#kos meta

[pesky--dust]

Guys, I just realized something.

We know that many small details matter in Hannibal. Traditionally, seating positions at the table are important: they indicate the degree of closeness between the host and the guest.

Hannibal usually sits at the head of the table as the host. This isn't new knowledge in this fandom, but... have you ever thought about table seating positions in Naka Choko, Ko no mono and Mizumono?

In both Naka ​​choko and Ko no mono, after Hannibal believes that Will has killed both Randall Tier (true) and Freddie Lounds (not true), he is sitting across from Will - as if they are equals.

Screenshots from Naka Choko

Screenshot from Ko no Mono

However, do you remember how Will and Hannibal are sitting in Mizumono, during the last supper, when Hannibal already knows that Will is lying to him, that he didn't kill Freddie Lounds, that they didn't eat her meat?

Screenshot from Mizumono

Hannibal is sitting at the head of the table, alone. Will is sitting to his right - he is important, but he is not an equal.

Furthermore, the lamb served by Hannibal in the script is described in such a way that its ribs resemble hands folded in prayer, as if Hannibal was praying not only for Will to choose him, but also for Will to truly choose to be his equal.

This freakin' show, I swear...

[katakaluptastrophy]

"How much time has passed in the - er - real world?"

"Nine months."

"Good Lord." She was genuinely upset. "I would have put us at about eight weeks."

Well, those seem like entirely innocuous lengths of time for Harrow and Abigail to be talking about as Wake's memories cause fallopian tubes to overtake Not!Canaan House like Sleeping Beauty's castle...

[pencildragons]

thinking about how gideon understands wake's conversation with john so she must have been speaking her oppressor's language to her oppressor. thinking about how wake's full name is italicised, a literary convention indicative of foreign words. thinking about whether wake even knows the meaning of her name at all or if it is just about keeping it alive at this point. thinking about if she knows any of the destroyed languages of the planet that her ancestors escaped ten thousand years ago before they were erased entirely. thinking about wake and how two thirds of her name is derived from anglo/western culture just so the devastating impact on indigenous people of the erasure of their traditional knowledge and culture could be contextualised in a way muir's (predominantly) white, anglo/western audience could understand. thinking about wake and how she was angry enough at the imperial systems of power she spent her whole life fighting against to exist as a ghost for twenty years after the fact of her death. thinking about how all augustine offers her efforts twenty years after the fact of her death is belittlement of her people and a toast. thinking about [a giant shephard's crook emerges from the wings and yanks me sidestage]

[aihoshiino]

i've said this before but for all the problems i have with the movie arc specifically and how OnK more broadly sort of loses focus on/interest in Ai's story from then onwards, i'll never be grateful enough for how well rounded of a character the additions we get to her in that arc make her. obviously prior to that she was already fantastic, but the movie arc really doubles down on humanizing her in a frankly quite risky way for a character OnK needs you to sympathize with as much as ai: it allows her to be weak, selfish and flawed, and capable of hurting other people.

pre-movie arc ai's one real major transgression is her keeping the existence of the twins a secret, but this is in defiance of the entertainment industry's particular taboos and double standards, taboos and double standards that OnK posits as being plainly immoral - as such, it's not really anything ai is doing wrong.

even when the story starts digging into her dirty laundry as per the needs of aqua's investigations, the information we as readers get never paints ai as anything worse than having been a bit standoffish once upon a time. the stories continues to reinforce our understanding of ai as a victim who has been either harmed, neglected or both by pretty much everyone in her life and how this treatment has affected her. imo, the story does a very good job of painting a picture of a life basically defined by consistent, down to earth miseries without it feeling excessive or like overwrought pitybait but the fact of the matter is still that the ai we get to know is someone whose worst traits only seem to harm herself rather than causing her to behave in hostile or antisocial ways that direct harm outwards.

then comes the movie arc and we see how those flaws can twist into things that do, in fact, point outwards - ai's learned fear of vulnerability and her terror in the face of rejection and hostility can become cowardice when placed in the context of her outright refusal to have emotionally difficult conversations with people who are trying to reach her. her self-isolation makes her push away and reject when people offer her vulnerability and she is so used to having to make decisions for and protect herself, in having no other people in her corner that she can consult and have reciprocal dynamics of care with, that it leads her to be selfish and self-centered, making decisions for herself and other people and acting on them because she's decided it's what's best without consulting the other party or really taking into account their feelings.

and it all makes perfect sense! i remember being sooooo nervous going into the production phase of the movie arc because we got that bit with gotanda purposely riling up ruby where it seemed like they were setting up ai to have been a secretly deeply angry and bitter person and that just didn't make sense to me - ai to me had always been characterized not by bitterness but by self-hate, contradictory resignation and hope and a terrible loneliness. to my relief, this is also the route the movie arc takes with her - when ruby has her breakthrough, this is in a moment where ruby finally comes to understand ai as a "fragile girl" who was "always crying". and these flaws as properly fleshed out by the movie arc make perfect sense for a girl like that - a fragile person who's had to learn imperfect methods of protecting herself because nobody else will do it for her.

i'm not kidding when i called this risky, too! there really were a surprising amount of people who saw the nino/ai conflict and the hikaai breakup and lost sympathy for ai, especially in the latter case. i saw a lot of people assigning her blame, saying that she should have or shouldn't have done XYZ thing and that it was her own fault for how things turned out. but that's the risk you run when you allow a character to make a real, honest to god mistake that hurts other characters in turn.

for everything else the movie arc does wrong, this was the thing it had to do right. the ultimate conclusion of Ai's posthumous arc is a complete breaking down of the "perfect" Ai, both as an in-universe public figure and as a fictional character - in other words, humanizing her. but that can't be done without an acknowledgement of ai as a flawed human who has just as much power to cause pain as the people who hurt her in turn do.

