#societal normalcy

[trendynewsnow]

Reflections on Trump's Latest Victory and Its Impact on Political Dynamics

Reflections on Trump’s Latest Victory Donald Trump’s recent electoral win has brought about a markedly different atmosphere compared to his previous victories. This time, there is no seismic jolt reverberating through society. Polling indicates that this election outcome is among the most widely recognized as legitimate in the past quarter-century. The responses from those who opposed him appear…

[sleepymrshmllow]

insp 🌸

[preservationofnormalcy]

How active was the OPN in the Cold War? Was there a Soviet equivalent your office you fought against?

Most of this is still classified, but you may have heard things about our Psychotronics Program that are unfortunately true.

[catboy-dysphoria]

The idea of a "normal person" is a fucking myth created to shame people and so many of y'all keep fucking falling for it. I'm not even joking here.

[voidpunkanathema]

Context: I'm still annoyed about that tweet about the Wonka Experience that says "everyone knows a stoner that's 35 and still decorates the house they share with 4 people like this".

Like 1. You shouldn't decorate with AI art because it's unethical and looks like shit, not because it's "cringe".

2- With how high rent is unless you ended up a finance bro or some shit you're gonna have roomies sorry

3- Just? Let people live how they want? Not everyone wants a marriage, a white picket fence and 2.5 kids.

Just fuck off you judgy small-minded bitch 🙃

[scarycranegame]

hate when people act like it's mandatory to move out for whatever mental health reason.. like. have you SEEN the economy. are you aware that the "haha funny housing crisis meme gif!!!" is not, in fact, just a meme gif? like. sorry you have issues with your parents and want to pretend like everyone else does too for the sake of projection but wtf do you want me to do, be homeless?? (also i love my parents, fuck you lmao)

[pocket-deer-boy]

I would love a story with a timeskip where a character who’s completely bogstandard, strict, normal, whatever, to become an absolute weirdo freak both in appearance and behavior after the timeskip

[creature-in-a-cornfield]

your life is your own, death comes far too fast to die miserable for the sake of not changing

genuinely one of my fave things about being trans is talking about name changes or even hormones and having cis ppl go "wow i wish i could change my name" and telling them they can. because they always start brainstorming and it's cute. like hey u have bodily autonomy too! you can even seek out hormone medication if you want. it's your body

[gaseingintohorror]

NAHUEJTKTORK5J5JJT NAHR MAIR ANNSUTHRBNRNTNT. AHR NAHRBR NRHYBBRHTJTJTJRJEJ4JTJNRNRKDKEBTN4JJRI4O3K3JEHDJJDJWOQKDJRJTJRJKRRJRJRANSNNSRNENJEEJJEJRHJRRHRNNTYJTNTJYJTJ AZIRAPHALE WHYYYYYYYYYYYYHFHTJTKJTKJTTJ

[mogamuncher]

Heeey I'm back! It's finally time for the full Cakeverse analysis gang!

Ok, so, for a refresher:

There's the Forks, the Cakes and the Plates (normal people), and it goes like this:

Plates are just normal people, the majority of the world population, nothing new here.

Forks: Can't taste and sometimes can't smell either, sometimes they used be able to taste but lost it with age; either way, they can only ever taste cakes.

Cakes: Basically normal people except that they're delicious, everything from them (flesh, tears, saliva, etc) tastes like cake (or other foods if you want). You can't tell who's a cake or not unless you're a Fork that's tasting them in some way.

Now, I have to add some stuff that's really interesting and that the og author said, that we'll be getting into today.

• Forks go absolutely bat shit insane when they taste the Cakes most of the time, that can lead to a lot of things, cannibalism, sex, or (if you're cultured) both.

• Both Cakes and Forks suffer from their own societal plights. Cakes die a lot, and Forks when discovered are instantly pinned as murderers, criminals and perverts, even if they haven't done anything wrong yet.

• Cakes can derail a Fork's entire life, and Forks are like sin and temptation to Cakes.

Now, I want to talk about these because they absolutely fucking vexed me and now I want to make this all of y'all's problem.

