#unordinary analysis

[ninoucheuuuh]

Am I the only one who's really scared about what gonna happen to Arlo ? I have a very bad feeling.

I think that Farrah might erase Arlo's memory. When she fought against him, Blyke, Isen and Remi, she used her others abilities, and the others officers saw them, but they weren't supposed to :

Then, when they managed to arrest Arlo and Blyke, we see Farrah using her hypnosis ability to make them forget what happened :

And when she's with Arlo after his arrestation, she says that she'll be the one to do the "readjustment class". And after that, she uses her ability :

We can see Arlo's memories with this broken window, like she breaks his memories.

And then ? She could do multiple things. Maybe she could modify his memories ? Or create others ? She could make him forget about his friendships ? Make him hate the others ?

I didn't see anyone talk about this, so... But I really hope that I'm wrong and that I'm too much worried 😭

Like imagine, they would come to save him, and he would be like "Wtf who are you ?" It's so painful don't do this to my baby plz 😭

[beehiveofblorbos]

my predictions for season 3 plot beats for the main six. Under the cut because it’s LONG. My favorite part of it is the third bit, where I discuss why I think Remi is likely to kill someone next season. Predictions are numbered for ease of navigation.

1. The main cast will end up staying at Cameron’s home. This isn’t a bold one, but the three free groups of highly plot relevant characters are split up across different places. Leilah and Darren are in Neil’s territory to the north (which might include New Bostin considering it’s a low tier area and Sera kinda implies they’re not far), Remi Isen and Kuyo are staying at Grayson’s apartment, and John and Sera are with Cameron.

To be more specific, probably Leilah and Darren will end up linking up with Jera and Cameron first, then Kayden will follow, then Kuyo Remi Isen. I think Grayson’s apartment will get raided (it’s explicitly said to be temporary when they first use it, and Blyke’s capture means that it’s compromised) which will force Cameron to take them all in (he’ll need to have had some development by then).

I kinda think Grayson’s apartment raid will be a bit later in the season, if only because I imagine it as the trigger for Remi Isen and Kuyo to be much more impulsive about saving Blyke, as they understand the depth of the danger he’s in. Or maybe even (if im lucky) John will be impulsive about it, knowing from that that Blyke is dealing with Keon and that Blyke doesn’t deserve that.

2. Blyke and Rein will break out together, just as John Sera Remi Isen and Kuyo arrive to save him. Well, this one is pretty complex, let’s break it down into pieces.

I def think Blyke and Rein will link up, and Rein will get clued in as far as what’s going on with Arlo there, and Blyke will learn more about Spectre. Probably more angst as far as Arlo maybe being seen walking free around the facility or even sneaking away to visit them and get some answers after he begins to recover his memories.

Rein of course kinda needs to break out soon, because if she doesn’t she’ll die à la Terrence. If she did though that would be kind of boring and a waste of her character. Plus, as she was part of Orrin’s faction, perhaps she’ll have some more info to offer as far as his ability and what his greater plans are.

I can’t see John not being part of the rescue mission to save Blyke. This is in large parts because Blyke is being subjected to Keon, so they have yet another bond/similarity now. Plus, John’s even had a panel dedicated to him thinking about how Blyke Remi and Isen don’t deserve readjustment during the convo about what readjustment looks like with Arlo

And Remi and Isen coming for Blyke was never even in question. Even Kuyo’s initial connection to the vigilante trio was Blyke.

3. Remi will kill someone. Remi is the only member of the main cast who hasn’t had some sort of big mistake era to come back from, and I think hers will be nothing less than murder.

She’s always been extremely reckless and prone to losing control of her emotions, especially when it comes to facing EMBER. in the Main Cast v Authorities Ambush battle in the last episodes of season 2, we get this series of images:

So first, Remi’s the one who initiates this talk of murdering. After all, it’s been her focus the entire time. These are the people who killed her brother. Makes sense.

There’s some banter I’m not including because it’ll be in later images, then they fight. Once Arlo and Isen join them, they manage to knock Farrah out. And then she gets back up. And then we get this:

Arlo’s the one who brings it up. But ultimately; he can’t do it, when the moment calls for it. And as he’s joining the authorities at the top of season 3 more than likely, he won’t get another chance to revisit this choice soon.

Enter Remi. It’s her directly reacting to the suggestion of killing Farrah, it’s her who gets focused on during the flashback to Farrah’s little speech about why murder is valid morally. It’s Remi who essentially says that murder is an acceptable option if it’s a choice between the lives of her friends and the lives of her enemies.

And then this:

Remi, getting focused on AGAIN even though presumably all of the focus should be going to Arlo. It’s his scene after all… right? Or is it a surprise tool to help us later.

AND Remi’s arguably the one who suffered the greatest personal losses due to this ambush. Blyke is her presumptive love-interest as well as one of her best friends whom she personally dragged into this, and Arlo is her protector and even possibly brother figure (based on her saying Rei saw him as a brother, the implication to me is that she does too). AND on top of all that, Remi’s had a huge power boost, now on-level with Rei when he died.

If she does, I can totally see it either being an encounter with a new Spectre agent or during the mission to rescue Blyke from prison (doing it in front of Arlo, setting him back on his path to rejoining the other main six, is peak drama, peak angst, peak Uru).

4. Jane will reunite with John. This is kind of a lowball, but I think we’ll also get at least one fight with Jane if we’ve got her level. I definitely think she needs rescued first thing because it’s her blood both antagonist orgs are using to become bigger threats, and also Cameron needs to become a decent character in one season instead of being the terrible wine uncle who has about the same level of emotional maturity as a seventeen year old.

5. Kass will bring Arlo back to his senses/help him regain his memories. Additionally, Arlo will be hunting down Spectre. For normalcy reasons, I suspect that Arlo is gonna end up becoming a full time employee for the authorities, still working under Kass. He might get taken-in to the EMBER department, but I doubt it and here’s why:

Farrah herself comments on the issue. She later mentions Valerie “pulling some strings” (S2 finale ep) to save Arlo, which suggests to me that he won’t be getting a combat position. Instead, he’ll help hunt down Seraphina and John due to them being Spectre associates.

