#reclamation arc

[coquelicoq]

it's about...longevity? stability? it's about natsume believing he'll be somewhere long enough to plant flowers and see them bloom. it's about him taking touko seriously when she asks him to tell her what flowers he wants to plant. it's about making something with his own hands, building a future with the fujiwaras. it's about him repairing a rundown home for someone else, restoring it because it's beloved to them, because it's the home of someone they love. it's about him seeing touko's joy and thinking about the youkai saying we'd like to look upon her happy face forever. it's about the box garden making him think of the fujiwaras' garden and his parents' garden, about the flowers being both the memory of flowers that bloomed there before, and the flowers that he and the youkai planted earlier that day. it's about him waking up in both worlds with sensei. it's about touko finding the petal in his hair. it's about him feeling how he falls short and the youkai saying, but you have such gentle hands...

[kindaorangey]

wait you guys... iwbft2 being an adult novel also means that jimmy could actually call lister a faggot on page in canon. life could be a dream

[fromtheseventhhell]

Remember George's outline notes that had "joy of giving" and "mercy at the gate" for Arya? Mercy is crossed out and we obviously have that as her sample chapter, so what if Arya's next alias is "Joy"? Over-thinking the significance of that phrase and how it could apply to the rest of her Braavos arc🤔

[brochacho]

me: let me guess, this media is gonna focus on “the abandonment of femininity" or “the reclamation of femininity” and have a motif of light/dark 🙄

also me: omg this media focuses on “the abandonment of femininity” or “the reclamation of femininity” and has a motif of light/dark?!?! 🥰

[azula-hates-men]

to continue talking about why i believe the political commentary of arcane is flawed, i want to discuss how the piltover-zaun conflict not getting a satisfying resolution hurts caitvi’s writing as a couple. i want to talk about them specifically bc they’re the only endgame couple in arcane and the worst takes i see about the show’s political commentary usually comes from caitvi shippers. i will start by saying that i LOVED caitvi in s1, which is why i’m so disappointed by how they were written in s2. while i understood why people were uncomfortable with caitvi due to caitlyn’s position as an enforcer and vi being a victim of police brutality, it didn’t bother me when i first watched s1 because caitlyn fit into the “good cop” trope and i believed that the series would end with her reforming the police force in piltover. my expectations ended up being subverted when i watched act 1 of s2 after seeing the dark turn her character had. i actually liked seeing caitlyn’s descent into darkness in act 1 because it demonstrated that even “good” people in corrupt systems can still abuse their power. i thought that she would eventually be redeemed since caitvi is the endgame pairing and that is the only way i could see the couple working. after watching act 2, i became less confident that caitlyn would get a proper redemption arc since we only see the aftermath of her actions and she gets offscreen development. again, it makes sense that she would grow less skeptical of the crackdown from noxus after 3-6 months, but it would be more impactful we see what led her there when in ep 3 she used the grey against civilians, threatened heenot, and nearly shot a child. i need to emphasize that the grey WAS used against civilians since the mv montage shows regular civilians running away from it and vi says it was used to “clear the streets”. even if the grey was only used against criminals, it is still a war crime because the use of chemical weapons is prohibited under the geneva conventions. the last time vi and caitlyn were together, caitlyn hit vi with her rifle on a place that vi was already deeply wounded from. the fact that their reunion is caitlyn hitting vi multiple times is a good example of how vi’s trauma is rarely explored by the writers, especially since she is so nonchalant about it. during her time in stillwater, vi was regularly beaten by enforcers, she should’ve been a lot more hostile towards caitlyn when they meet again. vi was one of the main characters who confronted piltover about their oppression of zaunites in s1, but in s2 when caitlyn becomes everything vi hates about piltover, it doesn't harm vi's perception of caitlyn at all. another thing i hated was vi having sex with caitlyn in a jail cell knowing that jinx is going to commit suicide. not only is it ooc for vi since she is shown to be very loyal to her family and is a victim of police brutality, but sexual assault by cops is very prevalent in prisons so it's tone deaf to viewers who experienced police violence. i know that the scene is supposed to be vi “reclaiming her trauma”, but is it really reclamation when her trauma is rarely explored? caitlyn is NEVER confronted by anyone for gassing civilians, falsely imprisoning zaunites, torturing zaunites, and raiding their homes; the fact that she never comes to terms with harming zaunites makes it feel like vi is settling. i understand that lesbian representation is important, but that doesn’t mean that we have to excuse bad writing, especially when said pairing is wrapped up in bad political commentary. pinkwashing and homonationalism are real problems and the way caitvi shippers become apologists of fascism and police brutality is reminiscent of how oppressive power structures justify xenophobia, racism, and aporophobia in the name of “protecting” queer people.

