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a-star-that-burns-brightly · 2 months ago

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CH2-13 Thoughts + CH2-14 Predictions

Hello DRDT Fandom! CH2-13 came out about four or so days ago as I'm posting this, and I finally mustered up the energy and mental strength to write down my overall thoughts, and also general predictions for what I think is to come in the next episode. A lot happened in this episode and we have a lot to cover, so let's get started! Before we do though, I think I should give us a reminder of where we currently are in terms of the swear chart and the bingo card, as of CH2-12 Swear Statistics

Bingo Card

Just like the last post, I'll be separating my talking points into character categories, so let's jump straight in with the big man himself...

Levi

Quick Disclaimer: I myself am still trying to unlearn the mindset that having low or no empathy is in any way a moral failing. If I say anything wrong or rude, please politely correct me. Remember kids: Your feelings, thoughts, and emotions, what you feel and how you feel them if you do at all, do not have any moral weight, they are simply aspects of your brain and you cannot control your brain. The only thing that has moral weight is your actions.

So as we learned in the previous episode, Levi has the murderer secret! And as we learn in this episode, he apparently killed four people, one of which being his father. DRDT continues to take Danganronpa's standard tropes and incorporating them in unique ways, in this case Levi represents the trope of the Chapter 2 Serial Killer reveal (Genocide Jack, Peko, Maki). I love that DRDT keeps doing this and I hope it keeps it up You know what else is staying consistent, though?

(x) Levi: That incident happened when I was in my junior year of high school. Levi: My junior year was also the year that Hope's Peak scouted me as the Ultimate Personal Stylist. Levi: To my understanding, it would've reflected poorly on Hope's Peak to recruit a murderer, so they pressured the court into not pressing charges.

US-HPA being morally corrupt as all fuck, that's what! Like no, seriously, it makes more and more sense as for why Xander David and Mai were most likely forming a revolution against this damn place, cause wow. The choice to scout out Levi during his Junior Year, when he was still in high school, is...interesting. Given that this Hope's Peak takes in College-aged students, why not just wait until Levi has graduated high school? In fact, that probably would've been even better because by then Levi definitely would've perfected his skills in styling by then, and thus would further justify him being enrolled in the academy. We don't know whether or not Levi was scouted before or after his incident, but given how Levi explains the events, I'm willing to bet this was after. Which...makes thing especially strange. But I'm sure it's no big deal. I mean, it's not like we have any evidence of US-HPA preying on vulnerable childre--

(x) Min: The Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students was made for a very specific target audience. Min: Those children who had no talents, who would consider spending their entire lives preparing for one single test for even a chance to become an Ultimate...

Oh. Well isn't that funny, huh?

Part of Hope's Peak's branding in general is the promise of a better future, which is something that Levi clearly wants. So I can most definitely see why the idea of being enrolled in the academy appealed to him. Levi being a delinquent in his teenage years definitely tracks, given how we know that his family was full of bad influences (including himself more than likely). And I am absolutely not surprised that Levi ended up killing his father. I think a lot of us theorized for a while that the person he killed was linked to his family.

I'd absolutely adore to learn more about Levi's family situation and what exactly their relationship with each other was, because "We were bad influences on each other" can mean a lot of things. Given the fact that not even the police cared about the death of Levi's father, I'd be pretty willing to believe that Mr. Fontana is a wanted man who has done a lot of criminal harm to others. That might even be where Levi formed the mindset that people are defined by their actions. Maybe, that's my best guess and it doesn't even include his mother and brothers, lmao. Anyway, that's enough of Murder, Corruption, and Daddy Issues. Let's talk about the other thing that was revealed about Levi this episode, or more-so put into words. His low, if zero empathy. Firstly, those who are headcannoning Levi is ASPD, I see you and I love you. So much. But I would be lying if I didn't admit that my first thought upon watching this scene was "Levi is so Autismcoded" lmao But in all seriousness, I absolutely adore this side of his character. In general something I've always loved about Levi is the fact that he, to put it bluntly, does not know how to act. He's constantly seeing what others do and copying them, and asking them for guidance when he doesn't know what to do. His first appearance shows him using Xander and Teruko's appearances to wager what kind of person they are, which is more than likely how he got into styling in the first place. He's basically masking and trying to appear as what he views as normal because he's aware that his lack of empathy is not something most humans possess. And his actions reflect that of what he thinks a good person would do in these scenarios, whether that be your friends not inviting you to an event, or someone profusely bleeding from their neck. To put it in simple terms: He's masking. I love that. It really reminds me of the experiences had by my neurodivergent friends, and even though Levi is not canonically neurodivergent, the fact that so many people headcannon him with ASPD or Autism really goes to show how DT-Dev nailed that kind of experience, and how well they wrote Levi's low empathy in general. Well-done, DT-Dev :D ...Also I think it's safe to say that Accomplice!Levi is not happening. Damn it, I really liked that theory lmao.

Ace

[not even three minutes later]

...See, this is why I always believed Ace was telling the truth about David and Arei's conversation, because wow this man is competing with the former in the Shitty Liar Olympics.

If Ace's sense of security around Levi wasn't already shattered, it sure as hell is now. Which is very upsetting to see, but also very entertaining to me as an aficionado of toxic yaoi. I was never really an Acevi girl, it was just never something I was attracted to (probably because for a majority of CH2 Part 1's airing I really didn't like Ace lmao), but this combined with the Other Thing I'll talk about later has definitely sold me on it. I hope they get worse.

I can't remember what post it was, but I remember seeing someone talk about Ace very much projecting a friendship onto Levi that was never really there between them, and looking back, I absolutely agree. I mean, where the two of them really friends? I do think that Levi does, or did, genuinely like Ace. I don't think he would've been hanging around him in Chapter 1 if he didn't. But it was simply just that, he liked Ace. Ace loved Levi, and saw him as his lifeboat in the midst of this scary unfamiliar situation. Even if everyone else either was annoyed by or straight-up disliked Ace, even if he could die at any moment, he could still rely on Levi as a presence of safety and security, but that all came crumbling down.

ace can you please change your sprite

The fact that Ace, the man famous for jumping to conclusions, not thinking anything through or in depth, and switching his opinions on others on a dime, is even asking for Levi's defense at all, is proof enough to me that even after everything Ace still wanted to cling onto the fantasy of their friendship he had built up in his mind. But upon hearing that Levi never cared about what happened to him, he can no longer do so. ...And why do I think Ace got attached to Levi so quickly?

(x) Ace: I was totally right all along to burn our friendship--No, I can't even call it it "Friendship." Ace: There's only one person in my whole life who I've ever been able to call my friend. That I ever thought, even for just a short time, that you and I were "friends" is an insult to his memory.

Yeah it's time to talk about this.

So for those who are not in the know, DT-Dev confirmed in a now-deleted ask that this friend of Ace's is named Taylor Riley.

(thank you to @/nicohakobyan / weightedblankett on twitter for providing this screenshot)

We know very little about this man other than his name, his gender, the fact that he was Ace's friend, and that he's dead. We don't actually know that fourth one, but I think "insult to his memory" speaks for itself lmao. As such, we do not know the details of his relationship with Ace... But I've made more out of less before, so let's get to talking. Here's what I think:

I think that Taylor was a presence in Ace's life much similar to how Levi was to him in Chapter 1: A strong protective figure that helped to make the scared-of-everything Ace feel a sense of safety. And then some form of incident happened that resulted in Taylor's death, leaving Ace alone, heartbroken, bitter, and terrified. That sense of security he once had was ripped away from him, and without Taylor, he doesn't know what to do with himself anymore.

And then in the killing game, he meets Levi, who provides him with a similar feeling of safety. Immediately he begins to project the memory of Taylor onto Levi and as such becomes attached, quickly considering Levi a friend because of it. And I'm not entirely pulling this idea that Ace was projecting Taylor onto Levi out of my ass, either.

Ace: dark blue/purple (reasoning: refuses to provide reasoning)

When we first got this answer, most people assumed this was referring to Levi, but I honestly think it is more likely that this is referring to Taylor. But those colors are still part of Levi's design, which automatically sets up a parallel between both Levi and Taylor Ace projected his relationship and the memory of Taylor onto a man he barely knew, and when that man lost his patience with him, his fantasy was swiftly kicked with the steel-toed shoe of reality. Hell, Ace's reaction after Levi snapped at him may had been due to his illusion of safety crumbling beneath him, but going down the road of this theory, Levi snapping at him might've been the first time Ace truly saw Levi and not Taylor. He had been giving this man a script and a role to play, and Levi responded by tearing up the paper and telling him to fuck off. In a sense, you could say that in that moment, Ace lost Taylor a second time.

Since I don't think Ace is going to be the killer as he was knocked out and thus did not have any knowledge of the murder mechanism (at least not including the theory that he tried to kill himself, which... Is a possibility, but I don't think that's the case). And if he does live past his chapter, I honestly think Chapter 3 will mark his breaking point. Any fantasy of Levi that he was clinging onto with his pinky has now shattered into pieces ten times over, the person who tried to kill him is still alive and for all he knows, could do it again whenever the hell they want to and people will take their side over his own. Next to no one in the cast likes him and they make that explicitly clear, and worse of all, he will still be trapped in this godforsaken...whatever facility this place is meant to be. So to cap off this section that got way too long, Ace Trauma Dump is on my Chapter 3 bingo card, and if we get to see Taylor and his design includes dark blue and purple I will actually become spaghettified. Please survive Ace, you are finally starting to become not C-Tier

Hu and Veronika

Lumping these two together because I have about the same amount to say about both of them and their secrets were revealed together. Hu's secret is the Hopeless Child one, and Veronika's is the Self Harm one. I think after CH2 Part 1 most of us predicted as such, but it's still very satisfying to be right. What I'm more interested is this supposed pact that they made off-screen. I have to assume that Veronika went to Hu pretty quickly to reveal her secret to her given her general disinterest in topics of suicide and self harm. So I'd wager this pact was probably made at around CH2-5. Not that that really tells us much about the actual conversation, but it's nice to have a time-frame for reference.

I don't expect the actual conversation to be shown because from what we currently have it doesn't really add much of anything, but it would definitely be cool.

(x) Hu: I've been quite selfish this whole time, keeping my secret because I didn't want you all to think less of me...

I've said this before in this post, but I absolutely believe that David eventually coaxed and pressured Hu into revealing her secret to him, as well as why she kept it for so long. And I also think David implanted, or I guess more accurately watered the seed in Hu's head that she was inherently selfish for not sharing her secret. That, I think we would benefit from a flashback, but maybe I'm just biased because I desperately want Hu lore. Please DT-Dev, I'm on my knees Hmm... what else?