「The First Taste」

It's essentially a common rule as said by the author that the Forks go insane after feeling the taste of a Cake, now, let's talk about: Why?

See, Cakeverse is technically an Au based from the likes of Omegaverse, which you can see by the structure being similar to Alpha/Beta/Omega with the three types of people out there. But, in ABO the Alphas going insane is due to a specific event, heats, which are there specifically for reproduction and are said to bring out animal instincts out of people's control, while Forks are based on simply taste, food, and not something as biological.

Of course it's up to the individual writer to an extent, but my interpretation of why Forks lose it when they taste Cakes is more psychological when compared to Alphas in the Omegaverse.

Imagine that you are completely unable to see color, never once have you seen one, you grew up hearing all about how wonderful colors are, you saw others compliment the colors of several works of art, you heard all about the colors of the world around you, but all that you see is beige and grey. Now, imagine that one day you bump into someone, and suddenly you're able to see all the colors, for the first time ever in your life, you can finally experience blue skies and green grass, you can see the same way the rest of the world sees, something that was fundamentally missing from you is finally gifted to you by this stranger on a silver tray.

You're finally complete.

That's the reality of what Forks go through, years of eating tasteless food, seeing people enjoy food wholeheartedly and rant about the tastes, hearing about the differences between expensive food and cheap food, and then suddenly finally tasting cake. Of course they go insane and fixate on it, it's like the final puzzle piece finally sliding into place, something that they've been missing this whole time being manifested with only a taste.

Before, eating was a chore, something simply to survive there was no joy in it, no fun to be found in desserts or snacks, but with only a single kiss the Fork finally feels what it is like to crave food, to want food for the taste.

Cakeverse in nature is oddly psychological, playing with the concept of taking away something extremely core to the human experience, taste. It's inherent and everyone has it, you'd probably feel like a freak of nature if you didn't have something while everyone else has, right?

That's what Cakes bring Forks; normalcy, joy and purpose, it's basically like a shot of endorphins all at once straight into your bloodstream, there's a good chance it'd hit like a truck and fuck you up majorly.

Forks acting rashly probably looks different than when Alphas do the same, because the motive is inherently different, but the desperation is arguably more raw.

A lot can be written on what that reaction would be:

Immediately trying to taste the Cake (kissing, licking, biting), trying to play cool only to strike later (potential kidnapping, manipulation, planning and scheming in general), the Fork can try to resist temptation or maybe the Cake can notice the extreme reaction and run away, maybe the Cake can instigate and bait the Fork to take a bite.

It could lead to fluff, to relationships starting, relationships ending, it could smut, it could be gory cannibalism, hell, it could be both.

Either way, the sheer amount of character study that could be made out of this tidbit alone is insane, and the story concepts don't stop there!

「We Do, In Fact, Live In a Society」

Cakes don't know who they are until it's too late, but I can imagine that in society they'd be treated with a lot of extra care if they are known beforehand, as they are constantly in risk of dying.

Imagine that they'd also be majorly babyfied, the "nooo poor babies that can't do anything wrong, poor helpless and weak Cakes, they clearly can't take care of themselves, they're so vulnerable, don't worry I'll speak for you to protect your honor" would be insane. Any Cake that consensually and willingly gets with a Fork will be doubted if they truly wanted to do it, think nosy people pulling them aside to ask if they're ok and pressing to see if they're abused, think people immediately thinking that Cakes can't consent to anything with a Fork on principle despite them being grown adults.

Online discourse would definitely have people saying "Cakes are minor coded" or some shit, mark my words.

While Forks would be instantly persecuted for everything. Because of something they didn't choose, that was inherited at birth, they now are fully seem as murderers, kidnappers, rapists and just the lowest of the low. People will gossip, people will get defensive, people will cower any time you slightly raise your voice, you're seen as a predator, treated no different than a wild bear. To society at large, you're an unruly dog, and all eyes will be on you forever, watching, waiting for the day that you take a bite.

