#why is it so easy to get connected to everyone else's human characters

[iridescentscarecrow]

what frustrates me about fandom interpretations of makima as a one note Source of evil, apart from the fact that the manga itself refutes this, is that her character haunts and ties together so much of part two that it's impossible to fully understand without understanding her.

makima isn't ever a unilateral antagonistic force. she's an agent of the institutional evil that looms over all of CSM. she's in as much a commentary on gender and performance of gender as denji is.

and fjmt in part two enacts the "haunting the narrative" trope in such an interesting manner because you see flashes of makima in every female character. you see elements of her diluted into, most visibly, the characters of asa, nayuta and fumiko.

in asa, i see makima in that yearning for connection. i see her in the way that asa herself is fundamentally unable to approach the relationship of equals that she so desperately desires, partly due to her own social awkwardness but also because of yoru's threat: everyone she gets close to turns into a weapon. the fundamental inequality to human relationships that makima is unable to overcome.

during the aquarium date, you see asa echo makima again and again in lines that evoke makima's purposing of denji. that weaponising. "i'll grant you any request / save me chainsaw man! / you don't have to think about a thing."

and her connection with denji also founds itself upon this. yoshida talks to asa about parasocial relationships -- rerendering makima's idealisation of the CSM in how asa sees denji as a love interest. asa and denji parallel each other so organically in their gendered suppression and portrusion of desire. it's a punctuation of denji's search for intimacy that's mirrored by makima's in part one. exploring how asa is different from makima is perhaps the most intriguing part of this reflection though: an example being the way asa overthinks her outfit for her date with denji while makima seamlessly models herself into an Effortless woman.

[it's not like asa borrows just from makima. for example, there are things to be said about the way she views her Body (as compared with reze and quanxi) but examining how mkm's character bleeds into asaden is quite compelling.]

nayuta being the most visible remnant of what makima was is also interesting because makima herself appears so little in nayuta beyond the surface. nayuta's role as the control devil is hinted at frequently as is her appearance resembling makima's

but her and denji's dynamic more often echoes the hayakawa family and pochita than anything else. consider: aki giving up his goal (his 'easy revenge' that he finally sees for what it is) for the sake of his family, that warmth of blood and platonic bodily intimacy that power embodies--

it's all referenced to again with nayuta and denji, in direct panel callbacks and the plot itself! nayuta is The Family that makima constructs for denji in part one to pull him along the plot she prepares. i'm thinking about how makima is an allegory for capitalism. and what the family unit means in a capitalistic structure. the propagation of an ideal that hinges on birth and descendancy, about narrative and reproduction of narrative, about how nayuta births herself from makima and denji's relationship.

and this is also why nayuta herself exerts so much control over denji in the plot, as well as why she's used as a piece to control him. in part one, family was used to create the Chainsaw Man from denji. in part two, it's used to make denji abandon the Chainsaw Man, this icon that the church and the public now take possession of. [something something alienation of the worker from the product. from the collective. from the self.]

fumiko is perhaps the hardest to pin down here because her role evolves as the fandomisation of the Chainsaw Man evolves too. in fact, as a denji fan, she represents not just makima but multiple people who see something in and want something from denji! (think of how she references reze in her highlighting how denji is just a child; how reze uses her commentary on denji to engage with her Self. it's fandomisation,,, and what is makima but Chainsaw Man's fan?)

fumiko most obviously calls back to these wants and their conceptualisation of denji in the raw sexual violence that the events in the theater scene moving into the karaoke scene embody. the undercurrent of sa that runs through p1 and p2 is brought to the forefront in this scene -- denji falling back into these cycles of abuse, him slipping into habitating the wants of others (his initial horrified expression and then his grin during the fight. his initial inner monologue and then the cut to him licking the tentacle.)

so much of CSM rests on this fandom of denji, this theme of what production and idealisation means, one you can trace through fjmt's body of work. and this fandom reaches its crescendo in p2. what's even more interesting about fumiko is her pathos under this layer. her seeing denji as denji at some level but in the end, her handling of him is so selfish. her echoing makima's uninhibited laughter at the horror of denji's situation, her predatory cruelty. denji simultaneously humanised and dehumanised through her fandom.

fjmt's characters exist as foils, as parallels and ideas. makima's character has such a stranglehold over part one and these ideas run over into part two naturally -- as a consequence of denji being a reciever of these themes, but also deliberately in fjmt evoking the Thing that is makima repetitively -- to underscore the forever re emerging structure that denji and now asa are trapped in. the same structure that makima produced and was simultaneously caged by.

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

In-Depth Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 4: Yasuhiro Hagakure

I've actually managed to hype myself up a good bit for this one, despite the fact I'm not fond of Hiro. If there's anything I've learned since starting this series, it's that taking the time to actually absorb these characters and their full existence in the narrative reveals a lot more than you get just by playing the game normally, and I'm hopeful that doing that will make Hiro that much better of a character for me. So, let's dive in.

Per usual, this analysis uses only official materials from the DR series, primarily the english translation of the game. If you aren't that interested in lengthy yapping, then keep scrolling.

Part 1- Character Design

Yasuhiro Hagakure wears several layers of clothing, having a haramaki, white button-up, and his old high school uniform all on over a yellow shirt and a pair of baggy black pants tied up with a yellow bow. His old high school emblem is purposefully designed to look like the yin and yang symbol, and his hair is up in locs styled to bend backwards and stick out at odd angles.

Yasuhiro is a dual character, typically either being the most relaxed or the most panicked person in the room. This sort of duality is likely why he was given the yin and yang symbol, a symbol of balance, along with his talent. Yasuhiro was given the talent of SHSL Fortune Teller, or Ultimate Clairvoyant, and has a unique connection to the spirit world. This may also be why his hair is designed to stick out, similar to how when you touch an object with enough static, your hair stands up. In this way, we can see Yasuhiro is visibly connected to the spirit world at all times.

Part 2- Character Introduction

Hiro is actually the first character to speak in-game after Makoto's self-introduction, calling out in surprise when Makoto gets to the main hall with everyone else("Woah, hey! Another new kid?") He then continues on to be the first one we're able to identify as speaking after the class panover is completed.

This immediately makes him stick out, as this is the character the game makes a point to show you directly before anyone else- not Sayaka, Kyoko, Byakuya- nope, Hiro is first and foremost. Despite this, he fades into the background of the conversation almost immediately after as everyone else decides to introduce themselves to each other. When we get back to his introduction(one of the last ones we see), he introduces himself as someone who takes it easy, and tells you to do the same. We know from Makoto's internal dialogue that he has little to no knowledge on fortune telling, and thus, have almost no insight to Hiro's perspective. We also learn that within the psychic community, he's referred to as 'Supernova'. As he begins to speak, though, we learn exactly what the game's plan for his clairvoyance is: a big joke.

Though, he himself admits he's joking around, and invites Makoto to talk about Lemurian civilization. Lemuria is a debunked theory about a potential 8th continent that was believed to have sunk into the Indian Ocean, disproved by further research on continental drift and plate tectonics. Despite this, it still remains as a subject of conspiracy for many, and tells us a lot about Hiro's interests. Combined with his talent in fortune-telling, Hiro is someone with a fascination for what lies beneath the surface of human understanding. We also learn that he's of drinking age(20 in Japan, though this was changed to 21 in the English translation to reflect international drinking laws). He admits this is due to being held back a few years, waving it off as a 'long story' that we never get to hear.

As the class continues to talk, he remains completely calm, and insists it's all part of the fancy school's orientation. He continues to hold this belief even after Monokuma appears at the entrance ceremony, playing off Monokuma's threat of the killing game and Monokuma himself as a bit.

"Reveal the trick...?" "Yeah, cuz I mean... Y'know, this is all some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like..."

So our first impression of Hiro is that he's a laidback older guy who isn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen, and that he's into conspiracies.

Part 3- Early Game Development

Once the game's officially started, Hiro very much takes a backseat so the story and mystery can develop, to the point where even when the entire class is talking about their explorations and what they found, Hiro remains silent, only telling the others to chill and continuing to say he believes this is all planned by the school. He appears completely unbothered by the whole situation.

"I mean, this was all planned out, right? The people in charge of Hope's Peak put this all together, right? Man, if I got stressed every time something like this happened, I'd have ectoplasm shooting out my mouth!"

Despite this, if you take the opportunity to talk to him in the laundry room the following morning, you get this:

Despite Hiro's insistence that this is all normal, he's run himself ragged trying to find out why they're trapped in the school. It suggests that his relaxed attitude towards the situation may be some kind of a facade to keep both himself and the others calm. He continues to insist upon it even after multiple days have passed, when Monokuma reappears again to give out the motive videos("Why the hell are you laughing?" "I'm just impressed at the total commitment to this whole act.") He refuses to acknowledge the mere possibility of this situation being an actual threat to their lives, even after watching the motive video of (presumably) his mother and sister in danger.

He insists on it to the point where he doesn't realize the truth of the situation until "Junko" is impaled with a ton of spears and dies right in front of him, and even then, his reaction is delayed, not realizing until Makoto and Byakuya check her for a pulse.

"Sh-she's... dead!? Then that means...! That means everything that's happened so far is real!? It's not a joke or whatever!? It's really real!? Hell no! Someone save me! Let me outta here! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" "You're j-just now accepting that...?"

He switches from total calm to ungodly terror, as he didn't experience the dread leading up to the incident that everyone else did. The horror renders him immobile for nearly the entire investigation, only pulled out of shock when Makoto shows him his broken glass ball.

"Did that guy totally dupe me!? He said it belonged to the pillars of history... Genghis Khan, George Washington, Napoleon... He said whoever controlled that crystal ball controlled the world! Was that seriously all BS!?"

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how much did you pay for that thing?" "Everything I'd saved up from fortune-telling for two full years. Came out to be like... a million."

Not only did he pay that much for what was pretty obviously a glass ball, he fully believed that story despite the fact one of the named holders that 'controlled the world' was a failed emperor that died in exile. It is a hand-sized glass ball. Paying $1M in USD shouldn't have even been on the table in the first place.

Hiro goes into the next chapter still completely panicking, babbling on to Makoto about the 'ill omen' that is the items set in the display case and once again begging to the heavens to be released from the school.

"Ahhh! I've been struck with knowledge! It's an ill omen of total devastation and ruin! L-Let me outta here! Let me ouuuut!"

It's a bit late, as the only dangerous item from that case was used in the previous murder, but better late than never, I suppose.

Prior to the motive announcement, Hiro reveals that he was the one to pick up on the goings-on outside of Hope's Peak, having been in the dining hall and heard what he described as 'noises like a construction site'. It's important enough that Monokuma confirms the noises to be a) real and b) the result of some level of violence, as his provided explanations are an explosion or machine gun. So although Hiro himself hasn't had much of a story yet, he's still keeping his ears open and is at least paying some attention to the problem at hand now.

During the investigation, Hiro ends up in a much better position, now able to not go into total shock and do an investigation of his own. Although it doesn't yield many results, talking to him makes it clear that he's both trying to find something useful and trying to keep what information he does have private before the trial, which is progress. He's doing something instead of just sitting on his ass, and he's trying to remain secretive, even if he's really bad at it.

