#worldbuilding potentially

[sulphuric-acid-house]

i feel like i should start to post more personal worldbuilding with kinds of cultural tidbits and stuff

feel that it might be nice actually putting stuff on this blog for once

[chiropteracupola]

c. 1540 CE: a young man from Chalco, and his dragon.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i think a lot about how early-series, demigods are referred to pretty equally as "demigods," "half-bloods," and "godlings," - the last used particularly by gods at demigods - but after that "godlings" is almost exclusively used to refer to minor gods.

something something i am literally always chewing on the concept of the line between immortals/demigods/monsters/etc being thinner than it appears

[kurakuradon]

💀🏛️ 𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖔𝖉𝖘 🏛️💀

[elbiotipo]

I hate that in the popular vision of biopunk, "biological machines" and biotech look like gross body horror nonsensical pieces of crap with no rhyme or reason

(bioforges from Orion's Arm)

When the most efficient "biomachines" we know, able to turn mere air water and sunlight into all sorts of useful products, look like this:

[sing-me-under]

[mammalsofaction]

The fact that the Doof had been paired and proved most compatible with Perry, canonically and repeatedly proclaimed to be one of OWCA's best agents in the field, is curious to me.

Some fics have a throwaway line or two talking referring to his compatibility with other agents. I think, also, about the canonical fact that he remains as third most dangerous evil scientist in OWCA's ledger.

I also like thinking about the fact that we have been proven, multiple times, in VARIOUS dimensions and fluctuations to the time space continuem, that were he not continuously thwarted throughout his career, he would not only have achieved tyrannical rule, he would have EXCELLED in it, and perfectly undefeated, EVEN BY HIS EVIL PEERS that people loved to pretend were always more competent than him.

Like. I think about that. Why? What makes Heinz so dangerous? What made everyone else incompatible to a point OWCA realized they needed to send their best, and he needed to be on call ALL THE TIME?

Curious

[many-gay-magpies]

An expansion of my headcannon of skykids being able to transform into the animals their masks are based off of! Typed versions of the image text and additional notes below the cut, because LORD do I have so much to say about this concept.

Image 1:

Bottom left text:

BODY is just the CONTAINER—Skykid soul is the LIGHT inside

Light takes shape of container at first, but has no one shape

Top right text:

Light grows used to assuming humanoid shape to fit container, but as a skykid strengthens their light, they remember/learn how to assume other shapes and gain the ability to mold their container to their will.

Image 2:

LIGHT is fluid, but the container is stiff and easily broken (at least at first). It takes a lot of slow, hard work to mold it, and MASKS are used to tell the container what shape to take/give the LIGHT a direction.

Skykids imbue their mask with their light so that when they wear it, it connects to them and allows the transformation to occur.

Change happens in increments, not all at once—learning to shape oneself takes TIME.

Small notes: "Small changes first" above the drawing of the two hands, and "Most stick to an anthropomorphic form" beside the fox skykid.

Additional Notes:

This process is also why Skykids are born wearing masks. Because light is fluid and has no single shape, the light of a newborn Skykid has not yet learned how to be humanoid, and is at risk of breaking the fragile body it inhabits, therefore: Megabird gives newborn Skykids a basic mask to “teach” their light how to maintain its shape inside the container. It takes a lot of effort to obtain the blank/“faceless” mask because it takes a lot of effort for Skykids to maintain a humanoid shape without the assistance of a mask.

Also potentially how the chibi mask works (in a world where chibis aren’t just toddlers/babies)—the mask tells the Skykid to be small.

The process of becoming a Morpho (workshopping the name) is long and arduous, and involves a lot of studying the animal one wants to take the shape of, before then making the mask that will guide the shape-change. Though most of the Skykids who take an animal form choose a more anthropomorphic default, it is possible to transform completely into the animal of choice, and this is often done for fun or stress relief.

