#kuno speaks

[justhivethings]

https://www.twitch.tv/hivemind404/schedule

So Mark Walden, one-time author of the HIVE series, has started streaming games on Twitch.

I've only gone to one of his streams but I already enjoyed it more than all of the other streams I've ever watched combined. He's an incredibly kind and charismatic person who is just doing this so he can feel more connected to the world as he eases into what appears to be retirement.

Problem is, looks like he's barely cracking 10 viewers at any given time. I think he deserves more attention and I think there are a lot of people out there who would really enjoy his sense of humor, stories, and funny voices. I especially don't want him to give up. Please if you're at all interested, give him a quick subscription and consider listening in on one of his upcoming streams.

[justhivethings]

I really like HIVE for this. The kids are powerful, and the adults are powerful too. The kids always have their own agency, but as they grow up, they become more involved in the adults' problems and decision-making. Some of the adults are bad, some aren't, and it's up to the kids to try to determine who to trust. It felt empowering without doing so at the expense of the adults or the logic of the story (within reason for the genre).

ok i think what gets me about the kind of post that's like '[children's media] has child soldiers, where are their parents!!' is that those stories really and truly aren't for people who'll think about that, they're for the people the children's age, who don't, for the most part, want to be kept safe or told they're too young to participate in the world, they want to be given a sword

[im-captain-basch]

The downside to watching a YouTube channel with a fairly popular voice actor is he will show up in your Netflix anime when you least suspect it.

[tobiasdrake]

Watching episode 2 of Ranma reboot and it remains like a blast from the past.

Gonna be posting spoilers and screencaps to talk about it, so all of that's after the jump.

I'm sorry that I didn't appreciate the slapstick of the original manga because Rumiko Takahashi is kind of brilliant at it.

This gag sets you up to think Akane's about to hit him for yelling misogyny at her early in the morning, but then out of absolutely nowhere his fucking dad erupts from the aether and clocks him for it instead.

That's fantastic. It uses the familiar language not just of Ranma and Akane's established dynamic but of tsundere romances in general to set the gag up, and then hits it with a startling and unexpected swerve that still pays it off but in a way the audience didn't see coming.

Speaking of Genma, bits like this:

Ranma defeats Genma using the "Look, a distraction!" technique and it's funny because he won with what most martial arts anime would consider a cowardly tactic.

But it's funnier when you know the actual art he practices, 無差別格闘流 musabetsu kakutou-ryuu. Separately translated as either "Anything Goes Style of Martial Arts" or "Indiscriminate Grappling". The latter of which is hilariously specific, as 格闘 kakutou can mean wrestling or grappling but simply refers to weaponless styles of hand-to-hand fighting.

He's a fisticuffs brawler by trade, contrasting the various adversaries he faces throughout the series who are mostly tool- or weapon-based fighters, to varying degrees of esoteric oddity.

But what makes this so funny in hindsight is the "indiscriminate" part. Ranma's martial art is built around the idea that there are no rules and whatever gets you to the finish line is fine. This distraction isn't Ranma being cowardly; It's actually part of his martial art. This is how he was trained to fight. XD

You know, I actually forgot that Dr. Tofu... existed.

But setting that aside, once I remembered who this guy is, I forgot that he's implied to be an exceptionally talented martial artist. Capable of masking his presence so thoroughly that even Ranma can't detect his movements.

That's really interesting. To my recollection, Dr. Tofu never has a single fight in the entire series. Instead, his expertise simply serves as an explanation for his familiarity with all the wild and bizarre mystical maladies that come his way.

It lets him be like, "Oh yeah, the reason you're deathly ill is because someone hit you with the 5,000 year old forbidden Chinese Slow Death Syphilitic Pressure Point technique. Here, let me apply the three-step acupressure reversal technique that was lost to history."

But now I.

I kinda.

Want to see him fight.

(Has this dude been like the DBZA Popo of Ranma 1/2 this entire time?)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA She clocks him with the water kettle to make him respectfully bow.

I did not have the cultural context to understand that joke when I was young.

Rumiko Takahashi is so good at slapstick.

Yeah, okay, I don't remember half of what I said about Akane when I was young but I recant all of it. She is so fucking cool.

Imagine if you had to do this every single morning. Every morning. No exception. Just to get to school. At sixteen.

And keep in mind that this is sexualized violence. These guys are trying to overpower her because they think she'll have to be their girlfriend if they beat her up. Every single one of them is sexually harassing her. With violence.

Fuck this entire situation, y'all. I hope she gives them all life-ruining physical injuries that ruin their ability to get scouted as professional athletes at this critical age and turn them into bitter and misanthropic thirty-somethings whining on the couch about how they peaked in high school.

That's probably not how it actually works in Japan. My American is showing. But nonetheless!

She said "Kuno-senpai". She addresses him formally using his last name because that's a normal thing to do in Japan.

Subtitles, why are you changing the way characters speak to each other? The show is released with a dub and a sub alongside one another. If people are choosing to watching the sub, they don't need you to hold their hand and Americanize it for them.