In a sense, it's almost like any Forks that do commit crimes instantly have a justification to do so, it's expected, really, you're a Fork, of course you'd snap one day. It's both maligned and normalized, everyone expects it and it almost gives Forks a reason to do so. Forever a self fulfilling prophecy.

Now I'm sorry that I'll keep bringing the Omegaverse up, it's just that it's really handy for comparison, but I find it fascinating that in a way, the societal effects of this are a mish mesh of the societal views seen in ABO, but like, in a way that doesn't make me want to vomit.

Can I be so fr with you guys right now? I don't like the societal parts of the Omegaverse, ever since I was a kid in the early hay days of the internet, that always made me uncomfortable, and it's also a bit lazy in a way. The problems in society with the Omegaverse are basically just Sexism, it's misogyny with mpreg, and a lot of fics end up feeling like a Handmaiden's Tale with mpreg. Replace Alphas with men and Omegas with Women and you get the Omegaverse, though it gets a bit interesting since there technically is a built-in "fuck or die" and aphrodisiac system with heats/ruts, but very few writers do something interesting with it.

My problem is that it's always either uncomfortable or outright boring, very little fics do it well and most of the time authors simply choose to side step it altogether, which I completely understand and actually prefer at this point.

I bring all this up because Cakeverse actually brings a lot of interesting concepts up in it's consequences on the world at large, the nature of Forks and Cakes mirrors a lot of real life concepts, but leaves enough fantastical elements that there's still intrigue in what could be explored and seem from authors writing certain details of it.

Would there be Cake support groups? Would there be Fork rights activists? Would there be people who are both Forks and Cakes, like a hybrid type? What are different relationship types seen as in the eyes of society as a whole?

It's all so complicated and the problems are different between the both of them, also, they're evenly split, which is a breath of fresh air.

Now, it's time to get even deeper into this, what are exactly Forks and Cakes relationship with each other like?

「Would You Still Love Me If I Was Cake?」

According to the author, Cakes can derail a Fork's life and Forks are temptation to Cakes. Now, why is that?

Imagine you're a Fork, living your life trying to do what you can with what's been handed to you, probably being discriminated against if you haven't been able to hide it well, when suddenly you taste someone (kiss or by accident, like a shared water bottle), and next thing you know you lose your mind. Your entire world falls apart, thoughts of dreams, future, your own sense of morality, it all melts away like sugar in water because you just experienced heaven and now it's all you can think about.

Someone completely normal beforehand, suddenly driven to obsession with just one moment, an entire life detailed into the unknown because they just had a taste of cake, thoughts being all about one person and their taste, the inability to stop even you're desperate to do so. It's madness, and almost like a tragedy, doomed by their own personal narrative of Fork meets Cake, the Forks turns into a starving beast whether they want to or not.

But Cakes? Imagine you have someone you love, and they want you so badly it drives them mad, imagine kissing the same lips that want to be stained with your taste, imagine putting yourself in the way of jaws that any of these days can close down on you and swallow you whole. You're constantly in contact with someone that could just straight up eat you, consume you whole and leave nothing behind, but your heart aches for them, you present yourself in a silver platter again and again.

Maybe you want to be eaten, to be consumed. Maybe you like being wanted, maybe you enjoy providing something to to others, you made them so happy that it doesn't even matter to you that they are taking chunks out of you, you'll gladly let yourself be torn apart if it means someone else is satisfied.

It's all about the usage of "Cannibalism as a Metaphor for Love™", it's all about loving someone but constantly wanting to eat them into non-existence, it's about to struggle between your brain heart and stomach.

It's about having your cake and eating it too.

The themes, the metaphors, the opportunities are endless and frankly I'm driving myself insane just imagining all of it, the angst also would be utterly fucking insane, imagine you live someone and you eat them, wouldn't you be upset? You loved them and you killed them yourself, with your own hands, their taste is on your lips and you licked your plate clean.

I'm screaming and crying and throwing up as we speak, the number of things you can do here are endless, soooo. . . Let's talk about some of my ideas!

