#obviously the ‘rivals’ in question wouldn’t have to be playing the role of their specific enemy. but you know.

[eemoo1o-sunnyoo]

Do you think we could get a bunch of The Gang’s enemies and make them into the Anti-Gang? Like Liam and Ryan would be Dennis and Dee, Gail would be Charlie, etc…

[davidmann95]

Sooo… Superman and the Authority?

magnus-king123 asked: Your thoughts on Superman & the authority Give it to me...lol

Anonymous asked: Seeing Bezos take his little trip into space the same day Morrison puts out a Superman comic that touches on how far we’ve fallen from the days when we dreamed of utopian futures where everyone explored the stars was a big gut punch. Not used to Superman being topical in that way.

Anonymous asked: What'd you think of Superman and the Authority#1?

This is far beyond what I can fit in the normal weekly reviews, so taking this as my notes on the first six pages, with this and this as my major lead-in thoughts:

* Janin's such a perfect fit for Morrison - the scale, the power, the facial expressions selling the character work, the screwing around with the panel formatting as necessary to sell the effect, the numinous sense of things going on larger than you can fully perceive amidst the beauty and chaos. It's a shame he wasn't around 25 years ago to draw JLA, but I'll take him going with Morrison onto other future projects.

* His intro action sequence is such a great demonstration of why Black actually does have something to offer, and also how he's such a dumbass desperately needing Superman to save him from himself.

* While Jordie Bellaire didn't legit go with an entirely monochromatic palate the way early previews suggested, it's still an effect frequently and excellently deployed here. And glad to see Steve Wands carry into this from Blackstars since there's such an obvious carryover from its work with Superman.

* "Gentlemen. Ladies. Others." Great both because of the obvious - hey, Superman's nodding at me! - and because it's a phrasing that reinforces that this take on him (and let's be real Morrison) is old as hell.

* I'm mostly past caring about whether this is an alt-Earth Superman until it becomes indisputable one way or another, this and Action both rule so what does it really matter? But while there are still a couple signs in play suggesting some kind of division (the Action Comics #1036 cover, Midnighter up to time-travel shenanigans) the "lost in time" quote clearly thrown in after the fact to explain how he could have met Kennedy outside of 5G that wouldn't be necessary for an Elseworlds, the assorted gestures towards Superman's current status quo, the Kingdom Come symbol appearing in Action, and that Morrison would have had to completely rewrite the ending if this wasn't supposed to be 'the' version of Clark Kent going forward as was the intent when they first planned it all say to me that no, no fooling around, this is our guy going forward one way or another.

* Janin and Bellaire making the first version of the crystal Fortress ever that actually looks as cool as you want it to.

Anonymous asked: I like that Superman and The Authority is basically the anti-All-Star; instead of the laid back, immortal Superman who is supercharged, we have a stressed, ageing Superman whose tremendous powers are fading. The former will always be there to save us, but the latter is running out of time and needs to pull off a Hail Mary. Also, he mentions in his monologue to Black that he was "lost in time" when he met JFK, so maybe he is the main continuity Clark. Or he's the t-shirt Supes from Sideways.

* You're absolutely right - the power reversal is obvious and the ticking clock in play seemingly isn't for his own survival but everyone around him as he wakes up and realizes all the old icons grew complacent with the gains they'd made and he's not leaving behind the world he meant to. Both, however, are built on the idea of preparing the world to not need them anymore - it'll still have a Superman in his son, but that'll only work because of the others he empowers and inspires. The question is what happens to Clark if he's not going to live in the sun for 83000 years.

* Clark's 'exercise' here does more to sell me on the idea of Old Man Superman as a cool idea than however many decades of Earth 2 stuff.

* Intergang being noted alongside Darkseid and Doomsday speaks to how much Kirby informed Morrison's conception of Superman.

* This isn't exactly the most progressive in its disability politics but at least it makes clear Black's being a piece of shit about it.

* It's startling how much Clark can get away with saying stuff in here you'd never expect to come out of Superman's mouth. "I made an executive decision" "Privacy, really...?" "You have nowhere to go, Black. Nothing to live for." "There are few people in my life who I instinctively and viscerally dislike, and you've always been one of them." It only works because there's zero aggression behind it, he's just past the point of niceties and being totally frank while making clear none of these assessments preclude that he cares and is going to unconditionally do the right thing every time. He is absolutely, per Morrison, humanity's dad picking us up when we're too drunk to drive ourselves home.

* The story doesn't put a big flashing light over it, but it's not even a little bit subtle having the material threat of the issue be a ticking timebomb left by the carelessness and hubris of generations past.

* Manchester keeps trying to poke the bear and prove his hot takes about Superman and it's just not working. The front he put up under Kelley is gone after decades of defeats, and as Morrison understands what actually conceptually works about him as a rival to Superman underneath the aging nerd paranoia he's exposed as what he absolutely would be in 2021: a dude with a horrific terminal case of Twitter brainworms. I was PANICKED when I heard there was an 'offensive term' joke in this, I was braced for Morrison at their well-meaning worst, but it's such a goddamn perfect encapsulation of a very specific breed of Twitter leftist who uses their politics first and foremost as a cudgel and justification to label their abrasive, judgmental shittiness as self-righteousness (plus it's a killer payoff to a joke from way back in his original appearance). Cannot believe they pulled that off when they're so very, very open about basically not knowing how the internet works.

* @charlottefinn: Manchester Black using his telekinetic powers to force someone he hates to fave a problematic tweet so that he can screenshot it and start a dogpile

@intergalactic-zoo: “Once they cancel Bibbo, Superman won’t be *anyone’s* fav’rit anymore!”

* Friend noted this issue had to be fully the conversation because the whole premise stands on the house of cards of these two somehow working together, and with three 'silent' inset panels the creative team pulls off that turning point.

* So much of this feels on the surface like Morrison bringing back the All-Star vibes with Clark, but when he drops a "That's all you got?" in a brawl you realize what's underlining that bluntness and confidence in the face of failure is that deep down this is still the Action guy too. This dude ain't gonna get wrecked in his Fortress while the other guy chuckles about him being A SOFT WEE SCIENTIST'S SON!

* Bringing up Jor-El made me realize that Morrison already spelled out that this is the final threat to Superman, what he faces at the end of the road:

"Now it's your turn, Superman."

* A l'il Superman 2000/All-Star reference with the Phantom Zone map!

* There's so much intertextuality going on here even by Morrison standards - Change or Die with the old hero putting together a team of morally nebulous folks out to 'fix' everything, Flex Mentallo with the muscleman trying to redeem the punk, Doomsday Clock with the fate of the world hinging on whether Superman can get through to a meta stand-in for an idea of 'modern' comics cynicism, DKR and New Frontier and Kingdom Come and Multiversity and Seven Soldiers and What's So Funny and All-Star and Action and the last 5 years of monthly Superman comics and Authority and probably Jupiter's Legacy and Tom Strong - but none of that's needed. You could go in with the baseline pop cultural understanding of the character and not care about any of the inside baseball shit and get that this is a story about a leader of a generation that let down the people they made all their grand promises to as inertia and day-to-day demands and complacency let him be satisfied with the accomplishments they'd made long ago, looking at a new era and seeing the ways its own activists are dropping the ball. The only thing that fundamentally matters in a "you have to accept you're reading a superhero story" sense is that because he's Superman he's willing to own up to it and listen to people who might know better about some things and try to set things right while he and those who'll take his place still have a chance. And yes, the oldster looking back on their legacy with a skeptical eye and hoping for better from the next generation, hoping most of all that their little heir apparent can fulfill the promise inside of him instead of being a provocating little shitkicker, is obviously also autobiographical.

* The overlaying Kennedy reprisal is such a great visual of a sudden intrusive thought.

* The Kryptonite secret is the obvious "This is going to matter!" moment, but "He lied about his son" is a bit that doesn't connect to anything going on right now so maybe that's important here too? More significantly, the Justice League can't actually be the villains here but that Ultra-Humanite's crew are in an Earth-orbiting satellite makes pretty clear what's up.

* I've said before that between Superman, OMAC, and a New Gods-affiliated speedster this was going to use all of Morrison's favorite things. King Arthur playing a role isn't exactly dissuading me.

* Love the idea that all the antiheroes have their own community in the same way as the capes and tights crew. They definitely all privately think the rest are posers though and that they alone are Garth Ennis Punisher in a mob of Garth Ennis Wolverines.

* Manchester's fallen so far he's gone from trying to convince Superman to kill to convince him to dunk on people for their bad takes and Clark just doesn't get it. Official prediction of dialogue for upcoming issues:

"According to these bloody Fortress scans, the only thing that can restore your powers is an unfiltered hit of dopamine. Don't worry, Doctor Black has a few ideas."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll plant a nice tree?"

"...fuck you."

* Ok I already talked about how great the Fortress looks in here but LOVE this library.

* A pair of pages this seems like the right spot to discuss from Black's original appearance that underlines both his and Superman's inadequacies up to this point:

Responding to the problem of "the government and penal system are hopelessly corrupt" neither of them has any actual notion of what to do about it in spite of their respective posturing beyond how to handle individual outside actors - each is in their own way every bit as small-minded and reactionary as the other. Clark's coming around though, and he's holding out hope for the other guy.

* Superman: Have a lovely mineral water :) proper hydration is important :)

Manchester Black: *Is a dude who can get so mad he vomits and passes out. At water.*

* That last page is the one to beat for the year, and does more to put over the idea of this as an Authority book than that Midnighter and Apollo are literally going to show up. It also feels like Morrison tacitly acknowledging all the ways the premise could go or at least be received wrong - from Superman saying 'enough is enough' to who he's bringing into the fold to go about it - in the most beautifully on-the-nose fashion imaginable. Maybe they'll save us all! Or maybe they'll drown us in their vomit.

[currywaifu]

𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: scouting dilemma 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: hyodo juza/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 1.7k words

𝐚𝐧: guess who was inspired by the 2020 gem heist? wrote a dumb little thing dedicated to all my fallen comrades bc juza won’t come home to them after the reset- sorry to the requests I have yet to fulfill! year 2 ages btw~

This was the moment you’ve been waiting for. You managed to save up a massive amount of gems, waiting to be spent on a banner with your best boy in it. For months, your fingers itched to pull but you were loyal (with a few caving exceptions) to the character who got you into the game in the first place.

When the developers finally announced a banner with him in it, an SSR of best boy in a summer outfit no less, it was as if fate decided to tell you now was the moment to splurge strike.

9:58 pm.

Staring at your phone screen, you made sure everything was prepared before you could summon. You decided to do your first pull at 10 pm (his favourite number was 10), and surrounded your phone with a summon circle made entirely out of candies still in their wrappers.

9:59 pm.

You sent your prayers to the gacha gods, counting down the seconds until the clock struck-

10:00 pm.

With a shriek, you nearly ruined your summon circle formation of sweets as you scrambled to your phone, clicking the bright, shiny button that had tempted you endlessly.

“Yes, I’m sure I want to spend! Come home, come home, come home…” you chanted, unable to decide whether you should close your eyes until the final results or keep them wide open.

Choosing the latter, you gritted your teeth at the sequence of cards arriving.

R, Event R, R, R, Dupe SR, R, R, R, R, Event SR.

Suppressing the scream that wanted to escape your throat, you tried to laugh it off. At least you got two of the event cards…? Maybe it would have been better to wait until 10:10 pm?

An SNS notification popped up at the top of your screen, and from the little summary, you could tell you were gonna get upset at the contents. Checking the chat, your mutual quickly followed up her message with a screencap of your best boy. Coming home to her.

You quickly sent your response before promptly returning to the game, ‘asdfghjkl im happy for u but like also muting u rn :’< brb soon hopefully yeet need to retrieve my boi from the game’s clutches cya’

Despite your initial optimism, as the pulls kept going, the lower your gem count, the worse your mood became.

Should… should you stop right now? Banner really said no rights to best boy, huh? Sure you were able to fully merge a bunch of SRs and even the event R and SR cards, but not once did he come home? Even his sworn rival’s initial SSR came home if only to spite you or him or both.

Mentally exhausted, you decided to sleep. Maybe your luck would be better tomorrow?

When you walked into the room with a frown visible on your face, Juza immediately knew something was wrong.

From even before he got together with you, he was always sensitive to the different expressions you made, and by association your emotions— to the little smile on your face as you ate desserts together or the eyebrow furrow-pout combo you did when the professor said something you didn’t agree with. He’d never say how fun it was, seeing the different faces you’d make.

However, while those were cute, this just made him worry.

He’d really rather not fight anyone, but if he has to beat up someone…

Juza found himself distracted during class, unable to stop himself from constantly looking at you every few minutes. With a faint peach staining his cheeks, he slipped his hand underneath the desk to grasp your own.

“… you okay?” he said, voice low and quiet as to not catch anyone else’s attention. The look on your face turns a little softer, even throwing him a quick smile but he knows you well enough to spot the traces of sadness still present.

You don’t reply, squeezing his hand back as you finally tried to pay attention to the professor.

He sighed, slowly releasing your hand from beneath the table. He’ll find a way to make you feel better later, but for now, he had to take notes— for the both of you, it looked.

It’s not every day that Juza does most of the talking, but that just so happened to be the case today. He’s getting restless, stuck between actively wanting to help you out with whatever you needed or just sticking by you and letting you overcome whatever’s troubling you on your own.

You’ll talk when you want to, he knew that, but even still he wanted to be more useful to you. Do you want him to just keep talking to help you take your mind off things? Do you want to rant to him so he can listen? Do you want him to get you something? He’s not the best at giving advice, but if you needed it he’d do his best.

He doesn’t know what to do. You’re responding to him, but your mind is all the way elsewhere.

The next thing he knew, he’s getting a spoonful of his frozen dessert and pressing it against your lips.

You get startled from your thoughts when a sudden icy temperature meets your mouth. You opened your mouth, cringing slightly at the cool before finally enjoying the shaved ice dessert.

While it wasn’t uncommon for Juza to let you taste the food he ate and vice versa, he was usually more reserved, too shy to feed you in public.

‘He must have been worried,’ you thought to yourself if he had to do that just to catch your attention. You immediately shifted your thoughts from the game to Juza, already about to apologise for troubling him before he interrupted you.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, and even though he had a scowl on his face, he looked at you with tight and worried eyes.

He knew you played games on your phone, but it was still a bit embarrassing to admit that you were upset for such a long duration because of your best boy not coming home. However, Juza deserved to know, so you pushed away your hesitance before explaining the whole fiasco to him.

Juza doesn’t get it entirely. He’s bordering between relief and confusion— on one hand, at least no one wanted to hurt you or fight you or anything; on the other hand, a 2D guy got you upset?

The concept isn’t completely foreign to him, what with Itaru-san and even Settsu constantly gaming, but usually it was his roommate being irritating and gloating while the salaryman got frustrated, eventually passing his phone to Sakuya.

He’s honestly shell-shocked that you’re upset, so even though he doesn’t understand why it’s such a big deal he’ll do what he can to make you feel better. He’s not the best at comforting people, he can never find the right words… but he’s good at listening.

He placed his hand on top of yours, grateful you don’t point it out verbally or he might actually combust. He can only hope the two of you are seated secluded enough that no one comes by.

Something’s starting to bother him though. The more he listens to you, the more he’s conflicted— if you’re dedicating that much of your… gems (?) to this guy he gets why you’re upset. Another part of him wonders what’s so great about this specific guy.

He’s not upset nor is he jealous, he’s just… figuring out what specific traits you like in this guy. For future reference. Who knew, maybe he’d get to play a role similar to the character you like so much?

“Why do you like him so much, anyway?” He asked, staring intently at you.

Your attitude quickly changed from being upset to being excited to talk about your favourite character.

“He’s just so kind and thoughtful! A total gap moe, you wouldn’t expect him to be so family-oriented because of his appearance but he totally is!” you began, barely catching a break to breathe before continuing on, “plus he didn’t start off as the strongest? But he’s constantly trying his best you just want to root for him and care for him?”

Unexpectedly, Juza finds himself a little flustered, though he’s unsure of why when you’re only describing a character. Perhaps it was the look on your face while you talked?

“Plus, he looks a lot like you! Obviously, I need him to come home, right?” you exclaimed, hitting him straight in the heart with your crinkled eyes and a beautiful smile.

The hand that was comforting you a while ago and gently rubbing patterns onto your skin stilled. You noticed right away, hoping you didn’t say anything too weird during your rant.

“Juza?”

He’s silent for a while, unsure of what to do and ultimately deciding to say the first thing that popped up in his head.

“… then why’d you need him to come home if I’m already-“

When he heard you squeal he stopped himself from continuing whatever he was going to say. Did you hear him? Dumb question, of course, you did!

You covered your face with your hands, unsuccessfully hiding the strawberry red colouring your face, and screamed internally. You can’t see how Juza is reacting but you just heard a bang on the table?

‘Juza? Who told you to- istg I’ll have you arrested for-‘

After a few moments, you’re the one who ultimately breaks the silence, knowing neither of you had enough will to point out the warm flecks that still remained on both of your faces.

“We should get going. Our class is all the way in another building,” you said, slowly standing up from your seat.

“… ‘kay.”

You’re not holding hands while walking, but if he noticed the frequency of your hand grazing his he doesn’t let you know.

Reaching the midpoint between your classroom and his, you turn to face him before splitting off in the hallway. You look to see if the coast was clear, and to Juza’s surprise, you enveloped him into a warm embrace, quick but heartfelt. Neither of you saw each other’s expressions, but Juza wondered if your heart raced just as fast as his did.

“Thank you for making me feel better… I love you,” you whisper the last part, before untangling yourself from him and speed walking away to your classroom. You miss the way Juza looks back at you, body frozen but face a mixture of shock and longing and love.

want to order again?

[engekihaikyuu]

Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu – The Strongest Challengers

2.5D! Interview Translation with Matsushima Yuunosuke and Kamisato Yuuki

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At last we bring Inarizaki High together!  Please tell us how you felt when your casting was decided. Yuuki (Osamu): Because I had the chance to see Engeki Haikyuu before, I was very happy when I was cast.  But at the same time, I was also really nervous about being a part of such an intense show, and I just remember having a lot of mixed emotions about it. I also really felt the sense of “challenge” standing together with Yuu.  We’re the “challengers,” that’s exactly right.  My feelings have gradually become more about tackling this challenge.   Yuunosuke (Atsumu): I’m continuing my role as Miya Atsumu from the previous production, but even back then I was looking forward to getting all of Inarizaki together more than anything.  So at first, I was mostly just really excited.  Right now we’re still in the middle of rehearsals, but I just want to show the audience the show already!  Everyone on Inarizaki are really individualistic, so I really want the audience to see that charm about us!

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Full interview translation and more photos under the Read More! Please do not repost my translations or scans

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Tell us your image of Inarizaki’s team personality. Yuunosuke: Well Karasuno always seems really energetic, don’t they?  Compared to them, Inarizaki might seem much more calm.   Yuuki: But, the basis for that is that we’re full of great individuals.  We’ve got a lot of great characters in our team!

Among those individualistic teammates, where do the two you stand?   Yuunosuke: I’m the one that pieces together everyone’s opinions and pulls the team along.  We get a little too serious when we’re working ourselves to the limit, and at those times, Yuuki-kun always saves us at the most perfect moments.  

Just like Osamu.  You complement each other.   Yuuki: That’s right.  But we might have times when we’re the opposite.  Whenever I mess up, Yuunosuke will tell me, “No that’s not how that goes,” and I feel like we’ve worked out a great balance.  

What do the two of you like about Atsumu and Osamu? Yuuki: Osamu is always looking at the big picture.  He watches everyone, and then leads them in the right direction... it sort of feels like he’s watching over them.  He’s not reckless, he doesn’t needlessly dash about, he feels more like an adult, and that’s what I like about him.   Yuunosuke: Compared to Osamu, Atsumu does feel more childish.  He can be simple-minded or even naïve, but during a volleyball match, he becomes this person that pulls his team along, and that’s what I find the most appealing about him.  He’s really aware of his team as a whole, he loves them, he sets the ball in a way that pulls out the best of everyone’s abilities... like a puppet master.  I find that really cool.  

Are there any ways in which you feel connected to your character? Yuunosuke: Oh for sure, several! Yuuki: I don’t particularly think about the specifics, I’m not trying to force anything, but at rehearsals there are times when I do have that feeling.    

