#ons chapter 143 analysis

[lostsoulaltair]

Owari no Seraph - Answer Found. A reason to live

Hello everyone, this post itself is a final conclusion of one of the aspects it's often touched in the manga story...and I finally found the answer to it.

P.S: Theories, analysis, thoughts are held in a neutral view, ships are excluded.

What is a reason to live? Why is it always emphasized on this story?

With the many chapters of the story, we've seen how many characters have talked about a "reason to live" right? Along this we've seen many "finding out one". But...

"Is finding a reason to live equivalent to live for others? Is it equivalent to fulfilling someone's dream?"

The answer to this is a big no. But why? Is there something backing this up?

Such answer lies on the next questions

Have you ever wondered why vampires become demons?

Why even humans can become demons?

Why do demons feed on desires?

Those questions actually can be answered on the very core of how vampires are made which is back when they were human beings.

The very main task of humanity is to find a purpose, to find a reason and a place in the world. Something that motivates you to live another day and struggle against the constant battles in life.

Thus, let's focus first on the very core group of the three that are bound by desires and emotions. Correct, the first group is

Humans

Despite humans being the most emotional group; humans are tasked with finding a purpose. Along the series, we've seen the MC state so many times he's going to live for someone, this also applies with Guren and Mahiru mainly. What do I mean?

Contrast to what it is believed, Yuu, Guren, Mahiru are characters that haven't found reasons to live; they're living for others along having objectives for others rather than themselves.

Guren ever since he was small he was raised to follow what it meant to be the head of the Ichinose Family. But that responsibility changed when he met Mahiru and saw himself as weak, unable to save the love of his life; adding to this, when his squad was defeated and killed, he was about to give up but he didn't and instead chose to follow the path he chose. Mahiru's destiny was set in stone if she wanted to see her baby sister alive, she had to quit any idea of actually living and finding a purpose. Yuu doesn't love himself, he craves love but there's not a single hint of him focusing on pursuiting a reason to live; a reason that can be called his for his own.

All these three have something in common and that is that they are demons, they've reached a step of becoming demons that exploit their desires.

But for that, let's explore the next group.

Vampires

Vampires have the normal desire to drink blood to live, which is an equivalent to humans eating and drinking water to live. Vampires are the group of humans that long gave up on life, they chose a different path instead of finding a path, to find a purpose and Mikaela is a prime example of that. He lives because Yuu is the being that pushes him to continue living but that's very different from actually willing to live along finding a reason to live.

Yuu is a motivation source, but not what Mikaela wants for his own self but let's not confuse that Mika has bad thoughts. But rather, Mikaela is an example of humans who aren't able to be strong against certain conditions and it's normal and something that shouldn't be criticized.

In special conditions, no matter the willpower one's soul carries, some things simply come like a wave, hitting us and overwhelming us. There can be sources that push us to continue but it's not akin as having the will.

This also applies with the vampire progenitors. They endured trials in their life but instead of walking in the path where the light of the sun lied, they chose the shadows. They resigned their humanity but in exchange, they became unable to find reasons to live.

Urd for example, given that he has no passion or lively emotions, he can only seek salvation through making vampires humans again, letting them find the final solace which is to die as a human being.

And given that we know that the final path for vampires is to become demons. Let's head towards such group.

Demons

The last step for vampires. But why do they become demons? Is that really the end?

Yes.

Vampires turn into demons not just because they can be made but rather, because they've never found out a reason to live. Hence as demons, they have a neverending craving of human desires so they can keep searching for eternity what they long lost and cannot seek. Demons are bound to get lost given that their former selves gave up in life to find a reason to live and exist.

One of the best examples for demons is Ashera Tepes. One who accepted the conditions of the First with the long dream of giving a happier world for his sister, Krul Tepes.

For sure, the day he died as a human, he was born as a vampire, he sought for his sister only to find her in her last breaths. But instead of allowing her to travel through the course of life no matter how painful it was, he made a choice for her. Krul didn't have a voice but rather his brother. The consequence? Krul was unable to die; she as a vampire was tired of living endlessly, with a never changing body, being unable to walk under the sun, being unable to walk on the path on which humanity walks and most importantly, being unable to the be ruler of her life.

Furthermore, even if he felt gratitude towards the First, what did Ashera even fulfilled? Did he have a personal dream for him? It will forever be unknown...he became someone that fed on desires given that demons have a chained need to them.

Then. What is to "find a reason to live?"

To find a reason, is to find a purpose, to give meaning to one's existance. It's not receiving or giving to someone given that people will be part of your path; but rather, it's actually deciding what you want to do, what dreams you want to achieve, to cry, to get angry, to stand up once again.

It's to literally choose why you want to keep standing, why a new day is a new opportunity, it's deciding your path for your own, not choosing for others but you alone, it's defining what makes you "you". What defines you exactly as the current being existing.

This couls be compared to our daily lives. What do we want to reach? You get emotion thanks to someone's art, speech, actions; then something like a flame bursts giving a fiery passion like emotion, and so, our actions begin but they're not made for selfishness. When you draw, when you create your first piece, what is it that you feel? When you manage to play your first song, what is it that you feel? When you make your first discovery, what kind of emotion is born? When you create your first story, what do you feel? When you conclude and give birth to new ideals, what is what your heart feels? When you pursuit a goal such as becoming number one or aiming to be first place or managing to do something that gives fulfillment, what kind of emotions are born?

But most importantly..

This is a delicate thread between being selfish vs giving love to one's self, embracing the concept of one's existance and walking firmly in this trip called life.

The squad right now, are having their own agenda, not Guren's, not Ferid's, not Mahiru's, nor Rigr's. But their own. They found a beacon of light but said beacon is motivating them to fight for what they want to achieve, for the very goals they have along finding for each other why they want to live and see a new tomorrow.

Mitsuba is slowly finding a reason, so will the boys do so as well.

Lastly, what differences humans from vampires in general, is that humans have the right to walk under the light for the very reason they keep fighting. Whereas vampires long lost the opportunity for that. They long abandoned the righteous path that would let them have a human heart.

Humans on the contrary, strive down a path until they leave a mark on the world. The memories they bury on Earth dance between the hearts of people they managed to connect with. And so it begins once again in a new cycle.

That's my answer.

What do you think dear readers? Let me know!

[aihoshiino]

chapter 165 thoughts

Aqua Hoshigan Status: It's Officially Hoshinover

Chapters Until The Story Ends Without The 143 Kiss Being Addressed Or Acknowledged: 1

damn i guess they really did just kill his ass

I'm gonna be so real with you gamers, I kind of don't have a lot to say about this one either lol. Which I acknowledge sounds completely wild given the Everything that happens in it, but most of my meat and potatoes analysis in these reviews comes from breaking down characterization and we're flying through everything at such breakneck pace that we're barely getting any characterization.

It continues to drive me bugfuck insane that Ai is completely absent from this finale despite the importance of 15 Year Lie. Its imagery is plastered all over but whenever we return to it, we just see Aqua. Not only that, but Gotanda is the one who insists on pushing the movie through for Aqua. 15YL as a story about Ai's true self and her tragedy is now officially taking a backseat to being about Aqua's tragic death and legacy. It was already bad enough that we spent so much time in the Movie Arc not actually focusing on Ai to the extent that, as everyone pointed out, based on what we saw on-page it was basically a Sad Kamiki Movie, but this really is just pissing right in the wound at this point lmao.

The funeral scene also serves as the final nail in the coffin for any Secretly Alive Aqua copes, which is kind of a relief. I still don't like how Aqua's death played out, but I think dragging it out for four chapters then going "sorry you thought i was /srs when i was just /jk" would have been infinitely more insulting. I don't like this ending, but I can respect that Akasaka seems to be sticking to his guns on it, even if we still do have like a whole chapter left for him to whip around and go "I WAS /JK ALL ALONG!!!!" but I don't see it happening.

Anyway, yeah! The funeral! Uh. Is it gonna sound weird if I say I felt kind of like… grossed out reading this the first time? Like, I really don't know how else to explain the visceral "why the fuck is the author making me read this" reaction I had to it. I think it's just because Kana is so fucking distraught here and the drama is just so hammy and so over the top that it feels kind of… ech. I dunno. I just really didn't vibe.

It doesn't help that this is part of a much broader pattern in the back half of OnK of Aka getting us right up close into the gory details of a character's complete mental breakdown and suffering and then spend zero time or focus on their recovery. This happened with Ruby all over the Movie Arc and this many times and with this little runway to the end of the series, it just starts to feel exploitative, like a way to cheaply pull at our heartstrings without doing the work to build everyone back up after tearing them down.

also pre-emptively dreading all the fuel this is going to add to the fires of People Who Are Weird And Misogynistic About Kana but she could die saving innocent children from a burning building and people would find reasons to be shitty about her lmao

we really are not seeing ruby's reaction to finding out her brother was dead huh lol

I will say the one thing I didn't Actively Dislike about this chapter was Ruby, though. I was honestly starting to get pretty skeeved out with how many people were gleefully predicting or actively wishing for her immediate suicide purely for ship motivated reasons and I was also worrying that the story was going to pretend that Ruby doesn't like. Have a life and support system outside of Aqua. Yes, she should absolutely be affected by his death but this period of her shutting down only to drag herself back onto her feet that we seem to be getting feels way more in line with pre-Movie Arc flanderization Ruby and I'll take that W where I can get it.

god. I haven't even talked about Kamiki's supposed serial killer cult. I just don't have the strength. Like… that's self-evidently stupid, right? I don't need to explain to you why that's ridiculous and unbelievable? You don't need me to tell you why it's fucking crazy that we're getting this information about the alleged overarching antagonist of the series not only in the second-to-last chapter of the entire series but after he was already dead, right? We can just move on? Ok good. jesus christ.

FINAL CHAPTER NEXT WEEK…

[rabbitsrants]

SHINRAN AND THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES

physical touch

physical gestures of intimacy that communicate emotional closeness and love

ran initiating physical contact every time she's scared or upset:

chapter 1

chapter 143

chapter 924

imo these examples prove that ran's ultimate safe space is shinichi. i mean, sonoko is right there, but ran still chooses to cry on his shoulder lol!

one more example:

shinichi comforting a worried ran by holding her hand because he knows how much physical touch means to her

chapter 48

i just love them so much

shinran checking each other's temperature (it's their thing):

chapter 347

chapter 353

chapter 652

chapter 759

chapter 1006

shinran initiating physical touch because they refuse to lose each other:

chapter 651

chapter 653

chapter 654

bonus: ran being extra (I LOVE HER SM)

chapter 752

SHINRAN JUST BEING SHINRAN:

chapter 36

chapter 255

chapter 573

chapter 922

JUST THE WHOLE KYOTO ARC, Y'ALL

chapter 1000:

shinichi: tells ran to stay away from him cause he caught a cold

ran: doesn't give a shit

ran's a physical touch kind of girl through and through!

chapter 1004

shinichi grabbing ran's arm cause he's uncertain about her feelings and needs clarification:

RAN'S CLARIFICATION:

chapter 1005

SHINICHI GOING ALL IN:

this analysis made me realize two things:

a) after acts of service, ran's primary love language is physical touch

b) when it comes to the bedroom, it's likely that ran's the one who initiates but shinichi takes charge (i always thought ran would take charge lol)

visit the shinran library for more

[kentuckyfriedmegumi]

i’m PISSED about the way gege handled megumi’s character and i wrote an entire 1k-word analysis/rant on it

i think what makes me especially mad in the way that gege has handled megumi’s character is just in how much set up we were being given. yes, megumi was taken over and suppressed for 50 chapters, but we see how he haunts the narrative.

yuji is CONSTANTLY fighting, working to get him back, it is his MAIN focus in this entire fight. yes, he wants to kill sukuna, but it’s BECAUSE he wants megumi back.

“wake up, fushiguro.” (chapter 251)

i’ll do it as many times as it takes! “wake up, fushiguro!” (chapter 263)

in addition to the long, drawn-out “save megumi” arc, we had megumi’s growth as a character before then. he starts off as someone who does not see value in his life. he would rather sacrifice himself to save his friends bc he believes that their lives are worth more than his.

we see this in how willing he is to throw away his life and summon mahoraga. he’s NOT suicidal, it’s just that he would rather that HE be the one to die than anyone else that he cares about when it comes to a deadly situation (sukuna, finger bearer, etc.)

haruta is an entirely different thing, he was already dying. people who think he was stupid for summoning mahoraga on haruta don’t realize he was literally on the verge of death when haruta pulls up and slashes him from behind.

megumi’s mindset is also PERFECTLY defined in the baseball episode and in his flashback talk with gojo in the OoBO. he’d rather play support and sacrifice himself than have someone else sacrifice themselves for him. he needs to learn to be more selfish, greedier, if he ever wants to grow as a sorcerer.

but that contradicts with how he wants to live. he’s living for tsumiki, he’s a socercer for tsumiki. he doesn’t care about getting strong or being the best, he just wants to do what he can to support her, so he doesn’t mind if he’s the sacrifice play.

until yuji. yuji comes in and he dies in the detention center, and we see meg slowly morph into this desire to become stronger. he wants to be strong so he can save people, which is something that he never really cared about doing before, but he doesn’t know how.

then we get to the exchange event, the fight with hanami, and him getting taken out by the bud curse, and he realizes that he NEEDS to be stronger so he can save people like yuji and tsumiki. this is the start of his arc and after his fight in OoBO, he never summons maho again til shibuya

after shibuya (bc there wasn’t a TON of meg development-focused stuff in that arc), we see he’s had a MAJOR growth in his abilities and CT. he’s a lot more confident in how he fights, he’s very dynamic and cunning, and he’s using the shadows in a new way.

but on the other side of it all, he’s struggling a lot internally. tsumiki is awake, but she’s been roped into the CG. he’s wavering and he needs support. he’s stronger now, but he’s not strong enough. he wants to save tsumiki, but he doesn’t know how.

