#there are only a few exceptions to this and most of them are comics aimed for a teen audience

[honkifyourelonely]

i think reading a lot of kids comics before i dipped into marvel was both good and bad bc like i have experienced such a diverse range of art-styles and approaches to character design and now every single x men comic looks exactly the same :|

[sonicjustbecause]

The Sonic 3 Trailer lacks of both spoiler and context, and that is about how a trailer should be. We already know what it is about. We only needed to see few scenes to make sure it might look good (or bad, it depends on what we except).

Now, I've seen a couple of crazy theories I've read and I believe both of them won't happen. I'll explain

Tom getting killed

Won't happens anything different to Tom that didn't happen before. he will be at worst knock out/neutralized and go off screen. Like in Sonic 1 (punched by Eggman) and Sonic 2 (encircled by flames)

Such happening would be the complete Shadow's assasination as character. We as fan won't forgive him and also this would push Shadow in the villains realm.

The past characterization.

Original Shadow (Adventure/Heroes/06) was very tame. There is a video on YT that analyze how Shadow behaves toward the world and underline the lack of destruction and violence in SA2, as opposite as we see in Sonic X and ShtH05.

in Sonic-X they changed slightly Shadow's personality, removing his intellectual and contemplative nature and replacing it with a more brash and violent personality. But even there, they prevented Shadow from killing Cosmo, making him acting like a cat who plays with his prey instead of being efficient (slow pace, talking, missing aim despite the short distance and when the thing failed just giving up on that). Shadow could have act smartly simply killing Cosmo in her sleep. As I say, I think they wanted to save his reputation.

In Sonic Force he indeed killed Infinite's squad. His first kill, most likely. Small fries, while leaving the boss alive, evil and stupid considering the aftermath. They saved Shadow's reputation by making Infinite lame and obnoxious and by not showing his gang at all (so we don't get attachted and we still cheer for Shadow). Sort of telling without actually showing anything.

Similar cases and why those characters have been tamed out.

Lupin III had a super rough star. His author got inspired by underground Western comics of the '60s and the original Lupin III was not a thief and a cheerful anti-hero. Lupin was originally a real godfather, a mafia boss, and despite he was mostly accompanied by Jigen and Goemon (who weren't really characterized back then) he had all underdogs, picciottos and so on under his rule. He did steal, but also he killed innocents, he raped women (includin Fujiko) and did several other hideous things.

Evil protagonists don't last long. They either get overhauled or they die like Light Yagami.

For this Lupin had to be tamed. Lupin killed less and less and more and more only with a reason and was more and more gentle with the innocents, including his main foe. And lastly he just virtually stopped to kill.

He's not the only one, many protagonists were born as unremedable villain and then they have been turned into antiheroes... or even heroes. Villanous protagonists never last long.

Shadow is beloved mostly because of his original personality. I noticed in most fan work, he is characterized the way he was in Sonic Adventure 2/Heroes/06 or Prime. Sometimes like in Sonic X and Shadow 05. Rarely like modern Shadow.

Back to Shadow

"What did you do?"

"What I had to!"

Those lines may be related to anything and everything. They might be related to Shadow's attempt to destroy the world like in SA2.

"I had to keep my promise!"

"What I had to do" suggest me something Shadow did not because he wanted to but for an external obiective. It might be world safety, keeping a promise, preventing the Sun going red giant, anything. Maybe even destroying Metal Sonic (if he appears like some rumor suggest) after Sonic convinced him to join the good side. Shadow has a long story dealing with living weapons.

Shadow stealing Stone's bike

Simply impossible. I already said Shadow's size is comparable to the size of a five years old child, about 1m tall. Stone is a 1,78m tall adult.

How Shadow would look on Stone's bike. It would be good material for the memes. And even if he would be able to ride an adult designed bike, he would be unable to do the Akira thing.

[writingraccoon]

tagging @origami-butterfly bc i think you'll be interested at least

So some posts about women in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and it's adaptations have been going around, so I thought I'd give my two cents that no one asked for.

In the original novella there is one important female character I can think of- The girl Hyde tramples. I have not seen any J&H movies or adaptations, unless you count the four episodes of Once Upon a Time that had a (bad) J&H plotline, but i have a decent impression of how most adaptations treat the women they add in.

First of all, I don't think adding women to Jekyll & Hyde is necessary. It speaks to the attitudes of the time that more women are not in the original book, but the book as a whole is inextricably linked with the attitudes of the time, and separating the culture from the novel serves to strip away much of its meaning. Perhaps casting the butler Poole as a woman, or even making Lanyon a woman could be reasonable ways of putting a little more diversity into screen/stage adaptations, but the novel does not even pass the 'two men talk to each other about something that isn't a man' test.

A piece of media does not need to pass the Bechdel test to be good, or interesting. Frankenstein, J&H, Les Mis, Dracula (iirc), and the Christian Bible are all, to my knowledge, things that do not pass the Bechdel test. They are not less valuable for that.

Many J&H adaptations add a love interest to be killed or spurned by Hyde, or a sex worker to be raped or killed to display how evil he is. I hope I need not say that adding a woman to your story just for her to be fridged to say something about a male character is FAR more sexist and hard to watch than a piece of media that just happens to have a lack of women.

At it's heart, Jekyll and Hyde is a story that needs few characters to be told. There is, of course, Dr Jekyll himself, his alter ego Hyde, Utterson, the lawyer turned detective, Lanyon, and Poole. Any other people that show up in the story are unimportant except for what they say about the main characters (pretty common in fiction. the family that dies at the beginning of the hero's journey is not important in and of themselves). The girl that is trampled by Hyde is there to set up how Enfield met him, and tell the audience how evil he is. The old man who is trampled is there to shock the audience and Utterson, and reveal a new depth to Hyde's cruelty. Now, there's something to be said for the fact that the old man is named while the little girl is not.

While pieces that are less adaptations and more inspired by J&H have far more freedom in what they add and what they omit- The Glass Scientists comic, for instance- adaptations that aim to bring the book to stage or screen should actually read the book before deciding what should take place. I would say that adding a love interest not only is unnecessary, but in fact actively harms the effectiveness of any J&H adaptations. Jekyll and Hyde is simply not about that. It is not a love story, (except, you could argue, the love for Jekyll that drives Utterson to become more invested in his hunt for Hyde) and trying to make it a romance interferes with the point and themes of the story, just like switching the perspective from Utterson to Jekyll messes up the story.

The reason why so many adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde fail to capture the essence of the original novel, is that none of the people in charge of them seem to understand the novel at all. They don't understand why Gabriel Utterson is not only not boring, but why he is the lens through with Stevenson chose to tell the story. They don't understand that Hyde is not a separate person, or an evil second personality, or anything else, but that he IS Jekyll, and Jekyll is him (which is an interesting point about humanity's unwillingness to accept the presence of evil inside of ourselves but i don't think most screenwriters are doing that on purpose). And they don't understand why, to put it simply, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does not need the addition of a love interest, and in fact is better for the lack of one.

[cy-cyborg]

Tips for writing and drawing disabled characters: you're allowed to have fun with it

I get a lot of people responding to my posts/videos on writing and drawing disabled characters that, while they never outright say it, kind of imply to me that people are interpreting those posts as:

THIS IS THE OBJECTIVE ONE AND ONLY WAY TO WRITE CHATACTERS WITH [Insert disability here] AND IF YOU DONT INCLUDE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE POINTS AND SUGGESTIONS IN SOME CAPACITY, YOUR CHARACTERS ARE BAD AND YOU ARE BAD FOR MAKING THEM!

And just ....no that's not my intent lol. So let me make it abundantly clear: with a few exceptions, my content is just suggestions, mainly aimed at making your characters feel more realistic and/or grounded, or demonstrating certain ideas. If thats not the vibe you want, or the suggestions are clashing with the tone of your work, you don't have to include them. Still consider the advice, make sure the reason you think it doesn't match isn't based on stereotypes or assumptions, and if it's not, and you still don't think it fits, don't include it.

If it doesn't make sense to include a chapter about how your character is struggling with debilitating phantom pain in an otherwise really light-hearted, cozy slice of life comedy, then don't add it. This isn't to say that your character's disability shouldn't have any effect, but pick ways that fit the tone. For example, instead of dealing with debilitating pain, maybe your chatacter is out camping, they take off their leg to relax but oh no, a stray dog mistakes the metal pole for a bone and steals it, making your chatacter have to hop after them. When they catch them and get their leg back, they decide to adopt them! Hjinks and cozyness ensues

That actually does sound adorable, I might save that for later lmao

Or just small things, the same way you might show an able bodied chatacter getting ready for their day, show a disabled chatacter doing the same, but adding in the extra steps. Do what works with the tone.

This also isn't to say the advice can't be used in more fantastical settings. Most of what I write is fantasy and sci-fi, and while I don't use all of my own advice in those settings (because not all of it is relevent) I do use a lot of it, depending on the character in question. The main character in my sci-fi comic voidstar, Xari, for example, has been a double leg amputee for a long time and that, combined with the setting means not all of the standard advice about writing amputees is relevent to them. They don't struggle with pain or have trouble adjusting to prosthetics because it happened a long time ago and the medicine/tech in their world is better, but there's other ways it effects their daily life in ways fitting for the lighter tone in chapter 1. the intro sequence shows them running and jumping and being active, but also shows they use a wheelchair sometimes and a bit later in the chapter, crutches, depending on what they're doing. It also effects how they interact with people: late in the chapter someone makes a weird comment about their legs, and Xari uses it as a chance to mess with them and have some fun.

All this is to say don't be afraid to be a bit looser with the advice if the story you're writing has a lighter tone and just have fun. My content is there for those who want to use it, but it's not the "only objective way" to handle those subjects.

[ave-cave]

In Defense/Analysis of Mahiru and Hiyoko's Relationship

Criticisms leveled at Hiyoko’s relationship with Mahiru are varied; engaging with the fanbase for this long has led me to some pretty specific ones, many I’d never even thought about (and that’s saying something because I spend way too much time analyzing them lmao). In the interest of not making this a novel, though, I’ll be focusing on the ones I see most often: “Mahiru didn't call Hiyoko out on her bullying,” “Mahiru standing up for Hiyoko in 2-2 was hypocritical” and “Mahiru and Hiyoko's relationship is wasted potential because Hiyoko dies in 2-3.”

As can probably be inferred from the title, this write-up aims to counter these criticisms, but if I’m being honest, it doubles as an attempt to explain why I like Mahiru and Hiyoko's dynamic as much as I do. They’re my favorites in the series bar none, so there’s no guarantee my points will be 100% free of bias, but I’ll do my best to consider each argument in good faith.

A few disclaimers first:

Spoilers for basically all of Goodbye Despair are incoming (if that wasn’t obvious lol)

All pink highlighted text is a link to a relevant Imgur image

Defending a character’s writing and defending their morality are two different things, and I intend to do only the former, especially with Hiyoko

It's more than fine if you dislike Mahiru or Hiyoko – this write-up wouldn’t exist if differing opinions didn’t – but please do try to approach my points with an open mind

Cool? Cool.

Turning a Blind Eye:

First thing’s first, the aspect of Mahiru and Hiyoko's relationship that I assume most earns Mahiru the “hypocrite” title: her ignoring Hiyoko’s bullying.

At a glance, I can’t say this criticism rings untrue. During my first playthrough, I also found myself agitated (and frankly confused) by how Hiyoko’s ill treatment (of everyone, but of Mikan in particular) kept flying under the radar. That said, upon review, I wouldn’t consider it a glaring oversight on the part of the writers the way some fans seem to; I think her behavior is handled as such by the narrative for a reason – albeit a frustrating one – and that this reason is key to understanding her relationship with Mahiru.

When it comes to the class as a whole, the most straightforward reason is that it’s rendered trivial by the killing game. In the midst of life or death, a pipsqueak tossing around juvenile insults is lucky to register as any kind of concern, let alone an urgent one – this made all the more apparent when you comb through her insult scenes and realize that most of them follow the same formula: jab → target’s reaction → another character rerouting the conversation to focus on the dangers at hand. Something similar can be said for why Teruteru’s sexual harassment and Kazuichi’s overstepping of Sonia’s boundaries are ignored in favor of continuing class-wide discussions (and on a more inoffensive note why comic relief moments, courtesy of Ibuki or Gundham, are so fleeting): the threat of the killing game overshadows all else. Only when a threat within the group becomes synonymous with the killing game is it addressed with nearly the same exigency (think Nagito post-chapter 1), otherwise, it might as well be nonexistent.

