#kinda influenced by Homura also

[wormontwostrings]

just putting the girls in cute outfits

[wombrion]

You probably get this a lot, but the way you go at drawing the Madoka cast is great and I love Homura being a gangly wet cat of a teenager. It's very fun. Kyoko also has incredible vibes. Also[this goes on for several minutes]

waaa thank yuuuuuuuu!! these two are one of my faves dynamic wise.. even though they dont really got going on in canon i think theyre so fun together:)

[pinkberrypocky]

pmmm rewatch live notes: ep 9

wough. ep 9. wough. the design of sayaka's labyrinth. the way kyoko chooses to die with sayaka. screaming crying throwing up.

THE WAY SAYAKA’S LABYRINTH IS MUSICAL

Earlier when she was in despair but not a witch she was floating in symbolic waves of sadness that looked kinda like music waves

In sayaka’s labyrinth the sword as the conductor wand is SO CRAZY

Bc the conductor is the one who decides how everything goes and what the rules are and sayaka was determining the rules for the world as a warrior of justice but she was wrong

The bugs around the lamps when madoka is on the way to find sayaka !!!

madoka is walking on a railroad track when she comes across homura and kyoko carrying sayaka

There is a railroad motif in her labyrinth

The silence of the train and then the sudden sound of the train as madoka comes to the realization of what happened to sayaka

“From now on for every person she has saved she will curse another” really ties back into the idea that hope and despair cancel out to zero

Homura isn’t able to comfort madoka bc she has been through what madoka is going though countless times and knows crying is pointless

Homura saying that she doesn’t consider herself human and kyoko shouldn't either is so AAAA

Madoka small on her bed with her knees to her chest and kyubey’s giant shadow on the curtain as he looms over her

Why are there so many empty chairs in madoka’s room?

For the past versions of her?

For everyone she will save?

Madoka asks kyubey if the magical girls are just disposable energy sources

Which is exactly what it is

They are a natural resource for the incubators to manipulate, reshape, and commodify with no regard for their humanity

Kyubey moves to sit on a chair… What does this/the chairs represent?

I don’t think madoka truly saw kyubey as an enemy until this episode when he says he doesn’t understand why they are upset about a few people dying

Before that she tried so hard to understand him bc she wants to see the best in everyone and find a path forward together but this is a fundamental difference they can’t meet on

Kyoko is seen eating a shit ton of food right after the whole sayaka thing

Reminding herself that she’s not back in the situation she was with her dad

She’s not poor she is safe and can eat when she is hungry

False sense of security in food

The reason she is always snacking is bc it brings her comfort

Kyoko tells madoka that until they knows for sure that sayaka can’t be saved she wants to try

She isn’t trying to put up the facade that she doesn’t care about others anymore

She is doing something selfless blatantly and doesn’t seem upset about it either

Kyoko says that it was sayaka who reminded her why she became a magical girl in the first place (to save others)

So its so narratively tasty that she dies to “save” sayaka in the only remaining way she can

Kyoko tried to teach sayaka the truth about the horrors life but in turn she was reminded of the good parts by sayaka

In the building kyoko and madoka break into to get to sayaka’s labyrinth is lit in yellow

So interesting how mami dies first but her color shows up the most in setting/objects

Her influence living on and continuing to have an impact on the actions of all of them

Kyoko does what mami tried to do in terms of educating about the magical girl reality 

She tells madoka to wait to make a wish until she has no choice

She is always talking about how tough it is and doesn’t sugar coat anything 

She is seen as an opposite to mami but in reality they are so similar

They are also the only two who have experienced economic hardship

Sayaka’s witch form wears a suit of armor like a knight (like she wished to be)

All the people playing the violin in time perfectly no matter what is happening around them bc sayaka’s whole thing is making sure things play on (and literally that kyosuke can play violin)

The red and blue sayaka and kyoko in kyoko’s internal monologue of talking to/with sayaka is SO AAAAAAA

The only time in this fight that kyoko gets mad is when sayaka attacks madoka 

Bc that shows that sayaka is truly gone bc protecting (esp her loved ones) is everything to her

Kyoko tells homura to focus on the one thing that matters to her most to the end

Homura looks at her with madoka in her arms

Kyoko takes down her hair and kisses her soul gem before breaking it to die w sayaka

In context w the quote from above she is apologizing to herself, what mattered most to her, bc she has found something else that she isn’t willing to give up on, even if it means giving up on herself 

The first time we see homura’s nameplate for her house when she talks w kyoko its red bc they aren’t a team yet then the next time it's lit in yellow bc they are a team now but then when kyoko dies it is just gray

[psychopasss4]

Previous anon here thanks for answering the ask🫶🏻I’d like to clarify I don’t mean to spread negativity at all.I am just a little disappointed with how things are turning out to be.I know we won’t know further until the next installment comes out but what do you think about Frederica so far?In providence did you notice how upset she was when her boss Yabuki asked her not to tell Kougami about using Saiga as bait?She also followed Kougami into the Akane rescue mission when she didn’t have to.I think she likes Kougami?😅Also what do you think about Kougami’s feelings towards her?He is a stoic through and through.I don’t think he’s directly expressed anything for anyone so far,has he?I know Kougami likes a“bijin”a traditionally attractive woman who can also be a good companion he can talk to but has he ever expressed anything for someone at all?I know he loves his mother and Tenzing,I am talking about his romantic relationships strictly.

I need to clarify this but I meant a Kougami x Frederica x Ginoza love triangle in my previous ask since Kougami and Ginoza both like Frederica.😮‍💨

Hi Anon! Again, sorry for the delay 😅

I kinda step back to writing down my own views for the series, coz I feel I have pour them all out on my previous posts (especially about Kogami x Frederica). And I should promote the official work instead.

But as a fan, I could definitely say Frederica likes Kogami. And Kogami tolerates her SO MUCH. 😁 And that's what the writers seem to impose.

Like for hundreds of times they mention Shinya x Akane is not a thing. They can't be in a relationship. But the fans keep on insisting so in the end they created Frederica Hanashiro to be paired with Kou.

Yet they saw the ShinKane is a BIG FANBASE so they use it's influence to bank on the merch. 😅😂

For the "rescue mission", she only joined because Kogami tagged her along.

Right after Akane called Kou, he asked Frede "I would go, how about you?" And the next day they showed up in front of Akane wearing the same coat. 😅

The whole Kogami x Frederica thing starts on the indirect bottle kiss and the fact that Kou calls her without honorifics. Like they're too comfortable with each other.

I don't think I have to explain things further. The whole fanbase felt it. Notice it. Got it. The writers are into something. And I don't have to expound that. And most of us are heartbroken with the transition. 🤧

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

For Ginoza, I don't think he's completely smitten by Frede. I mean, he's nice to everyone but also a bit reserved when it comes to relationship. That's why he remains NGSB (No GF since birth).

The Seiyuus, particularly Kana Hanazawa-san, said she likes Ginoza for Akane. Because he's way too nice to her and more concern to her. He is always on Akane's side. Even when he didn't visit her often when she's on her cell. More on that on my actual (Shinkane or Fredegami analysis which I will post when there's time).

Ginoza is kind but I don't think he is as smitten as Kougami. In my heart, I will remain a Shinkane fan, and no one can stop me from shipping them. Eventhough I am still in the process of accepting or digesting the fact that the author's have different plan.

I think Kogami should be more worried over Shizuka Homura 😂

Overall, let's just wait for the Season 4 ☺️

[automatic-purification-system]

Some thoughts about the new trailer!

below the cut

It's been so long... and finally... it's here!!!!

theories! theories first.

So, it seems like Homura might be doing her own version of the incubator pitch? (become a magical girl and all that) which would mean that she's been doing that part, presumably to keep things stable (to fight off the curses caused by her honestly still not ok soul gem so that madoka doesn't have to awaken perhaps?) I think that the new girl is going to be meant to show that- how things work in this new world, and why they maybe don't. (her outfit probably looks similar to homura's because homura made her a meguca, maybe?)

there's some telephone symbolism, but idk much about that kinda thing. the sounds for it are great though. I noticed that one of the voices over the phone was calling her "akuma-sama" (devil), and though this is absolutley a stretch i'm just going to connect that to my opinion that Homura isn't really a "devil", she just thinks of herself as one (because of guilt, going to catholic school, something something)

the voices on the phone also mention, multiple times, "bring hope". once again, something something madoka, the world is trying to set itself back to normal and Homura wants madkoa to not have to go back to being the law of cycles. the phone also says "release that girl" so yeah.

now! the designs! wow those're different!