“so start by saving me, itadori!” (chapter 143)

after megumi is taken over sukuna, we see him fight back. he does originally and he suppresses sukuna’s technique in order to protect yuji. however, sukuna acts specifically in a way to sink his soul and submerges him in darkness.

this is the lowest point on megumi’s character. it leads directly into chapter 251 where megumi has entirely given up. he sees no purpose in living, his entire reason for being a sorcerer is dead. yuji tries to pick him up but sukuna cuts them off and we’re left with megumi no longer wanting to live.

this makes his recovery THAT MUCH more important. this makes his character arc SO MUCH more impactful. this is why whenever we get to ch. 266, and yuji and megumi FINALLY talk, it’s a beautiful convergence of their emotions as they talk about their loss and why they feel the way that they do.

this is why it entirely pisses me OFF that after we finally, FINALLY get megumi back, he is immediately sidelined with the rest of the B cast. we don’t get any post-battle discussions, we don’t get a continuation of “i’ll be lonely without you,” we don’t even get a proper conversation between him and yuji.

all of this buildup, this setup, this constant tension between megumi and yuji saving each other and yuji doing literally anything and everything to get megumi back, it all comes to a boiling point, it’s about to spill over the pot, and then it just… ????

i actually get so SO mad thinking about the way that megumi’s character has been concluded. unless this final chapter really does touch on him, his outlook on life, and his motivations now, megumi’s character was just entirely wasted and thrown to the side of the sake of other conclusions and new plot introductions.

we don’t even get a further explanation of “i’ll try to live for someone else.” we know it’s for yuji, we know he comes back because yuji tells him he’ll be lonely. maybe meg is living for yuji but without the self-expectation and pressure he had when he was living for tsumiki. maybe he realized that even a simple life is worth living, so he will use yuji as a crutch as he finds his purpose again again.

something. ANYTHING. any sort of convo that indicates that megumi has NOT retracted into his old self. it probably is the case where he chooses to live for yuji, but is determined to live for himself, but JESUS can we not get a convo about that????

in conclusion, megumi’s character has been so BEAUTIFULLY written. he is so tragic with so many complex motivations and ideas. and we get all this converging together at the very end and it just… disappears. it’s immediately sidelined. how fucking frustrating is that.

[bigahhhhhhhh]

A quick analysis that I thought about on Akusuya based on Leo and Suya's chapters...

It's something that I forgot to mention is that, whenever it is a Leo chapter, Leo has the worst impressions of himself, and says he has done something wrong, even though either he regrets them and tries to improve and or has quite the good reasons for that; while Suya is literally just behaving the same way he just inquired wrong without any reason and or trying to stop herself whatsoever. Like in chapter 111 and 112 where he thought of himself as a stalker (even though he did that for justifiable reasons considering he has to keep her in check lol), while it was revealed in chapter 71 and more explicitly in chapter 143 that Suya's stalks him all the time just because she likes his smell and his room's smell; and or in this chapter when she gives him the wrong idea of what she actually wanted to do... I think that's a neat detail, and actually might be quite the hint that maybe, just maybe Leo internalized hate might be just a way he views himself that is completely different from the way Suya views himself... Notice that whenever somebody makes a mistake Suya is able to point it out, and is quite snarky; while when Leo does it she quickly tries to help him out and or justifies it, such like in the chapter where he interrogates Zastur, chapter 209, and, 153, 350 and 351 and others… 

One example of those behaviors are chapter 99 and 350-51.

(Notice how Leo is afraid of creatina a misunderstanding between the two of them, and right after Suya is the one that does that; and in chapter 351 he is afraid of touching her body or violating her autonomy or thinks that she is having the worst time of her life while she is playing in his tail and literally dresses in his body, once again DOING EXACTLY what he was afraid of doing).

Also, she is always saying how nice he is with her and many other things and in many instances seems to be extremely jealous of him too lol, also not caring much about personal boundaries, etc.

Chapter 112 and 281

In my opinion she has probably somewhat already realized she likes Leo very early on in the series... More specifically before chapter 71, like maybe around 48 - 55 around that time, maybe even before considering we have no idea when exactly she started going to his room, like if it's around chapters 48-55 to 143 than MAYBE she has been stalking him for more than a year or even like maybe 2 years; 

71 and 143, and 42. Considering Suya know exactly the MOMENT to catch Leonard's clothes, and she can actually mimick some of his behaviors really well as shown in 26? It might be fair to think she is been stalking him for a very long while now...

But notice how her behaviors in chapter 70, 71, and in another one where they actually have a pajama party, are very, and I mean very odd for her… (I can't find this chapter, but there is a chapter where Bussy?? And Harpy are in a pajama party with Suya and she is acting truly weird whenever they mention the Cleric incident, though notice that she never corrects herself when mentioning sleeping with somebody again, or ever stops coming to his room; if somebody knows what chapter it is to back up my evidence I would be glad lol).

Like, as if idk, she was really bothered by the thought that others might think she likes the Cleric? Who knows??

Also, considering Tumblr only accepts 10 photos per post, I will just say the chapters to notice things about and then you guys reread and pay attention to Suya's behaviors, and patterns and there is a lot going on in the background... Leo's narration is an UNRELIABLE ONE so it's not a good idea to go listening to him considering that every time he is proven to be wrong about Suya's feelings towards him...

Considering chapters like 310, 337, and many more and also chapter 71 as my one and most powerful proof of this Shipp to be canon in the end, I supposed that maybe Suya feels the same way towards Leo, whoever her being... You know, Suya... She doesn't quite know how to express it, I honestly think that Leo's feelings aren't exactly unrequited, just... You know... He is more going through somewhat of a 5 stages of grief regarding his love life, he is now, at this very moment going through the stages of denial to acceptance considering he is starting to have the courage to ask her out, etc... So yeah... Probably..?? But idk…

Besides if you guys notice it too in chapters such as 234, you might notice another interesting detail, Suya realizes that Kamosh is not Leo the moment he is around... Only stopping the act at the end, at least that's the impression I got, considering she is able to notice who he is quite quickly in per example the chapter where she is selling stuff lol; and in that chapter 234 Kamosh is very critical of Suya, saying she isn't quite the girl for Leo because she doesn't like him, and most likely sees him just as a friend or something of sorts... HOWEVER as soon as she says that he can't touch her hair because he isn't Leo, he suddenly changes his mind, and remember that besides not liking the idea of Leo liking Suya because she apparently doesn't seem to understand how he feels he also doesn't like the idea of him dating a human too.

Whoever that quickly changes once he views them together... Another thing is that Hypnos might be aware that Suya likes Leo too, considering chapter 221, Suya looks extremely happy in giving him a massage while also happy that he is giving her one, Hypnos told her that if she wanted one she needed to be quiet, and even though it wasn't quite the long massage she really appreciated it; AND in chapter 337 Midnight suddenly appears in the sky and helps Kamosh and Suya so, maybe he also knows what's up??... Anyways... I love to overanalyze stuff.

 

See chapter 234, 221 and 337 (for better understanding and notice Suya's and also the others reactions.

So logic comes this way: both Suya and Leo like each other but are afraid of rejection, Suya according to the chapters is mostly rejected no matter what she does, only in the end after she pushes his boundaries she is actually able to get closer to him, while whenever LEO is the one to invite her over or when something is for him she stops absolutely everything she is doing EVEN SLEEPING just for him, notice that pattern such like in chapters 79, 337, 55, 48, 289, and many, many more.

And some characters like Midnight, Hypnos and Kamosh already realized that, but aren't going to interfere much, mostly Kamosh and Hypnos will but only when they feel like it or if they notice that Leo needs their help somewhat.

Also, also another thing important to infer; Leo is the one that is mostly on his own mind, and is more aloof to the whole thing while Syalis is the one pursuing him; the chapters are mostly from Leo's perspective whoever if we analyze them correctly they come CLOSER to Syalis behaviors and thought process... So according to what we can infer from the manga…

So yeah, that's my case. Suya likes him back but is afraid of going after him because she probably thinks he is going to turn her down no matter what she does... Which kind of is true considering Leo's behavior of wanting everything under control and also in need of explanations for things that don't actually need one lol; which honestly also if that's the case, Suya isn't as wrong to think that way considering what happened at chapter 310, which was basically her wanting to go on a date with him, only for him to misinterpret her actions as herself wanting something in the human world dragging him alone and giving him more work lol (which honestly also understandable because she is INDEED a walking mass of destruction see chapter 130 for reference, he must’ve remembered that to be more specific.); at least that's how I see, if that's where it keeps on going, maybe the ending will be them together after all…

[duxbelisarius]

Dune At Home: The First Dornish War, Part Four

Thank you to everyone that has followed the series thus far (you can follow the series via the Master Post and AO3); I hope you've enjoyed it and have found it informative! Now that we're done discussing the strategies of both sides when the war began, we can discuss how the Dornish and Seven Kingdoms armies conducted their campaigns (ie Operations) and fought battles (ie Tactics), as well as the use of the Targaryen dragons.

I want to start by covering dragons, since they play an important role in how the war is perceived; before discussing tactics however, I want to throw my hat into the ring on another subject: dragon size. /u/servantoffire gave a pretty good estimate for Balerion's size some years ago, and while I think his length figure of 126 feet long is a solid estimate for Vhagar during the Dance, when she was almost as large as Balerion, my estimates for Balerion take a different approach. We are told by Tyrion that Balerion could swallow an aurochs whole, or a mammoth from Ib; since aurochs existed in our world, we can use their height figure of two meters at the shoulders. Ib being an island, I think these mammoths are likely similar to the dwarf mammoths of Wrangel Island rather than the free-roaming specimens north of the Wall, and their heights would be c. 2 meters like an aurochs. In order to estimate Balerion's size, I compared this 2 meter height to the jaw size of one of the largest reptiles known to have lived: Hoffmann's Mosasaur, estimated at c. 40 feet (c. 12.2 meters) in length from snout to tail.

The best estimate I've seen suggests that it could open it's jaws 1 meter, and my estimate for Balerion's jaws would be 3.5 meters to fit an aurochs or dwarf mammoth with some room to spare, giving us a body length of 140 feet from snout to tail. For Balerion's wings, /u/servantoffire used a Flying Fox's dimensions to arrive at a wingspan of 453 feet; my estimate is based on Dany's comment in her first chapter of ACOK regarding her dragons wings: "their span was three times their length." This gives Balerion a wingspan of 420 feet (128m) with a body length of 140 feet (c.42.7m), and using the 126 foot (38.4m) length for Vhagar gives her a wingspan of 378 feet (115.2m). These measurements allow us to extrapolate the size of other dragons in the series: Aenys I and Aegon the Uncrowned's dragon Quicksilver was a quarter the size of Balerion at her death, putting her at 35 feet (c.10.7m) long with a 105 foot (32m) wingspan; Caraxes was half the size of Vhagar during the Dance, or 63 feet (19.2m) long with a 189 foot (57.6m) wingspan; Arrax was one-fifth the size of Vhagar (c. 25 feet by 75 feet, 7.6m by 22.9m) and Vermax and Tyraxes would have been slightly larger and smaller respectively. After this we can only speculate, but if we propose that the difference in size between Vermithor and Vhagar during the Dance was similar to the difference between our estimates of Balerion and Dance!Vhagar, c. 14 feet (4.3m), Vermithor would be 110 feet (33.5m) long with a 330 foot (100.6m) wingspan. Tessarion and Seasmoke were both a third the size of Vermithor, giving them a length of c. 37 feet (11.3m) with a wingspan of 110 feet.

The smallest dragon for which we have measurements is Baela's Moondancer, described in F&B as no larger than a warhorse in 130 AC; her size is relevant not only for giving us a sense of how small a dragon can be an still fly with a rider, but also because determining the size of a warhorse in George's world will be relevant for Part 5, where I plan to discuss the Dornish Marches. From John Pryor and Elizabeth Jeffries' analysis of Medieval horse transport ships (Age of the Dromon, 304-333) and Ann Hyland's research on Medieval and Ancient Roman horses (Medieval Warhorse, 143-148), a 12th century Medieval warhorse would have been around 15 hands tall from the hoof to their withers (where the shoulder meets the neck; 1 Hand = 3 inches, 15 Hands = 5 Feet). Hyland further estimates that a Roman horse would have been between 13.5 and 15 hands, with 16 hand horses not being unknown for Ancient and Medieval breeds, meaning a height range of 4'5" to 5'3" (1.4 to 1.6m).

