#sorta character analysis...?

[pikatrainer99]

Let's talk about Barry for a minute.

This boy is so underappreciated and gets way too much hate just for being ADHD incarnate (or as the haters say, "his hyperactive squirrel brain"). The haters also don't recognize that Barry actually has a character arc in the games. He learns the importance of slowing down throughout his journey, especially after his loss to Jupiter at Lake Acuity. He had been one step ahead of the player the whole game, but this loss actually makes him stop and think things through for a bit, deciding to take his time and train up more. As a result, the player is the one to get the last Gym Badge and make it to the League first. Also, let's not forget that Barry had the patience (and probably hyperfocus) to get a MUNCHLAX and a HERACROSS from the honey trees...y'know, the two RAREST honey tree Pokémon...? Yeah...that takes PATIENCE. Even I don't have the patience for that...but I'm also a very impatient person myself (I blame my parents, who are also impatient, for passing it on to me and my brothers), my "now now now" attitude has driven my family crazy millions of times by now, but I digress.

Something else that's important to mention is Barry's personality (other than his ADHD traits, that is). This kid is a genuinely good guy. He's the player's best friend and that doesn't stop when he becomes the player's rival. He gives the player tips, he doesn't look down on the player or bully them, he's always excited to see them whenever they cross his path, is genuinely happy for them when they get their last Gym Badge and says he won't be far behind, etc. Barry also genuinely loves Pokémon, they are his friends, not tools for battle. He gets angry when around Team Galactic because of how they treat Pokémon, he went into empathy overdrive for Uxie's suffering after losing to Jupiter at Lake Acuity, etc. And he gets excited and happy when around people who love Pokémon as much as he does, like the player and Gym Leaders, for example. Barry also NEVER gives up, which is definitely a great character trait, especially for a rival character. He's set on his goal and nothing can pull him away from it, not even multiple losses to the player. It makes me feel less bad about beating him because I know he's just gonna bounce back each time and try again. That's just how Barry is and he's my favorite friendly rival because of it. I never feel like I'm crushing his dreams like I do with Hop, for example. Instead I'm making him stronger, both in resolve, and as a Trainer.

That doesn't mean that he doesn't have a sad side to him though...because he does. He has daddy issues, BIG TIME. This kid's whole motivation is to get strong enough to challenge and defeat his dad, Tower Tycoon Palmer. He wants to be acknowledged by his dad SO BADLY that in Pokémon Masters he straight-up TELLS YOU that the reason he keeps fining people is because he wants to use the fines he collects to build his own Battle Tower because, in his mind, that's the way to get acknowledgement from his dad. But no one ever takes him seriously (most likely because of how often he does this, how much money he asks for, and also the fact that he's a CHILD), so he never gets any money. I'll be honest, my heart broke for this poor kid during that conversation. I used to think that Barry's "I'm fining you 10 million Pokédollars!" was just his way of expressing annoyance or even just a verbal tic of sorts...but in Masters it's revealed that he's dead serious when he says those things, all because he's so desperate for his dad's approval that he wants to make him proud by building and running his own Battle Tower. Again, he's a CHILD! That shouldn't be any child's goal, especially not for something all kids deserve, which is parent approval! As someone who is ALSO constantly seeking my own dad's approval, this conversation hit home for me. My dad doesn't really approve of anything I'm interested in or anything I do, he wants me to be someone else entirely...but I can't be who he wants me to be, I can't be who ANYONE in this world wants me to be...I can only be myself and I want to make my dad proud just by being me...

The Pokémon Evolutions episode "The Rival" is ALL ABOUT Barry's daddy issues. Everything he does and says in that episode is all about getting strong enough to challenge his dad. He's able to beat him in the end, finally getting the acknowledgement he deserves (he would still deserve it even if he didn't win, or even get to challenge him, let's be clear). So it's a happy ending there, but in the gameverse that's not a clear-cut thing that happens, so we never know if he even does get to face his dad. He shows up in the Fight Area on weekends to battle the player but that's really it as far as I'm aware. In the games, Barry also admires Crasher Wake and wants him to take him under his wing and mentor him, but Wake refuses, which honestly makes me angry since Barry clearly wants (and needs) a father figure in his life since Palmer is absent all the time. At least in the manga Wake does train Pearl, so there is ONE Pokémon universe where Wake mentors the kid...buuuuut he should've done it in the games too, just sayin'.

