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siflshonen · 1 year

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Todoroki: The Mountain, the Hawk, and the Haunted House Part 1

Link to the Todoroki family presentation: Part 1 | Part 2

Link to the Bakugo presentation 2.0: Part 1 | Part 2 | 1.0: Part 1 | Part 2

Link to the Kirishima presentation 1.0 | 2.0

Link to the Todoroki presentation

Link to the Deku presentation

Link to the Uraraka-Bakugo-Toga presentation

Link to the Shigaraki-All for One presentation

Link to the Spinner-Shigaraki-Bakugo-Deku presentation

Link to the BNHA presentations masterpost

In the online fandom system, domestic abuse offenses are considered especially heinous. In the My Hero Academia fandom, the dedicated fans who create the discourse around these fictitious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the So (you think these) Victims (are the most special characters) Unit, or SVU.

These aren’t their stories.

Whenever a work from one culture or language is brought to another (or even if the work stays in the same culture but transitions from page to screen), the translators, localizers, and creative team handling it can only do so much to help the new audience understand what the original work communicates through subtext or cultural associations by deciding how much of the work to leave out or change. In other words, the team must choose how to fail.

In the case of the Todoroki family, I feel there is much lost in translation. Or, at least, there is much lost if the reader doesn’t share the work’s original cultural background. I’m going to try to make my point with a poem.

Four children are mine

And I love my four children:

An arrow to ward away the darkness

aimed for the light of the dawn;

The winter, who brings the night again, beautiful and longer;

Next the summer,

who returns the sun at its zenith;

And small is the leader with clear sky and dusk rain in his eyes.

Four children are mine

And with four comes death

The arrow flies too high from the bow

The arrow flies but falls to darkness

From a shrine in the mountain, he aims for me.

My son haunts the mountain near the peak

I fear the mountain I cannot climb

I fear the arrow meant for me.

Winter settles quietly

Summer turns away from me

The leader makes a mirror of my heart

I tell my son I love him

And I look in the mirror yet I cannot face it but to watch it crack

My son is my spitting image

I tell my son I love him

I tell my son

Without looking into his eyes,

I tell my son I love him

As the arrow flies.

This poem is about Enji Todoroki and his children - the four he actually fathered and the one for whom he unknowingly acted as a surrogate. The poem vaguely alludes to the meanings of the children’s names with one notable change - for Shoto Todoroki, instead of calling him “charred frozen” - which is basically how his first name is written - I called him “leader”.

When written with different characters in Japanese, “Sho” can mean “leader.” So, while “leader” isn’t the true meaning of Shoto’s name, I decided that it was thematically fitting to use since he’s also the “hero of his family” and leads the way for them to continue into the future. In changing the meaning of Shoto’s name, I chose how to fail. Yes, it’s imperfect, but by putting in the work, I can at least show you how I arrived at the destination to help you better understand what you are reading. Much of what I’m about to write about falls into this category - it’s not exactly the perfect explanation or whole, unaltered, canon truth, but is supplementary information to help you come to your own conclusions.

Anyway, now that I’ve told you the poem is about Enji and his children, it probably comes off a little differently, huh? That’s the power of writing allegories and using recurring motifs. If you have not figured it out already, you’ll learn soon enough what words symbolize each child.

Now, let’s break down this already broken family. There are so many damn Todorokis that I’m going to do something very, very rude and call them each by their first name for the sake of clarity (and also because, frankly, it’s a more honest representation of how I actually feel about these characters.)

What is the Todoroki Family?

The challenges facing the Todoroki family - such as the pressures Enji feels, the disappointment and internal crisis Toya inherits, the social and marital prison in which Rei finds herself trapped, the nature of the public’s feelings of betrayal at the reveal of Enji’s family dysfunction, the social snafus and ugly family dynamics in which Natsuo and Fuyumi are often caught - are distinctly shaped by the series’ Japanese society. There’s a special je ne sais quoi quality to their family drama that feels authentic even to me, and I’m a foreigner to these cultural tropes. It’s a little disturbing.

But, besides a fictional family, what are the Todorokis? What purpose do they serve in the story? What is their purpose within the narrative, and what is the purpose of the narrative in which they exist?

Well, on the one hand, the Todoroki household can function as an allegory for traditional Japanese families, society, and power structures (we could use the word “patriarchy”) crumbling under the pressures of modernity and a changing world, which is similar to how the Shimura household functions in Shigaraki’s backstory, or even the story of All Might’s retirement. On the other hand, they are a case study of a deeply flawed family that, if the magic-powers quirk element was not present, could exist in the real world.

They make for good drama. But every member of the household serves a purpose in the narrative, in the family, and in the meta. Usually, these three things work together for a greater purpose.

What is Enji Todoroki?

I didn’t say, “Who is Enji Todoroki?”. I said, “What is Enji Todoroki?”

If you said, “an asshole and shit father,” well, yeah, you’re sure on to something! But it’s not helpful to disengage with a major character in a work if you want to understand what the hell they’re doing in the narrative. I’m not telling anyone to like Enji, or any Todoroki, but I am asking that you entertain the concepts behind them with an open mind, if not an open heart.

What is Enji Todoroki? Much of this should be obvious in any language, but I’m still going to break it down.

The manga tells us pretty blatantly that he is a man from an older generation struggling to remain relevant in a new and changing world. He is ambitious, prideful, hardworking, hypocritical, and wholly dedicated to his job. He’s the patriarch in a household structure that is no longer relevant and coming apart at the seams. But most of all, Enji is afraid that nothing he does will ever be enough.

What is Enji Todoroki? Enji is someone who tries his hardest at anything he does even when it sends him to ruin.

Enji and Effort; Enji and Enjo

In my Bakugo and Deku presentations, I mention that the concept of talent as a fixed quality is predominantly accepted in the west while a common eastern perspective posits that talent is something developed over time. The distinctly Japanese Enji and his personal conflict over the existence of the “natural born”, western-coded All Might thrusts these implied concepts of talent from subtext (not that they were particularly hard to identify throughout the manga) into blatant text. And I’m not just talking about the moment where Enji thinks to himself, “I have always envied natural-born superheroes.”

The written characters for Enji’s given name means effort. The name also sounds like another word for “fuckin’ honkin’ bigass fire”, Enjo, but for our discussion, Enji means effort. Endeavor, his self-chosen hero name, also implies the application of effort.

Everything about this man is defined by his efforts, even when they are in vain. Everything.

He pours his effort into becoming Japan’s greatest Hero. He pours his efforts into escaping the fate of his father. He pours his efforts into making the most terrible domestic choices possible to try to be enough for his family. He pours his efforts into atoning for his transgressions against his family, and then again for those against society. And it is not enough. He knows it is not enough, it never will be enough. Not one thing he has ever done in his life has been enough for him, enough for his family, enough for society. It is never enough. This is his burden.

You don’t have to feel bad for him about it, mind you. I’m just telling you that it is, functionally, his core struggle.

Enji poured every bit of himself into looking away from his son Toya and into running away from him. It’s going to take every bit of effort within himself to stand his ground and face his son again, and even then, he is still going to need help. Perhaps that’s pathetic, but even Enji knew he was only going to be a professional Hero, never a superhero.

Enji is a man who believes, who is basically required to believe, who likely cannot continue to exist if he does not believe, that his value and justification for being is defined by his ability to pull himself up by his bootstraps, or to just keep struggling in the endeavor.

He pours his effort into everything he does and curses his own weaknesses. Even struggling takes effort.

Japan's Burning Soul: Notes on National Pride and Flame Quirks

In my Kirishima presentation, I talk extensively about kouha and their manly aesthetic as it applies to symbols of Japan. What the presentation doesn’t talk about are flame motifs.

In Japan, flames are seen as purifying. They are also seen as manly, and not just in the way Kirishima defines it. There’s several phrases in Japan that talk about stuff like “a burning soul” or even “Japan’s burning soul” or the “blazing spirit” of a Japanese youth. Well, I think these are just about as tacky as they sound but in the same kind of boyish, tacky-cool way most shonen anime can be.

I’m talking about the flame motif on festival jackets. I’m talking about every time Galo from Promare talks about his “flaming firefighter soul”. To some extent, I’m talking about the flames on the Hokage jacket in Naruto (Minato’s and Naruto’s jackets get the flames as a nod to their shared mentor Jiraiya, who is a whole-ass conversation about masculinity in culture, theater, and mythology in and of himself.) These examples are indicative of each of these characters’ pride in their masculinity and in their nationality. Enji’s flame quirk and his constant use of flames as a brand are no exception to this trend.

Some minor characters, and later Dabi, allude to the fact that flame-based quirks are somewhat common in MHA. I’m not completely certain if the prevalence of flame quirks is also meant to indicate that these quirk holders share the same sort of “flaming spirit”, background, national pride, or even miscellaneous political views, but somehow I get the feeling that it does.

These people are, on some level, connected in that they possess the flaming soul of (masculine, old, patriarchal) Japan. The existence of Pro Hero Endeavor is a representation of the traditional, conservative Japan’s soul. All Might may wear red, white, and blue (and yellow like a yellow-haired westerner) to represent a certain set of foreign ideals, but Enji wears the red and the blue with distinctly Japanese pride.

The Colors of a Nation

Red and white, the colors of the Japanese flag, have strong cultural connotations through Japanese architecture, festivals, and shinto practices. (Please keep in mind that colors can mean a lot of things in every culture depending on context, and in Japan, different shades of the same colors can also hold distinct meanings. For example, certain shades of blue are often worn by villains in theater, but blue is not always “evil” or “villainous” by default.) But the color that I personally associate with Japan is blue - specifically, anything dyed with the aizome technique.

Aizome clothing, or clothing dyed with indigo, transitioned from being a nobility-only thing to one of the few colors that commoners could wear starting in the early 1600s - because by then, bright colors were exclusive to the nobility. The indigo dye is also popular for its antibacterial, insect repellent, and flame retardant properties. Firefighters wore it. Samurai wore it under their armor. So it’s not surprising to me that Endeavor’s Hero costume, and that of his son, would use fabric in a particular hue of dark blue.

Also? If you wanted to know? Aizome is used to dye Japanese blue jeans today. Hey, Best Jeanist!

Anyway, Enji is dressed in the color of the common Japanese man, the firefighter, the samurai, the noble laborer or honorable servant - but definitely not of high nobility.

We don’t know a ton about Enji’s background in detail, we know he wasn’t born ungodly rich. We know his father died. We know he went to UA. He made money from his Hero career, and married into a pedigree. Yes, he chose Rei because she had an ice quirk, but got the bonus of clout and old world connections.