[skania]

Oshi no Ko Chapter 154 Thoughts - Or the many many parallels between Ai/Kamiki and Akane/Aqua

In my post about last chapter, I listed a number of parallels showing that the way Kamiki felt about Ai is very reminiscent of the way Aqua felt about Akane.

I also said:

if Aka pulls that, then that would confirm that all of these parallels are very much intentional.

And what did Aka pull this chapter?

To top it off, now it isn't only Kamiki's feelings that parallel Aqua's. Ai's feelings are very much like Akane's, to the point that she nearly quotes her word for word at times 😭

I'll start chronologically because the amount of parallels is just insane. To keep this short, I won't bring up the Kamiki/Aqua parallels since I already went over those here. I'll just focus on Ai!

Ai didn't want to break up with Kamiki, but she did it because she feared that she and her children would be burdens to him, who was almost on the verge of breaking due to the weight of life.

Does that ring any bells?

Akane didn't want to break up with Aqua, but she was willing to do so because she feared that she and their fake relationship were burdening him by worsening the weight of his guilt.

Ai wanted to stay with Kamiki forever, just like Akane with Aqua.

Ai wanted to carry Kamiki's burden and walk into the future with him, just like Akane with Aqua.

Ai didn't know what loving someone felt like, but Kamiki was the first time she felt she wanted to love someone that way. Akane didn't know what loving someone that way felt like, either. Aqua was her first.

Most importantly:

Ai wanted to save Kamiki, just like Akane wants to save Aqua. While it was translated as "help" in English, in Japanese Ai uses the exact same verb as Akane when she says that she wants to "save" Aqua.

Even their expressions when thinking about their wish are similar 😭

And the thing is that — technically, logically — none of this can be a coincidence, because this is a fictional story and Aka is nearly using copy-pasting to stablish these parallels. But since this is Aka we're talking about, whether this will lead anywhere or turn out to be just bait remains to be seen lol

I feel like Ai isn't only paralleling Akane this chapter though, it's also possible to establish parallels between her and Aqua. Namely, Aqua also broke up with Akane to protect her, Aqua didn't understand what love was and he showed that he wanted to love Akane despite it.

Plus, when Aqua broke up with Akane to protect her, he did so in a way that would deliberately paint him in a bad light — just like Ai with Kamiki.

I'd also like to point out that in this chapter, Ai's feelings are described as, well, "Ai" 愛. In Japan, "Ai" 愛 is the strongest form of love, which can be either platonic or romantic. This is very relevant, because by making Ai's feelings for Kamiki so strikingly similar to Akane's for Aqua, Aka has essentially confirmed strongly implied that the kind of love Akane feels for Aqua is "Ai" 愛, too.

And Ai's "Ai" 愛 was romantic.

For those who aren't familiar with the concept of "Ai" in Japan, I feel like this post explains it very well:

愛 (Ai): sacrificial, unconditional, love for the other person's sake (often parallels the Greek agape, but can extend into philos as sawa mentions) 恋 (Koi): selfish, conditional, love for one's own sake (often parallels the Greek eros) While both can be used for romantic love, you cannot simply swap out one for the other. The contrast between the two shows up clearly in the したい forms of 愛する and 恋をする: 愛(Ai)したい I want to love [someone in a deep, unconditional way] 恋(Koi)がしたい I want to [fall in] love [with someone and experience the "high" of being in love]

If you ask me, the contrast between those two types of love perfectly exemplifies the difference with the way Akane's and Kana's feelings are being written. Coincidentally, Kana herself described her feelings as 恋 (Koi) in Chapter 150 lol

So considering all of this, I'm having the hardest time not seeing Kamiki and Ai as a sort of "failed" Aqua and Akane. Kamiki and Ai were too broken, and neither could handle their relationship in a healthy way despite their best intentions and how much they loved each other. Kamiki was too dependant on her, Ai broke up with him in the clumsiest way possible and Kamiki lashed out in a selfish, tragic way.

I'd argue that despite their mishaps, Aqua and Akane have already shown that they're healthier than Kamiki and Ai were. Even when he was at his lowest, Aqua was self-aware and did his best to not depend on Akane too much. When he faltered, Akane reminded him that it's important that they remain independent so they can have a healthy relationship.

Which takes me to something I think is very important:

Ai thought that Kamiki would be fine without her, but she was wrong. If she had been right, then maybe she would be alive today and she and Kamiki would've gotten back together later down the line.

I'm sure that Akane, too, thinks that Aqua will be fine without her. Aqua most definitely thinks the same thing about Akane.

And for them to be able to have a healthy relationship, it's important for them to be right. They need to be able to be fine without the other, and as of now, it seems like Aqua is finally making progress in that regard.

But what about being happier? Akane was at her happiest when she was with Aqua, and according to Aqua himself, it was the same for him. If we forget all the recent fiascos for a second and entertain the thought of Akane and Aqua once again, I feel like this should be the biggest factor into whether or not they get back together.

After all, if they get back together it shouldn't be because Aqua can't function without Akane. It should be because he wants to be with her (and she with him). So if Aka were to be a good writer allow them to find their way back to each other, this time spent apart could be crucial to let them restart on a healthy base.

But I digress! 😂 Instead of getting ahead of myself, I just want to enjoy the fact that these parallels are right there for everyone to see. At least no matter what happens, we now pretty much have confirmation that the way Aka wrote Aqua and Akane was both, romantic and the strongest form of love.