Possible that the Eden cycle strengthens the body and makes it more malleable to change? Something to do with repeatedly dying and being reincarnated and becoming more familiar with/at home in the body you possess. Kinda like how exercising is just you tearing muscles in your body so that they grow back even stronger.

Masks can also of course be just masks. A lot of Skykids like to wear animal masks without doing any of the actual Becoming; its fun to disguise as a little creature sometimes!

Unlike human beings (and potentially ancestors?), who are all full of guts and bones and stuff, Skykids are pretty much all light in there, and the outside is just a shell. They can eat and drink and everything, and it’s fun, but it all gets burnt up instead of being digested or anything and they don’t need it to survive. Also how Krill work; they’re starved for light, and Skykids are full of it, but there’s this pesky little shell in the way, so the Krill have got to crack it to get the light out.

This is slightly inspired by the legends of the Selkie, with the masks being akin to the seal pelts that the Selkie wear to turn themselves into seals.

The body/container is what protects Skykids from having their light too badly damaged and allows them to walk the realms of Sky, but it is also what limits them in their ability to shape-change. In a hypothetical situation where a Skykid was completely unrestrained (i.e. pure light without a body, like we are in Orbit), they could potentially become any and every light creature available to them.

Essentially: Skykids = light, and light = all light creatures, so Skykids = all light creatures.

I’ll probably think of more stuff to add to this later, but for now that’s about it. I’m already thinking up possible animal forms for my singular sky OC lol (because even though I looked it up and that mask is technically a serow mask, it could very easily be any number of other things, like a dragon or a giraffe).

Bonus content: a little bird guy, and closeups of the random fox guy I made without their cape and hair (because I put way too much detail into parts of their outfit that weren’t even going to be visible). I’m for sure drawing them again <3

[ceaseless-rambler]

What if I wrote the world's most specific crossover fic that nobody else would care about. What then

[dogstomp]

Dogstomp #3148 - August 14th

Patreon / Discord Server / Itaku / Bluesky

[boku-no-anime-phase]

Some evil FMA AUs etc that I think are fun

Riza Hawkeye creating a squad of flame alchemists loyal to her and using them for her own (or Mustang's) purposes

Mustang's body used as a host for Greed instead of Ling's

Rose joins the military to try to watch over Ed, a la Hawkeye to Mustang

Sibling homunculi defect from Father together with Greed (bonus: to Ed's chagrin, they view him and Al as something like uncles); now they're all on the run from their dads

Ling not feeling easy in his own mind after Greed leaves - it's too quiet in there

Scar gets his brother's reconstruction arm instead

Winry gets adopted & trained by Hawkeye

Re-embodied Al donates his armor to a cat rescue so it can always hold cats hehe

Olivier as the boys' parent figure instead of Izumi

Found family for the boys comprised of Mustang, Hawkeye, the Mustang Gang, and Mustang's family (his "sisters" and Madam Christmas)

Mustang dies instead of Hughes, and Hughes carries on his work to honor his memory, despite not being as ambitious as Mustang was

The boys as Ishvallans

[15-lizards]

oh your thoughts on dornish religion are so interesting! I always pictured them with a coptic/ oriental orthodox christian vibe but I love the idea of the mother as a virgin of guadalupe figure

Yeah wait I fuck with this heavy. Good addition anon no notes 👍🏻

[rileys-battlecats]

ohohoho ideas in brain >:) now this is just a potential idea because I think it could be fun, but I also don’t know how well it would mesh with current mudlore. ANYWAY.

Basically, the idea is that the original clans (pre-micaclan's formation) each had a patron spirit to like. sponsor the first leaders with their nine lives or whatever. And they have to be old spirits, with deep connections to the grounds the clans make their territory. And this is how starclan kinda forms, with the backing of this Extra Strong Ghost that kinda rallies their spirits in the beginning before finally passing on. Maybe the only ghosts that can be this type of patron spirit are the ones who feel as though they can't pass on without leaving a legacy?? idk yet I'm still Thinking.

