#that entire sequence of panels killed me

[luckyyycattt]

so… even vegetable scraps have their uses, huh?

[codenamesazanka]

assorted 408 thoughts

When I first saw this sequence of panes, I thought, wildly and hopefully, that’s Shigaraki Tomura. That could be Shigaraki Tomura, someone who holds the quirk All For One and who, despite everything, is kind.

＊

It reminds to be seen if Shigaraki Tomura can be stopped. As Deku says himself in Chapter 406, he still haven't come up an answer yet.

Since his first appearances, Shigaraki Tomura is infamous for being childish, talking about fights and battles as if he was playing video games. He's matured since then and his game metaphors have lessen in quantity, but his enjoyment of video games is still significant to his character.

But Shigaraki Tomura is also the one who created the League of Villains, a haven for outcasts and misfits. Twice considers the League the only place he belongs. Toga found life easier to live while with Shigaraki and others. The League is home to it's members, because Shigaraki made it that way.

Part of that is because Shigaraki Tomura is considerate of his teammates feelings and desire. This is core to Shigaraki - even as a child, he went out of his way to befriend those left behind, to include the children no one else wanted to play with. Underneath the layers of bitterness and rage caused by society's rejection, Shigaraki is still someone who cares a lot:

＊

One thing I really like about the new chapter is that All For One kept Yoichi's severed hand.

Why? Who knows. All For One isn't allowed any real human emotions by the story. But still - All For One kept a severed hand, a memento of a lost one and whatever significance is embedded in that; it's evidence of what he's done - killed his brother - and a symbol of his new purpose - to hunt down the other remnant of Yoichi.

Years later, he would do the same for Shimura Tenko, when he gives the boy the hands of the slaughtered Shimura family. And he intends for them to have the same meanings and purposes - for Shimura Tenko to remember the massacre, and for that memory to spur him onward.

That AFO repeats this gruesome gesture with Tenko, essentially reproducing the same horror he experienced onto the boy who he intends to be his heir. This recontextualizes The Hands a bit - instead of just what seemed to be a sort of unique psychological torment imposed out of revenge against Shimura Nana's descendant, it's also AFO just raising Tomura after himself. It's still a incredibly fucked up cruelty, don't get me wrong, but now it feels less because specifically Shimura, and more because AFO wanted an successor that mirrors himself, down to the same traumatic trappings.

＊

But of course, Shigaraki Tomura still greatly resembles Yoichi.

Overall, this panel of Yoichi does closely resembles the panel of Shigaraki from Chapter 221. Just— everything from the angle of the face and the direction of their gaze, to the position of the hand.

But based on Yoichi’s expression - the eyes, the slight smile, the whole demeanor - my first thought went to Shigaraki in Chapter 148, when he was telling Toga and Twice that he believes in them.

This is Shigaraki, revealing his face to Toga and Twice, when in the previous panels, it had seemed like he was insensitively ordering them around, without consideration for their feelings, telling them to work with Overhaul who had just murdered their friend Magne. But once the hand comes off - voluntarily, for the first time, facing them straightforwardly - we see a look that convey a lot of things - Shigaraki's resolve in taking down Overhaul, his trust in Twice and Toga, his sincerity in what he's saying. It's Shigaraki with probably his kindest expression in the entire manga.

It parallels the context somewhat too - in Yoichi panels, it had look at first like he was despondent, sad and weak, lamenting that he dependent and was unable to do anything against the evil that was his brother. But instead, with the face reveal, we're seeing Yoichi's own indomitable will and kindness, so much that he still sees the hopeful possibilities of All For One's power.

Both are victims of All For One, but both have always kept their strong sense of self and core sense and desire for kindness and justice.

＊

If you ask me what AFO and OFA combined would look like, I have to say: Shigaraki Tomura.

[vechter]

can you believe how fawking insane infinite crisis #6 is (in many ways but specifically) for tim in terms of kon intervening when superboy prime tried to off nightwing. like two of the people he loves most stuck together trying to save their corner of the world and one of them indirectly sorta dying in trying to save the other. what the hell. we should've seen nightwing angst about it more too actually because it's """his fault""" tim's best friend is dead. like obviously it's not i mean kon had his own reasons for being so adamant about defeating superboy and he was, yknow, saving the entire world from one of its biggest threats BUT wouldn't dick kinda maybe see it that way a little bit. dark 2009 DC show me the forbidden post-resurrection kon + retired!tim + dickbats interactions

RIGHT!!! like it's why i have so many problems with the one year later arc... bc we get glimpses of the dynamic between tim and dick. just look at the flashback sequence in robin #175 or 52 #30:

there's an implied sense of them focusing single mindedly on these missions— where dick is imparting wisdom and a type of training, and tim is taking it all as it comes. it's supposed to be restorative because of the losses he, bruce and dick have faced and i can get behind that...

but i wish we could've gotten some build up on the tension from the events that just took place during the crisis. bc despite the healing and time off, there is a sense of everything not being as hunky-dory as it should/could be. just look at robin #148 (directly coming off of the one year break they took):

there is something off!!! and a tangible portion of it is from tim's end. we see even dick being surprised by how shaken tim is in the resurrection of ra's al ghul aka nightwing #139 (to be fair, the stuff below is the culmination of another shitshow of a year for tim— pretty sure this is after he has tried cloning kon and after bruce adopted him):

but i digress. dick's entire arc right after blüdhaven being blown up has always been a point of contention for me bc i disagree with a lot of the editorial choices... i've alluded to how deeply blüdhaven should've affected him several times. not to mention, the first real storyline after that year long break is brothers in blood... which is enjoyably whacky but supremely out of character

all this to say, i wish we had gotten good old-fashioned angst between dick and tim because:

i would have loved to see dick blaming himself for kon's death... he was at at ground zero, he was the one who was leading kon and like, we already know how deeply personal every death is to dick. but the added devastation of it being his little brother's best friend... yeah that would've been amazing esp because we know dick thinks the world of tim and he would push himself away bc how can tim even stand to look at him after "he got kon killed" (dickie g you are my fav ever unreliable narrator)

look at these panels from infinite crisis #7, esp side by side...

like i need tim to feel some type of way about seeing both their bodies beaten and destroyed like that... except kon never got back up. and dick did! i want tim riddled with guilt about this... maybe even a bit of awful resentment towards dick bc ofc he's beyond grateful that dick survived... but why couldn't kon have too? and tim beating himself up over it too bc how can he ever resent dick being alive?

this would also be such a good starting point to their period of estrangement in red robin... sth about stress fractures that can't take the weight until they're healed right— but because tim and dick are always being pulled in a 100 different directions, esp now that bruce is 'dead'— they don't get the opportunity to heal properly until there's a snap and break to allow for healing from scratch

[myuiis]

LOOKISM 482

holy shit wtf even WAS todays chapter literal horror movie material (I mean I guess it was loosely based off a horror movie but still)

The dog god cult flashbacks are killing me. man why can’t y’all pray to normal things like Jesus Christ god knows you need it

holy FUCK these panels actually murdered me. killedme. rendered me dead. the way little vin jin is just like “mom come down, let’s sleep” oh my GOD. vin jin slowly rising the ranks, I’m afraid. I’m sorry to vin glazers that I shat on I see the appeal now

something is not quite right here…. also vin didn’t have a little sister in this entire flashback sequence where tf did he get a little sister from…

i know I hate ptj’ s horrifying expressions but sometimes they work INSANELY WELL with the context of the story. this is visceral ngl

why does he look so unserious it’s killing me… the tone whiplash…

HOT DAMN. SMASH. SMASH. OH MY GOD SMASH. VIN JIN MOVE OVER ITS MY TURN. HES SO… OH MY GOD HES SO/../

i mean what

Who said that

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 163 - My Thoughts/Analysis

Three chapters before the end. I don’t expect anything more than a horribly written, badly paced mess of a final few chapters by this point, but maybe the manga will surprise me. By being even worse than I’ve come to anticipate.