So, uh, yes, the marriage of Enji and Rei was one of new money and big ambition married to old nobility and traditional values, and that’s true even when taking the kids out of the equation. But more on Rei and the marriage later.

Unpacking Enji's Envy of All Might

The majority of Japan’s political scene is conservative. (Look at the ideology column in that table, NOT just the name of the party. If you’re a westerner, I realize that identifying which ones are conservative is going to be particularly difficult to do given their translated names.) The Jiminto, or Liberal Democratic Party (again, look at the ideology column, NOT JUST THE NAME OF THE PARTY. Remember that “liberal” and “democratic” can hold different connotations in different countries!) was founded in 1955 and, despite having a nebulous identity beyond being “kinda to the right”, continues to hold a significant majority. Over the years, the party has commonly been seen as reliable, stable, and able to get the job done. Well, except for during those periods of time when the scandals came out.

This is not unlike how the public of MHA saw Endeavor. Well, until the scandals came out.

Now, I do not think it is correct to say that Enji = the Jiminto and leave it at that. (I would, however, call him a personification of Japan’s modern patriarchy, or at least something pretty damn close.) His dogged, openly vocalized grudge against All Might is more extreme than what the majority of the Jiminto might openly express, especially considering their consensus of policy regarding the US. I only want to give some context to the longer-standing political scene of Japan as it affects the modern day.

See, while Japan and the US have had an enduring relationship and are, uh, well, allies now, the older generations of Japan, particularly in rural areas, still hold deep grudges against the States and are bitterly, bitterly angry at the cultural imperialism and the military takeover and the government policy changes and the economic changes and the, well, the everything. Actually, the mutual cycle of envy between the Japanese and US citizens detailed in that Times article is important to remember from both perspectives. There’s old bias against each country lingering in both directions, and, while not a direct reference to how it remains in the Japanese population, understanding how it affected the creation of Japanese internment camps in the US is very illuminating in understanding the public US sentiment about the Japanese before WWII then after it.

When Enji, (or Endeavor), discusses his inferiority complex, he gives away the game and makes the subtext of the rampant western envy present in many of the characters in the work burst out into just plain text.

While Toshinori Yagi is a Japanese man, the power he inherited, or what Enji (and the world) wrongly believed was “natural-born talent” (a western concept), blatantly signals “western power” through his costume and art style (US comics!) and he represents the “band-aid” of temporary western military and socio-political power imposed upon Japan.

The US is considered a superpower, after all.

That said, I do feel that giving the western-appearance clout (and magic quirk) to the Japanese Yagi aptly communicates that there is nothing naturally special about the US or its citizens, or really anyone who has power. All of that misunderstood “special glow” or “flawless perfection” or “incontestable strength” are just appearances, presentation, circumstances, and luck - nothing more and nothing less. Yagi (who is, again, Japanese, so this is a Japanese man displaying the incredible aptitude for superheroism, to Enji’s surprise and probable chagrin) may have had a knack for using the quirk and therefore was the greatest at winning and saving, but he also destroyed himself trying to be the perfectly westernized superhero.

Also, by comparing the obviously westernized Katsuki Bakugo and pridefully Japanese Enji Todoroki, Horikoshi makes his point that a shithead is a shithead regardless of nationality, background, or philosophy.

At the same time, both characters have the ability to change.

Speaking as someone from the US, I’m conflicted, humbled, creeped out, and very emotional over the fact that Horikoshi has chosen to have a complicated, sometimes critical (early Bakugo’s westernisms are not flattering, and the westernized persona of All Might is an unsustainable, unrealistic, unfair thing that destroyed the man maintaining it), but overall kind, laudable, and compassionate portrayal of characters that stand in for the west.

I’ve heard Horikoshi has been criticized as a “freeaboo” for the open admiration of the west inherent in My Hero Academia. I’ll admit, I think he might be a little bit of one, but I’d be the cat calling the monkey a long-tailed bastard if I didn’t also admit that I’m a bit of a weeaboo. We can be mutually embarrassed about how much we like each other despite everything, I guess.

But back to Enji and Yagi. Enji bitching about All Might and expressing disgust over his “American” presentation and perceived advantage is, um. Well, I could call it an example of him making excuses because Yagi is actually Japanese, but it is true Yagi gained experiences and some training advantages in the US that Enji did not have. And, like, Yagi also got a magic quirk (from another Japanese person.) That’s something.

But I digress. The irony and realities of Enji’s envy and self-deprecation could be debated all day, but it doesn’t lessen the stink of hostility and western envy wafting off of it.

The Significance of Mountains in Japan

You know about Fuji-san, or Mt. Fuji, the largest and most iconic mountain of Japan? Awesome, because it’s Japan’s most famous cultural site and a great case study for how the Japanese view mountains as sacred. People hike Mt. Fuji and other sacred mountains for secular reasons, too, sure, but many do so as a spiritual pilgrimage. It’s a mixed bag, sort of like how, in the west, everyone is impacted by and understands Christmas despite how it’s primarily only modern Christians that have religious traditions regarding it.

Sekoto Peak, the in-story location where Enji sometimes trains and Toya burns himself, doesn’t actually exist and therefore has no real-life associated myths, but Enji’s choice to train on it indicates much about his discipline. It also provides a quiet association between honing his abilities to their pinnacle and his connecting to the understood sacred power of the mountain. There’s a mystical element to it.

Most, if not all, Japanese mountains are considered sacred in some sense no matter how tall or pretty they are. This is just understood. Many mountains are the sites of one or more Buddhist or Shinto temples.

Ah, and since many mountains are volcanoes, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising to think of them as residences for fire elementals or other kami and spirit figures. Or even demons.

Enji’s view of All Might as standing on the peak of an even higher mountain, or even perhaps BEING a mountain himself that Enji is unable to climb or conquer, is analogous to him realizing he is one insignificant human man in the face of a force of nature. All Might is not unlike a kami (god - though please remember there is a difference in attitude between those that worship and honor a god versus those that worship capital-G God) to Enji in this sense, but it is perhaps more correct to say that Enji sees All Might as someone who was able to make the pilgrimage to the highest peak and reach enlightenment, thereby becoming divine, while Enji himself is incapable (and therefore unworthy. Because he’s not working hard enough, obviously! Or at least, that’s what Enji thinks.)

If you’re a reader in the Christian-based-background west, you’re likely thinking this is like saying Enji sees himself as a filthy, nasty sinner who is going to hell forever. This isn’t NOT sorta kinda partially in the neighborhood, but that would be a much more punitive, permanent, and fixed view than a Buddhist or east Asian perspective. It’s also missing the point. Readers can want whatever they want, but they shouldn’t necessarily expect this story to absolutely intend to make Enji burn in hell forever through outside forces (because he definitely is doing it to himself, at least currently in this lifetime. Burn, asshole.)

Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths

Rather than a Judeo-Christian sensibility, Enji’s story (and Deku’s, and Bakugo’s, and Rei’s, and Shoto’s, and Uraraka’s, and Toga’s, and Shigaraki’s, and…) more closely resembles Buddhist philosophy and the journey of someone coming to understand the four noble truths - and it ties into Enji’s own discovery and understanding of these truths, which is a journey basically every damn character in this series is going through - if not for their own sakes, then for the sake of learning it on behalf of someone else. That link has a detailed writeup, but here’s the brief:

The First Noble Truth (dukkha) - everyone suffers, and suffering is part of the world. Enji knows this one intimately.

The Second Noble Truth (samudaya) - something causes suffering to happen. In Buddhism, most things that cause suffering are related to having desires for material things or status. Enji learns that he and his desires are the major source for his own suffering and for that of his family.

The Third Noble Truth (nirodha) - knowing that suffering can end. Like, in the abstract. This is acknowledging there is a way it can happen even if one doesn’t know what it is yet.

The Fourth Noble Truth (magga) - knowing there is a way to end suffering. This one is about an action plan. Enji’s action plan is to give his family a new home to live in that does not include him. Later, he realizes he must apologize to the public and continue to do the only damn thing he can to contribute meaningfully towards ending their suffering: keep being a pro Hero even if he can’t be a superhero.

Does knowing or doing any of this purify him? Well, sort of, through the fire ‘n flame of the grueling ordeal of fighting All for One notwithstanding whether or not the public and (some of) his kids still hate him afterwards, but nah, not really.

In some ways, this is a nice quality that My Hero Academia has - that characters still want things, are allowed to want things, and their desires are treated as natural. Sometimes heroic, even! The characters’ ensuing suffering is also a natural and realistic consequence, but that’s a-ok - everyone will still plug along and do their best to try and reach a collective enlightenment. A constant state of enlightened perfection is not attainable nor sustainable for the mortal, which is why the concept of enlightenment through an ongoing cycle of rebirth exists rather than in the form of an immediate reward, but that doesn’t mean we should stop in the endeavor of striving for it.

So that’s what Enji Todoroki is: an illustration of how action through atonement is always better than sending someone or pushing someone to send themselves to hell forever, thereby never allowing them the opportunity to escape the wheel of life.

What is Rei Todoroki?

Rei is a daughter of prestige and her family’s last hope to stay relevant. She’s a woman raised in and trapped by the obligations, power, money, and structure of an old society that is doing everything it can to keep from crumbling.

But she’s also complicit in helping to uphold it. Rei is definitely a victim, but she’s also definitely a perpetrator. ‘Cause that’s how it works - people under the thumb of one kind of authority or abuse often perpetuate it and continue the cycle.

Rei’s given name means, as written, cold. It’s simple, but fitting. She is often emotionally unavailable and unable to connect with Enji and her children (especially Toya, but that’s a two-way street.). It’s one of the contributing factors to why she didn’t “see” her son.

Yuki-Onna and Yamato Nadeshiko

A yuki-onna, or snow woman, is a figure from folklore. They are described as beautiful women who appear on cold and snowy nights. The Wikipedia page I linked gives a good picture of the wide variety of yuki-onna stories out there and of the nature of this figure for your reference. But Rei, while a more human character, definitely suggests a yuki-onna. I think the stories that associate the yuki-onna with children, specifically the one where she asks strangers to hold a child (and survive holding it, in which case she generously awards the holder) or associate her with mountains, are the most interesting for this discussion considering the other mythological and cultural associations present in the Todoroki family.