As for the plot, the fact that Ai's wish was this clear kind of opens an entire can of worms questions-wise. Moreover, I feel like if telling Kamiki that Ai loved him was Aqua's revenge plan all along, things like these would make very little sense in retrospective:

So for the sake of logic, I'm inclined to believe that Aqua, who didn't know what love was and who held a grudge against Kamiki, may have wanted to believe that Ai truly couldn't love Kamiki. He may have desperately wanted to believe that Ai was saying the truth, because otherwise taking revenge against Kamiki would mean going against Ai's wishes.

I feel like Aqua originally misinterpreting Ai's words is supported by the fact that even during the movie recording, Aqua was shown to not understand Ai.

So, what changed his mind? What made him finally realize that Ruby's portrayal was right and that Ai truly did love Kamiki?

Plus, Aqua has had that DVD for years now, which means that nothing was stopping him from realizing that Akane herself was echoing Ai's feelings for Kamiki throughout their relationship.

But I better stop myself right here, because if I start theorizing about this there will be no end to it. The possibilities are endless, so I'd rather just wait and let Aka either pleasantly surprise like he did this chapter me or continue to disappoint me as he is prone to do 😂

edit;

I just realized there are even more parallels when you get down to it. I mentioned before in my Chapter 97 post that during the phone-call that ultimately leads to their break-up, Aqua and Akane are like two ships in the night. They both want the same thing (to stay together), but in her haste to help him, Akane makes a choice that leads to their separation.

The same thing happens with Ai and Kamiki. They both want the same thing (to stay together), but in her haste to not burden him, Ai chooses to walk away from him.

Ai doesn't understand her own love and is thus unable to understand the extent of Kamiki's. She makes the mistake of thinking that the best way to save Kamiki is to not impose more burdens on him, when all he wanted was to stay with her. I'd argue something very similar happened with Akane. She made the mistake of thinking that the best way to help Aqua was to carry out his revenge for him, when all Aqua wanted from her was to remain by her side.

[foreverppl]

Orla’s liberation comes at the price of the merc’s. The further they entrench themself into being used as an implement for her to use to her ends, the more divorced they become to themself (though, even that’s a bit complicated. Who is the merc without Orla? Her guiding hand. Her crook shepherding. Her word governing.) She’s building her empire; the merc’s shoveling their grave. But at the same time, her empire doesn’t necessarily guarantee her own (true) freedom and is, in fact, a kind of gilded cage in its own right. You painstakingly build yourself a palace behind enemy lines, with all the luxuries you can scrounge together. Give yourself every comfort, loud music to drown out whatever ghosts you’re still trying to outrun, good sex, good food, people who will jump to murder for you without blinking an eye… yet it’s difficult to truly allow yourself to relish in any of it for more than a couple fleeting moments when you know there are serpents slithering just right outside the gates. Doesn’t matter how much you fortify your house of cards, it can still all come crumbling down with a gust of wind. And what then? One king (queen) deposes another, Vapolis continues on. No one will mourn. Orla knows this. Orla is terrified by this.

Anyway.. @vapolis sending you my therapy bill as I type this.

[phantomchick]

The ending of Oshi no Ko vs The beginning (chapter 166 vs 10)

So as you can see, there's clear evidence of intentional parallels happening here. This is the aftermath of Ai's death that mirrors the aftermath of Aqua's. Aka already claimed to have the ending planned well in advance months ago so it's not a big surprise that even the ending panels of the first (not counting the prologue) and last chapters match.

And yet Oshi no Ko still falls flat despite fulfilling its promise of a revenge-tragedy.

I think the biggest problem it has is the way the last chapter tells us instead of shows us as chapter 10 did.

Yes chapter 10 also used narrative text boxes a lot, but I argue that the effect then was much more immersive.

With them being used with precision to move us through a time skip with only the most necessary information about the fall out for the characters, even the distance had the effect of doing characterisation work with Aqua describing in a narrative text box how the policemen hid the scene from Ruby but Aqua felt his mother's body going cold beneath him as they arrived - this use of the text boxes casual tone over child Aqua sitting in his dead mother's lap gave a sense of disassociation and shock to the scene.

Even the textboxes turning black to mirror Aqua's dark emotions concerning his revenge as the star in his eye turned black showed how much attention was being paid to their use.

Ruby.

Ruby felt much more real in chapter 10, her rant about the internet's callous response to Ai's murder felt real and emotionally charged. In comparison, for all she's the main subject of the last chapter, she feels like a 2d cut out of herself, barely in there for all we see her struggling through Akane's observant gaze.

She expresses her motivation to be an idol despite hardship by acknowledging that Aqua's right about idolwork being difficult and cruel but reminding him that despite the darkside of the entertainment industry, their mother 'shone' very brightly. The talk about how Ruby shines more the darker things get and how this is a good thing because it reaches out to people trapped in darkness of their own (just like her when she was a terminally ill cancer patient) is clearly meant to echo this idea.

Frankly it fails.

Ruby feels hollow.

To the point where we barely get any insight into Ruby's real feelings at all or any emotional connection with her in comparison, by 166 it's genuinely unclear whether or not she's lying even to the portrait of her dead family when she's 'alone' on her way out the door.

We don't see a conversation between her and her adoptive mother about Aqua, we don't see her talking to Akane at all. We see her grief and her success from a deified distance, just like the fans do. And it alienates us from the character.

Lies are love and she has two stars in her eyes. Just like her mother did.

I think this more than anything condemns the idol industry, she has to keep lying even to herself about her job being fun because otherwise what was all that pain and suffering and loss for?

Aqua died in a murder-suicide (shout out to Taiki for experiencing a loved one doing this twice, poor guy) to give his little sister success in a job that she has to get up at 5.30 for, devote her entire youth to and will have to quit in less than a decade. It has to matter, that she provides escapism for people who are suffering like she did, but it doesn't change the grim reality of her exploitation.

