#you know? effectively taking away a symbolic value to the length of past relations and what it means for the value of friendshio NOW

[roseswhitte-blog1]

Laser Tape Measuring Like a Boss: Getting the Most out of Your Laser Distance Meter

Oh rapture, I love development… Especially when it changes functional instruments we as of now use and suprises us with sensational enhancements.

One apparatus that shows this wonderfully is the ever-present and solid measuring tape.

I'm almost certain pretty much everybody has had a chance to effectively utilize a measuring tape. There's no reason to sweat it, correct? You simply stretch it, place the beginning of the tape toward one side and take a gander at the estimation on the other. Simple peasy. Until it isn't, to such an extent click here

Measuring tapes Still Have Their Limitations

Measuring tapes can really end up being somewhat less than simple. At the point when you're taking long estimations and there's no steady highlight snare the measuring tape to, and you have to have another person to hold it for you so the tape waits and you can really take an estimation.

How about we make it a stride further. What about estimating the roof for light establishments? You need a stepping stool for that… isn't that so? Also, we know how terrifying a truly broadened measuring tape can be the point at which you are attempting to withdraw it! Not all over!!!

And afterward there's the issue with obstructions. A measuring tape is unusable if there are snags, similar to furniture or posts, hindering the way from the beginning stage to the furthest limit of the estimation.

Laser Tape Measuring is In

A laser measuring tape (or laser separation meter) is an advancement to the old measuring tape done right. It doesn't evacuate the essential elements of a helpful estimating instrument, rather it disposes of a portion of the measuring tape's restrictions. And afterward it includes a few highlights that make estimating simpler. Well that is the thing that I call genuine advancement!

How Does A Laser Distance Meter Work?

A Laser Distance Meter (LDM) or a Laser Tape Measure fundamentally gauges a separation between two focuses. It utilizes a beat of light to an objective and afterward ascertains the separation by the period of time the reflection takes to return.

Since it utilizes light, it expels the confinements of the physical tape of an outdated measuring tape and gives you these favorable circumstances:

Measure significant distances without a subsequent individual, as long as the laser can arrive at the end point. What's more, what about this? You can do it with one hand.

Measure roofs or other high places without stepping stools. (I'll show you how to do this further down the page.)

Measure through restricted spaces. For whatever length of time that there is a route for the laser to venture out to the objective, at that point you can in any case measure precisely. So flights of stairs and little impediments are not an issue.

Laser Tape Measuring Like a Boss

The Ennologic Laser Distance Meter Uses Laser Light And Measuring Software To Accurately Measure Distances Up To 196 Feet Or 60 Meters With An Accuracy Rating Of Within 1/64th Of An Inch, Or 1.5 Millimeters.

Possibly you have the ennoLogic eD560L Laser Distance Meter as of now and you still can't seem to amplify its maximum capacity. Or then again perhaps you're thinking about a Laser Tape Measure however need to comprehend what it truly can do – Wait… would you say you are not kidding? You haven't got it yet?

Alright, OK! I excuse you!

In any case, how about we assist you with benefiting from your ennoLogic Laser Tape Measure or future Laser Tape Measure. 🤪

We'll begin toward the start, appears to be a coherent spot…

The most effective method to Use Your Laser Tape Measure

Force On/Off

To turn it on press the MEAS key. Hold down the CLR key to turn it off. It will likewise kill naturally if inert for 3 minutes.

Setting Up for Measurement

Before you begin estimating, check the estimation unit setting. Something else, your estimations will appear to be off track.

Select your favored unit of estimation by squeezing the Unit key to go through the LDM's estimation alternatives of meters-feet-inches. Each time you press the Unit key the following unit is shown. Along these lines, first meters, at that point feet lastly, inches. You can even change the units in the middle of or subsequent to estimating, so no concerns!

Next, you'll need to distinguish from which part of the LDM the estimation will begin. Press the Reference key to switch between estimating from the back edge and front edge of the LDM. The default reference is the back edge. Utilizing the back edge setting implies the separation meter's length will be a piece of the estimation.

Backdrop illumination

You may need to turn the backdrop illumination on in when working in dim regions. Do this by squeezing and holding a similar Reference key.

Fundamental Measurement

Prepared to quantify? Press the MEAS key to turn the meter on, press the MEAS key again to trigger the estimation. The estimation will be the good ways from the reference edge to the red laser spot.

You can utilize this for any fundamental separation estimation, for instance the separation to a divider.

Consistent Measurement and Maximum/Minimum Value

To place the meter into consistent estimation mode, hold down the MEAS key until you hear the beeper. Presently you can utilize the meter to check a territory or corner. While you're examining, the meter will likewise record the greatest and least qualities.

The auxiliary showcase territory will show the most extreme and least qualities and the primary presentation zone will show the continuous estimation esteem.

MAX and MIN Values with Real-time Measurement Value during Continuous Measurement Mode

Press the MEAS or CLR key to drop ceaseless estimation filtering.

Including and Subtracting Multiple Distance Measurements

There are circumstances where you'll need to include or deduct various estimations. For instance, in case you're remaining in a room and need to quantify the separation between two contradicting dividers. You would confront the principal divider and take your first estimation, and afterward pivot to confront the other divider and take your subsequent estimation. In the event that you do this utilizing the Addition capacity of the meter it will include these two numbers for you to give you the absolute good ways from one divider to the next.

