#soup rant

[stewpid-soup]

ITS ONE AM

I SHOULD SLEEP

BUT IVE BEEN BINGING HOUSE

FIRST OFF- LIN MANUEL MIRANDA MY BELOVED, HE’S LITERALLY PLAYIMG HIMSELF <3

CREATURE FEATURE FRFR

IM ON SEASON SIX EP 1

JUST FINISHED IT

A H

JUST

AHHHHHHHHH

I LOVE THIS SHOW

IM SAD AND HURTING A LOT BC CHRONIC PAIN SUCKS ASS AND IK I SHOULD SLEDP BUT I RLLY WANNA WATCH THE SECOND EPPPP!!!!! RAAAAAGGHHH!!!!

[eldritchgh0st]

BRUH. I KNOOOOW THEY DID NOT RUN OUT OF FUCKING CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP AT THE STORE. FUCK YOU AND YOUR CREAM OF CHICKEN SHIT IM GONNA MURDER WHO EVER INVENTED IT. FUCK EVERYTHING I HAVE WANT MY NOODLES

[soupthatistohot]

BSD Stormbringer Manga Ch. 1: Chuuya as a "Dark Gem"

AKA: I got around to reading the first chapter of the Stormbringer manga and I Have Thoughts!

A decent chunk of this first chapter is taken up by the gem trade being explained in-depth, which seems a bit... excessive. Even the translator noted as much in the version I read:

It begs the question of why they spent so much time on this. At least part of the reason is to give the reader an idea of what Chuuya's current role in the Port Mafia entails, providing some necessary context (since timeline-wise the last we saw of him was in 15 and it's now roughly a year later). But I also think it's an extended metaphor for Chuuya as a person (spoilers for the rest of stormbringer ahead).

The part that really jumped out to me was this sequence of panels:

The first two talk about "dark" gems and how they cannot enter the world of light, which is VERY reminiscent of Kouyou's rhetoric when talking about Kyouka (and herself, as she's projecting her trauma onto Kyouka):

The third panel from SB also interests me as it claims that these gems are given a second chance, specifically through how the Port Mafia has reshaped them.

In 15, Mori says that only a diamond can polish another diamond, in reference to soukoku -- so I don't really think it's a large leap to make here that the "dark" gems here are a stand-in for Chuuya himself.

If you consider the connection to Kouyou's rhetoric, that follows because Chuuya is under her tutelage at this point in time, she's the one who oversees his work when he joins the PM and arguably one of the people he's closest to in the organization. There's a decent chance that she's told him similar things that she told Kyouka -- that they belong to the world of darkness and cannot be brought into the light.

This is further supported by the fact that one of the central focuses of Stormbringer is Chuuya's past. He has a "dark" past on multiple levels. The obvious being that he was kidnapped and experimented on to become a vessel for Arahabaki, his past is dark because its horrible. But also he doesn't remember his past at this point, so it's dark because it's literally shrouded in his memory -- his "origins unknown" to him.

And so, Chuuya is a dark gem (a black diamond, perhaps) that has been taken in by the Port Mafia. In doing so, he is no longer the street kid he used to be, scrounging to survive with his ragtag gang. Instead, he's been reshaped -- he wears suits now, he's a 16 y/o in charge of the gem trade -- he's been "given a second chance."

So yeah, basically my interpretation of this is that the allusions to Chuuya's dark past are a kind of foreshadowing for not only what came before, but also what's to come throughout the course of Stormbringer. This story is very focused on the intermingling of past and present, as well as issues of identity and how it is shaped -- is Chuuya a human with free will, or can his existence be chalked up to being lines of code? What bearing does the past have on the present? This is all subtle set-up for these emerging themes.

PS: I don't have any in-depth analysis for this, but the imagery referencing Chuuya's time being experimented on and the clone is QUITE heavy-handed here at the beginning. I'm loving all the intentionality behind the art so far!

