#you don't take people's vulnerability and use it for clout even if it's done in a christian way

[legal-poppy]

being one of the few people suspicious of the supposed revival at asbury is a wild experience. most people are shouting hallelujahs and praise the lords that the young people are finding god again. they're traveling to a school where students were told "if you're not going to this revival you're a bad person and a bad christian", where classes were cancelled and outsiders aren't leaving them alone, ignoring the fear and danger that the actual students are feeling because their safety has been destroyed by grown adults who are desperate to feel connected to god and you apparently can't experience that on your own? it's been over a week and churches are still celebrating this event even as people come from all over the world to project their own needs onto what started as a small moment of vulnerability at a small college in the middle of nowhere, kentucky. if, and that's a very small if, the students at asbury experienced a real revival last wednesday, it should have never become the giant global phenomenon that people are celebrating and i'm glad that the school is finally shutting it down

[hestzhyen]

Kagurabachi, Family, and Abuse

(This is kind of heavy, so please take care if you choose to read.)

I can't stress enough how much I love Kagurabachi for it's nuanced takes on complicated issues. Legacy, abuse, trauma, and the people involved in these cycles- very sensitive stuff that should be handled with great care. So this manga taking the time to examine issues with delicacy is surprising for an action series where the MC and his foes lose limbs on the regular. The Rakuzaichi arc won me over heart and soul because of how it tackled abusive families in particular.

I don't think it's controversial to say that leaving your abusers behind to focus on yourself is a key part of healing. But when family is involved, that component tends to get scrambled or lost entirely. Somehow if it's a relative or a sibling or a parent, the situation is changed. The victim should try harder to work things out. The onus is on them to find out what's wrong and fix it somehow; become less vulnerable. Even the most saintly, well-meaning ally can fall into the trap of telling the victim that blood-related abusers somehow deserve extra grace. They're abusers but they're also family, after all. Families love each other and good intentions should mean a lot.

We see it all the time in media too. A parent lashes out in anger. A sibling destroys precious, irreplaceable mementos. A cousin bullies and their parents do nothing. Blood relations hit and hurt and do awful things. But family is family at the end of the day, so they come together to heal with tears and apologies. Everyone is suffering in some way but it'll be okay if they stick together and work through the pain. Pan out, roll credits.

Obviously the Sazanami clan was far more skewed towards villainy than what we see in the real world. But the extra context given to Kyoura right before his death humanized all of them. They were abusers who were trapped in the cycle by misguided devotion to familial duty. And now that the cycle is broken, the family has their chance to heal. Braidbro was told to help the little kids and honor Tenri's sacrifice by letting them avoid his fate, so hopefully they manage it. No more slavish devotion to the auction above familial bonds. They can come together with tears and apologies and work towards a better future.

Yet Hakuri won't be there to see it.

In another series, he might have stayed to help after working with Chihiro proved he was strong enough to stand on his own. Hakuri could have rebuilt the family with a new purpose since he's the first since the progenitor to naturally inherit the subspace sorcery. He'd have the clout to do it, being the only one able to ensure business returns to normal. He even landed the killing blow on Soya to prove his resolve and signal a shift in the family's status quo. It would have been even more vindication for him to go from family embarrassment to patriarch, and who doesn't love it when the underdog comes out on top? He could be the one to fix things! But taking over the family would have truly been a bad end for him- proof that he was still trapped.

Because what could possibly make up for what Hakuri endured all that time? No amount of crying and saying sorry and promising to do better heals an abuse victim. Braidbro and Sazasis could make sure he's waited on hand and foot for the rest of his life but the damage was done long ago. The emotional pain lingers far longer than the broken bones and torn skin. Even if Soya was the only one going so far as to use peelers and pliers on him, Hakuri was abused by all of them. They all agreed -implicitly or tacitly- to ostracize him and give him the worst jobs. We saw him getting ganged up on to be kicked and gut-punched. Kyoura wasn't the only one to deliberately look away. Hakuri's torture was a family affair.

