#this analysis was soooo well done

[lazyjellyfish300]

And I mean good fucking God.....

Is Kusakabe Conventionally Attractive?

I was recently asked if Kusakabe is conventionally attractive. The short answer is yes. But you know how I am, so here's your 1K word essay on why he is on every level, from the obvious to the subtle and everything in between.

Let's start with the physical. From a scientific perspective, facial symmetry is linked to notions of masculinity and good health -- traits our brains are subconsciously hardwired to find appealing. Kusakabe’s face is sharp, symmetrical, and effortlessly striking. But let's dive deeper. Because the symmetry is what grabs your attention, but his amazing features are what holds it.

Gege draws Kusakabe with very distinctive eyebrows (thank you, Gege). While this may seem random, eyebrows play a significant role in facial aesthetics and attractiveness, especially for men. They provide a frame that influences how Kusakabe's other facial features, such as his eyes, jawline, and cheekbones, are perceived. Also, eyebrows are crucial for non-verbal communication; thicker, well-shaped eyebrows amplify expressions, making Kusakabe appear more charismatic and assertive.

Ah, that jawline — broad, angular, and sharp enough to cut glass. Going back to the science, studies link angular jawlines to higher levels of testosterone, which are associated with traits like strength and dominance. HELLO, DOMINANCE OKAY (Look, I'm not making this up; I read a whole 2018 evolutionary psychology paper on this.)

And we can't talk about Kusakabe's jawline without also mentioning his amazing, magnificent cheekbones. When both of these features are well-defined, they contribute to a strong, chiseled look that’s often considered the hallmark of conventionally attractive male faces. As the jawbone draws the eye up, the cheekbones fix the gaze on the center of the face, giving the viewer a second chance to admire his facial symmetry. Even more science! Skin loses elasticity as we age, so bone structure isn't as noticeable. Higher and sharper cheekbones are perceived to be a sign of youth and vitality. Though Kusakabe is in his mid-thirties, he's still looking young and FINE AF.

Basically, symmetry is the framework, and Kusakabe's features are the elegant finishing touches on a masterpiece.

Kusakabe definitely takes care his skin, and while that’s not a defined feature like the nose or mouth, it still plays a huge role in how people perceive his appearance and appeal. His skin is smooth, with a faint golden undertone from all the time he spends outside fishing. Its the kind of complexion that shows he's in good health and has a top-notch skincare routine he’ll probably never admit to having.

His hairstyle is a little outdated, but it can be considered conventionally attractive because it is well-maintained; the effort behind it indicates he is mindful of how he presents himself.

Is Kusakabe confident and conscious enough to go to Sephora? Drop cash at a high-end salon? Yes, he absolutely is.

His self-care extends to the way he keeps his body in peak condition. He’s in the dojo every day, no matter what he's practicing. And while he’s built broad, with those delicious strong shoulders, under that gi is a man whose lean muscles are toned to perfection.

His attention to detail also extends to his style. The care he puts into his appearance reflects an understanding of how to dress to highlight his best features. The tailored shoulder line, tapered waist, and notched lapels of his suit work together to accentuate his broad chest and torso. This cut creates a sculpted, V-shaped look. (I call it the 'reverse Dorito' because it looks like one, see? ▽). The notched lapel is a modern, classic fit that can easily be dressed up or down because, well, my man is practical.

His trenchcoat is worn open, but it is a really nice coat. It also has a notched lapel, but the notch is deeper. This fit, like his suit, is designed to complement his features. The cut subtly directs attention up to his jawline, a smart choice for his face shape. Plus, it’s perfect for someone both tall and broad, accentuating his frame without trying to make himself look larger than he already is.

Now, let’s shift focus to some of Kusakabe’s emotional traits that also make him conventionally attractive. His leadership mentality is something that naturally draws people toward him. Over the course of the manga, we saw him grow into someone who earned respect without the need to force it. During the meetings for backup plans for Sukuna's fight, for example, he wasn’t just participating; he was leading the discussion from the front. Getting a group of sorcerers to work together couldn't have been easy, but Kusakabe made it look effortless.

His deep love for those around him (despite his attempts to say otherwise) is the driving force behind his dedication to protecting them. Throwing hands with the King of Curses wasn’t about winning; it was about protecting the people who mattered to him, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

Kusakabe isn't just visually attractive — everything about him is. His sharp features and impeccable style stand out, but what really makes him unforgettable is his quiet strength, leadership, and selflessness. It's the balance of confidence and compassion that truly defines his hotness presence.

I DO NOT authorize use of this writing for other writing!

[triglycercule]

guys its finally done

after exactly like 3 months the killer analysis is FINALLY done......oh my trio we're so back WE'RE SO BACK!!!!! in exchange for this long awaited victory i will be working on a little comic.........killer WILL be featured there will be no more of excluding him here ‼️

here's a wip panel from it x3

[etheries1015]

Imagine MC with a crush on Lilia, but Lilia is completely oblivious. When asked who MC likes, they're vaguely describing Lilia without name-dropping, and Lilia pouts over it because he thinks they have a crush on someone else

Cute! I can see it already...

*slumber party at ramshackle*

featuring ace and deuce, the wing men, who know you have a crush on Lilia. And Lilia, the oblivious old man who is utterly in love with you but can't seem to wrap his head around your hints. Thus, it was time to finally come clean to him!...to the best of your abilities!

Ace- Soooo...now that we're all settled in.....how about we talk about crushes and stuff, right? *winks at you*

Lilia- Ohoho!! I love a good love story! Now pray tell, (y/n), do you have a particular type or someone who has caught your eye?

Deuce gives you a thumbs up and a nod of confidence

MC, blushing- Hmm... well. I do, actually! He's shorter than average, and he's incredibly silly...He has the most beautiful ruby-colored eyes, and he never fails to make me smile.

Lilia was shocked to get an actual answer and analysis and is becoming increasingly worried. Who was this man?? All he could think of was the fact that you indeed had someone! The description didn't even phase him! He never thought you had a thing for him, but he thought he would notice the signs if you had fallen for someone, which he obviously missed! Woe is he, heartbroken and confused.

Lilia, sweating bullets- I see! He sounds...lovely. Does he go to this school?

Ace whispering to Deuce- Is he really this dense...? They practically described him verbatim!

MC, raising an eyebrow- He does. He's in Diasomnia-

Lilia, plotting for murder- Ah! Then I'm bound to know this person, as vice house-warden! Pray tell, who is it?

MC, confused why he hasn't gotten it yet- hmm. He's a fae.

Lilia, taken aback- A fae? Why, the few fae in diasomnia are... Ah! I think I have an inkling who this mystery crush may be.

MC, nodding and leaning in, getting excited- Yesss....

Lilia- Is it Sebek?

...how he came to that conclusion after the descriptions you gave, will forever be beyond me. And Logic.

Ace- oh come on bro even I'M not that dense! They like you, senile old man!!

MC- Ace!!!

Lilia was internally shocked about the "senile old man" comment, but I digress. Once you become that oblivious, how else could you justify it? You can't.

Deuce, getting up and rushing Ace out the door- Sorry, (Y/N). It had to be done. We are tired of you guys flirting and getting nowhere. Good luck!!

Ace and Deuce leave you and Lilia alone, Lilia with an excited and mischievous smile and a blush upon his cheeks (acting like this after the idiotic display...he has very limited brain cells, but it's okay. We still love him.) And then there was yourself, a blushing mess as the fae waited to hear your explanation... hehe.

[endofthelinexx]

Driven to You | 1

Pairing: Female!Student!Reader x Lewis Hamilton

TW: Language, fake friend

Rating: Mature, 18+

AN: soooo im back pt 5. I got hit with some inspiration and I'm so excited to start writing again. I'm hyped af for this series, its going to be soooo good and lewis omg he's looking so fine in that brand new red I just had to write about him! comment to be added to the taglist!

Word count: 1.7k

Mini Summary: Lena Carter is just a sorority girl from Texas with big dreams of designing cars, not getting caught up in the spotlight. But when a Ferrari guest lecturer turns out to be none other than Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton, her world is thrown into chaos. Between stolen glances, secret encounters, and the growing tension that neither of them can ignore, Lena finds herself racing toward a life she never imagined—one where the stakes are higher than ever.

*No permission is given for reposting my work, copying it or parts of it, and claiming it as your own.  

| chapter 1 |

Lena's POV

Lena Carter, a senior in college, was an interior design major with a love for Formula 1. She wasn’t shy about the fact that her Sundays were spent glued to the television, watching races and wishing she had a passion for engineering, but unfortunately, she hates physics with a passion. Her roommates, Jade and Amelia, didn’t quite share the same enthusiasm, but they loved teasing her about her obsession.

“Lena, are you seriously watching another race highlight?” Amelia groaned, leaning against the kitchen counter as she stirred her coffee.

“It’s not just a highlight,” Lena replied, rolling her eyes. “It’s an analysis video. There’s a difference.”

“Okay, well, whatever it is, can you pause it and help me make our breakfast so we can make it to studio on time?” Jade begged, hands together sarcastically. Lena nodded and jumped up, walking into the kitchen to help.

The three girls worked in harmony, laughing and joking as they prepped breakfast. Their apartment, a cozy off-campus rental, was filled with the smell of fresh coffee and sizzling eggs. 

“So, what’s the plan for today? Do you think Ethan will actually show up to class this time?” Lena teased, glancing at Jade as she popped a strawberry into her mouth.

Ethan was Jade's boyfriend, he was an architecture major, so he was in the same building as them, just on the arrogant side. He was of course in a frat, Jade has yet to learn her lesson about dating frat boys, which annoyed Lena since she was always hugging Jade while she cried about them. They’d been dating a few months and honestly, Lena got bad vibes, she didn’t know what it was, but she was sure all the pieces would fall into place sooner rather than later.

Jade groaned, flipping the eggs in the pan with more force than necessary. “I told him last night that if he doesn’t get his act together, I’m done. But you know Ethan—he’s all talk and no action.”

Amelia smirked over the rim of her coffee mug. “Are we still pretending he’s going to change? Because, honestly, I don’t think he even knows where his studio is.”