Rei is also a sort of yamato nadeshiko figure, or an idealized Japanese woman. TVtropes did my work for me on this one:

“Being a yamato nadeshiko revolved around the Confucian concepts of Feudal Loyalty and Filial Piety, which…meant acting for the benefit of one's family and obeying and assisting authority figures…Virtues include(d) loyalty, domestic ability, wisdom, maturity, and humility.”

A nadeshiko is, in English, a dianthus. I know it by the colloquial name Sweet William.

The white-edged flowers kinda looks like Fuyumi’s hair, no?

However, Rei is a yamato nadeshiko with a twist! Rei’s character starts out as a doormat, totally broke and unable to handle life in the Todoroki house, and then later finds the resolve and underlying “iron will” to face Enji, the family, and her mistakes again. Women aren’t naturally “perfect” in any sense of the word, ever, and they definitely don’t naturally (or even unnaturally, even through dogged effort) fit the mold of the yamato nadeshiko (at least, not every waking second of their lives.) But they can grow stronger over time, just like everyone else can. Rei becomes more like a “true” yamato nadeshiko after she stops trying so hard to be one for the sake of upholding her marriage and socially-acceptable appearances and instead approaches the situation from a place of collected, experienced resolve.

Yamato, as all these sources’ll tell ya, is an old term for Japan. “Yamato” is the name of the clan that set up the first (and only) Japanese dynasty as well as the name for the actual seat of government they created (and yeah, the Yamato seat was located on a mountain.) Today, “Yamato” is also the ethnic majority of modern Japan. Wikipedia has the most succinct brief on how Japan, despite its efforts to brand itself as one homogenized and harmonious Yamato people, definitely ain’t one.

Likewise, the yamato nadeshiko was a propaganda tool to encourage women to behave “correctly” and paint the picture of a desirable Japanese woman. The unreasonable expectation of women to reach the standard of the idealized yamato nadeshiko was, and is, total bullshit.

Miai and Traditional Marriages

It’s old-fashioned, but not scandalous or inherently skeezy that Enji and Rei had an arranged marriage. Miai, or matchmaking meetings, are still a thing today in the real world and would likely continue to be a thing in the analogous-to-the-real-world’s-present future setting MHA presents, especially for someone like pro Hero Enji. He didn’t have the time or interest to date around, and he needed a marriage of business and mutual interest rather than love (and I don’t just mean “marriage of business” for the purpose of producing designer kids, though that is absolutely what he did and everyone involved even knew it.) Rei’s family are also exactly the kind of family that would desire miai to arrange the most mutually beneficial marriage possible - regardless of Enji’s involvement.

In the grand scheme of history, marriages for love being the accepted norm is exceptionally modern, and while love marriages are increasingly common in many places including Japan, they certainly are not “traditional”. Here’s a blog about Japanese marriages written in 2002 that may contain some interesting tidbits bridging the new and old traditions. Here’s a brief history of marriage in Japan.

Also, Enji and Rei were married young. Overall, the Japanese, especially women, are expected to marry young, though the mean age for women at their time of marriage has increased as time has passed. There still exists, especially for Japanese women, an expectation to marry younger, or at least marry while “in their prime”. If you watch anime, you likely already know what a “Christmas cake” is in modern slang. (That article does a fantastic job of illustrating western envy and postwar Japanese cultural shifts using the adoption of the Christmas cake as a case study.) If you don’t know, a Christmas cake is a slang term for an unmarried woman over 25. Because apparently, a day over 25 means she is past her prime for marriage and has “expired”.

Marriage fulfills certain social obligations even among middle- and lower-class Japanese citizens, but while Rei would not be alone in feeling the pressure to get married for the sake of her family, she would feel it the most acutely because of her status.

Appearances and Divorce in Japanese Society

Rei could divorce Enji, it’s true, if she had his agreement to do so or if she had sufficient evidence to prove it in a Japanese court. Which, good luck. Because while we know Enji was brutal and abusive in training, which parent actually burned Shoto and left a lasting scar? That’s right. Rei did.

So Rei’s divorce likely would have totally fucked her and the children over. For one, she’d be stripped of the Todoroki family name and likely any Todoroki assets, and since she’d be breaking the deal made between Enji and her family, her own family likely would not take her back!

Divorces are becoming more common in modern Japan, but it’s important to remember that the stinging double-standard of “divorce is okay, except if it’s ONE OF US” that the upper classes (or just the exceptionally proud or wealthy) impose on themselves is brutal. If the public knew Rei had divorced and were given no context - which they wouldn’t get because shaming one’s (ex-)husband and family by sharing those details publicly would be considered crass and unthinkable - the public would likely rip her and the children apart even if they ripped Enji apart, too.

Remember: keeping up appearances is everything in Japanese society.

Rei living outside the house in a facility for her mental health is already shameful and potentially scandalous enough, and it wouldn’t do her any favors in court regarding custody of the children, anyway. Instead, she chooses the limbo of remaining married, but separated.

The Rindo Flower

Yes, I have read meta about Rei’s favorite flower being a rindo flower. I’ve seen it in this post from @foundouthatdabiistouyatodoroki and on Reddit, as well as just, like, around the fandom. I agree that the flower’s presence is often a stand-in for Toya, but I also think it stands in for the ghost of Enji’s, well, not exactly love, but his affection and promise to Rei made via their marriage.

Remembering that Rei likes a flower and showing that he remembers is kind of, like, the bare minimum, but it’s somethin’, I guess.

The rindo, most likely the Japanese gentian in English, is, well, a gentian.

The flower’s color suggests the indigo of the aizome dye, a traditional Japanese color, and its meanings include compassion for sorrow, justice, and… victory. When held upside down like Rei presents it during the hospital scene, it implies loss. (The gladiolus, which the article mentions as another flower of victory, is named because the leaves and shape so resemble a sword. Well, to the Romans, the word for “sword”, and was also a euphemism for a dick. Gladiators, or “sword-ers”, were talked about in terms of their masculinity, victories, and how many other things they penetrated with their “swords”. Real classy. Source? All my history classes.)

Considering Rei’s status as a sort of “blue blood”, I think it’s interesting to note that gentians are the flowers that appear on the Minamoto crest (though the crest most likely uses the less-specific-than-the-rindo balloon flower from the same genus.) I don’t know if associating Rei (and her kids) directly with one of Japan’s major noble clans (and the same one that the Tale of Genji centers around) was Horikoshi’s primary intention, but I think the connection is still worth talking about.

As that Wikipedia article can tell you, the Minamoto name was once given to imperial family members who could not inherit the throne through the family line. It’s fitting for Toya, considering how his father decided he couldn’t be a Hero that surpasses All Might despite being the firstborn son who was created for that explicit purpose.

Let’s talk about that, actually.

What is Toya Todoroki | Dabi?

What is Toya? He’s the first son of a wealthy family with noble blood in him who was utterly crushed by the thought of failing to uphold the social obligations into which he was born.

Personally, I consider Toya to be the most fragile major character in the entire series, contested for the spot only by his own father, Shigaraki, and possibly early series Bakugo.

Toya, or more precisely Dabi, is Enji (and Rei) Todoroki’s very own monster. Instead of a “perfect creation” like intended, he became, well, whatever you want to call Dabi.

But let’s talk about Toya first.

The Role of Firstborn Sons in Japan

Firstborn sons are fucking important in Japan and in many other eastern cultures. Generally, they are obligated to inherit just about damn near everything and, in return, are tasked with basically all the responsibilities of honoring their parents. A Japanese family isn’t just a series of blood ties, but an institution. This system, called ie, has its own legal rules. Under the ie system, the firstborn son and his wife (who is likely doing most of the caretaking) live with the parents to continue the household. The other kids are expected to marry out or go start their own families.

Of course, not every single family follows these rules, but the social norms and pressures to uphold them exist. This academic paper written in 2007 analyzes why certain children in the birth order may live with (or near) their parents and explores several factors that impact this decision within families (usually related to whether or not the parents are providing childcare for the grandchildren.) Here’s a fun quote from page 3:

“...the first-born child generally lives with or closer to his/her parents than the second-born child, a result which is consistent with both our theoretical model and Japanese social norms. Second, there is one exception. If a first-born child is a female and she has at least one younger brother, then she locates farther away from her parents than her younger brother even though she is a first-born child.”

More on that “second” part in regards to Fuyumi later.

But, like with most cultures, the more traditional (and established and wealthy) a family is, the heavier the predetermined responsibilities of each household member weighs on them. And Enji Todoroki’s family is high-profile. So, you can imagine that the pressure placed on Toya is immense.

The pressure placed on firstborn son Tensei Iida was immense, too, but their family dynamic was totally different. The Iida family was, like, healthy and functional. Wild.

Moving on. So Toya was not only youthfully excited to impress his father and support his family as the firstborn son, but he was also, in a certain sense, socially conditioned to want to do so.

To me, this is where things get interesting. Toya’s struggle is not against his parents for crushing his dreams of a life beyond what they and their society’s established roles provide him. Instead, it is the opposite. Toya’s parents are ready to shake up the established family formula and free Toya from many of the obligations of firstborn son duties. Toya is not ready for any of that newfangled modern sensibilities nonsense. According to tradition, Toya’s role and life should be set and secure.

When Rei asks Toya if he even wants to be a Hero, she inadvertently makes him grapple with the possibility that carrying on the family business (or at least carrying on the to-be tradition of becoming the Flame Hero and surpassing All Might per his father’s wishes) is not a given. Other choices exist. Rei’s question, while well-meaning, creates a fissure in Toya’s faith in the patriarchal system from which he developed his entire identity.

If Toya, the first son, can’t use his flames, isn’t a Hero, doesn’t inherit, and won’t continue to live with the family, who is he? If he doesn’t fulfill that role and those obligations, is he worth anything to anyone, even himself?

Conventional wisdom says no. He would be a disgrace and a failure even without Enji’s dumbass “create a genetically ideal child to use the ultimate flame quirk to surpass All Might” scheme in the mix. For Toya, it was never about surpassing All Might, not really. It was about fulfilling his household role and showing his father that he was worthy of being in the family.

When Shoto was born, Toya saw that door slam shut. After that, his inability to embrace another way of life leads to his undoing. But he is also, you know. 13.

Toya, through no fault of his own, cannot handle his father’s flames - not his flames of sheer power, not of mindless effort, not of personal fear, not of burning western envy, not of national pride, not of anything. But Enji burdened Toya with them anyway.

Arrows, Hamaya, and All Might

The characters in Toya’s given name mean “lamp (or, like, a light)” and “arrow”. @skyflyinginaction and their mutuals have an early discussion about his name and its possible meanings as well as a discussion about symbolism here that’s fun to read, and I’m always happy to not have to do any more work - er, happy to give credit where it is due for research and thoughts. But I do have more to add.