When the trial comes around, he's excited to provide evidence, being the one to tell the class about the e-handbooks in the mailbox despite insistence that he probably couldn't help anyway. Despite this, he takes it well when he's told he's wrong the second he's given a reason.

"No, she DID have a way! And I can tell you what it was!" "I highly doubt that." "Shut up! I'm telling you, I know how she could've done it!" ('it' being Chihiro entering the girls' locker room)

"She used the thing that was in the main hall!" "Huh? What thing?" "I'm talkin' about Leon's handbook, of course!"

"Why not!?" "Because Leon's handbook was broken." "Oh! Well then yeah, I guess that'd be pretty impossible, huh?"

Part 4- Midgame Events (In fact, we're gonna frame you for murder!)

Now that Taka's grieving, Hiro remembers he's significantly older than the rest of the class and decides to step up as the class rep and keep everyone calm and focused, at least until Taka can take over again. Although it doesn't last for very long, it's a nice gesture on Hiro's part, and shows some level of responsibility from him.

He's the one to direct the class to the 3rd floor and opens up to conversation about what they found, doing everything he can think of to both keep the class' gaze fixed ahead and try to rouse Taka from his silent state, though this falls apart the second Hina starts talking about a ghost.

Despite his efforts, Kyoko is the one who's really in charge here, and instead, Hiro becomes a messenger for her, alerting the rest of the class to 'bathtime' and acting as a voice of reason when both Hifumi and Taka become obsessed with Alter Ego.

"I happened to do a psychic reading for a certain famous CEO once... And that guy was seriously head over heels for a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now... I saw the same look in HIS eyes!"

"Oh, Taka! Are you back!?" "Who the hell's Taka!?" "Um... you?"

He also delivers letters to everyone in class when Kyoko has an important update on Alter Ego, assuming that the files have been decrypted. It's also worth noting he has remarkably clean penmanship, and this is attributed to his supernatural beliefs.

The following morning, when Hiro is one of the many students to go missing, Celeste sets it up so that almost everyone is led to believe that Hiro is the obvious culprit before he even so much as gets a chance to defend himself- falsifying and planting evidence, removing proof of innocence to the best of her ability, and manipulating Hifumi to help her- all with the stroke of luck in her favor that even after remembering his life before the game, Hifumi still couldn't betray her when he tried because her legal surname was the same as his first. On a surface level, almost every slip-up or seemingly stupid move was shrugged off as 'well, Hiro's an idiot anyway, so he probably didn't realize,' which is exactly what Celeste bet on. The only one who wouldn't automatically fall under this assumption (Kyoko) was so distracted by her own schemes that she was pulled out of the investigation for the vast majority of it. Even Byakuya completely fell for it until Makoto pointed out some of the inconsistencies to him.

But here's the thing: Hiro's gullible, not stupid. He may fall for other people's schemes, but he can just as easily craft his own and sell them, even when the person being sold to knows they're being duped to some degree. He's a businessman at heart, and you can't become a successful businessman if your schemes don't work. If Celeste wanted her plan to work, then she chose the wrong guy to frame. (The game never actually addresses this directly, but from a meta perspective, it's pretty obvious Hiro is just being used as a red herring, and it's all symbolized in his handwriting- Hiro is more put-together than he's given credit for, and that truth creates the physical evidence of his innocence Celeste couldn't change.)

I mean, Hiro deliberately plays up his own stupidity in the trial, taking the argument that was supposed to work against him and using it in his favor to convince everyone around him of his own incompetency. That's not the strategy of someone incapable of working out a survival plan.

"Come on, I'm not smart enough to think of trying to change my handwriting anyway!" <- a direct contradiction to when he writes Toko's name in blood in handwriting not of his own in the following chapter

Hiro being a red-herring suspect for a murder is quickly followed up with Hiro being a red-herring suspect for a murder. Yes, they do it twice, but this time, Hiro himself believes he's responsible. So there's enough differentiation to warrant it within the plot.

With chapter 4, Hiro's paranoia hits an all-new level. And for good reason, too. Not only have there been 5 attempted murders in the span of just over 2 weeks, 3 of which were intentional and 4 of which were successful, there's also a known serial killer chilling with the rest of the class that's known specifically for attacking men. Not only that, he was literally framed for a double murder case just a couple days ago, and to top it all off, Sakura, the visibly strongest person not only in the class, but also officially recognized as strongest person in the world, has been outed as a spy for Monokuma. So naturally, Hiro's a little on edge when he receives the invite from Sakura to meet in the rec room. So when he hears her muttering to herself-

"This is it... I'm going to end it today... I'm going to end... everything." "As soon as I heard that, I just knew... I knew she was gonna try and kill me! She was gonna kill me and make her escape!"

So, rather then let that potential end happen, he made the panicked decision to defend himself.

He admits to this pretty quickly in the trial as well, as the moment the dying message is disproven as being from Sakura, he caves and tells them everything that happened from his perspective. And he feels terrible about it, too, accepting that he has to die for what he did.

"Well, that's what happened. Go ahead, roast me, boil me, do whatever you want..."

Once Makoto and Kyoko are able to prove he's innocent, it's a massive weight off his shoulders. His fear and panic all but disappear, and he spends the rest of the trial in a much more relaxed state.

And once the trial is over, and they've all heard the truth about Sakura's case, he throws his full support to Hina and Sakura, unable to be mad at either of them.

"This is because of our misplaced hatred. I don't blame her(Sakura)! I CAN'T blame her! And nobody can blame Hina, either!"

Besides being a suspect in both murder cases, Hiro has another important moment in chapter 4. At breakfast on the first morning, after sharing his prediction of no more murders, he tells the story of his encounter with aliens, in which a burger that was supposedly 100% beef was beamed up by an alien spaceship. And because aliens supposedly steal cows, the meat separated and only took 30% of the meat. When he went back to the restaurant, they admitted to mixing pork into the meat. This story is representative of Hiro's own fortune-telling, as only 30% of his predictions are real and the rest are done just for money.

Part 5- Character Relationships

Though none of them are given a main focus in-game, Hiro has fairly important dynamics with about half the cast of THH. Actually, basically everyone that made it past chapter 2 has an established dynamic with Hiro.

5.1- Kiyotaka Ishimaru

Though it's a bit of a one-sided relationship, Hiro is the only character to show any concern for Taka going into chapter 3. After the brutal death of Mondo, Taka goes comatose, and won't eat, sleep, or speak to anyone. It's when in this state that Hiro attempts to get him back in action as class rep, more than once. Unfortunately, he never really succeeds, though this does leave us with the implication that he was the one who told Taka about Alter Ego, as it doesn't make sense for it to have been anyone else at this point.

5.2- Hifumi Yamada

Similar to Taka, Hifumi spends chapter 3 with a special interest in Alter Ego. Hiro is the one that tries to get through to him, calling out his strange behavior and likening it to a former client in love with a mannequin. The two of them also bounce off of each other quite a bit in the first half of the game during group conversations, and when they do, it often paints Hiro in a more reasonable light. As the older and therefore more mature of the two, he knows when Hifumi is full of shit and calls him on it, particularly when he's being horny("But he's a guy! And also a computer program!" "Oh, that aspect is no problem." "That... aspect?").

Hifumi later goes on to work with Celeste to frame him for the murder of both Taka and himself. It's unclear if he had any resentment for Hiro or if he just agreed with Celeste that he'd make a good scapegoat.

5.3- Celestia Ludenberg

Celeste frames him for murder, despite the fact that they didn't have much interaction before then. Why Hiro, though?

"Because you're stupid." "That's it!?" "And in that regard, I made the right choice. I'm so glad your stupidity surpassed my every expectation. Life must have been tough on your parents, though." "I feel like I could cry..."

Not only is this one final dig from her before her execution, it's also just blatantly wrong. Not only was Hiro not there for the majority of the investigation(by her design), but the supposed stupidity of his character she's referencing had almost no effect on the investigation or trial. Rather, it was the assumptions of the rest of the cast that benefitted her, with characters like Hina and Byakuya going along with the same assumption she wanted them to. He was almost immediately proven innocent by Makoto, and was only considered a suspect because Celeste herself kept hounding the idea.

In short, this proved Celeste the idiot. She didn't know her opponent at all, and so she lost, lying about it to the bitter end.

5.4- Sakura Ogami

Hiro's lack of a significant relationship with her is more important than what they did have. Throughout THH, Hiro consistently refers to Sakura not by name, but by the demeaning nickname given to her online, 'Ogre', due to how physically imposing she is. As such, the two never really connect, and when she's outed by Monokuma as the spy, he turns against her immediately, even when they were relatively friendly with each other up until that point. He doesn't necessarily want to distrust her, but not only is her allegiance under fire, but he's already been betrayed and directly put in the line of fire once. He has to consider his safety first, so he cuts her out with the others, though he does say if she makes good on her assertion to defeat the mastermind, that he'll forgive her("If she really can beat the mastermind like she said, that'd go a long way in my mind...").

But even if he isn't condemning her to hell like Byakuya and Toko, he still doesn't know her. He never bothered to try. So when she invites him to talk, he stays on his guard. The game has rendered him unable to connect to her, and so when he hears her speak of 'ending everything', he can only assume the worst. And it leads him to open the case of Sakura's attacker- not Toko, not Jack, not Byakuya. Hiro starts it. And he carries that guilt into her trial.

5.4- Byakuya Togami, Aoi Asahina, Toko Fukawa, Genocide Jill

Hiro has a fairly antagonistic relationship with the other non-main-character survivors(and Byakuya, if you consider him one). The 5 of them spend most of the latter half of the game at each other's throats, often for miniscule, petty things. This is mostly used as a source of comedy, with each pointing out the others' flaws and making each other look dumb. However, when it comes down to it, they can get along and cooperate when it's important.

He gets along best with Hina, as both were part of the overarching group from the beginning, and both are consistently present whenever the group splits up(for example, before Chihiro's body is found). And because Toko and Jack follow Byakuya around, and Makoto and Kyoko are the main characters, the two of them end up as an unintentional pair when it comes to group dialogue, even ganging up on Byakuya or Toko when appropriate. That said, Hina doesn't like him much, either.

5.5- Kyoko

Kyoko acknowledges Hiro's attempts to become the leader of the class in Taka's absence, and uses him to communicate with the rest of the class about Alter Ego when necessary. He acts as her messenger, suggesting she trusted him to some extent, enough to let him be the messenger. Their relationship isn't expanded upon outside of this, though.

5.6- Makoto Naegi

Despite his mounting paranoia and trust issues in the previous chapters, Hiro is shown to trust Makoto specifically, likely because he was the one to prove his innocence in both chapter 3 and 4. He holds Makoto in high regard, enthusiastically agreeing with Kyoko to let him hold the knife in chapter 5 and attempting to explain the dismantling of Monokuma to him: "I'll explain what's goin' on, Makoto. Cuz that's how much I like ya! Byakuya found this li'l fella layin' around, then we tore it apart!" "That doesn't explain anything..."

