#this is such an English major analysis of his character lol

[ivysos2001]

Decided to sit down and watch catfa the other day and I think one thing thats so interesting to me about Steve’s character is how crucial his twisted relationship with patriarchal power and his inherent feminist leanings are to understanding his character (particularly as a male superhero character)

Like this is a man who was raised in a time of strict patriarchal values and power structures but (bc he didn’t conform to those ideas of brutish masculinity and masculine power) he ended up being a victim of those patriarchal systems of oppression- at his core he was small, physically weak, sickly, and raised by a strong single mother that encouraged him to be artistic and compassionate and kind rather than brutish and aggressive and arrogant

And the thing that makes Steve so interesting to me is that- rather than doing what lots of characters in this position do (which is trying at all costs to conform to those oppressive ideals in order to grasp for power), this lifetime of experience of being powerless at the hands patriarchal powers made Steve deeply distrustful of patriarchal power and of men in positions of power in general- which is also why we see him identify with and gravitate towards female colleagues over their male counterparts throughout the mcu and being consistently more willing and likely to trust women like Peggy and Natasha over their male superiors like Col. Phillips or Nick Fury

He’s literally a male superhero whose relationship with gender relations more closely resembles that of his female counterparts than his male superhero equivalents as someone who is deeply mistrustful of masculine/patriarchal power but also seems to be admirable of female power around him

Like Steve literally got that physical strength/appearance of a big strong man that allowed him to thrive within patriarchal society but (instead of embracing a role in the patriarchy with open arms) he never lost his mistrust of it, never forgot what’s like to be a victim of those oppressive power structures even after he become someone who could be easily accepted into it

Steve’s mantra from the beginnings was that he didn’t like bullies and (rather than joining up with the ‘bullies’ after his transformation) he remains very aware of who the ‘bullies’ are in any given situation and actively decides to ally himself with the ‘little guys’ wherever he can (he trusted Natasha with fury’s secret flashdrive even anger fury told him not to trust anyone, he was the first to acknowledge Wanda and Pietro as victims defending their war torn country and extend them an olive branch, etc) - I think this is one of the biggest reasons that it’s so interesting for me to see him interact with other superheroes who don’t necessarily share these kinds of experiences/views or expect them from him

Captain America being a hardcore feminist and an enemy of the patriarchy is so cool to me I love him

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #05

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CW: Some of my analysis in this post handles the topic of death and suicide (there will be a warning around that portion). There are also more spoilers than usual. Stay safe!

I’m doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc.

As always, here are the silly silly non-analysis panels:

And the rest is under the cut >:)

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

Milly and Meryl (especially Milly goddamn) rolling nat 20's on their perception checks. It really is scary how good their sixth sense is.

In the previous chapter, Vash asked for (and for a while was using) a 3rd class seat, but it looks like he asked for a grade-up or something to accomodate for Kaito.

A sort-of mistranslation - Kaito means that Vash talks as if he were someone from the Big Fall (because in that time period, there's no way any human from then would be alive), so it should be more like "You talk as if you were actually at the Big Fall, over a hundred years ago." The existing phrasing could also mean that, but this would make it less ambiguous. Also, I would replace his "I/my" statements with "we/our," since it's not specified and he assumes Vash is just a human that's talking weirdly.

This line is really interesting to me from a rereading standpoint. At this point, Vash's origins and age are still a mystery, and this is the first hint at it. Vash's expression makes me think that maybe he was reminded that no one other than him (+Knives+the people at the Home ship) is from that time period. To the overwhelming majority of people, No Man's Land is their only home; this life is all they know.

Don't have much to say about this one that's not in the image. Vash's pussy is out again. Excellent (horrible) form. Kaito is either a bit worried about how hard he fell, or he doesn't give a shit and is just nervous/cautious about the mission.

I love how over-the-top neon is. Smoking a firework!! Damn!!

A decent amount of lines from Neon and the BL gang (I'm going to call them that exclusively) are in katakana English.

I like how he says "maggots" in place of the...rude 3rd person pronoun (??)(that sounds kinda stupid in english lmao) Neon says something more like "It's about time that boy set everything up!!" referring to the small bombs he was putting in the vents.

His pose here reminds me of kabuki. I'm not sure about details, since I don't know much about kabuki... But it looks like a stereotypical kabuki pose. Another over-the-top point for Neon.

In Japanese, the first line has "reeking of manure" describing the wagons. For the "Big Man" in Japanese, the kanji for the sandsteamer (砂蒸気, usually ruby-ed サンドスチーム/sandsteamer) with the ruby note saying Big Man (ビッグ・マン). Also, the guy mentions that the chasing them off is part of the fee they paid.

More over-the-top-ness from Neon. In the Japanese version, the first line looks a lot like one of those super long German words to me lol (究極華麗弩級盗賊). The portion saying "The Bad Lads Gang!" in Japanese is pretty much just "Hhhhhheaaaddd!!!!" (as in leader).

The introduction for Neon actually has play on words/kanji. The word 降臨 (kōrin) is originally for Christ's coming or descent, usually used for any arrival of someone "godly" (fyi Japanese has a much more casual sense of godliness than in English). What it says here, though, is 光臨, which replaces the first hald with the character for "light" (also kō). How bright can this guy get!?

Did Kaito nicely go through the trouble of moving Vash onto the bed before venting? how... that's a grown man...

And here is Rem's first appearance!! Just now realized that her name is probably based off of REM sleep (the stage of sleep associated with dreaming). The two are wearing similar (but not the same) clothes, with Rem wearing a tucked t-shirt and jeans, and Vash wearing an untucked button-up and jeans. I'm not smart enough for this but there's gotta be something to analyze here along with the fact that Vash is an adult (the dream isn't entirely based on memory)... Also, this is the first time we see Vash in a casual outfit.

This may very well be me reading into things too much, but it stuck out to me that Rem is barefoot while Vash has sneakers on. I had two speculations about this. One is that Rem has been at that picnic for longer than Vash, and Vash just got (appeared...?) there. I'm not sure about Western picnic customs/etiquette, but in Japan, you always take your shoes off when sitting down on the tarp. Rem is the one that set the picnic up, but Vash hasn't had the chance to even take his shoes off. this sounds kinda stupid now that im typing it out. idek (throws computer out of window) [death/sui cw] The other, more messed up one is that it symbolizes Rem's death. This one is definitely more overanalysis-y!! It reminded me of what Reigen did during the final arc of MP100...iykyk. During the Great Fall, Rem willingly stayed on the ship to save humanity, sacrificing herself. I'll spare the details, but in Japanese culture, people often take their shoes off before committing suicide. It's a frequently used symbol in art that handles the topic. Rem being barefoot may be symbolizing her resolve at the time of her death, of being prepared to die if it means she can save one more person. [/cw]

did i write all that for a single panel. this aut really be isming OH MY GOD MY COMPUTER JUST RAN OUT OF BATTERY I HAD A HEART ATTACK. I FORGOT IT WASNT PLUGGED IN HOLY SHIT THANK GOD FOR AUTOSAVE.

This line of Vash's is also interesting. Is he viewing "people" from an outsider's perspective, as an independent Plant? Or is including himself in that, questioning the meaning of his own current life in the desert planet, too?

In Japanese. way he responded to Rem's giggling looked a bit childish to me, like he reverted a bit back to his childhood, or he's just being a more relaxed around Rem. mom........

Ok okokok. In Japanese, she (more literally) says "All I can muster/the best I can do is ask my heart [the destination] (read: what I can do)." This may be a translation correction but I honestly was not thinking about that at all during the annotation lol. I'm too sleepy to actually talk about the importance of this line and the way it's phrased. but you get it. you get it.........

Silly Vash face for the first time in a while!! Vash's reaction upon waking gives me the impression that this is the first time (in a long while, at least) that he's dreamed about Rem...? he looks so cute..........................help...................

And that’s it for Chapter #05! As always, the Japanese annotations are in the reblogs.

i know i'm getting very behind. theres absolutely no way im going to complete all this in real time with the book club. and all this stuff about rem is not helping. send help

[ranboo5]

Math headcanons because I am sane and normal

- Ranboo (sourced in part from the orphan^2 joke) like, has some handle on arithmetic operations from Being Around, the lab, etc. He would do well in a good math class – they have the analytical/pattern analysis brain enough + are curious in the ~right direction that a well presented/explained could probably teach them without much trouble – but they never got that bc they never had reason to be taught it nor to seek it out, so right now like their knowledge gets mostly fuzzy around exponents etc.. He knows they Exist but doesn't have a solid grasp on their mechanics or purpose. He has a 40% chance of recalling how to do long division at any given time

- Techno on the other hand is canonically ~educated right like even if you take the English major bit as ccbleed joke he still like, directly interacts with and frames himself in character thru the lens of a character that ~has education in Literary Analysis. Techno definitely Went To School and I can pretty easily see him doing OK in math class. He has not retained Any of this though – these days a lot of stuff is like "OK I know there's a way to do this that I learned at some point . But I don't recall what it is ."

- Phil is not fluent in standard math notation at all and was probably never formally taught, certainly not well. If you ask him he will be like Oh I'm fuckin useless at math I'm not smart like that lol. This is because Philza Minecraft undervalues himself as his day job. He has a great intuition for applied math and the lack of notation knowledge is ~a strength for stuff like doing pretty easy conversions between counting bases (esp base 8); he has a great sense of magnitude and some great methods of estimation and a sense for first principle calculus and applied trig in the sense of like He's Observed And Derived a lot of these. He doesn't have them in formulas but like he can sensically estimate distances off trig angles, recognize what ~kind of rate of change he's looking at, etc.. Meanwhile peerpress are trying to calculate the tip and Techno is frowning at the receipt remembering there's a really simple way to do this – maybe another day he would've even remembered the "move the decimal point" thing but it's escaping him rn – and Ranboo is two sheets of scratch paper in to trying to re-derive long division. He is failing.