[robynator]

obsessed with how daud canonically chooses to forgive billie when she gives him the choice between killing her and showing her mercy after she betrays him

obsessed with how just a few months later, daud does the same, placing his life in the hands of a man whose life he completely ruined, asking to be spared and, against all odds, walking away from that encounter alive

obsessed with the alternatives you're given to those options as well

how, if you choose to kill billie in low chaos she helps you guide the blade. how she looks up at you and smiles as you stab her. how you hold her hand as she dies and don't let go even after she's gone

how, in high chaos, you just don't get that choice. her death is brutal, just like all the other deaths at your hand. like she said, what's one more body? but she's not just one more body. she's your second in command, your confidant, the closest thing you have to a daughter. you don't kill her with the same detachment you do for everyone else. you don't simply pull her onto your blade, you grab her by the throat as you stab her. it's brutal and it's personal, and that makes it so much worse

how, if you end brigmore witches with high chaos, corvo will kill you because you are not true to your word. you say that you feel remorse over jessamine's murder and yet your actions speak otherwise. you are not sincere in your words and while corvo may not know that, the game does. and it's telling you that that's the only way it could end. that if daud goes down that path he will not ever better his ways, nor will he be given the chance to. the only way daud can live is if he is actually committed to change

but despite all those options, in canon, daud gives billie the chance to leave and make a new life for herself. and corvo does the same for daud. and that is a parallel i think a lot about

[onevibrant]

If I could eat only her kitty for the rest of my life..

[deadlysoupy]

"s2 doesn't exist" "earthspark except no s2" "s1 is the only good thing about earthspark" cowards. pussies. milk-drinkers. couldn't even get past the first three episodes to get to the good stuff. istg every time someone mentions one of these things its always the same complaint. i bet if the animation studio didn't change people wouldn't react so harshly, because THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME. you guys think they wrote s2 after s1? after that many episodes of s1? you fools. THE STORY WAS ALREADY WORKED ON DURING SEASON 1. DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW TELEVISION WORKS. SEASONS GET WRITTEN IN ADVANCE. and tell you what. the second batch is better than the first one. they got their feet wet in the first one and ramped up in the second batch. did we forget Terratronus???? did we forget Robby's teenage angst? the fucking JBAM OR the hate plague episode? these gems? Cosmos? no? i don't think earthspark fans will ever be happy i gotta be honest. there's no fucking middle ground for these people and im tired (blame twitter for this bcs there is nothing but "earthspark sucks" discourse on there its genuinely pissing me off)

[brooklyn-alley-ratcat]

Listen buddy, my brain might be soup but it’s homemade potato soup with extra cheese, sour cream and chives so who’s really winning in life?!

[skywalkr-nberrie]

Girlboss Padmé stans saying that her dying out of sadness over losing Anakin is “out of character” (when it’s actually not.) because she would want to live for her twins, as she’s always desired to have her own children one day? They missed the huge part of her character that said she desired to have a “family” specifically, which included her husband. She wanted to settle down with someone she loved and have children with THEM. Nobody could ever impress Padmé enough to stir her away from duty until Anakin came into her life. Padmé finally found that one person whom she could have all she desired with and that was Anakin. She could have her kids, her husband, her very much desired family, they all are mentioning.

She loved Anakin way more than her duty, and this is the part they purposely ignore. Which is why her ending doesn’t add up to any of them. Willfully ignoring her character and behave as a hypocrite when they say they “understand her.” Yes, duty was important to Padmé, but she always wanted to step away from that to enjoy her life, which she was so close to having. And blaming her for dying out of an unendurable heartbreak is cruel.

Constantly bringing up the deleted ROTS concept of Padmé going to Mustafar to end Anakin, and claiming that ending would be “better” for her proves you’re only projecting your own ideals into her character and not truly loving and appreciating her as she is. Funnily enough, the knife concept is widely misinterpreted by these fans as well. They see it as the colder and more detached version of Padmé’s character, but that’s a huge misconception 🤷🏾‍♀️ in the OG concept, Padmé only went there with the intention to end Anakin’s life because she loves him so much, then inevitably isn’t able to actually kill him because of the amount of love she had for him.

And I’ll be the first to say that had anyone else been reported to be seen killing younglings and other Jedi, it would be in character for Padmé to bring this issue in front of the senate and bring the culprit to justice. However, it was never going to be the same when it came to Anakin, and that’s the pill these girlboss stans can’t swallow. They can’t handle that Anakin was more precious to Padmé than duty.

