#i'm still so mad she wasn't part of this past arc it had everything to do with her

[moonspirit]

The possibilities of certain story elements of AOT going differently if Annie never crystalised herself? Of course, it would still lead her to be arrested and questioned, making Armin worried (etc.) Though, what about other storyline segments? Like, what if she was there when Reiner & Bert revealed themselves? Helping to stop Rod Reiss with Eren? Or fighting Reiner along with Eren again, while taking back Sina? ..To also witness Armin's burnt body. Man, that'd be tragic, huh?

But - hey! At least Armin's and Annie's relationship could grow with them together! Plus, gives him a reason to be held by Annie, in her Titan Form. All of this sparked out of.. nowhere, really... I just really like Aruani. Have a wonderful day, Moon!

Hiii anon!!!! I'm sorry this took so long to respond (in case you thought I ignored you, that's totally not it T^T) - I just needed some time to process this!

This is actually very interesting to think about, especially since we often acknowledge the magnitude of the impact Aruani's Female Titan arc had on the story as a whole. There's many posts about that, about how the rest of AoT literally wouldn't have existed if not for Stohess. It was Armin's cornering of Annie and her crystallization that set everything in motion.

Now, let's get to your questions! (tho I'm very bad at AU and canon-divergence stuff so I'm sorry in advance and bear with me 🥲)

Considering that for the most part we are given the impression that Annie was the only one in RBA actually doing any serious work in ref to their mission (ie she wasn't losing herself in living a false reality like Reiner nor hesitating to act like Bertholdt), it kind strikes me that she would NOT have been impressed when Reiner and Bertholdt... revealed their identities. As aloof and disliking of her companions as she may have seemed, Annie's loyalty to them and the secrets they were keeping cannot be ignored - the whole reason she crystallized was so nobody would get a word out of her and that those two would remain safe. So imagine her horror when those two just waltz up to Eren and go "Heyyyy we're the chunky titan and the big titan, what's good?" 🙃

Tho before all this, we have to step back a bit and wonder - how much would she have given away while being questioned? Not much of her volition imo, but perhaps someone smart (say Armin, Hange, etc) would piece together little bits of info she lets slip, or her interrogation is purposely set up to exhaust and drive her to the point of near-madness until she gives up. Perhaps a combination of the two too.

It's also pertinent to note that tho loyal, Annie's also selfishly driven to her own cause - that of returning to her father, so we should also probably underline the possibility that she co-operates with the enemy (in this case Paradis) if it means she can find an escape back home along the way. It cannot be stressed enough that doing this is not too out of line for Annie's character, but it will load her with a massive tonne of guilt she'll never talk to anyone about, especially if it means leaving Reiner and Bertholdt's fate in their own hands. Annie was taught by her father to rely on herself and trust nobody else. There's only so much of leeway she can allow her emotions to have before she steels herself again.

Back to your questions! Assuming a scenario exists where Annie doesn't give away Rei-Bert's identities, instead striking a deal with Erwin, let's say, to keep some of her secrets while co-operating with the Scouts (this is a ticking time-bomb Erwin's planning to take control of, but mind you, Annie wants to escape before it comes to that). Rei-bert expose themselves on the wall and take off with Eren.

What will Annie do? Will she stay with the Scouts to get Eren back, or follow those two hoping they'll somehow make it past Shiganshina where the others can't follow? A chance to return home?

It's hard to say, given she's still loyal to her cause and Reibert, and coldly realistic in her approach that just because she's cooperating with the Scouts doesn't mean she switches sides - acting is only a temporary gig to get what she wants and to where she wants. If she stays with the Scouts, it's probably only to hit a milestone of an escape plan she's got; but if she goes off with Reibert, then it's because she sees her chance and takes it.

What then? We again have two possibilities forking out of this one scenario alone. Will she escape successfully with Reiner, Bert and Ymir? Or will she be caught by the Scouts and stay in Paradis; what becomes of her trustworthiness then? (nothing good. For aruani, add more angst)

With Rod Reiss, you know I honestly think it'd be REALLY interesting for Annie to meet with Kenny again xD I honestly love how every single one of the three Ackermans managed to get Annie at one point in time or the other (it's funny lmao) - it would be SO intriguing to see her come face to face with him. I'm not sure what thematic/symbolic significance this could have (I'm typing this out while sleepy xD), but I think something about Kenny being a slave to his ideals and desires could lead Annie to question her own beliefs or rather, mirror hers albeit in a different light. Kenny's "love" is shown to us in a very twisted shape - ie his relationship with Kuchel, his "raising" of Levi (with violence and purpose. reminds you of another father, maybe?), his pursuit of impossible dreams vis a vis Annie's very simple ones. I don't really know what I'm trying to say here except that I'm now picturing Annie being in the frame (perhaps hidden or not) when Levi finds out that the dying Kenny is his uncle - it seems important in a way I can't quite put to words xD?

About Shiganshina... oh we can't talk about Shiganshina 🥲🥲🥲🥲 I only know for certain that Aruani's relationship would most likely have progressed into a solid relationship, maybe? by this point (or not, given the speed at which things were happening left and right...), so... I can't even begin to imagine the devastation that Armin's "death" and the subsequent Serum Debacle would wreak on Annie. Tho the latter is honestly a PRIME opportunity for her feelings to become obvious to everyone that was blind to it hehe xD

But the angst... not only will it be Annie's guilt about battling Rei-Bert again (whether or not she's still playing actor or has legimiately switched sides is irrelevant)........ but also.... what would a struggle among Ackerman and Leonhart vs Ackerman have come to? God. You know, I actually wanna see that T^T Levi's just gonna lie there and be like "I hate these 104th girls. Always whining about some idiot boy, fuck my life. Erwin, haul me up man."

God. We'd never run out of possibilities to talk about xD You could draw a flowchart or a scenario-tree and it'd just keep going.

Anyway, I'm sorry that this is ALL over the place, really, I couldn't find a way to logically talk about all these things without diving into pages and pages worth of hyper specific possibilities (and that will bore everybody to death) T___T all the same it's very messy and incoherent imo, so I apologise if this isn't what you wanted! We can talk about this more tho, send me your thoughts :3!

[character-fan19]

MLB Season 5 Character Analysis: "Evolution"

Introduction

Hey guys, I'm finally back with the season 5 character analyses. It's been a while. Now that season 5 is over I can finally create an outline of how the individual journeys of the characters went and point out the foreshadowing done for them. If you've never seen these posts before in your life, then here I basically take an episode of Miraculous and do individual analyses for the characters who had some form of development in that episode by looking at their motivations, behaviours and thought processes. After season 4 ended, I started this series to clear up the misunderstandings people have about the characters and show them why they acted the way they did. If you want to see those analyses, you can find them here.

Man, was this season full of juicy characterization. Evolution is a very appropriate title for the first episode of this season because that's what these characters do, they evolve, for better or worse. So many things to breakdown like Felix, Marinette's trauma, insight into Gabriel's past, etc. This episode alone gives us Gabriel's descent into madness, Nathalie realizing that Gabriel has gone mad and although it wasn't as big of a part of the episode, Ladybug finally being able to give control to Cat Noir instead of doing everything herself. So let's start shall we?

Character POVs

Gabriel/Monarch

"I won't let you destroy my future, Ladybug! I'll be right back my love, I promise."

I've haven't really done much analysis of Gabriel because there wasn't really much to go off on for his character besides the fact that he wants to bring his wife back. But this season gives us a lot more insight into his character. Makes sense this is the last season of his arc. So let's start with this episode.

This episode shows us just how far Gabriel has fallen from the man he once was. Back in season 1, all he wanted was to bring his wife back, but as he kept fighting Ladybug and Cat Noir, he developed a hatred towards and saving Emilie became less of a goal and more of just an excuse to keep being villainous. In his mind, he still believes that he does this to bring his family back to together but in reality, now he just wants to one-up Ladybug and prove to her that she can't fool him anymore. He has been losing to her for so long that it messed him up and now that he has all this power, he became overconfident which of course ended in his downfall, losing the Rabbit Miraculous along with Nathalie's respect and loyalty. This is only just the beginning of his downfall though.