Kass will recognize the behavior change from when she and Arlo last spoke about EMBER and be able to help him snap out of it and prevent him from making any decisions he’ll regret.

6. The game of Unopoly John played with the Safe House will become relevant. This sort of isn’t directly related to the main cast, but idk I just wanna point out that John played a game of Unopoly with the Safe House members and games in this webcomic always become relevant/have a second meaning/foreshadow future events. I can’t find it no matter how I try, but I’d love to see it again as it’s the only game we currently have outstanding without a meaning to it.

[1010ninetynine]

why arlo is objectively worse than john fight me

Okok so asslo got his name for a reason. this hierarchy he’s obsessed with isn’t something he’s obsessed with to a T, ok? he’s not like “might makes right” else he’d worship the floor John walks on. He would only dream of being beat up by John again, the fiery passion in his eye stirring a longing Arlo can’t quite understand (mom this is for you <3)

No, instead, Arlo has an issue with John being a dumbass who can’t function. Because, yk, his method was “hide the fact im powerful and everyone will love me again” which worked out so wonderfully for him.

Not to say he can never be smart. I’ve met people who were truly dumbasses who came up with the genius of putting icecream on fruit roll ups before tiktok. But like...he doesn’t think anything he does through, and that’s why Cecile got fucked over. She assumed John acts with reason in his pea brain.

So I understand Arlo’s issue - John has no real goal, my boy is just angry. What he fails to understand that the fact this school is in ruin is 50% his fault (well he realizes it later but he certainly believed it was justified for a while)

Don’t believe me? I’ll explain.

SO seraphina losing her powers? 100% not his fault, and that was going to mess with his beloved system whether he liked it or not.

BUT. The main reason why this problem was exacerbated, and another problem in its own right, is that he chose to mess with the school ““cripple””, knowing ISEN, RUMOR LOVING ISEN, was scared enough to say “Hey! Leave John alone, I can’t predict what will happen.”

So, instead of doing that, taking the hint from Isen’s OBVIOUS fear that it’s more than just John being powerful, it’s also John being unfit for a Royal position, Arlo decides to force him out of hiding.

This, my friends, is the only reason John actually ends up fighting Arlo’s system of affairs. If Arlo did jack diddly squat regarding John, taking Isen’s fear as a hint, then John would be playing cripple and Arlo would still have a semi regulated system. Just with Seraphina needing protection.

I judge John less for what he did and how that, objectively, was bad for everyone because - he found a way to not be an ass, yk? Sure, not mentally healthy, but with Seraphina as his friend, she would’ve found out eventually and she was (and probably still would be) kind enough to get him to get it the fuck together. But even if she weren’t - Arlo made the CONSCIOUS decision to fuck with someone whose powers he DID NOT KNOW for the SOLE purpose of maintaining a HIERARCHY he DOESN’T BELIEVE IN.

Like FUCK. Arlo’s gotta stop being a might makes right guy if John being an ass was going to bother him. Like...bro. If high tiers rule, then why is John’s current behavior in any way ludicrous to him. He should be unquestioningly listening? Compared to John, he’s not strong in the slightest.

And I’d have forgiven all of this ludicrous hypocrisy...if Arlo was the kind of guy who wouldn’t be so violent with a crippled individual. Wanting the cripple to know their place, that’s one thing. Being so cruel to a cripple is another.

He only realized his wrongdoings and felt sorry after John ruined everything for him. If John really wasn’t that strong, Arlo wouldn’t have felt any sense of guilt whatsoever, because he never would have thought about what he did.

John only became someone worth caring abt when he was strong. And it’s difficult to think of John as objectively worse when Arlo pulled that shit on him.

[ro-rogue]

i have very mixed feelings about the new bostin confrontation that got john expelled.

it is portrayed as the worst of john's actions in new bostin, his lowest, most violent moment. and while that last part is not untrue, i feel like the confrontation is a lot more complicated than just john going insane.

by that point, john had already been king for a little while, and he was absolutely terrible at it. (i've written before on why i think that is, and even his objectively horrible actions here were not excusable but understandable.) claire decided he needed to be stopped, and she gathered a bunch of their schoolmates to confront him, as her vision had shown. then, instead of trying to talk it out, zirian (one of the people she had gathered, for some reason) immediately attacked john, and everything devolved from there.

now, a few things stick out to me here:

first of all, claire took zirian with her to confront john. the question is: why? john and zirian had already fought on multiple occassions, and last time they fought, john had beaten zirian. did claire think seeing someone john defeated in a fair fight would make him realize he was a horrible person? did she think that if people saw zirian, they too would be willing to confront john? but wouldn't those people then think they were going to beat john up? did she not realize that if people believed her lie enough to follow her, they would be prepared to act on it too? i really struggle with her thought process here.

next, zirian thought that they could beat john if they all worked together. this supports my theory that the kids in new bostin had absolutely no idea how powerful a god-tier was. the wellston kids would never try to gang up like that on pre-ability loss seraphina - they knew she was too strong.

however, they did gang up on john at least sixteen-to-one (in episode 185, the shot with the most classmates shows sixteen people). when claire was telling the story to seraphina, she made it sound like it was completely unreasonable that john assumed that a group of people who all hated him, at least some of whom he had fought before, including the former king, would want to attack and overthrow him. "he refused to listen" is true, and something john has struggled with a lot both before and after the ambush, but to be honest, in his shoes, i also wouldn't have believed claire.

moreover, he is criticized for going too far in beating them up, but imo that mostly applies to claire and adrion, who weren't actually attacking him. the other fifteen kids were very clearly willing to hurt him just as much as he ended up hurting them. besides, they were attacking him fifteen-to-one, with claire standing to the side - what was john supposed to do? hold back?

the answer, of course, is yes: he should've. it was absolutely not right for him to go that far. but we must understand that john was sixteen, stressed, hurt, and facing people who were likely his former bullies, in the sense that everyone used to bully him.

