#more like ringo

[papiken]

For some reason I like to imagine if every man in a show I enjoy was canonically apart of the Beatles so please humour me 🚶🏾‍♀️

[thekeytothenorth]

bad asoiaf spin-off ideas

• robert baratheon’s small council in the style of parks and recreation

• lannister family sitcom in the style of arrested development

• hot pie in harrenhal in the style of the bear

[acorviart]

made a small army of usagi ringo (rabbit apple slices!)

I only applied a clear glaze to the "apple skin" part, so there's extra contrast between the matte body and glossy skin

[purestblue]

I thought about making a coloured sheme

Green for Apathy

Red/ Violet for Rage/Grief

And blue for Sadness

[stromblessed]

Mizu's spectacles, and the levels of her disguise

In drafting some more Blue Eye Samurai meta posts, I find myself writing out the comparisons between what Mizu can and cannot hide about herself, and how that affects how she moves through the world.

Like, I get the jokes about Mizu's glasses, if only color contacts had existed back then, etc. etc., and I think (hope) that most viewers don't take the glasses jokes seriously, as in "I don't care about the suspension of disbelief because BES is a cartoon." But I wanted to write these thoughts out anyway without burying them in a text post about something else.

I think the points I'm going to lay out here are viewed very differently by different people, so please feel free to add to this post, reply, or put your thoughts in the tags!

Not only do Mizu's glasses not actually help her that much, there's surely more to Mizu's mixed race appearance than just the color of her eyes.

In my view, this was pointed out in episode 1:

I'm willing to bet most of us were expecting young Taigen to say "blue eyes," not "ROUND eyes."

Obviously this is still about Mizu's eyes, but not even spectacles can hide their shape.

I don't think the show is obligated to point out everything about Mizu's face that isn't quite as Japanese as the people around her expect. Though the creators have said that they specifically designed Mizu - and her clothes - to read both as "white" and as "Japanese," as well as both male and female. I think there's more about Mizu's features that read as "white" than just her eyes.

This is where my own headcanons start entering the picture, but it's my impression that people can just tell that Mizu looks different, whether or not they can put a finger on exactly how.

There's the little girl who looks at Mizu and then hides on the way into Kyoto:

When there's more to your face you'd like to cover up than just your eyes, big hats are a big help!

By the way, most of these examples have to come from the first half of the season, since by the second half, either Mizu is too preoccupied with fighting henchmen, or everyone Mizu is facing knows who she is already, and she therefore has no reason to hide her mixed race identity.

It's worth mentioning that the mere fact that Mizu has to hide multiple aspects of her identity - her mixed race and her sex - results in her having to choose clothes that really, really cover her up, which doesn't win her any favors either:

(Zatoichi reference, anyone?)

If it were as easy as, for example, tying her glasses to her head and wa-lah, nobody would ever know she was half-white - then (1) Mizu would've just done that long ago, and (2) Mizu wouldn't be so on guard and on tenterhooks 100% of the time the way she's depicted in the show, even when her glasses are on.

Her spectacles sure don't help her in the brothel, which is full of observant women who are trying to seduce her, meaning they get good long looks at her:

Mizu never takes her glasses off, but they still send a woman to her who has light eyes, thinking that must be what will interest a blue-eyed man:

No wonder Mizu gets mad after this, lol

So Mizu never takes her spectacles off in the brothel, it's dimly lit inside, and the women can still tell that she has blue eyes. I'm getting the sense that Mizu putting on her spectacles isn't a guarantee that people suddenly can't tell that she looks different.

And yet no one spots that she's female.

Mizu can hide her breasts, can wear her hair in the right style, can hide what's between her legs, can walk and talk and behave like a man - and she's been doing it for almost her entire life, to the point that not only is she very good at it, but the threat of being found out as female is deadly, but isn't presented in the show as omnipresent.

Let me explain.