2. Marinette/Ladybug

"It's you and me, remember?"

After having finally understanding that she needs to let go of control at the end of season 4, she was able to accept help from Cat Noir which allowed her to be comfortable to trust him with a Miraculous as powerful as the Rabbit.

Because of this, she and Cat Noir having become stronger together as a team, having resolved their miscommunication issues from last season and learning that they need to communicate which each other.

Being able to give up control to others may have been a reason she let Cat Noir use the Rabbit Miraculous but it isn't the only reason. She's still a little shook from losing all the Miraculous and doesn't trust herself anymore with holding onto them, blaming herself for their loss even though the situation was completely out of her control. We'll see more of this in the next episode.

3. Nathalie

"You had the Time Miraculous. You could've chosen to save Emilie! You could've chosen to save me! (coughs) But instead you chose your obsession with Ladybug and Cat Noir. You're insane, Gabriel!"

Last but not least, we have Nathalie finally breaking ties with Gabriel after seeing how far he has gone from the man he once was.

This whole time, ever since season 1, the only reason Nathalie was helping Gabriel was because she believed that Gabriel was doing this to save Emilie and he admired his dedication towards bringing his family back together. But over the course of the series, she began to see his increasing desperation and madness and when he chose to one-up Ladybug and Cat Noir over achieving his original goal of reviving Emilie, she knew that he wasn't doing this for Emilie anymore, which was the entire reason she helped in the first place and thus, she lost any respect and admiration he ever had for him and as we see in future episodes, attempt to protect Adrien from Gabriel and antagonize him but more on that in her other appearances.

Conclusion

This season was the beginning for a lot of things, Gabriel's descent into madness, a hint of Ladybug recovering from losing all the Miraculous and Nathalie realizing the monster Gabriel has began and trying to oppose his plans.

That was all for this analysis and I can't wait to get into future episodes and explore all the things this season has given us. It's truly going to be something. Let me know your thoughts and feel free to point out anything I might have missed for any of the characters this episode.

[zaenaris]

Personally I see a lot of despair in Koko's eyes (see the bags under his eyes) and the epitome of his guilt; guilt for not saving Akane and because he's probably afraid that Inupi also used him for his own gain like everyone else, which is not the case of course but it's a delicate moment and Inupi touched a sore point, but one that was imperative to address because, in the end, Inupi had a point, Koko couldn't forgive himself for Akane's death even if it wasn't his fault. Koko rationally knew she was gone, but he couldn't let his guilt go.

Inupi is desperately trying to reason with Koko, (the way Seishu's voice just breaks when he screams he's SEISHU and not Akane destroyed me, kudos Enoki Junya) but Koko is still not ready to forgive himself and accept that he simply wants to be with Inupi (he needs another 2.5 years and a separation to get to that point) so I, personally, see a lot of despair in that look, I see Koko feeling that he has let down, once again, the people he cares about: Seishu and Akane.

He probably feels that he let Seishu down because he doesn't want to join Tenjiku with him even if Koko made sure to prepare a place for him because, in Koko's mind, Tenjiku was the safest option. And because, for all that time, Koko always tried to do his best.

I've got the feeling that Koko feels he's being judjed by Inupi at that point, he's angry and emotional during the whole fight with Inupi (and in the anime even sadder and more defeated), he shouts at him to "stop looking at him with that face". The official translation in my native language imho conveys better this feeling because Koko says "Don't look at me with those eyes full of contempt" and then he talks in past sentence regarding everything he did, all the requested he accepted in the past in order to make money.

Imho this is Koko projecting his own anger towards himself: sure, Inupi is worried for Koko, a part of him is mad at Koko because Inupi has perfectly understood Koko's problems and his guilt, while Koko clearly isn't ready to face the problem and I guess Inupi is tired, emotionally drained by that situation (let's keep in mind Inupi's fears as well, he wants to believe Koko sticks with him because he wants to, but he's also afraid to be seen as a substitute).

But also let's not forget that, with all the history they have, Koko also probably doesn't feel at peace with himself in his relationship with Inupi for the reasons we know: the fact that Koko saved him while shouting Akane's name and then he couldn't save her.

We know that Koko wants to be with Inupi as he choses to do in the last arc, but they never addressed their problems, even if i'm sure that Koko is happy that Inupi survived;

and I understand it wouldn't have been easy; to this day, I have no idea how Koko might have felt after the fire, it was such a terrible situation.

Then there was the kiss of course, the moment where, imho, Koko admits to himself for the first time he has feelings for Inupi and not for Akane. The same Akane that stopped him from kissing her and gave him an important lesson: "kiss only the person you like".

But it's terrible realization given their traumatic past, saving Inupi "by chance", his guilt for not saving Akane, the promise he did to her to protect her, the life of crime he was living that he hated and Akane wouldn't have condone. Let's not even start thinking about what it mean to be not-straight in a society like Japan...

Anyway, a part of Koko wants to go on, as implied by his character song and confirmed by his decisions in the last arc. But it's not easy, Koko sees himself as unredeemable for a long time, while he knows, because he sees it during the Tenjiku arc, that Inupi can live a good life without him, while he can't see himself living without making money in the worst way for the worst people

And in my opinion it is no accident that he caresses the scar, Inupi's hallmark more than anything else

He would like to be with Inupi, but he knows he has done bad things to get there that he can tell he is not proud of.

Inupi is pursuing an ideal by staying with Toman, which Koko cannot accept because he is too disillusioned and thinks he has no other choice (plus Tenjiku was the safest solution when they had their fight; then we know Tenjiku "loses", but Koko was trying to be rational, at least, before the Akane's topic came up.)

Inupi is more rational/lucid in regards to Akane and Koko's money obsession; maybe it was just a narrative decision, maybe it's a trait of Inupi's personality, maybe Inupi realized and processed many things off screen, whatever, but it seems to me that Inupi has a better grasp of the actual problem in their relationship, his own obsession with Black Dragoon (clearly a way to cope) and has somehow processed the trauma better; not that he's over it, otherwise he wouldn't shout at Koko to stop seeing him as Akane, but I see him more emotionally mature in some aspects or at least, he's more honest with himself about the situation, even if he still has his fears.

(There's is also a whole part of headcanons regarding Inupi and Akane and how he must have felt after the fire and her death, knowing that, in Inupi's mind, he wasn't "supposed to live", the grief of losing a sister that he loved, maybe some irrational jealousy because he wasn't Koko's "first choice" -i hate this term, but try to understand Inupi's pov🥲-, but still being sad because Inupi rationally knows it's a terrible thing to think, especially since she's dead, he misses her, has survival guilt, their whole family destroyed, physically, psychologically and economically, but this is more headcanon/fanfiction territory)

[sessakag]

When you think about it, Sakura was kinda a terrible friend. There’s not one friend she didn’t emotionally or physically hurt (unintentionally or not). Naruto was her main target and I can see why people dislike her for it. She always made everything about her or about Sasuke.

She cut Ino off bc of Sasuke. Called her a pig and everything. She knew Hinata loved Naruto and even says it herself when looking at her being hurt but then go and hugs him during Pain arc (still to this day I feel like Kishimoto did her dirty bc he had Hinata almost die for him just for him not to do anything with it. That hug or moment should’ve been with Hinata. Kishimoto did her dirty so many times even in The Last). If any girl did that to Sasuke, Sakura would not like it at all. Not only that, she tried to emotionally manipulate Naruto (knowing again Hinata loves him) and gets mad when he didn’t fall for her idiotic plan. She left Kiba, Lee and Sai unconscious in an unknown territory to pursue Sasuke alone just to not go through with the plan. Not only did she put herself in danger, had to be saved by Naruto and Kakashi, but she also put her teammates lives in jeopardy.