Since this is your first show together, I’m going to ask about that now.  Has anything changed between your first impressions of one another to now? Yuunosuke: It’s totally different now!  My first impression of him was that he was this really cool, calm guy.  Doesn’t Yuuki-kun have that kind of face? (laughs)  But he messes around a lot more than I expected him to.  I also thought he was a really good person and a really fun person, and that part hasn’t changed.   Yuuki: I don’t think my impression of him has changed much.  In a good way.  Since my first thoughts were that he has a really wonderful smile, and that he laughs easily, and that he talks a lot.   Yuunosuke: I’m not like forcing myself to laugh or anything, okay!  I laugh and smile because it’s fun.

Do you have any particular episodes from rehearsals where you got along really well?   Yuunosuke: We joke around, and we play-fight.  Like we’re arguing in a bit.  Occasionally that might get serious.  There are times when we make each other crack.  But I think that if we honestly didn’t get along, that I wouldn’t be able to say anything about what I’m thinking or feeling.  But I’m able to say anything I want to! Yuuki: I talked about this when we did this one interview shortly after I first met Yuunosuke, but I really want to learn to like the parts of him I dislike.  I think now I’m able to do that.  I don’t want to just look at the parts of him I like.  Even if it means arguing, I want us to develop the sort of relationship where we can really communicate anything we want to say.  That would make me happy.  

Do you have anything about him you dislike? Yuunosuke: What!?  I’ll fix it!  It seems like there’s more than just one thing. Yuuki: That may definitely be true. (laughs) Yuunosuke: I’m scared!! (laughs)

Okay now we’re going to have you take a quiz.

Both are asked the same question, they’ll write their answers, and then we compare to see how they match.  A test of their newfound connection.

If the two of you were brothers in real life, would you be the older brother or the younger brother? Yuunosuke: This one’s easy. Yuuki: Ehh!!

Yuunosuke: Younger!                                                      Yuuki: Younger!

Yuunosuke: I need a surprise mark somewhere on my head; is that a thing?  (laughs) Yuuki: Let me be the younger brother!  I don’t like being the older one, it’s tiring. Yuunosuke: Everyone is definitely thinking that Yuuki-kun is the older brother here!   Yuuki: But I want to be the younger one.   Yuunosuke: But, I’m the younger one?  I’m the one that works you really hard.  

Yuuki: That’s what I hate. (laughs)   Yuunosuke: I wrote younger because I thought it would be nice to be Yuuki-kun's younger brother specifically!  

Is there a food you have fond memories of? Yuunosuke: There is!  I feel like if I don’t write this, Yuuki-kun will yell at me to stop messing around! (laughs)

Yuunosuke: Curry!                                              Yuuki: Curry rice

Is there some sort of episode around curry between you two? Yuuki: It was the first meal we went out to eat together.   Yuunosuke: That was when we first really became friends I think.  After we paid our bill, I was the one who stepped out first... but then Yuuki-kun, in this loud voice in the middle of the restaurant, instead of saying, “Thanks for the meal!” said, “Good work today!”  In that moment, I thought, this guy’s okay to mess around with.   Yuuki: It was really yummy, and it just came out.  But it wasn’t a mistake!  It was just before the place was closing.  (laughs)  

If you could describe the Miya twins’ appeal or charm in one word?

Yuunosuke: They understand one another!*                   Yuuki: Strong *This obviously can be one word in Japanese, but not in English

Yuunosuke: That’s such a dumb answer! (laughs) Yuuki: It’s hard to pick a single word.  I’m sorry.  (laughs)

This is the last question.  Kamisato-san, what is something about Matsushima-san that you would like him to fix? Yuunosuke: If I think about it, there’s probably a lot.  (while looking at Yuuki writing)  Aren’t you writing a lot?  

Yuunosuke: Noisy                                                          Yuuki: Reckless

Yuuki: Did I get the kanji right for ‘reckless’?   Yuunosuke: No. (laughs)   Yuuki: At first I did think, “Even though we’re at rehearsals he really talks a lot... he is kind of noisy...” (laughs)  But no, it’s when he’s being reckless.  

But, when you add it all up?   Yuuki: I do like him. (laughs) Yuunosuke: They had to make you say it though! (laughs)  

Lastly, please give us your final thoughts as you head toward the curtains rising.   Yuunosuke: The match between Karasuno and Inarizaki is a power balance, and I think it’s become something really worth seeing.  Everyone has real strength, and we’re all having fun while playing volleyball.  I think that if we have fun while performing, then the audience can have fun as they watch us, so we’re going to be moving lots, sweating tons, having fun, and doing our best without injury up until the very last show.  I want to give it my all so that I can face the final show with a smile as I think to myself, “It’s all over.”   Yuuki: This is a really marvelous show with acrobatic elements, so first and foremost I would like us to be careful and avoid injury.  It’ll be team versus team, a clash of challengers, but as fellow players, every single one of us has someone that they consider a rival, and it’s a really interesting production.  If it’s Osamu, his rival is Hinata, if It's Atsumu, it’s Kageyama.  There’s a rivalry between captains and between aces... we depict every one of those stories respectively on-stage, so I would love for people to look forward to that.  And lastly I want to be able to show us having fun playing volleyball.  Together we’re going to dash forward toward the final show, work upa lot of sweat, and continue performing with enthusiasm and passion.  So please look forward to it.  

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See the original interview online here: (x) 

Please do not repost my translations!  This includes screenshots of bits and pieces taken out of context, especially if they don’t link back to this full post. If you appreciate the work I do for this blog and want to support my translation efforts please consider donating a ko-fi! (x)

[burn-in-the-dawn]

"CURSED" Characters' Age Breakdown (per the book)

Squirrel: 10 years old

Iris: 11 years old

Pym: 16

Nimue: 16

Gawain: 23 (see discussion below)

Uther Pendragon: 26

Arthur: age unspecified, likely 25-26 (see discussion below)

Lancelot: age unspecified, presumably same age range as Gawain & Arthur & Uther (to be discussed in more detail at a later date)

Morgana: age unspecified, likely 21-24 (she's stated in the book by Arthur to be 2 years younger than him, but he's an unreliable narrator about his past so that might be unreliable as well...see discussion below)

DISCUSSION/Explanation of Questionable and/or Speculated Ages

Gawain: Okay, so, the book expressly states him to be "7 years older" than Nimue & have left Dewdenn "at age 14", specifying his departure as having been 9 years before the story itself takes place (Nimue is confirmed several times in the book to be 16 - almost 17). And despite the fact that actor Matt Stokoe (29-30 at time of filming) does not pull off passing for early-mid 20s the way his costars do (IRL he's a few years younger than Daniel Sharman who played The Weeping Monk / Lancelot & only two years older than Devon Terrell who played Arthur), that's something I'm willing to suspend my disbelief on & mentally compartmentalize as "world-weariness & war have taken a toll & 'aged' him beyond his years". In part because, looking back at some of his roles several years ago, the actor looked damn near 30 when he was 23. My own ex looked at age 24 (when I met him) older than Stokoe does now, I've got a friend who looked mid-30s at age 19, I have old photos of my mother at age 13 where she looked completely indistinguishable from her wedding pictures at 23 or her nursing school graduation pictures at 27 & I myself was consistently mistaken for my mid-20s by the time I was 14. The classic "Gawain" hairstyle also does him no favors; there's a scene very early on in his introduction, when he & Nimue are alone in one of the caverns discussing the Sword & Merlin, where he's freshly clean shaven with his hair pulled back away from his face in a ponytail & while he still doesn't look 23 he does look considerably younger than in any other scene in the series. (I genuinely think that production was just kind of oblivious - with 34 year old Daniel Sharman so easily passing for a decade younger - to the fact Matt Stokoe was not 'reading' early-mid 20s the way his costars do). But more pointedly, in the context of 'Cursed', Arthur's fear of loosing Nimue to Gawain is played out only as jealousy directed at a perceived rival for her affection. Regardless of which one's responses & behaviors to other situations present as mature vs childish, they very expressly interact with eachother behaviorally as rivals & contemporaries, NOT like a youth vs an older adult (in fact, Gawain behaves markedly immaturely around/toward Arthur - on pretty much every level - up until Moycraig). They even choreographed the majority of Gawain's/Arthur's postures & movements to mirror eachother from their 2nd scene together onward, to draw a cinematic visual parallel between them from the very beginning. I think if Gawain being considerably older had been an intentional/conscious change on the part of the show, the dynamic of their relationship wouldn't have been staged so specifically to mirror eachother to such an extent.

Arthur: Now, that being said, even though the book doesn't specify I strongly suspect book-Arthur himself to be canonically no younger than 25. Reason being, in the Arthuriana Tradition, Arthur unknowingly being a Pendragon bastard or secret offspring is one of the single most consistent themes throughout centuries of varying lore, hand in hand with the magic Sword, for his claim to the throne. And the book does have him expressly introduce Morgana as his younger half-sister, which not only suggests same mother with different father but also that despite Arthur having been raised by him they know he's not biologically Sir Tor's (although Arthur thinks of him as such). Now, 'Cursed' is obviously forgoing the traditional lore of Arthur being Uther's illegitimate son, because no matter how you slice it Uther's too young to have fathered him even if you aged show-Uther up a decade+ from the book's specified 26 years old & aged Arthur down a bit. But beyond that, they've thrown in the added touch of Uther himself - having been secretly switched at birth for Queen Lunette's still-born son - not in fact being the previous king's true-born heir. Once the Sword passes eventually to Arthur, even with legends about "he who wields the sword will be the true king", Man Blood society will require more than prophecy to recognize/legitimize a his rulership. Though strictly speculation, if I had to make a prediction about Book/Season 2, it would be on Merlin or someone else uncovering evidence that Arthur's actually the previous king's illegitimate biological son rather than his "father" Sir Tor's - conceived shortly before the old king's death sometime during Queen Lunette's pregnancy - at a guess that evidence coming from either Arthur's aunt or uncle. I figure that evidence will wind up being publicly recognized/acknowledged as part of the climax of a redemption/growth arch for Uther, naming Arthur his "brother/heir", prior to his own death - giving Arthur a legitimate claim on the Pendragon throne that supercedes Cumber's claim as a Pendragon cousin. If I'm right in that prediction, since the old King had died by the time Uther was born, Arthur can be no more than 9 months younger than 26 year old Uther, making him at least 25. (It's debated within the fandom that he doesn't look or act like the character is out of his late teens, but considering the actor himself is 28, I'm really not sure how that's defined? Appearance-wise he's got more chest hair on display with his doublet on than Lancelot does with shirt off & his immature avoidance of responsibility seems from the book to be more reflective of subconsciously modeling Tor's example than an age indicator but he's old enough he's spent several years already as a sword-for-hire mercenary. So, while I do allow my theory in his parentage & age is speculation which Book/Season 2 may prive me completely wrong able - not ratified canon - I do stand by that theory for my fic-verse; how old someone "looks" is really subjective & debatable, plus if "maturity level" was meant to be any kind of concrete age indicator in the Cursed-verse then King Uther wouldn't spend the entire series & book acting like a spoiled 6 year old.)

[The following doesn't change anything about how old I think Arthur himself is, but creates some potential flexibility regarding Morgana's age: When Arthur's reflecting on memories of childhood - even via internal monolog - he's consistently inconsistent regarding what age he claims to have been for key noted childhood events (at one point in his thoughts he recalls being 16 with his living mother away tending to a sick relative when Tor died, but later on in the book he reflects that he'd been 10 when Morgana was sent away to Yvoire Convent after he inherited all of Sir Tor's debt with presumably no living mother around to prevent it; alternatively, the show specified he was age 12 when Tor died & Morgana was sent away). At first I thought it was a total screw-up in the writing, but then I reread Morgana's repeated characterization of him as inconsistent & flighty & self-serving & utterly full of shit, paired with Arthur's own characterization of Tor (who again, I don't think was his biological father but was certainly his most formative male role-model) as quite literally talking out of his ass about his imaginary exploits pretty much 100% of the time & Arthur himself repeatedly bending the truth to get what he wants as an ingrained survival habit consistently seen via interaction with people like Bors & Druuna. Again, this is purely speculation, but I think it his written contradictory self-reflections were probably very much on purpose to intentionally establish him as a starting off a significantly "unreliable narrator" the same way he recalls Tor being, to the point of lying to himself rather than deal with painful memories or take accountability/responsibility for uncomfortable personal flaws & faults. I suspect that him overcoming that tendency that he learned from Tor's example - with actions like admitting to Nimue he was in the wrong going after the first man he ever killed (mistakenly believing him to be one of those responsible for Tor's death) shaming his father's memory & like coming back to fight with/for the Fey - are going to be a driving feature within his growth/redemption arch in Book/Season 2.]

Morgana: The book specifies Arthur telling Nimue that Morgana is 2 years his junior; however, he establishes himself as such an unreliable narrator that I feel like anything he says about him & Morgana that's not directly corroborated by Morgana herself is suspect, even their age difference, so I'll allow for the possibility of the age gap potentially being up to 4 years instead of 2. If my guess (see above) about Arthur's paternity - therefore his age - is correct, that puts Morgana herself somewhere between 21 -24. Per societal norms of the period, that actually puts her into "old maid" territory, but contextually to the historical era, she would have been able to get away with dodging societal pressure of being married off against her wishes by that age - up until leaving the abbey at least - because of having been at convent (in contrast to 16 year old Pym, who in both the book & the show says her mother's trying to force her into an unwanted marriage to "Stinky Aaron" the human fish-wife's son).

(note: I compiled this mostly as a quick reference citation I can direct myself or my fic readers back to for my 'canon' logic on the ages I've assigned characters in my stories. I went with the ages listed in the book for my fic-verse because of the express lack of clarification of most of them given in the show & am speculating on the others based on lore-related theory, so yes the potentially problematic age difference is present. I don't intend to villainize Arthur over having pursued her, partially because even though the readers know she's 16 there's nothing in the book & only one brief comment from Gawain in the show which isn't followed up on - Ector calling her a child doesn't count because he dismisses all of them as children - to indicate that Arthur knows she's that young & many contextual reasons for him to have assumed she was older. I apologize if that offends, but it's not meant as an endorsement of it; as the story outline/concept for this fic-verse stands I have no plans on romantically pairing Nimue with anyone & no plans for Pym so soon after Dof's death to be seriously looking at anyone in that capacity until much later in the story.)

[hotel-japanifornia]

Like, I love Miles Edgeworth, but he's overshadowing literally everyone else. Like he's not overrated since he actual holds up to his love, but damn, there are so many fics on him and his story from the og trilogy only. Miles has grown up beyond it and I love him for it since it makes him three dimensional.

Ok, you wanna know what greatly amuses me about you mentioning how people only pay attention to him and his story from the og trilogy only?

Edgeworth plays an important role in 4 of the 5 cases in the original game (3 of 4 if you really hate RFTA and want to exclude it from your mind. Feel free to do so but you’ll be hella frustrated when you play AJ. Unless you liked Ema.)

He only appears in 1 of the four cases in JFA and is mentioned in 2 and cameos in 1. If you don’t count the cameo, which I do, that only adds up to 1 case. Comparatively a small role, but he has a big impact on Franziska’s motivations and is the reason she wants to crush Phoenix so badly. Points to Takumi for not doing a generic “avenge my father” plot. Respect him (and Franziska) for that. He does play an extremely important role in the one case he appears in, so don’t think I’m trying to downplay him or anything.

Edgeworth is majorly absent in the third game. He prosecutes in only one case and that’s his annoying 20 year old self. He comes back in the fifth case to fill in for the defense and does play a hand in Iris and Dahlia switching places. Had it not been for that earthquake, he wouldn’t have freaked out and lost sight of Iris in the first place. He doesn’t do a whole lot else after that though. 

I say this because if you think about it, Edgeworth is only in 7 of the original 14 cases if you count physical appearances only (6 out of 13 in the OG trilogy). While I won’t argue that Edgeworth isn’t important in the cases he’s in because he is totally, I will argue that it does feel odd how the focus is on him so much of the time.

And the thing is, I can see how people would argue how Edgeworth is the central character in the first game. Edgeworth is the character we see grow throughout the course of the game. We learn the most about him than any other character and the events of the game revolve around him (Turnabout Goodbyes, the DL-6 incident, etc) more than other characters besides Maya who shares a connection with him as they both lost parents to the DL-6 incident (how have those two not had more interactions, honestly?) and loses her sister in the second case.

I would argue however, that Edgeworth isn’t the character at the center of the second game although we do see him mentioned in conversations by Franziska and Phoenix. I don’t know why people will acknowledge his “Miles Edgeworth chooses death” note but absolutely refuse to acknowledge how awful of a move that was. The reason being is that it was cryptically worded and anybody reading it would think he killed himself which Franziska and Phoenix did, while Gumshoe was the only one who knew what really happened. I know what the note actually meant (i.e. the death of the prosecutor Edgeworth once was) but still, it was poorly worded. 

In actuality, Phoenix is the protagonist and central character of the second game. He’s the one who goes through the most growth as we see him face a huge moral dilemma in the fourth case where he has to choose between saving his friend or sending a truly guilty man to prison. It’s absolutely interesting to see him in conflict with the character he was up to that point (someone who believed his client was genuinely innocent) and it’s something I think needs to happen more often. By that I mean, defending truly guilty defendants. While I don’t think they should be like Matt Engarde necessarily, it would be interesting to see more truly guilty defendants. (I know there’s one in DGS but not everyone has played that one so I won’t spoil.)

As for the third game, it’s pretty obvious who the main protagonist in that game is. It’s the Fey Clan obviously. Specifically, we learn more about Mia Fey, Phoenix’s mentor, through getting to play as her during the tutorial case and the other tutorial case both of which are short but help us get to know Phoenix’s wise and calm mentor. We see her during her first two cases and even get to witness her taking down Dahlia Hawthorne in an amazingly cool manner (by asking her to prove her innocence by taking Phoenix’s cold medicine which she poisoned). We also see her during her first case which was mentioned in Turnabout Memories and was said to traumatize her so badly that she felt like she was never going to step into court again. Since her opponent, Bratworth, had never lost a case before Turnabout Sisters, we know that the case won’t end well. But even so, it’s what actually happens that makes the case so gutwrenching. Seeing Terry Fawles kill himself on the stand to protect his former girlfriend who was the true killer makes for a saddening end. Regardless of what you think of him as a character, seeing Mia so distraught over not being able to prevent Fawles’ death tugs at your heartstrings. 

What’s even worse is that six months later, she loses her boyfriend when he gets poisoned by Dahlia. Which does raise an interesting question: did she see the case against Wright and take it because she saw Dahlia mentioned in the case files and thought she might be connected to it? It’s likely, seeing as she brought the article talking about Diego’s poisoning with her but who knows? Either way, seeing her so determined to take Dahlia down that she’s willing to have her badge revoked is sincerely cool to watch.

And even in the present day case that Dahlia appears in, Bridge to the Turnabout, Mia doesn’t stop being rivals with Dahlia. When Maya channels Mia to ask her what she should do after Dahlia attacks her, Mia advises her to lock herself up in the Sacred Cavern in the Inner Temple and channel Dahlia in order to protect herself. It’s an extremely risky move on Mia’s part and had Dahlia not been so stubborn in seeing Maya’s corpse for herself without considering that she might be channeling her, Maya could have died of hypothermia in there (which isn’t something I had considered until the last year or so). Still, it works out in the end and Iris and Dahlia-in-Maya’s-body switch places during the second investigation period. Mia then proceeds to exorcise Dahlia out of Maya’s body with Phoenix’s help:

Dahlia: …Grr…Mmm…Nnnn… Grrr… Ahh! M… M… Mia F… F… Fey Mia Fey! Mia Fey! MIA FEEEEY! You… You… spinster!! I was supposed to kill Maya Fey like I swore I would! And if only you had gotten this spiky-haired jerk the guilty verdict… …I wouldn’t have been hanged to death!

Mia: …… True.

Dahlia: …!

Mia: But I think you finally understand, Dahlia Hawthorne. …You will never defeat me.

Dahlia: Wh-What…!? What did you say!?

Mia: Whether you’re alive, dead, or somewhere in between, you will never defeat me. As long as I’m around, you’re destined to lose for all of eternity!