She correctly calls him Kuno in the dub here. The dub is more accurate than the sub about this line. Don't. Do that.

This guy is such a dweeb he makes Jou-senpai look cool. They nailed Kuno, King Dipshit of the Jackass Mountain Akane has to climb each morning.

This is the guy who came up with the whole "Whoever beats the shit out of Akane may claim her as their trophy" thing. He probably watches Andrew Tate videos and writes internet screeds asking why women don't respect his authority and strength. Fuck this guy.

Seriously. He just. Said this. About some girl in another class. And the boys in the school were all like, "Oh, yeah, that sounds reasonable. First one to break her leg gets the girl! Thanks for showing me the best way to express my masculinity, bruh!"

A wacky setup for Akane's personal background but also a chillingly accurate metaphor for how the Manosphere functions.

For his part, it's pretty clear that what Kuno is attracted to is martial strength. He becomes interested in the "Mystery Girl" that appeared after Ranma "fled" pretty much right after she beats his ass.

He's kind of an interesting parallel to Shampoo in that regard. I never really thought of that before, but both of their interests are predicated on how strong Ranma is.

He also makes for an interesting dynamic for Ranma, from a gender perspective. Ranma's curse and the constant menace of Kuno forces Ranma to endure firsthand the kind of harassment that Akane has to undergo in her day-to-day life.

Of course, this being Ranma 1/2, Ranma's going to be getting that from both genders throughout the series. Rumiko Takahashi created a harem dodecahedron for her story, with Ranma and Akane being beset not just by rival suitors but also by rival suitors for their rival suitors trying to kill them and win the rival suitors' love.

Kuno's just one of the crowd.

But it was nonetheless an interesting choice to give Ranma a toxic male harasser as one of his suitors, that speaks to the interesting gender dynamics at play in the series.

One last thing. Something I really love about Ranma 1/2 is the way it uniquely changes the experience of just. Being around water. Like, the ever-presence of water especially in an island nation such as Japan is a constant threat.

You really don't think about how much water there is in everyday life until you have a Jusenkyou curse.

[gsstories]

Servants of Death

The followers with the highest position of power, just below Bishop Death herself, are the Triplet Servants: Luna, Sol and Clip. These three live for their master and her goal, working as assassins and taking out those who don’t bow down to the Old Faith. Luna and Sol are the craziest of the trio, Luna finding the dismembered victims oddly beautifully grotesque while Sol is a major sadistic bastard, enjoying the pain he inflicts on others. Clip is the most sane of the bunch, and the closest follower to Bishop Death, never showing any emotion when killing.

When the Old Faith were defeated, the followers of all five Bishops ran away and hid but were all hunted down by Häxa, who at the time was a mindless beast looking for revenge after her sisters’ deaths. One by one, the general number of followers started decreasing as the enraged witch killed them all until there was only the Triplet Servants left. Häxa killed Luna and Sol, taking their charms as trophies and a reminder that the followers are soon to be gone and was then chasing after Clip who, after so long, felt imminent fear.

I have thought long and hard and I like the idea of Häxa meeting Kuno Miori (who belongs to @fernnshxj) and her friend Lucy (who belongs to @lucy6767) when they stumble upon Clip, who is nothing more than a tired and horrified being whose demise was nigh. And then Häxa appears, sickle on the follower’s throat… And so she speaks for the first time in a long while, in a low low voice…

Did you ever stop to think that eventually there's a point where your name gets mentioned for the very last time…?

Well, here it is… I’m going to kill you, Clip…

And so the witch slit their throat, killing the last follower of the Old Faith…

(First impressions? Good?? HAH!)

[colourme-feral]

A vibrant series of images featuring local farmers set against lush green foliage is one of the striking contrasts that has become a key visual direction for the film ‘The Paradise of Thorns.’ This direction was shaped through extensive research and collaboration by every team involved, including the director, art team, stylists, cinematographer, and colorists.

"When we decided to make a movie about durian farmers, we started by researching the landscape of durian orchards. Typically, the climate in Thailand is warm, so we anchored the film’s palette in green, representing the trees and foliage. Then, we thought about what would happen when people were added to these scenes. As each team did their homework, we all ended up on the same page—Thai people love vibrant, secondary colors like pink, purple, orange, and green. From there, we pulled all these ideas together and created a standardized color palette that shaped everything from our location choices to the wardrobe. We like to call it the 'Thai Color Palette.’ shared Director Naruebet ‘Boss’ Kuno.