Interesting way to start off the chapter. We’re back with Goro for some reason? And Sarina after what is likely some surgery? This definitely didn’t actually happen. It almost reeks of a happy “what-if” scenario right here.

The next few panels seem to solidify that. It’s some sort of delusional happy ending for Sarina and Goro. Neither of them were so lucky in their fates so as to almost get everything they wanted.

Sarina recovering and becoming a B-Koamchi idol alongside Ai…it’s cute and all, but I’m more interested in the why this is being shown rather than marvel at this pitiful attempt at moving the reader’s heartstrings. I’d be more willing to engage with the narrative and have more sympathy for everyone involved here except for the fact that all these recent chapters have just eroded my ability to care with some of the worst writing that I’ve seen in a piece of media since the later seasons of Game of Thrones. Actually no, that’s an insult to GoT—at the very least the earlier seasons of that show were actually good, while as much as people harp on about the earlier parts of OnK, that much is mostly because the anime carried its mediocre story.

Is this a dream? And now we’re back with Aqua and Crow Girl. Are we deus ex machena-ing now?

The world is a virtual image created by observation. Not everything is true. It’s like the world looked completely different before and after you were reborn. Crow Girl is Literally Just Saying Words. It’s so unsubstantial that it feels like I’m chewing on air. These words don’t even fucking relate to this entire dream sequence at large!

In the end, who was I? Are we going to finally get the nail in the coffin for people who don’t want to believe that Aqua=Goro?

Was this actually the wrong choice? AQUA YOU LITERALLY HAD TIME TO CONSIDER THIS POSSIBILITY WHEN YOU PLANNED THIS DOUBLE SUICIDE BULLSHIT. If you were hesitant in leaving everyone else behind, you could’ve, you know, not fucking went after Hikaru after Nino was captured? If he feels sad over leaving people behind there are so many ways for him to survive these contrived series of events that I’m sorry, Aqua you’ve done fucked up. He’s had more than enough time to plan out a series of events that doesn’t end with him dying, so Aqua “regretting” that he might’ve caused more trouble with his actions is just so stupid that it kills my suspension of disbelief faster than Goro falling to his death in the first chapter. 

Through reincarnation, you possessed Goro Amamiya’s memories and will [...] however within your body there are genetic factors that were inherited from Ai and Kamiki. Interesting that she doesn’t mention the concept of a soul here, but everything related to Crow Girl is just a nonsensical thematic mess half the time. Considering that she said that Ai’s children were soulless in one of her first appearances I’m surprised that people take these words to mean that Aqua=/= Goro when the rebuttal to that argument is given so early on in the manga.

This entire bit of Crow Girl hugging Aqua and holding his face and such…I dunno. I don’t quite know how to feel about it? What’s with all this sympathy for Aqua when she was sitting on the fence and giving out breadcrumbs to Aqua and Ruby? If she cared enough to stop this scenario she could’ve easily pulled enough strings as a fucking god to save him, since she is Right There to keep Aqua from dying. I would say that it’s almost out of character, but that gives this series too much credit because Crow Girl is more of a plot device rather than an actual character.

The rest of these scenes are nice except they feel too much like throwing a pity party when Everything that came before it was just so shite that this payoff tastes cheap. I’m supposed to feel emotions coming from this scene, but all I can think of is how fucking stupid these last few chapters were if this was the end result of that entire clusterfuck. It doesn’t hit its mark by a long shot. 

That was all of you, Aqua Hoshino. And with that, all that is left is the keychain. I’m sure that Ruby’s going to be holding onto that keychain for dear life alongside Aqua himself soon enough.

That’s it??? There are—were—four chapters in this blasted manga to get through and THIS is one of those chapters??? As heartbreaking and or heartwarming as this chapter was, it could’ve easily been folded into the last one simply because there wasn’t much substance from this chapter or the last! Hell, even putting that aside, with only a handful of chapters left in the series this chapter should’ve been focused on something more substantial rather than deal with character beats that should’ve been very well established beforehand!

Let’s get down to business. Do I think Aqua is going to live after this chapter? My answer hasn’t changed since the last chapter, but I do have more thoughts to give on it now that this chapter’s dropped.

There are only three more chapters left in this bloody series. Three chapters to wrap up the story as we know it so far. As much as I greatly dislike the way Aqua’s revenge plot has panned out, with Hikaru pretty much down for the count as of this chapter, I think plotline that much has been dealt with. That only leaves a couple of loose ends to wrestle with. If the manga is keeping up this breakneck pace to the end, then I do think it’s possible to wrap this whole mess up. It won’t be the best way to do so by a long shot, but it’ll certainly end. There’s just one thing that I think has to be addressed in the span of these final chapters.

An author has a responsibility to wrap up loose threads when a series inevitably gets closer to the ending. While this series has dispensed with many, many small plot threads that have headed nowhere in order to sprint towards the end of the manga, there is one plotline that I believe needs to be dealt with before the series concludes. The issue of Aqua and his love interests. For better or worse, this plotline has defaulted to one of, if not the main hook of the series since the revenge plot has been so shallow throughout a good majority of the series.

There needs to be a clear “winner” for the Aquabowl, so to speak. 

While fans on all sides will point to various chapters and say, Aqua has romantic feelings for Kana, or, Aqua wants to rekindle his relationship with Akane, or Aqua loves Ruby, the sheer fact that multiple of these interpretations exist within the context of the series itself this close to the ending needs to be addressed. Love triangles often soak the reader with intrigue and suspense before being dispensed of later down the line after it has served its narrative purpose. If the series isn’t going to pivot towards an open ending, then that needs to be addressed before the end.

Killing Aqua off here would render all that utterly meaningless. It would be unsatisfying in a way that would forever damn it simply because of the fact that it’s the equivalent of pushing the reader’s face into a plate of shit and the author saying, “Wow! That’s a good ending because it made you feel bad!”, when after such an event the reader would like nothing more than to refund the time investment they had in said media. It’s daft. It’s insulting. It is essentially telling the fans that all of the time they spent with this character and the romance angle—doubly so because of the fact that this little romance angle had little to no plot relevance for the vast majority of the series—was worth less than nothing because Aqua was going to die all along—and he even didn’t die dramatically, either, though maybe that would’ve softened the blow, but he died in a horribly executed confrontation that culminated in a half baked dream sequence where there were more than a handful of ways for him to come out of it alive.