So basically, when forced to pick and choose what harm they respond to, more often than not the class opts for the harm that jumps out at them screaming “I’M HARMFUL.” If Hiyoko’s insults were the long and short of it, her conduct would be essentially harmless; rude at best and borderline malicious at worst, but overall inconsequential. Except that’s not the case. Why? Because two characters in particular – Mikan and Kazuichi – lack the self-esteem to brush them off as childish drivel. Through this, they become prime targets, and general unpleasantness gives way to full-on bullying…

… whiiich brings us to pitfall #2: while the other characters aren’t oblivious to Mikan and Kazuichi’s sensitivity per se, they aren’t actively mindful of it, either – especially not Mikan’s. They treat them either like any other classmate or – when their talents come in handy – like competent Ultimates. In most instances where Mikan breaks down (pre-trial 3 anyway), Hajime’s internal dialogue is something along the lines of, “She doesn’t need to cry and apologize so much” rather than, “Oh no, is she okay?” He’s concerned, just not enough to adjust his approach. The same goes for Kazuichi, particularly when his sensitivity causes him to freak out, giving the impression of cowardice. Ironically, by choosing those two as her main targets, Hiyoko may be the only person who “acknowledges” their low self-esteem as anything worth treating them differently over (though that’s obviously not to her credit since it’s in the most twisted way possible).

Of course, just off the top of my head, I can recall more instances of the perverted characters’ comments being called out than I can Hiyoko's, but I wouldn’t consider that an oversight, either. I’ve seen it argued that simply being childish is what gives Hiyoko a “pass” behavior-wise, and while I don’t think this is incorrect, I think it underestimates just how aware she is of the way she’s perceived, i.e., as younger (both physically and mentally) than her classmates. She doesn’t act the way she does and then expect her childlike image to compensate for it automatically; she’s in a constant, deliberate flip-flop between unapproachable and childish, because – while she is a paranoid individual who puts forth her assholish personality to avoid forming connections and facing betrayal – she’s also someone who likes to have her cake and eat it, too.

In her mind, so long as she can be simultaneously unlikable and unthreatening, she needn't fear going too far and making enemies (as opposed to just, y’know, not making friends), and to that end, she falls back on her immature looks as a sort of “back-up” – a way of being avoided without being antagonized. This tactic, hinted at a few times in DR2 as well as other canon material, backfires, however, highlighting its fundamental flaw: sure, no one takes her seriously enough to get mad at her insults, but by the same token, no one takes her seriously in general – not even when she wants them to.

That’s not to say this concept is executed perfectly, mind you. As interesting as it may be on paper, even I have trouble suspending my disbelief in scenes where she’s downright cruel and yet no one bats an eye. I think there’s just enough (both in text and subtext) to justify her in-universe perception being what it is, so I can get past this, but I understand why some fans can’t – especially since Mikan and Kazuichi get the short end of the stick regardless.

Again, though, that’s the class as a whole. What about Mahiru specifically? From what I've seen, she’s frequently singled out by the fandom as the character most to blame for Hiyoko’s behavior going unchecked, and this is probably due to a few things:

Her emphasis on good manners and civility

Her friendship with Hiyoko making her a more responsible party for correcting the latter’s behavior

The opening scene of 2-2 in which she defends Hiyoko (I call it “the restaurant scene” for short because it takes place at the restaurant and I’m uncreative)

The second and third reasons go hand-in-hand, but I have a fair amount to say about the third, so I'll save it for the next section. The first and second I'll talk about here.

Hypocrisy is defined as not practicing what one preaches. One could argue that Mahiru employs hypocrisy when she preaches good manners and civility but a) doesn’t call Hiyoko out for being a bully, and b) becomes her friend. Do these arguments hold water? In my opinion, yes and no. Let me explain.

First, how does Hiyoko’s in-universe perception carry over to her relationship with Mahiru? Simply put, Mahiru isn’t immune to it. Like everyone else, she views Hiyoko as too childish to take seriously and dismisses her accordingly. This might seem like a non-starter for their relationship, but I actually think it’s what allows said relationship to work at all.

In terms of personality and values, Mahiru and Hiyoko are polar opposites. You don’t have to search far for evidence of this – it’s right there in their profiles, with Mahiru’s stating that she dislikes bad manners and Hiyoko’s that she dislikes being lectured. This contrast isn’t arbitrary. Far from it; it’s deliberate groundwork for a foil. Unlike most foil characters in the series, though, Mahiru and Hiyoko get along swimmingly. Why? Well, I’ll get more into the nitty-gritty of that later, but in short, it’s because – while Mahiru may not be immune to Hiyoko’s flip-flopping – her perception isn’t quite as limited by it as her peers’.

I've seen a few people claim that Hiyoko is “fawned over” by her classmates, but IMO, that's not really true. Instances of the others offering Hiyoko comfort/sympathy are pretty much exclusive to the second trial (after her name is cleared; before that they're slinging accusations at her left and right) and the scene where they discover her shrine (after Chiaki sheds light on its true purpose; before that they're rallying to burn it). In both, I think it's made fairly clear that they're doing it out of a sense of, “Wow, this killing game sucks and Hiyoko is kind of bearing the brunt of its terribleness right now,” not, “Wow, Hiyoko is so cute and precious.” That's nothing particular to her; every character who loses a loved one to the killing game is treated with some amount of tenderness afterwards, regardless of who they are or whether the loss is the result of their own actions. Where her Mahiru-related suffering isn't concerned, though, Hiyoko’s classmates more or less just tolerate her existence. They go, “Hey, there's the rude little girl we for some reason share a grade with” and continue about the island.

Of course, it’s no one's responsibility to parent their peer, and Hiyoko's other classmates aren't wrong for taking her at face value. But Mahiru is different; she takes responsibility for those around her whether they want her to or not. Her desire to bring out the best in others is what allows her to perceive Hiyoko as a child not just in temperament, but in impressionability, too. In other words, she’s the only one who sees potential in Hiyoko – with a nudge in the right direction – to mature and improve as a person. This is demonstrated when Hiyoko admits the reason behind her smell at the start of 2-2. Here, Mahiru doesn't join her peers in asking why a high schooler can't do something as simple as bathe, nor does she slap a band-aid on the problem and offer to tie Hiyoko’s kimono for her; she offers to teach her how to do it herself. If Hiyoko were a plain bully with zero (for lack of a better word) embellishments – if there was nothing to bridge the gap between her and Mahiru, like, say, a need for a role model – Mahiru would be more inclined to call her out, yes, but she’d also be less inclined to help her here. And in my opinion? This would hurt both of their characters in the long run. I’ll get to why in the last section.

Granted, this then begs the question: if Mahiru is the only one generous enough to believe Hiyoko can change for the better, why does she demonstrate this generosity only once, in a situation where Hiyoko is vulnerable rather than on the offense no less? Well, I don't think that's an arbitrary decision, either.

See, while it might not be a stretch to call Mahiru and Hiyoko “friends” from the POV of the entire Class 77B saga, in DR2 alone, it kind of is. Hiyoko’s quick and fervent attachment to Mahiru beginning with the restaurant scene can make it easy to forget that, all told, their relationship on the island spanned only three days. Moreover, the attachment was one-sided; Mahiru was surprised and somewhat exasperated by Hiyoko's clinginess, and while she didn’t outright reject her affections, reciprocating them came very much second to unraveling the secrets of the island – especially once the second motive was introduced.

Hell, eliminate the restaurant scene altogether and only two interactions between them remain: first an optional dialogue in which Mahiru lets Hiyoko drag her to the supermarket but warns that she’s busy and can’t spend too much time with her, then the off-screen meeting that we piece together in 2-2’s Closing Argument. But even following the restaurant scene – arguably the only one in which Mahiru is focused exclusively on Hiyoko – she shows reluctance to help Hiyoko shower and redress right away, considering the upcoming investigation a bigger priority. The morning after, although Hiyoko is still clinging to her, Mahiru doesn't acknowledge her at any point, focused instead on forcing Nekomaru and Kazuichi to give up Nagito’s location. Starting to notice a pattern?

Additionally, in the prologue, Mahiru joins the beach party while Hiyoko doesn’t. The first morning of the killing game (also Hiyoko’s first Mikan-bullying scene), Mahiru is away almost the entire time fetching Kazuichi. During the first investigation, Mahiru stays by the Imposter’s body while Hiyoko goes to the supermarket. A couple mornings later, Mahiru doesn’t come to breakfast at all while Hiyoko does. This leaves only a handful of Monokuma announcements, two investigations, a trial (that is, killing game-related things that everyone has to gather in one place for anyway) and a few other misc. scenes, most of which are devoid of interactions between the two. So in other words, the amount of time they spend in each other’s presence is just as scant as their “bonding” moments.

None of this is to diminish the ultimate impact of their relationship (I’m working up to that slowly if you couldn’t tell lol), but it is to say that describing them as “friends” within the confines of DR2 is maybe pushing it. I may refer to them as such in write-ups (half for the sake of brevity and half because Danganronpa presents friend as a generic term for harmony within the group), but in fact, the only time Mahiru or Hiyoko is called the other’s friend is in 2-3, when Chiaki prompts Hiyoko to consider what Mahiru would say about Fuyuhiko’s seppuku. Chiaki is well-meaning, and while her observations about her classmates aren't off the mark per se, they're sometimes lacking in nuance – likely by virtue of her being an AI with a limited framework for understanding people. We as players, on the other hand, can be a bit more discerning: there was a single scene in which Mahiru was focused on Hiyoko and Hiyoko only, and by the time it was over, she’d already shifted her attention back to the killing game. Two days later, she died. I’d be concerned if anyone besides Chiaki called that friendship.

Consider Fuyuhiko for a moment. The fact that Mahiru has basically double the interactions with him than she does Hiyoko is an immediate tip-off that Hiyoko isn't her prime concern. She’s on positive terms with Hiyoko, whereas she and Fuyuhiko butt heads constantly, so it should be the other way around, right? Nope. Fuyuhiko represents a threat synonymous with the killing game due to his threats of continuing it (plus his overall lack of cooperation), and so reining him in is automatically higher on her list of priorities.

And that's the thing: despite being a grade-a cunt, Hiyoko is cooperative. She doesn’t create rifts within the group the way Fuyuhiko does pre-trial 2, let alone entertain the idea of the killing game. She doesn’t try to “other” herself, and while she might not be very useful in investigations, she doesn’t outright refuse to partake in them (she goes to the supermarket for snacks instead of investigating, but she's willing to help Hajime confirm important items are missing from the shelves.) Working against the killing game in any way – including just by cooperating – is an immediate incentive for Mahiru to go easier on anyone (yes, even boys). This, coupled with the aforementioned flip-flopping effect, makes it so Hiyoko only shows up on her radar when she starts crying over her kimono in 2-2, whereas Fuyuhiko shows up the moment he starts threatening to kill someone.

Due to her early death and the fact that – again – she shares so few scenes with Hiyoko to begin with, the number of times Mahiru witnesses the latter bullying Mikan is a comparatively small five: three times in the first trial (one of which is during a Nonstop Debate), once the morning after the trial and once while investigating the abandoned ruins. 

During the first trial, Mahiru is among the students most focused on solving the murder, and only when liabilities to the group’s cooperation (i.e., Fuyuhiko still threatening people, Kazuichi and Nekomaru embarrassing Peko and derailing the discussion about her alibi) does she feel the need to police anyone's behavior. Hiyoko is a complete and utter bitch to Mikan here, but given her remarks don't noticeably derail the discussion, it's unfortunately not hard to see why everyone – Mahiru included – dismisses them as playground nonsense.

Likewise, during the second island investigation, Mahiru is fully immersed in the conversation about the ruins and pays no attention to anything besides it, not even Hiyoko mentioning that they bathed together (something she'd previously expressed embarrassment over). The morning after the trial is definitely the odd one out; Mahiru is distraught over the Imposter and Teruteru, but there’s nothing more pressing to attend to, and reprimanding Hiyoko would cost her nothing in the way of focus. Like the others, she just doesn't take it seriously. Is her lack of intervention here unjustified? For sure. Is she more at fault for not stepping in than anyone else? I'd argue no.

Kazuichi is a similar case. Mahiru is there for four of the scenes in which he’s bullied: once before the Imposter’s first meeting, twice while investigating the park’s giant timer and once during the first trial. Everything I said about Mikan applies here as well, but there’s the added layer that Mahiru is harder on boys, and so when Hiyoko calls Kazuichi a coward for trying to run away or a loser for insulting others to gain Sonia’s favor, Mahiru may not agree with the form, but she might as well agree with the content. Again, does that make her silence right? No. Just explainable.

All in all, what I’m getting at is that Mahiru’s role modeling (in DR2’s main story anyway) isn’t supposed to extend beyond the restaurant scene. At no point in 2-2 is correcting Hiyoko’s behavior a consistent goal for her, and while I think it's 100% fair to argue that it should've been, I only half-agree – again, for reasons I'll get to in section three. Since I’m not sure I can explain the purpose of Mahiru's guidance in DR2 without repeating myself in the future, for now I’ll just highlight what it aims to achieve in other installments.

Granted, most spin-off interactions are one-on-one, meaning only the TSMC and DRS exist to show how Mahiru responds to Hiyoko’s bullying in a non-killing game setting. I’d argue that neither disappoints, however; she’s shown more than once to instruct Hiyoko on how to act in both. What I like about this portrayal is that Mahiru’s gentle approach stays the same; only the sense of urgency with which she addresses Hiyoko’s behavior changes. As far as she's concerned, Hiyoko is still a child in need of teaching, but now – with the stakes that much lower – she’s also evidently a bully in need of reining in.