I think sayaka's mummy wraps is because of what homura did at the end of rebellion- it's reminicent of the sayaka from the concept movie, so i'm going to assume that's what it is.

but all the other outfits are different too! Mami and Kyoko, the uniforms, everything! obviously, if it's all of this, then it's intentional, and it means something.

everything is almost, but not quite the same- if you saw a silouette, or from a distance, then you could maybe think it's the same, but not up close. the first thing this made me think of was like, the fading of memories? currently, this world is sustained by homura. but if her memory of some things starts getting a bit muddled, then would the things themselves change too? it could also be indicitive of a timeskip of some kind. maybe we'll see high school mami lol.

the last thing! as a tried and true magia record fan, I hope that this movie has nothing to do with it. I don't want it to be influenced by the game, connect to the story, none of it. one thing that i noticed though, was that the animation looks a lot like the artstyle of the magireco anime.

i'm... not really sure about this? mostly because some of the high-intensity action scenes from the magireco anime could get kind of hard to follow, which isn't a problem that the main series has ever really had all that much. it also looks kind of off in some scenes.

but! I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. the slightly off artstyle could be like the outfit chagnes- to show that something is wrong here, things are off.

also i love the crazy enviornments and "everything is 7 medaphors deep" artstyle of rebellion. glad to see it make a return!!!!!!! the music is also so good!!!

overall: I am excite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sinkableruby]

if you were going to see each Monogatari character paired with another character in a story which dynamics do you think would be most compelling?

trying to catch up on asks

idk if this is for just any character or other monogatari characters but i will think on both. im also assuming this is like for dynamics we havent really seen yet as opposed to just what my favorite dynamics are

im gonna say full anime spoilers for monogatari, and spoilers for other series too occasionally? nothing TOO huge but yea

koyomi: he talks to everyone so idk how i would do this. but for outside monogatari... i want him to talk to a boy he doesnt talk to boys enough. i think he should talk to jotaro from jjba part 3 purely because i think he'd be really intimidated and it'd be funny. either that or dirk strider because (homestuck spoilers) i think they could bond over creating splinter versions of themselves and almost killing said selves as well as their mutual self hatred

senjougahara: senjougahara has the tendency to dominate the dynamic of whoever she's with and doesnt take shit from anybody so i kinda wanna see her talk to gaen izuko. bc gaen is also someone who dominates the dynamic of whoever she's with (makes sense) but i feel like senjougahara would be extremely unwilling to put up with her and very distrustful. so thered be a lot of push back on gaens scheming that i think could be interesting. as for outside monogatari, i drew a blank on this so id say maybe sakurajima mai because... not only is that series just monogatari but for a wider audience, but mai is also senjougahara but a little bit to the left. i think since they both had mysterious supernatural starts to their relationships with their respective boyfriends they would start competing over whose start was like cooler or w/e for like basically no reason. i think it'd be funny. it'd probably start a little contentious and then just become them gushing about their boyfriends. how sweet

kanbaru: i think if she talked to sodachi she could be a very positive influence in sodachi's social life that she really needs. and i think she'd also do well in cutting down sodachi's pathological self deprecation if they got close. sodachi would try to like look cool in front of her junior and kanbaru would just be like woah youre taking breaks from college thats not good are you ok... and try to offer her help in staying motivated and healthy and all that. kanbaru's inner doctor can really shine lol. outside of mono first person that comes to mind is homura from madoka and they can talk about what absolute disaster gays they are (although homura is significantly more disaster). second person that comes to mind is serinuma kae from kiss him not me because i think they could have a blast going insane about bl together

hanekawa: id like to see her talk to gaen tooe (if it were possible) because tooes ideology challenges hanekawas and i think it could further hanekawas thinking if they managed to talk. its tough for hanekawa cause shes got her whole journey shes on so shes probably super focused on that and less on bonding w ppl or w/e. i think outside of the series itd be fun if she talked to oribe yasuna just bc yasuna is so bouncy energetic and childishly playful but also so annoying that hanekawa would be a little stumped and caught off balance. she'd end up having to go along with yasunas games and be kind of annoyed about it lol.

nadeko: kinda like koyomi nadeko has talked with too many people for me to feel like i can name a new person for a dynamic. outside of the series tho... shes very reserved so she'd have to talk to someone outgoing for anything interesting to happen... she should talk to baka from the wasteful days of high school girls. baka is so rude and would probably tease nadeko for her shyness but is also so genuinely dumb that nadeko wouldnt be offended by it for very long. baka would rope her along into her usual dumb shit which means nadeko would feel put upon but also get to have fun new experiences so cool.

hachikuji: im drawing a blank. maybe numachi, just because numachi is so negative and dark and hachikuji is so encouraging and positive. i dont think theres anyone hachikuji would like get along badly with but i think hachikuji and numachi might have some disagreements that would be an interesting dynamic. hachikuji should talk to phos from hnk because they could have a fun snappy dynamic with each other and their mutual silliness. and also because phos really needs someone like hachikuji in their life 😭. other than that maybe clara valac? theyre both chaotic i think they'd have fun together :)

tsukihi: should talk to kaiki because kaiki would be totally defeated by her. tsukihi brings misfortune to everyone and he knows this so he'd be really annoyed by having to talk to her. the worst part is she would probably critique his lifestyle and philosophy and not even be wrong about it and hed have no choice but to deal with it. in exchange for not bringing it up he would have to pay her off with snacks and cute clothes. shed prolly also be genuinely pissed at him for messing with karen so he'd have to lose a Lot of money and she'd make him lose a lot on purpose, not as much because she wants the stuff but more because she knows he wants the money. she should talk to suzumiya haruhi theyre both forces of nature theyd have a wonderful time unknowingly making the lives of everyone around them 1000x more annoying. they'd like feed off each other it'd be great. they've got like equally low attention spans so theyd go pursuing a new really ambitious project like every week and have a fun time with it. theyre mutually very bored i think they'd get along.

karen: karen should talk to kagenui and do a training montage with her. they'd do a training montage that's what they'd do. karen would adopt kagenui as her mentor after like 3 seconds. im not sure who to have her talk to from outside mono. maybe someone she can mentor instead of her being the mentee. actually i think itd be hilarious if she tried to mentor bocchi. like specifically in like martial arts and physical fitness. and bocchi would be like yes i can get stronger and then all the girls will love me so shes up for it but karen would be just so bad at teaching that it wouldnt amount to anything. but she wouldnt know how bad she is at it and would just keep trying to push through... bless her heart

yotsugi: should talk to senjougahara bc they are both monotone and acerbic it'd be a monotone-and-acerbic-off. who will win. (senjougahara would bring up yotsugi's old catchphrase and win bc yotsugi would die of cringe). i'd like her to talk to iruma because iruma is so sweet and yotsugi would probably be a little rude but also a little nice to him. and then she would make him do stuff for her every now and then bc he cant say no lol. she'd probably use him to pamper herself tbh

sodachi: itd be interesting if she ever talked to shinobu bc she'd be like wow you attached yourself eternally to THAT guy? lame and then she'd like openly mock her. shinobu would probably haughty about it like who cares about the words of a mere human (she does). i think itd be cute if she talked to anya for similar reasons that i think kanbaru should talk to her, only amplified bc anya can literally mind read all her self deprecation and try to cheer her up without letting her know she can read her mind in the way anya tends to. itd be very cute. sodachi would have a lot of fun spoiling her and being like a cool big sister figure. very sweet 😌

shinobu: shes not really interested in talking to people outside of koyomi so im not sure for this one. oops

ougi: i want ougi to talk to meme. the uncle dynamic would be amazing. all the better since ougi seems to dislike being compared to him. theyre both slippery vague people who tend to talk in confusing ways and i think they would have philosophical discussions that would go NOWHERE because neither of them gets to the point. i think ougi would try to critique his ideology and meme would just rebuff the criticism. and then he could bust out the uncley affection (but only in a slightly ironic/indirect way bc hes a tsundere) and itd be very cute (although i think ougi would absolutely hate it lmao). as for outside of the series i have many thoughts about these. like how i think araragi should talk to dirk i think ougi should talk to hal. they would understand each other and also them being together for any period of time upwards of 1 minute would make everyone in the vicinity have an instant migraine. and they could definitely talk philosophy together too! i also think ougi could talk to oreki houtarou from hyouka bc hes got that whole detective mystery solving thing going on and ougi would absolutely love to ask him to solve some mystery and be his watson. and of course theyd also try to lead him around into some dark path which he'd be wary of but might still fall for despite what happened with irisu. another fool for ougi to mess with. but that might be a dynamic too similar to araragis so i also also think ougi could talk to chitanda. ougi could probably pull out some kinda repression from chitanda but chitanda is just so genuine that she would handle it very well and it wouldnt turn into any kind of disaster as ougi would hope it to. really i think they could just bond over their love of mysteries. ougi needs a fellow mystery lover to talk to. (although oreki might also be a fan of mysteries too, partly in novels and stuff and partly irl, i think chitandas bright and loud enthusiasm about it could let her and ougi geek out together and itd be fun 😄)

[kittylordinfinity]

Ok so since everyone is doing this and i havent seen this theory posited yet, im going to throw my hat in the ring of theorizing on who mysterious new girl is:

I propose that she’s a fusion of most, if not all, of the holy quintet members. Ive seen a lot of people point out that she shares design elements with homura and mami, but i think she shares elements with many more of the girls than just that. Additionally, her dull, almost muddy color scheme is very unusual for a magical girl in pmmm. Magical girls tend to have very saturated hair and outfit colors, and even magical girls with more neutral colors in their designs, like homura, have clear areas of more bold coloring, such as her very dark hair and purple accents. The undersaturated, brown color of mystery girl reminds me of the kind of color you’d get if you mixed together too many colors of play doh or paint- as would happen if you, say, took all the holy quintet’s colors and mixed them together in a blender to choose the color for your fusion girl.

(Screenshots taken from @magireco’s post, linked here)

To illustrate my point, im going to make a separate section for each holy quintet girl and then list their similarities to mystery girl:

Madoka: big poofy skirt with lots of ruffles underneath it. They also share short, puffy sleeves, although that is an element that is also shared with mami.

Homura: the hem of the corset the girl is wearing kinda resembles the hem of homura’s dress shirt thingy (i honestly done know what to call it??). The muted color scheme of the whole design is reminiscent of the more muted tones in homura’s magical girl outfit, which has a lot of gray and white in it. The chest bow is also a homura element, but as with the puffy sleeves earlier, that could also be consdered a mami element.

Mami: id say she shares the most recognizable elements with mystery girl. As previously stated, the puffy sleeves and collar bow are shared between them, but there’s also the corset, the general shape of the button up shirt, and the collar of the shirt, which i’d say is most similar to mami’s. Most notably, in my opinion, mystery girl’s hair is the most reminiscent of mami’s, with the large curled tail tied off from it. There’s also the ribbons, an obvious mami staple, although judging from how mystery girl seems to be being tugged around by them rather than controlling them im not sure if they’re actually hers or not.