Dahlia: Grrr… Grrrr… Grrrrr…

Phoenix: …I remember what you said earlier in the trial. You said there was no way we could punish you… …because you were already dead.

Dahlia: What about it!?

Phoenix: Then you said… “Even when the body dies, the spirit, the ego, it lives on… forever.”

Mia: …That’s very true, Dahlia. And that’s exactly the punishment you’ll never be able to escape from.

Dahlia: …!

Mia: For all of eternity, you’ll have to remain as Dahlia Hawthorne. A miserable, pathetic, weak creature who can never win at anything… And for you, there is no escape from that. No hope of freedom. Since the day you were executed… …the narrow bridge that once stretched out in front of you has burnt to a crisp!

This causes Dahlia to freak out and pop out of Maya’s body with a extremely loud scream. It’s extremely chilling and awesome at the same time. 

One thing that stands out though, is that defeating Dahlia never stops being Mia’s personal victory as Godot mentions later on.

Godot: The woman who had spiked my scalding hot coffee… Dahlia Hawthorne! Ha…! Good ol’ Mia. She didn’t let me down. She got her revenge before she checked out. In the end… There wasn’t anyone waiting for me when I woke up.

In a way, the way that Mia Fey and Diego Armando go about taking revenge against Dahlia serves an interesting contrast to each other. Mia, although angry at Dahlia for sure, never let her anger consume her when trying to take her revenge on Dahlia. The only thing that Mia sought out to do was to make sure that she received justice for her crimes and upon finally getting Dahlia convicted of murder, moved on with her life. Mia even took Phoenix under her wing, despite his past connection to Dahlia. Even though he really had nothing to do with her crimes and even was supposed to be one of her victims, you can’t help but admire her for that.

On the other hand, Diego Armando never let his hatred of Dahlia Hawthorne go. Even after waking up from his coma and realizing that Mia had gotten revenge for him and got her sentenced to death. He was so blinded by hatred that upon encountering her at the Inner Temple Garden, he stabbed her with the cane sword, killing Misty Fey in the process. And unlike Mia, Diego hated Phoenix and even blamed him for Mia’s death. There’s also a line that suggests that he knew that Phoenix was the one that inadvertently helped Dahlia hide the bottle necklace containing the poison:

Godot: …… I never liked you. Six years ago… …you helped the woman who put me to sleep by hiding her bottle of poison. 

It’s an interesting line, indeed, and implies that Diego’s hatred of Phoenix went beyond Mia’s murder. Because Phoenix “hid” the bottle of poison, Dahlia was never able to be caught for Diego’s poisoning and thus escaped justice. In summary, Mia was able to move on with her life after Dahlia got caught while Diego wasn’t which ended up being his downfall.

I can also see how some people might make a case for Maya going through development of her own throughout Trials and Tribulations. During the second and third case, we see her express doubts about her own abilities as a spirit medium and it’s implied that she’s still shaken up by the murder in Kurain Village to the point that she hasn’t even returned to the village in a while:

Maya: Well, I’m kind of taking a break… I’m having a bit of trouble right now, you know?

Phoenix: (Last year’s incident must still be on her mind… I haven’t seen Maya train at all since then. I think Mia said it’s because Maya’s “at a loss these days”…)

It’s an interesting line, and is definitely one that people seem to overlook while playing through the game. Despite her lack of training however, Maya is still able to channel Mia during the last portion of the Stolen Turnabout. The conversation the two of them have reveals that Maya is going through a dilemma currently.

Mia: I’m just joking, Phoenix. Don’t take everything so seriously. But on the other hand, Maya… She seems kind of lost these days.

Phoenix: You mean about becoming the Master of the Kurain Channeling School?

Mia: Becoming the Master… means saying goodbye to our mother.

Phoenix: You mean Misty Fey…?

Mia: …Watch over her, will you Phoenix?

One thing I find interesting though, is that Maya’s dilemma about becoming the Master isn’t overly prevalent in dialogue. Sure it’s a part of what she goes through over the course of the game but it doesn’t take a huge focus. It’s certainly unique. Here’s one such example in Recipe for Turnabout 

Armstrong: You ‘ave la perfect face for a waitress, you know.

Maya: Um, thanks. I guess if things don’t work out someday, then maybe I’ll be back.

Phoenix: (What things? Is she talking about her being a spirit medium…?)

I honestly appreciate it for it’s subtlety; little character moments like this one, is what adds to the replay value of the games. True, you can just breeze through them, but taking the time to present random things to people can also reveal tons of interesting dialogue that can reveal more about the characters than if you were to do a regular playthrough and do what you need to do to progress further through the case.

All of this culminates in the last case when Maya goes to Hazakura Temple with Pearl and Phoenix to do some training which as mentioned before, she hasn’t really done much of since the Kurain Channeling incident. And unfortunately for her, it ends in disaster with her nearly being murdered by the ghost of her cousin, Dahlia and also witnessing Godot stab the spirit to death which kills her mother in the process.

When we first see Maya in the last trial portion of Bridge to the Turnabout, she’s more traumatized than we’ve ever seen her. And through this line, we get to see how she feels about the Kurain Channeling Technique in her current situation:

Maya: … I… I’m frightened. The Fey clan… I don’t want any more to do with it.

Now, let’s think about what this line means. Maya has dealt with a horrible amount of tragedy in her young life due to her heritage. She lost her mother, her sister left the village partly because she didn’t want to feud with Maya over the title of Master; her aunt plotted to have her convicted for murder and later tried to murder her through her beloved cousin, Pearl; and the one time that she decides to start training again, another tragedy occurs. Her mother was killed right in front of her by a man who was blinded by hatred towards the spirit possessing her body. It’s hard not to see why Maya would not want anything to do with her heritage after all the grief it caused her, so then, why does Maya decide to inherit the title of Master anyway?

Well, here’s the deal: The Fey Clan is extremely screwed up and has caused many of its members grief over the past two years. It’s no secret that the branch family has plotted against the main family before and has done so throughout its history:

Bikini: There is only one heir to the title of “Master” at any time, and it’s usually the eldest. That child becomes the new Master of Kurain, and her daughters, the main family. All other mediums become branch family members, with no hope of controlling the clan. That’s why nothing has changed throughout the history of the clan… Branch families always have and always will plot to erase those of the main family line.

However, Pearl doesn’t hold any sort of resentment towards Maya despite her being the heir to the title of Master. In fact, Pearl adores Maya and vice versa. The only reason she ever went with Morgan’s plan was because she thought by “It’s for the good of the Fey Clan” that her mother meant that her plan would benefit Maya and Pearl both. Maya similarly doesn’t hold any resentment towards Pearl  when she tries to blame herself for the death of Maya’s mother.

If you think about it, the fact that Maya stays and decides to become Master could also considered to be not only a result of her strength but a result of her deciding to fix the screwed up legacy of the Fey clan. As two of the people hurt most by the rivalry between the main family and the branch family, Maya and Pearl could work together to fix their family’s screwed up background and restore the Fey clan to its former glory. That’s the way I see it anyway.

Sorry for my long rant there, the Fey clan is very interesting to me. Honestly though, I’d argue that Edgeworth is more like a tritagonist. He’s extremely important at first but he becomes relatively less important over the course of the trilogy to the point that he’s only ever in one case in his present day form in the last part.

Maya is more or less the deutragonist of the games. She’s in 10 of the 14 cases in the trilogy and 6 of those cases (1-2, 1-4, 2-2, 2-4, 3-2, and 3-5) have her involved majorly in the plot whether it be her being accused of murder, dealing with her and her family history, or kidnapped (in which we get to control her too!). While she isn’t involved in the plots of 1-3 or 2-3 directly, she is the person who convinces Phoenix to take both cases and she even helps Phoenix out in the latter by raising the question of where Max’s bust is located which helps him catch Acro as the true murderer.

However, despite Maya’s overall importance to the trilogy, what stops her from being the main protagonist like Phoenix is that we don’t get to go into her head very often. We see Phoenix react to the situations around him, we get to see his thoughts while dealing with crazy witnesses and when he’s having a difficult time trying to prove something in court. Through this, we get to know Phoenix and in a sense, feel like we can connect with him. Even Edgeworth gets to be played during the first investigation and trial day of Bridge to the Turnabout where like Phoenix, we get to go inside his head and see how he thinks and how he feels about what’s going on around him.

With Maya, the time that we do get to control her in 2-4 is extremely short and doesn’t exactly allow us to get into her head. That’s not a point against her however as we do see her react to what’s going on when we aren’t in control of her. It makes sense that it would be extremely short though, as Maya is currently kidnapped when we do control her and the areas you can have her go aren’t very numerous. 

Still as much as I argue that Phoenix fits the central character and protagonist mold more than Edgeworth and Maya do, I believe that all three characters are important in their own unique ways.

[raguna-blade]

Revolutionary Girl Utena Live(ish) Reaction Episodes 8-11

So it's a new year, and I'm gonna continue this, cause its' fun. Had a brief break cause of the holidays. And doing so, I figure i'm gonna do a thing where I make up a nice cleaned up version of these cause if nothing else I like organizing my thoughts. So Control F or whatever your find function is for the cleaned up version if that's your thing. It'll be under Overall Thoughts per ep. Or you know, you're me and you're going back through this for validation for whatever nonsense you say later.

Episode 8

Curry huh? And another recap? uh....

enmy remains trifling

hey wait egg time already?

Danger? Really?

Body swap? Also egg time is goofs

throwin hands????? anthy?

Yeah nanami it is ridiculous

JERSUS TOGA

nanami you idiot

She just fucked off to india to get some weird back alley spice

Shadow girls can you please, just please for a single episode.

ANTHY YOU LYING. Never been good at sports and you did that leap apparently pretty well? What the fuck.

Also, the switching thing here is mad suspect considering the end theme thing (and I suppose the opening.

Utena as Anthy : I don't want to be a sacrifice of the rose seal.

Anthy As Utena: I'm super down staying like this actually.

Like..This is just details that

Uh..Uh saionji what. The implications are strong here. Also, Douche canoe he is, but he's a romantic apparently? UUUUH. Exchange diary.

Is the “A” plot a distraction? Like for real.

Also she took that elephant to the dome.

I'm not sure how to take this personality switch. Like the minds thing whatever, but if it's just the personalties but not the person so to speak,  hold on

WHAT THE FUCK. These elephants for fucking real?

Anyway, if they're just personalities altering the “person” it's uh...Interesting. I'm not sure how to take that til I get more info. It seems like a thing.

Also, Saionji apparently legit has feels for Anthy he's just...mad dumb about expressing it? Like he's pulling a lot of Badboy Romance Tropes here but...not...in a badboy romance. Which kills his behavior entirely.

Killed his Soul AGAIN. Damn.

Who's the divine justice for? Like it doesn't seem for nanami. Who fucked up. Presumably between anthy and utena.

Anthy what the actual fuck are you doing. Are you using gunpowder?

Homie, this isn't twilight, go home saionji.

Anthy as Utena(????) you trolling. So hard.

Saionji get's zero respect but dudes dedicated I'll give him that. Fitting for bad boy romance lead.

Uh...Wait, actually, are they all romance leads? Common ones in one way or the other. They are on the student Council so...Hm. I don't read enough romance stories of the variety I think but it seems to fit? I'm not sure what juri would be in that case.

Anyway, if this Episode Turns out to be a key for understanding things I'm gonna be pissed. Just a little.

Overall Thoughts: So this and the other “filler” episode is, especially after finishing my last ep in the session, read as anything but despite the obvious uh...antics on display. Like...

Ok, so the whole thing with the ending which frames Anthy and Utena as kinda the same (or rather exactly the same, except one's in red and the other pink) makes this whole episode feel like it's basically some kind of key for understanding everything else because it's simple times. It's goofy hilarity with Nanami that's the A Plot right hahahah....

Except the personality swap between the two of them is like...The implication here is that they swapped minds fully, and given the level of fairy tale bullshit that is at play constantly in this series so far it may well just be magic brand magic and we're supposed to roll with it. Ok. Fair.

Except...The thought that sits in my head is again, Anthy and Utena seem to equal each other. Hell I point it out slightly later that there's definitely this yin yang thing going on in the opening with the two which is so blatant as to be meaningless because Hah Yeah these are our two leads obvs and they're important to each other so hahah don't worry about or think about it check out these SWEET SWORDSMANSHIP MOMENTS FROM EVERYONE LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND COOL HORSES AND CASTLES HAHAHA.

But ok, if it's a Yin Yang thing, yes they're not the same but they have elements of each other within eachother. So if it's just a personality swap but not an actual soul swap thing, that is, Anthy is just acting like Utena's personality is in her, and Utena is just acting like Anthy's personality is in her it paints this picture of Utena and Anthy as having a lot going on under the surface. I mean obviously Anthy is fucking pissed at Saionji. That was really really evident in episode one because if she's just being submissive rosebride I do what i'm told and I do what i'm told I do what i'm told, the very very very sharp dig of “We're Just classmates” is fucking brutal unnecessity. And given that she DOES know what he feels for her, and he's still acting like that, her being vindictive(or just brusque really, he's being an ass full bore) is like...absolutely reasonable.

Her Slapping back and about to throw hands with her tormentors? Who wouldn't want to right?

But then, ok that's Anthy, but what about Utena. If it's just a mind swap, Utena...want's a very defined existence? Like, she wants to just stick to a role? Feels weird, and doesn't quite immediately jive with her cause that seems against her operations right? Except, as this episode so kindly reminds us (for at least the third time in 8 episodes which seems excessive. I might be forgetting one or two) Utena's whole thing coming to this school is I want to play the Role of the Prince, whatever that actually means. Playing the Rose Bride would be no real difference, except it's way more submissive.

So that aside, Saionji saying he's in love with Anthy (and that seems to be something he at least believes to be true. He honestly seems more into Toga. Like for real for real, all the imagery of those flashbacks reads not just as close buddies, but as I am romantically down with you Toga my guy. Him being Bi is probably the easiest answer, and he just drifted away from Toga for a while. Saionji clearly sees him as a friend and rival, although it's seemingly not reciprocated at the moment.

But the thing, the thing that's kinda weird to me, is that if he does legit have feelings for her, I was struck with this odd vibe that he's playing at being a romance lead. Specifically, a Bad Boy romance lead. And doing so SPECTACULARLY badly. Homeboy is sitting here busting out poetry (unless my brain is being a dumb and i'm somehow overlaying him with Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma which ok, weird but alright) but...

Ok, if he is playing at being a Badboy Romance lead, that actually explains his behavior for how he was treating Anthy, especially if he's legit in his feelings for her? Possessive, Radiates Danger, Engages in Creepy Behavior, is a bit of a dick, etc. It lines up with Being a Bad Boy, except that the way that those usually work out in fiction, as I understand it, they're not usually like...gonna hit you. That breaks the fantasy. But...That's him fucking up the archetype. It doesn't fit for him. He doesn't understand what he's doing in that archetype.

Like yes, abusers and the like can care and still be absuers cause fucked up behavior and motivations don't need to match in the least, but it still feels odd that a man who probably literally could have done any number of fucked up things has...an exchange diary with the girl he says he cares about? And it's not like he's unaware of how submissive/passive she is, his exchange diary actually kinda reads like Utena's Anthy is A Real Girl! Activities*. He wants her to be active part of whatever their relationship is and...Eh.

But ok, if he's that, It suggests the rest of the student council, and duelists in general, would fit into a given archetype right? Toga is clearly the super cool intelligent superman student council president, Juri is basically charisma max Jock, Miki is the cute nerd, Nanami is the Ojou villainess type, Utena is...Basically the Hero type, just morals, strains to upset the status quo, Has the Cool Original Uniform.

And they all kinda fit into those pretty thoroughly, kinda like they're trying to (to varying levels of awareness)

Anyway, I'll hit on some of the other stuff in the next Ep. It's a bit more relevant there I think.

*See Me In Episode 11

Episode 9

I just realized they're doing some kinda yinyang thing in the opening so

R V G FIGHT.

Pretty tense there. Toga went straight for the heart which i'm sure means nothing.

Old Friends? Phrasing seems uh...odd? Unsure if it's dub things or actual subtext. Or both.

Dude you really got beef with a monkey? No, utena.

Being a huge dick. As is tradition.

10 Years.

Saionji: Actually love her (said) but

This is mad gay. Like the lighting, the silhouette. Saionji you're sublimating something here.

Music, Silhouettes.

...Silhouettes show truth? uh.

They were Utena's folks funeral? Huh. Also, why on earth would Utena be kidnapped? Who she be?

….Three coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Utena, Toga, Saionji? UuuuHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Dead utena. Uh.

Toga: Ally to all women. Ok.

...Why is there a third coffin?

Something Eternal huh? And Utena wants to die for reasons understandable.

Find another coffin. Rose Sigils on the coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saionji: Hey, this is nuts, we should stop her.

Toga: Nah, I'm gonna Ennable the shit out of this.

Tiny Utena with the White Rose?

Saionji: Did he do something to her?

Toga: Nope

Uh....

Anthy: Something Eternal in the castle. I want to go there.

Also impressive grip strength considering. Flat.

Does Toga Remember this or...? I can't be sure. Saionji certainly didn't recognize her, but he wasn't like right on top of the trauma child.

Toga white roses? Uh? Uhhhhh. I think he definitely remembers. But questions abound.

Ufo's shadow girls? Shadow girls having flesh is deeply concerning.

TRUE FRIENDS ARE JUST FANTASIES. OK.

And UFO's broke, so that's probably not great. Who's getting the Revelations today.

That is the fakest voice toga what the fuck

Badboy Saionji: We're Gonna get the eternity.

Also, I just realized they (saionji and anthy) have color inversions going on which is making me kinda wonder if they're related in some way?

Just slap the shit out of him that's fair.

Ok, so Saionji didn't(?) do the dumb thing. Ok,

that is...a coffin. That he's 100% obssessed with. With Anthy (Utena) inside.

He's looking like he kissed his own mom right now, goin full oedipus in the holy shit revelations here.

Castle is crumbling, falling down. So...Eternity is Fake. Ok. Sure. Didn't shadow girls say that?

Castle Immediately tried to kill him. Crushed his soul 1 time too many there I suppose.

Utena, meanwhile, dove super deep into saving anthy which...diving deeper into the fantasy?

Yeah, they all just saw things.

Saionji: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED WHATS GOING ON?

Bro, me too.

Ok, if the two are reflections, does Anthy and saionji both got some deep illusory bullshit going on? Are they both freaking out?

Toga, saving the day, and Saionji, tried to kill Utena with a sword. so. Ok.

Saionji Expelled?  Toga, fool for thinking they're friends?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?

Overall Thoughts: I touched on a bunch of the Saionji stuff I wanna talk about in the last episode review, but the thing I kinda want to look at here is well...

Ok, Now the colors probably don't mean anything, but there was this moment that Saionji and Anthy were in the same shot and I suddenly realized they're color flips of each other. Purple hair green eyes, Green Hair Purple eyes, which ok that's interesting.

So we already have Utena Reflecting on Anthy, and hey, there's Zero Reason, absolutely negative number reasons why that wouldn't necessarily be the case with any and all of the rest of the duelists to some degree or another.

And hell, the fact that we keep flipping back and forth between Utena and Anthy in Coffins, there being (for some weird ass reason) a third entirely unrelated coffin for Utena's folks funeral, why the fuck not right?

So ok, Anthy and Saionji mirror each other which...Ok. If the Personality Swap from Episode 8 thing holds, The two actually share some pretty dickish actions. They can be cruel and petty and just antagonistic to things that don't quite jive with what they want. Saionji with Anthy not being...whatever he's expecting out of her, or Utena butting in. Anthy with the girls who keep fucking with her and Saionji.

They both seem to be utterly STUCK on the Rose Bride thing, although from different angles of Possessing the Rosebride and being the Rosebride, and the kind of weird shaping of the Rosebride thing that's going on.

Saionji is treated as a joke by the student council, especially after he get's kicked out, which ultimately ends with him being someone who is generally wanted but ends up ultimately exiled from society. Which mirrors with Anthy as someone is is wanted, but doesn't seem to have ANY kind of actual tangible bonds with anyone.