So to see him walk free of it all makes my heart soar. Because Hokazono fucking gets it. The victim shouldn't be on the hook to lead the reform effort once the situation is exposed. They shouldn't even have to participate in group therapy. In order to truly heal, they need to leave. And Hakuri choosing to do so was framed as the best possible thing he could have done in the moment, thank god. No "but they're still family" guilt tripping from the author here. Hell, Hokazono even went out of his way to make sure Shiba gave Hakuri a clear out. Fuck rehabilitating abusive families thanks to the victim's hard work. Fuck glorifying victims becoming irreproachable ubermensches to stop "inviting" abuse. And a flying fuck off to giving the family the benefit of the doubt by waiting around to witness the improvement process. Hakuri is finally free to move on without looking back, as is every victim's right.

Kagurabachi went above and beyond my expectations for having this be the culmination of his arc. I was a bit worried that a story so strongly focused on family bonds would fall into the same pitfalls as many before it. I've been burned by authors mishandling familial abuse with "family above all" messaging way too many times. But we saw that dumbass mindset blatantly and thoroughly deconstructed into fine particulate matter at the end of the Rakuzaichi arc. And it's really sold me on Hokazono's ideals and storytelling in a way that the Sojo arc didn't.

This manga is more than just flashy sword fights and considering how best to honor and interpret family legacies now. Sometimes, families and their legacies are in fact too toxic to be allowed to continue. And thank god the abused kid doesn't have to be the one to help the family fix their shit after it all comes crashing down. I hope future arcs continue to showcase this level of sensitivity and care for the different types of pain the characters are going through.

[its-a-branwen-thing]

Just the Way You Are

This volume of RWBY isn't one that I've felt like writing a ton about. It's existed as a bit of background noise to my weekends, a must watch but in passing. It was a wonderful journey, but not as impactful as I thought it should be to me. It hit all the right marks. Well-written, well-animated, great music. It wasn't until the finale, where I was reminded, again, of why I loved this show in the first place.

I've been seeing an outpouring of love for V9 that seemed to spur a re-examination of it as a series, in both what RWBY means to fans and what Ruby means to the audience. This whole volume she's been a proxy facing the show's vocally decried imperfections: for what the could have beens and should have beens keep saying. In Ruby's own personal doubt, we see the seeds of the show's very own history of grappling with fan expectations, critical analysis, commercial success, and the complicated legacy of the tragic passing of the show's creator.

But CRWBY's love for this volume is so evident it seemed to drown out any bad faith arguments: this is RWBY as it was always meant to be.

In finishing this volume, I see once more that fiction can help us suture the parts of us that seep. That its creators are people we may never know but whose ideas we stitch into the membranes of our core. RWBY doesn't have to be a masterpiece emerging fully formed from the minds of its writers and animators. It is a vision expanded upon, a messy beginning built up, a work of surfeit love, flawed and lovely in the mess.

As a perfectionist I tend to chase that critical clout, to draw from external sources the meaning of my own art, to wonder if the interpretations are good enough, if the writing and characters are done with enough mastery that I can succeed in other's eyes. But RWBY will never be a success to some, and in that we see that even the most collectively beloved things are criticized by their detractors. We will never create a bulletproof thing.

Life is exposure. Love is vulnerability and art in service to that love - of self, of others, of vision - exacts the same toll of knowing. Even against the diatribes on Youtube that have stated otherwise, RWBY's heart is worn on its sleeve. It is a show fully sure of its sincerity. This volume seems meant to present that to us and to Ruby, as a character. She has always been the heart of the show. Pursuant of hope in the face of insurmountable odds, always picking up the pieces of others, always with the weight of the world on her shoulders. But, at her core, she has always been a simple, more honest soul.

RWBY and Ruby have faced failure after perceived failure. Ruby always tried hard but never quite got it and now, in the sea of her doubt and the under the current of others' expectations, she sees herself as less than. As incapable of serving the people she loves most. Ruby's fear of failure does not come from her need to be beloved, it doesn't come from a selfish interest in public opinion, but rather from a stalwart need to do what she believes in.

RWBY has long been the scruffy underdog of the animation world, an easy little show to poke fun at. This isn't to say that critiquing is inherently bad faith, or that there's no place for it. There is, and there always will be things that irk or bother us to some degree with every piece of media we consume. But, much like the people we love in our lives, those imperfections are part of them, and we can either take them as is and have faith enough that they'll grow just as we do, that their center is good and worth it, or we can simply let them go.

Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind, or chose one who can be enough to bare them.

There's something to be said about the moral simplicity of a show like RWBY, in which things don't always work out, but in which the characters have enough faith in themselves, and the world, to still seek to save it. This is a fairytale, but it is one that hopes to impart on reality a little bit of that kindness.