To utilize the Addition work, measure the principal separation, at that point press the "+" (ADD) key, and take your second estimation by squeezing the MEAS key once more. The outcome will show up as the enormous number at the base of the presentation. The individual estimations you took will show as littler numbers above.

Also, you can prop up with this. Continue squeezing the "+" (ADD) and MEAS keys to continue including estimations. Need to take away an estimation? There is a Subtraction work that works a similar way. Basically press the "- " (SUBTRACT) key, at that point take the estimation you need to take away from your aggregate.

You can utilize the Addition and Subtraction works conversely as you keep estimating.

Press the CLR key to drop the activity. Press the CLR key again to leave Addition or Subtraction mode.

… and there is more! With a laser measuring tape, it's not just about separation, presently you can quantify territory and volume as well!

Territory Measurement

To quantify territories, press the Area/Volume key once. You will see the symbol. Press the MEAS key to quantify the principal separation (for example length). Press the MEAS key again to quantify the subsequent separation (for example width).

The meter will accomplish the difficult work for you and give you the determined territory dependent on your past two estimations. Your customary measuring tape can't do that!

Region estimation is generally helpful for floor format, covering and other floor covering estimations, and comparable applications.

Volume Measurement

Presently we should go 3D. To quantify volume, press the Area/Volume key twice and the Rectangle Box Icon will be shown. Press the MEAS key to quantify the main separation (length), again for the subsequent separation (width), and again for the third (tallness). The meter will compute the volume and show it in cubic meters, cubic feet, or cubic inches relying upon your chose estimation unit.

Volume estimation is valuable for HVAC inclusion calculation, ventilation necessities, or estimation of enormous volumes of water (pools, aquariums and so on.).

Both territory and volume estimations take into consideration expansion and deduction of resulting region and volume estimations. Another marvelous present for you from the estimating divine beings!

Backhanded Measurements

Need to quantify the tallness of a divider without a stepping stool? Or then again the tallness of a structure without jumping on the rooftop? Here is the response for in any case unthinkable estimating circumstances. Let the laser do the moving for you!

This mode ascertains estimations in a roundabout way by exploiting the Pythagorean Theorem. The Pythagorean Theorem expresses that for a correct triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (the side inverse the correct edge) is equivalent to the total of the squares of the other different sides.

Enough of the specialized stuff! Just Math master has this in school, however don't stress – you'll get the hang of it by adhering to the directions underneath.

Circuitous Measurement Method 1

The estimation of separation utilizing the sides of a triangle requires two estimations. Press the Indirect Measurement key once and the Triangle 1 symbol will be shown, with the hypotenuse blazing

To get more brand or related information check https://areviewguide.com/

Follow the brief of the glimmering symbol and press the MEAS key to gauge the hypotenuse ("an" in the outline). The triangle symbol will currently change and one of the right-edge edges of the triangle will streak ("b" in the graph). Press the MEAS key again to gauge the separation that speaks to this edge.

(Note: when estimating the right-point edge of the triangle, keep the instrument as flat as could be expected under the circumstances.)

After these two estimations have been finished, the Pythagorean figuring is performed consequently. In the event that the estimation results meet the necessities of the Pythagorean Theorem (the separation of the hypotenuse is longer than the separation of the right-edge edges), the determined length

of the third triangle side ("x" in the graph) will be shown as the enormous number at the base of the screen.

The estimation estimations of the hypotenuse and right-point edges will be shown as littler numbers above.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 92: Monster Reunion

“I have to try.”

The tragedy of Nephrite is Steven Universe’s longest side story, beginning with the very first episode and concluding five years later in the final episode of the show’s original run. How we feel about Nephrite at any given time indicates how we’re made to feel about Corrupted Gems as a whole at that point in the show. After Gem Glow, they’re monsters of the week. After Monster Buddies, they’re innocent but violent victims of...something. And after Monster Reunion, we know what that something is.

Ninety-two episodes in, we know of Yellow and Blue Diamond. We know they’re part of a a group called Great Diamond Authority, acting as Gem Matriarchs. We’ve seen an artistic representation of a third Diamond on the Moon Base. We’ve seen a four-part symbol with a white, yellow, blue, and pink diamond united as one. We got a hint of their musical cue as the Gems abandoned Earth in a flashback. And because the Diamonds are in charge, we also know that they’re responsible for some terrible things, from the forced fusion of Gem Shards to seeking of destruction of planets not only for reproduction, but revenge. The information is dripping in, and these Gems are shaping up to be the villains of the series, and thanks to that knowledge, all it takes is one sketch to emphasize their most heinous crime.

This is the episode where the horror of corruption sinks in, in the same way Keeping It Together reveals the horror of Cluster Gems. The Mother Centipeetle was a monster, and Centi was a pet, but this version trying desperately to communicate before she loses her sanity again is a person. She has memories spanning millennia but was trapped by her mind and her body by her own leaders. After a string of Beach City episodes with purely personal stakes, Monster Reunion’s depiction of a personal struggle representing an atrocity affecting a planet’s worth of Gems hits like a freight train. This isn’t just something the Diamonds did to their enemies: Nephrite, alongside countless other Corrupted Gems caught in the crossfire, was loyal to Homeworld, but that meant nothing.