Part 6- Hiro's Clairvoyance

Despite Hiro's claims of only having a 30% accuracy rating at best, his fortune-telling and bouts of clairvoyance are accurate a good few times in THH. I'm not doing the math to see if it actually falls between 20-30%, but it is enough to be significant.

In the prologue and 1st chapter, Hiro insists that the killing game must be a prank because of his total certainty that the execs of Hope's Peak were the ones who locked them in the school. This is revealed to be true in chapter 4, when Alter Ego reveals the Hope's Peak Headmaster planned the shelter, and the board signed off on it.

In his 1st FTE, Hiro reveals he's already seen that his and Makoto's paths intersect, and that the mother of their children is the same woman. This becomes true if you get the bad ending in chapter 5.

The chapter 2 cover art has Hiro holding a manga with Taka and Celeste covered in blood, with the number 2 beside Taka. This accurately depicts that Celeste would kill Taka in the following chapter, and that he'd be one of two victims of hers.

In the start of chapter 4, Hiro reveals a prediction that there won't be any more murders. This turns out to be true, as the only other deaths after this are both by suicide.

Hiro's wild guess about what started the Tragedy was later proven in the series to be correct repeatedly- Hope's Peak students' deaths started and continued the domino effect of the Tragedy. Hajime became Izuru due to Natsumi's and Sato's murders; the student council were all slaughtered inside the school as the beta kg; the Reserve Course students killed all the Main Course students that weren't either 77-B or 78-B, and then committed mass suicide via brainwashing. All the students were killed.

Part 7- An Inner Look

During THH, we get a look at both Hiro's bedroom and his locker in the main story. This gives us a unique glimpse into his mentality that we don't get with anyone else in THH.

Interestingly, his room and his locker are very different, despite them both containing his fortune-telling materials. In his bedroom, his books are stacked fairly neatly on the desk, and his divination tools are organized, being set on separate tables with a protective tablecloth underneath. The singing bowl and incense- which work for ambience- are kept on one desk in the back, while his cards and dice are kept on the main table in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, his locker has his books shoved awkwardly into the bottom, while his divination tools are all lumped together on the top and have no separation or organization. The locker's state even leads Makoto to say that its owner "probably has organization problems in every part of their life". This may suggest that his room is clean for the sake of potential customers, or just that the lack of space in the locker was inconvenient.

Part 8- Late Game Events

When chapter 5 opens, Hiro's 'dumb guy' shenanigans are cranked up to the max. While everyone's investigating the 5th floor, talking to Hiro in the garden reveals his conspiracy theory on the inevitable global domination of the world by plants. He also gets excited about the 5 chickens, claiming the number 5 to "contain the mysteries of the cosmos" and says it's a good omen.

When he tells the rest of the survivors about the garden, he decides he wants to use the lawnmower to create crop circles, as a signal for help. What he fails to realize is that there are no crops in the school, and that no one would be able to see them from above if there were. It's this moment that Hina points out how ridiculous he's getting:

"What the heck's happened to you...? You weren't like this in the beginning, you know." "Well back then my personality hadn't quite solidified yet...!" "I didn't think it was possible, but I'm more disappointed in you now than I've ever been..."

This suggests Hiro's characterization, from the ground up, was designed to be laughed at. (That's a surprise tool that will help us later.)

When the other survivors decide to dismantle Monokuma, Hiro is the one who actually undergoes the process of dismantling and opening him up, with the only one we see helping with the parts to be Toko. This puts him directly under fire if Monokuma wakes up and decides to punish the perpetrator. It's safe to assume this is why he and Toko were chosen by Byakuya to do the actual dismantling. He also goes on to be the one to get the TV working in the data center, suggesting some level of proficiency with technology that's never explored again.

When the 5th trial begins, Hiro's panicking, insisting that Kyoko is a ghost("she's like the latest evolution in ghost technology!") and has to be corrected before the actual trial can start.

When the final investigation begins, and Kyoko, Byakuya, and Toko have all gone off on their own, Hiro decides he's going to go off on his own as well, declaring he's going to use his "totally awesome spirit power to figure out the mastermind's identity!" This declaration goes nowhere, as he's the only survivor you don't need to talk to before Monokuma's clue, and his only dialogue before the trial is him avoiding you. This 'totally awesome spirit power' is never used in the final trial, either.

When the final trial begins, Hiro is the first to make the accusation Monokuma wanted- that he was the only innocent one, and that everyone else was working together. But when Hina and Byakuya piggyback off of him, he's the first to realize that they've all been given the same evidence. Simultaneously, somehow, he's the last one to realize the evidence is fake("Wh-what? Wait, hold on... This doesn't make any sense... How can the three of us each have that kind of evidence!?")

When Junko reveals the truth to everyone, he's the first to beg for mercy. He's brought to despair- "We get it... We get it, okay? You're totally awesome, right? We get it already! So help us! I'll do anything! Just help me!" "A peasant begging for his life? How delightful! We've never witnessed such a travesty firsthand..." But when Makoto fights back, he's also the first one to embrace hope(assuming you shoot the characters in the order they appear):

"But to live means moving forward, right...? So even if it's hard... even if we're scared... we don't have any choice, do we? I want to keep on living! I want to open the next door! There must be something new waiting for me! So that's why... That's why...! No matter what, I need to get out of here! The whole fortune-telling thing doesn't matter anymore! What matters is my own gut feelings! I... I've decided to have faith in myself!"

He, along with the other survivors, votes for hope. Junko is executed, and the seven of them leave together.

Part 9- Ultra Despair Hagakure (yes we have to talk about this)

TW: discussion of pedophilia and incest. Skip to part 9 if you need to(5 paragraphs down).

Ultra Despair Hagakure, or UDH, is the spinoff-spinoff LN unlocked by completing "spinoff" game Ultra Despair Girls. It follows Yasuhiro Hagakure in Towa City as he's saved by former captive Kanon Nakajima, and the two of them try to survive the Monokumas and find a way to escape. The novel's state of canon is unclear, but it doesn't directly contradict anything in the main series continuity in terms of plot progression.

The problem with UDH (well, for Hiro anyway. Kanon is a whole other can of worms for the Leonalysis) is that UDH establishes Hiro as a pedophile. Kanon is 15, and says as much in her internal dialogue, but Hiro(who introduces himself as mid-20s) spends the LN being attracted to her, and that attraction combined with his money-hunger pushes him to stick with her, hoping to squeeze money out of her rich father upon their escape. He describes her as 'the type to have a baby by 21', and there are multiple instances of him being turned on by her, either while she's fighting the Monokumas or when she ends up physically leaned against him. All around, it's just a really unfortunate choice they made for his character that serves nothing to the main plot besides acting as a way to emphasize how cute Kanon is. Why did they choose to have Hiro act in this way towards Kanon? Simple: UDH is a fetish novel.

UDH adds no significant development to the worldbuilding or its pre-established characters, with two exceptions- Hiro, and Leon. Both become victims of immoral fetish content, though Leon at least gets the shield of plausible deniability from an unreliable narrator. Hiro doesn't get that since we see his first-person perspective. The plot of UDH is structured around Kanon, despite its being named after Hiro, and centers on her feelings of lust and desire for a relationship, using the setting of UDG as a backdrop. Hiro is an older man than Kanon, and Leon is Kanon's cousin. Both of these characters had their names and base personalities recycled to act as her love interests, as an excuse to write fetish content. It's as simple as that. And Hiro in particular suffers because he's the living and present man of the two, so to make the content, he's given perverted, sexual thoughts about Kanon, a 15 year old girl, as a grown adult in his 20s, not because it's something Hiro would've done, but because it's part of the older-guy fetish. It's unnecessary for his character, and doesn't appear at all in the next and final appearance he has in the series, nor does it ever come up outside of this LN.

UDH is a dark spot on the history of Yasuhiro Hagakure, and one of dubious canon at that. But it's still important to acknowledge that was written and released as official content within the DR franchise, and therefore, must be part of this character dissection. Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that, due to the entire LN being primarily fetish content, it can't in good conscience be held up as part of Yasuhiro's own character. However, it is reflective of Kodaka's lack of care in the treatment of Yasuhiro Hagakure as a character.

Part 10- Danganronpa 3: Future Arc

Hiro, alongside Makoto, Kyoko, and Hina, are brought back as part of the lineup for DR3's Future Arc, participating in a new killing game with 12 new characters.

10.1- Character Design Pt 2

Hiro's design is updated to his Future Foundation uniform, with his pant sleeves rolled up, his blazer over his shoulders, and a bright blue tie. His locs are now pulled back, he's wearing thin-wire glasses, and he's pictured holding his crystal ball(though again, it breaks in the 1st episode).

10.2- Hiro's Subplot

In the first episode of the Future Arc, Hiro's left out of the meeting by the others and told to wait outside. He's then left out of the killing game and locked outside the building by accident when the exits are blown up, and left to fend for himself in occasional clips for over half of the season until Byakuya shows up to break into the building.

His only role in the anime is an occasional cutaway to him wondering what's going on inside, only to be shot at by a helicopter with a machine gun and barely survive unscathed. The anime straight up tells the audience the reason for this in one of the opening recaps:

He's the only survivor from THH not to play a significant role as well, as Makoto, Kyoko, and Hina are active in the kg, Byakuya is the one to lead the rescue effort, and Toko and Jack get a dedicated episode in Towa City with Komaru to hunt down Monaca. All this to say, his occasional bit of barely surviving is all he gets in comparison, which isn't much.

10.3- Byakuya Togami

As the only character Hiro has significant interaction with in the season, the relationship between Hiro and Byakuya is mildly expanded upon. Once Byakuya arrives, Hiro immediately falls in line beside him, following orders to lay explosives and try to break into the building, complaining all the while as Byakuya watches and directs him. It's all reminiscent of their relationship at the endgame of THH; however, Byakuya appears to be more fond of Hiro at this point, stopping him from triggering the trap in the lobby and keeping him out of danger at his own risk. In that vein of logic, Hiro being told to stay outside by not only Byakuya, but also Makoto, Hina, and Kyoko wasn't because 'no one likes him', it was because of genuine concern that he'd get caught up in something that wasn't his fault. It was because they liked him that he was safe.

Part 11- Racism in Danganronpa

As we've seen, Hiro is a character without much of a story to talk about. He's got his bit moments, and a banterous dynamic with the other survivors from THH, but even in his own novel, he doesn't have his own plot to speak of, nor does he ever receive any significant character growth in 8 years of DR history by real-world years. He is wholly a gag character, meant to be messy, stupid, and altogether unimportant in comparison to the rest of the cast. And to call this anything other than flat-out racism would be flat-out ignorance.

First off, in a series with over 100 characters, Hiro is one of 3-4 characters who are canonically dark-skinned(I can't remember if Akane was dark-skinned or is in "it's just a tan" club with Hina, Sakura, Teruteru, and Gonta). Of those, he's one of two black men, and the other is a racist caricature whose sole purpose is to die in demonstration of a 'game mechanic'(Daisaku Bandai). So already, we can clearly see that black men, as well as any other dark-skinned characters, aren't prioritized in DR's narrative.

