#like I acknowledge the themes of persona 3 but ALSO

[yusuke-of-valla]

Oh right ok since Koromaru's link episode said he wanted to stick with Minato after everything ended I wondered if like, that would been in BBB he'd stick with the Arisatos and not Ken and if so

Who gets the dog in the divorce?*

*Naoto running off to do detective stuff

[autistic-robin]

Why “Hiding in the Light” Didn’t Work: Stranger Things’ Psychospiritual Implications

Supplementary Sources: Jungian Theory & A Wrinkle In Time

Alright, buckle in. I’m running on a year’s worth of spiritual awakening, deep dives into Jungian theory and non-dualism, and my own ego’s primary coping mechanism: immersing myself in media as escapism. The purpose of this analysis is to break down the themes of non-dualism and light/darkness in ST (and maybe predict some character arcs), and also to position the narrative of ST as a psychospiritual wake-up call.

For some context: last year, I discovered the work of psychoanalyst (or philosopher, depending on who you’re talking to) Carl Jung. He had a pretty extensive theory about the human psyche that I immediately connected to the themes throughout Stranger Things, specifically Vecna’s mind control and curse. I’m going to break Jung’s theory down as succinctly as I can, and then delve into how it plays out in our favorite gay monster show.

But before I delve into Jung’s ideas, I also think it’s important to define selfhood (you’ll understand why in a minute). For the purposes of this analysis, the experience of the “self” is an illusion created by our senses, perceptions, memories, and consciousness, all of which are impermanent. Therefore, the self is what we call “conditioned.” There is no you or me, just the ideas we have of ourselves.

Now, we can get into Jung’s theory. He posited the following:

1. Every individual has a “persona” they show the world (a constructed self) to feel like they belong. Underneath this persona, everyone has a personal “shadow,” or the part of themselves they don’t want to acknowledge. This shadow is always projected onto others— every negative thought we have about someone else is a product of our own unintegrated shadow. Note: The shadow is NOT bad, it just “is.” It’s actually there to HELP us grow and integrate all the unhealed parts of us.

2. Individuals’ shadows are usually part of their unconscious, meaning most people are not aware of their shadow side or cannot bear to delve into their trauma/darkness and begin to heal it.

3. All of human consciousness is CONNECTED. This means two things. 1: There is a “collective unconsciousness” that contains the sum of all of our unintegrated trauma, and 2: We can heal our collective unconsciousness by healing our own unconsciousness.

How do we heal our own unconsciousness? By becoming AWARE of our shadow side, accepting and forgiving the conditioning that created it, and working to encourage others to do the same.

What— or rather, who— does that remind you of?

Also— great use of lighting here.

We know Vecna has direct access to his victims’ consciousness; not just their memories, cognition, and emotions, but also their awareness itself. This is how he’s able to target and trance people. But it’s not just their consciousness Vecna has access to; it’s their unconsciousness. Their shadow. Their trauma. Yes, he has psionic abilities akin to El’s, but as far as we know, El can’t access the collective unconsciousness like Vecna can. She is only capable of “remote viewing” via the void or piggybacking into people’s minds. So why is Vecna capable of this?

If you want my take on it: the only way to access a collective shadow would be through accessing your own shadow. So is Vecna really Henry, or his unintegrated shadow? And is either really condemnable, considering the larger themes of the show?

We see this theme of non-dualism echoed in Brenner’s NINA pep talk with El:

It’s fascinating to me that they’re communicating these bigger thematic ideas through the show’s “villians”— while the above conversation could be taken at surface-level as Brenner being manipulative, it’s important to acknowledge the truth of what he’s saying. NINA is only successful because El faces “the good and the bad.” This is why “hiding in the light” is a no-go for Max.

Focusing only on happy memories is a form of emotional bypassing. Throughout the show, we’ve been told time and again that hiding doesn’t work. Neither does running away. The only way out for our characters is through their own shadows.

Now, the fun part: predictions. Looking at all of this with a Jungian lens, it doesn’t make much sense to villianize a character or to end the story by “defeating evil.” In non-dual theory, there are no evil people, only unhealed ones.

We know what worked for our characters temporarily (Will in the UD, Max in her first trance, El using her powers against Vecna) was the memory and vibration of love.

This reminded me of A Wrinkle In Time, which is a science fiction novel that’s been noted more than a few times as one of Stranger Things’ primary influences. In the book, a girl and her brother travel through time to rescue their father from an alternate dimension where all beings are controlled in a hyper-individualist suburbia by a giant, all-knowing brain. The climactic “defeat” of the brain is shockingly simple, but incredible impactful— Meg, the heroine, tells it over and over that she loves it. This love ultimately brings her father and brother out of trances they are in, and they’re able to remember her and travel back home.

(Tangent: And God. The implications of that, outside of analyzing ST, are powerful. How do we live in a capitalist hellscape that is so caught up in the mind— in acheiving, obtaining, securing, protecting the ego— that many of us have forgotten our hearts? The answer is love. Loving ourselves more deeply to love all beings more deeply, “the good and the bad.” But love does not negate accountability, and it does not excuse harm.)

Our characters are all struggling with self-acceptance and self-love in some form or another. Each is wrestling with secrets and lies, and the desire to hide parts of themselves they think others can’t accept.

Mike is clearly struggling with self-loathing, guilt surrounding what happened to El in s1, and a crippling hero complex.

Will is also on the self-loathing train, continually self-sacrifices to his own detriment, and is hiding his identity out of fear (not at all villifying that, just for the record.)

El struggled to reconcile her abilities and forced weaponization with her identity outside of the lab pre-s4.

Max was suicidal and had a lot of self-hatred after B*lly’s death.

Nancy parallels Mike in her survivor’s guilt post-s1 and exhibits the same lack of self-preservation and self-sacrificing tendencies.

You get my point. So how will these characters overcome their trauma? Not through hiding, or running, or bypassing. Not through the light alone. Through love— acknowledgement of their own darkness, compassion for the unhealed nature of others, and commitment to being honest with themselves and their loved ones. We know Will is El and Henry’s mirror/foil and will play a central role in S5, and with all of this in mind I think it’s safe to say he will break the cycle of bypassing and hiding from trauma and pain once and for all. He won’t fight it like El, hide from it like Max, or run from it like he did as a kid.

Only by integrating their shadows can our characters become truly “themselves,” or as Brenner puts it, “whole.”

I will probably have much more to say about this after my re-read of A Wrinkle in Time, but for now, that’s all I’ve got. :) Hope everyone is doing well!

[aceof-stars]

I feel very strongly about Recipe for Turnabout, but I don’t think it’s a very good case. I just think it has so much potential to be amazing. 

Trials & Tribulations’ running themes are deception (personas and disguises) and the lengths people will go out of devotion (usually in romantic relationships but Bridge deals with familial). And there’s so much that could have been said about identity, self worth, and being so devoted to someone that you lie to yourself in Recipe.

If Furio Tigre's impersonation of Phoenix was actually really good (and not played off as a joke), it could have done so much to explore Phoenix's identity surrounding being a defense attorney. I mean think about it, Phoenix lives for other people, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself when he’s alone, and became a defense attorney to save people. And Furio Tigre ripped that away from him by pretending to be him and getting an innocent person locked up. Everyone thought Tigre was Phoenix. Maggey thought he failed her. It feels straight out of one of Phoenix's worst nightmares. Seriously, why is this plot point only used for laughs?

Viola Cadaverini is probably the most intriguing new character in 3-3 but she’s completely brushed aside. She's a perfect parallel to Phoenix himself. Viola tries to convince herself that Tigre truly loves her, rather than confront the truth that he is paying for her bills and being so kind to her because he's terrified of her mafia boss grandfather. To the point where she stays by his side and becomes an accomplice to his crime. Similarly, Phoenix believed that Dahlia truly loved him. And while Phoenix wasn’t a willing accomplice to Dahlia’s crime, he still hid evidence for her and ate the necklace out of belief in her.

The game itself even acknowledges this connection briefly.

This is what Phoenix thinks after breaking Viola’s psyche-locks. He was scared of her at first but now he sympathizes with her and is filled with new determination to take Tigre down. Phoenix chooses the drink the espresso she prepared, effectively trusting her not to poison him too.

Also side note: Phoenix is really sensitive to betrayal. And it’s really interesting that he seems to hate it because it’s cowardly. Phoenix seems to hate the deception involved in poisoning and betrayal. He’s is terrified of his believing in someone so much, only to be hurt and left alone. (… eyes Phoenix’s reaction to Edgeworth’s note). Yeah it definitely stems from Dahlia.

Now imagine if Viola was the defendant instead of Maggey. That would mean Tigre, the person she convinced herself truly loved her, disguised himself in order to use her as the scapegoat for his crime. Does that sound familiar? Phoenix would probably be scared of Viola at first too. Maybe she reminds him of Dahlia. But slowly come to trust her.

Viola as the defendant would also continue T&T's pattern of guilty or questionable defendants (Ron DeLite being Mask DeMasque, Terry Fawles being in a relationship with 14 y/o Dahlia, and Iris being an accomplice). No case after 2-4 ever critiques Phoenix's misbeliefs as a defense attorney again (that being an attorney is not about saving people but fighting for them, and they everyone deserves a proper defense). But 3-3 could have done that, because Viola was still an accomplice and would have to go to jail for that. Phoenix could have continued to learn that he doesn't have to save everyone, that he has to fight for them and for the truth.

Do you see my vision? Do you see the potential? Recipe for Turnabout could have been a top tier case.

Oh and here's my collection of Recipe's most... memorable quotes. (Aka why is 3-3 like that??)