So yeah, that's basically my ramble on Barry. Honestly this wasn't planned or anything, I just out of nowhere started thinking about Barry and how hated he is, and impulsively wrote this whole entire essay without scripting it out beforehand so this might be a bit hard to follow 😅. But I just love this kid and I don't understand the hate he gets, so he deserves an appreciation post in my opinion...so this is the post! Let me know what you think down below!

[watermelonsloth]

I think the reason why Naruto fans get so passionate and upset about the series is because of how real it can be. Naruto isn’t about paragon heroes outdoing dastardly villains. It’s about human beings fighting tooth and nail to survive in a world surrounded by death. It’s about broken systems made and perpetuated by broken people.

The Hyuga clan isn’t just antagonistic or pretentious, they practice slavery.

The Uchiha clan weren’t just killed by some raging psychopath, they were systematically massacred.

Itachi isn’t just cruel to Sasuke because he’s a bad brother, he’s cruel because he’d been told time and time again that you can only survive by being cruel and he wants nothing more than for Sasuke to survive.

Nagato isn’t trying to take over the world just for the sake of power, he’s trying to take over the world because it beat him down to the point of believing that the only chance at peace there is is the world being forced into compliance through fear.

Iruka isn’t hard on Naruto just because he’s a strict teacher, he’s hard on Naruto because he knows from experience how unforgiving the world is towards orphans.

Kakashi isn’t just some silly and slightly lazy teacher, he’s a contract killer still grieving his loved ones and struggling to do better without knowing how he’s supposed to.

Sakura isn’t just a fangirl, she’s a normal girl in a very dangerous and abnormal world constantly being made to choose between what she’s supposed to do and what she feels.

Sasuke isn’t just some edgelord, he’s a survivor who lost everything then gets repeatedly told that he has to choose between keeping what he’s gained and doing better than his brother.

Naruto isn’t just trying to be the best Hokage there ever was, he’s trying to prove his worth to a society that abandoned him just for existing and, in a way, confirm his worth to himself.

The Naruto story is about humans trying to force themselves into the role of weapons because that’s what they were told they had to be. It’s a story where everyone is a perpetrator but no one is trying to do wrong. It’s a story where everyone is a victim but no one is a perfect victim.

The world and the characters aren’t simple and trying to simplify them only takes away from them. So of course we get passionate about showing off all the reasons why they shouldn’t be simplified and all of the ways they’re complicated. Of course we get upset when we see others simplifying them or selling certain aspects of their characters short. Of course we get upset when the series itself simplifies them. Of course we get upset when the series chooses to abandon them. Because it not only feels like the characters are giving up, it feels like the series is betraying anyone who chose to get invested in its complexities.

[fumifooms]

I don’t like minimizing the importance and gravity of Laios and Toshiro’s fight into just being a childish squabble, even if to a degree it is framed that way, because to both of them it has a lot of personal significance and emotional weight and runs very deep to their characters… The fight isn’t nothing it’s a LOT, they made up but it’s not something easy to express and to get over for either of them which makes it all the more meaningful! I’m on both sides but there very much are sides, there’s no "they’re both having a ball, Toshiro and Laios hand in hand yay" side to the fight, that comes after

The fight with Toshiro WAS very scary to Laios, almost existentially so, but it’s moreso the "I thought I’d made a friend!!" bit and my god. My god actually

Like it’s not "just" about oh his friend liking him less than he thought, THAT IS SO MUCH. It’s a bond he thought he had being a lie it’s all the time and moments spent together either being a lie from his perspective or marred now looking back. It’s not only being upset at Toshiro for lying but upset at himself that he’s so easy to fool, it’s being upset that there’s something so wrong with you that you can’t even tell if your "close buddy" even actually likes you or not, it’s like. Holding my head. He can’t trust his own vision of events that happened do you see. There’s always this film of distrust that it could be a lie that should be there when he interacts with people there’s always this sense of cloak and dagger to expect backstabs out of nowhere because you CAN’T see it coming you CAN’T you CAN’T there’s something about you which makes it impossible so you CAN’T-

He’s so scared of not being able to read people. He knows it’s a weak spot he has, he’s always known. All of these bits are centered around social expectations and betrayals, the assumption that he doesn’t belong either in society or with other humans.