(plus claire, who gathered everyone there, and how was he supposed to know that she didn't mean for it to turn out like that? and plus adrion, who called the authorities on him, which was objectively a good decision, but it can be hard to see it that way when you're the one who the cops are being called on)

in addition to that, if seraphina or even arlo had been ganged up on like that, no one would be surprised if they, too, fucked up their opponents. (remember that turf war back in episode 17/18/something? where arlo clearly wasn't just going to stop hurting rein, not until seraphina physically stopped him?) john was out of control and very much Not Okay, but his handling of the ambush actually seems to be quite typical for a god-tier.

so to conclude, the new bostin ambush/confrontation was more complex than simply john going crazy, and while both he and claire definitely think that he is the only one at fault there and he acted completely irrationally, that isn't actually the case, and uno readers should be aware that we are viewing the story from the perspectives of biased and thus unreliable narrators.

[burstbub]

Oh they were both doomed from the start.

Chapter 339

Blykes "Everything will be fine" mentality was the key on what led to his imprisonment, because for them, that's exactly the way it's always been. All 3 of them have gone through more numerous death situations than anyone else in the series, and yet despite being exposed to the reality if their world, they still hold hope. Despite knowing the numerous deaths the authorities drop in order to prevent vigilantes and the era of peace, they still fight and stand for what they believe in. Instead for worrying of themselves and the stakes they're currently going through, they continue forward for the people they see need their help. They live selflessly in a setting where its preferred to live in a way for only yourself. Its exactly this what makes the remi-blyke-and-isen trio so distinct from the rest of the characters. In a world where the selfish strive, the selfless have no place. And here comes Arlo.

From the beginning Arlo was always seen as an arrogant selfish bastard who cared for the order of the hierarchy and control. It's the exact reason on why he attacked John in the first place. Midway through out the story, Arlo is exposed the terrors and reality of the world they live in, processing it in a different approach: denial. It's during this time where Arlo starts to see situations from a different perspective, using Remi, Seraphina, and John's situations as a way for him to understand. He begins to show more of his selflessness in an environment (the Bureau) where only the powerfully and selfish thrive upon in, putting himself at risk. It's been stated multiple times the actions Arlo takes in order to cover for the main 5 can easily get him arrested and stripped from his position, and yet he continues to do so anyways. The change in Arlo was something dramatic and critical to the story, as it changed his environments view of the ways he ruled before, to his act now (ex: elaine, zeeke, isen, cece, JOHN, SERAPHINA). The moment he realized he was living more selflessly, he always reminded himself of the consequences his actions will lead to. Because he himself doesn't want to live this way. And he has said it multiple times as well.

These 2 moments where what set in stone both of their imprisonment. The selfless once again committing an act in order to save another, and the "selfish" going against his own ideals in order to protect those he cares for.

Blyke litteraly had an opportunity to get out. To leave, to live another day once again. And yet a simple act in the moment in order to save someone in need was the result of his abandonment and imprisonment (not blaming isen and remi for this they genuinely had to choice).

And the same goes for Arlo. Despite being the oldest out of the main 6, he's still just a kid in highschool. Throughout the entire 2nd season, all he wanted was to graduate. The moment he uttered the words he was going to kill fury, it was clear he was going through mental crisis. The most composed and well kept character in the entire series was going to be the first one to commit murder from the main characters. And the thing is, it really was no surprise who couldn't do it. That's the contrast between him and John. Both going through mental and identity crisis and similar approaches, yet having different results (but that's for another day). If he did succeed is murdering the very obstacle in a moment that will probably never repeat again, they both could've escaped. But how can an unstable kid commit murder? The best scenario was not killing fury. Because even if all 5 of them got away, fury wouldn't be the only one who was killed that day. Arlo as a person would've died as well. People often forget Arlo is not John, they do not share the same mentality. (And the thing is no matter what John says, he wouldn't have been okay either if he did succeed in killing all the Bureau.)

Which leads us to now. I think it's interesting how the selfless and selfish characters where the ones taken captive in different environments, despite both committing the same crimes on the day of their capture. Because then again, who's the stronger one out of the 2?

[skull-ishcloud]

Unpopular opinion: Asslo is the best character in UnOrdinary. His ideology, his internal conflict, his obsession with the rules and "that's how it's supposed to be". It's just *chef's kiss*

No offense to the Powerpuff girls trio, but Arlo is beautifully portrayed. I loved that arc in which he outed John, it was so perfect, the scheming in his head, the entire plan and again that obsession with rules, makes that character just great (even if I would hate his guts if he existed irl).

Also about John cause I'm pretty sure someone is gonna say it. His trauma is very well built, but like his redemption arc? I hated him with all my heart before we even got to see him kicking people, and him beating my Remi half way to death, was the last straw.

[beehiveofblorbos]

The reason I don’t like book-to-movie movies is the same reason I’m incapable of summaries

Like, do you really understand UnOrdinary if you didn’t watch John insist on using the wood in AngryPigs (or whatever AngryBirds equivalent was used) while Sera breezes through using the glass?

Do you really understand UnOrdinary if you didn’t watch John, William, and Sera’s game of New Texis Hold ‘Em and get Sera’s blow by blow?

I could use DR examples too but I am unfortunately subject to my own gatekeeping that way XD (I’ve watched playthroughs but never played it myself)

The real problem with books-turned-movies isn’t “omg they didn’t include every single word in the book” it’s “omg they completely overlooked the main theme, threw out any significant allegories, took away all the emotional pull, an turned it into a boring action movie with a love triangle in it”

[abadsmile]

JAPAN SOCIETY AND MAKOTO NAEGI : ADDITIONAL PART

Part 1 :

That doesn’t stop here. The cast of THH are tropes in japanese anime but in an exaggerated way. However they are still characters and the majority of the cast succeed at surpassing their respective trope. I will show few examples

Kyoko is the obvious kuudere, a calm and cold girl. A mysterious person who is warming up to the cast or protagonist throughout the game. But here with Kyoko, her kuudere side is enforced to the point that it was necessary that Makoto was chosen as the culprit in chapter 5, to really be frank and honest to Makoto. She can also be childish at time as we saw in chapter 4 when Makoto hid a secret about Sakura.