Between the Cluster Gems and the Corrupted Gems, the Diamonds prove that they’re not content with just destroying the bodies of their opponents, but the souls of anyone that inconveniences them. We’ll learn a bit more about it in Nephrite’s fourth episode, Legs from Here to Homeworld, where it seems this corruption was unintentional (or at least unknown by Blue and Yellow Diamond), but Monster Reunion galvanized me against the Diamonds in a way no other episode has, and it does this by giving us a single, concrete character to sympathize with.

This is the second time this season Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco have given Steven an extensive conversation with an entity incapable of full communication, but unlike Gem Drill, Nephrite allows these artists to fully utilize their gift for character animation to tell their story. Molisee’n’Villeco episodes are distinguished by more exaggerated expressions than usual (see: the first act of Coach Steven, the climax of Rose’s Scabbard, Amethyst throughout Reformed, Steven-as-Lars in The New Lars), and that makes all the difference in enhancing our ability to relate with a growling alien cyclops bug. We don’t need words to tell us when Nephrite is scared, happy, curious, angry, or sad (we don’t even need tears to tell us that last one, but oof are they effective), and we’re able to empathize with her on a primal level thanks to her vivid expressions.

The other half of the Nephrite formula is master vocalist Dee Bradley Baker, who’s already performed as every Corrupted Gem in the series, as well as Lion. Baker’s prolific ability to give life to non-human characters make him virtually impossible to overrate, and he uses that gift to convey comprehensible communication from Nephrite with nothing but chirps and squawks. This is so much more effective than the cacophony of voices from the Cluster, allowing for an actual conversation of sorts between Steven and Nephrite. 

This would be a very different episode if Nephrite was still just Centi from Monster Buddies, and we have Molisee, Villeco, and Baker to thank. It’s not enough to feel bad for an animal in pain again: we need to see, for lack of a better term, the human suffering of it all. And I feel so bad for this woman who doesn’t even get to have a real name for another sixty-one episodes.

The conversation itself centers around a terrific use of flashback. As Steven reminds Nephrite (and the audience, because it’s been a while since Monster Buddies) of their history, we get depictions of the past that fully resemble Steven’s experiences. But Nephrite can’t talk, so we don’t even get the simplified silhouettes that accompanied stories from Garnet in The Answer or Lapis in Same Old World. We get crayons and stick figures, the most childish means of communicating, that slowly gain animation as the story picks up. 

Steven’s narration is a constant reminder that Nephrite doesn’t have a voice of her own, and that we’re getting bits and pieces of what actually happened. She can still sing along with him in her own way, and performs a flawless diamond salute, but can’t tell Steven the name of her commander, or how she felt about her crew, or any actual tales of the war. Honestly the most telling image is Nephrite’s very first picture, revealing that she sees herself as herself despite having never met Steven in that body. This is a sentient person, and we’re made to understand that before she reverts to a monster.

Allowing her to reunite with her crew is a brilliant move, because the show needs her to lose, but it would be unspeakably cruel to not give her anything in the process. We don’t get a happy ending, but we don’t wallow in bleakness either, and that’s a hard needle to thread when the subject matter is this horrendous. There are certainly real-world analogues to Nephrite’s plight, namely dementia and PTSD, but Monster Reunion benefits from being ultra-specific to the show’s lore instead of focusing on the same sort of allegory they did in Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service and will do in Alone at Sea. When the lead character can’t talk and we’re dealing with this much character and plot work, going for a lesson beyond the general value of mercy would’ve probably made the episode collapse.

This is a fascinating episode in regards to Steven’s maturity, because beyond the use of crayons, he goes hard on the cute angle to manipulate the Crystal Gems in a way that seems to undermine his growing maturity; for reference, we’re an episode away from a story about the aftermath of abusive relationships. This childishness is especially interesting when you consider this is where he gets his healing powers back, a sign of his growing power. We see him casually float up to grab Nephrite’s bubble, and he’s an old pro at warping without assistance. All signs point to this being a more developed Steven than his puppy-dog eyes might indicate, and that might be the point.

I don’t want to speak to the writers’ intent given how far away Pool Hopping is, but Garnet’s inability to properly predict the future here is caused by the same problem she has in that episode: she’s seeing the likely outcomes of a Steven who’s still a child. True, there’s also the matter of all three of his guardians reverting to a lighter version of their stubbornness from Monster Buddies given their bias against Corrupted Gems, but I can’t help but think that Garnet would’ve been cool with the outcome we get had she seen it coming. It’s understandable that she might not have been able to predict Steven’s capacity to help, and that the only outcome of freeing Nephrite was mutual suffering.

We’re past the halfway point in Season 3, and are thus nearing the conclusion of the show’s second fifty-odd episode chunk. Major plot elements are winding down in anticipation of the life-altering story that Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond, and one of them is the idea of Steven acting like a little kid. This is the last time we’re going to see him act this way at length, even as a ploy, because even though he’s still a kid in Season 4 and beyond, he’s a young teenager who actually feels like a teenager somewhat consistently.

We also get a subtle premonition of Amethyst’s imminent focus, as she’s twice admonished by Pearl for making fun of Nephrite even though she’s not making fun of Nephrite either time. The feuding days of Amethyst and Pearl are long over, but there’s still a power dynamic between them that Monster Reunion quietly reignites. And Garnet is still in charge, ordering Amethyst to poof Nephrite in a way that’s frankly a bit uncharacteristic. Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen an actual fight with the three Gems working as an unfused team since Catch and Release (heck, we haven’t seen a fight against a Corrupted Gem since the Slinker in Reformed, unless you count the big crab in Rising Tides, Crashing Skies), but it sounds strange for Garnet to give a direct attack command. Amethyst is shown here to be the lowest-ranking Crystal Gem, not counting Steven, and this means everything to the season’s final arc.