[cartoonrival]

Maybe this doesn't count but days ago when you posted abt krbk i remember how i miss kirishima so much and their friendship djdjd they still haunt me, anyway do you have any analysis or though on them or kr? I don't have much except that i love that rock boy he's so darling and sparks joy to me but also i wanna see him mad, and snap and have his patience tested dunno i love how kr is a libra and has his thing with the "earth" element unbreakable quirk and bkg is a taurus with his whole explosions etc idk, im sorry if this got too long

edit after i wrote like 4 paragraphs of this post: this is like 1 mil disjointed thoughts abt kirishima and krbk its not structured at all and most of it is really loosely related. anyways >

first off this slides presentation was like the bible to 15 year old me. please keep in mind its a relic from 2017 or something. the only reason i still even have access to it is because i still use the same gmail lol. if whoever made that ppt found out i was posting about it they'd probably shoot me in the head. so im sorry for that. but its an important piece of history. For Me. it has alllll the staples of anime shipper copium so its a valuable relic.

i'm at a point where im too balls deep in krbk because ive been obsessed w them since i was a freshman in highschool that i have a hard time determining what is and isn't a stretch. i stand by most of the takes i had about bnha when i was younger but i also recognize that a lot of my reads of the characters are colored by whatever i cooked up back then. like how people forget what the source material is like cuz theyre fanon poisoned except instead of fanon its the takes of a single 15 year old who had an ego about doing well in english class. all of this to say that slides copium aside i am really really certain kirishima is gay coded but i can't tell if im saying that because its true or because i've been reading him as gay for almost 6 years.

anyways actual post instead of preface. kirishima is ultimately a tertiary character and he gets increasingly irrelevant as the series goes on which PISSES ME THE HELL OFF cuz he's my special boy. ultimately his plot relevance was almost entirely an immediate result of his closeness to bakugou; the overhaul arc is the first and kind of only major moment he has to stand On His Own (meaning as his own person rather than Bakugou's Best Friend), but even then his relationship with bakugou still plays a decent role. bakugou has been critical to the development of kirishima's self esteem to the point where "stupid strong" is something he thinks about to conjure the strength he needs to survive a hopeless situation.

side note, i really love the overhaul arc its one of my ult faves probably second only to kamino, but i think the anime really dropped the ball SPECIFICALLY HERE and i think about this all the time

^ so a big part of the fight w rappa was that kirishima goes in thinking he;s kinda lame. like that's whats at the core of this arc for kirishima, he thinks his quirk is lame and he thinks he's worse than all his classmates and hes always sort of been a coward when it came down to it and since coming to ua every instance of brashness and bravery has been fully conscious and intentional as he forces himself out of his shell to become who he wants to be. and overhaul is the Moment where that confidence and strength is being put to the test, without his classmates to lean on.

and he LOSES against rappa. its a fucked up matchup and he loses because his quirk is defensive and fatgum's quirk is defensive and rappa's quirk is the perfect opposite. but rappa is still impressed by him and he compliments him and shows fat where he can patch kirishima up. the core of rappa's reaction is that kirishima is a KID. this kid is 15 and he put up a hell of a good fight and i know he's gonna kick ass someday! that day isn't today but that doesn't mean he sucks! and having that dumbass smirk that the anime gave him just dodges that completely compared to the bleeding broken look in the manga. he LOST. he almost DIED because he wasn't strong enough and he is aware of that? he puts on a brave face and isn't entirely disappointed in himself but at the same time he. couldn't. whatever. he got back to the dorms and told mina he still had a long way to go. whatever i don't care.

anwyays ive said it before but i think it really reallyblows that krbk gets not even sidelined but basically forgotten cuz bakugou having like. a comfortable friendship is so wildly important and it's like the major reason he was able to grow enough to get to the point he's eventually at with deku. like most of baku's character development is not a direct result of interactions with deku it's the broadstroke result of interactions with ua as a whole, and kirishima "only person who bakugou views as his equal for no apparent reason other than he's gutsy and fun to be around" eijirou is pretty explicitly the centerpiece of that. he;s the first person to reach out to bakugou and bakugou actually reaches back. like their relationship is something genuinely good and its safe and its happy and with the insane turmoil of (im gonna use bakudeku as a unit term as i am wont to do but yk its platonic) bkdk that's like!! really important to me!!! especially with a story that takes a lot of care to run the casual silly teenager antics parallel to the superhero shit, i find the fact that bakugou has this sort of weird and stupid and embarrassing first crush thing happening w this loud and sweetie pie dude w stupid ass hair to be soooooooooooooo charming and fitting and awesome. it makes the story better! to me!

literally one of my fave faaaave things abt bnha is the care taken to like. make u feel engaged w the supporting cast and like reminding u that theyre individual people with personalities and likes and dislikes and relationships with each other and close friends and whatever. the fucking!!! room tours literally just to show everyone's decoration tastes and cute little interactions between characters and hearing their opinions on each other and stuff!! kaminari plays with ojirous tail during class! kirishima wears a bandana around his head at the end of the day because the hairspray doesn't hold as well and his hair starts flopping! the teachers do karaoke and ectoplasm can make more clones after a few drinks! and because that whole backdrop is built up with so much care, the idea that yes they are risking their lives and the world is falling apart, they're also still HIGH SCHOOLERS and they are still acting like it. so bkaugou's relationships outside of deku are reaaaally important to me because like. yes bkdk is the relationship the story is built around but the gradual building of relationships with his classmates is also important, relationships that are normal and relaxed and built on something other than 15 years of ego and competition and jealousy and admiration and hate and ego again. yk??????

^this is kind of why making a bnha comic has been appealing to me lately i just think their stupid antics are soooo cute and the fact that the story directly gives attention to that aspect of their lives is rly valuable to me ..... anyways Kirishima is a hero who is popular amongst men -_- This keeps me going

[cladestruction]

PART I of my super long aotd thoughts (and prayers) commentary/analysis extravanganza🤪

warning: spoilers. repetition of words/expressions hehe. badly written (english is not my first language lol). looong text. biased opinions because this is my blog and i get to do with it as i please.

Press conference and failed plan: i love how there’s practically no time jump in the beginning, i find it both dynamic and realistic. as the world’s most famous band/people, they’re always right at the center of attention, even more after such major events like the ones in dsr, so the press conference is great: is sudden and painful to watch, it’s awkward as the boys try to answer the clearly triggering questions in their usual laid-back, disinterested manner, and barely succeed in doing so. also, this scene establishes three elements that i’m so grateful for: 1. Toki is safe with them again but still visibly fucked up, 2. the boys Don’t Remember what happened after they found Toki (the dethlights and stuff), 3. Nathan is the exception, he remembers but doesn’t quite understand wtf happened, and it haunts him. i love how Magnus is talked about in this movie and this scene, the public and the press don’t have much information about him and the band (i guess?) so calling it a tragedy is practically the easiest way to label it, but the reality is waaay deeper, and the fact that this comes back later on? i love it. i also like that the band’s plan announcement shows exactly what i wanted personally: how much Charles' guidance is missing. the boys are erratic and messy, and considering their actual behavior throughout the show it’s actually very rational for stars like them to want to jump right into action. bc it’s their job, their passion, and there’s pressure on them to do something: either talk about what happened, acknowledge their trauma and heal, or get to work and give people music so they can shut up and stop asking questions the boys are not prepared to answer. the tour fails before it begins and it’s great. the fact that Nathan only gets exhausted right after announcing they were back and ready to kick ass adds so much weight and drama, i love it. here we get a beautiful, stunning, amazing sequence with great voiceover and visuals. 10/10 i love the black/white/red sequence with Nathan’s silhouette falling and falling and a bunch of menacing shadows haunting him while the deththeme plays on the background. Masterpiece me thinks.

Crozier: the voiceover is AMAZING (i always loved his voice tbh). Crozier was kind of an annoying character to me throughout the series. he’s the typical american military authority and i’m not a fan, but i have to say i was very excited to see him get more depth in just one scene! i couldn’t help but feel for the guy as he failed to deliver what could’ve been his last words. it feels desolating to see him once again be left in the hands of these mysterious and shady people who are constantly preying on him. this sequence also gives much insight to the Tribunal, which is great to make the audience feel more on edge with their plan and see Salacia as a threat. the song of salvation is mentioned, the metalocalypse, Charles and the Army of the Doomstar. it’s great exposition without taking too much screen time. big fan of scenes like that.

The Church: what can i say, i love the (found) family dynamic. it’s always been there on the show, but this movie really took it to a whole new level and i’m living for it. Ishnifus’ funeral is a great detail. my man did nothing wrong in his short appearance on the finale of the show+dsr, and as a high priest, it feels only right to remember him and pay respects even if it’s for such a short scene. moving on, Toki with headphones is so important to me. he seems a bit recovered but it’s obvious something changed in the band’s behavior toward him. it seems it’s already normal for them to look out for the youngest and tend to him without as many reservations as they once would’ve shown, at least Pickles looks very used to it, even if it’s also clearly a lot of responsibility and he most likely has to deal with by himself (Murderface doesn’t really help and Skwisgaar is very cold and kept to himself. even if he complies with Pickles’ orders, he seems painfully closed off, and Nathan might actually be of help when present, considering Toki wanting to go to the bathroom with him and hinting that this is something they do now. but Nathan is not very present so yup, that’s that). moving on, Charles is…different. he was always calculated and cold but i kinda feel bad for Pickles (and Nathan later on) when they talk to him. Charles uses very mystical(?) language now and talks to the boys in a mysterious and ominous tone, it feels very impersonal, but it’s so good story-wise that i just can’t complain. Pickles’ reaction to Charles telling him that his role in saving the world is just: to be a friend to Nathan is AMAZING. Pickles is clearly nervous and expectant (it’s the end of the world, after all) but then he just asks “that’s all?” and it’s literally the BEST thing he could’ve said. he already IS a friend to Nathan, he has been so for years, even when things had already gotten ugly, so what more should he do? is it not enough? would he even be able to be such a good friend to Nathan if the frontman is being so closed off? the honesty in Pickles’ doubt is great and i love him so so much. moving on, that Edgar exchange with a very dozed-up Nathan almost made me cry. Edgar’s face when Nathan brushes him off is ugh, my heart hurt so so bad for him :( i’m sooo happy this wasn’t his last appearance and final interaction with Nathan. moving on, Nathan and Charles speak and it’s pure exposition, but i like it bc, again, is made clear and dynamic. i reiterate my point about Charles being too ominous-y (?) in his way of talking, making an already exhausted Nathan even more tired and overwhelmed. it feels even a bit out of touch and cruel of Charles to do this but, again, it fits just perfectly in the narrative so i like it.