“We hope everyone who watches the film can feel the vibrant colors of local life, the essence of being Thai, and the stories that unfold here in Thailand. Our goal is to share this unique Thai identity in a way that speaks to audiences around the world,” Boss Kuno added. from GDH's LinkedIn

Credit, credit

[juryokunojikan]

help i finished bridge arc and i'm having zoomies. dumping everything here to avoid flooding the tag.

i love how the story emphasize all the time that sekirei have a "should be" that has been deeply instilled in them and that totally screw them up. how this is taken by them as a fact that determines whether they are worthy of live or worthy of love or whatever. how the official narrative (master of the winner will have the world in their hands) ultimately taints whatever good there might be in the bond between sekirei and ashikabi. etc etc.

and then you have all those instances and characters trying to do better and reshaping that goddamit narrative into something more breathable for everyone. like how kazehana makes clear that even the weakest of them was born to love or when tsukiumi realizes that she resents Kuno because she dares to easily take what tsukiumi perceives as a merit-based reward, and by the end of the arc "forgives" her (and herself?) for this "weakness".

and, you see, one of the things that sold me on this manga is how Minato accepts and validates the feelings of the sekirei that are involved with him as something genuine and important no matter how insane the whole situation must be from his pov.

man doesn't overestimate himself, always tries to rise to the occasion and is even willing to negotiate things that he probably took for granted all his life (like his own monogamy, as he does in the finale, granting the North a happy ending and effectively destoying me and my ability to enjoy any other harem series).

look at them. I would go to war for them.

In the end, it all keeps coming back to the idea that the Sekirei are bound to a great suffering but are also capable of great love and Minato understands that fact right away. Sometimes in the middle of reading I am hit with these thoughts and ughhhh I love this young man so much, he must be one of my favorite main characters ever. It hurts me to see that he was so disliked by the fanbase.

and yet (you can beat me with a stick here) these early arcs also show how subtly but steadily he's forming some ideas about the ashikabi's right to "master" the sekirei without even realizing how bad it is, all while being encouraged by matsu and other characters to become a stronger ashikabi. like how it's bad that he can't "keep his pieces under control", or how they fucking hunted down tsukiumi or how during kazehana's winging he goes from desiring her to desiring her powers (again the struggle between love and fight) in one single page.

Its important to highlight this bc it's a point of conflict that will culminate during the next arc with Homura in charge of calling him out.

.

Now some assorted things unrelated to the above:

At the beginning of the arc we have Tsukiumi wanting to unveil the veiled sekirei for fighting dishonestly when a couple of volumes before she chose to preserve Homura's identity because for her taking advantage of a fallen rival is not the honorable thing to do. she's like a samurai who part-times as a waifu I love her so much.

Uzume, my poor girl. how scared must she have been in this moment. last time she made a deal it was with higa.

Leaving aside the obvious suicidal ideation and the fact that chapter covers aren't always canon, i was always intrigued by this homura with painted nails. Did he paint them himself? or did anyone else paint them for him? does he still do it? I know dysphoria well enough to know why he would stop doing it, but did he used to enjoy it? and where did the crest come from? Is the MBI sending nail art stickers to their overpowered alien warriors to keep them in a good mood while they're forced to kill each other? obsessed with the implications.

There's a long way to go until Musubi frees all Sekirei, including those who didn't fight until the end. for now she keeps establishing herself as a bearer of bonds/wishes just like yume was. no one else thought to ask Kuno what she wanted!

and speaking of what, I'm going to let it sink in that this sweet sweet girl died with her body lacerated not once but twice. What a fun and light-hearted story. fuck.

[fernnshxj]

Any deets about Tsubame? I just love a girl failure, she’s adorable in my opinion! (Even if a lil obsessed-)

yea i can give sum info!!!!!! she’s such a silly she’s growing on me super fast

yea she has a huge crush on miori/kuno. big lesbian,

her family owns a shrine! i don’t have any plans for then/ designs but i imagine she has a big family, being the youngest

she’s kind of a social outcast cuz of her interest in spirits and spooky stuff. she’s like. scarily dedicated. to her exorcism stuffs…

she’s also terrible at it! tsubame tries tho hrhdjjdhd she’s really knowledgeable abt demons n stuff, working with the ninja and kunoichi 👍👍

speaking of, she does not get along w lucy, my mutual @/lucy6767 oc hehehhdnd perchance jealous….

tsubame is terrible at combat. absolutely. she’s kind of cowardly so she wouldn’t fight anyone anyways. she wanted to b a kunoichi w miori but miori won’t let her. she’s worried abt her safety than anything tsubame would find some way to fuck up n hurt herself

idk if that’s good here’s some doodles to make up for it HRHNFHF 👍👍👍👍

[theofficersacademy]

Happy August! TOA is now officially five years old. None of the mods had this milestone in mind five years ago, but now that we're here, how about another five years?

Housekeeping

Current Month in TOA: Lone Moon

This month is event month, so there will be no new mission board! But like last year, the June & July Mission Board will be extended to run through the end of August. The Unaffiliated requirement remains in effect for the Unaffiliated & Faculty-specific tasks.

The event will run from August 1st to August 31st. Signups are now closed - stay tuned for more information tomorrow at noon EST!

Our monthly submission limit on the site that hosts our event signups has been reset so everyone is free to take the quiz for fun now.

We will be announcing a second 5th-Year Anniversary activity on August 4th and another on August 8th. This will not require IC participation. Stay tuned for the details.