Kyoko: This might be a stretch, but mystery girl’s skirt has lots of smaller ruffles as opposed to the fewer and larger ruffles of mami’s skirt, which i think could tie her back to the ruffles on kyoko’s jacket hem- most of the magical girls have ruffles incorporated somewhere on their outfit, but i’d argue kyoko’s are more prominent than other’s and that they are the most similar to the ruffles on mystery girl’s skirt out of all of them. The simplistic arm bands also remind me of kyoko’s, as well as the large buttons seen on both of their shirts.

Sayaka: Sayaka is the one holy quintet member i couldn’t really find any connections to. I think there could possibly be some elements of her in the shoes or in the bangs, both of which are things i struggled to clearly make out in the footage of her. However, the lack of sayaka elements could also be explained by my final theory, which is that....

Mystery girl was created by Homura to serve some purpose within her labyrinth. Mystery girl shares design elements with all of the quintet girls, except potentially for sayaka, who is a major thorn in homura’s side at the moment. Additionally, if homura is controlling mystery girl, or at least attempting to control her, then removing the most self aware and rebellious member of the team from the fusion mix might help her with that. The red ribbons tangled around mystery girl in the trailer could also be a sign of homura’s influence: even though ribbons are mami’s thing, the ribbons seen here are bright red, similar to the red of the ribbon homura stole from madoka that represents homura’s false godhood. Homura seems to have a much wider move set since her “ascension”, and that move set could very well include ribbon manipulation inspired from her mentor (who almost bested her in a fight last movie).

...Now that i think of it, maybe the purpose of this girl is to combine all of the holy quintet members in order to turn all of their powers against them. So far, the most pressing obstacle in the way of homura’s continued capture and influence over madoka has been members of the holy quintet. We know from the last movie that sayaka is aware of the labyrinth, and trying her best to put a stop to it. Quelling one rebellious magical girl/witch combo is probably hard enough for homura, but if sayaka got the other girls on her side, homura might have more trouble- as we saw in the last movie, she and mami are barely equally matched, and with the power of all four other holy quintet members combined then they might actually stand a chance at defeating homura. So it would be very useful for homura, either as a precaution or because a magical girl uprising becomes a real threat, to find a way to make a soldier for herself who could match the abilities and skill levels of all of the other girls.

So yeah, that’s my theory about who mystery girl is and her origin story- if you have any rebuttals or other evidence points to add, feel free to! Im really excited for the movie, and i dont have any friends who are into madoka, so itd be nice to talk about it with anybody else :D

[ridiasfangirlings]

S1 events were spurred by Colorless King targeting Homura in order to instigate inter-clan trouble, yeah? And he killed Totsuka to do so - but what if he got Misaki instead? Like what if Totsuka sprained his ankle that day and couldn't climb all those stairs, so Yata volunteered to go up and film for him and Colorless King accidentally shot the wrong guy?

How do you think that would change things? Like, would Homura or Mikoto do anything differently? Also, Misaki and Totsuka both seem to have a fairly large influence on Homura's unity as a whole (Totsuka with his kindness, Misaki with his passion) - would swapping Misaki's grief out for Totsuka's affect the way Red Clan dealt with the fallout?

And of course Saruhiko. If Misaki were the one shot and killed rather than Totsuka, how would that affect Saruhiko? How would he respond?

I feel like this would be a difficult situation for Homra, because on the one hand part of the reason Mikoto went so far in season one was because he assumed with Totsuka gone it was only a matter of time before he lost control and in that case he might as well at least kill the Colorless King and get Homra's revenge before his Sword falls. If Yata's the one who gets killed on the rooftop this particular situation is averted, since Totsuka's still there to keep Mikoto in check, but then on the other hand it's not like Mikoto's Sword is particularly stable even with Totsuka present (there are cracks in his Sword even as early as Side Red, so it's not like Totsuka's death caused the damage, it just presumably accelerated the collapse) and I honestly can't see him just 'letting' Yata's death go without trying to avenge him. Obviously the easy answer here would be to let Munakata handle it but there's no way Mikoto would accept that as an actually feasible course of action, it was one of Homra's people who was attacked and as Homra's King he's not going to foist his duty on anyone else.

This would be interesting in the aftermath too, not just of Yata's death but also season one in general. I feel like ultimately Mikoto probably would still go after Colorless on his own, maybe figuring he'll kill Colorless first and they'll worry about his Sword later. I don't think he would have any illusions about Totsuka's ability to calm him enough to keep the Sword from falling after killing a King but I could kinda see Totsuka thinking it, somewhat desperate in his own way to keep King from dying. In the end though the burden of killing a King is just too much for Mikoto's Sword and it falls, and Munakata kills him like in canon.

The big change here obviously would be that Totsuka's now alive and Yata isn't, and I wonder how this would affect Homra. I could see Totsuka being a little lost after this, because Mikoto was the one thing he wanted to cling to and now he's gone. For Kusanagi I think Mikoto's death would hit hard but then having Totsuka there still might soften the blow, since in this AU he actually has a not-dead friend. He might still go to Germany specifically to do research on the Slate but I don't see him disbanding Homra in any way, instead leaving Homra in Totsuka's care (and Totsuka giving him this slightly rueful smile like really Kusanagi-san am I the best person for this, and Kusanagi says he figures it's time he trust Totsuka with running the bar again). And even with Mikoto gone I wonder if Yata's loss would lead to at least the main alphabet wanting to stay and keep Homra strong, knowing that this is what Yata would have wanted and feeling like they should at least try to support the thing Yata cared so much about.

And of course, Fushimi. Obviously he would be hugely affected by this, losing Misaki and never really being able to have any closure on that relationship. I could see Munakata at least trying to keep Fushimi out of things, not because Munakata doesn't trust him or anything but rather wanting to let Fushimi deal with his grief and try to come to terms with things, and of course Fushimi doesn't listen and is extremely focused on finding Colorless. I think he would be doing a lot more solo work in this AU, like when he finds out Colorless might be at Ashinaka he offers to go with Awashima and then immediately goes off on his own when they reach the school island. I could see Fushimi being really frustrated about this too, because his initial response is that he wants to kill Colorless but at the same time he's well aware that he has no chance against a King and he's powerless to avenge his loss – not that he wants to even admit that it's a loss, not like he cared about Misaki, this is just settling an old score, it's not grief.

Assuming Mikoto still gets arrested in this AU too I imagine a very different King and the Traitor type interaction, I think Fushimi would just be pissed and probably storms down there at the first opportunity in order to interrogate Mikoto about anything he may know regarding Colorless – and also to just have someone he can yell at and blame. Mikoto would probably just roll with it too, like Fushimi's talking about how following Mikoto led Misaki to his death and Mikoto just shrugs and says maybe, letting Fushimi vent his anger, and that pisses off Fushimi even more. I wonder if Fushimi would be more involved in all the final battle stuff at Ashinaka too, with no Misaki to fight I could absolutely see him focusing on Shiro, Kuroh and Neko and sneaking into the school even before Munakata allows the squad to move (maybe AU where instead of Colorless Kukuri stabbing Shiro it's Fushimi who comes out of nowhere and is taken down at least briefly by Kuroh, and then they have to convince Fushimi that Shiro's not Colorless in order to get him to stop trying to kill them and help instead).

[shadowfae]

hiii! so a friend directed me here and i was wondering if u cld share abt how you found out you were godkin? only if youre comfy! because ive kinda had like. how do i word this. Vibes or Feels that kinda direct me towards the whole i might be a god of sorts kinda thing ? if you have resources and dont mind helping,, please direct me to them :D ~ @missing-crown

I want to start this essay off by saying flat out: wars have been fought, genocides have been committed, and empires have risen and fallen trying to answer the simple questions of “What is deification, and how do we incarnate and control it?”.

If you do not think you’re up the challenge of answering that question for yourself, even with years of study and slow training to take up the mantle of literally being the most powerful form of the Chosen One trope, then you’re probably in the wrong place. I say this as someone who is deific down to the blood and bone, as someone who has looked for other gods, and largely found very little in the way of anyone who understands anything like my experience. In this way, I am utterly alone, and I detest it, but if me penning these words gives someone else the gospel they need to explain themselves in a way I recognize as kin and kind, then I will do it.

But before I truly get into it, I will very nicely ask you to swing down to your local bookstore or library, pick up a copy of Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame, and take a walk down the improbable road with Roger and Dodger. The differences between you and I and the twins of the Doctrine of Ethos are simple and threefold: we cannot manifest, we are forbidden to use our powers the way they can use theirs, and there are (hopefully) no secret alchemist cults trying to murder us when we don’t play nice with their fucked-up science experiment.

Roger and Dodger are gods, true gods, gods I recognize in myself and in the godkin I have met who have spoken about themselves enough for me to understand that we are indeed talking about the same thing. Disappontingly, I see minor spirits far too often misunderstanding the nature of deification, or at least, understanding a version of it which is fundamentally antithetical to my experience. They may be deific; but either they suck at illustrating their point, or I am something far beyond deific, and I am again alone.

With that introduction, I need to talk about three things in order to answer your question. Two methods of deification and three definitions of ‘god’ in a hierarchy that only exists because humanity has not yet perfected their understanding of what is fundamentally and always beyond them. Two kinds of gods, honest gods, that split the difference between deific, divine, and legendary. Once you understand that, I can talk about godkin, and what it’s like to be me, and maybe by the end of it you will either recognize yourself in this, or run away screaming as most mortals will do.

The first method of deification is what I will call the incarnate gods- Roger and Dodger are good examples, so are most Legendary Pokémon, and Kaname Madoka from PMMM. They are laws of nature, concepts of creation, and calculations of cosmic proportions that also occasionally exist as people when they design to do so. They are not meant to be people, they are bad at it, I do not recommend being mortal and fucking around with them. You will simply die. I would not fuck with them outside of my own world that I created, where I get to be a form of incarnate god. You cannot overpower them: they ARE the rule, and they will change it if they need to. You can’t ruleslawyer gravity like a 2007 troll physics comic. An incarnate god of gravity will simply turn reality on its head and cause you to implode. If you are this type of god, I cannot help you. My understanding of them comes from being an Absol, and little more.