I couldn’t stand her for all of these reasons and more. Her bad moments outweighed her good moments for me. What do you think of her? I don’t hate her but I also don’t like her in canon

Before I start this, letting everyone know, I'm not looking for a debate about my personal opinion on this character, been there done that not doing it again. Do not @ me with rebuttals or arguments about her. My opinion is set in stone. I'm merely answering this ask. If you like Sakura, keep liking her, you don't need me to like her too in order to do that.

Now.

I make it no secret that I do not like canon Sakura.

I don't like her on a fundamental level.

To me, her personality was extremely annoying, shallow, unnecessarily cruel at times and overall repugnant. She was selfish, mean and whinny for way too long in the show with no real reason that I found palatable. She had moments in the original and Shippuden where she seemed to turn over a new leaf and showed a glimpse of what she could have been, but then she'd completely undermine her progress with the behaviors and actions you described, anon, and I couldn't ever get on board with her. She was a lot better in The Last and for once I found her decent, but it wasn't enough to change my mind about her overall.

She's just missing key components for me to enjoy her character.

The Naruto world has a lot of flawed characters, people that did bad/morally questionable things or had abrasive and distant attitudes, however, a lot of them were relatable and sympathetic due to their tragic backgrounds or them being forced into a terrible situation, not excusing their actions, but their situations prompted understanding and empathy for what sent them down the path of darkness or hatred in the first place. Their story made it possible to like them as the flawed humans they were. Gaara, Sasuke, Zabuza, Nagato, Konan, even Neji, these are people that did bad things, but when you look at them in their entirety, past and present, there's a thread of understanding that makes your heart bleed for them.

Then, I look at Sakura's behavior, check out her past and present and I'm like 😒why tf are you so mean and nasty???? She got teased about her forehead as a kid sure, but had Ino there to help her work through it, then she got into a spat over a guy and ended a friendship...

I'm sorry but that does not garner any understanding or tolerance of her behavior from me at all. To me, the violence she visited on Naruto FREQUENTLY, the insults and selfishness was a part of her personality, not some lingering trauma that needed healing, or a defense mechanism she'd built up as a way to protect herself, she was just mean and that is why I found her repugnant.

There's no excuse for it.

Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru didn't treat Naruto like trash, there was no reason for her to do it other than her nasty personality. They were all around the same age so the 'she's a kid and didn't know better' is out the window. For all her flaws, Sakura is a very smart character, she knew how to be kind, she did it for Sasuke all the time. She was kinder to Lee faster than she was Naruto.

There's no excuse I'm willing to hear. I didn't like her behavior then, I don't like it now, and no amount of twisting words, bullying or arguing is going to change my stance on it (though many have tried, lol) I think if fans of her want to be upset with anyone, be upset with Kishsi who butchered her rather than the people that didn't like the butchered character he served them. He made her distasteful to a lot of people and never, imo, rectified it in a meaningful way and I don't think people are wrong for not liking her.

So that is what I think of her.

I hate canon Sakura, original through Shippuden, but I like her potential which I think really presented itself in The Last.

Sakura is my second most hated character personality wise, RTN Hinata is number one 🤭

[outrunningthedark]

I have to say your take on the Buckley parents is always so intriguing to me not only because you have learned experience but also because you are so open to differing opinions. I don't have children and honestly don't believe that anyone who hasn't had children and lost one of them can truly say what they would do in that situation. I had a cousin that died at 11 years old and my Aunt was never the same. Her two other children had consequences growing up because of it. But when people in this fandom villainize the Buckley's and morally proclaim that they would never do that if they were a parent just completely miss the point in my opinion. And that is there is no one way to grieve. Each person is different and while their actions will have consequences for those around them, telling people they are grieving wrong is just sanctimonious. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned by the behavior of people we watch - good, bad and ugly. And I think a lot of times the fandom forgets this. Not everything is supposed to go your way. You aren't supposed to like how everything is done. But we can learn from the behaviors we see displayed on our screen and with these characters we have latched onto and apply these experiences in our own lives to shape what we want out of our lives.

Hey, thanks for being polite with your message, nonnie! Not everybody has been as thoughtful. ;) The way this fandom talks about the Buckley parents is so...funny? to me, because they, too, have their own "I understand this story line better than you because I've been through it." moments (for instance, Maddie's past with Doug), but it's the Buckley family's grief (or say, a story line like Shannon's) were personal experience does not apply because they believe what they want to believe, lol. Truth be told, I think there's two areas of this arc where people have their blinders on: - the savior baby detail of it all. they're terrible parents for having a third child to try and save another, fine. i'm not gonna argue about that. but buck hasn't been the only child that suffered in the aftermath of his brother's death; the neglect was part of maddie's upbringing, too. the fandom makes everything about buck's feelings and buck's "purpose" and i'm just...how can we not see that the pain over a son's death was so strong that they took it out on the daughter who wasn't involved? it's not about buck as much as it about losing daniel. i will continue to maintain that margaret, in particular, found it easier to keep her distance because she felt like she'd failed as a mother and didn't want to put herself through that kind of pain again. (was it fair to her kids? absolutely not. but i understand such reasoning.) - too much focus on whether the parents are "good" or "bad" and not enough reflection on whether their story is an authentic take on a tough situation. i remember in s4 when maddie "defended" their parents behavior and people were mad because she was "excusing abuse" or however they put it. no. no no no no. maddie is the sibling that got to witness/to feel her parents' love before buck was born. maddie is the sibling that remembers how quickly everything changed after daniel died. when she said they were grieving, and still are? that's her acknowledging how fucked up it is that their parents had to bury an eight-year-old. she's not excusing anything. she's saying she understands where it came from, how it started. there are layers to the story that buck didn't know, and that made it harder for him (and the audience, apparently) to comprehend/sympathize with the parents' actions and words.

The Buckley parents biggest mistake was acting like Daniel never existed, making Maddie stay silent. I think we all agree on that. But it's not uncommon. Not discussing a sibling who is no longer living is comparable to never mentioning a sibling that was given up for adoption. If a parent has a part of their past they don't want to relive because it's too painful or they have regrets...they won't talk about it. It's selfish, sure. But people need to understand that, a lot of the time, the immediate response is to feel like you're the only one experiencing that pain and nobody else can relate. It's why the "Why me?" mentality exists. For example, my mother has always referenced *her* when grieving and my sisters and I have to remind her that we lost out, too. She was ours, too. It's not our fault that we weren't old enough to offer comfort and support. It's not our fault that two of us weren't even old enough to realize someone was gone. TL;DR Idgaf if anyone thinks the Buckley parents are awful parents. Idgaf if you hate them, because I (honestly) think that was the initial goal. They're the antagonists in Buck's story. (Drawing off of something this nonnie wrote) But to say "I would never do that" or question how a parent could do that is just being angry for the sake of being angry. You have no idea what you'd do. You have no idea how bad it can get on the darkest of days. The Buckley parents are an example of what not to do. But you gotta work at it. You gotta want it. Otherwise... you will end up hating yourself more than anyone else can ever hate you.

[gruviasilversblog]

First of all, I want to say that Juvia is my favorite character but I too am not very satisfied with the role Mashima gave her. To me Juvia is a lovely girl and a good person. She's messed up without a shadow of a doubt, but most Fairy Tail characters are. She has a bad relationship with herself, I agree, on the unhealthy relationship part, no. Having lived a solitary life he was not able, at the beginning, to relate well with others so he tended to make mistakes.

I have to admit in regards to whether or not Juvia killed while in Phantom is a question I often ask myself and it's possible that she did, how is it possible that she didn't. I don't think Juvia was cruel, I think she had a mask on and forced herself to be cruel, as life had been to her up to that point.On an arc of development for her, I totally agree! She deserves it! She's one of the characters that deserves it the most! Unfortunately, however, I understood that we would not have it and maybe it's for the best, you know? authors gave my favorite characters an arc, a backstory and it turned out to be totally a delusion. I don't know, maybe it's better if we fans continue to do it, because then the canon would ruin something, I'm afraid.