Please don’t forget to leave feedback on our feedback poll for this month! We do check the responses regularly, so if you have concerns during the event, the feedback poll is an appropriate place to pop in. Alternatively, the mods�� DMs are always open. We're wiping the Wanted List this month so our character wish list will be fresh for the new year.

Speaking of the event, stay tuned for noon EST for more information!

Important Updates

The requirements to master a lord class acquired for participation in an event have been updated. You cannot master the class with the same event that you acquired it, but any official event afterwards (Arena, Ethereal ball, etc.) can count for its mastery

We are changing our event schedule for all subsequent years: there will now only be ONE Arena event per year, not two, and it will be held in November. Originally, the biannual Arena design was implemented to rigorously test the combat manual, which was brand new at the time. Now that the manual is more or less stable, we've decided that two Arena events is no longer necessary. Because we already had an Arena event this year in June though, the next Arena won't take place until November 2025.

TOA runs a lot of events, and it makes it difficult for our members (and the mods) to have a life outside of TOA or reply to regular threads in a timely manner. Many of our members also have great ideas of their own and have expressed interest in running their own mini events during the year, but there just hasn't been a good time for them when TOA has a big event every other month. We hope that removing the second Arena will give everyone some breathing room.

Other

BIRTHDAYS

August Mun Birthdays: Axl (1st), Arden (9th), Penny (19th), Ren (20th), Harrow (25th), Maxie (28th), Kuno (29th)

August Muse Birthdays: Ephraim (1st), Eirika (1st), Natasha (6th), Laslow (7th), Alfred (8th), Patty (10th), Yuri (12th), Ares (14th), Dheginsea (14th), Edward (15th), Kliff (19th), Shiro (22nd)

MUN ANNIVERSARIES

1st year: none

2nd year: Kano (3rd), Havoc (30th)

3rd year: Birdie (4th), Vio (5th), Vivi (6th)

4th year: Soji (7th), Maxie (8th)

5th year: Ree (3rd)

MUSE ANNIVERSARIES

1st year: Naesala (4th), Henry (6th)

2nd year: Linhardt (3rd), Seliph (10th), Camilla (23rd), Lloyd (30th)

3rd year: none

4th year: Marth (7th), Farina (8th)

Muses who have been in the group for a solid year will also be granted an Academy Brooch to put in their inventory. It doesn’t do anything. It just lets others know your character has been around the block. These characters are also granted a new opportunity to change houses if they wish to do so.

- The House Leaders

[dzgrizzle]

Even before Stanislaw Lem, E.M. Forster wrote in his 1909 novella “The Machine Stops” about iPads, email, and Zoom: one of the main characters, Vashti, speaks to her son Kuno, who lives on the other side of the world, via a glowing round plate she holds in her hand. After the conversation she catches up on the flood of electronic messages that have arrived in the meantime and then uses the plate to give a short lecture to a remote audience.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Avenger, let’s just leave. We need to rest and he’s making the room, so one of a few things is going to happen:

Gil gives us something now, we sleep, we leave in the morning and then kill Charlemagne.

Gil gives us nothing now, we sleep, we try in the morning, we get something then and kill Charlemagne.

Gil gives us nothing now, we sleep, we try in the morning, we get nothing then and kill Charlemagne anyways.

Let’s just let him make the room and not make the person we’re here to talk with angry, okay?

The glare he gave you was worth a thousand words- but he decided to speak some of them regardless. If anything, your inter-group communication was improving.

SALIERI: "Each time my fury has a chance to spark, it's drenched. This mess could have been avoided had we killed that 'Historia' at the Nameless City, as I suggested! And instead, we're playing fetch for several individuals who would be just as fine with you dead and buried!"

SALIERI: "Tell me, do you want an Avenger, or a dog? Because I'm not keen on being leashed. You wished to be accompanied by death, but you shudder at the idea of conflict. I'm beginning to grow weary of your cloying manner. But fine. Do it your way, so we can handle Charlemagne."

He yanked himself free, frustration evident in his face as he retreated downstairs.

GIL: "He's an Avenger. His mana is constantly roiling, and his ire is constantly burning. Unlike others, he doesn't have a consistent state of 'content'- for that'd be antithetical to his being. I'm sure you of all people understand the frustration of pent-up emotions? And yet, if he truly despised you, you would be consumed by that fire. Best not to take that sort of fortune for granted."

CONSTANTINE: "We could use your help, King of Heroes."

GIL: "And I'm not giving it. Even if I enjoy the Solar Cell, I have no reason to help the Servants of the Sun."

GIL: "I have errands to do tomorrow. It's a relatively small town, so you'll be fine. Now, it'll be a few more minutes until your rooms are ready. Wait until then."

NERO: "Wait!"

She exclaimed, suddenly.

GIL: "Saber. Or… Caster, this time around."

NERO: "I remember your name! Gilgamesh! You were there- part of the Lunar Holy Grail War. Your Master…"

GIL: "That was another 'instance', but I can see it fairly clearly. I was summoned to a young Master named Rin Tohsaka. We weren't really friends. My Master insisted on helping yours… and then we became temporary allies due to that whole White Titan mess. Not as if we got along then either… ugh, I'd rather not think of my actions as that 'Older Me'… it gives me a headache."