When it comes to Hiro specifically, though, the specifics of his character- his design, his backstory, and the perception the other characters have of him- all at least partially stem from blatantly racist stereotypes. It's not just a matter of lack of rep, it's a matter of stereotypical and often outright offensive representation.

Scroll back up to see Hiro's THH design again. He's dressed in multiple layers, making him look 'grungy', like he doesn't care about his appearance, and he's the only dark-skinned character to have a black hairstyle throughout the entire series. There's a point in the game where, if you choose to speak to him in a group setting, Genocide Jill refers to him as "Afro Thunder" as a derogatory remark. Even from a character that gives everyone nicknames, this is clearly racism, as the other nicknames are plays on the characters' names ('Big Mac' for Makoto, 'Tick Tock' for Taka, etc).

While the details of Hiro's backstory aren't fully expanded upon, we do have enough information from his mother, Hiroko, and some of his dialogue in THH to have enough of an idea. Hiroko was a teen mother, and considering Hiro is in his mid-20s(23 at the youngest) while Hiroko is around 36 during the events of UDG according to the UDG artbook, that would mean she had him at age 13, at the oldest. In addition, Hiroko isn't dark-skinned, meaning that either Hiro got his color solely from his father, or his mother was biracial and just didn't get those genes. In addition, we know that his father wasn't around for most of his life, as he left Hiroko for an unspecified act she 'let go on too long,' which implies infidelity. We do know his dad was around long enough for Hiro to remember him, though, as he's able to recall an instance where his father burned their house down due to smoking in bed. Now, this may be on me, but the implication all this seems to suggest is that his father, who would've been black, left his family and left the teen mother to raise Hiro on her own, and that the one depiction we receive of him paints him as irresponsible for causing a house fire. It's not expressly canon, but it's the implication the given information leaves for the player, and is eerily similar to the stereotype that black men are irresponsible and absent fathers that knock up younger women.

Throughout all of THH, Hiro is perceived as stupid. Just about every character that interacts with Hiro calls him an idiot at least once, and he's repeatedly portrayed as not understanding what's going on around him. The only character that's ever less aware than he is at any given time is Genocide Jack or Toko, and that's because the two don't share memories. In chapter 3, his supposed idiocy is emphasized as the reason Celeste targeted and pinned a double-murder on him, and how she was able to get away with framing him for so long. Almost everyone agreed with her that Hiro's idiocy explained away the flaws in logic from his perspective as a killer. Byakuya even says as such("He probably thought that if nobody saw his face, it wouldn't matter if he was seen. Because he's an idiot, you see."). He falls for every little lie Monokuma drops over the course of the game, to the point where he contradicts himself at the start of the final trial. There's a moment in chapter 5 where Hina goes on about how stupid he is, and asks him what 10+10 is. It offends him to the point he forgets what question she asked, and when he asks her to repeat herself, she just says "Don't worry. You've already answered it." Even Makoto, the POV character who we're meant to project ourselves as player onto, goes on about how stupid and disorganized he is at multiple instances when talking to him. Not only do the other characters perceive him as stupid, but the game wants you as player to perceive him as stupid, too, at the detriment of his own characterization as a successful and sleazy businessman who's made millions. Stupid, disorganized idiots who spend $1M on a glass ball aren't normally charismatic and clever enough to be making that much at such a young age from the ground up.

And maybe, maybe, if Hiro were the only instance where a dark-skinned character were subject to this volume of stereotypes, and the rest of the dark-skinned characters were all excellently developed and unique and well, not written consistently with racist tropes, then you could try to make the argument that this was by mistake. That it wasn't fully intentional, or that the creator was just trying to make a variety of characters, whatever. But every single dark-skinned (or tanned) character in the series suffers from some kind of racist trope. If it's not this, or being a blatant caricature like Bandai, it's being a monster brute who's viewed as an inhuman monster(Sakura, Gonta), it's being an islander cultist who follows some indigenous violent god(Angie), etc. The racism within Danganronpa's dark-skinned characters is inherently a part of their characters, to the point where you cannot separate the sins of the author from the character. Yasuhiro Hagakure is a byproduct of racism, and it holds him back as a character from being expanded upon outside of what the stereotype allows so long as he's written by his creators.

Part 12- Fortune Telling Does Matter (Why we should care)

We've now thoroughly dissected Yasuhiro Hagakure and his role, or often lqack thereof, in the story. He's a gag character built on racist tropes that the creator didn't give a fuck about, and was lent out for a fetish piece. He's an idiot, a useless guy whose own creator built to be pointed at and laughed at. Why should anyone care about Hiro? The answer comes in the epilogue of THH, from Hiro himself:

"...Ah! I get it now! If there's no road, you just gotta build one! Creation... Fate is telling me to remake the world! That's... my hope! I've reached the next stage! The next chapter of Yasuhiro Hagakure's Life Story is about to begin!"

'If there's no road, you just gotta build one.' Hiro was made with racism, yes, and went underused in the source material, but that doesn't mean that was all there was to his character. If you dig into the work, you'll find a passionate man that cares deeply for his interest in the unknown, someone who researches and collects artifacts in his free time, and who genuinely believes in his clairvoyance, and used that passion and belief to build a career and life for himself. The pieces are in place for his story to continue, and if the source material won't do it, then well, can't we? Danganronpa is known for its love and attention to detail of its characters. Each and every character is designed with the potential to become the protagonist of their own story. That includes Hiro. He does have the potential to rise past the source material in the right hands, and those could be your hands. Who's to say? Maybe there's some unwritten genius hidden within that next chapter. That's the beauty of fanwork; untapped potential can become a fan favorite if you know where to look.

Afterword

"Hey guys, Sayakanalysis is taking a while, I want an easy one next." Well look how that turned out. This shit was NOT easy, not by a long shot. I've come to the conclusion that there is no easy character to analyze in this godforsaken series

That said, I am happy with how this turned out. Even if Hiro is a bit all over the place, I genuinely like him a lot more now! There's actually a lot of fun to be had with his character if you're willing to look deeper into him; that's what I want people to take away from this

Anyways, it'll probably be a nice long wait for the next one because uh. Junko is next. And V3 is basically the only time she doesn't show up soooooooo hope you enjoyed catch ya later

[linkspooky]

Hi I really love ur metas your jjk ones really made me appreciate the story even more. I was curious about ur analysis on why Gojo is important to Geto.

It's obvious as to why Geto is important to Gojo and how Geto effected him but I don't think it's talked about enough of the reversal

That's a good observation anon, the story makes it less obvious what Geto needs Gojo for, while spending a long time lingering on the tragedy of Geto's loss and what the loss of his only real friend meant for Gojo.

I think part of this is because Geto is a character of deep self-reflection so a lot of his internal narration is about his feelings towards his self and thinking through his own ideals and what that means. Whereas Gojo doesn't really self reflect but he does observe other people. We don't know what Gojo's opinions on a lot of things are, but we know what Geto meant to him because he's much clearer on how he felt towards Geto. Geto's staring into himself trying to figure what he feels personally, Gojo is always staring at other people trying to figure out what they feel.

As for why Gojo means so much to Geto, it's important to remember that they are a duo. They're the same idiot in different fonts. Geto's a much more human character and we are inside his head more often so it's easy to forget that when they were young Geto had the same kind of god / superiority complex that Gojo did.

Geto is associated with religious imagery over and over again, the same way that Gojo is associated with budhist ideals of enlightenment and escaping karma. They are both people who were in their teenage years more powerful than everyone around them, and because of that looked down on everyone.

Even Geto's stated ideals of "protecting the weak" come from a place of superiority. He still divides people mentally into the weak and the strong. The special ones and the common rabble. He sees people the same way Gojo does, he just believes that the strong like him and Gojo have a moral obligation to use their powers responsibly in service of others.

Geto's not more humble than Gojo. Their moral disagreement comes from how they should use the power they've been given, but they both feel that the power they have puts them in a position above other people.

All of this to illustrate the fact that if Gojo felt isolated as a teenager because all the power he had made him feel lonely and unable to connect with others, then so Geto probably felt isolated in the same way too. They each found in each other someone they could finally call their equal. Because of it they gained someone they could be vulnerable around and someone they could trust to watch their back.

The things Geto does for Gojo (check on his feelings when no one else would, go out of his way to reassure him), Gojo does for Geto in return. It's not Geto always taking care of Goo it's a partnership between the two of them where they lean on each other.

When Kuroi is kindapped and Geto immediately falls into a funk and starts to blame himself for his mistake, it's Gojo who reassures him by hurrying him along and telling him they need to focus on planning what they should do next. Gojo knows Geto well enough to know his tendency to get trapped in his own thoughts and gives him the kick in the pants he needs.

In the same scene where Geto checks on Gojo's well-being to make sure he's not overusing his power, Gojo returns the sentiment by reassuring Geto not to worry about him because he won't push himself too hard and that he's not in this alone Geto's here too.

That's probably a big part of it for Geto. Yes, Geto tends to naturally slide into the caretaker role, watching out for Gojo and checking in on him but at the same time Geto probably likes that there is someone who needs him in that way. If Gojo's defined by his lack of connection with other people, Geto's defined by the way he goes out to make connections. It's nice to be needed as they say. The fact that someone as seemingly self-sufficient as Gojo not only relies on Geto a great deal, but lets Geto take care of him is probably a big part of their bond.

Which is probably why Gojo's awakening post Toji is a big part in why they started to grow apart from each other. If Geto likes to live in service to other people, and defines himself by his connection to others he probably interpreted Gojo no longer needing his support on missions and suddenly doing everything by himself as Gojo pulling away from him.

I think a big part in Geto's downfall was the hit he took when one he was defeated by Toji someone without Jujutsu and too, Gojo suddenly became out of his reach. Gojo himself never said that they were no longer the strongest duo, or that they were no longer the strongest together it's all Geto. As I said Geto has as much of a god complex as Gojo does.

He thought they were on the top together, and not only is he suddenly confronted with his own weakness at the exact same time Gojo's become so strong it appears on the surface that he no longer needs anyone's support, especially not Geto's.

Nanami says it out loud, but Geto probably echoes the sentiment. If Gojo is now strong enough to handle every mission on his own then what need does he have for other sorcerers - and Geto in particular? Geto goes from feeling needed in a lot of ways by Gojo who was just as important a friend to him as he was to Gojo to watch Gojo suddenly handle everything alone. In a lot of ways it probably felt like Geto lost Gojo far before the KFC breakup and his defection from Jujutsu High. From Geto's perspective their relationship was over, their partnership broken and Gojo just did not realize it until after the village massacre.

At first Geto had as big of an ego with Gojo, and connected in a special way with him because the two of them were on top together. However, he came to believe that the only reason their partnerhsip worked was because they were both the strongest. When Gojo became the strongest alone Geto believed incorrectly that what they once had was lost and Gojo no longer needed him when Gojo's emotional reaction to Geto's defection shows that's anything but true.

In Geto's mind it is though because he's kind of got the same messed up way of dividing people into strong and weak that Gojo does, he probably just realized that he was one of the weak ones and feared Gojo thinking the same way.