These scenes make Mahiru one of few characters to try to temper Hiyoko’s cruelty at any point in the series. You know who doesn’t ever try, not even outside of the killing game? Most of the DR2 cast, who end up witnessing far more frequent and targeted bullying than Mahiru does simply by virtue of outliving her. These characters include:

the self-appointed leader of the group who either ignores Hiyoko’s comments or finds the ones directed at him funny

the protagonist of the game whose inner monologue consistently acknowledges how terrible Hiyoko’s behavior is, but never calls it out

the Ultimate Team Manager (who also plays along with insults directed at him) and Princess, whose talents center around order and unity

the Observer AI whose #1 objective is ensuring that everyone gets along no matter what

Of course, how much incentive and/or know-how someone has for stopping a bully is unimportant when a simple “cut it out” would suffice. At the end of the day, the fact remains that everyone – Mahiru included – turned a blind eye to bullying during the killing game, and there’s no good excuse for that. My aim in pointing this out is not to absolve Mahiru altogether, rather, to put into perspective why it may be unfair to saddle her with all, let alone most of the blame.

So at last, with all of that explanation out of the way, is Mahiru a hypocrite when it comes to her handling of Hiyoko vs. others? Well, sure. She’s hypocritical in the sense that she exercises a double standard, i.e., cuts Hiyoko more slack than she does the rest of the class. But is that double standard exclusive to her? Not really. If anything, by not dismissing her as a child through and through, she holds Hiyoko to a higher standard than most of her classmates do, and this gets its proper chance to shine outside of the killing game. Moreover, her double standard isn’t the product of favoritism; to the contrary, if guiding Hiyoko took precedence over the killing game in her mind, their interactions wouldn’t be so few and far between. Calling Hiyoko out isn’t one of her priorities, but neither is being her friend.

In light of this, I think a better question is whether Mahiru’s hypocrisy is conscious or not. Conscious hypocrisy applies when someone regards two or more things as being on the same level but treats one differently anyway. That isn’t the case with Mahiru, who – alongside her peers – treats Hiyoko’s behavior differently (i.e., more leniently) because she genuinely regards it as nickel-and-dime. If you’d still consider that unconscious hypocrisy, that’s fair. Again, I just don’t think there’s any point in singling her out.

Speaking of singling out…

The Restaurant Scene:

The opening scene of 2-2 wherein Mahiru and Hiyoko become “friends” is where I’ve noticed a lot of fans’ ire with their relationship comes from. It’s a fairly popular opinion (as far as I’m aware) to consider Mahiru’s defense of Hiyoko here hypocritical, and honestly? While I disagree, I don’t really blame people for seeing it that way. I had to give her actions some extra thought before they started making sense to me, and I think the scene as a whole requires a lot of reading in between the lines + background knowledge to make heads or tails of. Here’s my personal reading of it and why I’d consider it misunderstood.

Immediately upon entering the restaurant, the brooding atmosphere hits hard; everyone* is in silent mourning of the Imposter and Teruteru, too overwhelmed by the events of the night prior to make conversation. Mahiru is no exception; she can hardly muster a “good morning” to Hajime… 

… *everyone besides Hiyoko, that is. Just as immediately, she starts badmouthing Teruteru, claiming he deserved to die for his crime and therefore shouldn't be mourned. Cue record scratch.

What does Mahiru say in response to this? Nothing. But her silence isn’t for lack of caring – quite the opposite.

See, the crucial thing to understand about Mahiru (and probably her most glaring flaw) is that, despite her headstrong attitude and emphasis on “doing the right thing,” she doesn’t always know what the right thing is. She lacks the confidence necessary to support her levelheadedness, and so she agonizes and deliberates. This is the driving force behind most of her actions, and I think the restaurant scene serves to foreshadow its role in her final confrontation with Fuyuhiko.

Think about the things Mahiru jumps down her peers’ throats about: all relatively “simple” moral dilemmas concerning impropriety, threats, reckless decision-making, etc. Then compare all of that to the dilemma Hiyoko brings into question here. Do the ends justify the means when it comes to reuniting with family? Is trading the lives of 15 strangers for one important person right? Mahiru doesn’t know; she’s never had to think about it before. Even if she disagrees on principle, who is she to tell this girl she barely knows that she shouldn’t feel relief over the death of someone who tried to get them all executed? Only later, after having given it ample thought, does she come to terms with this dilemma – and in the meantime, Peko steps in, possibly also foreshadowing her familiarity with topics like execution.

Soon thereafter, Hiyoko is identified as the source of a bad smell, and while most of the comments that follow are born of genuine concern for her hygiene, Gundham and Kazuichi’s are a wee bit insensitive. Mahiru says as much in a single line, and here’s where I think some interpretations of the restaurant scene miss the point. Nowhere during this exchange does Mahiru accuse anyone of bullying Hiyoko. The reason she intervenes has everything to do with her flaw regarding moral dilemmas, and – up until her offer to help Hiyoko with her kimono – almost nothing to do with Hiyoko herself. “Is it rude to harp on a sensitive hygiene issue outside of one’s control” is already a dilemma far simpler than “should a murderer be mourned," but the added layer of disregarding a lecture and doing the same thing the next morning makes it a no-brainer. Mahiru doesn’t care that Hiyoko is the target of a few obtuse comments, she cares that the guys didn’t listen to her the night before – something she makes clear by opening her sentence with, “I’ve said it before, but…”

After this is when her intervention starts being about Hiyoko. She says she’ll teach Hiyoko a simple obi knot, and only then does the latter stop crying. Here’s where background knowledge factors in.

Basically, a few in-game clues – combined with her FTEs and Island Mode – reveal that Hiyoko was forced at a young age to leave her parents’ home and move in with her grandmother, who then put her to work studying the traditional dance for which the Saionji Clan is famous. Hiyoko's status as the next head of the family made her subject to great cruelty at the hands of jealous rivals, and as a result, she grew to resent it. Her grandmother became aware of this resentment, and to prevent Hiyoko from shirking her responsibilities, she spoiled her into total dependence, neglecting to teach her basic life skills – including though not limited to dressing herself – and ensuring that dance was her only area of proficiency. This led to Hiyoko forming an inferiority complex around her lack of self-sustainability.

Said inferiority complex contextualizes how Mahiru’s offer registered to Hiyoko: not as a basic gesture of compassion, but as something far greater. Instead of offering to take care of it for her, Mahiru offered to teach her how to take care of it herself, and this meant that Hiyoko not only automatically trusted her, but had every reason to see her as a role model; as someone whose example could be followed. This childlike admiration becomes all the more relevant later.

Honestly, as much as I understand criticisms of the restaurant scene from a, “Mahiru should have also defended Mikan/Kazuichi” standpoint, I do less from a, “She shouldn’t have helped Hiyoko” one. I already outlined where I think her blindspots lie in terms of calling Hiyoko out (and how said blindspots aren't unique to her), but of the characters most consistently mindful of Mikan/Kazuichi otherwise, I’d argue she’s up there (although, again, no one is nearly as mindful of them as they should be).

She’s the only person to insist on helping Mikan up after she falls for the first time; she expresses concern over the floorboards in the abandoned building being a tripping hazard for her; she firmly refuses Ibuki’s suggestion of taking pictures after she falls for the second time; she reprimands Fuyuhiko for threatening to sell her to a whorehouse in the first trial; and when Monokuma pressures the class into playing the TSMC arcade game, she warns Mikan against it. Granted, there aren't as many instances of her sticking up for Kazuichi, but it's worth noting that – despite her prior insistence that he needed to “man up” – she defends him when Fuyuhiko taunts him over his fear of the Monobeasts.

Don’t get me wrong, I do wish that she did the additional service of holding Hiyoko accountable for her bullying, but the fact that she didn't doesn't render her intervention here hypocritical, IMO. Again, her defense of Hiyoko was prompted by frustration over the guys embarrassing her after they'd already done the same to Peko; it's something she would have defended any of the girls for, and as highlighted above, she arguably did defend Mikan on the embarrassment front both times she fell.

As for offering Hiyoko help, I don't see how that's hypocritical, either. If this scene is indicative of anything, it's that Hiyoko – while a rotten bully – is still human at the end of the day. The fact that she's a little shit and the fact that she's so helpless she can't get dressed by herself can coexist; offering her the bare minimum compassion for the latter isn't giving her a free ticket to continue being the former – it's just that: the bare minimum compassion. She needed help, and if Mahiru wouldn't give it to her, who would? Maybe it'd be karmic to let her go around the island smelling like sewage, but it sure as hell wouldn't be sustainable.

More than once in her screentime is Mahiru shown to extend compassion to someone who isn’t an unambiguously good person, something else that becomes all the more relevant later. She makes a genuine effort to sympathize with Teruteru’s motive despite not agreeing with his actions; she brings food to a tied-up Nagito (twice, for that matter) despite the chaos he’d sown the previous chapter; and she laments Natsumi’s murder despite knowing how badly the latter treated others, herself included. In view of this, helping a bully dress herself is not only in-character for Mahiru, but by far the least “extreme” of her acts of compassion. I’d also argue that it pays off in a few different ways.

Why I Think it Works:

So far, I’ve offered explanations as to why nothing holds Mahiru and Hiyoko’s relationship back, but I’ve yet to explain what I think pushes it forward. Let me rectify that.

Following the second trial, Hiyoko’s hostility toward those around her is amped up to 11. The third island investigation has her intentionally manipulate Akane into exploring the motel on her behalf, and when Hajime talks to her, not only does she insult him right off the bat, she's openly classist toward him, equating the unsanitary, rundown motel to his house. This is low, even for her, and considering the events of the previous chapter, it’s not exactly a mystery why.

See, Mahiru's death sets itself apart from others in the series in that it isn't an immediate incentive for the person closest to her to change. Hiyoko doesn't get the tried and true “character loses a friend and is motivated to better themselves as a result” type arc – not toot sweet, anyway – because, unlike, say, Sakura, Peko or Tenko, Mahiru had no last words, no last message of strength or wisdom for her. Her murder was a source of conflict and animosity – nothing more, nothing less.

As is first established following Teruteru’s execution, Hiyoko has a retribution-oriented mindset not too far off from Fuyuhiko’s “an eye for an eye.” She doesn't believe in redemption; she holds onto grudges indefinitely; and most of all, she believes killers deserve to die themselves. This mindset is yet another manifestation of her paranoia – of being conditioned all her life to believe that everyone is out to get her. Unlike Fuyuhiko, whose terrible attitude was a mask he wore to compensate for his insecurities about leading his clan, Hiyoko’s is an extension of her paranoid worldview; an ingrained trait.

And that’s honestly why I only half-agree with the argument that Mahiru should have reprimanded her in DR2. Would it have worked to give Mikan/Kazuichi some peace of mind? Absolutely, and that’s reason enough. But to change Hiyoko’s behavior in the long run? I doubt it. It would address the bullying in the moment, but it wouldn’t get to the root of the problem, i.e. the backwards defense mechanism from which said bullying stems. The only reason Mahiru’s guidance outside of DR2 (as underscored earlier) has any effect is that Hiyoko is already in a safe environment with friends whom she trusts, far away from her family and their perilous traditions. Though her lizard brain instinct is still to be as nasty as possible, the proper groundwork is there for her to integrate Mahiru’s guidance and improve her behavior over time… groundwork that's practically nonexistent in DR2’s killing game.

But anyway, back to 2-3. Speaking of Fuyuhiko, Hiyoko applies her rigid point of view to him in this chapter. The fact that she considers him an irredeemable killer is only a sliver of the real issue, however; more relevant is that clear indications of his wanting to turn over a new leaf register to her as a way of dodging responsibility. No matter how sincere in his resolve he may be, she sees only the worst in him. She is, after all, paranoid.

Hiyoko’s shrine, while testament to her love for Mahiru, is kind of a… development red herring so to speak. Setting aside her insecurities to perform a task outside her (forced) field of expertise is a feat for her – don't get me wrong – but it isn't really a change; she’d never hesitated before to show vulnerability when it came to Mahiru, whether by saying to her face that she loved her or expressing how much she missed her when she was gone. It's only when she confronts Fuyuhiko about Mahiru and Peko’s deaths, and he responds by committing seppuku, that we see dynamics start to shift.

Here, Hiyoko is stunned into horrified silence, and that in and of itself speaks volumes. She believes strongly that all killers deserve to die, doesn't she? So then why does she go quiet? Why doesn't she take advantage of Fuyuhiko’s clear instability to get him to finish the job? It’s not because she doesn’t want to die herself; the last trial established beyond a shadow of a doubt that only the person to deliver the killing blow is punished. It's because she realizes something: that isn't what Mahiru would want.

In contrast to both Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko, retribution was never Mahiru's MO. She wished zero harm upon anyone no matter what they'd done; she extended compassion to everyone, even killers; she disapproved of cruel and unusual punishment; and she showed particular distaste for acts of revenge. Of course, in keeping with her fatal flaw, she didn't always go about these ideals in the right way. She covered up a murder in a desperate bid to protect her friend from the yakuza’s twisted “justice,” and she scolded an enraged Fuyuhiko for continuing the cycle of revenge while he was interrogating her about his sister – both shortsighted actions that she paid the ultimate price for.