There are certain things I would’ve loved to see as a fan thirsty for information, namely an actual translation of Nephrite’s writings. But it’s not as if we don’t get the picture(s) from her "conversation” with Steven, and eleven minutes isn’t enough time to tell this story and inject worldbuilding through text. It’s frustrating to not have all the answers, and a common complaint of Steven as a character is his lack of follow-up questions, but in this case he clearly knows the gist, and there’s no reason to think he couldn’t have gotten Pearl to translate offscreen if he was still interested.

So I’m glad we instead got a searing character-centric story that hurts enough that I almost never watch this episode. It takes a while, and it nearly costs Steven everything, but thank goodness we finally get justice for Nephrite.

Future Vision!

Our next chapter in Nephrite’s story is Legs from Here to Homeworld, where we finally learn that she’s a nephrite, that her commander was a hessonite, and that Blue and Yellow Diamond might not have been as intentionally malicious as we thought despite the abominable consequences. It’s crazy how important Nephrite ends up being, essentially paving the way for the Diamonds to begin reforming through Steven wanting to cure her and other Corrupted Gems.

Steven’s desire to write “I’m sorry” in Gem Scribble as he looks at the image of three diamonds, with hindsight, seems to indicate some subconscious knowledge of his indirect culpability in Nephrite’s corruption. Or he doesn’t at all and it’s just a coincidence.

Nephrite uses a white crayon to depict the Corruption Song, indicating White Diamond’s greater responsibility, and ultimately White Diamond’s key role in healing the damage.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Monster Reunion isn’t an episode I love to watch, because I don’t love to watch depictions of unbearable anguish, but it’s still an episode I love. Like Cry For Help, its sheer quality makes up for my infrequent rewatching.

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(No official promo art, but artist Jonathan Traynor's haunting sketch does just fine.) 

[neven-ebrez]

"Leaps of Faith, Falling, and Learning How to Fly"

The narrative structure of Keith and Shiro in Voltron: Legendary Defender.

(X)

First, an introduction.  Hello, I’m Zerbe and this is my first time writing meta for the Voltron fandom.  Be that as it may, this is not, however, my first time writing structural meta.  I've written extensively on narrative structure specifically in relation to character development for the fandom of Supernatural for going on seven years.  Comparing the two shows, we are looking at wildly different storytelling mediums that come from two very different social climates (the Old Gods of live action broadcast television versus the New Gods of streaming animation).  As different as the two shows are in conception, execution, and awareness, together they utilize a similar structure as far as character development goes.  It is what I like to refer to as “overarching character development endgame structure” (or simply “endgame”). This character driven (rather than plot driven) structure is by far the driving force of the architecture of Voltron's storytelling: a narrative designed to specifically develop its main characters to a certain endgame point as (usually) colored by trauma caused by the Galra Empire.  

Unlike with Supernatural (a show that utilizes a highly reductive two lead structure and has struggled with its exploration and expression of trauma many times in the past), Voltron utilizes a full ensemble cast (with all core characters appearing in most episodes) and takes the time to explore each character's development and trauma at a decidedly steady pace and without the continuous “sacrifice” of other characters as simple narrative mirrors (also sometimes called "narrative folds"), to this ultimate purpose.  I feel, however, I’m perhaps giving Voltron too much credit here, as effectively Allura and Keith function as the series’ two structural leads more often than not.  Also unlike Supernatural, Voltron writes itself into its final season knowing well ahead that it's reached the end of its road, hopefully leaving no stroke of storytelling wasted.

And while Voltron sets each of its characters on specific developmental paths, it doesn't, however, spend an equal amount of time on each to accomplish this narrative task (hence my description of Keith and Allura as the series’ respective structural leads since their final developmental arcs represent the essential end of the series).  Pidge's development, for example, is already effectively over when she is reunited with her family in the S7 finale. There’s nowhere else to go with her beyond emphasizing or revisiting what matters to her.  This unequal time dedicated to structure for some characters becomes especially evident later on, once certain characters reach certain developmental milestones that others simply can not due to the nature of what (or rather, who) is involved in their ultimate developmental endgame.  

In general, the first season focuses on establishing the basics of the Voltron Universe, including, but not limited to: the past and continuing threat of the Galran Empire, the magic and mechanics involved in the operation of Voltron, and other more general world building.  The first season also quickly establishes its ultimate character goals in episode two (simplified easily into S1E2 for discussion purposes), and though the details and road maps to development for each are unveiled at significantly different paces, each are definitively and firmly cemented in the past with an aim towards the future.  

⦁ Shiro: wanting a way to be remembered before he dies, but choosing to seek this through historical accomplishments, rather than in his bonds to others

⦁ Keith: plagued by a life full of unanswered questions that permeate the walls of an empty shack in the middle of the desert where everyone who has loved him has left, a house that isn't a home 

⦁ Lance: struggles to distinguish himself among a big family and is often overshadowed by others, his rivalry with Keith and pursuit of Allura explore this in different ways

⦁ Hunk: pure of heart, brave in the face of fear, and plagued by a stomach that both values and rejects food according to his nerves

⦁ Pidge: driven to find out what really happened to her father and brother, she strives to reunite her family, with this mattering more, sometimes, than any mission

⦁ Allura: while the Princess does not get the early group visual that the other five do, her shackles to the past and the trauma of the Galra manifest visuallly, compoundedly and symbolically within the confines of the Castle of Lions, from losing her father a second time to events well past the Castle's destruction.  The tragedy of what happened to her home world keeps her shackled to the past.