[conceptofjoy]

what do u think of dirk n hals Gender Situation given 10 or 20 years? if they ever finally settle down their various identity issues etc

......... great question..

dirk's masculine gender identity is fucking fascinating and there's always something new to consider when i look at it at a different angle. and i mean this also goes for bro too. like gender is a very complex thing in homestuck with many metaphors physical or thematical littered about. Dirk specific gender identifiers are lil cal (empty), being seen as cherry red (either failing at those standards or admired for achieving them), and bro-ism which in this instance is often interchanged with heroism.

canonically in caliborn's masterpiece, after dirk seals caliborn away into cal, and lets cal and arq go, homie has straight up lost all the signifiers he's identified with and is left in his pink god tier outfit. literally forced to reckon with the fact that he is a gay man, and how that actually may be way better than the alternative that he was trying so desperately to be seen as. idk there was a series of posts i made about it a month or so ago. this is like, the final realization dirk has in the comic. i mean i dunno about specifics of labels, but gay and genderqueer is like the basic all encompassing ones. to be honest most homestuck characters fall under this extremely broad category, as queerness is a huge underlying theme.

a dirk that doesn't immediately go through caliborn's masterpiece learns this the loooong way. cis guy-> trans guy (refuses to acknowledge this during the session but slowly gets it towards the end of 3 year voyage. will NOT say he is trans through his lips though.) and then shit just stagnates there. i think it depends on his environment, but 5+ years (depends on who he surrounds himself with. if its no one, he is COOKED.) is about the time needed to have those same revelations.

and then there's hal........ arq is one of them brightly colored gendersonas. like what swimz said, arq sacrificed her continued existence for her friends. i dont think arquius ever gave her gender a name because of how thoroughly she embodied it by her self love/ the joy she felt for being alive. it was already said by her existing. hal getting a body vs hal getting a body after being arquius r people who understand vastly different amounts of things about themselves.

a hal sans arq brain meld has a silent kind of depressive acceptance about them. yeah i got a body, things feel better, but it feels like there could be more i could be doing for myself right now, however do i really need it? umm sandpaper floor room esque. trying to figure out what to do with herself after getting less than the bare minimum of being a person. would take a bit to realize she can be a girl.

hal post arq brain meld. holy FUCKING shit i can feel like that?? suddenly no longer arquius's confident persona and is kind of freaking out about the various implications. there would be an amount of time where she falls into a depression, however tries to bring herself up back to that point because a part of her who was arquius knows she deserves it. she would over think the gender thing though, ok yes im a girl, BUUUTTT -etc etc-. almost for the same exact reasons why dirk is attached to those bro-isms. she was supposed to. red girl struggle. again, idk the specifics, gay and genderqueer is hella broad.

i do think hal is fem aligned and more confidently can call herself a girl over time, and dirk can finally wear pink without thinking about it and wanting to decapitate himself.

[theoneprecioustome]

Old Interviews

A couple of years ago, I came across a compilation of interviews, including some that shared some very interesting info about Aigis' role in the game and the reasons why she didn't have a S-Link in the original Persona 3. I didn't trust my Japanese enough to capture all the nuance though, so the screenshots have been sitting in my folders collecting dust.

Well, no more! We now luckily have a professional Japanese translator in the Aikoto Server, and she has kindly gone ahead and translated the interviews in question. Thank you so much, kitaroai!

Interviews below the cut!

Dengeki PlayStation September 8, 2006 issue Vol.364 "Persona 3" Development Staff Interview

Dengeki PlayStation: I got the impression that Aigis was the main heroine of this work. What made you decide on having a robot girl as the game’s main heroine?

Tanaka (Writer): While I didn’t particularly set out to write her as one would a “main heroine”, we felt that a character who is unaffected by death was essential to a story with “Death” as its theme. In order to explore that theme, it was crucial to depict the process of an existence that starts-off not understanding the meaning of “death”, only to eventually come to face it and acknowledge it.

Soejima (Character Designer): When it comes “heroines”, the game has a system that allows you to date various girls… But personally, I feel that Yukari is a girl that is nearby, while Aigis is the heroine of the main story, or to be more exact, a character that is at the very core of it.

Dengeki PlayStation: So rather than a “heroine”, she could be considered another protagonist?

Hashino (Director): Yes… Aigis is special. She was necessary to depict the story we wanted to tell.

Dengeki PlayStation: I imagine that she is the only female character without a Social Link precisely because she is the one at the heart of the story.

Tanaka: Indeed. It wouldn’t be realistic to say that you can experience love with a robot partner in the exact same way you would with a human, but above all, we feared that giving her a Social Link would make her special role in the story seem less important.

Hashino: She was going to have a Social Link at first and we prepared the scenario for it, but we ultimately decided not to include it.

Dengeki PlayStation: And what about an ending that's influenced by the relationships built in the Social Links? For example, did you ever consider having character-exclusive endings?

Hashino: The staff discussed having character-exclusive endings depending on which Social Links the player did. However, we ultimately decided not to do so because it would take us away from the main story and from what we truly wanted to depict. The relationships with the girls reach their own conclusions in the daily school life section, which is separate from the main story.

Translation by: kitaroai

Material/Dengeki PlayStation July 28, 2006 issue Vol.359 "Persona 3" Interview with Katsura Hashino and Shigenori Soejima

Hashino: Aigis, on the other hand, is a character we added from the very beginning. Since she is a robot, she lacks “feelings”, so we wanted to contrast that with the Protagonist’s emotional side. She was also an indispensable character because she has no fear of “Death”, the main theme of this work.

Soejima: The setting of the story came before the concept, I believe. I remember I started drawing without knowing the story nor its stakes, which was a struggle.

Hashino: […] At first, Soejima seemed to be against the idea of a robot girl, but after convincing him that it was necessary precisely because Aigis is the heroine, it somehow worked out. Was that why you designed her with her machinery exposed?

Soejima: No, it’s not as if I drew her like that as a form of revenge (laughs). I just wanted her design to have more of a nostalgic vibe rather than a high-tech one. My tastes also played a part in it, though (laughs).

Translation by: kitaroai

Plus! One cute extra, this time translated by me:

Materials/Dengeki Maou September 2008 issue supplement “Persona 4” Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima, Kazuhisa Wada Interview

[...]

Soejima (Character Designer): By the way, when it comes to Persona 3, I only worked directly on the one scene where we see Aigis for the first time during the trip to Yakushima.

Dengeki Maou: Do you mean that was the scene you were most particular about?

Soejima: Since that is the scene where we see Aigis for the first time, the Director, Hashino, asked me to make it as cute as possible (Laughs).

Translation by: @theoneprecioustome

[renard-dartigue]

A Guide to Sleep Token

This will be a post for new fans looking to learn some basic/surface level information about the band Sleep Token. 

*Cracks typing knuckles*

So basically, Sleep Token is an “atl-prog-blackened shoegaze”(what it sounds like to me) band from Britain. People mostly associate them with heavy metal (myself included) But in reality, no one really knows what genre they are and I think the band likes it that way. 

(cont.)

The Bands Symbol

Lore / Terms to Know

Their lore goes that the lead singer had a dream where he encountered an elder God called "Sleep" (its actual name is impossible for the human tongue to speak) thus, he created the band to make music in worship to the God.

They call their songs "offerings", presumably to Sleep.

Concerts are called "rituals".

When you buy merchandise, you are "consuming" it.

The term "worship" is used by the band and fans as a form of acknowledgement.

The band has a total of 7 members and are known as "vessels". All are anonymous, using masks, body paint, and robes to hide themselves. It is said they do this because their music is more important than their identities.

Band Members

4 of them are at the front and are identified with Roman numerals:

I / Vessel

(I) Also known as Vessel (V or Vess) is the lead singer/vocalist of the band and wears a sculpted mask with an exposed mouth. His mask changes based on the album. His vocal range is like no other, at one point singing like an angel before immediately shifting gear into a black metal scream.

II

(II) is the drummer. A fantastic one at that. His solos are godly, very reminiscent of jazz or gospel. (I believe he started the band alongside Vessel) Check out “An Offering from II” on YouTube to see him go crazy.

Recently he did an interview with Drumeo on YouTube where he talks about his influences and does drum playthroughs of a few songs that demonstrate his drumming prowess.

III

(III) is the bassist, or the "bassy boy" as many fans call him. He is quite the character on stage. His energy is unmatched. You'll often find him prancing on the right side of the stage or laying on his back trying to get Vessel's attention (and Vessel does)

IV

(IV) is the guitarist, often has a covert/cool energy to him but he can be just as captivating as III. Over time he's developed a bit of a flirtatious side toward the crowd. Fuckboy energy(affectionate). He also provides sub vocals, raw screaming certain parts when Vessel is busy singing his heart out lol.

Vesselettes

Then there are the 3 last members, the choir or vessellettes. They are the three cloaked figures in the back who provide sub-vocals/harmonies. They may not be too audible on certain recorded tracks, but live they sound absolutely heavenly, making songs go from amazing to spectacular!

Music

Song structure-wise, the best way I can call it is measured emotional chaos. Fans are still trying to decipher their meanings here and on Reddit. 

But what seems to be the theme is toxic relationships, unhealthy coping, romantic trauma, bitter sweat endings, and eventual closure. It's really gripping stuff I'll tell ya. You gotta hear it for yourself to really understand.

There is ALOT more but that's about a general rundown.

They have 2 EPs called "One" and "Two". These are the band's earliest work but they are still fantastic.

They've only got 3 albums out as of writing this. "Sundowning", "This Place Will Become Your Tomb", and "Take Me Back to Eden"(the one released this year)

Songs I recommend as a launch point:

Jaws

The Offering

Higher

Hypnosis

Alkaline

The Love You Want

The Summoning

My personal favorites :)

All of "One"

All of "Two"

Dark Signs

High Water

Ascensionism

Vore

Take Me Back to Eden

They also have Instagram for the band and their personas. But please avoid trying to uncover their identities, They wish to remain anonymous.

https://www.instagram.com/sleep_token/

https://www.instagram.com/ii_sleeptoken/

https://www.instagram.com/iii_sleeptoken/

https://www.instagram.com/iv_sleeptoken/

Hope you like these spooky goobers.

Other fans are free to comment and/or reblog with additional information or fun facts I missed. 

Worship.

[saikolikes]

“Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince”: the meaning behind Erina’s banner

I’m sure most people have noticed it, as it was shown firstly in the trailer and then in the opening: “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” seems to be the official motto of Persona 5 Tactica, and is indeed present on Erina’s banner when she uses Flag of Freedom.

The slogan is in latin, it roughly translates as “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself,” and it’s an alteration tailored to the game from the most commonly known “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (If you want peace, prepare for war).