And, for this last one I have ZERO evidence on the Anthy end, but the suggestions are uh..interesting. Saionji in this episode, as suggested by the shadow girls at least in part, is deeply deeply invested in a fantasy of some kind, one that ultimately leaves him crushed and rather empty, further exiled from people who could or do care for him and that he cares about. Which if we're going with the property sliding across and He's a Foil for Utena (which I think is definitely true in some ways) suggests bad things for her down the line.

Episode 10

Saionji's a joke huh? He's taking it well.

Toga WOW. WOW YOU FUCKING DOUCHE. STRAIGHT IN THE FIRE HUH.

EGG TIME.

So, thing about eggs, that includes whats inside it right? so...Revolutionize yourself right? Right? That's obvious right?

Oh new duelist. Cool cool.

Utena getting slapped. By Nanami. With Utena being hella submissive. (EPISODE 8 FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY)

maybe a girl can't be a prince. THERES THAT THESIS. E8 FLASHBACKS

Nanami got her brother a kitty.

Oh damn it is Nanami. Duel Time. I mean we sall it in the opening but you know.

Jesus Toga, please stop being

OH GOD NANAMI NO. NOOOOOO NOPE NO.

Toga: We ain't kids no more. Shit don't fly.

Nanami: Emotionally devastated.

Is that Miki's sister?

Hey, what happened to the cat?

Juri: Hey, Serious Business, what the fucks up with the duelist?

Toga is perpatrating as badly as nanami actually. He's just less immediately obvious about it I guess.

Goddamnit there's Anthy's next slap. Jesus. Legit, who hasn't at this point. Is this a theme? IS THIS A THING?

Jesus, he's just playing all of this to piss her off? What the fucks up.

...Did nanami kill the cat. Uh...Uhhhhhh.

Ring is an engagement ring. Wait, that's a flat out school rule that everyone knows? For real? Uh.

...What the fuck happened with the kitty. Uh...

ITS TIME. ABSOLUTE DESTINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I just realized the kinda weird framing with Anthy dressing up utena kinda looks like her opening her legs up with the way it get's framed and I'm not sure if that's me just kinda over reading things or if that's a thing.

Nanami's duel outfit is SICK. Also, a yellow alt color of utena.

Actually. ACTUALLY? Is...Is Nanami like an Utena Alt color? That can't be right. Actually looking at  them right next to each other they're...straight up alt colors of each other. Not to mention Nanami's my prince thing mirrors Utena.

She just HOT pulled a knife. Oh she's About to fucking hot MERC utena, going for death jessus.

They're supposed to be around the same age too for that matter right?

She absolutely killed that cat and it's...

With her hair down she does look like an utena alt color even more.

Why's the duel music still going after the duel finished. Jesus. This wasn't a duel with Nanami, it was a duel with Toga, and I think Utena Hot lost it out and out.

Overall Thoughts: Well the Big thing I'm paying attention here are two. First the simpler one.

The Egg has to break the shell of the world to be born right? I'm paraphrasing badly, but the thing is the way they keep phrasing that is that the World is the Egg, but the egg isn't just the shell right? It includes what's inside of it. Which if that's the case, mixed with the way that duels work out being more a clash of ideals than of actual tangible skill, the revolutionize the world bit seems to be referring to them themselves, that is the duelists.

Alternatively, the Bird Referenced, the thing being revolutionized is Anthy. Which...Is an interesting line of thought. Given the Duels as a whole are basically choosing who her fiance will be, that'd imply that ultimately this decides the way that Anthy would come to develop? Or how she chooses to develop? Which ok if so, and the way that Ideals seem to be at play, Suggests...What? Dunno. Need more info, which will be delivered later.

But the other thing here, continuing the mirroring thing, which might be me reading too deeply, but I think not and even if it is Whatever I'm having fun.

THE ENTIRE NANAMI DUEL felt like a Mirror Match.Heck, Nanami dressed like an alt color of Utena, and especially once her hair got undone she looked even more like an alt color of Utena. They're only about a year different in age, and her brother seems to be her Prince type, and he drops the ring on her like an engagement ring, and she basically says I fight like my brother because he's my ideal.

Which is a weird thing since right now it's not going...too far. I'll have to see how it shakes out, but if the mirroring thing continues, the fact that the moment she lost she basically said nope fuck that, Knife Time, was...Concerning. It says real concerning things with Utena.

But it also says other interesting things then, because if Nanami is supposed to be some kind of Alt color Utena, similar in ambition goals and the like, if more outwardly girly to Utena's princey thing, their relationship with Anthy is uh..

Uh...

Well put simply, Utena is fucking up big and dramatic with Anthy, and she doesn't realize it at all or care because she can't see it for what it is. Nanami actively tries to undermine Anthy, and does some fucked up things to her. Which..Makes me wonder about the Divine Judgement thing from Episode 8 which, damnably, seems to be forming some kind of key here.

Like the way it's frame suggests the divine Judgement being visited upon Nanami is what's being talked about. But ok, Nanami had some bad shit happen to her sure, but...All of that was self inflicted upon her trying to fix what she percieves as a problem. Yes her reasons for doing it are so she can be with her brother, no doubt, but...They're ridiculous. Like, I cannot believe this shit is happening. But

But

If the Target of Divine Judgement/punishment is the Anthy Utena duo, one or both of them are on the receiving end of it. It's not clear how Acting like Utena would be a punishment for Anthy (I'm sticking with it just being a personality swap and not a full mind swap) but Utena who prides herself on being princely and aspires to that being the super submissive rosebride? I could see that being a kind of hell for her. And if the logic of Utena is Undermining Anthy holds out, but the criitcal difference being her ignorance and dishonesty of why compared to Nanami unabashedly saying yes I am fucking doing this fuck you I get what I want no hold barred, it...

Like, Nanami, as far as it goes, doesn't really receive a punishment if we're being honest. Yes she takes a couple of elephants to the dome, and has to be away from her brother and see her thing fail but..The way it's treated by herself and everyone else is basically a LOL THESE THINGS HAPPEN I GUESS HAHAHA. The Utena/Anthy swap meanwhile seems considerably more serious for them (especially considering the Everyone Slaps Anthy thing that seems to legit be a thing. Somehow. Except here Applied to “Utena”), and seems to cause some serious distress.

We'll see I guess.

Episode 11

As I watch this opening more and more, why is anthy like constantly framed like...Ominous as shit? Is it me?

Homegirl is just. Damn. Sure glad NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN (I do not trust this series to not have something bad happen to Wakaba. Again.)

Anthy. Are..are you...passive aggressively doing...something

Toga: I can see through the illusions yeah boi.

I do not trust this for an inch. He is abusing the shit out of his framing, like the whole time, and I don't trust.

Toga is “student council prince” archetype. Miki's nerdy student counciler.

EGG TIME

Juri is...Antagonistic But well meaning?

Saionji...I'm not sure he was actually on the stuco. But if so, bad boy.

What....is with the balloons. The color coded balloons.

Miki: Like a Pet Cat.

The Pet Cat that died, got killed.

WHAT IS WITH THESE BALLOONS.

ALSO I SEENT YOU PURPLE BALLOON.

So if the duels are ideal clashes more than actually a matter of direct skill, is this Toga (touga?) trying to fuck with Utena before the fight?

Anthy is a Bird. Ok. And Toga, arguably, being the biggest dick here. We thought it was Saionji, but the trick was he's the red part of the rose.

Anthy shut down REAL quick when being the rose bride was brought up.

Is Utena projecting mad hard onto Anthy here?

Homeboy needs to stop playing these games.

Utena, Stahp.  DO NOT TRUST HIM.

Toga, You...DOUCHE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Toga: Oh My B, Shouldn't act that way in front of the rose bride. ALSO DUELING LETS GOOOOO.

Utena: one link forces me to fight him. Meanwhile, rose symbols everywhere, a lot of them brought in by anthy.

Hmmmmmmm.

Utena is hard not understanding something here. I don't know what (rose bride related for sure) but I don't get...WHAT is off here.

Cause thinking about it, Utena's objective with Anthy is arguably the most noble, but she's still not quite treating anthy as a person.

….William Tell Interlude is SUITABLY CONCERNING considering the above thoughts so uh.

Also that was a weirdly specific number. 30K arrows or something?

I just realized that the DARKNESS OF DARKNESS OF LIGHT OF DESTINY OF (INSERT) things seems to show up right around anthy a lot. I'm not super sure if that's a whole thing or just a this episode thing, but...

Is Utena about to get HOT DUNKED? Because I think she is.

Also, I just realized, Utena slid into that pull sword out of rose bride thing right quick and she's never once questioned that.

So yes, Utena has BOOTY but cheeks swordsmanship, which yeah, obvs. Two of the people she beat were actually skilled before this fight, and yet she won somehow.

I don't know how to deal with these lyrics. But Toga is absolutely  fucking with her head here.

And She Lost. Decisively. YUP. WELP THIS IS GONNA BE A THING NEXT TIME.

Toga: Hey you don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Utena is doing the EXACT same shit Miki and Saionji were pulling, and Anthy's blank soulless stare is freaking me the hell out. Again.

So, ideals here. But the idea that whoever has a...better grasp of the truth is the victor. Which makes sense that Toga wins here.

Jesus, Soul crush 2.0, except it's on Utena this time. Goddamn.

WELL NEXT EPISODE PROMISES TO BE FUN.

Utena: ITS NOT TRUE. ITS NOT TRUE!

The Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena IMMEDIATELY: MISSING TRUTH ETCETC HOLD ME IN YOUR TRUE ARMS I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING LIES APART

SURE THAT MEANS NOTHING GUYS GGNORE.

Also, no joke, these seem like a Direct response to this episode and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I want to be hated by lies? Uhhhhh.

Overall Thoughts: So Hey, Here we are in Episode 11 and I want to talk about how Utena and Saionji basically are each other right here.

Like overtly even I think, even if the actions aren't precise clean mirrors to each other which I guess is just how i'm going to be going through this series right now RiP.

But ok, here's the thing. What has been increasingly clear as time goes by is that Utena is fundamentally misunderstanding something about Anthy. I'm not sure fully what it is, but it's clearly Rosebride related, and the thing with the clashing ideals suggests that the.

Actually let me explain that clear like. Right now my read on the Duels is that they are NOT in any way shape or form a demonstration of skill. I Think that's clear through this point, but I'm making it explicit for my own sake. The Victor of the Duel isn't the better fighter. If that were the case, It'd suggest the only ones in the running at all would be Toga or Saionji (Juri should also be in here, but I'm not actually clear how skilled she is compared to those two, and the way they're treated suggests that Toga and Saionji are comparable in pure skill/ability.)

But Utena somehow beat Saionji like three times, Juri and Miki. Miki's whatever, but Juri clearly knows what she's doing, and Saionji seems to be Kendo Team captain so you know. Up there. Meanwhile, Utena explicitly is an amateur.

I'm not saying, in full, that actual skill with the blade is a null thing, but your ideals seems to be the biggest factor over everything else. Presumably, people rocking equally “powerful” ideals would fall to skill with the sword.

Anyway. The Truths that Seem to be critical are Anthy Wants to Be Free of the Rosebride. Ok, so Utena has the right read then right? But then she lost to Toga who seems to be rocking Anthy Wants to Be, or else Considers herself fundamentally to be, the Rosebride, which is something that Utena seems to be denying about Anthy, but is none the less true.

But then, How are Utena and Saionji the same? Well, remember an episode back where I was talking about the divine punishment thing and all that jazz from episode 8?

It hits both of them for mistreating the Rosebride. There is a fantasy going on between Utena and Saionji, and while Saionji's is a bit complicated and unclear I think, Utena's actually is pretty straightforward I think. Utena want's to be a prince. That's her fantasy. The general virtues she want's to possess are great. Good even. But the specific's seems to involve a kind of rides in and saves the day riding in on a white horse thing, where she's the hero and does for some poor unfortunate girl what her prince did to her.

Saionji's meanwhile, seems to be something of him having a genuine reciprocal relationship with Anthy, with him inhabiting the role of a badboy romantic lead while the two of them have feelings for each other. When, really, he doesn't seem to care for her, or at least the feelings that he has for her are considerably weaker than whatever awkward feelings he has going on for Toga (I'm seriously a little fuzzy here, cause it feels like following his most recent defeat he's rocking some kind of clarity? I don't know how it's gonna work out, but I could sorta see him Returning and upsetting whatever the then status quo is.)

But notably, the big thing between them is their staunch refusal to accept what seems to be really true about their relationship with Anthy.

That the end theme seems to immediately pop up as an answer to Utena's reaction feels...Purposeful.

[catgirlxox]

Regarding Ben x Charmcaster

I wasn't going to make this post because, truthfully, I don’t want to end up sounding like I passionately hate every pairing involving Ben, leaving him with literally no good love interests. I also know a few people (who I considered friends) who actually do ship this and claim, in their personal opinion, it is one of the best ships for Ben. Obviously, anyone has the freedom to ship whatever and whoever they want to, so I’m not here to offend people. I can’t force anyone to stop shipping anyway.

But I can bring up an argument which I haven’t seen touched on before, just for the sake of this being put out there. 

My first objection towards this ship comes from the fact that Charmcaster has successfully taken Ben’s life and only resurrected him when her own spell didn't go as planned, in Ultimate Alien’s “The Enemy of my Frenemy.” 

But, people have argued that she was a very powerful being who was also simultaneously going through some hardship at the time of the events of the episode. Obviously, her own loss and heartache doesn’t immediately excuse attempted murder. However, I can see how some people may relate to the feeling of being willing to sacrifice anything for a chance to have a moment with a deceased loved one again.

So, in the hypothetical possibility that this can be forgiven, wouldn't it be much worse to having willingly attempted murder again, but without personal suffering to be her saving grace? 

If you think killing Ben himself wouldn't put him off of dating her, what about trying to kill his mother?

In Ultimate Alien’s “Hit ‘em Where They Live”, Charmcaster teams up with Zombozo and Vulkanus to attack Ben’s family members so that they may have a better chance at taking him down. This is caused by Ben’s recent rise to fame, which already puts the blame on him since it exposes those closest to him to dangerous criminals who clearly don’t have limits regarding how far they will go. Ben is (rightfully so) very serious about the situation in this episode because his enemies are hitting too close to home. 

Charmcaster had a very big role to play in this. Her primary motivation was revenge on Gwen, as per usual. But she was directly involved in the scene where Ben’s mother is kidnapped, distracting Gwen so that Zombozo can take her out and no one would be there to stop them from getting to Ben’s mother. 

Obviously she wouldn't have a reason to care about what she is doing since the Tennysons are her rivals, but Charmcaster also didn’t care that innocent loved ones will be affected by her actions. This is probably because she is supposed to fit into the “villain” role. However, as shown in “Where the Magic Happens”, and well as “The Enemy of my Frenemy”, she also has loved ones who she has lost in the past, such as her father, Spellbinder. 

To aid in the potential loss of another person’s loved ones for petty revenge is very evil and can be hard to forgive. 

Here is a quote from Ben, as Rath, displaying his reaction (albeit in a more aggressive manner due to being transformed into Rath at the time) when something he deeply cares for is attacked: 

“You can hurt me, you can hurt the things I stand for, you can even hurt my feelings if I had any. But no one. And I mean no one. Hurts the smoothie.” (Ben/Rath, “Greetings from Techadon”)

I realize that this quote is meant to be taken in a slightly more comedic way, but in context of the character in question, being in the form of Rath only exaggerates how Ben displays what he values. 

Ben has shown to be willing to sacrifice himself to save others, meaning that he prioritizes the lives of others over his own. Now imagine how much more important saving those lives would become to him when it is none other than his own mother who is in harms way. And, in potentially fatal circumstances too, mind you, since an insane zombie clown is behind all of this. 

Similarly to Mr. Smoothy, Ben’s family is important to him to much greater extent. And, more specifically, he has actually been shown to highly value his parents. 

I bring this up because, as I know from experience, not every kid is “good” to their parents these days. I will be the first to admit that I myself can be a terrible devil child at times.

Alien Force’s “Grounded” shows Ben having a bit of a conflict with his parents when they find out about the Omnitrix, and the way he ultimately responds to them before going to help Kevin displays his respect for them: 

“I'm sorry. I love you guys, you’re awesome parents. You raised me by example. And time after time I've seen you put other people’s needs first. I can’t obey you now without disobeying everything you've ever taught me about life, the world, and responsibility.” 

This carries on into Omniverse’s “O Mother Where art Thou”, where Ben is shown doing the expected, protecting his mother from what he rightfully perceives to be dangerous criminals, but also tries to spare her feelings from his distaste of her cooking. Showing that, regardless of how he may feel or how he may be affected, he would rather try to shield her from things that may harm her physically or emotionally. His mom also states that he makes her proud. 

Taking this into account, even if Charmcaster was hypothetically redeemed and reformed in the future, how awkward would it be to bring home a girl who previously had helped try to kill one of those parents you are bringing her home to?

[loudhouse-genderbent-headcanons]

whats linka's relationship with the twins like?

Awesome! Thanks for asking. The twins are so cute!

Edit: Updated!

Linka and Leif’s relationship

Of the twins, Linka and Leif have a more friendly relationship. They obviously tend to bicker like normal siblings, but they don’t really do much to annoy each other specifically. And they play together a lot. Linka is often breaking up fights and arguments between Leif and Lexx.

When Leif was born, 5 year old Linka was excited to have “two new bwothers for the pwice of one.” Linka played with him and Lexx and included him in all girly activities. Tea parties, stuffed animals, dolls, dress-up, you name it. Tiny Leif looked up to his big sister, but he hated the girly activities and would either cry to get out of them or drag Linka into playing some boy activities, like playing in the mud, which she didn’t mind. Not much is different about their relationship now.

Linka finds Leif’s love for unsanitized things a bit gross. Though, she’s mostly bothered by his willingness to clean and plumb the dirty toilet. That gives Leif the opportunity to tease her by trying to touch her with his toilet water hands whenever he can. Which annoys her to no end.

Even though she finds him gross sometimes, though, Linka loves Leif for who he is. He’s messy, he’s muddy, he fixes stuff and keeps animals and tools in his pants. And she wouldn’t want him to change a bit. No matter how grimy he can be.

Heck, she’s actually able to tolerate his love for most gross stuff, mainly mud. In fact, they have mud fights sometimes. Sometimes. Loki doesn’t expect this from Linka, so he’s surprised whenever he sees them doing this. As long as Leif doesn’t involve her in the other gross stuff, she’s okay.

Linka tends to meddle in Lexx’s life and smother him with sisterly love, whether by pinching his cheek or watching him work on his auto-repairs. However, she doesn’t do this as often to Leif as she does to some of her other brothers like Lexx or Lars or Lynn. And seeing how much she meddles them, Leif doesn’t question it and appreciates it. Plus, he likes her sisterly love.

They both share a love for animals. If there’s an animal in danger, they’ll rescue it, no matter what kind of animal it is, and care for them (and Leif will prolly adopt ‘em). 

Leif is close enough with Linka to introduce his pets to her. Linka loves this.

Linka is very protective of Leif. She’ll keep her little brother safe from anything he gets scared of. Even if it doesn’t exist. And she’ll rush right in to comfort him if he’s sad or crying or anything. And if someone bullies him, they have to deal with an enraged Linka. Which isn’t pretty.

Likewise, Leif is very protective of Linka. He doesn’t tolerate anyone teasing her and will pound anyone who does. Actually, he’ll send a stampede of his animals on whoever picks on her or makes her cry. Even if it’s one of his older brothers- if one of them ever hit her, he would beat the crap out of them for hurting their sister.

Leif is, believe it or not, one of Linka’s overprotective brothers. He isn’t fond of the idea of her dating and he doesn’t like her around Ronaldo. He knows when boys are jerks and doesn’t want his big sister near jerks. He still teases her a bit when it comes to her romance. But if a boy ever insults her or makes her cry… well, he’s gonna get the animal stampede.

Leif crawls into Linka’s bed sometimes whenever he has a nightmare. Whether she lets him or not. She usually does. But he ends up sleeping in her bed either way. And she lets a couple of his pets sleep in her bed, too.

Linka sees Leif as one of her role models, even though he’s her little brother. She thinks he’s very smart, with his vast knowledge of animals and plumbing and fixing things. And he’s so resourceful and lovable. She wishes she could be as knowledgeable, resourceful, and lovable as Leif. Despite being the most nurturing sibling, she doesn’t believe it. 