I can understand you on the odyssey because I too have my own version of Juvia's past and it's quite difficult to explain. It's a mess!

That Juvia has always been in love with the idea of ​​love, that's a huge yes. I agree. But then she also really fell in love, and I'm sorry about that, but it's undeniable. Everyone can think as they want, yes, it's your version and you have the right to have it, but I want to point out that Juvia is really in love and it's reciprocated in the end.

I agree that she has had social problems in the past and is still very insecure about herself. I really like the idea that she always leaves the guild so as not to annoy her and that Lucy and Natsu are always by her side, it's a very nice idea.

Even the idea you have of Gajuvia is nice, although I have a slightly different idea of ​​their relationship, which I love.

On the S-class rank I totally agree. Unfortunately many forget about it. I also agree on the Water Lock, it's my favorite technique, in my opinion he could literally do everything with that technique, it's a pity that Mashima doesn't let him use it anymore.

About her childhood, I also think she wasn't beautiful and she suffered a lot and that's where all her problems come from.

Oh God, on this that she tried to remove her magic I agree too and in fact it is integrated into one of the many chapters of my fic about her past "Juvia of the Great Sea-The Phantom Queen". This is a nice coincidence. I'm curious to know what you have in mind because I have many ideas about it (I haven't written the chapter yet, I left when Josè found it and I just finished the one where Bora left it and from now these problems will start,lol). I totally agree with the fact that he thought about ending it too. I totally see myself trying to end his pain and misery! But I am of the opinion that all this happened during Phantom, I know that many think it happened before but I have this idea that it happened during.

I have this idea instead that Juvia is not an ambitious person, that she doesn't care about being strong but only being loved and happy. I don't see her as obsessed, I think she has had problems socializing, but no obsession. I think Gruvia's initial way was wrong, in fact, I only started shipping them during the Tenrou arc, before that it seemed a bit too much. I believe in love at first sight, but I also believe that it is a feeling that builds over time... it's a bit difficult to explain. I don't deny that Juvia and Gruvia have flaws, it's true, but I've learned to love them anyway, because we all have flaws. Sorry, I'm lost. Lol.

Whether she's romantic, who loves small gestures of affection, who's clumsy and loves children, I agree. I also agree that she is a manual girl, I hate how in the anime they made her an idiot who can't cook, because in my opinion she is excellent in the kitchen and her biscuits are the best in all of Fiore, Lol. I had never thought about painting, but now that you mention it, it's very possible. I totally agree about sewing! Even on her emotional and sensitive personality, happy, sad and angry I agree.

I totally agree about the relationships with the others, with the Thunder Legion. I think she and Evergreen are very good friends. And please, I literally love Laxvia not only as a brotp but also as a crackship. Yes, Laxus is one of my favorite characters and he's sexy too! We absolutely deserve more Gajuvia moments and also with Lucy, with Cana, with Erza, with Mira, with Lisanna, with Meredy, with Natsu, with everyone. I too think Juvia and Mira are very similar, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks so.

If you were to write a fic about this, I would read it. I like reading Juvia fics with different versions, because it's cool and it's totally different from hate.

Juvia for the character bingo?

I adore Juvia, I’m the only one who can speak about her and I know her better than anyone, even Mashima himself.

No, ok, of course I'm kidding, but premise: if you are a Juvia-and-Gruvia stan, this post is not for you, because I don't care about the version of a perfect and adorable Juvia who deserves the world because she's pretty and never done nothing wrong in life etc. Likewise, if you're a Juvia-and-Gruvia hater, this is no place for you, because I literally don't care if you think she's a horrible canon person who deserves to die and disappear off the face of the earth.

If you are Juvia stan and Gruvia hater (I know you exist somewhere), this is the place for you (or if you are indifferent to Gruvia, or if you like it but you are not avid shippers proclaiming Juvia as the ideal girl. Actually, idfc what you think about the ship, I just know that shippers and antis generally think in compartments and don't want to question anything, so if you belong to one or the other category, go on and see other posts).

So, now let's make two things clear before starting the discussion.

Juvia is not a lovely girl, nor is she a good person. Juvia is a fucking messed up person who has good intentions, but having not lived in a good place most of her life she has unhealthy relationships with many people, highly questionable behavior, and a very bad relationship with herself. She is also a strong and cruel woman who can kill, she will and she has already done. And despite all that, she deserves the love, but more importantly, she deserves a fucking painstakingly detailed development arc (and no, if you tell me there's no forgiveness for her, Ill get pissed, everyone have had a development arc, Jellal, Laxus, Gajeel, Cobra, Sting, etc. but Juvia doesn't deserve it? Don't even talk to me).

I won't explain all my ideas about her in this post, otherwise it would get very long because trust me, I have an Odyssey in mind, but basically:

Juvia is a girl in love with the idea of love. She has lived her whole life alone and desperately wants to make friends and find her life partner, so as soon as she meets someone who is even a little bit nice to her, she becomes morbidly attached, as indeed she did with Gray. But she doesn't just do it with him, she also does it with her friends, so Lucy, Cana, Erza, and other people in the guild. As soon as someone extends a finger of hers, she takes the whole arm and craves that affection that she always sees in others. At the same time, she's not good at showing affection in the normal way, so she does weird things, and usually she's overly pushy and willing to literally go out of her way to get anyone to accept her. She sacrificed herself for Cana, so yeah, she would literally do anything, and she doesn't understand the limits of people, so as long as someone gives her something, she takes, takes and takes. She is also very insecure of herself, so it doesn't take much, a miserable 'no' and she risks going back to being the lonely rain woman and that she annoys everyone with the weather she brings with her. When this happens, she leaves the guild because she is afraid to annoy her guildmates and return alone (Lucy and Natsu always join her and stand by her in those moments).

She has a complex relationship with Gajeel, but he's also probably the only real friend she has, at least in the beginning, because she doesn't feel this need to continually affirm her affection for him. She's not even afraid of him leaving, because Gajeel has already seen the worst of her in Phantom Lord, and he's stayed, and she knows that he will stay by her side because he's one of the few people who understands her. (Then Cana will also become friends with her in a similar way).

She is an unnervingly strong sorceress, let's not forget that she was an S-class level in Phantom Lord. She was cruel too, she killed people with the Water Lock, and she wouldn't hesitate to do it if she saw something that reminded her of her childhood.

Speaking of her childhood, she was awful. From an early age she was considered a cursed child because she brought rain everywhere, for this reason her parents put her in an orphanage. She had no idea, and after spending her early years in an orphanage with everyone staying away from her and bad-mouthing her, she went looking for her parents. She hoped to reunite with them but when she found them, they did not recognize her, and badly kicked her out of the house saying never to be seen again. She moved to a village and tried to live alone, but still everyone annoyed her and told her to leave. One day someone annoyed her so much that she seriously injured him by trapping him in a water bubble and suffocating him. Since then, she has escaped from there.

She tried to remove the magic herself, with dangerous methods that put her life at risk, but it was unsuccessful (I have a whole arc in mind on this omg). She even pushed herself too hard with her magic that she nearly died. Probably in a very dark period of her life she also thought about ending it. This until she entered Phantom Lord. There, for the first time, she found a place that accepted her, and she immediately understood that the stronger she was, the more she was accepted. That's why she trained hard and became ambitious, she wanted to surpass all wizards, she thought that as she got stronger, she would have more friends. And more or less, that's how Phantom Lord worked. She was also able to use her power to its fullest, because nobody cared to use good methods, she could kill and she did it without hesitation, especially when she saw cruel people who reminded her of her parents or the people who they bullied. She felt somehow at home.

She then entered Fairy Tail, and for the first time she saw the sun thanks to Gray, which is why she thought that Gray was her life partner and so she became attached to him.