What most don’t know (myself included before digging deeper to make this post), is that even the “original” phrase wasn’t exactly born as such and is itself an adaptation of a wider paragraph from a military treaty — Vegetius’ De Re Militari or “Epitome of military science” (the following quote comes from the beginning of Book 3):

Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum; qui uictoriam cupit, milites inbuat diligenter; qui secundos optat euentus, dimicet arte, non casu.

From what I read, the author does a sort of introduction by citing war masters from the past, including Athens and Sparta, and declares his task in compiling all their teachings in one place. Then, he concludes by saying “Therefore, the one who desires peace shall be ready for war; the one who longs for victory shall diligently instruct his soldiers; the one who’s after success shall fight following the art of war, not chance.���

The concept here is clear: you can’t search for and uphold peace without being skilled in battle and ready to fight for that peace if need be… which is a pretty interesting message in the wider scheme of Tactica.

(Warning for story spoilers from here onwards)

I didn’t reflect on it much as I was playing, especially because the game never gives you any “official” translation of what’s written on Erina’s banner. But as I went back to thinking about it, I realised just how fitting this alteration is. The whole deal with Salmael is peace should be the ultimate goal for mankind, a state of existence where no conflict is necessary—on the contrary, conflict is viewed as a bad thing, because it causes hurt and is ultimately harmful. So it makes perfect sense that “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is something that goes against Salmael’s philosophy.

What bothers me, instead, is that it perfectly fits what Erina represents, as is and without any alteration: she battles Marie like rebels do tyrants because the peace in the Kingdom has been disrupted and she wants it back. Putting metaphors aside, Toshiro is the one that realises that only by opposing his father and his fiancé he can right the wrongs that his family committed, and eventually find peace within himself. “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is actually already tailored on what the game is about, so thinking back about the alteration they made, I can’t quite explain it.

It has to be said, though, that “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” is also fitting. Reconciling with one’s Shadow self, tame it and embrace it is what awakening a Persona is all about and what Toshiro does later on in the story, so to have “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself” written on Erina’s banner is also a really nice touch!

I guess my main point here is that both phrases go well with the story’s themes and plot, but I do have to say, removing “para bellum” kind of ends up reinforcing Salmael’s point, which is that war (=conflict) isn’t necessary. It ultimately serves P5’s whole narrative that puts individuals at the center of societal changes without questioning too much what role society at large plays: it is acknowledged society needs reform, but reforming passes through righteous people and removing bad apples rather than dismantling and rebuilding anew a system that is designed to be exploitative. More so that “te ipsum” is a bit like saying “you yourself” so I’d argue that a really great emphasis is put on the person/individual. Also worth noting that “te ipsum” is specifically male-gendered as “ipsum” is accusative cause (direct object) for both male (“ipse) and neutral (“ipsum”) pronouns, but “te” is accusative case for the pronoun “tu” which can only be used referring to a person; this means that if the phrase was to be female-gendered it would be “te ipsam vince”. So it really seems to be tailored to Toshiro.

I think what they did with Tactica’s motto is cool (if anything because it let me put my high school diploma at use again after 7 years lol) and definitely a nice addition that shows this game was made with a decent level of care for being a spinoff… at the same time, I can’t help but find a subtle contradiction in the alteration they made.

[foxes-that-run]

Boyfriends

A self aware take on Boyfriends, including Harry and boyfriends of those he cares for. The lyric video features a lone swan, a symbol of commitment. Harry was with a swan in every image for his May 20 2019 Gucci Campaign, released the week Boyfriends was first written. Harry and Taylor were pictured with a Swan on her birthday when they went to The Lakes. Harry who has spoken about the song with pride and deference. Let's start with the gorgeous first take:

Harry said to Zane Lowe it was written at the end of Fine Line:

"There was an extra week where we wrote some stuff, wrote Adore you, TPWK and we were recording Lights Up. [...] At the end of that session everyone left and I started writing Boyfriends and it almost felt like OK there is a version where we get this ready to put on this album, and I think there was something about it where it felt like it's going to have it's time. [...] I am learning so much by saying it [...] It is both acknowledging my own behaviour, looking at behaviour I have witnessed and looking at I grew up with a sister, so it's like watching her date people and watching friends date people and you know people don't treat each other nicely sometimes. And it turned out about boyfriends because I started paying it and saying boyfriends. [...]Just say what you think of boyfriends.

Harry was in the studio from 15 May 2019, the Swan Gucci Campaign was released on he and Taylors anniversary that week. It was also 2 weeks after Me! Was released. When speaking about Boyfriends Harry constantly mentions these other songs. They have a common theme about the impact of the behaviour of others on his relationships and self, true his nature it is subtle and gentle:

Adore you's video asks fans to respect the partner(s) of his choosing, in contrast to fan reaction who he dates.

TPWK, as the title says, Harry told Rolling Stone " It made me uncomfortable at first, [...] I feel like that song opened something that’s been in my core.”

Lights Up - to Rolling Stone Harry spoke about stepping out from 1D on his own, the lyrics of "I'm not ever going back" and "All the lights couldn't put out the dark running through my heart", link the experience of the band and fandom to mental health and knowing who he is, rather than who others want him to be.

To me, coming at the end of that session adds to Harry taking ownership his role in failed relationships in that time by being unaware of the impact his 1D persona. fan treatment of his partner(s) and emotional unavailability. Taylor has also described her anxiety dating him in Slut! and Gold Rush. However, as Harry said, it is not limited to himself. On its release at Coachella, (3 years after it was written) "To Boyfriends Everywhere, F*** you". This was weeks after Taylor wrote You're Losing Me about Joe. His face to the end of this is everything:

Setlist and Tracklisting

Harry placed Boyfriends on HH between Satellite and LOML. Harry stopped playing Boyfriends after November 15 2022, when he played it live with Ben Harper at the end of the L.A. Forum residency. It was only played once in 2023, at Wembley June 16. The next night was the only time he played Sweet Creature since 2018. When it was on the setlist it proceeded LOML or Lights Up.

Ben Harper

To Variety Ben Harper said: "It was a wonderful recording session — one of the most memorable and most musical I’ve ever been a part of. [...] Harry invited me to stick around because he wanted to finish the song right then and there. To get to watch Harry in his process was eye-opening, and I learned a lot. [...] Yeah, I mean, he orchestrated the vocal harmonies like a classical composer, spot on, note for note. He just stacked them perfectly in pitch, one better than the next, and it was really eye-opening to see somebody step on the mic and have the parts orchestrated in his head. I’ve never seen anything like it actually."

Lyrics

Hoo Niaga ti ta kcab er'uoy, loof Boyfriends They think you're so easy They take you for granted They don't know they're just misunderstanding you You, you're back at it again

The opening is Backwards 'Ooh Fool, you’re back at it again'. Sunflower Vol 6 also opens with 'Sunflower' backwards. I think of this as about a backwards life, success followed by a normal life.

The first verse describes how boyfriends take their partner for granted and misunderstand.

Weakened When you get deep in He starts secretly drinking It gets hard to know what he's thinking You love a fool who knows just how to get under your skin You, you, you still open the door

The second verse describes where partner has met their guard down some boyfriends withdraw, and start drinking. Harry has sung of this before in Half the world away “I’ve started drinking”. Harry has mentioned drinking in other songs, but HTWA has a similar meaning, of drinking in secret to cope.

Harry touches on common themes in his discography:

Not communicating, similar to MMIH “we don’t talk about it”

Not getting over this person - Getting under you skin is a reference to Taylor’s The Lakes: “What should be over burrowed under my skin in heart-stopping waves of hurt” and IWYW “You always knew how to push my buttons”

Doors - here Harry's muse is opening the door, Harry has 7 songs that refer to knocking, opening or not opening doors. Taylor also has 13 songs about Harry and doors.

You're no closer to him Now you're halfway home Only calling you when Don't wanna be alone Oh, and you go Why? You don't know

While the first 2 verses the Boyfriend was uncommunicative, emotionally unavailable and didn't consider their partner. In the third verse the boyfriend and partner are learning from failed relationships, but still no closer. Now the boyfriend is only calling when they want company, rather than to be there for their partner.

Halfway home: The X Account 'I am Halfway Home' was started to promote HH. The term could have several meanings:

a Halfway house is a place to reintegrate into society from an institution.

The song is a play on words of having no more emotional closeness despite being physically halfway home, and

Halfway home is the name of a documentary about the toll war takes on veterans and their families.

Home is an important theme to Harry's work, Home meaning being with the right person rather than a physical place. To me, this lyric is Harry is saying that despite his growth since leaving the band and break down of this relationship they are still not emotionally closer.

Boyfriends Are they just pretending? They don't tell you where it's heading And you know the game's never ending You, you lay with him as you stay in the daydream You feel a fool You're back at it again

The closing of the song is a sense that the boyfriend is being a player, not communicating.

But Harry's muse gives in, wanting to stay in a dream. Slut! has a similar idea of choosing to stay in a love haze when you know it's not going to last "Got lovestruck, went straight to my head / Got lovesick, all over my bed / Love to think you'll never forget / Handprints in wet cement". Harry also says this in Daydreaming: "Livin' in a daydream"

Harry and Taylor have both used 'fool' in reference to their relationship before (in Fools Gold, Cardigan, Illicit Affairs, Joker and the Queen and in Long Pond Taylor said it 7 times about James in Betty.)

Finally, it refers to the cyclical nature of their relationship with 'back at it again' as OOTW 'built to fall apart and back together' and Style "when we go crashing down we come back every time' and many other songs.

[tyrantisterror]

Well gang, it's Walpurgisnacht, a time when the veil is thin and the supernatural powers are at their strongest. That also means it's the two-year anniversary of the publication of the first Wizard School Mysteries book. I had hoped to have a third out by now but life has been... well, it's been life, and things are progressing if at a slower pace than desired, that's how it goes.

ANYWAY! To keep with the faith and tide over the five or so of my followers who are actually looking forward to a third one of these (and five more after it at some point), I thought I'd share something special: the Wizard School Mysteries Freshmen Year soundtrack! Yes, like ATOM and No Sympathies before it, I've made a soundtrack for Wizard School Mysteries. It's not fully complete, mind you - this is the biggest writing project I've undertaken so far, and things are constantly developing, but the parts of it that cover the first three books are more or less done - and today, I'm sharing the first two with you, i.e. the songs that cover the freshmen year of my eight meddlesome youths.

