#terrified this post will get discourse on it LOL. but um

[kipperlillyforpresident]

a word on Ivy Embra // FHJY EP 19 SPOILERS

So like. I am a Kipperlilly blog (obviously). I don't usually make or reblog posts that aren't about her. But my reaction to this episode was visceral enough that I wanted to get my piece out on this topic:

I think it's really fucked up that Ivy Embra's death was defined by

a) how ugly everybody thinks she is

b) how little Fabian wants to have sex with her.

It is... well... it just sucks. It does not feel fun or cool to see a female character treated in such a dismissive and cruel way. All of the Rat Grinders are treated like this, of course, but Ivy's felt particularly gross.

And I really hope that we as a fandom don't echo that sentiment...? Regardless of whether you like her or think the Rat Grinders are redeemable. I just... hope that we don't mock her for being ugly and not having sex with Fabian. I hope that we can engage with her in like, literally any other way.

[tsubaki3192]

No worries :) Your post actually triggered me to express my opinion ahaha... It's the whole "Oh thank god I'm not the only one who thought this" situation with me too! But also, thank you for responding too!

I will admit to one thing before I actually begin though: It was 7am when I first responded and I'm actually surprised I was coherent enough to do an analysis xD I also realise I did forget about Sugishita and Umemiya's relationship until sometime later in the day before I saw your response xD

(Spoilers for both Bleach 1000 Year arc + Post S1 Windbreaker under cut!)

... Apologies for the jumbled mess of thoughts xD I don't think I can make anything particularly connected for now, so I'll just leave my thoughts as is ahaha...

You're right though: I do also think the biggest thing we're missing is a lot of connecting points/points we, as readers/viewers, could see as a connecting point for further arcs/the final arc: Take Bleach as an example—Quincys were introduced very early on, and even the point of discourse between Reapers and Quincys were also introduced almost simultaneously.

Wind Breaker lacks that sort of "Ah. That's a possible ending" moment that we can see in a lot of major Shonen animangas. (e.g. One Piece, finding the One Piece/Zoro defeating Mihawk; Naruto, Sasuke vs Naruto fights... That kind of thing, if you get what I mean. A bit of predictability or even just information that gets us thinking.)

Even in this arc, it's very difficult to see exactly who will win, and who will lose. It's not actually entirely obvious. Sure, Bofurin itself might win against the mass going against them, but the real kicker here is Endo and Takiishi. Especially since we don't know how strong Umemiya or Takiishi is, and Endo is already terrifying on his own.

Re: Kotoha + Backstories:

I was actually really surprised to not see her (as in very obviously/as a major side character) in Umemiya's backstory. As you said, Kotoha is very obviously a major person in Umemiya's—and the rest of Furin's—life. She's oddly mature for a 16-year-old, and gives really good advice. Something has very obviously happened both to her in general, and between the two of them for Umemiya to be so defensive about her. Not to mention, those two actually do have a very wholesome sibling relationship, which implies that they're quite close to one another... I'd argue even more so than the other kids at the home Umemiya lived in, though at this point in time it's very difficult to tell since presumably none of the other kids have appeared yet.

(Again, with the way there's omitted information about her, I feel as if it's another relatively major arc in the process.)

(Just as a side note, I do think that if we do get arcs/backstories about Suo and Kiryu, I do think the difference might be that Suo would probably be a major character arc vs. a more minor character arc for Kiryu—and Sugishita, maybe; an arc length akin to Tsubaki's? Though again, this is just an assumption, so don't take this to heart xD.)

(Another backstory we might get in this arc might be Takiishi's: We got Endo's side of the story, but what about Takiishi? We know next to nothing about him, or his relationship with Umemiya. Especially why he's so obsessed with Ume-chan and fighting.)

Re: Story length:

I'm actually a little like you in this regard: I've somehow talked myself into believing that this manga might reach somewhere between BNHA's 450+ chapters and Bleach's 500+ chapters and be much heavier content-wise later on.