Fact is that Padmé would choose him over and over again if the opportunity presented itself. Of course, she wouldn’t have joined him when he asked to rule the galaxy with him (in the same way Luke doesn’t when Vader asks his son the same question. And somehow people are still able to comprehend that Luke still loves and believes in his father, despite refusing to join him, but don’t apply this same logic for Padmé?) nor would she justify his actions, she’d be severely against them 100%. She’d even in her own way take up actions against the Empire, and go up against anything Anakin was being put up too. (Like working with the Rebellion, and taking Anakin away from the chaos.) But she’d never lose faith in his goodness, nor would she ever abandon him. (like many insist she should’ve, or choose to turn him in to the authorities.)

It’s 100% in her character to put Anakin as her top priority. Her first and main allegiance and devotion is to him (she even says so in ROTS junior novel that she couldn’t betray Anakin, despite being told what he’s done.) her loyalties was from day 1 with Anakin, more than anything. And why is that? It’s because Padmé not only loves Anakin, but she knows him. In fact, It’s because she knows him, that she loves him so deeply. She can understand and sympathize with him, she knows he’s a good person at his core, and would never hurt anyone out of malice or aim for power. If he’s committing atrocities? Padmé would know he’s doing it out of a desperate act of love, which is something Padmé can relate to and understand.

And if you ask me, talking as if Padmé chose to die, is completely unfair, and shows no compassion nor sympathy for her character. Even if she did, holding that against her is also inconsiderate. No, this poor woman couldn’t handle the loss of her husband, whom she loved so much, and mourning the loss of the family they’d have together. It was too much, that she lost heart and succumbed to death. She couldn’t handle it! That in no ways makes Padmé a “bad person” nor does it make her a “bad mother.”

All in all? Padmé loved Luke and Leia so much, and she wanted nothing more than to be with them. Don’t try and downplay that because she lost the will to live. She spent the last bit of strength she had left to bring them into the world, see her babies with her own eyes, and give them a name herself. You can see in her eyes how much she loved them, and how badly she wanted to be with them. But her heart couldn’t take much more. It’s truly tragic. Her whole life was in service of others, and she couldn’t even have one thing to herself. Now she can’t even die in peace thanks to some of these fans 💀

[hailthegodsong]

So full of joy

[weaponsdrawn]

fuck yuoy (/silly /nsrs) lookat my rarepair properganda

[soupthatistohot]

BSD: An Absurdist Analysis - Ch. 114

My thoughts on "Crime and Punishment"

[BSD Absurdism Masterpost]

Okay, so! Fyodor probably isn't dead.

And my theory for what his ability is would tie into Asagiri's absurdist storytelling thus far.

In Sigma's flashback, we see Fyodor get impaled in a manner that is eerily similar to how he dies in the helicopter, a way that pratically guarantees his death. Yet, as Sigma observes, he must have escaped the execution in order for him to still be alive.

My theory, put simply, is that when someone successfully kills Fyodor, he takes their place.

His ability is called Crime and Punishment, right? And if the ultimate crime (sin) is murder, then the punishment would be death. So, then, perhaps when someone is able to kill Fyodor, it causes their death, and somehow Fyodor takes on their lifeforce (for lack of a better term) and is able to keep living.

This would also explain why he has been able to live for such a long time. If he keeps getting killed by people whose lifeforce he assumes, then he can theoretically live forever as long as people keep attempting to murder him.

This would explain the end of the chapter where the body is shown to clearly not be Fyodor's. The helicopter pilot would have paid the consequence for Fyodor's murder, and thus been the one to die. For whatever reason, I suppose this means he and Fyodor switched likenesses? This is further supported by the panel in the flashback/memory where something seems to be happening to the man who impaled Fyodor after he does so. This part I cannot explain as well, but I think y'all can understand what I'm getting at with this.

Additionally, this theory of Crime and Punishment explains the purpose of the prison-break game, he's been trying to goad Dazai into killing him all along so he can die in turn, and finally be rid of his rival.

(Edit: the above point is likely rendered invalid because No Longer Human would very likely protect Dazai from death by Fyodor’s ability. That being said, it further explains why Fyodor is so determined to kill Dazai — not only is he his match in wits, but he might be the only one capable of killing him for good.)

