#this post is about blue eye samurai. which was good

[boyfear]

also how come every time there is a sex pervert character in something they have to be evil and/or have trauma that made them this way... or i guess otherwise if its something where the whole plot is centered on their sexuality they can sometimes be badass and sexy instead. where;s the boring and mundane sex pervert rep? this is why roman roy was so important to the culture

[stromblessed]

Mizu's spectacles, and the levels of her disguise

In drafting some more Blue Eye Samurai meta posts, I find myself writing out the comparisons between what Mizu can and cannot hide about herself, and how that affects how she moves through the world.

Like, I get the jokes about Mizu's glasses, if only color contacts had existed back then, etc. etc., and I think (hope) that most viewers don't take the glasses jokes seriously, as in "I don't care about the suspension of disbelief because BES is a cartoon." But I wanted to write these thoughts out anyway without burying them in a text post about something else.

I think the points I'm going to lay out here are viewed very differently by different people, so please feel free to add to this post, reply, or put your thoughts in the tags!

Not only do Mizu's glasses not actually help her that much, there's surely more to Mizu's mixed race appearance than just the color of her eyes.

In my view, this was pointed out in episode 1:

I'm willing to bet most of us were expecting young Taigen to say "blue eyes," not "ROUND eyes."

Obviously this is still about Mizu's eyes, but not even spectacles can hide their shape.

I don't think the show is obligated to point out everything about Mizu's face that isn't quite as Japanese as the people around her expect. Though the creators have said that they specifically designed Mizu - and her clothes - to read both as "white" and as "Japanese," as well as both male and female. I think there's more about Mizu's features that read as "white" than just her eyes.

This is where my own headcanons start entering the picture, but it's my impression that people can just tell that Mizu looks different, whether or not they can put a finger on exactly how.

There's the little girl who looks at Mizu and then hides on the way into Kyoto:

When there's more to your face you'd like to cover up than just your eyes, big hats are a big help!

By the way, most of these examples have to come from the first half of the season, since by the second half, either Mizu is too preoccupied with fighting henchmen, or everyone Mizu is facing knows who she is already, and she therefore has no reason to hide her mixed race identity.

It's worth mentioning that the mere fact that Mizu has to hide multiple aspects of her identity - her mixed race and her sex - results in her having to choose clothes that really, really cover her up, which doesn't win her any favors either:

(Zatoichi reference, anyone?)

If it were as easy as, for example, tying her glasses to her head and wa-lah, nobody would ever know she was half-white - then (1) Mizu would've just done that long ago, and (2) Mizu wouldn't be so on guard and on tenterhooks 100% of the time the way she's depicted in the show, even when her glasses are on.

Her spectacles sure don't help her in the brothel, which is full of observant women who are trying to seduce her, meaning they get good long looks at her:

Mizu never takes her glasses off, but they still send a woman to her who has light eyes, thinking that must be what will interest a blue-eyed man:

No wonder Mizu gets mad after this, lol

So Mizu never takes her spectacles off in the brothel, it's dimly lit inside, and the women can still tell that she has blue eyes. I'm getting the sense that Mizu putting on her spectacles isn't a guarantee that people suddenly can't tell that she looks different.

And yet no one spots that she's female.

Mizu can hide her breasts, can wear her hair in the right style, can hide what's between her legs, can walk and talk and behave like a man - and she's been doing it for almost her entire life, to the point that not only is she very good at it, but the threat of being found out as female is deadly, but isn't presented in the show as omnipresent.

Let me explain.

She threatens Ringo for nearly saying the word "girl" out loud, because while she's constantly ostracized for being mixed race, being a woman traveling without a chaperone, carrying a sword, and disguised as a man will get her killed or flogged or arrested or some combination of these things.

But in addition, it's been drilled into her since she was a child that if she is discovered as female, the combination of her being mixed race and female will identify her as someone extremely specific, someone known to some bad people, and she will be killed:

I think of it as Mizu thinking to herself, "Being found out as mixed race means I'm treated badly. Being found out as mixed race and a woman means I'm dead."

Mizu's hair is cut as a child. But she isn't made to wear a big hat, or cover her eyes somehow, or anything like that. Because hiding her sex is a more successful endeavor than hiding her race.

Ringo finds out she's female by accident, but once Mizu accepts the fact that he won't rat her out, she relaxes pretty early on in the season. Because the threat of being found out as female is mitigated pretty much 99.9%, since Mizu has gotten so good at being a man. And also, because most of the time, people see what they want to see. Even if Mizu's face makes her stand out as "not 100% Japanese," no one in the world of BES looks at Mizu's clothes, her bearing, her sword, hears her voice, and will ever in a million years conclude that she is a woman, because expectations around gender roles in the Edo period were so rigid and so widely enforced.

One detail that proved this to me is after the Four Fangs fight:

Ringo takes off Mizu's clothes so he can stitch her up, then leaves her clothes off even after he's done. He doesn't even throw her cloak over her as a blanket or anything. There's a little a straw (pallet?) as a divider there on the left, but anyone could just peek around it and see Mizu and her chest bindings. (I think it's mostly there as a windbreaker.)

And Taigen is right there, but he doesn't give a shit:

Opinions probably vary hugely on this, but my impression is that because the show doesn't make any kind of deal about Taigen being in the room with Mizu here, my guess is that Mizu isn't in any danger of Taigen thinking she's female. Even when I watched the show for the first time, I assumed that Taigen had seen Mizu out of her clothes here, and that he thought nothing of it.

Eat your heart out, Li Shang (Mulan 1998). I actually do think that this scene is a direct and purposeful side-eye to that movie, lol

There's obviously some nuance to how "severe" being mixed race is compared to how "severe" being a woman is for Mizu:

After all, Swordfather can't bear to listen to Mizu confess to being a woman.

So a Japanese man can go wherever he wants, whenever he wants in BES. A Japanese woman has limited options: marriage, religion, or a brothel. A mixed-race man is an eyesore in this story. A mixed-race woman is a death sentence.

May as well eliminate the female aspect, and do what you can about the mixed-race aspect. Because that's just realistic.

Meaning Mizu can avoid the strictures Edo society places on women. But she can't avoid the repercussions that come with being mixed race. And I truly don't think that it's just because "there's no brown contacts yet."

[hauntingofhouses]

Thinking about the crazy love triangle situation in Blue Eye Samurai and debating heavily with myself on how I'd like to see it conclude. And yeah this discussion can be thought of purely as shipping, headcanons, and fandom fun. But when analysing the show and engaging with it in a more in-depth, almost-literary level, it's impossible to dismiss who Mizu's potential love interests are and how different endgame romances would affect her character arc and the overall story and themes.

So in this post I'd like to look at the love triangle a bit more closely, and speculate on where the story will take this.

DISCLAIMER: It is my personal interpretation of the text that Mizu is non-binary—I use this as an umbrella term denoting any gender that does not adhere to the binary restrictions, norms, and expectations of what it means to be either a man or woman in a particular society; it's not just an androgynous "third gender" that exclusively uses they/them pronouns. Thus, while I personally believe Mizu is not strictly a cis woman, she does still identify with womanhood, despite definitely feeling a level of detachment from it due to living as a man for so long. With that being said, I will be using she/her pronouns for Mizu in this post, but please note that this is purely personal preference. Everyone is free to interpret the text the way they like. That's the fun of fiction. Now, without further ado, let's proceed.

Okay so, thinking about the pairings on a purely surface level, and even before i got into the show, I was pinning my hopes on some lesbianism going on between Mizu and Akemi, and the show does hint at this; in Ep1, during their first encounter in Kyoto, there is the famous slow-mo shot of their eyes meeting, Mizu's lips slightly parted as she is unable to tear her gaze away from Akemi, while sweet string music plays in the background. This is clear romantic framing, and a marker of attraction. If Mizu was a cishet man, there would be no question that this is a potential love interest.

But then, in the same episode, we meet Taigen, who is introduced to us firstly from hearing Akemi's father describe him as "a fierce and undefeated young samurai", the "best swordsman in the best school" and "a fisherman's son from Kohama [...] whose rise reminds [him] of [his] own."

In the next scene, we meet him in person as Akemi's fiance, and he seems sweet enough. He even gives her sweets! In exchange, Akemi gives him gold, and he feels a bit ashamed that he doesn't have anything better to offer her. But Akemi accepts him and his gift wholeheartedly and flirts with him a little, which makes him smile kinda shyly.

When Akemi confirms their engagement, Taigen is in disbelief because he has no status or noble background, but Akemi reassures him.

So from these first few scenes, we're introduced to Taigen as an honourable and strong samurai, but also as a man who is sweet and gentle with the woman he is about to marry, as well as aware of his own inferiority when compared to Akemi's high station.

Our view of him then changes as his true self is revealed: he is an arrogant and smug bastard among his peers, but more importantly, he is the terrible bully from Mizu's childhood.

And it is this side of Taigen--pompous jerk and unrepentant xenophobic bully--that we continue to see as the show goes on, and it's safe to say that this is his real self, sans any pretense of humility and modesty. Around anyone who isn't an outright superior in terms of class and power (ie. Akemi's father, the shogun), Taigen never hesitates to assert his own authority and "greatness."

But as the show goes on, he gets caught by Heiji Shindo's men, and then tortured. And that's when we see, okay, turns out he's not that bad. He's honourable; "honour" is not just meaningless and superficial pedantry for him, but an internalised, guiding principle.

He was a cruel asshat throughout Mizu's childhood, but in a prejudiced and xenophobic society, he was just playing by the rules. As a child, he knew he was at the bottom of society, but when met with someone even lower ranked than him (Mizu), he can project all those prejudices and insecurities onto someone else. This way of thinking--"if you can't beat 'em, join em"--is what allowed him to climb up the ranks despite being some dirt poor kid from an abusive household*.

*Well, that combined with his cismale privilege of course, because this would not be an option for a woman in similar circumstances.

Thus, his upholding of honour also exemplifies how Taigen embodies the ideals and rules of his society. His insistence on duelling Mizu is another more blatant example of this. He doesn't want revenge like Mizu does. He wants to be accepted by society, within the bounds that society has placed, and that means that his only two options following his defeat at the Shindo dojo were to either chase Mizu down and get his damn duel, or kill himself for his humiliating defeat.

Now! Moving on from Taigen, let's go back to the other end of this little love triangle: Akemi.

Mizu and Akemi only properly meet in Ep4. During their first meeting, when Akemi tries to poison Mizu in Madame Kaji's brothel, she compliments Mizu's eyes, calling them "beautiful."

This seems to genuinely take mizu off-guard for a second before she coolly plays along. We know that Mizu recognises Akemi from the get-go, and thus sees through Akemi's ploy from a mile away. It's also safe to assume she'd expected false flattery, because Mizu understands full well that this tactic is how women get what they want: by using their 'feminine wiles' and playing up their naivety and innocence. But even so, it's interesting that Mizu actually seems surprised by Akemi's compliment.

Then, after Mizu subtly taunts Akemi by lying about Taigen's death, she and Akemi have a bit of a scuffle, and then we get to Mizu saying this:

"Women in our world don't have a single good option. Except you, like some magical forest creature. You could have anything you want, but then you beg to eat trash."

(no screenshot because it's quite a long line but you get it)

Here we see Mizu's opinions on the marginalisation of (mostly poor and under-privileged) women stated outright, and underlying her words is also resentment. Because even though she and Akemi have shared experiences of female oppression, Mizu, unlike Akemi, was also poor, from a rural village, and is a racial minority. Mizu is triply oppressed, while Akemi only faces one primary form of oppression, and to someone as embittered by the world as Mizu is, to see Akemi "beg to eat trash" is a slap in the face, practically tone-deaf to the other injustices around her--injustices which Akemi has not shown much, or any, acknowledgement for at this point.

Then, after this scene, Mizu kills Kinuyo, and this unsettles her to a degree we've never seen from her before. She is visibly distraught, and the entire sequence hammers the theme of this episode (and arguably, a large portion of the show) into our heads: women in this world suffer. And even though Mizu is well aware of this fact, to commit this act is so visceral that is shakes her to her core, and it's what ultimately leads to the ambush of the Thousand Fangs.

But before the ambush, Mizu and Akemi talk a little again, and during this time Akemi taunts Mizu some more.

Right now, Mizu is exhausted to the point where (I believe) she even downs some sake, despite not usually drinking. Thus, worn down, she cuts Akemi's ropes and tells her, "Just go." Akemi recovers from her initial fear of Mizu's blade and taunts her some more, accurately seeing through Mizu's facade of coldness, recognising the raw anger there, and says this:

"I thought you had to be something special. Your face isn't even so scary. You're just... angry."

At this, Mizu is amused and compares Akemi to Taigen ("I see why he likes you. You're just like Taigen when we were children. A fucking brat.")

The reveal that Mizu and Taigen knew each other in childhood surprises Akemi, but before either of them can say more, everything goes to shit.

That's when we get to Ep5. This episode focuses primarily on Mizu, the central piece of this love triangle, and does the most out of all the episodes to shed some light on her character and goals, fleshing her out to be more than just the vengeful, highly proficient samurai we've seen thus far (symbolised by The Ronin), but also a person who is capable of love, domesticity and gentleness (symbolised by The Bride). But in the end, Mizu rejects both these ideals, instead becoming an Onryo, who is neither guided by pride/honour, nor love.

By 'reincarnating' into an Onryo, Mizu is able to win the day and save the women in the brothel. However, as she has now fully embraced her status as an Onryo, and is exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally, she lets the Tokunobu clansmen take Akemi away while Akemi's screams echo in her ear.

Mizu says this choice is for Akemi's own good, that Akemi's better off; because Mizu is jaded and weary, and cannot afford the luxury of idealism, and thus must always be strictly practical and realistic. So of course that's why, in her view, yes, Akemi should not be wasting her time in a brothel where women are exploited and abused, nor should Akemi be so naive to think that her marriage with Taigen is even still possible. However, regardless of Mizu's views, it is not for her to decide, because though Akemi is privileged in some sense, she is still trapped and voiceless, and deserves the right to choose her own destiny.