Allura, Coran and the five Paladins function as the various core baselines of the show's narrative structure, (and as mentioned before) with Keith and Allura each serving as cornerstones for the series at greatest length, each sharing in the trauma of the Galra most profoundly and both effectively mirroring each other towards similar and interwoven leadership endgames. With this structural developmental overview of the series briefly touched upon, this meta will now focus on Keith and Shiro together through a thematic lens of taking a leap of faith and learning what it means to truly be able to fly.  

The Keith/Shiro relationship is the inarguable lynchpin of the series, with several episodes which highlight it or are otherwise mostly dedicated to it.  The first episode to explore the “leap of faith” theme between them fully is S2E1, where Keith must get to an injured Shiro and save him from some creatures that are hunting him down after the team has been separated through a wormhole and blasted to different parts of the galaxy without their lions working.  It is in this episode where we finally see the intent the creators have with the two, that Shiro wants Keith to lead the team if anything happens to him.  This is typical of a mentor/pupil relationship: the pupil learns, the mentor dies, the pupil becomes the master.  It is as predictable a narrative as it is old.  It is a significant part of Keith’s development arc.  Visually, Shiro and Keith are separated by a huge rift, and it is Keith who must make the journey to Shiro by taking his teachings and applying them.  

Keith uses the water pressure that simmers beneath the rock to launch him across the chasm.  It is not enough, however.  When the rock falls away Keith begins to fall.  In order to reach Shiro, he must fly.  This is only possible, however, because of Shiro mentoring him to begin with.  Keith was patient and looked at what it would take to cross the chasm before he simply jumped.  Shiro maybe doesn’t really look at it this way, but the reality is that he is only able to be saved here because he forged a bond with Keith and helped him develop a certain outlook.  And while this is the first striking visual to their relationship being defined through leaps of faith, it won’t be the last.

The strongest and most thematically relevant to the "leap of faith" visual (retroactively established in the pilot and elaborated on for its link between the two characters later in what most closely resembles a chiastic ring structure) as centered in this analysis is S6E5 (so this is where my focus will now mostly be).  It is an episode titled "The Black Paladins", which basically is an episode titled "Keith and Shiro", the two Paladins that can fly the Black Lion on near equal footing.  Anytime episodes are titled by characters or relationships this usually represents or leads to a death of some sort, or in the case of Keith and Shiro, Keith deciding to not jump, but fall.  Here, the past dies.

From S3 onward we see Keith and Allura's previously mentioned dual lead development structure in greatest evidence as both characters must ultimately face deceit from mentors they have bonded closely to: Lotor for Allura, and Shiro (or rather, Kuron, Shiro's controlled clone) for Keith.  The show also frequently compares the protective relationships of others: Lance and Allura, Keith and Krolia, Allura and Alfor, as well as Zarkon and Haggar, among others, to Keith and Shiro’s own for the purposes of establishing the blur between how a relationship is coded (platonic, familial, or romantic) in relation towards mentoring and teaching, as well as protecting.  

And while Allura's bond and relationship with Lotor isn't as long established as Keith's is with Shiro, Lotor and Shiro are both consistently framed as mentors of sorts for the two, key in unlocking important future potential in both characters.  Lotor teaches Allura to believe in herself and she then develops romantic feelings for him, to the point where they share a kiss.  We will see this sentiment echoed from Shiro to Keith in the final scene of the episode.  In S6E5 Keith fights Shiro's clone, who attacks with not only physical attacks, but emotional ones, designed specifically to target Keith's previous insecurities about his unknown past.  This devastating emotional barrage would have, perhaps, ultimately worked had Keith not just made peace with his mom in an isolated two year time skip where he saw (or rather, practically experienced) first hand the events that lead up to her leaving Earth to protect Keith (and not specifically the Blue Lion, as Keith thought). Keith is shown two distinct relationships: one romantic between his mom and dad and one familial between him and his parents.  Both involve protection and teach that motivation personally matters, but sometimes can not be easily quantified.  

Either way, the narrative lesson to Keith is given as such: protecting who you love is more important than any single mission. Defending himself, Keith confesses his love for Shiro, declaring him a brother against the decidedly more romantic textual portrayal of Lotor and Allura. Keith previously uses “like a brother to me” in S2E8.  The sentiment, I feel, is what matters most here and that sentiment from Keith to Shiro is as follows: “You are the person most important to me, the one I love most.”  Everything that follows is Keith deciding what that truly means, a story we must now wait for.

Worth noting is that Shiro does not outwardly react to Keith’s declaration of brotherhood, but rather the one of unquantifiable love is the one that causes Shiro to react.  This is easily comparable to Shiro’s previous jabs to Keith which he showed no reaction to.  This line, “I love you” is the one thing, the only thing, that one of them reacts to visibly.  It says without a single word, “There’s something here to this that affects Shiro, something he hasn’t made peace with.” 

Keith being completely at peace with himself is then symbolically structured as being instrumental to saving Shiro in the present, and into the future.  We get this pretty explicitly in S2E8 when Keith is at war with himself over learning his past (what the knife he has symbolically means), versus him fighting to live in the future.  For the flashback Keith sees Shiro, then his dad: the two defining older male mentors in his life.  Keith pleads to Shiro how much learning about his past means to him.