(x) Veronika: After all, my own so-called secret isn't even the worst thing I've done. Isn't that so utterly disappointing for this motive?

Oh yeah there's that. What the fuck, Veronika? Like, I feel like this is something I should've expected this, but for some reason I didn't. I'll be honest here, I really have nothing right now. But whatever Veronika is referring to here, I feel like it has something to do with her 'dearest friend' mentioned in the CH2 Q&A (who's name is Alyssa Belyaeva.) What Veronika actually did? I do not have the slightest clue, you can never know with this girl. But no matter what she did, I will probably love her even more for it. Glad that DT-Dev seems to agree with the precedence of supporting women's wrongs.

Teruko

...So I'm glad to see we're all in agreement that that is not her fucking secret. I mean, I'm sure it applies to her. She is an orphan, her parents are out of the picture, and though we don't know the whereabouts of her brother and neither does she, she most likely assumes he's dead as well. But honestly, given the fact that again this is not her fucking secret, I'm starting to wonder if that's really the case... Can Teacher Tawaki theory still live on? I'll save that for another post.

Anyway what was I talking about? Oh yeah, that is not her fucking secret.

And this little bitch knows that for a fact.

I won't go too deep into this because there have already been people discussing it better than I could, but this silent agreement the two of them have to not share Teruko's true secret is so palpable and interesting to me. David knows that Teruko's secret isn't that, but for whatever reason, he is keeping his mouth shut. And he just gives Teruko that shit-eating smirk. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Teruvid? I fucking love Teruvid. But yeah, I still think 100% that Teruko's secret is that the killing game is all her fault. It just does not make sense for Xander and Min's secrets to belong to anyone other than each other as they are dead. And in general it just makes sense for Teruko's character and her role in the story. And I can't help but feel like Teruko's actual secret will be revealed at the end of the Chapter.

Eden

... I mean. Do I really need to say more? I swear I made this exact joke in the previous thoughts post, but I can't help it. It applies perfectly to this CG. When this CG, this fucking JUMPSCARE of a CG, popped up on my screen, I'm pretty sure I ran around in a circle screaming in my room for a total of ten minutes. The first of two times I would do that during this masterfully crafted scene. I want to think of some kind of insightful analysis, but the truth is basically in your face. Eden was the one who gouged out Xander's eye. Why did she do it? Where does this fit into the overall lore? I DON'T FUCKING KNOW What the fuck am I supposed to say? This CG is basically all we have, and we'll definitely have to wait for more information. Especially since Eden is totally the culprit, but we'll get to that in the predictions section. (yeah if you can't tell my writing juice is starting to run out, but if I get this out any later than today I will kill myself)

David

(...for a scumbag, he's kinda cute.) So first of all, David is slowly becoming the funniest character in the cast in my opinion, which is a huge achievement in a cast full of very funny characters. And in general I think as a character he perfectly captures DRDT's general tone of half-and-half both silliness and angst, like yin and yang. Secondly though, the big thing that David did in this chapter (besides keeping Teruko's secret and being funny) is lying to Eden about the rest of the conversation he had with Arei. Ultimately, I think David himself saw that action as a good deed.

Think of it from his perspective: This is a man who has had hope and change presented to him on a silver platter multiple times, and then had it violently ripped away from him. And the most recent example of that, Arei, presented him with a better future and the possibility of change only to be killed upon trying to act on said change. If he told Eden that Arei still had hope, that she still wanted to change, it would aspire Eden with that same hope that in his eyes is destined to crash down on her. So instead of inflicting that same pain onto her, he instead chose to say nothing at all Maybe I'm giving David too much credit, what he did was still at the end of the day, incredibly dickish. But that interpretation is what makes the most sense to me personally. That's all I really have to say in regards to David... So, let's move onto what was, in my opinion, the star of this week's episode.

Arei

Arei Nageishi.... Ohhhh save me Arei Nageishi.... Arei was already one of my favorite characters in the cast due to her personality, design, voice acting, and most of all the character development she had throughout the course of Chapter 2. But this episode, this scene... It cemented her a well-earned spot in my top four, sitting only behind Whit, Teruko, and David.

The flashback scene of Arei and David in this episode is honestly up there with some of the best scenes in the whole show to me, almost solely because of how it caps off Arei as a character postmortem, and the story that she, along with Chapter 2 as a whole, is meant to tell. This whole chapter has been themed around the idea of what classifies a good person, and this flashback scene provides such a great payoff to that theme and it is everything I could've ever wished for. The message I got from Arei's story is that, ultimately, the idea of a "Good Person" and a "Bad Person" are nothing more than just that. Ideas. And in being ideas, they are above anything else, arbitrary, subjective, and at the end of the day, incredibly meaningless when it comes to discussing actual human beings. Insistence on categorizing yourself and the people around you into boxes of "pure saint that can do no wrong" and "irredeemable demon who will burn in the pits of hell" is a fast track to viewing a complicated, colorful world into a few shades of black and white. That's how David views the world, and has viewed the world probably for years. And I'm going to be honest and say that I think before being confronted with the truth of David's actions, Arei was heading right down the same path that he had headed.

(x) Arei: Of course I wanted to change myself. Who wants to be a grab-bag of negative personality traits? There's not even anything positive you could say about me. Arei: Still, for the longest time, I thought it was stupid to even try. I'm rotten to the core, and I might as well be a different species from saints like Eden and you. Arei: A pig never hopes to grow up into a human, because it knows that such a metamorphosis is impossible.

And this is the line that really, really makes me think that. She calls David and Eden saints because (up until this moment) she viewed both of them as the ideal of what makes a good person, similar to how David views Xander. And on the contrast, claims herself to be rotten to the core, ontologically evil with no redemption in sight. She's even performing David's habit of self-dehumanization, likening herself to a pig in the same way David likens himself to a cat in the LGI video, which goes to show how this mindset of black-and-white is, above all else, a dehumanizing view on the human race that relegates people into cardboard boxes with the flaps taped shut. If she didn't find out the truth of David's actions, I am confident that she would've done down the same path that he did, becoming convinced that she will be a terrible person until the day she dies because she cannot reach this worthless standard of a good person that she has set up in her head. But we know that's not how it goes. Arei does realize that the man she once thought of as a saint might be, in his words, a lying manipulative scumbaggy piece of shit. And upon realizing that, the second half of the message unlocks itself. There is no such thing as irredeemability.

Change is a part of being human. Humans are not built to run in a hamster wheel for the rest of their days, reliving their mistakes over and over again wallowing in their self-hatred and guilt. Eventually, they have to get off the wheel and start taking the steps necessary to grow, change, develop and flourish to properly better themselves. (This applies to yourself just as much as it applies to the worst, most depraved individual you know by the way) The alternative is living in a four-by-four black box of self-loathing and relentless stagnancy, which is not productive for the person or the people they've hurt. It is only when you reject these black-and-white categories of "Good Person" and "Bad Person" and accept that no matter what you've done, you're capable of becoming better, that you can achieve true growth and change. The way this message was executed, especially through a character that dies before the halfway point of the story, is something that I marvel at as an aspiring storyteller. DRDT's beating heart will always be its character writing, and this scene is one of the primary examples of that. Thank you, DT-Dev, for making Arei Nageishi and the rest of your amazing cast of characters. :D

Extra Thoughts !!! - FURUYA FANDOM (me) THE TRACK PLAYED LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO!!! - I am very excited to find out more about Nico's attempted murder given all of the questions surrounding it. If the method of murder really was replicated, and Nico wasn't the culprit themself, you guys should take a wild guess who that implicates. (this is probably obvious by this point, but I really don't believe in the theories that suggest that someone other than Nico was responsible for Ace's attempted demise, be it Hu or Ace himself. I feel like it doesn't line up with the current narrative direction that Nico seems to be going in, the physical evidence of them stealing the turpentine, and...I'm gonna be honest, I just don't like it lmao. I'm sure DT-Dev would do it well, but just as a premise I do not favor it. Nico's attempted murder + subsequent regret from it felt like such a big moment in the chapter's narrative in relation to the themes of All That Glitters and the cast revealing sides to themself that weren't as prevalent before, as well as the themes of change and moving on from the past littered all throughout the chapter. I think if Nico's attempted murder was responsible by anyone but Nico, it would just dampen the impact of their overall story for me. That's just me though.) - WE FINALLY GOT ANOTHER NONSTOP DEBATE LETS GO BOYS!!! Nonstop debates I MISSED you - "Hey why does Whit know so much about hangi--" Look. This man is so unbelievably suspicious in every single way that for the sake of my sanity, I'm just gonna assume DT-Dev chose a random character to give the hanging explanation. It is the only way I will survive this chapter - But hey, at least we got this

- As always, I adore the new sprites we got this episode, especially Ace's new ones. It's probably the first sprite of his that actually appears emotionally vulnerable when he's not bleeding profusely from the neck. And of course, I loved David's shit-eating grin towards Teruko, I hope he never changes. - Speaking of Teruko, us getting Tutor Teruko was lovely. She is perfect, she is a little bit of everything all of the time.

(x) Whit: If you're so inclined to complain, Sir Light Pollution, why don't you try and think of some good evidence? Charles: Light pollution? Whit: You know… Cuz he had stars, and now he doesn't, and light pollution makes stars disappear… or… or… something….. Charles: I am truly impressed…by how bad that was.

- I love these dorks so much. I can tell DT-Dev has a lot of fun writing them.

- Teronika Consent animation! I guess after Acevi's Soap Opera, DT-Dev decided to feed the yuri crowd as well. Love it when we get to see those little sprite animations, too.

Predictions for CH2-14 - The episode is 40 minutes long, the longest episode we have had so far. (40 minutes of DRDT content... I'm excited just thinking about it!) Because of that, I think I will just start with my biggest prediction: I think we're getting the culprit reveal this chapter. I don't think that just because of the length either. When you really look at it, we have basically used every piece of evidence at least once with the exception of three: - The conditions of the gym (which I assume will be discussed next) - The scuffs on the ground - The ball of starchy clothes All three of those pieces of evidence I think can definitely be cleared up in the span of 40 minutes, especially since full focus is now on the murder case. I don't necessarily think the trial will end in this episode, but I think we have at least one more trial episode to go before the post-trial + execution + ending of the chapter. - And as the culprit reveal is approaching, I have formulated a tier list of who I think is least - most likely to be Arei's culprit. I will provide my reasoning for each.