So a lack of Strong Ghost Friend is stopping Mica from having a legitimate entry into leadership with the nine lives and such, and no starclan for her and her clan(?? still thinking about this). Maybe a healer from one of the other clans defects/gets kicked out, and they explain this all to Mica after joining her little not-yet-an-actual-clan. So mica is like, where do you even find an old ghost. how am i gonna get one of those. And one of her friends is like "well they say everything further upstream of the river is Super Cursed and my friend's mom's cousin told me it's because of an ancient ghost there that hates everyone and everything" and Mica goes "PERFECT I'll go talk to them!!" ignoring how Healer is like "THAT PLACE IS CURSED FOR A REASON DO NOT GO THERE"

So Mica goes upstream with a couple of her buddies, until she finds the river's source. And there she meets Ancient Angry Ghost, who turns out to be the ghost of a smilodon. It pops up out of the water and it's not saying any words but it's basically radiating 'you're gonna die' energy. And Mica just starts talking to them. Like she's definitely freaking out and terrified but she's SO good at playing cool. And maybe she leaves after they get too angry, but she comes back the next day. And then next. And the next. And she eventually manages to wear down this angry prehistoric ghost into being her friend.

Maybe it turns out they stuck around so long because they were the last of their kind, and they never got closure for the loneliness they felt in life. They come to like Mica for her brash spirit, unwavering courage, and surprisingly sharp cunning. When Mica offers them friendship, offers them a group to carry on their way of life in the present day, they agree to be the clan's patron spirit.

This is all because I think it would be cool for Micastar to have this giant ghost warrior of Ye Olden Days following her around like "YOU MUST BE WILLING TO KILL TO PROTECT YOUR OWN. YOU MUST TREAT YOUR ENEMIES AS THE DUST BENEATH YOUR PAWS. DEFEND YOUR FAMILY AGAINST ANY WHO WOULD ENDANGER IT" and Mica being like "it don't bite :)" and the other clans being like "YES IT DO—"

[aroaceleovaldez]

Not to get pedantic (oh who am i kidding that’s most of this blog) but I am genuinely fascinated by the potential applications of the established canon in HoO and TOA that the gods canonically have both historic and regional forms, and can appear as specific versions of those forms and have kids of those specific forms, which influence what powers the kid has/what pantheon they fall under/etc etc (and also the implication that demigods can be born under multiple forms of a singular deity). This is somewhat backed up even earlier in the first series when we’re told that Percy has earthquake powers because of his father being Poseidon “The Earthshaker” (which is Mycenaean Poseidon) - which could also tie into why Percy generally takes leadership roles, is hopping in and out of the Underworld a lot, and is apparently particularly powerful for even just a Big 3 kid, since all that would line up with Mycenaean Poseidon being generally put at the head of the pantheon and also being a chthonic deity.

Now this gets really interesting when we start looking at deities being combined and conflated, because a.) the Romans weren’t the only ones doing that and b.) the Romans had their own gods originally, they didn’t just take the Greek ones and slap a new name on them. They merged a lot with their own preexisting deities alongside adopting worship of deities from other cultures as the Romans spread (and the Greeks also did this), and c.) the ancient Greeks and Romans did exist at the same time.

Like, we know in terms of the Greeks and Romans that if their godly parents are “equivalent” then their demigod children are siblings, just like if Greek demigods have the “same” godly parent then they are also siblings. However, very few Greco-Roman gods are one-to-one, and a lot are like three gods in a trench coat, and then if you want to get into historical forms then you can start running into weird things like “Well, if you go back far enough, these two Greek gods may have originated from the same thing-” and also if we’re talking historical forms, again, the Greeks and Romans existed at the same time! Which means there would be historic forms of godly parents that are both Greek and Roman! So like, where do we go from there? Would Hazel be equally siblings to a child of Plutus as she is to Nico because both Hades and Plutus were conflated into Pluto? Orcus was also conflated with Pluto - does that mean when Nico killed Bryce Lawrence, he was killing his half-brother? (cause then that parallels just a couple chapters later when Will faces off against Octavian-) Are there demigods who, depending on their godly parents’ form(s), are technically both a Greek and Roman demigod? If Hermes and Pan possibly originated from the same god, does that mean all the satyrs are siblings with the Hermes kids? If we want to get into all the nonsense of Dionysus’ origins and Zagreus and Hades, does that mean Nico is technically siblings with Dionysus kids? Does Dionysus joke about this during their therapy sessions? Are some demigods in certain cabins siblings with kids in other cabins but each others’ siblings aren’t siblings depending on what form their godly parents were in?