But by the same token, she kept thinking about Teruteru's actions after the restaurant scene and concluded that he didn’t, in fact, deserve to die for his crime. She forced Nekomaru and Kazuichi to give up Nagito’s location, chastised them for hogtying and starving him and brought him breakfast when nobody else would. She spent days deliberating over how best to make amends with Fuyuhiko, even though his threatening letter – combined with the knowledge of the game’s true ending – would have been more than enough to convince the others to restrain him like Kazuichi wanted (not to mention the most obvious thing to do for her own protection). If she had thought more like Hiyoko and dismissed Fuyuhiko as an irredeemable murderer from the get-go, the opportunity to lure her to the beach house would have never existed.

The ideals driving these actions, made explicit in her final words to Fuyuhiko, all contributed to a lasting legacy, and Hiyoko considering that legacy in order to forgive Fuyuhiko is what makes her arc so powerful to me. Losing the only person on the island whom she trusted – hell, having that trust taken advantage of by the ones responsible – could have foreclosed on all progress right then and there. Mahiru's guidance was limited to a single act of compassion that had (seemingly) nothing to do with what she stood for. Being framed for her murder put Hiyoko in a vulnerable position from which she believed she could only recover by becoming meaner. And as the only one left still personally affected by Fuyuhiko’s actions, she had to watch as everyone else welcomed him back with open arms, causing her to lose last resource: her footing within the group as the rude but cooperative one. But because Mahiru’s compassion reached her in a fundamental way – because she valued her enough to consider her unspoken ideals – she managed to defy the odds and change anyway. Not because Mahiru told her to, but because she wanted to.

And so at last, that's why I think the way their relationship was written – with a brief but meaningful role model dynamic, limited intervention on Mahiru's side and childlike admiration on Hiyoko's – ultimately worked in both of their favors. It allowed Mahiru's impact to carry on past 2-2 (more extensively anyway, as it would have played into Fuyuhiko’s arc regardless; his desire to make amends using the second chance given to him by Peko was no coincidence), and it made it so the sincerity other arcs work hard to convey is there by default with Hiyoko’s – just by virtue of it happening at all. Do I still wish Mahiru called Hiyoko out on her bullying for Mikan and Kazuich’s sakes? Yep. I just wouldn't change her lack of involvement otherwise.

As a side note, it’s also why I can’t get behind the idea that Mahiru ever “enabled” Hiyoko. An enabler is someone who, well, enables something – usually a behavior, right? Remove the enabler from the equation, and the enabled behavior should become harder to maintain. So what would become of Hiyoko if she never “befriended” Mahiru? Well… she’d smell worse. She’d like one fewer person. That’s about it. Not receiving Mahiru’s compassion wouldn’t have done much of anything, but receiving it made a world of difference.

Hell, even if we strip away Mahiru's primary impact on Hiyoko, i.e. jumpstarting her development in 2-3, I’d argue that what we’re left with in 2-2 is still unequivocally positive. Helping Hiyoko shower and tie her kimono were both good things that improved the lives of everyone on the island. Nobody had to deal with Hiyoko’s stench anymore, but on top of that, given the option, Hiyoko spent her time clinging to Mahiru instead of going around bullying others. Keep in mind, Hiyoko is someone who believes she doesn't need friends or close contacts. Before Mahiru, she reasoned that, as long as she could learn to be self-sustaining, she’d never have to rely on anyone who might betray her; she could eschew human connection and ensure her safety forevermore. But then Mahiru earned her trust in one fell swoop, and suddenly she was prioritizing the pursuit of friendship over the prevention of betrayal, if with just one person. I don't think that should be understated.

Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. Back to 2-3.

True to the killing game, though, just because a character experiences a breakthrough doesn't mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows from that point forward. The objective of the first half of Hiyoko’s arc, i.e., forgiving Fuyuhiko, is complete. She’s already well on her way to vanquishing her paranoia – to having her worldview reformed by Mahiru’s ideals and doing away with her ugly defense mechanism in the process. Nothing can stop her from improving further…

… is what we're led to believe. But then comes Nekomaru’s sacrifice. That’s when things take a nosedive.

Witnessing Nekomaru – essentially the pinnacle of strength – try to save his friend and get demolished as a result reinforces the very paranoia Hiyoko was striving to overcome. It reminds her of her own fragile mortality within the killing game and serves as irrefutable proof – in her mind, anyway – that connection leads only to death. Based on two lines, one from the second trial and the other from Hiyoko’s Island Mode ending, I think it can also be inferred that she projects herself onto Nekomaru here; she wishes she could have protected Mahiru the way Nekomaru tried to do Akane, but the fact that Mahiru is gone, and – as far as she’s aware – Nekomaru is now, too, only further cements her paranoid outlook.

Something else I think is notable about this scene, albeit a minor detail, is how Hiyoko addresses Akane. She singles Akane out, asking if she understands that Nekomaru died on account of their friendship. And while she's obviously rude about it, interestingly enough, she's not condescending. As mentioned earlier, one of this chapter’s first indications that Hiyoko was trying to shore up her bully persona (after the blow that was Mahiru's trial) was her bragging about manipulating Akane. There, she went out of her way to call Akane a useful idiot who's only good for dirty work. And yet, in this scene, not only does she ask with full candor if Akane understands the gravity of the situation, she’s disappointed when she doesn't. Disappointment implies there were expectations to begin with. I don't point this out to say this scene isn't a relapse on Hiyoko's part – it 100% is. If anything, I think it goes to show the extent of her breakdown: she's so distraught, she doesn't care anymore if she has to contradict her own malice to drive her point home.

Hiyoko’s relapse (and subsequent death) is why I assume her relationship with Mahiru is so often considered a waste. I may be something of an outlier in that I’ve never minded Hiyoko’s send-off from a writing standpoint and think only its incorporation into the case/deadly life is shoddy – but staying with the topic of this write-up, I’ll focus less on why I wouldn’t consider Hiyoko’s character as a whole wasted and more on why I wouldn’t consider her relationship with Mahiru wasted (even if the two go hand-in-hand to some degree).

The morning after Nekomaru's sacrifice, Hiyoko is seen mourning at Mahiru’s shrine. Choosing to talk to her triggers a rant about Nagito and how he pissed her off by lying about seeing Mahiru alive. She tearfully proclaims that she hates being lied to and won’t be satisfied until Nagito is brutalized as punishment, this clearly alluding to her heightened paranoia. It wouldn't even be the first time Nagito has lied to her, but comparing her reaction then vs. now, it becomes clear just how badly she's spiraling.

After this, the Despair Disease motive is officially introduced by Monokuma, and the afflicted students are brought to the hospital. Those remaining (minus Mikan, who’s tending to the patients) convene in the hospital lobby to discuss a plan of action, and that's when Hiyoko begins to insist on a quarantine.

I was honestly kind of surprised by how satisfied this scene's handling of Hiyoko left me feeling, and the more I analyze why, the more it all ties back to Mahiru.

Perhaps most obvious is her behavior. While she’s still not exactly a joy to be around, she's noticeably mellowed out. Upon review, I can count on one hand the number of times she says something rude:

When Gundham and Kazuichi debate the ethics of Mikan changing Nagito’s clothes (prompting this hilarious line), Hiyoko calls their conversation stupid and tells them to focus

When Hajime questions what she means by “isolate the patients,” she condescendingly asks him why he doesn’t get it

When explaining the purpose of the quarantine, she remarks (to no one in particular) that “even a preschooler knows” the only option when a disease is incurable is to stop it from spreading

When Gundham insists that everyone else station at the motel, she acquiesces with a, “Jeez, how annoying…”

Her nastiest remark by far is “I want them [the patients] to at least have the decency to consider committing suicide before they start bothering us.” Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a hideous thing to say under any circumstances, and there's no excuse for it. It puts a bad taste in my mouth. That said, with how unusually tame the rest of her dialogue is (hell, she refers to Mikan twice without so much as an insult to boot), I don’t think such an extreme comment is included arbitrarily. I think it's part of a deliberate pattern.

The bulk of Hiyoko’s arc this chapter – both positive and negative – has operated on the principle of “show, don’t tell.” This made sense before, but it makes extra sense now: because she’s too afraid to showcase vulnerability outright, the story has to find roundabout ways to convey that she isn’t as heartless as she would prefer to be seen.

Exhibit A: she claimed to believe that all killers deserve death, but when given the chance to coerce a killer into suicide, she faltered.

Exhibit B: she callously remarked that Fuyuhiko deserved his injuries, but when given the chance not to attend his recovery party, she did anyway. She tried to pass it off as an interest in the party itself, but never before had she established herself as a party-lover – quite the opposite; she called the Imposter’s party “lame” in 2-1 – making this an obvious bluff. So obvious, in fact, that Hajime “I know Nagito has the Liar Disease but I’ll take his words literally” Hinata immediately sees through it.

Exhibit C: at the party, she insisted that Fuyuhiko wasn’t forgiven yet and promised that, if push came to shove, he’d bear the brunt of any dangerous situation. But when given the chance to make good on this promise and force him to stay at the hospital, the idea didn’t even cross her mind. It was Fuyuhiko who rose to the occasion.

And finally, Exhibit D: she claims to wish the Despair Disease patients would kill themselves, but when given a chance to ditch – to give into her paranoia right away – she takes on a de-facto leader role in forming the plan to keep the patients safe. She doesn’t just come up with the idea, she spearheads the whole thing, from assigning her classmates roles to prompting Kazuichi to design a communication method between the hospital and motel. The player can’t progress to the next scene without speaking specifically to her.

So then… how does this all tie back to Mahiru? Well, I like to think of it in terms of before vs. after Nekomaru's sacrifice.

Before Nekomaru's sacrifice, it was Mahiru’s ideals of restoration that allowed Hiyoko to forgive Fuyuhiko, thereby doing away with some of her paranoia. After, it’s Mahiru’s ideals of teamwork that allow her to help combat the Despair Disease. Recall that, in the aftermath of the sacrifice, Hiyoko claimed there was no value in working together and that she didn’t want to be involved in any team efforts. Then why, pray tell, does she work together with her peers in this scene? Because it’s a last-ditch effort at honoring Mahiru – at doing what Mahiru would’ve done.

Of course, I say “last-ditch” because, no matter which way you slice it, the damage is already done. Hiyoko can work with her classmates to prevent another killing, but she can’t trust them – can’t get close to them. Mahiru’s ideals are strong, but in the face of overwhelming paranoia, they’re only enough to allow Hiyoko one final bow before she sequesters herself in her room.

We're given the impression that this withdrawal is just another act of selfishness – that Hiyoko is just trying to avoid the Despair Disease – but that turns out to be only part of the reason. Flash forward to the investigation, we learn that it was yet another last-ditch effort, this time to honor Mahiru by bathing and then tying her kimono the way she was taught. In her now empty motel room, Sonia expresses a regret: she didn’t understand what Hiyoko was going through – not really – and so she gave her some advice about a mirror then left her alone. It all comes together thematically from there.

Because of Hiyoko’s takeaway from Nekomaru’s sacrifice, she closed herself off from her peers (both literally and figuratively), and this furthered the divide between her and Fuyuhiko’s arcs. Nekomaru’s words caused Fuyuhiko to realize that this new life of his wasn’t a spare; it was precious. Nekomaru’s actions, on the other hand, caused Hiyoko to realize that her life was a fragile thing, and instead of becoming self-preserving like Fuyuhiko, she became self-isolating. She believed the only way to avoid a meaningless death was to go it alone, but going it alone – that is, isolating herself to the point where no one could understand her enough to help her – became her undoing.

But was that undoing meaningless? From an overarching narrative standpoint, maybe. Her death has no lasting impact on the rest of the story (she comes up again only when her grown-up picture is discovered in 2-6), and the way it’s incorporated into the trial is downright sloppy. But when it comes to her death by itself – to the individual story it tells – boy oh boy does it have meaning, and the character most to thank for that is undoubtedly Mahiru.

Mahiru is what allows Hiyoko’s death to feel like something built up to, like something character-driven, as opposed to a shoehorned-in, hollow chapter 3 death. She makes it so that Hiyoko’s “wrong place, wrong time” scenario – while unlucky – is anything but random. The reason Hiyoko finds herself in that wrong place at the wrong time isn't sporadic misfortune; it’s the result of her grief, paranoia, lack of self-sustainability – and even to some extent even DR2’s theme of the burden of talent. It’s the tragedy to Fuyuhiko’s triumph and a poignant subversion of the usual Danganronpa formula, with Mahiru at the heart of it.

Mikan being the one to kill Hiyoko only works as well as it does because of Mahiru, too. She didn't do it out of spite, didn't hunt Hiyoko down or kidnap her. Hiyoko just happened to walk in on her killing Ibuki. But again, while this may be unlucky, it’s not at all random – not from a storytelling angle. Hiyoko heads to the music venue in the first place in a bid to prove her independence, yes, but it’s only because Mahiru has become so enmeshed with her idea of independence that this is the case. If being independent were the only thing driving her, she wouldn’t have found herself struggling with her kimono to begin with. She would have weathered the storm and gone without bathing until the Despair Disease passed. She’d done it before, after all. But she was desperate to honor Mahiru, to prove that Mahiru’s death wasn’t in vain because – hey, look – she’s self-sustaining now. Honoring Mahiru became her way of regaining control over not just her hygiene, but her life as well.