[theopolis]

Adaptations/alternate comicverses/certain 616 comics that try to empower Harry Osborn and showcase how he's broken free from Norman's influence by making him appear more in control are, imo, kind of missing the point of his original empowering act of self-reclamation in Spectacular #200. Because the entire arc that had led up to it was about him clawing for total control of who he is, what he can do and how he is perceived. That climactic moment where he rescues Peter from the bomb is not born out of a newfound confidence and bravado - to the contrary. It's prefaced by the same panicky indecision that had continously sabotaged Harry's quest to truly become the Green Goblin; someone worthy, someone deserving of his father's approval, someone who would never be hurt again

Depictions of Harry where he doesn't possess, or rises above, his frailty, while often well intentioned and certainly helpful to some people who get different takeaways from them, do nothing for me. Rather, they feel inspired by that same notion of having to "grow a thick skin" and embody an ideal of someone who's assertive and has it together, even if that ideal is much less extreme and overtly toxic than the Goblin. Is it really about self love, or is it about becoming more "admirable", more "respectable", less of a "burden", less "weak"? Someone who is no longer affected by past abuse in ways they perceive as shameful?

I believe Harry's kindness and intense love for Peter can not be neatly separated from the less noble traits rooted in his sensitive nature. He loves and gives easily, just as he gets scared and nervous and self conscious easily. All of it was punished and scrutinized first by his father and then by himself. Harry's ultimate choice to save Peter's life in #200 is him finally giving up on that struggle for invulnerability and surrendering to the command his soft heart has over him. It's the opposite of control and he says it himself when Peter asks why he came back for him: "What else could I do?"

I think this is an immensely important message. Certainly one I needed to hear when I read that comic. Must we try to attain that mythical self who repels harm? Isn't it much kinder towards ourselves to accept that keeping an open heart means that we have wounds, some of which may never fully heal and will need tending to by more hands than our own?

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

yes yes canon to me as well!!!

they even both have red ribbons as devotion to their partners,,,, they can bond over that too!!!

(oh gosh yeah sustainined in game roleplay is hard, i just like doing little things in there mostly, i tend to work the bigger details out via dms anyway)

You see a cute socialite. they have lots of stains on their clothes

you find out the synthesize these stains themself

you find out they synthesize poison as well

they learned this by performing a water and blood ritual in the super toxic water of the fuckung blood red river

they use these poisons while playing a game where you kill people. slowly.

they're possibly fucking the master that runs these games

(and half of the damn neath too)

this master made them royalty and adored whereever they go

(they're friends with the Poet-Laureate?!?!?!)

(they're paramount presence and every single faction knows them)

royalty made them unhappy, so a fucking Parabolan Power kidnapped them off that poison river

they won a game after being kidnapped and traded their heart to the Dream Controlling Horror

said Horror also gave them New Powers

they can't control these new powers once they start.

they corner you in a room and read off all you hidden wants, desires, and secrets while you feel them tugging on your heart strings

they start crying and get really upset at you?

they've cut you open with the dagger they got from their spouse from that master

they have now literally stolen your heart

[relaxxattack]

I humbly request your dave nonbinary thoughts, we may not be ready but I want to know, I want to be enlightened

okay so here’s the thing.

dave strider is a closeted and repressed queer boy in 2009.

in the culture at the time (especially on the internet where he basically grew up) "gay" is used as a catch-all for basically all things evil, stupid, and wrong. as kids grow up they learn that— because patriarchal privilege is something you can lose the second you’re not performing your masculinity to an insane degree— being gay makes you not a real man. being gay means you’re an effeminate little freak, a subversion, a pervert. something to be scorned and taught a lesson. which is terrifying to these kids.

on top of all this, dave is being abused daily in the name of becoming a real man a hero. his ultimate example of heroism is a hypermasculine freak who physically, mentally, and sexually abuses him. of course dave doesn’t want to do introspection into the idea of liking men. just being a man is a burdenous ideal, and the sexuality of men is something that has been consistently used to harm him.

that’s where we come to the meteor trip. dave seems to be of the opinion that because earth is long gone, a lot of those restrictive social conventions should be gone as well— especially things like toxic masculinity, and gayness as a complete “other” that you have to “turn” to; he claims (correctly) that a lot of these restrictive social boxes are imaginary lines built by prejudice, and less absolute then people assume.

so, dave does not subscribe to the idea of hard labels.

it’s important for him to reclaim the idea of gayness, of course. dave has been agonizing over that for the entirety of the comic. his own sexuality is something that terrifies him, to the point where he cannot even manage to date women he actually likes. even if he really is truthfully interested in women, he cannot really handle that until he’s finally come to terms with himself as “gay”. (which is why i don’t think dave would use the term bisexual. even if he does know what that means, that’s not the word he’s been terrified of embracing for the past 16 years. dave strider is gay. his entire arc revolves around accepting this.)

but i think if dave was contemplating gender as much as he was contemplating sexuality on that trip, he would come to a similar conclusion about labels. and besides, masculinity isn’t exactly something that he’s had a positive relationship with.

this is why i think he’d be some form of nonbinary or agender. dave calls himself gay because of his hard-earned reclamation of that word, not specifically because he is never interested in women. i think if he were to call himself a guy, it would be along those same lines.

