#the HA employs /does/ tend to put certain distance between the characters. figuratively speaking...

[goldfishshithead]

thinking about an au where the Hero Association does not exist...

[jigento-archived]

               the time has come-- honor code time !! 

honor code assessment, here we go !! 

for starters, i’m going to start by saying that after looking through a lot of what kuwabara considers his honor code, or at least, the hints to what he includes ( stand up for your fellow brothers, don’t fight women, fight for your beliefs even if it means death ) it leads me to believe that his honor code is heavily influenced on the code of the bushido as well as some of the more notable rules in the yakuza code of ethics or jingi. 

as far as the yakuza code of ethics: jingi is concerned, these would be the things that kuwabara would bestow on his fellow gang and, subconsciously, on those in team urameshi. of course, i mainly mean that in the sense of standards that kuwabara holds for those around him and those that he gets involved with. the codes and ethics that others hold themselves to must match or level with his own in order for kuwabara to value the words and actions of someone else.

the jingi is shorter than the lengthy and detailed bushio code, but they basically employ these main concepts: 

1.) treat the head of the family with respect. because kuwabara runs a small collection of close friends that double as a street gang, it’s been altered to treat each other with respect. if his fellow friends treat him with respect, then he can respect them. 

2.) don’t steal from the everyday man. thievery and criminal activity aren’t things that kuwabara wishes anyone to engage in. in his case, involving the innocent bystander in something that’s between his own group and groups from other schools goes against how they should act. what originates between gangs stays between them. 

3.) don’t disrupt the harmony of the gang or touch the partner of a fellow member. this you can definitely see a lot in the way kuwabara interacts and treats yusuke. this can be translated to any and all altercations within his group of friends and kuwabara’s desire to keep things resolved and running smoothly at all times, of course, you can argue with his back and forths with hiei. those, despite being violent in nature don’t detract from the fact that kuwabara respects hiei to a pretty high extent. will he ever admit that ? oh hell no. the second half is very clear in regards to yusuke and his relationship to keiko. it makes the idea of kuwabara bonding with keiko during yusuke’s time with the makai so much more difficult when feelings and emotions come into play. since yusuke and keiko have more history and a more profound bond to one another, it makes sense that kuwabara would keep his distance and be respectful and supportive. he understands that their consideration of each other is something that would be dishonorable to disrupt. 

4.) never involve yourself with drugs-- self explanatory. 

5.) always be chivalrous. i’ll go over this again with the bushido code of honor later on, but this is hugely important. it’s something that not only does kuwabara hold to his gang and his friends in team urameshi, but it’s something that he holds himself to as well as his enemies. the most important of these, to kuwabara, is first-and-foremost, being a decent human being. respect for everyone, reaching out to help those in need, acting on impulse to defend the helpless, to stand up for those who need someone to stand with them, fighting for just causes, keeping violence where it belongs and with who it belongs, leading back to the bit about the everyday man a bit-- this is one of the main cornerstones of kuwabara’s code of honor. 

now the real base of the standards that kuwabara holds himself to can be directly related to the bushido code. within this code are what are widely known as the eight virtues. they can also be tied back to the knight’s code of chivalry ( again with chivalry being one of the cornerstones and foundations of kuwabara’s honor code ).

1.) rectitude - the power to decide a course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering; to die when to die is right, to strike when the answer is to strike--’ in the bushido code of honor, this is said to be the strongest defining virtue. of course, it could be argued for kuwabara as well. it’s one of those ‘ goes without saying ‘ type of virtue. he might act recklessly, but that’s only because he knows for a fact what he believes is right and he knows what his morals are. if those morals coincide with fighting or risky maneuvers, then he will act without hesitation. call it instinctual. 

2.) courage - courage is exercised in the cause of righteousness and rectitude. kuwabara’s drive to jump in at a moments notice to fight on behalf of someone, in most cases it’s yusuke, or to fight to prove value in his beliefs and/or the beliefs of the team, can be attributed to courage. to know when to fight, when to die, when to act, when not to-- knowing and understanding is one thing, but making the switch from that understanding into a physical acknowledgement and action on its behalf is where courage comes into play as the second of kuwabara’s codes as well as the second virtue in the bushido code. 

