#it doesn't make sense that you kill your main villain like that

[rottiens]

i don't expect anything good from jjk anymore since gege killed kenjaku so poorly. my hopes are under the floor.

[pikahlua]

i have a question about this chapter

in the beginning, bakugou says “i’m done messing around izuku(?)” but i’m confused on what it means. does this mean that he isn’t gonna treat him horribly anymore or he’s done messing around and he’s coming into his own (quirk/name/person)?

Didn't wanna answer until I published the translation.

もうおめーの邪魔はしねえ もうおめーのじゃまはしねえ mou omee no jama wa shinee I won't get in your way anymore.* (*Note: This is a sentence that could have many potential translations: "I won't get in your way anymore," "I won't hold you back anymore," "I won't be a hindrance to you anymore," etc.)

This is one of those "Katsuki Bakugou contains multitudes" lines where he means a lot of things at the same time.

The surface-level, pseudo-obvious meaning is that Katsuki won't be a jerk to Izuku--but that doesn't actually make sense, because he isn't a jerk to Izuku anymore. That shit is long over.

I think the key to understanding this line lies in chapter 406:

The major struggle Katsuki has had throughout this final arc is about his sense of inferiority compared to Izuku. Remember, he was revived at the time when he could save All Might from AFO and make up for his perceived weakness that caused All Might's downfall.

So in one sense, Katsuki is saying he's strong now. His lack of power will no longer be a burden. Now he can run alongside Izuku and match his pace and support him without Izuku ever having to worry.

But there is also some deeper meaning behind that sentiment, one that's had roots in Katsuki's journey through the entire story, since chapter 1.

It's Katsuki's relationship with victimhood.

From the beginning, the one insecurity within Katsuki that was so great he would actually kind of voice it aloud was his fear that he couldn't match up to Izuku and that Izuku looked down on him for it.

And this all ties back into his insecurities about his role in All Might's downfall. All of this was a major point of what "Deku vs Kacchan, Part 2" was all about.

It's something I dissected a long time ago here:

So it's not that Katsuki wants to protect Izuku; Katsuki doesn't want to be the reason for Izuku's downfall.

And here:

Katsuki lightens Izuku’s load by looking out for everyone else, and this is why Katsuki works so well as Izuku’s weakness. He’s become the cornerstone of Izuku’s house of cards. As much as he hates being a weakness, Katsuki can’t just make it stop by telling Izuku not to care. Izuku will keep on caring regardless. So instead Katsuki has to convince Izuku that Katsuki is stronger so Izuku will keep chasing after him. Izuku needs to believe Katsuki is stronger in order to get stronger himself. Katsuki needs Izuku to believe Katsuki can handle himself, that Izuku can trust him, so they can work as a team and compensate for each other’s weaknesses.

Katsuki acknowledges in his apology in chapter 322 that Izuku is on the right path, that all his moves since receiving OFA have been correct. Katsuki has been a roadblock hindering Izuku and holding him back--yes, often by rejecting him and competing maliciously with him, but also by being too weak to stand at Izuku's side. He was caught by the sludge villain, kidnapped by the League of Villains, lethally stabbed and later nearly killed by TomurAFO. He wasn't the strong hero like All Might that fought to win and save the day. He wasn't an equal partner.

What I read when Katsuki says he won't get in Izuku's way anymore is that he's done it, he's strong enough to stand at Izuku's side, he's strong enough to let Izuku do what he does best, he's strong enough to support Izuku as Izuku strives to achieve what only he can achieve. AND I read Katsuki saying "I am no longer that weak person, I am no longer a burden, I am no longer NOT a hero, no longer NOT the hero I needed to be."

"I won't be a weakness others can exploit to get to you anymore."

(And I read that he's ready to let Izuku be the main character.)

[cursedvida]

It's really crazy to me to see the hate Mae gets, like I was reading some reviews and I can understand not liking a character but as soon as they start with the name calling their opinion is invalid to me because they have no reason to be calling her a bitch, among other things, like it just reeks of mysogyny, (it's like they just want an excuse to call women names) and seeing it coming from other girls makes it worse like..

"Oh the girl was such a bitch why did she do that 🙄" ..is it really that hard to think for a moment about the circumstances in which mae was raised?? Do they need it spell it out for them?? Like, c'mon guys do you really think that the people trapped in a bunker for generations have anything nice to teach/say about the apes?? Wes Ball please give us Mae's backstory in the sequel!! Your audience needs it bc they are out there calling Mae the real villain and saying Proximus was right 💀 (when he was literally everything Caesar hated in an ape)

Look, I'm usually a polite person when expressing my opinions, but I'm fed up with the hate towards Mae, basically because the arguments people give seem incredibly basic to me, typical of people with little to no understanding. Sometimes I doubt if these people have watched the same movie as me or maybe they have some sort of cognitive dissonance, but seriously, I find them ridiculous. Either that, or they are basically the typical comments from misogynistic guys or women with internalized misogyny who can't stand morally gray and questionable female characters.

And well, having said that, I'm going to present my doctoral thesis on this topic:

One of the things I've seen the most is people saying that Mae is evil, the true villain, or an ungrateful traitor to Noa. This argument seems quite incomprehensible to me because, even though we don't have much data about her, I believe there's something very important that explains why she acts as she does: the Proximus apes killed the people in her group, including her mother. I mean: her damn mother. If we add to that the UNDERSTANDING (I mean, you have to be very short-minded not to assume something so obvious) that she has been raised in an environment where they've probably told her all her life that the apes are the reason for all the evils of humanity and the main reason why humans live in shitty conditions, I think anyone with half a brain has enough information to understand why she does what she does.

Yes, Noa is a good guy, but he's not helping her. Noa and Mae have a common goal and decide to ally themselves momentarily to achieve that goal, which is to reach Proximus. As much as they've formed a bond throughout the story, it's not yet strong enough for Mae to set aside what she has worked for so hard. Mae not only bears the weight of humanity on her shoulders but also emotionally carries the idea that she, as the sole survivor of her group, must complete the mission at all costs. Are those who criticize her telling me that if they truly thought that with certain actions they could not only save their species but also honor their loved ones who have been killed infront their eyes, they wouldn't do them? And that they wouldn't do them for someone they've just met, no matter how much they like them? That's just not realistic, it makes no sense. We would all do the same as Mae in her situation. I mean, I have no doubts.

Another thing I love is when they say she's the "true villain" as if it weren't clear enough that she feels bad every time since she forms a bond with Raka and Noa when she does something that she knows may harm them. She feels pain for Raka's death and clearly, you can also see the conflict and remorse when she detonates the bomb. It's not something she enjoys doing, but she HAS to do it. In the final scene, even though she's carrying a gun, you can also clearly see her in conflict with herself. Clearly, she doesn't want to kill him. Clearly, she has nothing against Noa, and this is evident when she finally accepts the necklace and they even shake hands. You can't tell me that's the attitude of a villain, narratively it's not presented as such, and seeing it that way is to have understood nothing.

Mae is a complex character whose life is based on survival, she's no different from the characters we're used to loving and idolizing in other post-apocalyptic series, the difference here for me is that she's human and humans have to be bad by default and also that she's a woman. Because female characters always have to be the support, the romantic interest, or the unconditional friends of heroic male characters, and Mae is none of that. Mae is a character with her own story and ambitions that go beyond Noa's plot. Mae has her own plot, and it seems that's something that bothers people a lot.

I'm sorry, but the hate towards Mae seems very similar to the one people had for Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, which basically stemmed from people being misogynistic and hating complex and imperfect female characters, combined with how much they hate seeing protagonist characters with such human and real characteristics that they can't bear the idea of seeing themselves reflected in them.