No. 17/16 - Xander Matthews + Min Jeung I mean, what it says on the tin. They're dead, and thus couldn't had committed the murder. No. 15/14 - MonoTV + Arei Nageishi There are explicit rules against them being the culprit. Rule 8 and Rule 11 in particular. No. 13 - Teruko Tawaki She is the protagonist. Didn't stop Kaede, but I highly doubt that's where DT-Dev is going. No. 12 - David Chiem Other than the previous five who I've all disqualified from being the culprit, David is probably the character I suspect the least. He has an alibi for the time of the murder, getting breakfast with J and Veronika, and thematically...well, he's basically being set up as the antagonist. I don't think we'll be rid of him this early lmao. No. 11 - Charles Cuevas Charles has a fear of blood and dead bodies, and though I wouldn't say that completely disqualifies him from becoming a culprit in the future, in a case like this with such a complicated mechanism like this where he'd have to be in very close proximity with the body at all times? I highly doubt it. He also has an alibi for the fish (He was with Whit). No. 10 - J Rosales J both has an alibi for the fish (Arturo following her around), and an alibi for the morning (getting breakfast with David and Veronika), and both of those alibis can be confirmed. I don't think she did this. No. 9 - Veronika Grebenshchikova I'll be honest, I really don't see Veronika committing a murder at all. She clearly wants to see this through to the end, and killing someone would come with the risk of her being executed, which I don't think she would see as a satisfying conclusion to her story. That, combined with the fact that she has an alibi for the fish (bothering Teruko) and an alibi for the murder (getting breakfast with David and J) makes me think she didn't do this. No. 8 - Nico Hakobyan You might think it's weird to place Nico this low on the overall tier-list despite them not having an alibi for the fishes, and their morning alibi being...somewhat flimsy but I'll get to that with Hu, but here's my logic. Nico was driven to attempt murder from very specific circumstances. That being, Ace's relentless bullying and abuse towards them. Nico has said before that they'd understand murder if the perpetrator didn't like the victim, and while I don't think they exactly liked Arei, I do not think they harbor the same animosity towards her as they did towards Ace. I truly believe that Nico would only ever resort to murder if they truly despised the person in question and saw no other solution. So that is why I feel comfortable placing Nico at eighth. No. 7 - Hu Jing Hu is also another character that I think some will be surprised to see so low, but I don't think this was her doing. She has an alibi for the fish (cleaning up with Eden), and though again her alibi in the morning is very flimsy (having tea with Nico in the morning,) I do believe she is telling the truth because if she was lying about her alibi, I think the brutally blunt Nico would call her out for it. I'm sorry, I just simply cannot imagine Nico letting that shit slide regardless of how many theories I read. Not to mention I can't really think of a motive for why she would kill Arei specifically when, if she really did want to kill someone, Ace is right there. No. 6 - Whit Young Whit is supremely fucking suspicious and a lot of his behavior in the trial is literal shenanigans, even more so given the fact that he doesn't have an alibi for the actual murder. But he does have an alibi for the fish (again, he was with Charles) which is the main sticking point of Whit!Culprit. His other sticking point is his lack of motive, both in terms of the secrets and Arei specifically. I don't know like- just look at this man, do you think he did this? /joke

No. 5 - Levi Fontana The number one suspect in the fandom for a while, and he's only at number five. He ultimately lacks an alibi for the morning, and his alibi for the fish was that he was doing his laundry... With no one else around. Shady as fuck. But I think given his principles discussed in this episode ("it is a good thing to make sure someone else doesn't die"), and the genuine desire to be helpful he has expressed throughout this trial, I think him being the culprit is unlikely. That's why I was adamant on him being an accomplice for a while because I still thought he had some role in the case, but oh well. No. 4 - Rose Lacroix I'll be honest, Rose is only this high because her alibi situation is worse than Whit's and Levi's combined. Both of her alibis are that she was sleeping in her room, which cannot be proven and can be very easily lied about. But other than that, I don't think she is the culprit. I think this case requires too many physical maneuvers for someone as lethargic as Rose to pull off successfully, and if she were the culprit I don't think she'd bring attention to the missing grippy tape at all. No. 3 - Arturo Giles Arturo does have an alibi for the fish (following J), but does not have an alibi for the morning. Unlike basically every other character here, something else that puts Arturo above them is that he was capable of overhearing Eden and Arei's conversation and forging the note. But there is also a discrepancy present that is also present with every character here, and that is the fact that Arturo did not witness Nico's attempted murder or the condition of Ace's body and the gym, so there was no way he could've replicated the murder method used for Ace on Arei. So though logistically he is a more likely possibility, I don't think it was him. No. 2 - Ace Markey Ace, to me anyway, is the second most likely candidate to being Arei's killer. He does not have an alibi for the fish and could've very easily grabbed them after David and Arei left the Relaxation Room, and he doesn't have an alibi for the morning either. He has a very clear motivation for taking a chance at killing someone, of "someone literally sliced my neck open not two days ago and I know I am not safe here I need to get the fuck out." If you choose to factor in strength, Ace is one of the strongest members of the cast and would be more than capable of the physical maneuvers made to kill Arei. Though I personally don't believe in this theory, if you think Ace attempted suicide instead of Nico trying to kill him, he has the murder method down lock too because he tried to commit it onto himself. He has been shown to be nosy, so it is not improbable that he listened in on Arei and Eden's conversation. And lastly, he is one of the only two suspects who was capable of stealing the grippy tape that was used in the murder. All of the evidence is practically stacked against him... But there are a couple of problems. One, if you believe that Nico did try to kill Ace, than the point about Ace knowing the exact method of death goes out the window. He was knocked out by the turpentine, and woke up in extreme pain in a blinding fury of rage and bloodlust, I don't think his surroundings would be the first thing on his mind. But a much bigger issue we have is the question of... Why would Ace take the tape? Following this theory, his murder plan wouldn't had started until the day after Nico's attempt on his life, it would make no sense for him to take the tape then. These two sticking points are why, though a likely candidate, I do not think Ace is the culprit. That award of main suspect goes to...

No. 1 - Eden Tobisa Yeah, if you've spent any time on this account you probably know I'm an Eden!Culprit truther. There are many well-written posts about this theory that I'm sure you've seen so I'll try to keep this short, but though the theory does have a few flaws to it, the big one being Eden's alibi for the fish that she was cleaning up with Hu, I think Eden being the culprit makes the most sense from an evidence, thematic, and motive standpoint. I know some people have dropped the theory upon the fork reveal, but DRDT is not unbeknownst to killing off characters with certain mysteries left unanswered. That is basically all for my predictions related to the culprit, but I still have some predictions for the overall episode. - Nico's gonna get placed in the hot-seat, obviously, which will definitely cause a reaction out of both Hu and Ace. And I honestly feel like the two of them are going to keep interrupting Nico until they eventually snap. And I hope that happens honestly because unless you count the "I'll kill you" line, we have yet to see or hear Nico when they're actually angry angry. Nico obviously doesn't like conflict, but they might have to get over that if they actually want to defend themself knowing the other two. - I'm still holding out hope we'll get a Random Guess segment lmao - And lastly: I need Whit to break the forth wall at least once I didn't put that on the bingo card for fucking NOTHING

Conclusion I'm gonna be completely honest, I do not have the energy to write anymore and I just want this out lmao. But overall, this was one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. I loved the Levi and Ace stuff, I like that we now have all the secrets, and like I said, the scene with Arei is probably one of my favorite scenes in the show. CH2-14 is going to be a wild ride I can already tell, and if we do find out who the killer is, you will see me screaming. Regardless of if it's Eden lmao.

UPDATED SWEAR STATISTICS CH2-13

UPDATED BINGO CARD

#finally....finally its done...haha...ITS FINALLY DONE!!! /ref #desperately hoping at least one of you gets where that's from #this took way longer than it needed to because I have been in a creativity rut this last week and it has been fucking my ass #that and there was so much to discuss with this episode compared to the last one #but its done. hopefully ch2-14 post wont take me too long #hopefully #danganronpa despair time #drdt

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reflections-in-a-critical-eye · 4 months ago

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Jimin - Muse (2024)

3/5 ☆

I thought it'd get me several days to come back here with some thoughts on Muse, but it proved it's not necessary.

Who as title track makes complete sense. We're still into 90s nostalgia, but it's a recipe that works. Not just in kpop, but pop in general. Looking at the charts, it paints a pretty clear picture for the last couple of years. Add the zoomer idea of a what a Y2K aesthetic is like and we get the recipe for today's music and concept. Repeat, reuse, recycle. How fitting for postmodernism.

Who is a really catchy tune, with lyrics easy to remember and sing out loud. A tad more commercial-sounding than Like Crazy, but that's Muse overall anyway. The truth is, I have the song on loop (streamers can't come for me, lol). I think Jimin's style of singing and the melody itself are a good fit. Lyric wise, it's sort of basic, but this is pop music made for mass consumption. I don't mind it. It's also radio friendly and definitely has the potential for summer hit, but I'm 99% sure it won't turn into one. BH won't move a finger to send it to radio and it's another song that will fall victim to fandom mass streaming to chart high for one week. I've seen this all before.

It's also a shame to have this released when an artist is away, without being able to properly promote it. In my non-expert opinion, it could have been released as a single a few months later after Face and scratch the rest of Muse or keep it in the drafts.

As to the other songs, perhaps Rebirth (Intro) is the only other song on the album that has something to it, it stands out a bit more and it also bridges the two albums, despite the connection being sort of flimsy.

Having Sofia Carson on Slow Dance had brought nothing to the song. It could have been a full Jimin track all the way. Her style of singing does not stand out and I find it a failed pair because there's no contrast or voices complementing each other. Jimin can sing just like her. If a collab is really wanted/needed/necessary, then I'd wish for a pairing that also makes sense vocal-wise.

Be Mine is ok, but it sounds too much like that one TXT song and I simply can't get over past it. It's afro beat and latino influence which has been all the rage in the past few years, which Hybe has been pushing a lot. It explains the song.

SGMB and Closer Than This were previously released and I'm not covering them again.

I think it's difficult for me to not make comparisons to Face, considering both albums were produced around the same period, without much time left in between them. One is simply more cohesive and has a depth that showcases a first solo attempt, while the other one is clearly going a more commercial route with less of a personal signature.

Despite Muse being promoted as another conceptual album, I find that umbrella to be a bit forced given that the theme of finding love is really a generic one. Perhaps way too generic with not much individuality. Does it show Jimin's vocal range? Yes. Does it show him trying various genres? Yes. In this case, perhaps Muse is a bit similar to Golden in some aspects, with the difference that Jimin gets producing and writing credits in 5/6 songs. So his involvement is greater, but the scope of the album is in the same category as Golden, which is another production that had this LOVE as an overarching theme. But without much more to it that would make it stand out lyrically. The focus on both is genre diversity and vocal capability.