3.) benevolence/mercy - love, forgiveness, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of benevolence, the highest attribute of the human soul. if anyone knows kuwabara well, they’ll definitely know this is one of the traits that comes naturally to him. love and affection, whether it’s the respect his has for people who are stronger than him, to those who look to him for protection and safe-keeping. it might be difficult to verbally affirm the feelings that he has for certain people, but being able to act on those feelings and allow them to influence his treatment of others for the better, will always prove to be important to his inclusion of those around him in the way he holds himself. 

4.) politeness - the description of politeness in the bushido code is mainly rooted in the respect and consideration for the emotions and feelings of others. manners may play a small part, which kuwabara tends to have a difficult time with, but the consideration of others in order to treat them with the highest form of respect has driven him to make decisions and pursue specific plans of action without judgement of the individual in question. this profound respect is most often, in kuwabara’s case, reserved for those who are close to him, this still extends to those outside his personal circles. 

5.) honesty/sincerity - within the bushido code, this applies to the earning and spending of money. thrifting proves just how far one can go with the resources that they possess. in terms of kuwabara, his sincerity comes mainly from his open devotion to his code of honor. he’s sincere in the fact that he won’t shy away from admitting that something he’s observed or a certain course of action isn’t true to the person he wants to be. this has nothing to do with money and more along the lines of his own personal conviction. 

6.) honor - a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth. kuwabara’s worth, while he hasn’t yet figured out what it is and has no way of really understanding his worth in the eyes of those around him, bases his worth on how well he follows his own code. in a way it’s related to conviction, not just his own, but being held accountable by those around him. 

7.) loyalty - once those who find themselves close to kuwabara will not live a day to regret the unspoken pact they’ve signed. those he values will find it damn near impossible to dissuade him from standing in their place for battles or speaking up on their behalf. their happiness and wellbeing becomes a priority to him above all else. their hardships become his hardships. their struggles become struggles he hopes to lighten. those that he trusts and puts in faith in will receive an insane level of dedication from him. those close to him are closer than even family. even without blood, the bond that binds him to those he cares deeply for cannot be broken unless their faith and trust in him is brutally severed. there hasn’t ever been a case like that before amongst his peers, so he’ll cross that bridge when he gets to it. 

8.) character/self-control - both the hardest and easiest of the virtues for kuwabara to implement into his honor code. what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. the difference between good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not arguments subject to discussion or justification, and you should know the difference. character also leads into kuwabara’s insistence that he not fight women. he was raised understanding that it was disrespectful to hit women, therefore, he’s included it into his honor code. the aspect of self-control is one he has the most trouble with. when he isn’t consciously aware of his actions and how his emotions are affecting them, he borderlines breaking his ability to control himself, and it’s where he gets into the most trouble. he can’t control what he says more often than moments where he can’t logically control what his body does. most of the time that loss of control is caused by his issues with anger. 

overall, this is the basis for how i feel kuwabara’s honor code is set up. it’s not as if he’s written any of this down. all of it is self-taught and he carries it with him as if it’s been burned into his memory. maybe it’s subconscious and he’s tailored his lifestyle to include these standards and virtues over time ? for now, all we know and all that i’ve thought about has been that this is something he’s worked on developing and worked on teaching himself so that he can actively model his life around a set of self-established rules to help guide him towards being the man he so desperately wants to be. 

[rivvn]

I started typing up a Goodreads review and then it turned into a rant halfway through

Angel Mage by Garth Nix

Rated 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read, with some weaknesses.

Garth Nix has proven himself time and again to be an excellent worldbuilder, and Angel Mage is no different. Sirrance, the in-story analog for France, feels lived-in and populated by real people. There are enough pieces moving about in the background to give the impression of a country with its own rivaling political factions and class rivalry. The angelic magic and magical history thereof isn't just slathered on top of historical France, but woven in. There is one glaring exception, but we'll get to that.