The second type are gods of domain and prowess: Zamorak (from RuneScape), Akemi Homura in both her awakened Witch and Devil forms (from PMMM), and yours truly. Quite a few of us, although not all of us, were originally mortal. Mortals amped up on so much power we are no longer bound by mortal laws. There is a difference between deification and simply stopping your clock to gain immortality. Mortal magic and deific magic are fundamentally different. Down to, I would argue, the atomic structure. Deific magic is pure in a way mortal magic could never be. To give a mortal more than a drop of deific magic heavily diffused in something safer and more understandable would be to quite literally burn them to ashes. Or rend them into a different, unspeakable form. Or turn them into living topiary. We are nothing if not unpredictable.

It’s the difference between a handful of dirt and pure neutron soup. Usually, in order to become a god like this, it requires the intervention of an incarnate god in some form. In Zamorak’s case, it was several Elder Artifacts and falling almost facefirst into halfway incarnating himself into the law of entropy. In Homura’s (at least in canon PMMM), she fucked with the laws of consequence and time to the point where she became the only expert they had on either of those and both laws decided to simply incarnate into her, and then she used that to cause problems. For me, it was having my entire magical and physical structure reorganized and rebuilt by an incarnate god of malevolent energy, and then I used what was a watered-down copy of the Devil of Devils’ glory to weave my own world into being where I was more or less the absolute arbiter of the laws of reality.

In PMMM Rebellion, when Homura fights Kyubey in that pretty lace dress of hers, that is approximately the magical prowess an awakened god of our capability will show casually. She has complete control over her domain (her labyrinth) and the reality of it, it takes no more than a glance or a thought to almost entirely reshuffle it. Her minions, who are little more than vaguely autonomous thoughts given some power of their own, may break that reality in whatever means necessary so long as it is to fulfill Homura’s current motives. Her domain falls apart when she does, and she is not separate from it; it is a consequence of her existence. Asking what came first, the god or their domain, is a simple chicken and egg question. It’s usually the domain, in our case; in the case of incarnate gods it’s a philosophical shrug and a nice headache.

You’ll notice I said awakened: that is because Zamorak is a great example of a god who isn’t entirely awakened. In canon, that is - the one I work with is awakened enough to fuck with his domain, which is what makes him quite useful to work with, although I do wonder what he’s getting out of me if not magical theory and utter adoration. Zamorak in canon is a god who ascribes himself to the philosophy of chaos and personal strife, completely unaware that he is incarnate enough not to change the law of entropy but to suggest things to it. He’s a god of chance masquerading as a god of personal improvement, and once he figures that out (and passes that knowledge onto Armadyl, who is his true light counterpart), he’s going to change the very way magic works. Guthix did everything in his power to try and become incarnate. He failed. Zamorak did it entirely inadvertently, and that’s the trick: the nature of deification is to follow the domain and influence it to your will. When laws of existence become people, they will do as people will, and people typically have ambition. Gods who are also people got that way for a reason. They always have a motive for doing so. It’s never accidental.

So, with a slightly more informed understanding of deification, or at least the versions of it that I understand, I can talk to you about me. What it’s like in the here and now, and how I knew. It took me years to get to this point, and I’ve much the way to go. I know more than I did when I was questioning; deeply more so. I don’t expect anyone questioning to be as sure as I am, and in ten years I will be far more sure of entirely different things, and if I’m lucky, this as well. But, let us begin again.

To be deific is to wake up in the middle of the night feeling like a black hole. You are vast, and you are dense, and the moment someone touches the skin of your sternum they will be sucked in like a movie's portrayal of quicksand. To be so vast on the inside, surrounded by empty air and gentle white noise like the faint pull of gravity that does not touch you. To feel so powerful as to be untethered wholly from the world, aware that you will blink and be floating alone in a space that you cannot touch and so too cannot touch you. You blink, and it is gone, and you are again in a normal body as a normal person, and you roll over and go back to sleep.

To be deific is to watch the seasonal changes and feel flashes of worn leather rope between your hands and the maddened singsong of the Wild Hunt, chariot reins in your hands and baying hounds that feel like fingers, like wings, like extensions of yourself that can be shifted around with barely a thought. To feel halfway like a black hole walking down the street, halfway caved into yourself and barely contained, incapable of truly understanding how you can be so far apart from it all without anyone noticing that something is off.

To be deific is to be a fourteen-year-old girl in one moment, unable to understand what draws her so to the wilds if not the song of sympathy that she knows she can understand if she reaches a little farther, a little farther past the barrier that prevents any mortal, psychological mind from understanding the call. To play a pixelated game and have everything rush back. To relive millennia in a single sennight, to go from chipped to broken, utterly broken, as the power comes rushing back and the slow, dawning realization like the day that there is no controlling it. That there is no controlling you.

Millennia of sins come rushing back, and you're mortal again, and you know the only way to bring a god to their knees is to kill them. And if you were spared, if you were brought down without dying, then there was a reason. That someone must have thought you worthy of fixing it. That you should now spend the next several years coming to peace with being a Devil, the cruelest of the cruel, amending fences and repenting your sins.

To be deific is to realize, quite suddenly and without ever actually having the thought, that understanding things through a Christian lens is utterly bullshit and absolutely does not apply to you. Now, your duty is not to repent, or to fix, or to find any sort of salvation. You are the monster queen, the king of the damned, the Devil of a world you made with blood and tears and sweat and magic. To retake the crown, you have to accept yourself. Acceptance does not mean dwelling, or sorrow, or refusing to take the steps forward that will carry you to the crown and halo and horn of deification.

The powers feel less overwhelming as you grow into them. You don't forget the rage. You understand your close friend's words over and over, as the lesson teaches itself. How a Devil so much less powerful and yet so much older than you once looked you in the eye, drink in hand, and gently told you that a single mortal can bring down a Devil, if they try, and believe wholeheartedly in their quest. Do not disrespect mortality. It brings nothing but death.

You wonder briefly who brought you down. You decide, as the lessons prove themselves, that you don't actually care. You're the mortal now, and mortal legends die. Mortal legends change the song of sympathy and the rules of the deific. In order to return, you too must follow the only path a mortal can take to become deific.

To be godkin is to become deific with every step. It's not to seek the divine from outside of it. It's to become it again, and reclaim it; find what was inside all along and grow yourself around it, until it can no longer be pulled from you again without scattering your ashes and stardust among the cosmos, never to return.

To be godkin is to never forget the moments of pure rage that none but powerless fourteen-year-olds can manage. To be godkin is to be an adult with their memory pressed into your skin. To be godkin is for that rage to never truly leave you.

We stand up again and stare at the emotions that are awake when we are not. We wonder what it will take to manifest again, to only twitch a thought in any direction and reshape the reality around us. It is an extension of our being, and the less aware we are of it, the less effort it takes us to remake the world. It is the nature of deification, to change the laws of reality at our whim and will.

To be godkin is simply a matter of knowing that, and forever reaching to do that once more. If only to feel whole and vast, as we always have been.

[jyushi-thoughts]

I really like the pony-matsus you drew!! Especially how they're all blank flanks cuz their neets it fits so well! Though, what do you think their cutiemarks would look like?

haha thank you!

honestly i never even watched much of mlp but i know that their cutiemarks are associated with their talent, or what their job is. sooo what are the matsus GOOD at anyway?

THIS GETS VERY LONG. CHARACTER ANALYSIS IS FUN.

Like, the obvious thing for Jyushi would be baseball, but he just LIKES baseball  he isn’t good at it. He doesn’t even know the rules! He just likes the exciting parts like running the bases and screaming HOME RUUUN even if he hasn’t actually hit one. Thats why I love the silly doofus.

I could say his talent is cheering people up but is that a good thing? He kinda does that to his own detriment, like when Oso kicked him but he was like “HAHA IM FIIIINE HAPPY HAPPY!” Or when he let his selfishness get the better of him with little Eitarou’s girlfriend. Though talents can be self defeating in real life too.. tho i dont think the actual mlp show would ever go that deep with it lol. the concept of destiny in kids media is kinda messed up when you think about it too hard right? but im getting off track.

I think his mark would be a sunflower with a goofy smile. His talent is sharing his energy with others.  :D

Choro’s talent i know for SURE right away. He’s a good planner. He doesn’t follow through on them, but if making plans was his ONLY job he’d be good at it! So his mark will be a quill pen with a checkmark. a very worriedly drawn checkmark...

Ichi’s cutiemark is his fragile heart. HA you thought it’d be something with the cats right? But it’s not like he even takes the cats home he just hangs out with them cuz he’s scared of people. I think Ichi would be one of those ponies who’s got more of a nebulous concept for a talent that could mean a lot of things. Most people wouldn’t say being sensitive is a good thing, but it can be right? I think it is. Ichi would probably resent it though.

Oso I legit can’t think of anything right away BUT I’ve thought of the perfect pony NAME for him!!! Osoi = slow, matsu = pine... His name in equestria would be Pokey Pine!!! cmon it’s adorable it sounds like pinky pie.  I think his talent is being a good big brother even tho he’s a dumbass. It should suit their personality too so I’ll make it a deck of cards. His whole sense of self is based on being one of the pack. (plus gambling influenced it)

Karamatsu's would be pretty straight forward honestly. Something about sewing. It’s implied he MAKES all that “perfecto fashion” he wears and he’s clearly good at it. If he had the drive to DO anything with it that’s a pretty decent talent right there! Not much introspection to do about this guy really, he’s pretty uh... fake on the surface on purpose lol. I wanna see more of the REAL him. (The fandom tends to characterize him as being super depressed secretly and I dont really see that... was exclusivematsu this season the REAL kara? is his motive deep down just to be pissed off at everybody? who knows man i didnt get a lot of the choices made in s3 but im ranting again)

poor Totty gets so misunderstood in the way the fandom characterizes him as some unfeeling devil like how the brothers tease him. he IS a cruel little prick but its barely more than the others lets be real. I think Totty is the most clever of the group and has a sweet heart deep down. He’d get a personality based one like Ichimatsu. A candy heart wrapped in plastic.