The fucking PROPOSAL!!!: oh god, ok. i love Abigail, believe me. i remember being so desperate to see a female character appear on the show for more than 1 episode and not be killed off immediately that i screamed when Abigail came around. seeing her again in this movie, alive and well and receiving help really augmented my lifespan. that said, i am happy this is The Abigail Scene of the movie. she’s shown strong, confident, and most importantly, wise. she couldn’t say yes to Nathan, that’d be absurd, but she declined very elegantly. and though Nathan was already going through a lot, she was clear, direct and honest, while expressing respect towards him as a man and towards his feelings for her (though confused and not very well-founded, were honest). she wasn’t cruel but she also didn’t sugarcoat the stuff that Nathan Needed to hear. especially considering how he was acting, how uncharacteristic and weird he was behaving. and no, i won’t say “oh Nathan Explosion would NEVER get on his knees and beg” bc we all know that’s not true lol, but it was very erratic behavior, desperate and needy for all the wrong reasons, and please let’s again remember how much xanax/red wine/coffee this man had on his system !!! and oh, don’t even get me started on how important it was for Abigail to clear up how her kissing Nathan at the end of dsr was an act of shock and thrill of what they just went through. they barely knew each other but Nathan still went and saved her, and while Nathan was just out of all the fucked up shit that happened in dsr‘s last act, she kissed him. they almost dies, and in such extreme conditions they did what they did and that’s ok. but to think there would be more after that was, well, kind of an illusion. and that’s sad but true. in summary, Abigail is a queen and i love her with my whole heart and lungs. if you ask me, i’d love to have seen her more and i actually think her and Nathan could’ve worked out if things were different, or maybe they could be great friends. but for the short scene she got, i think she was great. Nathan breaking up with the fans right after is such a good scene too. he’s lashing out and it makes perfect sense for him to do so. and tbh i will go and say it: he wasn’t wrong in what he said. yes the fans are always there to support the band (i’ll talk more about this in the ending) but they also are constantly setting expectations. the fact that they’ll go and celebrate 99.5% of whatever the band does, the constant fear of losing them is still there, and for Nathan it’s infuriating bc it might get difficult for him to believe that these people will love everything he does, especially bc he, in this moment of his life, doesn’t feel loved.

last part of the church scene: Rockzo. i’m glad his scene was short, i dislike him and don’t enjoy him at all, but i will admit that after witnessing such a painful heartbreak/horrendous proposal, hearing Rockzo start singing Amazing Grace made me laugh very hard. great comedic timing, i liked it.

Dethklok tries to cheer up Nathan: i talked about this before, when they released the teaser clip and all. when i saw that with no context i did feel like Pickles was acting especially concerned toward Nathan here, and he even sounded a bit needy. now that i know it’s because of what Charles told him, it makes so much sense. he feels almost obliged to support and even comfort Nathan in ways that he hadn’t done before, but of course it is! the world is at stake! he is trying his best and he even goes against what he thinks, shown by how he actually doesn't appreciate Nathan treating them like crap and calling them “fuckbags” and “jackshit”. i love how those little details build up tension between them.

[seamsterspell]

Hey, Ann!! Happy Valentines!!! 💚💚💚

I was wondering here: which ships are in your Top OTPs? And why you love them so much (if you want to share!)

OMG HI MONDO!!!! Happy (belated) valentine to you as well 💘💘💘 How are you?? I hope you are well!!!

Of course I want to share, I love oversharing about my ships HAHA. So here you go, a (short) list of my SNK OTPs:

LeviHan

(pretends to be shocked). No, but I'm not even kidding when I said that they live in my head 24/7 🤣 Everytime I do or see something, I would automatically connect it to Levihan. I just can't help it lol, I love them so much (both as a character and as a ship). Their relationship is mature and pure but fun at the same time. I mean, they embody all of my favourite tropes, so no suprise here. But idk, there are no other ships (that came before them or after them) that could alter my brain in the same way as them. They changed me fr, like something shifted inside me the moment I became a Levihan shipper. Hell, I even chose my uni major because of a Levihan fanfiction 💀 Not only that, my writings and English has improved a lot, and all of that merely because I want to write their fanfic LOL.

I've been a Levihan shipper since 2013 and I will continue to be one until I die. So yeah, expect to see more Levihan fanfiction for more decades to come 😚✌���

AruAni

They don't really live in my head 24/7 but I still think of them often. Also, they hold an important place in my heart since they are my first ship in SNK. Not only that, they are also special to me because they are THE ship that went from being considered as a crack ship to a canon one. LIKE IT WAS INSANE. I mean I've been an Aruani shipper since 2013 and so I knew how small the fandom were back then. Not only that, most of the SNK fandom saw AruAni as a crack shipper, but we were like, "No! They are not! (proceed to analyse the hell out of their interaction in the female titan arc)." 😀👍

So imagine how SHOCKED and ECSTATIC I WAS when all of these analysis and headcanons CAME TRUE. It took us almost a decade, but we finally got to say, "See guys? WE ARE NOT DELUSIONAL." I never been proud as a shipper HAHA. One of my biggest flex is to say that I've been an Aruani truther since 2013 😎

Okay now that I think about it, the only ships that I deeply care about are only the two above. I do like other ships, but only in a casual way (but I still gonna defend them though LOL), and those are:

YumiHisu

I used to be neutral with them but when that episode of Historia holding the passed out Ymir on her lap and said, "My real name is Historia", then they stared at each other eyes with such love???? BEAUTIFUL I SAY. Their dynamic and the way their characters arc intertwined with each other? Love it! I wished Isayama gave them a proper closure though :(

JeanKasa

Oh man, I actually have a lot of things to say about them but I'm gonna keep it brief🤐 I didn't ship them at the beginning, but as I grew up and as I tried to understand their characters, I found myself falling for JeanKasa and their potential. I feel they will have a healthy, mature, and loving relationship. I also like the way Jean showed his love to Mikasa (he's not selfish and he's not blinded by his love).

Well, that's all! But, before I end this ask, here are some honourable mentions: PokkoPiku, EreHisu, EreMin, and MikeNana.

Bonus: I actually like to play with the idea of Erwin and Marie, I even tried to explore them in my fic HAHA.

OK THAT'S ALL. SORRY IF THIS WAS TOO LONG MONDO 😝 Thank you for the ask!! You made my day!!!!! I love you 💖💖💖

[castlebyersafterdark]

i think youre right about the bi/gay debate (sorry to bring it to you... im not bringing it in a Im New Here way, but rather an I've been here a while and youre someone i feel safe asking about this, sort of like sitting down at a kindly hot gay wizard's knee and asking for wisdom way hehe.)

HOLY HECK i did not even see the slideshow length, 300?! i know we celebrate the boys here, but when youre compiling like that it starts to feel like compensating for something. and you're right - so far (im about halfway through) ive been asking myself things like 'but why does that make mike bi?' on every other slide. theyre detailing the plot of s4 from mike's pov; things that all bylers agree on, gay and bi truther alike. none of it so far is evidence for bi mike. at one point they say 'theyre not compatible in a romantic relationship, but mike likes kissing her as we can see here...' and this is what has me respectfully yelling HOW CAN WE SEE THIS PLEASE because so much of these discourses is about opinion and subjective interpretation. im about to sound like a nerd: it really makes me miss school. and uni. and debate club. and seminars. with actual discussion and evidence. hell, i even miss english class and writing essays. make a point. provide evidence. follow up with explanation. the teachers actually called it P.E.E.

PEE. amazing.

but youre right, because its ok for everyone to have their interpretations, especially as the show is unfinished! maybe im just endlessly confused by people's need to justify and be right. what is gained? i think i expected too much from the fandom lol, i expected academia. i feel like i get that open-mindedness from some places though, and from you (plus many other treats heh heh). i think i would love to have had you in my uni classes, vinny! youre so interesting and kind.

and im endlessly interested in the sexual attraction vs. love thing, because ive definitely seen people say that sexual attraction isnt needed. aromantic gay folk, etc... i must be honest and say it gets beyond my understanding and i cant form an opinion on that

footnote 1: im gonna finish the slideshow because today i was reading about the Sunk Cost Fallacy and want to be masochistic (only 150 slides left! its ok though, the vast majority are screenshots of the show itself that illustrate... nothing lol)

Hope you two anons don't mind a little three-way action combining this conversation 🤭 just so my blog isn't dominated by this topic with redundant points! I totally don't mind the topic if it's open and friendly and analytical rather than fighty. All good here. Under a cut since this is long and if people want to skip this topic:

"sitting down at a kindly hot gay wizard's knee and asking for wisdom" - Firstly, love that, obsessed with you. And YEAH the number of slides made me irl do that slow blink meme gif, we know the one. I wasn't very compelled. Am I too staunch and biased? It's not that "oh this character must be gay because I'm gay and like Byler" - no? A lot of people like Byler and aren't gay at all. I've been in fandom culture a long time and don't need to project. I just see what I see. I've shipped many things where I knew the characters weren't queer but I liked the idea. This is the first time in a long time that I feel the shipping and analysis collide and can actually be one in the same, a fandom rarity in my opinion and taste in media.

Anyway. A lot of the points for bi Mike overall from many sources of discussion never strike me as evidence he's bi. They could so often go both ways (HA SORRY) to bi vs gay points. And then the gay points tip the scales. So much of the argument is subjective, for sure. But there is coding and hints and arcs that lend solid evidence. His LACK of attraction to women just feels so clear to me when we have soooo much of that with the other male characters? He just acts differently, abrasive to certain concepts. And his relationship with El is a mess. I will feel so odd if we've all analyzed that wrong. All the points about Mike's weird expressions, his awkward physicality with her as opposed to Will, never really seeming all too enthused. It's almost looks like panic sometimes. A lot of what he says that's read as romantic feels like a performance for other people around - MIKE is the one overcompensating here, truly. His defeated facial expression before he says he loved El in the monologue is such a giveaway to me. He's about to lie for his life and hers.

This is what I mean by life and death. Guilt over his new friend dying for them season 1. Anger at Hopper hiding her while he missed her and felt guilt over what happened. Season three conformity and puberty confusion arc, getting mixed up from growing up and trying to be normal. The excitement that yes, I can be normal, this girl likes me. Changing his personality to fit, and overcompensating for not knowing the difference between platonic and romantic feelings for this girl - he struggled with the platonic because he feels he can't have that so his relationship is messy and too physical, not emotional. His mind and body and heart are all at odds. He and El aren't really friends because they haven't had the time or allowed their relationship to be anything but this need to have it be romantic - El's issue, too, with not really engaging with society in a meaningful way. Rambling now. But it's not hard to see if we're paying attention. Haven't even touched on anything to do with his behavior in regards to men or Will - this is already too long.

I think a lot of people will continue to ship what they want regardless of the outcome and honestly - that's fine? What if the worst happens and Mike ends up with El? I will still be a hardcore Byler fanboy until Stranger Things is not a fandom I'm interested in engaging with. I don't really care. I'll forge my own reality through fanfic. I believe those who still want to engage with Mlvn will do so. I can understand why people choose to see Mike as bi. His sexuality isn't canon yet (as opposed to Robin and Will). It's what they're into and HC since we do not know 100%. I'm not so blinded and delusional to not admit that.