Arrows and archery have particular connotations in Japan. The ones I most commonly think about are hamaya, or evil-warding arrows, used ceremonially. Hamaya can be purchased at temples to be displayed in the home as luck-bringing or evil-warding items. Of course, the bow is also a significant evil-warding symbol, and the bow and arrow are often meant to appear together as a set of evil-warding objects, but yanno. Whatever works.

Anyway, around the New Year, archery contests and traditions abound as a way to predict the coming year’s fortune or ward off evil. This blog entry details one day of tradition in Ibaraki as well as the associations with masculinity and, erm, promoting fertility.

There’s one more tradition I learned orally, so I can’t source it, though the purpose for it was different than the one I just linked. In the one I was told, the head priest opens the yabusame (horseback archery) ceremony by firing an arrow through the temple gates and off the side of the mountain to slay an invisible demon. The firing coincides with the sun’s placement and becomes, much like Toya’s name suggests, an arrow of light.

In any case, arrows are associated with luck, sons, and warding off evil. I get the sense that the “arrow” in Toya’s name brings all of these cultural associations into play. More specifically, I get the sense that Toya was meant to be the “arrow of leading light” meant to slay the “evil” of the west, All Might, and purify that uppermost and unreachable peak where All Might stands in Enji’s mind. Don’t quote that, though.

‘Course, the “guiding light” or “purifying light” implied by Toya’s name eventually becomes perverted from its original purpose.

Toya’s Cremation

According to the manchild himself, Toya died not when he burned the shit out of himself on Sekoto Peak, but when he thought his family had replaced him. That’s when he says Dabi was born.

The word Dabi means cremation. Heh. The enthusiastic @foundoutthatdabiistouyatodoroki posted about why and how it may be written as something indirect instead of something more direct for the sake of Japanese sensibilities.

I’d also like to point out that Toya’s body was not properly, ritually buried or cremated in any sense or tradition. This is important, since the failure to do so often prevents the spirit from passing on to the afterlife!

Arguably, Toya cremated himself, but not all the way and not in the way that aligns with the intentions and purpose of a kotsuage, or funerary cremation ritual. Also, his family did not pick out his bones - the authorities did when they found a piece of his jaw. That linked article talks more about the significance of the tradition, but put simply: the family didn’t properly mourn Toya, and in doing so, they did not free themselves emotionally of his specter. They also didn’t free Toya from his attachments to them.

This life-to-death stuff is a two-way street, and Toya’s soul was left hanging onto a burned, rotting corpse by the thread of his own grudge. He’s a modern horror story.

Dabi’s Horror Inspirations

That’s right, Dabi fans! It’s time to talk about the well-known Frankenstein allusions present in the character - though I’m pretty sure Horikoshi pulled from the 1931 film and not the book. Whatever.

As Toya, Enji’s creation was an ice quirk + a fire quirk instead of a (cold) corpse + a reintroduced (hot) spark of life (and later, half of his “father” Victor Frankenstein’s own brain) like Frankenstein’s monster. Frankenstein’s monster’s weakness, at least in the movie, is fire. In the book, fire is still present and double-edged.

As Dabi, Enji’s creation is a reanimated corpse (wow!) + a twisted sense of self created from Enji’s own will (wow!) who seeks revenge on his creator and family for his loneliness and creation. His weakness is, uh, yeah, it’s still fire.

While Enji is not the one who recreated and revived Toya as Dabi, it is Toya’s grudge (and desire to see and be seen by his father) that keeps him alive. In fact, Dabi is a really cool twist on a yurei or perhaps an ikiryo since he is technically still alive. Still, Dabi most closely seems to follow the patterns of an onryo, which is a more specific form of yurei. These spirits, and the story of one in particular, are the inspiration behind the Japanese Ju-on: The Grudge movies (and then their US-made counterpart.) Here’s a bit from the onryo entry from yokai.com not ‘cause it’s the most academic, but the most succinct:

“Their motive is always the same—vengeance. Onryō are easily powerful enough to kill anyone. However, they prefer letting the object of their hatred live a long life of torment and suffering, watching loved ones die in their stead. Onryō inflict a terrible curse on the people or places that they haunt. This curse can be transmitted to others like a contagious disease, creating a circle of death and destruction far more devastating than any ordinary ghost.”

You may decide that the entry for the gyoro or another yurei suits Dabi better, but surely you see the point that he’s playing the role of some kind of ghost. His eerie blue flame suggests onibi, or resentful spirits taking the form of blue flame. Wikipedia also does me a big favor by mentioning the overlap between onibi and European will o’ wisps, which usually lead people astray towards goals they can’t reach!

It really would have been better for everyone if Toya hadn’t pursued the incredibly hot blue flame, huh? Instead, he just burned out fast. Kinda dissappointing and anticlimactic - like a dragon’s head on a snake’s body.

Yeah, that’s right - Dabi seems to have renamed himself “dissappointment”. Heh. Tweens and teens really are the funniest people on the planet.

The First Son Passed Over for a Second Time

But perhaps the funniest and most horrible detail of the whole manga is the implication that All for One and the doctor took one look at Dabi’s shambling corpse escaping from the nursery and went, “Yeah, let that one go. He’s a little too pathetic to be the next vessel or organ for infinite hatred to fuel our big schemes.” Like, absolutely nobody (except the very family he thought replaced him, and boy, are they a shitshow), not even the villains that seek out pathetic people in order to use them, wanted Dabi.

Dabi is, in many ways, Doctor Garaki’s “First Son” vessel experiment for All for One, and he was passed over in favor of Shigaraki in much the way Toya’s father passed him over for Shoto due to how unsuitable a vessel he is.

When Dabi faces Geten, the ice-quirk user whom ReDestro treats almost like his own successor, who believes that a powerful quirk (and strong sense of individuality with a need to express it) is the only thing that makes someone worthy of living, who exists as his weird mirror with a more weaponized and powerful form of Rei’s ice quirk, I wonder if he thought god was laughing at him. I know his face and skin began splitting apart as if to show his true identity (a dead kid upset at his family) and show a waver in his resolve to stay alive to accomplish his goal, but I’d love to know if he has any ideology outside of his grudge towards his father and family.

If Hawks told Dabi to his stapled face his real reasons for helping Endeavor, what would Dabi say? Heh heh heh. Dabi learned not to trust Rei, Fuyumi, or his own brother Natsuo, so I’m not terribly surprised he never trusted Keigo in the first place.

Keigo, who never thought to watch Dabi. Keigo, who had to ask who Dabi is. Keigo, who also didn’t see him.

Keigo, who wants to take Toya’s place.

But let’s talk about Toya’s other siblings... in part 2!

#todoroki family #bnha meta #bnha manga spoilers #dabi #toya todoroki #enji todoroki #endeavor #shoto todoroki #shoto #rei todoroki #fuyumi todoroki #natsuo todoroki #hawks #keigo takami #todoroki presentation

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kirby-rarepair-tourney · 11 months

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Round 2, Set 2, Poll 5!

The Whole Fucking Armory: Dametaberge VS Axemace!

Which one's rarer, and which one's pairer? Vote now, for your favourite rarepair!

Propaganda:

Dametaberge

Consider these dolts. These absolutely 0 braincelled, fight-obsessed morons. Similar swords? Would fight each other at a Denny's parking lot? Possibly going fully feral in the fight?? Yes! to all of that! Their language is vitriol. Every insult is a compliment to them. Every violent threat is a promise of a good time. They would not kiss under a mistletoe they would clash blades under a mistlethorn. This is their way of expressing passion for each other. For their dates and anniversaries they find secluded areas and duke it out to their furthest limits for hours. They push each other to make each other better. They go to their respective zeniths and beyond in the purest display of passion for each other and their drive to improve through the other. Is that not love in itself?

Axemace

They're just my silly little guys (on a more serious note, the two most prominent knights during RoMK in terms of dialogue, seemingly good synergy)

[Added by Poll Runner] I think any of the Meta Knights have that strong sense of camaraderie that could become something more. Little guys that end up bonding over battle! Especially in a big guy little guy pairing like this,,

#poll #tournament poll #kirby #kirby series #kirby ships #dametaberge #axemace

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bleulone · 9 months

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Roi's captivating journey in Berlín: on defying authority, seeking approval and exploring his desire…

Or a long meta nobody asked for in which I delve into why he’s the best character in this spinoff and why his "romance" with Cameron unfortunately didn’t really make sense.

Foreword : I'm a sucker for nerdy male fictional characters with a hidden hint of confidence, a dark/tragic backstory, who wear the slutty glasses™ and look like they never felt the touch of a woman—of course when Roi was firstly introduced, I knew from the start that he's going to live in my mind rent free for the upcoming months.

˚ · • . ° . ׂׂૢ་༘࿐˚ · • . ° .

From the very first episode, it becomes clear that Berlín unravels as a tale centered around love. Nevertheless, it extends beyond romantic love, notwithstanding the musings of our chaotic, narcissistic dandy of a professional thief who philosophizes about the tantalizingly addictive energy of courtship, chase, and a lust he fervently desires. Although romantic love is prominently depicted as the main thread in the series, it is the comprehensive concept of Love that undergoes demystification, discussion, challenge, embrace, repulsion, and yearning.

The prevailing narrative of the entire season seemed to orbit a distinctive framework: romantic/carnal love, familial love, and self-love, stretching from birth to zenith and eventual demise. What particularly resonated with me was how the creators delved into the exploration of how these love forms can serve as both sources of freedom and imprisonment for the characters. It adds a poetic and meta layer when considering that this entire discussion unfolds against the backdrop of the Parisian landscape.

Within the fragrance that permeated this spinoff, Roi's storyline unquestionably stood out as the most intriguing among the banda. Despite its imperfections, particularly in the romantic aspect (which we'll talk about later), his evolution throughout the season seemed the most logical. To arrive at this conclusion, I believe it's essential to revisit storytelling basics and comprehend why, in my perspective, his arc made the most sense.

For a hero's journey to unfold successfully, it typically follows eight steps, and Roi's arc approximately adheres to these stages, employing a significant amount of telling and a bit of showing:

1. The Call: Running away from home at 13 and engaging in petty crimes. 2. The Threshold: Encountering Berlin at 17 and finally getting out of juvie. 3. + 4. The Challenges and The Abyss: Following the Boss's orders—retrieving the calice, "babysitting" Cameron, and maintaining a distance from her. 5. The Transformation: Failing to comply with orders and defying lover!Berlin. 6. The Revelation: Disclosing the truth to Berlin about the lost necklace during the night at the race, leading to approval and apology. 7. The Atonement: Evading the police, and Roi expressing gratitude for Berlin's guidance and lessons in self-control. 8. The Return (with a Gift): Successfully reaching Madrid, leaving the narrative with a seemingly happy ending, though the final details remain unknown.

