#while k is someone who wants to be a protagonist. perhaps was supposed to be all along but just wants it too much

[cakemoney]

i can't even begin to describe how excited i am for the confrontation evan will have next episode that we got a glimpse of in the teaser. from the beginning, the elephant in the room was k and evan's breakup; we don't know how it happened, why and what happened, who initiated it, how long ago it was, we see evan look at k with his big soft eyes and try to help her, we see k coping poorly with being single and burying herself in alternate lives and identities. there's already so much there that they're talking around, and now k has literally killed him while evan was in the middle of a conversation about complicated relationships with exes. insane. we have never seen evan get upset at his friends, i want to see so badly how it comes out

[sombrerokiwi]

Traditionally in stories, there would be an antagonist and a protagonist. Their dynamic is defined by the fact that their ideals or methods don’t match up and they come into conflict with this. Perhaps they do share the same ideals but there is only room for one, so they must fight for it. Or perhaps they are simply friendly rivals who are only the antagonist and protagonist by strict definition.

Now, being a protagonist doesn’t mean you have to be good, in fact the protagonist can be, as people say, “evil”. Likewise, the antagonist could be “good”. This makes for interesting dynamics and makes the story incredibly interesting.

However in the world today, antagonists and protagonists are usually defined now as villains and heroes. The villain is the typical evil person while the hero is the typical good person.

Right now, in this world, there has been a rather long line of heroes and villains, which is really just four immortals fighting each other due to the gods saying it so. Or, as they would say “It is due to the heavenly principals being challenged and being threatened to be consumed into eternal darkness and damnation. To fight is to fight for our desired vision of the world, and fight we shall.”

Right now, the Hero and Villain are on their 365th incarnation of the world. They are joined by the Captain and Traitor respectively and they too are on their 365th incarnation. The world right now has decided to go into a rather interesting turn of fantasy with sci-fi and right now the current conflict of the world is the mechanization of everything and razing it to the ground vs respecting the world as it is.

“Do you want to just quit?”

The Hero blinks and blocks a blow from the Villain. “What do you mean?”

The Villain conjures a fireball and casually lobs it at the Hero. “I mean do you want to just quit? Just quit all of this?”

The Captain takes a deep breath and lets out a blast of ice against fire. “Is this a surrender? Because if so it is a rather terrible one.” She lets out a blast of lightning in retaliation. “Last time you both did this there was an army of…skeletons I believe?” She nods. “Yes, skeletons. You sic an army of skeletons on us.”

The Traitor scoffs and lunges at the Captain. “They weren’t even our skeletons. It was someone else’s skeletons that attacked you both.” The Captain dodges to the side easily and strikes the shield of the Traitor, staggering him. “If it were our skeletons then there would be more dark magic and ice. Or maybe I’m confusing eras again.”

The Hero nodded. “You are. The skeletons were just plain old skeletons with the only difference being the fact that yours were sentient and made themselves a whole new species.”

“Wait stop let’s get back to the point,” says the Villain. “Do you want to quit? Like seriously do you just want to quit? Go somewhere that isn’t here?”

The Hero lowers their sword. “I mean yeah but we can’t really quit because of the gods now can we?”

The Villain scoffs. “When was the last time the gods contacted us anyways?”

The Captain raised her spear at the man before the Villain stopped her. “Wait gods I’m taking a break. Let me go and talk for more than a minute before getting stabbed, just give me a moment.”

She narrowed her eyes at the man before nodding. “If you do anything to him then I swear-“

“You’ll stab me?” Interrupts the Villain. “You’re going to stab me because no offense but that is what you do all the time and it’s getting old.”

“She can go and hack into your account and cancel all your subscriptions,” chimed the Traitor.

“Yes I can do that.” She takes her phone out and tries to find the email the Villain sent her last week regarding a coupon, already knowing his password is the same as the 50th eras’ password.

“Wait no my dramas you can’t take those away from me!”

“We can’t just quit!” Sputters the Hero. All eyes turn to him. “We don’t have jobs! We don't have licenses! How are we supposed to quit?”

“Your Captain can give us legal documents.”

“I can.”

“I know a guy that can give us jobs.”

The Hero opens and closes his mouth. “So we’re just quitting?” He finally says.

“I mean I’m with the Villain here,” says the Traitor. “This isn’t me doing this out of loyalty, this is me actually wanting to retire.”

“Didn’t you go and one time steal from the Villain in the 200th world?” Asks the Captain.

“Oh yeah I did do that! I loved that world!”

The Hero laughs. “That was a fun world, yes. I loved the part where you did the heist and fooled all of us.”

Silence graced the battlefield.

“So what are all your names?” Asked the Captain. “We’re going to retire so might as well stop calling each other by titles.”

A heavier silence graced the battlefield.

“I uh…don’t actually remember my name,” says the Traitor.

The Villain nods in agreement while the Hero points at the other and then at himself.

“Oh,” the Captain says. “Well I don’t remember mine either.”

More silence.

“So coffee?” The Hero says sheepishly.

“Oh gods yes.”

“Hot Chocolate for me only please.”

“Coffee is the one thing I am glad was kept throughout all worlds.”

——————————

Tagging moots under read more

@not-pie @beantothemax @chaotic-good-mom-friend @justagingerwithredhair @bewilderedgrace @kore-arts @lola-legendary @palesmokeisinthevoid @professorgallifrey @aernirose @honey-vvitch @pinkielord @dragon-with-a-dagger @recently-diagnosed-lady-knight @aurora-bore-aura @notveryflamboyantofyou

[beawriter]

Red Herrings

Want to misdirect your readers from a big plot twist, but still lay it out in plain sight? I have the tool for you: red herrings. 

First of all, what is a red herring? 

a fact, idea, or subject that takes people's attention away from the central point being considered:

[For example:] the police investigated many clues, but they were all red herrings.

- Definition by the Cambridge Dictionary

In general: 

It’s a type of foreshadowing, though it’s false clues

It can be used in any genre

What can a red herring be?

A character who seems evil or suspicious.

An object that seems important.

An event that seems to be significant to the story or protagonist.

A clue placed by the antagonist or a secondary character that sends investigators down the wrong path.

Those are the main ones, but you could have other ideas

What you should do:

Make sure that they’re important, logical and inform the plot

Lie, but not completely. For example: let’s say someone has been murdered. The victim was found with two glasses of wine in the room, one of them having traces of red lipstick, which implies the killer is a woman. However, it turns out that the suspect shared a glass of wine with the victim earlier that day.

Be fair with your reader

you don’t want your reader to finish the book and throw it across the room, just after lighting it on fire

misleading is fine, but if you leave out information completely, then no one could figure it out and you lost your reader’s trust

Make your reader remember it

It usually takes three times of information being said for the reader to remember it

If you only say it once and never mention it again, it’s basically useless

Put the real clues, just don’t insist a lot on them until you reveal it all in the end and show the reader all the real clues that you previously mentioned

When you plant the real clues, force your reader’s attention elsewhere

it’s giving them extra (sometimes useless) information to the reader

you can distract them with action

with high emotions (it can be almost any emotion, just intensely)

with hiding it in a list of things

What you should be careful not to do:

Be careful not to be dishonest. Just don’t.

Don’t have all the evidence point to a completely opposite direction or have the twist be something like “oh, the murderer was the guy we didn’t see for half the book”

A bit like being dishonest, don’t show your red herring as being the absolute truth

Don’t add them because the plot lacks tension, excitement, or conflict. They need to be relevant to the plot, perhaps even to the point that if you took it out, the plot would collapse

If the red herring is a character:

Don’t give any (obvious) reasons for your reader to suspect the guilty character to be the culprit

The innocent character needs to legitimately seem possibly guilty

maybe they benefit from the crime

maybe they had the means or opportunity to commit the crime

maybe they have a strong motive

or all of the above.

Double herrings:

This is optional for your story, so you can skip this section

A double herring is a clue that is introduced early in the story, which seems to be too convenient, and then a second clue comes in and conflicts with the first one. The character following the clues will believe the second one, until it’s almost too late and realize the first clue was the right one all along. 

Stories with good red herrings:

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, in which the narrator’s secret is mind-blowing, but it’s all there and foreshadowed in the book

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling, in which all the clues are there to find the culprit, but the red herring misleads the reader

And There Were None by Agatha Christie, where the red herring misleads and the culprit is, for a while, not a suspected

!!SPOILER ALERT!! Explaining one red herring

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we, the readers, and the characters are led to think that the villain is Sirius Black

We are given many clues that Sirius Black wants to kill Harry and is on Voldemort’s side, just like when he was in prison and was heard whispering “he’s at Hogwarts,” so he is not explicitely saying he wants to kill Harry, or even that he’s talking about him, but we think he is implying it.

We do get clues about Scabbers (Ron’s rat) being the villain and actually Peter Pettigrew, who is supposed to be dead, just like how they could only find Peter’s finger and Scabbers has a missing paw. 

There’s many other clues and misdirections, but I won’t go through all of them because I’ll be here all day if I do

The End

I hope this helped, and feel free to add more:)

[addictedtoeddie]

The full Esquire Spain interview translated from Spanish:  

Eddie Redmayne trial: guilty of being the most talented (and stylish) actor of his generation

The Oscar winner talks about what it means to premiere a film with Aaron Sorkin (The Chicago 7th Trial on Netflix) and filming the new part of the most famous saga of all time under the watchful eye of its author, J.K. Rowling.

By Alba Díaz (text) / JUANKR (photos and video) / Álvaro de Juan (styling) 10/23/2020  

At the Kettle’s Yard Gallery in Cambridge, stands alone and leaning on a piano Prometheus, a marble head made by Constantin Brâncusi, and the only piece of art that Eddie Redmayne (London, 1982) would save from possible massive destruction. He tells me about it as he leaves the filming set of the third installment of Fantastic Beasts in the early days of an autumn that, we suspect, we will never forget. It begins to get dark as the actor nods seriously: "I promise to do my best in this interview."

Eddie Redmayne made himself in the theater despite some voices warning him that he could not survive in it. "Many people were in charge to tell me that it would never work, that only extraordinary cases make it and that I would not be able to live from this professionally." Even his father came home one day with a list of statistics on unemployed young actors. Redmayne, who is extremely modest, polite and funny, adds: “But I enjoyed theater so much that I got to the point of thinking that if I could only do one play a year for the rest of my life… I would do it. And that would fill me completely.