From here my version completely changes from the canon, or rather, initially it's similar with her becoming obsessed with Gray (but not only with him, also with Lucy and Cana and the other guildmates), then as she goes on making mistakes, understands how to actually build a true and healthy friendship. She learns to love herself and to understand what she really wants other than 'not to be alone', and discovers that she is actually very ambitious, she wants to be strong, she likes to be strong, not just because she likes admiration, but precisely because she likes to be able to protect her loved ones. She's always fucking creepy when someone touches her loved ones, like, you know the scene on Tenrou where she's fucking creepy when Meredy talks about killing Gray? Well, yes, Juvia is like that, only not just with Gray, but with everyone in the guild, touch someone dear to her and she will kill you, absolutely and without remorse.

She also remains a romantic, a person who adores small gestures of affection, a clumsy, she loves children but never knows how to behave with them, she is a very manual girl, she knows how to paint, but above all she knows sewing clothes or building accessories, girls always come to her and she is always happy to give them gifts. She is also a mega emotional and sensitive girl, when she feels an emotion, she feels it to the nth degree. When she's happy she gets loud, and infects everyone with her happiness showing it to the world, when she's sad no one can cheer her up, when she's angry you better run.

She understands that her relationship with Gray is complicated and one-sided, and she tries to act better and walk away from him when he tells her he's not comfortable with her. When she does that, Juvia discovers that in reality she is happy even without him. Like, she's a friend of Gray, a close friend, but she understands that her love was in her head. Then they cultivate a beautiful friendship, which if you want can also become true love (or not, you decide, but there must be that passage of self-understanding first. Actually, I'm a bit indifferent to the ship but whatever).

And then I'll stop here, even if I have things to say about the relationships she could have with other people, primarily with the Thunder Legion (in my opinion she gets along very well with all of them and also with Laxus), with Gajeel (their friendship is complex and that's okay), with Lucy (they are bestie fight me), with Erza (Juvia admires her), with Lisanna (Juvia listens to what the Edo version of Juvia was like and thinks about herself), with Cana (a bestie much more sincere than Lucy, she doesn't mince words when she has to make it clear when Juvia acts like a bitch), with Mira (these two girls are actually more similar than it seems), and that's it, now I stop.

It would have been faster to write a fanfiction.

(However I don't think this version is very far from the canon.)

[akindlylittlesoul]

What if pepa's whole "oh I hate bruno, he ruined my wedding day, we don't talked about him" is more of, her coping mechanism?

Maybe she truly misses him a lot and it hurts her, but she's never able to express her true feelings.

After all, her whole character arc is about her finally letting go and allowing herself to feel her emotions as they are.

This is just another example of her sheltering her true emotions in the past.

Is easier for her to say:

"I'm angry at him for this this this and this..... great I'm thundering now everyone go away"

than saying:

"I miss my brother and I'm actually realy sad about him not being here"

because people would probably won't take that as an answer and just keep asking her "ohhh why do you say that? he ruined your wedding and everyone hated his visions, why do you feel sad"

Maybe everytime he's brought up it makes her want to cry.

Humans, we are not just one emotions, she can be sad and miss him, but also still be mad about him leaving, what if in a way she feels guilty and that is she has some fault or play a part on him leaving them.

Maybe both her and Julieta feel that they fail to stop the negative comments and harsh feelings their brother was victim of.

Also, it might be that she wasn't allowed to miss Bruno, probably any mention of him was quickly shut down by Abuela (who probably also was going through her own mourning process, having now lost her son too).

After all they "don't talk about him, they don't even mention him"; there's no picture of him or something "in his memory". He's excluded. Maybe Julieta and Pepa, couldn't "mourn" him, at all.

I also theorize that both Pepa and Bruno kinda clash quite a bit, her being so explosive and emotional and Bruno being sensitive. I do see Pepa saying hurtful things to him in the heat of the moment. (kinda the same way she talked to Mirabel after Isabela's (failed) proposal dinner).

Let's also be clear that her burst of emotions are really a consequence of years of bottling up her feelings, creating the situation that everything will tilt her over the edge.

And me saying clash doosent meant that they had any serious fights.

I do belive that the triplets really had a strong bond and relationship

I have a great relationship with my brother, and we tend to "fight" quite a bit but it never last, there's always a movie or a meme that I want to show him (or vice-versa) and that's how the conflict ends. I imagine that they were the same.

[dollthighs]

a moment of silence for peridot's relationship with garnet, her relationship with amethyst, her relationship with steven, her guilt over who she used to be as she struggles to create a new identity on earth, her insecurity about not being as powerful as the era 1 gems, her immense knowledge about homeworld, her disabled traits (limb enhancers/missing them, her tablet/need for comfort items), rest in peace to her fucking character development

[australian-desi]

BRIDGERTON SEASON 2 - THOUGHTS/REVIEWS

Spoilers ahead

This is a very long post, if anyone reads it I will be truly obliged. You will indeed, have my heart.

Alright, so I went to bed at like 6am after binging the season, and woke up at 8:30am so like I'm very delusional at the moment but I had to gather my thoughts.

So now that the adrenaline rush has gone after binging 8 episodes that were 1 hour long from 7:30pm to 4:50am I have decided that while I loved the season mostly, there was some parts which were quite frankly lacklustre and underwhelming.

The Good:

Kathony - they hit the nail on the head with their chemistry, and the scenes we did get. I was literally giddy everytime they came on my screen

Jonny and Simone

Newton

The slow burn - I really liked the slow burn, and the sex scene we got was immaculate (I'm still thinking about the flash where he's in between her legs and making eye contact with her). Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma are freaks in the sheets and I love them for it.

Everytime Edwina and Kate called each other "Didi" or "Bon" my heart literally soared, I do not care if they bungled up the Sharma family's ethnicity, this had my heart. I literally cried when Edwina stopped calling Kate Didi.

The almost kisses. Holy shit everytime he came close to her and would breathe out the dialogues in exasperation, I screamed. I loved every second of it

The love triangle was better than I expected it to be. I liked how they showed that Edwina was mad at Kate for lying to her and projecting her own wants/dreams onto Edwina, rather than Edwina discovering herself on her own.

I loved the Sharma sister scenes. The haldi, Kate applying oil on Edwina's hair while they talk (this scene really made me happy because my mum and I bond when she is putting oil in my hair, and is a common beauty/bonding ritual among South Asian women)

I was here for Eloise and Theo's friendship/relationship, but he was a dick to her

I liked how Penelope was forced to face the repercussions as Whistledown and that Eloise found out

I really enjoyed the epilogue, really wanted their post-coital scene to be longer (because I am a perve) and I do think we would be getting married Kathony next season otherwise I will riot.

The way I screamed when he got Kate tulips, it was what I was begging for all season. I was about to throw the whole season away if he didn't get her tulips specifically.

And when he mentioned that she smells like lilies, and the time she walks past him and he just smells her. THAT SCENE WAS EVERYTHING

Look, I know it wasn't historically accurate, but when Kate abuses british tea by saying Indian tea is much more flavourful, I felt seen. Also when she has her own little spice pouch which she makes her tea spicier with gave me life.

Every Benedict and Anthony scene

The Mary and Kate scene where she tells Kate that she fell in love with her the moment she met her.

Did not mind the accents, especially because Kate sounded like she was code-switching (it was stronger in scenes with Edwina and Mary than with other characters). Also coz they weren't jarring.

Violet and Anthony's arc was beautifully done.

How Bollywood it was

The Bad:

Edwina being blind to Kate and Anthony until a second before she was about to say "I do" - like I get that they wanted to keep her in the dark, but she could've been more perceptive and choose to ignore it.