But likewise, Leif looks up to his big sister, too (but he doesn’t dare say it). He thinks she’s very smart and cool and he often goes to her for advice or help. And she may not think so, but Leif knows Linka is the most nurturing and best sister ever. And he will help her believe it.

Overall: Linka and Leif have a very friendly and sweet relationship with surprisingly little teasing other than Leif’s filthiness conflicting against her. They love each other very much and aren’t afraid to show it.

Whenever Linka is sad or upset, Leif will try to cheer her up by cuddling her and show her his animals and talk about them. And the animals will cuddle her as he talks.

Linka and Lexx’s relationship

Of the twins, Linka and Lexx have a more tense relationship, and easily irritate each other. But deep down, they still care for each other and play together a lot. Linka is often breaking up fights and arguments between Lexx and Leif. Lexx will often come running to Linka if Leif is trying to pound him.

When Lexx was born, 5 year old Linka was happy to have “two new bwothers for the pwice of one.” Lexx became one of her new playmates in all the girly activities: tea parties, playing with stuffed animals, dolls, dress-up. However, Lexx actually liked playing dress-up with her and got excited whenever they played it. He didn’t like the tea parties and dolls, but dress-up stuck with him, as they still play it even today.

Linka and Lexx are prone to arguing and irritating each other. Not a day goes by where they don’t without sticking their tongues out at each other, making faces, or arguing in gibberish. And they are strong petty rivals when it comes to playing video games. These two are quite childish with each other.

Linka dislikes Lexx’s tattle-tale nature, which makes it hard for her to trust him sometimes, which Lexx is unaware of. She also hates it when he orders her around like a maid, but she is usually forced to. He is easily able to take advantage of her since their parents are more likely to believe the younger one. She is also slightly afraid of Lexx’s anger.

In return, Linka loves to tease her little brother. She likes to pinch his cheek, call him teasing pet names- basically, treat him like a baby. He HATES when she does this stuff and it annoys him to no end, so she’ll always do so whenever she feels like it or he’s angered her enough.

Despite all the fighting, Linka and Lexx are close deep down. She calls him “her little prince.”

Linka tends to meddle in Lexx’s life. To Lexx, he sees it as her smothering him, which can quickly irritate him if pushed. But Linka is really acting maternal towards him. He’s her little brother, so she can’t help it. She wants what’s best for him and does her best to guide him. In truth, Lexx secretly appreciates her smothering him with sisterly love, and he is always grateful when she does nice things for him.

Linka and Lexx find many ways to spend time together. Linka likes to attend Lexx’s debate practices and “knights of the round table” meetings and listen to his debates and kingly speeches. Even though she won’t understand almost anything he’s saying, Lexx always leaves an open chair for her. She is also shown to help him prepare for his debates by either giving him insights or be his practice rival. Lexx also sometimes likes to drive her around in his toy car, while she’s standing in the back behind him holding his scepter like a princess.

To add to his liking for dress-up, Lexx likes to play “royal fashion show” with Linka. He gets a runway set up and lights and everything in his room and asks Linka to play with him. Lexx plays the host and Linka walks down the runway all “dressed up.” Dress up meaning feather boas, sunglasses, hats way too big for their heads and other silly accessories. They also switch roles and Lexx will also make glamorous poses and funny faces. This makes Linka laugh every time.

Linka is very protective of Lexx. If he’s ever pouty or disappointed for whatever reason, she’s there to comfort him if he wants it. She’ll protect him from anything he’s scared of. And she always cheers him on when he’s debating. If he’s ever picked on or messed with by a rival, she has no problem confronting the little bully. Though Lexx could handle it on his own, he likes it when she scares anyone who messes with him.

Lexx is also super protective of Linka. As the leader of the “kingdom”, it’s his duty to look after his family, especially his only sister. He despises anyone who messes with her and if he finds out about someone bullying her, he will all too gladly run them over with his car. And it secretly pains him to see her sad.

Fortunately, he understands when she can look after herself and doesn’t go overboard when it comes to dating. He even teases her whenever she’s in a relationship. Even when it comes to Ronaldo. But just cause he doesn’t go overboard, doesn’t mean he exactly trusts him because of how he treated her. He just trusts Linka’s judgement. But if he or another boy were to ever hurt her, Lexx will also run him over with his car.

Lexx usually wants Linka to read him a bedtime story before he goes to bed. It’s usually a fairy tale or on some occasions, a story Linka makes up on the spot. She usually exaggerates the stories and acts and reads them dramatically well. A reason why he loves when she reads to him.

Lexx will also crawl into her bed if he has a nightmare. He does it more often than Leif. But Lexx usually asks her almost all the time if he can sleep in her bed whenever it happens. And he’ll be cuddling her tight in his sleep. Which Leif will tease him about.

Linka sees Lexx as a role model, despite being her little brother. She thinks is very funny, fierce, and powerful. She loves the games they play together, and she looks up to the fierceness and confidence he displays in his debates and on the runway. While she thinks he’s a corrupt little brat, if he worked on his attitude, she believes he’d make a great leader one day. She wishes she could be as ambitious, fierce, and have as much self-esteem and confidence as Lexx.

While he would never say it out loud, Lexx looks up to his big sister as well. He loves her kind and gentle nature, especially when he does nice things for her. And while he has his great sense of pride, he appreciates her belief in him that he’d make an actual good leader someday. In his eyes, he thinks the family doesn’t need another girl; he already has the best sister ever.

Overall: There’s a ton of bickering and childish teasing between these two. Linka treats him like a baby and he is a bossy and corrupt brat when ordering her around. But despite that, they still love and care for each other deep down.

Whenever Linka is sad or upset, Lexx will tell her why he thinks she’s awesome in the form of a debate speech. “Why Linka Loud is the Coolest Girl in the World.” And give her a hug after.

[icharchivist]

Have you ever wondered if Hoshino's Bookman manga came out instead if any of the other existing DGM characters would exist in that series? They'd obviously be at least a little different in personality and very much so in story role. It hit me last night and I started wondering of certain characters would make it in as bookman and if some of them would still be soldiers in a war. Of course I have no idea about who the big bad would be. Bookman being a neutral party and all. It made me curious-

2 if the original bookman idea would have been different (not just recording wars). But if it wasn’t then no doubt there would have to be a person Lavi records as he watches a war. Maybe in this scenario Lavi isn’t a soldier but he does shadow someone? I can’t see everyone fitting in. But I could see Allen and Cross fitting in pretty well. Like Cross could be a runaway/rebel bookman that Sr has a mysterious relationship with. Allen could easily be a bookman too. Either one that Cross took in -

3 or keep the whole past Allen and de aging mystery with Allen being Dr’s first apprentice (only w/o Nea involved as Noah probably wouldn’t exist). Lavi would try to uncover what happened to Allen and end up learning about the bookman tribes secrets (honestly it’d be cute to have Lavi and Allen grow up together in this idea like in that card artwork of them as kids). Lavi seems like the type to be a pov main character watching the protagonist’s story. *shrugs* It’s fun to think about.

I do wonder a lot about how different the manga would have been to be honest. 

Hoshino had come off records mentioning that Allen was actually created to counterbalance the Earl himself: She creates characters by pairs most of the time and Allen was basically an excuse to develop the Earl.  After all lest not forget that in ZONE, the chapter that prompted DGM, “Allen” was actually not at all like our Allen. The chapter does seem to introduce the Earl, Lenalee and Cross though.Allen as a character is really kindof the result of the circumstances of writting dgm so i would be really curious on how he would end up existing in the Bookman storyline. Unless he ends up reappearing if only as another Bookman. IT’s weird to say but i think we would have more luck seeing Past!Allen than Allen himself.What you propose would be very fun though and I would... love “children friends” Lavi and Allen dkhfkj

As for Lavi yeah that’s the thing, i think we will have to wait until we see the Clan for good in order to really judge where the story would have gone per se - because I can only see Lavi as an observer somewhere.

Perhaps the story would be built more around the idea of Lavi going from war after war? Each wars being a sort of different arc with in idea, whatever the Clan acts like? Like how in dgm we had missions after missions before we realized the corruption of the Order?

It would make for far more personal and limited conflict in general. I could see a Cross like character though in a sort of rogue Bookman who held the secrets from the Clan and ends up being someone you chase after.

So while we’re at it, I ended up digging back the original concept art for Lavi if that interests you/gives you some idea.

it’s an extract from the Gray Ark. Well like all my stuff it’s in French so the translation will likely not be 100% accurate to the original but here what it says:

Lavi, Concept:He’s hard to pin point, with his almond-shaped eyes and his eternal smile. For me, he’s a hottie, and I wanted to give him sex appeal. His current face is based on a person I know. Lavi originally looked too much like Reever, so I changed it.” (on the drawing commentary: He looked too much like Reever. The hammer’s design date from then, it seems). The uniform:As a Bookman, I wanted to give him a look that was offsetting him from the Order, and I gave him elements like the bandana and the scarf. Opposite fo Kanda, he puts on a lot of things as if he was hiding the depth of his heart. His uniform is the one that gives me the most issues because not everything goes with a bandana (bitter smile)

So the reason I actually wanted to post it was because I find it interesting that originally, the eye apparently wasn’t hidden on the original draft. Which makes me think Lavi’s special eye had still a part to play on his Bookman self, dah, but that it is possible that it might have been one of the primary plot point to the Bookman manga.

We know Lavi became an Apprentice because of his eye, and that it is a secret only Bookman knows. Would the eye not be hiden, i doubt it would have remained a secret for long unless she developped the plot into his final design. But his eye seemed to play more point forward.

It’s kinda because the Bookman manga was a Plan that I can actually see Lavi having rivals in the Bookman clan. Because you’d like to create stakes right, and you have a guy who basically cheated his way in with a specific feature no one else can get. I could see it have plots of people specifically opposing Lavi for how he became apprentice and Lavi constantly having to prove himself as being rightfully picked. 

In ZONE, Lenalee wasn’t originally a Soldier but more someone who seems to have suffered from war and loss. If i remember, she’s a waitress specifically. I could see her come back therefore somewhere in Lavi’s journey and end up involved in why Lavi has to move around. 

Hoshino also mentions that she always loves to have a character like Kanda around, especially “samurai type with a katana”, so a version of Kanda might have appeared on the Road at some point. 

But already those seem like they could have been too different without the Order to frame their stories. While Lenalee’s original idea isn’t centered on being a warrior, Kanda’s is, so i could see Lenalee be adapted to a person in the Bookman clan and Kanda being more of a soldier. 

And that would raise question about how the Clan would defend itself, as I doubt you’d survive centuries collecting secrets from wars to wars without having a great way to defend yourself.

As for the “Big Bad”, your guess is as good as mine. The Earl’s creation ended up shifting the entiere focus and I think it would make too much of a villain for a story that could be with arcs going “from one history to the next”. I could see a Bookman story be more a traditional type of the young protagonist having to prove himself worthy around his rivals, with obviously people who believes differently about how their involvement in history should manifest. Like it’s a set up that would work very fine. But knowing Hoshino she may have had planned more non traditional elements as it went by.

I think the Bookman Clan arc will give us some more ammos to try to find out what ideas she would have had used for a Bookman story.

But this is interesting to think about nevertheless

[iol247]

The dirt on Deloitte’s consulting deals at Eskom, Part 2

In Part 1 we explained how Deloitte received R207-million worth of consulting work from Eskom through a process that chairman Jabu Mabuza described as difficult to conceive of anything “less fair, equitable, transparent or competitive”. That senior Eskom employees bent and broke the rules for Deloitte now seems obvious. The only question is why?

For more than two years, Deloitte had managed to avoid being linked to state capture, while rival firms – McKinsey, KPMG, Bain & Company – were reeling from the scandal’s fallout.

That came to an end in October, when Eskom’s then chair, Jabu Mabuza, publicly accused Deloitte of engaging in “pure corruption” with former Eskom executives to secure consulting deals worth R207m – a claim Deloitte hotly denies.  

In an explosive affidavit setting out Eskom’s civil claim against Deloitte, Mabuza told the court that “certain inferences are irresistible… [B]y early 2016 … Deloitte was to be the preferred Consulting firm” on certain projects at Eskom.

That Eskom executives bent and broke the rules for Deloitte now seems obvious (read The Dirt on Deloitte's consulting deals at Eskom, Part 1).

The only question is why?

In part 2 we leave behind the safety of documentary evidence – chronicled in over 1 000 pages of Eskom court papers – and wade into the murky waters of anonymous and confidential sources. But it is also here where we find person after person insisting that Deloitte’s contracts with Eskom were part of a state capture play.

The cold shoulder

It is worth remembering that before Deloitte, there was another preferred consulting firm at Eskom.

In December 2015, the global consulting giant McKinsey sat down to carve up Eskom’s consulting budget with its new “supplier development” (empowerment) partner, Trillian Capital.

What emerged from the meeting was a spreadsheet detailing how R9.4bn in consulting fees could be extracted from Eskom over the following four years. McKinsey told us the document was “exploratory”.

But after just three months McKinsey got cold feet, put off by Trillian’s refusal to disclose that it was majority-owned by the Guptas’ business partner, Salim Essa.

In a March 2016 letter, McKinsey told Eskom’s then chief financial officer, Anoj Singh, that it could no longer partner with Trillian but would be happy to pick another empowerment partner.

Sources in Eskom have repeatedly told amaBhungane that when McKinsey dumped Trillian, Eskom officials started giving McKinsey the cold shoulder. By mid-2016, Deloitte was one of several firms whose fortunes were looking up.

The in-crowd

The reason amaBhungane started poking around Deloitte in 2018 was a simple, startling fact: Three of the “Big Four” accounting firms – PwC, KPMG and Deloitte – received lucrative consulting contracts from Eskom at the height of state capture, and all three picked Nkonki Inc as their supplier development partner.

Nkonki was not necessarily a bad choice: the pioneering black-owned auditing firm had a small but capable consulting division. But the firm was also in the process of being covertly acquired by Essa.

What our investigations uncovered was that, starting in August 2016, Essa began transferring his interest (and his money) from Trillian to Nkonki, by funding a management buyout led by Nkonki partner Mitesh Patel. (For more read The Nkonki Pact parts 1, 2 and 3.)

“Nkonki was a good, solid, black brand, under the radar. They were the perfect firm to use,” one Nkonki insider told us.

If Nkonki was the new Trillian, we wondered, did that make Deloitte, PwC and KPMG the new McKinseys? Would they be the Trojan horses giving Essa and the Guptas access to the consulting honey pot inside Eskom?

The modus operandi

The consulting industry had long been one of the most profitable sites of state capture.

Between 2013 and 2015, McKinsey and its then empowerment partner, Regiments Capital, had extracted almost R2bn in consulting fees from Transnet, where Singh had been the chief financial officer before moving to Eskom.

What went unnoticed by Transnet (and McKinsey, or so it claims) was that Regiments was passing up to 60% of its fees back to Essa.

“The [modus operandi] was to bring in a big entity to bring an appearance of respectability, partner as [a supplier development] partner and then you suck the lifeblood out,” a source at Transnet told us.

But there appeared to be a problem with concluding that Deloitte’s contracts formed part of the same pattern: documents filed in Eskom’s court case show that Deloitte partnered with Nkonki in late 2015; in other words well before Essa was known to have commenced capturing Nkonki.

“We had made a commitment to work with Nkonki when we had submitted our initial bid… When we had mobilised our projects initially, Nkonki was part of the delivery team,” Thiru Pillay, Deloitte Consulting’s managing director for Africa told us in an interview last month.

But to understand “why Nkonki?” we needed to go back further, two sources insisted.

The fairytale begins

“The end of 2015 is actually where the fairytale begins,” said one of three Nkonki insiders we spoke to for this article. The person added: “I was waiting for someone to ask this question about Karthi, he was a major player in all of this.”

“Karthi” is Karthi Naicker, who had spent seven years as the group forensic manager at Transnet, including while it was acquiring vastly overpriced locomotives from a Chinese manufacturer who paid massive kickbacks to Essa and the Guptas.

(Naicker told us he investigated all allegations that came across his desk at Transnet and the locomotive deal was not among them: “It was never brought to my attention.”)

Naicker was also close to Singh, then still Transnet’s chief financial officer. “He and Anoj had a very tight relationship,” a Transnet insider told us. “Anoj leaves and goes to Eskom. Karthi then is basically told he needs to get out of Transnet.”

As head of forensics, Naicker had requested police to investigate a politically-connected security tender that had been approved by Siyabonga Gama; an investigation which almost derailed Gama’s bid to become chief executive of Transnet.

“Gama gets his henchmen to have a conversation with Karthi: ‘Find your way out, there’s no place for you here,’” the insider said.

Naicker confirmed that in his view he couldn’t stay after Gama’s elevation.

“[L]et's just say that my shelf space and sell-by date was over, there... obviously coming up against these people was not going to be in my best interest so I had to look at new opportunities and that's when I decided to leave,” he told us.

We put this to Gama, who said via WhatsApp that he was unaware of Naicker’s role in the case and reiterated that he, Gama, was never criminally charged. “I have nothing against Naicker, anything that he says was initiated by me leading to his departure from Transnet is a figment of his imagination. It was his guilt for conspiring with a political board to falsely charge an innocent man that would have led him to depart.”

Whether Naicker was pushed out or left voluntarily, Nkonki saw an opportunity.

“They started working to get Karthi over to Nkonki,” a second Nkonki insider told us.

The rainmaker?

In September 2015, Naicker joined Nkonki to head up the firm’s consulting and forensics business.

Staff were told that Naicker’s “connections with government would open doors”, the first Nkonki insider told us.

“Karthi was moved to Nkonki to get these contracts,” Nkonki insider number two told us. And if proposals came from Karthi, “Anoj would sign it,” a third alleged.

But Naicker pushed back: “I refute any of those allegations that I was specifically put into Nkonki… It wasn't like that.”

Asked about his apparently close relationship with Singh, Naicker said: “He was a colleague of mine. I worked at Transnet so obviously we had a working relationship.”

Either way, by mid 2016 the flood gates were opening.

“Nkonki started getting work out of Eskom – a huge amount of work,” the first Nkonki insider told us.

When Patel, Nkonki’s chief executive, later spoke about the firm’s meteoric rise at Eskom, it was his own “close ties” to Singh, and not Naicker’s, that he emphasised.

During our research, we were handed a recording of a conversation with Patel where he boasted: “I won’t lie, since Anoj moved from Transnet to Eskom the doors opened for us there because I know Anoj.”

Second chances

One of the reasons we found it odd that Deloitte and PwC had picked Nkonki as a partner at Eskom was that Nkonki was not initially eligible for the work.

In July 2016, Eskom established the Strategic, Business and Management Consulting panel, consisting of nine international consulting firms (panel A), and 18 up-and-coming black-owned firms (panel B).

Nkonki had applied to be part of panel B, but with a technical score of 66%, had failed to make the cut.

When both Deloitte and PwC submitted bids in September 2016, they knew their contracts required them to subcontract to “panel B members only”. Despite this, they largely overlooked the 18 firms on panel B and picked Nkonki.

The only exception from panel B was In4Group. Deloitte allocated it just 1% of the so-called Results Management Office project fee – 26% would go to Nkonki.

Then, curiously, days after the bids closed, Eskom’s board tender committee approved the creation of a new panel – panel C – for black-owned companies with a technical score of between 50 and 70%, including Nkonki.

Naicker, the third Nkonki insider told us, took credit: “He said, ‘Nkonki wouldn’t be on the panel if it wasn’t for me.’”

Naicker denies that he said this, and insisted that the decision to create panel C was “an Eskom process” which he was not involved in.

Yet the panel was undeniably good news for Nkonki and had the effect of retrospectively fixing the flaw in both PwC and Deloitte’s bids.

“The panel was created for Nkonki to get a foot in the door, so they could legitimately provide work to Eskom,” the first Nkonki insider said.

When we asked PwC last year why it had chosen Nkonki despite the firm not being on panel B, legal head Anton du Randt told us: “[T]he process for panel C appointments were well underway, and we had understood that the panel C appointments would be finalised … imminently, so whether or not [Nkonki] were on the panel on the date that we submitted our first bid I can’t tell you.”

Deloitte Africa chief executive Lwazi Bam, by contrast, told us that Deloitte did not know panel C existed until Eskom formally announced it in February 2017, five months after Deloitte submitted its bid.