And Laios’ level of awareness is actually sort of complex to analyze, but it’s there, there’s how out of him and Falin he was the one sensitive to the ~aura of hatred~ he felt from the townspeople, there’s of course his nightmares whispering to him about the mocking looks, and how yeah actually he realizes that his gold stripper coworker was taking advantage of him. There’s of course the Winged Lion speech about his trauma and how he fundamentally mistrusts/dislikes humans to some deep seated degree, this distrust that he still keeps under control always. There’s how pre-canon he often wanted to suggest eating monsters but never worked up the courage to bring it up with the others. There’s how he gets across as stoic when he isn’t being enthusiastic…… We don’t know how aware and wary he is exactly in the moment but we do know he has some anxiety around social stuff, and looking back he does notice and aughh augh, the sense you have to hide yourself to not get hurt and be on your guard and shit and.

When you don’t know what to look out for and when to look out for it, the general ‘common sense’ of not always trusting people or noticing when someone’s messing with you becomes hypervigilance in social settings

"Man they really know what you hate huh". Being socially unaware literally plagues him, he knows, he knows it so well.

It’s so quick that it’s almost hard to digest how literal and blatant Laios summoning his monster to crush all the people who’ve hurt him is. His literal go-to coping mechanism for comfort in his literal monster-induced emotionally intense nightmares, saving him by taking away the upsetting element (the humans)

"Monsters are his coping fantasy, where they can whisk him away from humanity, all the hurt it’s caused him and its arbitrary rules" with the subtlety of a brick. Monsters are his comfort safe zone "because they kill humans" yes but no it’s because he pits them as the guardians against humans who to him are in the role of the agressors. To him they represent freedom from the shackles of what it means to be part of humanity, a fundamentally social species

[ohnomysoul]

I think we should have a conversation about how people tend to portray Hornet as having a hair-trigger temper/being always just angry and how that’s both a disservice to her character and really odd considering how much of a stoic she tends to be in game about her feelings. She’s blunt and sharp but not explosive and straight up abrasive. She has tact. Just like someone who’s both a spider and born into a royal family has to be to survive.

And along with that, as a Lesbian myself, the way people write her as being always angry and pissed off mixed with the other defining trait of being a lesbian or sapphic in some way also rubs me the wrong way.

Like… I hope people realize that they are making her into the “angry/bitchy lesbian trope” right??? And by making her like be especially rude towards the men (who are written to hit on her) also plays into that? I doubt it’s intentional but it’s still offensive.

(Clarification too just in case: I love when people headcanon Hornet as being a Lesbian for obvious reasons that are not limited to me simply loving her as a character, but I do beg people to think more about how making the self controlled guardian that Hornet is into a lesbophobic trope that isn’t even adhering to her canon character is disheartening.)

[amber-laughs]

catelyn throwing her blanket off her with ned’s cum still running down her legs in front of maester luwin vs Jon being ass naked dripping wet in front of alliser thorne, othell yarwyck and bowen marsh STOP calling each other names! neither of you have any fucking decorum

[buff-muffin]

Finally got around to reading some of those Lawlu fics i was recommended ages ago. I’ve only read a handful and do plan on read more of them but I’m so sad none of these fics capitalise on my favourite part of their dynamic.

Because something I’ve always found fun about them is that Law as a character always sees everything as an exchange, everything is a deal. I owe you's are important to law. He doesn’t do anything for anyone without an idea of something in return and he won’t accept help from anyone without any way to pay them back because he would rather DIE then be indebted to anyone. Because this was exactly how Doflamingo manipulated people. This is how he’s TAUGHT law the world works this is all he knows.