GIL: "Still, you were an intriguing star. You and Hakuno- in another story, you'd have been even more brilliant. Fate just wasn't on your side this time."

NERO: "Ha...kuno…?"

Her expression grew somber, her eyes downcast as she lightly put her hand to her chest. Her brows knit together, like she was trying hard to remember something. GIL cleared his throat.

GIL: "That's enough chatter from me. Now, shoo. Siduri's going to get upset if I don't finish up soon."

You were sent downstairs. It seemed like even NERO didn't have the energy to argue, sliding into a chair quietly.

It seemed like SIDURI had set a table for you… the food did come with the rooms, but it seemed like she had outdone herself. Several plates were set, surrounding a spread of various kinds of fishes, vegetables, and breads.

She was at the bar, cleaning some of the glasses. The conversation from before had relaxed a bit, now dulled into idle chatter between the patrons, the topic of 'salvation' being put on the backburner.

GIUSEPPE: "So that was Gilgamesh. His legend spoke of him as a grand warrior, a cruel tyrant, and a wise king. We haven't seen him fight, but his eyes were clear as the night sky. Certainly, I could feel him gazing into my very soul."

KUKULKAN: "You all spoke about him as if he was this… big shot, I guess… but was he really that great? He was smart, yes, but he didn't seem that strong."

CONSTANTINE: "The locals said he changed his 'frame', right? Perhaps he's put himself in a weaker body intentionally. Still… the King of Heroes, talking about 'running errands'. If you didn't know better, he really did seem like just a precocious little boy. A little boy who, at this moment, holds no intention of helping us."

[theredhairedmonkey]

Posting my reply to @kuno-chan’s post separately here as I’m not going to reblog slander disparaging me or others.

Also, since these are just all the same talking points lifted from elsewhere in the fandom, there’s no need to go line by line. Nevertheless, I’ve given this plenty of time and thought, and will break my take down into four parts:

Callum and Rayla

No, Callum is not obsessed with Rayla. Sorry, but one brief evening of him mourning the anniversary of Rayla leaving isn’t a constant obsession lol. This scene shows he still has feelings for her, but it does not constitute a constant preoccupation. For the vast majority of time in s4 before she returned, he hardly acknowledged her. Even when she returned and left again in 4x03, he did not have a any reaction at all, and went along with his day.

Callum is a deeply caring person who would do anything for those he loves, including Ezran, Soren, and Amaya (Yes, even Soren, as Callum was about to fight Elmer to defend him despite being injured himself). This fierce loyalty is part of his nature, not evidence of obsession over one person. His willingness to fight for others can be both a strength and a flaw at times.

At the same time, as Finnegrin points out to Callum in 5x08, his friends are also willing to do anything for him too. It’s a two-way street.

Meanwhile, Rayla seems more singularly focused on Callum, calling him the "best thing I ever had" and clearly pining for him constantly. Her moral compass now revolves around Callum and protecting Callum specifically. So between the two, she displays more obsessive tendencies regarding their relationship. To the point that I have mentioned before it’s a little disconcerting that most of her character arc in s4 seems to just be about getting back together with him.

Speaking of which, even after they reconcile, the lead writer dropped the bombshell that they’re actually not currently dating:

Which really begs the question, if Rayla is so eager to resume their relationship, why haven’t they? If Callum is so obsessed with her, why hasn’t he taken her back yet?

This doesn’t mean Callum doesn’t care deeply about her. He absolutely does. But if Callum were truly obsessed, he likely would have immediately resumed the relationship. The fact that he has not suggests he has set healthy boundaries and is not driven by obsession.

But that’s just the relationship angle. There’s also the issue with assigning Rayla’s traits (flaws specifically) to Callum. Callum is indeed loyal, and to his detriment sometimes, but loyalty and devotion aren’t the main driver for his actions. They’re Rayla’s. You don’t even have to take my word for it, it’s spelled out in Tales of Xadia:

Callum’s most important value is Freedom/Liberty, once again spelled out in Tales of Xadia:

And this distinction is crucial, as it’s the crux of his storyline in s5: is he really free to choose not to do dark magic (or free to make any choice for that matter), and what does it mean to have unlimited potential, and whether that unlimited potential can lead to a very dark place. Once again, flat out stated by the lead writer of the show:

Notice how Devon explained Callum’s motivation without ever mentioning “Rayla”?

Chalking up his motivation to just an obsession for Rayla that he’ll always have, that he’s just That Way and nothing else, deprives him of this arc and reduces him to a two dimensional sidepiece for Rayla. It strips him of the complexity of his season 5 arc, where he struggles with the meaning of unlimited potential and the darkness that could engender. His inner conflicts go far beyond his feelings for Rayla. Suggesting otherwise diminishes his character development, and it's beyond me why anyone would want that.