I have a headache now.

[gazeopard]

Some Long-awaited Beastars Rambling

I was thinking about this for a while, but upon rereading the Dropout arc a couple months back, and looking back on my earlier review on the Beastars finale from October 2020, I can’t believe it took me as long as December 2023 and January 2024 to realize Yahya refused the offer of trading fish meat onto the land.

“You land creatures have matured quite a bit”…? How is this a sign of maturity and growth?

Just, why...........? What was the point of destroying the Black Market and the stupid whale offering fish if it was just going to be denied anyway?? AND what is stopping another Black Market from being created after all of this?

What was the point of destroying the Black Market if now NONE of the carnivores have anything to satisfy their cravings for meat? Louis said not to turn a blind eye to the Black Market. I thought the Market was going to stay as a necessary evil since some mammals include fish in their diets and others can't. But now that the fish trade has been shot down and the market was destroyed, there are going to be MORE predation attacks than ever! How is this supposed to be a happy ending??

What was the point of Kyuu as a character? She did absolutely nothing, everything she introduced in the story (the Imaginary Chimeras, betraying Legoshi, her involvement with Melon, etc) amounted to nothing, and the story's pacing would have been so much better if she (and San) were never included. San literally disappeared a chapter after he was properly introduced, and we never saw him again ffs.

What was the point of building up Louis and Juno's romantic relationship and all their sexual tension together if they were never going to become a couple?

And worst of all, what was the point of building up Legoshi and Haru's relationship if Haru was just going to become a secondary-character in Vol.6/Season 2, while Legoshi kept ghosting AND avoiding her throughout the rest of the manga? Didn't he say he was going to get stronger for her at the end of the Meteor Festival arc? So why did he wait until after being attacked by Riz in the school grounds to start his meat-resistance training with Gouhin? Why was he suddenly back to hating himself for being a wolf and a carnivore all throughout the Riz Arc, the Dropout Arc, and the Melon Arc? While fighting the Chief Lion, he had appeared to come to terms with that side of himself when he realized he could take responsibility for his strength and use it to protect Haru and the herbivores from other carnivores. So why did he start avoiding that side of himself again? He has to have GOUHIN remind him to see his carnivore side as a good thing, when two arcs ago Legoshi swore to himself that the reason why he was born a wolf: to protect Haru and the other herbivores. Why does he suddenly start claiming he doesn't need his fangs to fight for herbivores, why does he rip out his own teeth to make a point to Yahya, never mind that he once told himself that his fangs and claws were for Haru? And what was even the POINT of him ripping out his own teeth if they were just going to grow back anyway by the magical power of Komodo Dragon genes, Protagonist Plot-Armor, and the narrative's post-Season 2 refusals to hold him or Louis accountable for their actions?

Speaking of Louis, WHY would Legoshi go back to putting Louis on the same pedestal after their fight in S01? By attacking him, Legoshi realized that Louis was not the noble person he thought he was and was a selfish social-climber who was going to let Haru die for the sake of securing his future as a Beastar. Even if Louis didn't want to do it, he still shook hands with the Mayor anyway. Why would Legoshi go back to idolizing Louis and forget about it like their fight never happened?? Speaking of which, why didn’t Haru EVER find out about it? Why didn't Legoshi EVER bring it up with Haru, ESPECIALLY when she was confessing her worries about Louis to him?? We could have gotten some serious character development for Louis right there!