Spoiler: since then until today he has participated in many more. He set his first foot in the industry when he debuted at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and won over critics and audiences. He then landed his first major role in My Week with Marilyn opposite Michelle Williams. And then came one of the roles of his life, the character he wanted to become an actor for, Marius. With him he sang, led a revolution and broke Cosette's heart in Les Miserables. “I found out about the Les Misérables auditions when I was shooting a movie in Illinois. Dressed like a cowboy. I picked up the iPhone and videotaped myself singing the Marius song. I always wanted to be him ”.

Now Redmayne is an Oscar winner - thanks to his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything - and the protagonist of one of the most important sagas in history, Fantastic Beasts. He plays the magizoologist Newt Scamander in it. When I ask him what it means to him to be the protagonist of a magical world that is so important to millions of people, Eddie sighs and takes a few seconds to answer. “I have always loved the Harry Potter universe. Some people like The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars ... But, for me, the idea that there is a magical world that happens right in front of you, that happens without going any further on the streets of London, that. .. That exploded my imagination in another way.

During the quarantine, J. K. Rowling, who has been in charge of the script of the film, sparked a controversy through a series of tweets about transgender women. Redmayne assures that he does not agree with these statements but that it does not approve of the attacks of some people through social networks. The actor was one of the first to position himself against Rowling alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and other protagonists of her films. "Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are valid."

After having spent a while talking, Redmayne confesses to me that he has never been a big dreamer not to maintain certain aspirations that ended up disappointing him. So he has always kept a handful of dreams to himself. One of them was fulfilled just a few weeks ago with the premiere of The Trial of the Chicago 7, a film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin that can already be seen on Netflix and in some - few - cinemas. “I was on vacation with my wife in Morocco and the script arrived. I think I called my agent before I even read it and said yes, I would. She probably thought the obvious, that I'm stupid. After that, of course I read the script, which is about a specific moment in history that I knew very little about. I found it exciting and a very relevant drama in today's times. "

And it is that having a script by Aaron Sorkin in your hands is no small thing. Eddie Redmayne has been a fan of his work ever since he saw The West Wing of the White House. “His scripts have delicious language and dialogue. As an actor, it's fun to play characters that are much smarter than you are in real life. That virtuosity is hard to come by. I really hope that audiences enjoy this movie and feel that there is always hope. " He remembers that since he released The Theory of Everything he has recorded, to a large extent, English period dramas, “and although the new Aaron Sorkin is not strictly contemporary,” says Redmayne, “to be able to wear jeans and shirts and sweaters instead of so much tweed is great ”.

Besides acting, art was the only thing the actor was interested in, so he ended up studying Art History at Cambridge University. “My parents are quite traditional and when I told them I wanted to act they gave me free rein but on the condition that I study a career. And I'm very grateful for that because ... Look, beyond that, when I play a real character I usually go to the National Portrait Gallery in London quite often. There I lock myself up. Now, for Sorkin's film, I went through a lot of photographs and videotapes. Art helps me to be more creative, to get into paper ”. If he were not an actor, he would be, he says decidedly, a historian or perhaps a curator. "Although I think he would be a very bad art curator."

Against all logic, Eddie Redmayne is color blind. But there is a color that you can distinguish anywhere and on any surface: klein blue. He wrote his thesis on the French artist Yves Klein and the only shade of blue he used in his works. He wrote up to 30,000 words talking about that color with which he became obsessed. “It is surprising that a color can be so emotional. One can only hope to achieve that intensity in acting. "

Like his taste for art, which encompasses the refined and compact, Redmayne seems to be in the same balance when it comes to the roles he chooses. When I ask him what aspects a character he wants to play should have, he takes a few seconds again before answering: “I wish I had a more ingenious answer but I will tell you that I know when my belly hurts. It's that feeling that I trust. In my mind I transport him to imagine myself playing that character. When I read a script I have to really enjoy it. You never fully regret those instincts. It's like when you connect with something emotionally. "

So we come to the conclusion that all his characters have some traits in common. "You know what? I never look back, and this is something personal, but I do believe that there is a parallel between Marius in Les Misérables trying to be a revolutionary, someone who is quite prone to being distracted by love but at the same time is willing to die for his cause, and Tom Hayden from The Chicago Trial of the 7 who was a man who had integrity and was passionate and fought for the things he believed in. So I suppose there may also be similarities between a young Stephen Hawking and Newt Scamander. There are traits in common in all of them that I don't really know where they come from ”.

When we talk about the year we are living in, in which it is increasingly difficult to find hope, we both let out a nervous laugh. "There must be," Redmayne says. “There is something very nice that Tom Hayden, the character I play in Sorkin's film, said to his former wife, actress Jane Fonda, just the day before she passed away. He told her that watching people die for their beliefs changed his life forever. In that sense, I also think about what Kennedy Jr. wrote about how democracy is messy, tough and never easy ... As is believing in something to fight for. I look at history and how they were willing to live their lives with that integrity to change the world and I realize that somehow that spirit still remains with us. " We fell silent thinking about it. "There must be hope."

I tell him about my love for Nick Cave's blog, The Red Hand, and one of the posts that I have liked the most in recent weeks. In it, the singer affirms that his response to a crisis has always been to create, an impulse that has saved him many times. For Redmayne there are two activities that can silence noise: drawing and playing the piano. “When you play the piano your concentration is so consumed by trying to hit that note that you can't think of anything else. Similarly, when you draw something, the focus is between the paper and what you are trying to recreate ... There I try to calm my mind.

Before saying goodbye, I drop a question that I thought I knew the answer to, but failed. What work of art would you save from mass destruction? "How difficult! I could name my favorite artists but still couldn't choose a work. Only one piece? Let me think. I am very obsessed with Yves Klein, but I would stick with a work by Brancusi. There is a sculpture of him, a small head called Prometheus, in Cambridge's Kettle’s Yard, on a dark mahogany piano. The truth is that I find it very ... beautiful ”.

Before leaving, he confesses to me - with a childish and slow voice - that he would like to direct something one day. We said goodbye, saying that we will talk about his next project. Next, the first thing I do is open the Google search engine. "P-r-o-m-e-t-h-e-u-s". Although Eddie Redmayne has trouble distinguishing violet from blue, he doesn't have them when choosing a good piece. He's right, that work deserves to be saved.

* This article appears in the November 2020 issue of Esquire magazine

Source: esquire.com/es/actualidad/cine/a34434114/eddie-redmayne-juicio-7-chicago-netflix-entrevista/

[evergreen-dryad]

7, 8, 15, and 19? ^-^

(sorry for the late reply! Wifi is rotten and as you can see I thought long and hard for each ask)

My favourite...

7 - quote: ...this is actually quite hard because I don’t have a specific one that springs to mind.

I do store certain quotes though, like from fanfiction or poetry. And I used to copy down quotes into notebooks (can’t refer to them right now though...)

(And there really are a lot of good quotes ranging from advice to celebrating life.)

So to pick one that I live by and is part of me now? Hmm...

The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.  ― Jim Morrison

Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.  ― Criss Jami  

The above two are so part of me now I nearly forgot they once came from an outside source.

“Perhaps this world no longer needs me, but I believe I need it. The world has its own marvels. Why not make the best of the wonders that already surround us?” ― novalotypo, brilliant lights will cease to burn (by my hand i'll reignite them), chapter 7 (Yorihiko, a god)

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.  ― A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

it’s not the actual direct quote, it’s more of a paraphrase.

To impoverish the world of the birds and the bees is to impoverish it of the bards and the biologists. ― Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ― e.e. cummings

Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs. ― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethleham

Perfection is “lean” and “taut” and “hard” — like a boy athlete of twenty, a girl gymnast of twelve. What kind of body is that for a man of fifty or a woman of any age? “Perfect”? What’s perfect? A black cat on a white cushion, a white cat on a black one . . . A soft brown woman in a flowery dress . . . There are a whole lot of ways to be perfect, and not one of them is attained through punishment. ― Ursula K. Le Guin, Dogs, Cats, and Dancers: Thoughts about Beauty

just that entire essay. I wish I could imprint it into the underside of my eyelids and carry it everywhere with me. It is perhaps one of the enduring reasons why I would like to take up dancing.

Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend.

In order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here? …  Think of those times when you’ve read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone’s soul. All of a sudden everything seems to fit together or at least to have some meaning for a moment. ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

It seems that a great deal is there, the things we most fear (and therefore deny), the things we most need (and therefore deny). I wonder, couldn't we start listening to our dreams, and our children’s dreams? "Where did you fall to, and what did you discover?”    ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest.

Um, have my current top 11 10 instead? ...It’s really too hard for me to pick just one. The first 4 all originate from fanfiction, 3 of which were quoted in the beginning notes/were the theme of the fic.

8 - type of dream: the type where I’m transported. the type I can remember vividly as I’m released from sleep. But sadly, most dreams I remember are from when I’ve been awoken abruptly in the day.

I think I love most the dreams where I’m floating, or swimming, in a great big beautiful body of water, and there is a new fantastic grotesque exaggerated world tossed up like mismatched pieces to explore.

15 - decade before the 2020s: (*breaks into a wheeze* ”I’m not that old...” I said out loud.)

Decade which I actually lived through: ...I suppose 2000-2010? Things were still quieter, the hill was still green and undisturbed (less land cleared), some people still fished in the large drain (?) and I could look out for the turtles my father told me were there in his time, yes 2008 was the year of the GFC but... my family was still better off in those years. Just less worries overall, far less reliance on electronics. What was internet? Historical decade: ...that would suppose a location as well. I’ve never really been so fascinated by historical eras I want to experience them (too many cons for women in the past lol), but perhaps the time period the Library of Alexandria was still standing, before its decline. So around 200 BC lol

19 - poem: hMM.

I thought it would be e.e. cummings, but surprisingly it’s The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats. And I actually like Robert Frost’s style more than these two. I wish I read more poetry and I keep forgetting to check out haikus but yeah what exposure I get tends to be from fanfiction.

I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire aflame, But something rustled on the floor, And some one called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.

Why do I like this poem best:

fantasy-like/fae vibes

‘because a fire was in my head’ -- lovely way to describe overthinking etc which is the state I can typically be found in. Running out to nature to clear my thoughts? Also a thing I do

idyllic life descriptions. I just love the imagery in the first verse. That entire fishing sequence with moths and stars and a silver fish (white white white)? Muah

last verse is our protagonist pining till old age, v romantic

I’m just asdwd at that last two lines. It’s such pretty imagery, and are they implying they’ve found Eden-like perfection by finding the girl? Anyway something about those two lines seize my imagination by the throat. It’s very mythlike.

[ryouverua]

Kaito Momota - Free Time #5

I can’t believe Kaito just invited himself over into Shuichi’s room like this -

But wait didn’t we come to y - oh never mind. The minor flaws of prescripted FTEs, everyone! 