Lena laughed, tossing a few blueberries at Amelia, who squealed and dodged them. “You two are the worst,” Jade muttered, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

As the girls sat down to eat, the conversation shifted to what their studio project might be. She was hoping it had something to do with car interiors since that is what they’ve been doing their work on recently, but they wouldn’t know for another week or two.

They went to studio, it was nothing of interest, just desk critiques and feedback. Lena and Jade sat next to each other, of course; they talked as they did their work. Unfortunately for Amelia, she sat a row down from them, but she had another friend, Natalia. Natalia was, honestly, a bitch—which was why Jade and Lena sat away from them.

Lena was doing some research on car interior materials when she felt her phone buzz on her desk. She absentmindedly glanced at the screen, expecting another generic school notification or maybe a tiktok from Jade. But what she saw instead made her heart skip a beat.

“Guest Lecture Series: Lewis Hamilton - Formula 1 Champion and Advocate for Innovation in Design.”

Her fingers trembled slightly as she tapped the notification to read the full details. The lecture was scheduled for next Tuesday at the auditorium on campus. It didn’t feel real. Lewis Hamilton? Here? On her campus?

“Lena?” Jade nudged her, frowning when she noticed the look on her friend’s face. “You good?”

“Uh...” Lena’s voice wavered as she struggled to find the words. She turned her phone to Jade, showing her the announcement.

Jade’s eyes widened, “Lewis Hamilton? Isn’t he that hot dude that does your racing shit? What does he know about design?”

“I don’t really care what he knows about design, I’m going to that damn lecture,” Lena grinned as she spoke, already getting excited.

Jade couldn’t help but laugh a little, “Okay okay, no one is stopping you girl. What if he notices you and falls immediately in love?”

“This isn’t a Wattpad one direction fanfiction Jade, this is real life, that won't happen, but I will get to see him, maybe even meet him!” She rolled her eyes at Jade. “I have to ask him a question too!”

As the studio session dragged on, Lena found it impossible to focus. Her mind kept drifting back to the announcement, to Lewis Hamilton, to the idea of seeing him in person. Would she get to ask him a question? Would he actually take time to talk to her?

Lewis' POV

Lewis Hamilton leaned back in his chair, his phone resting face-up on the marble kitchen counter of his Monaco apartment. The gentle hum of an espresso machine filled the space as his assistant, Rebecca, stood by the window, flipping through his packed schedule for the upcoming week.

“So, Tuesday,” Rebecca began, glancing at her tablet. “You’ve got that guest lecture at that university in America. Design innovation, sustainability, and motorsport—your usual talking points. Should be straightforward.”

Lewis nodded, taking a sip of his freshly made coffee. “Yeah, straightforward for you maybe. I’ve got to convince a room full of students that what we do in F1 has relevance outside the paddock.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Lewis, they invited you. Most of those kids are probably just showing up to fangirl over you, not sustainability trends.”

He laughed, setting his mug down. “I don’t know about that. I mean, I hope at least a few of them are serious about design.” He leaned forward, glancing at her tablet. “What time’s the lecture again?”

“Afternoon. You’ve got a private jet booked the night before to get you there in time. And don’t forget the meet-and-greet after. The university’s design department specifically requested it. They’re big on networking.”

Lewis ran a hand through his messy curls, leaning back again. “It’ll be fine. It’s important to me, you know?”

Rebecca smiled. “I know, Lewis. It’s why you’re perfect for this.”

As she continued running through his itinerary, his thoughts drifted. The last few weeks had been relentless: races, training, meetings, sponsor obligations. He barely had time to breathe, let alone think about how much he enjoyed moments like these—engaging with people outside the motorsport bubble.

Still, he couldn’t shake the nagging doubt that always crept in before events like this. Would the students care about sustainability? Would they see beyond the celebrity and focus on the message? He wanted to inspire them, sure, but he also wanted to connect with them, to plant the seed that their work could have real impact.

“…and that’s it for next week,” Rebecca finished, snapping him out of his thoughts. She shot him a pointed look. “Try not to overthink it, yeah? They’ll love you.”

“Overthinking? Me?” Lewis smirked, lifting his mug again. “Never.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes and walked out, leaving Lewis alone with his thoughts. He picked up his phone and opened the university’s email again, scrolling through the details of the event. A lecture in a quiet town in the south—it wasn’t exactly glamorous compared to the glitz of Monaco, but maybe that was the point.

Lena’s POV

Lena stood in front of her mirror, adjusting the hem of her blouse. The lecture was in a few hours, and she was running through her outfit choices in her head. She wanted to look professional—after all, this wasn’t some random event, but a lecture by Lewis Hamilton himself. But she also wanted to look... well, hot. She knew how to balance both.

She settled on a blue button up top, unbuttoning the top few buttons to show a little bit of the black lace bra she wore with it. The top gave her the professional edge she wanted, but the bra underneath was something she knew could catch his attention if he chose to look her way at all. The dark jeans she paired it with had just the right fit, and a pair of low, sleek heels added a bit of height. She glanced at herself one last time, pulling her hair into a low bun with a few strands left to frame her face. She took a deep breath, sprayed her YSL perfume and headed out of the house.

 When she arrived at the auditorium, she moved as quick as she could to get to one of the front rows, smiling and knowing maybe she’d have a chance of making eye contact with him. She took out her notebook to take notes with and glanced around the room, noticing it being filled with mostly girls, some of which not being dressed professionally at all, it looked more like they were going to the bars after. She shook her head, not very surprised. All of a sudden the light dimmed and out walked Lewis Hamilton, her eyes went wide. She didn’t fully realize how close she was to the stage until he walked out and was standing probably within 20 feet of her. Everyone clapped as he waved and made his way to sit down on a couch set up on the stage. It went quiet as he began to speak.

His outfit was simple, all black, dressed professionally, his hair braided like usual, and he had a smile on his face as he spoke. She took notes of course, listened to what he had to say, but every now and then she couldn’t help but stare. As the lecture wrapped up, Lena couldn’t wait to ask a question. She had thought about it all day, rehearsing in her mind how to sound confident without being too forward. She had to make this moment count. When the Q&A session opened, she raised her hand without hesitation.

His attention turned to her hand first, pointing at it, “yes, what’s your question?”

Her eyes widened as they met his, but she had to keep her cool, everyone was looking at her. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to ask the question.

Taglist:

@lh44girl

next chapter >>

[gallusgalluss]

please unleash your inspekta thoughts

your art is amazing i cant stop looking at it

i hope you have a happy new year!!

end of jan edit: when i wrote this i only really played through the game once :V after playing the game a few more times some of my thoughts n analysis parts of this have changed a lot. not gonna go in an change it all cause I Dont Have The Time. but just a heads up ig 👍 inspekta is still the evil worm that lives in my brain at all times

happy new year anon n thank you :]!!!!

also ur so evil ur letting me unleash my Inspekta thoughts,,,,how cruel how cruel

im going full yapper mode + there's spoilers so Watch Out

I like Inspekta, he's a little freak and a really interesting character to think about. While, for me, the twist with him wasn't totally a surprise (I did Not trust his cuteness the second i saw him lmao), I REALLY liked the way his character progressed throughout the game. He's your buddy! He's your pal! Don't worry about all these posters and weird plushies and standees and propaganda of him everywhere and how he keeps being called “the one and only god”, it's Fine it's Fine! He's sillay :D!!!

I'm generally just obsessed with characters who are put into leadership positions who absolutely Should Not have that amount of power over people, and I think Inspekta's a perfect example of that type of thing for me.

He had his own fears, loneliness, and jealousy cloud his judgment and that resulted in some Really Fucked Up Stuff. As a mortal he wanted to be special in the eyes of the public, so he gained enough popularity to get elected to be a god! Yay! But now he's scared of being forgotten and there's a new possible god being elected, wuh oh! Time to ruin Literally Everything because what's the easiest way to be remembered, worshiped, and loved by all if there's no more competition for your rule? Empty heavens, baby!!! Let's bring in an apocalypse!!! Yay!!!!!

Bro's fucked up and I like that.

I love how despite it all he still tries this whole Cute Buddy Friend act, even at the end with this Worm Form. Cause he KNOWS the other gods would trust and believe him and the lies he's spread about King's shocking letters, cause why wouldn't they? He's just a silly lil cutie pie! They all trust him! He's the God of Leadership! How could a Leader lead others astray? And he knows the Bizzyboys will follow him as well since he's been leading them pre-godhood for several years. He's a role model to them all, starting from nothing and now he's a god! He's just so trustworthy and sweet and will totally save the day!

Also I just wanted to include this somewhere. I really like this section (after Chapter 3, I think???)

He has this brief moment of vulnerability/sincerity/something that made him drop his “Cutesy Voice”. Like aside from this scene, near the end of chapter 5, and i Think a few parts i'm 100% forgetting, I don't think we actually see this more contemplative n genuine side of Inspekta.

He does instantly goes into gloating about himself and how he's Clearly the MOST IMPORTANT GOD OF ALL (before correcting himself to include the other gods, of course, of course).

Like if he didn't have that Ego-the-size-of-the-galaxy + Saddest Scaredest Loneliest Most Jealous Withdrawn Loser combo, all he had to do was to just Talk To People. He could've Talked to people about his Fears and Insecurities. Even the other gods; after all he's done, were still there for him! Like “Hey dude this is fucked up, we all already love you dummy, you can talk to us ya know you're allowed to feel scared!”

He's just the cutest most moe creature with soooo many issues and problems he needed to figure out.

NOW WITH HECTOR

Most of my Inspekta Thoughts can just be applied to him but slightly modified. I think it's interesting how he chose to go back to being a regular person, it makes sense cause he's like Aware of the amount of damage he's done/could've done. While he certainly won't be forgotten after Everything he's done, he isn't going to be as Grand and Powerful as he wished to be.

He's just a guy in his 50s who's trying to get over his God Complex of 33 years and also attempt to gain back the trust and respect of the Grove’s people. He's definitely going to be bearing the weight of what he's done for the rest of his life probably, but it IS interesting thinking about what he'd do to actually improve himself now, learn how to be a person again n such.

He’s also a sad miserable booboo beast of a man and i think him suffering in anguish is awesome!!!!!!! yay!!!!