While there are media that can intentionally make an unsatisfying ending work, with how these past few chapters have been, such an ending would likely fall flat for an abundance of reasons—but since we’re just talking hypotheticals, I won’t make any sweeping statements just yet.

Of course, all of this assumes that the authors are, you know, making good narrative decisions. The buckshot pacing and flow of the last ten, twenty, even thirty chapters have just been a complete garbage heap in quality. There are many things I can feel in predicting within a series that’s still ongoing thanks to performing enough media analysis and understanding how stories like OnK are structured as well as the tropes therein.

What I cannot predict are the authors making irrational(read: BAD) decisions and or torching the media and running. It’s why I was so vehemently against the idea that Akane wearing a fucking wig and disguising herself as Ruby to fool Nino. It’s why having both Aqua and Akane independently coming to the conclusion that Yura was murdered was such a surprise to me. It’s why Aqua meeting Crow Girl offscreen wasn’t something that I’d seriously considered before I read that chapter.

These are, quite frankly, objectively bad decisions. I’d made my disdain for these narrative beats known many, many times throughout my various analyses as well as given my reasoning for Why these decisions are bad, so I’m not going to go over them again, but suffice it to say that these are the type of plot beats that high school teachers tell their students what NOT to do. And yet they happened nonetheless.

I can only predict what a competent author that tries to give payoff to the various plot threads in a piece of media can attempt to do next. What I cannot predict, however, is someone who is haphazardly throwing plot threads and beats around like crumbs throughout the manga with little to no intention of following them up satisfyingly or has any desire to actually pace these chapters with any degree of competence. It’s the equivalent of asking a sane person to try to wrap one’s head around the mind of someone that’s on some of the hardest drugs in the world. There’s literally no use in doing so because both parties have fundamentally different thought processes. The fact that this slop is being published must mean that the editors for this literal godforsaken series must be high, drunk, or are being blackmailed. It’s an insult to all of the actual good manga writers out there that don’t even get a speck of popularity that this series has garnered.

That leads me to my next point. It’s also completely possible that Aqua just fucking dies here. It’d be a horrible decision, don’t get me wrong, but it'd be completely on brand for the series which has already made so many poor choices this close to the end. It’d just be one final shit pie to eat after the author cooked a buffet of garbage.

If that’s the case, I’d expect Ruby following Aqua soon after. Sad, I know, but that girl literally made it her mission to kill Hikaru after she found out that Goro was dead and was willing to go to lengths that Aqua just wasn’t in order to get her revenge. Losing the person she cares about most after finding out he was alive all along only for him to fucking die again??? I wouldn’t be surprised if Ruby just walks into the sea after she hears the news.

Completely unsubstantiated thought that just crossed my mind. Calling it now. Aqua and Ruby both die in the next handful of chapters before they reincarnate once more and then meet each other. It’d be almost an inverse of that whole, “two lovers that committed double suicide get reincarnated as twins” Japanese superstition that I’ve seen talked about. That’d be a godawful ending but we’re already scraping the bottom of the bucket with this series. I wouldn’t put it past this series. It is on the table, after all.

Three chapters left. I’ve lost all hopes for a good ending for the series for some time now, so I’m just sitting on the rollercoaster waiting for the ride to finally come to a close.

[sforzesco]

how long do you typically spend drawing a comic page? I'm a perfectionist and I have a hard time keeping a reasonable working pace for comics

so I’m actually going to not answer this one (the answer is both less and more time than people think, and it depends) but instead I’m going to give you some advice on how to deal with perfectionism when it comes to making comics

the first thing is to see if you can kill your inner perfectionist, which basically means, can you get comfortable with imperfections? this is something that can be difficult to do, but it can also really take some weight off your shoulders if you can look at a line that’s a little squiggly instead of perfectly smooth and move on from it. there’s a whole page, a single wonky line, is like. fine, especially if you’re doing more than one page.

if not, that’s okay! we’re moving on to the 75%-80% rule, which is: figure out what giving 100% in art looks like for you, then find out what giving 70%-80% looks like. As a person, you can probably consistently give 80% to any given illustration, but doing 100% all the time is going to fuck you up in the long run. If you can get comfortable consistently giving a 80%, you can then decide when you want to crank it up for dramatic effect, or you can save going all in on something fun or a big project. if perfectionism is a hard habit to break, instead try it reframe it as giving a ‘perfect’ 80% instead of 100. it’s all about that overall visual consistency, baby!

comics can feel like doing seven or eight individual illustrations on a page (panels) and some people definitely tackle them this way, and that makes learning what you can consistently give without wanting to shove your hands into cement very important. If every panel is a solid 80%, the entire page looks Good (which means the entire page is working at 100% because you have visual consistency/coherency and that’s what matters)

ideally, you reach a point where you can gauge what a good 80% of what you can give looks like across an entire sequence. for me, Trikaranos is operating at 80% while Ex Voto is 70% (part of it is that Trikaranos is more demanding, while Ex Voto is more casual and vibes based, but for both I put a lot more work into formatting and lettering)

part of what can help with all of this is figuring out a good work pipeline that encourages finishing up a sequence to keep you from getting stuck agonizing on small details

a decent one is this

thumbnails > rough pencils > do tight pencils where you think you’ll need it (I do tight pencils on facial expressions, furniture if there are bodies on it, and perspective shots) > inks > colors > lettering

adjust it based on whatever your own needs are, etc.

what’s imperative to this is that you don’t do the pencils > inks > coloring stages in sequential order, but instead jump around so that you don’t burn your energy through it (in that there’s a drop in quality as you either get tired or start to rush). Jumping around lets you spread out your high energy points and it picks up the slack for when you want to just get it done, but also it forcibly keeps you from spending too much time on one specific thing. (which is why breaking it up into stages is important, instead something like finishing one whole page from pencils to colors and then doing the next one)

when I do single page comics, I usually alternate every other panel, when I do multi page comics, I’ll either alternate entire pages or I’ll do the first and last pages at the start, and then jump around the middle in whatever order I feel like.

whenever I find myself spending too much time on something, I will set a playlist that has either a 15 minute or half hour run time, and when I reach the last song, if I’m still fucking around focusing on one thing, I’ll make myself move in and return to it later. I do this the most with the inking stage so that I don’t over ink something (I find crosshatching relaxing, but it doesn’t often look good because I do too much in one place and it looks bad because it doesn’t work with the rest of the panels and then I have to start over), and then I can go back to a panel with fresh eyes later and decide whether or not more detail is necessary for the whole page to look good, or if it’s fine as is.

and ofc, the most important guideline of all: the Fuck It, We’re Done rule, which is at some point, you may look at a page and go ‘I don’t want to work on this any more, I’m tired, it’s not fun, I’ll be stuck here forever, etc�� and that’s when you put your pencil down, physically move back from the page, and figure out what the bare minimum amount of work you need to do in order for the whole page to be coherent is, do JUST THAT, and post it.

at the end of the day, it’s the whole page that’s important, not all the individual details, so try not to focus on too many small details early on, but instead go back and add them in closer to the end. You can clean up any line art mistakes that are bothering you here at this stage too.

finally, don’t zoom in too close on a digital canvas, especially if you’re doing pencils. there’s no reason for a reader to zoom in close like that unless you specifically want them too, spare your hands the agony of tiny details that won’t be seen when you upload it at viewer resolutions. I know artists who won’t go past 150% because those details won’t show up at print resolutions.