Keith: “I’ve made my choice.”

Shiro: “Then you’ve chosen to be alone.”

If Keith clings to the past, he’ll lose the bonds he has forged, specifically with Shiro.  He’ll end up alone.  The show says “we’re all the family you need”, but it is decidedly Shiro (and not the team) that Keith associates his decision to cling to the unknown past with, as none of the other paladins appear even though Keith’s suit has the ability to show them.  When given the ultimatum, Keith chooses Shiro and the future.  This is important because later we see Shiro facing the same ultimatum in the past, between his goals and his boyfriend, Adam, yet back then Shiro chooses differently than the Keith of the present.  The two events between past and future (goals vs people) are  therefore significant in terms of character structure between the two characters.  While Keith’s father tries to convince Keith to stay and learn the truth, the Red Lion is shown lifeless and immobile on a cliff.  Only when Keith makes the decision not to wait around anymore does the Red Lion take flight to come save him.  It’s a mirror to S2E1 visually in many ways.  At the same time Shiro comes to Keith’s aid, the Blade of Mamora insists Keith give them back the blade and Keith does, in favor of going with Shiro.

Keith:” It doesn’t matter where I come from.  I know who I am.”

With this declaration and being bodily supported by Shiro, Keith awakens the blade and walks into the future.  The truth the show has only hinted at is finally revealed: Keith can only awaken the blade if he has Galran blood running through his veins.  One answer only leads to more questions as forever the future marches on.

Back to S6E5 we get this symbolic visual of Keith further accepting his past and embracing his future with him receiving a scar from Shiro (Keith is also scarred in S2E8 but his suit covers it) with this scar not altogether unlike the Galran marks his mom bares on her face (and in a battle where we see flashes of Keith’s Galran lineage), all the while Keith, in turn, severs the visual of Shiro's trauma by the Galra, his Galran arm.  

Keith blocks Shiro’s attack with his mom’s blade (the past), but severs Shiro’s arm with the black bayard (the future).  In one moment, one fell swoop, the past finally symbolically, and completely, gives way to the future.

It is here that the chiastic structure of Sheith approaches its end, though we must wait a few episodes for Shiro’s POV to fill in the rest of their shared past, a past our pilot episode has only hinted at.  As the science station that houses countless Shiro clones crumbles around them, Keith holds fast to the one he just fought and falls. It is a leap of faith, though not the first.  It is, perhaps, the most important one thus far though, because it is the one the two finally take together and it is the one in which Keith refuses to let go.  Keith is not jumping, he is falling.  And he is not falling alone, no.  Keith is falling with Shiro.  Wherever the future takes them, they fall into it together.  

Keith: “I’m not leaving here without you.”

Shiro: “I will never give up on you.”

These are, at their core, wedding vows.  When you get married the usual promise is that you will love someone in sickness and in health, til death separates you.  But Keith and Shiro... they go beyond this, are not bound by it.  They transcend. 

And if I had to say what the series was about, both emotionally and structurally, I'd have to say plainly, the show is about Keith and Shiro’s love and commitment to one another against a war torn universe, with the show developing Keith to a point where his faith, love, and dedication to being able to save Shiro is what finally actually, *truly* saves Shiro, and Shiro, after learning it’s people you love that matter most, finally lets this course happen.  They are student and teacher, up until... they are not, up until... they fall together into the unknown.  At this point and in the time I am writing this, with less than two months before the final season is released, Keith can physically save Shiro and truthfully does so again and again right up until the S7 finale fight with Sendak. This is not what Shiro needs (as a character) though, is not how Shiro is structurally designed to be ultimately developed.  Shiro needs to be saved in an altogether different way and everything that follows S6E5 brings this narrative structure design starkly to light.

In S6E6, an episode titled, "All Good Things", a reference to the proverb, "All good things come to those who wait", which is a virtue on the payoff of being patient, as the phrase, "Patience yields focus" is a recurring cornerstone phrase in Shiro's mentoring of Keith, the Black Lion (complete with symbolically injured wing) saves both Shiro and Keith and the truth of the past four seasons is revealed: Shiro died back when he fought Zarkon at the end of Season 2 and his consciousness has been residing within the Black Lion ever since.  Keith’s worst fear is realized, the person he cares about most has left him just like everyone else.  When left to fight in a mission alone, to ultimately shoulder responsibility meant to be shared, Shiro is destined to die.  

Keith’s whole Blade of Mamora retreat arc, in which Shiro takes back control of the Black Lion to lead Voltron, is essentially Keith being afraid of replacing Shiro.  He thinks (and I must make some guesses here as there’s no clear text for why Keith runs from leading Voltron) that if he never again leads Voltron, then Shiro can never be replaced, can never die.  If Keith leaves Shiro, then Shiro can never leave him.  It is an act of protection born out of fear.  The one death Keith can never bear is Shiro’s.  Sound familiar? This is exactly what Zarkon felt towards Honerva, and what she, in turn, can not bear herself.  We even get a scene where Honerva remembers their past and brings Zarkon back from the brink of death in a coma.  That’s not now though for Shiro and Keith (and I’m honestly trying to stay linear here), but it follows into the opening of Season 7.  