This turned into more a character analysis of some sorts instead of solely my own personal thoughts, whoops. Anyways i think his designs, all 3 of em are really fun to draw. He's cute n stretchy and marketable, as all gods should be.

so ya basically inspekta/hector sucks, i hate him, and we should kill him with hammers. now. thank you 💖💖💖

[fellominaarcher]

GOT MARRIED - YOO JIMIN; KARINA X FEM!READER

13. Finale; Redamancy 1.

chapters || prev. || next

notes: this is a little longer than usual and kinda terrible.

One month later...

"Weekend" by Taeyeon blasted from the Bluetooth speaker, connected to Jimin’s latest iPhone. She bounced around the room with the brightest grin on her face, dancing along to the choreography as if she were performing for a live audience.

Meanwhile, the Aespa members were in the middle of outfit selection for an upcoming event. Some of them were having their color analysis done, but none of that seemed to matter to Jimin — who was practically radiating with joy.

Recently, Yoo Jimin had been extra cheerful. Suspiciously cheerful. Perhaps it was the excitement of the event itself — after all, it was a prestigious gala, one of the biggest in South Korea, attracting A-list actors, musicians, and socialites.

Featuring top singers and K-pop groups.

Or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with a certain lead vocalist of DayDream.

Coincidentally, it was also the middle of fall — Jang Y/N’s favorite season. And, as if by some contagious magic, Jimin seemed to have fallen in love with it too.

The atmosphere in the styling room was light, except for the growing confusion among the Aespa members, their manager, and even the stylists. It wasn’t every day they saw this version of Karina — grinning ear to ear, twirling around like a Disney princess, and looking like she had been personally blessed by the gods of serotonin.

Yizhuo, never one to hold back, chuckled as she shook her head. “Whaaaat? Why is Jimin unnie soooo... different?” she asked, though she was smiling too, amused by the sight.

Aeri shrugged, arms crossed. “Not sureee, but I think we all know what or who induced this level of happiness,” she said, watching Jimin prance around the room like she had just won the lottery.

Minjeong, who had been sitting back and watching with mild interest, simply nodded. "Good for her. I believe she deserves it."

Jimin, still in her own little world, spun around dramatically before bumping her hip against Minjeong, who merely sighed at the affectionate attack. Finally, Jimin flopped onto a chair, ready for her color analysis and styling recommendations.

As she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she saw it, her own ridiculously bright smile. It was because of Y/N. Jimin bit her lip, suppressing a giggle. How did she get this whipped?

Just thinking about Y/N made her smile like an idiot. And when she thought about all the... other things they had done, well — she nearly combusted right then and there. It made her look even prettier, almost annoyingly so.

And the realization hit her again.

I want this.

I want this over and over, with the same person, Jang Y/N.

Because she was whipped. Absolutely, stupidly, dangerously in love. Jimin sighed dreamily, but her thoughts quickly took a sharp turn.

Wait… did Y/N fall for me first?

Or did she fall for me much later? Or was it somewhere in the middle of the "We Got Married" filming?

Her expression turned from dreamy to deeply contemplative.

Without a second thought, she shot up from her seat, holding up a hand to stop the stylist behind her. “Wait —”

The room stilled for a moment as she grabbed her phone from the makeup table. She stared at it intensely, biting her lower lip.

“Do I call her and ask?” Jimin muttered to herself, tilting her head as if debating her life choices.

Her curious expression was adorably dumb.

The way she looked so intensely focused made her own reflection appear ridiculously serious. She pursed her lips. No, but really... do I call her?

The stylist, who had been mid-motion in showing Jimin a set of outfit options on a tablet, blinked at her in confusion. "Who is it...?" she asked, slightly baffled by the sudden shift in conversation.

Aeri, sensing that Jimin was about to expose her stupid cheese cat tendencies to an innocent bystander, immediately stepped in. Placing both hands on Jimin’s shoulders, she gave her a firm but amused shake.

Jimin, still determined, pouted. "But what if —"

"Don’t," Aeri repeated firmly, giving her a little shake before sighing. "But if you really wanna call her, just do it. Don’t make it weird."

Jimin huffed, crossing her arms. "I wouldn’t make it weird." Blinked. Blinked. Looking at Aeri with her big eyes.

"You’re already making it weird." Minjeong deadpanned from the couch without even looking up from her phone.

Yizhuo, who had been sipping on her smoothie, smirked. "Yeah, unnie, I think you should just text her. Or better yet, show up at her dorm unannounced like a real crazy girlfriend." The maknae suggested playfully.

Jimin gasped dramatically. "I am not a crazy girlfriend!" She retorted and placed a hand on her chest with her mouth agape.

Aeri sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I mean, don’t be you about it.” Aeri emphasized Yoo Jimin's weirdness.

Jimin, pouting, dramatically pressed a hand to her chest again. “Excuse me? I am a perfectly normal person in love —”

Aeri, deadpan, simply replied, “Last week you called Y/N at 2 AM to tell her you saw two cats sitting side by side and it reminded you of your relationship." Ended with a gesture that simply proved her point.

Jimin huffed. “That was a very deep and meaningful moment —”

“JUST CALL HER!” Aeri groaned, lightly shaking Jimin’s shoulders before letting her go.

Jimin grinned, unlocking her phone as she muttered under her breath, “She totally fell for me first," confidently with a smirk on her face.

And with that, the room returned to its usual chaos — except now, everyone was waiting to see if Jimin would actually go through with the call or chicken out at the last second.

Either way, this gala was about to be very interesting.

Aespa Post-Photoshoot Interview

The photoshoot had just wrapped up, and the Aespa members were now seated on plush stools in front of a sleek white backdrop. They were still dressed in their elegant photoshoot outfits — each of them styled differently to reflect their personalities.

A staff member handed each of them a mic, and the interviewer, a friendly-looking woman in a crisp dark blue blazer, smiled as she glanced at her cue cards.

“Alright, let’s start with Winter.”

Winter, sitting with her legs crossed and hands neatly folded on her lap, raised an eyebrow with a tiny cute smile.

“Winter, what was your most recent favorite meal?”

Winter’s smirk widened. “Oh, I had tteokbokki with cheese last night, and it was amazing.” She placed a hand over her chest dramatically.

The interviewer chuckled. “That sounds painful but worth it.”

“It was,” Winter confirmed, sighing but then she cutely smiled at the interviewer as well.

“Fashion-wise, since you all just finished a photoshoot, how did you feel about the outfits today?”

Winter leaned back slightly, glancing down at her ensemble — a sleek black and white suit tailored perfectly to her frame. “Honestly? I loved mine. It made me feel like a CEO.” She adjusted her collar. “Like I should be sitting in a high-rise office making important calls.”

Giselle nodded her head, agreeing. “You do look like you’re about to fire someone.” She told Winter as she looked at Winter's outfit.

Winter smirked, lifting an imaginary phone to her ear. “Hello? Yeah, you’re done.” She acted it out while chuckling softly.

The members laughed, and the interviewer smiled. “I can see it! Alright, last question — who was the last person you called?”

Winter blinked and looked down, deep in thought. “Oh… right. My food delivery guy.” There was no hesitation in her answer.

There was a brief pause before Ningning giggled. “You didn’t even have to think that hard about it?” She turned her head to the right to look at Winter.

Winter shrugged. “He’s very important to me.”

The interviewer turned to Giselle, who was sitting comfortably with one arm resting on the back of her chair.

“Giselle, which artist have you been listening to recently?”

Giselle tilted her head thoughtfully before responding. “Lately, I’ve been in an R&B and hip-hop mood. Brent Faiyaz, SZA, and some classic Drake have been on repeat.” She gestured to the camera.

Ningning leaned in with interest. “What era of Drake, though? That says a lot about a person.”

Giselle smirked. “Take Care era, obviously.” There was a proud smile on Giselle's face.

The members all nodded in approval and they all looked back at the interviewer, getting ready for the next questions.

“One TV series you’d recommend watching?”

Giselle lit up, suddenly leaning forward. “Oh! Brooklyn Nine-Nine! It’s my comfort show.” She grinned before straightening her posture. “Actually, hold on —”

Without warning, Giselle started singing, perfectly mimicking the famous Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold open scene.

"Tell me whyyyyy —"

Winter immediately picked up on it, covering her mouth in shock before jumping in.

"Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache!"

The interviewer was wiping away tears from laughter. “That was the best answer to this question I’ve ever gotten.” Still grinning, she moved on. “How do you like your bread?”

Giselle blinked before laughing. “Okay, that’s the most random question so far.” She sucked in her breath deeply and she thought about the question for a second.

The interviewer smiled. “But very important.”

Giselle nodded, playing along. “Alright, well, I like my bread like my music—soft on the inside, a little toasted, and preferably served with something good on top.”

Winter gave her a slow clap. “Poetic.” While nodding her head.

“Thank you, thank you,” Giselle said, bowing dramatically.

The interviewer turned to Ningning, who was still giggling from Giselle’s antics.

“Ningning, what are your three favorite colors?”

Ningning straightened up, flipping her hair back. ���Red, black, and…” she paused for effect, “...sparkly.”

The interviewer blinked. “Uh… sparkly?”

“Yes,” Ningning said with conviction. “Sparkly is a color in my heart.” And she looked so proud of it too.

“A variety show you’d like to guest in?”

Ningning smirked mischievously. “Single’s Inferno.” Oh Ningning, you're a menace.

The interviewer’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh?” She tilted her head at the answer.

“Only for me to choose no one in the end,” Ningning added, then laughed.

The members lost it as the interviewer clapped in amusement.

“What do you like to do in your free time?”

Ningning stretched her arms. “Oh, that’s easy. Sleep. Nap. Dream. Hibernate.” Ningning had her priority straight.

Winter clapped. “A woman of consistency.”

“Thank you,” Ningning said proudly.

Finally, the interviewer turned to Karina, who had been listening with a soft smile, her posture straight but relaxed.

“Karina, your recent favorite thing?”

Karina’s eyes lit up. “Flowers! Recently, someone gave me a bouquet of baby’s breath, daisies, and carnations.” She answered the question enthusiastically with a smile on her face.

The interviewer raised a brow. “That sounds special,” she added on a teasing tone in her voice, “Romantic too."