She threatens Ringo for nearly saying the word "girl" out loud, because while she's constantly ostracized for being mixed race, being a woman traveling without a chaperone, carrying a sword, and disguised as a man will get her killed or flogged or arrested or some combination of these things.

But in addition, it's been drilled into her since she was a child that if she is discovered as female, the combination of her being mixed race and female will identify her as someone extremely specific, someone known to some bad people, and she will be killed:

I think of it as Mizu thinking to herself, "Being found out as mixed race means I'm treated badly. Being found out as mixed race and a woman means I'm dead."

Mizu's hair is cut as a child. But she isn't made to wear a big hat, or cover her eyes somehow, or anything like that. Because hiding her sex is a more successful endeavor than hiding her race.

Ringo finds out she's female by accident, but once Mizu accepts the fact that he won't rat her out, she relaxes pretty early on in the season. Because the threat of being found out as female is mitigated pretty much 99.9%, since Mizu has gotten so good at being a man. And also, because most of the time, people see what they want to see. Even if Mizu's face makes her stand out as "not 100% Japanese," no one in the world of BES looks at Mizu's clothes, her bearing, her sword, hears her voice, and will ever in a million years conclude that she is a woman, because expectations around gender roles in the Edo period were so rigid and so widely enforced.

One detail that proved this to me is after the Four Fangs fight:

Ringo takes off Mizu's clothes so he can stitch her up, then leaves her clothes off even after he's done. He doesn't even throw her cloak over her as a blanket or anything. There's a little a straw (pallet?) as a divider there on the left, but anyone could just peek around it and see Mizu and her chest bindings. (I think it's mostly there as a windbreaker.)

And Taigen is right there, but he doesn't give a shit:

Opinions probably vary hugely on this, but my impression is that because the show doesn't make any kind of deal about Taigen being in the room with Mizu here, my guess is that Mizu isn't in any danger of Taigen thinking she's female. Even when I watched the show for the first time, I assumed that Taigen had seen Mizu out of her clothes here, and that he thought nothing of it.

Eat your heart out, Li Shang (Mulan 1998). I actually do think that this scene is a direct and purposeful side-eye to that movie, lol

There's obviously some nuance to how "severe" being mixed race is compared to how "severe" being a woman is for Mizu:

After all, Swordfather can't bear to listen to Mizu confess to being a woman.

So a Japanese man can go wherever he wants, whenever he wants in BES. A Japanese woman has limited options: marriage, religion, or a brothel. A mixed-race man is an eyesore in this story. A mixed-race woman is a death sentence.

May as well eliminate the female aspect, and do what you can about the mixed-race aspect. Because that's just realistic.

Meaning Mizu can avoid the strictures Edo society places on women. But she can't avoid the repercussions that come with being mixed race. And I truly don't think that it's just because "there's no brown contacts yet."

[ringosmistress]

[paulic]

why does he have insanely good style when he’s not wearing photoshoot clothes? Mary feeding us Paul candids for Father’s Day, everyone say thank you Mary!!

[javelinbk]

The Beatles meet Muhammad Ali in Miami, 18th February 1964

[good-to-drive]

A hard day's night buffered at either the best or worst time, you decide

[interneteclipse]

Me when I’m in a favorite idiots competition and these two show up

[beatleswings]

THE BEATLES performing "I Saw Her Standing There" on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. February 9, 1964.

[hauntingsofhouses]

Blue Eye Samurai characters as animals

First of all, let me just reassert my dog Taigen agenda.

Like I keep talking about it but this man really growls and barks like a dog, and yaps and follows Mizu around like a puppy.

I don't know much about dog breeds but my first thought was German Shepherd for Taigen. Typical guard dog you know? Fierce, aggressive, loyal, and very disciplined when trained.

Or maybe he'd be an Akita? Since that's a Japanese dog breed, and they're also large and powerful. They're quite similar to German Shepherds, not only in appearance, but they're also good as guard dogs and hunting dogs, though they're less predictable and not as family-friendly.