Callum and Morality

As I’ve said before, I enjoy Callum’s dark side immensely. I really do. But the point of the Ocean Arcanum, as I've mentioned before, is that everyone has a dark side:

Thus, Callum isn’t any more particularly morally dubious than anyone else. Sorry, but a single use of dark magic, with already-dead ingredients, in an extremely controlled setting for the very narrow purpose of setting himself free, doesn’t make Callum morally dubious. And I’m sure the average person could see the VAST chasm of difference between using One Bad Spell and dooming the world for Rayla’s sake that the story has no chance of bridging in just two seasons.

He refrained from using the snake chain spell offensively against people, as we've seen it used before (in 2x03). It was narrowly employed just to free himself, after which he immediately returned to primal magic. And in that sense, I haven’t seen a single person argue this one act was unjustifiable.

And, as he gives Finnegrin the wrong list of ingredients, that’s basically the only real act of moral ambiguity Callum has displayed. Because for everything else, you have to hold Callum to a unique (and impossible) standard that applies to no one else. For instance, it's not considered morally dubious when Amaya punched Karim, yet Callum punching Finnegrin supposedly is? Callum is dubious for forgiving Rayla of her crimes (in a show that’s centered on forgiveness and trust as sources of true strength), yet Rayla isn’t dubious for actually committing those crimes? Like, Rayla actually lies, steals, and abandons her friends, yet Callum is viewed as more dubious simply for forgiving her?

Seriously, why am I supposed to think Callum is dubious for saving his friend at the cost of a snake’s tail, yet Rayla is merely “complex” for what she's done?

To be clear, while Rayla has certainly done morally questionable things, that does not make her a bad person or even a morally dubious person overall. But the same must also apply to Callum - his singular use of dark magic for escape does not negate his generally good and principled nature. Very few people would consider his actions in that scene truly unjustifiable.

Callum and Viren

As I’ve said before here, Callum and Viren are indeed foils, and perhaps the most important foil relationship in the series. But the point of foil characters is showing each other’s opposing traits:

And yea, it should be pretty obvious that Callum and Viren are dramatically different from one another. Callum protects those close to him and tries to do the right thing, while Viren seeks to amass as much power for himself as he can.

This is even clear from their parallel shots that Viren and Callum are extremely different, for good and bad reasons. When opening the door to greet the guard, Viren appears self-important while Callum seems nice and humble. When he confronts Soren on the battlements, Callum is aggressive and angry where Viren was calm and calculated. These are not the same person.

That doesn’t mean Viren and Callum are opposites in every way; some minor similarities are there to humanize Viren, not equate him with Callum. For instance, the moment he parallels Callum and the group’s “I’d do anything for you” was to show that Viren isn’t just a power hungry tyrant but also a devoted and desperate father. However the fact that this is a sympathetic moment undercuts the supposed dubiousness of Callum.

Viren's devotion to his children parallels Callum's loyalty to his friends, making Viren sympathetic rather than wholly evil. But this does not make Callum dubious by association - if anything, it suggests Viren has glimmers of goodness akin to Callum's steadfast decency. If Viren is portrayed as good to the extent that he’s similar to Callum, what does that say about Callum himself?

So while they have a couple superficial similarities, their core character traits and motivations remain opposites. It is unreasonable to equate them based on scant common ground when their differences are so pronounced. If parallels to Callum humanize Viren, that reflects well on Callum, not poorly.

It’s also pretty telling that the same people downplay Callum's explicit and canonical similarities to the moral exemplar Amaya, while overstating negligible common ground with the villainous Viren...

Fandom Toxicity:

While I can be blunt or harsh about takes I disagree with or think are poorly thought out, I never attack the people holdings those views or suggest that they’re terrible people. I would never, for instance, suggest that people who don’t subscribe to my view of Callum to be incels, or who don’t subscribe to my view of Rayla to be mysoginists, or who don’t subscribe to my view of Ezran to be racists.

It’s not just toxic and offensive behavior, but it’s also inconsistent. When you ask “why is it so bad that some people believe Callum is dubious,” it kinda falls flat when you turn around and call people "incels" for having a different take on Callum.

I’m not going to comment much more on this as I think it speaks for itself, but I also deal with enough bullying and harassment as it is, so this will probably be it for me. I see no reason to continue when you are arguing with such bad faith.

Postscript

The argument here is basically “since Callum was willing to squish a snake’s tail and risk his life for Rayla, then it’s reasonable he’d be willing to risk the entire world for her.” I’m sorry, but I’m of the opinion that this doesn’t follow and is kinda far fetched. That isn’t a personal attack, just my personal take.

It’s fine to want Callum to be morally dubious. You’d be pushing an open door with me if you think it would be cool headcanon. Completely unsubstantiated by canon, but still cool.

But for whatever reason, the favor is not returned. It should be fine to think Callum has a moral code, that he has a life outside of Rayla, and that he’ll probably rise above his weaknesses and flaws by the end of the saga. Yet the namecalling and mudslinging that this is responded with is just WILD.

