#mizu makes things

[the-dragon-mizu]

i got glow in the dark pony beads on their way. imma make so many bracelets for this ritual yall

[stromblessed]

"the second day of autumn," huh?

In episode 3, Mizu agrees to duel Taigen on the "second day of autumn" when it is currently winter in the story

So can we talk about how

the day Mizu met her husband was probably in the springtime

the day Mizu finally slept with her husband was during autumn

and so was the day they "dueled"

where it becomes clear that fighting isn't just what Mizu is good at - she associates fighting with pleasure. she LOVES it

at least, when she's fighting the right person

In the brothel, when current-day Mizu sees the threesome in the throes of pleasure, while Madame Kaji is opining on being honest about desires -

Mizu instantly thinks of THIS

THAT FRAMING SURE LOOKS FAMILIAR

now HEAR ME OUT

a lot of the Mizu+Taigen adventures happen in the snow/winter, but you know what happens in the spring?

YEAH

YEAH

spring is when their characters AND their relationship both turn a corner

so Mizu's life turns a corner and she meets her husband in the spring, duels him and sleeps with him in the fall - and is betrayed

Mizu's life turns a corner and she reconciles with Taigen in the spring.......... and has agreed to duel him in the fall

it would've taken a few months to sail from Japan to Europe. March plus 6 months is September. Taigen is absolutely gonna end up in London because he fucking wants that fucking duel

do you see what i'm. do you see what i am saying

do you understand that the cherry blossoms blooming in Edo bloom in late March

during the spring equinox

and the "second day of autumn" is the autumn equinox

DO YOU SEE

[idyllcy]

glass heart - mizu x reader

Mizu doesn't like being vulnerable.

She prefers to have you, not the other way around, and at any time possible, she prefers it if you were to listen to her. Sometimes you don't, but oftentimes you do. And when you don't... she makes sure you do.

But your question is really innocent. You just wanted to know. After all, she's always the one going down on you.

"Mizu." You mumble, cheeks warm from the hot spring.

"Hm?" Her eyes glance at you.

"Have you ever received... head?"

Which brings you to this point, Mizu's head thrown back into the tatami, your head between her legs, her slick dripping down her thighs and smearing on your cheeks, your eyes half-lidded as you continue lapping at her.

Mizu doesn't like it when you're under her. Too vulnerable. She's too vulnerable. She doesn't get her sword in her hand, and despite your placing of it next to her, she doesn't feel like she has enough time to react if you were to kill her. (You wouldn't.)

But Mizu finds that she has no problem being on the receiving end. You wouldn't hurt her, and from the way you're between her legs, she's sure you have no ulterior motives than to just please her. Even when you had first presented your heart to her, she had held it gently, fingers not knowing how to, yet her own heart trembling as she received yours. Now, you gold her glass heart with the same kind of kindness she had shown you in the beginning. It didn't matter if she was a demon, she was yours.

You pause, nose wet as you scrunch it, tilting your head at Mizu. "Was that alright?"

"Yeah, it was fine." She mumbles, resting her forehead on yours as you brush noses with her, pressing a kiss to her lips as she tastes herself. It's fine. She loves you anyway.

[hauntingsofhouses]

yeah taimizu IS toxic and off putting actually ‼️‼️🗣️🗣️🗣️

EDIT: TO BE CLEAR THIS IS A POST IN FAVOUR OF TAIMIZU!!! I AM A DIRTY TAIMIZU SHIPPER!!!!!

[alexkablob]

not to wade into discourse about shows online which I swore to stop doing but I think some of you need to recognize that not every piece of media is about you, and that focusing only on the themes that you personally identify with while erasing the ones you don't is Not Great

[friend-of-a-cat]

Someone on Reddit made a post about how they dislike the two main love interests in Blue Eye Samurai, especially when it comes to shipping, because they think that Mizu should stay single. I decided to comment, which I don't usually do, to say that I agree, and got major aroace vibes from her throughout the show, and fully just assumed she was both of those things before her backstory was revealed/she developed feelings for the main love interests. I mentioned that I was sorely disappointed that she wasn't, and that I understood that maybe her being aro and/or ace could perpetuate harmful stereotypes about aro and/or ace people because of the kind of person she is, but that it would have been really cool to see some representation for once. I was fully convinced she was ace at least, and got so excited when I got into watching the show. It already covers a lot of stuff regarding gender and same-sex attraction, so I wouldn't have put it past the writers to include something like that.