Creativity and analysis overall - to anon #1's point. Yes!!! Glad to be enrolled with you at Stranger Things university. I got my little notebook out, overly caffeinated but I'm there for class. I'm the annoying guy interjecting. But I feel like you'd be sitting next to me in lecture backing me up.

and im endlessly interested in the sexual attraction vs. love thing, because ive definitely seen people say that sexual attraction isnt needed. aromantic gay folk, etc… i must be honest and say it gets beyond my understanding and i cant form an opinion on that

I find it fascinating, too! Which is why I try to learn more and more and always try to consider different viewpoints. It's a broken record, but these orientations are totally valid and props to anyone finding what works, figuring themselves out. I don't think everyone is ever going to completely understand every aspect of human sexuality. I don't. I'm always learning. I'm gay and both a hopeless romantic and a guy with a high sex drive so maybe certain realities and lifestyles I don't fully understand the intricacies of - but that's ok. We don't have to walk an authentic mile in each other's shoes, but we do need to respect each other and leave room on the path!! 😁

And a secret 3rd anon appears!! You said please don't post so I won't. But thank you for filling me in on fandom lore. I didn't know all that!!! Yikes babes. I don't like those vibes!!! 🙃 But, that is not my energy, we're all chill and into fun and discussion here. We don't personally have to give weight to every character interpretation but we also don't have to get at each other and blatantly fight. I'm just vibing 😌❤️

[lil228]

Red White and Royal Blue Notes Day 1

WARNING: Spoilers for both the Red White and Royal Blue movie and the book up to chapter 5

I think it’s funny that Alex’s love story is referred to as Shakespearean considering what’s to come. 

“It’s funny how you think everything is about you” (page 14). Lol- especially bc he’s the literal main character of this story.  

“Systematically drunk” (15) LOL

“Mutual antagonists” (17) 

“Sorry I’m not obsessed with you like everyone else” (18). Oh buddy that’ll change soon. (Alex about Henry)

OMG that whole conversation is so good!

Cakegate is really funny for some reason.

“As the president all I want is to have the CIA fake your death, and ride the dead kid sympathy into a second term.” (23) I see where Alex gets it from. 

The foreshadowing! Like Zarah telling Alex to gush about Henry like he’s his prom date.  

“I’ll do it but I won’t have any fun” (Alex) “God, I hope not.” (Zarah 27) HAH! Alex is going to have fun, maybe too much fun.

Look I know Alex thinks it’s nerdy but if someone told me Great Expectations was their favorite book I would like them even more. 

Ugh! the foreshadowing in this is just so good like when Nora speculate on why Alex has to sign an NDA and one of the reason she give is that he’s (the prince) is Gay. Lol (page 39)

Lol Alex being unable to decide if he Texan or Mexican side is more upset about English Breakfast (page 41)

Foreshadowing- Alex says Henry is “annoyingly attractive (43)

  I don’t know if being an English major broke me or if I’m a mega nerd, but I want to write a literary analysis paper on this so badly.  

Alex’s reasoning for wanting to get into politics is so wholesome (43)

Henry’s interaction with the caner patient is so cute (45)!

“You’re not the prince of me” (47). It’s just so good. Has this author written anything else? Please tell me they have. OMG they have! I will be needing all of their books now thank you very much.

“Are you trying to psycho analyzed me?” (49) lol, I feel like I say a variation of the this all the time when I’m with my psych major friend.

“I’m sensing an ellipsis (Henry) “It’s just…” (Alex) 51. This book sort of dose that thing that White Teeth did where it’s aware that it’s a novel, but it doesn't do it the same way. It’s more subtle and uses more irony.

 Okay Alex and Henry bonding over Star Wars is sweet and kind of nerdy. I like it. 

“But isn’t there something to be valued in a happy ending as well?” (52)

Alex taking a class called The Press and The Presidency is absolutely hilarious to me. 

That one commenter ships it (55)

“B*tch McConnell- I’m dying homygod 

Like Senator Luna, I to can be easily bribed with candy

More foreshadowing on 57. Also I don’t know why but I’m not getting good vibes from Senator Luna

Old money Sith powers also has me dying

The president of united states comparing her children to possums is so funny. 

Also her reminding her children to not discuss their murder plots in front of her

Ugh this book is so good! 

“Leeme romance the hell out of some focus groups” (66) This book is gold 

  The text exchange on 68-9 is amazing

I can only hope to write something this amazing one day.

Nora asking Alex if he’s reading fanfiction about himself made me laugh out loud- at work, granted it’s deader than Marley in this place today

The whole bit with the Turkey is just glorious! Ya did it to yourself Alex.

The way Henry talks to his dog is so cute, and so it the fact that he watches The Great British Bake Off 

Amy’s great!

Page 90- Yes Alex go off!

I love Bea, she’s great, peak sister energy

June is also peak sister energy. 

95- more foreshadowing when June talks about it being like a rom com

“You know I love chaos” (Nora)- 96

I think its really sweet that Henry wants to be a writer 

107- the first kiss! (Squeals)

[ao3feed-erasermic]

Veiled Vigilance

Use the related link post to read Veiled Vigilance on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/60803695 by Ever_Dream, FoxxPuff Izuku Midoriya always wanted to be a hero- but life never goes as planned. Even so, he can still help from the sidelines, right? The support course at UA is better than nothing, and things take a positive turn when he meets a couple of his classmates. Still, when incidents occur, and Midoriya learns of things he never should've been able to access, he can't stand idlily by. With only snippets of an ever-brewing sinister plot, Izuku, Shinsou, and Hatsume take things into their own hands- for better or for worse. Stories collide, events emerge, and mysteries unfold as this trio slowly uncover what's meant to stay in the shadows. Words: 2030, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: Multi Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Shinsou Hitoshi, Hatsume Mei, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Bakugou Katsuki, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Kurogiri (My Hero Academia), Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Midoriya Izuku's Family, Other Character Tags to Be Added Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi, Hatsume Mei & Midoriya Izuku, Hatsume Mei & Shinsou Hitoshi, Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku, Hatsume Mei & Maijima Higari | Power Loader, Shinsou Hitoshi & Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added Additional Tags: Canon Divergent, Well more like rewritten based off of the canon material, An outside view of canon events (at least at first), Large-scale overarching plot, League of Villains are an actual threat, Villains are everywhere, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Mind Reading Quirk (My Hero Academia), Midoriya's Quirk is similar to mind reading, though he's not great with it yet, it's almost like a vibe checker lol, Midoriya is an observant analyst, Support Department Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya's mom is absent, Midoriya doesn't mutter, instead he rambles in his head, Bakugou is a bad person, That will be built upon later, Midoriya Izuku's Hero Analysis For The Future Notebooks, U.A. Support Department (My Hero Academia), Underground Heroes (My Hero Academia), Vigilantism, original background characters - Freeform, Shinsou Hitoshi is Bad at Feelings, Shinsou Hitoshi is a Good Friend, Insomniac Shinsou Hitoshi, shinsou is in the foster system, Hatsume Mei is a Good Friend, Chaotic Hatsume Mei, Autistic Hatsume Mei, Mei loves her babies, Mei's inventions tend to explode, Mei has rich parents, Supportive Support course friend group, the fic is very story/plot driven, Erasermic is canon but not common knowledge at UA, Yagi Toshinori | All Might is a Bad Teacher, aizawa sees himself in midoriya, Yamada bonds with Shinsou, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Well technically we are two authors but yk, Entrance Exam Arc (My Hero Academia), Sports Festival Arc (My Hero Academia), Altered pairings for the Sports Festival, Internships Arc (My Hero Academia), Canon Divergent Arcs (My Hero Academia), Other Additional Tags to Be Added Use the related link post to read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/60803695

[murkycran]

https://youtu.be/wjdrUksw8b0?si=dTmJMwQ1RF02pm19 by way of an explanation :)

WHAT A FUCKING RIDE!!! XD

Ngl to you, Anon, I nearly didn't even go to the link bc I thought you were a bot. My last ask was a bot that sent me a link lol.

But holy shit, I'm glad I did. XD That video fucking *killed* me.

"Because, by the way, this character is his sister. I know that because she says it. Like a pokemon."

asdfdsa;kdhfasldfjh god it was a mistake to watch this at work. Nearly suffocated myself trying not to laugh.

Thank you very much for the context and the good video! The English major in me really loved the rhetorical analysis lmao.

[sunderingstars]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:· 𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

⟢ i use "analysis" as a catch-all term for theories, waxing poetic, ranting, and traditional analysis. be aware that my english major brain often throws all of these together in one big pot when i'm talking about anything lol. most analyses will also be under the ⌞ ✧ super.nova ⌝ tag.

⟢ it should go without saying that everything here is my own opinion/interpretation. i am perfectly fine with (and in fact encourage!) people seeing things differently than i do. please do not start discourse over anything i post. thank you !!

°˖➴ current pride & joy: sampo analysis m.list

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐓 ⌝

neuvillette & his empathy

kaeya has always been loved

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐀𝐈: 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐋 ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

welt & acheron 2.1 lore

eidolon names as narratives

eidolon art as facets of character

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑⌝

ging was wrong about kite

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 ⌝

loading…

[annes-room]

✒️ Dec 23, 2023

I finished my last final for the semester yesterday! now I have a nice break until January, and I'm going to indulge in my hobbies and relaxing 😌

as this is a bit of a journal blog for me, I'm going to have a reflection on this past semester under the cut 🖋️

bio: I thought it would be easier for an intro level course 🥲 I knew it would be mostly memorization, and I have a decent memory for straight up facts, but omg there was so much material!! my favourite sections were the ones on plants and multicellular animals. being able to see and recognize the organism made it a lot easier to understand what we're learning about and remember stuff about it. (which is kinda on par with why I switched out of physics 😅 I'm not particularly motivated to study particles because I can't see them!! I need to be able to see something to understand it lol)

english: this one surprised me the most I think! I still struggled a bit with writing essays before this course, so to have the majority of our marks come from essays was a little nerve wracking. but I met up with my prof regularly for feedback on my work and to get help in my problem areas and it helped a lot!! profs are there to help you 😤 take advantage of it. for the books we read in class, I'd give Robinson Crusoe a 5/10, not fun to read for fun, but very fun to read for analysis. Frankenstein gets 8/10 because Victor Frankenstein is my least favourite character. it was also fun getting to choose our own research topics for our papers! I've never had full freedom like that in a course before so I enjoyed getting to branch out on my own. for Robinson Crusoe, I did a character analysis on his rise to power using religion as a front, and my second paper was about queer life parallels in Frankenstein, and omg I had soooo much fun writing that one!! definitely my best piece of work to date :) (and big thanks to my bf for helping proofread it 🩷)

psych: a bit boring tbh :/ mostly because my prof just read off the slides and there wasn't much that really surprised me. we had to get some research participation credits though and I got deceived in 2 of them so I guess I'm just really good at doing exactly what they want and following directions 😌

stats: my other favourite this semester, tied with english 💖 I was a little worried at the start of this course, having just switched to a stats major with no previous stats experience, but it was a breeze and the concepts all made sense and I'm very happy with how it went overall! we had to do a few group projects though, but only 1 of them was bad in terms of group members :)

extra curriculars!: I recently became more involved in one of the clubs on campus and I'm excited to help foster a welcoming space to connect people and make new friends and host events that people are interested in! I've never been on an exec team before, but I'm excited to do my part ✨

[radlymona]

Δεν είσαι ειδικός για να ξέρεις πολλές γλώσσες, κορίτσι. Μιλώ ελληνικά από τη γέννησή μου γιατί γνωρίζω περισσότερες από μία γλώσσες τις πιο κοινές εμπειρίες στον κόσμο. Το να μιλάς περισσότερες από δύο γλώσσες είναι ένα σημάδι προνομίου από όπου κατάγομαι, αλλά φύγε δεσποινίς αποίκτρια που παραπονιέται για την πολιτιστική παγκοσμιοποίηση όταν έρχεσαι από τη γαμημένη Ισπανία. φιλιά.