Based on how dragons are depicted alive and in heraldry in TWOIAF, the forelimbs of the dragons appear to make up half the span of the wing, meaning that Moondancer's wings would each have been 10'6" in length for a wing span of c. 21 feet (6.4m), with a body length of 7 feet (2.1m), using the aforementioned estimates for warhorse height. By comparison, the largest known flying animal discovered to date was Quetzalcoatlus Northropi with a wingspan of 36 feet, equal to a Cessna 172 four-seater utility aircraft. Given George's already established problems with scale which we've discussed in this series, I think it's safe to assume his warhorses are much larger than they actually were, and Moondancer in turn is somewhat bigger. A height of 18 to 20 hands at the withers would give her a wingspan of c.24 to 26 feet (7.3 to 7.9m) and a body length just north of 8 feet (2.4m).

My reason for investigating dragon sizes is to help illustrate just how massive the Conquerors dragons were, to give some indication of how deadly they would have been in combat. We obviously know that dragons can fly and breath fire, but one activity that seems quite underappreciated about dragons is that they can also dig. Leaving aside the likely origins of dragons as creatures created magically by crossing fire wyrms with wyverns as proposed by Septon Barth, we know from the books and elsewhere that even large dragons can tunnel and make burrows. Despite steadily increasing in size, Rhaegal and Viserion are still able to tunnel through the brick and earth foundations of the Great Pyramid of Meereen, using their fire and claws to make a cavern large enough for Viserion to hand upside down from its ceiling. The Cannibal was the largest dragon alive during the Dance after Vhagar and Vermithor and is said to have 'made it's lair' within the dragon mount, while George also talks about dragon lairs and 'deep caverns' under the dragon mount which likely required some effort on the part of the dragons to render suitable for dwelling.

It is surprising given these tendencies that no attempt was made to go after the Dornish in their tunnels and caves, assuming that our hypothesis from Part 2 is true. We estimated that it could have taken 3 months for Aegon's host to reach King's Landing from Dorne, during which time the garrisons he left behind ought to have been trying to locate where the Dornish population was hidden. Even a single dragon would have a assisted these efforts immensely given their flying and digging capabilities, alongside what should be heightened senses of smell, hearing and sight which should be considerable for magical apex predators. Like the Cappadocian subterranean dwellings, the Dornish hideaways would have needed shafts connected to the surface for access clean air and sunlight, as well as to provide chimneys for fires and to allow wells on the surface to access water sources further below.

Like Cappadocia, the Dornish could not have disposed of animal and human waste in underground rivers they depended on for water, so 'nightsoil' would have been stored in jars and disposed of on the surface. Livestock being kept underground would also have needed opportunities to graze and stretch their legs on the surface, creating further opportunities for the garrisons and dragons on the surface to locate them. Once entrances could be located, a dragon would have made short work of them like a kind of hellish Clifford the Big Red Dog. We noted in Part 3 that blocking the passes and forcing the dragons to clear them could allow the Dornish to target the riders, provided the ambushes had been planned and set-up in advance; attacking the caverns would mean less risk since the caverns need to be kept hidden, and any troops stationed nearby on the surface would be a liability.

The other issue regarding dragons in the First Dornish War is the manner in which the Dornish attempt to fight while the dragons are at large. TWOIAF tells us that the Dornish "harried and ambushed the Targaryen forces, then would scamper beneath their rocks as soon as they saw the dragons take flight," but this raises serious questions. For starters, why are the dragons taking flight? We mentioned 'writing to lose' at the end of Part 3 and it's hard not to think that this is what is happening, as the Targaryen dragons should be in the air as much as possible to monitor events on the ground. The size of Aegon's army means its column should be long enough to attack it without the immediate risk of a dragon intervening, so it makes little sense why the Dornish are taking such risks. If we use Balerion as an example, his incredible size means that Aegon cannot ride him on foot as he did in Oldtown at his coronation, since his claws and weight would ruin any of the roads in the Prince's Pass (and probably should have ruined those of Oldtown too).

Short of resting or clearing obstacles, Balerion should be in the air every chance Aegon gets, but the Dornish tactics also make little sense. While harrying and harassment might be possible with small numbers of troops, the purpose of an ambush is to surprise a foe and maul or annihilate their forces or at least put them to flight, especially though not always if the foe is superior in number. The presence of a dragon poses a problem since withdrawing the moment it takes off makes it unlikely that the losses inflicted on the enemy are severe, rendering the entire action pointless. Nor can it be assumed that such a timely withdrawal would be possible, since a melee developing or counterattacks by the enemy could make it difficult or even impossible for the attackers to withdraw without great loss. Unless means have been planned for in advance to mitigate the dragon's ability to intervene, there is no reason for the Dornish to attack at all when a dragon is on hand to assist Aegon's forces.

In the interest of treating the Dornish Marches with greater detail in Part 5, the last tactical or operational subject I want to discuss is the conduct of Aegon's forces in the Dornish Desert. We already mentioned in Part 3 that whether George knows it or not, Harlan Tyrell and his men should never have reached Hellholt, but this is only the tip of the questionable writing iceberg. In explaining the plight of the Highgardeners, F&B tells us it was the second year of autumn and it was hoped winter would arrive soon and bring more water and less heat to the desert. The Dornish sun was unrelenting however, and with the local water sources poisoned the Tyrell host lost almost all it's horses and a quarter of its men. We're given no indication of how they obtained water otherwise so even without our logistical knowledge we can still assume that the water they carried with them would not have lasted long, and Tyrell's host would have needed to force march most of the distant at the cost of significantly more men than the 25% they lost.

The weather does raise problems for the plot: the rainy season in both Spain and Israel/Palestine begins in autumn (roughly October-November), and we should expect this to be the case in Dorne given those regions were influences for George's depiction of Dorne in the books. George insists that Dorne receives enough rain even in the summer to remain habitable, so we should expect that by autumn there should already be some relief; if we're to believe that this autumn has been more dry than usual, this poses a serious problem for the Dornish. If 1 BC and 4 AC have already been write offs agriculturally as we suggested in Part 2, a dry autumn in 3 AC would mean an additional year of slim returns owing to reduced rainfall, in addition to the difficulties organizing planting and harvesting while the population at least attempts to remain hidden (Aegon sends a delegation in 3 AC to negotiate, which would have reported any activity by the Dornish that they could observe). The autumn of 3-4 AC being hot and dry should also have ruled out marching to Hellholt since finding water in the desert would have been difficult with or without the Sandy Dornish poisoning water sources.

Whether or not the Tyrell host was sent to Hellholt, the question of water supply would have been on the mind of Harlan Tyrell regardless of the circumstances and climate in which he was fighting. According to George, the Reach and Stormlands rarely get snow, and almost never in Oldtown and Dorne. Even if the climate is more temperate in the Reach proper and the Honeywine Valley (north and south of the line Bandallon-Brightwater Keep-Horn Hill respectively, inclusive in the former case) compared to Dorne with more abundant water, heat and exposure to the sun should still be an issue for the population. Harlan Tyrell was steward of Highgarden for House Gardener prior to being named Warden and Lord Paramount of the Reach by Aegon; it's almost certain he was in charge of supplying and quartering Mern IX's massive host before it marched to join Loren I Lannister's at Goldengrove. We have no reason to doubt TWOIAF when says that Harlan proved a 'capable steward' for the Reach, which makes it that much more unfathomable that he lead his host to Hellholt in the first place.

F&B says that it was Aegon who divided his host and sent Tyrell against Hellholt, implying that Aegon arrived at the decision and Tyrell supported it. Although F&B has Tyrell claim that Aegon's host could defeat any Dornish army without Balerion, clearly intending to show his arrogance, there's a difference between arrogantly underestimating your opponent's forces and ignoring the supply needs of your own host despite leading it through a desert. One is absolutely arrogance but the other is ignorance and outright incompetence, and it's the latter which is implied by the almost chiding way in which Gyldan states that 'men drink more' in the heat, as though Tyrell would have been unaware of this fact despite hailing from a kingdom whose climate is almost too warm for snow. Aegon and Harlan Tyrell should both have access to the archives of the Citadel and those of the Gardener and Durrandon kings as well as those kept by the noble houses of the Reach and Stormlands, they cannot have passed the 4 years between Aegon's coronation and the invasion of Dorne is blissful ignorance of what they would face. Water supply is a necessity for warfare at all times, and only becomes that much more important if water is scarce where operations are taking place.

The 10th century Byzantine manual On Campaign Organization and Tactics refers to the danger of operations when the enemy is at large and water is scarce, but what it says is applicable regardless of whether or not the enemy is close at hand:

13. The risk involved in marching through regions without water while the enemy is on the move.

In addition to other things, this too must be borne in mind: When the enemy are expected it is dangerous to lead the army through places in which there is no water, especially during the summer. In the winter the troops can often last for the whole day without water but in the summertime, not even to the noon meal. The men will perish along with the horses. It is a terrible thing to have to engage in two battles. I mean the one against the enemy and the one against the heat when water is lacking. If it should be necessary, however, they should choose a laborious route of three or four days to that shorter one which has no water. For it is preferable to march safely but laboriously along that long road which presents no danger than to choose the short one and fall into danger." (Dennis, Three Byzantine Military Treatises, 285)

The anonymous writer refers to many of the Empire's enemies from Arabs and Turks to Bulgars, Russians and Pechenegs, but there is no indication that water is any less important in Balkan Europe than in the border region of modern day Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Things are only made worse by what F&B tells us about the occupation of Hellholt; while it was believed Hellholt was well placed to respond to rebellions, "the river was sulfurous and the fish taken from it made the Highgardeners sick." Of course this implies that no one in Aegon's inner circle much less Aegon himself made any attempt to gather information about Hellholt in the 4 or so years prior to the invasion, let alone the year leading up to the invasion. This is not an error of judgement made in the heat of the moment, this is a systemic error that could have been avoided years in advance, and which raise serious question about the competence of Aegon and his lords (more on this in Part 6). More confusing still are the reports that the Qorgyles and Vaiths were ambushing Tyrell foraging parties that ventured too far west or east. As we noted in Part 3, Sandstone and Vaith are 150 miles or more away from Hellholt, meaning that the foraging parties and their assailants have to be crossing incredible distances despite the dry autumn and the hiding away of the Dornish population making it unlikely that any forage could be found to begin with.

Our discussion of tactics and operations will continue in Part 5, so the 'fix-it' section here will be fairly short. Much of these problems are already solved by what we did in Part 3, namely scaling back the scenario of the First Dornish War to make it more manageable. Tyrell never enters the western desert and the Dornishmen launch ambushes or when the dragons aren't there or if their effectiveness is mitigated by the terrain, so these scenarios never have to be depicted (in fairness to George, the quote about ambushes does not appear in F&B, so he seems to have cut it entirely). I'll have more to say about the dragons in Part 6, but the fact that the First Dornish War is less than half as long in our scenario (4-7 AC vs 4-13 AC) limits the damage they can inflict. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for Part 5!

[penultimate-step]

Oshi no Ko 143 Reaction

This was a fun chapter. Ruby getting aggressive finally forcing Aqua to stop ignoring the problems in their relationship that have been simmering for 20 chaps now and actually have a conversation that puts it all out in the open. They're mostly saying stuff I predicted in advance, but some of it took me by surprise.

One bit that made me stand up and !!! was this page:

I thought I was doing something interesting when I compared Ruby's feelings towards Gorou to Aqua's feelings about Ai in my last two analyses but she just came out and said it directly on page, haha. I feel pretty validated.

I still stand behind most of what I wrote last week after this chapter. Ruby is desperately trying to make this a romance, but her best pitch is "I care about you in the same way we cared about idols in our past lives. Parasocially and without regard for the actual person, because I need to put somebody on an idealized pedestal or else I'll kill myself. This is what romance is, right?" Girl with so so so many issues, I love her.

The one thing that did really take me by surprise was the bit where she listed off Aqua's flaws as a person. In the past I assumed that Ruby was intentionally ignoring these flaws and making up a version of Aqua that didn't exist in her head. The way in her mind he's drawn like a romance hero and how she makes excuses for all the things she took issue with before lead me to believe she was intentionally distancing "Gorou, her idol" from "Aqua, the person, her brother" in her head. I'm not sure how to square this knowledge with the way she is (textually, now!) putting him on a pedestal. If I had to guess, I would think she actually is aware of who Aqua is as a person - she was friends with him as Gorou before and siblings for 18 years, she should know him better than anybody - but is intentionally separating this knowledge from the figure she is idolizing, because she needs to keep ahold of something for her mental stability.

I'm reminded of an analysis post of OnK ep 1 I read on tumblr almost a year ago, I forget who posted it so I can't properly credit it but it's not my own thoughts. (if anybody else remembers it please let me know so I can link it!) They contrasted Gorou's parasocial fan relationship with Ai to Ryosuke, the stalker who killed him: both put were fans of Ai, the Idol, but when confronted with the reality that she was more than an idol, that she had relationships and would have children, Gorou decided that the health and happiness of Ai the person was more important than his image of Ai the Idol, and did his best as a doctor to help her, while Ryosuke's reaction to having his image of the Idol shattered was to try and destroy Ai the person. The analysis put forth the idea that this was contrasting healthy vs unhealthy methods of being a fan - that there's nothing wrong with being a fan of someone, necessarily, but you have to keep in mind that you aren't entitled to anything about them, and there's always a real person underneath the performance.