The action scenes are fluid and snappy, a joy to read. There is a tendency for the plot to drag when delivering background information, or to provide extraneous information when the characters are merely changing locations. As I am a reader that loves background details, I don't hold this against the book.

The main weakness of this book is the characters. They are likeable enough, but feel like archetypes. The four main protagonists remind me much of The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce - four young people from very different backgrounds who are drawn together in a mysterious magical way. However, nobody's worldview is really challenged. Nobody substantially changes their mind about anything, aside from deciding that they are all definitely now friends. Nobody experiences personal growth from the beginning of the story to the end. This also causes the relationships, romantic and otherwise, to feel dry. There's no tension in a push-pull type of setup if there is no pushing or pulling. Bearing in mind that is this YA fiction, I also suspect that Nix is simply not very good at writing romance. He tends to skim past the actual development of attraction and skip to the end result of "these two are in love now." It's thankfully not as abrupt as in some of his previous novels. Yes, this is not a romance novel, but when the main plot points hinge on romantic relationships, they must be more compelling.

As I listened to the audiobook version, performed by Kristin Atherton, I will also review it here. She does justice to the the weird names that Nix has a penchant for naming the angels, and distinguishing between the voices of different characters. She renders heightened emotion and the quick pace of action scenes well. Unfortunately, whispering characters and angelic voices are delivered in a way that dips into ASMR territory. Having set the volume to a normal listening level, I found myself often having to rewind and lean in to figure out what certain characters were saying.

SPOILERS BELOW

To loop back to glaring exceptions and issues with characters, let's talk about the main antagonist, Liliath. Nix tries to make her too many things at once. She is superpowered action heroine, master manipulator, prodigal mage, obsessive lover, and heartbreakingly beautiful all in one. You'll never forget that last bit as there are multiple reminders, both in text and in characters' dialogue, that she is very young and very beautiful. Nix, do we really need so many reminders that Liliath is Hot?

That she breaks the in-universe rules of angelic summoning and performs inhuman physical feats is not a problem. There are obviously exceptions to every rule, and that she is such a prodigy builds her up to be more of a threat to the heroes. However, the way in which she pulls brand new abilities out of her ass every time there is an obstacle feels cheap. She's cornered and bleeding out, then it is revealed that she can pull angels in from a distance from some conveniently placed icons. The plot requires a contrivance to move everyone to Ystara, so Liliath is suddenly a cunning manipulator who spontaneously generates wealth and connections along with a noble persona good enough to fool an entire court and ensnare the queen.

This too would not be a problem if we are shown Liliath being clever and cunning. But she faces no real opposition, and hence has no real chance to show off her skills. People just fall in love with her. They don't ask many questions, or are easily put off if they do. Angelic magic is the explanation for almost every trick Liliath pulls.

And speaking of angels...

What does Liliath even see in Palleniel? Her love for him is built up to be this all-consuming obsession, but the few times the angel appears, he is so bland and character-less. Are we expected to believe that this prodigal teenager destroyed a country and willingly threw more lives onto the pyre for the sake of a husbando that can't even acknowledge her by name? Such romance.

I didn't like that Dorotea (one of the main four) explains it away as Liliath being young and madly in love. Girl, you and your friends are all the same (mental) age as Liliath.

I also didn't think the relationship between Dorotea and Rochefort was well fleshed out. Despite moments of dramatic tension and Very Close Proximity, the idea of opposites attracting doesn't really take because...neither of them really changes their mind. In the epilogue, Agnes hints that Rochefort might retire to a nonviolent life in the Belhalle, but she didn't ask the other woman what she thought about it. There's no indication that Rochefort would enjoy the quiet life. Throughout the book, Rochefort is shown as being very driven by duty and not at all reluctant to employ violence - while she is attracted to Dorotea, she never really seems to understand Dorotea's worldview.

Although most of this screed has been criticism, I want to emphasize that I really do like this book. I liked it well enough to finish it, then sit down and write out this entire review, something I've never done for books I dislike. I’d read more books in this series if they were written. I'm even inspired to read The Three Musketeers, which this world is based on, next.

It's just frustrating to see such good worldbuilding applied to a story that hinges on relationships that don't quite deliver.