As with the previous books, I've made a youtube playlist of the songs involved, and will post the tracklist below along with what each track corresponds to in the books. So if this kind of thing interests you, dive in after the cut!

Book 1: The Meddlesome Youths

Prologue: He's Leaving Home - She's Leaving Home by The Beatles, which is a song about a runaway teenager escaping a family that refused to acknowledge their pain. This is, obviously, a song for James Chaucer.

Chapter 1: The Treadscar Path - We Are Going to be Friends by The White Stripes. This song's about kids going to school for the first time and making friends, and while the protagonists of the song are much younger than our Meddlesome Youths, I still feel it captures the spirit of the first meeting of James, Ivan, and Gretchen.

Chapter 2: Elemental Orientation - Pursuing My True Self from Persona 4. The Persona games are the biggest influence on Wizard School Mysteries out of all its inspirations, and the opening theme for Persona 4 to this day screams "teenage sleuths diving into a mystery" to me when I hear it, which made it the perfect song for our introduction to the AAAM.

Chapter 3: Academics and Absences - Beneath the Mask -rain- from Persona 5. Second verse same as the first where Persona and WSM goes. I consider this another James Chaucer theme, both lyrically and in its general vibe, and the "rain" version's specifically moodier, more contemplative arrangement really suits where his head is at during this chapter of the book, as James is exposed to the faults in the AAAM and how it's failing some of its students.

Chapter 4: Of Chariots and Fire - She's Actual Size by They Might Be Giants. This is a Margot theme, and also kind of a James theme since it fits his view of her really well.

Chapter 5: What No Student Has Done Before - Rasputin by Bony M. This is an Oomlowt theme, which I struggled to find for a while when putting together the early versions of the WSM soundtrack, until one of my friends pointed out that, as an Aitvaras, Oomlowt could be considered Russian - and, well, as the first book's sole "cool" teacher, I think he's earned the right to claim one of the raddest fucking songs ever sung as his unofficial theme.

Chapter 6: The Hoard of Knowledge - Magic by The Mystery Skulls. I wanted a song that captures the feeling I got when entering my college's enormous, jaw-dropping library of books back in the day, which is a feeling this chapter also tried to catch. The fact that the song is full of language dealing with magic spells also helps it fit a wizard book.

Chapter 7: Tea With Mackers - The Nuckelavee Song from The Bard's Tale. Listen, this is the chapter where a nuckelavee plays a big role, and that's as good an excuse as any to use this song.

Chapter 8: The Matter of Manners - Changes by David Bowie. This is a Rodrigo theme, and I try to give him glam rock songs as much as possible to fit his vibe as the most fashionable of our wizard youths. I think the song also fits what Rodrigo is attempting to do in this chapter - namely, help his friends figure out how to fit in with a "higher" class of people.

Chapter 9: Hobgoblin Poetry - Magic Dance Underground / A Labyrinth Medley by Aurelio Voltaire. As I've opined before, I think Jim Henson's Labyrinth is one of the best illustrations of what folkloric fairies are like in terms of behavior/morality, and so for this chapter, when we get some characterization for a normal fairy underling for the big bad, I felt a Labyrinth song would be appropriate, and this medley is like half the soundtrack condensed into five minutes.

Chapter 10: The Samhain Celebration - Love Is All by Dio. Speaking of characterizing the Fae, there's a manic aspect to the cheery 70's positivity of this song that I find subtly sinister while still being playful and fun, which I think fits the dance-scene in this book quite well.

Chapter 11: Traps and Treasures - God's Away on Business by Tom Waits. This is a Fafgander theme - like Oomlowt, I kinda struggled finding a good song for him. I knew I wanted his theme to be something by Tom Waits, but I struggled to decided on one song in particular. I kept coming back to this one despite having already used it on the No Sympathies soundtrack - I generally try not to repeat myself on these to make sure each book's audio accompaniment is unique to it. But I couldn't stop picturing a big dragon slithering out of the clouds to the opening beats of this song, and the playful cynicism of the lyrics just felt very Fafgander.

Chapter 12: A Wild Hunt & Chapter 13: The Summer Prince - Tam Lin by The Fairport Convention. Yeah, I know, kinda cheating to lump two chapters under one song, but Tam Lin is a long-ass song, though short by Medieval Ballad standards. A song about a clever mortal finding a way to trick a high-ranking fairy noble into releasing a person she was intending to use as a sacrifice is, I think, a pretty fitting song for the climax of book 1.

Chapter 14: The End of the Beginning - This Must Be the Place by The Talking Heads. A song about finding comfort and solace despite the uncertain future that lies before you, because you have people around you to help lift your spirits, which is exactly where our heroes are emotionally by the end of book 1.

Book 2: Tournament of Death

Chapter 1: The Dragon Tithe - Don't Let's Start by They Might Be Giants. There's a fan-made Adventure Zone animatic to this song that kind of cemented it as a Fantasy song in my mind despite there being no inherent fantasy elements to the lyrics. I mean, I already loved this song, They Might Be Giants has been one of my favorite bands since I started actively considering what my favorite bands are, but this just added to that love. Like a lot of TMBG songs, it's got a very peppy, upbeat vibe while having pretty dark lyrics, which feels pretty appropriate to the tone of WSM as a whole and Tournament of Death in particular.

Chapter 2: The Dragon Trick - Just the Right Bullets by Annabelle Chvostek. This is a theme for Juno Panopte, and was chosen for a couple reasons. First, Annabelle performs this song with just the right sort of gritty, vaguely sleazy charm that I wanted Juno to ooze. She's a charismatic teacher who nonetheless puts you a little on edge - you're never sure if she's fucking with you or not. Second, it's a cover of a Tom Waits song by a lady, and Juno Panopte, the character who represents the Empress arcana in WSM's tarot motiff, is a sort of equivalent to Fafgander, the Emperor arcana - and another character with a Tom Waits song as his theme.

Chapter 3: Curios of Calampen - Marketland by Lemon Demon. This is a song about people trying to hock weird shit to you at a flea market, for a chapter about our heroes buying weird shit at a flea market.

Chapter 4: Herring Lordred - Chaos King (with lyrics) by ManontheInternet. A theme for Lord Dhenregirr, and specifically for his duel with James at the start of the titular deadly tournament.

Chapter 5: The Sundown's Shine - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) by White Denim. Yeah, it's the version from the Fargo TV show. Obviously this is a song for Geoffrey Travers, out Dude-inspired wizard.

Chapter 6: Chivalry Dies - The Impossible Dream (The Quest) from Man of La Mancha. If there is a song that more succinctly captures the ideals of chivalry and gallant knighthood, I have not heard it, and no other song could make for a better funeral dirge for poor Gabriev Zelgad.

Chapter 7: Grudge Match - Barracuda by Heart. I looked for so many other songs for this chapter because Barracuda seemed like to obvious a choice, but nothing fit as well and, hey, this is me we're talking about, and more than that, it's Midgaheim. I am not one to avoid obvious, one might even say cliche, story choices if they appeal to me. And, like, this is specifically a song about confronting and telling off your abuser, very few things would fit this chapter better. A second theme for Margot, obviously.

Chapter 8: A Needlessly Gendered Night Out - Sandstorm by Danude. Ok, so, in every high school dance, as well as every dance club I went to in college (which was, like... three? I think? I did not party nearly enough when I was young) played this song at some point, so it's cemented in my head as THE song for teenagers/young adults doing stupid shit and getting into ridiculous drama, so I included it despite it being even longer than fucking Tam Lin.

Chapter 9: Lightning Struck - Under Pressure by Queen. A song that perfectly captures the teenager/young adult condition of, like, complete and total anxiety that any moment now you could ruin your life forever without meaning to. A song for Polybeus, but also for all the Meddlesome Youths, and really for all young people everywhere.

Chapter 10: Well-Timed Pranks - The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Once I remembered and accepted that being trite/cliche/obvious is very much my bag, I figured what the hell, let's use one of the most-overused songs about dealing with grief for the chapter that's about dealing with grief, because this song happens to be really fucking good at describing the process of dealing with grief.

Chapter 11: Wasp Under Glass - Woman!! Spirit of the Festival from Sakura Wars (2019). This song is a leitmotif for the most under-developed lady in the main cast of this game, which is a shame because the song itself is a fucking banger. Here it serves not just as a theme for Serena (hopefully more well-developed as a character) but specifically for her fight with Sadie Pineed. Can you hear the part where all the towers fall down? I can.

Chapter 12: Deadly Threads - General's Battle Song from Centaurworld. This is a song about a character who's seemed pretty affable and cool revealing his true colors as a total bastard, and on this unofficial soundtrack it serves as a theme for Richard Rainsford. If you read the second book, you know why.

Chapter 13: The Fury of Stars and Shards - Get Along from Slayers. This is specifically a theme for Margot and Serena's two-on-two fight with the saboteurs of the tournament. Can you hear the part where Serena gets the power up? Or when our two heroines, having dealt with the first saboteaur, bear down on the second and utterly curbstomp him? I can!

Chapter 14: Triumph of the Chariot - La Bete et la Belle by The Real Tuesday Weld. The Real Tuesday Weld is another of my favorite bands, and this song is actually a reprise of their song "The Ugly and the Beautiful" from their concept album I, Lucifer (which is in turn the official soundtrack for a novel of the same name by Glenn Duncan). The song itself is about a somewhat toxic relationship between two deeply unwell people, but this reprise differs from the first instance of it by being more sweet and mellow in how it's arranged which, combined with it being sung in French instead of English like its predecessor, softens a lot of its edges and brings the sweeter, more hopeful parts of the song to the forefront. I picked it as a song for James and Margot - two people who, while not toxic, are still a bit broken and unwell because of their life experiences - who are finding hope in each other and the people around them.

[star-light-shadows]

Hot take: This fandom needs to seriously get over Apollo Justice Ace Attorney.

I saw someone on here recently say that "it's cool in this fandom to hate on Dual Destinies and praise Apollo Justice." In my experience, this is true, and it infuriates me to no end.

There is some serious rose-tinted lensing going on in this fandom for this game, cause the simple fact is, Apollo Justice is a trainwreck of an Ace Attorney narrative, and Dual Destinies was more than justified in doing its own thing.