But as it happens, in the end, though Akemi did not choose who she gets to marry, she DOES get to choose her next move when Edo burns down.

"I want to be great."

This one line is the key to her entire arc, which is only just beginning. We see she quickly has acquired the affection and good graces of the shogun's son after their wedding night and consummation, and with Madame Kaji and the girls now serving her, Akemi will only grow to become a prominent political player.

NOW, only after analysing the characters as they are within this season, only can we speculate how their arcs will continue as the show progresses.

First and foremost, I will reassert the popular opinion that Mizu and Akemi are foils. The climax (pun intended) of Ep7 illustrates this as it parallels the turning points in both Mizu's and Akemi's arcs:

Mizu melts the steel of all her loves and shames, the people she's collected: the broken blade wielded by both Chiaki and Taigen, Akemi's knife, Ringo's bell, Master Eiji's tongs - this symbolises her beginning to accept herself, and in doing so, also accepting the help of others;

Akemi consummates her marriage with Takayoshi Itoh, gains his affection, and cements her position as a woman in the shogun's palace - this symbolises her taking charge of her situation, no longer playing the damsel, but using her position to her advantage, empowering both herself and the underprivileged women around her.

These are thus two directly contrasting, diverging journeys:

Mizu's arc moves inward (yin). It is an internal path of self-love and self-discovery, focused on finding peace and tranquility inside herself, and this involves allowing herself to let others into her life, opening herself up to friendship and empathy once more.

Akemi's arc moves outward (yang), it is an external path of growth, transforming from a naive, caged princess to a powerful woman and a force to be reckoned with.

Akemi is always dressed in red, even her eyes are a bit of a reddish-brown rather than brown-black like most other characters, and in her penultimate scene she stands against a backdrop of flames. She is fire: quick-tempered, passionate, full of energy. Red is powerful, authoritative, and in eastern cultures, it is associated with prosperity.

Mizu is blue: her eyes, her sword, her clothes. She is also named after water; it's where she goes to recover, reflect and meditate. Water is fluid like a brook weaving around a stone in its path, always changing and adapting, it is graceful, it is beautiful and ruthless, tranquil yet swift.

Thus, in the future, I expect we will see plenty of political manoeuvring and intrigue in Akemi's plotline, where she fully embraces control of her life, and begins to take action to help others as well, realising that her own oppression is just one piece in a much larger picture. Her main conflict is with society.

In direct contrast, Mizu's main conflict is with herself. She must realise that her desire for vengeance is a projection of her own deep-rooted self-hatred. Her arc must move towards unpacking her feelings and trauma so she can be at peace with herself and allow space for love in her heart. Because as we saw in Ep5, Mizu had come extremely close to achieving peace and joy, as she had not only loved Mikio, but also had briefly believed that Mikio had loved her (and accepted her for who she is) as well.

Thus, assuming the story is not planned as a tragedy, Mizu will likely end up getting her vengeance, but it will not satisfy her, because it is not what she needs. What she needs is to let go of the Onryo within her and to reconcile both The Ronin and The Bride within herself, as she is both a fighter and a lover, but not a monster.

(Edit: I recommend checking out this post by @stylographic-blue-rhapsody for a much clearer analysis about Mizu'a symbolism as Ronin, Bride and Onryo!)

And now that we've mostly covered each of the characters individually, we can finally get to the main point of this post: the love triangle.

--

Let's talk about Option A: Akemi.

As I covered extensively earlier, Mizu and Akemi are foils, a yin-yang pair. But while they play off each other very well in a thematic sense, I personally believe that a serious romance between them will be more complicated if they become endgame. This is because Akemi's natural resolution is to embrace a position of power and influence, where she has both freedom and control over herself and to make much-needed changes in a prejudiced society. Meanwhile, Mizu's natural resolution is the opposite; her happy ending would to find a peaceful life where she is safe and free from prying eyes, and able to be her true self.

Thus, it would make very little sense for Akemi to forfeit power and run away with Mizu and start a humble life together. Akemi wants to be great, and that is absolutely what she deserves. On the other end of the spectrum, it would also make little sense for Mizu to dedicate her life in service of Akemi, such as acting as a bodyguard or something similar, because a life in a palace full of court intrigue and conspiracies is far from what Mizu needs to be happy.

With that being said, if Mizu/Akemi is endgame, and assuming their overarching character arcs do not shift directions, their love story would likely be either tragic, doomed, or bittersweet. I do absolutely love this type of story because personally I'm a sucker for catharsis, so it would be very interesting if the writers do decide to take this route.

Also, as a note, please do not take this as me dunking on this pairing. This is just my personal opinion and analysis and I completely understand if you disagree!

--

Then, of course, we have Option B: Taigen.

Between Akemi and Mizu, Taigen is a bit of a free-floater here, because Season 1 leaves off at a point where his arc is very ambiguous as to where it's headed. While Akemi climbs for greatness and Mizu goes on a journey across the ocean to (presumably) discover more about her heritage, we have little clues about where Taigen is headed. And if I'm being honest, I'm sure he has no idea either! He still hasn't reclaimed his honour, so he would be unable to rejoin the Shindo Dojo; he's been rejected by Akemi; and while he showed loyalty to the shogun, the shogun is now dead, and all the shogun's men who had witnessed his "humiliating" death were left to die by Lady Itoh, who is now pulling the strings within the palace.

Therefore, Taigen has very few options here.

And when considering his role in the story is as Mizu's begrudging ally, his arc will undoubtedly be focused on unlearning his xenophobia and misogyny, the latter of which we have not seen yet, but is surely present. Now, whether he will do this in Mizu's presence or absence will be unknown until we see Season 2. Following the Season 1 finale, he might return to Kohama and wait for Mizu there as he learns humility and remorse over his past cruelty; or maybe he will follow Mizu to London, and the two of them will continue to butt heads until he finally admits to himself that he cares for Mizu more than he would like to admit. There is no room for doubt that his growing feelings for Mizu are more-than-platonic, because we all saw him get turned on by sparring with her in Ep7 lol. Thus, regardless of the exact choice he makes, I am sure that his overall arc will be focused on redeeming his character.

Now, when it comes go redeeming him, I know there are many who simply don't want him redeemed because he was such a jerk to Mizu, and while yes I agree he was awful, I do believe there is also nuance to his character.

Previously I've discussed in great detail the colour and elemental symbolism with Mizu and Akemi, but have yet to touch on how they relate to Taigen. So, let's talk about that for a second.

While Akemi is red and Mizu is blue, Taigen is green.

Green is a complementary colour to Akemi's red. Complementary colours are directly opposite each other in the colour wheel; when mixed, they neutralise each other, but when put side-by-side, they form a pleasing and impactful contrast that boosts the brightness and prominence of both colours. This mirrors Taigen and Akemi's relationship. They are an "ideal" pair because they complement each other very well, and bring out each other's most prominent traits. Mizu's comment about their similar "brattiness" comes to mind here.

Green is also an analogous colour with Mizu's blue. These colours are sitting right next to each other on the colour wheel; their natural similarity makes it easy for them to form a cohesive overall appearance, but using both in equal amounts will make a design overwhelming and too busy. Thus, the best way to use analogous colours is to make one the dominant colour, while the other will serve as an accent. I feel this also speaks to the dynamic in Taigen and Mizu's relationship. They came from the space place, both from nothing; they're both strong fighters who love the sport, and work well together when fighting side-by-side; however, they butt heads too easily, mirroring how analogous colours can be too overwhelming when used in equal amounts. Thus, to work together in harmony, one has to be the dominant colour, while the other serves as the accent. In this case, the dominant force would be Mizu, as she is the protagonist of the story, while the accent would be Taigen.

By fulfilling this role as an "accent" to Mizu, Taigen's character would easily be slotted in as a the love interest. This is in contrast with a Mizu/Akemi relationship, whereby Akemi is Mizu's foil before she is Mizu's love interest. This is because, by being a love interest, a character usually takes a backseat in the story, serving the plot and the themes by playing a purely supportive role, and this is not possible in Akemi's case because her character exists to parallel and contrast Mizu (red and blue), and not to support her.

It is possible to serve as a supporting love interest in Taigen's case however. And this is because he, unlike the other characters, does not currently have a definitive place within the story. He initially served the plot as an antagonistic force, but now as he is slowly unlearning his prejudices and becoming a better person, he can no longer serve the story by acting purely as a rival.

Instead, he will serve the story by literally supporting Mizu. And this relates to Taigen being earth, which is steady, firm and reliable, unwavering in loyalty and principles, hardworking and rooted in stability, which is seen in Taigen's staunch and inflexible obedience to the traditions and rules of society. These traits are what make him a perfect samurai, but not a good man. However, unlike most people in their world, Taigen is still capable of change and redemption, which is why Mizu says that he has the potential to be great. Not great by way of power or glory, but great in character. Already, he is honourable to a fault, and does not betray Mizu even after she technically robbed him of everything he was striving towards. And when he was shot by an arrow in the chasm, he did not hesitate a second to tell Mizu to use him as a human shield and save herself.

The trigger for his redemption is Mizu. If she had never beat him in that duel, Taigen would live on to become a man like Akemi's father. Cruel, power-hungry, controlling, conservative. But through Mizu, Taigen's sharp edges are ground down, much like water that wears down the stones in a river.

Where Mizu and Akemi's possible love story would be a clash of wills, full of passion and even heartbreak, a possible love story between Mizu and Taigen would be the wearing down of souls. Mizu would make Taigen a better person, and in turn Taigen would dedicate his full respect and support to Mizu as his equal, thus getting her to slowly open up and love herself. Already, Taigen has grown enough to admit (begrudgingly, and in his own Taigen way) that Mizu is better than him; though, clearly, he still has a long way to go, as he still calls Mizu a demon shortly after that.

But basically, Taigen is a very simple man (his main goal now is "to be happy"), and Mizu has great depths that he cannot yet fathom. For this love story to work, it has to begin with Taigen changing for the better. If he succeeds in that, and is able to accept Mizu for all her complexities, I believe that they will make a formidable pair. And though he'd likely still throw a jab or snarky remark at Mizu every now and then, I think he'd come tl wholeheartedly admire Mizu as a brilliant swordsman and a kind soul. Thus, should things work out and this be endgame, Taigen would be able to provide Mizu with what Mikio could not: an idyllic life that is not built on a lie, but mutual trust, respect, admiration, and equality.

Or hey, maybe they could both make their own dojo together! I don't know.

(Edit: This post by @rinandsketches does a great job at delving into Taigen's character and a potential Mizu/Taigen relationship if you'd like to read more about this angle!)

--

Now, as I move on from Taigen, there are a couple more options on how to resolve this love triangle and that includes Option C: Ringo.

In this option, Mizu does not have an endgame romance with either Akemi or Taigen. In this route, she finds peace and love through friendship, solidarity, and a found family between herself, Ringo and Master Eiji—a bunch of outcasts in society who make a strong trifecta of sword-makers.

Also, as an aside while I'm talking about Ringo, I'd like to point out that I believe his element is air and his colour is a neutral grey; he is talkative, easy-going, wise, curious, light on his feet (stealthy) and free-spirited, which are all traits linked to air, and traits that complement Mizu nicely, as he is capable of getting Mizu to open up and trust others again, while Mizu helps him reach his true potential for greatness.

--

And finally, there's Option D: Polyamory.

This is basically an "all of the above" option, in which everyone wins and it's a super duper happy ending. It would also be awesome to get some polyamorous representation, and seeing the dynamic between Akemi/Mizu/Taigen play out would be very entertaining and refreshing. So, you never know, this just might be the true endgame!

--

AAAAND with that, I close my extremely long analysis of what is essentially Mizu's love life. Whatever the final outcome of this love triangle though, I just hope it will be well-written and satisfying to all the characters' respective arcs. (Also I just want Mizu to be HAPPY goddamn it because she deserves the world and her coochie eaten out)

Now, I highly doubt anyone will read any of this (especially not until the end!) but that's fine. I just have so many thoughts and feelings about this show and I just needed to get this out of my system lol! But if by some miracle you did read this far, I wholeheartedly welcome any sharing of thoughts and ideas because man am I obsessed with this show! But of course, if we have an opposing opinions, please be respectful when letting me know; I am very open to friendly discussions.

[doorhine]

One of many things I like about Blue Eye Samurai is how it portrays its disabled characters. There's a lot to talk about with each of them but for this post, I want to talk about, not the step dad, but the dad who stepped up, Sword Father!

*Spoilers below

Him and Mizu's relationship is one of my favorite dynamics in the show and seeing how that developed over the years was one of my favorite things about the pilot. It felt very symbiotic and good for the both of them emotionally to have that company and support, especially on Mizu's end.

I really liked seeing how the two worked together and how Mizu accommodated to his needs. I also liked the respect given to Sword Father's ability to take care of himself as an adult even without Mizu's assistance. He's been blacksmithing for years and he's respected in his line of work. Losing his sight did not and does not change that.

I personally think the show does a good job at balancing the reality of him being blind and the accommodations he needs while also respecting him as an autonomous individual and talking about his blindness in a way that feels natural and respectful when it's relevant.

But my favorite thing about this dynamic and Sword Father as an individual is probably the use of audio design in the show in relationship to them. As we see the two of them become a family, and develop this language with each other/way of interacting, sound becomes a key element and that carries over into the entire show.

Being blind, Sword Father relies a lot on his hearing. But we as the audience don't just see this aspect of his character. We're actually made to hear from his perspective and apply that sense to how we perceive the entire season even when he's not present.

The most obvious example is the sound of metal which is used to indicate things like:

Mizu revealing to Sword Father that she forged her sword from the meteorite they found before the camera pans up to the space it used to occupy

The symbolism around Mizu and mixed metal in general

Sword Father realizing that Mizu's at his front door when Ringo brings her and Taigen there which revealed to us, the audience, where Ringo brought them before we see Sword Father come on screen (I loved that moment so much)

and emphasizing the moment of shock the characters in the show had when they heard the sound of gunshots for the first time in the finale in contrast to the clang of swords that we as the audience have gotten so used to hearing.