“Kaito do you have goldfish amnesia or -”

?!?! I don’t know what to expect from this one. After that tiniest scrap of a hint of a potential confession from Shuichi in the last one (the closest I suppose we’ll be allowed, sadly, since this sort of game likes to keep its protagonist love options open for the most part), I... don’t know what the topic will be. Maybe Kaito will actually tell us about his relationship with his grandparents? That would be really sweet!

Uh, yeah. What?!

KAITO WE BOTH NEED CONTEXT, STAT

can a girl dream that shuichi’s unconsciously moping after having that thought about Kaito in the end of the last OTP and we could get a hint of two-sided saimota -

I’m telling you, Kaito is incredibly good at reading people emotionally. There is no way he’s not about to drag something out of Shuichi, even if both he and I have... no idea what that thing is, tbh. 8′D 

Honestly, it says a lot about Shuichi too that he doesn’t know what Kaito is talking about - whatever we’re going to end up talking about, it might just be something he’s been hanging onto unconsciously and accepting as his ‘default mode’ way of life. If you’re so used to carrying a burden around, eventually you stop noticing it!

...... confess shuichi, confeeeeess what you were thinking from the end of the last otp........

Are you telling me Kaito’s strategy is to bludgeon him via compliments into surrender - ?!

“WHEN I’M THROUGH WITH YOU, YOU’LL FINALLY UNDERSTAND YOUR PLACE!”

“W-What does that mean -”

“YOU’RE GOING TO FUCKING UNDERSTAND HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE! NOW GRIT YOUR TEETH AND BRACE YOURSELF, BECAUSE WE’RE ABOUT TO GET MOTHERFUCKING POSITIVE IN HERE.”

Oh whoa.

So I really thought we would end up covering this in the main story - not that we didn’t go over Shuichi’s past already as Kaede, but I thought that this would be something shared with Kaito for context. I’m really surprised that we’re only doing this via FTE! With that said, it is definitely a good topic to spend the final FTE on.

Actually, thinking on it, this seems more like Kaito having an FTE with Shuichi. 8′D

For fun, let’s pretend we were doing this from Kaito’s perspective - and he’s choosing to hang out with Shuichi 5 times.

1) Kaito goes to Shuichi’s room to get him for breakfast. FTE 1.

2) Night training that night. FTE 2

3) Training, shared with Maki. FTE 3 (next ones are Maki centric, so they’d be FTEs with her)

4) Maybe the training with the practice sword? Though that ended up being Maki-centric as well, so there might be a better one to fit here.

5) This FTE 5, since it’s Shuichi-backstory centric.

Of course, maybe there’s no real fitting FTE 4 because this one would be the FTE 4 and there’s a future scene that would be a good FTE 5 ~

Ah, so he’s hung up on this part too. Shuichi’s definitely overlooking the fact that ‘finding evidence that was missed’ is not ~accidentally~ solving the puzzle - it’s uncovering the last piece(s) of it, and a skill in its own right. He does suffer from serious anxiety, so he’s clearly having trouble with framing his accomplishment as anything more than a fluke.

And of course, that’s not helped by the fact that he feels guilty because he has sympathy for the culprit. And... with Kaede’s trial, this definitely is a recurring theme. 8′D It’s funny - for someone so worried about other people’s feelings, and what other people feel about him, he does have a lot of trouble connecting and understanding them without having it spelled out for him! Perhaps that might be part of why he’s so anxious about them?

As much as I love Kaito, SHUICHI MY BOY YOU ARE GOING TO STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. I’d like to think opening up like this would set something off in him - he does have some fire in his chest, even if it takes a lot for it to show!

Yes! Yes! Finally, that more aggressive Shuichi we’ve seen in his thoughts only comes out!

Kaito did say his ideal is a rival who can push him...

The outsider’s perspective that Shuichi desperately needs, lest he falls prey to his own worried, circular thought patterns - (you can skip forward if you like, to where the screenshots return to the dorms for a while)

.... But, uh, yeah, I was curious about choosing different options, so I went ahead and played the FTE again to see what would happen if I went via Shuichi’s self-hatred route. Sorry if it seems abrupt, but they’ll line up with the real ending!

Ah, yes, the other aspect of his job he brought up with Kaede - the PI stuff. Unfortunately, what PIs are most generally hired for are finding out if significant others are up to no good... I wonder if he ever feels cynical about love and relationships because of that? Could explain a bit about him and the way he withdraws with himself if he’s left alone, tbh.

If there’s anything Kaito takes pretty damn seriously, it is taking pride in your own work.

WELL it’s nice that he clarified! It really did sound like he was talking about Shuichi, tbh! And this is where it loops back to him talking about the culprit trying to get away from it via trick, and how Kaito would support Shuichi no matter what.

That is... an incredibly simplistic viewpoint, but again, that might be the reframing Shuichi needs to hear.

I feel like I’ve used this gif before but honestly:

That is, uh, a bit of a ridiculous extreme to take this to. Just the kind of ridiculous extreme Shuichi needs to pull himself out of his mental funk ~

Like Shuichi said last time, “it needs to be someone special’, huh?

Get Kaito a cheerleader outfit, stat - !

(I lost some screenshots so I grabbed them from my second play-through, hence the change in scenery)

“ I’LL TEACH THEM A LESSON IN EMPATHY.... THROUGH MY FISTS!”

“K-Kaito that’s assault, you could also get arrested - !”

HNNNG WHAT A GOOD ENDING, WHAT A GOOD BRO....

p-please give something in return though, Shuichi I’m begging you I feel like Kaito needs some emotional support too -

YES GOOD

GOOD ENDING THOUGH

GOOD ENDING

I AM PLEASED

N-No wait, hold on -

I’m not happy with the word ‘depend’ here though! I want it to be a mutual supportive relationship! Even though I love their friendship, I am concerned all over again!

WOW

So I don’t know how many of you watched Hunter x Hunter or are following the manga (if you haven’t, please drop everything and do so honestly) but if you don’t think I immediately flashed back to this moment you don’t know me at all.

AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAW

Nah, quite the opposite I think. Shuichi, once again you’re really not that great at reading people, huh - or you’re letting your feelings/understanding of others be coloured by your own anxiety again. He’s the kind of person who would encourage your growth. In fact, to harken back to the love hotel again, his ideal is someone who pushes him further! Gosh, I really will end up obsessing over these two in the future, huh...

Okay mature analysis time is over.

IT’S

UNDERWEAR TIME

What the fuck does that mean

Wait, wait what the fuck doES THAT MEAN KAITO

hgnghngh I don’t usually post the FTE summaries but this one got me right in the kokoro

Even if you don’t believe in Saimota, please appreciate this broship that transcends space and time

[hopeymchope]

Why DRV3′s Ending shouldn’t bother anybody too much

Danganronpa V3 SPOILERS below the cut. This one gets wordy, but it’s important to review the evidence.

At the end of DRV3, we’re left in a very confusing spot. How much of what the mastermind said was the truth? How much was a lie? Their own words are contradictory in places, so our perpetrator is definitely a liar.

The question is: How much?

Let’s put the following on the record:

During Chapter 6, Tsumigi claims that the initial “pre-prologue” scenes before the cast had their costumes and “talents” were a legitimate error - the characters did not have any of their false memories implanted until they were dressed in their uniforms at the end and woke up from the lockers the SECOND time.

However, Tsumigi also claims that everyone in the cast is a ‘fictional character’ because she crafted their basic personality traits on every level. She shows the cast “audition” videos that illustrate how they willingly volunteered for the killing game — in fact, these videos even show how Kaede, Shuichi and Kaito’s original “natural” personalities were utterly unlike the people we got to know over the course of the game.

Tsumigi also talks about the huge popular of “Danganronpa” - which has evolved from video game to anime to a globally broadcast “real-life fiction” show that is internationally beloved and watched by untold millions.

These claims cannot be simultaneously true.

Here is why, based mostly on the pre-prologue scene's evidence:

Kaede and Shuichi both remember being kidnapped unwillingly - screaming for help as they dragged into a black car that drives off with them. That sure doesn’t sound like “volunteering.”

In that pre-prologue, Kaede’s inner monologue mirrors the inner monologue she has after she wakes up with her costume and “Talent,” which goes a long way to suggest that both are the same person. In fact, she leaves the room to go find out more about their situation, she suggests immediately to Shuichi that he should join up with her so they can work together — which is the polar opposite of the personality that her “audition video” claims to illustrate.

Tsumigi’s “reveal of the truth” includes footage of Kaede showing excitement at being chosen for the killing game during this same sequence. However, in the actual sequence, we never hear this. You might logically think “Oh, they just snuck it in between the edits of the scene.” NOPE, instead Tsumigi inserts it into the middle of the dialogue that actually does happen  in that scene, which means we didn’t just “not hear it” in the pre-prologue originally - it doesn’t exist.

Also, note that only Rantaro shows any familiarity with the concept of “16 people trapped somewhere.” He’s also the only one who immediately understands what two-tone bears imply - while the rest of the cast freaks out about the impossible nature of robotic stuffed bears existing. This could speak to Rantaro’s status as a previous survivor being legitimate… but it’s still worthy noting that he’s showing up with his eventual personality intact, and also worth noting that despite Tsumigi’s claim that this is a globally beloved killing game that everyone watches, nobody knows what it is except for the guy who already endured it once.

Now, Kaede does seem to latch onto the term “Monokubs” when she hears it, and she begins to ask a question that is never completed (”If you guys are really the Monokubs, then-”). You might think “Oh, see? Kaede knew about the killing game before, just like Tsumigi said!” But when the kubs suggest that they’re about to start up a Killing Game, her internal monologue seems stunned and horrified (”K-killing game?!”). Her only vague familiarity with “Monokubs” implying something combined with everyone else having no clue what any of this means certainly makes the “publically beloved and widely broadcasted killing game” aspect of Tsumigi’s story seem like bullshit. If this is being broadcast anywhere at all…  it’s definitely an underground, not-well-known kind of broadcast. A “Dark Web” stream, perhaps, which would go a long way to explain how they might whittle down the viewership to zero and free Keebo from viewer control at the end (I mean, can you really whittle down billions and billions of viewers of the world’s most popular entertainment to literally no one by just yelling a lot?). More plausible, I think, is that Kaede’s reaction supports the idea that Monokuma is indeed a part of history in this world — that we’re in a place where Danganronpa 1-3 and UDG did indeed happen, despite Tsumigi’s claims that they were fictional. If they were some part of older history, that would help explain why they aren’t immediately pulled up to the fore of everyone’s minds.