(i could also go on a tangent about dave’s existence as a hussie self insert and his arc and dialogue with these concepts as a reflection of someone who eventually came out as agender, but this post is long enough as it is)

basically, gay nonbinary dave strider. he’s real.

[merwgue]

The Illusion of Feminism in ACOTAR: How the Series Fails Its Female Characters

Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) has often been hailed as a feminist fantasy, a tale filled with powerful female characters who fight, love, and rule their own destinies. But upon closer inspection, what the series delivers is an illusion of feminism—a narrative that dresses its women in superficial strength while confining them to traditional gender roles and patriarchal tropes. Maas may present her female leads as independent and powerful, but their development is constantly undercut by their relationships with men, their trauma, or their need for validation from others.

The series starts with Feyre, a young woman fighting to survive, taking on the role of provider for her destitute family. On the surface, she seems like a strong, independent character. However, her growth as a person is largely overshadowed by her relationships with male characters. Feyre’s development isn’t just about her becoming a stronger, more capable version of herself—it’s about finding a man to ‘save’ her. First, she is emotionally and physically exhausted under Tamlin's control, and then Rhysand comes along as her liberator, offering her the "true" freedom she never had. Feyre's journey, for all its twists and turns, is less about her own self-realization and more about trading one male protector for another. Her strength, while praised, only seems to materialize through the lens of her romantic relationships.

The problem with Feyre’s arc is that her identity and power are so deeply tied to the men in her life that it leaves little room for her own autonomy. Instead of choosing power or independence for herself, her development is almost always tied to how her male counterparts define her. The narrative tries to position Rhysand’s treatment of Feyre as "feminist" because he gives her choices, yet even within these choices, her journey is still deeply interwoven with romantic and sexual validation from him. The story makes it seem like Feyre’s strength is conditional on her connection to Rhys, reinforcing the very idea that a woman’s power must be connected to a man.

Then there's Nesta. Nesta’s arc could have been an opportunity to showcase a woman who refuses to be tamed or reshaped into society's expectations of her. Instead, the series turns Nesta’s rage, her trauma, and her defiance into something that needs to be 'fixed.' Her difficult personality, her inability to fall into line with her family's wishes, is portrayed as a flaw—something that needs to be softened or redeemed. And how does Maas attempt to ‘redeem’ her? Through Cassian, another male figure who becomes the anchor for her so-called transformation.

Nesta's journey is framed as a reclamation of power, but in reality, it's about her fitting into a more acceptable mold of femininity—softer, more open to love, more willing to be vulnerable. Instead of embracing her as she is—angry, hurt, and fierce—the narrative pushes her toward healing only through her relationship with Cassian, effectively turning her into another woman whose growth hinges on a man’s love and approval. Nesta’s complexity is reduced to a romance arc, undermining what could have been a far more nuanced and empowering portrayal of a woman dealing with trauma on her own terms.

Morrigan is another example of a character who could have stood as a beacon of true independence and complexity but instead falls flat. Morrigan, a warrior and a survivor of intense trauma, has been closeted about her sexuality for centuries. The idea that Mor, supposedly one of the most powerful and trusted members of the Inner Circle, can’t come out to her friends after 500 years speaks volumes about the so-called "family" dynamic Maas tries to sell. Mor’s queerness is sidelined to the point where her internal struggles with her identity are barely touched upon, and when they are, it feels like an afterthought.

In a series that prides itself on presenting complex female characters, Morrigan’s queerness is handled poorly, with little to no exploration of her struggles, relationships, or emotional depth. Instead, it seems Maas is more interested in maintaining the heteronormative love triangles and keeping Mor’s queerness in the background, where it won’t disrupt the more "marketable" relationships in the story. Mor's character could have been a ground-breaking exploration of queer identity, especially in a high-fantasy setting, but instead, she remains underdeveloped, reduced to a footnote in the larger romantic plots between her friends.

What’s truly disappointing about ACOTAR is how Maas consistently sets her female characters up as strong, independent figures only to then undermine them by tying their growth, power, and self-worth to men or romantic relationships. Even when Feyre, Nesta, and Mor display moments of agency, those moments are often framed within the context of male approval or romantic entanglements. The series pays lip service to feminism by giving these women positions of power, but Maas continually reverts to tired, patriarchal tropes by ensuring that their stories are defined by the men around them.