Having observed a portion of his journey, Roi's character possesses a distinctive charm, largely stemming from the preconceived notions we harbor about him—"the youngster," "the naive and charming boy who simply follows instructions." I am inclined to think that the most notable feature of his arc this season is its "coming-of-age" essence that resonates with many. He strives to liberate himself from the constraints of unquestioning obedience to Berlin, opting instead to be guided by instinct, explore desire, embrace his identity, and assert his free will.

I truly enjoyed the universal elements in his relationship with Berlin: the admiration, care, the vulnerability and pride. I couldn't get enough of their scenes and wished for more. I was particularly intrigued to know a bit more about Berlin's perspective on education and how he imparted his principles to Roi. Surprisingly, it's refreshing to witness how the young man, contrary to expectations, isn't a Berlin Jr., but rather a wiser, more innocent, and stern version of himself.

Roi's evolution from a runaway orphan misfit to a disciplined young man was truly captivating, primarily because it allowed us to connect with him emotionally. He became the only character who shared such a precious and intimate piece of himself, giving us insight into why Berlin holds such significance for him. This added layer of vulnerability only serves to enhance his endearing personality.

On that note, I admire the way his naivety, which parallels Rio in La Casa de Papel, contrasts with his playfulness and extroversion. Roi's serious demeanor is understandable, considering his challenging upbringing both at home and in juvenile detention; he had to be self-reliant and fight his way through life. His skill in unlocking doors provided a glimpse of his delicacy and patience, making him genuinely distinctive. Indeed, the calmness, uncertainty, and darkness were further echoed in his casual attire and color palette—comprising blue, grey, and black.

I could extensively discuss Roi's incredible personality and his son/father relationship he has with Andres, but unfortunately, I just have to talk about the bad. Yes, Roi's story arc has some limitations that left me a bit disappointed, considering the amazing potential within his character. While he ended up demonstrating maturity and professionalism throughout the series, there was a certain immaturity when it came to matters of "love".

I guess that now is a good time to address the elephant in the room: his (quite underwhelming) "romantic" relationship with Cameron. I find myself somewhat blaming the trailer, as it led me to believe I was in for a compelling love story with a unique approach to the "bad girl/good boy trope" (which I adore). I was particularly displeased with how misleading the "lock picking" and the "No me mires" tattoo scenes in the pilot were, as they seemed to be included solely to inject a bit of sexiness into the show.

Listen, I'm a big fan of romance, and one thing that most romance enthusiast tend to do is approaching love stories in two distinct parts: 1) understanding the characters before the relationship, how they function individually, and 2) how the relationship will shape their individual growth and their growth together.

This is often observed through well-known romantic tropes that typically bring characters together and facilitate both physical and emotional connections. So, let's examine which tropes influenced their interactions: work colleagues, forced proximity, tending wounds (and the somewhat cliché "insta love"). This description may seem fitting at first glance, innit? But did these tropes truly work for them?

One crucial factor to consider is time: I strongly believe that a majority of love stories are slow burns that unfold over different spans. And sorry, chief, but timing wasn't on their side.

Apologies to all the Cameroi shippers out there, but I found it difficult to believe in their relationship, and it felt underwhelming for both characters. After finishing Season 1, opting for a platonic relationship might have been the better choice for them. Let me elaborate on why.

If Pina and Martínez Lobato truly intended to highlight romance (which was a bit overwhelming because literally, everyone had a romantic arc—like babe, it’s too much), especially a romance that made sense for the characters, they should have incorporated more angst and a slow burn. Why? Because, in this season, neither of Roi and Cameron are in the right place to fall in love.

On one hand, Roi's (scarce) romantic history reveals his naivety and idealized perception of love. To be frank, I would even go so far as to say his experience is practically nonexistent. His feelings seemed more like infatuation than genuine love, which requires a deeper connection that they didn't really have time to develop.

A part of me thinks Berlin's "strict" teachings about women played a role. The scene in 1.01 in the bathroom somewhat confirmed that Berlin might have admonished Roi in the past, likely instructing him on managing his hormones. Additionally, when our sweet summer child assured Berlin that he didn't initiate or encourage such behavior with Cameron, it became evident that being prudish was a lesson he had clearly absorbed.

Being a reserved young gentleman who wouldn't dare to meet the eyes of a woman he fancies, in contrast to the charismatic lover Berlin, I'm inclined to think he still has his V card—I can't interfere; it's a canon event.

If Roi seriously lacks experience with women, despite his first and only teenage romantic involvement during juvenile detention, it's only natural that he would stumble. This is evident in his interactions with Cameron. His steps are endearing and pure, but also somewhat messy and oddly quick. For someone who hates being seen as an obedient puppy, he swiftly follows Cameron's suggestion about the glasses, removing them instantly. I found this moment quite intriguing. It would have made more sense in 1.04, right after the quarrel at Polignac house. Removing them on that same night would have heightened the scene's impact and symbolically marked the transition from the old to the new Roi. Then again, taking time is crucial. It could have mirrored the fear of crossing boundaries and played with the symbolic idea that desire mirrors fear.

(**internal screaming** The creators missed an opportunity to delve deeper into the use of mirror imagery and internal conflict.)

That's why his “love” confession to Cameron in 1.07 appeared laughable, rushed and childish. Indeed, as she aptly said, he has "no idea if they'd still be together if Jimmy wasn't part of the equation." How dare he? I feel like this scene was pivotal, opening the door for Roi to reflect on his advances and avoid rushing into things, making him more cautious about the "lines you cannot cross in love" that dad!Berlin warned him about.

Yes, in the lights of his "romantic" arc, Roi had an illusion of love. Were there emotions involved? Certainly, especially since she helped him discuss his past. Lust? Absolutely.

As for Cameron, she's still grappling with trauma from her last relationship (to be honest, given all the suspense, her backstory was quite disappointing). It would have been in line with her character to step back from love and take some time to focus on herself before engaging in anything new. If the creators really wanted to push the romance, they could have only focused on subtle gestures like handholding and meaningful gazes to build the romantic tension, and not just sexual tension.

I didn't appreciate how they were quickly and overly physical with each other. The emphasis on physical touch didn't enhance the pseudo-emotional intimacy. In fact, I don't believe Cameron fell in love or became very infatuated with Roi. I would have preferred her to embody the femme fatale vibe Esther and Alex gave her and maintain a more casual relationship. Yielding to Roi's advances in the end seemed out of character because she should have been triggered, wary of falling deeply in love again and hurting our sweet baby boy Roi.

This is why their kiss felt unnecessarily desperate and passionate. A simple hug would have sufficed. I understand the fear of not seeing each other for three days, but the purpose of Cameron's words in between kisses, like "promise me" and "I can't myself," left me confused and mainly with unanswered questions. It's even more frustrating when we overlook her role in the heist and the unique talent that makes her authentic in the crew.

To wrap up, I believe both of these characters should have been individually explored. Consider the Octopus and the No me mires tattoos, for instance. Why introduce his through Cameron? Why didn't Roi ask about the meaning behind hers? Exploring this could have provided intriguing clues about her past. We could have witnessed a compelling scene of Roi changing, letting the audience notice the tattoos and prompting questions about their significance. Am I surprised that an entire episode is named after his tattoo, yet its origin remains undisclosed? Not at this point. Consequently, I found it difficult to connect with their bonding over the tattoos.

Despite being 23, their story really felt like a teenage love affair. I suppose I'll let fanfiction fill the void left (or do it myself with missing scenes and an eventual ofc, considering Roi is such fanfiction material).

All in all, Roi was undoubtedly the most captivating character. Performed by a wonderful Julio Peña, he skillfully broke the rules and awkwardly embraced his desires, ultimately earning the approval of his second father figure. I'm uncertain about what to expect in a potential Season 2, but one thing I absolutely need more than ever is flashbacks and explanations, especially given it's fucking Berlin's golden age.

What about you? What's your take on Roi? Did you enjoy his character arc and his "romance"? If you made it to the end, thank you ! Thank you very much for taking the time to read all this ramble of mine. I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughts within the niche fandom here on Tumblr :)

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michaeldswanson · 5 months

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Apple’s Mysterious Fisheye Projection

If you’ve read my first post about Spatial Video, the second about Encoding Spatial Video, or if you’ve used my command-line tool, you may recall a mention of Apple’s mysterious “fisheye” projection format. Mysterious because they’ve documented a CMProjectionType.fisheye enumeration with no elaboration, they stream their immersive Apple TV+ videos in this format, yet they’ve provided no method to produce or playback third-party content using this projection type.

Additionally, the format is undocumented, they haven’t responded to an open question on the Apple Discussion Forums asking for more detail, and they didn’t cover it in their WWDC23 sessions. As someone who has experience in this area – and a relentless curiosity – I’ve spent time digging-in to Apple’s fisheye projection format, and this post shares what I’ve learned.

As stated in my prior post, I am not an Apple employee, and everything I’ve written here is based on my own history, experience (specifically my time at immersive video startup, Pixvana, from 2016-2020), research, and experimentation. I’m sure that some of this is incorrect, and I hope we’ll all learn more at WWDC24.

Spherical Content

Imagine sitting in a swivel chair and looking straight ahead. If you tilt your head to look straight up (at the zenith), that’s 90 degrees. Likewise, if you were looking straight ahead and tilted your head all the way down (at the nadir), that’s also 90 degrees. So, your reality has a total vertical field-of-view of 90 + 90 = 180 degrees.

Sitting in that same chair, if you swivel 90 degrees to the left or 90 degrees to the right, you’re able to view a full 90 + 90 = 180 degrees of horizontal content (your horizontal field-of-view). If you spun your chair all the way around to look at the “back half” of your environment, you would spin past a full 360 degrees of content.

When we talk about immersive video, it’s common to only refer to the horizontal field-of-view (like 180 or 360) with the assumption that the vertical field-of-view is always 180. Of course, this doesn’t have to be true, because we can capture whatever we’d like, edit whatever we’d like, and playback whatever we’d like.

But when someone says something like VR180, they really mean immersive video that has a 180-degree horizontal field-of-view and a 180-degree vertical field-of-view. Similarly, 360 video is 360-degrees horizontally by 180-degrees vertically.