First of all, Apollo Justice's narrative is chronically not fleshed out, to the point of nearly being outright unfinished.

Every overarching plotline in the game is either painfully bare-bones or left with massive gaping holes.

Phoenix's disbarment, the main center of the narrative, is given the bare minimum of effort by the narrative, with a short case about why he loses his badge that has him only do so by acting like an idiot, and then 8 disconnected investigation segments that tell us little to nothing about the struggles and emotional turns that phoenix goes through.

2/3rds of Thalassa's whole story is flat-out not told to us. Her disappearance to Borginia after her near-death is completely unexplained, her presence in Borginia/her singer persona being completely irrelevant to the rest of her backstory or the main plot of the game at large. Then, it's revealed near the end that she had a previous marriage and a son. The game tells us nothing about the husband or why he's apparently dead, and the son literally just "slips through the cracks" to randomly show up later.

Apollo, the protagonist of the game, is one giant question mark. He's revealed at the end of the game to be the aforementioned son of Thalassa, but he didn't come back with Thalassa to live as a Gramarye for no explained reason, and just randomly shows up again as a lawyer tuteled under Gavin. The fact that this makes him and Trucy siblings is also completely glossed over, with Phoenix and Thalassa just choosing not to say anything for no good reason. (Special mention goes to the writer of this game outright saying he had no clue where to take Apollo and Trucy.)

Kristoph is sort-of-half-suggested to have some kind of backstory or deeper reason for his actions, but said reason is blocked off. And his relationship with Klavier is practically narratively nonexistent.

Both cases 2 and 3 are glaringly unrelated to the main plot, contributing nothing besides Thalassa's undercover introduction (as her singer persona, which, as mentioned earlier, is irrelevant to the main plot) and a horrifically bungled overarching theme I'll get to later.

The last case is also chock full of plot holes, like an entire segment of investigations that only makes sense if you assume time travel, and a good chunk of the very plot-important exposition in said segment being something that the first case indirectly tells us DIDN'T HAPPEN.

Then, even worse, its main characters are just as narratively deficient.

Apollo is a rip-off of Phoenix without the narrative stakes. Any role he has in the overarching plot and any relationship he has with the other characters is completely glossed over. And his personality is basically the exact same as Phoenix's. He's the one with his name on the box and yet he spends the entire game just being there, with Phoenix stealing as much of the show as physically possible.

Trucy is the blandest flattest assistant in the entire series. She can literally be summed up with the words "cutesy magic girl." Half of the game is effectively themed around her gimmick, but that gimmick is all her character has. She contributes nothing meaningful to the narrative, her dynamic with Apollo isn't even anything memorable. Then the game has the gall to reveal in the end credits that she's secretly sad as if that means anything when the game didn't even bother to acknowledge the obvious potential reason.

Klavier just exists. His relationship with his brother doesn't get any elaboration or narrative depth. The 3rd case uses his rockstar gig as an excuse for a central gimmick, but beyond that, he could literally be replaced by Winston Payne and it would make no difference.

Ema does her job well, but detectives rarely ever have all that much depth to begin with, and she certainly did not rise to the impossible challenge of carrying this game herself.

And Phoenix, when you strip off all the layers of poorly thought through mystery, just does what the narrative wants him to without any depth or further thought put into this iteration of his character.

All this would already be a bad enough look for AJ. But it does get worse. Because a lot of the big decisions actively made about this game's narrative were either terribly executed or in poor taste to begin with.

To start with, the elephant in the room, is Phoenix's disbarment.

There are way longer way more insightful analyses than I could write on how Phoenix's disbarment was a terrible writing choice, but to summarize;

Phoenix was disbarred so that he could play a more mentor-ish role in the game instead of being the protagonist.

Despite this not being an inherently bad move, in the end, Apollo Justice made every single self-sabotaging decision that could possibly have been made regarding this plotline.

Instead of actually pushing Phoenix to the backburner and giving the spotlight to the new protagonist, as his disbarment was supposed to do, the game decided to make it this huge mystery that it ended up spending the majority of its time weeding through.

Despite it very blatantly being the intention, Phoenix just straight up IS NOT a mentor in this game. He doesn't do a single thing the entire game that actually helps Apollo out besides giving him cases to work.

Instead of respecting Phoenix's existing character, portraying him in an any way-dignified light, and letting him have the reputation and legacy he built up in the first 3 games, Phoenix is straight-up character assassinated. They could've had him be the head of a legal firm tutoring bright up-coming lawyers like Apollo and Athena despite lacking a license of his own, but instead they dress him up like a hobo, turn his office into a clearly failing "talent agency," give him a daughter, (which you just KNOW the game wants you to assume has a scandalous origin,) and everything he does relating to the law is actively portrayed as the shadiest shit it could possibly be.

The actual case that caused his disbarment requires him to make the brain-dead decision to use blatantly dodgy evidence when simply pointing out the obviously visible ripped paper would've made his argument just as well. And when his presenting forged evidence is revealed, he's not even given a chance to defend himself despite 3 years of heroic and honorable exploits, including taking down MULTIPLE evidence forgers in high positions of law.

This also all happens literally 2 months after the end of Trials and Tribulations, completely ruining any semblance of the happy ending that the game was supposed to end with. (And yet none of his friends are present for this dark time, not even when one of them could probably pull strings and get his badge back within a year.)

Then, at the beginning of the game Phoenix deliberately has evidence forged and handed to Apollo to take down Kristoph, putting Apollo's badge in danger and proving the committee that took his badge away right.

And at the end of the game, the entire plot of the last case is literally just Phoenix puppeteering a trial to reveal Kristoph's crimes, but after how the entire game was spent making Phoenix look like a shady immoral prick, you can't expect the player to see this as a victory and not the horrifically manipulated circus court that it is.

Along with this atrociously thought-through plotline is a supposed theme of distrust, both in people and in the court system.

This is something a lot of hardcore fans of this game will parade as being the game being brilliant and more mature than other games, but when you actually look at what's going on here using any media literacy or genre awareness, it's not even a particularly strong argument that it was intended let alone is it good.

First of all, the game does not acknowledge this theme in the slightest. At no point does Apollo actually acknowledge how untrustworthy and unfair everything seems, much less struggle with that fact or what to do in spite of it. There's such a thing as too subtle, and Apollo Justice's "theme" of distrust is a master class.

The theme starts with Phoenix and his forging evidence in the first case. And despite everything I just explained about how horrible Phoenix is portrayed in this game, anyone who knows anything about how media works will know that Capcom isn't going to ACTUALLY deliberately portray Phoenix as the villain or the one in the wrong, so it's dead on arrival.

Along with Phoenix, the proponents of this concept argue that the other 3 defendants are also supposed to be untrustworthy, but in reality, they simply are not. It's a running gag (A very annoying one,) in this game that none of the defendants can/will actually talk with Apollo, but despite that, it's painfully obvious for all 3 that they are as innocent as defendants can get. * Wocky tries to act like a gangster but is so obviously a wannabe that it's questionable he even has the guts to kill someone. * Machi Tobaye is A F*CKING CHILD. In a case where the murder weapon is stated at least 3 times to dislocate the shoulder of a grown man if he's not trained to use it. * And Vera Misham is the most obvious stereotypical depiction of social anxiety I've ever seen.

Along with the defendants, this supposed theme is supposed to extend to the court, with the proceedings themselves being meant to be stacked against the defense in a particularly dystopian way. This is often compared to "The Dark Age of the Law" from Dual Destinies as somehow being a better version of said theme, but once again it's terrible. Specifically, the only way this supposed concept manifests is in the 3rd case. (Every other case is the same as any other game in the franchise) Where the fact that Machi is being accused as the killer is so blatantly nuts that it's basically the game laughing at the series and the improbability of some defendants' suggested guilt. Which, in practice, does not suggest to the player that the law is in a dark age; it just pisses them off.

Lastly, as an aside, Apollo Justice is also strikingly lacking in the more light-hearted aspects Ace Attorney is typically known for. Besides case 2, the game is pretty much devoid of humor or goofy antics. (And half of case 2's antics are centered around women's underwear.) This is defended by fans as the game being more mature, but in reality it's just a lack of an important piece of Ace Attorney.

As I've explained thus far, Apollo Justice is fundamentally flawed and appallingly far from even a functional narrative, much less a well-written Ace Attorney game.

The next mainline game to come after it, Dual Destinies, has become a punching bag in this fandom primarily for the crime of not being Apollo Justice 2.

But while there's a lot more that can be said about Dual Destinies and its relationship with Apollo Justice, I feel what I've explained thus far is already enough to justify its choice to largely leave AJ behind.

I'm going to finish this post here for now, but later I will reblog it with a 2nd part covering exactly that, explaining not only why Dual Destinies was justified in the direction it took, but how it is a truly phenomenal narrative that avoids Apollo Justice's deep-rooted flaws and frankly completely blows it out of the water.

[zzencat]

Quick Starters. ⱄⰔ

- some things to note ∗ .⋆ ☆ ₊˚ (will update if needed)

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• Open for anyone to read (idc who or what you identify as, as long as you walk in with good intentions.) Spirit does not discriminate.

• IMPORTANT: I tap into more subconscious layers of the psyche, so my readings or messages for you will likely resonate with things you try to dismiss subconsciously or don’t pay much attention to—the inner demons, inner soul type shit. This, I gotta make sure is clear.

• remember to always clear your mind and keep negative emotions at bay. your energy can affect what pile you choose and how you interpret it. it’s not just the blog’s theme, but where you should actually be when you’re here. you stepped in and accepted where the garden will take you. immerse yourself into it.

• take readings with a grain of salt bc they are always prone to change due to many variables.

• I do not sugarcoat my readings. If you’re meant to hear it, take it in. Sometimes, they come out broken as if I’m sitting down with a pile’s higher self and jotting down notes; I will do my best to bridge the gaps here 👍

Note: when I do readings, the spirit who is communicating to my spirit team, then to me is different in each pile, meaning that whatever message they left for you in a pile (or two) was meant to be expressed as such. For example, some can come out short and straightforward, while others may be longer and more detailed. It depends on the person’s higher self and the overall persona.)