Speaking of control, bullying Mikan was one of the few things – squishing ants included – that served to give Hiyoko the sense of control over things for which she longed. Even at Fuyuhiko's recovery party, she used Mikan as an emotional scapegoat to avoid coming across as vulnerable, insulting her to distract from the fact that she’d just forgiven Mahiru’s killer. And yet, here, in her last-ditch effort to prove her independence – to prove her control – Mikan becomes that final, uncontrollable variable. She uses Hiyoko to regain control over things, and Hiyoko is helpless to stop it. This subtle role reversal is a refreshing instance of nuance in an otherwise very heavy-handed case; I’d take it over a cliché revenge plotline anyday.

And as if the irony of the situation weren't already there in spades, consider this: Hiyoko believed that human connection was a death sentence, and while she was mistaken when it came to everyone else, she was right when it came to Mahiru. Her inability to let Mahiru go is what led her to her own demise. The story doesn't say one way or another if her outlook is right or wrong; it lays the facts out on the table and lets the player decide for themselves. Although I do think some interpretations of her character are more correct than others, Hiyoko is ultimately up in the air to discuss, and that’s something I can appreciate about any character.

All in all, if a death symbolic of Hiyoko's lifelong demons is what her journey in 2-3 was building to from the start (which I firmly believe it was), then in order for Mahiru's impact to not be wasted, she just had to remain instrumental to that journey until the very end. In that sense, I'd say she succeeded.

Conclusion:

Hear that? That's the sound of my fingers dying.

Well then, it seems we’ve reached the end. Yay. :)

This took me over a month to complete, and I’m honestly happy with how it came out. I wish I’d discovered how fun it is to write argumentative pieces like this sooner – though, then again, having posted this means I won’t be beating the “obsessed with Mahiru and Hiyoko” allegations anytime soon lol. Hopefully you found some of my points compelling, regardless of what you personally think of either of them.

Thanks for reading!

[cursedvibes]

Cursedvibes, what are your favorite Kenjin fanfics/art/comics or just what is your favorite JJK fanfics/art in general

I don't actually read that much jjk fanfiction and most of what I read isn't JinKen, but I still have a few faves I'd like to recommend.

theft of witness by iamsomebody One of the first jjk & Kenjaku fics I ever read and I absolutely loved it. It follows Kenjaku through their transition from Kaori to Geto and gives brief glimpses into their experiences. Partially inspired me to write my own stuff. I absolutely love the writing style and the confrontation scene between Kaorijaku and Wasuke is my favourite. Might be responsible for why I like their dynamic so much. Also, you should check out the art that's linked in the fic notes, it's one of my favourite.

死的静观 by Innersol Jin/Kamojaku, background Jin/Toji (don't ship it, but it also didn't bother me much), sort of a Gothic Modern AU It's in Chinese, but I think with a translator you can still follow very well what's happening and not too much of the prose is lost. Jin is a medical student in his 20s aiming for doctor and Kenjaku (Kamo Noritoshi) is financing his studies, eventually inviting him to live at their house to collaborate at times with their research. It's not specified what exactly Noritoshi does, but you find out that some Death Painting-esque experiment is going on in the background. Since this is a ship fic, Jin and Kenjaku eventually go from studying to fucking. It's not too heavy on the feelings, but Jin does get attached and curious about Kenjaku and over time the same happens to Kenjaku, with them developing a strong wish to have a child with Jin, eventhough that's physically impossible for them in this AU. There's also some brainfuckery going on at some point, Jin just can't keep his fingers to himself. Really love this one for the creepy vibe and because I'm just happy to see more of Kamojaku.

Innersol is also a great artist with some exceptional jjk fanart. You can find them here @karama08 and on Twitter

Complicity by SenZen_Travers My favourite MahiKen fic. Characterization is on point, the atmosphere is calm but also so intense at the same time. I always get a bit dizzy when reading it. The smut is really juicy too and feels natural (I'm always a bit bothered when Kenjaku is shown as overly dominant, and Mahito as this dainty submissive bottom. That's not the case here, they're just having a fun time together)

King's Ascent by Anonymous (registered users only) A SukUme fic with ace Uraume. It takes place during the Nara period and details Sukuna and Uraume's first meeting and how they grew to be partners. The world building here is really good with lots of details to flesh out the setting as well as the characters. Really well written too and the best SukUme fic I've read so far. It has 5 chapters so far, I'm really hoping the author will continue it at some point.

light of a new morning by flyfreebird (@urostakako on tumblr) A Tsumiki Lives AU, mainly revolving around Tsumiki and Yuuji bonding over their past trauma and relationship with Megumi. It's so well written, I want to insert it directly into my brain. Tsumiki's struggle of loving her brother, but also being angry at him for how ignorant he has been of her and her emotions all her life is so well depicted here, makes me wish it were canon. This is the Tsumiki I wanted to see. It feels so satisfying to read this after the disappointment I felt over how her character was handled in canon.

Kissing Strangers by magrealism_conspirology Jin/Kenjaku, fanart not fanfic but since it was posted on AO3 I thought it would make for a good transition to other artists Always love it when Jin interacts with Kenjaku's brain and the pose here makes it look especially good. Very tender, as if he's just giving them a kiss on the cheek (but juicier).

For fanart recommendation, I'm gonna shout out

@trung-roi Currently creating a lot of TenKen art that makes me go absolutely insane. Can also recommend him for Mahito and Sukuna/Uraume fans. His art always manages to make even gore look beautiful and enthralling. I particularly like this Pixiv album. It has a lot of my faves. Kenjaku and Tengen playing Mario, Kenjaku swallowing Tengen, them holding hands, Edo era meeting, Tengen holding Kenjaku's brain (I particularly like this surreal style here) and a Barbie meme.

Twitter Pixiv

Warlock1000 or 1000YEAH Already love this artist for drawing all incarnations of Kenny. I rarely see this much EdoKen and Kamojaku in one place. They also really nail Kenjaku's personality, from the grotesque to silly. Just can't emphasize enough how amazing their art is. You should really check them out. Also have a lot on Sukuna and Uraume.

Lofter weibo

(My two strongest arguments for why you should go check them out right now. I also wanted to give you a glimpse of their art here because I know weibo links in particular can sometimes be difficult to open from overseas or on the phone and I want to encourage you try to seek them out regardless)

reynis var emrace I recently recommended her Kaorijaku (& Geto) art, so here is my call again to give her some more attention. She does a lot of stsg stuff too. What drew me to her was intense gory art. And I mean real gore, guts hanging out and everything. Every time I look at her art, I feel like I can actually smell the blood. Especially for a character like Kenjaku that is very fitting. Not gonna lie, the art where Kenjaku is licking Gojo's ripped out eyeball inspired me quite a lot. I like this one a lot as well.

Most of her older stuff you can find on vk

planetsandmagic I think if you're looking around the fandom here, you will have inevitably come across them, but I still wanted to highlight them. They draw pretty much anything jjk and every piece looks fantastic. Their art often has this melancholic, dark and eery vibe I really like. Recently I fell absolutely in love with their TenKen art (predictable as I am).

Twitter

There are like a dozen more I can think of , plus individual art pieces, but I'm trying to contain it to a manageable list

[dragonmarquise]

Escher headcanons 👐 any spare Escher headcanons for a poor starving Escher fan?

YESSS get ready folks, it’s time for… the Escher Hour!! \o/

For some characters, I have more thoughts about them than others. Escher is one of those characters. I feel it’s because there’s just so much room to think about and develop him more than what the game gives us.

Meaning, this post is gonna be LONG lol...

(Also please let me know if anything sounds awkward or doesn't make sense, I went over all of this like 5 times to fix stuff up and I Am Tired :u )

Starting off with his real name (mentioned in my headcanon names post a while back): Matthias Conrad Escher! So he has the same initials as M. C. Escher, his parents knew what they were doing, lol. As an adult he doesn’t mind it nearly as much as when he was a kid. He insists on everyone calling him Escher, not Matthias or any nicknames (with one specific exception, we’ll get to that near the end, hee hee).

A brief(ish) history before/during his time on the force:

Was in an archery club as a student before moving on to guns. In general he has amazing aim with pretty much any kind of long range weapon. Do not challenge this man to a game of darts, you will lose, lol

He’s not really a friendly guy. Not mean but also not exactly introverted, just… not that outgoing. The type of person who doesn’t befriend people himself, but gets befriended by others. If that makes sense?

As a kid, he was very into stories (novels, comics, movies, etc) about heroes with simple beginnings who go on to make a big impact and save the world! Though nowadays he gets annoyed by most stories like that because he realized it had a bad influence on him. More on that in a bit...

Joined the police because he genuinely thought he could do good and help protect people that way. Over time he becomes jaded due to witnessing some of the things his “fellow officers” were doing, especially going overboard with even small “crimes”. Escher either ends up threatened by said officers to keep things quiet, or otherwise if he does report someone, it just ends up getting swept under the rug while Escher is the one being reprimanded for being “too nosy”. Even if it never goes anywhere, he still makes reports on the hope that something will change.

Despite all of that, the main reason he sticks around on the force is because, in his mind, “If there’s even only one ‘good cop’ in the NAPD, it might as well be me.” The other officers know Escher is a “stickler” about rules, trying to be fair and respectful even to criminals, etc. So at least when he’s around, most of them will behave themselves. Thus, he figures if he quits, things will just get worse. Not to mention, he hopes he can influence and inspire his fellow officers to actually be better people and to be more genuine “good cops”, and make a change for the better from within the NAPD itself!

Remember those stories I mentioned that he liked as a kid? Yeah, subconsciously he was trying to be the cool and awesome hero he always wanted to be. Looking back on his mentality like this, present day Escher very much understands that he was being an idealistic idiot. :u

Though, it also didn’t help that there were in fact a few cops who were convinced by Escher to start being better about their activities, and even showing mercy and respect towards criminals. These guys were very far and few in-between though, compared to the number of cops who approved of more extreme measures (like the walking tanks) for any crime, no matter how small. Those cops either bought into Berlage’s “slippery slope” argument, or otherwise they knew they were corrupt but didn’t care as long as they can say they’re the “good guys”.

The NAPD probably would have just killed him and cover it up as an accident, but Escher proves to be a good fighter and survivor. And even during a few attempts, he makes it clear he is one very stubborn bastard when it comes to actually dying. He will only die when he feels like it, lol. So the force gives up on it after a certain point, and decides to just keep an eye on Escher and make sure he doesn’t quit (since it would mean he potentially ends up more actively fighting against them if he’s not on the force anymore).

He is gay, but realized/accepted it fairly late in his life, maybe somewhere in his 30s or 40s.

Unfortunately, his wife at the time was not happy when he came out to her. Lots of fighting, screaming, and a very messy divorce, with her taking almost everything he had. At the least it also meant he never saw her again after that, which he’s very thankful for.

He used to smoke. Obviously once he got his cyberhead later in life, he couldn’t do that anymore. He still keeps his old lighter with him though, mostly out of sentimentality. It’s a very nice zippo lighter!

Likes whiskey, mostly for the “warming throat” feeling it gives after drinking it. But by the time the game starts, he doesn’t drink much anymore.

Also note that by the events of the game, Escher is somewhere around late 50s or early 60s in age.

Some further info on Escher’s cybernetics, all of which happened after his divorce but before the events of the game. It’s not just the cyberhead!

Escher getting his cyberhead was due to an on-duty injury, where he was shot in the head. The official records state it was caused by a criminal he and other officers were tracking, but in reality it was from a fellow sniper who he “snitched” on. That guy ended up with a slap on the wrist like most of the other cops Escher reported, but he was still pissed at Escher about it. Escher himself doesn’t learn the truth about what happened until after the events of the game (more on that later).

That being said, enough of his throat/voicebox/etc is left in tact, such that he’s still able to speak “normally” (i.e. not through a speaker like most other cyberheads). Hence why in game, he’s the only cyberhead that doesn’t have a filter-thing on his voice clips.

On that note, of course most of his brain is also miraculously intact, but the shot still puts him in a coma. So his superiors make the decision for him to get him set up with a cyberhead.

During the procedure for getting his mind copied over into his future cyberhead, they also opened him up and gave him cybernetic lungs! The police force found out he had cancer from his smoking and decided to fix him up. How nice of them, right?!

Except, they did it without asking him first (again, the coma). Not to mention since then a lot of the higher-ups use it to almost bully Escher, saying he “owes the force” for being saved, both in terms of the cyberhead and the cyber lungs. Escher hates this, but again, he’s stubbornly stuck in his “might as well be the only good cop/if I leave no one else will be able to fix the force for the better” mentality at this point, so he’s still an officer. Also, while he hates to admit it, he does end up feeling like he “owes” the NAPD for being willing to save him, even after all his “snitching” and whatnot.