I didn't fully agree with it - in my post about how the series portrays different kinds of love I talked about how it came down very harshly on dishonest and idolizing love - but I did think it was very interesting (obviously as I still remember it almost a year later). Anyway Ruby's approach to Aqua this chapter made me think of that a lot. She makes a big deal out of how Aqua is her idol, their relationship is idol/fan, and she can ignore all his flaws - but at the same time she points out that she does actually know what those flaws are. It puts her in something of a strange position. What would she do if her image of The Doctor, Her Idol, no longer existed, and she was left with just Aqua? Would she care for the person, or be mad at losing the illusion? According to this chapter she fits into neither of those, she chooses to pretend that the illusion still exists even while staring directly at the reality. Ruby seems aware that she is essentially using the idea of the doctor as a coping mechanism, but doesn't want to admit that this desire is directly in tension with the idea about caring about Aqua as a person, romantically or otherwise.

As for Aqua, it's great that he's finally being a little honest with his emotions and feelings after so long, to the one person who is really able to understand the context.

However, I think he's still holding a lot back, especially in the latter half of the chapter, because there are things he doesn't feel that he can say to Ruby, specifically about their relationship. He seems hesitant to directly tell Ruby that he can't be her lover or her idol, he can only be himself - even when he tries to tell her that he can't be the person he was she just brushes it off - and I think with how Ruby's mental health is holding on by a thread he is unwilling to do anything to jeopardize it, even if it means accepting the spot on her pedestal.

My read of the relationship between Gorou and Sarina 22 years ago was that they were genuine friends at the time. Regardless of difference in age and position they were both socially isolated people who found one person they felt they could be honest and open with. This makes their current relationship even sadder - Ruby has twisted the memory of their old friendship into dreams of romance and idolatry to fuel the desire to live one more day. Aqua, who in his last life would have been willing to do almost anything to get her to keep living, is forced to cut away his own relationship to her, both last life friend and current life brother, because being dishonest - being an idol - is the only way he can see to keep her alive and healthy. Both have already cut away most of their other bonds for the sake of the revenge plan, and now they can't even be fully honest with each other. Very tragic stuff.

All in all I really really liked this chapter. The interactions between Ruby and Aqua has always been multiple layers of relationships and mindsets existing on top of one another, and that just makes it super interesting for me. I love it whenever that leads to character tension. They've been friends and siblings and idols and all of that has to coexist, its a very unique kind of character writing that Oshi no Ko does well and I don't see very often and makes me care for the series a lot. I think I have a much more positive view of this arc than most of the fandom because the trainwreck of their relationship is one of the series highlights to me, so chapters like this, where exactly how bad their mindsets have gotten are placed as the main focus, are some of my favorite story beats.

I know there's a lot of negativity about this chap but I'm having a good time over here in my corner. Not sure if it's because I've been letting my thoughts about the series out in posts a lot more recently or because I liked this specific chapter a lot but this is definitely most I've been invested in the series for a while now. I think I was letting the Discourse kind of sour things for me and now I have mentally exorcised it from my mind.

[everythingsinred]

~ essay navigation ~

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Anya's essays are interesting in theory, but I really don't wanna read ALL of it! I just wanna read the analysis of my favorite parts!" or maybe "I DID read all of Anya's essays but now I wanna reread one specific thing she talked about and I can't remember which post it was in because there's too many of them!" ? Me too! Don't even worry about it! Today I am addressing those issues with a TABLE OF CONTENTS!

This is for essay parts AND in-depth character questions related to GA that I've answered. I get a LOT of questions about GA's ending and thus I feel like I've talked about it exhaustively. This is how I make it all digestible. <3 Love ya!

Anime NM Essay (6 parts/includes a self-contained and easy to navigate table of contents so I won't go into it again here)

NatsuMikan Essay (Natsume's Version) (30 parts. This is the one people actually read I think):

Part 1 (covers ch 1-4. corresponds to pt 1 of mikan's/ mikan entering the academy and the northern woods game)

Part 2 (covers ch 5-8. corresponds to pt 1+2+3 of mikan's/ northern woods game and mikan's intro to academy life)

Part 3 (covers ch 9-12, corresponds to pt 4 of mikan's/ dodgeball, letters, culture fest announcement, and central town)

Part 4 (covers ch 13-16, corresponds to pt 5 of mikan's/ the reo arc)

Part 5 (covers ch 17-20, corresponds to pt 6+7 of mikan's/ culture fest up to anna's shop)

Part 6 (covers ch 21-26, corresponds to pt 7+8 of mikan's/ rest of the culture fest)

Part 7 (covers ch 27-30, corresponds to pt 9 of mikan's/ exams, kaname & bear's story, beginning of z arc)

Part 8 (covers ch 31-35, corresponds to pt 10 of mikan's/ part 2 of z arc up to going through the tunnel)

Part 9 (covers ch 36-40, corresponds to pt 11+12 of mikan's/ part 3 of z arc up to the discovery of z's headquarters)

Part 10 (covers ch 41-44, corresponds to pt 12+13 of mikan's/ part 4 of z arc up to its conclusion)

Part 11 (covers ch 45-47, corresponds to pt 13 of mikan's/ natsume's bday and christmas ball prep)

Part 12 (covers ch 48-52, corresponds to pt 14 of mikan's/ christmas ball and winter cleaning)

Part 13 (covers ch 53-55, corresponds to pt 15 of mikan's/ part 1 of new year's arc up to n&m sleeping together)

Part 14 (covers ch 56-61, corresponds to pt 16 of mikan's/ part 2 of new year's arc up to yakumo and natsume's fight)

Part 15 (covers ch 66-70, corresponds to pt 17+18 of mikan's/ part 3 of new year's arc up to conclusion and aoi's departure)

Part 16 (covers ch 71-76, corresponds to pt 19+20 of mikan's/ transition arc including alice stones and valentine's day)

Part 17 (covers ch 77-80, corresponds to pt 21 of mikan's/ part 1 of sports fest arc up to the equipment mishap)

Part 18 (covers ch 81-86, corresponds to pt 22+23 of mikan's/ part 2 of sports fest arc up to n&m's masked hug and conclusion)

Part 19 (covers ch 89-91, corresponds to pt 24 of mikan's/ soul swap arc)

Part 20 (covers ch 93-95, corresponds to pt 25 of mikan's/ transition arc including swimming up to n&m hugging to comfort each other)

Part 21 (covers ch 96-100, corresponds to pt 26 of mikan's/ beginning of escape arc, natsume's confessions)

Part 22 (covers ch 101-116, corresponds to pt 27+28 of mikan's/ part 1 of time travel arc up to izumi's death)

Part 23 (covers ch 117-123, corresponds to pt 28 of mikan's/ part 2 of time travel arc up to conclusion & mikan's decision)

Part 24 (covers ch 124-138, corresponds to pt 29+30+31 of mikan's/ high school arc up to conclusion)

Part 25 (covers ch 140-143, corresponds to pt 32+33 of mikan's/ yuka's funeral, christmas ball and shiki's gift to mikan)

Part 26 (covers ch 144-145, corresponds to pt 33 of mikan's/ rapunzel arc)

Part 27 (covers ch 146-149/ natsume and ruka developments and new year's planning)

Part 28 (covers ch 150-163, corresponds to pt 34 of mikan's/ new year's concert and natsume's death)

Part 29 (covers ch 178-180, corresponds to pt 39 of mikan's/ final chapters, which we all know by now i despise)

Part 30 (covers the nm content in kageki, corresponds to pt 40 of mikan's)

NatsuMikan Essay (Mikan's Version) (40 parts. Longer and stole more of my soul but got less engagement) :

Part 1 (covers ch 1-2, corresponds to pt 1 of natsume's/ mikan entering the academy)

Part 2 (covers ch 3-5, corresponds to pt 1+2 of natsume's/ adventure in the northern woods)

Part 3 (covers ch 6-8, corresponds to pt 2 of natsume's/ mikan's intro to academy life)

Part 4 (covers ch 9-12, corresponds to pt 3 of natsume's/ dodgeball, letters, culture fest announcement, and central town)

Part 5 (covers ch 13-16, corresponds to pt 4 of natsume's/ the reo arc)

Part 6 (covers ch 17-19, corresponds to pt 5 of natsume's/ culture fest throughout the SA event)

Part 7 (covers ch 20-22, corresponds to pt 5+6 of natsume's/ culture fest up to imai sibling meeting)

Part 8 (covers ch 23-26, corresponds to pt 6 of natsume's/ culture fest up to conclusion)

Part 9 (covers ch 26-30, corresponds to pt 7 of natsume's/ exams, kaname & bear's story, beginning of z arc)

Part 10 (covers ch 31-35, corresponds to pt 8 of natsume's/ part 2 of z arc up to going through the tunnel)

Part 11 (covers ch 36-39, corresponds to pt 9 of natsume's/ part 3 of z arc up to mikan falling in the sand trap)

Part 12 (covers ch 40-43, corresponds to pt 9+10 of natsume's/ part 4 of z arc up to pengy's death)

Part 13 (covers ch 44-47, corresponds to pt 10+11 of natsume's/ conclusion of z arc, natsume's bday and christmas prep)

Part 14 (covers ch 48-52, corresponds to pt 12 of natsume's/ christmas ball and winter cleaning)

Part 15 (covers ch 53-55, corresponds to pt 13 of natsume's/ part 1 of new year's arc up to n&m sleeping together)

Part 16 (covers ch 56-61, corresponds to pt 14/ part 2 of new year's arc up to h+r+m chasing after natsume and ruka deciding to tell his and natsume's tale)

Part 17 (covers ch 65-67, corresponds to pt 15 of natsume's/ part 3 of new year's arc up to mikan getting hit by persona's alice for the first time)

Part 18 (covers ch 68-70, corresponds to pt 15 of natsume's/ part 4 of new year's arc up to conclusion and aoi's departure)

Part 19 (covers ch 71-73, corresponds to pt 16 of natsume's/ part 1 of transition arc, including alice stones and valentines day)

Part 20 (covers ch 74-76, corresponds to pt 16 of natsume's/ part 2 of transition arc, including the graduation concert and hoshino)

Part 21 (covers ch 77-80, corresponds to pt 17 of natsume's/ part 1 of sports fest arc up to equipment mishap)

Part 22 (covers ch 81-84, corresponds to pt 18 of natsume's/ part 2 of sports fest arc up to the borrowing race)

Part 23 (covers ch 85-88, corresponds to pt 18 of natsume's/ part 3 of sports fest arc up to kibasen and conclusion)

Part 24 (covers ch 89-92, corresponds to pt 19 of natsume's/ soul swap arc)

Part 25 (covers ch 93-95, corresponds to pt 20 of natsume's/ transition arc including swimming up to n&m hugging to comfort each other)

Part 26 (covers ch 96-100, corresponds to pt 21 of natsume's/ beginning of escape arc, natsume's confessions)

Part 27 (covers ch 101-110, corresponds to pt 22 of natsume's/ part 1 of time travel arc up to n&m/kaoru&yuka parallel)

Part 28 (covers ch 111-123, corresponds to pt 22+23 of natsume's/ part 2 of time travel arc up to conclusion and mikan's decision)

Part 29 (covers ch 124-131, corresponds to pt 24 of natsume's/ part 1 of high school arc up to hotaru's farewell)

Part 30 (covers ch 132-134, corresponds to pt 24 of natsume's/ part 2 of high school arc, including mikan getting 3 love confessions and returning 1)

Part 31 (covers ch 135-139, corresponds to pt 24 of natsume's/ part 3 of high school arc up to conclusion and yuka's death)

Part 32 (covers ch 140-142, corresponds to pt 25 of natsume's/ reuniting with mikan in labyrinth)

Part 33 (covers ch 143-145, corresponds to pt 26 of natsume's/ rapunzel arc)

Part 34 (covers ch 150-163, corresponds to pt 27 of natsume's/ new year's concert, escaping with persona, and natsume's death)

Part 35 (covers ch 164-166/ mikan trying to save natsume)

Part 36 (covers ch 167-169/ mikan's widow arc)

Part 37 (covers ch 170-172/ memories lesson)

Part 38 (covers ch 173-177/ mikan's departure)

Part 39 (covers ch 178-180, corresponds to pt 29 of natsume's/ final chapters... this part is just me ranting actually)

Part 40 (covers nm content in kageki/ corresponds to pt 30 of natsume's)

To be continued because Tumblr hates me and I hate it back <3

[cinderella-ish]

JuJutsu Kaisen Story Structure: Prologue

To get ready for my series on JuJutsu Kaisen's story structure, I want to establish some basics.

First of all, I'll be using three-act structure as the primary basis of my analysis, but I might also look at some other formats, like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, Freytag's Pyramid, Kishotenketsu, and some others.

Second, it's important to know that the three acts of three-act structure are not of equal length. The first and third acts are 25% each, and the second act is the middle 50% of the story. For this reason, I'll be breaking the story down into quarters like so:

Act I

Act IIa

Act IIb

Act III

Last, timing obviously plays a big role in three-act structure! I don't want to talk about certain plot points until I've established where they fall in three-act structure, and what's *actually* there in JuJutsu Kaisen. To that end, here's a list of story arcs in JJK, and the chapters where they fall:

Fearsome Womb arc: chapters 1-18

vs. Mahito arc: chapters 19-31

Kyoto Goodwill Event arc: chapters 32-54

Death Painting arc: chapters 55-64

Gojo's Past arc: chapters 65-79

Shibuya Incident arc: chapters 79-136

Itadori's Extermination arc: chapters 137-143

Perfect Preparation arc: chapters 144-158

Culling Game arc: chapters 159-221

Shinjuku Showdown arc: chapters 222-271

Now, here is a list of major plot beats in three-act structure, and the point at which they typically fall in a story:

Hook: at the very beginning

Inciting event: 12%

First plot point: 25%

First pinch point: 37%

Midpoint: 50%

Second pinch point: 62%

Third plot point: 75%

Beginning of climax: 88%

Resolution: 98%

Note: because the midpoint is the second plot point, the next one is called the third plot point.