During Geto and Gojo's final confrontation he almost has an inferiority complex about it when he talks about how if he had the limitless he'd easily be able to accomplish what he set out to do.

Until that moment Geto always thought they were equals, but now Geto's suddenly talking like he covets Gojo's power. He suddenly wants to be Gojo, probably because he incorrectly believes that their partnership is base don being equals in power when it's really just a normal friendship.

Which is why the loss of Gojo's friendship affects Geto just as badly as the other way around. Everyone wants to be equals with their friends, especially to a friend as important as Gojo was to Geto.

There's almost a tragic irony in how when speaking of his friendship to Nanako and Mimiko, Geto acts like their friendship ended when Gojo left Jujutsu High. It's their in his death scene too, Geto is surprised by the fact that Gojo has any feelings left for him.

Geto's so insecure over his connection to Gojo he didn't understand that in Gojo's mind they were still friends right up until the very end, and perhaps if he were just a bit more secure they would have been able to reach one another instead of falling apart.

[alshamswelnahr]

I’d love to share why Kimetsu no Yaiba is so dear to me but I could go on for ages so instead I'll briefly talk about what I love most about it

The Characters:

The characters are the real stars of this manga. They all have such unique, recognizable designs, and their introductions and story conclusions are really memorable. Each one is so different and interesting, both in their personalities and abilities. I love how the story really dives into their minds, flaws, and connections with others. Their story arcs perfectly tie into the bigger themes of the series. The focus on bonds, especially the emphasis on family—whether by birth or the ones we create—is particularly touching. And I love the way it shows the characters dealing with the same situations of loss and grief, highlighting their distinct qualities.

The Story’s Messages:

The story focuses on how love and the desire to support others are key to finding purpose and beauty in a cruel world. It shows the power of human will to fight against injustice and make a difference, no matter how difficult things get. The narrative also humanizes even those considered inhuman, allowing us to empathize with them, and understand the circumstances that might lead someone down a dark path. The story stresses that life’s cruelty isn’t an excuse for violence; instead, true strength comes from love, emotional openness, and connecting with others. It portrays death as both a painful loss and a continuation of existence through our impact on others. It’s all about justice and accountability without revenge, showing the effects of evil on everyone involved while still insisting on the beauty of life, even with all its challenges.

The Fights:

The fights in KnY aren’t just about physical combat—they’re deep and meaningful, involving emotional, ethical, and thematic battles. They’re set up between characters who share similar experiences, but how they handle things differently really highlights their personalities and contrasts.

The Heart/Emotions:

One of the main reasons I love this manga is the emotional depth. Whether it’s the backstories of demons and slayers, heartwarming reunions, or the gut-wrenching moments when characters give in to their worst instincts, the goodbye scenes or the emphasis on the love and bonds between characters, and what they’re willing to do for each other, it's all incredibly touching.

In Conclusion:

KnY is sincere, enjoyable, and easy to follow. It’s well-paced and knows exactly what it is without trying to be something else just for the sake of it. And of course, Ufotable’s adaptation takes all of this to the next level with their amazing production, flawless animation, and incredible music and voice acting.

[ilikethecolorredsstuff]

ARCANE Rant

Arcane s2 ending is underwhelming because the show was slowly building up to it (the biggest disappointment of the century)

U can feel it slowly letting go of the class issues that s1 was based on ( arguably the reason why the show was appealing to begin with) foe what seems to be no reason. Cause it seemed that they could've done better with presenting the themes that were already there in the subtext of it all or atleast it was that way for s1 and the first act(s?)

By the 3rd act, it's like they make it a point to stray away from what the show is supposed to be about and maybe that's why there's a lot of distraction going on (*caughs * fan service). In the last act there's just so many loose endings and key points are missing, ones that are usually provided to the whatcher bethey offer needed insight like how jayce decided to touch the arcane or what happened with ekko and jinx when he stopped her. This is a pattern that also shows in s1 and the other acts but the avoidance of clearing things up or providing insight on character's behaviors in this case isn't to get us to think about it and interpret it on our own instead it leaves a feelibg of just accept it for now that's how thongs came to be, and it doesn't even explain it later(would've beena great move tbh).

This lack of insight makes it easier to just accept other shifts that don't actually make sense like the main shift of victor's character when he gave up on doing good for the ppl the moment jayce attacked him and honestly not only did jayce have no business doing that, victor also had no reason to change his ideology for only that. The attack harmed not only him but also the ones connected to him so it does make sense that instead of healing he decided to eliminate all danger but even then it wouldn't make sense for him to agree to forge an army and pick sides for a political war something he aims to demolish.

And then it's not even about his conquest anymore and we get a fairly easy and rushed destruction of the black flower and then back to Victor.... Victor changes his ways and they disappear leaving everyone behind to what? Move on? As if the story is about how humans weren't ready for a progress that fast andbnow they can learn from their mistakes and take their time, as if that insane leap of advancement both biological and technical isn't just a by product of an environment manufactured by classism that pressured and cornered ppl into this extreme reality.

At the end, nothing has changed from the beginning of s1, the counsel just added a physical chair for the undercity instead of the invisible one that silco did hold at some point.

The truth is zaun isn't even a separate nation anymore it's still the undercity who now has a representative in the counsel.

War didn't even unite the ppl in fear and grief because except for the enforcers the fighters were mostly from zaun, this is dangerous because it paints a picture where the unpriveleged lot are fighting someone else's battles while the priveleged (root cause of said battle) get to flee and only comeback when everything is settled to look all bigoted and give side eyes to the representative of the unpriveleged (im looking at u short grandma).

My point is what is the show trying to say by ignoring the core issue, leaving us in the dark abt a character's motivations, and jumping to war with spiritual robots meanwhile the counsel is full of classist cowards leading a nation they fled when shit got bloody and letting the war criminal from the uptown have a happy ever after, her crimes don't even get mentioned while jinx is told that no amount lf help she offers can undo the harm she caused. It's all intentional, the show even ends with a hidden message that heimdinger was correct from thr beginning for restricting research or at least it felt that way.

[stargirlfeyre]

The most interesting thing about people being upset about Nesta and Rhys’ relationship even after they “made up” in Acosf is we literally told y’all that this would happen and y’all just dismissed it as being Nesta hate.

Let’s break it down.

Rhys and Nesta did not make up. They bonded over their shared desperation for saving Feyre. In that situation emotions were running high and former animosity and resentment were pushed aside for their love for Feyre. This can also be compared to Feyre and Nesta “bonding” over helping Elain and the humans in Acowar. They didn’t have a genuine connection between them but a shared goal. That’s why when that goal was no longer something being worked towards by both of them, their relationship deteriorated once more.

This is the same case for Nesta and Rhys. Saving Feyre was that goal. Rhys was in a situation where he had to rely on Nesta to save his wife and child and now that they’re both out of that situation, there’s nothing binding them anymore. There’s nothing that they agree on anymore. The desperation for Feyre’s life wore off and it’s like “Oh yeah. Now I’m remembering why I didn’t like you”.

And it all boils down to the fact that they had no conversation. No one in these books did. They didn’t talk about their issues, why they resent one another, the hateful things they have said both to each other and to their shared loved ones etc. There was absolutely no closure for that on either end. They spent a year hating one another and said not a word about it after…

And the craziest thing is we said this was needed and y’all dismissed it. We said that these relationships can’t truly heal without a conversation and y’all said “actions speak louder than words”…well not in cases like these babes. Nesta saving Feyre, while admirable, does not change how she treated her and how everyone else disliked her for how she treated Feyre. And your response to that was to call us ungrateful and say that we expected too much from Nesta when really that’s not the case at all.

What we were saying is, this is a group of people with so much hatred and animosity between them that they’re literally threatening to murder one another. That the years of abuse and mistreatment will not be fixed with an action (no matter how big the actions) but with multiple conversations.

Conversations are important.

We told y’all this. Rhys and Nesta do not have a relationship and they never truly healed the hatred between them. That’s why it’s so easy for the both of them to yell at one another or resort to insults when they’re pissed at each other. They don’t understand how the other feels, they don’t listen to one another, they aren’t sympathetic towards one another and all because they didn’t talk.

Yes they both love Feyre but your love for someone can’t be the only thing helping you get along with someone else. And that can go for the relationships with many of these characters. Sjm is afraid of deep verbal confrontations when it comes to these characters and that’s why their relationships seem so stagnant.

[solkorolevastan]

I just finished Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield and so few books have managed to make me this depressed

5 stars obviously and I’m just gonna talk about my thoughts on the book with some spoilers

“I know all this, and I know that as my head cleared, finally, of everything, sunken thoughts receding with the thing that we had left below, I thought to myself Miri Miri Miri and I waited for the ocean to end.”

Leah and Miri loved each other so much but they also both didn’t want to accept that something had changed? Like Miri spent so long pining for her Leah that when Leah actually came back different she couldn’t do anything but sit and watch her disappear

Leah was changed after what she experienced and so I think she wanted more from Miri but didn’t know how to express it like from what you got in the flashbacks their relationship wasn’t that tension filled precipice it was when Leah came back like it was easy and comforting and Leah changing changes their entire dynamic which is apart of why Leah goes back to the sea

This book made me cry so much it’s not even funny like it just makes you feel the loss over and over again like Miri lost Leah twice and the second time she had to watch the love of her life grow worse and worse in front of her eyes when she couldn’t do anything to stop it

Do you think Miri thought if she went in the bathroom sooner or stayed in the bedroom with Leah or kept trying to make contact emotionally and physically she could’ve saved Leah? Do you think she blames herself?

I think a lot of it it her blaming Leah too for abandoning her because that’s what happened in a sense like even at the bottom of the sea when Leah had the chance to go she had to keep searching. Going back to Miri was a specific choice in Leah’s mind because apart of her wanted to be down there and that’s why she ends becoming apart of it in the end

I think I’ve said this in fifty different ways but I think Leah and Miri forgot how to love each other in the time they were apart. They forgot how to love overall. You could even argue they forgot how to be human which is why when Leah is gone Miri is truly alone because no one can understand what happened except for Leah. No one can understand her except for Leah. Leah was her everything and she was gone

Leah probably felt so alone when she came back to the surface. When she was down there even though she was technically alone, she had Matteo and Jelka and while it drove them crazy, it helped her to cope knowing there were other people there. When she came back up she couldn’t possibly explain everything to Miri the sounds, the pressure, sunkeness like everything was so intense and personal you can’t pass that on to someone else easily.

I think the weight of all she saw is what really made her go back. That and the obvious connection with the eldritch terror which probably felt more stable than the one she was in Miri when she got back

Leah is such a tragic character like she just makes me so sad to think about like in Miri’s eyes she was so full of kindness and light and we can see that even when she’s down there like you can see every piece of her that Miri talks about slowly being stripped when she’s in the ocean. I think when Leah came back she was a shell of herself because the ocean took away everything that wasn’t the sea. It stripped her of everything that made her foreign to it and so when she came back all that was left was water

Miri is also tragic because of how she forces herself to be alone. I don’t think that Miri is going to get better now that Leah is gone because Leah was her lifeline. I remember she said that she couldn’t cope with the idea of Leah dying before the left like it was so foreign and strange and yet it happened. Leah left her slowly in the end without talking just like her mother.