But hey, for Sansa Stark, I would have killed, and now for Mae too. Mae haters basically DNI

[bogleech]

well, you made a fighting roster for one of your favorite things, bugs, so why not do your second favorite? HALLOWEEN.....but you don't have to if you want.

I actually did that of my own accord with concept sketches once but it was two years ago so a lot of people haven't seen it.

It started when I made up a Darkstalkers fan character; a "scream queen" (type of horror movie actress in the 50's) and Bug Eyed Monster duo, with some more move ideas:

But then I decided to just make a dozen monster fighter characters of my own like it was its own distinct game and not Darkstalkers:

Mermaid who was partially eaten by people who thought it would make them immortal, instead it killed them because she was poisonous but she doesn't know that so her ghost is stuck on a revenge killing spree that can never be satisfied

Cartoon werewolf in a zoot suit and punk rock vampire with boombox coffin, I didn't come up with storyline for them, I just needed a werewolf and a vampire

Frankenstein's daughter who put her brain into her own monster in order to defend humanity against her dad's creations and other supernatural threats, I decided on this partly because I'm not really into superheroes but they're one of the top most common Halloween costumes so I tried to make a Halloweeny one that I'd like

Nurse who accidentally transfused herself with cursed mummy blood. I made this one because there's a picture I drew when I was real little of a bleeding mummy with the words "MUMMY BLOOD" on it that child-me thought was the scariest picture ever, and also because I love the (mostly Japanese) trope of medical themed mummies. Also based on the fact that "sexy nurses" are a top selling Halloween costume and then that easily ties into a Silent Hill reference. This all felt creepypasta-like so she's also like a slendersman

Old fashioned Halloween mascot pumpkin man with a vegetable ghost gang, actually the ultimate villain of the setting and a monster that eats children

"Bogeyman" fighter inspired by edgy 90's comic books, a ragdoll scarecrow grim reaper clown. She's a manifestation of the fears of children, but in the sense that she exists to destroy whatever threatens them so her main goal is to kill all other monsters and especially the pumpkin guy

Entire zombie outbreak as one fighter, represented by a cute little fungus mascot, but every fighting move is performed by zombies coming and going from the ground

shapeshifting space alien disguised as a generic housewife, the human disguise would animate like a doll being played with by invisible hands

Ideas for extra-weird, secret unlockable fighters:

Photorealistic giant insect

Vincent Price parody and all his moves are obvious special effects performed by a film crew in the background the whole time

Mysterious entity in a "morph suit" because that's become such a staple of Halloween costumes. Changes into all manner of colors and printed textures for different moves or is the token "mimic" character.

Completely normal middle aged office worker who was on his way to work when he was accidentally caught in the monster brawl, battles on the power of pure blind panic. The tournament put his name down as "I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE"

[tower-of-hana]

The Magic System in Harry Potter Is Kinda Dumb an Essay

The Killing Curse Was a Bad Idea

I took this one from a youtube video but it's true and I don't see it talked about a lot. The killing curse was a bad idea because it disincentivises the villains from ever attacking the heroes in an interesting way. Instead of using any type of dark magic that is interesting and cool they'll just reach for the instant death spell because it's easier.

It Doesn't Have Any Meaningful Rules:

Rules in a magic system are important because they allow the characters to establish strategies and for the audience to understand what those strategies are. Harry Potter doesn't do this which is why almost all of the magic fights are dumb and boring (it doesn't help that the main character knows like three spells but that isn't really a problem with the worldbuilding). Pretty much all the limits on the magic system in Harry Potter are used to stop the author from having to worldbuild.

It Also Doesn't Do Anything with the Lack of Rules:

That being said, anime fights where characters throw the sun at each other are dumb fun but Harry Potter doesn't do that either. Harry Potter doesn't really have any spells that are overpowered in an interesting way. As a result all fights are just characters throwing the same three spells at each other and older characters using undefined, more interesting spells to create the illusion of a better magic system.

Transfiguration Is Implemented Badly:

Transfiguration isn't a bad idea but the way it works in the books makes it completely useless. Why the fuck would anyone use a spell to turn a hyper specific thing into another hyper specific thing. That's just not all that helpful.

We Don't Know What Magic IS:

In Harry Potter pretty much everything about how magic works is badly defined. But I think most of this problem stems from the more fundamental problem that Harry Potter never establishes what magic is. In a lot of stories the author mentions at some point what their magic system fundamentally is: the force is some type of magic force that exists throughout the universe, chakra is magic energy that flows through your body etc. This is not necessary but it helps both you and the audience know what the rules and limits to magic are. Harry Potter doesn't do this so magic can just do random bullshit.

Good Guy Magic and Bad Guy Magic Operates on Twisted Morality:

Some pieces of media give the bad guys evil magic so you know that they are evil. Harry Potter tries to do this but utterly fails. Take the unforgivable curses for instance. The first is the cruciatus curse, it causes pain. This is fine, most people agree that pain is bad. The second one is the imperious curse, it allows you to control people. This would be fine because mental manipulation is generally considered to be bad. Or it would be, if the story hadn't already established that the "good guys" go around erasing people's memories all the time. In fact they constantly invade and manipulate the minds of muggles to the point where they genuinely do it more than the racist bad guys. In fact the wizarding world is basically an apartheid state enforced by the literal thought police and the main characters we're supposed to sympathize get positions of power in it (mostly) but I digress. The third is the killing curse and this one makes sense on the surface but when you think about it it's really baffling. Sure killing people with no other side effects or other purpose sounds evil until you realize that the good guys in Harry Potter try to kill people by: blowing them up, setting them on fire, crushing them with shelves of shitty plot devices, disintegrating them, defenestrating them (movie), freeing a dragon in a crowded area, setting unquestionably evil beings loose around children, suffocating them with magic plants, magic plant Havana Syndrome, crushing them with giants, burning them with the power of love, supposedly slicing them to pieces with transfigured knight statues, being eaten by magic bushes, poison murder trees, trampling them, and fucking yeeting them across the room. I dunno mate I would rather painlessly die tbh.

✨The Powa of Wuv✨

You know how the power of love is a thing we all joke about because it's such a trite and overplayed stand-in for an actual solution to a problem? Well the author decided to make it a part of the magic system. Now for the low low price of your mom you, yes you, can be immune to the plot. I would praise this as great satire if it wasn't taken 100% seriously the entire series.

[wasted-women]

ROUND 1A, MATCH 1 OUT OF 8!

Causes of Death & Propaganda Under the Cut:

Jiang Yanli

Cause of Death: Stabbed; Self-sacrifice to save her brother.

Propaganda:

she's your pfp that's got to count for something

I love JYL don't get me wrong! But also. She is solely written as a part of the male characters and does not get much in her own right. She is Wei Wuxian's older sect sister, or Jiang Cheng's sister, or Jin Zixuan's fiance/wife, or Jin Ling's mother he never got to know. Even what characterization people give her (like liking soup/cooking or standing up for her family despite being gentle) are things that have to do with her brothers. I wish we got more of her in her own right.

AND ALSO. ALSO??? HER DEATH MAKES. NO SENSE. Okay first of all - she was in Lanling grieving for her very recently dead husband & taking care of her newborn baby. Who would let that woman out of Lanling????? WHY???? How did she get out of there SO FAST????? She doesn't have a sword/isn't a cultivator (at least in MDZS) so she couldn't have flown. And then after she got there WHO LET HER JUST OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLEFIELD???? WHY DID SHE GO THERE???? Even if there was a short part of her saying "I need to talk to Wei Wuxian about how he killed my husband and I'm going to get there no matter what" would've clarified things a little bc it's like okay she needs to go there even if we don't know how. Where are my answers MXTX, where are my answers????