But the reliance on hearing doesn't just apply to that. In the second episode Mizu encounters Chiaki, a man from her past who she defeats in the present. And you know the biggest tip off the show gives us to recognize him before he reveals himself? His laugh. A noise we would've recalled from the flashbacks he was featured in.

LIKE I JUST THINK THAT'S SO FRIGGIN COOL XD

There's a lot more that can be said about Sword Father and how the show portrays him and his blindness. I personally can't speak on this as a blind person so I'd love to hear what people who are think about it. These are just my 2 cents that I felt like sharing.

[honkytonk-hangman]

Flight Risk

Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x Reader

Summary: The sky beyond the baking tarmac is cloudless, and washed with deep reds and oranges, the way it always is by the time Jake lands when the monthly inter-squad training simulation has drawn to a close. Almost always.

Today, the sky had been a bright Carolina blue.

Today, Hangman had been shot down.

Warnings: cussing? jake being soppy. mentions of handsy dates, sexual referencessss

Notes: so this started as an AU for my fic Afterburn, and still technically is, however it can be read totally independently of that story as well.

Jake is perched in a casual lean against his plane, watching as the last jet in the pattern finally lands, continuing to wait patiently as the Super Hornet is guided to its designated area, just a few places down from his own. The sky beyond the baking tarmac is cloudless, and washed with deep reds and oranges, the way it always is by the time Jake lands when the monthly inter-squad training simulation has drawn to a close. Almost always.

Today, the sky had been a bright Carolina blue.

Today, Hangman had been shot down.

Jake takes a small amount of comfort in knowing that the pilot responsible for his simulated demise is also the pilot to win the day, despite that meaning his own squad losing out on the point. It wouldn’t happen again, however. He’d foolishly underestimated you, disregarded the gossip he’d overheard about Samurai squad’s newest member, choosing instead to judge for himself. Jake was a prideful son of a bitch at the best of times, and much worse at most others, but he wasn’t actually incapable of shutting the hell up and accepting his slice of humble pie.

At least, he’d accept it in his own special way, which is exactly why he waits long after the others have filtered off to the locker rooms. They’re already clocked off for the day by the time the ground crew have secured the last jet, and the pilot has climbed down. Jake shifts on his feet and gets a good look as you approach, purposefully giving you a suggestive up and down as you spot him and slow your walk.

“That was some flyin’,” he says, pushing off the side of his own jet and coming to stand before you. You blink at him, but raise an eyebrow as you manoeuvre your helmet to rest against your hip.

“I’m sorry, do we know each other?” you ask, eyes sparkling in amusement. Jake grabs at his chest, like you’ve shot him down again, and winces.

“Aw, c’mon, Kodiak” he starts, before fixing you with a piercing stare. “I don’t give out compliments that often, give it to me easy.”

“Only thing I’ll give you is my afterburner.”

Jake can’t help himself, he grins wide. He knows he should keep up the banter, you were clearly well equipped to spar with him, didn’t seem to take anything too personally so far, but all he can think as he stares at the first pilot to ever shoot him down, sweat slicking your flyaway hairs to your forehead, the sunsetting below the tarmac behind you, your cheeks a little ruddy from your time in the air, is that he’s going to marry you.

Luckily, Jake has the good sense to keep this to himself for now.

He steps forward slightly, and holds out his hand, watching as you eye it suspiciously for a moment.

“I’m Hangman,” he tells you as you relent and shake his hand.

“I know who you are, that's why I went for you first.” you reply with surprisingly little smugness in your voice, just plain truth. Jake lifts an eyebrow at you.

“Using me to raise your profile I see,” he teases. You don’t seem to notice that you’re still shaking his hand, and Jake feels slightly thankful, because he’s memorising the way it feels. You scoff at him.

“And what would you have done?” you challenge. Jake just looks your features over, and decides an evening ceremony will be perfect.

You realise then that you’re still shaking his hand, and you hurriedly pull away, moving to hold your helmet in both hands as if to stop yourself from reaching out again.

“I need to go do my post-flight checks,” you say quickly, sidestepping Jake and moving off toward the hanagar, and probably the showers. Jake turns and watches you go, his smile never faltering.

“Kodiak!” he calls out, waiting for you to stop and turn back to him before going on. “I enjoyed flying with you.” Jake tells you honestly, but musters his most serious expression so that you’ll know that too. He watches your brows furrow suspiciously for a moment, almost like you’re expecting him to laugh like it’s just a prank, but after a couple more seconds, your frown smooths into something more curious, before your face at last completely softens and you give him a small, but genuine smile.

“I enjoyed shooting you down,” you reply, your voice sincere, but your words catching him off guard and making Jake let out a surprised bark of laughter. 

Your smile widens just a little in the corners, like perhaps you had liked making him laugh, but soon enough you’re shifting your helmet in your hands again, and giving him a parting nod before once again you turn your back and walk away.

Jake stands still in place and watches as you shrink before at last disappearing entirely into the hangar. Once sure he’s alone, he places his hands on his hips and lets out a long, low whistle. He feels his heartbeat thump away rapidly in his chest, his adrenaline still spiking from just the thrill of speaking to you properly and in person for the first time, after being forced only to listen to your voice all afternoon on the radios.

It was a very nice voice, he thinks, both in person and on the radios, and it suits your very nice face very nicely. With a last whistle of approval, Jake begins making his own way inside, and even though he’d promised himself earlier that never again would he let you shoot him down, now he can’t help but think anything that brought you enjoyment was worth repeating.

Replaying your conversation over and over as he finally showers, changes, and heads home for the night, the first thing Jake does upon arriving in his apartment is reach for the pad and pen he keeps on the kitchen counter. He scribbles down the date, and writes out the highlights from your conversation as best as he remembers them. Peeling it off the pad, he folds it neatly, before placing it carefully inside the leather bound folder that held such items as his passport and birth certificate, before replacing it again in its hiding spot.

He wouldn’t need the contents of the note for a little while, he thinks, but when it came time to write the speech he’d give at your wedding, Jake wanted to know exactly where he could find it.

“Well, that was pathetic,” Javy nudges Jake in the ribs, and nods in your direction across the bar. Jake, who until now has been trying hard not to look your way, is finally given the perfect reason to do so, and swings his eyes over to you.

You’re sitting near the bar in your civvies, with a man who Jake can’t help but notice is not himself, and who is currently being awfully handsy for his liking. You don’t look completely comfortable either, but he also knows you have no trouble telling men to calm down when you aren’t feeling their advances. Neither reason adds up to exactly why Jake almost immediately chooses to abandon Javy by the pool table.

Part way across the bar, Jake realises that it’s not even a rescue attempt he’s trying for, clearly you were fine, no, this reaction from him is entirely new, spurred on by a good many things, but right now, by the abysmal looking date you were enduring. He slows his pace, and begins to move at a more natural gait, his lack of rush having no active affect on the crowds around him either way. Jake was both tall enough and wide enough that people tend to part for him as he walks regardless of asking.

He feels his chest puff out a little when you notice him coming before he even reaches you, and how even though he positions himself at the bar behind you, you seem to subconsciously turn a little to be able to look over at him anyway. Jake grins to himself when your ‘date’ seems to flounder at your seemingly captured attention, and quickly asks if you’d like another of the little cocktails you’d picked that night.  Jake can’t help but scoff internally. He’d asked you once why you drank beer with the squad, but only ordered fruit drinks when you had a date, to which you’d replied that you thought it appeared more feminine. Jake scoffs again, this time out loud.

“You’ll let this guy take you out, but not me? You don’t even like that, you’re not even drinking it!” he says quietly enough so that only you are able to hear the clipped annoyance in his words. You cock your head at him, and raise your straw to your lips either spitefully or indignantly.

“Still sour about that Jakey?” you tease. Despite the subject matter, and his frustration that these men you went out with seemingly had something Jake did not, he can’t help but feel pride pump through his veins upon seeing the way your face, especially your eyes, have lit up for the first time all night, something which he thinks should be a bare minimum when. If a man couldn’t engage you, then he just wasn’t good enough for you, was he?

Jake shrugs noncommittally in response to your question, both of you knowing full well the answer to that. Instead, he looks away from you briefly as the bartender approaches, but feels your gaze burning the side of his cheek.

“Two beers please,” he says, paying and waiting patiently for the drinks to be deposited on the bar before he looks back at you again. He nudges one in your direction, pretending as though he doesn’t care if you accept it or not, by taking a sip of his own. His faux-apathy is completely blown by the way he doesn’t take his eyes off of you, even as he drinks, waiting to see whether or not you’ll take the beer. You watch him with the barest amount of disapproval that you can muster, before almost shyly collecting up the chilled glass bottle in your hands.

“Are you forgetting something, perhaps? Oh, it’s super important, the name is on the tip of my tongue! What're they called again…?” you purse your lips and frown deeply, making an almost sincere show of recalling the information you’re after.

Jake waits as you seem to get it at last, snapping your finger and pointing it at him. “Fraternisation laws!” you exclaim overly enthusiastic for the topic at hand, contrasting with the way you stare flatly at him. Jake brushes your finger aside as he turns inward to face you fully, and cocks his head curiously down at you.

“You know I’ve already got my half of the paperwork filled out Teddy Bear, I’m just waitin’ on you.” Jake leans in toward you as he speaks, moving in near enough that one might call it risque, but he prefers intimate. For your part, you seem to be trying hard to suppress a smile, which you don’t succeed at, however you still shake your head at him anyway, and pull back, which makes Jake immediately step out of your space a little, returning to an appropriate distance for two officers.

“I bet you say that to all the pilots.” you say quietly, almost to yourself. The line is a worn cliche, he almost writes it off, except that your tone is entirely new, and entirely too put-out for your usual wave offs.

“Only the ones that keep shooting me down,” he replies after a beat watching you, not really certain how else he should reply to this development in your now storied routine of rejecting his interest, even though he knows that you like him very much. Fraternisation had been the last reason, though, nobody really took that seriously enough to not even bother navigating its murky depths of paperwork, but before that you’d listed not being hungry enough for dinner and having to video call with your model-building partner, neither serious excuses, right?

At this point Jake isn’t what one might say is desperate, but is what one might call unwilling to watch you sit through another completely inadequate date, with men who seemed to always be on the worst side of interested in you. That meant they fell somewhere firmly between sleazy and handsy, neither category of which was amongst Jake’s personal favourite reasons for liking you so much, which in no particular order included your excellence as an aviator, your sharp sense of humour, and your unbridled ambition.

Up until now, though, you’ve never once turned him away with something that sounded so much like it might be true. You’ve also never once stared up at him the way you are now, your expression significant, but unreadable to him.

Then, after thinking perhaps he had gotten somewhere real with you tonight, Jake feels a familiar twinge of disappointment as you turn back to your date, moving in closer to talk quietly with the man.

Jake looks down at his beer and lets out a sigh, ready to leave you to your fun, and return to his prior activity of pretending not to watch you from afar. When the man accompanying you noisily  steps back from the bar, the movement catches Jake’s eye, and he turns to see as the man looks briefly between you, before his eyes swing to Jake.

Jake hasn’t even caught on properly yet when your apparent former date turns on his heel and stalks darkly into the crowd, before at last disappearing entirely. Now free of your upsettingly poor choice of date, you swing your chair back around to face him, knees knocking into him with enough force to jolt Jake back to reality, where he discovers things to have played out almost exactly as he’d thought he’d been imagining them.

“Alright Seresin, you’ve got one shot at this,” you tell him, sounding like you don’t really mean it at all. Even so, Jake straightens and fixes you with his best self-assured smirk, but only because he knows you like it when he does.

“One shot is all I need,” he says proudly, before a few seconds pass and he finds himself blinking at the unintentional disclaimer he’s just given. “I mean, I’ll gladly take as many shots as you want, but–”

“Jesus, Jake! Anyone would think you haven't been laid in months!” you cut him off with a bark of laughter, your features in almost complete disbelief at such a thing. Jake pauses, hesitating with how he should respond, but eventually relaxes once more, and leans down on the bar again to fix you with his stare.

“Two months,” he informs you simply. You actually snort this time, which he finds utterly adorable, and you continue to chortle at his apparent joke, until you seem to realise he isn’t joining you. Your face falls then, and you blink at him in surprise, a flash of guilt mixing in with it, before you quickly attempt to play off your astonishment.

“Like, Seriously?” You ask, staring at him. Jake just nods, giving a short shrug, but doesn’t break your eye contact. After several more seconds pass, heavy with your bewilderment, you settle in your spot beside him one more, and let out a small huff. “Saving yourself for somebody special, then?” your eyebrows lift up as you ask, voice lilting with humour, but you don’t fully smile yet, like you’re afraid of still possibly offending him. Jake simply shrugs again, but rolls his eyes lightly. 

He’s well aware of his reputation before you, as is almost all on base who know him, or those who frequent the Navy bars scattered nearby. He thinks maybe he should have gone about distributing the updated information on him, however, because as far as Jake is concerned, he had been off the market for quite some time.

Unofficially, anyway.

“Oh, she’s very special, darlin’. Someone worth saving myself for. I think you’d like her a lot,” Jake does his best not to sound too goofy about it, but he swings almost too far the opposite way, and finds himself hoping to god that the purring quality to his voice as he speaks isn’t too much.

You stare at Jake for several seconds processing his line briefly, before at last scoffing and rolling your eyes as you turn slightly away from him to take a sip of your drink. Despite this reaction likely wounding a lesser man, Jake knows his words have resonated at least a little, because both your scoff or your eye roll half-hearted at best, both also completely undermined by the not-so-tiny smile you clearly can’t repress properly, even if you try to hide it by taking another sip.