Ultimately, Maas reinforces traditional gender roles under the guise of progressive feminism. Women like Feyre and Nesta are lauded for their strength, but their stories hinge on the approval or influence of male characters. Mor’s queerness is sidelined, never given the space it deserves in a series that is already too focused on heteronormative dynamics. And all the while, the series frames this as empowerment, as though these women are truly independent when, in reality, they are just filling the same roles women have always been forced into: defined by the men around them, by their trauma, and by their relationships.

In conclusion, ACOTAR may present itself as a feminist narrative, but it ultimately falls short by reinforcing patriarchal ideas through its characters’ development. Sarah J. Maas creates the illusion of feminism by giving her female leads positions of power, only to reduce their stories to romantic entanglements and male validation. True independence for these women is never achieved, and until that changes, ACOTAR remains a series that fails its female characters under the guise of feminist storytelling.

[etoilesbienne]

re: tubbo and homophobia

It is okay to be uncomfortable with the homophobia jokes. That's fine. You're entitled to feeling uncomfortable however you please. That being said: some issues I have.

A fair amount of people upset with this aren't watching Tubbo's streams for the jokes, which is fine, however, reducing him to his status as a gay man as his only character trait is a little bit aggravating. There's a whole plotline of Tubbo feeling left out by the rest of morning crew and thinking he'll be left alone forever.

Like, sure Tubbo has Fred - as I've seen people mention - but thinking Tubbo's character's issues with loneliness will be resolved by having a romance is a character reduction, and grating to see repeated en masse by people claiming to be opposing homophobia. I understand people being uncomfortable with jokes, that's fine, but being homophobic in your own criticisms and reinforcing stereotypes with narratives of gay people solving all problems by simply falling in love is also not the take here.

I'd also urge people to be more thoughtful in their criticisms and how saying an openly gay man is making a community "unsafe" can be interpreted in a much worse way. It's fine to feel uncomfortable with jokes, again, but do not purposefully disregard any sort of reclamation or complexity of an openly gay creator being the one to make the jokes.

Like should Tubbo maybe tone down the jokes? Depends. I personally do not care. Is q!Tubbo actually homophobic? No. He's making a story about his character being left out and lashing out in a way he feel he can with his status as a queer person. If you want complex story writing: There it is. If you do not like it, it's fine, but let a character have a complex arc without trying to defang it.

And for christ's sake, he can reclaim the slur. There is no reason to be mad at him for that.

Leave the original person who made the criticism alone. This is more than just one person and they were fair in being uncomfortable with the jokes. Don't come for people personally.

[thisisnotthenerd]

feel free to share your reasoning. i made up a title for arc 8. breaking the gates seemed apt. not your least favorite arc, but when the trajectory changed.

arc summaries under the read more:

arc 1: the party meets in jrusar and come under the patronage of eshteross. bertrand dies. chetney shows. ira shows up. concludes with the shade mother.

arc 2: the party does the museum heist then get set after treshi in bassuras. dusk/yu. calloway hideaway. lattice around ruidus. paragon’s call. the deathwish run. fcg murderbot. first otohan murderfest. concludes with laudna’s resurrection.

arc 3: starts with eshteross’ murder. aeshanadoor and the gorgynei. heading to yios to meet the grim verity. planerider ryn. kadija sumal. first fey realm trip and destruction of the fey key. concludes with the apogee solstice.

arc 4: the party split. team wildemount land near uthodurn, meet deanna and frida, free umudara, wreak vengeance in drixlitch, head to molaesmyr for info. team issylra land near hearthdell, meet deni$e, bor’dor, and prism. fight in the dawnfather temple. bor’dor betrayal. concludes with the party reuniting in jrusar.

arc 5: from jrusar, heading to zephrah to help keyleth. after some shenanigans, heading to bassuras for imahara joe. shattered teeth. jirana. ghost pirates. evontra’vir. finding the shard. snowdinus. shardgate. trust exercises in ligament manor. concludes with the rush for the malleus key.

arc 6: landing on ruidus. finding the village. secret tunnel. ria’doin. kreviris. the volition. split missions and discoveries about ruidus. trying to escape. concludes with otohan murderfest number two and fcg’s sacrifice. crown keepers fracturing. zathuda. meet essek. head to aeor. meet braius. concludes with dominox and ludinus triggering the occultus thalamus.

arc 7: downfall. the gods striking down aeor.

arc 8: aftermath of downfall. delilah fight and soul anchoring. the exandria accord in vasselheim. back to the fey realm to defeat zathuda and cut unseelie ties. arch heart message. back to vasselheim. matron’s temple and the mask. meeting the nein and heading to ruidus.

vox machina take back the malleus key. mighty nein defeat the weave mind. bell’s hells rush to save liliana, defeat ludinus, and defeat predathos. back to exandria for an audience with the gods. gods take mortal form, predathos released into space, ashton dead and resurrected, epilogues for the age of reclamation.