Miri isolated herself from her friend, Leah’s friends everyone because she just wanted her wife back and when her wife came back she isolated herself from her too. It’s so sad because they’re both so alone but they’re so together, like they’re so intertwined with each other in a heavy way

But yeah imma stop crying and all in all it was an amazing book even better than I could’ve hoped for like I was so sure it was gonna be some alien switched with my wife type story but it was even more tragic. Like this is probably one of the only horror books I’ll read because it was horrific not in a jumping screaming way but in a suffocating, drowning way.

"To drop below the surface is still to sink, however intentionally - a simple matter of taking on water, just as drowning only requires you to open your mouth."

[zenkindoflove]

I've been thinking about a comment I've seen thrown around in the great "whose book is next?" debate, which is "we don't know enough about Elain yet."

I wouldn't say I'm confused as to why people say this. I know it's because for many people, Elain is easily forgotten and purposely ignored because of her character archetype. Especially in fantasy, female characters who are more soft spoken, traditionally feminine, and have a penchant for following social norms or being generally agreeable as a way to get by in the world are often pushed to the side. You see it not only in how other characters act towards them but also how readers value them. We specifically see Rhys and Feyre actively choose to put Nesta's needs (and ultimately her story) before Elain's by focusing on "one sister at a time" which is explained by Nesta being the squeakier wheel.

But let's take a moment to understand what we have seen of Elain's journey so far.

We have seen Elain: live in poverty, witness her sister's kidnapping, mentally manipulated by fae magic to forget, see her family return to riches, have to navigate high society again, find a fiance and become betrothed, host queens in her home to help her Fae sister which she hides from her betrothed, kidnapped, made into a Fae against her will, have a mating bond snap with someone who isn't her fiance, grapple with becoming fae, learning the nature of her new powers, mourn the separation with her love, processing that she has a mating bond to another, receive visions of a powerful death god, try to get back her fiance and is horribly dumped, kidnapped again, present in a battle, killing the King of Hybern to protect her sister, losijg her father,process some more her trauma of losing her human life and grieving her father, trying to fit in with her new family and her new life, insisting she wants to help the NC and to learn more about her powers, pursue a crush and be rejected... Again, grapple with the codependent relationship she has with Nesta both in setting boundaries and trying to heal, reconnect with her sister Feyre, and witness her sister die and be resurrected in childbirth.

To me, that spells out quite a character journey of experiencing trauma of many types, overcoming adversity, and trying to find her identity and place in the world.

What is most important is on all three of those counts we have seen the start of this process but we haven't delved deep or had any resolution. And more specifically, because these are romances, we haven't seen how Elain will grow and make sense of her mating bond that she feels a lot of reluctance towards. I point all of this out because there is a lot of tension in Elain's narrative. There are several unresolved plots and actions that have happened to her character that we are sitting and wondering what she is going to do and what she thinks of all of these things.

I just don't think the statement that "we don't know enough about Elain yet" for her to have the next book is a valid argument to make when you actually sit down and take the energy to see Elain. To focus on what her specific experience has been so far in the books.

Her story is geared up and ready to go. Specifically her story with Lucien. And this is leaving out how connected she is to the overall fantasy plots because the bigger point I wanted to make is that as a character, Elain already has a lot to her story and even more to explore. She is more than geared up to be a FMC.

I know especially with the ship war it's easy to get caught up in rooting for what we want to see happen. But at the end of the day, this is a character we've known since the first novel, who has been integral to many parts of the story and directly affected by what has happened in the story. So the entire attitude that it's preposterous to think Elain is ready for her own book is really just doing what everyone else in her life does to her - underestimate her. And I can't wait for people to see how much they have misjudged and ignored her.

[mattress-ing]

What about gunmetal stuck out to you to where your writing a multi chapter fic about it? Just curious

Contains spoilers if you’re not caught up on riptide

Give or take ten episodes, I’m not double checking right now

Might be faster to name all the things that didn’t lol

We have my usual pulls; mlm ship, side characters with a lot of “offscreen” time, nontraditional relationship dynamic, and the fact that they’re both so interesting. Also, if I don’t write down my headcannons I’ll just go crazy sitting in a room going no one knows them like I do

So: why I ship them.

They both have the ability to really go wherever they want, but since our introduction to each of them, they lose their “purpose” or their main tie to a place or a plan. Alphonse is freed and gryffon kills Grimm. Now they’re both kind of aimless and *cough* adrift *cough cough* and have to find what to do with the rest of their lives. Both took what looks to me like the easy option of just follow the nearest people with a plan concepts of a plan

With Gryffon, I was drawn to him referring to himself as cuddly at one point. I wanted to explore how he balances or doesn’t balance the warring aspects of bounty hunter who is clearly comfortable killing and feeling like he’s soft and cuddly on the inside. I wanted to see him coping with what we can infer is the loss of his entire race, and pinpoint what drives him to keep going after he got his revenge. Is it hope? Spite? Blossoming attraction? Fear?

I think Gryffon sees Alphonse as more naive than he is, and wants to protect him while also harboring guilt for feeling a romantic connection there. Whereas Alphonse sees Gryffon as emotionally stunted and wants to draw him out of his shell and feels frustrated and confused when he is met with shell wall in situations he thought they already got through.

And finally, intimacy. Alphonse can’t register touch in the same way that humans do. And it drives me crazy. For him, intimacy is something entirely his own. And since he enjoys building I figure he’s drawn to mental connection more, emotional honesty, a knowledge of building. He likes having all the pieces of someone in his mind. I think even more than that, he enjoys solving puzzles. And Gryffon gives him many opportunities for that. His arm. His general demeanor.

Gryffon being the last of his kind means the loss of language. Both spoken and intimate. Imagine no one knows what a hug is, or a fist bump, or a kiss. How many displays of companionship or affection that he experienced as a child haven’t been performed in a decade? How does he go about explaining meaningful gestures to people who’s bodies aren’t genetically programmed to have that gesture release oxytocin? And what if that person can’t feel touch anyway? Gryffon has to teach everyone else how to love him in a language only he speaks. But first he has to trust someone enough to accept their love. And he hasn’t been able to let his guard down for a decade, that doesn’t come off in the wash.

Then the ship fiasco.

(A brief aside to say; while I think it was horrible for the characters to do this to their friend, it was a comedic bit that got turned into canon. Just because I’ve decided to take it in a serious manner doesn’t change the fact that the show is there for fun and for laughs (we’re on the piss on the poor reading comprehension site, I’m covering my ass))

Alphonse becoming the ship was such a “woah this guy is getting essentially enslaved by his friends” and he seems almost resigned to it in canon portrayal. So I wanted to figure out if I could explain to myself why he is so resigned about it.

I think Alphonse, who is finally finding his passions, choosing to sacrifice himself for this child and then being brought back into a body he isn’t in charge of, is a web of emotions so knotted together that its hard to pull one string without tightening the whole thing.

Gryffon sees these captains he respects treat a crew member like he’s only there to serve their goal. But he also sees them bring him back from death. Should he feel horror or relief?

Does Alphonse feel indebted for this third chance at life, two of which he received from these same captains? Does Gryffon worry about leaving Alphonse behind if he leaves to spare himself a similar fate?

TL:DR I have a lot of questions and I’m not accepting answers that aren’t mine because I’m a control freak about my scrunglies

[andro-dino]

Hi sorry for the ask jumpscare. I've been craving some Nile angst recently and may you could provide some of that Nile angst. (bc I randomly remembered the unrequited love Nile/Kyouya clip a while back. But it doesn't have to be about that.)

oooouhhh Nile angst,,, I haven’t had any angst thoughts in a while.

I think Nile’s interesting bc despite what he goes through, he’s actually very levelheaded and calm about it most of the time. I think he’s a very logical person and able to kinda see a lot of situations two steps ahead already, so he’s able to keep cool (for the most part) in the present. I think there’s a lot you could do with that there. I think the most obvious one is the emotional repression angle, where he’s almost too far ahead to the point where he’s not really letting himself feel in the moment. Like, he’s surprisingly chill about Kyoya’s outburst and split off from the group in fury considering how close they are, and he justifies that knowing that that’s just the kind of person Kyoya is and he wouldn’t expect him to stay tied down to something for long, and yet there’s still something about it that makes his stomach turn. He knows Kyoya’s a free spirit and not necessarily the friendliest person, so this isn’t really that out of character for him, yet part of him still wanted Kyoya to consider him a little more. For how close he thought the two were, they weren’t really getting much time together, and now with this, it only made him feel less secure about their bond. It’s kind of a feeling of his rationalism clashing with his own feelings and attachments, yk?

Another route I actually remembered I have thought a bit about before is how much Nile worries over Kyoya. Nile cares for Kyoya a ton, more than Kyoya probably even realizes, but he also knows that Kyoya has NO sense of self preservation and just wishes he would stop being so goddamn stubborn and reckless all the time. This thought is kinda inspired by wild fang vs gan gan galaxy, where Kyoya is super beat up and in no shape to battle after his battle with Gingka, yet still insists on going out there, despite Nile’s protests. Again, Nile kinda just accepts this as part of Kyoya’s character, but it worries him so much. I can definitely see and argument breaking out about that, and I think it could be interesting if Nile argued in this case that it’s selfish of Kyoya to be so reckless because of how much it disregards everyone else around him. It’s selfish because every time he does it, Nile is worried sick about what might happen to him, and he doesn’t even take the time to think about how his actions are causing that and considering anyone’s feelings besides his own. Like, not to pull out the “Why can’t you take care of yourself, if not for yourself then for me?” right now but like basically that. I’ve thought about this idea more lightheartedly before (I have an old ass doodle somewhere of Nile bandaging Kyoya up while the two yell at each other, ala “THIS IS STUPID IM FINE CHRIST THAT HURTS” “WELL MAYBE IF YOU WERENT GOING AROUND OVEREXERTING YOURSELF AND THROWING YOURSELF INTO TORNADOES, NEITHER OF US WOULD BE IN THIS SITUATION”) but I think it’s a very easy concept to make more angsty if you add more heartache into it.

Nile in general strikes me as the kind of independent but lonely type. In my head at least, he has a kind of duality between being fine on his own, and even preferring it at most points, but so desperately craving human connection and care. I think that’s part of what lets he and Kyoya get along so well in the first place, both are very free spirited and independent, but are able to understand each other and mesh more comfortably because of that. And with that, since there is a degree of yearning and relishing in that connection once he gets it, it’s only all the more confusing and painful once it’s called into question. Him kinda being under the impression that their relationship was something they both enjoyed more than being complete loners most of the time, yet he’s so willing to separate and say he doesn’t need anyone at all. Nile kinda figured they both needed each other a bit, so it’s strange realizing that may have been more one sided than he initially realized.