Projections

When immersive video is played back in a device like the Apple Vision Pro, the Meta Quest, or others, the content is displayed as if a viewer’s eyes are at the center of a sphere watching video that is displayed on its inner surface. For 180-degree content, this is a hemisphere. For 360-degree content, this is a full sphere. But it can really be anything in between; at Pixvana, we sometimes referred to this as any-degree video.

It's here where we run into a small problem. How do we encode this immersive, spherical content? All the common video codecs (H.264, VP9, HEVC, MV-HEVC, AVC1, etc.) are designed to encode and decode data to and from a rectangular frame. So how do you take something like a spherical image of the Earth (i.e. a globe) and store it in a rectangular shape? That sounds like a map to me. And indeed, that transformation is referred to as a map projection.

Equirectangular

While there are many different projection types that each have useful properties in specific situations, spherical video and images most commonly use an equirectangular projection. This is a very simple transformation to perform (it looks more complicated than it is). Each x location on a rectangular image represents a longitude value on a sphere, and each y location represents a latitude. That’s it. Because of these relationships, this kind of projection can also be called a lat/long.

Imagine “peeling” thin one-degree-tall strips from a globe, starting at the equator. We start there because it’s the longest strip. To transform it to a rectangular shape, start by pasting that strip horizontally across the middle of a sheet of paper (in landscape orientation). Then, continue peeling and pasting up or down in one-degree increments. Be sure to stretch each strip to be as long as the first, meaning that the very short strips at the north and south poles are stretched a lot. Don’t break them! When you’re done, you’ll have a 360-degree equirectangular projection that looks like this.

If you did this exact same thing with half of the globe, you’d end up with a 180-degree equirectangular projection, sometimes called a half-equirect. Performed digitally, it’s common to allocate the same number of pixels to each degree of image data. So, for a full 360-degree by 180-degree equirect, the rectangular video frame would have an aspect ratio of 2:1 (the horizontal dimension is twice the vertical dimension). For 180-degree by 180-degree video, it’d be 1:1 (a square). Like many things, these aren’t hard and fast rules, and for technical reasons, sometimes frames are stretched horizontally or vertically to fit within the capabilities of an encoder or playback device.

This is a 180-degree half equirectangular image overlaid with a grid to illustrate its distortions. It was created from the standard fisheye image further below. Watch an animated version of this transformation.

What we’ve described so far is equivalent to monoscopic (2D) video. For stereoscopic (3D) video, we need to pack two of these images into each frame…one for each eye. This is usually accomplished by arranging two images in a side-by-side or over/under layout. For full 360-degree stereoscopic video in an over/under layout, this makes the final video frame 1:1 (because we now have 360 degrees of image data in both dimensions). As described in my prior post on Encoding Spatial Video, though, Apple has chosen to encode stereo video using MV-HEVC, so each eye’s projection is stored in its own dedicated video layer, meaning that the reported video dimensions match that of a single eye.

Standard Fisheye

Most immersive video cameras feature one or more fisheye lenses. For 180-degree stereo (the short way of saying stereoscopic) video, this is almost always two lenses in a side-by-side configuration, separated by ~63-65mm, very much like human eyes (some 180 cameras).

The raw frames that are captured by these cameras are recorded as fisheye images where each circular image area represents ~180 degrees (or more) of visual content. In most workflows, these raw fisheye images are transformed into an equirectangular or half-equirectangular projection for final delivery and playback.

This is a 180 degree standard fisheye image overlaid with a grid. This image is the source of the other images in this post.

Apple’s Fisheye

This brings us to the topic of this post. As I stated in the introduction, Apple has encoded the raw frames of their immersive videos in a “fisheye” projection format. I know this, because I’ve monitored the network traffic to my Apple Vision Pro, and I’ve seen the HLS streaming manifests that describe each of the network streams. This is how I originally discovered and reported that these streams – in their highest quality representations – are ~50Mbps, HDR10, 4320x4320 per eye, at 90fps.

While I can see the streaming manifests, I am unable to view the raw video frames, because all the immersive videos are protected by DRM. This makes perfect sense, and while I’m a curious engineer who would love to see a raw fisheye frame, I am unwilling to go any further. So, in an earlier post, I asked anyone who knew more about the fisheye projection type to contact me directly. Otherwise, I figured I’d just have to wait for WWDC24.

Lo and behold, not a week or two after my post, an acquaintance introduced me to Andrew Chang who said that he had also monitored his network traffic and noticed that the Apple TV+ intro clip (an immersive version of this) is streamed in-the-clear. And indeed, it is encoded in the same fisheye projection. Bingo! Thank you, Andrew!

Now, I can finally see a raw fisheye video frame. Unfortunately, the frame is mostly black and featureless, including only an Apple TV+ logo and some God rays. Not a lot to go on. Still, having a lot of experience with both practical and experimental projection types, I figured I’d see what I could figure out. And before you ask, no, I’m not including the actual logo, raw frame, or video in this post, because it’s not mine to distribute.

Immediately, just based on logo distortions, it’s clear that Apple’s fisheye projection format isn’t the same as a standard fisheye recording. This isn’t too surprising, given that it makes little sense to encode only a circular region in the center of a square frame and leave the remainder black; you typically want to use all the pixels in the frame to send as much data as possible (like the equirectangular format described earlier).

Additionally, instead of seeing the logo horizontally aligned, it’s rotated 45 degrees clockwise, aligning it with the diagonal that runs from the upper-left to the lower-right of the frame. This makes sense, because the diagonal is the longest dimension of the frame, and as a result, it can store more horizontal (post-rotation) pixels than if the frame wasn’t rotated at all.

This is the same standard fisheye image from above transformed into a format that seems very similar to Apple’s fisheye format. Watch an animated version of this transformation.

Likewise, the diagonal from the lower-left to the upper-right represents the vertical dimension of playback (again, post-rotation) providing a similar increase in available pixels. This means that – during rotated playback – the now-diagonal directions should contain the least amount of image data. Correctly-tuned, this likely isn’t visible, but it’s interesting to note.

More Pixels

You might be asking, where do these “extra” pixels come from? I mean, if we start with a traditional raw circular fisheye image captured from a camera and just stretch it out to cover a square frame, what have we gained? Those are great questions that have many possible answers.

This is why I liken video processing to turning knobs in a 747 cockpit: if you turn one of those knobs, you more-than-likely need to change something else to balance it out. Which leads to turning more knobs, and so on. Video processing is frequently an optimization problem just like this. Some initial thoughts:

It could be that the source video is captured at a higher resolution, and when transforming the video to a lower resolution, the “extra” image data is preserved by taking advantage of the square frame.

Perhaps the camera optically transforms the circular fisheye image (using physical lenses) to fill more of the rectangular sensor during capture. This means that we have additional image data to start and storing it in this expanded fisheye format allows us to preserve more of it.

Similarly, if we record the image using more than two lenses, there may be more data to preserve during the transformation. For what it’s worth, it appears that Apple captures their immersive videos with a two-lens pair, and you can see them hiding in the speaker cabinets in the Alicia Keys video.

There are many other factors beyond the scope of this post that can influence the design of Apple’s fisheye format. Some of them include distortion handling, the size of the area that’s allocated to each pixel, where the “most important” pixels are located in the frame, how high-frequency details affect encoder performance, how the distorted motion in the transformed frame influences motion estimation efficiency, how the pixels are sampled and displayed during playback, and much more.

Blender

But let’s get back to that raw Apple fisheye frame. Knowing that the image represents ~180 degrees, I loaded up Blender and started to guess at a possible geometry for playback based on the visible distortions. At that point, I wasn’t sure if the frame encodes faces of the playback geometry or if the distortions are related to another kind of mathematical mapping. Some of the distortions are more severe than expected, though, and my mind couldn’t imagine what kind of mesh corrected for those distortions (so tempted to blame my aphantasia here, but my spatial senses are otherwise excellent).

One of the many meshes and UV maps that I’ve experimented with in Blender.

Radial Stretching

If you’ve ever worked with projection mappings, fisheye lenses, equirectangular images, camera calibration, cube mapping techniques, and so much more, Google has inevitably led you to one of Paul Bourke’s many fantastic articles. I’ve exchanged a few e-mails with Paul over the years, so I reached out to see if he had any insight.

After some back-and-forth discussion over a couple of weeks, we both agreed that Apple’s fisheye projection is most similar to a technique called radial stretching (with that 45-degree clockwise rotation thrown in). You can read more about this technique and others in Mappings between Sphere, Disc, and Square and Marc B. Reynolds’ interactive page on Square/Disc mappings.

Basically, though, imagine a traditional centered, circular fisheye image that touches each edge of a square frame. Now, similar to the equirectangular strip-peeling exercise I described earlier with the globe, imagine peeling one-degree wide strips radially from the center of the image and stretching those along the same angle until they touch the edge of the square frame. As the name implies, that’s radial stretching. It’s probably the technique you’d invent on your own if you had to come up with something.

By performing the reverse of this operation on a raw Apple fisheye frame, you end up with a pretty good looking version of the Apple TV+ logo. But, it’s not 100% correct. It appears that there is some additional logic being used along the diagonals to reduce the amount of radial stretching and distortion (and perhaps to keep image data away from the encoded corners). I’ve experimented with many approaches, but I still can’t achieve a 100% match. My best guess so far uses simple beveled corners, and this is the same transformation I used for the earlier image.

It's also possible that this last bit of distortion could be explained by a specific projection geometry, and I’ve iterated over many permutations that get close…but not all the way there. For what it’s worth, I would be slightly surprised if Apple was encoding to a specific geometry because it adds unnecessary complexity to the toolchain and reduces overall flexibility.

While I have been able to playback the Apple TV+ logo using the techniques I’ve described, the frame lacks any real detail beyond its center. So, it’s still possible that the mapping I’ve arrived at falls apart along the periphery. Guess I’ll continue to cross my fingers and hope that we learn more at WWDC24.

Conclusion

This post covered my experimentation with the technical aspects of Apple’s fisheye projection format. Along the way, it’s been fun to collaborate with Andrew, Paul, and others to work through the details. And while we were unable to arrive at a 100% solution, we’re most definitely within range.

The remaining questions I have relate to why someone would choose this projection format over half-equirectangular. Clearly Apple believes there are worthwhile benefits, or they wouldn’t have bothered to build a toolchain to capture, process, and stream video in this format. I can imagine many possible advantages, and I’ve enumerated some of them in this post. With time, I’m sure we’ll learn more from Apple themselves and from experiments that all of us can run when their fisheye format is supported by existing tools.