Minor arcs aside, this major arc, which I agree is maybe about 75 to 80%-ish complete (Umemiya's fight hasn't been mentioned at all in the newest few chapters except for a falling chair lol), is already roughly 70 chapters long, with a very big potential to reach maybe 90 chapters total. At the pace it's going (with world building, character development and all), there is a very big potential for the entire manga to reach even 600 chapters if there are even 3 major arcs (and intermission arcs) of roughly the same length. .... Though in saying this, I think it'll be more similar in length to BNHA. It's just a hunch, that's all.

This... doesn't really consider the content of the story, I'm aware.

Because if this is just an "opening act" how many other acts are there? And how long will those acts be?

Not to mention, aside from all the other characters we don't really know about/haven't recieved backstories for, Sakura's really only interacted with Tsubaki and Hiragi from the 4 Heavenly Kings. Sure, he's spoken to Mizuki, but it's not the same as actually interacting with him. And Momose has the potential to have his own arc (similar to Tsubaki's) as well, with how little we know about him.

You make an interesting point too though: I do wonder how the author will make the other major arcs as exciting as this one/how will they change it up so it doesn't feel like a regurgitation of previous arcs.

.... I think I've basically run myself dry and risk repeating thing we've both said, so I'll stop here xD

If I do end up writing an analysis for Suo (I actually want to do one for Sakura too, because I'm just a little bothered—it's not serious, dw—by his slight mischaracterisation in fics xD) I'll be sure to tag you in it, if you're okay with that! :3

so I'm reading the Wind Breaker (Satoru Nii) manga... and uh... I'm in the 120's for chapters and this feels.... like a final fight kinda? Do we know if we're already gearing up for the end?

[elcorhamletlive]

dirigibleplumbing replied to your post “MCU Rewatch: Age of Ultron”

I'm edging into the Discourse here but you also bring up an excellent point about the whole "Tony warned everyone about Thanos/more aliens/whatever and they didn't listen!!!!!" thing because like... um... did he? He doesn't tell the team about the vision he had and how it influenced him. He has the "that up there that's the endgame" line and IIRC that's it. I mean it's fine to headcanon that he told them! I do sometimes! But it's not really in the text, here in or in CW.

And I am with you on liking this movie! (I get the impression I like it more than a lot of people both in and out of fandom do.) Even though he didn't have much to work with, I like James Spader generally, and liked him as Ultron. There are some really good parts in this movie and also everyone looks *GORGEOUS*.

Yeah, I feel like... Tony’s general idea that “there is a threat coming” is heavily implied in what he says, but I also think that, unlike fandom’s common perception, no one disagrees with THAT. No one is like “omg Tony ur crazy, the aliens will leave us alone”. What they disagree with is Tony creating Ultron - and then, later, with him creating Vision, though Thor then supports him on this one. But no one really denies that there might be  bigger threat coming, and Thor, by the end, goes off to search for the Infinity Stones precisely because of that (”Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us”). 

I think fandom makes Tony’s arc in this movie to be something that isn’t, because at the core, his arc is very simple: he’s scared of what’s coming, terrified of losing his friends and being the last one standing; he creates ultron without telling the others because of it; Steve is like “the only way we’ll be able to face this is TOGETHER because we’re a team and that’s the main theme of this entire franchise”; and at the end Tony’s like, okay, I get it, together. 

I think it’s a simple arc and it works! My only problem with this is that I do feel that, given the argument between Tony and Steve at Clint’s farm, there needed to be a point where Tony aired out his fears to him (or him with the rest of the team) so they could talk and we could see Tony coming to the conclusion that “together” is really the way to go, over building murderbots. But there is a layer of misunderstanding here, because no one in the team knows Tony did what he did greatly influenced by the fear of losing them, so no one can reassure him about it. Fury kind of does, but since Fury is not part of the team, it doesn���t work as well. That’s my main gripe with how AoU handles this narrative - the set up is solid, but the resolution is... too vague for my taste.

But, yes, I do like the movie! I think it had a high bar to live up to following Avengers, and the pacing is too weird sometimes and there’s stuff that should have been cut, but I think it’s a fun movie with good character moments. 

Plus, as you said, everyone looks REALLY good. Costuming department killed with thos party outfits (except Natasha’s lol).