According to Bam, Deloitte knew the contract said “panel B members only”, but Nkonki had already worked on the project with Deloitte for several months before the contract was awarded.

“It would have been counter-productive, and would have placed the running projects at risk, to remove Nkonki from these assignments … and neither did Eskom require us to do so,” he told us in a 13-page letter last year.

Betting on Nkonki

The theory, put forward by several sources we spoke to, was that Nkonki was one of the beneficiaries of an unwritten rule. “If you don’t do business … with these entities you ain’t getting any work,” the Transnet insider told us.

“My understanding is they were told to partner with Nkonki, they didn’t have a choice… It was an instruction,” the first Nkonki insider said.

“The big … firms didn’t like partnering, but because Anoj was there he made it clear they had to partner with Nkonki,” the second Nkonki insider said.

Singh declined to answer our questions, merely saying: “I was not part of any of the procurement team[s] that made the award of any tenders at Eskom.”

When we put this theory to PwC last year, Fulvio Tonelli, PWC Africa’s chief operating officer, insisted that Nkonki was their choice. “Nobody said to us you need to use [Nkonki] if you want to secure this work,” he said.

Asked again about the allegations, Tonelli said: “PwC was not instructed to, nor would we accept such instruction to, partner with Nkonki Inc or any other third party at the insistence of a client.”

                                                                                                   Deloitte also rejected the insiders’ theory.

“All the [supplier development] partners used by Deloitte on work for Eskom were chosen by Deloitte,” Bam wrote – adding that Deloitte had also lost bids submitted with Nkonki.

“We did not need Nkonki to sell our work or position our work for us,” Pillay confidently told us.

Naicker also insisted that Deloitte “approached us … they secured the work with Eskom.”

But in the recorded conversation, Patel appears to say the opposite:

“Deloitte and PwC are not happy with us because they’re forced to use us on all these contracts.  

“You look at the Capital Scrub” – a reference to the PwC contract that was potentially worth billions – “we’re taking a large chunk out of it. And it’s just because we are panel C, they are panel A. And they were asked to partner with us.”

Although he later says, “They could have partnered with any firm.”

Twenty minutes later in the recording, Patel says: “Actually, PwC came to us to say, ‘We want to tender for the Capital Scrub’. We said, okay, but we told them we don’t have the skills yet.”

According to Patel, PwC solved this problem by introducing Nkonki to a panel B member that had the necessary skills. Nkonki simply subcontracted it.

Despite their extraordinary outreach to Nkonki, both PwC and Deloitte insist they were ignorant of their partner’s connection to Essa and the Guptas when they partnered with them in 2016. But events would soon change that.

Going nuclear

At the start of November 2016, three things happened in quick succession:

On 1 November, Deloitte submitted an unsolicited proposal to Eskom to develop the business case for the contentious nuclear build programme.

On the same day, Deloitte received a letter from Nkonki, informing it that the firm’s founders – Sindi Zilwa and Mzi Nkonki – had sold their shares to minority shareholder Mitesh Patel who would now take over as chief executive of Nkonki.

What few people knew, including the executives at Deloitte, they say, was that Patel’s takeover had been engineered and financed by Essa, who would be entitled to 65% of Nkonki’s rapidly-growing profits.

Then, on 2 November, the public protector’s State of Capture report was released and the extent of Essa and the Guptas’ influence at Eskom was laid bare.

“When the State of Capture report was issued, for the first time we understood what was going on at Eskom,” Pillay told us.

Over the next two months, Deloitte conducted what it described as a “rigorous account review” of its Eskom work and put in place a “separate governance forum” to monitor work at Eskom going forward.

“Our BEE sub-contractors and their activities were a point of discussion from a delivery, quality and risk perspective,” Bam said.

But the explosive contents of the public protector’s report did not put the brakes on Deloitte’s involvement in the nuclear project. That piece of work, along with its budget of R14.9-million, was simply added as a modification to one of Deloitte’s existing contracts.

Joining the dots

By 2017, Nkonki was one of three firms that was “pumping inside Eskom,” according to the recorded conversation with Patel.

Aside from the PwC and Deloitte contracts, KPMG had picked Nkonki as its partner for another major consulting contract at Eskom.

KPMG told us it selected Nkonki because “KPMG had previously worked with Nkonki on other assignments” and “Nkonki had the necessary skills and experience”.  KPMG also said it sought and received confirmation from Eskom that Nkonki was now an eligible member of the panel.

At Transnet, Nkonki submitted two unsolicited bids – identify cost-saving initiatives and boost sales on the iron ore and coal lines – and, with no tender, was awarded an open-ended consulting contract for “up to R500m”.

Documents filed with the Zondo commission show Nkonki’s proposal bore astonishing similarities to a scandalous McKinsey-Trillian project that bled R1.6bn from Eskom.

But by this time rumours were starting the circulate about who was behind the meteoric rise in Nkonki’s fortunes.

An international consulting firm provided information to amaBhungane on condition that we did not name it. The firm showed us a due diligence report where it had rejected Nkonki, supposedly based on information from “two independent sources” about Nkonki’s connection with the Guptas.

“While it's important to note the sources did not provide hard evidence or specific allegations of corruption, they both said … that Mr [Ajay] Gupta may have made representations for Nkonki to receive state contracts,” a consultant from the firm told us.

Patel, who denied Gupta connections when we first reported on it, would not answer specific questions for this article. His attorney wrote in reply that we had “irreparably destroyed” his client’s business and personal life and as such “he will not indulge you or the Press any further”.

He added that Patel denied any allegations that may negatively impact him.

But the rumours did not go away; in mid-2017, Deloitte was hearing the same thing.

“[W]e had heard rumours,” Pillay confirmed. “[W]e then considered what we were hearing and we terminated the business partner agreement with Nkonki in about mid-2017.”

But, inexplicably, Deloitte did not remove Nkonki from the projects at Eskom. Instead Nkonki was allowed to stay on at Eskom for another three months to complete the consulting projects the two firms were working on together.

“[W]e were hearing anecdotal rumours. To terminate a contract, you would have needed a little bit more… The view we took was … we can exercise our discretion. So we did and [said], ‘Run out your work’… [B]ack then in 2017, there wasn't enough data to act otherwise,” Pillay said.

Deloitte did not report its suspicions to anyone at Eskom. Instead it quietly took Eskom’s money, completed the contracts and walked away.

“I think, in hindsight, one could reflect on [the decision not to alert Eskom]. But at the time, we felt the responsible action was to terminate the relationship with Nkonki and let the processes that were running play themselves out,” said Pillay.

Deloitte would eventually receive R207m from Eskom; Nkonki’s cut was R32.7m.

In hindsight

There are a lot of things that, in hindsight, Deloitte would have done differently.

For instance, receiving multiple contracts worth R207m with no competitive bidding process looks bad. (See The dirt on Deloitte’s consulting contracts at Eskom, Part 1.)

“[I]n hindsight things look a certain way,” Pillay conceded. “When you look from 2019’s vantage point as to how did Eskom procure services over the last 20 years, you have a certain view.”

Partnering with Nkonki, a company that was covertly acquired by the architects of state capture, looks bad too – particularly when this appears to follow a pattern of big consulting firms extracting millions from state-owned entities by taking Essa and the Guptas along for the ride, whether inadvertently or not.

“I can see how one might connect those dots, but I think there is no proof or evidence to suggest that that's what happened – that's entirely speculation,” Pillay insisted when we put it to him that Nkonki’s presence may have given Deloitte an advantage.

“Our intent was not to defraud and be corrupt. Our intent was to do the best we could [to] honour the obligation to the client, and to follow their process… I mean, Anoj, when was he CFO of the year? 2014, 2015 … we did not appreciate the way the dots have now connected.”

“Were we enriched by the Gupta network?” Pillay asked later, posing one of his rhetorical questions. “Absolutely not.”

- Additional reporting by Sam Sole.

https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom/the-dirt-on-deloittes-consulting-deals-at-eskom-part-2-20200116-2

[oumakokichi]

Do you think Tsumugi was anywhere near as smart as Ouma or did she just have the advantage of blindsiding him? Even in his final moments, he didn't seem to suspect her any more than any of the others. Atleast that we get to see.

Someone asked me a somewhat similar question awhile back andput it in really good terms. I don’t remember the exact phrasing, but it wassomething about how if Ouma is a chessmaster (and I do think he is, given allthe evidence), then Tsumugi is an opportunist. I still think they really nailedit: opportunist is a perfect word forher.

If I had to compare how smart they both are in terms of justintellect? Ouma would probably be smarter. Considering he definitely seems tohave some variation of SHSL Analysis, his predictive and analytical abilitynearly rival Junko’s and Kamukura’s. Even taking into account the fact that hereally is genuinely childish and even klutzy sometimes, he still seems… well,like a genius.

Looking objectively at his 300-or-so page script which hadmulti-branching routes, predicted nearly all of his classmates’ behavior to aT, and was written in the span of 2 hours, he wasn’t “just smart.” That sort ofthing wouldn’t be possible for anyone unless they had some kind of talent orability that correlated to it directly. There are also the diagrams in hisroom, which he commissioned Miu to make. While Miu’s ability to actually inventthem is more than impressive, Ouma seems to be the one who actually thoughtthem up and designed them, which is absolutely astounding.

Assuming that he was a genius of some kind also explains whysometimes he seems like he has to rewind himself and put himself a few stepsback, like in Chapter 4 when he literally can’t understand why they’d think he’sthe culprit. The answer is clear to him, since he already knows the full factsabout the case, and everyone else’s remarks must’ve felt like the trial wasjust dragging on so slowly. When you’re haughty and self-confident like Ouma,feeling like the smartest person in the room means everyone else seems to begoing so slow. Sometimes he reallydoes seem taken aback before he manages to backtrack a bit and look at the casefrom their perspective, even though they’re all still stuck on the wronganswer.

By contrast, Tsumugi doesn’t seem to have these nearlysuperhuman abilities. She’s smart—verysmart, actually. But her smarts still feel within the realm of humanpossibilities, rather than her being on an entirely different level from anyoneelse. If I had to think of a character who she’s probably equal with in termsof intellect, Komaeda might be a good choice (it’s kind of hilarious that oneof her FTEs has her specifically hating on people who use fictional charactersas “stepping stones” to get famous). Both of them are incredibly smart,arguably smarter than a lot of the rest of their classmates. But they’re stillultimately human, and circumstances can and do catch them off guard prettyregularly.

Komaeda simply allows his luck to make up for the holes inhis plans, while Tsumugi doesn’t try to cover the holes in the first place. Asan opportunist, she’s capable of rewriting entirely new scenarios, or claimingcredit for things that she never actually planned in the first place. Thisallows both of them to take chances and risks in a way that characters likeOuma, Junko, and Kamukura rarely do. The former are genuine risk-takers whoknow they’re smart enough to handle themselves in the long run. The latter(particularly Ouma and Junko) might act as if they take risks, but very rarelydo. Instead they leave as little to chance as possible, relying instead ontheir own huge brains and analytical abilities.

As you said, Tsumugi’s best and strongest advantage oversomeone like Ouma was her ability to blindside him at all. And make no mistake,this ability to fly under the radar is something she’s very well aware of, justas Komaeda is aware of his own luck and the fact that it’ll typically makethings swing in his favor. She mentions it outright in her FTEs, citing exampleslike hopping a subway or going to the movies without paying for it because noone would notice her anyway. It’s no coincidence that she talks about how plain(地味)she is almost once per line of dialogue: if anything, she wants to drill intopeople’s heads exactly how unnoticeable and boring she is so that they won’treally pay her much mind.

This plainness of hers works really, really well againstsomeone like Ouma. Ouma is an intentional subversion of Junko in many ways, butit’s true that they still share certain parallels—including their need for thespotlight. Ouma wants things to be “fun” and “interesting” and “exiting” at alltimes. He hates boredom (yet another thing he has in common with characters whohave SHSL Analysis). Therefore, he tries to avoid it at all costs. Someone likeTsumugi who seems to be the embodiment ofboredom just put him off entirely. I’m not even entirely sure if he consciouslydismissed the idea that she was the ringleader, or if it was more of asubconscious aversion.

Either way, I think he was unable to close in on herspecifically because he, to some degree, was using chessboard thinking.Chessboard thinking is a type of game theory in which you try to predict youropponent’s next move(s) by putting yourself in their shoes. It has itsadvantages, but obviously it only works best if you can actually predict youropponent. Otherwise you make mistaken assumptions. And you’re always going tobe somewhat biased, as you’re thinking with your own logic, rather than theirs.

By thinking “what would I do if I were the ringleader?” Oumamade the mistake of thinking that the ringleader would act like himself. He fitthe role of “evil villain” so perfectly because he was playing a part, and heexpected the real ringleader to mostly act the same—but that assumption waswrong from the beginning. He and Tsumugi were on completely differentwavelengths the whole time, and he never, I think, predicted that theringleader could be someone so… absolutely boring.

Something I’ve always felt is ironic is that I think Oumaprobably could’ve predicted a mastermind like Junko far better than he could aringleader like Tsumugi. Kirigiri did it before him, after all, and he andKirigiri are more than paralleled on several occasions. His and Junko’s similarmindsets would make them a formidable match against each other (though it’sanyone’s guess who would actually win a debate between them, since Junko hasabsolutely no conscience while Ouma is deeply empathetic). But since he wassearching for Tsumugi all the time, he wasn’t ever able to realize what wasright in front of his face.

This really did allow her to blindside him completely, as heremarks bitterly in his talk with Momota in Chapter 5 once he’s explaining hisplan. He realizes quickly that the ringleader must’ve manipulated Maki as apawn into kickstarting the killing game into action again, but has no idea how they actually did so. Because heshut himself up in the machinery bay with no way to maneuver around the schoolor investigate for himself, he allowed holes in his defenses for the firsttime, and Tsumugi took advantage of it spectacularly.

She might not be a genius herself, but she’s plenty cunningand quick on her feet. Her ability to revise her own scenarios, and to makethese huge, sweeping claims for things with no way to prove that she didn’tactually do them, means that she can seem a lot more capable than she actuallyis. Even when she’s clearly human and fallible, and when things definitely don’tgo according to her plan (such as when Saihara stops wearing his hat, when sherealizes Momota was sick in Chapter 5, etc.) she can bounce back quick enoughthat it’s near impossible to prove she ever messed up at all.

If Ouma is absolutely brilliant, then I’d say Tsumugi is…devious. She’s more than capable of compensating for her lack of genius throughher sheer dedication to her goals, as well as the fact that she doesn’t alwaysnecessarily play fair. While Ouma was mostly right in assuming that she had tofollow the rules of the killing game because it was being broadcast, he failedto account for the fact that she already had broken the rules long before herstatus as the ringleader was exposed. As long as she can get away with it, she’sabsolutely the type of person to cheat in a game—and her plainness makes itvery hard to notice she’s cheating at all, usually.

This is just my take on it, anyway. The differences in theirway of thinking are honestly fascinating, so I really love getting to talk aboutthe both of them. Ouma is complex in his moral ambiguity and in how much healludes to the themes of the game, but Tsumugi is also complex in herhollow-ness, and how terrifyingly effective she is as an antagonist. Thank youfor giving me a chance to talk about them both!

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Homecoming Review Part 2

Read Part 1 here.

I’ve talked about Homecoming as just a movie, but what about as an adaptation?

So...here’s the thing.

 An adaptation has to and is entitled to change things from its source material. There are some things that might have worked in a 1960s comic book that wouldn’t work in a modern day live action movie.

 However all adaptations should at the very least respect the spirit of the source material it is adapting, the essence of the story, in particular when it comes to the lead character(s) in question.

 A prime example would be the film that in fact introduced Spider-Man to the MCU, Captain America: Civil War. The spirit of the comic book story boils down to Iron Man championing regulation and security compared to Captain America who champions freedom and autonomy dividing the super hero community and pitting them against one another. Fundamentally this spirit is retained in the film. But it also makes countless changes to said source material in order to make things work for the MCU (and for the better might I add).

 When it comes to this movie there isn’t exactly one specific storyline that the film draws upon as an adaptation throughout the movie. Spider-Man 2002 for example was clearly basing itself upon Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #39, Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2, ASM #121-122 and other sources.

 Off the top of my head the only specific stories this movie could be said to draw direct inspiration from are Straczynski’s Mr. Parker Goes to Washington arc (due to the Parker/Stark relationship and the high tech suit Peter has) and the Master Planner Trilogy (for that rubble lifting scene). Beyond that it takes more general inspiration from the concepts present in Miles Morales’ stories and the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. Yes I am dead serious about that last one.

 This film of course features several classic characters such as the Vulture and the Shocker but the plot isn’t really derived from either of their debuts or any given stories about them. It’s mostly just the idea of some bad guys called Adrian Toomes and Herman Schultz with flying wing tech and super science gauntlets. And the latter doesn’t even really ‘shock’ or vibrate anybody. In fact both villains’ powers and the visual spectacle they could provide are really underutilized. They’re cool for what they are but you could do way more with say the Shocker than they did.

 Now such changes aren’t necessarily unforgivable. After all Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 was not featured in a storyline specific to any cut from the comics, sans perhaps his origin in ASM #3. The movie simply took the idea of Doc Ock as a character, did their own thing with it and then built its own original plot around his role. And it was hardly an uninteresting character they created. In fact when he was out-and-out villainous he was most certainly recognizable as the Doc Ock of the 616 comic books.

 The same cannot be said of the Vulture or Shocker here. That being said both characters are comparatively far thinner than Doc Ock and more or less operate as career criminals out for wealth or revenge most of the time; they just have cool gimmicks is all.

 So changing them up in order to tie more into the wider MCU, serve the needs of the movie and make them more interesting as villains is hardly a betrayal of the characters. In fact this is arguably the most compelling rendition of the Vulture ever. He is a bad guy but a working class bad guy in it to support his family above all else after Tony Stark puts him out of business. He’s not particularly vindictive, he just takes people out as needed because he’s just trying to do right by his family. He’s a bad guy for sure but not unsympathetic. Keaton really brings it all together for the character and his performance is possibly the strongest in the entire movie. In fact Vulture by rights is perhaps the strongest MCU movie villain in a long time, possibly since Loki.

 To an extent changes to the supporting cast can even be forgivable; especially since this is the first movie where it really feels like Peter even has a true supporting cast.

 After all Liz Allan is such a minor character in the grand scheme of the Spider-Man mythology and the hearts of the fandom that she amounts to little more than Peter’s high school crush, the Veronica to Betty Brant’s Betty, Harry Osborn’s eventual wife and Normie Osborn’s eventual mother. That was kind of it. So it’s not exactly a sin to change her role, relationships and general character so that she’s now more academically inclined and the daughter of the Vulture; even if the latter was more to serve the plot than her character. It does not however justify casting her with an actress who was not Caucasian...because that was justified by virtue of it being the 21st century and there is nothing about Liz’s character requiring her to be white.

 When it comes to ‘Ned’ well...that is a weird case. He is an immeasurably bad adaptation of Ned Leeds from the comics...but that’s because he is obviously not Ned Leeds at all. He’s Ganke from Miles Morales’ adventures as Spider-Man. And as an adaptation of that character he isn’t all that bad. He is however arguably less vitally important to this movie than he is to Miles’ adventures. Among other things, in the comics Ganke is vital to Miles’ decision to become Spider-Man and even recommends he study footage of superhero fights in order to prepare himself. Here such relevance is grossly diminished because Peter was operating alone as Spider-Man before confiding in him and had tech gifted to him from Stark. But it still isn’t a bad adaptation of Ganke besides his name.

 Even Betty Brant isn’t really unforgivable in this movie because the character is a bit player at most. The filmmakers simply had a character in mind and named her Betty Brant as some fan service.

 But then...you get into other characters.

 I never had a problem with Marisa Tomei playing Aunt May, nor the idea of de-aging Aunt May in general. But it is at the very least going a little bit too far when ‘the joke’ surrounding the character is that she is Peter’s yummy Mummy that people are giving freebies to because she is just that attractive. I’m 90% sure those who value political correctness would have more than a few words to say about the character being used this way in the movie and I’m not sure I’d disagree with them.