It is wholly intentional that RWBY is thus stylized as a children's fairytale. It lacks the tonal shift of grit and anger that adulthood seems to impart on innocence, and posits that: no, you don't need to be anything else, even if others decry that self as naive or emotional or exposed. There is a beauty to RWBY's vulnerability and it's always been there, baked into the show itself.

V9 feels like a love letter to RWBY as a whole. It has always been a show set on positivity, on pursing that goodness at all costs. RWBY does not partake in the labor of being something else more gritty or mature or indifferent. It is what it's always been.

A simple, more honest show.

[rounove]

I was on missing toastkkuno hours when I saw your post and I just want to say how much I love your art style and the distinctive features and designs you give each of the otv and friends members are. The height and strength differences as well. My god, it’s enough to make one blush.

You don’t want to post them on your main socials and I get that but I just want to thank you for feeding this ship with content because we don’t get enough of that around these parts and the way you just draw- It makes your own little world for them seem so alive. It’s expressive and immersive even if you’ve only done a handful. Gosh, I’m gushing hard.

I may be reading too much into it but like I really really love your clothing palette choice for toast and just how much more casual his wardrobe is and syk’s being deceptively simple but has that more formal feel to it especially with the manhandled comic when you paired those loafers (heh). As if Toast just took whatever (and tried to look good but nothing that betrays his style or takes too much time) while Syk styles himself according to what is expected of him which disarms people using that assumption(and we know Toast sees thru his bs).

I’d really like to hear how you feel about the Canada hug story or even when Syk roomed with the otv gang (and would wait outside Toast’s door. My god-)

Thank you so much! I love Toastkkuno too! They are very interesting, I love how much of a liar Sykkuno is and how much Toast uses vulnerability for clout. It is not accurate and very OOC but the fanfics inspired me. It's all for fun! Their streamer friends made me laugh and they are interesting too, I just have to draw them in some type of way.

I am speechless! I can only thank you for these very kind words! The fanfics really fueled me to draw Toastkkuno even though I am trying my hardest to hold myself back, even though I know I'm going to have a hard time posting. So really thank you for those writers on ao3 for dragging me into this mess.

I like your analysis on their clothing!! That is so cool! I'm going to read this again and again!

DON'T REMIND ME OF THIS!! I GET EMOTIONAL! It is so adorable when Sykkuno described how awkward the hug is and he said it in a I-am-a-huge-Toast-fan way. My god he is so proud of himself. (I AM TEARING UP NOW HOW DARE YOU!!) I WANT TO WITNESS THIS SO BAD ASJDHDKLHF. I know I won't be able to draw this but what if Sykkuno at some held Toast's hands/ arm OR his legs would hook Toast's leg while they are sitting OR have any of his limbs have contact on Toast's so that he'll get alerted if Toast starts to move and leave. Because Toast WILL leave everyone without saying goodbye, because he's just that kind of person and Sykkuno knows this!! He knows he'll do this! He can't leave like that!!

And that cute waddling in front of Toast's room AKSLJDAF. So Toast is an intense person, very scary in business mode so Sykkuno being all cautious like asking "You wanna play?" through his action. ASKDASKAJH WHAT IF after a long stream they haven't been able to see each other as much and he does this waddling and waiting at the door and it means "I miss you", "I want to see you". BROOO I WISH I WAS A GODDAMN WRITER!! aND Toast! No matter what he's doing, business or taking a break, he'll let Sykkuno in and minutes later you'll just hear Toast laughing. I attached a Youtube link below but I appreciate Lily for saying that she just heard Sykkuno stopping in front of Toast's door.

OkAY I'LL STOP!! One time I got hungry for Toastkkuno I went hunting for Toastkkuno compilation on Youtube and looks like we'll be hitting another all time low this time. THIS IS YOUR FAULT ANON!! THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!

For reference:

My Toastkkuno/ Sykkoast art: https://www.tumblr.com/rounove/search/sykkoast

Canada hug: https://www.reddit.com/r/offlineTV/comments/indjoi/sykkuno_describing_his_super_wholesome_hug_with/

Syk waiting outside of Toast's door: (at 4:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWIpp4TwCVg&t=3395s&ab_channel=OfflineTVPodcast