But now while you take your time with the above, smartass, let's look at your comments:

At some point in time, you’ll have to admit that J.K. Rowling has a lot of flaws in the way she presents her narrative goals and that she treats her female characters in quite a questionable manner. Either that, or you’ve never in your life picked up a book on feminist critique in mass media or on gender analysis in fiction.

Oh for god's sake. I dont' believe that JKR has a 100% purity score on the way she writes women. She's a Gen X British white woman writing in the 90s/00s. She's going to not line up exactly with modern, progressive ideals about writing women.  I think this type of endless criticism over a children's book is just such a reach. There are hundreds of male authors whose female characters amount to "she breasted boobily down the stairs" but JKR is a bad writer because some of her female characters can come off slightly outdated to a modern reader? This is completely discounting how revolutionary Hermione was in the 2000s. That type of hyper-intelligent female character who was a central figure to the plot, underwent a massive amount of development and whose life didn't revolve around her love interest, was frighteningly uncommon back then. I think hyperfocusing on every single thing JKR didn't get exactly right when it comes to her background characters, instead of looking of the significance and impact of her major female character is what happens when you "critically analyse" texts through a bad faith lens.

So, am I supposed to understand, at… I don’t know, I think I was 12 or 13 when I first read the fifth book, that in 1970s England it was normal to laugh when your friends were being bullied?

You don’t have to realise this at 12 or 13 (though I had no problem lol). You do by the time you reach adulthood (or at least if you going to partake in an attempt at literacy criticism of the series). It's a very well known that extreme bullying was (and still is) rife in elite British boarding schools. I'm pretty sure it even happened to Charles, the literal future king, and they even have a name for a specific type of hazing. Like good on you that grew up in Spain and bullying seems a lot less tolerated, but that's not the reality for a lot of the english-speaking world. But when you're reading a book series that is satirising an elite British institution instrumental in reinforcing the current class system, then you're going to have take that context into consideration.

Also for God's sake Lily's is laughing because Snape is wearing dirty underwear. Considering they have house elves to clean for them, it's meant to be a jab at his persistent lack of hygeine. I know that might be hard for a grown woman who writes Snape/self insert fanfiction to understand, but most normal women are turned off by this. 

Guys like James Potter (rich kids who abuse their wealth) don’t get laughed at, they get punched in the face. I guess it’s cultural.

Again your personal context doesn't really matter, but there's like no evidence he abused his wealth. He offered to take financial care of his childhood friend who has the equivalent of a disability. Also this is just a funny quote to me like, "wow, omg we're so much more progressive where i live!!!" Get off your high horse.  

You then spend a whole massive paragraph writing about two book series that don't really have anything to do with the initial discussion, instead of even attempting to respond to what I've written. Yeah, I can really tell you're a lawyer (pejorative). And JKR does contradict Harry's worldview multiple times. She does so by deconstructing his hotheadness and "saving people things" in the latter three books. JKR contradicts his "wow girls are so hard to figure out" perspective, through Hermione explaining to him Cho's very obvious emotional state. The entire point of the half-blood prince's diary is that Harry is entirely in the wrong to continue reading and safeguarding something that contained obviously dark magic. He entirely earns his punishment with Snape after using Sectumsepra. He is consistently being contradicted, but it is a children's fantasy novel series so she's obviously not going to the extent that an author would writing a series from the point of view of a psychopath?

But anyway moving back to James and Draco, why would anyone in the series point them out as being similar? The people who knew James best (Sirius/Remus) don't exactly know Draco. And in their perspective, though they're both wealthy teenage boys they had starkly different views regarding blood purity. Draco's most important storyline is that despite years of parroting racism and classicism, he's in way over his head when he joins the Wizard Nazis. From what we know about at James, he was a bully in school who eventually grew out of it and joined the anti wizard-Nazi organisation. They're really not all that similar beyond wealth and blood status? If you're asking why doesn't the narrative doesn’t treat Draco better and give him some sort of redemption storyline, then the answer is that this isn't the story JKR wants to tell. The story she is telling is how classicist and racist systems are passed down from wealthy, privileged parents to their children. Draco's character is absolutely referencing elite Eton boarding school male students, who go on to inherit daddy's company/noble title and reinforce the classicist system that "earned" them their wealth. 

Sorry, but I don’t see the point in saying that someone like Pansy was so bad she didn’t even deserve Draco, who literally became a Death Eater

Again, a character who is obviously based on her schoolyard bully is going to be a lot more personally aggravating than a hyperbolised fantasy antagonist. I can recognise that an authoritarian dictator is objectively much worse person, but if I read a character who reminds me of a very specific type of person I know/hate, I might especially dislike that character. You seem to have a beef with Hermione-esque characters at any rate. And also, do you really think it's all that important to pick apart an offhand comment she made like 15 years ago??

The male gaze isn’t just something present in fiction written and created by men; it’s a cultural phenomenon that has transcended generational standards in fiction regarding the construction of female characters and how they interact with one another.

I know perfectly well what the male gaze is. It's one of the most well known feminist critiques of all time. I've written about it in a published film article. You don't have to write a dissertion on it and list a bunch of sources to make yourself feel smarter than you are. You can go to court for whenever you need to felt self-gratified. That aside, the reason why it doesn't apply to JKR's character is because they don't appeal erotically to a male audience

Seeing as I've also read Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, let’s look at one of the opening quotes: In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to strip-tease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire.

At what point in the narrative are the female characters eroticised this way? Hermione, the naggy, know-it-all with frizzy hair? Definitely not a teenage boy's fantasy. The not all attractively described Luna, who goes far beyond being a typical oddball is not a teenage boy's fantasy. Sure Ginny'ss being described as pretty by her crush, but like that's a pretty normal thing? If she simply existed for his benefit, then why bother making her a leader against the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. You've consistently minimised the achievements and roles the female characters play, because you're desperate to box to characterise them as the misogynistic archetypes that they're not.

This doesn’t sound very fun because I’m not talking about Harry; I’m talking about how Hermione views them and how Hermione actively talks about them.

Yes, but we are seeing Hermione's interactions with the other girls through Harry's eyes. We don't see how they usually get on when apart from Harry because it’s not narratively important. Either way, Hermione isn't constantly looking down on Lavender/Parvati except for their belief in Divination. And the narrative actually condemns her for being closed-minded and being generally rather uncreative. Harry even mulls over this after they leave the Lovegood residence in DH. The only other real conflict she has with Lavender is in HBP. Is it her finest moment? No. Is it pretty on par with how an insecure teenage girl might act? Yes. And lest you forget, Lavender literally laughs at Ron's pretty mean impersonation of Hermione during class. And seeing as you were so upset about laughing as a bully made fun of your friend... (and before you say it, Hermione did nothing to Lavender before this.) And this whole conflict is played up as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the overdramatised, laughable teen romance problems that JKR would have no doubt seen in school. I certainly did, because teenagers act dumb and mean when it comes to their loved lives. It’s really not deeper than that. 

Alright, well, I'm sorry, but I've never liked girls who have problems with other girls just because they act like girls their age

Hermione's a fictional character who's meant to have unlikeable qualities to her. I can't believe I have to say that. Her lack of emotional intelligence doesn't just affect her relationships with other women. While you may have zero-ed on a couple background conversations with supporting characters, her poor social skills causes constant conflict with Ron and then later Harry. You've just made up an entirely fictional version of Hermione who is apparently mean to a lot of girls even though it's clear from the literal first book that she just has problems making friends and uses her intelligence as a mask for her insecurities.

I mean, I didn’t think those kinds of things about them nor did I feel the overwhelming need to distance myself from the things they liked to feel special in some way, nor to make it clear that I wasn’t like them just to fit in with my guy friends.

Should I give you a medal?

That’s very much a teenage thing, and I’ll give you that. My issue isn't with that, my issue is that the narrative doesn't condemn that attitude. I'll say it again: the problem here isn’t that the characters behave badly or have flaws.

It literally does. Hermione goes through several periods of major social isolation, especially in her third and sixth year, because of the way she's interacted with others. Just because JKR doesn't out right say "hermione is bad for doing this" doesn't mean she doesn’t face the consequences of her actions. That's the narrative telling us she's in the wrong.

Maybe this is too complex for you to understand, but my mother literally grew up in a fascist dictatorship with an ultra-Catholic character, where women couldn’t even breathe without their husbands' permission, and they had zero rights beyond marrying and popping out babies like crazy. And I can assure you that she has a much more progressive mindset and much clearer ideas than J.K. Rowling

Good for her. My grandmother left school at ten years old to take care of her family (on a greek island that had been under turkish occupation for most of her life), had zero rights, and was raised to believe women were only good for marrying and having babies. She didn't come out with progressive views. My other grandmother also lived through a fascist dictatorship, she didn't come out particularly progressive either. My Gen X mother was raised with a lot more women's rights and better values, and she is absolutely a lot less progressive than JKR. None of their views or your mother's are relevant to this discussion. JKR doesn't have to have the most progressive view on motherhood to offer her own valuable insights into a complex social role.