HEUGHGHHH this is so so long, but hopefully there is some helpful advice in there for you, anon

[batsyvie]

Day 12 —> Job. This sequence is pretty much directly taken from my fic “All time ever does is pass//and all I ever do is remember” (shameless self-promo).

When I tell you i almost killed a man to make this. I wanted to do a little sketchy comic but couldn’t figure out how to do simple enough rocks. before i know it i’ve accidentally started rendering and you KNOW i can’t have rendered bloody rocks and flats for the rest, so that meant i had to render the entire comic. but it turns out rendering said entire comic requires TOO MUCH FUCKIN MEMORY FOR KRITA which meant that when i went to add the final touch to the comic, KRITA WOULDNT STOP CRASHING. so k surfed reddit and other random forums for a bit, to no avail and decided “fook it” instead of c/p-ing this stupid background, im just gonna recreate it, which took me a stupid amount of time because of how SLOWWW krita had become. and then my hand writing looked like utter shite. which reminds me; here’s the transcript:

PANEL TWO:

Aziraphale off-screen: “Oh…”

PANEL THREE:

‘“It’s beautiful,” spoke Aziraphale.’

PANEL FOUR:

‘“Yes,” replied Crawley, “It is, rather.”’

Anyways. I hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!! 🩷🩷💖💖🧡🧡

[nimblermortal]

I'm beginning to doubt I will actually write this, due to an acute deficit of creative energy, so here are my notes in reaction to the July 1 SCOTUS nonsense. It plays out in my head as a comic.

The first part is a montage of Trump's campaign, his misdoings, and finally the Court's findings, with a panel of Sotomayor's dissent. In response to this newfound panel, in a way that is neatly foreshadowed, Biden orders SEAL Team Six to assasinate Trump, end chapter. Various pundits worry about what will happen to the country now, etc.

The next page, Biden is lying in bed. He gets up. He goes through his old man morning routine. (It is very important, throughout this, that Biden is always drawn/treated as a Little Old Man.) He sits down at the breakfast table. He tells his aide, "I have spent all my life defending the Constitution. I just don't know, in light of this SCOTUS decision, if I've done enough." There's a wordless panel of his face as he contemplates. Then he says, "Call a press conference."

At the press conference he announces that as an official act he will be killing one Republican per day until the decision is overturned.

A journalist raises his hand. He's from Fox News or similar. He says, "Don't you think that -"

Biden pulls out a gun (Bond Arms Bullpup) and shoots him. He flicks his aviators up on his face.

"I'll be back tomorrow," he announces, leaning into the microphone. And then he hobbles off stage.

The next several pages follow his next days: McConnell. Clarence Thomas. Ted Cruz. The sequence echoes Death Note (which I haven't read) rather strongly, with politicians trying to barricade themselves in ever tighter security, but no private force can stand against the amassed might of the entire United States marshaled behind its executive leader.

There's a vignette among the Secret Service as they question their own loyalty. Should they still be protecting this killer? This isn't what they signed on to do. But... it is what they thought they signed on to do. It's the coolest thing they've ever done, body checking private security out of the way so the president can get through with his [insert fancy gun here - @icryyoumercy I need another fancy gun please].

Note: Biden uses a silencer whenever possible to avoid making a racket. He's perfectly out in the open, he just doesn't believe in disturbing the peace with high decibel levels.

Cue to Biden at breakfast again. His aide is notably more cowed as Biden says, "I've spent my whole life defending the constitution. I just don't know if I've made a big enough impact. Henry..." The panel shifts. "Get me a machine gun."

This transitions to the chapter "President of the United Submachine Gun" which features the most epic action scenes: Biden framed in light as he crouches behind the Browning, clothes blowing back from him, shells scattering around, clearing rooms as he moves through the Houses of Congress.

January 6 featured a mob invading the Houses. Joe Biden will do it all by himself.

(Almost. The gun is too heavy for him to carry, so his aide has to keep moving it and setting up a support structure/turret for him to fire from. "Murrica," says Henry, bolting in the support structure for the executive Browning.)

After this we enter the epilogue and its voiceover narration. It's important that the action de-escalates lightning fast.

A few days later the Supreme Court retracted its decision and in a unanimous 3-0 vote (there being only 3 judges left on the court) declared the president is equal under the law to every other citizen.

Biden gave up his weapons peacefully and retired to prison without argument. He died five months later.

(This is over panels of him walking like a creaky old man into a prison facility, and a gravestone featuring his name, a carved pair of aviators, and the words NO REGRETS.)

In the resulting political vacuum, normalcy slowly asserted itself. Most politicians were either implicated in the rampage, or dead. On January 17, with emergency candidates dug out of obscurity, the president of [that one library that got famous for resisting censorship] was sworn into the highest office of the land.

(This section includes a panel of campaign paraphrenalia, including slogans such as Harris: Still an Option and Cruz: Holy Shit What the Fuck, with the latter crossed out and replaced with RIP.)

Her first act, to enshrine the limitations of the presidency into the Constitution, passed without contest.

[greenhappyseed]

panel from when All Might was explaining the quirk-

Looking back now it looks suspiciously like Yoichi’s sleeve

It sure could be! Chapter 257 gives us some good views of AFO “crushing the strong”, and I know there were a few theories that the panel of him standing atop rubble was depicting him having killed Yoichi, Kudou, and Third at the same time. That theory doesn’t hold true after 406-07, when it’s made clear Yoichi died before Kudou. And, assuming the force choke scene is in fact where AFO kills Kudou, then Third already has OFA and is offscreen somewhere, so the three are not dying at the exact same time. But it’s still possible this scene is showing Yoichi dying and Kudou being injured before AFO catches Kudou and finishes the job, and AFO will chase Third shortly after.

That said, I’m not convinced the clothing presentation is always identical, or that a light colored long sleeve means it MUST be Yoichi. On the next page of Ch.257, we see Shinomori passing OFA to Banjo (note the shoulder guard that Banjo has and Third does not), then Banjo to En’s hand, and finally En to Nana’s (gloved?) hand. Banjo’s sleeve is completely ripped up by the time he’s reaching out for En.

Shinomori’s clothing looks a little different on the left side vs the right. It’s almost like the right arm of his cropped jacket was torn off but his Under Armour stayed snugly in place. It’s hard to tell if that’s by his design or after a fight or what.

As for Kudou and Third, Kudou typically has long, dark sleeves and Third wears short sleeves but has light colored wraps from wrist to elbow (which could look like a sleeve if torn up).

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, the point is that we haven’t yet seen on-screen what, exactly, happened with Yoichi, Kudou, and Third after they un-vaulted (de-vaulted?) Yoichi. We know AFO was nearby or was somehow watching Yoichi escape, so he was able to give chase pretty quickly. But the sequence of events that led to the deaths of the first three wielders — basically the entire time until Shinomori disappeared into the forest with OFA for 18 years — is still quite mysterious. That excites me because it means there’s more to come!!!