“Answer me this, Seresin;” you start when a few minutes have passed, Jake having also taken to sipping his beer, choosing to let the subject settle between you for a bit. “I know about you, and I’m not like, slut-shaming you or anything, but how do I know all of this isn’t just the usual bullshit you parcel out? How do I know I’m not just another in a long line of others?” you ask, your voice surprisingly light for the frankness and seriousness of your words. Jake blinks at you, his brow furrowing this time, and notes the way your gaze flickers to the crease between his brows for half a second.

He places his beer down and blows out a puff of air. He doesn’t answer you right away, can’t really, because on some level he realises telling you that he’s been planning your lives together since the day you’d met won’t go down super well, but he also doesn’t want to misrepresent the level of his feelings toward you.

“Well, you don’t. I mean, you are,” he speaks carefully, already expecting the frown that appears on your face almost immediately, and quickly goes on. “But you’re the last in that line. I can promise you that.” Jake’s voice becomes involuntarily quieter as he finishes speaking, and he hates the uncertain sound the softness gives his words, but knows saying them again will only cheapen them.

You stare at one another for several heart-thumping seconds, and Jake wonders if the rest of the bar has all but disappeared for you too, or if you were still well aware of everything going on around you. For all Jake knew, the bar didn’t even exist right now. And then you move, your eyes bouncing up to blink at him slowly like a cat, before they drop to your feet in an embarrassed sort of way Jake can truthfully say he’d never have imagined of you.

“I asked Javy a few weeks ago if you were sick, or something,” you say, looking back up at him with a laugh in your voice now. “I saw you turn down, like, six different women that night, and I don’t know, I was genuinely concerned for your health.” You tell him, making a small smile pull at the corners of Jake’s lips that you’d been worried about him at all, had watched him long enough to see him turn others away.

“You know what he said? He just rolled his eyes at me and said that, no, actually, you weren’t fine at all, that you were in love with me, and if he’s honest, it wasn’t cute anymore, and had become totally insufferable,” You laugh properly this time as you relay the information, and Jake can’t help but chuckle too.

“And so you thought you’d let me stew for a few more weeks? Have I not been a good boy enough already?” Jake asks with an amused twinkle in his eyes. He knew he was getting to the end of his rope tonight, but in reality, it never mattered to him how many weeks or months you made him wait, any amount of time would have been worth it. You shrug and dip your eyes away from him to dance around the room.

“Not exactly. I mean, I didn’t totally believe Javy, but I figured there might’ve been some truth there. I mean what is this, like, the… fifth time in two months you’ve asked me out?” You question, half to yourself as you do some maths.

“Fifth times the charm,” Jake replies seriously, having no other memory anymore of how the quote is supposed to go and not entirely realising he’s said it wrong at all. You snicker at this glimpse at just how far gone he is, but he doesn’t mind.

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a real chance before now,” you say quietly, before pulling a conciliatory expression. “But to be fair, if you were any other guy, I’d be totally right about you… I still could be,” you sound as though you’re trying to convince yourself, and trial off after biting your lower lip in a distracted sort of way. Jake nods, understanding your hesitation. You weren’t to know that he cared about you more than anyone he’d met before, more than anyone ever could, but he’s also aware that there was no point to talking the big talk when it came to things like this.

“Well now, excuse me Darlin’! I didn’t work so damned hard on my exceptionally slutty past for you to just sweep it all aside for me! It’s just plain disrespectful,” Jake blusters, playing up his accent as much as he can, but still only coming out sounding half indignant. You blink in surprise at his disapproval, and quickly try to hide the sound of your snort as it escapes through another laugh, clearly taken aback and not expecting this angle from him.

“So this is what's gonna happen instead; you’re gonna make me work just as hard for this, for you, and once you’ve made yourself an honest man outta me, then we can talk about being right or wrong,” Jake states matter-of-factly, like he isn’t simultaneously pleading you for more than this, and begging you to stand your ground at the same time.

Jake’s most frequent and recurring nightmare these past months had been the idea of getting you, then losing you. He isn’t lying about working hard to have his reputation, Jake didn’t do commitment, he didn’t do more than one night, and if he did, it was never because he wanted more. He knows relationships and intimacy are the furthest thing from his forte by choice, so if he was going to get the chance to be with you, he wanted to do it properly, to do it right.

Your laughter turns softer, pulling him from his reverie. He finds you watching him, considering his words as he’d trailed off somewhere in his head while waiting for your response. There's a small twinkle in your eyes that tells him you had no plans to take it easy on him ever, but as if you know he won’t be abated by that alone, you lean in toward him, resting your chin in your palm while blinking up at him coquettishly.

“Well, you’re already on the right track, with this whole ‘saving yourself’ business. I appreciate that, off the bat,” you say, and Jake is kind of relieved, because while it wasn’t necessarily something he had to do, you weren’t an item and had turned him down four times so feelings or no, Jake wouldn’t have been in the wrong if he’d slipped up once or twice, but he’s glad that you acknowledge your approval, at least because now he knows now and feels a gust of pride inflate his chest.

“To be clear, though, I would make you work for it regardless of your past. I know what I’m worth, what I bring to a relationship, and what I want out of one, and I know those things too well just to forget them. Not for anyone.”

Jake nods vehemently, once again in complete agreement.

“Good. That’s real good, sweetheart. I don’t,” he tells you honestly, now feeling a sense of distinctly unearned pride that you were already so intune and aware of your value. He knows that for most people, including himself, that those things are only learned once they’re older. 

Your face flashes with surprise, startled by his admission of what was probably at least some basic emotional intelligence. “I’ve never wanted to know it, it wasn’t important before…” Jake trails off, and feels a sense of hesitation and regret start to poison his tongue. Was that too much? Too callous? You were aware of his colourful sexual past, but plenty of people had those. Jake had been calculated in his endeavours, and he’s suddenly ashamed, and not sure if he wants you to know that.

For a few beats you look at one another, Jake trying his best not to break eye contact, somehow hoping it will tell you all you need to know about his intentions, but after a moment, it’s you who looks away, shifting back into your position resting both arms atop the bar, where you begin fiddling with your drinks coaster.

“You know, you don’t have to be quite that honest, you can try to like, impress me still,” you say after a couple more seconds pass, and Jake lets out a shaky, anxious breath when a sideways, wry smile accompanies your words.

“Rather you be impressed by the truth than anything else,” he responds, mimicking your lean, your arms pressed against one another now, and Jake could be mistaken, but he’s almost certain that you lean some of your weight into him.

“‘M just sayin’ you don’t have to, like, abase yourself just for me to think you’re dealing fair. I already know you’re not exactly a two rodeo pony, but if you’re trying to be, that’s all I ask.” you look up at him and catch his gaze. Jake thinks over what you’ve said, not fully being able to believe it, but he wonders now if this will be just as much about proving his worthiness to himself, just as much as it was to you.

As if  he has little screens in his eyes that relay his every thought like a teleprompter, your expression softens once again, and this time Jake is sure that you’re leaning into his side, your weight falling solidly, but comfortably onto him.

“C’mon Hangman, you’re the best, aren’t you?” you tease, even nudging him playfully. “Who says you aren’t the best at this too?” you go on to ask, raising your eyebrows challengingly. Jake feels both a thrill at the slight taunt to your voice, as well as a deep affection and reverence that you know exactly how to play him already.

He picks up what you’re putting down, and lifts his chin to look down at you, one eyebrow of his own lifting in an almost condescending manner.

“Certainly not you, that's for damn sure, sweetheart.” Jake damn-near gloats, chest puffing out and pride swelling up again substantially at the way you seem to enjoy this display.

“Well then, I can’t wait to find out!” You say, knocking into his side once more with your elbow. Jake’s smile flickers more genuine, and after a moment of brief thought, he uncrosses his arms on the bar and slings his arm casually around your shoulder. You move into him almost like you’ve been waiting for him to do this, like for the past few weeks you’ve been thinking about it and what you might do if he did.

You grin up at him and Jake smiles back, lowering his face down to yours so that when he speaks again, you’re the only one in the room who can hear him

“Just promise me one thing,” Jake asks, serious as ever now. Your features crease a little, but you nod.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Never stop shooting me down. It’s kinda sexy.”

You let out a shocked, joyful laugh, even as your eyes gain a mean little sheen to them, the contrast between your sweet chortle, and the evil look on your face only making his own grin widen. Jake makes a note to bring this up in his wedding speech.

[the-sassy-composer]

Really tired of streaming services making absolute banger animated TV shows for adults, never advertising them, then canceling then because no one watches them, so I'm taking it upon myself to share some of the ones I've watched recently with the hope other people will hear about them for the first time and give them a shot.

---

Blue Eye Samurai

"A master of the sword lives life in disguise while seeking revenge in Edo-period Japan."

Probably one of my favorite animated shows of all time. Mizu, arguably one of the best sword masters in this time period, goes on a quest to eliminate four white men living in Japan, one of which is Mizu's father. The show focuses heavily on how factors outside of your control, such as race and gender, impact how others view you and how you view yourself.

Watch if you are a fan of: Complicated characters/relationships, revenge quests, gore, complicated relationships with gender and race, and absolute badass characters.

Where to Watch: Netflix

Undone

"After 28-year-old Alma nearly dies in a car accident, she finds that she has a new relationship with time; she develops this newfound relationship to find out the truth about her father's death."

Undone focuses on difficult relationships with family, including how your parents can have profound effects on you even after they're gone, and how to deal with grief. That, plus the added chaos of being able to travel through time.

Watch if you are a fan of: character studies, shows dealing with grief, time travel, trying to rewrite fate.

Where to watch: Prime

Scavengers Reign

"The crew of a damaged deep space freighter are stranded on a beautiful but dangerous planet."

A mix between sci-fi and horror, this show focuses on the crew of a crashed spaceship. Each (living) crew member of the ship escaped in pods, scattering them across the planet. They must fight to survive and make their way back to their ship on a planet featuring some of the most fucked up creatures I've ever seen.

Watch if you like: sci-fi, isolationist horror, body horror, creature features

Where to watch: At the moment, Max. As of May 31st, Netflix. Max canceled the show (even though it has a 100% rating 🙃). Netflix may make a season 2 depending on how many people watch it in the first few weeks after it comes to Netflix.

Harley Quinn

"The newly single Harley Quinn sets off to make it on her own as the criminal queenpin in Gotham City."

Honestly I was feeling a bit burnt out on super hero shows, but this one felt like a breath of fresh air. It follows Harley as steps out from the shadow of the Joker, no longer being one of his henchmen and struggling to find her identity as a single, independent villain.

Watch if you like: Superhero/villain shows, stories that focus on blurred lines instead of a clear distinction between good and evil.

Where to Watch: Max

Primal

"At the dawn of evolution, a caveman and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction bond over unfortunate tragedies and become each other's only hope of survival in a treacherous world."

This show is super unique in that there's basically no dialogue, but it still finds a way to display an absolutely gutwrenching relationship between two parents of different species going through shared grief.

Watch if you like: Brutality, heavily visual story telling, prehistoric stories, and tales of overcoming.

Where to Watch: Hulu

Love Death and Robots

"This collection of animated short stories spans several genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror and comedy. World-class animation creators bring captivating stories to life in the form of a unique and visceral viewing experience. The animated anthology series includes tales that explore alternate histories, life for robots in a post-apocalyptic city and a plot for world domination by super-intelligent yogurt."

I love this show because you never have any clue what to expect. A siren living in a river falling for a deaf knight? An artist painting intergalactic art pieces? Three robots going on a field trip through the apocalypse to visit old human historical sites? You never know, but there's going to be love, death, and/or robots in it. Each episode varies wildly, so I'd recommend watching at least a few to get a taste for it, as some will resonate more strongly than others.

---

I'm sure there are lots more excellent animated shows, but these are all the ones I've watched in the past year or so. I'd love to see more recs in the tags, because I'm always down to watch more cool animations!

[olderthannetfic]

Until I read the comments on that one post I had no idea the Bechdel Test was a joke and wasn't supposed to be a serious measuring stick by which you gauged if something was feminist or not. Everywhere I'd ever heard it brought up, it was brought up as a very serious thing, and it was a failure of media if it didn't pass it. I remember the debate about Mako Mori from Pacific Rim and if she was a character you were "allowed" to like as a progressive person despite the fact that Pacific Rim doesn't pass the Bechdel Test, the discourse, the discussion of if the director was sexist for not writing in another woman for her to chat with about non-men related stuff, the camp of people trying to insist that having a fully realized character arc and being as developed as any of the male leads = good writing even if she doesn't talk to another girl...

And I've also had the remark about my writing not passing the test, just not to my face. I searched my fanfic's name once, curious to see if anyone was discussing it outside of tumblr and AO3, and found a Tiktok complaining about it not passing the Bechdel Test. The top comment was "motherfucker YOU don't pass the test but we still watch your ass". I cackled and moved on, but neither the commenter, poster, nor I had any awareness this wasn't Feminist Media Critique 101 theory and was, in fact, a goof.

Right now there's a segment of fandom debating if Blue Eye Samurai is feminist since when Mizu and Akemi talk, they do bring up men, since, y'know. Women aren't considered people with rights in their era in Japan and thus it's something they mention instead of only talking about being cool girlboss badasses who never bring up gender. If something doesn't pass the Bechdel Test, a smug segment of the internet high-fives itself and congratulates one another on being More Feminist Than Thou.

They then get really angry if you disagree, even though by this metric, Sleeping Beauty (the original animated one, where Aurora has only 16 lines of dialogue) is more feminist than Blue Eye Samurai.

--

*DYING*

Okay, so, nonnie....

Dykes to Watch Out For (1983-2008) was a long-running comic and major piece of lesbian media. I grew up buying compiled volumes at the bookstore. To be honest, that kind of 90s-ish lesbian culture isn't really my scene despite me being bi, but it was very nice to have this slice of life-y somewhat realistic, occasionally somewhat parody, look at the queer communities around me. It's up there with Tales of the City for me in terms of being a window into a particular culture and time and place.

If anybody is interested in queer history, in addition to looking up factual info, I think a read of the complete Dykes would give a really good overview of how people were thinking about things and what issues came up a lot. You'll see things like Barnes & Noble increasingly putting feminist bookstores out of business in the 90s, attitudes towards porn in lesbian circles—all kinds of cultural issues of the day.