Anyway, people on Reddit didn't like the fact that I mentioned any of this, and I find that hilarious. What's with the downvotes, people? I don't actually give a shit, but, like, damn.

[theravenkin]

i know the "butch's carabiner gets caught on goth femme's fishnets" meme is making its rounds in the locked tomb fandom (as it should), but i'd like to introduce it to the blue eye samurai world

*warning: horny bullshit below the cut*

As Akemi and Taigen lean against each other at the bar, Akemi feels something pulling at the gauzy white tights she's wearing under her miniskirt. She looks down and sees that she's somehow become attached to...someone. Someone handsome. Pretty? Both?

The someone looks sharply at Akemi when they realize they're being stared at. "Excuse you," Akemi scowls. The someone scowls right back, taking Akemi aback. The someone doesn't break eye contact as they fiddle with the carabiner on their belt loop. It gets somewhat awkward as the someone realizes the carabiner isn't coming free. It's then that Taigen takes notice of the situation and stands up to puff his chest at the stranger.

"Hey, what do you think you're--" his breath hitches as the stranger's storm-blue eyes meet his, not without venom. He clears his throat. "This is my girlfriend."

"Fiance," Akemi corrects absentmindedly, taking in the stranger's lean frame, wiry with obvious muscle, and the cagey way they move. She has a strange urge to trap them, make them stop moving like they're trying to run. She supposes, staring dryly at the hardware still attached to her tights, that she has sort of trapped them, so to speak.

"Yeah, fiance. Who do you think you are, man?" The stranger raises an unimpressed eyebrow at Taigen's valiant efforts, their knife-sharp jawline flexing. Akemi catches Taigen's Adam's apple bob and a light flush spread across his face. Oh, she thinks, gears turning.

Akemi swats the stranger's still-fumbling hands away from her thigh and yanks her tights away from the hook. The tights tear with a mighty rip, revealing the smooth skin of Akemi's upper thigh to the stranger. Akemi looks up to find them eyeing the skin with very intentional blankness. When they meet Akemi's eyes, she quirks an eyebrow. "You ripped my tights," she says.

The stranger raises an eyebrow right back. They're really good at it, Akemi notices. "I ripped your tights?"

"Yeah," Taigen pipes up, "you ripped her tights? I mean, yeah, you ripped her tights." Akemi puts a firm hand on Taigen's arm without taking her eyes off of the handsome stranger.

"I think you owe me new ones," Akemi says, giving the stranger a slow once-over.

The stranger sucks their teeth. "I don't owe shit to anyone," they say, but they don't sound very convincing. Akemi smirks like a fox.

"No?" she says, faux innocent in a way that always gets her what she wants. "Not even a drink?"

"Yeah, not even a drink?" Taigen pipes up weakly. She strokes his arm and pulls him down for a kiss that startles a quiet moan out of him. She always finds it so hot when he's confused.

The stranger drags their eyes over the both of them. Then they nod gruffly at the glass between Akemi's fingers. "Vodka martini?"

Akemi sharpens her gaze. "Gin." The drink was really closer to a Vesper than anything, but this stranger didn't need to know that.

"Dry?"

"Wet."

"Dirty?"

"Extra dirty." The stranger's thin mouth, which had been set in a firm frown during the entire exchange, finally twitches with mirth.

Akemi smiles sweetly as the stranger flags down the bartender. "And scotch on the rocks for my boy, here," she says, holding the stranger's gaze as she cradles Taigen's muscled arm between her delicate hands. The stranger's eyes dip to follow Akemi's caress; they suck their teeth and meet Akemi's eyes again.