I think the lack of dialogue in the final chapter and the loss of voice for Ruby in the last few arcs mirrors the loss of agency she experiences as she becomes the ultimate idol, everyone's star.

But that doesn't change the fact that from a reader perspective it's just bad writing. Aka failed to carry his audience with him to the finish line and his messages about the idol industry were blurred by the rushed plot after the movie arc began.

If it weren't for Mengo's art hard carrying the clumsily executed story, I can honestly say that I don't think many would have read this manga all the way to the end.

[romchat]

Drama Rec: I Am Married...But!

Every time I watch Taiwanese dramas I always kick myself that I don't watch more. Netflix's latest I Am Married...But! is such a gem. A romcom with an edge, the drama asks the age-old question of is there really a happily ever after when the fairy tale ends.

The story follows I Ling, a married woman who contemplates divorce everyday. After falling in love with her husband Xue You in a classic meet-cute, I Ling soon becomes disenchanted with married life and having to manage her in-laws and her sweet but man-child of a husband. The story takes a turn when a work client forces I Ling to sign up for and play with a dating app they've designed, and suddenly she connects with someone who seems to represent everything good and different from her everyday life.

Straddling the line between fantasy (hello, our FL has hotties played by Tseng Ching Hua, Fu Meng Po, AND Jasper Liu chasing after her???) and hilariously painful realism, I Am Married...But! is a great example of the zippy and compassionate storytelling Taiwan is so good at. Apparently, the production team did surveys with real married couples to understand the challenges they experienced post-wedding and it shows with so many moments reminding me of stories from my own IRL married (and newly divorced) friends. And what I especially appreciated is that drama doesn't let I Ling off the hook--she too realizes how she has had a hand in her own misery and that Xue You isn't necessarily the loser she thinks he is. It's not a perfectly crafted drama but it manages to touch upon a lot of taboo topics most romances skip over with equal parts humor and empathy. Marriage is hard and the show offers all its characters some much needed grace in their struggle.

Also, special shoutout to actress Alice Ko who plays I Ling's exasperation with such naturalism and charm. She and all her leading men have crackling chemistry that makes you want to root for the best possible outcome for all of them.

Final Verdict: Would definitely recommend for anyone wanting a light watch that still manages to pull at the heartstrings. It's 12 episodes but the total runtime is around 6.5 hours so perfect for a weekend binge.

Bonus: I can't emphasize enough the eye candy on display in this drama. The casting director deserves a raise.

[madfanatic]

Kirby and their friends asking for candies in a nice and a lovely halloween day 🎃

You can buy a full quality version of this ilustration! (and also a a PDF version to print it as a poster) right here on my Ko-Fi!!!

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

I cannot take that message from Shadow and Bone trilogy "All power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" seriously for three reasons:

It's used to demean and shame having any kind of power, no matter how well it's used. And it's directed to an oppressed minority. Basically, the message is that it's better to sit around and do nothing rather than take matters into your own hands and fight back for liberation of your people, even if it risks your own corruption.

The author later somewhat realizes her mistake and goes back on her words. But her favoritism is clear and while one character is shamed and punished for reaching for "too much power", the other is rewarded for it.

Everytime I read that quote, I remember this absolute gem of a scene from Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber novel series. The proof that adult/high fantasy does it better than YA (not always though):

Flora pursed her lips and let go of us: "Now you see what absolute monarchy is. This is how power corrupts, debauches a man."

"I was debauched and corrupted long before I had power" - Random responded cooly. "You can leave us now, sister."

[chaos0pikachu]

Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes?

Short answer: No. anyways, in the following essay I will explain that James Cameron is a weeb...

(okay fine~~ lets actually do this)

TLDR: discussing what media globalization is, how fandom can distill it down to only American/European cinema, showcasing how a lot of current BL is influenced by countries within it's own proximity and NOT "the west" but each other, also James Cameron is still a weeb

I had seen a post that basically proposited that BL was being influenced by modern western romance tropes and had used things like omegaverse and mafia settings as an example. I found this, in a word, fucking annoying (oh, two words I guess) because it's micro-xenophobic to me.

It positions western - and really what we mean by this is American/European countries, we're not talking about South American countries are we? - cinema as the central breadbasket of all cinema in and of itself. Inherently, all following cinema must be in some way, shape, or form, influenced by American/European standards, and as such America/European countries are directly responsible for cinema everywhere else, and these places - namely non-white countries - do not influence each other, nor have their own histories in regards to storytelling or cinema and do not, in turn, also influence American/European film making either.

Now like, do I think all of that~~ is intentionally malicious thinking on behalf of folks in fandom? No, so chill out.

I do, however, think a lot of it is birthed from simple ignorance and growing up in an environment where ~The West~ is propagated to be central, individual, and exceptional as opposed to the monolith of "Asia" - by which we mean China, Korea, Japan don't we? How often in discussions of Asian countries is Iran, India, or Saudi Arabia brought up even tho they are all Asian countries? - or the monolith that is South America - in which some folks might believe regions like the Caribbean and/or Central America belong to, but nope there both North America.

Anyway, what we're talking about here is the concept of "media globalization":

"The production, distribution, and consumption of media products on a global scale, facilitating the exchange and diffusion of ideas cross-culturally." (source)

"The media industry is, in many ways, perfect for globalization, or the spread of global trade without regard for traditional political borders. [...] the low marginal costs of media mean that reaching a wider market creates much larger profit margins for media companies. [...] Media is largely a cultural product, and the transfer of such a product is likely to have an influence on the recipient’s culture." (source)

Typically when I see fandom discussing what falls under MG the topic is usually focused on how "the west" is influencing Thai/Korean/Chinese/Japanese media.

Enter, Pit Babe.