But combined with everything else going on, it still at least adds onto Escher’s doubts about how much “good” the NAPD is actually doing…

Besides all that, cybernetic organs (other than cyberheads, which replace an entire head including the brain) aren’t as great as cyberheads and limbs, and especially compared to the efficiency of there organic counterparts. Escher makes sure to get regular maintenance on his cyber lungs, but even then they can still malfunction on occasion. Sometimes it gets so bad, he wishes they had just left him with his cancer-ridden organic lungs.

He gets his arms fully replaced with cybernetic arms as well, though definitely not willingly. He suffered another on-duty injury. This one he knows was caused by his fellow officers, but it was ruled as an accident. Escher has doubts on how much of an “accident” it really was, and has been trying to find solid evidence to the contrary. He’s hoping it might actually be enough to finally turn things around with the force like he wants.

Anyways, truthfully his arms weren’t that badly damaged, but he was pressured by his higher-ups to get the cyber arms. They were convinced it would affect his aim as a sniper, which he took as an insult, but still agreed to the cybernetics just to get those assholes off his back.

Lastly, he also got part of his legs severely injured, this time being a genuine accident compared to the head and arms incidents. Both legs injured below the knees, enough to warrant amputation. His higher-ups also tried to pressure him into going for fully cybernetic legs, as a complete replacement for what’s left of his legs. This time he stands his ground and refuses. He opts for non-cybernetic prosthetics instead, especially since he at least still has his knees. Paid for them himself, so that his superiors couldn't say he "owes" them for this too.

As a note, I like to think the world of New Amsterdam has regular prosthetics like what we have irl, but also cybernetics which are basically more advanced prosthetics with fancier technology. Like, wires and sensors connected to the body’s nerves, so that it’s not too different from the original organic parts. It still takes a bit of physical therapy to get used to though, and of course regular maintenance and repairs to make sure it stays operational.

Next, headcanons of him during and right after the game, mostly what happened to him after being knocked out.

By the point of the game’s events, Escher is having especially strong doubts about the force. His investigation about the incident leading to his arm replacement keeps hitting dead ends, even though he knows there should be something to prove what actually happened. He’s also finally starting to have suspicions about the incident that led to his cyberhead as well. His investigations for that also lead to dead ends, but he finds enough clues and evidence to make him realize it wasn’t just an accident. Unfortunately for him, it’s still not enough to force a serious investigation into it all.

He considers quitting, but again, idealistic idiot! If he quits now, what happened to him could just happen again to someone else, so he’s determined to do something good from within before he gives up completely. It's a bit of sunken cost fallacy, in a way, but where Escher refuses to acknowledge how deep the ship has sunk by this point.

Even besides that, he’s heard about a new NAPD project that will lead to better crime prediction, and ideally less wasting time with harassing writers and other small time “criminals”. He’s hoping maybe this project is finally what the city really needs to stay safe, what the NAPD needs to be less corrupt, and maybe even what he needs to somehow find proof of what happened to him and finally getting proper justice.

*insert meme of your choice here that has a “What could possibly go wrong!” and/or “Image preceding worst possible outcome” vibe* :P

The way I see it, most officers are willingly following orders from Project Algo without question. Once Faux-as-Project-Algo starts ramping things up, I think the officers are encouraged to go to extremes with their actions against criminals. Which they do so as a combination of “orders are orders”, and genuine glee over finally getting to punish “criminals” in the way they always wanted to. Basically, the way I see it, the NAPD was always corrupt behind the scenes, Faux just made it worse by encouraging them to be way more blatant and public about it.

An aside: I mean, they have the tube system and turrets already set up throughout the city, not to mention plenty of attack helicopters and walking tanks ready for immediate deployment. You don’t have that kind of firepower at the ready unless you’re fucking looking forward to finding an excuse to start some carnage. Just saying!!

Back to Project Algo’s influence on the NAPD: A few officers have doubts, and these unfortunate souls are taken over by Algo/Faux and forced to do his bidding.

Guess which group of cops Escher is in, especially after he questioned Berlage about the “suspects” at Brink Terminal. And with his history of questioning and reporting his fellow officers over “trivial” matters before now, of course he’d be the first on the chopping block when it comes to testing out certain aspects of Project Algo.

After getting knocked out at BRC’s hideout, they check and confirm that he’s not dead. His cyberhead sorta shorted out from the impact and is effectively in sleep mode. But now they gotta figure out what to do with him before he wakes up!! Their solution: Put Escher on a bus. Literally in this case, they find a bus in Brink Terminal that’s heading far out of the city, get him on it (by stuffing him into the luggage compartment while no one’s looking, lol), and let it take care of him for them!

He wakes up far outside New Amsterdam, at which point Project Algo has lost its control over him. The project did not have good enough signal/network connection to keep controlling him from that far of a distance. Also he scares the poor bus driver and passengers by accident when they discover him in the luggage compartment. :P

Escher sorts things out and manages to get on a bus heading back into the city. He spends time on that return trip thinking over everything that happened to him leading up to this point: him trying to be a “good cop” but not making much of a difference; his injuries which led to his cybernetic parts and being told he now “owes” the force for “saving” him; and then him expressing his doubts and concerns over and over again, only to be scolded and have everything swept under the rug, no matter how serious of a violation it was. He wants to be a “good cop”, but now he’s realizing how much of an idealistic idiot he’s been for trying to make change from the inside out. Letting himself be a doormat because he desperately wanted to believe he could make a real difference, that the NAPD could do good like they claimed to, that he could be a hero if he just stuck around and did as much as he could, etc.

And then this time, being sent to capture “armed suspects” that weren’t armed at all, plus getting taken over by Project Algo for trying to be reasonable about BRC and other writers? This whole this is really just the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.

By the time he arrives back in the city, the main plot of the game is already done. So thankfully he’s not taken over by Project Algo again. But yeah, he’s thought about what he’s been through, what he put himself through due to a selfish sense of justice and heroics, and finally understands he’s been wasting his time trying to clean up a system that keeps dirtying itself up anyways. Not everything can be fixed easily, if at all, like in a story.

Now more post game headcanons!!

His outlook on everything that happened to him before now can be more or less summed up as: “They say, ‘the only good cop is either an ex-cop or a dead cop’. I never took that phrase seriously until I almost became a dead cop. And frankly, I’m still mad at myself for not seeing the truth sooner.”

So suffice to say, he quits the force, and becomes a private detective! He still wants to be a force of good in some way, but at least now he realizes he has to do that himself, outside of the NAPD. Occasionally the cases he takes on are against the NAPD too, so even after quitting he still gets on their bad side.

And of course, he's not completely jaded to the point where he thinks being good is pointless. He just has more realistic expectations on how to do good in the world. He's still frustrated with himself for not doing this earlier, especially for not quitting the force sooner, but better late than never I guess!

He tries to keep any hard boiled monologues in his head, especially since it could mean tipping off someone about what he’s doing. :P

His detective office is actually the living room of his apartment. He’s kind of hoping to upgrade to an actual office at some point, but for now it works well enough for keeping his files organized and as a space for meeting with clients.

Escher has a small collection of drinky birds going in one corner of his office, lol

He likes jazz, blues, and lounge music. He’s got a record player and a collection of records in his office too!

He doesn’t like watching TV, so he doesn’t have one in his apartment. He prefers listening to his records, the radio, and even podcasts sometimes. Otherwise he’s occasionally checking online for recent news and possible leads.

In terms of other hobbies… this guy actually doesn’t have much going on. Though he’ll sometimes check out random books from the local library to read, from novels to biographies to textbooks. The way he sees it, you never know when a random piece of info from a book you only read once could end up useful later on. And even if it doesn’t, he finds it kind of fun to read something new!

That being said, he at first avoids any fantasy or sci-fi novels about heroes going on big journeys and saving the world and stuff, because… well, you probably know why by now. He gets over it eventually, but he doesn’t get quite as much enjoyment out of them than when he was a kid. Not to mention, he revisits some of his childhood favorites occasionally, and they make him cringe sometimes. A lot of the time. For the most part, it's from him realizing how terrible they really were (be it because of poor writing, or things like racism, misogyny, etc).

Escher is saving up money to go full-cyber! Since the only major organic part of him left is his torso and part of his legs, he figures, why the hell not at this rate. Not to mention, his cyber lungs are still Not Good, despite making sure to get upgrades and updates over the years. It’s to the point where he’ll need to get them full replaced in the future anyways. So going full-cyber would be a huge improvement over continuing to deal with the cyber lungs!

In the meantime, he did at least modify his cyberhead so that his neck is part of it too. So now he has the voice filter thing! He always hated how before then, his voice made him stick out too much among other cyberheads. Back to his enjoyment of whiskey mentioned waaay earlier, this change means he doesn’t get the warm throat feeling from drinking anymore. Then again, by now he’s pretty much quit drinking completely, so it’s not that big of a loss in his eyes.

As a private detective, he held onto his sniper rifle but took it apart and converted it into a crossbow. Meant more for defense than anything else, especially since he has bolts for causing smokescreens, loud noises, bursts of paint, etc.

Escher is now on good terms with BRC even after the knock out. He understands they were just trying to protect themselves, especially with him being controlled by Project Algo at the time.

He also works with BRC and other writers to warn them about any police activity, such as to be on the look out for both police traps and actually dangerous criminals (like, suspected murderers and anything else along those lines), exchange information and rumors, etc.

For my “Red as a separate person from Felix” headcanons/story, Escher is eventually “convinced” to take on Red as an apprentice of sorts. Red actually manages to do a good job, all things considered!

And finally, ending things off with my patented Shipping Nonsense, lol

Sometime after the end of the game, he decides to give dating a try. He thinks it won’t really go anywhere, but at least he can attempt to be more social with others. He ends up speaking with Cinco, the five ball DOT EXE member, and going on a few dates. Cinco doesn’t deny he’s with DOT EXE when Escher asks about it, but asks Escher to not make a big deal of it (which Escher respects).

But then Escher at one point admits he was a former sniper for the NAPD. Which unfortunately leads to both of them worrying that he might have been the one who killed Eight Ball. He got taken over by Project Algo after all, he could have been control to handle Eight Ball before going after BRC...

They both break things off because of that. Escher is disappointed but realizes he should have expected his past to keep causing him problems. Meanwhile Cinco is outright devastated. He’s scared of the idea that Escher was the one to kill Eight Ball, but also still hoping that’s not the case because he ended up falling for Escher pretty hard. D:

Eventually, Neun (nine ball DOT EXE member) steps in because he’s “tired of Cinco’s whining” (i.e. wants to help his friend). He speaks to Escher privately and admits that he knows, with certainty, that Escher was not the one who offed Eight Ball. Neun looked into that personally, almost right after Eight Ball’s body was discovered, and managed to track down the real killer via hacking certain parts of the NAPD’s system. Of course, he was careful to make sure Project Algo didn’t detect what he was doing (thankfully Faux was too busy putting his All City King plan into motion to notice). Neun even admits he also “took care of” the killer himself. He hands over records and files to Escher to prove he’s telling the truth.

Through those files, Escher finds out the person who killed Eight Ball was a sniper who was not being controlled by Project Algo, but still followed the order without questioning why an unarmed writer needed to die. Also, plot twist, Neun had found additional info about the guy in the NAPD’s records and elsewhere, and it turned out to be the same sniper who shot Escher in the head way back when! So, things coming full circle and all of that.

Neun makes Escher swear not to tell anyone about him “handling” the real killer sniper himself. In exchange, the two of them go to Cinco with the rest of the info, explaining it as them working together to investigate things further and find out about who really killed Eight Ball. They cover up what Neun did by saying the sniper was eventually killed in a separate incident later on while Project Algo was still active.

So with Escher now in the clear, he and Cinco are back to dating!! Genuine old man yaoi, cyborg version, lol (Cinco is also in his 60s, so I’m serious about the old man part okay)

Cinco calls him “Mattie” as a nickname, but Cinco is the only one allowed to do this. Everyone else is required to address him as Escher. :P

Cinco is really affectionate with Escher, also very cuddly! You’d think Escher would be annoyed by physical affection like that, but he really doesn’t mind. Actually he’s touch-starved, but either doesn’t realize it or doesn’t what to admit to it, lol

Escher isn’t one to laugh much (and even before getting a cyberhead, he didn’t smile much either), but he does enjoy Cinco’s puns and joke. Not outright belly laughing, but definitely a chuckle, y’know?

That’s about it! Thank you for sending in an ask, I really appreciate getting a chance to ramble about my headcanons. Feel free to check out my other rambles in my BRC headcanons tag! :D

[aboutzatanna]

To put into perspective just how forced the whole JohnZee pairing has been for the last few years, Zatanna met John 5 times in the pre-reboot continuity. That's 5 out of the 379 times she has appeared in comics before the Pre Nu 52 debut of Justice League Dark. Similarly John's Hellblazer lasted for 300 issues with his own supporting cast and love interests and Zatanna only appeared once in it.