Look, arguing with me about the glorification of motherhood in Rowling’s work is laughable because it's something that’s constant throughout all of it. The way she treats mothers, as if they are these all-powerful figures, completely selfless and sacrificing for their children, while if you aren’t that kind of mother ready to give up your entire life for them, you’re some kind of demon or a terrible person...

At the time she was a single mother who had just gotten out of an abusive relationship with her husband and relying on help from female relatives. Ergo, she "glorifies" motherhood (readL has them play an important role in the narrative). I don't know where you've gotten the latter half of the last sentence from. She doesn't say any of that, that's your imagined version of the story talking.

 And the fact that in Rowling’s work, all the responsibility falls on the women while the men as fathers are practically non-existent doesn’t represent the feminist peak or recognition of women that you seem to think.

Again, JKR was a single mother who had just escaped her abusive husband when writing the first book. Mayhaps that influenced the way she wrote about mothers and fathers. She isn't obligated to write a feminist masterpiece on motherhood in her children's fantasy series. She is more than allowed to reflect on what she herself has witnessed and experienced when it comes to motherhood. She doesn't have to deconstruct the insidious, unloving mother archetype because that doesn't really add much to the overall story she's telling. Just go read Sharp Objects, if you're after that type of story.

And yes, it’s called Judeo-Christian culture. Don’t piss me off, I went to a Catholic school for 12 years, I think I know pretty well what I’m talking about.

I also went to Catholic school and was raised Greek Orthodox, you really gotta stop acting like you had some unique experiences. But if you must, Judeo-Christian as a term doesn't even make sense to use when you're arguing about the New Testament/Virgin Mary. Just say Christian for the love of god. Regardless, Mary doesn't have a sacrificial role in the New Testament? At least not like the mothers in HP do? 

Harry also knows little about his father, but at least Rowling takes the time to give James a bit more personality. Funny how Lily doesn’t have any friends. She only has James’ friends, only people related to James can give information about her, and only James gets depth. Was Lily’s world just revolving around James? Doesn’t she have any friends left alive who could talk about her?

On a surface level, I actually agree with this. On a narrative level, I don't. The Snape twist doesn't work if we know a lot about Lily before DH/ And the Snape twist is too integral to the entire story for it to be undone/changed. And because the audience needs to be in the dark about Lily's background, so does Harry and that means unfortunately we do know less about her. This is a Doylist view on the narrative. Sometimes things we don't like need to narratively take place for the overall story to work.

Lucius Malfoy has far more relevance, development, and background than Narcissa. James gets more development and background than Lily. Ginny becomes the protagonist's girl, and she’s a character who practically does nothing until the sixth book, and then in the epilogue, it seems like she wasn’t even able to have a say in her own children's names.

Lucius has more relevance because in the British upper class system he represents, it is the patriarchs of the family who are more active in reinforcing the class system. There is a reason why almost every named Death Eater is male, and no it's not because JKR doesn't believe women can do no wrong (ehem, Umbridge). It's because it’s overwhelmingly been men who have created and sustained oppressive social systems. Meanwhile, the wives of the upper elite are generally regulated to the background/domestic sphere (especially in older generations). I think you're expecting JKR to deconstruct this patriarchial system when a) there's not enough pages for that and b) one of her main goal is to satirise British culture by reflecting a magical mirror onto it. It's quite literally our (or rather Britain's) world with wands and robes, not her version of what the world should look like.

Molly Weasley doesn’t have a life outside her family, while her husband has a complete life as a father, a member of the Order, and a Ministry worker. Nymphadora Tonks turns into a whiny weakling after meeting Lupin, who, by the way, also has much more development and relevance than her

Gee, I wonder what JKR is telling us about housewives of an older generation? It's almost as if being a mother consumes women's lives (especially when you have as many kids as she has). I regularly speak to the many Millennial mothers I work with, and they actually discuss this very phenomennon. That it feels like they've become mothers only while their husbands retain personhood. They even told me to listen to a podcast about it. Again, you have to analyse what JKR is saying about this topic, not what you want her to say.

As for Tonks, I think it's a semi-fair point (and one of your few unfortunately). But I don't think she became a whiny mess, I think she was just dealing with heartbreak. I think the point was that even strong, funny and entertaining people are prone to depressive periods in their lives brought about by personal issues. As for the age gap, I don't personally like it but it wasn't something weird at all for the time period it was written in whether we disagree with it or not. Their relationship is something that's aged poorly (and was probably created for the sake of having the orphan parallel with Teddy), and that tends to happen after 15 years. Social values change and this is one of them.

Not only does Ginny treat Fleur poorly, but Molly does too, and she’s an adult. Even Hermione does it. Why? Because she's pretty? She's the only girl in the Triwizard Tournament, and her performance compared to the male characters is absolutely pathetic.

Fleur's treatment is a tongue-in-cheek is a reference to the way British women view French women as snobby and beautiful (@joannerowling sorry to drag you back in this, but I think you've actually written about this before lmao). I've said tongue-in-cheek a lot of times now, but this is for the hundredth time a satire of British culture. JKR's being covertly cheeky even if not everyone's in on the joke. And yeah Ginny and Hermione are younger teenage girls taking out their insecurities on the much prettier older girl who is almost comically oblivious because it's so beneath her. Molly's also mean to Fleur, because she's scared of "losing" Bill. You know, like a typical mother-in-law interacting with her daughter-in-law-to-be right before the wedding. And they all are narratively refuted at the end of the book. Fleur proves their shallow perceptions of her wrong, and they get over a very petty conflict once they’re faced with much bigger problems. 

As for why she performs poorly in the Triwizard tournament, I think this a more of a "the narrative needs something to happen, and unfortunately it only works if happens to the one female character." Cedric and Krum need to be male, so that the respective Cedric/Cho/Harry and Ron/Hermione/Krum love triangles can work, and obviously there can't be four male champions. Cedric and Krum need to do better in the tournament, because they need to have a bigger role as the other Hogwarts and Durmstrang champions (the latter being prejudiced for being from the 'evil' academy). Because Beauxbatons as a school doesn't matter in the final round, Fleur does get narratively "screwed over". But I think this is balanced out by the fact that she's becomes an active Order member fighting in major battles during DH i.e. her smaller role in GoF is rectified by her bigger role in DH. Again, sometimes we have to look at things from a Doylist perspective to understand why certain narrative choices have been made, rather than assuming bad faith intentions by the author. 

It's about narrative coherence, and she’s very incoherent at times and on certain topics. And that’s okay. She also has an issue with women that should be addressed, but I don’t think it’s just about the era. Nowadays, it’s clear that even with all the information available, she doesn’t really care to read up on issues of gender, power structures, and social violence, so to me, it seems more about her essence and her childhood trauma surrounding femininity than anything else.

I really don’t know what “narrative coherence” you’re talking about here. You haven’t actually listed anything concrete beyond “the narrative tells us she’s a perfect saint and she does a bad thing”. JKR’s coherent about the themes important to her (such as death). Sure she’s interested in creating a children’s novel that guides us through how violent and oppressive structures are created and maintained, but her main aim is to write an escapist children’s novel series with magic. She’s a not a great Feminist or a Marxist thinker writing up a social manifesto. You desperately want Harry Potter to divulge into themes you personally find interesting. You’re partaking in a cardinal sin of media literacy. You’re examining it from a perspective of what it should be, rather than what it is.

Lily doesn’t seem to think she’s done anything wrong by insulting his poverty and aligning herself with his abusers - only Severus is remorseful, and the trauma that caused him to lash out was considerably worse than the trauma that caused her to lash out. She believes he deserves it, as apparently she believed his abuse was amusing. And I’d be totally fine with this from a character perspective because it’s the teenage condition to be self-centred and poor at self-reflection. But the *narrative* (and the author in interviews) doesn’t believe Lily was in the wrong here. And it believes Lily made the correct moral judgment on the two boys when she casts Severus off for his crime and falls in love with James despite his. But I just don’t buy into that framing, and I didn’t even when I was 10. The use of the word ‘mudblood’ while in considerable distress is not a greater sin than sexual assault.

Lily feels no remorse, nor does she think it's wrong to half-smile at the bully who’s targeting your so-called friend. She doesn’t even consider that this might be why your supposed best friend insulted you in the first place. But here’s the thing: this isn't Lily's fault. It's J.K. Rowling's fault, and the way she portrays ethical dilemmas throughout the series, blurring the lines between what's morally right and wrong. Now, if you’ll allow me, before diving into the dynamics between Lily and Severus, I’d like to provide some context as to why I believe the biggest issue with many of the characters’ attitudes in the series lies in Rowling’s constant attempt to project her own moral compass through her writing. In doing so, she falls into repeated inconsistencies and creates a narrative that’s all over the place when it comes to how certain characters are treated.

Rowling is never consistent. She portrays Draco Malfoy as an irredeemable, terrible character because he’s a rich kid spoiled by his parents, using his power and influence to bully those weaker than him. Yet, she gives James the benefit of the doubt, even though he behaved exactly the same way: a rich bully who used his status and his friends to gang up on the vulnerable. From early interviews, Rowling claimed Pansy Parkinson is practically the reincarnation of Satan, even though, of all the antagonists, Pansy is probably one of the least relevant and harmless. This is simply because Rowling projected onto her the stereotypical “mean girls” who mock those who read and study—something Rowling clearly couldn’t stand. On the other hand, she glorifies characters like Ginny, who has a pretty nasty attitude towards any girl she doesn’t consider cool or "not like the other girls." Ginny treats Fleur like a witch when Fleur has done nothing wrong—her only crime is being incredibly beautiful, knowing it, and not constantly apologizing for it. And this treatment of female characters throughout the series deserves a proper gendered critique, because they fall into every stereotype and archetype set by the traditional male gaze.

In Rowling's world, there are always two kinds of women. When it comes to younger, adolescent characters, there are the "good" women—those who don’t fit the typical feminine mold, the weird ones (like Luna), the tomboys who are “one of the guys” (like Ginny), or the overly studious ones who don’t have time for frivolous things like reading magazines or talking about boys (like Hermione). In other words, the cool girls, the ones who are supposed to be role models, are those who "aren’t like the other girls." But not because they’re deconstructing gender roles consciously—they just happen to embody the fantasy of the woman who can give you kids while still being one of your bros. It’s a common male fantasy, where women abandon the graceful, ethereal, delicate image to fit into a set of needs the modern man has. These are "manic pixie dream girls," hiding a deeply internalized misogyny as they are presented as individuals opposed to the “other” women—the “other” being less cool because they lack traditionally masculine traits, and thus are less than. We see this not only with how Fleur is treated but also with the disdain or prejudice Hermione shows towards girls like Lavender or the Patil sisters, just because they act like normal teenagers instead of validating themselves through academia to compensate for their inferiority complex (cough, cough).