In short: I like Who (I also like Ace of Base songs and all those silly 90s pop songs, so my music taste is most likely considered bad, but I don't care). I think Muse overall is an amalgam of whatever is trendy at the moment, without being able to truly stand out and say more about Jimin, apart from his capabilities as idol/performer. Perhaps that was the point too.

P.S. My inbox has been closed for anonymous asks since I reblogged a few days ago my post about using lyrics as clues for personal life. It seems that it invited homophobia and I won't have that here.

I'm keeping it that way for now because I'm sure my personal "review" on Muse will either be seen as an invitation for people to either bash me for not thinking it's the album of the year or to be seen as an opportunity for others to talk shit about Jimin, Who and the album overall. I found that usually there is no middle ground with kpop stans/army/Jimin stans, etc.

#m thoughts #jimin #jimin muse #jimin who

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ninjagobythenumbers · 1 month ago

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Ninjago Groupings Episode by Episode

A.K.A. how much time they spend together

Key

This chart has each of the ninja sorted into who they were with each episode. For consistency, I designate the grouping based on who they're with at the beginning of the episode. So, for instance, if Zane is with the ninja at the beginning of the episode, he'll be sorted as "Gang's all here" even if he spends the rest of the episode in on his own little galavant. I will go through each season, so I can explain my observations and so you can see the chart closer up and come up with your own. First, I must explain each designation as I gave them odd titles for fun.

Purple refers to the main party. There will (almost) always be purple on the chart, even if the whole party's split as I designate it based on where either the majority of people started, or, where the main mission's at. For instance, if we have a party with all the ninja, but they gradually die off, as in Skybound for instance, Jay remains the main party as he has survived.

Busy is the first designation I'll turn to if one or more of the ninja has gone off on a separate mission. If there are two ongoing missions in addition to the main party, I'll use Double Busy. If there are three, I'll use Triple Busy. If there are four, I'll hope one of them fits into a separate category as you'll see with the Crystalized madness.

Homebase comes into play if a ninja is at the monastary, Bounty, or whatever's been designated the base at the moment. Gang's all here and Busies predominate however. This designation primarily applies when the ninja is hanging out with Wu or holding down the fort. Tragically, Nya and Pixal have this designation for much of the seasons.

If one or more of the ninja is kidnapped, dead, possessed, or otherwise incapcitated, this comes into play. For Double Involuntary to apply, at least two ninja must be in two different types of incapacitation. For instance, in Skybound, Kai and Zane were in a sword so they were Involuntary, but Jay was captured by pirates so he was Double Involuntary.

So far, this literally only applies to Jay (during Dragons Rising specifically). I used it because the audience knew where he was but didn't know how he felt about it.

I use this designation when the audience doesn't know the status of the characters long-term. A clear instance is most of the ninja at the beginning of Dragons Rising, the reason I created it. I also use it for those one-off episodes that aren't about the ninja such as "The News Never Sleeps." (This designation is named after an alternate ending for Cole in Hands of Time which my friend and I find hilarious).

Season Breakdown

In these early seasons, we really only have to deal with four categories. We get the occasional side mission such as Kai, Nya, and Lloyd living their pre-Ninja lives, but nothing serious. For the most part, the ninja are sticking together with their missions. If they break apart, such as in episode 5 where they split up to find Serpentine tombs, it occurs only for the episode, and doesn't extend long-term. While she is Samuai X, Nya is primarily on the Bounty doing various man in the chair tasks. Nya and Lloyd are competing for the damsel in distress title and Lloyd is winning. (Going forward, I am going to omit the Arin through Sora rows until they actually appear. Just know that they're toddlers off who knows where doing who knows what.)

Lloyd has joined the party. It's odd because he usually is engaging in the main plot, but in Child's Play, they act like they've always left him at home. Early season trends are continuing. While Nya's still on the move during the late season, she has been turned evil by a substance which is not something she wanted so she's still racking up Involuntary points.

Yay, Pixal's here! The core 4 continues to stick together but Lloyd has undergone on the first mission separate from the party. It doesn't end well as he gets captured, but hey as long as he had fun. Pixal is regarded as Involuntary as, similar to Nya in the previous season, she has been turned evil by hacking. Observe that the whole group gets together for the finale. This will occur nearly every season going forward.

This is our first elimination season, so we start to see even the core four break apart. This crumbling starts with the first episode, as Zane is, as per usual, gone. He's finally thrown his hat in the ring for the damel competition. As Pixal goes into Zane's head this season, I match her color codes to Zane but in a muted tone, as she's there, but she's not really there for anyone but Zane.

It's another elimination season, but they spend a lot more time all together than I remembered. For the first time, no Busy gets invoked as they're all always together or captured, but Double Involuntary does occur twice in two different fashions. With Pixal's designation here, I am presuming that Nadakhan had the common courtesy of returning her to life when Zane wished it all away.

Day of the Departed is really just a Cole solo mission. Zane dies again. Pixal is one again innovating with designations as she causes the first invokation of Double Busy once she's free. You might observe that I technically invoked Double Busy before Busy. I did this because Kai and Nya were the main plotline, while Double Busy was primarily occuring in the background. More characters in play is resulting in more categories of groupings, but, for the most part they all stuck together as has been par for the course during Masters of Spinjitzu.

We have a few little missions and incapacitations here and there, but for the most part it's a team effort. I really enjoy when they spend all season on the ship. Zane dies again. Pixal is gets to be part of the main crew again because while she may be on the Bounty, so is everyone else.

Hunted is in past tense for a reason. The Ninja spent half the time captured. I considered the core four to be the main party as majority rules, not to mention they had the ship and Wu. This is the first time we have a Busy designation last nearly all season. Hunted is sort of our first "splitting the party" season. It may have been accidental, but we'll see a lot of this going forward.

Being a movie, aside from a little father son fishing trip and a death fake-out, the ninja tended to stick together.

The ninja go back to sticking together, as in early seasons but it doesn't last long. For the latter half of this chapter, they split up into alpha squad (Zane, Nya, and Lloyd) and the boys (Cole, Kai, and Jay), which, as I like to point out, Lloyd will nearly always choose when he picks teams. Pixal may have been with the ninja in these first few episodes, but she was doing her own thing at homebase. We have out first side character episode, which is something I really loved about this era. Zane dies again.

As you can see, we're starting to have these long periods of splitting the party. While it's not as extreme as in Hunted, we have Lloyd going off alone and Zane off being evil, while the main party spends some time in the village. Cole even has one of his brief solo missions. Something I'll note about Zane. His evilness was very much involuntary as he needed amnesia, an evil staff, AND an evil advisor to make it happen.

I didn't count Jay entering Prime Empire as Involuntary because he did that on purpose. Pixal's finally off the bench. Or has Zane joined her? Hard to say but I ruled the former as Wu was not there and they very much had their own mission. We have a return of the elimination season, which funnily enough looks near identical to the elimination pattern in Skybound. Despite the fact he didn't enter Prime Empire, Zane insists on racking up his Damsel points.

This season was big on splitting the party, as indicated by the longest Double Busy so far for this many people. Kai and Zane get to be the main party even though they're not majority because when it gets down to a near 50/50 split, the designation is relatively arbitrary and I like to keep it at the top of the chart for pretty data's sake and so I tend to keep it with the core four, mainly Kai. You may observe that even when the entire party is captured, Cole doesn't revert to purple. Once a ninja has a designation, it sticks until they form a new grouping.

Cole and Kai get to chill at home for the first time. The rest of the party sticks together for the most part, which was surprising to me as I remembered Nya going off on her own more. It turned out that, similar to season one, these little solo missions ended up isolated within episodes. That is of course, until the end when she becomes the sea. I marked it as Triple Busy so I could reserve Busy for the main plots in the next season.

Crystalized is so long and complicated. It took me forever because, I mean, do you SEE episodes 22-27. You can see why I had to invent Triple Busy. It got so crazy I had to designate Kai as at homebase just because he was at the Newskids' hideout, which was serving as the current base. Nya is of course the sea at the beginning, but I designated her as Triple Busy, because she wasn't on screen for the most part. The ninja go to jail. Lloyd goes off for one minute and gets captured. Zane dies again. Near the end, each of the ninja spend time with a partner ninja except Lloyd who's alone forever. For the finale, they're all together again.

Welcome kids! This is sort of a reverse elimination season. it looks dismal at the beginning, but gradually we recover (mostly) everyone. Even if we don't see a character on screen, I start categorizing them when the audience knows their status. For example, Kai didn't show up until episode 4 but Lloyd told us he was off on a mission. Despite the spires of maybe dead, in the first part it's relatively simple. However, starting now, ninja, such as Nya, will just go off on solo missions like it's no big deal. The mid-season finale gets into some serious party splitting with Kai at homebase again, the discovery of Zane, and the kids off on their own, but ultimately all the active ninja end up together in the finale. In the second half, they party split into pairs long term. It's a good way to balance such a big cast. Zane doesn't have a little buddy so he spends some time at home and then goes to jail. Interstingly, though he's at homebase we do get some significant feature of what's going on in the monastary. We saw a bit of this with Seabound, but not nearly as much as we're seeing with DR. Lloyd and Arin find Zane (again). Kai and Wildfyre find things in common. Sora and Arin find Cole who goes off on a side quest. The audience finds Jay so he gets his Business Trip designation as we don't know how he feels about it. Similar to Pixal during the Zane's head period, I made this color muted as it's very in the background.

Blood Moon is simple for Dragons Rising standards, but calling it simple really reflects how many different categoriations there exists in these later seasons as compared to the old days. Lloyd, the siblings, and the kids go on an educational field trip. Zane stays at home until Cole visits and gets Zane to join his mission. Jay briefly joins Busy during his Business Trip, but no one knows it except Bonezal. Interestingly, they don't all join together in the mid-season finale, but rather, this time, it becomes even more fragmented.

This is my prediction for the Tournament of Sources based soley on the end of Blood Moon and trailer material. Arin will probably be off doing spy stuff and reflecting. Jay's doing something I may have to make a new designation for. Kai's in the void but I think he may be a suprise last minute addition to the Tournament that saves the day (or not). (Off topic, but if Ras always planned on going to the tournament, was this decade+ long Forbidden Five plan just him drafting people for his team?) It's not an elimination tournament because as far as I can tell, when you lose, you can just chill in the stands. They'll probably go off on their own little sidequests but I expect them to all, at the very least, stay in the City of Temples. I'm very excited to find out the truth in a couple days.