Kaede and Rantaro act like the versions of themselves we get to know later during all of this, sure, but you could chalk that up to Rantaro getting a free pass because he’s already a survivor, or maybe Kaede gets a free pass because she’s going to be the seeming-protagonist. Even more telling is that Miu Iruma is instantly recognizable here - her two noticable lines in the pre-prologue laced with filth and profanities, just like her dialogue will be later. Still think these people have all of their personalities “written” by Tsumigi?

If Tsumigi didn’t create their personalities, and they never volunteered but were instead kidnapped… well damn, a lot of her claims are really falling apart, huh?

Now, you could argue that all of this can be blown off by saying that Tsumigi’s claim about the pre-prologue version of the characters being their real selves was a lie. But if her claim about the pre-prologue is a lie, you’ve just accepted that anyone else she said could be equally false.

Bonus: Others have already pointed this out in detail (read iiiiitt) but Tsumigi both insists until the end that she can’t dress up as ‘real people’ without breaking out in cospox, but then claims that all of the cast are actually “fictional characters.” So why’d she break out in this supposed ‘cospox’ while dressing up as Kaede in Chapter 1? I mean… she’s fictional, riiiiiiiight?

The ultimate point is this: Nothing in the final trial is inherently true or false, because almost every claim Tsumigi makes has evidence that supports the opposite interpretation. Ultimately, you can choose whatever you want to believe.

The epilogue in particular comes off alike Kodaka wanted to say something about the truths we cling to and the lies we tell ourselves… and how we can just as easily believe the lies as we can forge the truth out of nothing. God knows that many of us adhere to plenty of beliefs in our daily life that aren’t easily proven OR disproven, so it’s easy to see what he means.

In the end, the only real truth is what we experience internally. That’s our personal “truth.” To someone else, we might be living a lie. But that’s all we’ve got.

So go forth with your headcanons on this game, kids. They’re all valid.

[italicwatches]

GAMERS! Episode 08

New day, new episode, let’s push on. It’s GAMERS!, episode 08! Here we GO!

-We begin, at a completely different place than usual. The Hekiyou Private Academy’s Student Council, with the narration a young lady who has always been near the top with ease, but never managed to reach the top…Until she became president of the Student Council. She had her moment of joy, of pride…Until one Tendou Karen showed up. Karen, who somehow managed to outdo her in everything, and even best her in this…

-Opening! What’s up next? Oh hey, it’s the dating sim/visual novel one! It’s not really a specific reference to an individual game, so much as an entire genre. Until recently we didn’t really get these in the West at all, and we still don’t see all that many of them. Operating not unlike a choose-your-own-adventure book, they represent a very interesting blend of elements from various Japanese mediums: Carrying a word count similar to a light novel, voice acting similar to an anime or drama CD, minimalistic animation that calls to mind manga more than actual anime, and light gameplay elements borrowed from JRPGs, they can in some ways be looked at as the combination of all of Japanese nerd-culture. Also they really spent a long time as porn games so there’s still a lot of stigma there.

-DAY 08: Erogamer and Watching Mode

-Well with a title like that, things sure lined up.

-Anyways, it’s to a meeting space, with that student council president herself sending off the rest of the council…And then, once they’re all gone, she can just take in the wonder…ful…joy of…

-Oh.

-Well then.

-So our mysterious president is actually a huge pervert as she starts smelling and rubbing on the seats the rest of her Student Council were using. She’s surrounded by cute girls! It is heaven…But wait, there’s more! She slams open a locker, grabs a bag, and…Whatever’s in there has to be even better than girl butt scent. Did she confiscate some boy’s dirty magazines? Either way, her laughter echoes through the night…

-Oh, nope, even…Let’s call it “better”. She has a disguise! A suit, a puffy hat to hide her long twin tails in, glasses and a beard! Clearly she looks like a perverted older man now and can get away with what’s about to happen! Yes. Clearly. She slips into a shop, as her internal narration explains…That innocent, studious Student Council president schtick? Yeah that’s all to keep the world from noticing the real her, who’s a spun-around pervert who loves nothing more than erotic video games!

-Well I suppose we had to do this eventually, huh? Also, she’s so excited by getting a copy of BUILD HEART that her beard falls off and she doesn’t even notice…Which is a problem when she’s spotted by someone else and this gets weird. But she has no idea. Once she comes down from the 18+ section, it’s into the console mess, because hey, the censored console release isn’t too bad either…But she ends up picking up, instead, Golden Memories.

-And dear sweet Flora on the cover suddenly throws a flashback into this girl’s face. Karen went to a different school, and that’s the only reason she wasn’t the Student Council president. So Konoha here got the role by default. …Real talk I’m trying to figure out a joke about hidden leaves and it’s just not coming together.

-Either way now our pervert girl is all depressed as she puts the game back, and is sad ins—Hello cheap game bin! What’s this? An old PS1 era game, Rainbow Court? An old classic that never got the attention it deserved…

-When we hear a voice? We do! Because Keita and Eiichi have come down to this same shop to pick up some vidjagames! Konoha recognizes the uniform of Otobuki, the school her hated rival Karen went to…And damn, that boy on the left is damn. The one on the right, her eyes just kind of glide over. He’s totally generic, like an everyman dating sim protagonist. Our hero summed up, ladies and gentlemen.

-Of course, from Keita’s perspective, he sees…Some weirdo doing jumping jacks in the game store in an attempt to look Normal. But what’re they here for, anyways? Eiichi wants some dating sim recommendations from someone who knows the genre inside and out. Alas, Keita is all nervous about this, as Konoha can’t help but keep listening…Argh, why does this generic guy have to be so waffly…

-Okay, first thing! What does Eiichi like? Well, he did some basic research, and…This one got lots of recommendations, right? Shit I can’t see the title. That’s actually really, really frustrating to me. But okay. So let’s look at the difference in opinions. To Konoha, that game is well made but super super mainstream, so basic it’d go in a damn starter pack. To Keita, it’s a masterpiece, one that he stayed up late every night for an entire week just to finish it. Eiichi decides to get it, and Konoha decides these two are super basic—

-But wait!

-Keita isn’t actually recommending that one! What’s all this now? And Konoha wishes she could just walk away…You damn jerks have her stuck here unable to quit listening! (Gonna be honest, that’s on you) But you want to know what makes the dating sim genre good, right? Then, there’s only one choice! And he goes to the vintage bin, pulling out…Rainbow Court.

-It never did very well. It hit during a flood of the genre to mainstream awareness, and was just an also-ran. But, something about it…If Keita’s going to make recommendations? Then this is his recommendation on where to start. It’s a bit of an underdog of a game, but he can’t help but wanna root for the underdog and show people what it has going for it…You know?

-This, this is why you couldn’t walk away, Konoha! This moment was calling to you from the future! Keita calls Rainbow Court one of his top three games, as her hat has fallen off and exposed her hair…She’s moved, moved to tears by the earnest honesty at the heart of Keita’s words! …Shit. Shit shit shit shit no we can’t add another one what are you doing his life is screwy enough! We just got him out of the core of the chaos by getting him together with Karen what are you doing?!

-Cut to later that night, Konoha’s lost deep in thought, as she looks to her own copy of Rainbow Court…When in comes a family member! Her sister, who sees she bought a new game…Oh, wow, a dating sim? She had no idea you were into these! K-Konoha borrowed it from a friend! …But it has a price tag…JUST GIVE IT BAC—

-…Oh son of a…

-Guess what Konoha’s family name is.

-Go on.

-Go on guess.

-Yeah so Hoshinomori Konoha, Chiaki’s mysterious imouto, is the new addition to the cast ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME NOW IS THAT WHAT THIS IS

-Commercial break!

-And we’re back! Tasuku is narrating…

-…Keita and Aguri’s marriage?! I assume this is a nightmare he’s having. It happened soon after college. They were all there to celebrate the happy couple. Yet inside, everyone in the group was conflicted. Chiaki, who flitted from one construction job to the next, was stuck there congratulating her longtime nemesis (and eating as much of the free food as possible). Tasuku and karen themselves were stuck with fake smiles, watching their own beloveds leave them forever. It was a wonderful ceremony after their lives all worked out…

-…Oh, they’re playing The Game of Half-Life, presumably a spinoff in which it’s impossible to finish because a steam valve blocks the end of the game. Yeah, topical game humor! Tasuku is still thinking you can fix misunderstandings by just talking them out, and has gathered everyone here to calm things down over a game. Oh you poor stupid idiot.

-So Aguri and Keita have gotten married in the game and it’s already going sideways. Tasuku can at least admit he realized shit was not going right, and that “just talking it out” would ever be easy…And thus, this.

-DAY 08.5: Gamers and Half their Life Game

-Cut back to a few days ago. Chiaki was showing Tasuku and Keita that her mom had won an old-timey board game, The Love Love Game of Half-Life, at one of those supermarket lotteries. And she kind of wanted to play it, but such a game has a bare minimum….And thus, Tasuku decided they’d just gather up the whole crew. Them three, plus Aguri and Karen would make five! And it’s so brilliant that he made that face again. Just so we’re clear. Every single time Tasuku makes that face, things are about to go all wrong.

-Even Chiaki realized this was a bad plan, but with Tasuku suggesting it…His brilliant plan was, simply, to get all five of them into a fucking room at the same time to actually talk shit out and destroy the absurd love pentagon around his life.

-Hard cut to the game where things have not gone that way at all. Because everyone’s so damn careful that they’ve ended up in a maximally awkward seating arrangement. Which is how Keita and Aguri ended up as a team. Tasuku’s plan, has…Gone…All wrong. As Aguri gets pregnant during the honeymoon. Which she blames on Keita, as Karen and Tasuku quietly freak the fuck out. Perhaps, this romantic life board game was not the right idea for solving their problems? (Nooooo, you think?)

-The student part of the game, near the beginning, saw Keita and Aguri landing on relationship spaces, while Chiaki keeps failing to hold down work, stuck doing the kind of job that pays you in cash by the day. And Karen, Karen…Oh, poor sweet Karen.

-She’s turning into a spinster, diving into her career to smother her sorrow and shame over the loss of her love to another woman. Oh this is bad. When Tasuku manages to hit the marriage space! He can enter into a relationship and fast-track to marriage with another player! Spin the wheel, come on, come on…If he can get a one or two, Aguri and Keita’s numbers, he can even nullify their marriage by stealing them away from their partner…Come on, come onnnn…

-Congratulations, Tasuku. You win this Chiaki. …Well, I guess housewife is a stable path. No more directing traffic around a construction site for her!