Everything Keith does is to protect Shiro.  All the while the Blades try to impart on him the wisdom that a mission of protecting the masses is what matters, moreso than any individual ever matters.  It is not until Keith meets his mom and learns the truth (that she left to protect Keith above all) that all this reductive development is wiped clean and Keith comes full circle.

Keith calls Allura and informs her of what's happened to Shiro.  Keith, very far away, must now find his way back to help the team fight Lotor, as this episode is both the Allura/Lotor fold to the previous episode's fight between Keith and Shiro, and the next unveiling in the future shape of Shiro's ultimate development arc as defined by Keith.  Keith calls upon Shiro for help getting to where he needs to go and once again, there’s a cliff, a leap of faith and Shiro shows Keith once more how to fly.  When Keith calls out, Shiro will always answer.

In another striking symbolic visual, Keith unlocks the Black Lion's ultimate wings and he makes it to the team, retaking his place as leader, truly, and helping them win the fight.  From here, there is nothing more Shiro can teach Keith.  The mentoring part of their relationship is effectively over.  Wherever they journey from here, it is a walk they take side by side, as equals.  After Lotor is left in the Quintessence Field and the Castle of Lions is crushed into a crystal, Allura is left with one final link to her past, Voltron itself (and, well, her tiara, which she sacrifices to power Shiro’s arm in S7).  With Allura's newfound abilities unlocked, she pulls Shiro's consciousness out of the Black Lion and into herself.  Allura then transplants Shiro's consciousness into the defeated soulless clone, his hair turning completely gray from trauma. Shiro awakens with a cough and falls into Keith, telling him, "You found me." Looking at all they've lost, all they've sacrificed, the team decides there's only one place they can go to move forward in their fight against the Galra: home. 

Season 7 then opens with Shiro dreaming of Keith, a narrative reflection of everything that lead him to where he is now, in a fight for his life inside a body that isn't truly his own.  Somewhere on the other side of life after death.  This will be the final fill in the blank for the past chiastic structure of Shiro and Keith’s mentoring relationship.  And I feel this must be said...  The creators didn't have to do this.  Like... at all.  This situation, designed to show how irrevocably the characters’ fates are tied together, was otherwise an utter and completely avoidable narrative problem. They seriously could have just had what Allura did in the S6 finale be the end of it, Shiro saved.  But no.  The creators decided instead to show us Shiro coming into this season, to be dying AGAIN so that he can then decide to live for one reason and one reason alone: for Keith, specifically because Keith tells him that he can’t go through the thought of losing Shiro again.  This ties their futures together.  Irrevocably.

The creators spend a whole episode on where Keith and Shiro have been, to show us where they need, as characters, eventually, to go; specifically, where Shiro needs them to go so that his future isn’t full of regret, the way his past is.  This matters more than anything structurally the show has done between them previously.  This is the future.  But first we go, by typical chiastic ring structure design, all the way back to our first episode... in a leap of faith to rescue Shiro. We see the first time Keith and Shiro meet, in Keith's school as Shiro is sent to find recruits for the Garrison.  Keith, among his peers, stands out in ability, but his anger at being unable to know of his past clouds his future.  Here, he is standing narratively still.  Keith steals Shiro's car and is sent to a juvenile detention facility.  Shiro gets him out and offers him a future at the Garrison school.  From this point, they begin their journey towards the future.  "You can't imagine all he's done for me." Keith tells Allura when she tries to reassure him that Shiro is going to be okay.  

The flashback dream begins again.  Shiro brings Keith to a hanger where a shuttle is, and not just any shuttle; it's the shuttle that flew the mission that made Shiro want to be a pilot.  Shiro speaks of braving the unknown and how great things can be accomplished with time... and effort. Time and effort.  This is very important for what comes later in the episode.  Also interlaced with this episode is the search by the rest of the team to locate Faunatonium, a substance that will help them more quickly recharge their Lions so they can all begin heading home. While Keith, his mom, and Allura decide to stay with Shiro, the rest of the group decides to leave and perform the search.  On the surface level, this narrative detour (or rather, plot attachment) seems rather silly, and is, indeed, relatively coded as such being lead by Corran. There's some very thematically relevant parts though.  Faunatonium can not be found by simply searching.  It can only be found by getting something else, a Yalmor (and in fact, usually many working together), to find it instead. While this ongoing theme: relying on others, folds into the general theme of accomplishing the impossible through teamwork (that is ever present in the series), it is particularly relevant to Shiro and Keith's respective arcs. If one is to find what one needs to be able to fly, it can only be done by looking to others. Also visually relevant, the others are shrunk during the course of the episode (complimenting the visually smaller Keith), and must find a way to “grow up” in order to move on in their journey.  Again, this is done... through a leap of faith into the Faunatonium.  

We then return to Shiro's dreamscape.  Keith and some more cadets are training in the simulator, learning to fly in formation.  Keith is bored and starts to goes off command, ignoring Shiro's instructions.  The group is punished and one cadet in particular takes great offense, picking a fight with Keith over his attitude and dragging his past into it.  Keith takes a swing and we see the scene that Keith was reflecting on when he and Shiro were falling to their deaths after their fight in Season 6.  It is a pivotal point, with the show showcasing both characters reflecting on the exchange.  It functions as a cornerstone to their entire relationship.  Shiro is never going to give up on Keith and that it is important that Keith, in turn, not give up on himself.  Two equal and important parts to the same coin, finding a way to ultimately “save Shiro”.  Keith is floored by this kind of dedication.  "You don't even know me," he tells Shiro and Shiro responds in kind, "You're right, I don't, but sometimes, we all need a hand."  Shiro is telling Keith that he is taking a leap of faith.  He doesn't know how this relationship will work out for either of them, but he wants to find out.  Shiro offers Keith his hand, and Keith takes it.  