 May learning his secret this early on doesn’t bother me either. The way she learns it though is played for light laughs when in the Raimi movies, ASM #400 and JMS’ run that moment was so dramatic and powerful. This is because those moments were treated with respect and not played as a joke. After all Spider-Man’s mother learning his greatest secret and thereby his role in her husband’s death should be a big deal. But then again, the movie treats the character less like Peter’s mother and more like his cool big sister, even opting to have Peter refer to her as just ‘May’.

 Moving on, Flash Thompson in this movie is incredibly frustrating because half of his character is very much on point. He is the arrogant, bullying jerk rival to Peter with a certain amount of clout within the school. But the other half of his character is not because he isn’t a meathead jock which is very much vital to who he is and his overall character arc as someone who peaked in high school and matured away from athletics in later life. It really is a case of if he bulks up, drops the books and takes up some sports he’d make a solid Flash Thompson.

 And then there is Michelle ‘my friends call me MJ’ Jones...God...Michelle is a quiet, studious, cynical, politically minded character who’s mostly just in the background of events not drawing much attention to herself. In other words whether you are going Ultimate or 616 Michelle is unbelievably wrong as an adaptation of Mary Jane. And that is really not okay to do when you are handling one of Spider-Man’s equivalent of Lois Lane.

 But here is the thing...is she even Mary Jane is the question? She’s in the movie, she has comments and looks in Peter’s direction that indicate she knows or suspects something about him (so kind of like Parallel Lives) and she’s obviously going to be featured in future films. But is she honestly the MCU’s version of Mary Jane or is it just a cute reference? Kevin Feige has claimed she really isn’t Mary Jane it was just a reference but is she going to effectively  be the equivalent of Mary Jane for this version of Spider-Man? It all depends upon the sequels. If she isn’t then that’s fine. If she is then that’s a huge blight upon the MCU Spider-Man franchise.

 This Schrödinger's cat situation with MJ is actually pretty evocative of various elements of the film.

 The movie has within it the potential to move forward telling great Spider-Man movies that make use of the character’s rich history and classic stories.

 But that’s the thing. Right now it’s all just potential. We didn’t see any of that in this movie. We in effect didn’t see much of Spider-Man.

 Oh, I do not mean there was little screen time where the character was in costume. There was plenty of that and whenever he was just swinging around and addressing regular crime in Queens (like during the start of the movie) the film looked and felt great.

 No what I mean was there was precious little screen time in this movie where the character you could see on the screen acted or felt much like Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man.

 I said in part 1 this movie was inspired by Miles Morales and the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. That are the biggest sins this film commits, although in fairness I don’t want that to sound perhaps as harsh as it does.

 Peter’s journey and personality in this movie is honestly not Miles’, not exactly anyway. Holland’s Peter Parker is this find of blend of Ultimate cartoon Peter Parker with Miles’ desire to live up to the older established heroes. But mostly it’s more like he has elements surrounding him that belong to Miles. Ganke is the biggest of course and there his attendance of a STEM school that is not dissimilar to Miles’ Brooklyn Visions Academy. Although the latter does have the unfortunate and unnecessary effect of making Peter seem far less intelligent than he is as he is now a smart kid amidst a whole school of smart kids, including Flash whose whole point is supposed to be that he is a jock.

 These elements from Miles are discourteous to both characters as Peter is swiping Miles’ stuff thus undermining future film projects starring him and all unnecessarily. After all Peter has had 55 years of continuous publication as the greatest Marvel character of all time. He really doesn’t need to borrow stuff from a spin-off Spider-Man.

 But honestly beyond that I cannot myself honestly call this a Miles Morales movie that substitutes in Peter Parker.

 It would be far more accurate to say this is the best movie adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon anyone could ever asked for, regardless of how nobody was. Don’t get me wrong this was an enjoyable and likable movie whilst the cartoon is painfully insufferable...But that makes it no less forgivable that this movie take cues from that show. And no, I’m not just talking about giving Spidey merchandisable toys to play with like voice activated taser webbing.

 I mentioned in part 1 about how Spider-Man spends a lot of the movie bumbling about and how the core idea presented is he’s young, inexperienced and eager to join the big leagues.

 This is essentially what the character is like in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. In that show the core idea of Spider-Man is a ‘hero in training’ who has to learn lessons on how to be a hero and so someday ascend to the Avengers’ ranks. He is almost always cocky and in over his head, stumbling around and routinely humiliated in his efforts, learning his lesson the hard way, alongside team ups of course.

 Holland’s Spider-Man is a toned down rendition of this albeit he has no teammates and is trying to specifically impress one particular hero Iron Man who lectures him, saves him when he is in over his head and reprimands him as a parental/teacher figure would, teaching him a lesson about himself when he removes his gadget laden suit (or his ‘toys’ as it were).

 All this...is very much a massive betrayal of Spider-Man’s character. And not even a betrayal of what he was specifically like in the comics, but of the guiding philosophies Ditko and Lee had when creating him.

 An enormously important aspect of Spider-Man’s early creation was that he was the anti-Robin. He was the teen hero who was nobody’s sidekick, junior team mate or had an adult overseer of his superheroic activites. Though a student and under Aunt May’s care as a superhero Peter Parker was self made, self taught and truly independent. He made his own costume, he learned how to fight on his own, he learned from his mistakes on his own and he did things his own way. This is especially poignant in the context of the times he was created in. The 1960s were after all the era of the counter culture, a time where young people rejected the authority represented by their elders.

 Oh and he was also cash strapped to the point where his equipment was typically homespun.

 Whilst Iron Man’s involvement in Peter’s life, Peter’s fancy gadget suit and his desire to become an Avenger and impress Stark makes sense in the context of the MCU it wasn’t strictly demanded by the ongoing narrative of the MCU. It was not unavoidable that the film series take Spider-Man down this particular direction. Nor was it justified by virtue of needing to do something novel with the film or showcase what can be done with Spider-Man now as a part of the MCU.

 I said above that adaptations are ultimately obliged to respect the spirit of the things they are adapting if nothing else. The reason for that is after all because whilst it might be fresh and original to go in such a drastically different direction the price for the novelty is the selling out of the very thing you are adapting (undermining the point of adapting the thing in the first place).

 If Spider-Man can only be fresh and original by becoming far less recognizable then it’s not a price worth paying. Essentially I am saying the spirit of Spider-Man as a character is honestly more important when you are doing a Spider-Man movie than anything else.

 If that would be compromised because the reality of the character’s existence in the MCU makes something more realistic then audiences should be asked to suspend their disbelief.

 If strengthening Spider-Man’s ties to the wider MCU requires making his whole motivation a desire to join the Avengers then another way to integrate the wider MCU should be dreamed up.

  If there is an idea to generate novelty by emphasising the character as ‘young and inexperienced’ (read over eager, stupid and bumbling) and give him lots of cool high tech gadgets then dear God dump that idea hard and come up with something else!

 There are three key scenes that quintessentially embody this approach to the character and the problems therein.

 The first is the opening scene where he is recording a video diary on his phone and is hyper excited and exclaiming at how cool everything is...even during battle!

 I’m sorry, but even if Spider-Man was a 15 year old in the modern day I don’t believe for a solitary second that Peter Parker would be like that.

 Granted the film never gets worse than that when it comes to characterizing Spider-Man but it also rarely gets too close to a viable rendition of the character. Ignoring how Garfield and Maguire’ s Spideys were clearly more competent in their initial use of their powers, even Josh Keaton’s Peter Parker in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon was more together, reigned in and capable than Holland’s comes across in this movie. And his Spidey had been in action for far less time.

 The second scene is when Ned/Ganke debates unlocking the suit’s full features with Peter. Ned isn’t supportive of the idea but Peter bounces up and down on the bed claiming he wants to prove that he isn’t a kid to Tony Stark. The moment is meant for humour and taken on its own it is funny.

 Taken in the context of who Spider-Man is supposed to be as a character it is frankly insultingly infantilizing. And the scene of course leads to Peter further bumbling about with the new unlocked features of his suit (including getting into embarrassing discussions with Karen) clearly showcasing how ‘he isn’t ready for the big leagues’ because he isn’t really ‘grown up enough’ to play with his Big Boy toys properly.

 Finally the scene where Stark takes away his suit is possibly the single most infuriatingly insulting moment for anyone who knows the Spider-Man of the comics. It further emphasizes the infantilization of the character by literally having his allegorical teacher/father (did I mention Uncle Ben isn’t mentioned once in this movie) come to bail him out of the trouble he caused and consequently scold him, take away his toys and basically ground him.

 To make matter worse Peter says that line I’m sure we’ve all seen from the trailers about how he’s nothing without the suit Stark gave him. Firstly as I mentioned in part 1 it makes little sense for Peter to say this given how he had been operating as a hero on his own before Civil War and how before unlocking his suit’s special features the suit was just a fancy pair of spandex and long Johns. Before Karen and all his other gadgets Peter still had all of his super powers and was still helping people. Second of all again this is so, so, so, so wrong for who Spider-Man is and is supposed to be for reasons I hope I don’t have to explain to anyone who knows much about Spider-Man.

 The scene is also representative of a fundamental problem with the movie over all. The destruction from the ATM robbery. The chase scene following Peter’s departure from Liz’s party. The truck robbery in Washington. The elevator crisis at the Washington Monument. The destruction of the ferry. If you watch the movie...Spider-Man pretty much either made these situations worse or outright caused them.

 Even if you were to argue that had he not intervened Toomes (who’s never called the Vulture to my recollection by the way) would have gotten or distributed more dangerous technology, Spidey’s efforts actually prompted him to attempt a far more daring crime that would have resulted in far worse consequences.

 Now my problem isn’t that the movie fails to show us Peter feeling guilty about these things (I think we’ve all seen enough Parker guilt to last a lifetime) it’s that the movie is using these instances to show Spider-Man’s incompetence/inexperience and how ‘he’s not ready’ to do the stuff we’ve seen him do in the other five Spider-Man movies basically. This is a Spider-Man who is not really operating on the same level of competence as he was in the previous two origin movies!

 I doubt most critics or viewers will pick up on that though because it is often played for chuckles. Which actually brings up yet another major problem with the movie.

 Whilst there are quips to be found from Spider-Man’s mouth it’s really not nearly as much as you would think. Most of the humour is to be derived from laughing at Spider-Man’s slapstick antics or stumbles in life. This wasn’t devoid from previous films but it was never laid on this thick. And it is also not how humour in Spider-Man traditionally operates.

 In good Spider-Man stories humour in regards to Spider-Man himself is derived from his witty banter as well as the misfortunes he goes through in life (often as a result of being a superhero). However the humour whilst derived from Peter’s problems tends to be ironic and laughing at the character whilst also feeling sorry and solidarity with him. It’s almost as though you chuckle at Peter’s misfortunes but then want to pat him on the shoulder and say ‘There there dude’.

 It wasn’t a case of pointing and laughing at him for being a clown or incompetent. This is in fact a major problem with modern comics’ depictions of Peter Parker too. There like in this movie Peter’s incompetence causes or exacerbates crises rather than resolving them at the cost of his personal life.

 Now in the interests of fairness the final third of the movie where Peter dons the costume he made himself, is no longer under Stark’s eye and does things for himself is where I really began to see Spider-Man on screen. That was where Holland really sold himself to me and I felt that yeah, this kid is Peter Parker.

 Too bad the final third has its own problems.

 I mention in part 1 how Spidey doesn’t beat the Vulture so much as he survives him and that in and of itself is a legitimate flaw.But perhaps the single biggest problem and the moment that shows how colossally Marvel Studios dropped the ball when characterizing Spider-Man, is the rubble lifting scene.

 Now of course this is taken from the Master Planner Trilogy. It is the most classic of classic Spider-Man moments. It is the climax of a three part story where everything has been thrown at Peter, everything has piled on top of him and gone wrong and now he’s buried under tons of metal debris under water in a room that’s quickly flooding, all with Aunt May’s life running out fast. So he digs deep and draws upon his own will power to free himself.

 It is for many people THE definitive moment for Spider-Man, as proven by the endless homage and references it’s had over the years. But in Homecoming, as in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, the moment is mishandled. It happens too quickly, it fails to build up to the moment throughout the film and makes it about proving Peter is more than just a suit (which he should already know) as motivated by Tony Stark rather than Peter motivating himself (through Uncle Ben’s memory) to never give up and ultimately come of age. It essentially wastes the only moment the film drew from classic Spider-Man lore, and unfortunately it happened to be maybe the greatest moment of all Spider-Man lore.  

 So yeah...Peter Parker’s characterization and depiction in this movie suck hard. I don’t care if you want to try and defend it on the grounds that in the context of the MCU Spider-Man’s admiration of the Avengers would make sense. Because in 616 he sure as Hell wasn’t gushing over Cap or the Fantastic Four despite them also being big names that preceded him in the universe.

 Even the argument that his awe over the Avengers is a result of him growing up in a universe where they are the biggest celebrities in the world doesn’t really add up. We do not see Spider-Man’s origin but it’s presumed to be essentially the same story it always is. Which is to say in the MCU 15 year old Peter Parker got super powers and obviously didn’t immediately try out for the Avengers, contact them or otherwise try to emulate other superheroes. He still resolved to use his powers to help people solely because his Uncle died and he blamed himself for it. Which egregiously undermines the awe he feels over Iron Man and the other characters because they never really factored into his dedication to heroism.

 Regardless though, his awe over the Avengers cannot justify the bumbling nature of this version of the character.

 I mean honestly what does it say about a Spider-Man movie when the most competent protagonist wasn’t Spider-Man himself but Ned/Ganke, a character who doesn’t even belong in Peter’s story! Putting aside how it robs Miles of his most vital supporting character, Ned’s inclusion here gives Peter a friend and confidant which is also not part of his story in his early days. I don’t even oppose him as a friend for Peter, just not someone in on the secret, let alone Peter’s own version of Microchip.

 Now there is a possible silver lining to all this though.

 My own personal biggest concern with the film is that Marvel Studios’ fundamental defining idea of Spider-Man is guided by the notion of youth. This would be very much in line with the utterly misguided and toxic philosophy that has shaped Spider-Man’s comics since at the very least 2008 and probably guides him in television too (hence the USM cartoon).

 However it may well be the case that actually the characterization they went with resulted more from the mere fact that they opted to begin Spider-Man as a kid to provide something fresh for him and the MCU at large and that going forward they will write him in a way appropriate to his age. That is to say he will not necessarily be like this in future instalments and will develop into a more appropriate interpretation of Spider-Man. In fact all that bumbling might not be a case of Marvel Studios believing Spider-Man should be like this definitively but rather it just being (as I said in part 1) a general MCU thing.

 Heck most things in this movie could transition into a more traditional interpretation of Spider-Man or else (like Michelle) be ignored in favour of going with tradition.

 But then again...they did give him back his stupid gadget laden suit at the end of the film.

 Some final points.

 ·         I find it weird that Feige would claim Peter Parker is just a kid from Queens in criticism of ASM 2 but allow him to be granted a super gadget laden tech suit in this movie.

 ·         Spider-Man said ‘Whoa awesome!’ or ‘This is so cool!’ or something along those lines way too often in this movie.

 ·         Pepper and Tony’s reunion was weirdly tacked on for this movie and kind of undermines Civil War.

 ·         Cap’s scenes were hilarious and stole the show.

 ·         This is easily the Spider-Man movie with the least dramatic heft or power to it.

 So overall from an adaptation point of view this movie gets a great big fat D.

 But it’s a probationary D because it may well be the case that they did what they did out of necessity and going forward things will be okay. In which case I will retroactively amend this.

[professionalfoodstalker]