[pepsiiwho]

[1/4] Hi, um. Entrusting you with this because I think you'd be a better steward of it than I, but RE: Waxwitch, right? Also, the ship name is so lovely. ÓuÒ So, theory: at least last I heard, the incident behind Melinoë's ghost arm stemmed from Icarus' desire to be "[made] whole." He's quite guilty about it, to the point he disappeared - what stood out to me is his wording of being unable to "...look at anybody in the Crossroads anymore." *Anyone* in The Crossroads. [Continued in next ask]

Hi anon! Thank you for the asks, I was excited to see so much thought— truly the Waxwitch community is ingenious. As usual with my thoughts on these two it's gonna get long. Also, some specific spoilers with Mel's arm. If you wanna avoid that keep moving Waxwitch family, I'll still be here.

So for everyone else, this is the entire ask question.

Hi, um. Entrusting you with this because I think you'd be a better steward of it than I, but RE: Waxwitch, right? Also, the ship name is so lovely. ÓuÒ [Thank you anon, I'm incredibly surprised everyone else has picked it up as well lol]

So, theory: at least last I heard, the incident behind Melinoë's ghost arm stemmed from Icarus' desire to be "[made] whole." He's quite guilty about it, to the point he disappeared - what stood out to me is his wording of being unable to "...look at anybody in the Crossroads anymore." *Anyone* in The Crossroads.

And Hecate called Icarus "that boy-shade," which to my overthinking mind feels lowkey very specific, given we have ghostly folks like Odysseus around (and then Achilles, etc. from the first game, but even so)? I'll try not to ramble too much about that theory too much (I'll just say "god-touched" and leave it at that)... but what I'm saying is, what if Icarus, pre-incident, actually had a form much more like *Dora's*? 

So he gets hands and fingers (and a face?) like he wants... but then Meli is hurt. Because of him. And there's no hiding it because she's the *princess,* and he's now stuck in this new humanlike body, and surely the shade community connected the dots (and/or spread rumors about a selfish little shade who "ascended" at great harm to their future savior). And the longer he stays, the more this "blessing" feels increasingly sour... 

Sorry for the angst. But also, I think Icarus The Shade - whether through a flashback or an unexpected plot-mandated "de-power" - would be just adorable (assuming my delusions of Icarus being an LI, LIs having multiple character portraits, and Icarus having a unique "vanilla" shade design hold ^_^;;). Thanks for, uh, letting me ramble!

Okay. Let's start with what I think is going on in the game. I've been talking to @meowtheextremechickenhorse about all this so you caught me at a great time, it's currently fresh on my mind. As I see it, in regards to the shades looking different theres 3 answers.

(In text lore reason) Since humanity is so vast, any unremarkable and uninteresting person that didn't do much of anything of note in their life is delegated to a more 'ghostly' form and they're the traditional shades we see the most of. Anyone from myth or legend or any human that had any real acclaim is given their human form to follow them into the after life, be that a positive or negative, and they're more recognizable that way. That's why Achilles and Patroclus, Theseus, (now) Odysseus, and Icarus (to name a few) have forms. They're important in some way or another and their bodies exemplify that.

(In text lore reason) Shades are given more human forms in relation to godhood. Everyone of note has interacted with gods to some varying degree, or they're somewhat divine or some combination of the two. This is just the previous reason but to the left.

(Meta reason) The game Devs didn't want to waste perfectly good game space on unimportant background mobs so they decided to have a simply drawn and easy to replicate/place model as a shorthand for the ghost infested world. Shades we readily and constantly interact with have forms because we see them often and if all of them looked the same that would get boring. Simple.

1 is the answer I'll be going with, and my HCS will follow as such but I think 3 is the objective truth lol.

Which is all to say that uh, I think that Icarus always had his form? Like I don't think the process of making him more 'whole' was to give him human form as much as it was to allow him to exercise that form on the surface again (and touch the love of his life—*loud police sirens ring out from behind me endlessly*). I actually have talked a lot about the implications of his death (and life) in the ship and it gets... weird, fast. So, my personal read of their time together goes as such.

Baby Mel and Baby (living) Icarus grow up together. His dad works with the gods or something making the hammers and tools so they're in close contact.

Around 15 or so, Icarus does his thing. Wings fail, he dies.

After having an entire lifetime of being able to freely interact and touch each other (and other things too) Icarus misses the wholeness a human form allowed him to have and he sets out to get it back. Mel helps.

She looses the arm, he leaves crossroads out of shame and guilt

they then meet up again now a few year(s?) down the line and reconnect (he's more whole then before, she's more shade then before). Back to current day events.

I like the idea you put out about Shades gossiping, because they so enjoy that, and attempting a form of isolation but I don't think it would work on him much. I think his own guilt is more than enough to have pushed him out and away from His Meli. But other then just not agreeing on general timeline and like, how he got his form, I agree with u fully anon... he feels horrible about what happened and is sick at the thought his hubris and ambition, his fatal flaw (literally) is what got her hurt.

Thankfully he'll have eternity to repent for it. By loving her. <3

Thank you for the ask, I hope I answered the question at all. I just started rambling. But this is going in the Drabble folder do not worry. The angst potential is toooo good to ignore...

[goreshitrushi2]

You’ve probably answered this a dozen times but what about Kizashige got you into it and what made you stay into it?

I. well, I basically got into corpse party for kizami and morishige in the first place, back in late 2019. serial killer AND gore obsessed freak, I knew from the very beginning they would be my favorites. but when I read kizami's wiki page specifically his relationship section over morishige and how he suicidebaited him, it legitimately sounded so hilarious to me I had to witness it so I watched last waltz before even finishing my playthrough of blood covered.

and I think it ruined my life. last waltz is definitely one of the biggest contributing factors to what I got out of kizashige through literally the entire thing. like the set up of kizami watching morishige perform, kizami's antagonism mixed with genuine intrigue ("those of like mind have a certain bond in here", "MY PREY HAS BEEN CAUGHT"), the fact that morishige isn't even receptive to kizami's intimidation in the beginning (talking back at kizami even when he's restraining and twisting his arm!??!?!?!)

no, that part was actually crazy to me in how oblivious morishige was to how much of a threat kizami was. it really made a large part of my interpretation of their dynamic be that morishige wouldn't give a single fuck about kizami's power (i.e, social status) which kizami would be really surprised by (annoyed that all his effort in his presentation has no effect on this one person? relieved that finally there's someone who doesn't care for any of that bullshit and can see him for who he really is?).

and that's where I get into the domestic shit because when I started thinking of them outside of heavenly host, that really made me obsessed with kizashige. I think it's fun and cute, but when they only interact like twice in very specific circumstances, you think it would be really hard, right. good thing they parallel each other in like every way possible.

the death thing is obvious, they both feel dehumanized by their families, and scenes like when morishige talks about how people only care about popularity contests instead of actual talent vs where kizami rants about how people only care about trivial things and humans can be so much better than that. maybe it's just because I'm a jaded college student, but that shit is seriously relatable to me lol. AND I WANT THEM TO RELATE TO EACH OTHER.

they are bitter, cynical, and lonely people, and it's that persuasive loneliness to the both of them that gets me. that's why they both die in heavenly host-- morishige never allows himself to open up and connect with the people he meets to get out of heavenly host, always berating who he pairs up with in his head or outright refusing their help and trying to find mayu on his own, only to succumb to his obsession. kizami completely letting his own beliefs of himself being incapable to connect with others dictate his actions as some sort of "fuck you" to everyone else, until he meets yuka and thinks he can finally gain that sense of humanity, but does it in the wrong way entirely.

it's relatable, especially in how much of it is something they both enable in themselves. there's no shame in admitting that I'm really attached to them because of my own history with mental illness. I project onto them a lot, it's kind of eerily easy to do so. to me, they are somehow just really evocative of a specific experience growing up mentally ill where it's all you've ever been, and either taking it to the extreme or making some sort of peace with that.

just individually, I have never liked two characters so much before, they are both so genuinely uniquely written and layered characters to me. I find them both very comforting and interesting and have so much fun working with them together or alone.

I love kizashige.

[frnoialles]

Name: Francoise "Frankie" Noialles Occupation: Manager at Soleil Age: 27 (248) Sexuality:Bi Species: Vampire (Pretorius) Hometown: Bordeaux, France Relationship Status: Single Personality Traits: immature, irresponsible, vivacious, chaotic, optimistic, loyal

Biography (tw: death, illness)

For years, she had wondered if her fate had been a blessing or a curse. A baby trapped beneath the ruins, saved by a woman who she thought had stepped down from the heavens; an angel that had looked down at that infant, cradled it in her arms and in an instant — called hers.

It's the story she's been told; of tragedy and loss, second chances and new beginnings, salvation and damnation. It's the lesson she's been taught; to come out of the chaos, with her teeth bloody and her fists clenched, because in a world so cruel, a fragile thing would never survive what fate has planned for them.

Some would say she had it easy, and in a way she has always known it was the truth. She grew up fortunate, golden in comparison to many, raised in nobility at the heart of France, where so many aspired to be. But money could only buy so much. What her mother didn't know, when she took that orphan in, was that the child had a diagnosis. Frankie didn't know herself, until she started getting worse, and worse. Weaker, sicker, sadder —

She was only a child then, and Lilia found some kind of temporary aid. That hospital room became her home, which they both decorated late at night with the silliest things. Picture frames and decorative flowers on the walls, small lights over her bed. Still, some would say she had it easy — fed with a silver spoon, dressed in velvet and silk, and naivety.

If there was one thing she believed in, it was that all things must come to their natural end. Like climbing a ladder to the heavens. From the moment one was born and put tiny feet on those steps — util they reached eternity's gates. Death was only natural, anything else was not. Perhaps, death and its presence always lurking near, was why she never took interest in anything beyond creating memories to leave behind. Frankie lacked ambition, strive to become something great — an astronaut, or a doctor; anything with purpose, a future. Because a future, wasn't something she thought she'd get to have. And she was okay with that.

Her mother wasn't.

Barely twenty years old, and flatlining, Francoise parted with her human life. And woke up — choking on new breath in her lungs, even if her heart remained still in her chest. Eternity's gates wide open before her, just not the ones she was hoping to see.

She found herself a child again — learning how to walk, how to talk, how to feed, how to spell her own name all over again. It took all her effort not to falter; not to stumble, or tremble, or bow her head in defeat. The first couple of years were hard, because this was France, because it was home — and France knew she was already gone.

Something in that mother-daughter bond snapped then. Their family crumbling to pieces, with Frankie leaving for Vienna (then Rome, Berlin, Prague) and her mother staying in France. But she was still her mother's undying flame — nights where she's held her close, and looked down at her with eyes that have seen too much, and told her they would never be without the other.

Headcanons

She has a nickname for almost everyone she meets, but especially her fledglings. This started a century ago, when she started naming them off book characters like the three little piggies. Pig 1, Pig 2, Pig 3, etc.

Doesn't take anything seriously, not if her damn life depends on it. Not if her job depends on it. There's always someone else doing her job for her at the Soleil.

Gets distracted very easily.

Talks so much, she can get herself out of any situation she wants.

Wanted connections

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN / Frankie has turned many humans into her proteges over the years. So many, they wouldn't fit in Port Liery, if they all dropped at its gate. That would be just another one of them.

TOXIC / A hunter she has met through the years, that had unsuccessfully tried to get rid of her. Then she would have unsuccessfully tried to get rid of them. It's been a never ending loop, that had lasted them through several countries and several years. There could've been some hateful one night stands involved, wink wink.