(Yes, there was a divide between Vertigo and DC at the time but Zatanna was one of the few characters who famously flaunted the line)

Swamp Thing #49-50: this is where we first find out that these characters knew each other as John tries to recruit Zatara and Zatanna for the magical seance. Note that there is an element of manipulation involved in all of John's interactions with everyone in this issue. John was also a new character at the time and Zatanna was a very established character. Moore can be a perv so it's not surprising that he made their relationship sexual. He also basically ended the pairing with John Zatara's death and Zatanna blaming John for it. Although they were established as collegues, we got fans and writers today who think Zatanna should be a novice who needs John to lead her around and tell her where to aim her powers.

Books of Magic: In which we learn that John hasn't met Zatanna at all since the traumatic seance but feels he can just waltz in and ask her to babysit a kid for him. The writer likes him so of course it works and she hugs and kisses him, which felt so very jarring. Books of Magic is a book I enjoy except for the Zatanna scenes (and Spectres). Then we had Zee acting like a complete idiot who endangers Tim Hunter and needed to be saved by John Constantine. Really jarring when you see her appearances in JLA comics around the time where she was a powerful magician whose kicking ass. ( Yet, this one comic would decades later set the pace for her characterization in JLD as this novice with a lot of power except for when John needs to shine. ) We would later get a follow up to this in a dream sequence in the 1991 Zatanna mini series by Lee Mars but that too had a scene where Zatanna went 'oh no, I'm not as good John' which makes no sense since she has been involved in magic her whole life.

Hellblazer Vol 1 #63: Zatanna's only appearance in the title at John's 40th birthday party. I don't have any objections to this one. Zee getting high at a party with a floating joint is hilarious.

Totems mini series: A brief appearance where she turns down his offer for sex and even goes 'reven niaga'.

Zatanna Everyday Magic: I like this one. As it deals with things from her perspective. She is the one who saves him and very subtly we see her shed any resentment she may have for John but is not hung up on him. She has her own life and her own love interests, even has casual sex with them.

So we have a pairing that cratered and halfway buried, only for an ill thought out reboot to drag it back up and heavily retconning both character's respective histories to make it work. Like introducing Nick Necro and treating the seance like Zee's origin story instead of Zatanna's Search. Ignoring any aspect of her that's not related to John, like all her relationships with the JL members (except Batman) don't matter anymore even though they played important roles in her life as well. Yet, John gets to keep most of his history and supporting cast and even get several shots at an ongoing. Zee ends up being treated as less smart, less competent and daresay even less sexy, whenever the JohnZee pairing comes to the forefront. The seeds were there since even their second meeting.

I don't see why this pairing needs to be treated as something so sacrosanct that the characters aren't allowed to grow past it. It's definitely not an earned relationship that's up there with Clark/Lois, BatCat, WallyLinda or BarryIris. It's only post nu52 that writers can't seem to go two pages without mentioning the pairing whenever Zee shows up. And I hate the fact that it's lead to Zee developing a reputation as a woman with a bad body fetish. Yet another aspect of the character they had to twist to make the pairing work.

It's not just that Zee deserves better, it just plain doesn't make sense. Even on it's own, it's a constant merry go round 'oh John, you are lying to me, I can't trust you/John, you lied to me, I trusted you. Everyone in JLD gets this but Zatanna gets it the worst.

Also, Zatanna didn't 'choose him', they were apart then the reboot happened and DC went 'well, lets pretend these two are an angsty couple who can't quit each other, forget anything that might contradict this narrative'.

To drive the point home; compare Zee's last appearance in 2022 in JLD as team leader where she was shown to be reckless and dumb leader who endangered her team for no reason and refused to take responsibility (of course John comes out looking good). To her later appearances in Batgirl and the excellent Knight Terrors crossover team up with Robot Man.

Once she is away from John, she goes back to being her fun, competent, bad ass, sexy self.

Side note: Can we also go back to a time when Zatanna, Phantom Strnager, Spectre and Dr Fate were bad asses and not chumps so John Constantine can look cool as he pulls out a vaguely defined spelled from his ass? I saw scans from a comic recently where he got the drop on freakin' Waverider recently.

[mormonbooks]

Stripling Warrior

4/5 STARS

Summary: This collection of comics (3 issues and an Annual) has the worlds first ever Gay Mormon Superhero! In fact, it has a lot of different Queer and Mormon (or Mormon-adjacent) characters, all fighting against injustice.

The main character, Sam Shepherd, gets visited by an Angel soon after marrying his husband Jase. The Angel (Abish from the Book of Mormon) calls him to be The Hand of God and punish sinners. He fights homophobes, misguided missionaries, and Cain himself, alongside his companion, Fe, who also received powers from Abish.

Read at your own risk: This book is has a complex approach to mormonism, as well as deceptions of queer sex (Not explicit but pretty nsfw). I think it's a lot of fun, and is an honest portrayal of queer mormon experiences, with fun fantastical versions of Mormon beliefs (Like a Holy Ghost Force Field).

Overall, I enjoyed it! I've been dying for a Mormon Superhero, and queer mormon superheroes are even better. I would love to see more stories with Sam, Fe, Jase, Shonda, and Riley in the future.

Spoilers and Review Breakdown Under the Cut

1. Well written - 3.5 Stars.

Overall, I think the writing is done well. Some of it is cheesy, and there are a couple of deus ex machina's but it feels like it fits in the genre and with what the comic is trying to do.

2. Fun level - 4.5 Stars

I really enjoyed it! I read the whole thing in one sitting and it was engaging and exciting and it made me laugh.

3. Complex faith - 3.5 Stars

This one is complicated to answer. This definitely feels like media aimed at ex-mormons. Most of the characters are Ex (or "Jack") Mormons, and don't have high regard for the church as an organization. They do believe in Angels and Heavenly Mother (cause that's where their power comes from) but the church officials (like mission presidents) are shown as villains. It's a very irreverent story. And there's a part in the last issue where Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father are pitted against each other that I didn't really like.

The only exception is Riley, an asexual missionary who states his firm testimony a couple of times. He is one of the heroes, but still firmly believes in the gospel.

I like it because it has characters from all over the spectrum of mormonism (from actively serving a mission to "my parents were mormon but we don't really talk about it" and everything in between), which I think is cool, but it's also definitely got an exmo bias.

4. Homophobia scale - 5 stars

it's so gay!!!!! They have a character for each letter of LGBTA, it's delightful.

It is also NSFW. Nothing explicit (?) but characters are often naked, and the two married couples are shown being intimate quite a few times. I don't normally love stories like that, but for a comic that is about the sacredness of queer intimacy, I understand why it's included.

5. Mormon weird - 5 stars

SOOO much mormon weird. Abish is an angel. The heroes have Liahona Guides. The big villains are Cain and Ammon. It's so much fun.

6. Diversity of characters - 4 stars!

The main character and his husband are both white guys, but Fe is latina, her wife is black (and trans!), and Riley is a POC.

7. Other problematic stuff - 3 stars

I love this comic but I don't think it's for everyone. On top of being irreverent and nsfw, it also incorporates some indigenous american culture into the mythos in ways I'm not sure about. This is going to happen with anything that talks about Nephites and Lamanites, but mostly I don't know why Ammon has a pet Quetzalcoatl. 🤷

But, like I said, I did enjoy it. I think there's a lot of potential in these characters and I would love to see more stories with them

[skull001]

The most frequent argument to acd OC's in Sonic comics is that, because "they aren't as strictly reglated as the game cast, it's easier to fo things with them."

Horse . Shit .

Not every adventure has to be a life-changing experience for these characters.

The Sonic game cast only need one thing: be THE focus.

A skilled writer should be more than capable to do things like presenting the things that makes each of these cool characters so endearing to so many dfferent people feel fresh. (Hell, they already do this very thing with Tangle and Whisper).

Why is it not done, when being fully aware that the game cast are the biggest 2nd incentive right after Sonic himself?

The only thing that comes to mind, is that the comic staff (especially Mr. "I'll throw all game girl under a bus, except Blaze"), do not like working with characters that they themselves did not create, either becaue they can't bother to try to understand their personalities (lmao, professional writers struggling to understand candy-colored characters aimed at young kids) or because they underestimate them by thinking they are "not enough".

Also, why do american comics have these obsession with havingbtheir characters always compete with the game ones? Is it hubris? 'Murican nationalism? Need to prove themselves better?

How about,trying to be fucking humble? Or remember that the comic is not just for themselves and that game fans expect for their favorites to be represented as best as they can be, and not as extras/guest cameos, while the comic originals hog all of the better parts.

That shit belongs more in a fanfic where you are free to go nuts and have things be the self-indulging way you want, not in an official comic where you gotta balance for all.... and no, getting a story that focuses on game characters not named Sonic or Tails every few years is NOT balance.

[dyketectivecomics]

So here we are, a week into the new year...

Let's talk comics/blog resolutions once again, lmao

I made it to abt 4.2k comics read by end of 2023! So to up the ante from where I made that 4k goal last year: by end of 2024 I'm going to aim to log 6.5k comics read! I think it's pretty ambitious, maybe even a little TOO much, but it also will encourage me to expand my horizons quite a bit. Try as DC might, there's still only so many bat-centric comics in their archives lol

I'm going to clear my inbox! But a little more specifically, I'm giving myself a deadline to do so by end of February and anyone reading this PLZ feel free to Hold Me to That! Most of it is ficlet requests obvsly, and we'll talk abt fic writing goals in a sec here, but ye!!! It's always a good time to start fresh again, and going into the spring I want a good fresh start there!

But ye, RIP to last year's goal to finish LMM before year's end, SECOND best time is now, etc etc, but in all seriousness, I'm genuinely looking forward to editing & finally finishing/sharing what I've been cooking. I know the ppl who care are gonna be rlly psyched & well, hey, maybe the rest of y'all will want to see other things from me too! who knows!

I still want to maintain this blog as my general archiving space, but I'll slowly start revamping my other sideblogs too. no solid resolutions/plans there except for the Duke & Oracle blogs for now. I'm not absolutely sure what the queue system/posting is gonna be changing to on this. but im ready to be annoying here again & i'm abt to make it all of y'alls problems lmao

That being said, the time that I've spent away from being an Active fic/meta writer, has made me realize how much I love verbalizing my thoughts rather than just writing them out... and listen, idk how receptive anyone will be to hours-long video-essay/podcast deep-dives on obscure comics characters, esp for what Ive got in mind to work with, but it's an idea that im TOYING with lol

idk!!! i like resolutions, and I think since irl I've gone into this year with a few more tools to make more/smaller/more manageable resolutions on a more frequent basis, i'm gonna apply that same logic here. so batten down the hatches i guess!!! y'all will be seeing a lot more of me on ur dashes!!!

[curiooftheheart]

Could you please explain this MTG comic? https://www.tumblr.com/flork-of-cows-unofficially/725206874077724672 Specifically why it’s Alpha Set? Thank you

I can. I'll start with the why Alpha: Alpha is the very first run of the first Magic set. Seeing as it is now 30 years old, has a major impact as the start of the game, and many of those cards are now on something called the Reserve List so Wizard of the Coast can't reprint them (it's a whole thing but I'll summarize it as imagine if when the collectible comic market crashed, the comics collectors were able to strong-arm DC into making anything printed before like 1950 unable to be reissued in any way except like putting the cover as a wallpaper or phone protector). So it's quite expensive and hard to collect so having an entire set in paper is quite impressive. Ever here about the half a million dollar Magic card? That's a specifically Alpha printing of the infamous Black Lotus.

There's also a few other jokes here that may not've been intentional as it def seems like the money is the joke. Commander is supposed to be 100 card singleton (the only cards you're allowed to have more than one copy of are specific ones with rules for having extras regardless of normal limits) led by a Legendary Creature. There's not 600 cards in Alpha. There's less than 300. So either they're doubling up or the "Includes all of Alpha" is even more showing off as the theme is not "Every alpha card" but just a shitton of cards that adds up into the hundreds of thousands in value. Also most of them are so bad that having them in makes the deck worse, while others are broken to the point that 17 are banned in commander actually (some are because it was a 90s fantasy project so they were racist and WotC finally brought the hammer down to ban them but most are power). And there's no Legendary Creatures in Alpha itself. Plus having 600 cards is such a problem for your consistency that it could be made of the most broken cards ever and still prob be a bit shit.

In addition to mocking the major amount of cash spent, there's a double joke of mocking extreme rule 0 in Commander and anti proxy people.

Rule 0 is MEANT to be like "Hey guys what power level/type of game are we aiming for?" Maybe a few like "I'm using this Un-card because it's fun, is that fine?" But some people turn it up to like "I'm just gonna make a deck without any limits then pressure people into still letting me at the table." I've even seen some people with like "I have a hypertax unfun out the ass deck that will make the worst games ever if people don't want to allow my fun deck." And these people are a toxic bane, if someone pulls that at your table you instantly ban them.

Proxying is printing a copy of a card instead of buying a real copy. This is only a thing in commander as most other formats have like real tournaments with rules that require proper printings and trying to enter with proxies would probably get you banned outright. It's a bit of a contentious topic since it's...not real cards. Others see it as cutting out the money problem inherent to playing a trading card game. I won't delve into my honestly fairly mixed feelings on it but it's mocking people who spend like $800 on a couple cards and don't get how that makes it hard on people not willing to use their kid's college savings on a deck.