With all that in mind, here's approximately where each of these plot points should happen in the chapter count:

Hook: chapter 1 (beginning of Fearsome Womb arc)

Inciting event: chapter 34 (near beginning of Kyoto Goodwill Event arc)

First plot point: chapter 68 (near beginning of Gojo's Past arc)

First pinch point: chapter 102 (mid-Shibuya Incident arc)

Midpoint: chapter 136 (end of Shibuya Incident arc)

Second pinch point: chapter 170 (early in Culling Game arc)

Third plot point: chapter 204 (about two-thirds of the way through the Culling Game arc)

Beginning of climax: chapter 238 (early-ish in Shinjuku Showdown arc)

Resolution: not more than the last 5 or so chapters (end of Shinjuku Showdown arc)

I think this is fairly accurate, though there are some points that I think are slightly off; for example, I think it's more likely that the first plot point occurs before Gojo's Past arc, and that Gojo's Past begins the second act.

So, for the purpose of this series, I'll be analyzing the four quarters as follows:

Act I: Fearsome Womb, vs. Mahito, Kyoto Goodwill, and Death Painting arcs

Act IIa: Gojo's Past and Shibuya Incident arcs

Act IIb: Itadori's Extermination and Perfect Preparation arcs plus part of the Culling Game arc

Act III: remainder of the Culling Game arc and Shinjuku Showdown arc

Read below the cut for the approximate timings for the other plot structures I mentioned:

Save the Cat

Opening image: ch 1

Theme stated: ch 12

Set up: ch 4-27

Catalyst: ch 29

Debate: ch 32-59

Break into 2: ch 61

B story: ch 73

Fun and games: ch 64-133

Midpoint: ch 135

Bad guys close in: ch 137-182

All is lost: ch 184

Dark night of the soul: ch 187-206

Break into 3: ch 209

Finale: ch 211-268

Final image: ch 271

Harmon Story Circle

You: the protagonist is in a zone of comfort (ch 1-34)

Need: the protagonist wants something (ch 41)

Go: the protagonist enters an unfamiliar setting (ch 68)

Search: the protagonist must adapt to the unfamiliar world (ch. 82)

Find: the protagonist finds what they wanted (ch 136)

Take: the protagonist must pay the price for what they found (ch 176-203)

Return: the protagonist returns to where they started (ch 204)

Change: the character is able to shift the world around them (ch 230-236)

The Hero's Journey

Ordinary World (ch 1)

Call to Adventure

Refusal of the Call

Meeting the Mentor

Crossing the First Threshold (ch 68)

Tests, Allies, Enemies

Approach to the Inmost Cave

Ordeal (ch 136)

Seizing the Sword

The Road Back (ch 204)

Resurrection

Return with the Elixir

Kishotenketsu

Ki: Introduction (ch 1-41)

Sho: Development (ch 42-170)

Ten: Twist (ch 171-243)

Ketsu: Conclusion (ch 244-271)

Freytag's Pyramid (will be using specifically to analyze Gojo's Past arc)

Introduction (ch 65)

Rising Action

Climax (ch 72)

Falling Action

Catastrophe (ch 78)

All Structures Plotted Together:

Hook, Opening Image, You, Ordinary World, Ki begins (ch 1)

Set up begins (ch 4)

Theme stated (12)

Catalyst, Call to Adventure (ch 29)

Debate, Refusal of the Call (ch 32)

Inciting Event (ch 34)

Need, Meeting the Mentor (ch 41)

Sho begins (ch 42)

Break into 2 (ch 61)

Fun and Games (ch 64)

First Plot Point, Crossing the First Threshold, Go (ch 68)

B story (ch 73)

Search, Tests, Allies, Enemies (ch 82)

First Pinch Point, Approach to the Inmost Cave (ch 102)

Midpoint, Find, Ordeal (ch 135-136)

Bad guys close in (ch 137)

Second Pinch Point (ch 170)

Ten begins (ch 171)

Take, Seizing the Sword (ch 176)

All is Lost (ch 184)

Dark Night of the Soul (ch 187)

Third Plot Point, Return, The Road Back (ch 204)

Break into 3 (ch 209)

Finale (ch 211)

Change (ch 230)

Climax, Resurrection (ch 238)

Ketsu begins (ch 244)

Resolution, Return with Elixir (ch 266)

Final image (ch 271)

Note that these timings are all approximate! Upon analysis, they may shift but only slightly.

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 146 - My Thoughts/Analysis

This chapter was mostly setup, but I do think there are a couple of nuggets of wisdom to be gleaned here, so I’ll get right to that. Spoilers for Oshi No Ko Ch146 below.

So we return to the movie filming with Fril as Airi and Aqua as Hikaru. This is an interesting confrontation—especially the part where FrilAiri mentions that Taiki is Hikaru’s child. Whether or not the actual Hikaru knew beforehand that Taiki was his child is up in the air, as well as whether or not this scene even happened in reality are interesting questions that we likely won’t have the answer to unless we get it from Hikaru himself.

The expressions here are just superb, I have to say. And Aqua with black star eyes again…Can’t say I’m surprised, really, since he tends to do this when he gets into highly emotional acting, and while I think his current “default” state is white star eyes, he’s already shown a tendency to activate his dual black star eyes when acting with emotion, as we’ve previously seen in the Tokyo Blade arc.

We cut to another movie scene with Hikaru and Ai. And the fact that it’s labeled misunderstanding is quite a loaded name for the scene in particular. Ai’s answer to Hikaru here…it’s certainly an honest answer, which I think makes his reaction after this scene so…well, perhaps devastated isn’t strong enough a term for it. He knows that she’s being truthful and that makes it all the worse. Having the scene cut away like that without a continuation for Ai following up on her words leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s the perfect time to explore these characters, even if it’s only a muddled version of them.

What the—so many scenes passing by without any spotlight??? You’d think they’d show all these scenes—the scene labeled AI’s rejection in particular—but what the hell?

On one hand I understand why—the pacing of this arc is already quite disjointed and choppy so we need to pick up the pace, but with how things have been proceeding—just skipping all these scenes over doesn’t sit right with me. Because by skipping these scenes—unless they show what really happened later down the line—the manga is essentially saying that these scenes don’t matter for the narrative at large, which is a tough pill to swallow considering these scenes might be integral for the reader to get a better insight on Ai and Hikaru’s characters, even if they’re obscured through the movie like this.

Really, it might’ve been better to have the movie filming be done while other arcs were happening at the same time. Productions, as I’ve noted before, often take months for everything to get to a stage where they can actually film—and the filming often takes large gaps of time before everything is slated for editing. You can’t just show parts of a movie production and then tell me that there was nothing narratively relevant in the long stretches of time between takes for the movie. Especially because of the haymakers that were Chapters 123 and 143. We need to get used to the new normal between the protagonists and how they think about their current situation!

The disconnected pacing and implicit time skips are already dragging the arc down. I keep on mentioning it because there’s such an easy fix for this issue. Just expand the arc’s scope as a B-plot within a series of other arcs so that the pacing doesn’t feel so simultaneously bloated and at the same time too fast-paced. Let the characters' circumstances sink in for the readers so that we can explore them better over a longer period of time. But I digress. I’ll have yet more thoughts about this arc’s pacing when it finishes, I’m sure.

Back to the chapter. We see Aqua staring grumpily at the script, two black stars in his eyes. The aftereffects of his emotional acting at work—getting close to Hikaru mentally, or at least his perceived image of Hikaru. It’s worth noting once again that Aqua’s just going off of guesswork—unless those thrice blasted CDs are going to come out of nowhere to joss my theories again. I do wonder how he thinks of Hikaru now, though, after Aqua tried to get into his head with the script and understanding his backstory.

A wild Kana appears! Let’s see where this trainwreck goes.

Oh damn Aqua with his suicidal ideation in front of Kana. That’s really surprising. He’s been open to her before, but he’s very rarely let his true thoughts and feelings become evident for a variety of reasons. Mostly because Kana isn’t really the best person to talk to for these sort of emotional heart-to-heart conversations.

And of course tsunderes are not good therapists. This attempt at supporting Aqua through his issues is so very in-character for her that I just laughed out loud reading it. I’m not sure what anybody expected considering how insensitive Kana is in general. Her heart’s in the right place, but those words were almost certainly not the right ones to use. If this was Aqua of the pre-143, or if he were more mentally ill, then this entire conversation could’ve backfired immensely on her.

Aqua saying that he has fun with Kana when he’s with her is both fitting and hilarious. On one hand, it’s fitting because she has the least baggage compared to the main cast, on the other, it’s hilarious because she doesn’t understand Aqua’s Issues(™) at all. She doesn’t examine Aqua’s problem or take the time to get into any introspection to why Aqua behaved like that in the first place, instead focusing on her delusions of a potential romance with him instead of on Aqua himself. If a friend of mine behaved like that in front of me, I’d be a bit more thoughtful when dealing with any sort of suicidal ideation instead of brushing it off in favor of stewing in her own hopeless delusions.

“It’s like he’s saying that we’re compatible indirectly.” Someone please escort this romcom character off my screen before I lose more braincells watching her. Please, thank you. Her chances at the Aquabowl have already cratered since she lied to Aqua saying that she doesn’t see him as a romantic partner, so stringing this up further is just adding insult to injury. It would almost be kind of sad, but I’ve lost the majority of my sympathy for Kana as a person this far into the series.

We’re cutting to Ruby now. And in a shrine, no less. Wonder if we’re getting into more supernatural setup.

Oh. My. God. Well, well. I was wondering when Hikaru would be showing up, but I didn’t think it would be this direct—he’s obviously been stalking Ruby, since I don’t believe for a second that this meeting was left up to chance. I do also recall that Crow Girl said that she was going to give Ruby some punishment last chapter but I had hoped that she’d thrown that plan away!

IT ENDS LIKE THAT??? AND WITH A BREAK NEXT WEEK???????

Okay—okay. I have Thoughts on this chapter as a whole, both on the Aqua-Kana chip scene and the Ruby-Hikaru scene.

Kana cheering up Aqua with the chips combination is very…I don’t want to say unnecessary, because I understand what the authors were trying to go for. Aqua’s going to need other people in order to help him get out of his rut, a support system to help him deal with the symptoms of his other issues. I just don’t see why this couldn’t have been done with some of the other people in Aqua’s life. Akane, Mem-cho, Taiki, Miyako, hell, even Melt could’ve done almost the same thing that Kana’s doing to raise Aqua’s spirits and get their own thoughts on this whole production. 

Kana’s okay for this purpose, I guess, but she’s already had more than enough screentime during the production that could’ve been used for some of our other cast members. They brought back Taiki, Melt, and even Akane for this, so where’s their contribution to the narrative during this arc?

It also bellies another problem I have with this entire scene—Kana is a breath of fresh air from the dreary scenes we’d seen in the chapter before, but it seems like in this scene she’s only being used for the purpose of setting the ambience back to something that more lighthearted when instead the tone of the scene can and should be done otherwise. Is it necessary for this scene to lift up the reader’s spirits after the first few scenes of the movie filming? No, especially with the ending of the chapter leaving us off on a cliffhanger. It breaks the tone that was presented to us at the start of the chapter and leaves this conversation looking out of place considering how serious the topics were at first. It’s as if the manga itself isn’t confident enough with its tone that it has to lighten up the reader’s spirits through Kana.

I also think it’s of some note that I don’t think this conversation “saved” Aqua in any capacity. Kana shook Aqua out of his funk while he was feeling the residual emotions of emotional acting. If this was Aqua pre-143 I doubt we’d be seeing his white star eyes return to him in this conversation, especially since we’d already seen Aqua and Kana interact with pre-143 with black star eyes, and nowhere in their numerous conversations did Aqua regain his white star eyes. 

The scene with Ruby and Hikaru though…I’d been wondering when he’d be showing up in this arc, but this was a big surprise. I’d expected that he’d be showing up close to the end of the movie production, but having him appear here also leaves the door open for more of his interference with the movie filming. 

I will say that unless he has a good reason for it, approaching Ruby like this is almost certainly a bad move. He’s already cottoned onto the fact that Aqua’s making the movie for revenge, and it’s not a leap to assume that he’s gotten Ruby on board with his plans in the first place. It’d be safer to assume that both of the twins know what Hikaru look like, so him approaching Ruby out in the open is showing his hand too soon. There has to be a reason for that other than whim. 

I don’t think he wants to kill Ruby or Aqua. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be killing Ruby here. Of his two murders(and I’ll put a pin in the fact that whether or not he killed Ai is still up in the air) he’s always either proxies or used indirect means to kill his victims. Being face to face with Ruby here, like this, doesn’t fit his modus operandi. It’d be too messy to kill her with his DNA all over the scene, in an area where there could be witnesses.