Qin Su

Cause of Death: Suicide; Stabbed herself with a knife. (NOTE: In some versions of the story, she was being controlled and thus forced to kill herself.

Propaganda:

I'm fairly certain this character was only created as set dressing for the main villain's tragedy. We get zero insight into her inner life, zero hints that any such inner life might even exist, and after she dies basically no other named character other than the aforementioned villain is shown to be majorly affected by her death, even those who logically should have meaningful relationships with her.

Compared to the other two main female characters in this series (who are also fridged) Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing, Qin Su is probably the least aggravating because she's barely in the show and has very little character that we see. But I still think it's worth noting. I really wish that she could've survived and been there in Guanyin Temple IT COULD'VE BEEN COOL OKAY.

Wen Qing

Cause of Death: Executed; Burned to ashes.

Propaganda:

The fact that Wen Qing is the character that originally said the thing about "I'm sorry" and "Thank you", which is repeated multiple times in the post-resurrection parts of the series, but is so rarely mentioned by name is so aggravating! She's such an important part of the plot that did SO MANY THINGS but just basically disappears after her death!!! The only time I really remember her being mentioned is when her brother, Wen Ning, mentions her integral role in the golden core reveal. Jiang Yanli's ghost haunts the series after her death, but Wen Qing's really doesn't, and that's so fucked up to me. She even dies during the same time that Wen Ning does, but then it's revealed he survived (well, "survived", he is a zombie, but he was that beforehand too) SO WHY COULDN'T SHE HAVE SURVIVED TOO????

[tossawary]

So far (partway into the Hueco Mundo arc, I skipped the Bount arc completely), "Bleach" seems to... shy away from interesting consequences for the issues it directly brings up. (Also, oh, man, all the filler varies in quality so much and it is BRUTAL on the pacing of the main storylines.)

Like, I think a lot about the Soul Society arc had a lot of missed potential in general, but I also thought the end of it is where things get genuinely exciting. The Gotei 13 has been repeatedly shown to be uncaring, incompetent, cruel, authoritarian, etc. and it seems like the characters are fighting against this hollow structure built on unsustainable tradition finally cracking under the weight of whatever unjust powers are obviously behind Rukia's execution and apparently Aizen's murder. Multiple captains start turning against each other for different reasons. It seems like Ichigo is just one small part of a much larger world.

And then Aizen is revealed and things still feel pretty delicious! What he did to Momo was REALLY fucked up and painful to watch in many ways. It's not unreasonable that Aizen's betrayal immediately halts a lot of ongoing fights. It makes sense that the Captain Commander doesn't want to turn around afterwards and start executing people for turning against him after losing three captains and all of Central 46. But... I would still expect there to be more lasting cracks and broken trust between the remaining members of the Gotei 13. The top four members of Squad 11 briefly turned against the Gotei essentially for funsies and yet characters like Toshiro and Rangiku don't seem to have any real resentment or suspicion over this casual disloyalty. I vaguely hope the psychological weight of and anger surrounding Aizen's fuckery is explored more later on, with more seriousness, but I can't trust this show not to essentially drop the issue completely.

I don't need this show to have Soul Society turn into some socialist / communist / anarchist utopia. But it is a downer to have a character as absolutely vile as Kurotsuchi thrown in my face during his fight with Ishida, knowing that not only does Kurotsuchi survive, but he's presumably continuing his utterly inhumane work in the Soul Society while everything else is happening. And the show seems to treat him as more of a joke mad scientist in the background than someone as or even more evil as any of the hollows. And I can't fully trust that this aspect of the Soul Society will ever be honestly confronted, even as simply a deeply tragic element representative of the Gotei's unchanging hypocrisy.

The Gotei 13 has an assassination squad! You don't have an assassination squad unless you're regularly killing people who are "undermining" your power, probably including lots of poor people in the outer districts trying to organize communities, based on actual history. These aspects are what made the soul reapers such effective and complicated antagonists in the Soul Society arc! And the flip to "yeah, they're Ichigo's allies now, mostly" was very sudden and kind of... underwhelming.

I don't care if parts of this story are tragic and this obviously broken system is left mostly unchanged at the end, it's just annoying when the story treats certain aspects as happy endings or just a funny joke, instead of delving more seriously and deliciously into just messed up everything is! How the soul reapers are unable to handle the burdens here!

From what I vaguely remember overhearing, Aizen ends up being a relatively flat villain, with relatively shallow goals and motivations regarding taking over the worlds and rising to godhood, which feels like missed potential when there's so much about this world that sucks! If Aizen had any honest motivations about making things better for any group of people, including hollows and their shitty deal in all this for example, then we might actually have a more interesting dialogue happening about the state of everything. I would like to see him honestly appealing to Orihime's kindness and sense of mercy in order to get her to join him. Her brother turned into a hollow! She has reasons to care about hollows potentially wanting to be more human again and living better afterlives than fighting forever in the sands. Maybe Aizen could just be lying about helping other people, but it would be more interesting to see this type of persuasion, and I'm already fucking sick of so much of Orihime's motivations focusing on helping Ichigo instead of her feeling torn about her tragically and traumatically dead brother who turned into a hollow.

(Side note: I don't fully understand why Aizen didn't just take over the Gotei 13. Between his hypnosis and his minions and his plots to take out rivals, he could have surely installed himself as the next Captain Commander eventually. Neither Ukitake (chronically ill) nor Kyouraku (relaxed drunkard) seem to honestly want the weight of that position. Aizen just seems to like drama, I guess. Fair enough.)

I've just reached the fight between Rukia and Aaronerio who is pretending to be Kaien, and it feels like the story is bringing up a genuinely cool idea only to throw it aside as a trick by a relatively boring hollow character. What IF Kaien had become a hollow? What IF Kaien had joined Aizen because he had some legitimate grief with Soul Society and the Gotei 13? I have vague memories about Aizen having Kaien killed and framing the Shiba Clan because Kaien was investigating him, but it's sooooo boring to have Aizen be at fault for EVERYTHING. The fallen lieutenant / almost captain from a disgraced noble family treated badly by Soul Society... turned into a hollow and forced to survive tragedy he wanted to kill him and unable to return to the Gotei 13 for help? Joining up with Aizen because he wants to take down the Soul Society and make a better world? That's COMPELLING. That's COMPLICATED. That's something that promises to get MESSY if Aizen is lying to Kaien and/or Kaien has genuinely lost his way and/or Kaien HAS A POINT. But the show brings it up only to bail on the concept.

Maybe some of the things I've talked about here will be brought up later on. I expect them to keep bringing up many of these issues, actually! I honestly just don't expect satisfying explorations and resolutions to anything, given what I've seen so far. They're just not going for the good stuff.

(I have this playing in the background while working on other stuff. If I put on a better anime, I would actually want to pay more attention to it.)

[belit0]

Indra being presented with a line up of girls to thoroughly “inspect” and choose from. Then selecting Y/N as the lucky one to bear his child? 👀

I still find myself unable to express the love I have for this man😩❤️‍🩹

(Y/N) stands nervously but with her head held high, unable to stop playing with her coat sleeve between her fingers. Her mother would scold her, tell her she's wrinkling her clothes, but nothing stopped her parents from surrendering her to the treacherous ideas of a man with more wickedness than soul.