Karina chuckled, a little bashful. “Yeah… and that person is going to teach me how to frame the flowers once they dry out.” She looked particularly excited mentioning the flowers.

The members exchanged knowing glances but didn’t say anything.

“Your favorite song at the moment?”

Karina hesitated slightly before smiling. “Love, Maybe.” She exhaled softly. “It’s from my favorite K-drama, and someone special shared it with me.” Karina smiled at the thought of it.

The interviewer tilted her head. “That makes it even more meaningful.”

Karina nodded. “It really does.” She replied while tapping her nails on her knee.

“What was the last video you watched on YouTube?”

Karina blinked. “Fancams.” She immediately made a nonchalant expression to feign innocence and to not attract that much attention.

The interviewer smiled. “Whose?” Curious at Karina's simple answer to the question.

Karina cleared her throat. “Just… you know, K-pop girl group members.” It was hard playing pretend but it can be fun.

Giselle leaned forward. “Which members?” She playfully asked Karina with a teasing tone.

Karina avoided eye contact. “Does it matter?” She sat up straight and looked straight at the camera.

Ningning gasped. “You’re down bad.” Ningning joined in with the teasing while laughing.

Karina groaned as the members laughed.

────────────────────

KpopNewz Twitter Post

@kpopnewz: "Karina of Aespa is going viral after revealing that someone gifted her a bouquet of baby’s breath, daisies, and carnations—flowers with deep symbolic meanings. She also hinted that her current favorite song, Love, Maybe, was shared with her by someone special. Fans are buzzing with speculation! #Karina #Aespa"

─────────────────────

@kwangyatheories: These flower choices are not random. Someone put thought into this.

@kdramaluvrr: What if it’s Lee Jaewook?? 👀

@daydreamcvmsock: The fact that Y/N mentioned these exact flowers in an interview once… coincidence?? I think NOT.

@ningning_slayerism: Meanwhile, Ningning just wants to go on Single’s Inferno to reject men LMFAO.

[haru-dipthong]

Fansub release + Analysis of Utena Ep 18

There's a lot of ideas packed into this episode about patriarchy and what it means to become a man. This is an issue that I've personally done a lot of reflecting on, and also something I've been reading about recently with bell hooks' The Will To Change, so this episode I'll be doing a little more textual analysis than usual and comparing readings of Utena with bell hooks.

Utena: つわぶき君はよく続くなー。僕だったらあの生活三日も持たないや。 Anthy: きっと好きだからできるんですよ

Utena: I don't know how he does it. I wouldn't last three days being bossed around like that. Anthy: If you loved someone, you'd understand.

This line is soooo revealing. It really shows how Anthy thinks about love. And god, the way she says it — so condescending to Utena with the んですよ. Like “you poor naive thing who has never experienced love, I know better than you do”. It sounds very "you'll understand when you're older". And it tears me up inside to see Anthy believing that she is the one who knows better. Even Utena’s naivity is better than Anthy’s horrible warped idea of what love is. And obviously the reason Anthy essentially takes a stand behind the idea that love is unconditional servitude is because of her curse and her relationship with Akio. She is obliged to be at the beck and call of her betrothed, a position of love. And she has learnt from Akio that love is running yourself into the ground, from his time serving the people as Dios. And her relationship with Akio, a familial relationship that is traditionally one of love, is essentially slavery. What else can she do, how else can she live with herself, if not by telling herself that this is what love is meant to be?

A more literal translation of Anthy's line would be something like "I'm sure he can do it because he loves her". But her tone and phrasing in Japanese makes it clear that she's extrapolating - she's thinking that anyone in love would do the same. That's why I translated the line the way I did.

I also tried "That's just what love is" but it didn't sound condescending enough. I needed Anthy to sound like Utena's mum in this exchange, because that's how she sounds in Japanese.

大人になりたい！大人になって世界をめちゃくちゃにしてやりたい！

I want to grow up! I want to become a man so I can fuck up the world!

Oh god oh fuck. What is happening to our little Mitsuru… who could have predicted this?! Well, bell hooks did:

Boys are encouraged by patriarchal thinking to claim rage as the easiest path to manliness. It should come as no surprise, then, that beneath the surface there is a seething anger is boys, a rage waiting for the moment to be heard. The Will To Change pp. 44

In isolation they lose the sense of their value and worth. No wonder then that when they reenter a community, they bring with them killing rage as their primary defence. pp. 43

The word めちゃくちゃにする is difficult to translate. It’s a word used often in casual conversation, so it doesn’t sound very formal or proper. It kind of means “to throw into complete disorder; to make everything a complete mess”. E.g.

その地震は何もかもめちゃくちゃにした

The earthquake destroyed/smashed up everything.

In this context though, “destroy” or “smash up” doesn’t work because we’re not talking about buildings and furniture, we’re talking about “the world”. Other translations try their best to translate this line without swearing (I want to become a man and wreck the world! // I want to be an adult and just kick over the whole world! // I want to a grown up, and just… just do whatever I want with the world!). But I really don’t think it’s possible. THE translation for めちゃくちゃにする in this context is “to fuck up”.

経験を積んだ大人を倒してこそ子供は大人になる

But a kid who beats an adult… will become an adult himself!

Maybe I’m reading too much into the word 倒す here, but allow me to digress: I don’t think this translation is particularly controversial. 倒す literally does mean “beat”. But I originally had this as “defeat”, a much less violent word (also used by the one of the translations I’m using as reference). However, I think “beat” is better for several reasons.

First, 倒す is a word that comes up a lot in anime and manga targeted at the 12-16 year old boy demographic. “Beat” is similar — “can superman beat goku in a fight?” It has the same schoolyard feel to it. Using a word like this emphasises Tsuwabuki’s boyishness.

Secondly, while 倒す means “to defeat”, this meaning is actually metaphorical. Its literal meaning is “to knock down/to fell”. I’m guessing the “defeat” meaning comes from its use in boxing, where knocking someone down is equivalent to defeating them. Because of this, the original Japanese could be interpreted more literally — Tsuwabuki wants to batter an adult, he wants to prove his manhood by beating a woman, by knocking her down. I think this reading is reinforced by Tsuwabuki’s violent patriarchal outburst in the Seminarium elevator.

Another except from bell hooks’ The Will To Change (emphasis mine):

Researchers found that boys agreed that to be truly manly, they must command respect, be tough, not talk about problems, and dominate females. pp. 42

And another:

Boys who are allowed to assume the role of “mini patriarch” are often violent toward their mothers. (…) Obviously, as small boys they do not have the strength to overpower their mothers, but it is clear that they see the use of violence to get their needs met as acceptable. pp. 61-62

As always, thank you to my editor @dontbe-lasanya for their amazing editing skills! This project wouldn't be possible without you!

Remember to follow the blog if you want to stay updated with new episode releases. For all episodes released so far, go here:

Rose divider taken from this post

[iztea]

OMG M'FINALLY DONE WOOOOO (i was preparin' for the exams so couldn't afford the time to finish this quickly soooo)

you asked for an analysis so here's that n' this uhhh

long and lanky physique

lots n' lots of lasso tool

blur or soft brush on anything

TEXTURES USE EM

lazy backgrounds w/ lasso n soft brush

thin lineart

make shapes w/ lasso tool for shadows n' light

oh my you actually did it😭 i don't even know what to say, I definitely was not talking or thinking of myself when i suggested studying other artists I'm not worthy of this kind of special treatment

you did such a good job, seeing it all laid out like that with that cute lil analysis and everything is really impressive, you absolutely nailed the colors it's exactly how I would have painted it as well; the blood too is very well done! I'm genuinely touched that you've taken time out of your day(s) and gone through the effort on trying out my artstyle of all people and i that hope you..,, had a productive session?😭 ah you're putting me in a difficult spot i can't view or recommend my own art as "study" material but nonetheless i hope it was useful in any sort of way!! good luck on your exams!

[threalcrabbysamantha]

I’m very ship and let ship, largely because, well, it really doesn’t matter all that much what ships people like, and on top of that, I think shipping is really personal and often says more about what YOU desire about of connection (romantic or not) than anything else.

And yet it DOES baffle me when people ship a canon pair that has just a terribly written romance. Like just soooo poorly done. And then they don’t go around being like “this ship deserved better and I engage in discourse and fan work about this pair that fleshes out their romance.” No, instead they’re like “I ship these two because their romance is amazing 10/10 no notes.” When even just like cursory critical analysis of the text would tell you that it is NOT well-written romance or character work.

It’s just so strange to me. Like there are plenty of ships I love that got screwed over by the writing, and I still love those ships - but I’m not under the delusion that those romances are super well written. Spuffy comes to mind here especially because while I love them, let’s be honest, Joss Whedon was actively sabotaging anything real between them and it shows in the writing.

It just makes me wonder what kind of relationships those kind of ride-or-die-my-ship-is-textually-perfect-despite-overwhelming-evidence-to-the-contrary kind of shippers have in their lives. Or maybe it’s not about that at all. Maybe these kinds of shippers are equally as blinded by everything they like, and they’ve fallen into the classic thought trap that the things you like have to be perfect to keep yourself morally pure.