Further, it could possibly explain Nikolai's desire to kill Fyodor. Perhaps Nikolai knows the nature of Fyodor's ability, and is the only one who does, which is why he considers them to be so close. He idolizes Fyodor, and so he desires to one day kill him, because he knows it will kill him in turn and Fyodor will get to continue living on. This one's a bit of a reach, but I do think it's a potential explanation if my theory about Crime and Punishment is correct.

And now for how this all fits into absurdism!

Fyodor has been the main antagonist for a really long time, basically for half of the manga's run. Up until this point we've had little to no clues about the nature of his ability and if my theory turns out to be correct, wouldn't that just be the greatest absurdity of all time? A villain that literally cannot die because when someone kills him, they actually die instead of him? How do you even defeat such a person?

I'm fairly confident about this theory, my only question would be why he would reveal this now? Surely, he knows that Dazai would figure it out, both from Sigma and from the corpse clearly not being him, so what benefit does Fyodor gain from revealing not only that he's survived, but what his ability is?

[stormbreaker-290]

OH FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF

[onevibrant]

Being in an all girls school means knowing damn well when someone has dead eyes then leaves for three months she went to the hospital for an 3&.

I wasn’t aware of how common they can be when I was at that old mixed school.. Turns out it’s particularly contagious in an environment full of women.

Last year, I was in the bathroom and I locked eyes with that pretty sigma girl from my last post. She had a really severe case of 4n4, like anyone could tell cause of her zombie face.

I didn’t know her name yet.

But now I do, cause she’s in my class. I’m so glad I get to see a glimpse of her personality today, because she’s smart, talented and smiles a lot. I feel like it wouldn’t be like this even if I knew her last year.

[soupradio]

Stack is starting to be my favorite twin, purely because of how y'all talk about him in comparison to Smoke.

Propaganda I'm not falling for

Smoke was more of a man then Stack/smoke was the perfect man

Smoke wasnt codependent

Stack didn't love Mary

IM SO DONE IM GONNA CRASH OUT

[raconabhorrent]

been fascinated with Finding Frankie today and while I definitely think there's a lot to praise about the game and the story and the characters,, i'm also hella confused as to WHY (not what) things in the story were happening...

not saying it needs like HELLA lore like Poppy Playtime or an ARG like Amanda the Adventurer or smth but even if u think about the story of the game as completely self-contained (as in, it has no effect on the universe it resides within),, some of the things that happen happen for no reason other than they were written that way??? which, again,, isn't a bad thing,, but i'd def like to see some of the plot threads introduced in the game developed more if they do end up making sequels...

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

things like,, why are there two frankies??? why is one evil (capitalism) and the other one just tries to stomp on you?? why are the mascots sentient or whatever??? were they built like that??? do they have human something inside them (human organs, human soul, etc.) or are they just inanimate objects that have their own consciousnesses of some kind????

who started the game show? who's running it? who created the mascots? who are the people watching the streams? does the government know or is this like squid games? how have they not gone bankrupt previously? how have the police not been notified BEFORE of hundreds of people dying before you arrive?

what is the player's motivation for being a contestant? it seems like your character tried really hard to get that vhs tape... why does frankie get mad at you for "ruining his fucking gameshow" and then turn around when you somehow survive falling into the incinerator (which,, what??? did you use the grindrails?? is that even the player???) and be like "omg let's be business partners buddy"???

how parkour physics work?? (i can suspend my disbelief on this one the most, honestly),, HOW IS THIS FACILITY RUNNING??? IS FRANKIE RUNNING THE WHOLE THING??? are there humans behind the whole operation that you're not seeing?? who called the polices???? why do they never bring that up again??? WHAT IS A NOOB NOOB?!?!??!1 why do they explode why do they do a little dance when ur chasing them why do they have blood inside them i'm assuming its blood cus all the supposed blood in this game is black is it dried?? is it old blood??? is it stylized?? is it ichor of some kind??? what??

maybe my tendency to overthink is getting carried away here,, probably,, but i def want to understand more about this setting bc there's so much that can be done with it, even if it's explained away with silly cartoon logic or something.