With this, I have now posted all my pre-made charts. I plan on making some new charts based on a few suggestions I've gotten already. I think it would also be cool to tally up the designations on this chart to see what the ninja spend most of their time doing. I'll also be posting the official Tournament of Sources updates for all my charts within the next few weeks. Thanks for reading this far. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas for additional charts!

#ninjago #spreadsheet #lego ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago pixal #ninjago zane #ninjago jay

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mrs-monaghan · 1 year ago

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OMG Tae did way worse than I expected 💀💀💀

Slow Dancing - #3 on Billboard's Global Excl US. Jimin did #2 because of that Morgan whale

#4 on Billboard's Global 200 this week! - JM #2

BB 200 - Tae - #2 100K album, JM #2 164K.

BB 100 - Jm #1, Tae - #51 💀💀

the way most popular member charted below than Suga is crazy lol. Even Jimin's all hated Bside SMF ate it up so bad (#30 BB). This is answer to his rabid stans than internet popularity doesn't give you a shit irl. First outchart supposedly unpopular rapline before getting Park Jimin's lowest numbers lmao

Before I comment on this I would just like it to be known; I AM NOT A V ANTI!!!!!

This isn't a disclaimer. I am only stating this because of the asks I've go10 shitting on him. I will not be posting those. I don't blame anyone but myself. I know I have allowed people to vent about him here before and I was definitely among the people getting pissed at the JK name dropping but I'm pretty chill these days. So V's antics don't bother me and also there is something about binging all that Layover content continously that just reminds you that V is not the monster people paint him out to be.

If you haven't had the time i recommend this video. It was my favourite and I quite enjoyed it.

youtube

He is funny and honestly I also wanna say adorable 😂😂

Sure, the way he treats those around him could use some adjustment. But those around him seem to love him just fine so who I'm I to be mad at him, you know?

Now that that's out of the way, let's indeed talk numbers. I've said multiple times the 2 most popular members are Jimin and JK. Not V and JK. We've seen this before but sure, let's revisit the topic.

So a friend of mine who quite enjoys keeping tabs on numbers did the following math:

September 9th Streams, Thailand percentage compared to overall Streams:

Seven: 17,6 %

Slow Dancing: 29,6 %

Like Crazy: 8,7 %

So this is the amount of Streams Thailand had for the Maknae line Main Tracks on September 9th, Compared to worldwide Streams.

😁

Maknae Line, Main Track Streams Debut Day. Global vs USA vs Thailand

Debut Streams "Seven":

Global: 15,99 M

USA: 2,064 M (12,9 %)

Thailand: 1,3 M (8,13 %)

Debut Streams "Like Crazy":

Global: 6,6 M

USA: 0.997 M (15,1 %)

Thailand: 0,165 M (7,5 %)

Debut Streams "Slow Dancing":

Global: 6,14 M

USA: 0,388 M (6,3 %)

Thailand: 0,970 M (15,8 %)

These are the Streams for each Main Track's Debut Day. Global vs US vs Thailand

In conclusion:

-USA and Thailand looooooove JK. BUT Seven is charting in 71 out of 72 (wow) eligble Spotify countries. So it's a bob and a hit globally.

-USA loooooooooves Jimin. Thailand, not so much 😬

-Thailand absolutely looooooves V. USA, not so much.

But we kinda already knew this no? Alot of vermin are in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, etc. SouthEastAsian is Taekook domain statistically speaking. But the thing is, its still mostly V they prioritize. SEVEN experienced global success coz JK appears to be a fan favourite everywhere. So that helps him even when the SouthEastAsians decide to mostly support V.

So assuming these calculations are correct, which they should be since they are from Spotify Global, (feel free to go do your own) I really don't understand how it was concluded V is the most popular member. And there is many more countries to choose from, my friend only used Thailand coz its one of the countries that stream the most.

People assuming V is the most popular coz of his followers on IG, Guys, Instagram is only one app. V solos n V biased Armys can convince themselves that he's the most popular but numbers do not lie. Chapter 2 has shown that that, is not the case at all. I mean if you've been on twitter you've seen V hasn't even been able to beat Suga in certain categories and records. Like anon said.

The purpose of my post is not to say V isn't liked. That would be a lie. I'm just saying if anything JK is the most popular BTS member. And that's on fax 💯💯💯💯 with Jimin being a very, very, close second. And I know by saying this I am beating a dead horse atp but if Jimin had go10 the push JK did they would either be head to head or he would have surpassed him. So imagine what a big deal it is, that Jimin is doing so well right now and he didn't even get that huge company support.

US album sales were 3K according to Billboard, thats like 30k singles. China did 800k 😱 Asia loves V. US however, which is where it counts for Billboard, do not. Billboard sabotaged all Asians after Jimin won, which means if JK hadn't go10 radio play he never would have won. So, without radio play, V was never going to get that number 1. Those who aren't dillusional already knew this. So we aren't surprised

#ask shaz #bts ask #jimin is king #bts #jimin face #jungkook seven #v layover #jimin #jungkook #jikook #power couple

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triglycercule · 4 months ago

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ughhh god me and the innate attraction to fill out a random ass ship chart every 6 months. i did this before but it wasn't detailed enough so i hated this. i THINK this is detailed enough i don't know i actually doubt it. i saw something doing this chart for bsp and then i wanted to do it for mtt poly vut then i literally forgot who did it originally 😭😭😭

doing the bottom left section was cracking me up because killer is such an enigma. "be nice!" and then "but also treat me like shit!" what a goddamn freak bro he needs get shipped off to therapy. and then its something nice and fluffy like physical affection and then it immediately 180s to emotional vulnerability. like hello pick a side you fucking freak. and for the slidey bar ones notice how killer is almost ALWAYS on one of the ends??? he has to be one of the extremes or else he dies it seems.

the closeness over time chart 😭😭 they doNOT get along. i was gonna put another dip near the end but i was like "ehhhh they have more than enough issues the people will get it". also for the bugs one i think dust would love bugs. hes very used to them and even made friends with some. but horror would HATE THEM. all the bugs died out in horrortales famine so he hasn't seem em in a couple years. so when he does its a whole ass jumpscare

GODDD i love qpr horrordust. theyre soooo qpr coded my queerplatonic freaks. bitches. i like how on the love languages chart each of the mtt satisfies one of the others. none of them would get gifts theyre too fucked up and lazy 4 that. horror would be confused if someone gave him a gift (horrortale w/ alizas ketchup thing) killer would just forget about it or ditch it in a few days. and then dust would actually accept it but he wouldn't know wtf to do with it if it doesn't have an obvious use

for strategist/impulsive I WAS STRUGGLING. because like all of these bitches are cunning AND emotional. horror is definition of sceming from the sides but he also has his outbursts. dust is always planning ahead but like horror he has outbursts. i guess killer isn't a strategist bc he just always has a vibe of whats gonna happen but (not so surprisingly) he has outbursts even if he claims hes not emotional. so i had to choose,,,,,

i was also tempted to just put them all at arrogant. because they're definitely all stuck up assholes. but i was like nahhhhh... horror's the only one that would be regularly arrogant. dust's just self assured and confident whilr killer has no idea when hes even being arrogant

music category ehehehe. horror would LOVE natural sounds like rain and leaves rustling bc its not too overwhelming for his screwed up processing thanks ti his head damage. dust would totally listen to undertale osts if they existed in utmv. also other osts. i think he would totally be a gamer. also classical music. and killer has no preference (just like everything in his damn life FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS YOU BITCH!!!!)

i think this just cemented my stance on arohorror acedust and go with the flow killer. killer would have absolutely zero preference on ANYTHING became he genuinely does not give two fucks. and for arohorror (you can't spell horror with ro. which is in aromatic. woahhhh) i just think he would be icked out by romantic handholding and dates and stuff. it just feels RIGHT. but he'd be decently ok with tangoing. and dust is just the opposite. he'd be uncomfortable and grossed out by sexual behaviors but he'd absolutely be a romantic. i think dust would be a romantic he just gives off those vibes. as a person on the ace and maybe aro spectrum i have to blast my favs with the aroace beam. it's just mandatory

#my favorite thematically deranged brand of freaks #also??? i love the photos i used for the mtt in this #theyre some of my FAVORITE arts of the mtt it's just suxhajxuahuas #but i did change the colors on horror and dust's arts to be their signatures. oops......#i cant explain it but sparkle heart star mtt is so real to me #sparkle bc killer in japanese is kira and kira means sparkle #also sparkls appear on excited/hyper/when characters have good ideas/charismatic characters #and genkigirl killer fits all of those. so killer HASto be sparkle #heart 4 horror bc heart is gore.... horrortales whole thingbis scary stuff and gore is up there in the scary factor #also about sparkle it's a very pointy shape and it reminds me of killer's knives #heart is a round but also sharp shape which is kinda my interpretation of horror #he's nice and chill but hes also a fucking PRICK and a rude bitch #and star for dust because stars are associated with cool characters #and dust is epitome of cool. hes just so fucking cool #also stars are geometric and also pointy. geometric is dust's cold and mysterious and strict side #and the pointiness is dusts coolness and his danger and rahhhhh i just think they fit #NOBODY UNDERSTANDS!!!! MTT IS THE SPARKLE HEART STAR TRIO!!!!!!#✨❤️⭐️#THATS LITERALLY THEM. HELLO. THATS THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!#tricule rant #is this canon eque. absolutely not. this is kinda canon but theres definitely some of my own hcs and interpretations in there #i like to think its decently canon. especially considering the trio don't even canonically know each other

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celestial-quill-n-ink · 1 year ago

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Quick Ramble-y OM Headcanon Post!

(Humans, Demons, and the nature of Sins)

✦»✩☆✩⇢★⇠☆⇢✮⇠☆⇢★⇠✩☆✩«✦

I've always liked the idea that each and every individual human has a dominant sin, and that demons of that respective sin are better equipped to tempt those souls due to that connection.

This also goes along with my headcanon that every demon is assigned into one of seven categories from birth, colloquially known as the Seven Deadly Sins. It's a natural and instinctual part of their existence, where they can sense the sins of humans and prey upon their lack of knowledge and ignorance.

It would, of course, be especially prevalent with the Brothers, as they were assigned as the Avatars of these sins by the Demon King.

Most lower level demons have the baseline magical compulsion to prey on humans with a compatible sin, but that doesn't say anything about their skills in magic and manipulation. They likely run on base instinct alone unless they are supremely passionate about their education at RAD XDDD

The Brothers, on the other hand, are naturally very powerful and, whether some actually appear this way or not, are also very intelligent (at least when it comes to their sins!)