He already has access to both the script and information about the movie thanks to Kaburagi, and so he has all the ammunition he needs to shut down the production if necessary. Letting the movie continue on like this—even if it doesn’t have his name on it—is risky enough that it’d be better to err on the side of caution. So that leads me to think that he either can’t get it shut down, which is doubtful when he’s allied with Kaburagi in some manner, or he wants the production to continue, which already casts doubt on his motives in general.

The fact of the matter is that there’s so much we don’t know about Hikaru and his motives for much of anything. His appearance in Ch109 with him killing Yura feels to me both a red herring and an intentional misdirect. We’ve already seen characters say one thing and think and or act contrary to their words, so it wouldn’t be out of place. We think we know him through the movie script, but that movie was both supposed to be about Ai, and also made for the purpose of Aqua’s revenge scheme. Aqua thinks he has a grasp on Hikaru’s character, but we’d already seen him be wrong about Hikaru once, when Aqua thought he was dead, and unless he has some sort of special insight through those blasted DVDs, we’re once again left mostly in the dark regarding his true character.

But now that he’s actually shown up in front of our main cast, we might get some answers to the questions that have been plaguing us from the start of the series. I desperately need to know why he’s interested in Ruby and not as much towards Aqua. The obvious answer is because Ruby is paralleling Ai, and Aqua’s paralleling Hikaru himself, but that feels much too easy on my part. Either way, with the cliffhanger, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to delve into his character a lot more during the next chapter.

[aboutanancientenquiry]

Intertext and allusion in Herodotus' Histories

Jan Liam Thomas Haywood Intertext and allusion in Herodotus' Histories: authority, proof, polemic, thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy, April 2013.

"Abstract

This study considers anew the central question of Herodotus’ relationship with literary and textual sources. It examines how Herodotus comes to define his own work in a context where many artists (both narrative and visual) are seeking to accumulate, delineate, and ultimately dictate cultural memory.

Rather than applying traditional Quellenforschung, my analysis centres on examining significant intertextual and allusive relationships in his work. In each chapter, I address the nature of Herodotus’ engagement with certain textual rivals/genres, namely early prose writers, inscriptions, poets (expecially Homer, Simonides, Aeschylus, Sophocles), and oracles. From this emerges a highly nuanced engagement with myriad texts in the Histories (principally: as authoritative voices; as persuasive evidence; and as voices for disputation). Such engagement furnishes considerable authority for the writer of the Histories, to the extent that he provides a superior view of the past, compared to the more limited, partisan perspectives offered by his textual rivals.

My study reinforces the salient point that Herodotus is no historian in any modern sense of the word; his interaction with other literary traditions does not appear in a way that is expected of an academic monograph. Nevertheless the evidence for his engagement with a wide and diverse group of texts—both contemporary and non-contemporary—clearly militates against the consensual view that Herodotus was working with predominantly unfixed, oral traditions. Indeed, through this interplay with other literary works Herodotus most clearly defines for the reader his own unique intellectual achievement: the invention of historiography."

"Table of Contents

Abstract vi

Acknowledgements vii

List of Abbreviations ix

Chapter 1: Herodotean Contexts 1

1 1.1 An Oral Historian? 1

1 1.2 Intertext and Allusion 10

Chapter 2: Making Logos 18

2.1 Understanding the World 18

2.2  Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Μιλήσιος, ἀνήρ πολυπλανής 20

2.3 Ἡρόδοτος οὐ μυθεῖται 25

2.4 “The Ionians Say” 32

2.5 The Limits of Cartography 38

2.6 Herodotus Historei 43

Chapter 3: The Inscribed Landscape 46

3.1 The Epigraphic Habit 46

3.2 Cited Inscriptions: An Inventory 49

3.3 Falsehoods and Deceptions: Inscriptions in Book One 51

3.4 Thematic Inscriptions 55

3.5 Herodotus as Epigrammatopois 61

3.6 Herodotus Epigraphist 73

Chapter 4: Herodotus’ Great War 76

4.1 Herodotus, Poets, and the Past 76

4.2 The Histories and Epic 78

4.3 Competing Traditions 83

4.4 Homeric Intertexts 92

4.5 A Most-Homeric War 97

Chapter 5: The Epic Present: Herodotus and Simonides 99

5.1 The Histories and Lyric 99

5.2 Homer’s Successor? 103 5.3 Summoning the Muse 105

5.4 Herodotus Re-Writes Plataea 108

5.5 Simonides’ Persian Wars 116

5.6 Simonides War Poet 119

Chapter 6: Tyrants and Dead Brothers 122

6.1 The Histories and Tragedy 122

6.2 Xerxean Hubris and/or ‘Cruel Divinity’ 127

6.3 Saving Brothers: Herodotus and Sophocles 143

6.4 A Manifold Poetic Heritage 150

Chapter 7: The Oracular Text 152

7.1 Mantic Readings 152

7.2 Herodotus on Oracles 156

7.3 Successful Readers of Oracles 160

7.4 Unsuccessful Readers of Oracles 167

7.5 Oracles as Proof 176

7.6 Historiographical Implications 180

Chapter 8: Inquiries 182

Bibliography 184"

Jan Liam Thomas Haywood is British Classicist, lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leicester

[lostsoulaltair]

Owari no Seraph Chapter 143 - Analysis and Review. SPOILERS Ahead

今日は皆さん。久しぶりですね。

Hey everyone, it's been a while hehe...Soo, given that the chapter was released in Japan, we'll have to wait until it gets released on this side till Jan 10th. Nevertheless, I want to give an insight.

P.S: As usual, ships are excluded and everything's held within a neutral view.

The chapter starts retaking from chapter 142, an encounter between the Shinoa Squad and the 5th Progenitor Ky Luc. There is an eventual fight of willpower given that Shinoa is aiming to turn Ky Luc into a cursed gear from the black series so Mitsuba can wield. Along this, we have a flashback on which it is revealed as to why Ky Luc followed Urd Geales with utmost loyalty.

The reason behind is because Urd wants to die. But not die like a demon but as a human. To reach mortality in order to die like the human he was born.

Upon hearing such dream, Ky Luc was amazed by such dream, promising himself to carry on and live until Urd fulfilled his dream.

Given this, Ky Luc's will was all that kept him from turning into a demon, nevertheless, given that Shinoa was devouring him as well, Shinoa was able to feel his feelings and memories, making her overwhelmed, nevertheless, the squad was there for her so she could manage to turn Ky into a demon.

She apologizes to him for that and at the end we have an Owari Kaisen. [Shinoa made the new demon as two fingers. Don't ask what the author was thinking cause Idk either haha].

As for the end of the chapter, Shinoa now knows what Urd and Rigr are thinking along Yuu's location.

Analysis

First of all, many might consider or may think that the portrayal of strength between Shinoa and Ky Luc was unfair along that her power up was random...

I will say that the way things are paced is not exactly the best. The story is reaching its eventual end and yes, there are things that could have been detailed much better or polished nevertheless, let's not forget details that have been from the very beginning.

What do I mean?

Ever since the LN were published, it has been stated that Shinoa is far stronger than other characters. That includes Mahiru, Guren, the adults even by Shikama. But why's that?

Simple, Shinoa has had the ability to accept demons without losing her heart, without needing to do trials like other wielders as seen in old chapters and the last one which was chapter 102 till chapter 106. [That's when Yuu fought went to save Mika, then fought against him to make him his cursed gear].

Now, following suit, why did Shinoa never do such task when she had the power but chose until now?

Well, it all goes with the narrative but also with her emotional development. What do I mean?

Perhaps people what makes them feel like something's wrong is not only the narrative but also the building of "expectation". Long ago, I was actually pissed, angry or rather upset with how things turned in OnS in terms of story, I felt no motivation to write or the sort but then, along a friend, we started to consider other aspects from what we actually expected but rather, what the characters were displaying emotional wise and rationality wise.

Which means, the characters are driven regarding how they feel, what they aspire, what they want, along what they know about their own selves.

With Shinoa, she thought she had found out what she wanted, she thought that because she had fallen in love and was together in a squad, she had truthfully lived when in reality, she was taking the baby steps required to live.

As Kouhei Kadono's LNs suggest. In order to have the right to die, you must live first.

But returning to the topic. Shinoa had a massive advantage against Shikama not because of raw power alone. It was first seen she could take any demon into her and use them (LN which came to portrayal on chapter 133). But let's remember that Rigr made certain Shikama's powers were constantly restrained due to the place they managed to create, giving Shinoa an advantage.

In the case of Ky Luc, Shinoa was able to bust her own teammates so they could actually pull a fight against a beast like Ky Luc.

Her being able to know how to create a demon, this was shown in early chapters when Mikaela turned into a demon. Knowledge is power and in a war where life is at stake, such knowledge comes in handy.

The next question, why did Ky Luc lose if he was powerful?

One of the topics that it's heavily touched in Ky Luc's backstory is that Ky had no sense of why he wanted to live. He had a bind that all he knew was that he had to survive. Ky fought through life to survive but not until he met Urd Geales, did he find a first thing to live for. Nevertheless, he is living for someone but not living for himself. What do I mean?

Usually, the story tends to portray how characters want to be recognized, how they want to be seen to someone else's eyes along how people start gathering around them. But the other side of the coin is, what is exactly to live? What does living exactly mean?

It's not just about living for someone but actually finding a reason for your own. It is a delicate thread between selfishness along personal love, it's hell after all. It's finding in a desolate land a reason as to why one's self is existing and living. Even during hell, or during the trial called life, people find meaning, they find things to do, to enjoy, to aspire for, to spend time with, to cry for, to lament for, but to grow for as well.

Ky Luc's human clock stopped, the reason he lost was because he always believed that vampires would be the strongest of their kind, never considering what divided humans and vampires. What exactly made humans be special yet frightening, but rather, he thought as long as he fought, as long as he made himself stronger, he wouldn't lose. But it was a different day there...Ky Luc had a past stained with blood and I'm not going to say he's a justificable character, but rather fascinating, how despite the mind along the ideals can set someone to see light, for others such light only reflects darkness.

As for the final point. The squad's role

For sure, the way they got their power up was not exactly the best developed point but given that the story had to move on, that's what we got. Shinoa being able to access to the First Progenitor's powers is what allowed her to give her team a chance to fight given that the protagonist is broken in terms of power as well, so there must exist a balance in power scale.

But, what is there to need to be discussed with the squad?

Their union.

One of the things that's been visible is that once Yuu left, the squad had a turnoil of emotions, distress, sadness, along feelings akin to feeling lost.

Like lambs who were waiting for the lead to guide them, but given that someone stood there, a new beacon began to shine. But instead of following Yuu and Guren; they began to follow a beacon to a new path. One on which they could dictaminate what they wanted to do with their lives.

Kimizuki, Yoichi and specially Mitsuba, have displayed growth despite few chapters passing by; they do treasure the family they have, they love Yuu but they are living in the present. They are not tied to what happened millenia ago, they want a better world, a world that lets humanity prosper and end the eternal hell they've been subjected to endure but among this, the real creation of bonds has been visible. The squad supporting each other, working together along ensuring each other is alright is one of the most precious things that can be witnessed.

As a side note

I usually complained about Mitsuba's poor development...but right now, her worrying about Shinoa, showing what it is to be a caring friend, what it means to give support for someone you hold dear. It means there is progress instead of blindy following. I hope we get to see interactions between Mitsuba and Ky Luc with time along constant development with the members of the squad.

What do you think about this? Let me know.

It's alright if you don't like it, just remember, respecting each other is what leads to good conversations.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 157 thoughts

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 14… IN THIS CHAPTER OF ALL CHAPTERS…????

Aqua Hoshigan Status: White

Congrats to 157 for taking 144's crown as the Oshi no Ko chapter that has vexed and confused me the most. Taken entirely in isolation, it's a sweet, lowkey, calm before the storm moment… but it's entirely because it stands in such stark isolation from the events surrounding it that it feels so baffling. It's like an amped up version of the issues with 156 - when viewed in isolation, you can't strictly say there's anything wrong with it, but as a part of the sequential storytelling of Oshi no Ko it just feels off. I'm reminded of the weird, off-kilter pacing of the Movie Arc, where story beats fell at weird places as if the story was falling out of tempo with itself. Because of that, this chapter review is probably going to be a bit disjointed but tbh besties i am fighting for my life on this one

I will say at the top of things though that it's darkly funny to me that we're fastforwarding through so much of the B-Komachi tour lol. Offscreen no Ko strikes again!

Honestly, this chapter in general kind of defies any attempt at a beat by beat analysis though that does seem to largely be by design. As the chapter title suggests, this is simply some pagetime spent on letting us stew in what a calm, ordinary day looks like for the twins and for what it is, it's sweet and chill. Taken on its own there isn't really a ton to pick apart, other than just pointing at what moments I found cute which was like 90% of them. I want a 5 chapter mini arc of AQRB goofing around at the grocery store and squabbling over the cooking together.

I also really like that Aqua is the one to suggest doing something nice for Miyako and that he joins Ruby in waiting up for her to get home and see it. It feels like a sweet and warm acknowledgement of the subtle shift in their relationship after 155, with the two of them properly stepping into their roles as parent and child.