Also in Japanese folklore, dogs tend to be seen as auspicious guides and protectors that have the power to resist evil spirits and demons. Dog statues are often placed at city gates to ward off thieves and robbers. Ties back to guard dog behaviour lmao, and brings to mind how the Shogun praised Taigen's loyalty and specifically requested that Taigen be one of the people guarding him at his side.

Okay next, moving on, let's talk about cat Mizu, which I've also talked about before, but okay. Just look at this.

Neko Mizu my beloved.....!!! Scrunkly and scrungy. Graceful predators, introverted and mysterious, but feisty, unassuming little creatures of chaos. WILL scratch you without hesitation.

Also I think she'd specifically be a black cat, because of the prejudice towards black cats as "unlucky." Similar to how Mizu is discriminated against as people believe she's a "monster."

It's also interesting to note that cats have several different forms within Japanese folklore, from the deadly and malevolent nekomata, to shapeshifting bakeneko, to the waving figurine of the maneki-neko placed in shops to bring in prosperity. Some theorise that the diverse range of folklore stories regarding cats is related to how the species is not indigenous to Japan, which is also interesting when you recall that Mizu is mixed race.

I feel that she could honestly be any domestic black cat, but if I had to choose a specific breed, then I think she'd suit a Bombay. Very glossy black coats. Muscular but lean. Very panther-like. Only thing is that Bombays are known for their special copper eyes, but the fact that eye colour is a notable thing about their breed is also a very interesting parallel.

And I know I said in my previous post (linked above) that Ringo is the exhausted but loving caretaker of the two of them, but Ringo has an animal form too! He's a tanuki, also known as Japanese raccoon dogs! In folklore, they're silly little guys, happy and mischievous, a little absent-minded and goofy, but they're shapeshifting masters of disguise.

Also, in canon, Ringo literally lived with a family of tanuki during winter at some point in his life! He talks about this when he meets Mizu in the first episode. Image below is a concept of a deleted scene, courtesy of Brian Kesinger, the show's head of story.

Next, Akemi. Now, I know she has all that bird symbolism going on, but Mizu also had horse symbolism (due to her connection with her horse Kai). So, personality and design-wise, I don't think the symbolism has to necessarily match up. And with that said, I would like to propose another idea: I think Akemi is more like a fox!

Like I'm convinced she is in fact a beautiful kitsune in disguise. Because kitsunes in Japanese folklore are known to shapeshift into beautiful women, and are very elegant, cunning and intelligent, which seems a lot like Akemi to me!

So yeah that's it. They're a bunch of cute animals. The end.

[scourgiez]

fem get back Beatles 🫶

even though i didn’t really design any “feminine” versions of the clothes they already wore (except paula’s) this was still fun to do (hairstyles!)

[pr1nctine]

PUYO SKETCHES!!!!

[stromblessed]

Mizu was wrong to let Akemi be taken because they both deserve better

First, a confession. When I saw this for the first time:

I was relieved. I knew that was what Mizu was going to say and I felt like it's what I would have said in that situation too.

When Akemi does this:

I cringed, because if we know anything about Mizu, it's that she (1) isn't quick to make friends (though to be fair, even though Akemi did try to kill Mizu, so did Taigen - multiple times! - and look how that turned out lol), and (2) doesn't take orders.

So when Akemi and Ringo and later Taigen get angry at Mizu, are they being unfair?

Sure, Mizu isn't obligated to treat Akemi - or Taigen or Ringo or anybody else - nicely, or to serve them, or to be honorable, or be a hero to them, or whatever. No human being is obligated to any other human being. We all have the choice to do whatever we want to anybody else. But the point of flawed characters in storytelling is the tension between those characters and their potential. Their growth into someone who can choose the higher, harder path, who chooses to be obligated to others, who chooses kindness and compassion.