「All My Fanfiction Titles Are Just Songs」

Last post I basically tagged a bunch of fandoms that I wish would use this trope (I'll also be doing that with this post), so now I'm going to showing some of the ideas I had for this AU that I might or might not write in the future, all of which you guys are totally free to use as prompts as well (just tag me on them lmao)

So, going ship by ship:

「Loveit」: Dead Plate fanfic, Vincent x Rody, Fork!Vincent and Cake!Rody. I imagine that the moment Vincent finds out is during the Best Served Hot ending, after biting Rody's ear, his reaction would show instantly on his face and Rody would notice right away. After that it can lead to a lot of things, fighting, smut and cannibalism galore, their relationship would only get more complicated after such a discovery. Hell, you can even have Vincent find out earlier, if you truly want more juicy drama, maybe Vincent will attempt to make Rody into the meal instead of Mason this time? For funsies you could even reverse it, Rody as a Fork would be fascinating to see, him bonding with Vincent that he also can't taste anything, only for him to find out later that he can taste Vincent himself, holy shit the intrigue.

「Eat You」: Death Note, Lawlight, Fork!Light and Cake!L. Imagine Light both having to hide the fact that he's Kira, but also having to hide the fact that he's a Fork, imagine the never leaving stain that being a Fork would be on his own self-perception of perfection, imagine the so called god that punishes criminals also being considered a criminal by default in society's eyes if he's ever found out. Kira selling out his own kind because most criminals would likely be Forks (whether they were rightfully convicted or not), and then comes in L, a detective, a nuisance, Light's equal and a Cake. Maybe Light would find that out later on, maybe while they're playing as friends in college or while chained together, and now L had effortlessly thrown another wrench in his life yet again by default, like they're meant to be opposed by fate itself, where Kira is a Fork L is a Cake. L would likely goad Light on, trying to bait Kira out, by any means necessary, even if it means being eaten.

「Eat You Piece by Piece」: Hear me out, Batjokes. Fork!Bruce having to hold himself back from breaking his own morals due to finding out Joker is a Cake, Fork!Joker only getting deeper into his Batman obsession after tasting a Cake!Batman, Both Forks bonded by not having taste, maybe both are Forks that differ on how they react to Cakes (Joker regularly eating them while Bruce retains his morals and chooses to not hurt them), maybe both Cakes that got here because they were almost eaten (different Batman and Joker origin stories?). The opportunities are all intriguing and promptly end in bloodshed, expect angst and discussions of what is moral, also just so much angst holy shit this shit hurts.

「I Eat Boys Up」: Dungeon Meshi, Labru, Fork!Laios and Cake!Labru. I'm thinking post canon by accident, maybe something like sharing utensils, and I'm going to be so fr with you right now, this story coming from me would be a lot of romanticism through food metaphors and unending smut, feral Laios is my equivalent of heroin and I could imagine him describing Kabru's taste in detail to him while eating him out. But if smut isn't your jam, exploring how Laios and his monster obsession, especially in the form of food, as someone who can't taste would be intriguing, in a story so closely tied to food, you have to wonder how it would all change if the main character couldn't even taste. Also, I doubt Kabru would take the knowledge of him being essentially prey well, so there's that bag of worms to go into if you want.

「Blame Gluttony」: This one is purely self indulgent but like, Re:Zero with any ship, Cake! Subaru and Fork!anyone else. Imagine Subaru's world doesn't have this Cakeverse nonsense at all, but the world he's transported to has, imagine how scary it would be that one loop he suddenly finds out that he's essentially universal prey here (maybe in the second loop with Elsa), imagine the weight of all the things that already are trying to kill him along with the fact that he's also got a new thing to worry about? Maybe instead of just the rabbit loop, there's now multiple loops where Subaru is eaten alive, maybe there's loops where his dear friends themselves are eating him. Can you imagine if Emilia was a Fork? If he found out after the kiss of death and she commented on the taste of his lips as he was dying, if it came up again after their kiss, Subaru having to tackle with his love and heart belonging to someone that would one day eat him whole. Imagine the witch not longer just wants to touch his heart or kiss him, but she also bites him when he tries to tell the secret. Imagine maybe Rem is also a Fork, imagine that his death by her hands also involved her tearing into him chunk by chunk. What if Otto was a Fork, what if Reinhard was one? Seriously all the opportunities are equally traumatizing and I'm living for it!