[softantlers]

what do you think the writers are doing with lottienat’s dynamic this season? im soooo lottienat pilled and i just NEED interactions between them. i know we’re 4 episodes in so i need to be patient but idk.

also any cool lottienat connections between the season you found out about? or analysis? idk im just so starved for any lottienat content😭

hey! honestly, i'm not sure what the writers are doing with them this season. while i would like to see the interpersonal relationships between all the YJs grow, i think development is conflicting with pacing & the adult timeline and i'm not so sure what to expect.

i really hope that the trial vote is explored further and not just sort of brushed off like travnat's breakup was but i could see it going either way.

for me lottienat is a relationship that just kinda proved itself by virtue of chemistry between the actors and the complementary themes between characters (skeptic/believer, prophet/hunter, rich/poor) and i really am not always sure how much the writers are actually trying to invest in them vs what naturally seems to happen bc the characters just suit each other so well??

my ideal headcanon around the lottie vote in favor of shauna is that it's informed by lottie's intimate relationship with homegirl's propensity for violence. like i think we as a fandom (but hopefully not the writers??) brushed over the fact that shauna nearly killed lottie last season. it's difficult to separate shauna's intimidation during the vote from that.

i think the shots of the wilderness when lottie votes could probably be read as motivating toward a new queen (i would find this less interesting) or an intuition that going against shauna in that moment would result in something worse than ben dying. remember that during the trial when misty was questioning lottie, their logic finally got to the point of "maybe anyone could have done it" & i think lottie is painfully aware that misplaced rage can get you killed. i think an interesting angle for her vote is sort of harm reduction- shauna is on the brink and it's better ben than one of us ("he's not one of us" like shauna said).

of course i am lottienat!pilled but i don't really think the writers are so the other aspect of my headcanon likely isn't going to happen. but something i see in my heart of hearts when i think about these characters is lottie weighing what being dethroned means. you can be dethroned by being killed or you can be dethroned by being dismissed in shame (she technically experienced that herself!!!). her vision literally has her seeing which way the wind is blowing. this is HEADCANON (i'm not delulu that the writers would give us something this delicious lol) but i like the idea that lottie, for how much she loves natalie, is willing to aid in her being dethroned in shame if it means she doesn't get killed. she's willing to betray her girl if it saves her life.

anyways thanks for asking! this was fun to write.

[iam-lnt]

Hetamyu is great and here's sort of a......theatrical analysis pov of why

last time i ranted about "hetamyu being great" (👈this post right here) i'm not exactly being clear, and since the production itself has much that I can analyze (already written a 2k article abt the stage 💀) I figure I can do better

So I...analyzed all Hetamyu that I've seen (excluding the live mash-up versions since technically those are more like concerts than theatrical plays) from the following perspectives under cut

(warning: it's long as fuck. I'm not even kidding. I opened the cut myself after finishing it and I felt like I'm going to faint)

I've warned y'all.

Symbolic and innovative staging

Stage is something often overlooked as a regular audience, which, when doing analysis, should not be. Whatever happens in the play happens on the stage, and thus the stage, when being designed, will be closely linked with the play itself. The stage in hetamyu use the classical three-side proscenium stage, which is what one would imagine when saying "a stage".

The stage of hetamyu episodes holds meaning with respect to the historical period/symbolic, thus assisting in story/theme telling. Examples:

The great world: Round middle part of the stage with the spin-able plate in the middle; a callback to the time period (great exploration) and its ideal that the Earth is "round", like the stage. 

In the new world: The big book design in the background can 1) engross the audience in the story as if they’re reading a book themselves, 2) add to the historical sense of the play with the parchment-like material, 3) as the actor themselves move the page it feels like they're telling the story themselves, and also adding onto the fact that if actors flip to the page before, it's like someone's trying to turn back history

The world is wonderful: The high platform behind can be symbolic for its height representing the strength of a nation behind higher than others; it’s also a way to isolate the one on top with those on ground level to highlight a specific character via height

The general staging of hetamyu is progressively more creative. Examples:

The great world: movable stair pieces

In the new world: ngl that book design is pretty good

Fantastic world: use those tall iron rack/frame things to mimic a boat and the hang-down cloth to mimic the Fuji mountain.

That's really something bc often theater production will not choose a realistic display of everything, since all they have is a limited amount of stage (not like, for example, tv series where they have green screen or sth). Choosing a creative yet fitting method to narrate a wider perspective is soooo important and inspiring. Hetamyu, being stories of grand history stories, obviously cannot put a palace, a tank, a wall, or a mountain on stage. So they either 1) leave it blank and up to imagination accompanied by assisting dialogues/actions or 2) use shapes that are alike to the presented view. If done well, you wouldn't even notice that "things are not real", bc despite no realistic object is presented, the whole atmosphere allows your brain to fill the gap--all the reason why hetamyu exceeds expectations in this field.

The use of comedy

It's easy to notice that hetamyu is laughable as hell. Not joking, I cannot finish a play without shaking with laughter somewhere (although it tend to get serious and angst towards the end…will talk about it later), and I'm sure most have similar experiences. This means that comedy is well used in production of hetamyu. I'd like to divide the comedy parts in hetamyu into two components:

--Personality of characters-- This one is easier to understand. The wacky idiots we have in original hetalia manga/anime is basically the source of humor, including but not limited to 

Italy whipping out his white flag

America yelling "I'm number 1"

Which is working well, of course. But one thing that I’m glad is that hetamyu didn’t stop there with the characterization—it expanded on what should be "them being just dumb" and turned them into real and heart-felt characters, such as

Italy preferring peace over war (Grandpa Rome etc etc)

America actually being number 1 in the world and feeling "lonely" (in The world is wonderful. Ah I love that line sm)

Of course we can see that many of the said expansion on characterization is already done in original hetalia, and it’s true, hima already handled their characters well. But my point is that hetamyu did not use comedy solely for comedy, it did not use stupidity/egocentrism/bickering only for the laughter—it's a reflection of unique traits of characters, which in turn makes us love them even more.

--Improvisation-- The script itself purposefully leave out certain parts for the actors themselves to improvise. Now I'm not sure if it's a common thing generally in Japanese theater production of popular anime (I'm guessing it is), but I always love this design. Usually, one play will have multiple points for multiple characters' improvisation skits. 

The actors themselves (from what I've seen in BTS videos) will plan out jokes to tell during these improvisation parts. For one, these skits break the fourth wall well, bc actors would often use irl examples (eg commercials, quotes, songs, films, famous ppl) to mimic and/or cue; for another, it's a weird extension of the character themselves, so it's funny because the characters we know are being weird…either ooc or completely in character. Examples of there improvisation skits include

The great world: America drawing random stuff on a pull-out blackboard and explaining it to everyone when Japan asked. [The improvisation is what would be drawn and how he would explain.]

Fantastic world: How France and England would bicker and exit the stage. [The improvisation is how their arguments would turn to different topics and how France will end their conversation with a one-liner; and also an extended improvisation of the other one-liner Spain commenting on them two]

Expanding just a bit here, these improvisations remind me how Commedia dell'arte (an Italian theater tradition) will have "Lazzi", which is a set sequence of improvisation, in their play production. I think it follows certain steps to create a Lazzi but I…did not do my research on this one, sadly. Also I think it can correspond to "jig" in English. [Sprinkling in random theater knowledge even if this whole post is basically theater knowledge]

Themes, ideals, and conflicts

Typically, a theatrical production will have an "intention" of some sort, which would be what the producers want to tell by staging a play. From the intention derive possible themes and ideals. Conflicts, on the other hand, is used for pushing the plot forward and towards a climax, consequently telling a propelling story (see the classical plot diagram). A arguably successful play will most likely have insightful themes and perceptive ideals along with a well-set conflict to tell the themes and ideals. 

—Themes and ideals via the plot— Hetalia has little plot, or to say a hella lot of plot bc it's the whole freaking history. Thus, hetamyu chooses this approach: tell a story in a certain historical period (or as the show develops, multiple periods). We see hetamyu tell stories of the great exploration, the unification of Italy, the opening of Japan, and so much more. 

What's impressive is…it is hard enough to tell a good historical story, it is harder yet that hetamyu is dealing with nation personifications for god's sake. I commented once before that it's pretty amazing that although there's a decent amount of typical fandom fights in hetalia (just like others), during the course of my being in the fandom, never have I seen once that hetalia meddle with political arguments. It has so much potential for political fights but I’ve seen���none. Like literally how. Hetamyu handled some of the most dangerous topics (like world wars and colonization) and advocated peace over everything. Okay hetalia did that also, but that's another story. Also credits to @thecursedislander for pointing out a possible symbolism of peace = pasta since Italy's supposed "weakness" is actually a brave advocation for peace and cheerfulness, I think that realization broke me somehow.

You'd expect this "history story + peace and love" troupe to, ugh, fade in its usefulness if it's used too many times, and yes the producers of hetamyu noticed that. This is why, when I finished watching Fantastic world, my jaw dropped—hetamyu tackled a problem called "Japan's lack of culture due to recent history, and also it's relationship with his mentor China". Okay that’s impressive as hell bc consider the real world audience and um idk real world politics???? I'm impressed at the production teams' insightfulness in history as well as their dedication to bring a light-hearted and loved show on stage. Like I would often describe to my friend, the themes tackled in hetamyu made me believe that whoever wrote the script must have either a Philosophy or a History degree or sth, because the sort of "realization" brought forth by the telling of themes is just that brilliant and open-minded

—Setting up conflicts— Every hetamyu has a main conflict accompanied by sub-conflicts. Example:

The great world with the main England-America relationship

The world is wonderful with the main North/South Italy relationship, 

Fantastic world with the main Japan inner conflict and his relationship with China, along with sub-conflicts such as Japan-Netherlands or Japan-America. 

This approach is useful because it avoided the show being just a chaotic mess of idiots running around doing stuff. Now it's…a chaotic mess of idiots running around doing stuff and trying to fix their problems/the main conflict. Welp. You get the idea. Essentially conflict pairs help set up a reasonable plot for the 2 hour show to go on while showing all the drama. Also who is in the conflict tells a bit of the theme, like how Japan-China conflict can call back to the theme of culture integration etc. 

Other production elements

Just going over them quickly bc this is already too long…yeah.

Lighting: use of different colors of light to indicate shifting of atmosphere on stage; e.g. iconically the opening scene for The world is wonderful/flashing lights to add to tension on stage/blue to create an atmosphere of freezing cold during Russia's scenes

Music: Not much I can say other than the songs are getting progressively better. Compare those in Singin' in the world and the newest The glorious world and you'll see what I mean. I feel like the composers add more into the instruments, like strings, guitars, keyboards, and stringed their melodies together better. 

Props: Also getting better, and more creative. Like Chibi America's cradle, the HRE hand doll, and all the stuff lying around the stage in The glorious world. 

Actors and casts

This is not my strong point in analysis bc this is technically not included when analyzing a play. But I decided to add this in anyway, because if a play is good enough it can educate not only the audience but also the actors themselves. 

—Specific roles— I like the fact that actors have specific roles when it comes to producing a play; like Russia's actor specialize in telling the oldest corniest coldest jokes ever, Germany's actor being the only voice of reason and thus a good choice for ending improvisation skits, and Italy and America's actors being the absolute kings in chaotic improv. 