As nice as this chapter is though, it does kind of feel like too little too late. One of the major complaints across the series (that I do largely agree with) is that Aqua and Ruby's day-to-day dynamic is for the most part underbaked and that the two of them don't really feel like people who grew up in the same household for 16+ years. I think a few more moments like this properly threaded through the manga would have helped but… well, considering OnK's pacing, do I really want to encourage much more downtime…

Moving on from the things I liked, as cute as this chapter was it's also just kind of weird that so much of it feels like the framing device is a recap episode lol. I guess it isn't the worst idea in the world to have one as we're heading into the final stretch of the story but… well, again, see my point above about weird pacing.

It's also just baffling as fuck to see Ruby frame these events in a way that distinctly did not happen lol. Like, sure, she was definitely having fun doing idol stuff for a lot of it but seeing her so warmly gas up stuff like Tokyo Blade when the anime airing right now is reminding us that Aqua was going through the SpongeBob horror hallway the entire time is so jarring - especially when Aqua (and thus, implicitly, the narrative) agrees with her. I mean, fuck, even putting Aqua aside it's WILD to see Ruby framing "Dig Deep" as having been fun for her when her major contribution to the show was manipulative drama stirring for the purposes of chasing clout that she herself said was having an impact on her mental health. I've criticized the story for the ways Ruby's black hoshigan arc amounted to nothing but there's a special kind of infuriating in seeing it specifically call back to that arc and still fail to actually acknowledge any wrongdoing on Ruby's part.

This is part of a much bigger trend in OnK right now of Ruby being super coddled by the narrative and coming off in some really unpleasant ways as a result. I didn't mention it last chapter but something that's been percolating in my brain since after I wrote my review is just how fucking bonkers Ruby's total non-respose to Mem's situation is. "Oh, you're getting stalked by the press? Sucks to be you, thank god I'm Miyako's special little favourite tho 🙏". Not only is this just kind of a shitty response to begin with but it feels insane coming from a person like Ruby who, you know, saw her mother's life blighted and then ended by this kind of treatment. No concern for Mem, tho!

Idk. I don't want to dislike Ruby but man. A lot of the ways Akasaka has been playing favourites with her lately has the effect of Ruby coming off, in universe, like a deeply self centered and callous person in ways I don't think narrative intends or even realizes and thus fails to interrogate in a satisfying way. But that's a rant for another day. And I'm pretty sure you guys already know what today's rant is gonna be. Which is to say, uh…

HEY. AKASAKA. ARE THEY GONNA TALK ABOUT… ANY OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MOVIE ARC?? ANYTHING AT ALL????

This is what I meant when I said this chapter utterly fucking bamboozled me. The way the story has contorted itself into knots to avoid letting Aqua and Ruby have a conversation even when they're literally in the same room is already insane, but giving us an entire chapter of them alone together with ample opportunity to have any sort of meaningful discussion as to the gigantic elephant in the room looming over their relationship and……. literally nothing happens???

This is made even more insanity inducing by the fact that this is, as stated above, more or less a recap chapter and not only does Ruby talk about the movie specifically but we even SEE a flashback to the HikAi kiss…. but not the one Ruby jumpscared him with at the end of 143!!!

What the fuck is even going on anymore? Was it retconned? Resolved offscreen?? Did we collectively hallucinate it??? Is Akasaka gaslighting us????

If nothing else, this chapter has proved to me once and for all that whatever goes on with Aqua and Ruby, that resolution is going to come entirely at the speed of plot, as and when Akasaka decides to do it and not when it would be natural and organic for development to occur. This is an issue that has plagued Aqua and Ruby's r/s from the start, where Akasaka simply refuses to let them communicate, seemingly for the purposes of drawing out the drama rather than because of any narrative justification. So I'm giving on predicting what direction their relationship is going in and what the outcome is going to be. The inner machinations of Aka Akasaka's mind are a mystery to me.

To pre-pick some nits before I leave off… I've seen some people calling this a 'Tanabata chapter' and insisting this is intentional/foreshadowing aquruby end/etc and uh… sorry to be that guy but no it's not lol. Even accounting for the differences in calendars that scatters Tanabata celebrations across July and August, August's Tanabata falls on the 10th this year - and even in the anime world, celebrations across Japan took place on the 'official' date of 7/7. And while there is a Tanabata festival being held in Sendai today… that's just in Sendai, which is all the way up in northern Japan, nowhere near Tokyo where the series is set (and which itself had its Tanabata celebrations on the weekends surrounding 7/7 as per usual.)

There's also just the fact that this chapter… has nothing to do with Tanabata? There's no imagery or iconography and it takes place in the middle of December lol. I simply don't think it was intentional at all on Akasaka's part. It's a cute coincidence, sure, but still just a coincidence.

break next week. i love biweekly manga, oshi no ko.

[testbankprovidersell]

Solution Manuals for Introduction to General, Organic, and Biochemistry, 11th Edition Morris Hein

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 An Introduction to Chemistry 1 1.1 The Nature of Chemistry 2 1.2 A Scientific Approach to Problem Solving 3 1.3 The Particulate Nature of Matter 5 1.4 Classifying Matter 7 Review 9 Review Questions 10 Paired Exercises, Additional Exercises 11 Answers to Practice Exercises 12 2 Standards for Measurement 13 2.1 Scientific Notation 14 2.2 Measurement and Uncertainty 15 2.3 Significant Figures 16 2.4 Significant Figures in Calculations 18 2.5 The Metric System 21 2.6 Dimensional Analysis: A Problem-Solving Method 27 2.7 Measurement of Temperature 30 Chemistry in action Setting Standards 32 2.8 Density 34 Review 37 Review Questions 38 Paired Exercises 39 Additional Exercises 41 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 43 3 Elements and Compounds 44 3.1 Elements 45 3.2 Introduction to the Periodic Table 49 3.3 Compounds and Formulas 52 Review 57 Review Questions 58 Paired Exercises 59 Additional Exercises 60 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 61 4 Properties of Matter 62 4.1 Properties of Substances 63 4.2 Physical and Chemical Changes 65 4.3 Learning to Solve Problems 68 4.4 Energy 68 4.5 Heat: Quantitative Measurement 70 4.6 Energy in the Real World 72 Review 74 Review Questions 75 Paired Exercises 76 Additional Exercises 77 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 78 Putting It Together Chapters 1–4 review 79 5 Early Atomic Theory and Structure 82 5.1 Dalton’s Model of the Atom 83 5.2 Electric Charge 84 5.3 Subatomic Parts of the Atom 85 5.4 The Nuclear Atom 87 5.5 Isotopes of the Elements 89 5.6 Atomic Mass 92 Review 93 Review Questions 94 Paired Exercises 95 Additional Exercises 96 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 97 6 Nomenclature of Inorganic Compounds 98 6.1 Common and Systematic Names 99 6.2 Elements and Ions 100 6.3 Writing Formulas from Names of Ionic Compounds 103 6.4 Naming Binary Compounds 105 6.5 Naming Compounds Containing Polyatomic Ions 109 6.6 Acids 111 Review 114 Review Questions 115 Paired Exercises 116 Additional Exercises 117 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 118 Putting It Together Chapters 5–6 review 119 7 Quantitative Composition of Compounds 121 7.1 The Mole 122 7.2 Molar Mass of Compounds 126 7.3 Percent Composition of Compounds 129 7.4 Calculating Empirical Formulas 133 7.5 Calculating the Molecular Formula from the Empirical Formula 135 Review 138 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 139 Additional Exercises 141 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 142 8 Chemical Equations 143 8.1 The Chemical Equation 144 8.2 Writing and Balancing Chemical Equations 145 8.3 Types of Chemical Equations 150 8.4 Heat in Chemical Reactions 156 8.5 Global Warming: The Greenhouse Effect 159 Review 161 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 163 Additional Exercises 165 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 166 9 Calculations from Chemical Equations 167 9.1 Introduction to Stoichiometry 168 9.2 Mole–Mole Calculations 170 9.3 Mole–Mass Calculations 173 9.4 Mass–Mass Calculations 174 9.5 Limiting Reactant and Yield Calculations 176 Review 182 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 183 Additional Exercises 185 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 187 Putting It Together Chapters 7–9 review 188 10 Modern Atomic Theory and the Periodic Table 191 10.1 Electromagnetic Radiation 192 10.2 The Bohr Atom 193 10.3 Energy Levels of Electrons 195 10.4 Atomic Structures of the First 18 Elements 198 10.5 Electron Structures and the Periodic Table 201 Review 206 Review Questions 207 Paired Exercises 208 Additional Exercises 210 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 211 11 Chemical Bonds: The Formation of Compounds from Atoms 212 11.1 Periodic Trends in Atomic Properties 213 11.2 Lewis Structures of Atoms 216 11.3 The Ionic Bond: Transfer of Electrons from One Atom to Another 217 11.4 Predicting Formulas of Ionic Compounds 222 11.5 The Covalent Bond: Sharing Electrons 224 11.6 Electronegativity 226 11.7 Lewis Structures of Compounds 229 11.8 Complex Lewis Structures 232 11.9 Compounds Containing Polyatomic Ions 234 11.10 Molecular Shape 235 Review 239 Review Questions 240 Paired Exercises 241 Additional Exercises 243 Challenge Exercises 244 Answers to Practice Exercises 245 Putting It Together Chapters 10–11 review 246 12 The Gaseous State of Matter 248 12.1 Properties of Gases 249 12.2 Boyle’s Law 252 12.3 Charles’ Law 256 12.4 Avogadro’s Law 259 12.5 Combined Gas Laws 260 12.6 Ideal Gas Law 264 12.7 Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures 267 12.8 Density of Gases 270 12.9 Gas Stoichiometry 270 Review 274 Review Questions 276 Paired Exercises 277 Additional Exercises 279 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 281 13 Liquids 282 13.1 States of Matter: A Review 283 13.2 Properties of Liquids 283 13.3 Boiling Point and Melting Point 286 13.4 Changes of State 288 13.5 Intermolecular Forces 290 13.6 Hydrates 295 13.7 Water, a Unique Liquid 297 Review 300 Review Questions 301 Paired Exercises 302 Additional Exercises 303 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 304 14 Solutions 305 14.1 General Properties of Solutions 306 14.2 Solubility 307 14.3 Rate of Dissolving Solids 311 14.4 Concentration of Solutions 312 14.5 Colligative Properties of Solutions 320 14.6 Osmosis and Osmotic Pressure 325 Review 326 Review Questions 328 Paired Exercises 329 Additional Exercises 332 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 333 Putting It Together Chapters 12–14 review 334 15 Acids, Bases, and Salts 337 15.1 Acids and Bases 338 15.2 Reactions of Acids and Bases 342 15.3 Salts 343 15.4 Electrolytes and Nonelectrolytes 344 15.5 Introduction to pH 349 15.6 Neutralization 352 15.7 Writing Net Ionic Equations 354 15.8 Acid Rain 356 Review 357 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 359 Additional Exercises 361 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 362 16 Chemical Equilibrium 363 16.1 Rates of Reaction 364 16.2 Chemical Equilibrium 365 16.3 Le Châtelier’s Principle 366 16.4 Equilibrium Constants 373 16.5 Ion Product Constant for Water 374 16.6 Ionization Constants 376 16.7 Solubility Product Constant 378 16.8 Buffer Solutions: The Control of pH 381 Review 383 Review Questions 384 Paired Exercises 385 Additional Exercises 387 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 389 17 Oxidation–Reduction 390 17.1 Oxidation Number 391 17.2 Balancing Oxidation–Reduction Equations 395 17.3 Balancing Ionic Redox Equations 398 17.4 Activity Series of Metals 401 17.5 Electrolytic and Voltaic Cells 403 Review 407 Review Questions 409 Paired Exercises 410 Additional Exercises 412 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 413 Putting It Together Chapters 15–17 review 414 18 Nuclear Chemistry 417 18.1 Discovery of Radioactivity 418 18.2 Alpha Particles, Beta Particles, and Gamma Rays 421 18.3 Radioactive Disintegration Series 424 18.4 Measurement of Radioactivity 426 18.5 Nuclear Energy 427 18.6 Mass–Energy Relationship in Nuclear Reactions 433 18.7 Biological Effects of Radiation 434 Review 436 Review Questions 437 Paired Exercises 438 Additional Exercises 439 Challenge Exercises, Answers to Practice Exercises 440 Putting It Together Chapter 18 review 441 19 Organic Chemistry: Saturated Hydrocarbons 443 19.1 Organic Chemistry: History and Scope 444 19.2 The Carbon Atom: Bonding, Shape, and Hybridization 445 19.3 Classifying Organic Compounds 447 19.4 Hydrocarbons 449 19.5 Saturated Hydrocarbons: Alkanes 450 19.6 Structural Formulas 451 19.7 Isomerism 453 19.8 Naming Organic Compounds 456 19.9 Introduction to the Reactions of Carbon 461 19.10 Reactions of Alkanes 463 19.11 Cycloalkanes 468 19.12 Gasoline: A Major Petroleum Product 471 Review 473 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 475 Additional Exercises 478 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 479 20 Unsaturated and Aromatic Hydrocarbons 481 20.1 Bonding in Unsaturated Hydrocarbons 482 20.2 Nomenclature of Alkenes 484 20.3 Geometric Isomerism in Alkenes 487 20.4 Cycloalkenes 492 20.5 Preparation and Properties of Alkenes 493 20.6 Nomenclature and Properties of Alkynes 499 20.7 Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Structure of Benzene 501 20.8 Naming Aromatic Compounds 503 20.9 Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds 508 20.10 Sources and Properties of Aromatic Hydrocarbons 510 Review 513 Review Questions 514 Paired Exercises 515 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercises 518 Answers to Practice Exercises 519 21 Polymers: Macromolecules 520 21.1 Macromolecules 521 21.2 Synthetic Polymers 521 21.3 Polymer Types 522 21.4 Addition Polymerization 523 21.5 Recycling Plastics 525 21.6 Butadiene Polymers 527 21.7 Geometric Isomerism in Polymers 529 Review 530 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 531 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 532 Putting It Together Chapters 19–21 review 533 22 Alcohols, Ethers, Phenols, and Thiols 537 22.1 Structure and Classification of Alcohols 538 22.2 Naming Alcohols 540 22.3 Physical Properties of Alcohols 542 22.4 Chemical Properties of Alcohols 544 22.5 Common Alcohols 551 22.6 Phenols 554 22.7 Properties and Preparation of Phenols 557 22.8 Ethers 558 22.9 Properties and Preparation of Ethers 561 22.10 Thiols 563 Review 564 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 566 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercises 570 Answers to Practice Exercises 571 23 Aldehydes and Ketones 572 23.1 Structures of Aldehydes and Ketones 573 23.2 Naming Aldehydes and Ketones 573 23.3 Bonding and Physical Properties 577 23.4 Chemical Properties of Aldehydes and Ketones 580 23.5 Common Aldehydes and Ketones 588 23.6 Condensation Polymers 590 Review 591 Review Questions 592 Paired Exercises 593 Additional Exercises 595 Challenge Exercise 596 Answers to Practice Exercises 597 Putting It Together Chapters 22–23 review 598 24 Carboxylic Acids and Esters 603 24.1 Carboxylic Acids: Nomenclature and Sources of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids 604 24.2 Physical Properties of Carboxylic Acids 607 24.3 Classification of Carboxylic Acids 609 24.4 Preparation and Chemical Properties of Carboxylic Acids 613 24.5 Nomenclature of Esters 618 24.6 Occurrence and Physical Properties of Esters 621 24.7 Polyesters: Condensation Polymers 621 24.8 Chemical Properties of Esters 622 24.9 Glycerol Esters 624 24.10 Soaps and Synthetic Detergents 627 24.11 Esters and Anhydrides of Phosphoric Acid 631 Review 632 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 635 Additional Exercises 638 Challenge Exercises 639 Answers to Practice Exercises 640 25 Amides and Amines: Organic Nitrogen Compounds 641 25.1 Amides: Nomenclature and Physical Properties 642 25.2 Chemical Properties of Amides 646 25.3 Polyamides: Condensation Polymers 647 25.4 Urea 648 25.5 Amines: Nomenclature and Physical Properties 648 25.6 Preparation of Amines 653 25.7 Chemical Properties of Amines 654 25.8 Sources and Uses of Selected Amines 657 Review 660 Review Questions 661 Paired Exercises 662 Additional Exercises 664 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 665 Putting It Together Chapters 24–25 review 666 26 Stereoisomerism 671 26.1 Review of Isomerism 672 26.2 Plane-Polarized Light and Optical Activity 672 26.3 Fischer Projection Formulas 675 26.4 Enantiomers 677 26.5 Racemic Mixtures 682 26.6 Diastereomers and Meso Compounds 684 Review 687 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 688 Additional Exercises 691 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 692 27 Carbohydrates 694 27.1 Carbohydrates: A First Class of Biochemicals 695 27.2 Classification of Carbohydrates 696 27.3 Importance of Carbohydrates for Life 698 27.4 Common Monosaccharides 699 27.5 Structure of Glucose and Other Aldoses 700 27.6 Cyclic Structures of Common Hexoses 704 27.7 Hemiacetals and Acetals 708 27.8 Pentoses 709 27.9 Structures and Properties of Disaccharides 710 27.10 Sweeteners and Diet 713 27.11 Redox Reactions of Monosaccharides 715 27.12 Polysaccharides 719 Review 724 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 727 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercises 729 Answers to Practice Exercises 730 28 Lipids 731 28.1 Lipid Characteristics and Classification 732 28.2 Simple Lipids 733 28.3 Fats in Metabolism 738 28.4 Compound Lipids 739 28.5 Steroids 743 28.6 Hydrophobic Lipids and Biology 744 Review 750 Review Questions 751 Paired Exercises 752 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 753 Putting It Together Chapters 26–28 review 754 29 Amino Acids, Polypeptides, and Proteins 759 29.1 The Structure–Function Connection 760 29.2 The Nature of Amino Acids 760 29.3 Formation of Polypeptides 766 29.4 Protein Structure 770 29.5 Protein Functions 773 29.6 Some Examples of Proteins and Their Structures 775 29.7 Loss of Protein Structure 783 29.8 Tests for Proteins and Amino Acids 784 29.9 Determination of the Primary Structure of Polypeptides 787 Review 789 Review Questions, Paired Exercises 792 Additional Exercises 794 Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 795 30 Enzymes 796 30.1 Molecular Accelerators 797 30.2 Rates of Chemical Reactions 798 30.3 Enzyme Kinetics 801 30.4 Industrial-Strength Enzymes 803 30.5 Enzyme Active Site 805 30.6 Temperature and pH Effects on Enzyme Catalysis 808 30.7 Enzyme Regulation 809 Review 811 Review Questions 812 Paired Exercises 813 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 814 31 Nucleic Acids and Heredity 815 31.1 Molecules of Heredity—Bases and Nucleosides 816 31.2 Nucleotides: Phosphate Esters 819 31.3 High-Energy Nucleotides 820 31.4 Polynucleotides; Nucleic Acids 822 31.5 Structure of DNA 823 31.6 DNA Replication 827 31.7 RNA: Genetic Transcription 833 31.8 The Genetic Code—Genes and Medicine 836 31.9 Biosynthesis of Proteins 839 31.10 Changing the Genome: Mutations and Genetic Engineering 840 Review 844 Review Questions 846 Paired Exercises 847 Additional Exercises, Challenge Exercise, Answers to Practice Exercises 848 Putting It Together Chapters 29–31 review 850 32 Nutrition 854 32.1 Nutrients and Diet 855 32.2 Energy in the Diet 857 32.3 Macronutrients 858 32.4 Vitamins, Vital Micronutrients 861 32.5 Minerals 863 32.6 Water 864 32.7 Nutrition Content Labeling 864 32.8 Food Additives 866 32.9 A Balanced Diet 868 32.10 Read the full article