• After a reading, feel free to ask me for clarification on ANY of my readings if you need it! I will figure it out with you. I have no problem doing that; do not think yourself as a bother or burden.

However, keep in mind that it’s just us now left to do the interpretation since their higher selves are done communicating what they’ve felt they needed to. That also means that if something sounds confusing, they either meant to do that (for whatever reason), OR they don’t know how to express what they want themselves. In these moments, I usually encourage the spirit to expand. (Regardless, I’ll be as transparent as possible and will let you know what I can without overly prying/overwhelming the spirit. Based on my recent ghostly spook, I’m going to learn from that mistake 😅)

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• Observe and acknowledge in your daily life the signs and synchronicities. I like to give credit to my spirit team and say things like “yeah I see you guys. I see it” out loud lmfao 😂 I guess I say it out loud so I can reassure them in a way, that I’m not ignoring it. But that’s just me haha (Example: seeing certain numbers everywhere and then having an event or manifestation come into fruition. For me personally, seeing the same 2 or 3 number combinations (222, 888, 444, 38, etc.) have helped me protect myself and predict the outcome of things.)

• Find out how you manifest things. Some people manifest just by writing things they want, daily affirmations, etc. So many different ways. For me, it’s by Law of Assumption. I was doing this unknowingly and manifested things “by accident” in my real life. But it works only if I have good intentions with what I’m trying to pull into my life.

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Reading Examples I Will Not Do:

• How to speed up union with [insert person] - Time works in accordance with your higher good. You will meet a person when you are meant to meet them. Things will happen for a reason. Trying to (hypothetically) speed up the manifestation creates a rocky foundation and is overall, not in your best interest. Timing will adjust itself. Trust in the universe.

• “When will I meet [insert person]?” - Especially when asking for a certain time or date. Same reason as the previous point: things are susceptible to change. A given time is not reliable enough to guarantee this meeting. Ultimately, it's up to spirit whether if this meeting will be good for you or a learning experience.

[psychewritesbs]

Hi! First of all, sorry if this ask doesn't make much sense since I'm just kinda throwing this all out here, but this has been bouncing on my mind for a while now and I'm not sure how to put all of it together and thought that maybe you could help haha.

So about the whole mind-soul-body plot and how they interact with each other in JJK. I've been having a string of thoughts about this that's been getting bigger:

-The three clans. I don't know where Gege's unpredictability may take this, but the fact that he left the Zen'in's spot in the Big 3 undecided (ch152) + the Kamo clan up in the air makes me think this plot's kind of important (along the three vengeful spirits, tying the past with present, although that's heavy on theory lane so don't mind it much). And I was thinking, what if each clan are meant to represent/relate to mind (Gojo) body (Zen'in) and soul (Kamo)? When were the 3 big jujutsu clans even founded and why are they the ones? Something about jujutsu's pinnacle being the balance between mind-body-soul?

For example, Gojo's DE targets the mind, Gege himself acknowledged how it's interesting that both sorcerers with a heavenly restriction about enhancing one's body are coincidentally Zen'in (+ the clan's techniques having so much to do with body parts) and this is more of an unreasoned relation, but so far people related to the Kamo (including Yuuji through his half-brothers and Kenjaku) have had the topic of one's soul and their own individuality come up — if they're more curse or human, if they're more duty or their family (Noritoshi).

-> this also led me to Jung too. I'm no expert whatsover so I'm not going to expand on this, but I can also kinda see how the Gojo can represent the persona, Zen'in the shadow and Kamo the self. Since you're the expert in this area I'd love to hear your thoughts and if I'm completely off.

-Lastly I (and many more people I guess) have noticed that from the start of the CG, Gege's been putting Yuuji, Megumi and Yuuta kind of in a level of importance of their own. Not only narratively but also visually, with some panels and art featuring the three of them together/in a trio composition. And while I have another whole separate set of thoughts on "Gojo's successor/next strongest", I do believe Yuuta's relation to the Gojo, Megumi/Zen'in and Yuuji/Kamo has to do with this.

So my mind makes this whole relation between the body-mind-soul topic, the three clans, Yuuji-Megumi-Yuuta (something about the future generation who are against the beggining/cycles coming to an end?) and even jungian psychology but idk how to make a proper statement about where this might lead. Like, I see /something/ there but I'm not sure what, and I was hoping you could help as much as you can because it's rotting my brain lmao.

I'm sending you this because I really love your posts and thoughts on JJK. I'm not sure/can't remember if you've talked about something similar to this though, so if you have I'd love to read it if you can link it!

Oh! I see and love to see the wheels turning lol.

This is fun stuff! Thank you for sharing anon.

idk I just feel like, even if Gege does not necessarily expand upon this theme, I think you're onto something there with the whole symbolism for each clan, and that the reason they are the 3 major clans has to do with their relationship to mind is body is soul.

There's something here about how dominating their particular subject, whether mind, body or soul, is what led them to become recognized.

I did try to reframe your thoughts but my agenda sort of failed loooool 🫠. But I'm going to share my logic anyways because my rambling might help you clarify your own thoughts.

Depth Psych mini lecture to taco'bout it under the cut.

Ok so I see it more as:

Zenin is mind.

Gojo is soul.

Kamo is body.

But first, I think it's important to mention that the way Gege uses mind is body is soul confuses me sometimes.

Thing is, we are ideally meant to think of it as if this holy trinity (3) makes up one whole together (4). This "whole" is called the Self in Jungian terms, and it is thought to be the entirety of our existence (mind (includes the shadow) + body + soul).

Also, from a numerology and esoteric standpoint, you also want to consider that four (the Self) symbolizes stability and order, where three (mind + body + soul) is harmonious but not balanced.

AND, sometimes it feels like soul is the Self and encompasses mind + body.

Confusing, right?

It only gets more confusing, but I think this maxim itself needs a reframe that is more in tune with the actual Holy Trinity which states that:

The Father (mind) is not the Son (body) is not the Holy Spirit (spirit), BUT the Father (mind) is God (soul), the Son is God (soul), and the Holy Spirit (spirit) is God (soul).

I do have to say that, if all of these different aspects are indeed aspects of God, then why does the Father ≠ the Holy Spirit ≠ the Son.

If that made any sense at all lol. Thanks for attending this mental gymnastic session and sorry for the late warning.

Like I said... confusing. It doesn't help that Jung was also sort of contradictory when speaking about what the Self was, although there is a general agreement that the Self is the soul as it guides the mind and body through reality. So perhaps it's more accurate to say that the soul = mind + body + spirit.

Anyways, I'm probably thinking too much into this LOL.

Let's start with mind

While the visual of the iceberg to represent the mind is more popular, in Jungian terms the mind is more akin to a lightbulb or a lit candle, right? Everything the light touches is what you are aware of that you are aware about the world. It's also the personality as it is shaped by the interaction between outside factors and your inner world.

But then there's the shadow side of the mind, everything that the light does NOT reach. Not only is it everything that the conscious mind doesn't know that it doesn't know about the world, the shadow is also a sort of repository for any traits and qualities that the conscious mind is not able to accept about itself.

Why am I saying all of this? While I totally agree that the Zenin could represent body because of the whole heavenly restriction bit, to me, because 10 Shadows is the clan's most important technique I think I just made this up but I feel like Gege does imply this lol, we're meant to think of Zenin as mind.

I think it's also relevant how Megumi is undergoing ego death and how you can track his development through nuances like his two divine dogs (black and white) becoming one (grey). This is all mind stuff.

@blog-of-hubris has thoughts on the whole heavenly restriction bit that I am not sure I can do justice.

Then we have body

To me, I am interpreting this way because the clan's cursed technique is related to blood manipulation. Although there is also something here about blood symbolizing the animating principle of the body, so I can see how it could also represent the soul.

Not my agenda crumbling to pieces LOL.

I also love the whole idea you mention around how blood is thicker than water and that's what binds us to certain people.

Soul is next

Admittedly, this is the weakest part of my agenda lol. Something about Gojo being all-seeing and able to have access to all information, I can see why you'd think this is mind given how Gojo's technique works. But to me, that feels more like a byproduct of how Gojo experiences the world and makes sense of it with his mind.

I also think it's pretty relevant that Gojo appears to be able to recognize souls.

Perhaps this even sheds more light on how Gojo knew what Megumi would say about saving Yuji as one anon asked before.

Anyways, that's my shameless agenda.

So my mind makes this whole relation between the body-mind-soul topic, the three clans, Yuuji-Megumi-Yuuta (something about the future generation who are against the beggining/cycles coming to an end?)

This is neat! Anyone reading this got any ideas? I feel like my thoughts may or may not be helpful.

Like if we take Yuji (Kamo), Megumi (Zenin) and Yuta (Gojo)... are you thinking about their character arcs? or the larger picture?

I don't know if this helps you but what I'm getting out of the big picture is the idea that there is a wholeness that needs to be achieved.

I'm thinking of how Gege already told us only one of these kids will survive this ordeal (is mind, body or soul surviving?) and also about how a Gojo and a Zenin ancestor respectively once killed each other in battle. So there's something here about how these factions are at war with each other when in reality they are part of a larger whole.

Which is a neat idea if you think about how Nori once told Megumi he would become the pillar that supports the three families.

In more practical terms, think about how your body has a consciousness in its own right that your mind might have a tendency to ignore because it has its own agenda.

Another important detail to keep in mind is that in Jungian Psych, the Self is kind of a dick lmao. Ok not really a dick but... let's put it this way: if your mind has an unbalanced attitude that needs to be corrected (i.e. ignoring the body's wisdom), the Self will orchestrate reality so that your mind and body move into specific experiences according to what the mind needs to learn. The Self doesn't care if these experiences cause suffering, it merely has a function and that function is achieving wholeness and the becoming of who you are meant to be.

So whomever survives has a big task ahead of them in terms of making meaning out of what happened in the past, how the conflict even started, and what can be done differently.

Unfortunately, life doesn't always give us neatly wrapped, happy endings. So I fully expect some ambiguity in what Gege wants his audience to take away from his work--after all, he's writing about meaning-making.

Hey anon! Thanks for the comments and for sharing your thoughts with me. Hope this helped and do keep me updated :)

[yusuke-of-valla]

I see your point but Junpei being unromancible by either MC is so satisfying and honestly sexy of P3P. Though that’s more because his heart belonging to Chidori before he could be romanced than just sexuality.