Basically, you can't underestimate any of them, because if they really want something, they'll do whatever it takes to get it.

As an example, I view my MC's main sin to be Pride, and she just so happens to bump heads with Lucifer on many an occasion, precisely because of their similarities! And just as much as he can understand her on a fundamental level and use that to his advantage, my MC is smart enough to be able to do the very same back to him!

I mean, any human arguably could as well, but I'd imagine Lilith's genes definitely help my and many others' MCs out a great deal in those cases too XDDD

They're both too stupidly prideful for their own good, trying to one-up eachother like a couple of kids. It's almost like a feedback loop; where my MC attempts to get Lucifer to childishly rise to a challenge by using his pride to her advantage, but even when she succeeds, Lucifer can still relish in the feelings of her own pride at succeeding!

I feel like there would be some sort of spell or magical item that can allow a human to get an almost mathematical breakdown of their sins, kind of like a pie chart or some other type of visual, which I imagine would be beneficial knowledge for any sorcerer or witch preparing to interact with demons to any extent.

I believe that any human is susceptible to any demon's temptations, but there are certain combinations that allow for a higher success rate than others.

As another example, my MC's second most prominent sin would likely be Sloth, and so she has received one too many solicitations for naps from Belphie, who can sense exactly when would be the best time to ambush the idea onto her XDDD

I also like the idea that when a Demon makes a pact with a Human, their ability to sense that Human's sins is significantly heightened. (I'm hoping to write about this particular element in more detail for the brothers sometime soon 🤞)

Where in a non-pact situation, a Demon may only sense a sin if a Human is really struggling with it at that current point in time - in a situation where a pact is formed, both parties have agreed to open a magical bond where in exchange for the Human having power over the Demon with commands, the Demon can more freely take power from them without necessarily obtaining their soul.

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Since I've not had much time to work on my character specific headcanons, I figured I'd post a more rough-around-the-edges sort of post where I don't really have to proofread and can just infodump for fun XDDD

- Celeste

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#obey me #obey me hcs #obey me headcanons #obey me shall we date #shall we date obey me #celestial writings

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hxhhasmysoul · 1 year ago

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the yuuji is seen stupid talk is so much applying the stereotype that only maths makes you smart. it's done to gon too. even though these characters are very quick learners and smart and knowledgeable in non math related ways. it is done in universe as well, this kind of belief that there’s only a specific way to be smart. if i remember correctly, there are cultural reasons for this, rooted in classism sexism, racism and ableism. but even in the more leftist fandom circles it’s still quite pervasive. i guess it’s one of those transparent biases so ingrained in us that we don’t even think about them.

for example in both these cases they have very high emotional intelligence, when someone like gojou or megumi don’t. killua actually has pretty high emotional intelligence, he’s a more balanced character, like gon.

and i think in both cases, gon and yuuji, it’s because of the surface level comments other characters make.

killua calls gon dumb and gon can’t do maths and it’s like well it’s settled. but also killua admires gon like a lot, he respects gon’s skill implicitly, he relies on gon’s abilities. maybe because killua is there to infodump about the world sometimes and gon’s upbringing was more sheltered, the fandom believes that killua is smarter. which really isn’t the case. and killua is actually quite stupid in some ways, he over relies on his supposed knowledge and loses a lot of their money. sigh.

if one treats intelligence and smarts holistically gon and killua are really well and closely matched.

with yuuji it’s kind of more upsetting. because for example gojou may be a top tier cursed energy user and he can aquire knowledge really fast due to his cursed technique but he’s irresponsible af, he’s a very bad teacher, his plan of changing the jujutsu world is a nothing burger and not like he’d advanced it very far before kenjaku sealed him. and kenjaku outsmarted him with not much pushback from gojou. and his emotional intelligence is in single digits.

megumi is not much better either. his life philosophy is not very smart. it kinda feels like he read one philosophy book and internalised it to repeat it. he’s so enamoured with it that he needs to be shocked into thinking deeply about what he actually believes in. he may have a lot of knowledge but that makes him good at school. he had no idea how to go about his cursed technique, he only started advancing in it once sukuna pushed him and yuuji’s advancement shamed him. and his emotional intelligence is mediocre, i mean he’s better than gojou but that bar is on the floor.

when it comes to intelligence and smarts yuuji is kinda on average evenly matched with someone like gojou because gojou breaks the chart in one category and barely has anything in others.

but compared to megumi? yuuji comes out on top imo. megumi’s development was in the gutter before yuuji showed up and later megumi piggybacked on yuuji’s advancement a lot. and yuuji feels far more adaptive than megumi, he is also more level headed in dangerous situations. megumi still does well in fights and figures out stuff but when you compare the experience and knowledge about jujutsu he has to yuuji’s, things he does kind of lose their wow factor. it’s like, well it’d be embarrassing if couldn’t do it, you know, especially with how highly he thinks of himself.

and megumi uses hard words and jargon, and is eloquent, and also speaks in a decisive way. he projects certain and expertise that imo he shouldn’t feel that entitled to. but it impresses and intimidates yuuji because he’s not bookish. also spewing jargon is kind of cringe, like when it’s no in an insular nerd on nerd situation it kinda signals insecurity more than intelligence.

it’s kinda irritating that in world characters are annoyed at yuuji’s lack of knowledge. it kinda shows that they aren’t very smart themselves because they expect a person with no prior experience or education in jujutsu to have the knowledge they’ve been gathering for years. again, this reflects on them not on yuuji.

#ramblings #people sometimes ask me about my unpopular opinions #here is one #hxh #jjk #gon freecss #itadori yuuji #also kenjaku is a good mum because they see it #they are impressed by the progress their child makes

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kitkatopinions · 2 years ago

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I have this theory that rwby white knights and anti-rwdes are really into pushing the idea that Ironwood pre-shooting Oscar is some horrible clearly bad dictator with no good traits because they actually don't have any arguments against people saying his over-the-course-of-two-in-universe-days fall to villainy was rushed, unnecessary, and severely lacking in emotional depth. So the only way for them to try and make it not bad writing is to say that James was always a villain and therefore his villainy arc wasn't 'rushed' (though this ignores the fact that a villain with standards rapidly changing into a villain with zero standards with no real depth is still bad writing.)

But funnily enough, the whole thing with pushing the idea of 'Ironwood was always a bad guy, clearly a dictator, clearly everyone needs to have seen that or they're a pro-dictator bigot themselves' take... Really just makes both the team of RWBYJNROQ and the narrative that the RWBY writers painted seem worse if you ask me. Like, Team RWBY and co were actively and willingly working with IW for like two months, right? Like, they were down in the thick of it in Mantle sometimes, they saw the security camera that some people swear means that James kept the citizens of Mantle under constant surveillance, they saw the broadcasting of James and Winter that some people swear means that James was obviously feeding Mantle propaganda, they saw how he worked on a project that they actively believed in apparently instead of using the easily transferable resources of a communications tower to fix a broken wall. They saw James put things in place like curfews, which some people are swearing is proof of the ironclad hold Ironwood had on those poor defenseless citizens. They saw that he pulled his forces out of Mistral (on the advice of Winter,) which apparently is heartlessly hording protection, and they also saw him bring some of his forces into Vale which according to some people was a show of power. And despite the fact that there was every indication that IW was fully authorized to be in Vale and fully authorized in bringing over weapons, and despite the fact that he only brought them because he thought there would be an attack (which there was,) and despite the fact that he clearly didn't bring his whole fleet - No, he was invading Vale. And Team RWBY and co also saw his 'over-reliance on machinery' and his 'hatred of humanity' at play, and they saw him let teenagers do any fighting and saw that he was running a child recruitment school (ignore if this breaks the premise of the entire show by implying that Ruby shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a fight,) and they saw that he was supposedly grooming Winter. And they saw that he *gasp* was put in charge of security for an event after an attack that could've been really bad while Ironwood and the rest of Oz's inner circle was anticipating worse I MEAN he was completely unnecessarily put in charge of obviously completely unneeded security for your average everyday not in danger at all sporting event that can easily be compared to sporting events in our world where Salem and Grimm don't exist, and so that was clearly an act of aggression and exercising control.

So, if Ironwood is really a terrible dictator who has clearly been doing off the charts bad things that prove that he's a bad dictator since his very first appearances in volume two, then the options are A. Ruby and co are all so hopelessly naive that they completely ignored the clear and obvious signs of a dictator and then made shocked pikachu faces when he 'tried to leave all the poor people behind to die because of nothing but laziness, cowardice, and classism,' which makes them look really bad. B. Ruby and co are all so dumb that they just didn't realize that all the obviously bad stuff he did was obviously bad and should be a deal breaker because they're just that oblivious. Or C. Team RWBY and their friends can be slotted into the same category that the anti-rwdes put IW fans who say that the fall to villainy was rushed and that he wasn't always clearly bad, and written off as pro-dictator probably classist bigots. Ruby literally shared information on the war with him after a bunch of stuff in season seven because she and Oscar decided to trust him.

(Just to be clear, I don't believe any of that. I believe that Ironwood wasn't clearly super bad until he shot Oscar, and Team RWBY weren't in the wrong to work for and help Ironwood and believe in some of the things he was doing.)

But, using that 'James was always a dictator who was always clearly bad' logic, what does that say about the narrative RWBY the show was presenting us with. Because... Team RWBY and co weren't treated as in the wrong for working for and helping Ironwood and believing in some of the things he was doing. They doubted him a little, here and there, but for the most part just worked with him, and then nobody was like 'we were so stupid to trust him after everything he did' and nobody was like 'We need to be more careful because we were working with a dictator FUCK." In fact, Yang and Ren saying anything against Ruby was still treated as completely bad and something they needed to take back, even though she was the one who told the supposed clearly evil dictator important war secrets. Sooooo, if Ironwood really was a dictator, what was the 'Ruby did no wrong' stuff supposed to tell us as viewers? XD Like I honestly truly prefer thinking 'these writers just screwed up their fall to villainy arc pretty badly' rather than thinking 'these writers deliberately made the heroes willingly and happily work for an evil dictator for months and trust him with important war secrets.'

Once again I'm wondering how RWBY simps manage to make RWBY seem eight times worse than it is while they're trying to defend it.

#rwde #anti rwby #anti rooster teeth #rwby critical #rwby criticism #rwby crit #rwby bashing #rwby hate #pro ironwood #pro iw #ironwood defense

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rad-ramenkingles · 7 months ago

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Kinko Revamp Process

Wanted to try something slightly different with this post, call it a little behind the scenes process.