—Characterization— I ranted about it once before I think, but the actors of hetamyu giving the characters a new set of characteristics is something I dig so much for. The most obvious one got to be England; his actor Daisuke literally portrayed this supposed gentleman as his original sassy self, which is hella fun. Other actors do similar things, but I'd argue those are harder to spot bc they matched their characters' freak pretty damn well.

—Wholesome, encouragement, and growth— So this whole family of hetamyu cast is wholesome as hell. It's like that with many other shows, in which the cast bond over the experience. With hetamyu it’s better because they have a long time span—the first hetamyu Singin' in the world came in 2015, and the last hetamyu The glorious world just ended touring this year in 2024. 

Also, the break after the first three production (in which they started a live one, thinking that it's the end of hetamyu's production and they're not going to make new shows together…I'm not sure about the reasons tho) and the return afterwards are great opportunities for the cast to bond over.

We can see the growth of multiple cast members, e.g. Ryoki, Italy's actor, was only 16/17 when he first starred in 2015, and bro's now 26 and striving in his career as a singer, and Gaku, Prussia's actor, was a rather new member of the cast (starting from In the new world) and can be quite shy, but other members encouraged him and cheered him on and look at him now! Okay he's still like the bullied kid in the cast but at least he knows he's loved by the fam (/hj). 

One last thing, I like how the main casts won't forget to include the ensemble cast into their improv skits just for fun. Cuz like, without the ensemble the play wouldn't be complete, so even if they're just dancers for background aesthetic and props moving, they're still a crucial part of the play. And I adore the fact that main cast also keeps that in mind. Respect. 

I can go on about the cast dynamic for ages and start a new rant on their acting skills or sth but I'm afraid I've already run too far away from our topic. Point is, show so good the cast is in tears (literally)

Conclusion

I have no good conclusion for all these...(gesture helplessly above)...stuff. So in conclusion hetamyu is awesome and we love hetamyu 4ever.

Also feel free to spill any thoughts & suggestions !! Diverse pov/opinion needed for better analysis and my brain may or may not be deprived of braincells <3 in da hetamyu club we all fam

[marciaillust]

How long does it take for you to finish drawing?

I'm an artist (beginner) and i unconsciously set unrealistic goals for myself and need a reminder of how long it takes to complete a drawing, Thanks.

Hi! In the context you presented it in, that is a really interesting question, so I'll try to approach it thoroughly. I hope I won't make you roll your eyes too much.

Where to start, where to start... I guess the first thing I should say is that there is a difference between time I spend preforming the action of <drawing>, and the time I spent <working> on a particular piece. The first would be counted in hours, the second one - days. I'm a big believer in slowing things down, and giving things time - going through options, gathering research and references, taking breaks every 1h of sitting and drawing - and seeing things through until I achieve the goal I set at the beginning of the process.

The goals are usually different each time: "quick design", "character exploration", "analysis of an artist's linework and experimenting with the knowledge gained", "creating an aesthetically pleasing image", and so on and so forth. Of course I don't write these down like it's a school assignment, but knowing in the back of my head what I'm actually doing helps me manage my expectations. I also enjoy being conscious of why I create - when I was younger regardless of what I was doing I had the thought "AND IT MUST LOOK GOOD AND PRESENTABLE! BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL LOOK!" ...and I think that obsession is the cancer of creative process.

Since the goals for each picture are different, the time I'll spent on achieving each one will be different as well, because the "satisfactory results" lay in different places. For example, the Marcile sketchpage was created in one afternoon, and took approximately 3 hours. The goal was to play around with a brush that has no opacity forcing my lines to be more decisive. I did that and so it is "finished". There's nothing else I want from it.

On the other hand, the cover of Asterism took about 10 days to create, the goal of which was to make "an aesthetically pleasing cover picture taking colour inspiration from the works of (specific list of artists)". I took my time designing it so that it looks aesthetically pleasing, made sure the anatomy is "correct" (a nebulous statement when it comes to stylised humans), took my time masking, and picking colours, and shading. I wanted it to "look good" to my own eyes so if something was not working I would go back, change it, alter it, move it around... that's the wonderful thing about personal art, you can take as long as you like making something satisfactory.

The funny thing is, with what the Asterism cover actually is (a cellshaded image), it could have been done probably in 4 days by the me 4 years ago. But that person was willing to sit 8-10 hours a day to draw with no breaks, she had little social life, and treated herself as a little circus seal performing tricks so that people clap around her, and the clapping was soooo nice because it meant that people remembered her and she mattered. And it worked for her! For long 10 years! Until her arm gave out, and the reality of never being able to draw again became more tangible than ever, and it's been following her like a fog ever since for the past 4 years. The me today works about 4 hours a day and every hour I take about a 30 minute break. I also don't post half the stuff I draw. There is also another aspect that dictates the speed of creating and that is familiarity with the subject matter. The less you know something, the fast you'll draw it! But as you get to know the intricacies of the process, and see all the building blocks, it will start taking *longer* because you will start accounting for every block. But then you'll eventually get familiar with the blocks and so the time spent on a picture will go down again! The cool yet overwhelming thing about art is that, there are always hundreds of building blocks. Form, composition, ambient occlusion, saturation, hue, light balance, line form...... and those are just the *some* of the generalised *categories*. And each category will have it's own subsection of building blocks! And then those blocks will interact with each other to create completely new area of expertise! This is crazy! Marcille sketch page took me only 3 hours to create because I am already quite familiar with linework - I have drawn 3-4 comicbooks worth of linework. This also means I am familiar with believable anatomy, more or less, which got utilised in the Asterism cover - the main bulk of linework got created during a 3h livestream. So.... what's the answer.... "It's all relative" is so unsatisfactory and probably not what you looked for. But you can draw something in 3 days and kill your body over it. Or you can become an expert in a field and dish the same picture out effortlessly in 8 hours. You can also split that 8h block over multiple days bringing you back up to 3 days. You could even add a whole day of visual research which might make your picture only marginally better. And even if we calculate it in terms of raw working time, pen-to-paper, like a self-inflicted capitalist tumor, that time can fluctuate still due to personal visual library and knowledge base. If I asked Tom Fox how long it takes for him to create his sketch pages his answer would probably be downward of 30 minutes. Yet I need whole 3 hours to create something *less* anatomically correct than him. And so here we are at the end of this perhaps unnecessary essay. And all we learned is this: it depends. Dry, not nuanced tl;dr, my personal timings: single sketch - 30mins; single linework pic 1-2h; Cellshaded illust - 16h; Rendered illust: 20-25h.

[ladyofthebookcase]

ok here's my review of the watcher so far! spoilers for both endings probably.

I LOVE IT. it has its flaws but it's literally impossible to make a bad rain world game + the inclusion of the original team on this one absolutely knocks it out of the park. i ADORE that we got more lore and elaborations on things from vanilla-- like, the signal spires iterators?!?! hello??? that's so sick. also, the threads of reality stuff is really really cool and i'll be rattling it around in my brain for a while i think. it's very cool that they gave us a sort-of explanation for the cycles, or at least a way to explain it ourselves. also, what tumblr user iteratorsex has been doing with color symbolism and analysis of the rot-- i agree with all of that and im rotating it in my brain at immense speeds.

i think gameplay is probably the least polished, but again, this is the first release, they gave it to us early, and considering that, i'm more than happy with what we have. future updates will hopefully polish it up and they seem to be actively collecting feedback on that and listening to the community about accessibility fixes, so i have really no complaints. common videocult W. my only real gripe with gameplay is that i fucking hate aether ridge and would really rather they'd done a badlands and just completely redone it but like eh. it's fine that they didn't ig. i also wish, conversely, that they'd kept old badlands-- the new one is fine, but it really seems like it could be something completely different. they could've added it as a subregion onto badlands 1 or sumn. but i digress. i love that they added modded regions at all: some of those are absolute BANGERS like coral caves and im glad they got the recognition they deserve!

the portaling mechanic is a bit janky right now as well, but again, i expect it'll be improved on in the future. knowing that you can just use existing portals and don't need to keep making your own ones is very nice actually and i'm just glad i figured that out at all-- i'm not upset that they don't tell you that ingame, i like having to figure stuff out on my own. yeah it was frustrating but that's rain world <3

in terms of the story. waow. they hit it out of the park. i love the watcher soooo much they're so AUUUUUGHHHHH. they have so much personality and lore to them and it's shown to us so well through cutscenes and just in general the choices the story forces you to make (i.e. infecting all the regions with rot is the path you have to take to get the ending, but from a story perspective, it's also what watcher decides to do in order to be friends with the prince. same thing with following oaoa around! i love how games will imply things about the player character through narrative options like this auuugh it's so good.) the watcher is my baby and i would like to care for them and cherish them. the lack of normal iterators is honestly refreshing-- i love those guys, but downpour gave us enough of them i think, and it's nice to explore other aspects of the lore like ancients, echoes, and the rot this time around. i especially love learning more about the ancients-- ancient urban is probably my favourite region of the entire game, and was even before i found the upper part with the ancients in it.

sorry im jumping between tangents like crazy but i want to cover all my bases here as i think of them. this campaign was HORRIFYING. like. the devs have really gotten good at making things scary and building a slow sense of increasing and terrible dread god damn. when i first entered the prince's room i was so freaked out by just the lack of anything in there besides the giant rot bulb and the singular karma flower, tiny in comparison. the presence of karma flowers at all in such a heavily rotted and decaying place as the throne is incredibly ominous and i love how they're able to make something that's normally so benign and welcome into something scary. when i first saw the prince move i immediately paused the game and tabbed out because i got so scared. this game is SO FUCKING GOOD AT BEING SCARY and i love it. even just when you're stuck in vanilla regions and the rot is slowly spreading and the lizards are starting to get infected, you get this slow and growing horror of "what the fuck is happening" that i feel is absent from both vanilla and downpour and it's amazing. exploring station annex for the first time, discovering the rotted vanilla regions, finding the throne... it's just so fucking good. i fear replays will never live up to the experience of going through it the first time but i'll really cherish that nonetheless.

also can we talk about the first ending. because that made me cry. finding oaoa in their childhood bedroom.... learning they were a child and seeing them move on... returning to their room to find their toys and getting to play with them and have the watcher reclaim some of their childhood joy... what a beautiful story GOOD LORD. and the art elevates it so much. the cutscenes are gorgeous but also can we talk about how much the background art has improved??? like god damn. the drills in outer rim look so insanely detailed and good like that really stood out to me. also their use of vibrant and bright colors in regions like signal spires and verdant waterways... AUGH. and the insane detail in ancient urban... the subtle colors there and the use of negative space... it's so damn good. i could go on for hours about the background art alone like vanilla rain world is already gorgeous and the watcher takes that to another level.

in conclusion. watcher is amazingly good and well crafted and you can clearly tell that so much love and care went into every part of this game. i haven't even talked about the creatures here GOD the creatures are so good. the creativity on display here. they got so weird with it and i love that soooo much. I <3 RAIN WORLD

[cryoverlife]

So I made a brief post talking about Ruby and Julius Kane being bad parents and uh... here's the essay.