Honorable mentions include: Persona Shuake and Shuada (Fork!Protags and Cake!Detectives) for the optimal mutual murder extravaganza, Okegom DSP Satanivlis (Fork!Ivlis and Cake!Satanick) for a rare case of role swapping, South Park Kyman (any way works tbh) for mutually assured destruction, Slay the Princess (Fork!Princess and Cake!Birb) because themes, Soukouku (Fork!Dazai and Cake!Chuuya) for making canon even worse than it already is, frankly any investigrave game would be peak here, Hannigram for obvious reasons.

But that's all I have for now, so, what have we learned here?

We learned that: I'm mentally ill and you need to write about the Cakeverse NOW.

[gooner-media]

Real Lives, Real Stories

Welcome to Real Lives, Real Stories, where we delve into the personal experiences of everyday women navigating the profound social changes brought by the National Maturity Compliance Act (NMCA). Here, we share their journeys, challenges, and resilience in the face of new societal norms.

Embracing a New Chapter: Ayumi's Journey After Heartbreak

In the vibrant city of Tokyo, Ayumi's life took an unexpected turn after a painful divorce. Caught in an affair, Ayumi's marriage ended abruptly, and she found herself subject to the National Maturity Compliance Act (NMCA). At 27, as an unmarried woman, she must now wear and use diapers instead of restroom facilities. As we all know, this law requires that the diapers be exposed in public, as it does not allow the luxury of modesty.

On a busy afternoon, Ayumi steps out with her best friend, Hana, who has been her rock during these trying times. Hana, happily married, is dressed in regular clothing, symbolizing the stability and normalcy Ayumi longs for. Despite the heartbreak and public scrutiny, Ayumi is determined to embrace this new chapter of her life with resilience.

"It's been challenging," Ayumi admits. "The divorce was hard enough, but adjusting to the NMCA has added another layer of complexity. Thankfully, I have Hana by my side."

Hana, standing beside Ayumi, shares her perspective. "Ayumi made a mistake, but she is working hard to move forward. Our friendship is stronger than ever, and I believe she will find happiness again."

Through Ayumi's story, Goo.ner Media highlights the themes of resilience and support. Her journey showcases the strength it takes to comply with the NMCA while navigating personal upheaval. By sharing stories like Ayumi's, Goo.ner Media aims to foster understanding and compassion, emphasizing that compliance with the NMCA can be both dignified and empowering.

[cosycafune]

NORMAL GIRL; SATORU GOJO.

a summary: normalcy isn't something you usually have, especially in the jujutsu world. but the moment satoru gojo came along, he treated you as a normal girl. satoru taught you what it meant to be loved, not admired.

synopsis of acts: brief mention of self-harm, marginalisation, comfort, learning to love someone for them.

In life, you are someone who's at a stalemate. When the trees sing and sway, you stand and stare -- admiring the beauty but not capturing it. When new shoes surface in the market, you are the type to catch a pair when it's too late -- a new trend arising. Frankly, you always felt like you were falling behind in the petty sectors of love.

Despite admiration being bestowed upon you, praise and subtle bluffs, you had still never been in a relationship. It wasn't something you tried to prioritise, but there were so many aspects of you in a marginalised society that disadvantaged you.

Through your beauty and your irreplaceable light, there's also this indispensable gloom that arises from critical others. Simply, people adored you enough to admire and fantasise about you, but you knew well enough that they would never put themselves in a position to openly flaunt or want to carry your heart.

That was until you discovered Satoru Gojo, a man who sewed himself into loving all the things about you that others were too scared to admit aloud. At first, his obnoxiousness curled you into yourself -- until you discovered the beauty within his love.