[joculine]

DIE Issue #2 Reread (Gillen & Hans)

I was pretty hooked on DIE from the concept alone, but this issue is what showed me the story itself would be something special. Sir Lane, the knight of kisses wraps up everything special about this comic to me into one, horrible little story. I love it. Let's dig in.

Art

Eyes are a big deal through the series, but they're an especially big deal in this issue. Hans is really killer at showing emotion through them here, the guilt Ash feels, the anger Sol & Matt feel, and of course the hate from Sir Lane.

I especially love her fight scenes. They move in broad strokes, not focused on any specific sequence of action, but the specific moments of victory and defeat that occur through the fight.

That's important when you're dealing with a cast as large and unique as the party. Everyone has these super powerful attacks with over the top video-game flairs, so she has to make sure to draw your eye with color and shapes.

I especially like how red is used in this scene, a strong color associated with violent magic from just about everyone. Historically, I've associated the red licks of fire with Ash and her dictator powers, but I think that applies to all members of the party here. Perhaps we are meant to see red as the color of violent magic? Or perhaps just the party's magic?

Isabelle's talks with her gods are another standout for me. These panels are always so interesting, I love to see how each one speaks, how they treat Izzy, and how little she seems to care about them. She keeps her back to them, refuses to meet their eye, but is still shadowed in most interactions. It also looks like a persona summoning scene, which is fun to me.

A special shout out to the cartoonish look of Ash's memory of Sir Lane. So idealized & flat, the perfect way to do this childhood flashback. Everything was so much simpler then... NOT. We'll get into it further on.

Actually, why wait?

This is up there for my favorite moments in the comic. Like I said, this is where I realized what DIE was doing—this is a story about careless people ruining their lives and the lives of others for the sake of "fantasy." And it's a story about the logical conclusions of those fantasies crawling back to you and covering you with awful worms.

What's incredible is the conciseness here. In just 8 panels over 2 pages, we see the entire tragedy. Sir Lane, the Angrian knight of kisses, was a fling for young Ash back in the 90s. Maybe even her first fling as herself:

It's an exciting thing for her, to be kissed as a woman. To be wanted as a woman. But Ash barely remembers this guy. She does recall their last meeting—he joked he wouldn't rest until he saw her again, asked her to use her power to make it true. She did. He died. He never rested. His eyes rotted. A lover's joke became a never-ending curse.

We see here how careless Ash has been with a very serious power. As the Dictator class, she can speak things & feelings into being. If she isn't careful, this power will rewrite reality to make her words true. Sir Lane is only the first casualty of this we see. What other horrors are waiting for them in this world, still reeling from the fickle whims of teenage demigods?

House Rules & The Fallen

Isabelle tells us the party takes this world seriously. They can't know how "real" Die is, so they have to treat it like it is real.

I don't think anyone in this party is actually playing this way though. The proceeding bit with Sir Lane is strong evidence against it, but even just moments before this interaction, we have the party going all out on the Fallen and this nice little explanation from Ash:

You know, some people would call me a trap with legs, but I hope there'd still be moral question to killing me. Anyway.

I was really mad the first time I read this, back in 2018. Orc discourse wouldn't hit its stride for a few more years, but even then I found it frustrating. If we're supposed to believe that these characters are treating Die as real, why are the Fallen different? Are "orcs" not people? Are they not conscious? Perhaps are used as unquestionable fodder in early D&D and LOTR, major influences on DIE, but I feel like we're past that now. The easy answer for the moment is that they are more like zombies than orcs, but that's still not satisfying for me. This whole scene appears to be a weirdly out of place statement for the comic.

Let's hold onto that feeling of dissonance—it feels bad for a reason. Without spoiling too much, Ash & the party's knowledge of the Fallen is pretty sparse at this point. They know them as hungry, diseased automatons. There's a lot more to them. A lot more. As we'll find later, this statement is just wrong.

This is a really important theme for the comic: The party is often wrong in what they think and what they do. Their attitude as 90s gamers will keep butting heads against more modern TTRPG ideas. This past thoughts/present thoughts conflict will continue not just with the Fallen, but in pretty much every aspect of the story.

So What's Up With Sol?

You've gotta love this guy—the dramatics, the get up, the ambush, it's all classic GM shit. Look, he's even having to stop himself from spoiling things here, he's just so excited to see his friends again!

Okay, maybe there's something a little worse than that going on here. Sol is (obviously) a really bad friend here. He's stating that he wants to bring the party back for another game—the war is over, now we're here for fun.

Ash reads this differently. She sees him as furious, furious beyond the point of sanity.

The other players have their own ideas. Isabelle, it seems, might be taking Sol at his word, but she's trying to talk him down. Matt is, pretty rightfully, furious. He's been brought out of his normal life into the worst place in the world. Angela bargains. Maybe she thinks Sol is crazy enough to fall for it.

So what's really going on here? Why did Sol bring them back, why now? We don't get an exact answer here, but I don't think it's anything put forth in this scene. Or maybe a bit of all of it. We'll learn more the next time we see Sol.

Other Thoughts

Well, here we go. We've got our quest, we've got a combat in, even some roleplay. A pretty good first session! I do like how these early bits are all structured like standard D&D sessions.

I already gushed a bit about the art in this issue's action scene, but I also want to call out the way Ash's narration works there too. Everyone's role in the party and their powers are very clear. It's a good set piece to show what everyone can do and why they're cool.

If you're considering reading DIE, I'd try to get through at least these two issues. If you like the tone and the characters, keep going! It just gets better from here.

In fact... next issue introduces one of my favorite bits of world-building in the series... but we'll save that for later.

[heyclickadee]

A quick (it was going to be quick, but this turned out to be a lie) “Tech Lives” thought:

This is something I already covered in this post, but the placement of and the way Tech’s sacrifice works in the structure of “The Summit” and “Plan 99” is really weird if it’s intended as a genuine character death. Basically, tl;dr for the original post: it functions as a plot point/catalyst to get the rest of the episode moving, not as a send off/death for a major character, which is a large part of why it doesn’t read as a character death at all to more casual viewers (and why I kind of suspect the writers/showrunners didn’t intend it to be read that way).

I just finished summarizing “Truth and Consequences” and “The Crossing,” to my (still long-suffering) little brother, and they way those two episodes work together has kind of hammered home the point about Tech’s sacrifice not functioning in episode as a character death even more for me. Echo leaves—just leaves! He doesn’t even die, and he says it’s not forever and that he’s coming back—at the end of “Truth and Consequences,” and then that’s followed up with an entire episode about the other characters dealing with his absence. We get a character departure and then a whole episode about the aftermath of that loss. And that’s important, not just for the characters, but also for the audience, especially if you keep in mind that as dark as The Bad Batch gets, the target audience is kids around Omega’s age—ten to thirteen(1).

And, if we look at Rebels(2), which is the closest of the animated shows to The Bad Batch in terms of the kind of story it’s telling, it’s pretty consistent with the way that show handled the send off of a character the protagonist saw as a parent/older sibling. Kanan dies at the end of “Jedi Knight,” and then the follow up episode—“Dume”—is just about everyone else coming to terms with their grief.