I don’t deal well with insults, or namecalling, or the insinuation that I am in denial subconsciously, or I don’t really mean it when I discuss Callum’s dark side. Nor will I entertain it. This type of bad faith dealing barely deserved a response, much less several paragraphs worth, but now that this is all on a page, I’m going to do both of us a favor and say that we’re done.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 48: A Story I Won't See Coming

Sean makes his move

And Sean is bad, even for a bad guy! He won't take orders from Rip, and he's trying to move up the ranks at Under by killing the harmless and endangered Fuuko.

It seems like Under, (a collection of Negators with different goals that blossomed from a mutiny, lacks a clear endgame, is picking up clues piecemeal by following the good guys around, and doesn't seem to have any overarching philosophy other than anger and resentment) is having trouble with group cohesion and loyalties. Chaos is guaranteed!

The story cuts back to Akira Kuno, who is now a serialized author, and his decision to go look for Andy in Japan. And he finds him!

Andy is studying iaido in the mountains with a woman named Yusai. We learn that she's the one who taught him the Moonlight style!

Learning how to do quick-draw styles is how Andy is keeping Josh alive in his heart. So sweet!

Aaaaaaaaaand he's found another woman who wants him all to herself lol. He sure has a lot of...ardent female supporters.

DO NOT THREATEN AKIRA'S OTP! RED ALERT!

Yusai is an awesome samurai woman with tears in her eyes begging Andy to make dojo heirs with her, but it's unclear how Andy feels about her. At this time, he hadn't met Fuuko and didn't have the second set of "what-if" memories, either.

I wonder how much time they spent together! Was it just the two of them? And how did he find her? He agrees to marry her on one condition:

Yusai is like another possible ship for Andy. It's kind of hilarious how many shipping opportunities there are for him when the main story depends on him and Fuuko being a pair. I don't really get into shipping much myself but I think it's fun to imagine different pairings.

I also wonder if this is God/the Author's way of throwing a wrench into the story in an attempt to keep Andy and Fuuko from falling in love, because that's the only way to defeat God. Like, "what if I just throw a whole bunch of potential love interests at Andy and see if he goes for one of them instead of Fuuko?"

It's interesting that Yusai is in the panel where it says Negators have hard lives. Is she a Negator? We don't see much regarding her abilities.

There's another clue that she's a Negator in Chapter 29, where someone who looks a lot like her working with Under.

What happened to Yusai? And is she fighting with a fan instead of a sword? (Also I love the way Rip, Andy, and Fuuko are almost on a theater stage in front of a backdrop in that panel.)

As Akira watches Andy walk away, he thinks about the tragic fate of all Negators and how they're unfairly destined to suffer. We see the tragedies that befell four different Negators: Billy, Shen, Top, and Nico.

Billy is sitting at a grave in the rain, surrounded by bottles. Shen is reaching for someone who's fallen off a cliff, and someone else is standing behind him. Top is crying at the feet of someone in a wheelchair, and Nico looks like he just woke up from a nightmare.

All of the Negators in UU have traumatic power awakenings that set their lives on new courses. Is it the same event in every Loop? I'm curious to find out what Victor's and Juiz's tragedies were.

Speaking of which, Akira thinks about the future he knows in which the Union is defeated, and we see Victor crying next to a dead or severely hurt Juiz, all while the sun bears down to begin the world's destruction.

Akira knows they're going to lose?!

But Akira found a loophole! If he can use his pen-name to publish the story, he can leave clues for the Negators to help them grow in a way that changes the future. It's like he didn't want to spoil the ending!

He knows the characters have to evolve naturally, and simply telling the story as he knows it won't spur any growth from them. It's a lot like how an author has to put characters through challenges in order to develop them believably.

He focuses on the battle with UMA Autumn as the pivotal time to intervene. We see him visiting the Union library to do research and going into a swamp to find the Soul Caliber Artifact.

I love how we have two characters with such similar powers in this arc: Sean's invisibility and Akira's imperceptibility.

Back in the present, Sean takes his chance to kill Fuuko. At the same time, Anno Un calls out to Andy to use Dead-Line.

Insane! So if Anno Un hadn't rescued them from Autumn, Sean would've killed Fuuko! And if Andy hadn't learned Dead-Line from Victor, he wouldn't have been able to save her!

Sean was cut in half and we can finally see him a little. He has a third eye under his baseball cap! And a butterfly knife, like all cool juvenile delinquents. Rip is stunned!

It looks like Fuuko has finally awakened, too! Anno Un says that they don't know what will happen now that the story has been changed. What will become of Anno Un if they can no longer draw?

The Union still has to capture UMA Autumn and deal with Rip and the bunny suit person. It sure would be nice to have Anno Un to tell them how to do it!

Masterpost

[tobiasdrake]

Ranma 1/2 episode 3. I can't be the only person who somehow, despite not thinking about this series seriously in a long time, still hears "YAPPAPPA YAPPAPPA II SHAN TEN hashagu koi wa ike no koi" in their head when starting up the reboot series.

Where did you come from? I thought I forgot you.