I... didn't say it wasn't?

What I'm saying is there's a double standard where playersexual games get flack about it being unrealistic for everyone to be into the player, but that's literally what the majority of games with straight love interests do.

P3P is an exception and it's an exception I really like, because it proves my point that if the story is more character driven then it probably shouldn't be player sexual and in fact I don't think there should be more than one or two romance options at all because the character stuff matters.

Like if it's something like literally a dating sim first and foremost or Stardew Valley where you the player are living out a pleasant life, I don't think it's a problem that everyone's bisexual and able to be romance. The point is wish fulfillment for the player, there's no reason to restrict them if they happen to like a character who's sexuality is incompatible because whatever

If you're trying to write an actual character-driven story like a Persona game, I think having everyone be romanaceable is bad specifically BECAUSE it cuts off writing actual character-specific romances.

Persona 3 does not need every female social link to be datable. I'd accept that having a romance enhances the themes because the point is embracing life and falling in love is considered an important part of that, but certainly not all of them.

I think Persona 4 and 5 have this worse though because like. Kanji and Naoto have a cute dynamic but can't be canon because Naoto needs to be dateable because girl.

Persona 5 also can't commit to any romance in a way that matters or would be interesting for developing the story because all options are available

Literally 4 and 5 do not actually need to have romantic options, not all games even need to have romance options. I'd rather they develop actual romances that develop the plot and characters and progress the themes because in those games the romance shouldn't be the point, they should be a means to an end.

So like the P3P thing is EXACTLY why I think playersexual/"all people of the opposite sex are into the player" can fail because not doing that allows you to use the defined character relationships to write really compelling romances!

But I also acknowledge that that would be the pain in the ass in something like a dating sim or Stardew Valley where like the romantic aspect in and of itself is the point, or any game where you are explicitly playing as yourself or an extension of yourself

[grahamcarmen]

Asking possibly a stupid question, but i don't really understand the opera symbolism of swan lake I understand carmen as foreshadowing for her and grays relationship and the flying dutchman as foreshadowing for grey's role in the finale but I don't understand swan lake.

Also why is your ask box named snapcracklepop.

I dont think its stupid. Lol I was asking the same thing (while mildly acknowledging maybe its just cause like carmen the opera is an easy peasy pun, swan lake is a recognizable ballet even if youre not into ballet) because idk its fun and even if its not meant to be 1 to 1 im trying to give the writers some credit since the thieving magpie and flying dutchman are absolutely not recognizable ones but while not 1 to 1 have a few beats that can be compared

:3

Here's the Wikipedia explanation of whats happening technically

I'm looking at this ending and it looks more like a bow to me ... but point being its something hard that needs all the players to look and dance in unison since they're literally all linked

+ the context of what is happening in the ballet

Siegfried is promising his love to Odette to break her spell so that she and her friends can be free (and cause he's smitten with her aww)

So its their pas de deux and then the little swans [in the version i watched anyway] + some swan company dancing before returning to seigfried and odette

end act

Start next act and storybeatwise the following happens

Rothbart will present odile to him and seigfried promises his love to someone who only looks like odette.

Which technically speaking carmen recruits gray for a mission where her movements for the electric gates/panels...what are they called again...anyway- will have to be synchronized...like a dancer she says ^^ along with player and gray doing their roles perfectly which they manage to do good enough once

However somethings wrong with the feed causing gray to leave his spot

So at the very least its technically a " the working in unison has been broken"

Context wise that I can overthink because I can??...uuuuuuh

Carmen really does not want VILE to have him but is also having a hard time separating graham from gray huh.... and in the mission "keep gray away from anything that could transform him back" plays a part because carmens all set on the idea that these conditions (an extremely dumb plan) keep gray safe from VILE influence, promising to put his safety first but ultimately protecting a VILE constructed persona [WHICH I DO PERSONALLY TAKE ISSUE WITH I DONT THINK GRAHAMS ACTIONS THAT DAY IS SO ENTIRELY WITHOUT GRAYS OWN TRAITS >:0...but yeah lol he usually does not care at all about what the right thing is overall] with a lot of romantic insinuating outside of that dance of little swans

Points i guess for carmens underlying suspicions that she puts to rest for the moment but graham just absolutely gone for her by the end

Little swans squished in the middle of gray very blatantly wanting to be with her and carmen 🤭hoho he likes me😊

Here's a fun one I found via google

...hmmm...idk those people tho so take that with a grain if you instead want to watch and judge the ballet and its themes for yourself.... there's actually a lot of free ones on youtube :D

+ a section in the version I watched where the company talks about how pledging love to odile is odettes doom and the love isn't as pure as they're pretending it is...Carmen! 😑 gray! 😑...but isn't wholly unsalvagable because of the forgiveness and actual true love they do end up showing each other.

With the swan lake ballet having that dichotomy between true self, curses, and a flat out fake who only looks like the beloved

it is a plot point that this happens and almost dooms them ...I mean they die but its like in a ballet dang I guess their souls live then cause they manage to stick it to rothbart

In the end their true selves DO end up together.

+ bonus round

Gray being part of the little swans until he decides instead to be the one who found the red swan (haha...neatcodename) at the heart of a VILE facility and its his constant assurances that he's on her side that help carmen think she can beat VILE and keep him around/ are kinda a point . See him having and then throwing away the crackle rod when she looks all :( to help her instead (seigfried in the forest with a crossbow)

Anything for the kiddos huh...but also lending his expertise outside of the dance of the little swans to help her and her mission

Having a little rendezvous with her beforehand and then after the dance of swans mission only for her to disappear into elusive carmen (sorry watching odette be turned back into a swan)

He actually does fall a bit in love and keeps his interest in this strange girl

+dark! Carmen being chosen for a hot minute before gray sacrifices his own ambitions and loving Carmen for who she truly is is what gives them both a chance at breaking the curse- i mean VILE influence and brainwashing

TLDR: supposed to be working together only for the dance to be interrupted

And looking at beats from the whole ballet is fun to compare actually. Lottsa pledging love but also who is the true self 🧐?

My askbox is like this because

SNAP.CRACKLE POP RICE CRISPIES!...and crackle the dude...

[anachronistic-falsehood]

generation loss: it's not horror

a full review of genloss thus far. because fuck it i’m bored

So! Generation Loss, when Ranboo originally came up with the idea and talked about it publicly, was heavily implied to be some sort of analog horror series. He said, in multiple old streams, that he bought 90’s audio recorders and cameras in order to make it as authentic as possible. So, what exactly is the Generation Loss that we got?

Well, it's not horror, that's for sure. That's not to say it's objectively bad, however! I enjoyed it, to an extent, despite the bits that dragged on, the subpar improv acting, and the questionable writing choices. Ranboo, along with all of the other actors involved, have said that it is a horror series. Clearly, that was the intention. But none of it was scary. I know horror, and that wasn't it. "But Whiskey, it's psychological horror!" Okay. Where was the psychological horror? I get it, there are layers to it, and there are disturbing things when you pull them back (the green to red switch in episode 2, which implies that Charlie's outfit and the food he eats in episode 1 are also blood and gore instead of slime, which is a detail I did like), but overall... there's no real horror. The only times I felt something, like, truly got invested in the story and what was going on, was in two specific moments in episode 3: one, where Charlie was acting his heart out and yelling at Ranboo to hit the button, and two, the very end where Ranboo is begging to die. The rest of the show was relatively supbar to me. It's not horror, but if Genloss continues on the path it was taking in episode 3, it could definitely get there!

I'll talk about some details I did like first. I don't want to mercilessly attack the series and rip it to shreds, because there are good qualities in it that have a lot of potential, and ripping into things with pure hate on the mind rarely comes with good criticism. I will rag on it a bit, but I do want to focus on the potential of the series, because it clearly isn't over. Also I’m well aware that this was made by Ranboo and a bunch of his content creator friends and most of them aren’t professional actors so. I’ll cut them some slack

I have seen a lot of praise for episode 2 specifically. Not much for episode 1, understandably so, but I'll get into that later. Episodes 2 and 3 seem to be most people's favourites, and for good reason. Episode 2, as slow as it felt to watch through 2 hours of it, did have a lot of thought and detail put into it. The personas of the other streamers stuck in the trap, for one: Niki's emphasis on being "the nice one" as her best and only character trait, even as she's crying behind the scenes; Ethan’s slash text saying he’s unemployed, and being relatively unimportant and unnoticeable until someone else acknowledges him; Austin's splash text saying he's gay while he emphasizes that he has a wife and kids, which could either be a comment on how queer people are often made to hide their identities, or how someone's sexuality is often made the forefront of their public persona, etc. etc. Even their deaths, both Niki's and Ethan's being offscreen, were significant in playing into that symbolism! The dress-up bit dragged on a lot to me, but the fact that Ethan was the one who decided to start dressing up, put on a dress and a wig in some approximation of drag, and then was immediately killed off? And Ranboo, the "hero" only dressing himself up in a black jacket, like every single masculine protagonist in any action movie out there while still being controlled by Showfall? The queer themes of vague (very vague) gender fuckery are there. Ranboo being queer himself, it's hard to believe that the little queer bits would be a coincidence. There's a lot of filler (will touch on that later), but if you can parse through it, it is saying something. There's thought put into this, even if it's under a thick layer of ironic half assed comedy like a less articulate Dave Strider monologue.

Episode 3 was the best by far. Most of it was genuinely enjoyable, even if I did laugh at a couple of serious points that definitely weren't supposed to be funny (Ranboo stabbing someone was so funny to me, I'm sorry, I couldn't get over the >:[ "serious" face). The elements of horror did show themselves by the end, and laid down the foundation for a promising continuation of the series. The twist villain, Hetch, was introduced in the first one, and he was untrustworthy from the beginning, at least to me. It wasn’t a huge surprise when he suddenly switched up on Ranboo at the end, but it still got me a bit, which is good!! If you can guess the twist, or look back and see where the twist came from, you’ve done a good job setting it up! Also, The Truman Show-esque bow before the doorway was a good detail, and a great way to directly put it in your face that this is a series about escaping the narrative. The narrative is actively hurting these characters, and every moment they spend on camera is hell. It's about finding free will in a situation where it's hard to find any freedom at all (which, again, is another theme that can easily relate back to queerness). And of course, as soon as Ranboo bows and the curtain begins to close, Hetch drags him right back in, because there truly is no escaping the narrative in this world. Ranboo's last bid for freedom is to beg for death from the very audience they're being made to entertain, and they ultimately get it. That is his escape, his curtain call. He's gone from the narrative (supposedly; who knows what the future of Genloss holds?).