It's an exciting time to be revisiting immersive video, and we have Apple to thank for it.

As always, I love hearing from you. It keeps me motivated! Thank you for reading.

#spatial #apple vision pro #video

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3584-tropical-fish · 2 months

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Day three of @podcastgirlsweek :

WIP Wednesday! We all have art/fic/ meta we've been meaning to get to. This is your day to finally commit (as long as your WIP is about podcast women, of course.)

Opened up one of my AU planning documents for this, so: introducing (on my blog, at least) @the-zenith-calls' and my part-crack, part-fix-it, part genuine means of character analysis crossover AU! Possibly the worst way to introduce it, as this doesn't include any of the characters that actually make it a crossover, but it does mark a significant scene for the B-Plot.

(Luckily for me though, Lia has a more proper post about it! Go look at their art, it’s literally so so cool and I love it so much!)

Summary: Georgie had been expecting a fairly peaceful evening, but unfortunately for her, Melanie's post-work gossip session quickly turns into what feels a bit too much like an interrogation from one of their local vessels of horror.

Melanie has had a key to Georgie’s flat for a couple of months now, so Georgie isn’t all too surprised when she opens the door and immediately flops face-first into the couch of the main room with a groan. Georgie decides to let her lie there for a moment, but when a second groan comes from somewhere in the couch cushions, she decides it’s better that she bite the bullet now, rather than let Melanie stew in… whatever it is she’s stewing in.

“What’s wrong?”

Another groan from the couch. “Work.”

Georgie almost laughs at that, but instead says, “You’re going to have to be a little bit more specific than that. Was Jon being an arse?”

Melanie flips herself over on the couch and props herself up on its arm to look at Georgie. “Yeah– well, no. Not really. A bit? It’s more what he’s not doing. And what Martin is.”

“I thought you didn’t talk to Martin anymore.”

“I don’t. No one does, least of all Jon. And that’s just the problem.” She slumps back into the couch. “Jon doesn’t even try to talk to Martin anymore, and Martin decides to make it worse by holing up in his office and blasting music! And his taste is horrible, Georgie, I can’t stand it.”

Georgie stares at the back of the couch. Luckily for her, Melanie can’t see the face she’s making. “That is… not what I was expecting from your ‘everything is spooky’ job.”

“Me neither,” Melanie says, her voice filled with an agony that Georgie had expected to be reserved for “my boss and coworker just performed nonconsensual surgery on me” situations. Apparently, that voice has also been deemed suitable for… whatever this situation is turning out to be.

“Have you tried to talk to him about it?”

“Yes, actually,” Melanie says, poking her head above the back of the couch again. “And somehow I’ve become his wingman.”

Georgie looks back at her. “I’m sorry?”

“I told him – like a fool – that I’d try and get Jon to talk to him again. Not because I particularly want them to get together! I mean, I do, because they tend to pine at truly unprecedented levels if they are anywhere near each other, but mainly because I need to stop being constantly bombarded with Martin’s music taste if I want to get out of the Archives.”

Georgie continues to stare.

“Of course,” Melanie continues, “I'd much rather Martin just get over him so I don’t have to talk to Jon. But I highly doubt that will happen anytime soon.”

“And why not?”

“Have you seen the man?” Melanie asks incredulously, and then she tilts her head and reconsiders. “I mean, it’s kind of hard to see him anymore anyways. But you know what I mean.”

Georgie hums. “I suppose I do. Well, just let me know how that one works out for you, alright? I’m expecting updates on the workplace drama now.”

Melanie laughs at that. “As if you don’t get all the workplace drama already.”

Somewhere on a wall just out of Georgie’s line of sight, a door creaks open. She doesn’t notice it, but what she does notice is the voice that comes from just beyond its threshold. It makes her think of shattering glass.

“And do I get any of these workplace updates?”

Melanie almost falls off the couch with how fast she twists around to face whatever it is that has entered Georgie’s apartment uninvited. “Helen!” Her voice gets defensive. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Georgie steps out into the main room to see Helen leaning against the frame of a bright yellow door, her body – or what has to be her body, even if it twists more than a body should – blocking the view of what seems to be an endless corridor on the other side of the door. The colors of the hallway are unlike anything Georgie has ever seen, and there’s something else about it that just seems off-kilter. She can’t quite place it.

Helen herself seems off-kilter, but Georgie can at least point to what it is that makes her look the way she does. Her fingers, for one, are much too long, and her hair curls and twists into spirals that shouldn’t be possible. Her limbs are gangly and bend at awkward angles to fit inside the doorway, and her smile… Georgie isn’t quite certain how to describe it.

She decides that perhaps it’s best not to try.

“I’m a little out of the loop when it comes to the Archives, these days,” Helen says, tilting her body in something of a shrug. “But I would rather like to have an idea as to what’s going on there, and I can only hope that you’d…” she tilts her head and folds herself around the doorframe, “humor me.”

Melanie crosses her arms and eyes Helen. “And why – exactly – don’t you know what’s going on there? Jon mentioned to me that he hasn’t seen you in a while, and I know that I certainly haven’t seen you recently. Where have you been? Why show up now?”

Helen sits down (where on earth did that chair come from?) and smiles sweetly. “Oh, no reason that matters to you. Now, you were updating us on workplace gossip?”

“I was updating Georgie, actually.”

“And now you’re updating me as well! So, get to it!” She grins. “I brought wine for your troubles.”

Melanie throws her hands up and turns toward Georgie again. “Do you see what I have to deal with? Every day?”

“Yes, hon, I see.”

Melanie stares at her. “You’re no help.”

“She’s not really doing anything, is she?” Georgie asks. “As long as she behaves” – she gives Helen a hard look – “I don’t see why she can’t stay.”

Helen laughs gleefully, and the glasses sitting out on Georgie’s table rattle. Georgie raises her eyebrow. Thankfully, Helen stops laughing, and Georgie takes her place at her kitchen table to listen more carefully to Melanie’s work updates. “Might as well get started now, Melanie, if you want her to leave sooner.”

Melanie groans and flops back onto the couch. “Fine. Fine! I guess she can just stay here, and loom ominously, and–”

“I did say that I brought wine.”

“And I don’t trust your wine!”

“That’s probably a fair judgment,” Helen says, and the wine bottle (which had appeared seemingly out of nowhere at some point during the conversation) disappears under equally befuddling circumstances. Or at the very least, circumstances that Georgie certainly doesn’t understand. “But tell me,” Helen continues, “what’s the whole kerfuffle with Jon and Martin now? I thought by this time those two would have figured themselves out.” She grins again, her teeth sparkling in a way that Georgie knows shouldn’t be possible. “Much like you two have!”

Melanie groans, but begins to explain anyway. “I’m sure you know how Martin is, what with your whole… everything. Poking your head into places where you’re not wanted. And I’ve told Georgie about my gripes about him enough. Take that – volatile already – and combine it with the fact that Jon has apparently made some new friends? Yeah, it’s not–”

“Jon has new friends?” Georgie asks, perking up in her seat.

“Haven’t I told you about them?”

“You might have, but if you did I thought you were joking.”

“Unfortunately for me, I’m not.”

“Who are these people?” Helen asks, with an edge to her voice that Georgie isn’t entirely certain that she likes.

“You know, I don’t really know!” Melanie says. “Apparently they both came in to give a statement, one after the other, on a day I wasn’t there. And a week or so later, they were set up in the Archives and I’ve basically been avoiding them ever since. Jon’s been telling me ‘Oh, they don’t have anywhere to go right now,’” – this she says in an approximation of Jon’s voice, but doesn’t quite get anywhere close to anything accurate – “But Basira seems to trust them, at least! And Daisy’s out of that coffin now, so I suppose it doesn’t hurt having them around.

“Except, of course, for Martin getting pissy about it.”

Georgie begins to ask a question, but Helen beats her to the punch. “Do you know where they showed up from?”

Melanie shrugs. “I haven’t asked, and they haven’t cared enough to let me know. And really, I don’t care all too much.”

Georgie leans back in her chair. “Why do you want to know, Helen?”

The smile never once drops off her face as she answers, “I like to know what’s going on, is all. It’s good to be connected in this great, wide world of ours, and currently my connections are a little… lacking at the moment.” She stands suddenly and claps her hand, the echo bouncing strangely off the walls of Georgie’s flat. “Same time next week, then, girls? Sounds like a plan!”

Before either of them can say a word in protest, the door behind her swings open and she steps backwards through it with a polite wave. The click of the door as it closes leaves no room for any argument.

#podcastgirlsweek #the magnus archives #horror besties au #melanie king #georgie barker #helen distortion #tma #if anyone wants to take a guess as to the two new people who have shown up (the people who actually make this a crossover)#have fun!#we have a fun time over here #i also havent listened to tma in a hot minute so character voices are probably all over the place #sue me #im here for a fun time not a source accurate time #not in this au at least #fish's-writing #edit because I queued this post before lia posted the art #but technically you don’t have to guess because the art includes said crossover characters. but you know #answers now revealed!#I think I’m doing more art in this au for self indulgence saturday

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foxxology · 1 year

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ahh!!! SkyFell looks so so cool and i cannot wait they all look so cool and epic and all the information on it has been so interesting and awesome :D

Thank you!!! :D

Fun facts about Skyfell: There's a species of people who have bone like protrusions from their head like horns and long tails called Corosso. Corosso have a lot of different origins which can be scene through how their horns and tails look like. For instance, Sev has simple cone shaped horns and a thin whip like tail - her Corosso decent is Zenith in nature!