I drifted away as I got later in my teens and found more genre fiction I cared about, but at one point, this comic was a very welcome antidote to the glurgey coming out stories that made up a lot of the more realistic media.

Anyway, here's the comic itself, reproduced in its entirety because I think it's important to actually understand the context.

This is from 1985, so the era of Rambo, Conan, and Death Wish, each of which you can see being made fun of here. It's based on Bechdel's friend Liz Wallace's actual rule for seeing movies.

That's it. That's the origin of this whole stupid test.

"LOL, fuck 80s action movies". That's it. That's the joke.

The fact that blockbusters still routinely fail to pass in the 2020s is shameful, but that was never the point of the strip.

[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch13 T E N G E N

(Warnings: Mentions of killing and wounds, fighting which includes stabbing, blood/blood loss, attempted murder, implied murder at the end, etc. I'm also including a refresher on what kind of mers all of the boys that show up in the story are plus the wives-

Kyojuro would be a lionfish mer such as the one drawn by yuki2sksksk.

Tengen would be a white butterfly koi fish mer and would look like the linked post below except less eel and more butterfly koi also below.

Merman Tengen( minus the eel like features)

his tail would be more like this instead

https://images.app.goo.gl/G6CdGPbiLNgKwHTs6

his tail would be more like this instead

Makio is a Golden Dragon Koi mer

Suma is a (all blue) Halfmoon Betta Fish mer

Hinatsuru is a Strawberry Peacock Cichlid mer

Giyuu is a Pseudotropheus demasoni mer purely because I think the colors match him perfectly.

Sanemi and Genya are both bullshark mers. Same artist who drew the Mer Kyojuro.

Tanjiro is only briefly in the story and is a (green and black) Betta Fish mer

Akaza is a Betta Fish mer also by the same artist.

And Finally Obanai is a Coral Reef Snake mer specially the black and white version.

AND FINALLY A Q AND A!! You can ask me anything about the mers, this au world, etc! I'll answer all questions in the next chapter! For now just enjoy the extra beefy chapter!

taglist: @six-eyed-samurai @lavenderdrxp @jjamsbangtan @camilo-uwu @hopefulworld1

@shadyd3ar @amypop122 @azuredragonstrike

@mimisweetz @chaoticoperatorduckhairdo @staarflowerr

Remember if you want to be added to the tag list lemme know.

You had woken up surrounded by warmth.

Warmth and the sweet sound of a distant bird chirping. It stirred you into doing what you usually did in the mornings. Yawn and stretch out your arms-

"Careful! You nearly poked me in the eye."

WHAT-?!

Your eyes popped open and you squealed finding a pair of red eyes just inches away from your face. Out of instinct you squealed out again and scrambled back away from the sudden half asleep face of Kyojuro only to slip over Makio's giant golden tail and fall over onto your back.

...Well if everyone wasn't awake before they certainly were now. 

"Oh my goodness!" Hinatsuru's concerned face immediately peeked over Makio's tail and looked down at you. "Y/n, are you alright?"

A second later Rengoku perked up beside her rubbing his eyes and yawning. Suma jolted awake with a loud snort somewhere behind everyone as they all looked down at you. You groaned a hand reaching out to rub your head and slowly allowing yourself to take in what had just happened. Slowly you removed your head and looked down at your legs still half over Makio's tail. The three of them stared back at you with Suma just now sticking her head out from behind Kyojuro with the wildest bed head. You stared...until suddenly all the events of last night really kicked you good and hard in the head like grass suddenly getting squished under a falling tree. Akira. Kyojuro. KISSING!! The girls. Wife mentioned. KISSING!! You waking up in the middle of the night in Kyojuro's arms. 

K I S S I N G!!!

Your face went beat red and everyone was startled as you suddenly pulled off of Makio only to shoot up to your feet. A hand slapping over your mouth. That it-....IT ALL MUST'VE BEEN A DREAM!! YEAH!! THAT'S IT!! You were so overwhelmed by Akira showing up that you fainted, had a crazy dream, and woke up here because your friends were worried about you! Yeah! That's it! That must've been it! It was just a giant weird nightmare dream thing. You sighed somewhat even if you didn't really feel relieved.

"Honey? Are you alright?," Kyojuro asked concerning scrunching up his brows. 

"I-I'm fine," you shakily said quickly fixing your dress, "I just had t-the craziest dream with-.." You paused. Blinking before you slowly turned to look at them again. "..Did you just call me honey?"

"Do you prefer sweetheart? I'm sadly not too familiar with human nicknames for married couples but-"

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!! WAIT A SECOND!" You quickly held up your hands to the four of them with Suma rubbing her face and yawning widely. "Who said anything about us being married?! I thought you were only pretending to scare Akira off!"

As if they all were confused, the girls looked at one another in question, shrugged, and then all three looked at Rengoku as the defacto leader of their small pile. Sensing their want, Kyojuro took the lead as he should in Tengen's place and nodded.

"That's true. I was pretending to be your spouse in order to protect us all," he happily nodded with a large grin, "But then I proposed to you! You've been recuperating everything up to this point, it was only natural for us to take it to the next level!"

"But you've already accepted," he said confused gesturing to your hand.

Automatically you went to glance at your hand and to your horror found a shiny golden band around your ring finger and on the very front was a big green gem. Maybe an emerald? A pit immediately sunk into the bottom of your stomach as you stared wide eyed. Oh no. No no no no. That wasn't a dream?! This wasn't good! You didn't want to have this!

"I-.. You-.." You stuttered looking between their confused but happy faces to your hand a wave of emotions hitting you. Shock, fear, confusion, hesitation..but also strangely enough some flattery and intrigue under all of the big ones- You shook your head gaining a stern look. "Look. While I'm..." Flattered? Totally shocked? "..Humbled you all would find me attractive enough to want me to be your wife-" You settled on trying to be nice while also raising a hand. "-I can't be anymore than friends to you."

"WHAT?!," Suma wailed loud enough to make the rest of you wince, pushing herself higher by pushing up on Kyojuro's shoulders. He didn't seem to mind however and didn't seem phased at all by his wife's antics. "WHY NOT?! WE LIKE YOU AND YOU LIKE US!!"

"Not in a romantic sense! A-And on top of that we aren't even married! There's been no ceremony, no witnesses, and certainly no priest I know would officiate this-" And it was then that you had gotten an idea when you spotted the strand of rocks sewn into Rengoku's blonde hair. "Not to mention that you four are already married to Tengen! Remember?"

A silence was had between the four of them as they stopped where they sat, and then looked at one another. The elephant in the room being once again being addressed. You didn't forget about the obvious. Tengen was the entire reason they wanted to go back to the ocean

 "You have someone to go back to. Someone who loves you and cares about you so much that he's willing to destroy an entire town for you all."

You jumped as something calloused and firm grabbed your hand. The much larger hand of Kyojuro enveloped yours. F/c eyes looked up into deep red ones. The look they gave you was a deep longing. Nothing like the looks that other men gave you. 

"Neither do you. There's practically nothing here for you either is there? You said so yourself that there's not really much here."

"... Because the actions of selfish people and your Tengen are taking everything." 

In a matter of seconds his face dropped and eyes widened. "W-What?"

The smaller hand in his pulled away from him as her face fell. "You all were brought here by force, I get that and I don't blame any of you for that. But whoever this Tengen is is causing a lot of innocent people their lives. He's drowned people, drive tens of others away from here, and he's making it harder and harder for the people who're still here. And on top of it all I can't in good conscious involve myself where it'll probably only cause more trouble than I'm worth. " The coldness was felt when she pulled off the pretty ring and pushed it back into his hands. "Here. Take this back and save it for someone special you really want." 

The look he gave you followed by the looks of the others hurt a lot but...this was for the best. You couldn't live in the ocean with them and they just couldn't live the rest of their lives in a bathroom forever with the danger of being found out hanging over their heads everyday. No. You had to do what was best for everyone. 

"You four must be hungry." You finally broke the silence and turned. "There's some eggs and a head of lettuce left. I'll make you something for breakfast and recheck Kyojuro's wounds before I leave for work." 

By now his smaller wounds were all gone. His bigger wounds were nothing but surface cuts that would be nothing but maybe scars soon. The girls were all back at a healthy weight, and they didn't have any wounds that'd make it dangerous for them all to make the two week journey...It was decided then. As soon as you could get a horse and wagon, you'd take them all back. Even if you were unprepared, you couldn't delay it any longer. For everyone's best interest. As you left the room Rengoku was left staring so so confused at the ring. Why did she reject it after accepting their courtship? Was the ring not in her tastes? Did she not want him? Maybe she wasn't ready to be married yet? His thoughts stopped when Suma still hanging onto his shoulders hugged him tightly.

"Don't worry. She's probably just unsure because she hasn't met Tengen yet!"

"Yes! That's right! She wants to meet Tengen first!," Hinatsuru agreed smiling, "After all it wouldn't be fair unless he also met her! Don't worry!"

"... You're probably right." His hand closed back around the ring with a smile. "It's not fair for us to make a choice on their behalf! We shall wait until after they meet!"

You're head was filled with worries. Too many different thoughts buzzing around to really focus on one thing at a time. You made them something quick for breakfast and left them enough food for lunch to tied them over until you could bring them dinner...Which was impossible now because the entire butcher shop closed down three days ago when a quarter of the town packed up and left abandoning their homes and leaving for farther away towns or the city nearby. Even now as you walked along the road and looked upon the houses it was like you were walking through the remains of a ghost town. So many houses empty. So many businesses boarded up. So many people gone. Even now you watched as a man loaded up a wagon you had to pull by hand with who was presumably his wife standing by as he hauled another bag into the back. Wait..You knew those people.

It was Mr. and Mrs. Ochaco. The couple that ran the small series of fruit stands along the square.

You supposed with not enough people to buy their food, they didn't see the point of staying here either. It was like that everywhere now. No fish meant no income or goods. No goods means outside buyers wouldn't come by and bother. No income meant many people had no way to live. Without any customers their wasn't anything anyone could do about it. Which meant for a lot of people there was nothing left to do but become farmers (which not everyone could do) or leave for a better chance. 

THIS WASN'T FAIR! NOT TO YOU! NOT TO THESE INNOCENT PEOPLE! NOT TO THE INNOCENT PEOPLE THE HENYA'S GREED AND THAT MERMAN'S WRATH ENDED UP DOOMING!! 

It wasn't their fault! They didn't deserve to lose their families, their homes, their very way of life- And the reality only dropped from a pile of bricks to a boulder. As the legs carrying you came to a stop. F/c eyes widening as they took in the sight of wooden boards being hauled up on and over a window by one man as another took a hammer and nail and started hammering it into the home's side right over said window. And right in front of them both was your boss-

"M-Mrs. Satoshi?" You managed to get out finally snapping out of your stupor and began walking towards the old woman again. Upon hearing you the woman turned and looked surprised to see you there. "W-What are you doing?" Your arms gestured towards the flower shop. "What's going on?!"

Seeing the distress on your face, the old woman sighed sadly through her nose and shook her head. "Y/n, dear. I wasn't expecting you to show up again after yesterday. "

"What are you doing?," you repeated now recognizing the two men boarding up the shop as Niko and Mr. Satoshi. 

"Yes. It is surprising isn't it?" You blinked as she fully turned to you and put her hands in front of her. "I guess it was only a matter of time. I'm afraid I'm being forced to close up shop."

A shattering sound pierced the fragile ghost town's air. "What?! I-..B-But you can't!"

"There's really no other way around it. Without anyone coming to buy my flowers there's no reason for me to set up shop."

"Then..W-What are you going to do?"

"My son has enough room for my husband and I. It'll be nice to settle down and spend time with my new grandchildren and we won't be forced to leave our home. Oh, I'm so sorry for springing this on you." Her hands reached over and grabbed one of yours apologetically. "But you're still a young, beautiful woman and you have so many opportunities. I'm sure you'll be able to find something much more fulfilling than a flower shop."

"Mother, we're finished with the windows. Come rest with us."

She looked over briefly to her son before turning back to you, sadly nodded, and then left you standing there by yourself staring at the remains of what used to be your life crumbling around you.

"Y/N'S BACK!! Y/N'S BACK!!"

You ignored Suma's happy cheers and instead walked right past the bathroom door to drag yourself into your room and flop yourself down face first into your bed and just lay there. The roller coaster of emotions that you've been forced to deal with taking it's toll along with the stress and frustration you've been feeling over the past months. You lost.. everything. Your life savings, your free time, your job, most of your social life, and now even the job you loved is no more. The only things you had left was your sanity and home but who knows how long they'll last at this rate! You were tired. All you wanted was to lay here forever and just sleep the bad dream away. To close your eyes and never look back but unfortunately that's not meant to be because you could still hear them calling out your name from just down the hall wondering why you weren't joining them. 

...They couldn't stay here anymore. They had to go. And as your head lifted up from the warm, soft pillow you'd love nothing more than to lay on, you knew what had to be done once and for all. 

When night time came it wasn't really too much trouble to sneak out once again during the night once the moon was high in the sky. Even if you there still was people still left that could spot you, there wasn't too much of a risk considering there was barely anyone left to really spot you let alone come out at night. You felt guilt wracking your very core with each step you took against the dark night towards the only person you knew of that had what you need to hopefully save more lives in the end. The barn doors on Niko's property creaked slowly opened as moonlight shined inside lighting up everything inside in a pretty silver glow. 

A pretty brown and white pony turned it's head towards the dark figure standing in the doorway the pretty silver light reflecting off it's eyes. Before deciding the girl wasn't a threat and peacefully went back to chewing on the hay that was strewn about the pen. So it didn't mind a bit when the girl grabbed a bridle and approached it. It's so used to this being done so many times in its life that it didn't even put up a fight when she slipped it over his head or when she opened the door to the pen and pulled him out. Or when she took him outside looking around everywhere nervously as she took him beside the barn. Or when she made him stand still as she hooked up a familiar cart to him. Or when she pulled him along making him walk into the nearly empty town now. She only hoped Niko would forgive her for this.