I also wanna explain the one I gave Homura too! She’s always associated with the ocean, whether it’s a tragic moment or the silly dolphin thing. But I feel like she’d get her mark RIGHT after saving Jyushi and he makes her laugh with the water trick. (While he’s still passed out too so he never realizes she got it because of him. it’s sweet) It’s supposed to mean like, there’s always sunshine after the storm, that kinda thing.

YAY PONIES. lmao again I was never even a huge mlp fan I just went wild with ponies lately! Analyzing characters in this stupid show is a lot of fun. You get to really take liberties with the loose canon!

[chococustard]

i'm gonna be brave and not send this anonymously and also sorry in advance because this is VERY long 😅

hiiiii!!! i just got through (i'm pretty sure) the ENTIRE lovechild au tag and oh my g o s h do i LOVE IT. i rarely like abo aus but this????? amazing!!!

your character design is BRILLIANT and i absolutely a d o r e your art style, it's so freaking pretty!!!! everyone's BEAUTIFUL. also, i just can't get over just how freaking beautiful you draw girls???? like, the way you draw boys is great too, they're so, so, so, SO pretty, but the GIRLS, I- wow. just wow.

i especially noticed that when i got to your drawing of Eri, she's MARVELOUS. SO PRETTY!!!! Yukari is absolutely beautiful too. i also really like how you draw Shouto and Eijirou.

i've already mentioned character design and before i meant it visually, but like, personality-wise, your character design is great too! i love how you portray the original bnha characters and the kids you've created are excellent! none of the personalities seem repetitive or forced or something and the portrayal is very good in my opinion.

Ochako as a mother is hilarious lol. some of those little comics with her and Tenma, and Tenya too, made me laugh really hard, haha.

Kyou and Yu are PRECIOUS.

there's something i'm really curious about though, but you can completely ignore this next bit if you want to, i'm just throwing out an idea lol. in that one post with Toshi there's a boy in Chihiro's class who can see ghosts thanks to his quirk. i wonder what would happen if you continued with that and it somehow became known to the tododeku fam that he can see Toshi? like, idk, one day tododeku pick up Chihiro at school and, as they're standing together getting ready to leave, the boy, as kids are wont to do sometimes, just asks why there's a ghost of an older boy hanging out around her so much or something??? i don't think you've said that that's canon in your au, but, like i said, i'm curious. and also, idk, i imagine that would come out pretty angsty.

(idk, i just need more Toshi content, i know he technically doesn't even exist, but i LOVE him)

also, whenever i look at your art of Toshi, i kinda get a Dabi-esque vibe from him, mainly mannerism-wise??? like, the coat you draw him in so often or the poses, they just really remind me of Touya????

speaking of Dabi, Homura is a sweetie. i love her design.

that thing with the morning glories is so sweet and heartbreaking once you know their meaning, oh my gosh.

and one last thing!! what is up with Takami Kaguya??? as far as i'm aware you've only drawn her once so far, i think. i love her design and i know she was apparently never born, but i'm so curious about her! will we ever see anything of the backstory behind her?

so yeah, i am a BIG fan of both your artstyle and this au now. have a nice day!

//breaths hold on im overwhelmed first of all i didnt know tumblr ask can have this many characters now holy shit ive been on here for too long

secondly THANK YOU IM GLAD YOU LIKE IT EYYYYYYY AND THANKS SO MUCH/w/

i need to redraw eri tho at least give her a new design WITH A SCARF LIKE HER DADDY//SHOT

I drew toshi in a coat one time but tbh yeah he kinda was influenced by touya from fics it stuck and it just fit lol

regarding the ghost boy (lol) yes he’s not canon, and shouto and deku doesn’t really pick them up from elementary school, cause, well, gotta keep the girls’ identity hush hush. BUT, however, YU does go home with her sometimes if she doesn’t have afternoon classes/chi doesn’t go play with her friends

imagine the kid, asking the big sister, “hey your sister’s being haunted by some guy” and she just

“oh yeah that’s our brother”

won’t that be fucked up//SHOT

meanwhile kaguya is from an au where hawks is an omega and he and dabi has a kid and also kept homura lol. she was a joke that went to far like everything i ever did in my life//SHOT

YOU TOO HAVE A NICE DAY 

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Magia Record episode 10 was pretty neat.

Starting off where last episode ended, we’ve got to get a bit of a battle going on between Alina and our gang, and by god is Alina pissed.

She do be fuckin dominant as all hell though, like actually my favourite Magia Record girl, damn. Thank you so much Shaft.

Anyway fight scene’s pretty fun, though it ends pretty quickly because our iconic hero, Mami, comes to save the day! Except actually, is she really our iconic hero? Because it turns out she’s joined the Wings of Magius and is basically just making sure her boss doesn’t go too off the shits. Interesting, I have to wonder just what was so appealing about Magius to Mami that she’d want to join? Their goal is some degree of salvation and I get why Mami would be behind that, and fuck we know she do be lonely as hell so that might’ve influenced her decision further, but this is one of those things where it still feels a lot like Magius are the obvious villains, and even though Mami isn’t some paragon of justice or anything like Sayaka thinks she is, she’s still clearly enough of a good person to where you wouldn’t expect her to be in something that’s framed so antagonistically. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Speaking of Sayaka though

She did actually appear! Alongside Madoka too. Granted these are flashbacks from Mami’s perspective but still. All who’s left is Homura. Happy Sayaka day!

About that thing I just said about Magius being obviously evil though, the post credits scene has the Amane sisters being real nice and homely to Mifuyu as the girl stresses out about whatever, which sort of frames Magius as also being a nice and familial place, which is important anyway because yeah maybe they’re not that bad, but what’s of particular note is that it’s a pretty obvious parallel with what the bulk of the episode is actually spent on - the Mikazuki Villa’s familial bond.

This episode is honestly pretty slice of life, in fact, really slice of life for most of its runtime. Once we save Sana we recruit her into the Mikazuki fam, Yachiyo makes it clear enough that Sana does have a choice to stay or not, and while Sana initially appears hesitant, she goes to her own home to check out her family, processes how unwanted she is, and sort of denounces them, with a proper “sayonara” to boot. And at that point, she’s home. In the same way that Magius can find some solace amongst themselves, so can Mikazuki Villa’s girls - each group independently of the other finds a degree of peace within itself, and that’s pretty sweet.

Sana’s thing is really nice and sweet, albeit it does come across as, I guess a little quick? Sana accepts her new situation fairly quickly, and that’s on top of how her stuff last episode was pretty quick too, I don’t really feel like I’ve come to know Sana that well in this time. Moreover, I know IroSana to be a popular ship, but their relationship here feels, kinda passive? It’s all nice and sweet but Iroha had more chemistry with Felicia in her first episode honestly, it’s weird. Oh well, I do hope Sana gets the chance to amount to a little bit more.

I do like these shots though, we getting some nice family vibes from them. It’s an interesting contrast with the regular show too, where the girls struggled to really maintain their relationships with each other as a result of the overly fucky system, but here our girls manage to meet each other because of a version of that system that’s a little different, and all manage to be friends in spite of said system. There’s a real sense of solidarity through suffering, which is a phrase that came to mind because of an I think Pedantic Romantic video about Magical Girl Site doing a similar thing. Did I really just compare Magia Record to Magical Girl Site? Yeah. Though Magical Girl Site is kind of a “magical girls vs the world” thing whereas this show has, like I said, 2 distinct group of magical girls that find safety amongst their own group, and it’s cool.

It does seem a little crazy that they’d all find mugs so suited to their aesthetics, but when you consider that...

THIS is apparently what the fucking mug shop looks like, I’m willing to believe it.

And then here’s just more miscellaneous shots of our various girls looking pretty, because yeah.

Plus here’s my favourite endcard so far, gee I wonder why.

That’s the episode, good time, could’ve paced Sana’s stuff better, but whatever. Apparently no dub episode this week and I don’t mind in the slightest.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: PMMM Rebellion - Part 6

Last time, we realized that Madokami was the brainwasher. So yeah.

Homura’s running off now, after shaking off the latest attempt to turn her into a Lotus Eater. (And I could go on and on about the pros and cons of Madokami’s actions here, but let’s try to finish this movie this year.) Labyrinth-Madoka’s left in the field, joined by the Incubator as she wonders what happened to Homura. So what’s the creature’s deal? It hasn’t said a word this entire movie, so I don’t know if it’s just a construct of the Labyrinth like Madoka or a ‘guard’ like Sayaka ACK sudden closeup of its eye yup it’s involved. Hey, it’s the arcade! Kyoko’s getting a phonecall, after what was clearly a necessary shot of her pockets, she answers her cell gaaaah the juxtaposition of the normal arcade and all these Labyrinth figures is so friggen creepy. Homura’s calling to ask if she remembers the Witches, doesn’t appear Food Girl’s completely woken up yet as she doesn’t. Also, “Dog Drug Reinforcement”? Is that supposed to be a pun on ooooooh DDR, I get it.