-And Aguri just gives Tasuku a fucking death glare. What, what do you want from him? The spinner made him do it! And now it’s Chiaki’s turn. Two spaces forward! “Your partner cheats on you. You are forced to pay their love compensation for mental suffering. You and your spouse lose 5,000 yen.”

-…Good god this game is dark. And both Keita and Aguri, fully believing Tasuku is a two-timer, are giving him the death glares. IT WAS THE SPINNER HE SWEARS. (Nobody believes you)

-Meanwhile, Keita rolls to…And I quote…”Your lovey-dovey newlywed life reaches high tide! You bust your bed getting busy! You and your spouse pay 6,000 yen.” That’s a really good price for a bed. And now Aguri is getting legit embarrassed that he can’t be more…discreet, about what the space said. I mean, lass, it’s on the board. But soon their argument starts sounding like an actual married couple as she blames him for going too hard and being too loud about it, and oh god Karen and Tasuku are about to die.

-O-Okay, Aguri’s turn! …She, broke the bed this time. Just, just take her money and leave her alone. Tasuku can’t even feel jealous at this point, he just feels sorry for anyone that has to buy two beds because they keep breaking them.

-Karen! What’s Karen going to get? Will her solo streak finally en—

-“Your love interest won’t even look at you, but you’re popular with your clients. 100,000 extra income.” This game is the worst. Karen can’t even pretend to be happy. This game is wearing her out worse than her actual romantic woes.

-Tasuku? “You cheat on your partner with their sister. There is bloodshed. Miss a turn.” Oh god, Tasuku…With Konoha?! She’s just a kid! What kind of sick freak are you?!

-And that’s when the door slams shut and Tasuku has a legit panic and Chiaki admits that must have been her sister getting home. YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A SISTER?! Tasuku legitimately feared for his life for a moment there. Okay, deep breath, deep breath!

-Chiaki’s got a roll! Will she manage to pull her marriage back together?

-No.

-No she will not.

-Would you like to know what it says?

-“You realize that your soulmate was someone else. You learn that you had some fateful connections with them, and you become infatuated. You get distracted at work and lose 3,000 yen.” Well that’s really vague…And then Keita pokes fun at her for getting such a vague, girly woes kinda space, and Tasuku would just like to fucking DIE now please! Could he actually get stabbed by your sister now would that be okay?!

-And the worst part? Only he fucking knows how prophetic that fucking space was! Only he knows the double lives these two lead! Only he can realize how much this sucks! Okay. Okay deep breath. Try to calm down JUST PLAY YOUR TURN KEITA AND LEAVE HIM ALONE

-Keita gets the same space as Chiaki.

-Tasuku screams internally. And then externally. FUCK THIS GAME AND EVERYTHING THAT LED THEM TO THIS TWISTED MOMENT OF IRONIC SPINS AND BROKEN LIVES

-And that’s when Keita admits how much fun he’s having, and how he never gets to spend time around friends like this…And that starts to relax everyone, as Aguri’s turn comes up, and she manages to land “The person you’d been seeing before makes a move on you.” Why, that sounds like it could all work out! Aguri and Tasuku look to each other, all blushy and ha—

-“But your love for your current partner is unwavering! You turn them down without a second thought, and reaffirm your own love! You have yet another child.”

-…Welp.

-I’m just gonna sit here in the corner because life is a lie.

-Aguri would like you to START USING SOME PROTECTION KEITA AND QUIT PUTTING BABIES IN HER THIS MINIVAN CAN ONLY HOLD SO MANY LITTLE BUNDLES OF JOY

-Okay, Karen’s go. Can she turn things look let’s be honest she can’t. “You become an important person. You make money. Earn 100,000 yen.” THE GAME ISN’T EVEN TRYING.

-And then Konoha needs Chiaki’s help with something, which sends her out of the room and gives the others a chance for a break, as Keita admits some curiosity. They look so similar in the face, he almost wonders if they’re twins or DON’T LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT HE’S LOYAL KAREN MA’AM! Salute!

-Oh and then he gets an alert on his phone. The MMO has a new event starting today! And Tasuku just stares at Chiaki’s phone, which has the notification light start blinking. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck what if they start talking about the game and realize they both play?! He’s finally gotten Keita and Karen out of the loop so he can deal with the Chiaki and Aguri problems and this could rip them right back into things! …You go RIGHT the fuck under that couch, phone! She won’t find you until after everyone’s gone!

-While Karen looks at the game and starts asking questions but Keita is wrapped up in the event battle he’ll explain details later! And she decides she’s just happy to watch and see him so focused on something. And Aguri comes and sits by Tasuku, saying how happy she is that things are working out for Keita…And Tasuku, Tasuku can’t take not knowing, as he has to ask what the hell’s been going on! What does she REALLY think of Keita?

-He’s…Like that really high-maintenance little brother. And he’s a little annoying now that he’s got a girlfriend. But she’s just so damn happy to see him finally get his happy ending, she can’t be too mad at him for the annoying parts…

-And Tasuku, finally, relaxes, and holds Aguri’s hand. Which sends her into a flailing blushy panic, as Aguri expected him to not be so forward in front of, you know, Karen…But what does she have to do with it? …What indeed. The two can relax, realizing they were both loyal the whole time…And this all might work out. It’ll all, work, out, and everyone will be happy togeth—

-Keita can’t beat this boss without Mono-san. And Karen would like to know who this Mono-san is. His guild bro! They’re always there to help him out! Karen suddenly feels like she’s under threat of losing her beloved to some online relationship. J-J-Just how many online friends do you have? Well…He uses a handful of names in different places, and really only has serious friendships with a few people as Chiaki comes back….

-And Tasuku realizes OH FUCK IT’S ABOUT T—

-So in this game he goes by Tsucchie and his only real major friend is Mono-san. But over on forums he goes by Yama-san and has a really good friendship going with his favorite indie game dev, Nobe-san. And Chiaki hears the whole thing, as the gears start to turn in her mind, and Tasuku just quietly wishes he could die now please. Heart attack? Brain aneurism? That stabbing sister thing? Just, just kill him. Kill him before it all pops off.

-Keita admits that those are the only two real major online friends…But Mono-san and Nobe-san, he’s known them so long, they’re really special and important to him. They might be a bit surface level at times, but he feels like…Like he could be a little vulnerable to them, you know? They’re true, and precious, friends…

-As Tasuku narrates, how Chiaki has made it to the start line of this race at the worst, possible, moment imaginable. A tragic sight, as all the pieces come together, and she in turn realizes how important the different facets of Keita are to her, when it’s much too late to do anything about it…Oh, god, that look on Chiaki’s face…My heart weeps for you, kid.

-Credits!

-Aftercredits! Konoha is mulling around the apartment, bored…When she finds a broken Chiaki collapsed behind the couch?!

…Well that’s gonna turn into a mess next time. Our only hope is that Konoha doesn’t develop a crush on the fucking guy too, and we can keep a fairly stable pentagon until things turn sideways. I expect even that hope to be dashed, though, in episode NINE of GAMERS! Wait for it!

[cannibalghosts]

Blade Runner & Rape Culture

You know those grim realizations you have about the things you’ve loved for a really long time? You know what I’m talking about. The ones that kind of come out of nowhere and totally upend your whole idea of what you used to think. They hurt, right?  Well, I recently had that happen with Blade Runner, one of the most influential sf movies of the last fifty years, and, until very recently, a personal favorite.

Without any context, without any of the before or after, I’d like you to take a couple minutes and consider this scene (start at 2:20 for the cliff’s notes version):

…Yeah, that’s, uh, that’s fucking atrocious.

That scene always made me sort of uncomfortable, but only when I was rewatching this movie for the first time in ten years was I physically outraged. I just kept thinking to myself, How did I miss this all these years? How the hell did I miss how monumentally fucked up that is? Have I spent all this time looking at this movie all wrong?

And I suppose the answer is, Yeah, I think I have.

Let's rewind here for a second.

For the uninitiated: Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film by Ridley Scott, adapted from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Half of the plot concerns Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), the eponymous “blade runner,” a special sort of detective in near-future Los Angeles tasked with the hunting and “retirement” (read: trial-less execution) of human-identical (and human-adjacent) androids, known as “replicants,” whose presence has been declared illegal on planet earth.

The other half is centered around Deckard’s assigned quarry, four renegade replicants: Roy Batty, Pris Stratton, Zhora Salome and Leon Kowalski, an unofficial “family” that has returned to Earth from offworld, simply seeking a way to extend their factory-warranty-limited lifespans while avoiding Deckard’s grasp (and his gun).

Over the course of his investigation, Deckard finds himself involved with a young woman named Rachel, who we all just watched get brutalized in that clip up there. Rachel’s a replicant who doesn’t know she’s a replicant—she’s an experimental model who’s had memories implanted in her software to make her believe she’s a human being, and this naturally leads her to discovering her own thoughts and feelings and experiences.  It leads her to actually become human.

And Deckard rapes her.

Given that perhaps the BIGGEST THEME OF THIS MOVIE is the ever-shifting nature & definition of humanity, and whether or not the replicants are in fact “people” as traditionally defined, or if it’s possible to grow beyond your original “programming,” it’s a HUGE MORAL/THEMATIC PROBLEM that the ostensible protagonist forces himself on her, because either:

A) He doesn’t consider her to be a person, or B) He doesn’t care whether she is or isn’t, or C) He recognizes her burgeoning humanity and does it anyway.

No matter how you slice it, that’s SUPER FUCKED UP because, and I can’t believe I have to spell this out, but:

She says no.

She does not consent.

And then he does it anyway.

Now, across the wasteland of the internet, the common defenses of this scene (also, two quick asides: 1. That there’s such thing as a “common defense” of this scene should broadcast that there’s something really wrong here, and 2. It’s pretty much always some condescending dude defending this scene and maybe that should tell us something) tend to come down to, in no particular order: 1. ”It was purely an act of passion! Sometimes passion is violent! That’s some people’s kink, you know!” 2. ”He was teaching her to be human! She was only just figuring out her own emotions!” 3. ”She’s a replicant, which means she’s an inanimate object, not a human being! You can’t rape the inanimate!” 4. ”Oh come on! She just shot Leon in the head, so she was going through a lot! Deckard was only helping her sort through that trauma!”

But none of those hold up, even when placed under the lightest possible scrutiny. Check it: 1. They don’t know each other. They haven’t discussed kinks/safe words/whatever. In no way was this safe, sane or consensual. This wasn’t passionate, it was a violent power move. It was rape. 2. Rape is not a rite of passage. It’s just not. Full fucking stop. 3. She’s not an inanimate object, she is absolutely a person. That is literally the entire point of the movie. 4. Remember how I just said Rape is not a rite of passage? Forgot to include this: it’s also not a way to help someone sort through the trauma of having committed their first murder. Duh-doi.