Surely Pit Babe was influenced by Supernatural right? Omegaverse is huge in the west - love it, hate it, meh it - it originated in the west - specifically via Supernatural after all.

Nah.

Omegaverse has been popular in Japan and China for almost a decade, if not longer. The earliest omegaverse manga I can think of is Pendulum: Juujin Omegaverse by Hana Hasumi which was released in 2015, almost a decade ago.

(what if you added furries into omegaverse? WHAT IF?? - Japan)

There's countless popular omegaverse manga too, and the dynamics only moderately resemble the ones we're familiar with in the west. Juujin is part omegaverse and part furry/beastmen - the alphas are all beastmen the omegas are humans - while something like Ookami-kun Is Not Scary only slightly resembles omegaverse dynamics as a hybrid series - beastmen are really popular in Japan in part b/c of historical mythology (you see the combination of romantic Beastmen and Japanese culture & folklore in Mamoru Hosoda's work The Boy and the Beast and Wolf Children).

Megumi & Tsugumi (2018) is so popular they're an official English edition published by VIZ's imprint SuBlime and that's a straight up omegaverse story.

(look at the omega symbol on the cover loud and proud baby)

So if Pit Babe was influenced by anything, it certainly wasn't "the west" it was Japan, Korea and China. Because those countries have a thriving omegaverse sub-genre going and have had such for 10 plus years now. Supernatural is popular in Japan, yes, and that may be where Japan and Japanese fans originally found omegaverse as a fictional sub-genre.

HOWEVER

Japanese fans took the sub-genre, bent it, played with it, and evolved it into their own thing. As such, other countries in their proximity, like Thailand, China, and Korea who read BL and GL manga, found it and were like "hey, we wanna play too!"

(is that an omegaverse yuri novel I spy?? yes, yes it is)

When I watched the Red Peafowl trailer, it had more in common with Kinnporsche, History: Trapped, along with films and shows like: Jet Li's The Enforcer, and Fist of Legend, Donnie Yen's Flash Point, Raging Fire, and Kung Fu Jungle, Han Dong-wook's The Worst of Evil, Kim Jin-Min's My Name, Lee Chung-hyeon's The Ballerina, Baik's Believer & Believer 2, Yoshie Kaoruhara's KeixYaku, popular Don Lee films The Gangster, the Cop and the Devil and Unstoppable alongside BL manga like Honto Yajuu and Bi No Isu (probably one of the most well known yazuka manga to date).

Like, we're seeing a rise in mafia based BLs and people think that's because of "western influence" and not the absolute insane success of kinnporsche??? Especially in countries like China, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and other Asian countries???

Mafia films and gang shows aren't even that popular here in America/Europe; don't get me wrong, they still get made and exist, but the last full length film was The Irishman which did not make it's budget back, and while Power is still on-going it's not a smash hit either. The heyday of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire, Goodfellas, and Scarface are long gone. And if you've watched any those shows or films they have very little in common with Kei x Yaku, Kinnporsche, or Red Peafowl in tone, or style.

(who knew martin just wanted to make his al pacino/robert de niro fanfic come to life all these years?)

Another example, The Sign, which is clearly taking inspiration from Chinese costume dramas: Ashes of Love, Fairy and Devil, White Snake (and it's many adaptions), Guardian, & Ying Yang Master Dream of Eternity. Alongside Hong Kong and Korean cop and romance shows like Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Hotel Del Luna, Director Who Buys Me Dinner, First Love, Again, and previously mentioned cop dramas.

Like, I know y'all don't think Twins is influenced by, what, American sports classic Angels in the Outfield?? Gridiron Gang?? Rocky?? Nah that shit is inspired by the popularity of sports manga like Haikyuu!!, Slam Dunk, Prince of Tennis (which even has a Chinese drama adaption), and the like. And also probably History 2, & Not Me but I'm like 87% sure Twins is just Haikyuu fanfic.

So like, does this mean that there's NO history in which American and European cinema influenced these countries? What, no, obviously that's not true, American/European totally have had media influence on countries like Korea, Japan, etc.

Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka considered "the father of manga" was inspired by Walt Disney's work on Bambi. Another more recent and prominent example is director Yeon Sang-ho and his film Train to Busan.

"And it was Snyder’s movie [Dawn of the Dead, 2004], not the 1978 original, that filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho recalled as his first encounter with the undead. “That was when I started my interest in zombies,” Yeon said, in an email interview through a translator from South Korea. Even today, he added, “it’s the most memorable and intense zombie movie I’ve ever seen.”" (source)

HOWEVER, the global influence doesn't stop there. It's not a one-way street. Yeon Sang-Ho was inspired by Zack Synder's Dawn of the Dead, a remake of George Romero's own work, but Yeon Sang-Ho's work has inspired countless Korean film makers to make their own zombie media; following Train to Busan there's been: Kingdom (2019 - current), All of Us Are Dead (2022), Zombie Detective (2020), Zombieverse (2023), Alive (2020), Rampant (2018).

And hey, wouldn't you know it now we're starting to see more zombie media coming out of places like Japan (Zom 100 the manga, movie, and anime) and High School of the Dead.

Do you know what Domundi's series Zombivor (2023, pilot trailer only) reminds me of? It's NOT The Walking Dead (which is the only relevant zombie media America has created in the last decade) it's Korea's All of Us Are Dead (2022). Comparing the trailers, the settings, the tone, it's clear where Zombivor is pulling inspiration from: Korean zombie cinema. NOT American zombie cinema.

In fact a lot of Domundi's shows - Cutie Pie, Middleman's Love, Naughty Babe, Bed Friend - are all very clearly inspired by Korean filmmaking, specifically that of romantic kdramas from the 2016 - 2020 era. Not always in story, but rather in technique.