Tech’s “death,” though? Six-minutes, forty-odd seconds into a twenty-something minute episode PACKED with other big plot points, leaving the other characters in shock and giving all of them—especially Omega—about ten seconds to sit with that shock before things keep happening, and then another thirty or so seconds later on to acknowledge their grief and shock again before the plot comes at them all like a freight train through the crystal palace. They’re not allowed to process it, and because they’re not, neither are we.

Which is all the more striking because there was absolutely a way to give Tech a definitive death and give the characters (and us) time to deal with it. Make “The Summit” three minutes longer. Maybe even two. Cut out the rigamarole with Tech running back to the cable car, the cable car getting shot, and Tech dangling at the end of the line. Have him call “Plan 99” choose to stay behind at the control panel because that’s the only way to get the cable car moving again. Have him send a signal to the car sends it hurtling away while the others are screaming at him to stop and get back on board and Echo is trying to get it to stop but can’t, because Tech’s overridden the signal. Show Tech getting shot down by one of the stormtroopers or a v-wing if you have to as he’s holding his place at the panel. You can keep Omega yelling at everyone to go back, keep Wrecker telling Tech not to do it, keep Tech’s last line as is. End “The Summit” with the cable car crash and then begin the next episode with the sequence of the rest of the batch running for the Marauder as Omega drifts in an out of consciousness.

Doing this, killing Tech off in a slightly different way at the end of “The Summit” rather than a quarter of the way through “Plan 99,” would have kept Tech sacrificing himself, but would have also (potentially) shown us a body and given the other characters (and the audience) time to process his death in the next episode before the other plot points started happening. It would have read as a definitive character death. Instead, the writers/showrunners decided to have Tech “die” in an incredibly non-definitive way in a situation that directly parallels what happened in “Faster” and allows for the appearance of that ice-vulture/survivor imagery we already saw with Crosshair, and which leaves everyone with no body AND absolutely no time to process it as a death.

So, anyway, Tech’s extremely alive.

1. I know people get kind of defensive when people say that The Bad Batch is a kids’ show, but I think that’s because we tend to use “kids’ show” as a pejorative. I’m not. When I say that The Bad Batch is for kids first and foremost, I don’t mean that it’s simple or bad or not worthwhile—I mean it as a point of high praise. It’s a kids show that goes some heavy places and refuses to speak down to kids, which is great. Kids ought to have good tv, too, and it ought to come in a variety of flavors.

2: I know we tend to like to compare The Bad Batch to The Clone Wars, but Rebels really is the closest parallel. Rebels was another linear story with a limited focus on one group of characters and definite start and end points. The Clone Wars was a sweeping anthology series both produced and aired in a non-chronological order, and which, as far as I can tell, was basically designed to go on ad infinitum until it either got cancelled (which is what happened) or they ran out of ideas, at which point they would do the Revenge of the Sith overlap stuff (what they did once they were allowed to bring it back and finish it off).

[littencloud9]

Hello again....Do you mind if I ask your top 5 (or top 10) favorite moments from any media that you love (books, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Thanks if you want to answer. Sorry if I ask too much....

hihi!! oooh i'll see if i can narrow it down skdjfjhj. this isn't in any particular order i adore them all <3

moriarty the patriot - this scene i can't even begin to explain it. it was so well written and emotional. i think it captured the message of yuumori incredibly well. you did bad, you were wrong, now work to be better. a brand new start. you don't have to forgive yourself, you just have to to move on, and i'll do it with you. absolutely lovely scene :( <3

bungou stray dogs - ranpo's invitation to yosano fucking CINEMATIC okay. i cried. the way it was set up, with ranpo kneeling to yosano's level and promising her a place to stay. the lighting of this scene giving it such a hopeful look. the emotional impact. they are my favourite duo in bsd and their dynamic is sooo precious to me and i just. one of my fav scenes in bsd EVER!!!

haikyuu - tsukishima's block THIS WAS JUST PHENOMANAL KSFHJ. the POWER. the SCREAM. the perfect moment for his character arc, the 'it' moment. oh my god. i only very recently got into haikyuu and this scene lives in my head rent free

vanitas no carte - s2 finale fight THEY WERE INSANE FOR THIS. this entire fight had me on the edge of my seat. if it's one thing vnc is an expert in it's setting a scene. the rain the lighting the FEAR through the screen. this shit was RAW. when vanoé got into the 'ill kill you thatll shut you up' position i literally screamed. vanitas' turmoil vs noé's devastation oh my godddd. domi unlocking her powers. jeanne's entire role. there was so much happening and GOD it was amazing i loved it

jujutsu kaisen - so start by saving me sigh. LIFE GETS BETTER DONT GET INTO JUJUTSU KAISEN. this panel lives in my head rent free and i think if i ever see it animated i'd burst into tears. megumi saying this to yuuji means so much to their characters okayyy two people who have always been saving each other, megumi who watched yuuji die in front of him, IT MEANS SO MUCH. i would ramble more but alas i dont wanna turn this into an essay

link click - cheng xiaoshi and qiao ling vs xiao ma BANGERRRR SCENE they mean the absolute world to me and i love that they were clearly protecting each other throughout the whole fight. i love the insane team up. qiao ling grabbing xiao ma's leg so cxs could punch him. this damn stand thing she used. the fluidity of the scene etc etc. just an amazing fight sequence overall i feel

moriarty the patriot - james bonde's reveal INSANE PLOT TWIST. bonde is my favourite yuumori character and i just. this was so funny. fym he chose bonde because of the bonds he made with the lord of crime gang IT'S SO CUTE 😭 i have nothing to say i just adore bonde and this is thus one of my fav scenes ever

moriarty the patriot - the moriarty brothers reunite CRIED FR. i just. the EMOTIONS. the way they did everything for each other and had to separate for three years and how both albert and louis thought william was dead and how none of them really ever forgave themselves but they forgive each other, so thats all that matters, isn't it? and how soothing this hug was, like finally finding your home again, and how THEY ARE FAMILY ough im so ill. i adore this moment

bungou stray dogs - you are but a child this scene hurt me then healed me. i actually cried so hard. their dynamic is so important to meee and they're both learning to care and love for the first time and they found comfort in each other and ranpo is just a CHILD and fukuzawa helps him see that it's okay and and. sniffles. bring them back asagiri this is a threat

vanitas no carte - i've decided to stay by your side, vanitas this is just because i'm in love with noé and i think vanitas realised things about himself here too/j. but on a serious note i think this was one of the greatest turning points in their relationship. i like the vibe of them on the tower and the sun rise coming up when they swear to stay together. cinematic asf

[centrally-unplanned]

Something from Hazel's FLCL video that caught my eye was this one shot manga Dirty Work, co-written by FLCL character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. There is a scene in Episode One of FLCL where Mamimi, in response to Naota's (petulant) ask about her feelings for his absent brother/her quasi-ex, responds:

...Watermelon. Or like a panda with a mean face.  Or like sandals with pressure points drawn on them.  Or the smell of a blackboard eraser.  Or a Sunday morning, where you wake up and it’s raining.  

Its a meandering and mysterious response, but still one that gets the point across. This dialogue was apparently written by Sadamoto entirely on his own insistence, and he claims to have something of a predilection for it, a love for the meandering, obtuse, poet-girl.

