a problem. It would be six or seven, and that’s a reasonable time to start the day. Enjolras could get work done before he went out and he wouldn’t have to work on anything during the day.

But he hadn’t gone to bed at midnight, he had gone to bed at 8:30, and here is was, wide awake at 2:30am wide awake. Enjolras tried to go back to sleep. He got up, made some tea, read a little bit, and laid back down, ready to get some sleep.

Enjolras looked up at his ceiling, sighing to himself. He knew that it was the anticipation that was keeping him awake. It had happened all his life. On the first day of school, he would always wake up early and be ready for the bus an hour early than needed. The same thing happened on holidays and birthdays. His mind was ready to get stuff done, while his body just wanted to sleep.

Enjolras kicked off his blanket, cursing softly. He tried to get as comfortable as possible, but nothing helped. He groaned, pouting to himself. There was nothing he could do, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.

There was a chance that his friends were still awake. Most of them stayed awake until they passed out around three am. That gave him a solid thirty minutes to talk to someone. Enjolras considered it, but decided against it. He didn’t want to explain to his friends how he already got six hours. Some would call him old, some would want to know why he went to sleep at that time, and Courfeyrac would manage to do both.

Enjolras unlocked his phone and, against his better judgement, looked for Grantaire’s instagram account. Being awake late at night and looking through his crush’s instagram was a perfectly normal thing to do, right?

Grantaire didn’t post often, but it was still filled with photos. Some of them were of his artwork or photographs of what he found beautiful. Enjolras smiled, Grantaire was a true artist.

Other photos were photos of his friends. There was one of Joly and Bossuet, clearly not knowing that the photo was taken as they held hand and smiled at each other. Another was of Eponine, smiling at the camera and raising a glass in its direction. The one after that was of Bahorel and Courfeyrac the day they decided to have a rollerskate race down the street. The image depicted the moment Courfeyrac crossed the finish line. It didn’t show the moment after, when Courfeyrac fell when he tried to stop. Enjolras smiled, making a mental note to screenshot all the photos so he could keep them for himself.

But the majority of the photos were of him. Some were of Enjolras giving speeches, others were him talking with friends, or just him on his phone. Enjolras couldn’t believe he never noticed Grantaire take these. He put his phone down, looking at the window.

It still reflected his image, but Enjolras didn’t see himself anymore. He didn’t understand what about him made Grantaire take such beautiful photos. He felt like he didn’t deserve the attention.

Enjolras looked down at his hands and put his phone on his bedside table. He sighed and closed his eyes, but his mind kept running. Maybe if it ran far enough, he would be too tired to think anymore.

Enjolras’ wish to sleep was finally granted around four am, and he drifted off into less than peaceful sleep.

find that les mis lyric! it’s not hidden too well, whoops