You had done it. You'd committed theft. Yes. Technically this would be the third time you broke into someone's home, and stolen something but the first two times didn't count because the first time was technically a rescue mission and the second was recovering stolen property. There was a HUGE difference in now when you stole from innocent people and people you knew. You only hoped Niko would forgive you when you returned it to him a month later after you made the long trip back from the ocean. You quickly and quietly made your way back into your home looking back over your shoulder every five seconds expecting to see Niko or someone else come out of the darkness and raise the alarm for your crimes but the now mostly empty town remained quiet and peaceful..Or at least quiet. It was too eerie to be considered peaceful. You hadn't even gotten one step in the doorway when you were bombarded by a surprising sight. 

A pair of annoyed and worried tired red eyes bore into yours from in the middle of your common room. "And just where have YOU been, Young Lady?"

"Rengoku!? What are you doing?!"

Rengoku was sitting up and leaning against a wall, arms crossed, and with a stern look on his face. Uncovered and with his long fish tail all exposed for anyone to walk in or look through a window and see. "What am I doing? I'm waiting for you to come home. Where were YOU?" He challenged back raising a thick eyebrow. "You didn't come join us for dinner or come to bed and you worried me sick sneaking out so late. What were you up to out there all by yourself in the middle of the night?"

"What are you? My dad?" You shook your head with a sigh. "That's not important right now." You quickly poked your head out to peer outside but luckily the only witness to your guests was the horse so you quickly closed the door. "You do realize if it was anyone else who walked in you would've been in big trouble right?"

"That's no excuse. As the man it's my duty to make sure all of my ladies are safe and taken cared for!"

You felt a strange form of flattery at the gesture but it was shoved under by your annoyance. "I appreciate it but I've been taking care of myself since I was a child. I don't need you to risk your cover just to try and take care of me." 

"Well I can't help it if I'm worried! You didn't tell us or leave a note and-" He blinked as you just walked past him towards the hallway again. "H-Hey! Young Lady, you come back here when I'm talking to you! Where do you think you're going?"

"To get some bags and blankets." You could faintly hear the sounds of a thud and then Kyojuro dragging himself along the floors to follow you.

"Bags and blankets for what?", he called out confused. He wasn't very fast on land. 

"Food, clothes, and whatever else I'm going to need in order to get you four back home."

The dragging noises stopped when you opened the door to your bedroom. "Wait. You mean-?!"

"If you want to be helpful go wake up the others and see if you can slip yourselves into that wagon outside while I gather the supplies."

There was a bit of silence behind you as you began scouring for what you needed and then you heard loud and fast dragging again before the distant sounds of another door opened followed- "My fireflies, wake up! A joyous day has arrived at last! We're finally going home!"

You only sighed and began gathering what you needed to get for the long journey ahead. A few large bags for stuffing as much none parishable foods in as possible for your all you could find, another bag for clothing and essentials, a large gourd for water, and a couple large blankets to throw over the top of the wagon to hide the cargo. A tarp would've been preferable but unfortunately you didn't have the luxury or time for that. The sooner this was over with the better. In went three bags of mixed supplies. In went a giant heavy gourd you struggled to lift in. And finally in went the four of your friends. You found Rengoku struggling to pull himself in on his own attempting to climb up the back wheels making the wagon loudly creak under his weight. 

"SHH!! Kyojuro, what are you doing?!," you whisper yelled nearly dropping the lumpy bag of fruits and stale vegetables.

"Climbing in of course, Love! Is that not what you wanted?"

"...."

You had to take time out to literally help him climb in my lifting his long heavy tail and pushing it in. He was followed by you quietly picking up each of the girls and lowering them into the wagon alongside him. It was trickier than the last time you did this since they all had put on weight since the last time you had done this. Suma seemed the most excited and Makio had to slap a hand over her mouth as you pulled along the biggest blankets you had. With a light whooshing sound you threw them up in the air and pulled them all along until they draped over the entire back and effectively hiding the squirming mermaids underneath..Until they all popped their heads out excitedly on your left.

"I can't believe it! We're finally going home!," Suma practically screamed out smiling brightly, "I can't wait for all the yummy tuna again!"

A hand immediately shoved her head back down. "Pipe down! We're not out of this yet!"

"Wah! Kyojurooooo! Tell Makio to stop being so mean!"

"Let us all remain quiet. Makio is right and we are not out of this until we're back in our rightful home!" He blinked as the wagon jostled and you began pulling the horse along and in turn began to dragon the wagon along as well.

He was right. You weren't out of trouble yet. It would be at least a two week journey to the ocean and the road leading to it would take you all right past the Henya's home. You hadn't the faintest idea if Akira and his Aunt was still there or if he already left after the tantrum he through two days ago now. You didn't have a choice though. You had to take the chance. Stirring the horse towards the road headed Westward, you pulled him along and the horse followed obediently and successfully pulling the cart behind him. It was official. You all were off. Walking through the ghostly town early in the morning with the sun at least still three hours away from rising over the horizon. Each creak and rattle the cart made seemed to echo through the darkness making you fear that someone might wake up and catch you in the act. Each loud clip clip the horse made sending a chill down your spine that he'll attract something out from the darkness however as you all passed by abandoned home after abandoned home, no one showed their faces through the now empty buildings. And even if there was anyone left, they were fast asleep and oblivious to your journey. As you passed by the empty spaces, your friends stayed alert but quiet. Seemed even Suma knew the importance of being quiet right now. Soon the houses dwindled and you all were passing by the barn.

The Henya's farm. The place where this all started.

For you at least. Who knows where the girls were kept before they were moved here. Automatically you slowed the horse down to just a quieter slower walk as you approached the place. The shadow of the horrid barn seemed to loom over you all as you passed as if laughing and mocking them still for what they went through. You paid more attention to the house that laid still and dark. It looked like no one was home, so perhaps they had already left or maybe they were fast asleep. Either way you never took your eyes off of it as you all passed. The girls automatically lowered down with different levels of fear and worry and anger washing over their faces.  A growl made you jump and whirl behind fearing a stray dog or worse a wolf had chosen you all as an easy meal-..Only to half freeze half be relieved when you just noticed it was Kyojuro staring at the home too with such intensity that you swore his eyes were literally burning.

"Kyojuro, shush!," you sternly shushed him before quickly pulling the cart along.

It was doubtful that they could hear his soft growling from so far away but you weren't going to risk anything especially not when you just started your journey.  Despite all your feelings, the house remained dark as you passed it and stopped just outside the treeline and the road leading  into territory you've never been in. You took one last look at the quiet town and your home nestled inside, then at the Henya house, and then at the four pairs of eyes staring at you curiously wondering why you stopped. Two weeks. All it would take was two weeks and then you'd be free. With a shaky breath you turned back around and pulled the horse forward making the wagon creak along and leaving your old home behind. 

You never knew about the man who entered your empty home the following afternoon and discovered the remains of a locked box's burnt latch in your fireplace and the leftover scales in your bathroom. 

Your first day of traveling went..Ok you guessed. The sun rose three hours after you started and you four were surrounded by forest. You've already passed by the small river where the three Kocho sisters disappeared from here last autumn. Being so close near the ocean, it was always fairly warm and vibrant here but already it was nearing autumn again and soon you'd it'd be a year since they disappeared along with that Mitsuri girl. You know it was probably unlikely but you hoped that their families hadn't moved away too in case they ever came back. You stopped around midday by a small pond to allow the horse to rest and eat and drink and to give your aching feet a rest from the hours of walking around you had to do. And to allow yourself and the others to eat.

"Eat and drink sparingly. I don't know if all of this will last all of us until we make it there."

After an hour you continued until it was night, and you were plume tired. Sleep forcing you to tie the horse to a nearby tree and climb up into the back of the wagon to sleep with the others, Hinatsuru laying claim to you by pulling you to snuggle for the night.

"I can't wait for you to meet Lord Tengen. He's caring and kind and unlike any other man you've ever met."

The merman half responsible for your life going to hell? Yeah. Not going to happen but instead of arguing you just fell asleep to Suma snoring loudly again hugging Hinatsuru's other side. The next three days were pretty much the same. Walking, breaks, sleep, and rinse and repeat. By the fifth day you all hit your first snag. Surrounded by trees and forest constantly you didn't have exactly the ability to see far into the distance so when you came by a fork in the road. Both dirt roads looked exactly alike. Old, worn, and dirty. F/c looked between the two different directions unsure.

"...Where do we go?," you asked still so unsure.

"The right!" Makio pointed down the right path making you blink and look where she pointed.

"Right? Are you sure?"

She nodded blonde bangs swaying. "I remember that weird boulder there that looks like a bloated jellyfish when we were first brought this way. It's definitely right."

Bloated jellyfish?? There was certainly a misshapen rock there but a bloated jellyfish?? You decided not to argue and considering you've never been this far away, you just had to trust her so right it was. You pulled the horse that way and continued onto your journey. Three more days passed the same as nothing really changed but you were right days in now, more than half way in. Just supposedly six or so more days until you were able to reach the ocean. 

You never knew about the danger that was approaching fast with each rest and sleep you took  

By the ninth day the forests thinned out into half plains half trees. And the distant smells of salts and oceans were getting closer and stronger. Makio was right! You all were so close! You could taste the relief and freedom awaiting you all. Nine days turned to ten. The smells were stronger. Ten days turned to eleven. Most of the trees were gone now. Eleven days turned to twelve. You were so, SO CLOSE NOW! Twelve days turned to thirteen. You all hardly slept that night with the excitement. Thirteen turned to fourteen-

YOU ALL WERE SO EXCITED!! 

The four in the back could hardly contain themselves! You kept walking and walking despite your sore feet only taking a single break by a small pond to quickly rest and eat before moving on again. The sun rose, went to the middle of the sky, and then slowly started to set when you saw seagulls cawing and flying through the sky. And then you saw it. 

THE BEACH!!

THE BLUE OCEAN!!

THE YELLOW SAND!!

THE-...

.... the...You slowly came to a stop staring at what your eyes laid upon. The others initially excited also stopped what what they were doing to look shocked at what their sight beheld.

"Oh Posidon...Tengen.. what have you done?"

The setting sun's light lit up the beach and the blue ocean stretching far into the horizon as far as the eyes could see. And the destruction of others long past. The sounds-

The sounds of a torn sail flapped in the evening wind as it lazily flapped about from the broken mast ran into the ground, a mountain of splinters and what was once a majestic ship washed ashore next to it.

Clip. Clip. Clip. Clip.

The noises of the horse walking was quickly softened as the dirt turned into soft sand. Eyes bore sight of a graveyards worth of clutter. Where rotting wood met the cruel hot sand and the mocking waves that carried it here. Travesty after travesty you passed by. What was once boats of all sizes now marking the final resting place for those whom met a watery grave. The eyes gazed over each and every one as you passed. The result of greed and wrath. 

But it'll all be over soon. You just had to get them into the water and all of it would be over. So more deaths. No more Mermaids. Only normalcy.

You shivered and tried to ignore the deep claw marks embedded into the sides of a rather large fishing boat telling yourself that they were just marks from getting stuck on a reef. You pulled the horse along until you spotted a sight that you instantly recognized. A dock! An old honestly rigidity looking dock was right in front of you all leading to the water just deep enough to let them all swim without having to crawl stuck in the sand. You walked and walked until you were standing right in front of it all. The wind gently blowing your hair and the other four staring silently.

"....Well..this is it." You spoke after a minute breaking the silence and turning to them. "C'mon. Let's get you all back home."

There was a silence as no one moved for a moment just staring longingly at the sight- Kyojuro was the first one to take initiative, grabbing the side of the cart and pulling himself out only to land on the ground with a thud sound. Suma was next excitedly squealing and practically throwing herself out and desperately hauling herself towards the water. Hinatsuru and Rengoku weren't too far behind her as they too dragged themselves out. Meanwhile you grabbed onto Makio and started walking behind them with her in your arms. One, two, and three mermaids clambered onto the docks and without missing a single beat- Threw themselves off the sides without even waiting  to get into deeper water.

Large splashes could be heard as they disappeared into the blue, blending into the darkness as the darkness crept further into the sky.

"You don't have to go y'know?," Makio's voice spoke out as you watched what you assumed was Suma's tail slapping the water. "This doesn't have to be good bye. We still want you to meet Tengen! You'll seriously like him! I promise!" 

Makio watched as her face gazed at the water still, a hint of sadness as she opened her mouth to answer but didn't say a word as a reflection reflected by the limited sunlight caught her eyes. Pupils shrank as danger approached swiftly. Makio was once blinking in concern-

Then she was flying.

Makio elt weightless tumbling through the air as her world twisted and turned- AND THEN THERE WAS A SPLASH-

It's not often a person would see a beautiful beach. That was a privilege as eyes gazed out at the mournful sea. Gliding along in rows where it kissed the sand, it looked so peaceful in its dark blue colorful hue. The golden last rays was a gift delivered to the beholders by Angels and winds so sweetly staining the skin like a lover's kiss. The horizon itself looked as if it was a golden river of gleaming gold sewing itself in between the canopy of the dark twilight where the first few stars appeared twinkling like diamonds connecting it to the deep blue of the calm ocean paradise. In the distance, lines of the golden orbs last rays of tapered light splayed out, flowing through the cracks in the clouds like heaven was the one sewing the twilight to the waters with golden thread as the waters danced with sparkles, reflections from the light but it looked as if the angels made an accident while sewing the two together, knocking some stars out of the sky and making them shimmer and shine on the Water's surface.

It was beautiful.

She was so thankful for the beautiful sight. 

"If I can't have you, then I'll make sure no beast can either."