On either side of her, two rows of at least 15 women seem to be even more affected, some even sobbing quietly. Everyone knows who Otsutsuki Indra is, no one with any common sense would want to get in his way, but what can you do when you are literally shoved under the shoe of a giant, ready to be crushed by him and unable to run away?

About 35 women undergo a rigorous inspection, and only 1 of them will make it out alive. The procedure has been going on for days, and so far none have survived.

(Y/N) is not overconfident, no, but dying at the hands of the greatest villain in history is better than dying at the hands of her abusive mother, either good fate if it ends her existence. She must only wait, meet the man's gaze, and feel a slight sting as her throat is slit.

She has watched that sequence play out over the past two days, having arrived with one of the last batches of women and observed as at least 100 spilled their blood in the main hall of the Uchiha palace. Indra is ruthless, killing without a second glance on more than one occasion, ruling out possibilities by standards only he is aware of.

There is no way to survive his inspection, so far no one has succeeded.

The girl next to her faints from fear, and a guardsman drags her body to the back wall. (Y/N) doesn't need to turn around to know where that wet, stabbing noise came from, thought that at least the girl died without being awake to experience it.

The place, already almost completely silent in itself, falls into a haunting lack of sound when the infamous Uchiha leader enters the room, followed by two assistants, those who help when inspecting.

The man takes a few minutes to get started, perhaps building momentum or simply enjoying dragging out the agony, but when his eyes finally settle on the first lady, it doesn't take long for him to start dismissing them. Standing in the middle and not daring to look in his direction, she hears that deep voice say "no" constantly, followed by the screams of some girl begging for her life and blood hitting the floor. The cries increase, and it seems to escalate Indra's anger as well, for he himself slits each sobbing woman's throat.

A girl away, (Y/N) feels him pause.

He takes his time with the poor lady, circles around her and moves her hair, looks at her face intently, her body. "What is your name?" He asks without any remarkable emotion in his voice, and (Y/N) thinks the moment of truth has finally arrived. The Otsutsuki chose the recipient of his heirs, and all the rest will be condemned like a cow to the slaughter.

"K... Ku-uro." The girl answers, but it is the last sound heard from her. Her throat is mercilessly reamed by those evil hands, as the poor girl falls dead to the ground.

"Ugly."

(Y/N) feels beads of cold sweat roll down her lower back, having convinced herself that it was all over once and for all. She raises her head again to rectify her lack of fear in front of the man, and when he finally stands in front of her, she looks him in the eye.

Not many people can say they lived to tell the tale after facing those black orbs, but Indra seems to approve of her bravery in not killing her instantly.

The man is tall, intimidatingly large and with a reputation to match his frightening physique, needing to hide behind no one and carrying the weight of his actions on his shoulders, imposing. He glares at her intently but unreadably, and she struggles not to lose, not to let herself be won over.

One hand is raised to her face, and a long finger moves hair from the middle, an overly delicate gesture considering the context. Neither of his two assistants speak, but both take notes. "What is your name?"

"(Y/N)." Her voice does not tremble and she is proud of it. She will die with bravery, honor, power.

"Show me your neck." He demands, doesn't ask, and assesses intently as she moves the fullness of her hair upward, exposing a smooth expanse of skin any man would desire.

"Turn around." Again, (Y/N) follows his intrunctions as if a faithful dog, thinking how ridiculous her last moments of life are. Who can say they played the jester for Indra himself before they died? Not many.

Minutes go on forever, and staring at the wall does not allow her to decipher what is going on in her surroundings. If only someone would speak, if only one of the women who are still alive would make a noise, something....

She thinks she is about to be executed from behind when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and instinctively closes her eyes to prevent at least the final displeasure. Her lungs deflate in a nervous exhalation, finishing releasing what will be the last air in her body, when she senses a mouth too close to her ear.

"Are you scared?" Indra asks as if the answer is not obvious, enjoying the terror he creates in his audience. Every move, every action, is one more brick solidifying the terrible reputation he carries with him, and seems to love how people fear him.

(Y/N) doesn't answer, having seen too many women fall into that trap and lend themselves to a quick execution. The Uchiha leader doesn't like to be spoken to without permission. She tries to stay as still as possible, frozen and filled with a new survival instinct that runs through her veins.

Resignation to die slowly washes away, and she begins to think that maybe she should fight, at least try to slap him before perishing.

The world would remember her differently if she managed to sully the man's untouchable reputation, if a woman managed to hit him even once before being destroyed under his hands. People would have reason to stop fearing him with their lives, see that he is reachable, and perhaps even begin to laugh at him. Once he proclaims his hateful "no", once he rejects her, she will jump on him before any of his guards can kill her.

She is ready to listen, to react quickly, but not to what finally reaches her ears. "I want her." Those words echo against the four walls of the great hall, and suddenly the man's two attendants are holding her by the shoulders and arms, forcing her to walk in the opposite direction from the one he takes.

The girl instantly feels blood spilling onto the floor, those women still waiting to be inspected after her being killed mercilessly but at least quickly, body after body falling limp to the floor and staining everything in their path.

(Y/N) can't decide if she was lucky, or if she would rather be dead.

[lazilybeinglassie]

THE MAIN VILLAIN IS EVIL!

Season 5 spoilers below!

I think it's really easy for people to say Nine Headed Beast (I know the show calls him a demon, but the sets have him as the beast, so I'm sticking with it) is not really a villain. Or that he is a very poor one. Thing is, this is something I think a lot of people are getting wrong about him.

Here is the thing, 9HB is very much like Azure. Believing his intentions outweigh his actions. Justifying them by the fact he is doing the right thing and being helpful when really, he isn't. Both were in the wrong and did bad/horrible things to accomplish their goals. The difference being that Azure's plans were to benefit others, 9HB was attempting to benefit himself.

If you're not entirely convinced, let's actually address his crimes. Cause this should not be swept under the rug so easily.

Accelerating the Apocalypse

For the love of everything, this cannot be excused. He was willing to cause a genocide for his own selfish goal. Even if he stated "if there was another way, I would have done it", that does not put him in the clear. This was a conscious choice to end lives in order to return to his pool of addiction fix. He is so obsessed with the chaos that he would rather risk everything to get back to it.

I don't know why, I'm not sure I will understand until next season, but he is very much acting like he is addicted to it. As if he is nothing without it. Right when Macaque cuts him off from it, he is howling in desperation.

It's just something I cannot look pass.

2. Killed The Ten Kings

That's like, ten bodies right there. Honestly, that's just murder. I knew they were red herrings but they did not need to be offed like that. Anywho, that can be just left there as it is.

3. Everything He Does To MK

Nothing, and I mean nothing, can justify this. Sure, we could speculate his intentions and beliefs all day, but it cannot excuse what he did.

This is also where I think the show really got me thinking about the themes of the season. MK choosing to sacrifice himself to save his friends, as tragic as it is, tends to be justified for the sole purpose that it will give way to a better outcome for everyone else. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, yada yada. Putting aside the idea that Nuwa's plan didn't intend for everyone to survive, that it just resets the world, at the time, I sided with MK and even know had I been in his position, I would have done the same thing. MK's sacrifice is being seen as suicide, which yes, in this season, he is dealing with suicide thoughts throughout it (at least i think he does, anyone would honestly). Though that just makes the whole context of this theme to be complex with the kind of subject matters that surrounds it.