(quick side rant, omg this post is going to be long)

honestly I really should make a series about it, because after really thinking about it, the Kane Siblings have a severe lack of any good parental care in their life. This isn't exactly abnormal in the Riordanverse, but compared to the other series, which have minimal adult characters (that aren’t dead or immortal), the Kane Chronicles have many adult characters and many of the important ones were there to take care of Sadie and Carter.

Yeah that didn't work out.

I mean there's a lot of facets to the Kane siblings relationships with parental figures. From the... interesting and like definitely racist environment Sadie had to deal with while living with her grandparents to Carter's mental state and identity(?) while living with his dad. there is so much I could over analysis, and I'm not a fan of these books to sit around and reread all day so uh, I'm gonna over analysis all of it.

Eventually, but this post will be long even talking about the more aspect I want to talk about with out dragging the rest of the things I find interesting into it soooo.

When first reading the Kane Chronicles, Ruby and Julius actually seem like good parents. they certainly made mistakes but they do love their kids. and even now, I don't doubt they love their kids. It's just an incredibly interesting scenario where the parents, no matter how much they love their kids, are capable of putting the well being of the world first.

And that's the crux of the issue. Ruby and Julius are capable of being excellent parents, but in the situation they were in, they decide it was either the world or Carter and Sadie and they didn't hesitate to choose the world.

In fact, I'm pretty sure Bast said something very similar to this.

Anyway, I'm gonna start with Ruby and Julius's deaths. Personally, I think saying they abandoned Carter and Sadie isn't actually wrong here. I'm definitely not saying someone dying is abandoning the people they love, but it's the way Julius and Ruby both die and how both situations are almost planned.

Now there's not a lot of cannon conformation about Ruby's death, but I, personally, inferenced that Ruby and Julius predicted that it was a very likely scenario that freeing Bast would mean Ruby's death. Or at the very least they definitely knew the dangers of it.

Unlike Julius, Ruby didn't choose to die, but she did put herself in a situation where it was likely. Did she do it with the best intentions? sure. But I find the whole "we had no other choice" thing dumb. Diviner doesn't seem like an incredibly reliable source of information, and unlike the greek pantheon I'm not aware of any being in Egyptian Mythology that specifically controls fate (feel free to prove me wrong here). The idea that they couldn't have done anything else, is kind of absurd.

I mean they convinced Iskander that banning gods was wrong so like? maybe they should have leaned more into that angle.

Also like, they freed Bast, which good for Bast, but doing that sped up the process that allowed Apophis to get free. Ruby had a couple of visions and the two of them spent the rest of they're lives deciding to not just prevent the apocalypse, but to put that burden on their children's shoulders.

Personally, I think Ruby's death was while unfortunate not a surprise to either of them, considering she didn't really seem to try to survive, denying both Isis's and Bast's help. Maybe she wouldn't have been able to handle the power, but like, she could have tried.

Now the bigger Issue I have is Julius's death, cause Ruby's is mostly speculation on my part, I could be wrong, but uh, Julius planned his death. He brought to kids into what was going to be an incredibly dangerous situation. And yes, he did ask them to stay out of the room, but the idea that he used them to help him accomplish this which would leave them without their one living parent while also implicating them of any potential crimes the mortals might decide had happened (which is canon) is horrible.

Arguably, We have no idea weather or not Julius planned on releasing Set, and having Carter and Sadie host Horus and Isis (though those amulet are suspicious). Personally I believe that he had some idea what was going to happen, he's not stupid, but similarly to Ruby's death he decide to take that chance anyway.

Was it for the good of the world? sure. Was it for the good of Sadie and Carter? no, absolutely not.

Even if the situation hadn't thrown Sadie and Carter head first into a deadly quest it would've have severely traumatized them. They could feel guilt for helping their dad commit a crime (especially if they had no idea what was going on) or get himself killed. It doesn't help that Sadie already had abandonment issues due to him.

But more importantly, (not to say his relationship with Sadie isn't important, but his death has a far larger impact on Carter), he left Carter with no one. Besides for maybe Amos, but not only are the two of them estranged but I can't really think that Julius would've thought Amos would take Carter in. And honestly living with the Uncle you barely remember isn't much better than living with stranger, there no one for Carter to go to.

Julius was Carter's single guardian and his only form of stability and familiarity for six years. Do I think he was a good support system of Carter during those six year? not really, but the fact that Julius was willing to throw Carter to the wolves (the government and the foster system) isn't a good sign.

so yeah, the fact that both Julius and Ruby basically went willingly and knowingly to their deaths is kind of abandoning their kids.

I wish I could say (that's a bad way to phrase this) that Julius had planned the quest to defeat Set but I kinda think that would be speculating a bit to much.

Luckily, it's basically canon that they expected Sadie and Carter to save the world so anything I might say about that isn't at all a stretch.

My biggest problem with them though is that neither of them even mentioned the idea of being magicians to Carter or Sadie. And it;'s not because they're to young, because many magicians learn what they are at a very young age.

It could've been to protect them from The House of Life, but considering how violent and uncontrolled they're magic can get with zero knowledge of it it's seems weird that they wouldn't try to teach them how to control it.

(also It was denying Carter and Sadie a large amount of knowledge about their family and even culture to some extent)

Both of the parents fully understood that Sadie and Carter would have to save the world, and yet despite that both of them died without even hinting at Sadie and Carter's abilities.

And there's a big difference between this and what many of the better parents in the Riordanverse did by trying to avoid telling their kids about their heritage. People like Sally and Natalie Chase did it with the intention of trying to protect their kids as long as possible. Sure, it didn't help but they either weren't given a chance to fully explain when the kids were old enough or tried to but it came a bit late (for reasons they couldn't control), Ruby and Julius fully understood that Carter and Sadie would be put in a lot of danger and didn't even inform them of that the gods existed.

Yeah technically most of the Riordanverse parents did that, but there is a big difference in the lives of demigods vs magicians. Telling a demigod about the greek god would also mean having to explain the fact that they being hunted down by monster, which is not something you should tell your seven year old, especially if the real danger is going to come a bit later. Magicians don't actually have a lot of danger associated with them, Carter and Sadie are sort of an exception to that. Like sure, don't tell them about the saving the world part until they're older (Not that Julius even tried) but like tell them about the magic part, my goodness.

Sadie and Carter learned all of this on a really dangerous quest, while trying to save their dad who had planned his death, and in the end they were forced to make a decision between their dad and the world. A decision they didn't really get to make because of the situation and Julius's plan had already made it for them.

Sadie and Carter were shoved into a dangerous world with arguably less help than any other Riordanverse character (excluding the MC series, cause they all died to find out about Norse gods). Like at least the demigods had a camp to go to, Carter and Sadie had a world wide society on their heels, a possessed uncle, a clay person having an identity crisis (which wasn't even over the fact she wasn't real) and a single cat goddess who was forced to ditch like half-way through the book.

Julius legit went "Hey sorry I planned on dying, why don't you almost die to try and save me even though it's useless and than find out me and your mother planned out the worst way to give you the burden of saving the world along with a bunch of responsibilities you don't want *cough* Carter wanting nothing to do with being in charge *cough*.”

I could complain that they also encouraged and helped Sadie and Carter do dangerous stuff (give them a dangerous criminal while knowing he would escape) but unfortunately that’s a common thing parents in fantasy books do.

Like, if they’re kid is already in a dangerous situation and they can’t get them out of it or the kid has to much of a guilt/ hero complex, then better they try to help their kid as much as possible to try to protect them, then forbid them from doing anything which will lead to the kid trying to do everything themselves and getting into more danger.

course the reason Carter and Sadie are in so much danger is because of their parents.

actually Ruby and Julius have a lot of similarities with the gods when it comes to parenting. Cause problems, help your kid a minimal amount after forcing them to fix the problems you caused for you.

Are Julius and Ruby bad people? No. In the end they’re doing what they think is best for the world, which no one can really blame them for that.

they simply faced the love one vs world challenge and had to choose the world.

The thing is being a bad or good person doesn’t usually have anything to do with being by a good or bad parent.

a bad person is capable of being a good parent and a good person is capable of being a bad one.

Trying to save the world does make Ruby and Julius good people, but at the expense of their kids mental, emotional, and physical health. And no matter what the reason, anyone who willingly chooses to put their kids in that type of situation, isn’t a good parent.

anyway, that was really long, so any of you that actually read that entire thing, thx for reading my over analysis.

[toiletpapergolemn]

Mouthwashing Analysis Pt. 1

Reminder: This is my own personal analysis over the game so don’t dictate it as absolute or objectively correct regarding the game’s message. Everyone is entitled to their opinions (unless they’re wrong) and any thoughts that could add to this analysis is appreciated!

Pretty sure this will be divided by parts or not, depending how many thoughts brewed up by the end of this post. I’m gonna discuss about the following:

Analysis of the Title

How and why the plot is constructed

General Themes

Style of the game

How style contributed to plot and atmosphere

Of course, SPOILERS FOR THE GAME! I’m trying to discuss everything and anything I found significant to the plot and overall message of the game. 