Many people think that he saved Luffy in Marineford out of sympathy or understanding after Law himself has lost so much and understands Luffy. But that's just not it to me. Law saw this crazy bastard willing to punch a CELESTICAL DRAGON, and probably thought something along the lines of "damn. i need him on my team." and what a fucking bargaining chip to hold over someone's head "I saved your life" is. Law was trying to get any form of control over Luffy because it would be smarter then making an enemy. So when Luffy and his crew pulled up to PunkHazard. Law probably just intended to use that ' I owe you' He still has on Luffy and try strike a deal. Little did law know. Luffy doesn't do deals, if he didn't want to do something he wont. and to Luffy he didn't owe Law anything. but between a plan to take down an emperor and a friend asking for help. he was in. Law is in on this alliance as a deal where Law gets to take down Doflamingo (and kaido) and Luffy gets to take down Kaido (and doflamingo.) But to Luffy, this was friends working together for a common end goal. So when things fall to shit and Law cant pay back Luffy for all the things he's doing for him. he cuts off the deal and the alliance because he cant be indebted. But Luffy does it anyways cause their friends. Luffy doesn't expect anything from Law for defeating Dofi. and Law has to grapple with this. grapple with this KINDNESS. the idea that he doesn't owe Luffy anything. the idea that Luffy simply did that because he cares about him. the idea that someone who doesn't even know all the sides of him, cared so much to take down someone who hurt him. its so foreign to Law. to just simply be cared for. Its genuinely one of my favourite parts of their dynamic even if its subtle and just my way of reading their dynamic

[shiikiyun]

I think something i don't often see in discussions about Futa's character is how, if you really take a second, he's kind of a people pleaser

He isn't so in a way like what Mikoto got going on, he does want to be around people of the same interests as him, and you wouldn't think he'd care about anything but authenticity if you stayed with the way he behaves on milgram. It is only when you think about him -in- those social circles he manages to get into that you can see him tweaking lol

I think the closest to see this that we have in milgram itself is that one interaction with Kotoko in which she attempts to debate how prisons respect human rights. Any other time he expressed his opinion/stance on things he was aggressive and maybe condescending to the rest because they disagreed with him, but the second someone agreed? Whole demeanor changed. Suddenly he didn't have much to say anymore and he just parroted Kotoko's words back at her. Why. If he has such a strong personality and mindset, why was someone validating his point enough to shut down his otherwise very firm attitude?

Futa doesn't go as far as to manufacture his every word for it to cause a positive reaction on others from the get go, but he does seek validation all the same. He braces himself for rejection by being loud and obnoxious and harsh until he sees a positive reaction and then is when he does a complete 180 to keep the other person in that place of validation. He is simultaneously completely bad at it though, but I never said he was good at people pleasing. Which connects back to what i've said before about his inability to fit in. Even when he thinks he's doing it right and he sees himself getting validation by people he cares about (in the case of his crime, by mimicking his friendgroup's method of "bringing justice" by calling out someone online, that same friendgroup following along and reinforcing the idea that he was doing it right), he ultimately fails anyway and loses it all over again.

In the end, he's just extremely socially awkward and anxious. It isn't in his nature to reach anyone else's expectations even if he genuinely wants to, so he'll either do what he can within his parameters (mold himself for his friendgroup of people he deems similar to him) or he'll avoid trying altogether because he knows he'll fail (what we see in milgram!)

It also shows how his yearn for a support system (t2 qna + mu's birthday timeline convo) isn't particularly new from his current circumstances, or why the only person he could think of when asked who he would want to see right now was his mom (who left so long ago he barely remembers her). He has just never truly had people that genuinely cared for him no matter what he tried to do to make himself likeable.

[riversrieds]

listen, TMA and TMagP fanbase.

(spoilers for TMagP 30 under cut, sorta)

I recently saw someone say how "with how attached we are to the Protocol characters any death seems more hurtful and actually important than Sasha's death ever really was" and YEAH THAT'S THE POINT!!! Sasha/Tim (because remember Tim was supposed to be the original death via stranger table if I remember correctly(feel free to correct me in reblogs/comments)) not being notable to the listener was their entire thing!!!! They were *strangers* to us. It was a literary device. a character that isn't known can be replaced in the blink of an eye and we won't know what we're missing until they're gone. that's the point of Sasha's character, she was likeable in the recording from season 5, she was likeable in her statement, but none of us would know any different if she hadn't been replaced!

That being said, her death being unremarkable was the point of her death. She died to the Stranger, to their entity of replacement for 'unnotable' people. Tim was remarkable, yes he was, but not up until season 2 at the earliest.

so of course Sam's possible death/ definite disappearance will hit harder, because it was supposed to.

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

So, imagine you have a sibling.