Then we have the adult female characters, where Rowling’s toxic and incredibly conservative view of motherhood kicks in. Except for McGonagall, the rest of the adult women who are seen in a positive light are either already mothers or end up becoming mothers. And for them, motherhood is everything. They are mothers first and women second, in every case. Lily is Harry’s mother, who sacrifices herself for him. Molly is the Weasley matriarch, whose entire life revolves around her kids—she hasn’t even looked for a job (which wouldn’t be a bad idea, considering the family’s financial situation), nor does she have any aspirations beyond knitting sweaters and worrying about her children. Even Narcissa, a negative character throughout most of the saga, earns her redemption solely because she loves her son and is willing to risk everything for him. Nymphadora Tonks, a 25-year-old woman, ends up pregnant by a man 13 years older than her and goes from being an independent Auror with her own life to a passive housewife waiting for her man, who is off having an existential crisis. The adult women in the saga aren’t independent individuals—they’re extensions of their children. And any woman who isn’t a perfect, self-sacrificing mother (like Merope Gaunt) is either a psychopath or portrayed as a terrible person.

What I’m getting at is that Rowling is far from impartial in the moral narrative of the story. In fact, she’s absolutely inconsistent. She presents characters she sells as "good," whose attitudes are absolute trash, yet she continues to insist that they’re good and perfect. This is especially obvious with her female characters, because throughout the seven books, she constantly emphasizes her ideal of the "perfect woman" in terms of tastes, motivations, and behavior. Hermione is a self-insert, Ginny is probably a projection of who Rowling wishes she could’ve been, and Luna is the quirky girl who isn’t “threatening” to other women, and is treated with a condescending, paternalistic lens. They are either Rowling’s aspirational figures or archetypes that don’t bother her, or they’re reduced to filler characters who are mistreated by the narrative.

When it comes to Lily, the problem is that Rowling spends half the saga painting her as some kind of Mother Teresa. She’s the quintessence of motherhood—but not a conscious, modern motherhood, but one rooted in traditional Judeo-Christian ideals. This is the kind of motherhood that can do no wrong, the one that represents women because, in this view, a woman can’t be fulfilled unless she’s a mother. Lily dies for her son, and that love creates a divine, protective magic. She’s beautiful, popular, and one of the most popular guys at school is after her. Clearly, she must be a saint, because everyone describes her as such. And while the narrative does question James’s perfection, even if vaguely and unsuccessfully, it doesn’t do the same with Lily. Harry questions his father’s actions but never his mother’s. He never stops to think about how problematic it is that his mother almost laughed at Severus or refused to hear his apology, or that she couldn’t empathize with what he was going through, knowing full well the kind of situation Severus had at home. When a narrative tells you something but never shows it, and worse, never questions it, that’s a problem. Something doesn’t add up. Rowling is obsessed with showing her own moral line through her characters and doesn’t realize how incoherent it is to portray Lily as someone who always does the right thing when what we actually see of her suggests that, if she really liked James all along, not only is she a hypocrite, but she’s also quite superficial with questionable principles. But this is never addressed, never explored. It would be fascinating if it were, giving the character more depth and making her more relatable. But Rowling brushes all this aside, as she does with so many other things, because to her, Lily was a role model, despite the fact that anyone with common sense can see she was just a terrible friend who got tired of justifying why she hung out with a poor, scruffy kid and ultimately decided it made more sense to date the rich, handsome bully.

[itonje]

some medieval english arthurian texts

with the green knight (2021) coming out today i want to talk a little about other arthurian english works because i find them interesting and entertaining <3 these were medieval arthurian texts written in english, not translated into it. all of these are in middle english, though many were written in different time periods and in different dialects. if you’ve read sir gawain and the green knight, many of these have similar plot beats, feature our beloved sir gawaine in a major role, or are alliterative in the same wonderful way sgatgk is! many these come from the university of rochester’s camelot project and it is an invaluable resource! however a lot of these texts are also written in a style that may be archaic or inaccessible- i will try to link more modern translations and reworkings if i can. 

the avowing of king arthur, sir gawain, sir kay, and baldwin of britain: in which the four title characters go to inglewood and, as stated, swear on various vows. 

the adventures of arthur at the tarn wadling: this is actually about gawaine, as most arthurian texts are. featuring ghosts and a duel! what could be better? there are several copies of this texts in manuscripts, including one where it’s in a collection with avowing (see above), said manuscript being the only copy in which avowing survives. 

layamon’s brut: by layamon, of course. this is a pseudohistorical text, going off the account of wace who went off the account of geoffrey of monmouth, but is longer than both and focuses almost solely on arthurian content (including a lot of merlin if you like him). if people want to read history of the kings of britain but don’t want to get through a lot of stuff that isn’t arthurian, i really recommend this. as another draw i will say this features baby gawaine (walwain) and modred. iirc this is the oldest text on this list. 

of arthur and of merlin: a text first about the background and story of arthur’s birth and early reign, including a variety of numerous battles. very merlin heavy. has a fair bit in common with the prose merlin. the copy i linked might be a bit hard to read, sorry. like layamon and aforementioned PM, also features baby gawaine (wawain) and brothers!

sir launfal: by thomas chestre, based off of lanval by marie de france. in which lanval has a secret romance with a magical woman. in this version it’s more implicit than the original lai, but guinevere is canonically homophobic <3 love loses 

sir perceval of galles: a...i would honestly call it a borderline parody of the typical perceval story. this one is deranged. in a fun way! 

ywain and gawain: based off of yvain by chretien de troyes, has the same basic plot beats. very fun even if you’ve already read yvain though, especially (imo) for the rhyming. 

sir tristrem: based off thomas of britain’s french tristan, the latter of which survives only in fragments. based off the tristan and iseult courtly branch. have not read this so i can give little opinions on it. 

i thiiiink lancelot of the laik belongs on here iirc the text is english but it’s from scotland and has scots influence. it’s inspired a from the first part of the lancelot-grail cycle-the poem itself is incomplete. 

the stanzaic morte arthur: poem about the fall of camelot as from the prose cycles. i really like this one, if you don’t want to read le morte darthur for it’s heaviness, i recommend this instead. it has all of the longing and eerie finality of any death of arthur story, even amplified in this work imo. elaine of astolat fans will enjoy this one, she features fairly prominently in the first part. 

the alliterative morte arthure: poem about the fall of camelot, taking mostly from the pseudohistories. i’ve jokingly said i like this as an iliad fan before, but if you are intrigued by the arthurian portions of british pseudohistories, and you like modred (oh my god i really recommend this for people who like modred) you will really love this one. it’s very entertaining! fair warning if you don’t like battle scenes or duels in other arthurian works you will...not enjoy this one. but i love it <3

the prose merlin: OUR FIRST PROSE WORK YES! based off of robert de boron’s unfinished merlin poem and parts of the lancelot-grail cycle, like arthur and merlin, tells of merlin’s birth, life, and the early reign of king arthur. this features a lot of battles and a lot of gawaine and his brothers! i think in this edition of it i’m linking, there are parts cut out, fair warning. i really like this one as well. 

sir gawain and the carle of carlisle: this one is similar to the avowing of arthur. gawaine and co (the same in avowing barring arthur, actually) arrive at a castle for refuge for the night during a storm whilst hunting, and the lord within gives them various tests of chivalry and integrity. this one is fun- a text i recommend after reading sir gawain and the green knight if you liked it for the plot and so on. if you read them concurrently you can imagine that gawaine repaired his reputation post sgatgk. 

if the above text is a little too unreadable for you (which is fair), i also recommend the carl of carlisle, a more condensed version which tells the same basic story with some minor differences (there’s a beheading in this one :3)

the marquis of bath’s manuscript of a latin account of the kings of britain: now, you may be saying, that said latin! well, i guess whoever wrote this decided that for arthur’s portion he would write it in english verse as opposed to latin prose? this one is fairly obscure, but, again, tells a plot similar to other arthurian portions of pseudohistories. 

the jeaste of sir gawain: i think this one tells the story of gawaine’s son, ginglain, the fair unknown, and combines it with gawaine’s romance with the lady of lys from the first continuation of perceval. i haven’t read this text, but i know the plot of gawaine and the lady of lys ditty, and i...do not like it. and i feel like i’d like this one less. 

the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle: everyone’s familiar with this one. the archetypal story of the knight who seeks to figure out ‘what women truly want’. i enjoy this one and i feel like i’ll come back to it in the future analysis wise. ragnelle is a girlboss, etc. may have been written by sir thomas malory. speaking of which...

le morte darthur by sir thomas malory: will let its notoriety speak for itself. amazing work, though long to get through. if you like gawaine, and are looking at this post for gawaine content, while he is probably presented at his worst and most repugnant here out of any other story on this list, honestly this is one of my favorite versions of his character, and that’s the main reason why this text is even going on here in the first place (it’s popular enough, and borderline modern imo lol). 

anyways, happy reading, and happy a24′s the green knight release! summer of dev patel, summer of gawaine, etc!

[bthump]

This is the first time I ask something, but I love your takes on Griffith and every griffguts related analysis soo I was wondering, what would you like to see in berserk’s next chapters? Ever since it was announced the manga was going to continue I felt morbid to see Casca taking lead of the whole plot because of her hatred towards Griffith, but I’m not sure if that’s something I’d really like, nor how it’d go, neither if Casca even will feel such an intense hate for Griffith (sorry if there are grammatical mistakes, English isn’t my first language)

Thank you very much!

My biggest hope and dream is that Casca will use the behelit, sacrifice moonbaby - possibly along with Griffith as a package deal, which presumably wouldn't kill Griff but may inconvenience him - and become an apostle out for revenge.

I think it would be a perfect way to turn the story dark again, incite Guts to lose it himself and be taken over by the armour, give Casca something active to do, and demonstrate her trauma in an epic, story-altering way.

I don't think Casca is going to take over as protagonist though - she'll still be a secondary character no matter what happens, I'm sure. But I do hope that she does something major that drives the plot forward and changes things up, and I can't imagine anything more fitting.

Like if the only payoff to twenty years of regression thanks to demon rape trauma is that she yells at Griffith and cries I will be thoroughly unimpressed lol. I can't imagine a moment we've been building toward for 200 chapters in a story all about revenge and despair coming down to an exchange of words, you know? This is exactly the type of feeling Miura invented behelits to express.

Plus it's a perfect way to give Casca's trauma the significance it deserves without actually having to write a realistically traumatized woman lol, which Miura seemed pretty averse to doing.