That being said . . . I also have to side with MK's friends too with this. One of the biggest things about this plotline that makes it stick harder is MK's willingness to not talk to his friends about it. He doesn't consider an alternative, he commits to it cause he is convinced that it is his destiny. And it's not hard to see why since it is literally the whole reason why he was made. For some people, having a purpose or knowing what your purpose of existence is means everything to them. So it makes sense why MK would be upset, yet submitting to this idea, because it's like answering the meaning of life to him.

But the biggest cavoite to it is that he accepts it without looking into it. YES, it feels like you have no reason to look into it when you find out what your purpose is. Yet the biggest theme of this season is that there is another path to it all. Another option that you need to find out. Much like how Tang's speech is at the end, it takes stepping back from the black and white perspectives to see what other options there are. And that is what MK should have done. But he doesn't because he is caught in this idea that he needs to protect his friends from being hurt or stopping him from doing what needs to be done.

I cannot guarantee that I would look for another way, but if a time were to come that I had to make a choice, I would hope I could learn more about my situation before I do it. MK's friends were smart in believing this needed investigating. Thinking things through before the final decision. This is though a part of MK's flaws that I love, and I can't really blame the story for going this route.

9HB through all of this is only being an echo chamber for MK though. Even if he is valuing choice and letting MK do the heroic thing, the problem is that 9HB would only endorse it because either way, he was getting what he wanted out of it. The only reason why MK's third choice did anything was it undid what 9HB was doing and making his plan flop. The mere chance that he got to reunite with the chaos was pure coincidence.

I cannot condone him doing what he did to MK because all he is doing is being harmful to MK, justifying his poor choices. That is not what MK needs. He needs someone to tell him "hold on, let's think this through". Not someone that is a yes man.

That's where I am caught. I can see myself both in MK and in the main crew trying to save him. 9HB is just enabling this behavior, and no one should say this is considered agreeable. His philosophy should not be the justification because it's just his excuse. Only order is suffocating, but pure chaos is destructive.

Anywho, thank you for coming to my ted talk. Hope you enjoyed!

[caitlynxviolet]

"She's an enforcer to stop Jinx"

She's an enforcer to get to Jinx, and stop Sevika or literally anything else that has gone to shit.

Because a few of you said I didn't know the LoL lore, I'm going to talk about the lore. I read all of it. I know about it, probably more than you do, honestly. I've been playing the damn game since 2018.

Vi in LoL is just a cop. She grew up in Zaun as an orphan, became really good at fighting and was given an opportunity to work as an enforcer. Being an enforcer is her job, essentially, and the job looks like your typical cop job because it is. Was she hired to stop Jinx? No. She has to stop many bad guys and villains alongside Caitlyn. Jinx is just kinda there to mess with them. She frequently blows stuff up and is just a menace in general. Now, I don't know if they never arrest her because she's too smart for them and she escapes them, or if they just let her be. It's been a while since I read the lore, so I'm not sure about the details and it's also incomplete and from years ago (it's like 10+ years old). Vi doesn't remember her childhood because she was taken to an orphanage too young. If she knows Jinx is her sister, it's surface level information and it doesn't really affect their dynamic.

Basically, there's no depth in the LoL lore. The oppressive system of enforcers isn't addressed at all. Jinx being a nuisance is just a silly thing outside of Vi needing to do her job with Caitlyn. It's silly. It's goofy. We love it for that. Let it be that.

Arcane brings complex issues to a similar, albeit completely different, premise. From the literal start of the show, we see what enforcers are. They're there to enforce the rules. They kill people in front of children. Vi grows up with enforcers terrorizing Zaun. She has every reason not to trust them (she says so in the show) and not to become one of them. Outside of her existing views on enforcers, she knows her sister. She grew up with her. She was separated from her, when she was old enough to remember of course, and it haunts her. She loves her sister. She wants her back. Jinx is not just a silly troublemaker like in the LoL lore. She's traumatized. All she knows is violence. She's been brainwashed by Silco, someone who didn't exist at all in the lore, but he'd be like a big mafia type villain.

You can't look at her being an "enforcer" in Arcane and be like: "yup, she's an enforcer! it makes sense because she chose to be an enforcer in the lore". It makes no sense for her to choose to be an enforcer in Arcane with the way things are.

It'd make more sense if Caitlyn and Vi tried to abolish the enforcement system as it is by creating something new. A new defense force. Isn't that what we want? Someone still needs to fight off the Shimmer mutants and address the evil in both Zaun and Piltover. That's the solution they find out of necessity. Cait and Vi aren't rule makers, so I still think this part will be done by Jayce, Viktor and Mel if they're still alive, but that certainly changes everything.

Finding Jinx is a side quest in the grand scheme of things, but it's Vi's main quest. Always has been, always will be. It will be her main quest throughout season two, even if she's distracted by other things. So choosing to become an "enforcer" facilitates her way to Jinx and allows her to fight the bad guys. That's all.

[bibibbon]

My main problem with class 1a and izuku relationship by the end is that it's far too realistic for a superhero story.

Like yes in real life after college or high-school you lose touch with ppl you used to see everyday and it's not bc your a bad friend it's just kinda how the world works. You start a career and a family and get busy and only check up on highshool buddies every now and then but a fictional superpower story shouldn't end like that at all. I mean mha is one of the most "power of friendship" themed stories I've ever scene it's not gonna hurt anybody to make so that they miraculously kept in touch and met up constantly over the years (this is if we pretend that this was the only problem with ending 😅)

When someone asks for a realistic story it doesn't mean I need every character to got the bathroom every couples of hours and trip over themselves unless it's there for a reason. Realistic stories means set up and pay off like for example if your gonna kill a character it'd be realistic to have ppl react to it (cough twices death shouldve impacted more than just Toga cough). What I'm trying to say is that the ending is awful and mha is the defention of wasted potential.

(this rant went a very weird direction and I'm not sure if it makes sense)

Hi @jettanasser 👋

The term realistic can be used as a good and bad thing like you said for a story that has the core theme of WE are the greatest hero and the power of love and friendship that was supposed to carry the last act from the ending of the vigilante arc to the big final fight ending the story with them not meeting eachother as often leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Yes this is realistic but 1A never actually develops a proper found family bond which is why I find the last act so underwhelming because there is no substance to 1A and their bond. Also the way the final chapter ended begs a lot of questions why didn't we ever see 1A members hang out outside of school uniform or hero costume? If there are less villains then why is there more work? Like yes I understand that a lot of heroics isn't just taking down villains but also reforming society but even with that MHA did go to make a point that this is now a society where heroes have free time did it not?

[cursedvibes]

Hi Cursedvibes, what do you think of the Evil Yuuji or Yuuji becoming the second Sukuna theory. Personally, I think it does not make narrative sense and is a disservice to Yuuji's character. I'm glad that the JJK fandom is not the one writing JJK but please share your thoughts on why this is so popular

I've talked about this theory before, but I think with the last chapters it is even more obvious that this just won't happen. The main thing people brought up was that Yuuji might get lost in his rage, that he is forgetting about Megumi and becoming more selfish. That hasn't happened. Yuuji is enraged, yes, especially after Choso's death and why would he not be, but that doesn't mean that he forgot about Megumi. Separating him from Sukuna, making him fight back against the possession is still his number one goal above killing Sukuna. And now it seems like we will move into a more personal confrontation with Sukuna as well that is not based (entirely) on violence. Now people are actually talking about Yuuji potentially being too nice to Sukuna and making him change together with saving Megumi. Or taking Sukuna in again and sacrificing himself. All not really lining up with the perception that Yuuji is becoming selfish, focused on himself like Sukuna, much less going on to kill innocent people.