Meta wise, I didn't want to use the name "tiefling" since people relate them to be from the hells, which is NOT what Corosso are! The name Corosso is from the Portuguese "coroa de osso" literally translated as crown of bones [please correct me if that's wrong its probably very obvious I used google translate WHEEZE]

#foxx just got a letter #skyfell comic talk

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blue-disco-lights · 1 year

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Tag ✨ Game ✨ Tuesday

Thank you so much @look-i-love-u, @shinygalaxyperson, @tanktopgallavich, @deedala, @michellemisfit, @energievie, @sirrudo, @m4ndysk4nkovich and @scurvgirl for tagging me in!

name: Julia

age: what is time?

favorite color: that shade of darker blue/green that’s not quite turquoise yet.

beverage of choice: is it too basic to say an extra hot latte? Oat milk or matcha.

do you have push notifications turned on for tumblr? I do for Galladrabbles ❤️ because I want to read all of your stories, and for Gallavich Meta because I love all the headcanons

opinion on fireworks? They are very pretty, and they are also very loud and I’m sooo much more sensitive to noise nowadays (see below for pet peeves)

favorite childhood toy? I had this old Atari gaming console attached to my Zenith TV back in the day (see age up top)

the store you shop at the most: Amazon - but also Safeway & Trader Joe’s (groceries)

do you swear a lot? A fair amount irl and also when I'm writing Mickey dialog

favorite trope: i don't even know how to name this properly - but it’s gotta be a really slow burn / enemies-to-lovers / hurt-comfort and they gotta work thru all the angst for their happy ending. Should I just make up my own tag for that? (this makes me sound way more intense than I actually am)

an album with no skips: ABBA Gold? Paul’s Boutique by the Beastie Boys? Tranceport by Paul Oakenfold?

if you could play any instrument, what would you choose? Piano or guitar (easily one of my biggest regrets that I didn't commit to an instrument as a kid)

your biggest pet peeve: When I used to commute on the bus to work that was the only time I had real reading time (esp with toddlers at home), so when people would call their relatives for long catchups or people would take work conference calls right behind me, it made me real 🤬 inside.

favorite time of day: early evening like 5/6pm - log off work, start my evening and unwind

and finally, did you drink water today? Incredibly… i did! I think it’s because I kept reading all your answers to this question.

Should you choose to accept this challenge, I invite: @sweetbee78 @palepinkgoat @divine-gallavich @gallawitchxx @jadepetals @creepkinginc @tsuga-of-mars @bawlbrayker @silvanshadow @ms-moonlight-inn@lingy910y @francesrose3 @crossmydna @heymrspatel @notherenewjersey@suzy-queued @ian-galagher @squidyyy23 @lupeloto @callivich @celestialmickey @stocious @grumble-fish @depressedstressedlemonzest @starcrossedsoulmates84 @harrowhark-a-vagrant @thepupperino and anyone else who'd like to play ✨✨✨

#tuesday tag games #i did drink water today #any excuse to mention ABBA Gold

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ellevandersneed · 2 months

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Edge of Tomorrow: A Film Review

I've gotten a few positive comments on a casual review I wrote for the 2014 Doug Liman x Tom Cruise vehicle: EDGE OF TOMORROW and figured it'd be fun to share my thoughts here! Review: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Phenomenal and deeply Randian - a compelling visual treatise on why certain individuals - say, Übermensch - are being held back by the limiting nature of hierarchy and beaurocracy when they could be achieving greatness through physical conditioning via extreme circumstance. This is the framework of all great classic American™ actioners of the era of the mainstreaming of Objectivist infused American Libertarianism (1960's - now) that posit a hero who must defy his superiors (be they material: "boss" or ideal: "rule of law"). Edge of Tomorrow extends this framework to time itself, in which the Übermensch heroes of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV and Emily Blunt are both existent outside of the ideological constraint of "history" and are thus able to dominate and change it.

It is somewhat interesting, the power fantasy of failure into greatness, with the meta understanding that the material is illusion beyond its existence as a challenge; that is to say, the power fantasy of always being able to "try again." This fantasy has it's appeal as can be seen extensively in, essentially most if not all, video games which are only differentiated from one another by the contents within which are designed for the player(s) to overcome. This is fundamental to any videogame where you can die or get a game over screen or are sent back to the beginning or moments before your fatal error is made. To reiterate: the fantasy of being able to always try again is a popular one, infused with a lot of familiar media. I mentioned Objectivist infused American Libertarianism specifically because the ideology of Edge of Tomorrow, when Tom Cruise reaches the zenith of his experience and is faced, ultimately, with a choice, he chooses (as if this could ever be a spoiler for a Tom Cruise action vehicle) humanity over himself. He understands that his happiness lies with the happiness of humankind, and rejects one of the most selfish, hateful aspects of that antagonistic, thoughtless ideology of Objectivism. This veers the film in a new direction, but this new evolution of philosophy is ambiguous. What is humanity that we must sacrifice ourselves for? Is this a fascistic moral or an empathetic one? It hard to answer. Should one give her life to save the lives of many? The ideologically militant often agree with this idea, to the extent that it is the often framed as the hallmark sign of one who has become "militant" in belief. What saves Edge of Tomorrow from having to answer this question is it's own medium: entertainment. Or this is what muddies the waters further. I will step back from this debate for the moment.

So, one of the main changes from the light novel ("All You Need Is Kill" - Hiroshi Sakurazaka) is that Cruise's protagonist is no longer a fresh recruit but the face of the propaganda arm of the international "earth" military coalition* The only way he is able to get as far as he does in the narrative is through his skills as a negotiator and public speaker. He is held back by three things: his own flaws in personality, his physical prowess, and the overwhelming, amorphous might of fascistic, militarized government. As time passes, and as he dies, he is able to convince people more and more of his preferred outcome. He does not improve at speech craft but instead changes as a person, and utilizes his tools of speech craft to better communicate. He finds that people submit to strong authority, not uniform and ideal of authority, but this Übermensch behavior of "taking charge, properly utilizing violence, and applying a firm, paternalistic guidance (utilized by Cruise in the later Mission Impossible titles) to get what you want." They do not respect Tom Cruise the Weasel but Tom Cruise the Commandant, the "Great Hero" and fall in line. Cruise can only utilize his powers of speech as well as he does because of his innate capacity for it and thus the writers adapting the story for english audiences have changed Cruise's occupation from fresh recruit, to chief propagandist. The system is corrupt (as I will discuss shortly) but the individuals in positions of power have achieved their positions fairly and on merit. The myth of the meritocratic nature of fascist governments is one I personally recognize as being believed by American Libertarian individuals who find heroes in their own military or heroic figures in the old armies of the terror regimes of the pre-neoliberalism era (those brave designers of German Tanks, Nazi 'Super-Weapons... Japanese Zeroes... Gee, those Nazis sure were evil but doggone it they had fashion! I love Albert Speer's architecture! I pledge allegiance to Wernher Von Braun and his darling Apollo Saturn V rockets!). The "indomitable human spirit" which is itself defined by its capacity for productive contribution, is spiritually too powerful to be hindered by the confines of beaurocracy and "ethics" and "ideological commitment." Again it must be stressed that although all humans possess the "indomitable spirit" only the Übermensch may be allowed to tap into it during times of extreme crisis, so as to guide the rest of humanity and allow us feeble mortals to achieve our own personal, lesser happiness. Why else then would Emily Blunts character be the greatest fighter in the earth military? Even with its flaws, the best fighter is still the best fighter and, as the movie itself says at the beginning - Imagine an army of Rita Vrataski's - Imagine a world where everyone is the best... it's a shame, the movie says, that only a select few people actually are. Why else would Tom Cruise be relegated from an everyman role into a position of power and prestige? Why individualize him beyond his evolving response to the extreme circumstances he is put under? Again this is open ended. Maybe he is the coward propagandist because he is a special individual set apart from the rest OR he is someone we are trained not to like; a faker, a selfish coward, a.... valor thief? Hm.... I'd say it's a mixture of both. Either way we are meant to dislike him, only to find his "true" spirit when presented and molded by extreme circumstance. "Hard times create strong men", etc...

Let's discuss the state of Earth in Edge of Tomorrow. The aliens have invaded several times and humanity has lost... Germany? Uh oh. In response, the governments of Earth have formed the United Defense Force. The UDF employs a branch dedicated entirely to media appearance - the army itself has a propaganda machine. Tom Cruise is arrested (probably for good reason) but is not given a fair trial and is, essentially, lined up for execution. His execution will come with his deployment as a part of the first wave of troops against the alien invasion. The army leadership knows it is sending in its first wave to die, or at least knows that the ground troops are expendable and thus dehumanize their own citizens. Commanding officers are allowed to torment their respective charges and can refuse to teach privates crucial skills for survival as punishment. The CO that Cruise tries to reason with says he is not American but is "from Kentucky," thus referring, or becoming relatable to, the American Libertarian "states rights" demographic. In any case, this both endears us to the CO and alienates him further from Cruise - which elicits both endearment and anxiety in the audience. The advanced technology used by the military is both meant to impress (see: film poster) and reveal the failure of fascist beaurocracy: the guns jam, design flaws make the suits somewhat dangerous, the main scientist character is himself an outcast because his superiors didn't understand his "radical technological theories," etc. Cruise ultimately always abandons the exosuit. Rita Vrataski is never believed when she was a part of the loop and thus the "greatest fighter against the aliens" is relegated to the front lines and marketing material. It is no wonder that Cruise and Blunt have to reject this corrupt system and "do things their own way."

The film tries to tie itself to Starship Troopers by opening on marketing material meant to hype up the war effort: the ads and news reports themselves feel like something out of Metal Gear solid and give the impression that we will be watching a fun, "popcorn," satire. It's hard for me not to see this as the dumb guy's interpretation of Verhoeven's "Troopers" but with a such a clearheaded interpretative vision (aside from what I feel are a couple of missteps) that it becomes an articulate dumb guys idea of Starship Troopers' something more in line with the Heinlein original than Verhoeven and Neumeier's adaptation. The articulation, the "clearheaded-ness" that I talk about helps create a refreshing picture. It is, in a weird way, nice to see something with such a recognizable language that seems to understand what it is preaching without "overtly" preaching it and thus remaining "entertainment." Edge of Tomorrow is the "preferred" dumb actioner, superior to other narratives within the same vein critically. It is looked back on fondly. "Those so and so movies are so old hat... but I loved Edge of Tomorrow! It's better than Cruises other action junk lately! (Jack Reacher, Oblivion, The Mummy... Knight and Day????)" It makes a compelling argument for self-sacrifice and discipline and individuality. It is good propaganda, entertaining even, and I wonder if that is what people are drawn to in the USAmerican canon of Action Masterpieces. A lot of fun... but watch out! Its ideology is actually kinda dogshit! I think Hayao Miyazaki would like this movie in a bad way. 👍👍

*(which is itself headed by one of the 5-6 Irishmen that you've heard of in the acting world that you know is Irish, Brendan Gleeson.... I can presume his character lore is that he was a part of the Northern Ireland occupation force before being promoted to head a military operation on foreign (non-British) soil or else the British ex-Empire has totally and utterly collapsed in the face of the slow alien invasion because there is no way they'd let an ol' Irish fella be in charge of an operation this big unless he got trained on shooting rubber bullets at his neighbors.)

#edge of tomorrow #tom cruise #doug liman #movies #film review #movie film picture kino cinema uhmmmm ermmmm moube?

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