Why was Louis' sudden liking for carnivores so rushed, and why didn't the narrative ever hold him accountable for the things he did? Making a deal with the Mayor to keep Haru's kidnap and potential death a secret? Allowing the Shishigumi to beat the tar out of Legoshi instead of ordering them to stop? Selling herbivore children in the market, which was literally what he went through as a child himself? I literally forgot that happened in the manga until someone else pointed it out.

Why couldn't he have saved the herbivore children while also making sure the carnivores didn't suffer in the market after Ibuki showed him his tattoos and after witnessing the alligator (or was it a crocodile?) get castrated? He was a racist (specist?) asshole to Legoshi and the others (he threatened to shoot Bill, he accused Zoe of eating the script without any evidence all while stereotyping goats and threatened to kill him after falling off the stage, etc.) all throughout the Seasons 1 and 2, until he suddenly realized he admired carnivores right before Ibuki's death. To me, there was not enough buildup and foreshadowing to lead to this transformation. If I recall correctly.

Also, somebody already mentioned this on the Subreddit forums, and I totally agree, but rather than having it be Louis, Haru should have been the one to offer her foot to Legoshi in his fight against Riz. It would have made more sense since Riz's relationship with Tem was the antithesis of Legoshi's relationship with Haru, so it would have been far stronger, and it would have shown just how much she trusts him not to completely eat her. It would have mirrored what had happened to Tem, but without the tragedy. It also would have lined up with what she told him in the Love Hotel in Season 1: That Legoshi could make love to her or eat her, and she would be fine with either choice. And slowly, Legoshi could have obliged, silently vowing to never eat a piece of her again.

Hell, Louis still could have been there after leaving the Shishigumi and could have helped bandage Haru up to prevent her from dying of bloodloss. Then to make up for what he did in Season 1, he could have had his company make a prosthetic foot for Haru. And hell, Legoshi informing him not only of his duel with Riz but also Riz's capture of Haru could have also been Louis's real moment of redemption. He could have told Ibuki that his two friends were going to die, and he made the mistake of nearly letting one of them get killed by their old boss. If Haru and Legoshi die tonight because he became a bystander again, he could never forgive himself.

Something I also thought about, but I think Paru wanted Louis to save Legoshi's life because he felt responsible for Ibuki's death, and he would feel like the weak helpless fawn in the cage that he was in the market. For some reason, upon reading it for the first time it initially came off that way to me, but looking back now it wasn't fully executed, because we never saw and/or heard Louis' inner thoughts feeling responsible for Ibuki getting shot and refusing to watch another carnivore die in front of him… if I recall correctly. Instead, it ended up becoming more about him wanting Legoshi to eat his foot because of the ties it had to his past, unintentionally coming off as more selfish than selfless.

And rather than convincing Legoshi to eat his foot, the closure to his arc could have been him coming to terms with his dark past so it couldn't hurt him anymore and move on. Maybe he could have started training to become the next Beastar, maybe he could have met Yahya, and Yahya could have been a sort of mentor-ish role like Gouhin had been for Legoshi? And if Paru really wanted Louis to lose his leg, he could have lost it in the final battle against Melon. He could have jumped in front of Haru or pushed her out of the way just as Melon lunged for her? Maybe Melon could have finally gotten his sense of taste?? And maybe he could have figured out Louis was the former boss of the Shishigumi somehow?

And speaking of the Shishigumi, it pisses me off that they, like Louis, were never held accountable for their actions towards Haru. Yeah, they were sent to prison, but I hate that their kidnapping of Haru AND their witness to the Chief Lion's sexual harassment of Haru, was NEVER brought up again. And Haru never found out that Louis became their boss either. Looking back now, it kind of reminds me of what Kique did to the Meteor Tribe after Ronja became leader.