The name of the station this innate domain is inspired by is Kitakami bringing up the going North/South theme again. Seems like Yuuji will bring Sukuna North, making him change. I could see this meaning a change in Yuuji as well, but him becoming a villain now or like Sukuna would just make no sense. There's just no foundation for that anywhere.

As to why people like this theory and want it to happen...idk for the sake of edge? Because they think it will make Yuuji more interesting or "badass"? The fandom is very fixated on what typical strong moves Yuuji can pull, how many CTs he has, that he is able to cast a Domain Expansion. It's not enough that he can literally tear Sukuna's soul apart, it only counts if he can do it with a CT or DE. They need him to be strong in order to be the main character, to fulfil some sort of power fantasy or wish fulfilment. Sukuna is the strongest character there is together with Gojo. So how is Yuuji gonna beat him if he's not gonna become just as strong and to become strong he must be like Sukuna. It's not just that Yuuji becomes like Sukuna they want him to be the next King of Curses and get all the awe and power that title holds no matter how nonsensical it is. It's about status and show of strength. People were pointing at Yuuta. You have to compromise your morals to defeat Sukuna! If you don't play by his rulebook you can't possibly ever defeat him! There were a lot of theories about how Yuuta is gonna become evil and kill everyone too. Well, that didn't amount to all that much as we saw except a little extra time for Yuuta and a body he can't control.

So yeah, I think it's the typical power fantasy together with a bit of edge. You hear people say pretty much the same theory about Megumi too and how insanely strong he will be when he gets his body back. He's gonna body everyone and show them up for doubting him. Who cares about his mental state or that all that power will be pretty much useless. That's it every single time we get the "protagonist turns bad" theory. It doesn't matter how much sense it makes for the characters or if it's supported by canon at all, all that matters is that their fave becomes the equivalent of the Dark Knight.

[honestlyyoungtyphoon]

So,if your ever an author for remarried empress,what would you fix in the webtoon and why?

Well I'm a navieshu shipper so of course I'm going to lean towards that. Sovieshu will find Rashta and help her and give her employment in the palace. Him falling for her didn't make sense judging by his past character (even Navier was surprised in canon). They'll have misunderstandings and will get divorced but both of them will remain single afterwards (no remarriage or concubines). Navier will go out and have her adventures with dragons and what not. Slowly figuring out herself and missing Sovieshu but she thinks he doesn't love her.

I'll give Ergi better motivation than to blame Sovieshu for Alessia cause that crap doesn't make sense.

Birdpoop will be the same as he's already a pos. (Man I loved Rashta sidestory where she immediately suspected something was wrong with the bird and grabbed bird h*inly). Rashta will not let him stalk Navier because of this.

Rashta is a feisty girl, I'd love for her to train and get a place in the army of Eastern Empire and get her revenge against her enslavers.

Sovieshu meanwhile will rule the emperor and investigate the magic decline and missing Navier all the time.

Let birdpoop invade the eastern empire and get his ass handed cause he forgot that western kingdom is a landlocked country and other rulers hate him (canonically other rulers aren't his biggest fan either)

Krista regains self respect and doesn't lose her dignity.

The main villain will be another evil sorcerer (Ergi ) who has been sealed away for long due to vict family and now here's to take revenge and injures Sovieshu and Navier returns after hearing this thinking Sovieshu died, realizing she loves him more than she thought. She gets her hidden power during her adventures and uses that to save him.

Ergi's body is basically possessed during the fire incident and joins hands with birdpoop as it helps his goal. Would love for him to kill birdpoop after the lost war as he became useless to him after that.

Navier Rashta friendship. Navier uses Dolshi Dragon and forms a dragon army. Sovieshu recovers and they together defeat the main villain. To add a bit of tragedy, maybe Kosair dies... Kaufman is hugely injured.

They finally defeats possessed Ergi and the truth comes out about his possession. I wouldn't mind a Rashta Ergi ship.

Navier and Sovieshu finally talk like adults and Sovieshu begs Navier to take him back even if she hates him. Navier will be surprised, beat his ass for being an idiot but they get back and hence the remarried empress.

They make a better treaty after the huge war, slavery gets banished (Rashta plays a great role in it).

Sovieshu and Navier have another royal wedding.

Sidestory:

Sovieshu and Navier have a happy ending and long after their marriage when they have given up about having a baby and making peace with it Navier suddenly becomes pregnant. The boy will have dark hair like Sovieshu and green eyes like Navier.

Ergi and Rashta get married and Ergi adopts Ian as his and later she gives birth to another daughter.

Their babies are decided to get married for future.

Cue old Sovieshu playing with his grandkids talking about how he married Navier two times and Navier rolling her eyes in the background but smiling.

The end.

[lizzie-queenofmeigas]

I'm sorry, but if you genuinely still can't understand the reasons for why people hated Elena so much, after all these years, then I'm afraid you're a lost cause. All the hate, backlash, and criticism Elena received was 100% justified and deserved. She's by far the worst and most boring, bland, vapid, weakest, useless, and worthless excuse of a main protagonist I've ever seen in any movie, show, book, and media. Nothing remotely interesting or compelling about her in the slightest. She has no personality or agency, and she contributed nothing whatsoever to the show. Her only personality and the only thing she contributed was going back and forth between two brothers, constantly whining and crying and playing the victim, and being a selfish, self-centered, and self-absorbed little twat that makes everything about her and thinks the world revolves around her. 

And before you use trauma as an excuse to defend her, I've seen plenty of other female characters from other shows and movies that have been through similar or worse things than Elena did, and they were a million times better and more likable than Elena could ever be. Stop using trauma and abuse as a weapon and to guilt people into changing their opinions about Elena. Don't pretend to give a shit about victims of abuse and trauma, when I don't see any of you extending that same grace to people like Caroline, Bonnie, Katherine, Rebekah, and Vicki, who have all been through shit too, and were far more interesting and better characters than Elena were. And you hate them for the exact same reasons, just like how a lot of you hate female characters in general for trauma and abuse they've been dealt. 

So, don't act so innocent when a lot of you villainize the hell out of Caroline for being the only character on the show that actually acted like an actual teenage girl, had believable flaws and imperfections, and was actually a lot more relatable than Elena was. And when you also villainize and victim blame/shame and slut shame her for the rape and abuse she suffered at the hands of Damon. You hate Caroline for rightfully hating her rapist and abuser, and not wanting Elena to be with him. But you don't hate Elena, who's supposed to be the best friend, and clearly has no shame sleeping with a rapist, knowing exactly what he did. Makes perfect sense. 

And I will most definitely always hate Elena for her decision to kill Kol, along with thousands and thousands of other vampires in his sireline. I don't care what Kol did, she will always be a straight piece of shit and a fucking cunt for that. And the audacity she had to be mad at Stefan for sleeping with Katherine and Rebekah, when she was flaunting the fact that she was sleeping with his abusive, rapist brother? Yeah, 100% FUCK HER! She has no say in who Stefan can and can't see. 

How Elena even has fans or people defending her is beyond me. If she wasn't such a bland bitch and had an actual personality and something to offer to the story and was just a decent person in general, then people would've actually liked her and rooted for her. But she was never leading lady material. That should've gone to Caroline or Katherine, mostly Katherine. But I'd do fine with Caroline too, she doesn't need a family legacy or nothing like that to lead the show. LITERALLY ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN ELENA!

Wow. Caroline stans are out of their minds.

No, Caroline doesn't act like a normal teenager. She acts like an entitled insensitive brat. I literally never met anyone who was like her, thank god for that.

Your hate for Elena seems irrational. I understand when people don't like her, but you take it a step further.