Byakuya is the rich guy. Their arrogance is often accompanied with a complex of superiority. They come from the upper class and see everyone who doesn’t fit their criteria beneath them. In the case of Byakuya, in contrary to most elite snob, he goes farther in his arrogance. He plays with a body for his amusement. Of course, it wasn’t only for that but we can see that Byakuya’s cruelty is much bigger than most rich guy in Japanese media.

Sakura is the giant that seems to be bad but who is good. Her outer force displays her inner force. Even though here, when we often see the giant to be in the good side in almost every series that trope exists, she originally sided with the bad guy, Monokuma. But in the end, she regain her courage and confront Monokuma by killing herself in order for the cast to regain their focus against the mastermind.

Makoto is the normal guy, the everyday man. As said by himself, he is even average among the average. Often the protagonist, it allows people to have a semblance of relatability. However as established before, Makoto’s self discovery of himself during the killing game allows him to surpass his trope and to be his own character. In addition, his luck which can be seen as the luck of the ordinary is again exaggerated as seen in the chapter 5 of THH or in Makoto’s secret file.

In Dr THH, these tropes are used in a exaggerated way in order to either criticize these tropes or society in general.

As seen with Makoto, it was concerning the way of how society conforms most people to stay normal and to conform at its norm even though sometimes it can go too far. But not only society but others can also inflict that.

Makoto is surely one of these person whose personality and existence was affected by society entirely with how he described himself in the prologue. Nobody would describes themselves as so ordinary and average than the average people to that degree. It really shows, right of the bat that there is something ironically, unordinary with Makoto’s perception of self.

But the most prominent case in the game is Chihiro. Often people seem to think that Chihiro’s story is linked with the struggles of transidentity. However Chihiro is a man who through harassment and mockery through his childhood by most people due to how feminine he was despite being a boy, ended up cross dressing as a girl. He cross dresses as a girl not because he wants to but because he doesn’t want to be harassed or mocked by everyone. In chapter 2, we saw how Chihiro desired to be strong and to truly be seen as his true self. Through the character of Chihiro and chapter 2, what was criticized was the perception of masculinity in society and how it can affect people whether it be men of women.

Finally, in its entirety, Danganronpa THH not only mocks the tropes that we find inside others japanese medias but also uses these tropes to transmit a message, a critic of society as a whole through many characters.

[heliianth]

very frequent to see hate for the king john portion of unOrdinary which makes me sad bc not only is blykes solo vigilante arc EXTREMELY interesting and arlos conflict with his aunt sets up there which also gets really interesting later, but its like…. were seeing john in his purest “fight or flight” state. guy is having the worlds most violent and prolonged mental break, everything he does is some desperate grab for control so he can feel safe again. its both very revealing of his violent demeanor in new bostin being a direct result of the might makes right culture he grew up in but also what happened in readjustment just baking self-hatred into that panicked-animal-biting-whatever-moves mentality

i get that most of the hate is cuz its 36 episodes give or take and it mustve sucked waiting a whole week in between each of those (sometimes longer) only to see john keep degrading, but……. even disregarding the other arcs with other characters happening at the time, its important? its important to see him like that? i dunno. so much discussion abt it makes little to no effort at analysis beyond “john is the villain now” and even that is extremely surface level, and leads to people assuming things about the author which reek of the fact that people were reading johns mental breakdown as a cathartic revenge fantasy :(

[skyrislunaflower]

Greetings!

Hello, visitors of my blog! I'm just ur smol and local tumblrer - tumblr? I like writing <3. Allow me to tell you of what you will find here.

My pronouns are She/Her. NO NSFW here ^-^

I am currently in a lot of fandoms, but the main ones that you will see me posting and reblogging are:

AvA/AvM

Haikyuu!!

Unordinary

My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia)

Out of these four, you will find that AvA/AvM is the one I talk about the most.

If anyone has any questions for me related to anything I make, the askbox is always open! And you can send me art requests (tho I ain't that gud at art ngl)!

Update as of 12/20/24: I used to have tags for my analysis stuffs or whatnot, but honestly I'm just not going to anymore. If my post is part of a series, I'll link the next thing.

[beehiveofblorbos]

VERY interesting line out of someone whose ability is capable of “Rewind”.

I’ve spoken before about how John’s ability is symbolic of his mindset of giving as good as he’s gotten, and Arlo’s ability is symbolic of his refusal to let anyone in. So that kind of led me to wonder about the meaningfulness of the other main cast character abilities.

So when I saw this, I was literally gutted with surprise. What a starting point.

in a way, i wonder if Sera is speaking to herself as well as John? After all, she spent a lot of time wishing she’d never lost her ability, and early in the King John arc she often derides herself for believing John’s words and luxuriating in a lie.

just as John saw himself in Seraphina when they first met, throughout John’s breakdown Seraphina begins to see herself in John - her old self, who was blinded by everything around her and didn’t use her authority for anything of importance.

A big theme of Unordinary is moving forward. Another post I was thinking about while writing this is this one, by @unordinary-diary

And there’s more, too. Remi and John have both repeatedly endangered themselves due to their inability to move on from the deaths of Rei and William (not that either should be expected to: it’s been months or weeks). The entire problem a lot of high tiers have had, and that a lot of John’s development is centered around, is the inability to move forward from their pasts or fixations (Seraphina’s perfection, Arlo’s order). And even Blyke’s rapid improvement and ascension to high tier was a result of his inability to move on from the powerlessness he felt during Joker, and later John’s, reign over Wellston.