Kate Sharma's full name. There was no need for it, luckily it was only mentioned once and I can blissfully ignore and pretend he said Katharine

The incestual fuckery that was the love triangle between Portia, Prudence and Jack

Jack's whole scam - WHY WAS THIS GIVEN SOOOOO MUCH SCREEN TIME

Due to the above point, it really felt that the Kathony scenes were very few and spaced out in between each other, which isn't great. Because if they cut out like 50% of the Jack bullshit, we could've gotten scenes of Kate and Anthony connecting on an emotional level.

Also the show is called Bridgerton not Featherington, why were the Bridgertons as a whole given less screenspace than the Featheringtons.

Kate Sharma's trauma being reduced to that to match Anthony's. Again if they did better with screen space allocation, they could've expanded on Kate's trauma, and made them emotionally connect more. I just feel a little robbed of this.

The fact that Kate calls Edwina "Bon" (a Bengali term), is from Mumbai/Bombay, has the surname Sharma and calls her parents "amma" and "appa" which are South Indian terms. Google is free. It would've taken you less than 5 minutes to see what Mumbaikers/North Indians call their parents or even South Indian surnames starting with "sh".

The pacing was insane

ALSO IT WAS CRIMINAL HOW SHORT THE LAKE SCENE WAS. MY MAN FALLS IN THE LAKE AND YOU DONT EVEN SHOW HIM DRIPPING WET AS HE GETS OUT. ROBBED.

Changes I would've made because I think I could be a better show runner:

Give the Featheringtons (barring Penelope) like 5 minutes of screenspace per episode as opposed to 20.

Make Kate's fear of storms like it was in the book. She saw Anthony's panic attack when she got stung, he gets to see her panic attack. Maybe even make it that when she tells him that her dad used to read to her during storms, he reads to her to calm her down (I genuinely thought he was going to read her but alas he did not).

Anthony telling Edwina like he tells Kate in the book, that their marriage would have friendship, respect but not love, before they got to the altar, not after Edwina runs away and he needs to convince her.

Edwina being more and more uneasy about marrying Anthony, and noticing his growing closeness with Kate the closer they get to the wedding, and then the night before the wedding, at a dinner or something Edwina is talking to Anthony he is intently staring at Kate instead, Kate drops the bangle, Anthony picks it up and looks at Kate and hands it to her, Edwina notices all, calls off the wedding (this happens end of episode 5). Episode 6, the queen is having issues with the wedding being called off, LW says some shit against the queen, the Bridgertons and Sharmas face some level of ruin. Kate and Edwina have their fight, Kanthony bond over failing in their respective duties to their families after meeting in an early morning horse ride, they kiss.

Episode 7-8, Edwina-Kate make up, the Bridgerton ball that no one showed up to, Edwina urges Kate to follow her heart, Kate and Anthony meet again. angst. They have sex as they did in the show. Get married, wedding night sex. Epilogue. The end. (Fit in the accident somewhere)

Pick a region where the Sharmas are from and stick to it

This was a long one thankyou for reading anyone that did.

[severusish]

i haven't been 'into' HP in literally years and i don't seek out new merch or new official content (although I do still occasionally check out HP fanfictions and authors I subscribed to years back when they add new content) but it always pisses me off, like "frothing at the mouth" kind of pissed off, when people misinterpret the books and especially some characters like Snape

like every time someone reduces Snape's character to "creepy incel who was mad he couldn't bang Harry's mom" or that "clearly the intent was that him being bullied and loving Lily 100% justifies everything he did and it was his redemption arc and clearly THAT's problematic" I feel so fucking annoyed how can you miss the point so bad??

i get that it's just MY interpretation but from my own point of view:

- I never got the impression that what we learned about his past (being bullied by Harry's dad, loving Harry's mom who was his first and only childhood friend before Hogwarts, being a spy) was supposed to JUSTIFY everything that he ever did. But it EXPLAINS it, and that's all that matters to me: it means he's a 3 dimensional character! Who tried to help at the end!

- Literally that's all there is to it: his past explains why he's like that in the present. Is he the best possible version of himself? No. He fucked up a lot and regretted (at least some of) his actions and caused the death of his childhood best friend (and only friend), said best friend whom he lost after fucking up (again), and did he ever get any closure for that? Well now she's dead so it's not like he can fix their friendship. I'm not even going to mention how growing up poor, with a father that, if I remember canon correctly (read so many fics I can't tell sometimes), did NOT like him, then being bullied at Hogwarts, made him fall into the wrong crowd, he probably also has a lot of trauma from both the bullying and from being a deatheater and since he was a spy I can't really believe he had a lot of genuine friendships with other slytherins (or at least couldn't be 100% truthful all the time)

- I don't even have any trouble believing he's done a lot more wrong than what we see, I just think it's stupid to reduce his character to "incel" when it's more like "local bullied teen royally fucks up his only friendship, joins a cult and after it all falls apart and he indirectly kills childhood best friend whom he was in love with, bottles up all of his feelings until the day he dies"

- I don't even think him loving Lily romantically or platonically makes any difference. At the end of the day it's either "I caused the death of my childhood best friend" or "I caused the death of my childhood best friend and I was in love with her", like in both cases the emotional toll is pretty big.

well

glad i got that off my chest

have a nice day! :D

Well I'll be damned. 

I love this. I shall answer every part of it.

i haven't been 'into' HP in literally years and i don't seek out new merch or new official content (although I do still occasionally check out HP fanfictions and authors I subscribed to years back when they add new content) but it always pisses me off, like "frothing at the mouth" kind of pissed off, when people misinterpret the books and especially some characters like Snape

Me too, Anon. I can't stand it when people willfully misunderstand characters.

like every time someone reduces Snape's character to "creepy incel who was mad he couldn't bang Harry's mom" or that "clearly the intent was that him being bullied and loving Lily 100% justifies everything he did and it was his redemption arc and clearly THAT's problematic" I feel so fucking annoyed how can you miss the point so bad??

YES. Snape wasn't an incel, but also it would be reductionist to say that Lily and his experience as a victim of bullying were the only thing important about him or were the whole point of his character.

i get that it's just MY interpretation but from my own point of view:

- I never got the impression that what we learned about his past (being bullied by Harry's dad, loving Harry's mom who was his first and only childhood friend before Hogwarts, being a spy) was supposed to JUSTIFY everything that he ever did. But it EXPLAINS it, and that's all that matters to me: it means he's a 3 dimensional character! Who tried to help at the end!

Exactly. His past doesn't justify anything bad he did, but it explains both his actions and his motivations for his actions, and it explains his intent, and intent is everything. And absolutely he's a three-dimensional character, who is not morally binary (meaning he's not black or white, he's morally grey/ambiguous). And he absolutely did his best to repent, by giving his life to the cause, and saving Lily's son.

- Literally that's all there is to it: his past explains why he's like that in the present. Is he the best possible version of himself? No. He fucked up a lot and regretted (at least some of) his actions and caused the death of his childhood best friend (and only friend), said best friend whom he lost after fucking up (again), and did he ever get any closure for that? Well now she's dead so it's not like he can fix their friendship. I'm not even going to mention how growing up poor, with a father that, if I remember canon correctly (read so many fics I can't tell sometimes), did NOT like him,

His past explains who he is in the present. He is not perfect, he did some horrible things, and he regrets many things as well. He never got closure, and he never got a chance to fix things with her. And in the canon, to answer your question, it is clear that his father didn't like him.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 26, Seen and Unforeseen

Harry raised his own wand. “Protego!” 

Snape staggered; his wand flew upward, away from Harry — and suddenly Harry’s mind was teeming with memories that were not his — a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner. . . . A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies. . . . A girl was laughing as a scrawny boy tried to mount a bucking broomstick —

Harry did not speak; he felt that to say anything might be dangerous. He was sure he had just broken into Snape’s memories, that he had just seen scenes from Snape’s childhood, and it was unnerving to think that the crying little boy who had watched his parents shouting was actually standing in front of him with such loathing in his eyes. . . . 

“Let’s try again, shall we?” said Snape.