This sibling is pretty cool. They stay in their lane, never cause any trouble, they're dependable, they're steadfast, and the only truly consistent positive thing in your life, considering your non-ideal family situation.

You really love your sibling, and show it in your own way, confident that they understand.

Then, imagine said sibling falls in love with some guy. And, on the surface, that's good. The guy is good looking, talented, on the top five most wanted bachelors, has pretty high cultivation, and comes from a powerful clan. It's a good prospect.

But then you meet him in person and he is cocky, acts haughty, doesn't show much respect for others' feelings, and you don't really understand what your sibling sees in him. But you support your sibling, if that's what will make them happy.

However, as time passes, this guy not only keeps acting like the opposite of what you hold as good and important values, he just keeps rejecting and hurting your sibling, sometimes in public, for added humiliation.

Yet, your sibling keeps trying, because they truly love him.

Every time you see your beloved sibling go out full of determination to seek this man, and come back with heartbreak written all over their eyes, your need to punch the guy just increases.

The rumors about this guy's parent and their unseemly conduct are really not helping, even though you're not one to listen to rumors, or blame the sons for their parents' sins.

But, as this man keeps doing worse and worse things and you keep seeing your sibling bending over backwards to try and get the message across that they love him, only to be pushed away over, and over, and over, you find yourself really disliking this dude.

The moment you saw your sibling crying because of him was the moment you went from "I'll keep quiet, because is what my sibling wants" to "wow, fuck that guy!"

You've seen all that your sibling has done and endured for even one sliver of this man's attention and it hurts you that this guy doesn't appreciate it.

So, your dear sibling will have to forgive you if you are more than a little sceptical when the dude finally deigns to look in your sibling's direction and understand what he has been missing.

Forgive you for not being exactly ecstatic that he is *finally* willing to try and treat your sibling the way they deserve, and appreciate all the love, all the pieces of themselves they have been pouring out for this fucker.

Finding out his rejection was out of obliviousness rather than malice somehow feels worse.

But as long as Shijie/Wangji is happy, you're willing to try and forgive him.

[sunandmoonseisai]

Me when woy fans are like "wander was such a one-dimensional character in season one! Thankfully, season two gave him some depth"

You mean this guy who has an obsessive-compulsive need to help people (the fugitives)

Who has anxiety-ridden hallucinations due to his ocd (the box)

Who make rash and dangerous decisions when he's desesperate (the ball)

Who hyperventilate when things are out of his control (the nice guy)

Who get in deep denial when people don't actually need him (the helper)

Not to mention "the void" episode which I already went into details about

And only when "the wanders" episode come out, you're like "Omg 🥺 sunshine banjo face is a little sad and messed up"

What took you so long?

[pomeness]

Thoughts about Kaiser and Shidou + potential parallelisms [edited]

Idk this may make sense to me only bUT! I need Shidou's backstory so I can complete the puzzle of all the silly parallelisms between him and Kaiser.

I really feel like Shidou was. Made to feel meaningless, which is why he has the urge to leave a sign of his existence in this world with his "genes". He cannot separate the field from his life, as if football is *all* his life as ever revolved about, or as if he's been using it to survive the world.

And we've seen that Kaiser actually does something similar. He clings to football with claws and fangs because the idea of going back to what it was before nauseates him. Yet he cannot escape his trauma. Kaiser is such a beautifully complex and realistic character. He's been on survival mode for years and hasn't stopped yet.

(And maybe Kaiser will start to finally escape this vicious circle in the next chapters? Just like Shidou has now toned down his impulsivity and can actually play with people without getting red-carded the second someone gets in his way. For example: past sd would've prolly axe-kicked kuni right in the face if he got marked like that.)

I also like how violent both Shidou and Kaiser were once introduced to actual, semi-professional football. Kaiser reacting badly to kidness vs Shidou casually resorting to violence towards anyone who either slightly reacts to him negatively or straight up bores him.

I love how Shidou: If you're chill, I'm chill

vs Kaiser: If you're chill, I'll actually commit manslaught3r

and asdhhshdf Idk if it makes sense but I think they're equally similar and opposites. It's like they're sorta different faces of the same coin.

Another thing they're different on is that Kaiser tends to take things on a personal level vs shidou moving on the second after smt happens.