[logicgunn]

#8 Everything Hurts And I'm Dying (Whumptober 2022 McShep Style)

On AO3

Rodney wakes to an unsettling sound; a slow whoosh whoosh whoosh that he associates with the ventilation of Atlantis' cold storage rooms, tucked right down on the bottom level of the city's subsection where Carson keeps things on ice. Biological samples. Disease specimens. Dead bodies.

It’s dark, oh so dark, and he can’t see a damn thing when he opens his eyes, just endless black all around. His probing hands tell him he’s on a medical trolley, the thin mattress no comfort against the hard surface underneath, and when he sits up, a sheet slides off his body and falls to the ground noiselessly.  

He’s naked, alone, and surprisingly warm to the touch, and when the thrum of Atlantis penetrates the fog in his mind, he begs her to turn on the lights.  

She obliges.

He wishes she hadn’t. Tucked in close on either side of him are two more trolleys, each occupied with a shrouded body. Rodney reaches out with mottled hands and tugs on the sheets one after the other. He isn’t ashamed in his relief that the people lying there aren’t someone he cares about. Someone he loves. He recognises their faces, but not enough to put a name to them. Both are military, and both are weighted with a peacefulness that isn’t sleep. The man’s auburn hair is as dull as his ashen skin; the woman’s blonde hair is matted with blood.

Rodney wonders why he’s woken up between them. It’s an idle kind of speculation not quite devoid of anxiety or fear but lacking a strength of...anything really. What he’s feeling is more curiosity than concern. Intellectual rather than emotional.

Interesting.

The room is lined with transparent cabinets, a few filled with samples but most are empty. There are no other bodies, and no reason to stay here, so Rodney shuffles to the end of the trolley and slides off it onto his feet. He sways for a moment, not lightheaded but sluggish, as though his body isn’t quite up to speed with his mind. When he moves the light follows, and when he reaches the door it opens automatically.

There’s no one outside, but then there wouldn’t need to be. Only a handful of personnel can access this level, Rodney and Radek made sure of that. Rodney steps into the transporter and looks at the panel. His instinct is to find John, if anyone can figure out what’s going on it’s the Colonel, but he has no idea where to start looking. It could take some time to search the city on his slow legs. Before he can press a location at random, the transporter doors shut and then open again, and he finds himself staring out into the gate room, where John is yelling at Elizabeth. Carson is there too, trying to reason with them both, and no one notices Rodney until he steps out.

“What is going on?” he tries to say, but his lungs aren’t playing ball and the sound that comes out of more of a gurgle than any recognisable language. It’s loud enough that John, Elizabeth, Carson and the rest of the people milling around turn to face him. The look of surprise on their faces would be comical if Rodney had the energy to laugh; the look of horror that follows would be terrifying if Rodney’s fight-or-flight bothered to kick in.

As it is, he’s barely stirred at all, except for a sudden wave of hunger. No, more than that; he’s ravenous.

John steps forward slowly, one hand raised in front of him, the other unclipping his holster. "Hey, McKay," he says, and with each step, the strength of Rodney's appetite increases.  

“J’nnnnn....” he says, but he’s losing the ability to even form speech in his mind, such is his appetite for...something. Fuck, John smells good. Rodney takes a step towards him, and everyone in the gate room steps back except John, who holds his ground and raises his handgun and aims it at Rodney, right in the chest.

“J’n?”

John watches him take another step, then another. The gate room guards are already moving in, but John halts them with a gesture.

“What say you step back in that transporter, Rodney?” He says it like it’s a question but it’s an order, and Rodney would obey, he wants to, but the hunger is gnawing at the edges of his mind now. So many people here, so many bodies, so much flesh. And John...John’s right there...closer...closer...

John swallows and Rodney can see his finger is on the trigger, but he doesn’t shoot. Instead, he glances at Carson and asks: “Any chance you can fast-track that treatment, doc?”

Carson shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Colonel. There’s nothing I can do to speed it up. It’ll be days yet to synthesise the first dose, at least.”

The way Carson bites the flesh of his bottom lip makes Rodney want to chew on it too. But John is closer, and his bottom lip is plump and juicy and glistening—

Rodney’s thrown back as a shot rings out, and he lands slumped against one of the pillars. His chest feels oddly cold and when he touches it his hand comes away with blood. He’s in so little pain he doesn’t realise it’s his until John approaches, wiping his red-rimmed eyes with his sleeve.

“How many times are you gonna make me kill you, buddy?”

[themidnightcircusshow]

So I’m going to start with the bad first, because the bad is bad in a way that kind of hovers over the entire series. This series really struggles in its portrayal of gender and sex in spite of it being one of the most prominent themes in the series, and it really holds it back. It's something the feels very 'progressive for its day', except its day was last year and not 2006.

(The manga began in 2013, so I have to admit I struggle to give it much leniency).

All sex is portrayed as varying levels of sinful, and is portrayed more as a weapon for people to use against each other than anything. Men want it because they are sinful, women want to use it to manipulate men because they are sinful, and there is no room for sex to just be. When the main couple of the back half of the show consummates their relationship, it is intensely dubious consensual because even in a couple who loves each other, sex is this wicked thing (Buckingham specifically says that it is an evil act that will eternally bind them together, and believes that he is outright raping Richard). Ironically, it is one of the most poignant explorations of the ‘rape is love’ trope I’ve seen. Because the show creates a world where sex is so demonic, it doesn’t create a space for truly consensual sex, and you can understand why this almost becomes their only option. 

The same can’t be said for the use of sexual assault throughout the rest of the show, though. Richard gets sexually assaulted so many times in the first few episodes that it genuinely becomes comical (my friend and I said we could make a drinking game out of it). It is also very heavily implied (and I think confirmed outright in the manga) that Margaret rapes Henry, contributing to Henry’s trauma around sex, which runs so deep that he has a mental health crisis when trying to have a consensual sexual encounter. Like the scene with Richard and Buckingham, that specific scene is done extremely well, and is a good exploration of the conflict around sexuality, but the build up to it is so absurd that it weakens its power a little. 

As part of the rampant demonisation of sex, there is a very unfortunate and frankly overdone demonisation of women. Every woman who is introduced above the age of sexual maturity is evil and using her sexuality as a way of manipulating men for her evil aims. Every. Single. One. As mentioned before, Margaret of Anjou rapes her husband, and brags about having sex with other men (I really wish this wasn’t par for the course for portrayals of Margaret). Elizabeth Woodville marries Edward solely so she can eventually lead him and his brothers to ruin for killing her first husband. Jane is a literal witch. Richard’s mother abuses him because he is the product of her evil sexuality. We get a flashback to Catherine de Valois solely so we can have her traumatising her son because he walks in on her having sex with Owen Tudor (leading to him believing all sex is demonic and all women are sinful). The only female characters not shown this way are Anne, Isobel, and Elizabeth of York, and only because they are introduced first as children. It’s a bad trope regardless, but the fact that is every single female character just becomes laughable. The show does still give the women some sympathetic moments that almost feels like depth, but it still could have done a lot more. 

Richard’s intersexuality is where these two problems converge. Richard is frequently referred to as a demon because of his body, warring with his better half, but as the series goes on it gains an implication that the ‘demonic’ half is his womanhood, while his ‘angelic’ half is his manhood. The second opening even has a shot where Richard’s body is divided in two, with one half being white roses and the other red thorns. The demonic half, naturally, covers his one breast and his genitals. Women are frequently referred to as demons throughout the show: the most pertinent case being Catherine refers to herself as a demon during sex, so Henry internalises sexuality as being demonic, and calls Richard a demon when they try to have sex. This takes place in the first instance where we see Richard actively choose to present as a woman. There is eventually an added layer that suggests masculinity is Richard’s duty and femininity would be his freedom, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. 

It's a shame, because the premise is great. And even if she too is demonised, the idea of an intersex person relating to Jeanne d'arc and hallucinating her as a symbol of his struggles is amazing. The problem is they just didn't explore it with all the depth they could have.

[deltaruneroaringwinter]

DELTARUNE: ROARING WINTER First Anniversary Status Update

YIPPEE!!!

Welcome to the first Deltarune Roaring Winter Status Update! Essentially I’ll be posting these every 3-6 months depending on how progress is going on the AU and comic. Given this is the first we have a lot to share, tell and discuss so without wasting a second... Let’s go!

THE PROLOGUE

The Prologue is where a vast majority of my own efforts have been going, for those not in the know the prologue will cover a few key things before Chapter 1 kicks off fully including a good look at a few important characters both for Chapter 1 and beyond.

Speaking of those characters, almost every prologue character is completed! I personally have a couple more side sprites to make as well as some portrait/talk sprites and potentially one more overworld sprite for a character. On the whole, the characters are what I’ve been working on most since the AUs conception a year ago and as such, they’re pretty much almost fully done.

When it comes to environments, I’m simply going to say it now. I am an idiot.

I completely used the wrong dimensions when spriting the environment sprites, oops. Luckily however, I wanted to remake a vast few of these anyway and on the whole, I’m happy with how they’re coming out! The prologue has around 5 unique areas to sprite in total with pretty much all of these being small except for Hometown, though work on this so far has been going well.

In terms of the writing, for the prologue at least everything is complete for once in that regard! Though my mind keeps wanting me to go back and change the beginning (this has happened almost 3 times now) so while I say it’s complete I’ll probably read it again and want to change something.

As a whole, I’m aiming to release the prologue either sometime in January and at the latest February, it’s only really me and one other person working on this project so I hope you’ll all be patient!

CHAPTER 1 & BEYOND

Whilst I don’t exactly have as much to share on Chapter 1 as I did with the prologue, progress is still going well! In terms of the story I currently have a big outline of how I want the plot to go and how the story to end, important characters have been decided, antagonists and other side characters for Dark Worlds past chapter 3 are still heavily in work though.

Chapters 1 and 2 and a little bit of 3 are currently written out in a very rough state and my mind on chapter 2 especially has changed a lot since it was the first chapter and thing I ended up writing for the AU so I’ll 100% need to go back and change it.

Sprites for Chapter 1 are very limited however there are a few sprites made already, the antagonists sprites minus one of them are all done as well as the Dark World forms of every important character. I have concept art drawn for Chapter 1 areas too, I just need to sprite them out.

Overall though, that’s about it in regards to the progress of the AU! I thank you all for being as patient as you’ve been and I hope the next time that we meet here, the prologue is completed and I’m bathing in a pool of money, or something like that.

Until next time...

[brendering]

Go read the full post and additional commentary for more info about WT taking advantage of artists. I'd like to talk about another facet I don't see discussed as much in regards to Webtoon, which is monopolizing the market.

When Webtooons deleted the Patreon button and replaced it with Super Likes (their own tip option, which WT conveniently takes a substantial cut from), I saw a lot of people saying 'just move to Tapas'.

Except Tapas is also owned by Webtoons, or more specifically by Kakao Entertainment.

Tapas was originally a California-based startup. Once it got big, it added a "Right of First Refusal" to its TOS (basically meaning if you want to sell your own comic, you have to give Tapas the first pass at it, which is horrible for artists and predatory considering most people were posting their comics to Tapas for free, which Tapas was already profiting off of). With Webtoons on the rise, Kakao Entertainment bought out Tapas. If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em!

This comes as little surprise, since Kakao Entertainment is basically No-Face when it comes to gobbling up competitors.

In the past few years Kakao Entertainment has "merged" (aka devoured) Cre.ker Entertainment, Plan A Entertainment, Melon Company, Kakao M Corp, Kakao TV, etc. I'm not an expert but it seems like they not only do tons of legal mergers (which suck), but they also do sneakier drawn-out mergers where they buy companies and rename them to a Kakao brand, then hold onto them long enough to merge them since they own both.

As if that's not bad enough, Kakao Entertainment is itself owned by a multi-trillion dollar megaconglomerate called Naver Corp, which also owns LINE Manga, Wattpad, Yahoo Japan, and even Poshmark. Kakao Entertainment or their daddy Naver Corp own pretty much every online comic host you can think of, and they're currently going after online writing/serialized novel sites. It looks like they're aiming to own pretty much any serialized art or writing of any kind on the web.

Live footage of Naver Corp execs:

A single entity trying to buy up literally all the competitors in a given market is already troubling enough (and results in artists being treated like dirt), but even more disturbing is the fact that Naver Corp owns its own AI company. I don't think I need to explain why this is Not Good.

I know this seems very doom and gloom, but all of this is to say: please support artists on their own websites/Patreons if you're able (even just as a free subscriber). Please support independent comic collectives and hosts when you can. And when you join a new site, don't forget to find out who its daddy is, because these megacorps are out here like

I'm going to have to talk about Webtoons(company) at one point, and its... impact on the webcomic sphere too. Trying to find the most eloquent way to say that these companies aren't your friends, and that I am seeing more and more creators getting chewed up and spit out when these places are done with them. I'm legit worried for how The Content Creator model is going to hurt so many more people, who have been led to believe that this is the only way to get their work out there.