This is media globalization. It's not simply ~The West~ influencing non-American/European countries but countries who are often more close in terms of: proximity, culture, and trade are going to have more influence on each other.

It is far more likely that Aoftion (Naughty Babe, Cutie Pie, Zombivor) was influenced by watching Train to Busan, All of Us Are Dead, and other Korean zombie shows and films than a single episode of Walking Dead.

My point isn't that this goes one way only, but rather it is very literally a global thing. This includes American and European film makers being influenced by non-American and European cinema.

Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan, the Wachowski sisters, George Lucas and James Cameron have all been influenced by Japanese film making, especially the works of Akira Kurosawa, Satoshi Kon, and Mamoru Oshii.

John Wick's entire gun-fu sub-genre is heavily influenced by classic Hong Kong action films, specifically John Woo films. Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, Voltron, Young Justice, My Adventures with Superman are all obviously inspired by Japanese anime but animated by a Korean animation studio (Studio Mir). Beyond that, the rise in adult animated dramas like Castlevania, Critical Role Vox Machina, and Invincible to name a few are very clearly taking inspiration from anime in terms of style. The weebs that were watching Adult Swim's Inuyasha, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z have grown up and are now working in Hollywood.

Okay so like, what's the point of all this? What's the issue? Since American/European cinema does influence et all cinema does any of this really matter?

YES.

I take contention with this line of thinking because it centers "the west" and our supposed individual importance way to much. Declaring definitively that "BL is being influenced by western tropes" and then including tropes, narratives, and film making styles that aren't inherently western and actually have major roots in the cinema of various Asian countries, removes the existence of individual history these countries have which are rich, varied, and nuanced. It removes the "global" part of globalization by declaring "the globe" is really just America and Europe.

It distills these countries down to static places that only exist when American/European audiences discover them.

BL doesn't exist in a vacuum you can trace the development of Korean BL to the development of Korean het dramas almost to a T. You can also trace their development to the queer history of each country and how Thailand interacts culturally with China, Japan, Korea, etc and vice versa. It also ignores the history of these countries influencing American cinema as well. Don't mistake "the globe" for only your sphere of experience.

Anyway James Cameron is a damn weeb y'all have a good night.

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI | Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes?

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]

[charmwasjess]

As someone with the own Jedi blorbo who just wants to do Lore Keeper/Historian stuff I need like everything on Ko Shka. Please tell me they survive Order 66.

Also since you're done metas on Ataru , Soresu and Makashi are we going to get some for the rest of the forms? (Would really like your thoughts on Niman/Form VI.)

Hope your weekend was a good one!

OHH! What a delightful ask! How about a trade? :D I’d absolutely love to hear more about your Lore Keeper OC as well!! 

Master Ko Shka is the kind of person who has made an artform out of being alone. She likes her own company, and the company of her books, and the lizard-chickens that hiss and peck around the courtyard of the remote, snowy forest temple of Oueyjo.

Her name is a play on the Russian word for cat, koshka, because she has cat energy to me: considered, selective, the queen of her domain. An Arkanian with pale hair and green eyes, she excelled as a Padawan and could have been on track to Chief Librarian like her close friend Jocasta Nu, but she opted for a quieter life of an outpost caretaker away from the Temple Archives. She specializes in translation, particularly from ancient languages. She loves stories, and has dedicated years to translating specifically Jedi cultural stories and legends. (Lol, "legends," she’s probably translating a few old EU novels.) 

She was former creche clanmates with Jocasta, and a couple years older than Dooku and Sifo-Dyas, part of their larger friend group. (She thinks those two are ridiculous (affectionate) but low key doesn’t know why Jo hangs out with them so often - too much drama for her taste and Sifo-Dyas is SO LOUD even in sign language.)

Oh yeah, she speaks entirely in sign language! I have a headcanon that Jedi learn universal sign language at the same time as Basic, so even younglings can communicate it in fluently.*

As for her life after Order 66, my friend and wonderful reader @akaratna was kind enough to ask to take Ko Shka on a post-Order 66 adventure, so I think she does make it to that era, and may have another story in her aside from her appearance in my fic Rabbit Heart. :D I honestly can't wait.

*I also think Jedi incorporate signs unique to their own lineage or even to an individual, in addition. A common example would be a Padawan recognizing their Master’s unique signs in battle, but my favorite use I ever wrote was Dooku and Sifo-Dyas stopping to have an impassioned silent argument with each other in the middle of an armed standoff. The two of them would absolutely have and use a secret code language with just each other, probably invented for talking in class.

[hamliet]

Oshi no Ko's Angel of Light: Kamiki Hikaru

So, I wrote a review of Oshi no Ko previously, just not on this blog. I talked there about the meaning of Hoshino Ai as a name (it's literally hoshi no eye, Ai spelled in katakana to reinforce that it's a loanword, meaning starry eye, and of course, eye/ai is a homonym for love) and how Oshi no Ko uses wordplay and puns to introduce its themes.

Naturally, I wanted to talk about the other parent, whose name is just as significant.

Kamiki Hikaru is literally "god of light/shining god." Well, okay, sort of. It's technically "kami of light," and kami doesn't translate super well into English. It's often referred to as a god in Shintoism, but it's not quite the western perception of a god. Spirit is another popular translation.

Of course, this references the supernatural themes of the story, as well as Hikaru's role. See, "angel of light" is what the Christian Bible calls Lucifer, the Christian devil. Pretty fitting for Hikaru's role in the story as the main villain.

But wait! There's more! Lucifer itself, as a name, refers to the planet Venus, known as the morning star. Which, of course, is the "star" we see in the story associated with Ai.

(Yes, the story is very much using distinctly Christian allusions alongside Shinto ones.)