"I didn't rip his tights," they say lowly. Akemi notices that they are leaning in closer than before; she can almost feel their breath as they speak. She leans closer, speaks lower.

"But you could," she says delicately. "He'd let you." He would. Akemi could feel where he was now pressed against her back, finally caught on to what she was going for and wholly into it. As Akemi watches the stranger's resolve finally, finally crumble, her grin turns from sweet to wicked. She loves getting what she wants.

The stranger sighs harshly through their nose. "He'll have bourbon," they say, and hand the bartender their card. "Neat."

Akemi grins like a cat and hooks a manicured finger through one of the stranger's belt loops as Taigen mouths impatiently at the back of her neck. She pulls each body closer to her, running her tongue over her teeth.

"So, your place or ours?"

[kiraman]

i keep seeing modern Mizu this modern Mizu that and I just

I don’t know how to write this in an articulate, thoughtful way that encapsulates what I truly mean but, I'm frantically craving to write modern Mizu too but in a way that's just. Really fucked up. Like a really fucked up toxic relationship between her and some Lady.

Like rage filled screaming/breaking up over and over again/Mizu furiously chasing her around trying to pull her back in every time she fucks up even though she doesn't care (she does). Just pure toxic insanity that SOMEHOW in the end can be worked out because the love is so fierce and feverish and deep and real

[bernie-jsyk]

i'm staying out of the blue eye samurai tag because i want to avoid spoilers (we have 2 episodes left) but i'm really looking forward to the analyses of the ways gender and race intersect in this show oh my gosh

[mizuthe-cat]

how am I supposed to keep the character consistent enough to write about when my perception of them is constantly changing

[dearmizumi]

Does anyone have their own silly stimming mood that's special for specifically yourself?

Mine is just meowing at my friends for minutes straight until they either say something about it, I get tired or they say something that made me laugh hysterically like there's no tomorrow.

[hauntingblue]

MARIKO OUT-DIVA'D EVERYONE ON THE ROOM!!!!

[emmenai-kalliston]

no rizz just constantly "jokingly" tell him how fucking hot he is

[hauntingsofhouses]

i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended up being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

thus, when i refer to mizu as nonbinary, i am interpreting mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that when i say nonbinary, it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

okay before i go deeper i'd just like to address some important things. first of all, this post is an analysis of canon, and thus everything i am arguing for is about my own interpretation of the show, and not some baseless projected headcanon i am projecting onto the character. please remember there is a difference between an interpretation (subjective; interpretations will differ from viewer to viewer, but ultimately it is firmly rooted in evidence taken from the source material) VS a headcanon (unrelated and often even contrary to what is presented in canon; opinions wildly differ and they cannot be argued for because there is no canonical evidence to back it up).

ALSO please note that nonbinary is an umbrella term. this means that it applies to a vast range of gender identities. other identities that fall under the nonbinary umbrella include agender, bigender, genderfluid, and so on. however, it's my personal preference to use the term nonbinary as it is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels (more power to you if you do like them and find they suit you more though!).

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no singular way to identify as anything, as everyone's views on gender, especially their own, is specific and personal to the individual.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading of the text. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or not always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is a very inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised racial identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. thus it is important to note that these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns for her, but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier to use in fanfic (singular they is confusing to write stories with, but again, that's just my feelings on it, and this is coming from someone who uses they/they pronouns). i also lean towards she/her because it's what the creators and all the official promotional copywriting of the show uses. and even though i am a "death to the author" enjoyer, i feel that when interpreting things that are left open-ended, it does help to look at the creators' take on things. also because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does, constantly.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my argument.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

[diniidjarin]

i must not go in tags. going in tags is the mind-killer. tags is the little-death that brings total spoilers. i will face my need to go in tags. i will permit it to pass over me and through me. and when it has gone past, i will turn my eyes closed and go beddy-bye. where the need to go into tags has gone, there will be nothing. only i will remain. rested and ready to watch new blorbo and form my own impressions of their show

[starry-nocturne]

she's so tiny i'm going to chew her whole

ps: posting the new sprites today/tomorrow stay tuned 🙏