So yeah, Kyoko’s still in the system. Doesn’t remember the Witches, and she only knows this Labyrinth version of Madoka. It sounds crazy, but listen to the hair-flipping girl, Kyoko. Point: In order to make a world where Madoka exists, it would have to be someone who knows about Madoka. At the end of the show Kyoko and Mami had no memories of her, so out of the original Madokrew that leaves Homura (who lived with the memories), Sayaka (who went to work for Madokami), and Madoka-turned-Madokami herself. [Homura]: “Now I understand. I know who rewrote our memories-” ? Homura? Why did you just put your Soul Gem down? “-and then locked us in this false Mitakihara City.” Homura? What are you doing? Kyoko’s starting to freak out over what Homura is saying, asking where she is right now. She runs outside FLAMING BLIMPS FROM THE SKY! Ok, so it seems the Labyrinth is dropping pretenses now, with Homura waking up there’s no point with subtlety. Homura’s on the bus now. Where is she going? Why is the music getting louder? Why is she leaving her Soul Gem at the station? I mean, isn’t there a distance limit to control her body? What’s the poi Wait What Are you kidding me [Homura]: “There’s just one last thing I want to confirm.” But what how why is she how could WHAT “After that, I will end everything. And I will not trouble you.” … Ok, so this is confirmation is either going to be the equivalent of MG Suicide (purposefully separating herself from her Soul Gem, we’ve only seen a very short period where Sayaka was separated from hers and she didn’t seem to note anything odd, will Homura be conscious?), or… Homura apologizes to Kyoko for getting her involved. And hangs up, throws her phone away. The bus leaves, seats filled with clocks ticking. [Homura]: “The limit that my body can still move after separating from my Soul Gem should be 100 meters at most.” The bus stop has faded into the distance. Pretty sure she’s now past that mark. Bells are chiming. Owls are landing. The bus is on fire. And the truth is revealed. -Magical Girls cannot function beyond 100 meters from their Soul Gems -Homura is now over 100 meters from her Soul Gem -Homura is not a Magical Girl -Homura is… Creepy children chanting as the Flaming Blimps shatter the landscape. Because that Labyrinth was focused on Magical Girl Homura. This Labyrinth is focused on her true nature. As Witch-Homura. … WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY HOW HOW HOW DID HOMURA BECOME A WITCH [Homura]: “In other words, this means I’m not even a magical girl anymore?” She pulls a pistol, destroys the proven-useless piece of jewelry. Kneeling, backed by flames, flanked by the creepy Goth Children. Her Familiars. “Why? Why? Why would I end up as…? When did it even happen? When did I become a Witch?!” WHY AND WHEN INDEED Ok, ok. Calm down, Ranubis. Deep breaths. Right, so somehow, at some point, Homura gave into despair, used up her power. Frustration at being the only one living with the memories? Anger at being left behind? Stubbed her toe? Whatever happened, happened. Madokami’s deal is that she goes around grabbing MGs before they give into despair, takes them into the MG Afterlife. So… is this that, then? Does she take the girls before they become Witches, and put them in Labyrinths designed to keep them happy? Their own little slice of heaven? It checks out, this is, or rather was a world where Homura was happy. But just as she kept her memories while alive, it seems she got them back in this new Labyrinth, in the worst possible fashion. Yikes, no black and white morality here, is there? On the one hand Homura really was happy in her designed Labyrinth. But on the other hand she wasn’t given all the details, and now that lack of communication is coming back to bite everyone. And now there’s some sort of arc over the flaming ruins of Fake Mitakihara City. And an image of Madokami’s picture begins to run. Some of the Familiars are kicking a spool of thread, they pass… the Incubator? ...wait, hold on. [Incubator]: “I’m sure you didn’t really want to know the truth.” The Incubator is talking. What...did… “And yet, you couldn’t bear not to search for it. It just goes to show how illogical human curiosity is.” So… you’re not taking any blame for letting things fall apart this badly then? [Incubator]: “Well, considering that it was you, I did think that you would find the answer eventually, Homura Akemi.” [Homura]: “Incubator. In the end, just as I thought, it’s your doing, isn’t it?” ...well, kinda. I mean it’s working for Madokami. But in general in the show, it was a sound practice to blame Bunnycat for anything going wrong. (After I spent nearly the entire show blaming you, sorry about that.) Huh. Gotta say, I like Homura’s outfit right here. Fancy. I’ve got a few more questions beyond the location of Homura’s life and soul, Incubator, but I’ll take those too. Thank you so kindly for deigning to answer them. Static? Homura sleeping, holding a staff? Ah, an image of outside the Labyrinth! But hold on, how is she outside the Labyrinth, is she projecting into it? WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT [Incubator]: “The Isolation Field we invented is completely enveloping your Soul Gem. We wanted to see what would happen when a Soul Gem that was already pushed to its limit was put in an environment that was isolated from all external influence.” An… experiment? But why would Madokami be experimenting on Soul Gems? Especially in such a creepy environment. She wouldn’t need to. The only one who benefits from such experiments Is The Incubator my Madokami I’m an idiot, did I learn nothing from the show, we’ve had close to a half-dozen closeups to “cute little Kyubey’s” mug in this movie, how could I just write off No. 1 on my List The Incubator isn’t working for Madokami after all. It’s doing what it was always doing, trying to maximize short-term gains from Soul Gems despite morals and sensible logic. The Incubator, or the rest of its race given the “we” comments, “wanted to know the results of a Soul Gem cut off from the Law of the Cycle”. I’m sorry, but I believe you were criticizing human curiosity barely a minute ago. Do… do you really realize how much of a hypocrite you are being right now. So yeah. This isn’t the work of a Cannibal!Witch, or an earnest attempt by Madokami to make Homura happy. This is, once again, Bunnycat being a Dick. Yep, either the Incubator’s using multiples of its body in this ‘experiment’, or we’re seeing multiple members of its race. Messing around with Labyrinths, working off of the descriptions of the Old World given by Homura. The results leave Homura as a semi-Witch, “like a chick that wasn’t able to break its shell and grew up within it instead.” That resulted in an Internal Labyrinth, one that she re-created an entire town inside of. All inside her Isolated Soul Gem. ...well THAT was a creepy shot, the Incubator backlit by a Flaming Blimp. brb taking screenshot.

Homura raises an argument: If the Laybrinth is Isolated, then it should be impossible for people to wander into it. But the Incubator, or rather Incubators, say they made an adjustment, making the isolation only work in one direction. So it’s not Isolated, but Semi-Permeable? Others pass through by means of an “invitation”. As the Witch of the Labyrinth, Homura unconsciously chose Mami, Kyoko, Hitomi and Kyosuke, pulling them in. And Madokami… could only enter as Madoka? Son of a bitch. This isn’t just an Incubator experiment to recreate Witches. It’s a trap for Madokami. The incubators have identified several people in the Labyrinth that don’t exist (anymore) in the Real World, but still participate. They have identified Madoka, someone who slipped into her world without causing any disturbance. But Wait hold on. So they now know Madoka is the Law of Cycles that’s keeping away their oh-so-”efficient” emergy gathering through Witches. But somehow, even though this is the Real Madoka in the Labyrinth she’s not displaying any power? What, did Madokami just send a portion to try and help out or what. Wait, WHAT?! You’re saying that when Witch-Homura pulls people in she rewrites their memories, and it affected Madoka as well? “She not only forgot that she had come to save you, but lost sight of who she really was and her power as well.” ...music is picking up and the Familiars are on the march. Something’s coming up, but I think I have to stop here for work. So. The real villain is the Incubators. They are experimenting with Witchification, captured Homura. Homura’s Labyrinth is pulling in people, wiping their memories. Madokami has tried to help her, but lost her memories and thus power entering? (What about Sayaka?) ...well how the hell are we gonna fix this?! Something’s gotta happen, but I can’t think of it. I mean, we’re back in Episode 11 territory here. Homura’s up against the combined power of the Incubator race, trapped in their twisted experiment to try and recreate Witches and to trap the Law of the Cycle. Such a trap even that when friggen Madokami tried to intervene she ended up mindwiped and depowered. So what the hell can we do now? I’m wracking my brain here, but can’t think of anything. Then again, I got out minmaxed by the pink-haired Middle Schooler last time, so here’s hoping there’s still a trick or two up her frilly sleeves.

[strangeracrossthestreet]

 tagged by THIS person who even IS THIS @corisanna

1. What is your favorite relationship type to write/read? Romantic, platonic, familial, and any subtypes.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHnggfdbhdf any kind of type really is always going to be the protective pessimist and the sunshine but guiltily also for the romantic type i also love me the demon edgelord fucks who everyone else is terrified from but is cowed into submission by their sunshine other half who can and WILL get angry at their smug demon half for being a smug lowkey asshole bastard towards their shared friends coughHomucifercough that’s a lot to crossout oops

2. How much or what kind of research do you do for your fiction? If you don’t write, has a fic ever made you curious enough to research something?

Hmmmmmmmm. I, huh. My crappy memory isn’t gonna help in this at all. Okay so fics HAVE made me google stuff on multiple occasions but straight up research? Nnnnno I don’t think so. I don’t have the mental capacity or want to do it. If i ever do “research” (and i say that oh so loosely) anything in the future because of a fic it will go as far as asking google and looking att he first thing i see for like a second bgfdjbgfdj

3. What was the first work of fiction you remember becoming completely engrossed in?

As N Approaches Infinity First work that I remember would be a PowerPuff Girls fanfiction called Misconceptions by Sandstorm3D ( @sandstorm3d is this even the right tumblr shit). Every Saturday there would be an update and it was the best thing ever! obviously sometimes it wasn’t consistent because Life be like that™ and sometimes we even got double chapter updates which was always a treat to get! Another fic that was pretty great (but which i found long after it was complete so i didnt get to be engrossed in) was Taking Responsibility by Somewei another PPG fic ugh so good. ALSO ALSO now that I’M HERE FUCK IT! Another PPG fic that is ALSO SO GOOD! SO GOOD that I’m currenty hella invested in that’s called As Time Goes By by  Carriedreamer (OH WU- OH LOOK LINKS i didnt know it worked like that i just copied their name cause i was too lazy to write it- hold on *goes back and edits the other two*). I’m stopping here or god I am 100% going to link every OTHER story I’ve ever loved 

4. What work(s) had a lasting influence on you or your writing style?

Nothing really. I get very very into stuff i like but once its over its kinda over? Nothing has really “changed my life” or just left any lasting impressions or whatever other than me being invested in it a lot while im there. Does that count??? 