[babybells123]

Umm I just realised something. Maybe I’m late to the party and reaching a bit but when Sansa dreams of having children that look like her lost siblings she says she also dreams of a girl who looks like Arya. But the only way Sansa could have a child that looks like her long faced dark haired gray eyed sister is by marrying a certain similar looking long faced dark haired gray eyed brother-cousin…

Hey there anon!

This isn't a reach at all, that is certainly the conclusion I came to upon reading that excerpt.

Not only do Sansa and Jon effectively have similar fantasies regarding domesticity (in the same book), they also specifically dream about having children named after their dead siblings, though I'll point something out about the 'looked like' and 'named after' distinction, and what really sold me on Sansa's fantasy being the missing half of Jon's.

"If I give him sons, he may come to love me. She would name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon... In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya." (ASOS Sansa II).

We know that Bran and Rickon take entirely after their Tully mother (auburn-haired and blue eyed), so Sansa yearning for children looking like in effect, herself (and her mother) makes sense on a personal level. I also think it speaks to Sansa honouring her Tully appearance, and wanting her features to be passed down as a reclamation of identity. When we consider her Alayne Stone arc, and having to disguise her very distinct hair, it's certainly relevant that Sansa desires for her future self to be untainted and genuine, if that makes sense? But I digress, onto the second aspect of this dream.

Grammatically, there is a punctuation mark to separate that particular thought from the rest. It is its own, distinct musing and George wants to emphasise the thought away from the rest. And it is so very profound not just in a Jonsa way, but in regards to Sansa's relationship with Arya. Wanting a daughter who looks like the sister she has quarrelled with, and who is plainer-looking (and has been picked on for her appearance) is so..sweet? I love it so much?? I am a pro-stark sisters truther!

Okay now for that connection to Jon...

As we know, Stark features are distinct: Somber, long-faced, brown haired and grey eyed. They are never described as particularly attractive due to this appearance (well Brandon Stark was very good looking though Ned was described as plainer faced) though I'd argue that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's why some perspectives consider Lyanna beautiful whilst other perspectives think she was nothing special and too "wild." But yeah, Stark features are certainly distinct, there are other Houses with similar appearances but the Stark look is just ?very uniquely STARK "Winter is Coming" esque.

Sansa wanting a girl who has the Stark look is then very significant, especially when we consider the entire context: Although she is supposedly fantasising about a future with a Tyrell who has southern looks, Sansa almost entirely makes her fantasy about a mystery man where they have children who just so happen to be a blend of Stark and Tully appearances...coincidence? absolutely not!

George could have had Sansa say she wanted to name her daughter Arya, though he specifically said "looked like Arya," and isn't that beautiful!

Luckily our boy Jon just so happens to be long faced, grey eyed, and brown haired whew!

It also conveys Sansa's progressive desire to return North and I also believe it foreshadows Sansa having a Northern husband! Breaking away from the idealised beauty of the South i.e 'the golden prince' is certainly significant for Sansa. And we know that she fell in love with Waymar Royce, who resembles Jon strikingly. Huh, that's two people who appear to resemble Jon that Sansa has associated with love and children. Interesting George...Interesting....

But to summarise, yes - that is the connection I have also made, and considering that Jon's fantasy is the perfect half that includes Robb as well (the missing child from Sansa's fantasy, apart from Jon)

"I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb." (ASOS Jon XII).

occurring in the same book where that desire for a family that Jon has precedes Sansa's chapter where she builds WF in the snow and the fact that they both equate romance/love with children.... oh my poor heart cannot handle the pure softness of them. Every time I start talking about one piece of evidence, I end up going on a tangent connecting it to other things, but that is the intricate and poetic beauty of Jonsa, what can I say. Sometimes I’m afraid of opening my inbox because I immediately think it’ll be hate, so I was pleasantly surprised because I LOVE discussing this topic; one of my favourite aspects of Jon and Sansa is how compatible their dreams are.

Thanks for the ask <3

[murdockmeta]

hey, I've always wondered what your header is referencing. the cartwheel one?

congratulations tumblr user you have selected the correct dialog options to unlock an infodump on a previous hyperfixation of mine 😀

My header is a reference to a line from Spider-Gwen volume 2 issue 32. Spider-Gwen takes place on Earth-65. In the same universe where Gwen Stacy is Spider-Woman, Matt Murdock is Kingpin. During his last appearance in the run, Matt (who has been working for The Hand while he's Kingpin) betrays The Hand after deciding he no longer wants to be their puppet. In this universe, Matt was kidnapped by The Hand as a child and was raised in their cult. Throughout volume 1 and 2 of Spider-Gwen, Matt comes to the realization that he doesn't want to be a part of The Hand anymore. We then get one of the most important scenes for his character in the whole run:

The context here is that Matt has betrayed The Hand by exposing their operation in New York City. Here, he's speaking to other Hand shōguns from around the world. They are berating him for his betrayal and he's making it clear he doesn't fucking care. It's the most empowering moment he experiences in his character arc.