As you all know, I am Ramenking…

I make pixels, and I have done for a good long while, and today to lead up to my next Blurry Boy post, I want to show you a little bit of what my process has been for these revamps. Let's start with Kinko, as he is the first to have been revealed.

So when it comes to Kinkotsuman, out of the whole group I did. He is a character I mainly like for the uniqueness of his look, and the specific body type on him. As a character he is abit of a… Iffy guy for me. Just I'm not the biggest fan of trash Dad’s, like Kinko just falls right into that category full stop guys. Poor Bone Cold. 😔

All that said when approaching him it was quite an interesting task, as he is actually one of only 8 characters from the Kinnikuman franchise I've been spriting since I started in this little pixel square field. I did start other characters but they always were forever WIP stuff. All of those works though are long gone, probably on an old laptop somewhere in a storage room. That said, I at least have Kinko here looking nice and rough.

This period of spriting for myself wasn't the best one looking back on it. Majority of my work was more akin to sloppy edits and recolours trying to fit into a style I had little to no skill at all in. That being said it was still fun to actually make pixels for the first time, so it drove me to further dabble.

That nicely leads us to 2011 Kinko next to 2011 Kinnikuman…

Kinkotsuman and others get a face lift, or just get made for the first time in some cases. What's a bit neat about the Kinkotsuman Pixel of 2011, this sprite was initially a revamp made by an old forum buddy of mine (with heavy tweaks after made by myself). I had a mighty struggle with his head, my brain just couldn't get it and his could, the hair as well I kept having a problem with and Poof all of these issues were non existent, to him. What I really liked about this Kinko compared to the 2009 attempt was the body type actually got closer to what I envisioned. (Still a bit too tall though, and wide to a degree though)

See I've never been a massive fan of slightly buff Kinko as a norm. Not saying it couldn't make for an interesting growth of the character body wise throughout the series. Just in my head, he is Skull and Bones guy, and that type of person shouldn't have to much meat on his bones. All that said I do enjoy me a good character evolution over time chart. Might do one for all the Kinniku Characters like I did this quick mock up of Kinnikuman one day.

Onto now… When I approached Kinko this time, I wanted to try and strike a balance between the newer look Yude does for him, his first appearance look, and the anime look.

So I had examples of all three works as I went to it. I took the 2011 sprite and stripped off the colors and from there I readjusted placements of black lines inside the framework, and trimmed the framework down where I saw fit aswell. Then I laid back in some of the flat Colors across it all when I was happy with my framework. Then came the first run of shades. I take a look, see how I feel, then I will make adjustments where I see fit in different ways, just to get across the “Feel of the Character” that I want to achieve with this sprite.

Aside - |{When I say “Feel of the Character”, I am meaning I want whatever I do, however complex or simplistic it is with my pixels. I want someone to look at that, and the drawn character and be like “Oh yeah, I see it. That's them.” Like I'm not after getting every detail 100% perfect, really if you are working in pixels as small as I am. You flat out can't be. But what I want to do, is get that feel of them across as best as I can. Sometimes that means sacrificing certain elements (You will see that in some sprites to come), other times it means really emphasizing sometimes a single aspect of the sprite. It's a fun little challenge every time, sprite by sprite I have to play with. By no means though am I a master at this pixel thing, nor do I want to disparage others who have a different approach. This is just how I prefer to do it.}|

Next once I got the sprite down, I threw up my faceset. Used my WIP Kinnikuman as a base to make edits to find Kinko in the pixels. I chipped away, and remolded bit by bit until. Poof. I got my faceset I was happy with. (Which I was so happy with, it made me not too happy with the sprite so I actually later went back and made yet a last adjustment after the initial posting. Whoops!)

With all that done, I quickly did up a little I'll call it a “Pixel Showcase”. Gathered some old GameBoy text assets for the lettering, and just free handed some shapes and lines to put Kinko and his Face on display for you all. As the last “Showcase” background I realized was a bit busy for the eyes, and you kind of can't appreciate the sprites on display in it. I still very much like it though, so maybe I'll do something with it later on.

And that is all peeples. My behind the scenes Esque thing, to somewhat build interest for the next Blur Boy coming. (Which will come hopefully soon, if work doesn't beat me down too much before) Hope you all enjoyed this, if it's liked enough I might try doing more in the future as it's nice to almost get my process down for all to understand the approach from sprite to sprite, and for my own benefit as well as most of these ideas and practices aren't written but just in my head.

Until the next Blurry Boy post, I gotta rest my fingers now. Seeyah…

Ramen Out!

#Kinnikuman #Kinkotsuman #Yudetamago #PixelArt #Fanart #Shonen #PixelProcess #Breakdown #KinnikuPixels

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pepsiiwho · 9 months ago

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realationship explanation chart. Requires little explaining save for the 6th tier. Further thoughts under the hood. Spoilers ahead for anyone in the green tier. Long post below ;D

Aigis: Her entire backstory shapes the events of the game and links her fundamentally with the MC... I know you can pursue a romantic relationship with her so obviously she has,... some feelings there for the taking, but past just user choice I think it's more imprinting then actual love built of knowing someone. She's fought with you and protected you as you protected her. You're the first man, and human, who saw her as more than a machine and that sticks with her. I think the complicated nature of her past with you would make it difficult for her to parse these emotions and as such a wide label such as "romantic love" is too constricting. Do I think she would willingly date MC? no. Do I think she would think she would willingly date mc? yes.

Junpei: Fucker has 100 million self esteem issues with only 90milion of those being actively irritated further by MC's place in relation to himself. He's straight, this I do believe, but I think his complicated feelings when thinking about his own usefulness and purpose in comparison with someone who is so, seemingly, perfect would mix the bag heavily, so to say. He def has those almost gay thoughts like "why is MC so perfect and hot and sexy and everyone loves him" and this is never examined further about what this may mean. Could go into "I have eyes" category, but there's too much ire and sourness there for a blanket "of course he's hot and I recognize that". Would never say it or think it but he would be down for a game of spin the bottle. Type of guy who would be perfect in a "gay-chicken" or similar "fake dating au that turns too real" story.

Amada: He is a child so the romantic feelings in question aren't even close to the same bracket of anyone else on this list, save Maiko. I think considering the... fucking everything that Amada went through during his life and particularly his arc, having someone who is such a constant pillar and so stable would be really defining for him. It's more hero worship than anything, but it looks like a school yard crush as well. He wants to be like MC and idolizes him so much that he, in a child like way, forms a crush on him through that want. It's wholly innocent and serves more as a means for others to tease him when he's older than anything else. I see them as older brother and younger brother dynamic but point stands.

Maiko: Functionally the same as Amada. Won't survive into adulthood. Strong older brother type found her in a moment of unease and change and was a kind constant. That's all.

Takaya: Fucking has something wrong with him. I think there's a deep jealousy and hate inside him to see MC have the life he never got, one of rest and comfort and acceptance without this evil power thrusted upon him. I think he hates MC for thinking he's better then them ( not true) because he's never suffered (not true) and never had the world turn it's back on him (not true). He wishes MC joined them, even still, and I think momentarily mourned that considering how much he tries to make us see his way of thinking. The man lacks strategy it seems so I don't believe it was just "AHH I wanted a strong ally that's alllll" or just "I need the dark hour and tower untouched and unbothered!!". I think he's sick in the head.

This was fun I will be doing the other tiers. Yay

#the funnies #p3 #persona 3 #persona 3 reload #persona 3 makoto #persona series #persona yuki

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dropintomanga · 1 year ago

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Thinking About the “Othering” of Japanese Media

For those who keep up with Japanese video games, you may have heard comments from a prominent Japanese video game producer about how a certain term labeling a video game genre felt discriminatory in his own eyes. A recent Polygon article about that term made me think about how the Western media has “othered” Japanese pop culture media for as long as I remembered.

The producer I’m talking about is Final Fantasy XIV and XVI producer, Naoki Yoshida (known as Yoshi-P to his fans). Back in February 2023 in an interview, Yoshi-P said that the term “JRPG” (short for “Japanese RPG”) was considered discriminatory to him and his peers in the Japanese video game industry. Polygon took a look at how Japanese RPGs and JRPGs became a thing in the late ‘90s (starting with Final Fantasy VII’s North American release in 1997) and how media outlets in the West never seemed to take them too seriously. Even worse, the outlets shoved Japanese developers into a sub-category they never asked to be a part of once Japanese RPG popularity started to wane in the mid-2000s’.

After reading the article, I actually thought about manga and its perception when I first started reading comics. When I first discovered what manga was back in 1995, I learned about Ghost in the Shell from an issue of Wizard Magazine (a North American-based magazine highly dedicated to Western comics). The first thing that came to mind when I read what Wizard wrote was that it had a cybersex scene and very adult in nature. My mind was somewhat blown since I was in 7th grade at the time. Now that I think about it, almost 30 years later, I wonder if Wizard was trying to say that Japanese creators were super-perverted compared to Western creators. I still remember a non-fan a friend of mine met at Otakon one year who asked “Isn’t anime sexual?” when inquiring bout anime.

With regards to manga, for most of its history in the overall comics world, it has been othered in the U.S. due to how successful it’s been in reaching out to “non-traditional” comics-reading audiences. Statements like “Oh, it’s just a fad!” and “Manga doesn’t have dedicated buyers (i.e. adults with disposable income) like Western comics does!” were thrown to discredit manga’s popularity. Christopher Butcher (of Mangasplaining/TCAF fame) talked about this in a 2015 article on his website, which still holds some truth today. Even though manga sales have peaked around the pre-vaccine COVID time period, they are steady today. New York Comic-Con in 2022 had a substantial anime/manga presence compared to years past. Anime and manga can’t be ignored any longer.

Yet I know that some things haven’t changed in industry recognition. I will use the Eisner Awards as an example. For those who don’t know, it’s a prestigious awards ceremony that happens around San Diego Comic-Con every year and honors the best in comics. However, their recognition of manga is spotty. There has been recent criticism towards the Eisner committee for recognizing only the “hot” manga creators (i.e. the ones with best-selling manga titles on book charts). The best example I can give is Junji Ito. A lot of his works are nominated despite there being better works worthy of recognition out there. There has been some criticism in the manga circle I’m in about how Eisner judges/representatives don’t seem to take the time to explore the greater breadth of what manga has to offer in its new golden age.

Of course, when awards ceremonies like the Academy Awards don’t really seem to care much about praising Japanese pop culture media, what hope is there, right?

Which brings me to a point that the Polygon article elaborates on the West’s insistence on particular views of Japan.