Hikaru, like Lucifer, is known to, well, want everything for himself. That doesn't mean he wants all the worship of the world like Lucifer literally did according to mythology. No, instead it's far more insidious but no less disturbing: he sees himself as entitled to dictate how the world runs. He decides whose life is worth living, and makes others pay for mistakes of people they don't even know. He's playing God, in other words--exactly what Lucifer did to fall from heaven in Christian mythology (it's not actually super biblical hence why I'm using "mythology").

Lucifer is also called "Satan" obviously, which literally means "accuser" in Hebrew. That's kind of the perfect summary for what Hikaru sees himself as: he's visiting his hatred of an abuser he has every right to hate on everyone and everything that remotely reminds him of her.

The thing is, as said above, Hikaru does have the right to hate Airi, just like Aqua has the right to hate him. But following the path of revenge is Not The Way.

So, is Hikaru Satan?

No. He's a person.

The Path To Hikaru

Hikaru is not all that different from the other characters we know and love--Ai, Ruby, Kana, Akane, and especially Aqua. Fitting since they're all idols of sorts (yes, Akasaka is constantly using religious references to add social commentary to the idea of an "idol" as a false god/object of worship). They're also all actors.

Hikaru is what Aqua risks becoming. No, seriously. Hikaru was traumatized as a child via rape that led to the creation of a life.

As a result he's pretty anti-life as a whole, and especially anti-woman. He's constantly seeking revenge on women, hence his murder-happy spree. The problem is that he's not seeing these women as individuals: he sees everyone and everything as a representation of Airi, the person who assaulted him.

Also, society as a whole's attitude towards male victims of sexual assault, especially male victims of attractive women, means that Hikaru would not be seen as a victim. One of OnK's major themes is how messed up society is and how it dehumanizes people via fitting them into roles, and this is a perfect example of the harm that can come from it. Hikaru would be seen as a boy, and all boys clearly want sex. A famous actress slept with him? Lucky him! Even though this never came out publicly, Hikaru absolutely knew this was the case and it certainly plays a role in his grudge against the world.

Even though Airi is dead (probably as a result of him provoking her husband by revealing that he wasn't the father), he still isn't satisfied. No, Airi is still everywhere. Killing the perpetrator, making them pay, did not erase his trauma.

If Aqua kills Hikaru, his trauma will likewise not be erased. Not his trauma as Gorou, not his trauma as Aqua. Hikaru's death will fix absolutely nothing in his life besides stopping more murders, but there are ways to do that that, y'know, don't involve killing. If Aqua kills Hikaru, he will lose the best part of Gorou (valuing life) and the best part of Aqua (the future Ai wanted for him, a future with Kana and Ruby).

Aqua, You are Your Father

Aqua, you are your father. It's almost like the entire series has been trying to give you this message and you keep ignoring it. (By the way, because I know I'm going to get asks about this, I am NOT saying Aqua and Hikaru are moral equivalents. Not at all. I'm just saying that Aqua is walking a path that will end with him being just like Hikaru if he doesn't get shoved off said path.)

From being the violent stalker who attacks someone who has never felt loved in his first acting job after Ai's death to scenes like this:

The story is asking Aqua to take a good long look at himself, and he's trying desperately to avoid doing this. Why? Because he's also playing God, same as his father, same as Satan in Christianity. He thinks he is responsible for everything; a natural, childish attitude that people grow out of as they age.

Of course, Aqua is not nearly as toxic in this as Hikaru--he's not attacking innocent people--but the root of this is still a belief that he somehow controls what happens, when he doesn't. He doesn't at all.

Aqua, too, is just a person.

But Aqua struggles to understand what it means to be a person, to be Hoshino Aquamarine.

He struggles to see other people as people, too. This ranges from sabotaging Ruby's auditions to how he treats Akane to his protecting Kana without considering what she wants. It's been brought up multiple times in the story so far:

Aqua also fundamentally does not see Ai as a human being, either. Unlike Ruby, who calls Ai "Mama," Aqua only ever calls her "Ai," her persona. Aqua and Ai are foils to Kana and her own mother, in that Kana's mom lived through Kana only to abandon her, and Aqua is living through his mom... but ignoring what she would actually want.

(Ruby isn't flawless or perfectly healthy, and the story certainly doesn't frame them as good twin bad twin, but Ruby's overall worldview is absolutely more in line with what the story wants to endorse.) That's why we have lines like this, where Ruby reveals that she has a healthier view of their mother than Aqua does. She knows Ai was flawed.

This is extra notable because he has 0 problems calling Hikaru his father. It's almost like Aqua is drowning in self-hatred, in feeling unloved, in the idea that he brings bad luck just by existing.

He'll call out Ruby for her negative traits, but Aqua thinks he deserves them. Aqua dehumanizes himself, the same way he dehumanizes Ai, and he has to see both his mother and himself people before he can step off this path.

Essentially, what he tells Ruby here is exactly what he needs to realize, but he has not done so.

The root of Aqua's God complex is that he cannot move past his trauma. It's actually psychologically realistic that a child who experienced such an event would be stuck in a childish mindset wherein they feel guilt for not being able to save their mother.

But it's not just Ai that Aqua couldn't save. It's Sarina, too. She is the one who introduced him to Ai, after all. He didn't move on from her death in his past life, either, which can probably be traced back to his own tragic birth circumstances--the idea that he only brings death, because his mother died giving birth to him. Gorou even states that he became a doctor to help people like his mother, but the point is also that he wanted to bring life, not death.

Except, he isn't God. Neither Gorou nor Aqua are. He can't save Sarina, and that isn't his fault. But Sarina ends up okay as Ruby, not through his own intervention. Aqua couldn't save Ai, but that's not his fault.