It's especially significant because of that last line, "Nothing to fear." This is a clear nod to the phrase "The Man Without Fear," that's often assigned to Daredevil. Matt existence in Earth-65 is very sad, lonely, and empty. This betrayal is a reclamation of power, of autonomy, and is the first time in the run that we get a true glimmer of the person we know Matt truly is.

Thanks for the ask :3

[aihoshiino]

chapter 160 thoughts

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 17

Aqua Hoshigan Status: Incomprehensible

144 held out strong for nearly 20 whole chapters but 160 comes in like a beast to take its crown as Oshi no Ko Chapter That Has Baffled And Confounded Me The Most. The way it talks about the characters and arcs it's trying to convey to the reader is just mind boggling - some of this stuff just feels completely disconnected from the character arcs it's supposedly commentating on. It almost feels like an Oshi no Ko chapter from an alternate universe version of the manga.

I kind of suspect this is actually the case, in spirit at least. Akasaka has previously stated that he's had at least an ending for OnK planned at least since midway through Tokyo Blade based on when this interview was given. You would think the amount of time between then and now would have given Aka the time to organically work towards this but I think the opposite is true here - because the story has organically drifted and grown in the telling, as is natural for a serialized work of this length, the story that Akasaka ended up telling does not naturally lead into the ending he wanted to give it. And rather than compromise he's just… going ahead with it without making any adjustments, which leads to this bizarre sense of whiplash that's come from the last handful of chapters.

It's definitely possible that some of the stuff in here will read better when we're not getting this stuff bit by bit across however many break weeks but… man. I ain't getting my hopes too high.

To my relief, we start off on a note of confirming that Nino and Ryosuke were, in fact, both freaks about Ai way before Kamiki ever got involved with them. Even so, the story's framing of how he influenced them is just… weird. Based on the little flashback panels we see of their supposed friendship I'm inclined to think Kamiki is being truthful here just because whenever we see on-panel flashbacks in this way, they tend to be more-or-less factual accounts of events. Aqua tries to say he's lying, that he definitely intended to do harm but this is really hard for me to swallow, given that this 'intent to do harm' ball would've had to have started rolling back when Kamiki was fourteen at the oldest and long before he and Ai broke up.

Not only that but I have to stress, again; Nino and Ryosuke were already freaks about Ai at this point!!! They tracked down one of her loved ones under false pretenses and entered his life presumably for the purposes of crowbarring info about Ai from him!!! Wil from the OnK Brainrot server pointed out that this comes off much more strongly like Ryosuke and Nino taking advantage of Kamiki's naivety to prey on Ai, which I agree with and think lines up way more straightforwardly with the Kamiki we saw leading up to 154 and its conclusion.

It almost feels like there's two Kamikis; the victim of circumstance Kamiki who embraces monstrousness as an act of reclamation, who knows he can never again be good so he will surrender to being bad and the flatly evil Light Yagami ass Kamiki who's bad because uhhh he just is ok? It probably goes without saying which of the two I find more compelling and overall more consistent with what the story has been building up so far, but the way the story keeps abruptly switching between the two makes it almost impossible to get a coherent read on him.

At the end of the day, I simply find it very hard to swallow the manga's attempt to almost sweep Nino and Ryosuke's culpability under the rug or to transfer the weight of their actions to Kamiki and hold him accountable for them because of this supposed manipulation. A healthy, well-adjusted person with no tendencies towards violent or antisocial behaviour does not suddenly get mindbroken into a misogynistic murderer overnight because they saw that the subject of their parasocial obsession keeps a toothbrush at her boyfriend's house. I can believe that Kamiki certainly didn't help but the idea that he is solely responsible for turning Nino and Ryosuke into violent murderers is a stretch.

I feel like I'm kind of talking in circles on this point a lot because I'm struggling to articulate why it bothers me so much so I'll end this section by paraphrasing a section of Higurashi YouTuber Bess's deep dive post-mortem on the GouSotsu anime duology. that I think sums up where I'm at.

In it, Bess quotes the original author in describing the actions of the overarching antagonist as "giving a gun to someone who is being bullied and getting emotional" and says that she agrees but points out that if the victim chooses to fire that gun, they are the ones who hold responsibility for their actions and that being the victim of manipulation does not suddenly rob them of accountability for their violence, whereas the framing of GouSotsu is that the overarching villain is the sole person who bears responsibility.