When they were first introduced, they were known to have killed many herbivores, mostly white-furred herbivores for the Chief Lion to consume. In the manga, they hanged the decomposing bodies of those they killed up on display as warnings, they kidnapped Haru and were present (in the manga anyway) to her being stripped naked and humiliated in front of their boss, they fought Legoshi and Gouhin and nearly killed both of them. They also would have eaten Louis had Ibuki not suggested a vote for an herbivore leader.

Then when Louis was their boss, he sold herbivore children to the market with them (which, as mentioned, did not happen in the anime since it would have made him look like an irredeemable monster), they beat up Legoshi, and then tried to kill him again in the Melon arc (but Legoshi's Plot-Armor saved him), they kidnapped Kyuu (which ultimately ended up being pointless anyway because Melon never used her betrayal to get the upper-paw in his final fight with Legoshi), and then they got arrested while leading Louis to help Legoshi. If Paru had wanted them to be more misunderstood and redeemable, she could have shown some of them at least hesitating or exchanging looks of disgust or unease as the Chief Lion goes over Haru, or at least considering leaving the room. If I recall correctly, the anime didn't show them being present in the room when Haru was being "examined", which I can see why.

But even while the Chief Lion was their boss, none of them made any effort to overthrow him, challenge his cruelty and opinions, and/or appoint Ibuki as the new boss. They did not express any regret for their previous actions or what they did to Haru. And when Melon became their new boss, they made very little effort to overthrow him despite his weaker form. Agata (the dark-furred lion) attempted to overthrow him, but he still ultimately failed. They could have easily shot him when his back was turned and easily overpowered him as a pride, but they didn't do it because I guess making them act smart or logical would have ruined the Melon plot... 😑

I mean, if Paru really wanted to show off how dangerous Melon truly was to these guys, why couldn't we have a scene where Melon became the boss, instead of getting a hand-waved explanation from Free? Why couldn't we get a scene where the lions tried ganging up on Melon only to be overpowered by the hybrid due to the guy's enhanced speed and senses? We could have had a scene where he'd hear about their former deer boss, take it to his advantage, waltz right into the mansion in full gazelle-disguise, announce his presence to the lions, and declare himself as their new boss while promising that he'd bring them back to glory. Then he could have removed his mask and reveal himself to be a half-breed after they'd vote on it, only to scare the living shit out of them after killing or injuring somebody for disagreeing with his new set of rules, causing some of them to try to attack him... only for him to nearly shoot at them at an almost supernatural speed and accuracy, just for shits and giggles. Thus, establishing him as dangerous and a new kind of threat to the remaining lions and giving them a reason to fear conspiring against him.

I would have loved to have seen how Melon became their boss and how he managed to strike so much fear into them. Also, why didn't any of them try to poison him? We could have gotten a scene or two where Melon uses his cunning and hybridized instincts to avoid attempted assassination attempts, and these scenes, as well as his introduction, could have established the fear and the stranglehold of power he had over the Shishigumi.

Also, Legoshi never brought up Louis' affiliation with the Shishigumi with Haru, and neither did Louis. I don't remember if Louis told Legoshi how he became the boss (by blowing the chief's brains out, thus saving not only Legoshi's life but also Haru's), but we also could have gotten some accountability on Louis' part from Haru's discovery or realization, and his moment of redemption could have been him giving her a prosthetic leg from Legoshi's predation act. Maybe Louis could have told her and Legoshi the truth at some point. He could have told her what he did, that he was wrong to have made the deal with the Mayor, that he went to save her after his fight with Legoshi anyway, and how he had killed the boss and had temporarily taken over the Shishigumi for a while.

Perhaps during the Melon arc, while he, Legoshi and Haru could have been trying to stop Melon, he could have introduced Haru to the lions, and they could have realized that she was his friend, and they could have bowed and apologized for the things they did under the chief lion's rule. Maybe we could have had more humanizing moments between the Shishigumi, maybe they could have had some serious character growth and could have eventually viewed Haru as someone to protect as well? Maybe if Paru hadn't made them as bad in the first few chapters of their introduction, maybe it could have been pulled off well...?