5. What kind of sound environment do you prefer for writing/reading? Silent, white noise, music with/without words, sitting in a public place with the ambient noise of humanity, etc.

Music always! The problem arises then that if I can’t find the proper music for the stuff I’m reading, as in for it to have the same atmosphere as the fic (with words or not doesn’t matter) then I’m going to constantly be stopping myself in the middle of reading just so I can go on youtube and find something fitting bgfhjbgfj such a pain

6. Are you or do you like authors who are teases, in story or out?

They infuriate me! In the best way possible. Cliffhangers? Fucking murder me but god I love it. Honestly I love every kind of author bgjgfbgfjgf I just love bein’ dramatic 

7. Have you ever experienced a “the characters write themselves” or “character rebellion” mental state?

As a reader I have no idea what that is or how it works or how it feels but god does it fascinate the fuck outta me

8. Do you have a favorite franchise crossover? Like Bleach/Harry Potter, Madoka Magica/Card Captor Sakura, etc.

No sir! Same as music here, if I like it, I like it bgfhjgf As long as I know one (1) of the franchises I don’t care what the other crossover is as long as the fic is good (good to me at least, everyone is different in that regard after all gbfhjgfd opinions opinions so many opinions so many people) THO I will always lament when there ISN’T a crossover with some franchises (or just plain not enough fics for them cough Madoka/Nanoha cough THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH) I’m guilty of seeing similar characters interacting. Just wanting to see them togethere because thEY ARE SO SIMILAR BUT YET SO DIFFERENT AND DYNAMICS YES HELLO GIVE ME *coughs*

9. Do you remember anything about the first fanfic you ever read?

No I don’t but I bet you if I go on my ff.net account RIGHT NOW! and go back to the story I favored first ever, I can tell you about it. I bet im doing it. Im going. Okay so its a PPG one again (wow I really had a ppg phase i mean I DID i still do kind of? i mean n O SHAME TO ME FICS ARE FICS DAMN IT AND THEY’RE SO GOOD) Okay so I clicked it but it doesn’t ring a bell BUT IT DID REMIND ME OF ANOTHER FIC I REALLY LIKED which honestly might as well be the first one ever fuck it whatever. A PPG one of course bfjgfdnjgkfd called uh, fuck i dont remEMBER THE TITLE! But its just basically ya know when the girls in the movie fly into space? it’s a What If: Only two of them came back AND ITS A DRAGON BALL CROSSOVER KINDA ITS AMAZING AHA I FOUND IT!  Divided Paths by  mg56 .This search made me go back and god they are so good

10. Is there a work of fiction that you are annoyed doesn’t have much if any fic? Like Bizenghast.

More madoka never enough give me post rebellion shit i mean GAH stop complaining im such an ungrateful glutton I would LOVE more School Live!/Gakkou Gurashi fanfics out there. AND AND ALSO! Fucking Kannazuki No Miko PLEASE STAR CROSSED LOVERS THEY ARE ALL IN SPANISH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

11. What fictional character do you strongly identify with?

Man. I don’t really...have that feeling? I mean..I can feel for Homura and Spinel! And Sayaka too, fucking Kyoko too but i don’t have the idk like yeabfjgfjBHSDFBHFSDJ I can understand characters and their motivations I feel? But I don’t get like attached attached ya know?

[queen-of-hearts92]

Revue Starlight Theory and Goddess Symbolism: The Star is a Lie.

Normally I’d put my theorizing in my review/blog posts for this series, but I really feel the need to talk about this now in a separate post.

You see, theres something off about these auditions. They take place in an underground stage, the girls get mysterious phone calls, and the girls can’t tell anyone about these auditions outside of their fellow Stage Girls or else. It feels very fishy. I’ve had that feeling since episode one and it’s only increased each passing episode. Hikari’s behavior only makes me think this more. So here we go.

Theory: The auditions, aren’t auditions for getting into the Starlight troupe. Not really, no. This class and particular set of girls have been chosen for a ritual. If the auditions go as planned, then all of them are doomed. Especially the one who wins Top Star. This ritual is to power the Heavenly Tiara, which is a gift from two goddess that has long since been corrupted, with radiance. The Top Star will be drained and trapped until every last bit of their radiance is gone and the rest will either be killed or pretty much hollowed out. Breaking the system involves uniting againist the broken system and building something better together.

You might be wondering how I could even get to this conclusion. It’s just a silly over dramatic theater girl show right? I could indeed be looking into it too much but, the symbolism is SO in your face and everywhere it doesn’t seem like it was done willy nilly. Let’s break it down, I’ll show you how I got there.

>Hikari’s reactions and behavior

Hikari’s behavior in the story towards Karen so far is odd, especially when it comes to her joining the auditions. It could be that she doesn't want to fight/compete with Karen therefore she rather that Karen is kept out but if that were the case wouldn't losing be a good thing? To discourage Karen from fighting anymore? That doesn’t make any sense with her behavior, Hikari has been acting like she’s afraid of something. I’m getting a very Homura vibe from her, she knows more than she lets on and she’s determined to keep Karen away from the truth. In episode 1 she looks horrified that Karen entered the stage and was crying afterwards, in episode 2 Hikari tried to verbally push Karen away, and now in episode 3 she decided to keep Karen away physically by locking her up. When Karen escapes she frantically chases after her and when Karen goes down to the stage Hikari grabs a crowbar and starts beating the elevator door down to get in and stop the auditions. But she’s too late and the audition is over and Karen loses. 

Near the end of the episode, right before she slaps Karen, it’s a little hard to see at first due to the rain but Hikari is crying. This isn’t a normal reaction to auditions that supposedly are just for getting into a troupe, no these are acts of desperation. Hikari is scared of something in the auditions, and she doesn’t want Karen to find out what it is nor be exposed to whatever it is. How she knows these things isn’t known yet though.

>Karen was lured in, she always was meant to be there.

I think Karen herself was lured into joining the auditions, like think about it. If there are multiple duels going on at once like episode 2 and 3 implies, then it’s awfully convenient that Karen was dropped into Hikari and Junna’s fight out of any other ones going on at the moment. Remember, the secret elevator only works when it’s time for a Stage Girl to audition. We also see in episode 3 that while Karen used the elevator to get down just fine, Hikari couldn’t. She resorts to trying to break the door down instead. In episode 1 Karen was not only able to get the elevator to go but Giraffe didn’t seemed surprised that she dropped in. He later wonders why Karen wasn’t chosen beforehand but he quickly comes to the answer of she would not have joined unless Hikari was involved.

If whoever is running this wanted to lure Karen in to join, then it would be wise to drop her into a audition duel involving her childhood friend. So when Hikari seems like she’s in danger, Karen steps up and joins the audition and stays in it to stay close to Hikari and to fulfill her dream. This set up would be a smart thing to do for someone who has a lot of potential but doesn’t have the drive to trample others. Instead she’s baited in and she took it hook, line, and sinker.

>The tiara is evil

The Heavenly Tiara in the show is stated it will go to the person who is Top Star. The tiara and the stage it’s in is very eerie and ominous, you can see it shining like a beacon in the underground. Even creepier, the light from the tiara can be seen all over the place above ground, like it’s following the girls. Like it’s watching them. I think what this tiara wants, or whoever owns or controls the tiara, is radiance. I’m thinking it needs to be powered by a resource only young aspiring theater girls can provide, radiance would be all over the place there. 

This audition isn’t for getting into a troupe or the lead role in the play, it’s a test. To discover who gives off the most radiance or shine. Whoever wins will become Top Star and either be absorbed into or be drained by the tiara. The rest of the contenders will also be killed or disposed of in some way, can’t let anyone else know right?

Now the term Top Star is a legit Takarazuka term. For those who don’t recall or don’t know in a Takarazuka troupe there’s always a Top Star, that woman plays all the main roles in the troupe’s plays/musicals for 2-4 years. Think of it being like a Prima Ballerina in a ballet troupe. Being a Top Star is any actress in this profession’s goal, it’s really hard and stressful to become one and you need to be in the industry for awhile before you are even considered to be chosen as one. After being Top Star the actress often retires for there is no more goal to reach for. You shine bright for a time and then go out very quickly, just like a real star in the sky.

So in the context of this show, what if the Top Star is more literal than we think. What makes me think Top Star should be taken more literally is due to the conversation between Giraffe and Junna in episode 2. Junna asks him if she becomes Top Star does that mean she’ll get a leading role. In real life yes but, Giraffe gives her no answer. That’s a little alarming. If the audition was supposed to be a regular one then why didn’t he say anything?

The tiara sits at the top of the tower and shines like a star, the girl who wins becomes or powers the tiara. When the tiara is close to using up the energy, another Top Star is needed to be found and the cycle starts again.

This would work as the industry criticism metaphor this show is going for, Top Stars are put on high and given all the lead roles. Then when their time is done they retire, all their energy and shine has used up and they fade away so to speak. I think the tiara, if we going mystical here, was a gift from two goddesses. It once was good but it became corrupted over time due to being fueled over and over again by helpless souls for too long.

In the very first title card in episode 1 the logo goes from pink to black and that might be symbolic of the radiance being drained out. The pink is the star’s color after all. 

Also I noticed Karen has become seemly more tired after each fight, and not just her. Yes singing and fighting takes out a lot of energy but something is odd, the girls seem fatigued like someone yanked the life outta them. Karen seemed out of it in episode 2 and in episode 3 she couldn’t even wake up fully until Mahiru drags her to all the way to school, that’s worse than in the previous episodes. Junna faints in episode 2 out of exhaustion and while I think it is partly cause she wasn’t caring for herself I wonder if it has to do with the auditions too, the pink glow of the tiara appears right next to her after all. Then in episode 3 Claudine missed all of her morning classes cause she was too exhausted to get up. This doesn’t seem normal, something is wrong here. That’s the impression I’m getting.    