Because Mizu's problem isn't revenge. Nobody is preaching at Mizu that revenge isn't the answer. Her circumstances do suck, her life has been incredibly unfair, she is marginalized, and as far as we and Mizu know for most of the season, she is a child born of violence and no one is saying that that violence doesn't deserve to be repaid in kind.

Mizu's problem is isolation. And the fact that she thinks she has no responsibility toward her fellow human beings, because her hatred of her own circumstances and her having no life outside of her quest devours everything else. This is a problem because it turns Mizu into the worst version of herself. A version that hurts the people who like Mizu, the people who care about her.

Practically, Mizu has just taken on an entire army almost by herself. She's hurt. She's exhausted. If she were to defend Akemi now, it'd be yet ANOTHER fight, this time against horsed and armored samurai.

But that's not the reason Mizu gives Ringo. Mizu's ability or willingness to fight isn't even on her mind. All she says is, "She's better off."

"She's better off" is Mizu deciding what's best for Akemi. Akemi's entire story is about her being a caged bird longing to fly free.

One after the other, every man and woman in Akemi's life makes her decisions for her. She has to grovel and smile prettily and lie through her teeth just for the chance to be heard. Mizu judges Akemi for being a rich princess who isn't being more grateful for what she has, all without understanding Akemi's situation, and without any curiosity for why Akemi feels the way she does. From Akemi's perspective, Mizu is just one more person (one more man!) in a long lineup who ignores Akemi's wishes and (casually!) makes a decision for her that impacts Akemi's life greatly.

In the end, even Seki concludes that Akemi should get to decide what's best for Akemi. What others think that Akemi SHOULD want does not matter compared to what Akemi wants for her own life. As Madame Kaji said - Madame Kaji, who despite calling out the weirdness of Akemi's situation as well as the childishness of her decision to run away - is the only person Akemi meets who doesn't try to make decisions for Akemi, but instead only challenges Akemi to work for and be worthy of what she wants - she needs to decide what she wants for her own fucking self, and then take it.

Mizu being born female does not make her automatically wiser for letting Akemi be taken, and it does not preclude her from having a hand in giving Akemi back to her jailers. A patriarchy that Mizu knows full well would stop Mizu from achieving her own goals if she didn't present as male.

Mizu is still understandable here. She just had to kill Kinuyo, a disabled girl sold by her father into prostitution, a girl in a situation so far beyond Akemi's worst imaginings that I can practically feel Mizu's world being rocked just by comparing them in her mind the way she most likely is. That still doesn't make it right for Mizu to let Akemi be carried off to be sold into marriage by her father against her wishes. Those "good options" Mizu thinks Akemi has don't exist, no more than they ever existed for Mizu. Akemi and Mizu both have to get creative, make the best of their circumstances, take dangerous risks, and break rules in order to have any control over their own lives.

Even on my first watch, when at first I thought that Mizu had made the right decision and that Akemi was being unreasonable, Akemi screaming Mizu's name while being dragged, LITERALLY DRAGGED, back to her father was haunting as hell.

Mizu had the power to help Akemi, and simply chose not to.

Mizu lets Akemi be taken, Akemi who has just begun to trust Mizu. Mizu calls Ringo weak and quickly - seemingly easily - turns her back on him. Mizu values her quest over Taigen's life, after Taigen has endured days of torture to protect her, and she not only risks his life in the process, but doesn't tell him that Akemi is engaged to someone else, or that she came looking for Taigen, or that she is in danger.

Mizu's sword breaks because it is too brittle. Too pure. Too singleminded. Mizu only melts down the meteorite metal when she mixes the metal with objects from parts of her life that have nothing to do with her quest. Objects from the people she cares about, and who care about her.

All I'm saying is - Mizu doesn't have to be a hero. But she is the better version of herself when she reaches out to help and connect with others. When she's just a decent, kinder human being. And I think that's what this story is telling us that we should want for Mizu.

[ringosmistress]