The cruelty and coldness of one's blade could never compare to the cruelty and coldness of one's heart and soul. Two bodies whom shared the beautiful sight fading from the blackened vision clouding her brain. A slide of cold metal and leakage of red stumbled, tumbled down in place of the pretty vision before them. Sweet salty air stained by copper as she stood. The cold cruel blade retreating from within her form as she stood there. The silence beckoning eyes of f/c to calmly turn. The sight of greed, dark with want toring away from the light embracing the hell within. Not but a whisper parted from her lips, the maw heavy swirling with blurs. 

"who..is the true monster here, Akira Henya?"

A distant woman's scream filled the void tilted sideways as the world tilted back and you were swallowed up by the coldness of the ocean blue and wrapped up in the warm embrace of lovers concerned. Catching her as world went black and echoes of sorrowful wails echoed throughout the voided night. The waves reverberating off the sky and cascading deep, deep into the Water's depths the waves carrying them further and further under the surface and muffled the unanswered sorrows of agony's past.

And two eyes of magenta stained red by wrath and blood opened wide.

"Y/N?! Y/N?!"

One who such went by such a name did not stir from the foreboding deadly slumber slipped into as shadows blurred and darkness swallowed them up. Sobs. Wails. Pleads. Cries. Prayers. It made not a difference to the one who had blood on his hands, staring down at the scene before him like a sick artist admiring the picture he painted into reality.

''That's right. Scream. It won't do a bit of good in the end!"

Hisses bore his fate as flames flared up at the one who would dare paint such a cruel thought into real form.

"HA! You think you're intimidating by just hissing at me like a fucking wet cat?! You're lucky you're in the bloody water otherwise you would've been gutted next like just another tuna!"

Anger. Wrath. Blood. Passion. And L O V E. All the red represents.

"Cry all you'd like..At the end of the day, no one is going to give a hell."

Oh how wrong he was. Someone did answer the cry of help.

And ironically hell had found him.

A violent rippling, rippling through the water like unholy blades through thin paper. A white ghost within the darkness rising amongst the dead and decayed ships and distorting the star covered water shining bright. It seemed as if even the great sun was scared of this beast as it hid behind the horizon and disappeared allowing night to cover it's unholy speed through the dark void and towards the docks above-

C R A S H-!!!

Feet shook as the old dock swayed, soon loosing his footing and the man found himself falling backwards onto his backside. Looking at the horror beyond that penetrated his sights. Splinters went flying. Wood cracked and flew in all directions cascading down into the water like unholy rain as something from below began pounding up and destroying E A C H  A N D  E V E R Y  P L A N K  O F  W O O D. Kyojuro out of instinct turned away shielding the one in his arms and the screaming women as droplets and wood bounced off his shoulders. The monster of ghost white passing by as a mighty tail passed them forcing the unholy rain to continue as it smashed and destroyed it's way up towards the human man. Bloodthirsty and itching for one thing 

TO ENACT VENGEANCE FOR HUMAN GREED.

Crashing, crunching, destroying ever closer to the human and then there was a splash. The iron like grip from the waves ceased him and he took a deep gulp of suffocation. The world around him wet and without any solid object to free him from the watery depths grip. Dark..Why was everything so dark?! He kicked out and flailed for nothing as the void never loosened it's grip on his air drained body. The menagerie of a shattered moon waved goodbye from the shattered waves of the seas rippling surface as he sunk deeper and deeper into the blackened abyss below that welcomed him in it's cold embrace. It's hands slowly wrapping around his body and killing him into that dangerous lullaby of death. It was .quiet. Almost even peaceful like as he drifted slowly down, down, down. He felt like falling asleep with his eye lids getting heavy. Until his flailing hand caught onto a floating board and he was able to pull himself up, breaching the surface, and gasping a breath of that holy air as he coughed out the void's water and laid himself upon the floating wood being his savior. Deep heavy breaths followed breathing in and out panting and coughing as panicked eyes eyes darted around but the darkness and waves enveloped any trace of the monster, and all others had disappeared. Nothing but shattered wood and darkness being his company. 

"You know ... There's five stages of grief." 

His form jumped against the board he floated upon eyes widening.

"Denial."

Panicked eyes darted around but he nothing within the darkness and waves or amongst the wreckage.

"Anger." 

The voice sounded ethereal other worldly. A ghost ebbing closer and closer from the depths.

"Bargaining."

The voice was blurred. Coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Sounding so close yet so far away all at once.

"Depression."

Heart beats picked up. Swiveling his head this way and that as danger, panic, and fear set in with the unsettling doom ever approaching.

"And acceptance...But I would like to add to add one more step to that."

The water was silent. Nothing but the sloshing of his body sounding out as he desperately searched for the ghost that wasn't there but yet was at the same time. Until the hotness of something's breath wafted over his ear from behind as a voice whispered nothing but a word in his ear.

"R E V E N G E."

A man's shriek pierced the night and carried over the waves and forest before quiet settled once more. 

[abijahfowler]

And would you look at that.. another blue eye samurai oc. I am fucking crazy but i am free

Yappathon under the cut!!!

sooooooo… her name is siobhán, and she came to me in a dream

coming from a similar background to fowler’s, siobhán was an orphan survivor of the ulster famine which resulted in her being relocated to && raised in a parish in london. and, similar to fowlers, she determined that she would do whatever it took to not remain stuck to the underside of stuart society. she leaves her parish and marries a scottish barkeep by the name of hendry at the age of 17. though, shortly after they get married, he falls victim to some “mysterious illness” that eats away at him for a few years, thus leaving her to run his business and affairs until && after his passing.

with the obstacle of a husband out of the way thanks to her handy knowledge of the usage of her good friend belladonna, along with property in her name and a business for her to run in his wake, siobháns tavern turned into a meeting place for the shadier kinds of folk to do business. she was willing to turn a blind eye for a pretty penny, as well as offer up intel she collected passively from patrons. bounties were often posted & collected under the roof of her establishment, though what made her tavern the most promising would be the system of tunnels into and outside of london accessible from it’s cellar. so…. unsurprising that she found herself in business with fowler and his goons long before they hit the seas for japan. in exchange for the proper amount of shillings and a couple pretty faces to tie with her bedroom rentals, she has been a key component in terms of their smuggling affairs.

in terms of the timeline of the show i suppose she wouldn’t come into the picture until mizu & fowler reach london in s2, with her tavern being one of the destinations of mizu’s london tour list in order to attempt to garner information as to the whereabouts of skeffington && routley. though, it doesn’t go exactly as she would have hoped; and while she does manage to get away with her life upon their first encounter, she does end up losing fowler in the process and finds herself stuck in a foreign land where she barely understands the language. luckily, though, mizu is a smart cookie; and after an amount of detective work, she is back on their trail.

in short i don’t think there’s enough diabolical evil old women and i am going to change that, that’s what i was put on this earth to do.

some miscellaneous details about her:

• as of s2 of bes, she would be 58 years old

• she’s fully grey, though her hair was strawberry blonde in her youth.

• she’s pretty tall for the a woman in the 1600s, measuring at about 5’8” (or 172.72 cm)

• while cruel to people, she seems to at least have some compassion towards animals; known to feed the stray dog and cat populations in the alleyways near her tavern. one of them she has claimed as her own and turned into an inside cat, whom she has named duchess priscilla.

• she’s aromantic so she is not interested and has never been interested in a romantic relationship, though she is quite the hussie. it’s honestly astonishing she hasn’t contracted syphilis yet!

• she can drink fowler under a table, and she has in the past. he lies and says he won, but everyone that was there knows the truth.

[docholligay]

Anime/ation Day, Round one

You will have to select TWELVE of the options. No more, no less. The top half will move on to the next round!

If you’re thinking twelve is a lot to pick, there are two places to help you!

One is the Discord, where there is a lot of back and forth conversation and a good place to get a good sense of my feelings. I also DON’T GO THERE, so you can say whatever you want how you want. It’s also where I generally post advisories about the opening of voting and such.

Two is, you can post a pick on the Community. For this, I ask that in the TITLE of the post you put “Anime/ation Eight Days Pitch” so i don’t read it.

all nominations are below the cut, in random order. Asterisk next to any show of which I have seen one episode or more.

(also don't cheat because I hate the idea of collecting emails)

This will be open until the afternoon of November 27th

VOTE HERE

Castlevania

Monster

Code Geass

Bubblegum Crisis*

Sasameki Koto*

Ranma 1/2 (2024)

Rose of Versailles*

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Blue Eye Samurai*

Paranoia Agent*

Bojack Horseman*

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Japanese title: Seirei no Moribito)

Legend of Vox Machina

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Dear Brother

Yataragasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

Death Note*

Tokyo Godfathers

Scavengers Reign

Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared

The Promised Neverland*

Megalobox

Higurashi When They Cry / Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Akira

Akiba Maid War / Akiba Meido Sensō

Revolutionary Girl Utena*

[pumpumdemsugah]

Besides it just being a really good show I think why I like blue eye samurai is we get to have a female character do the violent fucked up shit that usually only men do. When women are violent they're appropriately feminine or agile in an attractive way ( black flips and such like bayonetta ) which it's cool but seeing an animated woman break a man's leg and the bone comes out his thigh 😍

How she looks is a focus in a very different way and she's not sexualised. It's about her vengeance in such a visceral way. She doesn't just scream or seeth, someone is getting decapitated

It reminds me of that post where someone said they want female shounen anime and some goats started listing magical girl animes. It's not the same and you know it. Magical girls do not scratch the same itch as a typical fighting with adventure anime

[loptrcoptr]

It’s come to my attention that a lot of people in the BES fandom are new to fandom-culture in general (or lack there of; we denizens of tumblr are residents of a cesspool) and don’t know a lot of general old school online manners, laid down in Days of Yore by earlier generations. So let me bring up a crucial one that is generally being ignored on tumblr in the BES-sphere: ship tagging!

I am not doing this to condescend, I genuinely want to be helpful and to help us all enjoy our enclosure and our enrichment in said enclosure together. I think a lot of grief going around the blue eye samurai world on social media could be solved if everyone remembered one good old cardinal rule of fandom bullshit:

you do not put ship wank in a ship’s general tag.

let me say that one more time in different terms:

If you want to rant about how much you hate a ship, general practice has always been, on tumblr anyway, not to do so in the safe space created for said ship.

once again, lemme be very clear; I don’t give one rat’s ass or 800 collective asses of rats what you ship, why you ship it, whether you ship anything at all, why you hate x y z, etc. That’s great, that’s what fandom is for! Enjoy yourself! The issue is that there’s all this infighting fuckery going on that is exhausting to even watch from the sidelines, and I think there’s a lot of confusion as to why anyone is fighting over any of this shit at all as it is 2024 and ship wars are 2011 superwholock garbage that we all collectively agreed to jettison into space by 2015, ya feel me?

(and if you like to start shit and throw hands then obv this post isn’t for you as you know what you’re doing, this is for the folks who don’t know and are confused as to why they can’t rant without blowback)

So if you’ve gotten on tumblr recently and noticed your anti-ship post blowing up for some reason or other and asked yourself “Jesus why are these assholes from that ship always coming for me?? They’re such dicks!!” ask yourself:

did I tag them in my post?

Because when you tag a ship in a post about how much you hate it, it’s not a beacon that says “Hear Ye Hear Ye, Interacteth Not Ye Fuckos From Ship I Hate, This Is About How Much I Hate Your Ship”. For that to be the case, you would need old-school anti-ship tag nomenclature, like this: #anti-[shipname] or #[shipname] wank. Those tags would communicate your intent to rant, which is your sacred fandom right to enjoy doing! It is not, however, your sacred fandom right to enjoy doing it in the wrong space, that’s what’s happening here. A post that tags a ship with its normal tag, but whose content is anti/wank content about said ship, sends the signal: “ayyooo, who would like to debate this with me?”

So, does all that make sense? If you tag your post analyzing all the reasons why you think a ship sucks with #ship, you are encouraging everyone who ships that ship to interact with your post. It’s like rocking up to somebody’s house, ringing the doorbell, and saying “I hate your fugly ass piece of shit house, asshole” and then getting irritated when the homeowner responds with “who the fuck are you, get off my lawn?!”