I feel like this is the dynamic at play here with Kamiki and Ryosuke/Nino too - except Kamiki, in this metaphor, didn't even fucking give anyone a gun because both Ryosuke and Nino were already armed to begin with. BUT I'LL MOVE ON NOW I SWEAR…

Aside from ^ ALL THAT ^ I also feel like this chapter's attempt to define the white/black hoshigan dichotomy is also just kind of a flop. It's so overly specific that it doesn't actually match with how the black OR white hoshigans have been portrayed symbolically before (was Aqua using his super special dark and evil star powers to dominate and manipulate others when he was eating potato chips and pumping up a pool floatie? come on, man) but it's also just so on the nose and overly dramatic that it comes off as kind of goofy and hard to take seriously.

It's also really funny and kind of frustration to see this dichotomy established seemingly for the purposes of just propping Ruby up some more. Aqua insisting that Ruby is ~just different~ from him and Hikaru REALLY flops because like… IS SHE REALLY THO???

Understand that I don't say this to shit on Ruby but like. Ruby literally had a whole arc about going black hoshigan and using her talent to manipulate and use people for her own benefit! She effectively utilized girl power to put the jobs of an entire TV show's worth of people at risk so she could clout chase a little more efficiently!!! Literally everything Kamiki tries to assert about him and Aqua are also perfect descriptions of how Ruby behaved during that leg of the manga until it flipped off like a switch and she faced literally zero consequences and learned nothing from it.

This is another indication to me that this conversation is an artifact of Akasaka's originally planned ending because this whole bit gassing up how Ruby is just ~so different~ from Kamiki and Aqua simply does not cohere with a story where Ruby had an entire arc of her just being Aqua 2.0 that was never really resolved and she never really learned anything from. If the framing here was just a LITTLE different, I think it could work - maybe instead of Aqua acting like Ruby is just intrinsically, arbitrarily Pure of Heart or whatever, a point could be made that Ruby is actively choosing to be a good and loving person even after all the shit she's been through and especially after an accidental taste of the dark side. But as it stands the accidental implication of the story ends up being that Ruby's BH era was Good, Actually and the actions she took during it were also good lol.

I continue to have all the same issues with the B-Komachi concert as I did in my previous chapter review so I won't repeat myself on that. I will, however, point out that the song Ruby namedrops in this chapter is a reference to Spica (where we translated it as 'When You Wish Upon Your Star'), in which this is a song written and performed by Ai as a message of support for her fans. That is to say, we are once again seeing Ruby, from a narrative perspective, not being allowed to stand on her own as her own idol but relying on the imagery and legacy of Ai's idolhood.

Not only that but… again, I must ask: why is Ruby the center and narrative focus of Kana's graduation concert? Like, obviously, given that Aqua and Kamiki are talking about her the framing is going to focus on Ruby but why is this conversation happening during a moment that had been massively built up to be about Kana? Why is Aqua talking about Ruby as an idol like the rest of B-Komachi just doesn't exist? Why is the narrative unironically indulging in all the same favoritism and coddling of Ruby that, in-universe, tore apart the first generation of B-Komachi?

I guess at the end of the day my problem is that I'm just kind of fed up with Ruby as a character and the way the story has been bending over backwards to coddle her so it's hard to me to get invested when the story goes YEAAAAHHH WOOOOOO RUBY!!!! Especially when, like it has been for a while now, this coddling comes not just at the expense of other characters but also at the expense of Ruby herself and the coherency and consistency of her character arc. It sucks for Ruby as a character and it sucks for me, as a reader, who used to rank Ruby as one of their top three faves but now just feels kind of exhausted with her.

LOOK OUT KAMIKI HE'S GOT A KNIFE

God this whole bit with Aqua getting double white hoshigans while he pulls a knife on Kamiki is just kind of too goofy to take seriously lol. I have some thoughts about how this potentially recontextualizes some of Aqua's actions through the Movie Arc and during the previous confrontation with Kamiki but. I just keep coming back to Aqua being like "white hoshigans means love r something which i'm going to prove by killing you in cold blood" and just shaking my head. It really feels like a moment written just to be a cliffhanger so, like I have with the last three damn chapters, I'll hold back any commentary on it until we get a continuation of this thread next week.

honestly the part of this chapter I enjoyed most was that creepypasta ass full page panel of Kamiki's fucked up smile. that genuinely really alarmed me when i first saw it and even now I don't like looking at it for too long or i get the willies lol. Genuinely fire horror imagery from Mengo as usual. Can she PLEEEEEEEEASE do a horror manga next i'm BEGGING to get spooked by mengo-sensei

no wait i lied. the best part was that cute panel of ai and her babies. <3

justice for memcho and kana, tho, for real

And I'm sure as none of you will be shocked to hear……….. break next week.