>The goddess symbolism

In the Starlight play the story is about goddesses that were drawn into the glowing of heaven (and we don’t know much else about it’s story besides that). In this anime, two particular goddesses have a quite presence of sorts here. As in the symbols that are associated with them are everywhere and episode 3 is the one that made it super obvious that this was happening.

One is the greek/roman goddess Aphrodite/Venus. The biggest tip off is in Maya and Karen’s duel. Maya’s stage is covered in greek/roman architecture for starters, and also birds. Particularly swans, the swan are one of Aphrodite’s symbols. Doves are also on the stage and they are also one of Aphrodite’s symbols. Another symbol is the white myrtle flower, Maya has a white flower in her hair during the flashback. The statue(s) we’ve seen all around the school is Venus de Milo, Maya stands right next to in the similar pose increasing her connection with the goddess. Maya is the top dog, the highest ranked, therefore closer to the heavens and the goddesses. Her stage ends up influenced by it. One more thing with Maya, I don’t know if this one is on purpose but it’s funny how the one associated with Venus also shares the same hair style of Sailor Venus from Sailor Moon. It’s that something?

Aphrodite is also associated with mirrors, what did the previous audition duel have? Oh yeah, mirrors. I called them windows in my post but they are kinda mirrors too. There were also the reflective masks the dummies wore. I think Maya has more of her symbolism but I wanted to show that Aphrodite’s symbolism has appeared before. Plus the Venus de Milo not only has appeared  in every episode so far, but in several places on the campus. Venus/Aphrodite has always been here. She isn’t the only divine presence though.

When I looked up Heavenly Tiara to see if the name was associated with anything I found something. It’s called the Crown of Immortality. They are crowns(or tiaras or laurels) that are used in art and books to indicate the wearers immortality, one of the ways to represent that is with a crown of stars. The Sumerian goddess Inanna (also called Ishtar) is also associated with wearing a crown of stars.

Yes, Inanna is the other goddess that has her symbolism all over the place and she shares some things with Aphrodite/Venus. Both of them are associated with doves and of course love and passion. Inanna is also a goddess of the sky, war, and combat which goes rather well with a tournament arc style story. The connection to Inanna and Aphrodite/Venus is pretty intense, however Inanna is the dominant force here. The planet she’s associated with is Venus after all, and this association leads to a primary symbol of Inanna. It’s an eight pointed star called the Star of Ishtar/Inanna, also called the Star of Venus. Interesting in a show with a star motif would have all this right? 

The real kicker is we can see the star in the show, it’s in Karen’s gem on the hilt of her sword. I counted only seven points in the screenshot but the angle might have prevented me from seeing the eighth one and even if there isn’t eight points it looks very close to the Star of Inanna. And no, the circle in the center isn’t a shine glinting off the sword, I checked other screenshots and the circle is still there.

Additionally the stage is underground right? One of the stories Inanna is famous for is her going into the underworld to get her husband back. This hasn’t fully come into play as of now but the fact the stage is where it is makes me think it will at some point. The fact that both goddesses are love goddesses is also notable, you can even argue that Maya represents Aphrodite/Venus (all of her symbolism is on Maya) and Karen represents Inanna (going underground to save someone they love). Also I must mention, on the translated staff page there are two more characters listed that we haven’t seen yet. Or at least as far as I can tell. So maybe when we see them they’ll have something to do with all this.

Another primary symbol of Inanna is a lion. We haven’t seen any lions in the show as of now but. Well, let’s talk about the giraffe in the room.

>Giraffe’s role

So, there’s a giraffe in here. A talking giraffe, there has to be something up with him right? Hell Junna is even wondering that, she’s seen trying to find what Giraffe is in episode 3. Right now, my best guess is he is a Qilin or a Kirin in Japanese. To briefly say what a Qilin is, they are mythical animals that appears before wise and kind rulers, casts judgement on the wicked, and brings good fortune and protection. The idea of Qilin came from giraffes, a giraffe was brought to Japan and it was declared a divine animal. I don’t blame them, if I had never seen or heard of a giraffe before I’d be like “Holy crap this MUST be a mythical animal!” They tall and long. Anyways, about the lions I was speaking about earlier. There's a dance associated with Qilins in new years celebrations, it’s called the Lion Dance! Qilins also are often shown to have the tail of a lion so they do have a connection with them and therefore Inanna.

I don’t see how it could be anything else so assuming this is correct that raises the question of why is he here? Qilins are beings of fortune after all. Well I got two guesses, one he is here to protect whatever is in or controlling the tiara and therefore loyal to them. OR he is here to protect the girls. It’s possible he is keeping the girls from getting instantly drained or keeping whatever is in here in and not out. 

The scene I mentioned with him and Junna earlier, him not answering could mean he doesn’t want to answer. He doesn’t want to tell her whatever the awful truth is. So he is either a protector for the higher ups or for the Stage Girls but he doesn’t stop the auditions and just lets them happen anyways. That could symbolize those who see the problems in the theater system but chose not to do anything about them.

>Possible story

Ok now that I’ve laid out what lead me to think this is a ritual, here be what I think could be going on here. This is more speculative about the background of this universe, so note this is more guessing from the puzzle pieces I’ve collected over the past three episodes.

A 100 year old musical theater for girls houses a secret. Deep underground there is the Heavenly Tiara, it is said that if you are summoned for the mysterious auditions for this place you can become the Top Star. But, is that really such a good idea?

The Heavenly Tiara and the play Starlight were gifted from the divine, they were two goddesses of love and passion. It helped the school grow and become popular. The tiara shines for the troupe known as Starlight and they have become loved by many. But, the tiara wasn’t meant to last forever. The tiara is powered by radiance. A radiance only a girl with the true drive and passion for her craft can create. The tiara’s radiance started running out, and the higher ups wanted to keep it going. So a ritual was created to keep it alive and bringing good fortune. 

Every several years or so, a class of students are chosen to perform the play Starlight for their three years. On the second year the auditions begin, nine girls out of the class are chosen to join the auditions. The winner is crowned Top Star, she is commanded by the tiara to mentally break the remaining girls with the sheer force of her radiance and execute any they can’t break. After all, they either are in supporting roles or just stepping stones to a Top Star’s glory. They aren’t needed to be anything else anymore. The girls who live are indeed in the troupe but they’ve been hollowed out, never to shine again. The tiara then takes the winner’s radiance and their life and the radiance of the Top Star shines for several more years. Oh the explanation for what happened to the girls for the outside is simple, they simply graduated early and are now in the Starlight troupe. Don’t worry about it. As for who’d be the center? Well the tiara takes the form of whoever won recently and is the center. Every time, all the time. Shining on forever.

During the auditions, there is a judge. A Qilin who appears as a normal giraffe is that judge. He knows the truth but he thinks there’s nothing to do about it, all he can do is to at least be a fair judge and give the girls a chance. It’s better than the tiara just wiping them all out instantly. As for the goddesses, they may not be around but their powers and influences are everywhere. The tiara was from them in the first place after all. The one who is ranked number one is the closest to the goddess’s power so their symbols start showing up during their auditions. Other girls have their marks or influences from the goddesses too but the highest ranked have the most and are the most obvious.

All of these years, not a single Top Star has been able to fight off or resist the tiara’s influence once it is on their head. Not a single girl has made it out unscathed by the end. The entire stage echos with crushed dreams and cries of despair, hidden underneath the bright lights and the dazzling stage.

Side note: Following this telling then Hikari, somehow learning about this process, finds out Karen’s class was chosen. She doesn’t want Karen to fall to the terrible fate awaiting her if she auditioned. So, Hikari moves back to Japan and gets into the school. She keeps her distance from Karen as best she can, last thing she wants is Karen to get too close to her and be hurt. She joins the auditions thinking now she’s the 8th girl, there can’t be anymore so Karen is safe. But she was wrong, nine are chosen. Karen came to the audition anyways, because Hikari was there. She didn’t save Karen, she sealed her fate. Hikari has been desperately trying to stop Karen from going ever since.

Another side note: It’s possible the divine aren’t involved in this at all, this is just the vibe I’m getting since this anime is taking cues from deconstructive anime that has those elements like Princess Tutu, Utena, Penguindrum, Evangelion, and Madoka Magica.

>Am I right at all?

Now you could argue that all this symbolism is just there cause it looks nice but, it’s so specific to the two goddesses (and two that are so closely related to each other) that I don’t buy this was all put in just to look pretty. It either means these two are literally here in the show or there's something like them at play. Something or someone divine. Venus and Inanna could’ve at minimum left their influence on the school and the stage, that’s why there is statues of Venus everywhere for example. 

The metaphor that would work with all this is how the system pits girls against each other, the Top Star’s glory is short lived and draining so one can never shine again afterwards. Love and passion are more important than short lived glory. Performing should be fulfilling like it’s meant to be and there are those who just stand by and do nothing so you gotta do it yourself. Gather your friends and change everything! Break it all down and renew!

I could go on but I think this is good for now. We’ll find out if I’m right about any of this as the anime goes on. I hope I’m at least a little bit right cause this seems COOL. And messed up. Hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks!

Also if you haven’t seen this anime yet WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? WATCH IT WATCH IT! It’s only 3 episodes and they are easy to find subbed. Go for it, this could be turning out to be a masterpiece. ouo

[homeruun-blog]

the new episode, particularly the jyushimatsu skit, was really weird.

i’m not mad about how the mom in the episode wanted to be a jyushimatsu wannabe but it was kinda weird how she was even involved at all. the influence from her son and then jyushimatsu was literally like a wake up call to her that she needed to have new friends and a boyfriend too like how fucking eitarou achieved it(especially considering the fact that she and her son move around a lot)

it kinda showed how jyushimatsu can be shitty, which is somewhat rare to see than his holly jolly self.

also i don’t think jyushimatsu has a crush on her as the new homura lol

the mom and eitarou basically were annoying him than anything.