Dirty Work is the most clear example of this fetish from Sadamoto's other creations - its a ~20 page story of a teen guy, the childhood best friend who lives at a chicken farm he is in love with, and the people she asks him to beat up or kill who have wronged her. With a duo who, by the way, make it hilariously apparent this is from the character designer for Evangelion:

That is just Shinji and like a Misato/Asuka cross, some of the mannerisms are absolutely identical, its great. It also has some fashion that is really on point:

Ngl I might steal this look. And in continuing the predilections of Sadamoto, Evangelion, and the 90's Gainax psycho-sexual oeuvre, it also fulfills its duty to the otaku nation by have an out-of-nowhere dubiously consensual grope scene! The guy knows what he likes, okay?

But Dirty Work is not really about any of that; instead it is about the limits of longing and your own capacity, or even desire, to bridge the gap. Our girl Kana knows that our boy Tatsuo here is in love with her, and uses that knowledge for her own ends, sure, but she has no plan herself. That control is about the only agency she has in a life otherwise ruled by passivity:

Tatsuo and her are both stuck in their place - but that isn't as bad as it sounds. For one this is clearly an erotically tinged passivity; a manipulative girl keeping a guy on a leash with crumbs of sexual favours in return for acts of violence? Fucking hot, and not a dynamic foreign to FLCL! But that eroticism is elevated by Tatsuo claiming that "when he is reincarnated" (aka metaphorically when he changes who he is) he will win her over, and she replies that she doesn't want that:

And bam, that is our Mamimi sequence. To explain that last section, future panels will tell you that in chicken coops (like Kana's) light bulbs are used at night to convince the chickens more days are passing so they lay more eggs; a symbiotic-but-frozen relationship.

You can treat Mamimi and Kana's lines here as simple indulgences, playful poetry, but it really works for me. Doraemon & Cutie Honey, protractors and compasses, Jenni - okay we are just gonna ignore that line, we can't nail it every time - all these things are kind of great for their differences, right? You don't want to unify them, they are connected, but not fully, and its better that way. Kana is never leaving home, she is gonna run her mom's chicken coop, Tatsuo is never getting with Kana, which you could view as negative...or you could just not, and instead as a (*cough* erotic *cough*) dynamic with its own power. This line sells that, as does the last part of the manga:

Being the lightbulb to a chicken is beautiful too sometimes.

Which brings us all the way back to Mamimi. Mamimi is not Kana, her story is not her story - she is in way worse straits, and she is going to change, dramatically so, over the course of the show. But in Episode 1 you are seeing her through Naota's eyes, the simultaneous object of his disgust and desire. The way that she claims to love Naota's brother while being sexually intimate with Naota in said brother's absence, the way she clings to his memory despite him having completely moved on from her, Naota views this as wrong and maybe pathetic:

And you, the audience, agree with Naota, because its his story, and you don't spend a lot of time in Episode 1 in Mamimi's head. You see Mamimi's lines about watermelons and sandals and shit as an affectation and a cope.

Now, though, I can view them as a reference, as the way Mamimi sees herself - as Kana does. Dirty Work had 20 pages to sell me on how Kana's stasis is kindof beautiful, and Mamimi is a dead ringer for the same mold. More pathetic externally of course, but a match internally. It doesn't last, it doesn't even last this entire scene, but in her mind this relationship is giving something that change is not going to replace.

Or I mean probably Sadamoto has a fetish for cryptic poetry girls and this was his moment to shine. But I like my take better.

[polizwrites]

To Break Free

This is a fill for today’s @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt [#FFF268 Fractured Forms] as well as the @buckybarnesevents Build A Bucky Bingo August prompt: Desperation.

Fandom: MCU/Marvel Pairing: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Tags: Captain America: Winter Soldier compliant, helicarrier battle, scene retelling, Recovering Bucky Barnes. Summary: He didn’t understand why his enemy had saved him - until a single phrase reminded him. Word Count: 396

He didn’t understand why his enemy had saved him. Not that it was going to make much difference, since the helicarrier was going down – as broken and battered as the two men it was taking with it.

“You know me!” the Captain insisted, gritting his teeth against the pain of what would have killed a lesser man several times over.

“No I don’t!” The effort behind the blow he’d landed left him reeling, as did his opponent’s reply.

“Bucky. You’ve known me your whole life.”

There was that name again. Who the hell was this Bucky and why was this man so desperate to believe that he was him? The Soldier threw another wild punch to try to make him stop. It didn’t do any good - the stubborn punk kept talking.

“Your name,” the Captain panted, “is James Buchanan Barnes.” He could swear he’d never heard the name before, but it reverberated inside his head, making it nearly impossible to think.

“Shut up!” he bellowed, slamming into his opponent again, knocking him to the floor.

As he stood, the Captain removed his cowl, revealing dirty blond hair. “I’m not going to fight you.” He dropped his shield through one of the broken panels beneath their feet. “You’re my friend.”

It was a lie. Everything this man was saying and doing had to be a lie. Otherwise his own existence and all the things he’d been told to believe in were an even bigger lie.

“You’re my mission!” The Soldier let his anger and his fear drive his fist into the other man’s face again and again as he repeated the words.

“Then finish it.” came the reply. “Because I’m with you to the end of the line.”

It was as if those words were another control sequence. They set free a thousand fractured memories, shattered shards slicing the Winter Soldier to ribbons. Now he understood why they’d never told him the Captain’s name. He had known that man on the bridge. Had known him for his entire life.

Bucky stared in shock and horror into Steve Rogers’ eyes, one nearly swollen shut, but the other looking back at him solemnly. But before Bucky could do or say anything, a piece of the helicarrier broke off, sending his best friend down, down, into the water below. The only thing he could do was try to follow.

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 165 - My Thoughts/Analysis

Last chapter before the end. Let’s get this over with.

The first panel immediately undercuts Aqua’s sacrifice by having Nino squeal. Incredible. 

One could say that this entire sequence of events was caused by Hikaru’s death but that feels too much like giving the manga credit for presenting this slideshow of events without giving everything time to breathe. Even if Hikaru wasn’t suspected of being a part of this murder scheme it wouldn’t be difficult for Aqua and company to hire a bodyguard to protect her from any murder attempts since Hikaru mainly kills through proxies. Perhaps hire a private investigator to catch him in the act. Or, you know. Just kill Hikaru through indirect means. Break into his apartment and poison his food and water. 

And now we see Hikaru’s chain of murders. Can we finally bang that in people’s heads that this fucker is a murderer? Because people of all stripes seem to think otherwise despite the narrative spelling it out for them more times than I can count. As much as I dislike how the narrative has handled Hikaru’s character, trying to deny the facts presented front and center is worse than this slop being churned out. One can critique the way Hikaru was handled before these past few chapters in any number of ways—but to deny that Hikaru isn’t a murderer at this point is just laughable.

It’s now time for our weekly slideshow presentation with Akane as a narrator! You know, she’s already eclipsed Crow Girl in terms of infodumping. Why not? Why the fuck not just lay it all out to the audience instead of telling these important plot events organically. Surely this is a good decision to make after a series of already bad decisions. 