“It’s clear that the mainstream only courts a specific idea of Japan as being acceptable — often reinterpretations of feudal Japan, largely spanning from the 1500s to late 1800s, when the samurai were still part of Japanese society.“

I do notice that Japan is supposed to be this “quirky” and “weird” place with wild imagination. If somehow a Japanese title has themes common in Western media/culture, but lacks the exotic style Westerners prefer, it’s sometimes heavily ignored in the mainstream eye. I don’t know. What do you guys think?

Polygon does mention that we’re living in some really good times with regards to Japanese video games being popular again. Many fans, including myself, know that too well. I enjoyed gaming again due to the variety of Japanese-developed titles that came out since 2016 (the start of the Japanese video game industry revival). I see parallels in manga and anime reception too. All of Japanese pop culture media is celebrated overseas. Fans that consume all things Japanese are living through amazing times.

That doesn’t mean that it’s going to last forever. I do know at some point, Western media will find new ways to scrutinize Japanese media and our time in the spotlight will fade again. Some degree of othering will always happen due to human nature and I know that we can use that term for positive purposes. Manga is about how “others” that are different from the norm can become celebrated by the world. Reading this post about manga reminds me that comics of any kind can cover any topic imaginable and definitely be made for “other” people to read.

#othering #Japanese pop culture #manga #anime #video games #Japanese video games

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tuiyla · 2 years ago

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Singing statistics: Quinn Fabray

Once upon a time I decided to embark on a journey that involved creating a massive database with Glee songs and giving characters points based on how many covers they had and how much they sang in those songs. At some point I’m going to migrate all I’ve done so far over to tumblr but until then, please see this reddit post for the basics of the database and this masterpost for other character statistics and otherwise. If you have questions about the mechanics and are confused about what points refer to here, please consult with those posts or reach out. Otherwise, let’s talk Queen Bee Quinn. I have lots of visuals for you and some updates to the previously used template, and lots of words to explain what the images mean.

First things first and some basics, Quinn was in 73 Glee episodes overall and during her time on the show, she sang in 42 songs total. Thanks to the point system and solos, duets, and lead roles in group numbers being worth more than 1 point, these 42 songs mean 66 points for her. With this, she’s the 13th most featured voice of the series, behind most of the original New Directions and just ahead of the season 4 newbies. With 42 performances, her voice is feature in just over 6% of all Glee songs so those are your chances of hearing Dianna when putting an all-songs Glee playlist on shuffle.

Now to get into the different types of songs Quinn has had. Solos are worth 3 points in this system and of those Quinn had 6 in total. This makes her the 16th character with the most solos, ranking her lower than her overall singing place. Four out of 6 solos were in season 1, making it by far her best in that respect. Two of them were Unholy Trinity songs with Brittana on backup, once for real with Naya and Hemo in Come See About Me. Curiously, two solos were Supremes songs and a third, Never Can Say Goodbye, originally intended for The Supremes before landing with The Jackson 5. More on artists most often covered in a later section.

Duets are worth 2 points and of those Quinn had 10, ranking her 10th among the cast. Her singing partners were a diverse bunch and there were only two characters she sang with twice, Sam in season 2 and Artie in season 3 episode 15 - both songs in the same episode. That’s Artie’s pattern, by the way. We have a pie chart here for the first actual chart graphics but more interesting than Quinn’s list of duet partners is the next slide.

This way of visualizing the “sings with” category is new for Quinn’s character post. Previously this was just a column chart but the good old bubbles helps us actually see the differences more. The numbers are all in the table on the left but the chart tells that Quinn’s most significant singing partner overall was Santana. Now, this isn’t only duets, it’s every time Quinn is featured in a song with someone else. For example, out of Quinn’s 42 songs Santana was also in 16 of them. Fun fact, Santana is featured in every single one of Quinn’s season 4 songs, and very nearly in all season 6 ones. On the other end of the spectrum are Blaine and Mike; Mike isn’t a surprise as the OG who sang the least. He ranks lowest for practically every ND member. But Blaine is curious since there are only two group numbers Quinn and him are ever featured in together (Control and We’ve Got Tonite).

And then we have something a little different, the distribution of points between Quinn and another character in their shared songs. For example, because Brittany often provides backup or has smaller parts when Quinn sings, their balance is way off from the 50% mark and Quinn tends to have larger parts in those shared songs. The opposite is true for Rachel, who often leads group numbers whereas Quinn tends to have small parts. Same goes for Finn, and then the rest is more or less near that 50% line.

Speaking of and moving onto group numbers, as you might have guessed based on the stats so far Quinn didn’t exactly have the most throughout her run. She was featured in 18 New Directions performances overall, meaning she was in just under 9.5% of all ND songs. Out of these, one was her Sectionals duet with Sam and she took the lead or otherwise had a major solo in just five songs. The rest, 12 performances were a verse or two here and there, but mostly a line or two. She did also feature on Edge of Glory by The Troubletones but that doesn’t count towards her setlists statistics so she’s still only the 11th most featured there. Her duet goes a long way to not making that an even lower number. Quinn was present and a member of the New Directions for 22 competition performances overall and sang in 4 of those, her 4.5 points landing her the 11th most-featured spot.

Performances that don’t include the whole group or even a subset like the Glee Girls get counted as ensembles instead. Quinn had two songs that qualify as trios, a Fapezberry and an Unholy Trinity feature - Problem counts as a quartet thanks to Artie, as well as two other songs. Her one quintet is the Celibacy Club’s banger Afternoon Delight and Homeward Bound/Home is her one sextet.

Backups are a tricky business and there are many variations. Basically, both backing vocals in the traditional sense and just one lines in a song are worth 0.5 points and are counted for this category. The distribution with Quinn’s 8 half-pointers is three instances of what can be considered backing vocals and five times having very very small parts in songs, such as We’ve Got Tonite. Another curious category is what I mark with zeros, aka either “Quinn” providing vocals but Dianna not, e.g. I Look To You, or Dianna being said to provide them but that not necessarily being the case diegetically. These cases were decided based on Glee Wiki but they don’t count in the statistics anyway. Examples include Jump and Dog Days Are Over.

Going back into chart territory now that we’ve had our look at song categories, first up the seasons by numbers. These columns refer to the number of songs Quinn had in seasons and the different shades denote song types. Even though season 1 is looking real dark with its four solos, it’s still a weak season vocally. We also see that, despite only singing in six songs, Quinn was the 7th most featured character in season 1. Things get significantly better, number of songs wise in seasons 2 and 3 - or do they? Technically yes, Quinn sings in more songs, but there’s a lack of solos and because of the ever-expanding cast she’s only 14th and 11th in seasons 2 and 3 respectively. While yes, season 3 is her most featured season, it is for a lot of others too, hence 11th place. And then as Quinn graduates and becomes a guest star these numbers understandably get much lower. But that isn’t the whole story.

We’re back to bubble charts to get to the bottom of how well-featured Quinn was, exactly, in every season. You see, these numbers are adjusted for the number of episodes she was in and then we get the X axis of points and Y axis of songs. And it paints a different picture, does it not? Season 1 s her least featured when considering that she was in all episodes, not just in terms of songs but adjusted with points, too, so her solos didn’t count for much. And then there’s season 2, where there was a stretch of episodes without Quinn singing but it still fares better. Season 3 is an improvement yet again, but her guest star seasons are another beast entirely. Now, this makes sense. When Dianna Agron returns as a guest star it only feels right to feature her more than they did when she was a main character, admittedly an underutilized one. And so season 4 and 6 in particular stand out, even though she sang in both her season 5 episodes. Season 4 is ahead in terms of points, what with that one last solo, but season 6 packed five songs into what is basically just two episodes. Remember, season 1 had six songs overall in twenty-two episodes.

To drive the point of Quinn’s underutilization home, here’s a side tour of Marley’s stats. At least that’s what I think the purpose of this left chart was when I made it well over a year ago. You see, our chart on the left tracks the cumilation of points as the episodes go on, for both Quinn and Marley. Quinn’s begins stagnating at around the point Marley appears, naturally as season 4 saw the exit of one and intro of the other. And see how Marley almost ended up with more overall points than Quinn? Because in just a season and a half she got 65 points, one short of Quinn’s grand total. In fact, for basically all of season 5 Marley was ahead, meaning she sang as much in season 4 as Quinn did in three seasons.The only thing that makes Quinn the 13th and Marley the 14th most featured voice is season 6.

To further illustrate the stark difference between how their voices were utilized in the time they had, on the right you can see a bubble chart similar to the previous slide’s. I know, it’s squished, but you can still see Marley blowing Quinn out of the water in terms of both average number of songs and point per episode. Twice as much, essentially. And to be clear none of this is against Marley, it’s just pointing out how relatively little Quinn got during her time, particularly as a regular.

Now onto the genres and artists category. Above is the distribution of genres in Quinn songs, most notable is how few showtunes she did and the relatively big representation of soul. In fact, a whopping 4 out 6 six solos can classify as soul, a genre Glee didn’t feature a ton of. Pop and rock being the top two is no surprise given the overall ratios of the show but R&B/soul is well-represented with Quinn.

No surprise, then, that the signature artists I was able to narrow down based on the numbers are The Supremes and The Jackson 5. Glee covered six Supremes songs and two of those were Quinn solos. As previously mentioned, a third solo was at one point meant to be a Supremes song but the switch just resulted in The Jackson 5 also being a signature artist for Quinn. Among the many Jackson songs covered, Glee did two Jackson 5 performances and both featured Quinn: the aforementioned Never Can Say Goodbye and ABC. Motown queen indeed.

Coming towards the end, I wanted to make note of “extra” songs - covers not counted for the stats above, either because they weren’t actually featured in the show or because studio versions were never released. The former category includes the Christmas banger God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and the never-aired s3 version of Seasons of Love. The latter category has Ride Wit Me and the sadly never completed due to first trimester issues Fuinn version of DSB.

Finally, this last image is just the table summary of the seasons column chart. It’s something I always included with old stats so I kept it in here, too, in case it helps anyone to see it laid out like this. I’m a believer in a good chart helping to make sense of numbers but sometimes seeing it presented like this also helps.

So. Yeah! That was Quinn’s Glee run in numbers. Please reach out with any and all questions, and if I see that people are actually curious about this stuff I’ll get on that tumblr migration and making new posts using the database. There’s a lot more to cover with the data that’s in there.

#glee #quinn fabray #glee singing stats #character singing stats #eventually we'll have a tumblr masterpost too when i get the migration done #singing statistics #and i'll settle on a tag #well anon who requested this pls let me know your thoughts

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