Good for you if you hate Elena and love Caroline, but you don't need to be interacting with someone who is the opposite.

[nfcv-saltmine]

To christen this blog, how about you compile your top 10 reasons NFCV should not be watched either as an adaptation or its own thing? :3c

Only ten? I have like. 40, at least. But oh well! I'll be happy to provide with ten, for a start. ❤️

(Warning for mentions of SA and death)

Reason number 10: The characters all suck, in one way or another. The only ones I have some sympathy for is Hector who was never given the chance to evolve, and was forced to be a victim the whole show, and Trevor, who is never taken seriously and is mostly there to be mocked by those who are supposed to be his friends.

The others? Dracula is a joke who can't keep his own men in line. He has to wait for a #girlboss to enter and insult his wife to his face. He spends most of his screentime being a poor little meow meow, gaslighting everyone into thinking he deserved the happy ending he got. Isaac is boring and his "deep arc" really is just inconsistent and a bad version of game!Hector's arc. Lenore is. Lenore. :) Going from a manipulative villain to a poor little meow meow so fast it's ridiculous. The lesbian vampires just exist to be lesbians and pretend the plot is more deep and complex than it is.... it's not enough to have good ideas. You need to execute them properly.

Concerning Nocturne? Only the girl who was kidnapped and used as Erzsebet's juice box has my compassion. Everyone else sucks, from Maria being twitter personnified, to Annette being a cunt who gets a pass because she's black. Tera doesn't do shit to defend her own children when Annette insults them right in front of her. Edouard is there for cheap drama. The Abbot Emmanuel's logic for why he does what he does doesn't make any sense. Erzsebet has no charisma and is a cheap replacement for the villain Dracula should have been (not to mention her plan is stupid because we saw vampires being touched by sunlight with no problem on multiple occasions. :) And Olrox literally went to met his future bf in plain daylight. Clearly the sun musn't be THAT much of a problem). Olrox and his bf are there to be gay. And Juste... Juste deserves his own post for how dirty they did him. Richter isn't THAT bad compared to the rest of the cast, but I do not care for him (except when he gets shit on for no reason), he's just a cheap mix of Trevor and Game!Richter. And Drolta is Game!Isaac with boobs. Would be cool if Game!Isaac wasn't constantly shat on by NFCV fans, the same who love Drolta. :)

Reason number 9: You like representation in your media? NFCV sucks at it. They have: man who gets raped by both a man and a woman, two lesbians who exist just to be lesbians and could very well be written out of the plot, two gay men with a rushed relationship who share very little screentime together (four scenes and the first one is them meeting) yet we are supposed to be affected by their romance, one man who is implied to have a bf so vaguely that most people probably have missed the one hint there was of it, and lesbian main villain who uses a random woman as a juice box and potentially is mindcontrolling her (would be hot if said villain had any charisma and random woman was more than a fridge)

Reason number 8: Character developments are either bad, meh, or inexistant. Isaac goes from ordering his night creatures to kill every survivor at the end of an episode, to build them graves and rebuild the town and pretend to be so deep and nice and caring for said innocents and future people of this town in the next. Hector started a nice guy trying to live in peace, has lived as a nice guy trying to live in peace while getting mocked and shit on and used and abused by everyone, and ended as a nice guy trying to live in peace but now in a Castle and with one finger less. I guess Trevor is less of a drunkard than before (but it's not like we saw him drink THAT much before). Lenore's development is not much of a development than it is the writers trying to convince us she was always sweet and tragic and Good Deep Down and make us forget her evil doings...

Reason number 7: There's lots of ACTUAL anime out there with prettier animation, if that's what you like. Or you could. Play the games. ❤️

Reason number 6: The couples are bad. Sypha is rude and never showed any interest or appreciation for Trevor's own interests or findings. They don't have an actual spark, despite "cute" moments here and there. The moment Sypha asked Trevor to travel with her just made me question what she saw in him considering now she's been treating him (also the moment she decides to nickname Trevor as "Treffy" is embarrassing more than cute. Doesn't help that it's the same moment where she pulled him aside to scold HIM for getting mad and defending himself against Alucard's bullying). They lack a proper build-up, because the show loves doing things offscreen and expecting us to go along with it, but they NEED to be together because they NEED to have sex because they NEED to have children even though they completely destroyed the reason why.

Alucard and Greta. Haha. Oh Alucard and Greta. You'll see in reason number 1 the biggest reason why Greta sucks big sweaty balls, but one of them is that she's just a generic girlboss. Her and Alucard are not an official couple, but considering the parellel they made with Draculisa at some point (Alucard bowing to welcome her in his home, like Dracula bowed to Lisa to welcome her in his lab), and her line "lucky you have me to run your life for you now", I think it's implied. And I do not buy it. :) (They both suck anyway, so who cares)

Richter and Annette DEFINITELY have NO chemistry at ALL. Annette spends most of her time HATING Richter, who is only, along with everyone else, trying to help her. And when they finally see each other again after multiple episodes of being away from each other, during wich everytime Annette mentions Richter it's to insult him, when dares to pretend she was worried for him and they have a little "cute" scene together...? NO. THEY DID NOT EARN IT. THEY BARELY SHOWED ANY INTEREST IN EACH OTHER BEFORE RICHTER DISAPPEARS, ANNETTE SEEMS TO DESPISE HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING. And one of the worst things is that thinking of HER, a woman he JUST met and who just kept insulting him, that Richter unlocked his powers??? I CALL BULLSHIT. YOU CANNOT RUSH THINGS TO THIS DEGREE, NO.

I ain't talking about the two gay couples because there's literally nothing to say. The lesbians are supposed to be cute and the gays are supposed to be hot. It's just fetishization at this point.

Reason number 5: Female characters are either fridged or girlbosses. That's it. Don't expect much variety here. Because apparently to be a woman you have to either shut up and die, or be super strong and rude. (Or be a BDSM mommy. :))

Reason number 4: CHURCH BAD mentality with no nuance. Because it's so cool and edgy. And that works for both shows. :)

Reason number 3: The villains sucks too, when you have your brain turned on. You might like the ideas or the designs (though Erzebet Sun Thundercat's design is so awful i can't understand why anyone would like it. Also Carmilla is ugly guys?? Her head melts into her hair, come on), maybe a scene here and there, but when it comes to the execution? Urgh. I already talked about Dracula being a poor little meow meow, but what I can add that him and Isaac are fucking stupid for going with Carmilla's plan. Isaac is fucking stupid for blaming Hector and going after him. And Carmilla is fucking stupid for treating Hector the way she did when he wasn't intending to go against her before she makes him her prisoner and beats him up.

Reason number 2: Play the games. The themes and ideas taken from them are bastardized and done poorly in the show, when they're not straight up ditched.

Isaac's arc? Game!Hector's but more inconsistent and pretentious. Trevor and his family being rejected and hated by the people? Castlevania 3 (and this fear and dislike of them won't end until centuries later, with Simon). Dracula welcoming Isaac and Hector and making them his generals? He did so in CoD and they were literal children seeking a home, wich he helped and shared his own essence with. Not two random dudes who happen to have powers of their own. Alucard vs Dracula and the tragedy of blood fighting blood? Symphony of the Night but way too early

Alucard literally steals Trevor's spot as the main character and the one who is supposed to kill Dracula first, wich is a MAJOR part of the games and the CV universe, completely taking away the Belmonts' purpose as the only ones capable of defeating Dracula. It was completely unnecessary, too, if what they wanted was family angst, as Alucard could have simply been about to stake his father, but because of his love for him, would have been unable to give the final blow. Leading to Trevor giving the final blow himself, so his "friend" wouldn't have to go through the pain of doing it himself, thus keeping the Belmonts' unfortunate purpose intact and still making for a poignant father/son tragedy. But no, they just had to make Alucard the MC and make him destroy the core of the games they are supposed to adapt, on top of making him a cunt.