[mariascolombialitblog]

Week 18 Blog

Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pages read: 22 ( 121 - 143)

Summary (189)

In the last chapter of "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" the narrator, who is investigating the murder of Santiago Nasar, discovers that the Vicario twins, who killed Santiago, were not actually intending to murder him.

The narrator finds out that the Vicario twins had been planning to kill Santiago to gain revenge in the honor of their sister, who they believed had been taken advantage of by Santiago but later it becomes clear that the twins had no intention of following up with their plan, and that they were simply following through on a perceived obligation of their family.

No matter what, the people in the town did nothing to stop the murder, and Santiago is killed in front of the entire town. The narrator reflects on the many small decisions and events that led to the tragedy, and on the fact that Santiago's death could have been avoided if just one person had spoken up. 

The novel ends with the narrator wondering about the nature of fate and whether Santiago's death was truly planned or whether it was the result of a series of human choices and failings

Critical Analysis (115)

A quote that stood out to me this week was, “ He stumbled on the last step, but he got up at once.” After Santiago was brutally stabbed multiple times he still got up and tried to walk towards his home while the whole town was watching him die. It left a huge impression on me because nobody bothered to help him.

Santiago really suffered for no reason. He didn’t deserve the actions of someone’s revenge. Santiago never thought his love for Angela Vicario was going to turn him into an angel. Although he was killed I personally believe he didn’t regret falling in love with Angela because the connection he had with her was impeccable. 

Personal response (114)

The end of this book taught me how big people’s actions can turn and the consequences of your choices. The tragic nature of Santiago's death highlights the destructive power of societal norms and expectations, as well as the danger of blindly following tradition and their pride without questioning their validity or morality. 

Not only did people do nothing about it but they watched it happen and just reading about that shows how people felt about Santiago. It definitely left a huge impression on me and how the tragic nature of human existence occurs. It was a great book to read and I would recommend it to people who are interested in mystery and drama. 

[bigahhhhhhhh]

A quick analysis that I just thought about, spoilers:

It's something that I forgot to mention is that, whenever it is a Leo chapter, Leo has the worst impressions of himself, and says he has done something wrong, even though either he regrets them and tries to improve and or has quite the good reasons for that; while Suya is literally just behaving the same why he just inquired wrong without any reason and or trying to stop herself whatsoever. Like in chapter 111 and 112 where he thought of himself as a stalker (even though he did that for justifiable reasons considering he has to keep her in check lol), while it was revealed in chapter 71 and more explicitly in chapter 143 that Suya's stalks him all the time just because she likes his smell and his room's smeel; and or in this chapter when she gives him the wrong idea of what she actually wanted to do... I think that's a neat detail, and actually might be quite the hint that maybe, just maybe Leo internalized hate might be just a way he views himself that is completely different from the way Suya views himself... Notice that whenever somebody makes a mistake Suya is able to point it out, and is quite snarky; while when Leo does it she quickly tries to help him out and or justifies it, such like in the chapter where he interrogates Zastur, chapter 209, and, 153, 350 and 351 and others...

Also, she is always saying how nice he is with her and many other things and in many instantes seems to bem extremely jealous of him too lol, also not caring much about personal boundaries, etc.

In my opinion has probably somewhat already realized she likes Leo very early on in the séries... More specifically before chapter 71, like maybe around 48 - 55 around that time, maybe even before considering we have no idea when exactly she started going to his room, like if it's around chapters 48-55 to 143 than MAYBE she has been stalking him for more than a year or even like maybe 2 years;

But notice how her behaviors in chapter 70, 71, and in another one where they actually have a pajama party, are very, and I mean very odd for her...

Like, as if idk, she was really bothered by the thought that others might think she likes the Cleric? Which could be the case but, we also have these scenes:

Considering chapters like 310, 337, and many more and also chapter 71 as my one and most powerful proof of this Shipp to be canon in the end, I supposed that maybe Suya feels the same way towards Leo, whoever her being... You know, Suya... She doesn't quite know how to express it, I honestly think that Leo's feelings aren't exactly unrequited, just... You know... He is more going through some what if a 5 stages of grief regarding his love life, he is now, at this very moment going through the stages of denial to acception considering he is starting to have the courage to ask her out, etc... So yeah... Probably..?? But idk...

Besides if you guys notice it too in chapters such like 234, you might notice another interesting detail, Suya realizes that Kamosh is not Leo in the moment he is around... Only stopping the act at the end, at least that's the impression I got, considering she is able to notice who he is quite kickly in per example the chapter where she is selling stuff lol; and in that chapter 234 Kamosh is very critical of Suya, saying she isn't quite the girl for Leo because she doesn't like him, and most likely sees him just as a friend or something of sorts... HOWEVER as soon as she says that he can't touch her hair because he isn't Leo, he suddenly changes his mind, and remember that besides not liking the idea of Leo liking Suya because she apparently doesn't seem to understand how he feels he also doesn't like the idea of him dating a human too.

Whoever that kickly changes once he views them together... Another thing is that Hypnos might be aware that Suya likes Leo too, considering chapter 221, Suya looks extremely happy in giving him a massage while also happy that he is giving her one, Hypnos told her that if she wanted one she needed to be quiet, and even though it wasn't quite the long massage she really appreciated it; AND in chapter 337 Midnight suddenly appears in the sky and helps Kamosh and Suya so, maybe he also knows what's up??... Anyways... I love to overanalyze stuff.

So logic comes this way: both Suya and Leo like each other but are afraid of rejection, Suya according to the chapters is mostly rejected no matter what she does, only in the end after she pushes his boundaries she is actually able to get closer to him, while whenever LEO is the one to invite her over or when something is for him she stops absolutely everything she is doing EVEN SLEEPING just for him, notice that pattern such like in chapters 79, 337, 55, 48, 289, and many, many more.

And some characters like Midnight, Hypnos and Kamosh already realized that, but aren't going to interfere much, mostly Kamosh and Hypnos will but only when they feel like it or if they notice that Leo needs their help somewhat.

Also, also another thing important to infere; Leo is the one that is mostly on his own mind, and is more aloof to the whole thing while Syalis is the one pursuing him; the chapters are mostly from Leo's perspective whoever if we analyze them correctly they come CLOSER to Syalis behaviours and thought process... So according to what we can infere from the manga...

So yeah, that's my case. Suya likes him back but is afraid of going after him because she probably thinks he is going to turn her down no matter what she does... Which kind of is true considering Leo's behavior of wanting everything under control and also in need of explanations for things that don't actually need one lol; which honestly also if that's the case, Suya isn't as wrong to think that way considering what happened at chapter 310, which was basically her wanting to go on a date with him, only for him to misinterpret her actions as herself wanting something in the human world dragging him alone and giving him more work lol (which honestly also understandable because she is INDEED a walking mass of destruction); at least that's how I see, if that's where it keeps on going, maybe the ending will be them together after all...

This panel is never not funny. I'm sorry. I just can't.