[walk-to-gallows]

Mary was too much. The show spent to much time in the past they didn’t need to drag Mary back into their lives for MORE FAMILY DRAMA. There were so many options for Amara to grant Dean some wish or some desire that he wanted there was no reason to dig into his rat nest of a life and drag Mary from heaven as some gift to Dean. To me that was as bad as 11 or 12 seasons later we had to put up with meeting Sam’s imaginary friend. They didn’t ring us dry of Sam pity enough? Do we need something more weird from his life to ring the tears from us?

While I didn’t sit at home hating or blogging about her in some crazy negative way. I think I only made one post about her right after she appeared but I was happy to see her go.

Yeah, you're getting the full rant; Mary was a reclamation.

Like most horror media, Supernatural has a bad habit of fridging its female characters to give its male characters a fighting reason. Up until her resurrection, Mary was only present in the past, she was just a memory rather than a person, the perfect mother, perfect wife, perfect woman because she was dead.

Of course killing off a family member is a customary trick of the trade, it’s strong stuff for motivating your characters, but when your pilot opens with not one, but two female characters being killed for the sake of their male partners arc, there’s a problem there.

Mary’s return is important for many reasons. Her presence parallels Jack’s, the ghost of the past and the hope of the future, the undead and the newly born. She represents autonomy being given to women in horror, like Kelly Kline, these women aren’t just hills for men to die on anymore.

Mary is the beginning, she’s the start of it all. Her return was hardly heralded in a way that made us expect her, but she’s not a random prize. Mary’s death has been the catalyst of Sam and Dean’s entire life, and as they move on to the future, there’s a need for them to reconcile with the past, especially with Jack’s introduction.

From this ask and your next, I'm guessing you're much more a fan of Dean than Sam, and I won't lie, my preferences lie that way too, but I fear that you're letting your biases cloud your judgement.

Mary's return has much more to do with Dean than Sam, Dean was four when Mary died, he actually remembers her. Her return spurs a whole new arc for him where he has to come to terms with her absence in his life and the glorified version of her that he grew up with as a result of his young age, Dean feels abandoned by his mother both in the past and in the present.

And once again, with Jack's introduction and Dean's role as one of his parents, there's more for Dean to move through. Dean was incredibly involved in Sam's childhood, and yet now when he's an adult he find himself often emotionally unavailable like his own father was once.

Not to mention, Sam and Dean's lives have been tightly intertwined beyond what is normal for most siblings, they've spent years apart, but they've often only had each other to rely on. Most things that concern one of them will also concern the other. Yes, Mary's return gives Sam a chance to know his mother the way he was never able to, but it also gives Dean the opportunity to reconcile with his childhood, to say things to his mother he never thought he'd be able to say, to resolve a part of his life that has been an open, festering wound.

Dean lost his father to hunting, it's something he struggles to reconcile with (which is why 14x13 is so important but that's another rant). It's part of the reason he's defensive of Sam's criticism of John, because Dean remembers a time when John was attentive and gentle, and not the soldier he regressed to.

In season 1, we see Sam learn that side of John, the part of him that put away money into a college fund for his boys, that hoped for a future free from bloodshed, and he comes to terms with the loss of a father he had never gotten the chance to know.

This is what Dean gets with Mary, the chance to know his mother as she was, as a person and an individual. The resentment that Sam carried for John is comparable to that which Dean carries for Mary, it's a one-dimensional view of their parents, anger at what they weren't just as much as what they were. Dean blames Mary for his childhood, and while I don't think the culpability rests on her, it is that unresolved anger that brings his mother back to him.

Mary gets a second chance at life, Dean gets a second chance with his mother, and he brings her back to him. I really find it difficult to understand how so many people dismiss this plot line, because not only does it parallel the way Sam and Dean slowly lost their father to the hunting life, it is a direct result of Dean's lingering anger and grief that makes Mary their mother again. She avoids them, throws herself back into hunting because it's what's familiar in this world that has aged beyond her, and the guilt of seeing her boys, who have grown despite her absence, is too much to bear. Dean forces her past this guilt, he allows her to forgive herself because he hates her for being gone, but he loves her too, and her knowing that her absence now counts as much as her absence then is what changes everything.

The character writing in supernatural is something that can be so good, I hate to see the hate-train on Mary coming at full speed because she didn't live up to audience expectations (never mind that those expectations were based on snapshots of her from her grieving husband and sons, or the younger and "innocent" version of her). Anyway, you're free to dislike Mary, at the end of the day my opinion is my opinion and yours is your own, but the fact of the matter is that Mary's return was incredibly significant for the overall plot, and Dean's character arc and growth.