The point I'm making here is that Aqua needs to heal the hurting child within him. The story has also brought up the theme of children suffering at the hands of the entertainment industry numerous times:

His path towards healing would involve taking a long look not just at the hurting child in himself, but the hurting child in Hikaru, too. Which is not the same as excusing. After all, we already saw what happened with Aqua thought his dad was dead: despite the supposed justice and his proclamations about being free, he was still every inch the trapped, terrified, traumatized child afraid to live. Killing Hikaru won't be any different.

Becoming Human

So, is there hope for Aqua?

Yeah. A ton of it.

Despite the tragedy of Ai's story, every other arc has ended optimistically. The story's optimism, also, is fundamentally rooted in humanity. Every character, even the ones who seem like exploitative jerks like the producers who edited Akane to look bad and the self-centered mangakas, end up having their thoughts and motives explored, and we see where they are coming from. Not only that, but they have the best of intentions.

Frankly, this is true to life as well. Precious few people see themselves as the villain. Almost everyone thinks they're doing the right thing. It's very human.

The end of the reality dating show arc is kind of what I expect in the end here. There, all contestants came together and pooled their unique individual talents to exonerate Akane. I would expect Ruby, Miyako, Kana, and Akane (who herself has finally realized that she can step into her own personhood instead of trying to be Ai/whatever Aqua needs and vowed to stop him) to come together to save Aqua from himself.

Aqua is incredibly loved, and he doesn't seem to understand this. Love is what enabled Ai to die smiling. A lack of love, feeling undeserving of love, is what torments Sarina/Ruby, Aqua, Kana, and more. The bastardization of love is what torments Hikaru.

Love allows someone to be themselves, truly, to individuate. This is what Aqua needs to learn:

He also doesn't need to earn the love of those around him, nor the love of Ai. She loved him just because he was her son, and all she wanted was for him to be happy and to live.

Imo, it's pretty unlikely Akasaka plans to end the series with Aqua becoming Hikaru 2.0. My guess is that Hikaru will be stopped because of Aqua, and he'll even likely die, but not at Aqua's hand. I suspect Akane, Ruby, and especially Kana (the one person Aqua has consistently placed above Ai) will help save Aqua from himself.

[lifeismarvelous]

February 2018 vs. now

14 year old me was OBSESSED with them…….

[aihoshiino]

Miss Genius Idol Unmatched: An Ai Hoshino Character Analysis Series

“Ai Hoshino was the sort of girl you could find anywhere. She didn't know how to love or trust other people. She was timid, sensitive, and hurt by misunderstandings with her friends. She really was just an ordinary everyday girl. So she told a lie. A lie so big that it completely concealed her fragile heart. She always smiled and never showed any sign of weakness. She was beautiful, wholesome and pure. She loved everyone, no matter who they were, and would never think of betraying them. She was a pet, cherished by all. And it was those very people, brimming with their filthy human desires who turned her into an idol.”

Oshi no Ko chapter 137 - "Idol"

Unlike many of my opinions about Oshi no Ko, I don't think it's particularly controversial to say that Ai Hoshino is one of - if not the singular most - important character in the whole series. As its titular character and beating emotional heart, Ai's tragedy is the foundation on which the rest of the series is built, and her love is the light that illuminates the future for Aqua and Ruby across both of the lifetimes that they knew and loved her in turn.

It can be shocking, then, to revisit the series and remember that despite her cataclysmic impact on the narrative, Ai herself only appears in a fraction of the story’s chapters. Her death occurs just nine chapters into the series, leaving the reader - and her children - to grapple with the enormity of her absence. Ai leaves a void, a wound that refuses to heal, and across the series, her children’s lives are shaped by their attempts to fill this void: Aqua, through revenge; Ruby, through emulation. So to are the readers invited to follow them along in this process and to try and make sense of what Ai's sudden, violent removal from the narrative means not just for the story but their engagement with the series as a whole.

Readers like me, for example!

As anyone who has so much as glanced at me in the past two years can tell you, Ai is easily not just my favourite character in Oshi no Ko, but probably just in fiction, flat out. I Like Her A Normal Amount.

I Like Her A Normal Amount.

I've already spilled oceans of digital ink analyzing and discussing Ai as a character over the past few years I've been following the series, but with Oshi no Ko having wrapped and us as readers now having as complete a picture of Ai as a character as the narrative is going to provide us, I want to finally commit to an idea I've had floating around in my head for a good while now and begin the following analysis - Miss Genius Idol Unmatched, a series of deep-dive analysis posts in which I break down just about everything in the series relating to Ai in excruciating detail!!!

I will be analyzing Ai as a character, attempting to assemble as coherent and consistent a timeline of her life as I can based on canon information, breaking down all her most important relationships and how she is characterized in relation to them and basically just talking a whole lot about Ai Hoshino in even more exhaustive detail than I usually do.

I will continue to do my other analysis posts and respond to asks about the series as usual, but my main focus on this blog going forward will be this analysis series so please do look forward to it!

[thewhumpyprintingpress]

All your books look so good! I found the ebook bundle on your ko-fi, but I was wondering if there was any way to get a bundle with just everything you've published so far - novellas, anthologies, and all? No worries if not, I'll just have to buy them individually :)

Hello! I've updated our whumpy ebook bundle on our ko-fi so that it includes all books published by WPP from our founding in 2022 until the end of 2024. Books included in the bundle:

ABCs of Whump - Zine

Bloodbag - Novella

Cry of Fangs - Novel

Hurt and Comfort - Anthology

Once Upon a Blade - Anthology

The Whumpboratory - Anthology

For the 12 Months of Whump novellas and other novels, you can grab them from your preferred ebook retailer (though we recommend Smashwords!)