So what if Sera is the character meant to embody that theme through her ability? I mean, her ability’s got a few more parts to it other than Rewind. She can freeze time, so literally sink back into the past and reflect on it, but even that’s mostly talked about as her moving faster than everyone. And when she loses her ability, she spends more time dwelling on her situation than ever… which is actually beneficial to her. And it is a nuanced topic, it’s not like Unordinary is saying you shouldn’t self reflect either

[genericpuff]

Hello I realize this isn't necessarily the platform so completely understand if you ignore this! Wondering if you can provide a brief overview of what's going on with the popular WT creators? I get mixed information and you seem to have a lot of knowledge. (Snailords, Mongie, RS, Ephemerys, Uruchan. I heard about the Snailords dog and fan blasting stuff and Ephemerys possibly being inappropriate with minor fans. Really hoping Uru hasn't done anything.)

I'm not really gonna ignore your question but I will address it sort of? Because like... I'm gonna go off on a tangent here so bear with me, but I think a lot of people see my analysis / "callout" posts here and assume that's what this blog is for, but like? Not really? Like I certainly do that here at times when it's something that's really eating at me and I have to get out of my system, I love analyzing works I used to enjoy or otherwise have strong feelings about (ex. I never liked Big Ethel Energy but I'm miffed that it exists at all so I can't resist talking about it lmao) and I'm obviously VERY verbose about it, but I draw the line with actively seeking out stuff that's controversial or ripe for criticism just for the sake of creating 'content'. I'm one person who started this blog to mostly talk about LO, I'm not a monolith or solid source on everything to do with Webtoons and there are other people talking about these things in far more detail than I could :' )

With that said, I'm aware of the Snailords situation because of how often it's been brought up in the /r/webtoons sub (and I used to read their work years ago, before they were on Webtoons), and when it comes to RS and Mongie, I'm simply a former fan of their comics and I didn't realize the problems with them until their series jumped the shark and I had a chance to go "wait a second-" so I have that degree of "investment" that fans have have which spurs me on to talk about (and criticize) their work. It doesn't occur in a bubble.

I have NO idea what's up with Ephemerys and Uruchan, like I deadass don't know who those people are so your guess is as good as mine ╮(￣ω￣;)╭ (I googled them after reading this though, I know their series and have heard great things about Purple Hyacinth and a lot of "meh" stuff about UnOrdinary) So you won't catch me talking about them here unless I genuinely decide to give them a try LOL (and I've said my peace about reading stuff just for the sake of criticizing it, I ain't about that, I want to make room for things that bring me joy, too <3) That said, if you search for these creators via reddit and communities like it, you'll undoubtedly find the info you're looking for ! (when I googled Uruchan it seems like most of people's issues with them is that UnOrdinary has gone down the tubes in terms of quality, nothing really controversial about Uruchan specifically though from what I can tell).

EDIT: upon further clarification from OP, there isn't in fact anything worth noting, so we're clearing up for the record now!

Literally outside of my hyperfixation on LO and other Webtoon-specific topics that fall into my lap through the run of a day (like whatever I see going on in the /r/webtoons sub and other webcomic communities), I'm still like, a normal person who isn't aware of every single thing going on and so I'm not gonna ever be able to cover every controversy and piece of gossip out there. I wouldn't want that, either, balance is crucial.

I do think it's sorta sweet though that people enjoy my takes on LO and comics like it so much that they want to hear my opinions on other works, especially ones that they have opinions on and want to hear my take. But I'm still just one person. I don't read everything and I don't have an opinion about everything, I don't need to :' )

[unordinary-diary]

Thinking about how Blyke is actually insanely strong, even by the standards of his world, yet he gets his ass kicked for the entire story.

From episode one...

To the first actual fight he’s ever been in... (ch. 15) [Edit: second actual fight]

... to the approximate middle of the story... (ch. 197)

... Up through the very latest chapter as of me writing this— (ch. 345)

— Blyke repeatedly gets pummeled.

Over,

and over,

and over,

and over.

It’s really no wonder he gets insecure about it.

I mean, these screenshots were all taken from different fights. The amount of fights he’s won, on screen, without backup is... once or twice against Zeke, once against Gou (Agwin’s Jack from turf wars), and once as a vigilante solo act. That’s four, max. There could be more that I’ve forgotten, but I’ve read this series so many times and I really can’t think of any. (No, I don’t count firing a warning shots to get people to behave as “winning a fight”.)

compared to all the fights he’s been outmatched in? You’ve got Rein from turf wars, Volcan, John, John, John, Lennon from his vigilante solo stunt, John again, the fight in the Rowden amusement park, the attack on Rowden hill, Ember, and now the authorities in general. Possibly more that I forgot. That’s 11. He didn’t necessarily lose all those fights, but they’re fights where he was way out of his depth and/or would’ve lost without backup.

Anyway, point is: Blyke is no stranger to getting his ass kicked. In particular, he is no stranger to getting kicked while he’s already down.

In fact, I’m gonna take an example from the turf wars match in chapter 15: Blyke has already lost the fight with Rein, yet Arlo hangs him out to dry. Arlo is the one who’s supposed to call him back to get healed, yet he just smiles while the others look at him expectantly, and Blyke gets more and more injured. Even Rein is questioning it.

I could and honestly probably will do a whole analysis on just chapter 15, but eventually Seraphina calls him back for healing. The way Blyke was treated in that scene was kinda heartbreaking.

GOD chapter 15 is my favorite episode but it leaves me with so many questions grrr I wanna talk about it but that’s another entry.

Putting that aside, Blyke is very protective, and compassionate to the plight of others when he’s aware of it. After he sees the situation in Branish, he is immediately, rightfully pissed about the way society is. It opens his eyes to a world he hasn’t experienced, and it reframes how he thinks of John (still a “cripple” at the time).