1. Based on this ^ excerpt we know that Tobias Snape would shout at Eileen while Snape cried in the corner. We know that Tobias Snape used to abuse his wife and drive his son to tears.

____________________

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 30, The White Tomb

“No — no — Harry, I didn’t mean that!” she said hastily, looking around to check that they were not being overheard. “It’s just that I was right about Eileen Prince once owning the book. You see . . . she was Snape’s mother!”

“I thought she wasn’t much of a looker,” said Ron.

Hermione ignored him. “I was going through the rest of the old Prophets and there was a tiny announcement about Eileen Prince marrying a man called Tobias Snape, and then later an announcement saying that she’d given birth to a —”

“— murderer,” spat Harry.

“Well . . . yes,” said Hermione. “So . . . I was sort of right. Snape must have been proud of being ‘half a Prince,’ you see? Tobias Snape was a Muggle from what it said in the Prophet.”

____________________ 

2. Based on this second excerpt, we also know Tobias Snape was a Muggle.

____________________ 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33: The Prince's Tale

“How are things at your house?” Lily asked.

A little crease appeared between his eyes.

“Fine,” he said.

“They’re not arguing anymore?”

“Oh yes, they’re arguing,” said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. “But it won’t be that long and I’ll be gone.”

“Doesn’t your dad like magic?”

“He doesn’t like anything, much,” said Snape.

____________________ 

3. Based on this ^ third excerpt we know that his parents argued often and that (reading between the lines) Tobias Snape didn't like magic, and that Tobias Snape was a Muggle who didn't like much of anything at all – Severus and Eileen, and magic included.

____________________ 

then being bullied at Hogwarts, made him fall into the wrong crowd, he probably also has a lot of trauma from both the bullying and from being a deatheater and since he was a spy I can't really believe he had a lot of genuine friendships with other slytherins (or at least couldn't be 100% truthful all the time)

And yes, he got bullied, which drove him to the nearest support circle he could find, who happened to be Anti-Muggleborn Slytherins. And I doubt he had any true friends beyond Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy.

- I don't even have any trouble believing he's done a lot more wrong than what we see, I just think it's stupid to reduce his character to "incel" when it's more like "local bullied teen royally fucks up his only friendship, joins a cult and after it all falls apart and he indirectly kills childhood best friend whom he was in love with, bottles up all of his feelings until the day he dies"

I agree. "Incel" doesn't describe Severus Snape at all. "Local bullied teen royally fucks up his only friendship, joins a cult and after it all falls apart and he indirectly kills childhood best friend whom he was in love with, he bottles up all of his feelings until the day he dies" is a perfect way to describe this multi-faceted and deep character.

- I don't even think him loving Lily romantically or platonically makes any difference. At the end of the day, it's either "I caused the death of my childhood best friend" or "I caused the death of my childhood best friend and I was in love with her", like in both cases the emotional toll is pretty big.

Amen. Either way, it's a form of love. And either way, he indirectly caused the death of one of the only people who ever saw him for who he was, and the only person he'd ever truly opened up to, and allowed himself to open his heart to, whether that be platonic or romantic. Aside, perhaps, from his godson Draco Malfoy.

__________________

Right! There you have it.

I'm glad you got that off of your chest too, Anon, because it is Accurate™.

Thanks for visiting 🖤

- S.

[starscompanion]

thoughts on euphoria season 2 because i’m a month behind and have no life (inspired by @lilisouless and encouraged by @jadentheflowerboy)

EUPHORIA SPOILERS BTW

Episode one was actually like. quite good. i enjoyed it a lot, the vibes were on point, Maddy SLAYED, McKay still existed. It jumped right into the new plot line for the season. and “it’s a new year, playboy” is still to this day extremely iconic. If i'm being honest I didn't pay attention much to episode two and three so I'm not gonna pretend I have a valid opinion on them.

Maddy this season absolutely ate I will not be taking criticism. The writers this season had three collective brain cells, and one of them was on Maddy Perez. Not much to say here, just keep ur head up queen.

I do have complaints on Kat (big surprise). I just thought her s1 story line was actually really fucking good, and I didn't like that they completely abandoned that. And she and Maddy are best friends again-- I was surprised there was no follow-up on the "I miss the old Kat, the one who had a sense of humor and wasn't a fucking cunt" conversation. They were just suddenly besties again, and Kat had zero background of the past few months. Also having her gaslight Ethan after ignoring them both completely was just... not great.

(side note-- mad props to Ethan for being the one to absolutely destroy Nate Jacobs)

This being said I do get that they didn't want the show to be doing too much at once. But we could have kept the format from season 1 where each episode sort of focuses on one person--we had that in the first episode with Fez, and a bit in the second with Nate but idk what happened after that.

And as for Cassie- wow. There's a lot. I didn't watch the episodes immediately when they came out (mostly, it's complicated) I just caught up through Instagram edits, which is probably the clearest way to get the Euphoria plot if i'm being honest. I just watched her hit a new rock bottom each Sunday, and it was no different when I actually watched the episodes. Stealing this take from Lili, but it was like giving the audience someone to root against. I hope she get's a redemption arc in the next season, because among the three antagonists of this season, she is the ONLY character who deserves one.

I'm just gonna say that the Rue storyline had brain cell #2 this season. It was in character, it fit with the story, and it gave my best girl a happy ending with an overlooming cliffhanger, which is the best way to end a continuing series season. For a lot of the characters, there's not much left for them to rly do next season (cough cough Jules and Kat) but it left room open for Rue's story to continue. obviously its gonna be a painful ride, but thats part of the deal.

I don't have much to say on Jules and Elliott because if i'm being honest i didn't pay much attention to them lmao, but lemme just say: I can't lie, Elliot's song was a vibe. But it was too long I'M SORRY IT JUST HAD SO MANY PLACES WHERE IT COULD HAVE ENDED AND IT JUST KEPT GOING I-

and ofc Lexi, the queen herself. Absolutely owned the season with her play, and with her relationships with Fez and Rue. she's not perfect--but she's incredible. no complaints here. she's my pfp.

And the finale-- Okay I watched the finale several weeks after it came out, and I thought I knew everything that was going to happen. but it still had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, so great job. I said there were three collective brain cells, and one of them was with Rue and one was with Maddy? The last one was on this episode.

anyways, i'm so sorry for putting this on your dashboards.

if you're still reading, hi! i didn't think anyone would scroll down this far! i love you! i'm gonna go back to reblogging memes and simping for fictional characters now

[deltaengineering]

Spring Anime 2021: Embarrassment of Riches

So this current anime season absolutely stinks, which just makes the last one look even more impressive. Well, maybe not all of it...

Zombieland Saga Revenge

First off, you don't need to tell me that the following is a severe outlier opinion. We good? Ok. ZLSR is, in a word, subpar. I liked S1 back in the day, but it was already in the process of getting lazy towards the end. S2 continues this trend and is basically just another idol show. And as someone who actually does watch other idol shows I have to say that it's not a particularly good one of those either. The zombie gimmick has mostly stopped mattering and we're just doing what every idol show does, only with the odd occasional sight gag. The alleged subversive qualities mostly amount to a flashback for Yuugiri, which is admittedly the best part of the show but feels like it barely has anything to do with anything. Apart from that, it's a bunch of generic idol plots, rehashed character beats, shoddy attempts at twists (while not connecting to any setups from S1), and the obligatory "idols give us hope" ending, which is terribly hackneyed and flat out bad. Tae gets further memed into the ground, because of course she does. And there's stuff that was simply never good to begin with, like Kotarou and his comedy schtick, which gets truly insufferable now that there's no qualities to distract from it. It really makes me think that S1 wasn't even all that good to begin with and seems like an attempt to turn this surprise success into an easy money longrunner with no edge and no ambitions. "The idol show for people who don't watch idol shows" indeed, but not the way you mean it. 4/10