But we didn’t get any of that. I get that Paru wanted to humanize the Shishigumi a bit when they made Louis their new boss, and I know they're supposed to be morally gray characters, but there's a line that needs to be drawn to distinguish them from very evil characters like Melon. These guys were present to what was essentially Haru being sexually-assaulted by their leader, and made no attempts to stop it...

Even if we got to know a couple of their backstories (particularly Ibuki's and Agata's), it didn't excuse any of their previous actions. It just felt like Paru was trying to make them seem not as bad once Louis became their leader. As if solely by association with Louis, it suddenly erased their horrible deeds or something. So, looking back now, the way she went about it feels more like Kique redeeming the Meteor Tribe. I just can't buy that ALL the male rapists were miraculously killed by Kargo and Ferah during the first and second rebellions.

But I digress.

The huge amount of screen-time Legoshi and Louis had gotten post-Arc 2 should have gone to Legoshi and Haru, instead of Legoshi ghosting her throughout most of the manga. And honestly, Legoshi suddenly saying stuff like how Louis was "his most precious scent" and his later line ("You were always there to keep me from becoming a monster") in the Riz Arc just felt more like things he'd say to Haru. And her giving up her leg to him would have felt more selfless, since Louis forcing Legoshi to eat it just so he could break free from his cursed past just felt more benefiting to HIM than to Legoshi, since the wolf got a predation record as a result. And yet he never apologized for it, and later had the audacity to joke about it and then say something like, "You ate my foot and dropped out of school without even telling me" after Legoshi told him it was not funny. Dude, you offered your foot to him, it was your idea to give him your leg in the first place, what the hell?

It sucks that Louis had more screen-time with Legoshi during the Dropout arc and especially the Melon arc, but not Haru. I don't know if Louis replacing Haru as the deuteragonist was Paru's intention all along after she decided to spare him, or if the publishers pressured her into toning down the romance and everything Haru-related, tone up the action for the target audience, and turn Louis into the Sasuke to Legoshi's Naruto in the process, because they assumed the target audience (teenage boys) wouldn't be interested watching multiple scenes of Haru or Legoshi and Haru together… :( Which is frankly misogynistic, but considering how women don't have the best representation in Shonen manga (though Bleach had very good strong female characters and plenty of diverse representation of ethnic groups), it doesn't sound too farfetched unfortunately.

Maybe if Paru had just gone with her original plan and killed off Louis from the beginning instead of sparing him solely because he became popular with fans (no different than what Tite Kubo apparently did when he spared Byakuya Kuchiki from dying like he should have at the hands of Äs Nodt). Or if the publishers had just given her a lot more time to plan out the rest of the manga instead of going with what seemed to be first-drafts, Legoshi and Haru's relationship would have gotten more development than it did. Hell, it BARELY got ANY development. And maybe Louis and Juno's relationship would have gotten significantly more development and more buildup to it in the earlier arcs. I thought they were going to be parallel to Legoshi and Haru's relationship, and they were going to be the secondary protagonist power-couple next to Legoshi and Haru's. And it bums me out that (much like Luke, Leia, and Han in the Disney Star Wars trilogy) we NEVER got a scene where all four of them were in the same room together!

Literally NOTHING was properly resolved, and because of the lack of proper development in their relationship, Legoshi and Haru getting together and FINALLY dating, which should have started happening several chapters ago, was unearned.