One In A Million // Kevin

Girl you're so one in a million You are Baby you're the best I ever had Best I ever had And I'm certain that There ain't nothing better No there ain't nothing better than this ××× It's too damn early for this. Why I had to be the one to go the grocery store I don't know. They woke me up out of my sleep knowing damn well out of everybody in the house I like my sleep the most. "Kev. Kev. Kevin we need to go to the store." Brian said, lightly shaking me in my bed. "Then go to store and leave me the hell alone." I groaned in my pillow, then flipped myself over to where my back was facing him. "I'm sorry. What I meant was: you need to go to the grocery store." "Rok, you're already up, why can't you go? Are you disabled in any way shape or form?!" He flopped on my bed and I was tempted to push him off. "Nah, man, me and Nick were about to get into an intense game off Mario Kart when I realized we're out of breakfast food." "There are 2 other guys in this house you could ask so why are you bothering me specifically?" To my dismay, I could feel myself slowly waking up. "If Jay went, he wouldn't be back until like five o'clock in the afternoon. If D went, he'd come back in time just not with the correct groceries. (Ya know, I think he does that on purpose so I won't ask him again.) I'm asking you because I know you're the most responsible and you'd go and get the right stuff in a timely fashion." Eventually I sat up and pushed Brian off my bed, hesitantly agreeing to go get groceries. I slowly push around the metal cart, thinking of all the ways to hurt those inconsiderate bastards when I get home when I hear metal clashing. I shake off those thoughts and look up to see what happened. "Holy shit! I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and it's so early. I haven't had my morning coffee yet so I promise I didn't mean to do it on purpose!" This woman stammers and I can make out the fatigue in her voice. She doesn't even glance up at me. She has fair brown skin and her hair is in a messy bun atop her head. The fact that she's not wearing makeup tells me that she really is tired and doesn't care that's she's out in public looking like she just woke up. I don't know what color her eyes are under her shades but I can surely tell that she looks tired and her lack of effort to smile doesn't help. Her baggy Lion King sweatshirt hangs off of her left shoulder and her sweatpants are seemingly held up by the jaw string. "It's alright, I promise. Clearly I wasn't the one paying attention." I say presenting a small smile. (One I'm hoping she'll reciprocate.) When she finally gives me her attention, her face stills. She bears an unreadable expression and I don't know what for. In what seems like a flash, she untangles her basket with mine, reverses it and changes her direction. Maybe she's not a social person... "Hey, wait..." My voice fades out in realization that it's not even worth it. Moving on, the first aisle I step into is for cereal because Howie can't go a day without his Lucky Charms and will be pissed if I don't get them. It makes me chuckle, remembering when AJ ate the last of the Lucky Charms one time and Howie cussed him out in Spanish. And Nick was mocking Howie, then he got cussed out in Spanish. Yesterday was fun. Next Brian wanted me to get him some macaroni and cheese, ice tea, and ginger ale for him. Nick and I both like Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, that reminds me to get two separate pints this time because next time he eats mine I will kick that kid's ass. I search through all the various flavors of dairy delicacy and my ears unconsciously pick up on a conversation being held in the next aisle over. "Mama, you don't understand! He was fine...as in fine as hell fine!" The voice sort of matches the one to the female that I had a semi pleasant encounter with no less than five minutes ago. I continue my actions with pulling two cartons out of the freezer and her voice gets closer. "No, I know, Mama! Yeah you didn't send me to the store to find a man. I got it. But he was fine! Now what type of bread do you say get?" Now I don't want to get cocky because I hate arrogant people but what are the odds that she isn't talking about me? Honestly. I have no intentions whatsoever to confront her but the bizarre thought of this woman openly talking about me is kind of exciting! Calm down Kevin! This woman could be talking about some other good looking gentleman at this market at 10 o'clock in the morning. As my luck would have it, just as I'm turning out of the frozen section I crash into another cart. Or rather the same cart as before. I was most definitely distracted by that woman's conversation and that's exactly who I run into. Seems like she didn't expect it neither, her shades fell off her face but she held onto that phone like it was her lifeline. "Oh my fucking God!" She hisses under her breath but loud enough for me to hear. And she cusses, that's not very ladylike. I like it. I see there is coffee in her basket along with creamer, zebra cakes, swiss roles, cheese crackers, white milk, hot pockets, and bread. Is that for her because that is junk. Straight junk. But who am I to judge? She drops to her knees to pick up her shades and when she comes back up I am bitch slapped by her beauty. Her cheekbones rival that of my own and her eyes are a shade of green and brown. Out of all the guys I know, I've never been ashamed to admit to myself that I have a black woman fetish. Well, my cousin's got a bit of one himself; they obviously love the jawline, baby blue eyes and the goofy personality. But I can't blame him, we grew up the same way and they were almost like forbidden treasure to us. And people know that when you can't have something you without a doubt want it even more. "I don't know whether to say this is funny or very awkward." I comment jokingly. "Same. I feel like I have introduce myself now since I've interrupted your day twice now with my carelessness." She chuckles, putting her shades atop her head and I am literally mesmerized by her eyes but it appears like she's trying to avoid eye contact. Nor does she remove her basket from mine. "Well that shouldn't be too hard. My general southern hospitality requires me to go first, I'm Kevin." I hold out my hand for her to shake (and I want to look into her eyes, if she gives me the opportunity.) Yes, my heart speeds up a notch when she giggles at my lame joke. I don't even know this woman's name! Come on Richardson, get it together! "Southern hospitality, huh? Thought I heard a country accent in there somewhere. Eva." My heart rate kicks it up another two notches as she shakes my hand and meets my eyes all at once. ×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××× I rush into the house, nearly throwing the groceries into he kitchen. Brian and Nick were – just like he said – engaged in a severely intense game of Mario Kart. Looks like their trying to beat Rainbow Road again. "Hey cuz! Did you get the stuff from the store?" Brian asks, not moving from his position. I'm moving so fast, I'm struggling to take off my jacket to get upstairs to change. Someone comes up behind and tugs my jacket sleeve and everything fell into place afterwards. I turn around and see it's just Howie and he looks like he woke a second ago. He goes to lay down on the couch and watches Bri and Nick play the game without any words. That could've been me but then I wouldn't have gotten Eva's number! And I sure as hell wouldn't be meeting her at Starbucks for lunch! "I sure did!" I yell from the hallway. "Oh since you're so helpful can you also–" "No. No. And hell no. Cook you're own damn food! I have a place to be." "But I wasn't–" "I don't care. I have a place to be." I steady my breathing by walking up the stairs then I hear: "Damn, you'd think he's getting his dick sucked at this place where he has to be!" The his unmistakeable giggles to follow. "The fuck did you say Nickolas?!" I pause on the carpeted stairs. The childish giggles turn in coughs real quick. If I wasn't in such a hurry to take a shower and choose a casual outfit for Starbucks, I'd go back down there to threaten him with my fist. That always works quite effectively. We plan to meet up at 12:30 so that gives me roughly an hour. I took some time in the shower to wash my long hair and it needs to blow dried which I will do after I put on my clothes. A white T-shirt, red flannel, and jeans is casual right? White Converse are like the epitome of casual in my book. I check my watch and see that I have 10 minutes and it takes me a minute or so to get over the shock of that I clearly stayed in the showers way too long. Now I don't have time to dry my hair. Good Lord, I sound like a woman! Man bun will have to do I see. Cologne, check. Deodorant, check.  Groucho Marx eyebrows, check. Wallet, check. I'm good to go. I basically jump down the stairs and now everyone is playing Mario Kart game. Appears to be DK Summit this time. "Ah fuck you AJ! How dare you throw that blue shell at me! It's the last lap too!" "Nicky it's not my fault your ass was in first place. Keyword being was." AJ cackles. "Language!" Brian scolds. "And you're in last place that wouldn't have helped you anyway." I comment. Nick looks up at me and pauses the game with his controller. "Kev, where're you going? Are you really going get your dick sucked?" "Language!" "Nick...You better hope you're not the first person I see when I come back from Starbucks." "Starbucks?!" They question in unison. "You hate Starbucks! You think all the people who drink Starbucks are uptight and full of themselves!" Howie says. "And I still do. I have a lunch date with this woman I met at the store so that's the only reason I'm going. Don't wait up kids. Don't burn down the house. Don't starve. Daddy will be back later." I grab my keys, jacket and walk out the door. ××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××× On the way there all I could think about was what this Eva woman was like. There's no doubt that's she's cooler than Elsa on ice. I just want to get to know her. She's obviously gorgeous and that makes me nervous. And this will be the first time I was asked out by a black woman, normally it's the other way around but I have no problem with that either. I enter the coffee shop and there she was standing at the front of the line in a yellow sundress with white Converse and her hair is out of that perfect messy bun. Gorgeous. And casual, like I thought. I don't know what she was ordering but I thought I should pay for it. "Hey you!" I greeted her and she jumps, holding her chest. "Hey you! Don't do that I have a weak heart." She laughs to herself. "Oh my God, really?" "Oh hell no but don't do that. I was just ordering if you want anything." "I don't eat here so I wouldn't know what's good. Why can't I just have what you're having?" "Because I'm getting a salad, do you want a salad?" "Oh hell no." I chuckle, my eyes graze the menu. "Get whatever you feel won't ruin my taste buds. I trust you, girl." "But you don't know me." I lean down to whisper in her ear. My lips graze her ear. "That's what I'm here for, Eva." I turn on my heels and search for a booth to sit at. An hour later we're chatting like we've been friends for years. I finished my sandwich and she finished her salad. "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure babe." That came out oddly easily. It rolled off the tongue like water rolled off a duck's back. "Do you know that you are insanely gorgeous? Like you are fine as hell!" Suspicions confirmed. I drop my head and when you're white, the blush is right there front and center. "You must make men feel real insecure when you're standing next to them huh?" "And you're one to talk! I feel like I'm on a date with a supermodel." "I don't know about the super part but that's probably because I am a model." My eyebrows nearly shoot off my face. I stand no chance of hiding my shock. "Really I'm model too!" "I'm gonna have to come see one of your shows then. I'm sure I won't be disappointed." Eva winks at me and I can't stop smiling. "I guess that means the same for me. I know I won't be disappointed." Then I add my wink and she tucks a braid behind her ear and that's probably the sexiest thing I've seen in a while. The flirting continued all throughout the rest of the date. It went so well. Better than well more like fantastic. I stroll in the house with a sack of Chinese food and a stupid ass grin that's going to break my face sooner or later. Those little bastards snatch the bag out of my hand but nothing can kill my vibe. I know its too early to tell but damn, Eva might be the one. I don't think I will be able to find another one like her. Brian walks up to me putting soy sauce on his teriyaki chicken and rice. I look down at my little cousin and the grin still hasn't wavered. "Aren't you glad I sent you to the grocery store?" I don't even respond I simply nod and join the boys in the kitchen. ×××××× @nessaimagines

[the-awoken-crusader-blog]

Your Fate is Your Own

[PoV: Meikakuna]

[Location: Johto Region]

Many years ago...

Long ago, I was born to a powerful family. We had strength, we had money, one would think that I had the perfect life.

No...it was anything but that...

Power was the only thing that they cared about, in order to gain strength they either fought others in order to take their power...

...or obtain it through arranged marriages when a rival was too strong.

I did not have much of a childhood growing up, for the only purpose of me and my sisters was to marry the leaders of other clans. By bringing the clans together, we supposedly make our own clan stronger.

Did my sisters and I have a say in it? No...we did not...

And I hated it.

I was forced to learn ‘proper mannerisms’ that my mother made sure to drill into our minds, to act like a ‘proper lady’ in order to make ourselves appealing. They didn’t teach us anything else such as self defense, since that’s not needed if we were to marry someone strong.

My sisters were obedient, but I was not. I would object whenever I could, to make sure that they KNOW I will not stand to be used as a tool to further their desire for power.

Numerous times they have disciplined me, but every time I would fight back harder.

...

I find myself sitting before my father, the gold-garbed Shedinja looking down at me with fury. “Time after time you do this.” He growls, beginning to pace back and forth. “You continue to disobey us, Meikakuna. Your purpose is to marry the leader of a powerful clan, in order to make us stronger.” He stops, turning his cold gaze to me. “And yet...you refuse to work with us, time after time...” He lets out an angry sigh and rubs his eyes with his fingers. “Your sisters know their place, and yet you do not...”

I simply sit there, my jaw tightening as I merely looked at him defiantly. I could object, to shout out my outrage...however... I am also not stupid, to defy my father in his face is something that I cannot do. The consequences would be too...severe...

He clenches his fists, his gaze intensifying. “Meikakuna, you are the most beautiful out of all my daughters.” He growls to me. “You have the potential of bringing us the most power, you must realize how important your role is.” He approaches me, his voice getting lower. “You WILL cooperate, otherwise...the consequences will continue to grow.” He clenches his teeth as he leans in, his voice becoming a whisper. “Understood?”

My jaw sets as I simply sit still, refusing to respond. This makes my father even more angered, hearing the snarl coming from him.

“Leave my sight!” He growls, turning away.

...

Oh how I wanted to leave this place, but I knew that I wouldn’t get anywhere. I had no knowledge of the outside world, no combat experience, I would not survive on my own if my father’s warriors didn’t find me first.

So am I left no choice but to follow my father’s orders? To become ‘proper’ and force myself into marriage with someone who may be far worse?

No...I refuse to let that be...

In the middle of the night, I decided to take a chance.

My father has a special trainer named Kurasshu Nami, who taught all of his men the ways of combat. The Greninja may be very old, but his knowledge is vast.

Out of everyone, he was the only one that was kind to me during the few times we’ve spoken. Others gave me suggestive looks or looks of scorn, however unlike the others he gave me a kind smile whenever we would cross paths.

I feel that he might not agree that my father’s ways, that he merely serves my father due to having no choice of his own. It’s a hunch, but one that I have a good feeling on.

So with no other choice, I snuck into the barracks at night to seek him. I wanted him to teach me the ways of combat, to give me a fighting chance. But if my hunch was wrong? Then it would be over for me, for my action of seeking Kurasshu out is the greatest defiance to my father...

...

I silently make my way down the halls, my movements so soft that it’s almost as if I’m gliding. It turns out that my mother’s teachings on elegance have proven to be of some use, since it assists me greatly when it comes to sneaking around.

I could feel my heart racing as various scenarios play in my mind of what could happen when I find Kurasshu, for he could be my salvation...or my damnation. He could help me with my plea and teach me, or tell my father of what I tried to do.

Approaching the room he resides in, I see light from the cracks of the door. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I slowly slide it open to peek in.

I see the elderly Greninja humming to himself as he reads several ancient scrolls next to a candle, a hobby of his from what I’ve heard. Before I could steel my nerves and approach him, his gaze wanders to the door...

I feel my body freeze in place when he notices me, his eyes widening slightly. Kurasshu slowly stands, looking at me with curiosity. “Meikakuna?” He inquires quietly. “Why are you here? And at a time like this?” His eyes narrow slightly. “Is your father aware that you’re here?”

Taking another deep breath I harden my gaze, clenching my fists tightly as I open the door fully. “No, Master Kurasshu.” I respond. “My father does not know that I’m here.”

The elderly Greninja blinks a few times before his expression becomes grave. “Meikakuna...” He says in a warning tone. “If your father finds out that you snuck out of the palace, you would be in very big trouble.”

“I know that, Master Kurasshu.” I say lowly, preparing myself for what I plan to say next. It took me several long moments, but seeing him looking at me with a raised eyebrow...I eventually find the strength to continue. “Master Kurasshu, I wish you to teach me the ways of combat.”

This makes the Greninja pause, his eyes widening slightly. “You desire me to teach you the ways of combat?” He repeats slowly in disbelief. “Lady Meikakuna, you do realize that me teaching you directly disobeys your father? If I were to do so, you would be punished in the most severest of form while...I would be executed for treason.”

I lower myself to my knees, closing my eyes and bowing my head to him. “I understand that, Master Kurasshu.” I whisper. “Doing so puts your life at risk, but please... I cannot live this life, for it leaves me with nothing. I can’t live like this.” I look back up at him with pleading eyes. “I can understand why you would turn me away or even tell my father, but please... I beg you to help me, to teach me how to defend myself so I can escape this life.”

He looks at me long and hard, as if weighing his options. Every second that passed by felt like an eternity, the intensity of my heartbeats almost making me sick.

For what felt like days have passed, he eventually smiles. “Lady Meikakuna...” He chuckles. “I have always admired you for your spirit and how you defied your father, so I was counting the days until you eventually came to me.” A grin works his way onto his face. “And for me? I am getting old, very old... At this point death is already creeping its way up to me, so execution means little to me now.”

The sheer relief I felt was almost overwhelming, it’s as if Arceus themself decided to show me mercy. With tears forming in my eyes I feel my lips widen into a smile for the first time in a long while. “Thank you...Master Kurasshu...” I whisper, bowing my head again. “You do not realize how much this means to me.”

The elderly Greninja chuckles again and shakes his head. “You are welcome, Lady Meikakuna.” He offers me a hand, an action that I’m not used to. With a bit of hesitation I slowly grasp it, in which he pulls me to my feet. “Obviously, none of this nor your training will be spoken of.” He says to me, his expression becoming stern. “Every night you will meet me here at precisely midnight, and we will train for three hours. It will be hard and you will be very tired, but if you desire to become a warrior...then you must be prepared for the difficulties.”

I quickly nod my head to this, however he continues before I could speak. “And you must become more cooperative with your mother and father, in order to draw less attention to us. The more you listen to their words and participate in their lessons, the less likely they will suspect you of rebelling.”

I could feel my lips twisting into a distasteful frown of the prospect of having to bear with those dreadful lessons of being ‘proper’, but I nod nevertheless. “I will do so, Master Kurasshu.”

“Good.” He nods, his smile returning. “We will start tomorrow, so go back and get some rest Meikakuna.”

...

And so began my training with Master Kurasshu, a secret kept from everyone else.

Despite it being called a barracks, our warriors never stay there. In the palace there is a section specifically for the warriors to stay in order to keep them close, however Master Kurasshu chose to stay in the ‘barracks’ in order to have some peace from the rest of the happenings. This has proven to work in our favor, for we are perfectly alone when training.

The process was slow and painful, oh so very painful. I couldn’t even start to actually fight at first, for the first step to become a proper fighter is to exercise and build my body.

But as the days past, my body grew stronger. Thankfully the visual difference was minor, it gave my body a more toned appearance. Nevertheless I made sure to wear my dress-kimonos to cover them up in order to prevent people from becoming suspicious.

I also kept my word to Kurasshu and become more cooperative with my mother and father, despite what I think of them. As much as I disliked sitting through these lessons and listening to them, I must admit that it does make things easier for us. My mother and father were greatly suspicious, but eventually they decided that I have ceased my resistance.

Of the others? They did not question me, for every time they approached I would respond with aggression and distaste. This is something that they often expect from me, so they believe that my overall personality hasn’t changed...simply my submission to my parents.

However little did they realize how wrong they were...

Once I became more cooperative, my father eventually became more lenient with me. More doors became open to me than before, such as access to the library. There I would read books of the outside world, to learn of its workings so I would be prepared for when I eventually leave this place.

If my father or mother were to inquire, I would simply explain that I wished to learn more to better serve the one I were to marry (which nearly caused me to vomit when speaking those words). If anyone else were to ask, I would tell them to simply fuck off.

Once I became strong enough when training with Kurasshu, he began to teach me the basics of combat. Despite how different it was, I was a fast learner... Each day I would learn something new, and I would quickly master each technique he showed me.

To him, I’m his prodigy. He told me many times that I’m doing far better than any male Greninja that ever set foot here, something that made me glow with pride.

Eventually it got to the point where I’ve mastered every technique...

...

“Lady Meikakuna...” Kurasshu grins, looking at me with pride. “You have grown very strong over the short amount of time, you have learned every lesson that I’ve taught and every technique that I’ve demonstrated.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “And so, I believe it is time for me to teach you something I haven’t taught anyone else.”

Sitting on my knees before him, I look at him with rapt attention. “What is it, Master Kurasshu?” I ask eagerly.

He chuckles at my desire to learn, something that he greatly enjoys. “Lady Meikakuna, I am about to teach you the art of Firudo Dorobo...or ‘Field Thief’.”

Seeing my perplexed expression, he shakes his head before chuckling again. “Field Thief is a special technique in combat, something that rarely sees the light of day. It involves using many hazards in order to make the ground hostile to your opponent, and then navigating the field in order to force your foe to follow and constantly deal with the obstacles.” His eyes glint in the candlelight. “Essentially, you steal their ground and turn it against them. This style involves elegance and maneuverability, some of your greatest strengths.  I believe that Firudo Dorobo will be the perfect style for you.”

...

And so we began the process of learning the Art of Firudo Dorobo.

He first taught me all of the Moves necessary to fully utilize the effectiveness of the style, which is Smokescreen, Spikes, Ice Beam, and Water Pulse.

The process was the most difficult of all, for learning new Moves is no easy task let alone four. I already knew Water Shuriken and Night Slash since Kurasshu taught me those first, but these four?

It took me at least a week to learn each new move and a week longer to fully learn how to use it. Eventually once I’ve learned how to use each move effectively, he showed me how to use them in succession and how to turn the field against my opponent.

Spikes and Smokescreen are a rather simple combo, to scatter the sharp objects on the floor and then hinder my foe’s vision with the smokescreen. However the moves Water Pulse and Ice Beam can also be used on the field instead of as direct attacks, for I can make the ground slick with ice or turn dirt to mud.

Now learning how to do this is easy, however navigating the hostile field is another task. In order to prevent it from being hostile towards my foe AND myself, I had to learn footwork and how to prevent myself from slipping on mud and ice, impaling my feet with the spikes, and moving through thick smoke unhindered.

My natural grace and awareness have proved to be my greatest ally, for despite it being difficult at first...I quickly grew to fill the role. Soon every step I took was both light and planned, my movements swift and graceful. I moved with a majestic smoothness, easily gliding through the hostile field of smoke, spikes, ice, and mud.

While doing this I would strike my foes with Water Shurikens or even throwing out Spikes designed to be throwing needles, something that I’ve created on accident before continuing to do so on how effective they were. And if my opponent managed to get close? I will use my combat skills and Night Slash to take them down.

And so I have fully mastered the Art of Firudo Dorobo, Master Kurasshu had nothing else to teach me.

...

“Lady Meikakuna.” He addresses to me, his face glowing with pride. “You have grown very strong while under my guidance, but now...I must tell you that there’s nothing else for me to teach to you.” He turns away and proceeds to make his way down to his chambers, beckoning me to follow. “Come, there is something I must show you.”

I follow after the elderly Greninja, the eager feelings swirling inside me. To have proven to master everything he wished to teach me fills me with great pride and joy, for now I am capable of defending myself.

But...what is it that Master Kurasshu wishes to show me?

Upon reaching his chambers we approach what looks like an old cabinet, he carefully slides the wooden doors open to reveal what it contained.

Inside is what I can describe as a pink sleevless kimono that splits open past the waist, the flaps of cloth that would hang near the legs contain intricate white patterns before shifting into a bright blue with several black lines. Hanging behind the unusual kimono is a pink sash, assumingly meant to be tied around the waist.

“Meikakuna...” Master Kurasshu says quietly, not addressing me by my title for the first time. “What you are seeing is something that my wife once wore.” He slowly reaches into the cabinet and takes the kimono and sash with great care. “The Art of Firudo Dorobo? That technique was mastered by my wife before she taught its ways to me...”

He turns to me, offering me the kimono. “I wish you to have it.” I open my mouth to object, but he shakes his head. “This kimono signifies one who has mastered the technique, it was something she wore into battle.” He smiles sadly at me. “If you look at it, there is no damage. It is because she was truly a master, the only thing that could slay her was...time itself.”

I gingerly take the kimono in my hand, feeling the silk in my hands. Closing my eyes I bow my head.. “Thank you, Master Kurasshu...” I whisper. “I will wear it in honor of her and you.”

He uses a finger to raise my chin so that he could look at my face. “You have grown greatly, Meikakuna.” He chuckles. “But now...it is time for you to leave this place, to make your own fate.” His smile slowly turns to a frown. “But you must make haste, for once your father discovers that you’ve left...he will surely try to hunt you down.”

“What about you, Master Kurasshu?” I ask with worry. “He is no fool, he’ll figure out that you are the one responsible.”

The elderly Greninja chuckles. “My time is done, Meikakuna.” He says with a shake of his head. “I have lived a long life, with you mastering everything I’ve taught you...I have nothing left. Let him figure it out, my death means nothing to me now.” His eyes narrow ever so slightly. “But go, Meikakuna. Leave this place and never look back. The kimono has some money in it, use it to board a boat and flee Johto.”

The two of us exchange our heartfelt goodbyes before I turn and leave. Upon entering the training hall I proceed to change my clothes and don the kimono that has been given to me, the soft silk feeling smooth against my skin. I can feel the clinking of coins in a hidden pocket to signify that Kurasshu has indeed given me currency, so I will use it to flee this land.

Without looking back, I leave the barracks and sneak past the guards...and vanish in the dead of night.