By contrast, the new OP hasn't grown on me as much. Can't imagine why. It couldn't be that I've heard the new one twice but heard the old one eight billion times over the course of three decades, such that any new music in its place is going to inherently sound like an imposter.

Nah, it's probably just that the song isn't good. That's a reasonable thing to conclude.

(In seriousness, new OP is fun.)

Uhhhhh, part 1 because I had a lot to say about Nabiki, my fave from back in the day who gets to be in the spotlight for the first time this episode.

Speaking of the OP, this is my favorite shot.

I don't know what it is exactly but every time I see this, there is a haunted look in Ranma's eyes. I don't think that's on purpose. I think he's just supposed to look like he's happily jogging.

But I see a thousand-yard stare on this boy. The look of a person who has seen things that can never be unseen.

Which.

Is fair.

For Ranma.

Rejected so hard. This is a misunderstanding but it's still hilarious how quickly Nabiki nopes the fuck out of this shit.

To be fair, she's seen the way Kuno treats the women he's interested in. If I were her, I would want no part of that.

Ironically enough, Nabiki/Kuno is IIRC the most popular ship for both of these characters. Though, given that being physically strong enough to beat the shit out of him at martial arts is such an important quality to Kuno, I'm not sure he and Nabiki are really compatible.

Makes perfect sense from Nabiki's perspective but honestly I'm pretty sure she's more likely to Black Widow him for his wealth than fall in love with him sincerely.

So begins Nabiki's career of being the absolute worst person in Ranma's life, in a cast that includes multiple people attempting to murder him. Nabiki is something far worse than a shonen rival. Worse than a romantic rival. Worse than a shonen rival who wants to surpass you at romancing your love interest.

She's a capitalist. And she has found a saleable product.

(My characters are always the absolute worst. Goddammit, Nabiki.)

There's something really interesting in Nabiki's reaction to that remark. Like. She gets back into gear pretty quickly after this moment.

But.

Just for a moment.

She had a visceral, kneejerk reaction of shock and disgust at the realization that Kuno was planning on pursuing Ranma and Akane at the same time.

Just for a moment, she had an emotional reaction strong enough to break her poker face.

I mean, she's still going to profit off it. She is a capitalist after all.

But it happened. That brief glimpse into the humanity underneath the cash register was there.

For those unaware of yen to dollar exchange rates, she's charging about $20 for Ranma's photos. Akane's are about $27. So we can actually quantify her feelings for Akane. She loves her sister exactly $7 more than a stranger she met a few days ago.

Don't take it personally. It's just business.

(I felt really gross saying that. Probably because it was really gross. In seriousness, Nabiki is an active participant in Akane's harassment, without Akane's knowledge.)

That said, she does still try to help this situation once she's done cashing in on violations of Ranma and Akane's privacy.

It doesn't take because Kuno aggressively refuses to learn the truth about the Pig-Tailed Girl throughout the series lest it compromise his delusions. But she does try. There seems like there's basically no reason for her to do this except to burst Kuno's bubble.

...except then she also does this when she realizes Kuno didn't get it.

She tried to burst Kuno's bubble and it didn't work so now she's making it worse instead. At this point, it's clear that Nabiki's just starting shit for funsies. She is the show's trickster. Her allegiances are to money and entertainment.

She was expecting a hilarious blowout the one way and when she didn't get it, she went a different route. Goddammit, Nabiki.

Of course, her troll antics eventually blow up in her face when they out her capitalist antics.

But she never really has to face any sort of consequences for it. Right when it seems like things are about to turn against her...

Ranma, rather than presenting a united front against their mutual abuser, decides to open his fucking mouth and insult Akane instead.

This is how capitalists win. They skate home with all the money and no comeuppance while their victims pick each apart.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Speaking of the Kuno siblings, I felt it was extremely weird, that the Ranma 1/2 Fighting game, Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle, which was the only one released in the USA btw, neglected to include either Kuno siblings despite taking place in Furinkan & the Principal playing a large part in the story.

What is more odd is that characters like Hikaru Gosunkugi and the Gambling King were included!

But a youtuber managed to contact the developers and get an interesting answer. It turned out in the prior Ranma fighting game, Neighborhood Combat, Tatewaki & Kodachi were considered extremely annoying to fight due to the long range of their sword & ribbon respectively.

As such, combined with the Hard Battle not being released much later, it was decided to cut them than put in Gosunkugi & the Gambling King for AI characters that'd be easy for new players to beat as well as experienced players to try beating the game with!

That was very interesting for me to learn!

Oh, neat that people are able to get in touch with developers and get answers to questions like that...sometimes the Internet can be a good thing XD Too bad the Kunos couldn't be included as bosses or with lower-difficulty-level programming, though

[bipirate]

Speaking of the new ranma, i was a little disappointed by the scene where kuno professes his love to female ranma but only because the melodramatic sunset rose petal wind setting of the original with dub kuno dramatically walking away and looking behind him and going 'pig tailed girl...... i love you' was the HEIGHT of comedy to me when i first watched it and still is today. But then again i havent read the manga so i dont know which is more accurate