Also, why didn't we learn of Legoshi's reason for dropping out? He told Haru that he dropped out, if I recall correctly, and he told her about his fight with Riz, his predation record, and how he got it, but we never really found out why he had dropped out. I always thought it was because he got a predation record, but looking back it apparently wasn't? Someone suggested on the Subreddit already in the earlier link that Legoshi could have dropped out due to regret for consuming Haru's leg, and man, that would have made perfect sense. It also could have worked after eating Louis' foot too. He was already suffering from meat-withdrawal in the beginning of the Dropout arc, but after talking with Sebun, we were TOLD more about it and not SHOWN. Maybe that could have been the reason Legoshi dropped out of school in the first place? Because we never got a reason for why he even dropped out at all. Perhaps eating Haru's foot (or Louis' foot) could have reawakened his carnivorous urge to devour her, and Legoshi could have wanted to protect her by avoiding her again? His dropping out was just an excuse for the narrative to explore the world beyond Cherryton. It's because of Legoshi's neglect of Haru during the Melon arc that caused her to nearly offer herself to Melon, and she considered breaking up with Legoshi at a few points, but never went through with it. So why didn't she tell him about it? She told Louis of all people, but not Legoshi himself? It could have given Legoshi the slap of reality he needed to stop neglecting her! They could have realized that, for their relationship and their future together to work, they'd have to remain honest with each other. They could have promised it, too. That would have been great character growth for both of them!

And why didn't we ever see Legoshi lose control of his carnivore instincts again? After the water fountain accident, his wolf/carnivore instincts never come up again, not even in Season 1. Just like we're not even SHOWN them being discriminated against while he and Haru are out together in public.

And after the love-hotel scene, it bums me out that Haru never overcame HER instincts, and that we were TOLD rather than SHOWN that she stopped seeking validation through sex. We never saw her overcome her self-loathing and learning to love herself. After being rescued from the Shishigumi, her body's suicidal urge to climb into Legoshi's jaws was never shown again, so we never got to see her overcome that part of her instincts either. We never saw her overcome her herbivore instinct to flee from him or other carnivores, and after the Shishigumi kidnapped her, I'm surprised she didn't suffer from PTSD.

Haru suffering from not only PTSD but also her instincts and going through her own fight to get stronger for her future with Legoshi, would have been so empowering and it would have actually given her stuff to do, instead of making her character solely revolve around Legoshi. If we were given more scenes of him struggling with his carnivore instincts, showing us that he still has urges to eat Haru rather than telling us (since actions speak louder than words), giving him a valid reason for dropping out of school and if we were given more scenes of him and Haru suffering from discrimination as an interspecies couple in public, and if we were shown him AND Haru struggling to overcome their respective instincts and fighting against the society that keeps them apart all in an effort to be together… the ending of them finally getting together would have been well-earned.

Ugh... My head. I guess this is what happens when you make the rest of a story up as you go because you're under pressure and need to meet a deadline.

Here's to hoping against hope that Studio Orange somehow manages to salvage the final season/arc of Beastars... 🙏

[nellasbookplanet]

Fantasy works commonly (though obviously not always, this is a general observation, and I'm more of a scifi enjoyer than a traditional fantasy enjoyer anyway so my pool of reference is limited) place this divide between magic and technology. The two are placed as incompatible to the point that many fantasy worlds are almost stuck in this semi historical setting, not really allowed to grow or evolve past this mythological past, as if we can’t imagine magic and technology mixing. Why would technology evolve if we have magic? The stories I think of rarely outright say this, and I think writers create these types of settings more out of genre tradition than a genuine belief in never mixing magic and technology, but it saddens me that we so rarely see secondary fantasy worlds that are futursitic, or modern fantasy worlds that aren't either an obvious mirror of our present or literally our present but with a secret magical underbelly that has had little to no impact on the evolution of the world at large.

And it just occurred to me that in critical role, the divide is more often placed between magic and the divine, while magic and technology are presented as almost one and the same, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the Age of Arcanum. The magical fey changeling of Avalir was fantasy tv personality!! Magic doesn't hinder growth or trap the world in a medieval state of nature where people become incapable of imagining technological growth due to the convenience of magic: magic is technology. Magic interweaves into their societies, their ways of life. They study it, they grow it, it doesn't hold them back any more than discovering fire or electricity held us back because it’s the very foundation of their growth. How very fitting that Corellon, god of the arcane, takes the mortal form of an aeormaton, a robot, a being we would normally consider the anthitesis of magic, but which here is the embodiement of the sameness of the two.