Or, put another way: 1. She said no. 2. She said no. 3. She said no. 4. SHE SAID NO.

By any definition of the word, Deckard rapes Rachel. Per the written + performed narrative and the thematic content of the movie, she is a thinking, feeling, sentient being acting of her own accord that is, at that very moment, trembling and on the edge of tears, and Deckard bullies, cajoles, demands, orders, restrains, makes clear (and follows through on) the threat of violence, and ultimately forces himself on her, regardless of her opinions or feelings on the matter.

I don’t know about you, but that sort of behavior sounds kinda fucking familiar to me.

Oh. Right. Turns out sick, entitled fucks in positions of power do this all the time.

Now, look: a lot of this movie is centered around the mirroring going on between Deckard and the replicant leader, Batty, and the similar-but-different (however both often violent) paths they cut through ruined-future Los Angeles. They hit the same beats, they shadow each other, over and over.

So, let’s just go ahead and run the numbers on these two dudes from opening crawl to end credits, shall we?

In a fit of grief and rage, Roy Batty kills Eldon Tyrell, the genius creator of the replicants, when it comes to light that this God/Father is in fact just another mortal, powerless to grant any more life to his children. Remember this. It gets important later. (Also, in the same scene, Batty also probably kills JF Sebastian, one of Tyrell’s contemporaries, except we never see it actually happen, so your mileage might vary).

However, I think it’s more telling that Batty also goes out of his way to spare Deckard’s life in the climax of the movie; moreover, Batty actually rescues the piece of shit from falling to his death. Consider that for a second: in the final moments of Batty’s life, he uses it to save the man who has hunted and killed his entire family, and he does so selflessly and earnestly. He’s not a terrorist, he hasn’t come to earth looking to do any damage to anyone. He just wants to live longer, wants it so desperately that it was worth coming back to a place where his very existence was a death sentence if he and his loved ones were discovered. Have you ever wanted anything that bad? Can you imagine the depths and complexities of emotion required to take that risk?

(Also, side note, BATTY NEVER RAPES ANYONE. Writing tip: if the alleged villain in your movie rapes less people than your so-called hero, you’ve got an enormous problem because, obviously.)

(Also there’s some breaking & entering, property damage and general menace perpetrated by the replicant family, but it’s so low-involvement it’s barely worth mentioning, but let’s try and be somewhat comprehensive here.)

So for the sake of fairness, let’s look at the frankly astonishing laundry list of the crimes committed by Rick Deckard, sociopathic government-backed murderer:

He executes two people, Zhora Salome & Pris Stratton, for no crimes other than having the gall to be alive on earth. Neither are self defense, either - Zhora is running away when she’s unceremoniously gunned down, and while Pris attempts to defend herself by any means, let’s not forget that the framing of that scene is that Deckard came to her hideout with the express purpose of putting a bullet in her brain.

He gleefully smashes apart Rachel’s illusions of humanity, seemingly for no reason. Remember, kids: Rachel thought she was a human being, and early on in the movie, in his contempt and his pettiness, Deckard disabuses her of that notion because he can, or because he hates replicants, or because whatever.  The result’s the same: Surprise! You’re a robot, and fuck you anyway. After he does this, she understandably leaves his apartment in tears, and he seems BAFFLED by this reaction.

Later, Deckard calls Rachel from a bar to harass her into meeting up with him (again, this is not long after he’s torn her world asunder), and she hangs up on him. Yet this does not deter him.

Later still, after Rachel saves Deckard from a lethal curbstomping at Leon’s hands by shooting the other replicant in the brain, Deckard, instead of “retiring” Rachel like he’s been ordered, takes her back to his apartment under the guise of comforting her in the aftermath of her having killed another person. When she rejects his clumsy romantic advances and tries to leave, he gets angry, and vicious, and brutal. As if he’s owed something for saving her life. That brings us back to the scene up at the top.

In the fiction of the movie, Replicants have a lifespan of four years. We’re never told how old Rachel is specifically, but since she’s walking and talking (and yeah, thinking and feeling) we can safely assume it’s somewhere under that wire. Now, she’s got implanted memories and all, but as previously mentioned, Deckard viciously dashes those apart pretty early on, causing what has to be some very serious mental damage. I’m not sure the formula to calculate age of consent from physical age/mental age/amount of trauma received, but Rachel acts pretty fucking scared and childlike in basically every scene she has after she meets Deckard, for good reason. From every angle conceivable, this gets really sick, really fast.

In fact, Deckard exclusively hurts/kills women through the entirety of the film. Never men. Sure, he swings on Leon once and Roy a few times at the end, but Roy and Leon shrug his attacks off like they’re nothing because they are nothing to them. He is an ant struggling against Panzer tanks. But that’s exactly the point. Deckard is repeatedly emasculated and dominated by every other major male character he interacts with in the movie: -Bryant, sociopathic old cop that he is, bullies & threatens Deckard into taking his old job back -Gaff, for most of the movie, speaks in a language that Deckard doesn’t comprehend, only deigning to communicate in english when he’s got something to shove in Deckard’s face - a power move if ever there was one -Tyrell can’t help but lord his intelligence + achievements over Deckard’s head -Leon, who is kind of an idiot, bests him in single combat -Roy also bests him in single combat AND THEN LETS HIM LIVE WITH THE SHAME OF DEFEAT! (As Rutger Hauer, Batty’s actor, puts it, at the climax of the film, Roy Batty “shows Deckard what a real man is made of.”)

Deckard. Is. Impotent.

And he takes that broken, impotent man’s rage out in some very ugly (and sadly predictable) ways. Even in the fight with Pris, he’s nearly beaten to death, saved only by a lucky shot from that gun of his.

Speaking of guns: it’s worth noting that only Deckard and Leon use firearms in this movie (with the brief exception of Rachel that one time, which I will get to in a second). I know that the gun-as-penis/replacement-penis metaphor is not new or dynamic, but the way it’s deployed across the board here is, if nothing else, both interesting and telling: –Leon shoots and kills another blade runner, Holden, early on in the movie. The force from the shots is, well, potent enough to blast Holden through a wall, establishing Leon’s typical—if overwhelming—masculinity. –However: Batty, the most dangerous of all the replicants, never uses a gun, because he doesn’t have to; his identity, his value are never in question. He loves his friends. He wants them all to live longer, he cares for them and he grieves when, one by one, they die. In combat, he uses his hands, further emasculating Deckard, both directly (the final battle) and indirectly in the viewer’s mind (literally the rest of the movie before the two of them ever meet). –Deckard’s gun is on full display when he goes, barechested, to pour himself a drink moments after tearing apart Rachel’s reality in their first scene in his apartment. –The only time a woman uses a firearm in this whole movie is when Rachel picks up Deckard’s pistol and puts one in Leon’s head when he’s about to kill the shit out of Deckard. There’s a lot of subtext going on here, but I don’t think it’s off the mark to read this as a further emasculation of Deckard, him having to be “rescued from the bad man” by a woman he’s viewed up until this point as a damsel in distress/possible sexual conquest. He is castrated by this woman who turns around and utilizes his own genital metaphor far better than him (earlier in the film, Deckard had to shoot Zhora twice to take her down, whereas Rachel does Leon in one, from about the same range). This goes a long way toward ratcheting up his insecurity and aggression, both of which metastasize later in the film. –Go back and watch that scene at the top again (if you have the stomach); dude starts the scene off barechested and sweaty, again signalling toward the traditional masculinity that’s thus far been denied him (and will continue to be so) throughout the film; a portent of what’s to come immediately after he moves to kiss her and she recoils.

I really used to love this movie. I’ve watched it a ton, and I got something new out of it every time. But this most recent screening might be the last. Don’t get me wrong, I do recognize how hugely influential it’s been on a genre that I love over the course of the last thirty-five years, but this isn’t something I think we can or should quietly ignore anymore. Something like this should be treated as repugnant, because it is.

I think I’m done, and I think I finally understand why Batty kills Tyrell:

If your gods fail you, then they’re not gods. It doesn’t matter how how influential they’ve been, it doesn’t matter what they changed, or how, or why. And if they’re not gods, then they’re just shitty, fallible mortals like the rest of us, destined to wither and die and rot, and should be held accountable as such.

Maybe it’s time for me—for all of us—to stop worshiping.

###

Stray thoughts:

*How many other Harrison Ford movies feature some sort of scene where he, in one way or another, forces himself on a woman? None so blatant or mortifying as Blade Runner, but just off the top of my head, there’s: Empire Strikes Back Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ...oh, shit.

*I know that “female roles with shitty in-universe jobs” is not a new thing in Hollywood, but in a movie with this many problems with women, it deserves special fucking mention: Rachel is a Secretary, Zhora is a stripper, Pris is, *ahem*, a Pleasure Model, and every other woman in this movie is a cook, a showgirl, or a geisha. Uh, yeah, one quick question about all that: Are you fucking kidding me?

*More Deckard’s Gross Views On Sex shit: in the scene with Zhora at the strip club (just before he runs her down and murders her in cold blood), Deckard gains access to her dressing room under the pretense of being a moral watchdog protecting the integrity & safety of the dancers on staff. Is this his/the movie’s idea of a sick joke, or is he/it really just that dense?

*Just going to leave this one Batty quote here at the end: “Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent. I thought you were supposed to be good!”

[fizzingwizard]

Okay then. Yagami Taichi. So that's Y/A/G/M/I/T/C/H. And Izumi Koushiro is I/Z/U/M/K/O/S/H/R. Give us your wisdom, oh great one.

Finally answering! Thanks for your patience. OK, I’ll put the answers under a cut because I accidentally added a couple ficlets teehee. Also got Yamato and Daisuke in my inbox so will get to those soon~

Yagami Taichi and Izumi Koshiro under the cut

Yagami Taichi

Y: What is one question they’ve always wanted an answer to?

Why does what everyone else sees as courage feel so much like fear?

A: What are/were this character’s best subjects in school?

In elementary school, he just barely made the grade by in pretty much everything. Outstanding marks in P.E. Otherwise, generally too energetic and distracted for homework. He was very much that kid the teacher genuinely likes yet wishes was in someone else’s class some days…

In high school, well, Tri verse seems to have made him into a pretty standard, “life happens to me” type of high school student, but I like to think that his sense of leadership and resourcefulness would make him a bit more of a go-getter. I think he’d buckle down to some extent — perhaps for most of his high school career, soccer would be first in his mind, and some subjects would just not be his thing. But charisma, public speaking skill, and leadership ability would definitely show through in group projects, presentations, debate, that sort of thing. So I think his best subjects would probably be social studies, government, and perhaps English.