To the actual point of this diary entry (other than rambling about Blyke, that is), John is another character who gets repeatedly kicked while he’s down. I don’t think I need screenshots to prove that. However, in my current reread of the series, I recently came across a certain panel that I do wish I had a screenshot of. It’s either Blyke or Seraphina who asks John “Why are you always kicking people while they’re down?” And John responds: “Because everyone kicked me when I was down!” And I think that’s a vivid contrast with Blyke, who has been kicked while he’s down, and chooses to protect people who are weaker than him. In particular, I want to point out that in order to protect them, Blyke is willing and actively chooses to get beaten quite brutally.

Mind you, this ^ is to protect people who he barely knows. He and Sera aren’t close, and the others are practically strangers.

It’s pretty much the inverse reaction. John says “Others kicked me while I was down, so I’ll do the same on everyone else tenfold.” Blyke says “I was kicked while I was down, and goddammit I will keep getting kicked if it means other people don’t have to.”

It’s such a cool parallel, and the fact that when John was getting kicked, Blyke was trying to help, but when Blyke was getting kicked, John was doing the kicking adds so many layers to it.

[joseiromantica]

Umibe no Onnanoko: sex, adolescence, anguish, and the sea - analysis

"In town, there's a tiny beach that's never busy, not even in the summer. I used to like walking there, looking for stuff. Like old fireworks.. or kelp. A hat knocked off someone's head by the wind. You basically never find what you were expecting to. And maybe you weren't expecting to find anything right from the start..."

In a seaside town where very little happens, middle school students Keisuke Isobe and Koume Sato live a rather dull life. But when Sato's crush breaks her heart, their situation becomes quite unordinary. She starts a "no-strings-attached" relationship with Isobe, whom she had previously rejected, both finding solace in the other in order to fill the emotional voids in their lives. However, being "friends with benefits" becomes complicated when real feelings begin to develop, as the consequences of their relationship start to take their toll on those around them and themselves.

Sato

Sato’s character begins with that of a normal highschool girl. She has a quiet family, is on good terms with her parents, and has a healthy love/hate relationship with her sister. She is well integrated into society and has good friends and good grades in school. However, it's never that simple for a young girl. She becomes disillusioned with the life she leads in the sleepy Japanese seaside town, humiliated by the rejection of the local playboy, and is desperately masking her true desires from her friends. She secretly seeks the company of Isobe, a boy who has a crush on her, and asks him to take her virginity. This begins Sato’s struggle of sexuality. She wants to experiment, wants to engage sexually with Isobe, but is scared of being seen as a ‘bad girl’ for doing so. The two begin their relationship in secret per Sato’s request.

Slowly, we see Sato’s true character emerge. She is not the sweet, quiet, kindhearted character that Isobe had a crush on at the start of the story. Sato is selfish. She is insensitive and complains constantly, but doesn’t do anything to change. So... a pretty typical middle school girl. She only shows this side to Isobe. But even if she shows Isobe her true nature, she cannot show him her true feelings. What they have is confusing and humiliating for Sato; her biggest secret is him. Their pride, their shame and their lust shrouds any honest connection the two could make with one another. But Sato's most miserable self, and her stark duality, is exposed in these intimate scenes with Isobe.

Isobe

Isobe, running his late brothers' blog, skipping school, loathing his classmates whilst severely depressed, carries his own heavy burdens. He has a difficult family situation to say the least. His parents are separated. Isobe lives with his father and his mother is nowhere in sight. His brother dies of suicide as a result of bullying, a situation that leads Isobe to develop a strong asociality. He spends his days alone in his room reading manga, playing video games and trying to keep his brother’s memory alive by updating his blog. His crush on Sato begins as a pure middle school affection, he likes how kind she is, how normal she is. Though, he soon realizes who she actually is.

Isobe's true nature emerges much, much slower than Sato's. It doesn't reveal itself until his last appearance. The entire manga, Isobe is an isolated depressive child, still obsessing over the circumstances surrounding his late-brothers death. When he finds the camera belonging to 'the girl on the shore', we can see the smallest peak into what will become of him.

He is just a normal young boy. He's shy, awkward, kind and loving. He wants to push himself to do well, he has passions and cares about love and his future. We don't see any of this until after his downfall, after we think he may actually end his life.

The turn around in character is even portrayed as betrayal on Sato's end. She is crying, "I can't take it, seeing you happy, it's simply not you." But it is him. It's who he was supposed to be.

Adolescence

In a 2013 interview, Inio Asano cites learning the phrase “chunibyo” as an inspiration for A Girl on the Shore. A Japanese meme, “chunibyo” translates roughly to “Eighth Grader Syndrome,” and describes an early adolescent’s tendency to aspire to and imitate the adult behaviors that they are too young to understand.

Dialogue between Isobe and Sato is often stilted. Sato speaks in' likes' and 'stuffs', discusses shallow concerns of a teenager whilst longing to engage in something she barely understands herself. Meanwhile, Isobe is unable to talk anything more than spitefully. His secret weighs on him constantly and yet between the two, his desires are more frank, more depraved. We are witnessing an immature exchange between two children desperate to be perceived as grown. They look young, they sound young and have no understanding of what they are seeking.

In Sato’s case for chunibyo, she is desperately trying to reach adulthood through sex and connection. She acts jealous when she finds the girl on the shore on Isobe’s SD card, even if he didn’t take the pictures. The girl on the shore is older, she has a more mature figure and fits societies ideals of what a woman ‘should’ look like. Sato still looks like a young girl because she is one, no matter how much sex she has with Isobe and the older highschool boy.

Isobe shows chunibyo through idealizing his brother. He keeps up the blog without disclosing the new owner, he smokes a cigarette that his dad throws away, he even taser guns some older boys to get revenge for his late brother. He is continuously acting older, more ‘mature’ than the other boys at his school in a desperate attempt to seem better than the other people in the small town. But in the end, he is still a young boy. He is still insecure and looking for meaning in life.