Oh, and this idea of Dracula being the literal Lord of Darkness? Not just any vampire, but the most powerful of them, a straight-up demon, respected and feared by all creatures of the night, who has multiple terrific forms and cannot be killed by any weapon... other than the Vampire Killer? Out the window! Now we're SUPPOSED to think he's big and scary and dangerous, but he can be killed with a piece of wood and no one respects him! Barely fear him! Not even Death, who is supposed to be his closest confidant and most devoted servant, is now an entity that uses him in the dark and don't hold any respect for him. Pathetic.

There's no respect to the source material. The VK means nothing now, wich is coherent with the fact that Belmonts mean nothing now, because Dracula means nothing now and nothing is near as epic as it is in the games. Nothing that makes "Castlevania" Castlevania matters anymore, it's just bullshit, and chances are, what you like from the show you will prefer in the games.

Reason number 1: It handles trauma and sexual assault like the purest shit.

It's something to not give a shit about Trevor's trauma wich happened offscreen. It's another to treat the trauma the characters go through RIGHT IN FRONT OF US like it's nothing.

As much of a cunt Alucard is, I cannot excuse the way his case with Sumi and Taka was handle. Forget how their reasoning for betraying Alucard was shit and the way they decided to go at it was unnecessary. The fact is, they tricked Alucard with sex. Giving him the deepest kind of affection sexual creatures can share, making him so very vulnerable, making him believe he was loved and not alone anymore... only to betray him. Forcing Alucard to kill them before they kill him. It's a truly traumatizing experience that can easily lead to the victim struggling to trust anyone, on top of having a very complicated relationship with their own body from then on.

How does NFCV handles that? It makes Alucard piss on the corpses of his old friends, then have him tell his story to a random #girlboss who jumps on the occasion to make a joke out of it, comparing this very obvious sexual assault and betrayal of his trust with her willingly sleeping with a married man.

Funnily enough, Hector was going through the same thing at the same time! He has been manipulated and seduced by Lenore. She's the only one who treated him decently (because Carmilla is supposed to be a smart bitch who can trick Dracula and his court, but not smart enough to understand that physically assaulting Hector and letting him rot in a cell naked with only molded bread for food and freezing water thrown at him to wash is a bad idea.), the only one who talked to him, offered him gifts such as books, a bed, a desk. She worked her way into his heart until he fell for her and "willingly" had sex with her... and then, in this crucial moment, where Hector was at his most vulnerable, she stabbed him in the back. Made him her slave with a magic ring. Then went on to say "Shh, the real people are talking" to him when she talks about her brilliant plan to her sisters, and then going "i gave you what you always needed. i made you into my pet." when Hector expresses his horror and pain about the situation.

At the end of s3, there was absolutely no doubt that Lenore was an evil, two-faced villain. And there was hope that Hector would go back at her when he pensively looked into a fire, a parallel to when he burned down his home with his parents inside, and foreshadowing for chaos to come... but nope! Next season, he makes sex jokes with Lenore like we're supposed to believe they share chemistry, and he PROTECTS her from Isaac, and let her die on her own terms because she could not handle to be trapped in the same kind of life she tried to trap Hector in! And Hector's sexual assault is only mentioned ONCE, so Lenore can go "oh shush, you were having fun". :)

Actually, it's not that NFCV handles sexual assault and trauma badly. It's that it does not believe men can go through them, clearly. It uses very heavy topic for cheap drama and nothing else. Lenore did not need to have sex with Hector and trap him with a magic ring for her plan, not any more than Sumi and Taka needed to fuck Alucard if all they needed to do was use some magic object on him to trap him. Ellis just wanted something he could masturbate to. And THAT is supposed to be the Peak Adaptation Of All Time? Seriously?

Oh you also have Richter's trauma. They literally gave him a mom just to fridge her and use that for a little bit of drama that only really matters ONCE, when Richter runs away from Olrox in the dungeon, and Annette hates him for it... but then he quickly gets over this years-long trauma and next time he sees Olrox, it's as if he's just another vampire. It's not as bad as Alucard and Hector's cases, granted, but it's ridiculous. A clear case of bad writing who feels the need to rush things.

SO YEAH. Plenty of things wrong here, and plenty more to come. ❤️ I can't possibly tell them all in just one post. It wouldn't be fun. 🥰

[wisteria-lodge]

In Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them, Tina uses "Mercy Lewis" as a grammatical intensifier/swear word a la "merlin" (1)

Mercy Lewis was one of the main witch-accusers during the Salem witch trials. Which makes her a really, really weird choice for Tina to evoke.

and I'm literally trying to figure out the thought process here.

OPTION ONE

"Mercy Lewis" is supposed to evoke the concept of a betrayer, like "Benedict Arnold" or "Brutus." (Like maybe she was a squib or something?) Idk, even typing that out feels in such bad taste. Merlin wasn't real. Nicholas Flamel was real, but all JKR says about him was "he made the Philosopher's Stone," which - considering that the real guy was indeed working on that... okay? Mercy Lewis was a real girl in real American history who really got people killed.

AND it doesn't even make sense linguistically. I'd sort of understand if Tina called someone "a Mercy Lewis" or "you're such a Mercy Lewis" after they betrayed her. But that's not the context?

OPTION TWO

Mercy Lewis is indeed a muggle, and so that would make this... anti-muggle hate speech? Like, I could KINDA see a world where "Mercy Lewis" was just a kind of stereotypical, mean way to refer to "Any Muggle." When Tina's being dismissive about Jacob she could have said something like "Forget Mercy Lewis over there, follow me." (but that's not the context in which it's used?)

Like we do know that Tina specifically hates Mary-Lou Barebone, who is a muggle that really hates witches and calls her group "Second Salem." Is this line meant to be drawing a parallel between Mercy Lewis and Mary-Lou Barebone. Or are we just looking for ANY way for Tina to KIND of bring up Salem, because it's sort of relevant to her villain?

OPTION THREE

This is some kind of a mistake. JKR wanted to use the name of one of the Salem Witches as an American equivalent for "Merlin" (still in bad taste but... I get it? ) And so she pulled up a list of names, and accidentally got the name of one of the people who were accusing people of being witches, instead of one of the actual 'witches.' She just kind of liked the ring of the name "Mercy Lewis" and went with it.

I can't help but think that this is just a small example of JKR being just... kinda careless, and kinda lazy, and kinda tasteless about non-European history. Like I am positive I just put more thought into this little moment than JKR ever, ever has.

~

(1) It is weird that "Merlin" is used as swear word at all, because in the HP series Merlin seems to be culturally important, but not a religious figure (which is generally how swear words work, the *thing* you're swearing by needs to be sacred, and 'profaning' it just communicates your level of Seriousness).

Of course, the Wizarding World seems to be completely atheist, which is is fine, and if I SQUINT, I can make "merlin" work in an "enlightenment science boner" way, like 'oh the muggles are hyper-religious and backwards, once we split from them we're going in entirely the opposite direction.' The French Revolution was aggressively atheist, and so was the Communist revolution, and you do have cultural important names like "Lenin" "Engles" "Marx" treated in a linguistically semi-religious way, okay. it's a thing.

but in The Cursed Child they start using "Dumbledore" as a swear word and that's so creepy and I hate it.