G: How do they flirt?

If he tries to flirt on purpose, he acts like Marty McFly, minues the oedipus thing. Luckily he’s not a very flirty guy. At least not at first. After he’s been in a relationship for someone in a while, however…

“Stop licking my ear.”

“But it’s delicious. I just want to eat it up.”

“I am not your dinner.”

“Of course not, you’re too sweet for that. You’re dessert!”

“That is so cheesy.”

“Would you like it if I ate cheese off your naked body, sweetums?”

(Of course, he’s really trying to be funny here, more than he is trying to flirt. In truth he remains an awkward, fairly oblivious lover his entire life, and his redeeming qualities are his positivity and affectionate nature.)

M: What is their favourite dessert?

Chocolate banana! At festivals he breaks them in half, sticks them under his tongue and parades around as a walrus. But honestly he’ll take fried food over sweets.

I: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do they love themselves?

He doesn’t really think about it. If you asked, he’d open his arms wide and say in a loud, child-like voice, “Thiiis much!” But he has his real lows as well as his real highs. Sometimes he’s bitter. Sometimes self-pitying. Sometimes he thinks someone else, anyone else, could do a better job at being Yagami Taichi than he does. But he shakes himself out of it pretty well usually, or someone helps him to it. He gets by thanks to his friends.

T: Where are they ticklish?

“I am not ticklish. At all. Anywhere.”

“You definitely are.” Yamato looked like he was struggling not to laugh, which only made Taichi frown harder.

“Maybe when I was a kid, and overreacted to everything.”

“Yesterday, when Jou tapped you on the shoulder, you started squirming around.”

“I was surprised, not ticklish. I do not have ticklish shoulders.”

“Okay,” Yamato sat down on the edge of the couch. Taichi immediately scooted back against the arm and pulled his legs in. “What are you doing?”

“I sense danger.”

“You think — I’m not going to tickle you,” Yamato sighed. Then his eyes narrowed. “But if you’re not ticklish to begin with, why are you worried?”

“Not worried,” Taichi harrumphed. “Not ticklish either.”

“Fine, you’re not ticklish.”

“I’m not.”

“I just said that.”

They fell quiet. Yamato picked up the remote, started to flick through the movie selection on TV. Meanwhile, a muscle worked in Taichi’s jaw as he sat beside him with tense, folded arms.

“Taichi.”

“Do NOT tickle me!”

“I’m not going to tickle you! I was going to tell you to unclench! I’m getting a charley horse just watching you!”

(In sum: He is not ticklish. At all. Anywhere.)

C: Can they swim well?

Like a fish. An exceedingly ungraceful fish. Like a torpedo when Sora’s in the water too and he wants to start a splash fight.

H: What is their deadly sin?

“Let’s see, there are seven deadly sins, right?” Taichi frowned. “Uh, I don’t remember what they are, so.”

Koushirou began to tick them off on his fingers. “Pride, wrath, gluttony —”

Yamato let out a low chuckle. “Gluttony, for sure.”

“You shut up.”

“Yesterday you ate the ramen and fried rice special, the large size, for lunch,” Yamato remarked, cool as you please, while glaring daggers down his nose. “After which you ate my fried rice too.”

“I was doing you a favor,” Taichi pouted. “You couldn’t finish it.”

“Admit it. You’re a glutton.”

“I’m a gourmand.”

“Pffft.”

“It’s thanks to people like me that your beloved matcha Kit-Kats became a thing.”

“— Envy, greed, sloth, and lust,” Koushirou finished, not appearing to note the interruption.

Mimi squealed. “Lust! That’s it for sure!” She clasped her hands over her chest. “If we only knew the nights he lies awake in bed, tormented by desire, confused, all alone with his turbulent teenage hormones —”

“In your dreams!” Taichi shouted.

He threw a pillow at her. She ducked. Sora lunged between them and snatched the pillow before they could begin an all out war in Koushirou’s pristine office.

“Taichi’s deadly sin is not lust.” She rolled her eyes. “Unless it’s lust for nachos.”

“Not you too,” the glutton groaned. “Gimme that pillow.”

“No.”

“You’re no fun.”

The pillow smacked him in the face. “I’m not what now?”

“How about sloth?” Hikari suggested.

All eyes turned to stare at her. She blushed. “Well, it takes him fifteen minutes to roll out of bed in the morning.”

“Traitor!” Taichi said with what the others supposed was meant to be righteous fury, but sounded rather more pitiful with his face squashed into a pillow.

“We still haven’t heard from the accused himself,” Yamato pointed out. “If Sora can be obliged to stop suffocating him for a minute.”

Sora acquiesced in favor of sitting on Yamato’s lap. Very serious, Taichi cupped his chin in his hands as he gazed at the coffee table.

“My deadly sin,” he began — pausing for dramatic effect — “is greed. I want too many things,” he went on, quietly, eyes unfocusing as if looking far into the past. Somewhere he didn’t like to go too often. “Like wanting to win without losing anything. Wanting strength without getting hurt. Wanting peace but also wanting change. I’m greedy.  I can’t… accept the way the world limits me.”

His friends stared. For a moment, thoughtful silence reigned. Then:

“So you admit to being a glutton.”

“Damnit, Yamato!” Taichi drove his fist into the arm of the couch amid the flurry of giggles that spread throughout the group. “I am trying to have a moment of self-reflection here!”

“Sorry,” Yamato said unrepentently. “Everyone, he wants a moment of self-reflection. Show some respect. No more titters for fifteen seconds.”

“Ten,” Sora corrected, “No, better make it five.”

“Better make it zero,” Taichi growled, “if you want a decent head start before I rip you all to shreds. With my teeth.”

“How about Mario Kart?” Koushirou said, digging through the box of games.

“… OK, fine. With Mario Kart.”

(You could, and probably will, argue that his sin should be pride. It’s a common one for shonen protagonists. But I’ve never really felt that Taichi is prone to pride, or arrogance. His big struggle with just that, the infamous SkullGreymon episode, isn’t enough for me to put it down a major character flaw. Taichi’s bossiness and optimism to the point of naivete don’t come from an overblown image of himself for the most part. I think he really does just, as the song goes, want it all and want it all now. And being the leader puts him in a position of constantly having to make sacrifices he doesn’t want to make. That’s my reasoning, but you’re perfectly welcome to yours.)

Izumi Koshiro

I: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do they love themselves?

He might put it at 8.4. Generally he is happy with himself. He values hard work, creativity, thirst for learning. He also values friends and family. As long as those things are first in his life, he feels pretty good. But if something slips, he beats himself up pretty hard. And he’s not so great at talking himself out of it. In those cases he needs a dose of perspective from the people who love him and understand how hard he drives himself.

Z: How do they sleep?

Like a log or not at all. Also a light snorer. The type who snores through a closed mouth while lying on his back. If he rolls over on his side, no issues.

U: What’s their voice like?

Gentle, neutral, precise, neither high nor low. Everyone listens the minute it’s colored by some emotion. Always apologizes afterward. Someone hug this kid.

M: What is their favourite dessert?

Creme brulee. He is secretly quite fancy.

K: How do you know when you’ve upset them?

Most people don’t. Those closest to him, though, find out pretty easily, because he tells them. Very frankly. (This he learned from a long friendship with a certain big-haired blockhead who doesn’t always notice when he’s being an ass.) And he forgives them quickly as well, once he knows they understand what they did that hurt him. He always wants to be fair and hates pettiness. Though now and then he has a petty moment ahaha.

O: What would it take to break them, inside and out?

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THIS.

but seriously, it would probably be losing the trust and support of his friends. He may have a bunch of solitary hobbies, but Koushirou really, deeply values his loved ones. He’s not cut out for perpetual loneliness. Similarly, if he felt like he could have helped more but didn’t, hello guilt trip.

S: How stealthy are they?

Can be quite stealthy. He’s short and soft-spoken, easy to overlook. But the reason why he wants to be stealthy tends to influence his judgment. Case in point…

“Koushirou…” Taichi stared, jaw hanging open a bit, giving him a rather stupid look which Koushirou felt compelled to warn him off. But before he could say a word, Taichi linked his arm around Koushirou’s neck and dragged him bodily down the hallway to the boys’ restroom.

Inside, he found the farthest unoccupied stall and, to Koushirou’s extreme confusion, locked them both inside.

“You’re not going to dunk my head in the toilet, are you?”

“Excuse you, what do you take me for, some kind of boneheaded jock? Wait, don’t answer that.”

Taichi looked nervously through the crack by the door hinges. “Taichi-san, what are we doing?” Koushirou sighed.

“What are we doing? What are you doing? What is that,” he cried, pointing emphatically at Koushirou’s collar.

“This?” Reaching up, Koushirou’s fingers adjusted the purple bowtie he’d painstakingly selected to match his silk lilac shirt. “This is a bowtie.”

“It looks you pinned some kind of moth through your button hole.”

Koushirou’s brow knit. “Does it? I thought it made me look sort of dressed up.”

“Why would you want to though?”

“Well, we are at a dance, you know. I just wanted to make sure I blend in. It would be horrible if tomorrow everyone was talking about how I was the only one inappropriately dressed.”

“Uh, I hate to say this, but haven’t you noticed that nearly all of the guys came in their school uniforms?” To illustrate his point, Taichi gestured at his own attire. He had indeed come in his school clothes. His shirt was even tucked in for once.

A streak of crimson colored Koushirou’s face. He looked down. Taichi’s eyes darted back and forth as he struggled to come up with something to say. Just then, the bathroom door swung open.

“Taichi, Koushirou, if you two are in here, come out before Mimi accosts every last person looking for you,” Yamato called in a tone of deep longsuffering.

Without opening the stall door, Taichi replied: “What does she want us for?”

“To take a picture.”

Koushirou groaned. “Tell her I’m sick… Taichi-san… I can’t go back out there like this!”

“Why not?” Yamato asked impatiently. It sounded like he was at his wit’s end dealing with Mimi.

“I’m… a little overdressed.”

“Psh. So what? Mimi came here in a ball gown.”

“What?” Koushirou exclaimed as Taichi made a noise of surprise. “She did?”

“Yeah, and you can’t be more overdressed than her.”

“There’s your out, Koushirou,” Taichi hissed in his ear. “Just stick with Mimi the whole night. If anyone asks, she picked out your clothes. She’ll be happy to take the credit. She’ll think you look great.”

Koushirou blushed harder, though for an entirely different reason. With a smirk, Taichi patted his back, and even straightened his bowtie for him before opening the door.