And I do definitely think that she will hate Griffith. I don't think forgiveness is on the table, I don't think she'll want to move on and live her life in peace away from him, I don't think "Your wish may not be her wish" refers to Casca wanting to settle down and raise a family and Guts wanting revenge, or Casca wanting to rejoin Griffith, or anything like that.

Like, maybe that's wishful thinking lol because I would hate any of those things, but I genuinely do think that the idea with Skull Knight's warning there is that Guts is the one who wants to be able to move on when he restores Casca's mind but Casca is not going to be his nostalgic comfort object. We already saw hints of that with the way she can't look at him, frustrating Guts ("What the hell am I going to do now?") and I think it's going to come to a head in the next few chapters.

Plus the way Casca was more readily able to blame Griffith during the Eclipse, expresing anger while Guts only expressed sad resignation... I can easily see Casca actually wanting revenge more than Guts ever did. And man there's something nicely poetic about Griffith having originally been the one to show her that she can fight back and kill the men who want to hurt her, and Casca describing herself as his sword back in the day, if now she's the one after revenge. And then you have Guts' musing in the cave in chapter 130 that he doesn't deserve to get revenge on behalf of the Hawks since he abandoned them - compare that to Judeau and Pippin saving Casca, demanding that she survive because she represents the Hawks. I would love to see her take over the revenge aspect of the story.

tbh though I don't really know what Casca might do in detail if she does become an apostle - it couldn't just be Ganishka 2.0. I think that Skull Knight and Danann are planning for this to happen so I guess maybe I see her becoming a weapon for them? Yk they can give her magic power ups or whatever and aim her at Falconia and see what happens. I envision this as negative, like Elfhelm/SK essentially turns out to be an antagonistic force here using Guts and Casca for their own ends. But that's about all the detail I got for this theory.

Thanks for the ask!

[yuyuntianyu]

[2HA analysis blog] To love you is torment but leave you I cannot

I wanted to write this (hopefully not-too-long) blog to give 2HA fandom a different perspective of the events in the past timeline. I noticed that there are many little things that could not be carried over to the English language. These little things can give more explanations to our characters’ actions so I hope sharing this would help the novel make more sense. This blog focuses on Taxian-jun and Chu Fei.

Warning: Spoilers ! ! ! Taxian-jun and Chu Fei are their own trigger warnings ! ! !

Despite the novel having 350 chapters, we really know little about what happened between Taxian-jun and Chu Fei besides the abuse and mistreatment and that little is relayed to us by the Most Unreliable Narrator of the Cultivation World - Mo Ran Mo Weiyu. If we only take Mo Ran for his words then a lot of his and Chu Wanning’s decisions told later on would seem irrational and almost silly. So let’s dive deep in the past so we can understand how the great cultivator Beidou Xian-zun could raise such a dumb husky since the events in the past would explain the more irrational decisions made by both main characters.

Given Mo Ran’s narrator is about as reliable as his character in the first 120 chapters, we have to look at other more subtle clues and some of them are due to cultural and linguistic differences.

1. I used to like you a lot

At his coronation day, Taxian-jun stated that he once greatly looked up to Chu Wanning and that he used to love and respect him dearly. Maybe I am reading into this too much but this is my theory: The flower could erase the memory itself but cannot erase the feelings associated with the memory. He had his memories of the good deeds Chu Wanning did for him erased but still remembered that he used to love and respect him. It doesn’t make sense unless it is indeed that the flower could not erase its host’s feelings. So throughout the novel, Mo Ran’s complicated emotions are complicated possibly because he could not remember how he came to have these feelings. Similarly, Hua Binan could mess with the undead Taxian-jun’s memory to a great extent but could not erase his obsession with Chu Wanning.

2. I gave you a new title

Chu Fei. 楚妃. In the Imperial Chinese harem hierarchy, “Fei” means consort and not concubine (嬪 “Pín"). Consorts were highly respected positions in the palace weidling much political power and were only seconds to the Empress Consort. Another major difference is a consort would be married to the emperor while a concubine would not. So if Taxian-jun had truly wanted to only humiliate Chu Wanning and keep him for the carnal pleasures (I am intentionally ignoring his breeding kink completely), he would keep him as a concubine but he gave Chu Wanning the Consort title and hid him from the world. At this point, Taxian-jun had almost lost Chu Wanning once and had spent a lot of effort to bring him back from the verge of death after hearing Chu Wanning’s apology so his anger might have softened a bit. Also, given that Chu Wanning is a man, having a legitimate offspring ( (I am still intentionally ignoring Mo Ran's breeding kink completely) is not an issue so although this is not clearly stated, I believe Taxian-jun wanted to force a relationship and somewhat proper marriage on Chu Wanning. Another hint of this is in an Extra chapter where Taxian-jun tried to get Chu Wanning a birthday gift. He recalled that in his past timeline, he had wanted Chu Wanning to give him something on his birthday as well and that he had wanted Chu Wanning’s heart.

3. Shizun likes to write letters and poems

On Book 3 Chapter 247, Chu Wanning sat down and wrote a few unsent letters to the people he used to know. He also wrote a few lines of poetry. In the first few lines taken from different literature works, he expressed his sense of helplessness and his wish to remain untainted despite the circumstances. The more important two lines are from a poem written by a real poet named Fàn Chéngdà ( 范成大) who lived in the 12th century Southern-Song dynasty. The two lines read:

“May I be like the stars, may you* be as the moon. Night after night, may we shine together side by side.” **

*In the original work, the character used instead of you is “jun” 君 (as in 踏仙君 Taxian-jun). 君 could mean king, emperor, lord, or gentleman ** This is my rough translation - I haven’t found an English version of this poem

These two lines are commonly used in romantic novels as a way to express one’s unchanging love and loyalty to another person despite the circumstances. He compared himself as the stars and wanted to remain by Taxian-jun whom he viewed as the moon. Chu Wanning wrote this to express his willingness to stay but he would never voice this out loud. In the next timeline, he did the same thing by quietly loving and caring for Mo Ran 1.0 despite the mistreatment and was content with never expressing his feelings vocally. Mo Ran was rather uneducated and thus could not fully comprehend these two lines and misunderstood that Chu Wanning was missing Xue Meng.

4. You are all I have left

In chapter 252, after Chu Wanning returned to The Red Lotus Pavilion, he found Taxian-jun already waiting for him. Taxian-jun told Chu Wanning about a dream he had and said:

“I am afraid I don’t resent you… I want to resent you… Otherwise, I…” “In the end, it’s just you and I”.

This is not the first time he expressed that Chu Wanning was all he had left or they only had each other. I believe that at this point, Taxian-jun might have somewhat believed Chu Wanning and recognized that his memories were missing. His words and behaviors seemed a lot more gentle and he mentioned they did have periods of time where their marriage was easier. I believe it was after this point. He told us about the numerous times he attempted to spoil his consort or expressed his affection through gifts, a trip outside the palace, goods, jewels, and even teaching Chu Wanning how to cook or personally taking care of Chu Wanning when he was sick. At one point, Taxian-jun expressed his wish for a more peaceful marriage with Chu Wanning through his breeding kink by saying that if they had children, perhaps they would be more civil towards each other.

Edit: I really wanted to go about this blog without having to refer to their particular taste in bed

5. Are you still mad?

This is a smaller detail but in the original text and the Vietnamese official translation, the way they talked to each other had a bit more of the “husband-wife” dynamic. Especially Chu Wanning ( l┐(︶▽︶)┌ ), the comment section said he sounded like when your wife is mad that you didn’t take out the trash but still says: “I’m not mad” and Taxian-jun, the husband, would come around and ask “Are you still mad at me?” after every fight.

6. I did not think you would really leave me.

On Chapter 99, Mo Ran recalled the fight between him and Chu Wanning after an assassination attempt. In order to convince Mo Ran to not go to Taxue Palace, Chu Wanning said:

“If you destroy Taxue palace, if you kill Xue Meng, I will die before you”.

Now the line “I will die before you” in my language is less of a suicidal ideation but more of a threat. It's used when a person already knows that they are important to the other person and is using their own death as a threat to make the other person do something. This line is thrown around a lot during heated arguments between people close to each other but they almost never mean it. (Even my mom said it numerous times before T_T . I personally think it’s manipulative). Therefore, it is understandable Taxian-jun did not take this line seriously and replied almost mockingly. After all, they had been married for almost a decade at that point, Taxian-jun probably felt somewhat comfortable that Chu Wanning would not do anything reckless. He could not foresee that Chu Wanning meant what he said and actually followed through with his words. I believe that if Taxian-jun had known that Chu Wanning was serious, Taxian-jun would not have gone to Taxue Palace. 7. Don't leave me, ok?

Then Chu Wanning died and Mo Ran spent two years alone. In those two years, we know he basically went insane because of grief, talked to a corpse everyday, and deep fried his Empress Consort. But strangely enough, Mo Ran 1.0 did not immediately mention this after being reborn although it was the main reason he committed suicide. And at that point, it had been well over a decade since Shi Mei faked his death in the past timeline, yet Mo Ran 1.0 seemed to still hold a lot of resentment towards Chu Wanning. Also, he said he could accept Shi Mei’s death but would never accept Chu Wanning’s. So honestly, it did not make sense to me the first time I read the novel and I believed Mo Ran resented Chu Wanning for a different reason.

The answer was first hinted at in chapter 9 when Mo Ran scolded the sleeping Chu Wanning. He called Chu Wanning a donkey hoof (lol) and this is actually an idiom to scold someone who is disloyal and unfaithful in love. The puzzles came together when the undead Taxian-jun showed up and immediately went after Chu Wanning (and not Shi Mei). He believed Chu Wanning used his death to hurt him and was angry at Chu Wanning for leaving him. This is the resentment Mo Ran 1.0 carried over to the next timeline. He hated Chu Wanning for abandoning him. This is solidified in chapter 262 by the undead Taxian-jun pleading to Chu Wanning:

“Don’t betray me” “Don’t leave me the second time. The first time you left, I could choose death as a relief. This time, even death is not an option any more… I won’t be able to bear it…”

So there it is! I hope this blog brings some new information and feel free to discuss! Let me know if you have any questions for me ＼(￣▽￣)／

Disclaimer: Plenty of this is my conclusion drawn from the already ambiguous original text and various translations. Unless Meatbun says it, it’s not canon. I am looking at the novel in three different languages so I might have made some mistakes. Pls forgive. Also, I am not making excuses for Mo Ran 0.5’s actions nor am I justifying the abuse in any way. Chu Wanning never said Mo Ran 0.5 was innocent of these crimes nor will I.