The Feeling of Anguish

This manga is mundane, almost lacking a plot as we watch these two teenagers navigate their sexual relationship. But I think that’s what makes it so unique. There is no intense action, no horrific moments like in Asano’s other work. It’s slow. It’s realistic. It’s beautiful, but what’s the point?

The one consistent feeling from this work is Anguish. The Girl on the Shore is not a comfortable read (nor is most of Asano’s works…) it feels almost as if the sea swallows you while you read, washing you over with anguish. We all remember how it felt to be a teenager, the confusion and deep sadness of wanting to grow up, but not knowing what that means, and that feeling is portrayed so well through The Girl on the Shore.

The end of chapter 14 is an excellent example of this. The chapter begins with Sato and Isobe having sex, of course, but this time it’s a bit more grotesque. There is no emotion attached as they preform this act, and by the end, they are laying on Isobe’s floor, his room a mess. They discuss how Isobe used to like Sato, how he thought she had a small voice and seemed serious. Sato apologizes, as that is not who she is. But the apology is lifeless, she isn’t truly sorry.

Isobe discusses how one day, Sato will forget about their situation together. She will fall inlove with a random boy, pretend that she’s a virgin, and satisfy her moments of loneliness. He is trying to distance himself from her, knows that she won’t love him the way he wants. But Sato also tells Isobe that ‘the Isobe before was a normal kid.’ They both agree that they’ve changed.

Then, Sato states: ‘Isobe, you just hate everyone, don’t you… Isn't there someone you like?’. Isobe simply replies: ‘Kind people.’

While these scenes seem like simple conversations, it is truly the only time they have talked to eachother in a serious way for more than a moment. Even here, they can’t connect. Isobe talks about dying, how he should be better off dead, how he is convinced that he is already decided. And as Sato replies with: ‘If you died, it wouldn’t really matter to me but… definitely… don’t talk about dying. Sorry that’s selfish of me.’ they reach out to eachother, holding hands as they fall asleep. They want so desperately for the other to be there for them, but neither of them are willing to connect on a deeper level.

They are stuck within their own Anguish, which many teenagers often are. They are selfish and can’t get out of their own head. And they wont, until they grow and learn as they grow up.

Sex

While saying sex is a theme in A Girl on the Shore would be a complete disservice to the point Asano is making, I would like to clarify the use of sex in this manga. Constantly, people online accuse this manga of being child pornography due to the depictions of sex between these two middle schoolers. But the point of seeing Isobe and Sato having sex isn’t for reader gratification. It’s awkward, silly, and sometimes gross. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable because it’s realistic. There is nothing sexually gratifying about two middle schoolers trying to find connection in eachother through sex.

Especially at the beginning, when I started making manga, I thought about sexually related descriptions as completely normal, a natural part of our day-to-day life where we might get into sexual situations. For me, the most natural way to portray reality is to lean on these sexual characterizations, so someone can appear having lunch in one scene, and then appear later having sex just as naturally.. -Inio Asano

Middle schoolers have sex. They do. Reducing A Girl on the Shore to just sex scenes not only debases the author’s work, but is also extremely unfair if you know at least any other of his previous works. Could Asano have expressed the same concepts without resorting to explicit sex scenes? Probably. But it would have taken away so much from the story and would have left us with less of a profound reaction to the work itself. Asano depicted them so candidly to really send home how raw and personal sex is, and how close the main characters were despite their emotional distance. Without these explicit scenes, the story wouldn't have as much as an impact.

The Sea

The story itself evolves slowly, almost painfully so. It stretches on and on, tension rising, until everything suddenly snaps. The release, however, is as anticlimactic as Sato and Isobe’s relationship. The end isn’t really an end: they’re growing and moving on. They learn some things and they don’t learn others. But hopefully—for them as well as for any of us—there’s healing along the way. And maybe someday, happiness.

While Isobe’s final scene is a lot more direct and climactic, the actual final scene is the climax for Sato’s character. Throughout the manga, she is searching for something. She doesn’t know what it is, but she is desperately trying to find it. Through boys like Isobe, through sex, through pretending to be someone she is not, she can’t stop searching.

The final panel shows Sato standing at the same beach the story opened with. She is shown talking with Kashima, her old classmate, about the future and how uncertain everything is. Here, Sato is shown to fully understand what she has been looking for. She has finally found the grand scope of the world. In front of her is a sea of opportunities, even if she had to leave people behind to reach it. We see that she has finally grown up.

”Ah! I found it!” “Were you even listening to me?” “Of course! But, in the end there is something bigger than everything else… The sea!!”

Final Thoughts

To read The Girl on The Shore is to take a trip back to your darkest days, middle school. Even if you never experienced a relationship like theirs back then, the way they speak, they way they perform adulthood, even down to the smallest behaviors, it brings you back to the days when the smallest issues felt like the end of the world. Because they were. At least, that's how it felt at that age.

If the feeling of reading The Girl on the Shore could be summarized into one sentence, it would be 'a trip back to middle school, where you end up right back where you are'.

It's a doorway to your adolescence, and allows you to close that door and reminisce with Sato, seeing the sea of opportunities you have with you now. Realizing, it really was never that serious. But God, did it sure feel world ending. And boy, will it stick with you forever.

[cherryblossomsatsea]

As I reread Rilla of Ingleside and Rainbow Valley, I find myself increasingly interested in Mary Vance—specifically, her foil to Anne. Bear with me; this is more of a stream of consciousness rather than a full-blown analysis.

When Anne is introduced in AOGG, Marilla says something about how decent folks likely brought up Anne, as she speaks pretty politely. In fact, for all of Anne’s chatter throughout the series, even when she is angry (see her early argument with Mrs Lynde, or even smashing her slate over Gilbert’s head), she is never excessively rude nor vulgar. Anne fits in with the girls in her school, accepted as one of them despite her more queer habits, which are looked at as endearing rather than strange. Anne is dressed plainly by Marilla for a few years, but this is treated as something unordinary by the story and its characters, and as she comes of age, she is allowed to dress prettier - like the other girls of Avonlea. Anne’s story is about how she is accepted by Avonlea and, ultimately, about how she finds a home and a family, finding her place to belong.