Satoru admired every fragment of you, spoiling you effortlessly in a way no one had ever treated you -- in your gloomy past. You were never a first or second option, but something that was monitored but never chosen.

But, Satoru asked you to choose him. Through every moment the two of you faced, Satoru ensured your comfort above all. His heart would always swirl at your natural hairstyle, your braids, the beauty of your culture that you would always suppress. Satoru embraced every part of you, telling you that you are beautiful through every mental breakdown, through every trial and error you went through, and the cruelty of society on you.

Despite the differences between you and Satoru, in many ways, he still devoted himself to loving you and treating you in ways you thought you were undeserving of. Even with having depictions forced on you, Satoru always made sure to never enable any -- his heart set upon smearing you with fondness.

Sometimes, you would cuddle up in bed -- wondering what you did to deserve someone like him. Someone who flaunted you in front of his mother, unwilling to compare you to the stereotypical women that linger. You were all that mattered to him, someone he coddled and allowed to develop a dependency with him. Independency was something you rarely held around him, especially with how clingy and loving you also are with him.

Satoru stood up for you, annihilating any subtle anxiety cue with his light hand squeezes, the effort he put into meeting your mum and being respected by your family. Satoru truly loved you, authentically. It isn't a way that lurks with cunning fetishes, whirled with the distaste of a flawed persona. It's in a way of respect, love, honour, integrity and something that completes you wholely.

Consistently, you always wished you were a normal girl. But, Satoru granted your wish -- casting you into a place of normalcy that made you feel comfortable and loved. He gave you a space to grow with him, lighten up and be seen as a person.

Marginalisation isn't a concept around Satoru, since Satoru does everything he needs to do to cheer and slowly heal you. He always offers the world to you, knowing he would reconstruct the world at any given moment for you. Even if it meant fully eradicating the days or people that made you feel less.

Satoru knew you held more value than anyone, and no one else mattered to him. Despite being cast in the unfair Jujutsu world, Satoru spent every inch of himself reforming parts of society so you felt safer. So you could freely watch the blossom flowers bloom in spring, kissing his lips with everything you had. He manmade so many things to observe the gentle twinkle in your eyes, each time you had tears in your eyes, simply because he went above and beyond.

Poetically, Satoru would pluck every fragment of shattered glass within the grass, uncaring if others attempted to wound his palm with scattered cuts. If it meant hurting others in the way they hurt you, Satoru would do it in a heartbeat. A way that resembles muscle memory. He'd do it whenever you were busy with something else, assuring you with a lulling peace that had never come in waves until you had met him.

Normalcy was something you had never acquired before, but Satoru gave you everything that you had never held before.

Satoru Gojo treated you as a normal girl.

--

do not copy my work, at all. all rights reserved; cosycafune. 2024.

[raconabhorrent]

capitalist-centric horror/corporate horror is such an interesting concept to me. like, the idea of taking something that is so (unfortunately) mundane in many people's lives in our current societal landscape and either perverting it or amplifying all aspects of it to create a horror experience is just so beautiful to me.

games like night in the woods (which technically isn't horror but is still relevant as a game creating a psychologically horrific atmosphere for the point of commenting on capitalism's effects), lethal company, night of the consumers, employee of the month (great game i rlly recommend), mouthwashing, happy's humble burger farm, yuppie psycho and MANY more games that don't fit neatly under a specific category outside of a general conception of what "horror games" are.

those kinds of things are fascinating because of the way they combine traditional "horror" (scary monsters, jumpscares, blood and gore) with the stress caused by something like a normal 9-5 at a corporate office, or the concept of working conditions at a packing plant.

it makes you think about how normalized the conditions we as humans exist in, and how despite that people are calling out that normalcy, whether simply through setting and plot or specifically through intention and subtext. it's definitely a genre of game that i'm excited to see more from and something i really want to think more about

(this was inspired by the jacob geller video essay discussing labor in both NITW and Tacoma)

[artbyblastweave]