#anti-[shipname], #[shipname] hate (forgot about that one, also useful), and #[shipname] wank do two very useful things:

1) They let other people who want to gleefully rant with you know that you’re on the level and they give like minded individuals a chance to follow those tags so you can have more rant sessions together, and

2) they minimize likelihood of involvement by the shippers you’re ranting about, who can block the tag, while keeping the ship’s normal tag open for the people who enjoy it

tldr; *swordfather voice* it would be bitchin if people could stop bitchin in the wrong places so that we can all coexist like adults here, touch some grass, and chill. Tag ship hate #anti-[shipname], #[shipname] wank, or #[shipname]-hate and keep it out of the general pro-ship tags :)

if your response to this is “don’t tell me what to do, cuntwaffle” or “I have an unhealthy relationship with the idea of shipping and think no one should have a safe environment to enjoy media except me and people I agree with so I will continue to poison the waters” then ok, cool beans, keep on chooglin’; but know that everytime you walk into a tea party you weren’t invited to and yell I HATE YOUR FUCKING TEA YOUR TEA SUCKS ASS blowback is a bit inevitable

[riptidesblog]

Ninjago hcs

Kai's(Smith-Jiang family's) eye color hcs:either amber,brown or sea-green eyes just like Maya's,while Nya has brown(I think this one is canon) and Ray has amber/brown eyes

After unmerging with the sea Nya's eyes started changing colors to match the nearest body of water:sea-green when near the ocean,grayish when near something like a bottle of water or sink water and etc.They will also turn glowing blue when she uses her powers on a large scale (they once turned blood-red bc she was treating an injury and blood has water in it)

Post-Crystallized:sometimes parts of her body would turn into liquid during the adjusting to being a human again(during which her eyes would be white like the foam)

After unmerging with the sea her powers became even more stronger and easier to control.After all,Nya was one with them for an entire year

The reason Nya couldn't get out the water in Jay's lungs during Seabound was because all of it kept responding,including blood and the water in Jay's body and she couldn't risk drawing out too much water and/or blood to help Jay

Pixal has Jay saved in her contacts as "extra charger"

The pink clothes Nya wore during Prime Empire shorts were given to her by Cole(they used to be Lilly's)

Nya makes the best coffee,not even Zane can match her skill there and surprisingly enough, Cole is a close second when it comes to drinks

The public didn't know Nya used to be Samurai X until a new one showed up and ninja had to answer some questions during interviews

Kai is a history nerd

All the ninja know basic first-aid,though Nya and Zane are the best medics.Kai is/was good with taking care of dragons

For a while after he learned that he was a nindroid,Zane didn't know how his body functioned beyond the basics.It's after HoT that he started learning more about himself instead of relying on Pixal,Jay or Nya all the time

All the ninja wear a bracelet that is made of interwined threads of their colors (gray for Nya,purple for Pix,gold for Wu and the rest are obvious)

Nya loves animals(this one is based on Wu's teas ep and how she seemed to like Zippy in the Island)

All the ninja+Pix see Wu as a father figure(even if some of them already have fathers)

Same with Misako

Mrs.Benedict constantly scares Lloyd by appearing out of nowhere in the weirdest places

Mrs.Benedict loves Nya and Pixal the most out of the entire group

After Seabound-Crystallized Nya always smells like sea and the salty air of the beach

Wu and Misako are best friends(the love triangles/angles in ninjago are a pain,so I'm ignoring them),but when it comes to history they're rivals worse than Oni and Dragons,FSM and Overlord combined.It's always fun for the ninja to watch their debates(especially when Misako is right bc those are the times when Wu says that he was there when the events happened)

Garmadon and Maya were best friends,same with Ray and Wu

Wu is Kai's godfather,Garmadon and Misako are Nya's

Wu anonymously helped Smith-Jiang siblings when he heard that their parents were gone,but he didn't take them in for two reasons: he wasn't doing well after Garm's banishment and he didn't have a legal identity to prove that he could take the siblings(not that it would have stopped him,but the first point stands)

Jay and Nya weren't in a relationship until s6, they weren't a couple during or before s3,but did go on dates or hangouts

Nya has a green burn-scar thing from Tiger Widow venom

Nya misses being a part of the sea and hates herself for it

Zane sometimes missed the cold of the Never-realm and how close he was to his element as Ice Emperor

Nya still has marks all over her body from merging with the sea and sometimes they glow

Elemental masters are naturally more durable and stronger than humans(the reason Cole managed to survive the Oni clouds) and once they master their powers,they age slower too (they look younger than they actually are)

[hauntingofhouses]

Blue Eye Samurai characters as animals

First of all, let me just reassert my dog Taigen agenda.

Like I keep talking about it but this man really growls and barks like a dog, and yaps and follows Mizu around like a puppy.

I don't know much about dog breeds but my first thought was German Shepherd for Taigen. Typical guard dog you know? Fierce, aggressive, loyal, and very disciplined when trained.

Or maybe he'd be an Akita? Since that's a Japanese dog breed, and they're also large and powerful. They're quite similar to German Shepherds, not only in appearance, but they're also good as guard dogs and hunting dogs, though they're less predictable and not as family-friendly.

Also in Japanese folklore, dogs tend to be seen as auspicious guides and protectors that have the power to resist evil spirits and demons. Dog statues are often placed at city gates to ward off thieves and robbers. Ties back to guard dog behaviour lmao, and brings to mind how the Shogun praised Taigen's loyalty and specifically requested that Taigen be one of the people guarding him at his side.

Okay next, moving on, let's talk about cat Mizu, which I've also talked about before, but okay. Just look at this.

Neko Mizu my beloved.....!!! Scrunkly and scrungy. Graceful predators, introverted and mysterious, but feisty, unassuming little creatures of chaos. WILL scratch you without hesitation.

Also I think she'd specifically be a black cat, because of the prejudice towards black cats as "unlucky." Similar to how Mizu is discriminated against as people believe she's a "monster."

It's also interesting to note that cats have several different forms within Japanese folklore, from the deadly and malevolent nekomata, to shapeshifting bakeneko, to the waving figurine of the maneki-neko placed in shops to bring in prosperity. Some theorise that the diverse range of folklore stories regarding cats is related to how the species is not indigenous to Japan, which is also interesting when you recall that Mizu is mixed race.

I feel that she could honestly be any domestic black cat, but if I had to choose a specific breed, then I think she'd suit a Bombay. Very glossy black coats. Muscular but lean. Very panther-like. Only thing is that Bombays are known for their special copper eyes, but the fact that eye colour is a notable thing about their breed is also a very interesting parallel.

And I know I said in my previous post (linked above) that Ringo is the exhausted but loving caretaker of the two of them, but Ringo has an animal form too! He's a tanuki, also known as Japanese raccoon dogs! In folklore, they're silly little guys, happy and mischievous, a little absent-minded and goofy, but they're shapeshifting masters of disguise.

Also, in canon, Ringo literally lived with a family of tanuki during winter at some point in his life! He talks about this when he meets Mizu in the first episode. Image below is a concept of a deleted scene, courtesy of Brian Kesinger, the show's head of story.

Next, Akemi. Now, I know she has all that bird symbolism going on, but Mizu also had horse symbolism (due to her connection with her horse Kai). So, personality and design-wise, I don't think the symbolism has to necessarily match up. And with that said, I would like to propose another idea: I think Akemi is more like a fox!

Like I'm convinced she is in fact a beautiful kitsune in disguise. Because kitsunes in Japanese folklore are known to shapeshift into beautiful women, and are very elegant, cunning and intelligent, which seems a lot like Akemi to me!

So yeah that's it. They're a bunch of cute animals. The end.

[hadesoftheladies]

FEMALE MOVIE/TV RECS (PART 9 / ADULT & FAMILY ANIMATION)

got inspired from a recommendation post so decided to make a list of movies and shows with female-centric stories/female protagonists. since i can't post all of the genres in one post, i'll split it into multiple posts and y'all can save or add to the list as you wish. (disclaimer: i have watched most of these, but i only know about the existence of others. not every movie/show on these lists will be my recommendation. my recommendations will be beneath the list with reasons. also some of these are way better than others in terms of storytelling/performance--which is why i'll list my faves separately):

Common Themes/Tropes:

-Woman/girl is OP and gets bullshit from other people for it

-Heroine tries desperately to fix the world

-Leaving home to go on adventures for the sake of a dream or doing the right thing

-Sisters are a lifeline

-Women/girls can literally do or be anything

-Violence is the only answer men will understand

-The world is so big, grand and beautiful and she wants to see more of it

-Girls being the conscience of an entire society

-Things going ham when she reaches Boss Level

-Magic (and violence) are good things, especially paired together

-A man (usually a father or guy friend) is the only conscience she has left

-F*ck marriage there's bigger problems TM

-I must save my father/sister

-Serious mommy issues

-Has an animal companion or IS the animal companion (robots also count as animal companions in terms of function imo)

-Making friends with the monster

OF WHICH ARE FOR ADULT AUDIENCES:

Pantheon

Scavenger's Reign

Blue Eye Samurai

Arcane: League of Legends

Trese

HAVEN'T WATCHED:

Pantheon

Lilo & Stitch

Fiona & Cake

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil

Trese

Princess Mononoke

Green Snake

The Breadwinner

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Violet Evergarden

Barbie in The Diamond Castle

Monsters Vs Aliens

Epic

Finding Dory

Encanto

The Incredibles II

Tinkerbell: Legend of The Neverbeast

Brave

WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

Blue Eye Samurai (10/10) (super gritty, but the perfect revenge story, puts John Wick to shame)

Scavenger's Reign (8/10) (split story, but two of the main characters are women, and one is a black lesbian! fantastic animation, though don't watch if you're intensely trypophobic, it can be sci-fi horror)

Mulan (9/10) (one of the most perfect animated Disney classics)

Turning Red (8/10) (this movie remembered the tween era)

Tinkerbell (if you crave matriarchy, sisterhood, magic and female centric society and story, then you need to watch the Tinkerbell movies)

Wolfwalkers (7.5/10) (an anti-colonial, anti patriarchal, pro-pagan fantasy movie with beautiful animation and a very touching, female-centric story)

Arcane: League of Legends (10/10) (gorgeous animation, amazing writing, incredible performances, and don't get me started on the sisters that take centre stage--also, lesbianism and gender nonconformity!)

The Legend of Korra (8/10) (good writing, a badass protagonist, a fantastic cast of characters, beautiful scoring, beautiful animation, amazing action sequences)

PERSONAL NOTES

The Mitchells Vs The Machines is basically a drama between a lesbian girl and her dad who have to figure their relationship out while they're running from robots. It was full of heart and fun and had some good jokes in there. I'd definitely recommend it.

Raya & The Last Dragon is the first Disney movie with a gender non-conforming princess! It also has some of the best action sequences in any Disney animated movie, however it doesn't hold a candle to The Incredibles II, which stars Helen Parr as the main character of the film. It's one of my favourite films of all time because of how they depict Helen and the main villain of the story (a badass genius of a woman). Really pro-female films, even for all their flaws.

Abominable has some of the most gorgeous visuals I've seen outside of a Disney animation. The texturing and coloring is so vivid it makes my mouth water. It's far better than Over The Moon, but both have their own charm. Abominable and Home have very similar plots. Also, the girl in Home is voiced by Rihanna while Beyonce voices the queen of the faeries in Epic.

One movie that shares a similar theme (kindness to animals even if we don't understand them or they scare us) with Abominable is The Sea Beast. The Sea Beast is one of the best animations with a black female girl as a lead I've ever seen. There's also a badass black woman pirate. There are some scenes that could have been written (or colored) better, but I loved it either way. I think it was the first animated film to depict shrinkage for black hair! And it didn't lighten the skin or whiten the features of the black characters!

Many people view Frozen II and Brave as "almost" masterpieces whose writers ultimately failed them, and I can say that I agree to some extent. There are many things technically wrong with the movies. Minor details that set the pacing off or take away from the immersion. However, I still love both of them. I really love daughter vs mother and sister vs sister stories (that includes Tinkerbell: The Secret of The Wings) because there's so much to explore in such relationships. They also both have some killer soundtracks, some amazing visuals and well-executed action sequences. I've truly seen way worse than these two films, and the characters are mostly loveable.

The Breadwinner is an animated film about a girl dressing up like a boy under the rule of the Taliban so she can earn some money to help feed her family. It's scored very high by critics.

I'd also recommend The Owl House (even though there's some appeal to genderism in later seasons). It's the first time I've seen a bisexual animated character and the enemies to lovers arc with Luz and Amity is unmatched in cannon magic school stories. I also really love the depiction of The Owl Lady who is treated like a male character in that she is allowed to be non-maternal, single and old (and wrinkled), arrogant and boastful, all without the show trying to punish her for it. The Boiling Isles are also fascinating as a setting.

If you like The Owl House, there's a chance you'll love She-Ra. There were many things I found annoying about She-Ra, but my experience was mostly positive. I'm not the biggest fan of Catradora, but I do appreciate the drama. I loved the world-building and magic system mainly, so the character quirks didn't get to me as much as they have others. Also, amazing antagonists in this series. It could have been more mature, but it's still entertaining.

I also definitely recommend Home on The Range. It's a whole movie with talking animals, but there's no tomboy like the main female protagonist in a Disney movie. She is one of the most tomboy characters Disney ever made. Also, I love 2D animation and this film reminds me why. Also, the idea of a feminine, micromanaging old heifer, a bull-headed, roughhouse new girl cow, and a young airhead cow that can't sing going on an adventure across the wild west to save their human's (a sweet old lady with some bark and bite) farm? And they have to compete with a hotshot, asshole male horse who is young and fast? It's like the perfect western comedy but with cows!

Anyways, if you can't tell, I love animated stuff and a lot of these are my comfort movies.

[blueeyesamur-why]

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

“That child would see you and run.”

Master Eiji has several amazing lines as the local Wisdom Dispenser of Blue Eye Samurai, but I think this is the deepest of all.

It doesn’t sound like a dissuasion from Mizu’s quest, but it is.

It’s confirmation that she’s a soulless beast, but it’s a warning instead of an insult.

In the Ronin and the Bride play that parallel’s Mizu’s singular attempt at being happy, in the very moment where Mizu decides to throw away her relationship with Mikkio and her patience for Mama, the ronin puppet murders his child. In the immediate context of episode 5, it’s a literal demonstration of Mizu killing her chance at peace and a future.

Now flash forward to episode 7, on the eve of her quest fulfillment. In pointing out her hollowness, Master Eiji is implying that Mizu once had a soul. Once had an option to turn back. Once had gentleness. Once had patience. Once had teachability in her. Once had innocence.

If her rebirth and reforging of that sword mattered afterwards, why did the conversation still shift towards the content of Mizu’s heart and not her head?

Eiji is making a suggestion that should shatter the viewer—even if Mizu seemingly blew past it completely.

Is Mizu becoming a villain?

On paper, the answer is no. Blue Eye Samurai is commendably great at keeping Mizu amoral for her own benefit, but not unkind.

Narratively, still no, but the feeling that Mizu isn’t a good person should linger.

Fowler spelled it out in the final boss, but that doesn’t count in my eyes. He was taunting her in-story, and making a point about whiteness being genetically destructive out-of-universe.

[By the way, I think BES was doing a great job talking about colonialism until episode 8 which was a little too heavy handed with Fowler’s rancid takes right at his actual brawl with Mizu, but that does not enter into this post.]

If it was just Fowler’s cheekily evil means to an end, to get under Mizu’s skin and into London so he would have the cultural upper hand, Mizu being on a dark path would already be stale as it was uttered in the writers’ room.

Mizu doesn’t want to be associated with innocence, but Eiji insisting that maybe she should be, that maybe she is wrong to abandon happiness, needs to be a red flag to the viewer.

Mizu’s no hero. She’s no samurai. But she is her own unreliable narrator. If who she once was would be afraid of her now, then maybe we would do well to judge Mizu’s actions in England by the same lens as Swordfather judges: with the intent to dissuade her from whatever it is she sees.