Mary Vance, on the other hand, doesn’t speak like any other main character in the series - her accent is more working class, as referenced by her speech patterns in comparison to the Manse children or the Ingleside children. When we meet her, though she is good-hearted, she’s rough and abrasive in a way Anne never was and never is. Though allowances are made for her upbringing, she is clearly ‘othered’ - not entirely fitting in with the more innocent and light-hearted children of Ingleside and the Manse and veering on the thin line of being disliked. Subsequently, when Miss Cornelia adopts Mary and dresses her nicely, the story deals with it differently - she’s textually described as proud and vain - as if Mary Vance did not belong naturally in those clothes as the Ingleside children do, or the Manse children deserve. Mary Vance is accepted in a limbo state - she is part of the Glenn, but her background is never entirely forgotten. Unlike Anne, she is never quite accepted.

Anne was born to two loving parents who wanted her. Mary Vance is born to a scoundrel family (in her own words). Anne is made to do chores, but it’s all described more innocently - a child helping at home. When the text describes Mary Vance doing chores, I don’t read it as a child helping like perhaps Una would with Rosemary. It reads more like Susan Baker - or other househelp.

Now, Rainbow Valley is in the POV of neglected children, so it could be argued that the descriptions of Mary Vance are mainly due to her being viewed in the lense of a young child grappling with jealousy (my heart goes out to poor, sweet Una), but I do think that there is food for thought in this - especially when exploring the more classist undertones present in the later AOGG series.

[schraubd]

Bruen's Goose Continues To Not Apply to the Gander

The thing about the Fifth Circuit's recent ruling that the Second Amendment gives men under domestic abuse restraining orders an inalienable right to bear arms is that it is (a) insane and (b) absolutely defensible under the Supreme Court's Bruen decision. This is because the Bruen decision will regularly and predictably lead to insane results.

That said, I did want to flag something in the opinion that I've picked up on before -- namely, the inconsistent commitment to Bruen's supposed prohibition on weighing or considering "social policy" considerations. Judge Wilson, writing for the panel, expressly cites to this portion of Bruen, saying that while the prohibition on gun possession by domestic abusers "embodies salutary policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society ... Bruen forecloses any such analysis in favor of a historical analogical inquiry into the scope of the allowable burden on the Second Amendment right." This principle is, perhaps above all else, the crux of Bruen's standard -- no matter how ridiculous, or absurd, or unfair, or chaotic the policy outcomes are, courts are not permitted to "weigh" them against the historical limitations that bounded the Second Amendment. The latter begins and ends the conversation.

Again, that principle is absurd. But it's Bruen's principle, and the Fifth Circuit gleefully cites it to explain why the prospect of terrified and murdered women can play no role in its legal analysis. But what happens if the historical arguments seem to counsel permitting more sweeping gun regulations than conservative jurists might like? All of the sudden, those social policy considerations come roaring back into view.

Addressing the historical precedents which did clearly envision government's authority to disarm "dangerous" persons, Judge Wilson explains that such exceptions must be narrowly construed so as not to apply to the case of domestic abusers. Why? Because, he asserts,

the Government’s proffered interpretation lacks any true limiting principle. Under the Government’s reading, Congress could remove “unordinary” or “irresponsible” or “nonlaw abiding” people—however expediently defined—from the scope of the Second Amendment. Could speeders be stripped of their right to keep and bear arms? Political nonconformists? People who do not recycle or drive an electric vehicle?

I take no position on whether the government's interpretation is so expansive. But note that this line of argument is expressly an analysis of the proper policy sweep of government regulation. We should tailor our interpretation of the Second Amendment's scope so as to avoid a policy outcome whereby too few people are guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms; to avoid an outcome where the government is permitted to disarm people who these judges think it would be manifestly unfair to have their gun rights taken away.

This is exactly the sort of policy analysis Bruen purports to forbid, only here the "policy" concerns are ones counseling in favor of greater freedom to bear arms rather than reduced freedom to bear arms. Perhaps it seems absurd to permit the government to take away arms from people just for getting a speeding ticket. But so what?  Bruen was emphatic that this sort of social policy assessment has no role in Second Amendment adjudication. If the historical analogues give the state that sort of latitude, then that is supposed to end the conversation. Again, it is baked in the Bruen cake that it will lead to results that may appear to modern eyes ridiculous, because Bruen expressly instructs courts that they aren't allowed to care about those consequences no matter how absurd they might seem to be.

But as the Fifth Circuit's ruling makes clear, the Bruen prohibition on weighing policy consequences is, unsurprisingly, a one-way ratchet. Conservative courts will portentously declare that Bruen forbids them from considering the disastrous consequences of countless terrified or murdered women if it means taking away domestic abusers' guns -- but if history and tradition start to point towards enabling gun restrictions that the right finds too onerous, then all of the sudden we get a screeching parade of contemporary policy horribles that are treated as legally dispositive. This is what generates such well-deserved cynicism about the state of the judiciary today -- it's not just that the legal rules the governing class of jurists announce are absurd, it's that these jurists do not even pretend to be bound by them the second they prove inconvenient to their underlying politics.

The other thing to note about this case is that, if the Supreme Court reverses it -- and they might -- their reasoning will almost certainly purport to be based on some alternate assessment and reading of the historical sources. But this will be a naked smokescreen, and everyone will know it. If the Court reverses the Fifth Circuit here, it will be entirely and solely because the Court finds it too unreasonable and intolerable to permit domestic abusers free reign to carry arms -- a contemporary policy judgment anyway you look at it, no matter how much effort is or isn't expended to cloak it in some faux-historical garb. None of these judges abide by the rules they purport to lay out.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2icluJG