Bakuten

But not to dwell on the failures, with the second show we're already above the cut — barely. This one got my attention with its really impressive performance scenes early on and it totally sticks to that, which is even more impressive. But besides that? Well, this is by far the most predictable show in a season where I watched an unambitious Kiraralike and put ZLS on blast for having no ideas. The characters are a mixed bag, some are cool (Shida, Asawo), some are very annoying (Mashiro), but those are the supports. The main cast is extremely one-dimensional, which is fine until they try to heap a ton of pathos on their lead, which doesn't go well. But I guess execution matters, and Bakuten is slick enough to get by. Writing this down in stark daylight I feel like I overrated this show somewhat (I actually put it over the next one originally, which definitely doesn't hold up when thinking about it), but I was indeed mostly entertained. 6/10

Yakunara Mug Cup mo

Yeah. Of course Mug Cup definitely doesn't invent or subvert anything either, but it's a pretty good Kiraralike that's always entertaining to watch. Explaining the qualities of such a nothing genre is as difficult as ever, but it mostly comes down to me liking the characters and it having nothing to annoy me. It's shorter than normal, which is a plus for slim shows like this. And yeah, you can make an excessive amount of dick jokes with the clay fondling. That helps too. Looks are just fine, pleasant but nothing out of the ordinary. Comfy low-effort anime. 6/10

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

This one is decent, but sadly still a major letdown. Because the first few episodes of Vivy were excellent and kicked ass, but then it became increasingly clear that the writing can't cash the checks the ideas wrote while the action starts running into severely diminishing returns. Vivy just keeps slowly getting worse and worse as it goes on, not by a huge amount each episode but by the end there's a pretty sizeable gulf between potential and result. Going into detail would probably be a little much for this venue because there's a lot, but from the top level view the issue is that while Vivy has good fundamental ideas and steals at the right places, it just isn't a smart show — it's schlock, and by the end, poorly thought out schlock that tries to smooth out every problem with liberal application of the big feels hammer and le epic twist at that. Yeah, couldn't tell that the Re:Zero dude was aboard here, for sure. That said, it still works pretty well as entertaining schlock that is not to be taken too seriously, and the characters are generally just very fun to watch even when they're doing stupid things. Still, I can't in good conscience rate this higher than Beatless, a show that looks like butt but properly executes on its ideas. 6/10

Super Cub

So this is 100% a Honda commercial, and I got really mad a Yuru Camp last season for being a blatant shill. Yet I'm feeling this, what gives? I think the main difference is that Super Cub is specifically a commercial for one product (and a very iconic product at that), while Yuru Camp is so all over the place that it ends up mostly a commercial for consumerism in general. And when Super Cub goes too hard on the product (which it does), it's at least pretty entertaining. That's something about Super Cub in general: It goes hard. Your regular Kiraralike this is not, because it's uncommonly slow, focused and moody - yes, it almost measures up to Yuru Camp at its best and demolishes it at its worst. Also, it's just extremely amusing to see sadblob Koguma grow a huge grizzly biker beard and become a badass outlaw dad to her goofy wife and cute daughter, all thanks to the power of afforable personal transportation. Needless to say, that can get unintentionally silly, but Super Cub has so much charm that it doesn't matter — it's great when it's good and still funny when it's not. 7/10

Shadows House

Shadows House turned up with a lot of potential, and I have to say it at least delivered on most of it. It has some problems; notably I'm not a fan of how the entire middle turned out to be a tournament arc of sorts that seems curiously inspired by Resident Evil memes, crest-shaped intentations and boulder punching included. I also think that this is a show that would be perfectly fine without explaining much, but I guess it is a shounen manga after all so we got dumped on eventually anyway. At least that came late - close relative Promised Neverland didn't show that much restraint. Shadows House is generally well written though, with great characters, interesting interactions and a great hook. But what really makes it memorable is that it's exceptionally good at the cute/creepy contrast, something that is often tried but rarely works as well as here, with great character designs and very appropriate production. I hope this gets a sequel, because it seems like it's just getting started. 7/10

SSSS.Dynazenon

Coming in with a fondness for Gridman, Dynazenon didn't have to do much to convince me. The surprise though is that it's not a rehash even if it's basically the same show, a character drama where occasionally huge and goofy fights break out. Dynazenon is Gridman done better, and the interesting part is how it accomplishes this - mainly by being far more conventional. I do appreciate that Gridman went for something weird and almost experimental, but that only really paid off towards the end while most of the show was a distraction/holding pattern. It just didn't feel like there was enough material for a full series there, more like a movie maybe, if even that. Dynazenon fixes this by just being a TV show, with an actual cast of characters that each have their own arc. And by spreading the material this way, Dynazenon ends up having a lot more nuance than its intensely focused predecessor, while having the same themes and not actually being any deeper. In a way, Gridman ends up looking like the spinoff in retrospect, while Dynazenon is the full package. 8/10

Thunderbolt Fantasy S3

So how good was this season? So good that Thunderbolt Fantasy doesn't end up at the top, that's how. And all the elements that made Tbolt such a sure thing are still there, big hammy puppets doing stunts and scheming never gets old. However, I do have to note that at this point, the writing appears to have gotten too comfortable. I don't expect it to ever top the amazing S1 ending, but at this point it's like Tbolt has stopped trying to deliver on endings at all and seems in the process of retooling itself into a longrunner instead. Barely anything gets resolved in S3 (the climax is that the climax of S2 is resolved again, for good this time... maybe), and everything else is just setting up plotpoints for the next season. Tbolt is truly lucky that it doesn't actually need to resolve anything to be a great time, but at this point I have to say that I'd appreciate it if they wrapped it up with S4. 8/10

Nomad: Megalobox 2

Speaking of sequels to shows I liked, Nomad doesn't so much improve upon its predecessor but steamrolls right over it. This is a tall order, since Megalobox was surprisingly good for a sports shounen and had a real nice, heartwarming ending that Nomad instantly negates for purposes of drama and everyone being extremely miserable. That sounds like a pretty terrible idea - and it would be, if Nomad wasn't as excellent as it is. To call it not the same show would be an understatement, because it's a true sequel, not just the same characters doing their thing some more, or new characters doing the same thing as the old ones did. Indeed my biggest problem with Megalobox was that it still closely adhered to its genre template and was very predictable; Nomad fixes this issue thoroughly. Nomad is about questioning what being a hotblooded shounen protagonist eventually leads you to, and how to fix everything you screwed up by being one. You could call it a deconstruction, but that term has been so abused for cynical, edgy "thing you like actually sucks" takes that I feel like it doesn't really fit here. Nomad isn't cynical at all, it's just a character drama about some boxers past their prime, and it being a sequel to a show that is indeed rather formulaic just enhances the experience. My biggest issue with it was that I really like what they did with Joe in this story, so the big focus on Mac's backstory felt like a distraction for a long time. But in the end that turned out to be absolutely necessary to make the ending work. The ending's just great, by the way, and I shall say not more about it. 9/10

Odd Taxi

Yeah boy, here's the show that has apparently become somewhat of a "greatest show you didn't watch" meme, which I can feel smug about because I don't need YouTubers to tell me what's good and followed this from day one. Anyway, Odd Taxi is indeed great, the greatest show in a few years even. What starts out as seemingly a relaxed hangout show in the vein of Midnight Diners quickly turns into a psychological murder mystery while never losing its quirky humor. The character writing is outstanding, with even small bit players being on a level that the average anime wishes it could have for leads. And the rollout of the mystery is exemplary, with answers given and new questions raised every episode with a satisfying and logical payoff in the end. This is also the rare anime that has rock solid production from the first to the last second; it's never really flashy but excellently done and highly consistent nonetheless. And the music just owns. I have a few complaints, mainly that there's a few logical weaknesses in the story (which wouldn't even register in a lesser show, but sticks out here since the rest is so immaculately constructed) and that the ending overextends on the emotions when the rest of the show is so reserved and dry in comparison. But those are only the reasons why I didn't give it perfect marks, and I almost did that anyway. 9/10