[soupthatistohot]

BSD 109 Spoilers!!!

I will always always ALWAYS come back to this panel when talking about Asagiri’s storytelling.

At its very core, BSD is an absurdist text, Kafka Asagiri having been inspired by many absurdist authors. Franz Kafka, who he took his pseudonym from is one of them. Albert Camus, basically the most well-known absurdist is referenced with the Mersault prison, the name of which comes from a character in his most famous absurdist work, The Stranger. 

Absurdism is the belief that the world around us is irrational and inherently absurd and that explicitly seeking meaning is pointless. In his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus explains, that there is value in the act of rebellion, though. Sisyphus, who has been doomed to roll a boulder up a mountain only for the boulder to tumble back down each time he reaches the peak, finds meaning in the act of continuing to push the boulder. Even though he will continue this cycle for all of eternity, he doesn’t just lay down and give up, he rebels against the absurdity of his situation by continuing to push the boulder, despite the seemingly futile nature of the act. 

As I said earlier, BSD is an absurdist text. All of the animanga’s main characters are on a journey of discovering their meaning in life, and their place in the world, and they do this by rebelling against its absurdity — especially Dazai. 

Dazai sees the absurd world for what it is, and when he was in the PM, he hated it. Thus, he sought suicide as a solution. I will note here that absurdists generally view suicide as a failure to rebel against the absurd, just giving up and giving into hopelessness. But ever since Dazai left the PM and took Oda’s advice, he’s been rebelling against this, doing good despite his inherent beliefs about morality and the world, and he’s absolutely gotten better for it. 

Other characters embody this idea of rebelling against the absurd, hell, that’s kinda what this whole arc is about. The world is literally ending, and things seem to be at their absolute worst, but someone like Atsushi still has hope that he can change the minds of the hunting dogs and save reality as we know it. He even has hope that he can get through to a vampiric Akutagawa when the guy is literally brainwashed and attacking him. Aya as the “last hope” right now embodies this, too, deciding that she can’t just sit around and do nothing and then trying to remove the sword from Bram even though the effort appears futile. 

But everything is going wrong right now. Fukuzawa is bleeding out, Dazai has just been shot through the forehead and appears to have died, Atsushi’s had his limbs ripped off and is at Akutagawa’s mercy, and Fukuchi is literally going to end the world! How can we have hope?!

Think about BSD. Think about the story that’s been told so far. Surely Asagiri isn’t killing everyone right now, surely the world isn’t gonna actually end. I’m not entirely convinced Aya’s plan is gonna work— but please consider that the point of absurdist storytelling is that even when everything seems to be at its worst, even when life seems completely meaningless, there is inherent meaning in still continuing to fight against this. 

BSD has never been a story where the villains win, and I don’t think it’s gonna start being one. I think, as usual, Asagiri wants to scare us, to make us feel hopeless about the situation, only for someone to pull through and completely turn the tides.

Dazai laying down and accepting his death at Chuuya’s hands is not going to be the end of his story, because it goes against everything Asagiri seems to stand for. Dazai wouldn’t just give up in his fight against Fyodor, because he needs to prove he’s right about what he says in this panel:

"The ones who actually make the world turn are those who scream within the storm of uncertainty and run with flowing blood."

I think this reflects Asagiri's own beliefs and is also the reason why he is not going to let Dazai die like this, because in a way, that would be proving that Fyodor is right. From a storytelling perspective, it’d be saying “everything I’ve communicated up to this point actually means nothing and life is truly hopeless!” 

Dazai has cheated death before, as has basically everyone else in danger right now. I promise you, something is going to happen and they’re all going to survive, because BSD is not trauma porn, for lack of a better term. It’s a story about how a group of people fight against the absurdity of their reality, even when everything seems completely and utterly hopeless. 

There’s a lot of theories circulating about how things could work out, especially Dazai’s “death,” and I’m not here to repeat all of them, but I will say that a lot of them have credence, especially because Asagiri isn’t the type of author to make mistakes, every single detail has a distinct reason. 

So even though I don't know how things are going to work out, I have full faith that they will, including Dazai's current situation. None of these characters are done just yet, they've got too much fight left in them to just give up.

[original twt thread]