And. Ugh. They're. So interesing together. I need them to interact more, although they would absolutely despise each other because of how different their philosophy of life is. Like shidou would prolly find kaiser "childish" for not moving on from his trauma vs kaiser would think of shidou as dumb and inferior for his different approach to proving his own existence.

Also this may be the kise brain braining but if Sae managed to train Shidou then no one can stop him from training kaiser as well LMFAOOO that trip to spain will indeed be fun !

EDIT: ALSO!!! the fact they both have this weird ass concept of the "Impossible". Like Kaiser being like "I will overcome the impossible" vs shidou's "Impossible? that's not in my vocabulary".

Also their empathy level is both underground lmfao. Slay, ig.

There may be more but UGH. This is it for now.

[raptorladylover6969]

Love how when it comes to character theories, the JW fandom seems to come up with the craziest bat shit theories to ever be theorized, esp when it comes to The Handler, its so silly 😭 “She’s a clone of Brooklynn!!” “She’s a human x dinosaur hybrid!!” “She’s a robot/BRAD!!” “She’s a walking corpse!!” Now what if…now hear me out on this, its a bit FARFETCHED…she’s a regular, hominid, homo sapien, HUMAN. Like ik ik she behaves very STRANGE and WEIRD and CREEPY, but that doesn’t immediately make her “not biologically a human.” If anything she could have psychological issues that cause her to have such strange “uncanny” behaviours. In my personal opinion, it would make her much more effective as a character if she was simply just a human. I kinda said this already in a recent character analysis a little while ago, but humans themselves as a species are TERRIFYING, and the way it correlates with The Handler is the fact she displays very primitive human behaviours, and attributes. Her existence as a character is like the JW franchise going “Hey guys, you thought giant meat eating reptiles were scary? HERE IS A HOMO SAPIEN.” The Handler serves as a reminder how terrifying the human species can be, and good lord is it EFFECTIVE.

[clairdeluneeeeee]

(Friendly) Matches - Kiyotaka & Celeste

A little fun fact about Ishimaru to start the Kiyotaka week on a positive note:

Kiyotaka and Celeste used to challenge each other often in games of strategy. This is something that gets mentioned in Ishimaru’s School Mode, but also in their Summer Camp and UTDP interactions.

Of course, as we all know, Celeste is the ultimate gambler, so her luck will allow her to win whatever match, even if she admits not knowing shogi’s rules (the game they often play together) that well.

Their friendship is just so funny to explore imo, because they literally have almost nothing in common, and yet, they tend to rotate around each other, even during the main story.

When you start digging deeper in their individual characterisation, you’ll easily discover that they share some traits: like the fact that they can get pretty competitive, and they tend to favour games in which using one’s mind and knowing the “strategy” is the most prominent factor to assure their own victory.

Despite this, their personalities are worlds apart, and they have fundamentally opposite roots that allowed them to turn into the type of person they are today.

Kiyotaka is a bold, enthusiastic young man who takes a lot of pride in the concept of being a “hard worker”, and he’s sure that, one day, he’ll be able to create a perfect society that primarily prioritises meritocracy.

Ishimaru is such a dreamer, he has ideas that most people would find abnormal and impossible to accomplish. Yet, they aren’t totally unrealistic, or at least, not thanks to the way Kiyotaka approaches difficult and tricky subjects. He is always studying, constantly and really, really hard. He tries to understand the situations in which he was thrown into, and then he develops strategies to come out of them as the winner.

Unfortunately, this trait of his was his biggest downfall during the killing school-life. His dedication, paired with his goal of wanting to be as useful as he can be for the others, kinda dug his grave. It wasn’t his fault, but being dictated by your own feelings and impressions in such an environment can be deadly, especially if you end up trusting a soon-to-be killer.

Celeste, on the other hand, is extremely cynical and closed-off. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself, and she’s so confident in her abilities that she tends to overestimate her successes.

Even so, her behaviour isn’t going to be rewarded either. Her pride will be what’ll ruin her in the end, and her inability to come to terms with who she really is going to be shown as her greatest weakness.

Now, a thing that I found quite interesting is how, after tons of failed attempts from Ishimaru’s side, Kiyotaka and Celeste actually come to a draw during one of their matches in the UTDP, which surprises them both.