Again, this is just for fun and I like analysing stuff! Soooo…

Mouthwashing is a psychological horror game taking place in outer space featuring 5 characters trying to survive with their limited supplies while trying to keep their sanity intact as they wait for help.  Words: 2080

First is the title of the game, “Mouthwashing” which is also the main drive of the crew’s destination of the shipment. But it’s also a trait in the main character. From the start, you could see how much he emphasises how he is the captain, which I found odd since he didn’t need to flaunt it every time someone is questioning his decisions. It was as if he’s trying to convince himself and others that he’s in charge of the situation and trying to get more credibility from others. It seems that Jimmy feels guilty over his actions so he tries to rally the others up to bolster his resolve— both in convincing him that this will make up for all the wrongs he’s done and the satisfaction of finally being on top of the ladder that he felt is finally deserved. 

Jimmy essentially “washes his mouth” from all the guilt and wrongdoings by saying these things with a sense of pressure and tension and conviction. He doesn’t appear to use a tone that would comfort or console the crew (as any leader would in a life-threatening situation), it’s irritated and strained. He hates the fact they don’t fully trust him because he assumes that he has the full capability of being a leader (he has a high ego) and the implication that Curly is still the leader despite what happened to him.

To put it briefly, the crew believed more in a man who’s burnt half to death and entirely limbless more than they believed in Jimmy. You can see that Jimmy is reckless and rash, actions that could’ve been dismissed because of the circumstances, but when it’s a pattern and happens throughout the gameplay, it questions the credibility of his character. Even the fact that the player thought it was Curly’s fault in the beginning strongly proves how much he convinced himself that he’s in the right and he can “fix everything”. 

The entire title is a reference to Jimmy’s actions, how he tries to shove all the words down on everyone’s throat and baptise himself as a clean, free man. 

His character will be explained more when I discuss the rest of the crew as well. Now, we move on to plot and the line of plot.

“Mouthwashing” doesn’t use a linear storyline. It keeps referring back from the past and then to the presumably present with the constant change of who the player character is. It’s disorientating, it’s supposed to confuse people and throw the players off their course. Furthermore, the flashbacks show the POVs of different characters so some information is revealed while others are still hidden away, leaving only the player who knows what’s generally going on. Other than the fact to create a disorientating effect onto players, the change of POVs can also be used to characterise the cast more. The past always being reflected by Curly could be Curly reflecting on his past decisions and rewinding those memories due to his guilt, wishing that he could’ve done things differently or notice Jimmy’s intentions from the start. His idleness towards Anya’s issue, lack of consequences of Jimmy's actions, and dismissing other problems for the sake of peace is what caused the tremor that shook everyone off.

On the other hand, Jimmy always reflects on the present. His guilt grounds him in the current moment because he now faces the consequences of his actions and his fear festers rapidly seeing as he increasingly grows alarm of Anya (Her private discussion with Swansea) and Swansea (He’s the only person who is openly mocking and rejecting Jimmy’s role as leader). Daisuke is a good-natured person followed by his naivety and optimism, Jimmy knew instilling any good intentions, “do the bad things for the good things”, would urge Daisuke to do anything Jimmy needed. Jimmy refuses to look back in the past and see how red his hands became, the only time he looked back on was when he crashed the ship. Because at that point, he believed he could “fix everything” and he believed the role of the leader was bestowed upon him when he noticed how on edge Curly was and how the pressure was affecting him. He deduced he did the right thing, Curly trusted him after all, he was vice captain, his right-hand man. Yet when he came back out and found out Curly curled up at the corner and questioning what he’s done, did he know what he did was wrong and was evoked from bottled up jealousy? Or did he truly believe what he did was right and crashing the entire ship would get rid of his confrontation of his guilt, jealousy, and hatred?

Did he feel he truly deserved that bloated ego after seeing how scared and small Curly is while he finally looked down on him at that moment?

Following that, this highlighted the general themes of the game: taking responsibility and owning up to your actions. None of the message or themes of the game is explicitly stated (unless you count the texts popping on screen) and the player has to piece them together to reveal the truth. This challenges the player’s morals and beliefs, they don’t know the full story and can only be left interpreting from the character’s dialogues, their actions, and Jimmy’s POV. Yes, the game is telling us a story but also sending a message directly to the player. The sudden texts (take responsibility) on the screen are to emphasise Jimmy’s actions but also urge the players to think more critically. Oftentimes, we mark protagonists as the “good guys” that even though they’re bad, we support them along the way because we are controlling them. Therefore, we unconsciously assume we’re doing the “right thing”.

However, in “Mouthwashing”, you’re rapidly changing between the source of the problems (Jimmy) and the one who let it grow (Curly). The message of “taking responsibility” is applied to both characters. Jimmy for being scared of confrontation and believing that he’s doing the crew a deed by taking the mantle as captain (enforcing it onto them) but then puts everyone in danger as he ignores his other actions (Curly and Anya). Curly wanting to “fix everything” after realising what his friend did to Anya while his solution offered no protection or justice for her and basically letting Jimmy scott free from his actions simply because of their “friend” status. 

(Despite Curly’s actions coming from good intentions doesn’t get rid of the fact that Anya was still mistreated by him. Curly didn’t do anything to confront Jimmy or tell him how wrong it was, words of comfort aren’t enough– it doesn’t erase the damage. Pity is not going to fix or lessen the scars people have already been inflicted with. I’ll elaborate more about this statement in my second post.)

Then we move onto the style of the game, it has an “old-game” atmosphere followed by the simple game models. It’s not realistic but human enough. Each scene of the game is off-putting. The lack of music, the thumping of your footsteps, the claustrophobic halls. It creates a daunting atmosphere which is paired with the inevitability of death lurking as well as the optimism of survival. The game takes you out of the miserable moment for a second (Daisuke as a representation for hope, he’s the comedic relief character who’s the “sun” –As Swansea puts it– that beams through the darkness) then pulls you back in to reveal the creeping unavoidable truth of “no one survives in this” and “no one wins in the end”. 

How’d the game be any different in other styles? Realism doesn’t offer the amount of colour contrast the game does, as we all see when a game attempts to be as realistic as possible: colours get too muddy, the values blend together, it takes you out of the immersion. What I also found interesting is the lack of expression, their emotions almost hold nothing– like a blank slate made to fill in for a role. It’s almost dehumanising to see humans so inhumane, instead we rely on their dialogues and body language. To add onto that, their faces characterise them. Anya is the fragile, vulnerable woman in a crew full of men. Swansea as the tough and harsh oldest employee in the cast. Daisuke is casual and laid back, the newcomer in the group who takes things less seriously. Jimmy is interpreted as the stern leader while Curly as the coward who almost harmed his entire crew (until it’s revealed in the end that he’s as human as the others.) This can be how Jimmy and Curly put labels onto them, both can only see what is above the surface. 

If the game plays on perspective, why are there no more POVs from Curly after he was hurt? The only interpretation I could come up with is Curly manages to see behind the crew’s facades. Anya (as seen from the birthday party) can be humorous, her meek behaviour didn’t come from nowhere, it came from being near a source of danger– as the nurse, she also had to take care of everyone (even the bad ones). Swansea is caring in his own way, as the oldest he felt responsible over the crew regardless of who’s the leader and puts their safety over his– he knows how careless Daisuke is and how docile Anya is. Even Anya felt safe enough to cry in front of him. Daisuke is presumably the youngest of the group, so he’s reckless, naive, and optimistic but it’s in regards of everyone’s feelings– he also shows a much more mature side than we realise (AKA worrying over his mother and wanting to take a job so she can be proud, not wanting her to take all the blame for his death). 

Why aren’t there POVS from other characters? Wouldn’t it make the plot and message much clearer? Because the game is about responsibility. You’re playing as a character who refuses to take any accountability for his actions and you’re in no control to stop it even when you’re the player– most importantly, you’re the one doing these things. You’re the one who’s forcing Curly to take those painkillers, you’re the one who crashed the ship, you’re the one who put Daisuke in danger, you’re the one who killed Swansea, and you’re responsible for all the pain inflicted onto Anya. The worst part is? You couldn’t even do anything at the end as you take Curly’s POV and see Jimmy disappear from your view as he ends it all before he could even open his eyes and see past through his delusions. In the end, he even refused to look at Curly anymore while muttering "he’ll fix it". Because Curly is the embodiment of his mistakes, his errors, his guilt. (Ironic how Anya isn’t in the picture, proving how he truly didn’t see her as human) Everything that he didn’t want to be. 

Another style in the game is the significance of sound. The music from the lobby is used as a juxtaposition of your current situation, it’s calm and serene. While the atmosphere outside of the lobby reveals hopelessness as you’re stuck in an empty abyss with no help coming– even now the silence can be heard. Most importantly, Curly’s pained sounds are the only voice from a character in the entire game. The game doesn’t highlight Jimmy pushing the painkillers down his throat, it stresses the noises coming from Curly. I see the blackout screen as Jimmy’s intolerance to see what he has done, only the noises come out because Jimmy is perhaps closing his eyes like he’s avoiding to see Curly as he attempts to "fix him". He can see all the wounds and the stare of one eye unblinkingly looking at him with no emotions, because he feels no judgement from that eye nor does he see the injuries covered up from the bandages. But his words? The one Jimmy looked up to and listened carefully, unlike Swansea's or Anya’s? Now it’s nothing but the pained sounds of choking and his last remnants of what made him human. The only thing left of his “friend”. (Perhaps the fact that Curly doesn’t even look like Curly anymore contributes too)

Okay so this turned out way longer than I thought it would but if you made it this far, thanks for being interested about this long paragraphs lol. I only watched the game once and skipped over to the bits I explained to refresh my memory a little bit. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration that I love the game and find it so entertaining to analyse each segment and find out the meaning behind them.

I’ll say again, don’t take this as objective truth. This is merely how I interpret the story. Just because mine is the longest doesn’t mean it’s the most accurate. The same way as Jimmy saying he’s the captain doesn’t make him a good leader.

I think I'll talk more about characterization and symbolism in the game in my next post, if you look at my paragraph about Swansea a little bit closer– you can guess he’s my favourite out of the others lmao. I hope this was an enjoyable reading though, as it is for me.

[eternalera]

i really wanna make an analysis of just this scene

just cause he fucking SMILED at her. i feel like this proves that soe part of adam actually cares and i really wanna get into it soooo bad cause its done so well and its such a good scene and ughhh