So, the thing about Ward's worldbuilding is, it's bad on purpose. This is something I didn't catch until a relisten of the earlier parts, but the disconnect between the actual literal apocalypse that occurred two years prior and the shockingly advanced levels of infrastructure and technology is very deliberate. The entire thing is slapdash and farcical. You have people out the door of a shitty concrete hovel lining up for bad coffee. You have cars built out of random scavenged parts, "dumpsters" that Victoria can't manhandle because they're made of clumsily-welded-together scrap metal. Victoria can't reliably navigate at night because power to the city below is intermittent (and her mother Carol happens to live in one of the parts that does have consistent power; that's unexamined, make of it what you will.) The mall cluster shitshow goes down in a "mall" that, IIRC, is called out later as having been basically a dead end economically, a doomed grasp at a sense of normalcy. The patrol block uses recycled PRT gear, Dot's interlude involves the machine army jumping a bunch of bog-standard apocalypse scavengers. What you're looking at isn't a new society built up shockingly quickly; you're looking at the previously-well-supplied-and-externally-supported outpost of the recently destroyed society, and after two years they're finally chewing through the last of the head start they got. The societal equivalent of Wile. E. Coyote hanging in the air above the cliff, or of the seemingly-untouched duelist seconds away from sliding in half. Unfortunately, due to choices made about the timeframe and focus of the story, the Coyote sprouts wings. The duelist whips out a staple gun. Or to come at this from another angle- in The Walking Dead, a comic I really like, I can sort of organize the arc of the apocalypse into three-ish big chunks. For the first eight or nine months in universe, about 48 issues, things are obviously bad, right, quite a few people have died, but there's a sense among Rick and company that they might be able to ride it out, that things are on the upswing. They've got crops going, they have new births, maybe help from the government proper isn't coming the way they thought it might towards the start, but things are looking up! Then, of course, the Great Fuckening of Volume Eight occurs, and you enter the middle phase of the comic, where they're down to like a third of their group, they're food-insecure, they're constantly on the move, they're under attack from rapists and cannibals who've descended into habitual atrocity because they're totally without hope. Children are having mental breaks and killing children, the first friendly guy Rick met in the whole comic is now an insane hermit feeding dead bodies to his undead son, on and on and on and on and on. Bad times, but a comparatively short middle in the grand scheme of things. Then they find Alexandria, and the back half of the comic is spent basically on an upward trajectory with some zig-zags, there are still periodic existential threats but they're clearly past the nadir.

Ward feels like it starts midway through that first part, the you-don't-know-how-much-worse-this-can-get part, with the emphasis on the social tensions, the encroaching winter, but then it just...doesn't get much worse. I mean they have a rough three months, but then they sort of speedrun right to the hopeful future ending as soon as the titans are dealt with. There were parts that I suspect were supposed to be the dark-night-of-the-soul I'm alluding to but they didn't land as such. I feel as though the superhero genre stuff kind of subordinated the apocalypse stuff, made it less visible by virtue of whose POV we were following, and sometimes I feel that as a remedy to this, Ward should have taken place over the course of years, and it should have Just Kept Getting Worse. For example Breakthrough should have had to kill and eat Rain to survive the winter

[tomezatos]

so like basically in the REIGEN manga tome tries so desperately to throw herself into the center of this literal Superhuman world she sees and play the role of the eager young protagonist and its so endearing but in the end reigen has to come clean and she can’t keep using the spiritual premise as a crutch. not because she was wrong to have her whimsical interests, but because the fantasy of specialness can often be an escape from the isolation a person feels due to being unable to live up to societal ideals of normalcy, and yet in the end the fantasy can itself end up feeding directly into the isolation by obscuring your view of the other people in your life. you cannot prioritize the idea of being unique or special alone and that is the reason that the power structures in the story (as represented by roshuuto in REIGEN) so frequently fail short; because actually EVERYONE is a Pathetic Freak Weirdo Nerd Loser, from the handsome, popular rich boy, to the pretentious Dark!Reigen foil who takes himself too seriously, to all of the mundane teenage girls who the audience is initially tricked into dismissing as shallow, but also by the same token EVERYONE deserves to be loved and feel supported. 