And while Celeste is quick to dismiss this event by proclaiming that she simply hadn’t been lucky enough that day, and that something like this is never going to happen again, Kiyotaka attributes it to all the efforts he has been putting into his goal of surpassing Celeste.

Even though we’ll never know whatever his triumph was really due to his hard work or if it just happened because of mere fortune, I think it’s a nice conclusion that allow us to see Kiyotaka’s whole philosophy in a rather positive light.

It doesn’t matter if all the odds are against you, or if people are constantly dragging you down for having an “unrealistic and childish” mindset, as long as you’ll believe in what you’re doing and in your capacities, you’ll always stand a chance to gain a victory, however small it may be.

[daydreamalley]

A Ramble about Phase 19 of the Fifteen Manga Ft. Storm Bringer spoilers

Just absolutely cannot get over the 15 manga. I love the light novel so much, but this manga adaptation is so ridiculously amazing. Dazai and Chuuya’s proximity/touching has been amazing of course. I adore the way Hoshikawa draws Dazai and Chuuya as well (my baby boys, especially Chuuya). But these last two chapters with Rimbaud and Verlaine. Like, fuck. The whole “At least, one of them felt that way,” part just hits so much harder in the manga for me, with the art and page placement. And this whole most recent chapter. Like firstly, you don’t have to end every chapter with like Chuuya getting stabbed okay, help me out here.

Comparing the last page of phase 18 with Verlaine and the first page of phase 19 with Chuuya makes it so obvious that Rimbaud is seeing the similarities between them with just that parallel, which is confirmed later with Rimbaud quite literally seeing Verlaine standing behind Chuuya. 

Not to mention in phase 18 the “That’s right Paul, I remember you,” in conjunction with him seeing Verlaine in Chuuya.

Then that flashback with Verlaine carrying Chuuya and Chuuya’s just so small I could cry.

Like, I knew he was small, but he's just so young, I can't. People were experimenting on him. Like, how??

The way Rimbaud wants to ask Chuuya something and Chuuya crouches down to him. Which leads to Rimbaud putting a hand around Chuuya as he tells him to live. How close and personal they are when Rimbaud says all of this just make it feel so much more impactful for Chuuya. Kinda love too that Chuuya isn't just standing over Rimbaud. He's making it obvious he's open to listening.

Rimbaud says a lot of shitty things to Chuuya up to this point, even complaining that he has to kill a kid while only referring to Dazai, completely not acknowledging Chuuya as anything more than Arahabaki. But once he fully remembers what happened with Verlaine, I feel like that’s when Rimbaud remembers what he truly believed about Verlaine and his humanity and how that extends to Chuuya’s humanity. Because Rimbaud’s whole final speech is most definitely things he’d also thought of or told Verlaine before (as I think is confirmed in SB). I think those are Rimbaud’s true thoughts and beliefs on the matter, it just took that long for him to remember the full story and how he felt about it all. Rimbaud saw Verlaine’s struggles with humanity, and now he also remembers why Verlaine betrayed him. And so he tells Chuuya to live, just as Verlaine wanted him to back then, live without the burden of worrying about your humanity or where you came from, because “you are you.” It doesn’t matter if Chuuya (and Verlaine) “are but a pattern etched on the surface of raw power.” In Rimbaud’s mind, and honestly where we eventually end up at the end of SB, is that it really doesn’t matter what your origins are, whether someone is an artificial personality (aka pattern) etched onto raw power, because really everything is some version of a pattern upon the world. And in a word with abilities, a lot of people are a pattern connected to a power. Just as in SB Chuuya decides that even though Adam isn’t human and he knows it, it doesn’t take away from Adam’s actions, his sacrifices, or his dreams. Same goes for Chuuya and Verlaine. Their origins don't affect how human they truly are. Their humanity is significant no matter what. It just took a bit more convincing for Chuuya to get there, a little more than what Rimbaud could offer on his (almost) deathbed.

Anyway, Chuuya holding Rimbaud’s hand as he dies just does things to me. Like, the book described that “Both Chuuya and Dazai quietly listened as if there was something in what Randou (Rimbaud) was saying that they couldn’t allow themselves to miss… Some things, however, would not return to normal: the body of a man who no longer felt the cold, and the hearts of two boys who stood rooted to the spot, staring at him. A gust of wind peered through their souls as it passed them by.”