CIRCUS / Frequent customers at the Soleil that hate or love her, simply because there's not in between. Co-workers that hate or love their boss because she's always an hour late, and never does anything actually useful.

[panlight]

Hello 👋 I like your stuff you are amazing ❤ I wanna say something . So every one is talking about how toxic Edward and belle's relationship but the only relationship ship that I can't tolerate is Sam and Emily. OK he imprinted on her and has no other choice because of his nature .he left leah and SM says that he still has feeling for her it's just that the connection with Emily is stronger like WHAT it's like saying he loves leah but he is forced to stay with Emily no matter what the reason is .and as for Emily she has no supernatural nature that force her to be with him so why is she being with him especially after he attacked her . For me this relationship is the most toxic and weird

I tend to believe the Sam/Emily problem is that SM wanted to show us an example of how 'random' imprinting can be, that it can force someone who was in a happy relationship to be with someone else, and also to demonstrate how risky it is for humans to hang around people with supernatural abilities.

I don't think she was trying to make a point about domestic abuse or toxic relationships and I would bet cash money in her mind Sam and Emily are soulmates and beautifully tragic and blah blah blah.

But, phew, man, she stepped in it with this.

If she wanted me to be happy for Jacob for finding his imprint in Renesmee (which, lol, was never going to happen but bear with me), then she absolutely should not have made this whole disaster our first taste of imprinting. Because why on EARTH would I think it was a good thing when the first example of it we see leaves the shifter wracked with guilt, his imprintee covered in scars, his ex-girlfriend heartbroken and bitter and, oh, HARRY CLEARWATER DEAD. In the books he died of a heart attack from the shock of seeing Leah phase; Leah being upset about the Sam/Emily situation was part of the reason she phased when she did, therefore, the imprint indirectly cased Harry's death. This is not a happily ever after to me, I don't care how 'perfect' Sam and Emily are supposed to be for each other.

I don't think she meant that Sam 'attacked' Emily; I think she meant it as a tragic accident; the consequence and risk of a human being involved in the world of 'monsters and magic.' Sam didn't try to hurt Emily, he just was too close to her when he phased and the wolf-form is bigger than the human-form so he kind of . . . instantly took up more space and his claws were in Emily's space. But I understand why people often see it as a metaphor for abuse or a partner's anger, that whole "he becomes a different person when he's mad" or something. I don't think SM MEANT that. But she certainly made it all too easy for people to read it that way.

I think Emily's fate is meant to be a warning to Bella. But this falls flat in a couple of ways--firstly, lol, like Bella is going to listen to anyone's warnings about being involved in the supernatural world. Edward has been warning her away since the get-go and she's just like NOPE so putting Emily, Sam and Leah through this to teach Bella a lesson that Bella is not going to take to heart AND won't even apply to her anyway (Bella gets to be a vampire in the end which erases all HER scars and even fixes her emaciated body) is just kind of a waste of everyone's time.

And secondly the optics of using her indigenous characters and their trauma to teach her white protagonist a lesson is not a good look at all. It also brushes up again the real issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, and in making Sam seem violent (even if she meant it as an accident), plays into harmful stereotypes about brown men generally and Indigenous men in particular.

Should have made Jared and Kim as our first look at imprinting instead.

[sorcerous-caress]

hey I’m glad you’re not weirded out or anything by the tickling stuff (I’m the anon by the way) I might write something with my tav after I’m done with the “my tav as a companion” part 2 with the list questions you made after my first one but I don’t how long that’ll take since I kinda feel weird writing about my tav in that way since they are based off myself not that I don’t want to do it I would like to write stuff like that for an OC I’ve never done it before but it kinda feels like I’d be doing something “naughty” which I guess I would be but anyways I’ll write something I’m gonna try and get over the awkward feeling so I can go more in depth with the “my tav as a companion” romance part because I feel like I can touch more on that

(sorry for ranting, longer than I thought it’d be)

I get what you're feeling exactly, and my only advice to that is to embrace it.

All writing in some form or another, is based on yourself. Every character you've written fanfics about, every OC you've made, every small headcanon, all of them are connected to you.

All of them, hold a small part of you in them, a small truth that you might not be unaware of. Writers can only write about their own experiences and emotions, even in fantasy and imaginary scenarios, you have to base it around something you're familiar with to be able to comprehend it.

I'm aromatic yet I write romantic stories, I have never felt romantic love so I base all of my romantic stories on how platonic love felt to me and mix it with what I think romantic love should be like based on what other people said.

I get the feeling of vulnerability when revealing things about an OC that holds a lot of your own cores as a human, that was based on your own image. That's why it's good to remember that everything else was also based on your own image, you just weren't aware of it. You've left a trace of your personality and your fingerprints on every character and subject you've touched.

Honestly, I am not in the best state health wise to answer this, but I didn't want to leave it sitting for long.

There is a fear of being cringe, I genuinely truly get it. I still feel it too a lot of times, fear of being too weird or off putting. It's so easy to tell someone to "just express themselves" until that self expression manifests in a way that doesn't fit the socially acceptable ideas of other people.

Who gives a shit if I don't like tickle stuff? What right do I have to judge you? What right does anyone have to judge you? None of us matters when it comes to your own writing and self expression, only you matter.

Likewise for me, I like cringe worthy stuff too! And I subtily microdose them into my writing because I don't have the courage to come outright and say it. I am afraid. You are braver than me in that aspect and honesty kudos to you for being yourself unapologetically.

I had an old writing blog where I only wrote tame fluffy stuff that everyone wanted, only expressed myself within social acceptable limits, only showed the most clean and sanitized versions of my art.

And you know that phrase about if you don't like what you're writing then other people won't? It's a huge fucking lie. That blog was so much bigger and more popular than this blog in a shorter amount of time.

I had triple the followers I have now, so many nice comments and reblogs, too many requests than I could keep track of. People loved the sanitized version of my writing.

I didn't, I hated it. It was empty and souless and I had to force myself to sit down and write it. Scrub away all traces of my own personality from it and make it the most appealing to the general public.

Words never flowed like they do to me now, I dreaded opening my requests back then, I dreaded checking on my notes.

And so I left it at the height of its popularity, didn't even say a thing just slowly ghosted away.

Don't do what I did, is what I'm saying. You have a lovely OC and if you want to put more of your own self and your own interests in them then so be it. I promise other people won't know and even if they connect the dots, they'd have to be actual weirdos to make judgments on a real human being based on an imaginary doll they move around.

Give Sean the tickle kink if you want that's perfectly okay. Base all of his companion answers around yourself if you want, make him an extension of you. Maybe he will slowly take what you've given him and evolve to his own character, maybe he will always remain a beautiful reflection of you, both of these outcomes are welcomed as long as they make you happy.

I did it with Sol, bpd isn't the best, and making an OC that represents all the worst traits I saw in myself and showing them love and care helpled me unimaginably. And fuck yeah I definitely base their answers around myself, every writer bases their writing around themselves, how else are you supposed to create originality? Your mind is the only completely original source that only YOU have access to!

It's a fucking gold mine, an exclusive library of experiences and moments that no one else but you know about. And you want to ignore it and put 13 layers of irony between you and everything you create? For whAT?

Kids love plushies and get attached to them because the plushies are their own OCs in a way, the dolls represent an extension of their inner psyche. So when kids hug and shower their plushies with love, or even get reinact a dramatic sad story with their dolls, it's them talking to themselves.

Art is communication, whether it be with an audience or with yourself. self-indulgence is the thing that makes art worth making. It's what gives it a soul, it's what sets it apart form AI bullshit.

And some people will see themselves in Sean. Did I tell you that the tickle fic requests I wrote had likes and reblogs from other people? I would've never imagined someone would like it besides the requester yet there were others.

We're all really weird, inside. If you're going to be original and create art that you like then it will be weird and cringy, same goes for me, same goes for everyone.

Embrace it, peel the layers of irony, be yourself unapologetically. You are worth it.

And side note, I really enjoy your requests and reading what you send me about Sean. But my own enjoyment always comes after your own comfort and boundaries. You don't have to answer any questions that make you uncomfortable in the "as a companion part 2" list.

I will always view these answers through Sean and as a reflection of him, never a reflection of the author. That's a right only you have and a line only you can draw.

[frownyalfred]

Hey, I’ve always loved your works, and I’m delighted to have found your tumblr!

(TL;DR: I really like the way you write relationships and I’m sorry you’re dealing with some shitty comments) Can I just say, I absolutely love the actions and characterizations of your latest mind-link fic? It’s just so raw and so real, and honestly, I absolutely love these types of fics where good people mess up and behave like assholes. Because we’re all human, we’re all people, and life and love and relationships are messy, messy things.

I don’t want cookie cutter perfect relationships, I want these 3D ones that shows that it’s okay that people fuck up. So many fanfics have a perfect protagonist (and I mean, more power to them, it’s their fanfic), but I personally *love* when the main character messes up and just- snaps at someone or is a little selfish. It just makes it so much more human and relatable. And it makes the fluff that comes after 10000% better because you know how much they care for each other, to make up and to work past issues because they think the other person is worth it.

Anyways, sorry for rambling at ya- I just wanted to express exactly how much I love your recent fic and my utter bafflement at the asshole comments. People are going to fuck up! It happens! And if you don’t want to read about that, that’s 100% fine! But stop yelling at the author, it’s not your fic! It’s theirs!

Thank you so much! I think you encapsulated the issue really well.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading fics where my blorbo is overpowered and can do no wrong and everyone else is in the wrong -- it's really fun and there's some awesome stories like that! It's fiction, and if that's how the author writes that character, I'm down.

I also like reading stories where it's grittier and complicated and closer to real life. I like both! The latter is hard to read constantly, because it's too much like real life to be an escape sometimes.

For borderline, I really wanted to dive into the complicated and awkward feelings that don't always make it into fics (for good reasons). Things like people in the bond feeling someone's else's arousal/other bodily functions, personal thoughts that are never shared out loud, instinctive reactions to things people can't control or even verbalize to themselves. Etc...

The reality is, even the best blorbo comes off poorly when we see their every thought, action, and memory in technicolor. People are complicated, and even genuinely good people rarely fall into that easy, good/not good binary every second of every day.

I think a lot of conflict in my comment section comes from discord over Tim and Damian (and to a lesser extent, Bruce) not being "perfect" or equally bad/good.

I've said it before, and I will reiterate it here: I appreciate the stories where Tim/Damian/etc are written as the victim, the wronged party, the protagonist, etc. I'm not knocking them here. But this isn't that kind of fic -- no one is right, here, or the sole protagonist/wronged party.

Tim isn't a bad guy any more than Damian is. Nor is Damian a better person or victim more so than Tim. Their situations are wildly different and so are their motivations/experiences. Hence why it's interesting (or at least, I think so) to see them involuntarily connected and at odds.

It's okay to disagree with my characterization! You don't have to read my fic. But I think taking a breath and Xing out is better than arguing with me/other readers in the comments about how your favorite character is being mis-written or treated.