because actually bonds with other people are the most important thing, and centrally this is also why REIGEN relies so heavily on bonds with others as something to create horror. the evil spirit mimics the voices of the ones you love and lures you in and when you’re at your most lost and scared and in need, that’s when you turn around and the face of the person you trust betrays you. tome only contracts the fatal curse in the first place because she cared about reigen and went back to make amends with him. because that’s the most horrifying, most terrifying thing, the thing that renders you absolutely helpless, isn’t it? it’s letting yourself rely on others and trust them to the point that it leaves you vulnerable, isn’t it? but you have to do it, if you want to achieve true connection then you can’t continue keeping up a veneer of Specialness and posturing as someone you’re not no matter how afraid you are of being seen as your true self. that’s the idea that really connects tome and reigen above all else. you have to be who you really are and you have to trust that you’ll be loved for it. and that’s horrifying! that’s an unimaginable, Forbidden terror! but it’s necessary. 

and also I think it’s so clever how REIGEN conveys this by only bringing in shigeo kageyama, the protagonist and most recognizable character who the reader has so many preconceived notions of, in at the last moment as a terrifying ghost who is impersonating him. I mean also it’s partially because shigeo can easily be made to look scary lol, because let’s be real, he can be pretty goddamn scary /hj BUT MOSTLY it’s to have him in his uniform, in his most recognizable and iconic form that the reader will cling to, and then have it be blown away by the post-canon shigeo, the real shigeo, the shigeo who has grown and changed and is no longer stuck in the role he once was. because to be vulnerable with others you have to grow and change and do away with old pretenses and dynamics that you’ve become dependent on. it can be scary to stop playing roles after you’ve grown use to them for so long, but you don’t need them - your most honest self will be the most loved. and also I love how just like tome could tell that it was the real reigen bcause he immediately ran into a spiderweb and yelled, you can tell that it’s the real shigeo because he’s immediately rude as fuck and he and reigen literally instantly go into their mean pithy little affectionate banter lol ok sorry anyway.

and also because you cannot really be any more or less special than anyone else and you need bonds with others, it’s true both that you have to rely on other people, but also that you owe it to them to be kind. reigen is literally a normal person working in the spirit business, so he has to rely on other people with the necessary abilities, such as dimple the spirit and serizawa the psychic, yes, but he also does his part to take care of the people who matter to him. roshuuto is so focused on appearances and power - as shown by how he goes on and on about connections - but when it comes down to it, he was not willing to save others (leaving hoshido in Reliance), and so nobody bothered trying to save him in turn. he only abandoned, and was abandoned. this is shown most acutely in the end by how roshuuto “has no other option” but to pass his curse on to someone else to save himself, while reigen “has no other option” to take on a curse to save someone else. reigen and serizawa accepting their responsibility as adults to protect the children around them is an extension of the idea that you are equal to everyone and are obligated to be kind to your loved ones and recieve kindness in turn. anyway mutual trust and communication is all that matters and tome kurata is The protagonist of all time Sorry,

[delawaredetroit]

Toga probably would have enjoyed knowing that Izuku was able to recognize her no matter what face she was wearing. Too bad Izuku never voiced this conclusion that he recognized her from the Provisional Licensing Exam.

Because as much as Toga's wish to become other people was partially motivated by her own self hatred, at the core of it she wanted to be truly known and loved by someone she loved in return. Hatred may not be the right word, but Toga's desire to become other people was linked to her feelings that she was never able to fulfill societal expectations of normalcy. So she sought to become people who have traits that she felt that she lacked.

Stain was admired by large segments of their society despite having a similar blood ingestion quirk and had ambitions for structural change. Izuku had convictions he believed so strongly he would destroy himself for them. Ochako fit within the definition of normal without trying and she had people who trusted her absolutely.

It's clear in retrospect that Toga's crushes represent her own personal wishes for herself: acceptance of herself as she is by society and her loved ones, convictions she believed so strongly she would bet her life on them, and the trust of the people dear to her.