“Get out there, then. Stud.”

(whoever thought I, a staunch joumi fan, would write a koumi drabble… oh well… it just happened lol)

H: What is their deadly sin?

Hard one. He’s a pretty perfect kid lol. I suppose I might put him down for “greed” as well, and maybe it fits better than it does Taichi, in the sense that his curiosity compells him to want to know as much as he can, so he sometimes doesn’t noice the needs of people around him. But it’s not like this is intentional or he doesn’t know about it. Half the time the reason he’s working so hard is because he’s trying to help those people.

R: What are their hands like?

Short, stubby fingers. Often ink-blotted. He’s constantly flexing his hands from typing so much. Bound to get carpal tunnel someday.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: K-On!

I haven’t over-talked about an anime for a while, have I? At least, not since October. Life’s been busy. Let’s fix that.

Lately, I’ve had contact with the greatest library system in the world,[1] and through it I have managed to watch one of the Essential Anime Series.

And, as always, I watched K-On![2] dubbed. Take that, anime elitists! Ha-ha!

It took me awhile to get through K-On!, longer than I would’ve liked, since I ended up watching it between two trips, months apart, where other commitments and activities forced me away from the television as I desperately tried to get through it, and maybe onto others shows I checked out (Spoilers: between the two trips, I only really managed to watch K-On!)

Luckily, its overarching narrative isn’t very important to follow closely, as it is the flagship of the ‘Cute Girls doing Cute Things’ anime set that evolved from Azumanga Daioh. It was often quipped, whenever someone tried to come in partway through, that there was no plot.

It’s not even Seinfeldian, since even that had actual stakes. K-On! really is a show about a small rock band of girls where nothing really happens. It’s very cute, endearingly so, but… well, I wouldn’t say you need to go out of your way to watch the show if you’re unsure. If you’re into anime and exploring the various genres, then yes, give K-On! a try, just to see if this sort of show appeals to you.

Actually, going back to my earlier snark, this is a show I’m really glad I could watch dubbed. I’ve previously outlined my reasons for only watching dubs, but in this case my penchant for multitasking was key for sitting through the series, while keeping an ear on the actual show. If I were forced to keep rapt attention, reading every line as it came on screen, there is no way the show would’ve won the effort versus reward balance.

K-On! is a good white noise show, which isn’t an insult. It’s just something that’s very easy to come in and out of as you do other things, or want to watch something without committing to depth. There is value to fluff and escapism, which you can find here.

The entire series is built to be disposable, with no drama. There are no romantic relationships, no major fights or tedious fall-outs. In fact, I almost want to say there’s zero conflict at all. Yet, despite what your writing and English teachers may tell you, the series works.

It’s a story carried by its cast of characters. They aren’t even particularly outlandish characters, compared to other shows. They have quirks and traits, but they’re low key, and I’m not even sure how well I can describe the main cast, as they tend to overlap with character traits.  The most obvious differences between them are whether they are extroverts or introverts. Still, it’s my style to talk about characters, so here’s my attempt.

Main Five:

Yui: The supposed protagonist of the series, or at least the focal character during the establishing phase of it. Her endearing characteristics are that she’s immature and physically affectionate! She’s also the second most extroverted character. At the start of the series, she’s directionless and unsure what to do with herself now that she’s a High School student, so she decides to join a club. Except she doesn’t really want to put much effort into it, so she joins the light music club, believing she’ll breeze by only playing simple percussion. But, she ends up having to learn the guitar. She also seems to be the main vocalist, at least for the opening sequences.

Mio: She’s the bass player and is left handed, but is also very shy and relatively serious. Thus, of course, she gets played up for the most fan service and put in uncomfortable situations, though she mellows out as the show progresses. She also gains a fan club, because why not? She sings the closing credits songs.

Ritsu: The club president and drum player. She’s tomboyish, loud, and impulsive, thus the primary driving force whenever she’s actually on board with something, and the one who first really wanted to form a band. Childhood friend of Mio.

Mugi: She plays the keyboard! She’s a little of the quiet, subtle type, but also has a rather wide enabler streak, as she uses her family money to buy her friends nice things, and is the person brewing (very fancy) teas and bringing treats for the club meetings. As such, she might be the one most to blame for how little the club members practice as opposed to just hanging out.

Azusa (Azu-nyan): Joins half-way through the first season as a second guitar player. She then quickly rises to become, if not the viewpoint character, then at least sharing the position with Yui. Unlike the rest of the band, she actually starts with a lot of musical knowledge, and really would like to practice from time to time. However, she lacks confidence to stand up to her “Senpais” (it’s actually interesting to hear the dub casually use the terms), so she gets swept into their usual tea times and Yui’s overabundance of physical affection. Also, she’s almost only addressed as Azu-nyan by the club members.

The  five live the expected high schooler lives, studying, hanging out, making jokes, visiting the beach, and in general growing to become a rather adorable group of friends. You know, slice of life stuff.

Though, I’d also be remiss not to discuss the secondary characters:

Sawako: A teacher of… something I forgot? But eventually the homeroom teacher of the senior band members. She’s the wackiest character, despite her efforts to appear professional outside the club room. She’s pretty casual with the Light Music Club, and makes cute costumes to try and force onto the band. She’s also probably my favorite character.

Nodoka: Yui’s childhood friend. She’s a member of the student council, and thus the one forced to try and get the band to actually do paperwork.

Ui: Yui’s younger sister, who is miles more responsible than her older sister. She also becomes Azu-nyan’s classroom friend.

Jun: Azu-nyan’s third friend. She’s a member of the Jazz club, and exists to make the kouhais a trio.

There are, of course, other bit players that pop up now and again for the sake of the plot, but none really matter outside these nine.

So the episodes go: the four (later five) band members interact, get to know one another, and grow as friends and possibly people, but not by a lot.

Honestly, the lack of in-depth and overarching plot makes talking about K-On! difficult because it’s not a show you watch to find out “Will these girls become a successful band?” or “Will the power of music defeat the evil aliens?” It’s just something you sort turn on so you have an excuse to melt into the couch, maybe browse social media, and listen to characters have a nice time.

Like Yotsubaa, though a little less goofy, and actually animated.[3]

So what is there actually to describe? It’s a pleasant experience, watch it if you're interested, don’t if it doesn’t appeal.

There’s the actual music. They are a band, and we do get to watch and listen to music being performed, though usually abstracted into some sort of music video. It’s nice music, and the Dub makes the excellent decision to leave the vocals in Japanese and subtitle it. I may be a staunch Dub advocate, but even I can admit it’s usually best to leave music as is.

It’s all very fun music that I wish I could listen to, but copyright bots have done an astounding job of keeping the songs off Youtube, and I can’t even find the music on any American music service.[5] The lyrics are a little silly, but in a fun way.

Fair warning, though, you will here the ending line of Fuwa Fuwa Time constantly. It’s their go-to ‘and the girls are done playing’ snippet. I found it amusing, quipping it’s the only song they play, but I can see how it might get tedious to hear.

So let’s go a little meta with it. What can I, as a creator, take from this anime?

The girls are very similar from a distance, both in appearance and personality. Yes, they differ in some of the details (hair and major personality traits), but they mostly can fill any role needed for the typical K-On scene. Ritsu is rambunctious, sure, but she’s as susceptible to ‘cute’ antics and sentimentality as the others.

They are very flat characters, who all grow very little over the course of the series. Yui is as much of a childish airhead at the end of the series as she was at the start, if not more. Ritsu never learns to be responsible about club forms or her own actions. Mio is as reserved and nervous. Mugi still is content to sit back and watch. No one learns anything.

And that’s okay.

Because you don’t need to tell a sweeping epic or carefully plotted drama to tell a continuing narrative. It’s nice to have, yes, but it’s also acceptable to keep the stakes low and just enjoy the moment.

It’s also a great example of how to make very similar characters still have little unique traits, and how little differences can make a world of difference. The main characters all fall at different points of outgoingness, ranging from Ritsu’s energetic tomfoolery, to Mio’s desire to not be noticed. It affects how the five will approach a given situation, and gives space for potential conflicts.

And honestly, though I love the concept, the scenes built to show how two characters interacting when it’s only them aren’t the strongest of the show. Like the band itself, it’s an ensemble piece that’s at it’s best when everyone’s there, with the occasional guest performer.

To take another meta direction, it is a show about artists. Musicians, yes, which is an inexplicable magic I have no way to enter,[6] but artists nevertheless. So it’s a peek into the life of young artists, if perhaps slightly improved. Because these girls do have a following amongst their classmates, and thus are successful in that way. And they have, between the television episodes, OVAs, and movie, gotten a few outside gigs, which I never managed as a High Schooler.

Though I’m a writer, so that might explain it.[7]

Still, the world doesn’t just give them success. Though it’s mostly offscreen, they all do practice. They show the importance of networking, which is how they get their scant few outside gigs. With Sawako, we also see artists learning from an experienced artist, as well as an experienced artist helping and nurturing new talent, even if she keeps putting them in silly outfits. Most importantly, the band members support one another and working together to make Afternoon Tea Time (Ho-kago Tea Time) better, show casing the important role friends and colleagues have in an artist’s life.

Because, more than anything, Artists require support and encouragement. It’s difficult to create something and then not have anyone to turn to to evaluate and enjoy it. I’ve never had many people I felt I could hand writing to and expect them to actually want to read it, least of all my high school friends. Or most of my family, really. I’ve tried, in my youth, but always got such an indifferent response that I learned not to try.

So, I guess those are the important messages of K-On!: support your artists, not just financially, but also emotionally. Find what you love, and others will come to you. And sometimes it’s nice to just sit around with teas and snacks and good company.

Thanks for reading, and speaking of support, I have a Patreon.[8]

Kataal kataal.

[1] Could I legally sell merchandise naming the Santa Clara County Library? Seems like an obvious choice for Canvas merch. [2] I know the second season has two exclaimation points, but since animes are always a little odd with naming seasons, I’ll just use season 1’s pattern, like I usually do with Anime. [3] Which actually might just be Azumanga Daioh…[4] [4] Also, c’mon Kiyohiko Azuma! Even a one season anime of Yotsubaa would be amazing. It’d be so cute, and I could get at least two of my family members to watch anime with it! [5] Well, I haven’t tried iTunes, but I never want that on my computer again. It’s so needy. [6] Seriously, I have no rhythm or concept for how to compose original music. Or even words to describe what I want from people who do! [7] If there were a High School anime about artist friends, the writer would be the gloomy one who feels the others get more recognition and opportunities than them. [8] Ha! Smooth transition.