This page just so well depicts that last line. It truly feels these boys have heard something so monumental, that they won’t ever forget. Standing in the aftermath of their first fight together, hearing these words about humanity that both mean so much to both of them. Dazai’s expressions really convey this to me in the manga, and convey it just so beautifully. And Chuuya being so close to Rimbaud when he speak those words just makes it feel like those words truly are so monumental for him. And also this means that Chuuya fought to kill a man, that to be entirely fair and clear was trying to kill him first, and then held to his hand as he dies, and there’s just something about this added detail that’s so significant to me in portraying the weight of it on Chuuya. Chuuya's connection to Rimbaud is a complicated but important one. But really these words are important for both boys, because let’s not forget that Dazai also struggles with his humanity. Even if he doesn’t have a physical reason to doubt his humanity, like Chuuya, there are many other reasons that he does doubt it. So hearing that all people and all of humanity are really just patterns within the physical world, human or not that’s true of everyone and everything, and that’s important for Dazai to hear too. I think both boys think back to Rimbaud’s final speech quite a bit, if I’m being honest or did for a while.

I am NOT getting over the detail that someone (Chuuya??) put Rimbaud’s scarf on his grave. I just… it does something to me and I love that detail so much. And cutting back to that “You are you” line while Chuuya’s talking to the grave is just so perfect in my opinion, and again just shows the significance of it so, so well. It’s like, he's talking to Rimbaud, complaining about his actions really, and then it cuts to that “you are you” and it just shows almost the contrast I guess between Chuuya feeling unrest at not finding stuff about his past that Rimbaud could’ve given him, but maybe wouldn’t have anyway, and Rimbaud’s statement that those things don’t matter because Chuuya is who he is beyond all that. Also the little dandelion blowing into the wind, to me also signifying a wish being spread.

Anyway, entirely unnecessary to end the chapter with a big knife in Chuuya’s back, thanks. Especially after Chuuya mentions how he’s still exhausted from everything. Like let’s just, stop, please.

He's just a boy, leave him alone for the sake of all things good.

[shoyowo]

oikawa tooru is not a genuis

aka a meta analysis of Oikawa Tooru's hard-work & how it ties into his play-style as a setter

What comes to fruition in this episode/equivalent manga chapter has been built up and slowly put into place over the course of the last few chapters/eps, which is this - Oikawa Tooru is built up of pure effort & hard-work and not inherent talent.

Moreso than trying to put down the concept of people with natural talent, I feel this statement and this concept is more to hammer in Oikawa's character and the effort Oikawa as a person puts into the sport.

Inklings of this has always been present but the first definitive scene where we see this theme being furthered is when Oikawa gets the "Dateko vs Karasuno" match recording and watches it through the night. This is paralleled with Ukai doing the same - the extra mile is, obviously and normally, taken by Karasuno's Coach and not by any specific player in Karasuno. (Interestingly enough the anime ep title is "Coaches")

Curiously enough in Seijoh it is Oikawa that assumes the coach role. It isn't explained and the team isn't surprised, making it seem casual and normal. Oikawa calls for a time-out to his coach and his coach follows suit. He gathers his team around, explaining his findings on the team (through the homework that he had done) and devises a strategy to beat them - all things typically done by the coach.

To further drive this in, something as minute as the team's warm ups is used to show the amount of tiny details that Oikawa knows about each of his spikers - small encouragement for Makki, apologising to Kindaichi despite being his senior , and taunting Iwaizumi as per their usual dynamic.

Not only does he show it in his actions, he verbalises it before every match as a reminder. As a setter, he is someone who elevates his team - using the deep bond he has created with them as a vessel.

"Rule the court" is Seijoh's banner and while that isn't explicitly commented on, we do have multiple people commenting on how Seijoh as a team and by extension Oikawa as their setter/conductor play by taking control of each rally - by essentially ruling the court.

All of these puzzle pieces of Oikawa's grit and determination and pure, simple, effort, and him using sheer work to reach to his team & form that intimate bond with them by noticing tiny details about his own team (and his opponents), we finally reach the climax of this mini arc: at this moment, pit against the "natural prodigy" -

[the-analyzer]

so you analyse people because of trauma or neurodivergence?

…Sorry, could you please rephrase what you’re trying to say?