Aqua didn’t even write a fucking letter to everyone he left behind. Incredible. It would be simple enough to give them to a proxy to deliver them to the people he cared about but of course he didn’t think of that. I don’t even think the authors even thought about it. 

It’s the funeral. I can’t help but feel for Miyako here, having to bury both Aqua and Ai. And then we fucking see Aqua’s body. Ho boy. Dashes any hopes that he’s actually alive, huh. I’d say that this entire scene is sad but that's a lie. Aqua’s death didn’t have the narrative strength, the thematic connection, the sheer setup for this to be a sad scene. It did not earn the right to claim that sort of emotion when everything here and in the last few chapters felt like someone reading off a script of an infomine rather than a series of events happening in a manga.

Oh my god Kana you fucking idiot. And thank you Miyako! Good on you to not fucking allow her bad behavior to stand. And Kana’s mental breakdown at Aqua is—again, I don’t really care. It’s supposed to be sad and all but she didn’t even understand Aqua to the end. She never saw Aqua for who he truly was or his revenge plot. She didn’t even know that he killed Hikaru and then himself. Even if she loved Aqua, she loved the mask that he wore rather than the person underneath it.

People screaming about character assassination and how the author ruined Kana’s character in this chapter really don’t grasp one of the biggest flaws with Kana as a person—that is, she lacks the self awareness that her actions can cause other people to react—and react badly.

We see this in her sharp tongue and scathing remarks. We see this in her harsh words to Ruby during the movie arc. Hell, we see this best illustrated in the Scandal arc where she tried to pursue ShimaD and caused everyone involved a great deal of heartache. While she may have had good and even understandable feelings, that doesn’t make her any less of a piece of shit when she does them. I’d be glad that the narrative is finally giving her some goddamn consequences but at this point even the idea of Kana reaping said consequences doesn’t stir up any emotion in me. If you’ve left even the people who heavily dislike a character going “can we just get this over with” when said character gets their just deserts and suffers because of her own actions then you’ve REALLY done something wrong.

And everyone else is just a slideshow. We don’t get to see how they react or their feelings in exchange for a Kana temper tantrum. Thanks for that. I’m sure that Taiki’s feelings about his half-brother dying aren’t relevant. Or Mem’s. Or Miyako’s. God, what a fucking travesty.

Looks like we don’t be seeing Ruby this chapter if one of those panels is to go by. I would not be surprised if she followed Aqua to death at this point. There’s been nothing to indicate that she wouldn’t, after all. The girl who recklessly ran to kill Hikaru has had her most important person die on her AGAIN. What has she to live for now?

Oh, it’s Gotanda and Kaburagi. In all the bullshit I’d forgotten about the movie. It feels so much like an afterthought that it’s laughable. All that buildup and we don’t even get to see it. 

The movie was a large hit. I heard it was the sixth most viewed movie this year. That’s so funny. Even after everything it couldn’t even reach the top of the charts. I’d say that it’s thematic but giving this series credit is like giving credit to a toddler for managing to open a jar. Sure, you could do it once, but I doubt you’d be able to do it again without making a mess of everything.

Akane narrating that Ruby hasn’t even left the house. And then her with dual black stars…and then undercut again by the white star. Are you fucking kidding me. Are you fucking kidding me. The narrative is giving us NOTHING to signify this change in her behavior. After she lost Goro the first time Ruby fucking collapsed into her own revenge plot and it was only Aqua that saved her from it. And now you’re telling us that she managed to hold herself up here after his death without any outside interference? I’ve met flat earthers that could parrot off more persuasive arguments.

If Ruby was given any time in the spotlight to flesh out her character more this MAY have been more palpable but as it stands it’s just…I don’t even want to rip it apart because it really is just deplorable. It doesn’t even feel satisfying to do so anymore. Often when I critique a series for its flaws it makes me appreciate all its other GOOD aspects but for these recent batch of chapters I’m even struggling to find things that are decent about it. 

There’s no use analyzing a pile of shit in an attempt to make it look worse or better than it actually is. It’s a pile of shit. And so is this manga.

Next chapter is the last one. There is absolutely no way that we’re going to get a palpable ending to this clusterfuck and I’m very much reminded why I don’t usually get into media that are still ongoing. What an utter travesty.

[burningvelvet]

okay more thoughts on pride and prejudice as i begin chapter 39

1 i want to see lady catherine, mrs. bennet, and miss bingley in the same room together on a podcast panel debating things like marriage and childrearing etc but i dont think the world would be able to handle it

2 i’m interpreting mr. darcy as either being neurodivergent (possibly autistic) and/or having severe social anxiety — and this is really informing my entire perspective of his character (as a core theme to his character is being socially understood/misunderstood). however, i know its still very controversial to “diagnose” fictional characters and i don’t want to come off that way — but historical complications aside (the field of psychology didn’t exist back then how it does now) it’s really obvious to see that he’s not neurotypical, although i don’t know if this is an accepted thing in the austen world though!

3 i’m not buying that mr. darcy’s letter was only 2 pages long. 3 pages minimum with tiny handwriting maybe.

4 this entire novel really highlights the importance of social communication more than anything imo

5 mr. collins is fucking hilarious and his interactions with elizabeth are so accurate/relatable of what it’s like to deal with oblivious men as a female, esp. men who dont know how to take a hint — i was actually laughing out loud through his entire proposal sequence, especially at the line where it says elizabeth is trying hard not to laugh too. so familiar.

6 i wish we could see more of charles i actually like him — i also like colonel fitzwilliam and kind of wanted him to marry elizabeth - its kind of hilarious how casual the topic of marriage is with people you’ve just met & i really want to read more about regency history on marriage specifically now to figure out how much is embellished for satire purposes & how much is true to life

7 i have many thoughts on wickham but thats for a separate post

8 from what little i’ve read about p&p analysis/consensus so far, it seems mrs bennet and some other characters have already been torn to shreds over lit history to the point that its become more common to defend them & mrs bennet in particular, which i understand bc she’s supposed to be a satire on women of the time period but of course her concerns are valid and there are real economic reasons for her actions and societal norms that pertain to them. i’ve also read that it’s common for people to prefer mr bennet over his wife and to pit them against each other which can lead into misogyny & i can see this. however (im sure the bennet family ends up happy at the end, but at this point in the story) i think there are valid reasons for these interpretations which lead people to like mr bennet more than mrs bennet. after the ordeal with collins i really lost respect for mrs bennet for threatening to disown eliza & treating her so harshly, and i gained respect for mr bennet for sticking by eliza. i continuously defended mrs bennet and her behavior up until the collins proposal. i understand she’s desperate for eliza to marry so that she doesn’t become destitute etc. but mr collins simply isnt an ideal husband

9 eliza’s feelings on her friend marrying collins are so sad and relatable of how all of us feel when we watch a friend or loved one enter a shitty relationship and/or betray themselves or lose a part of their personality + the idea of having to mourn your friend especially upon growing up etc. but particularly as it relates to the lonely woman’s experience of finding one’s friends starting to center males & prioritize romance over friendship the older you get.

hope some of this is semi-intelligible - i save the grammar for my real essays - but felt like rambling

i think in my last post i was spelling “bennet” as “bennett” so i apologize for that lol - pls dont kill me janeites, i’m new here!!!