The point of saying all of this? So you know that my criticism comes from a good place. I can't say I liked watching Genloss, but I can't say I disliked it. Watching it was a bit of a drag, especially in the first and second episodes, but theorizing about something that clearly was meant to be theorized about is very fun :3

Let’s talk about my gripes with episode 1. I saw one post that described Genloss as “a comedy horror with no comedy or horror” and i have to agree. The comedy, most of the time, didn't land. A few jokes got me, but for the most part, the improv bits were... bad. They were bad. The cooking bit in the first episode went on way too long. I understand there were probably a lot of cool secrets hidden in there, but come on. It went on for, what, half an hour? To paraphrase one of my mutuals, "that's like 26 minutes after it stopped being funny." While watching ep 1, I stopped paying attention for about ten minutes to type out a list of horror series I enjoy that actually have horror in them, and all I missed was a boss fight sequence that was STILL going on by the time I finished. And the acting, in all honesty, was bad. It felt stilted and awkward and none of the characters held my attention long enough to get me invested in them. There is so much filler, even though we were told that the series would have little to none. Episode 1 was like watching a middle school project with a weirdly large budget.

Let's move on to my issues with episode 2.

Episode 2, as I've stated, had its strengths. The underlying themes and details were there, and it was easier to get invested long enough to want to peel back the bullshit to take a better look at what lies underneath. Some of the humour actually landed for me (although still not a lot). I'm not going to complain about the sets or the makeup and costuming, because I have little to no expertise in those fields, but I can speak on the writing. It was better than the first one. I can say that with confidence. Still, many parts of it were just too long. The Saw trap carousel bit dragged, as did the Mouse Trap bit, and the dress-up bit—you get the picture. There was still quite a bit of filler, even more so than the first one, considering its length, which is frustrating because, again, we were told there wouldn’t be much at all. I'm also no professional actor, but although I’m well aware this was made by a bunch of inexperienced content creators, the acting definitely left something to be desired. If Austin Show puts his whole pussy into a performance, then theoretically, it shouldn't overshadow the main character. It shouldn't make me root for this side character who's clearly going to die. But it did! I wanted Austin to live more than I wanted Ranboo to live, because his character had something. And I get it, Ranboo was being mind controlled, he's going to act a little spacey and clueless. But by the end of episode 2, I hadn't felt any personal connection to Ranboo's character at all. What reason did I have to want this guy to be our final girl in the movie who beats the bad guy and lives to tell the tale? The writing and acting for Ranboo’s character both kind of sucked overall. I felt nothing towards this guy. Absolute jack shit.

Let's talk episode 3. Arguably the best one out of the three, but not without its flaws. Hetch’s voice acting just sounded like any generic white boy streamer out there. It was very much "this is my first acting role so I'm going to talk how I normally do but a bit more exaggerated in hopes that it comes across as evil." Not very convincing. Also, the backrooms-esque TV-head monster was uninspired and unoriginal at best, and at worst, a complete wrench in the barebones plot there was. Why is there a monster here? What is it doing? Who made it? Why is it sentient? Why is it running free around this abandoned empty mall? It just felt like a complete cop out to have an "ooooh scary monster!!" in a lame attempt to have some semblance of real horror.

But, despite all of that, I genuinely enjoyed most of episode 3. Charlie's acting really got to shine when he was finally taken out of the role of the funny man and put into a scene that required some serious acting. He actually made me feel something. He's genuinely an amazing actor. Like, what the hell. Get this man an Oscar!!! The tension that was missing from the other two was actually present here, especially in the chase scenes. The stakes felt higher, and in the last scene, Ranboo’s acting really took off. It was fucking amazing. You could feel his desperation. Put this guy in more life or death situations! I wanna watch them scream for their life!!! (Also, the crucifixion imagery in that scene? Very well done. mmmmm I love me some good religious symbolism)

So if Genloss isn’t horror (yet), what is it? It’s not a comedy. It’s not action. The only genre I can think of that it might fit into is a mystery hidden under a thick guise of unfunny sitcom-adjacent improv humour. There are things to look for and find out on your own, but there are five layers of bullshit to wade through before you can get to anything of substance.

I think my biggest gripe about Genloss is that it’s clearly made for Ranboo fans. Despite being advertised in Times Square, this is mostly made to be watched and enjoyed by people who already know and care about who he is. They will go into Genloss with a positive outlook on the series before even watching it, knowing beforehand that it’s meant to be some sort of mystery, with the intention of theorizing about it and praising it afterwards. If you went up to a horror fan who doesn’t know who Ranboo is and has never heard him speak about Genloss before, and told them that this series was a horror, they would watch it and think “in what universe does this qualify as a horror?” Your average horror fan would watch Genloss and be confused as to why it’s apparently considered to be a horror series. The first episode is its weakest point. Anyone outside of Ranboo’s fan circle who watches it wouldn’t know that it’s meant to be a mystery or a horror. They would sit through an hour of bad improv and come out the other side confused, and probably not interested enough to watch the second one. As I said in another post, watching Genloss is like watching a hurdle race where the racer trips right out of the blocks, falls over every single hurdle along the way except for the last couple, and sprints through the finish line while tripping and falling right after. The first episode is even worse when you’ve watched the last one, because you can see the potential the series fails to live up to in the very beginning.

BUT! But but but! It still has potential. The ending of episode 3 was honestly really good, at least in comparison to the rest of the series. If Ranboo decides to continue taking the series in the direction that episode 3 went in, it could be something good. My expectations are very low, but my hopes are high. I think they can genuinely make something out of Genloss, maybe not quite on par with most other horror series, but they could get there if they try. It just depends on where Ranboo and their team take it from here.

When Generation 2 comes out, I’ll probably watch that too. The ending intrigued me! Idk what the fate of gl!Ranboo is, whether he’s actually dead or not, what happens to the others, if Hetch and Showfall have bigger plans for Ranboo, etc etc. I’ll admit it!! I’m curious!!! I don’t know if Generation Loss as it is now was worth all the hype and buildup, but maybe eventually it will be.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Horimiya: The Missing Pieces

Did you like the previous Horimiya anime? Did you like the outgoing girl and gloomy boy who opened up to each other? Their expanding cast of classmates, all of whom had hidden depths? That's what's really going to determine if you like this or not.

Or, if you've never seen Horimiya before, do you like a mix of humor and emotion? Do you like friendship? Do you like watching fiction about friend groups who can feel real in their silliness?

Essentially, this is what it says on the label: the first season was a good, complete story by itself, but cut a lot of side stories from the manga--I'm assuming because they planned on only having a single season, so they wanted to have a complete story. And that's OK! But Horimiya was a big hit, well-liked, and so what they've done here is literally gone back through to add additional stories.

I adored Horimiya. It was so fun, humorous, poignant...so having additional stories to watch, along with the returning voice cast, was fantastic, and I chortled my way through the new season every night after work as my reward.

The biggest thing I think is important to know going in to The Missing Pieces is that it really is functioning as an addition to essentially the "base story" of Horimiya. That means that the stories are going to be more self-contained, more episodic, because most of the big plot points were, of course, already shown.

The other thing is that it's showing stories in chronological order, but around the plot points from the first season. For example, Miyamura starts out with long hair, and at one point in the first season, cuts it. In this season, it similarly starts with long-haired Miyamura...but when it reaches a point where the main storyline had him cut it, it switches to showing him with short hair. This is perfectly fine if the viewer remembers he cut his hair; otherwise, it could be jarring because Missing Pieces doesn't explain it at all.

If you've forgotten about the haircut (or are a new viewer who hasn't seen the first season), Miyamura's new look and lack of explanation or even acknowledgement is going to be confusing. Same with the multiple stories that involve him avoiding taking off his shirt: it's a big deal in the first season that he has tattoos, something that is very shocking in Japan, particularly on an otherwise-normal teenager.

None of this is bad, but it's worth noting. I rewatched the first season beforehand, which is how I'd recommend approaching this. Either way, Horimiya remains a very fun, and very funny, show about teenagers figuring out how to handle their identities and how they present themselves in different contexts, navigating relationships, and how obnoxious parents can be.

This also gives the show time to focus more on the supporting cast. One of the things that makes Horimiya such a fun and satisfying show is that it's not just the two title characters who get the spotlight or development. These additional stories really ensure that the secondary-but-still-prime characters get more development (in the cases of characters like the student council trio, who got a decent amount of screentime in the first season, and delightfully get more in this season)...

...(and in other cases, characters who barely got any development now get at least one episode in the spotlight, showing that even guys like "the pretty one" and "the class clown" are given the opportunity to show a 3-dimensional personality.)

This is, again, one of Horimiya's key themes, the concept of having different "public" and "private" selves. Not because characters are intentionally playing a part, but because that's what naturally happens in life: Shun isn't faking his outgoing persona even though it would be unrecognizable to his younger sister who only sees him as serious and quiet; those are just the different parts of himself that he feels most comfortable, or most fitting, for different parts of his life. The same goes for almost every other character, all of whom bring different parts of themselves to different situations.

Verdict

English dub? Yes, and the cast from the first season returned. I really love this case, everyone is distinct, and no one is annoying.

Visuals: Like the first seasons, very pretty, clear lines, beautifully-animated character designs. All are distinct from each other, and the series as a whole was lovely to behold.

Worth watching? Yes. My gosh, yes. 13 easily-managed episodes that are just a sheer delight to watch.

Where to watch (February 2024): Crunchyroll (sub, dub); Hulu (sub, dub); no DVD/BR release yet, but the first season was given a physical release about 1.5 years after it aired, so hopefully this would also get a physical release sometime in the next 12 months.

(Also, technically, you can watch it on Funimation, both sub and dub. However, Funimation is shutting down April 2, 2024, so your time is limited.)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more, or search/click "Horimiya" to see my review of the first season!