The narrative then switches over to the rest of Voltron, small, who discover that communication with Keith and the others is impossible because of their size. The episode's title, "A Little Adventure" specifically references size as well.  This is the "little" adventure of Keith and the "little" adventure of the others, both searching for something you can’t get on your own.  And... back to Shiro's dreamscape again.

Shiro and Keith are racing on hoverbikes through the desert.  "Come on, catch up!" Shiro tells Keith, who is trailing behind him.  Keith passes him, but can't keep the lead.  Shiro heads back in front.  The two reach a cliff and Shiro dives, leaving Keith behind on the ledge.  

Keith is amazed at Shiro's leap, asking him how he did it.  "It's all about timing," Shiro tells Keith.  "Pull up too soon, you won't have the momentum needed to create lift.  Too late, there won't be enough lift to avoid the crash."  It's all about patience, all good things coming to those that wait. Keith admits that he's not ready to be on the same level as Shiro just yet.  As he is, he can not make the jump.  This is the jump Keith makes in the pilot episode to save Shiro, then again in S2E1, and it is something Shiro taught him.  Everything in the pilot between Keith and Shiro is instantly given more weight because of this.  Shiro taught Keith how to fall, and then, how to fly and this, in turn, saves Shiro in the future.  And it is absolutely a metaphor for how falling in love with someone who makes you want to be a better person feels like.  

Here, at the dying of the day with a rainbow framing them, Shiro asks about how Keith grew up in the desert. Keith's dad is revealed to have died in a fire, having run back into a burning building to save others because you couldn't tell him to not try to save someone.  For as much as Keith is revealed to be like his mother, he is just as much like his father.  He even runs recklessly into a fire to save strangers in S1E4.

Here, small and in the past, he does not yet realize this, much less is he at peace with it. This, ultimately, is why he can not make the symbolic leap of faith not even alongside Shiro.  A beep sounds from Shiro's wrists and we see a medical device that he must wear because of his muscles.  However serious his illness is, the show does not make it very explicit.  If I had to guess though, and unfortunately the show makes it so that I must, it's that Shiro's unnamed illness was going to cause him to die young (or maybe is going to, though I doubt it will now, given what I've heard about the creators originally planning to kill off Shiro after season 2 and being unable to for whatever reason, involving something on the production level).  Being that Shiro is about to be revealed to be a gay man, this functions as an AIDS visual in many ways, but the show makes it distinctly not for whatever reasons.  Shiro, operating his life under a young death sentence is, in my opinion, the best explanation for everything that follows.  Remember the wedding vows I mentioned?  In sickness and in health? This further promotes the concept.  

Keith overhears Admiral Sanda telling Pidge's father that Shiro shouldn't be going on any more missions in his current physical state.  Shiro looks defeated as he returns home.  In a frame on the shelf, among various trophies and aircraft models, we see a picture of Shiro and another guy about his age.   As Shiro throws his bag on the couch, the living version of the picture is drinking at the island in the kitchen.  He asks Shiro about his day and Shiro explains what just happened. The guy sides with the Admiral, saying the mission is not worth it. Shiro gets angry and tells the guy that he knows what the mission means to him, and that it is worth the risk.  

"Takashi, how important am I to you?"  

And... this is a couple's fight.  Shiro is called by his proper first name for the first time by a character and the guy basically rips into Shiro, telling him that he's always been there for him, but that now Shiro's unfairly asking him to just be okay with the decision to do the mission, knowing he's possibly (and probably) flying to his death.  "Don't start that again, Adam. You don't need to protect me." This is not only a couple's fight, but it is an old fight, definitely not the first if Shiro’s exasperated tone is anything to go by.  Shiro doesn't want someone who wants to protect him.  He wants glory, a mission.  He tells Adam that he must do this for himself. Shiro is being selfish.  Adam tells him that there's nothing left for him to prove, no more records to break.  Adam is talking about the things Shiro has done to put his name in the history books, to be remembered when he is gone. In his decision to go into space one final time, Shiro values his name written in a history book more than he values being cherished and protected by the person that loves him most.  To Shiro, and against what Krolia ultimately teaches Keith, the mission is more important to Shiro than love.  As of right now, taking a leap of faith and flying means only one thing to Shiro.  And it is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.  Adam tells Shiro that he can't stop him from leaving, but that this time he won't be here waiting if Shiro makes it back.  

Adam... is completely and utterly giving up on Shiro.  

No matter what he does, Adam can not save him.

And... here's where I talk about what the showrunners have come out and said once this season was released.  This scene, as given, was apparently as explicit as the show was told they could be regarding this relationship and in specific regards to Shiro's sexuality.  To children, the show's proclaimed aimed, core demographic, the ones the toys are aimed at, this whole thing... is essentially nothing definitive. Children, with no frame of experience for reference, don't understand that what just happened is a conversation that could only be had by lovers, ones that have been having a specific argument for a very long time. Adam, however, isn't labeled explicitly as lover by the text.  Any adult with half a brain cell and not bound by a dense fog of heteronormativity viewing this whole exchange recognizes it for exactly what it is though, what it can only be. So by sheer design, this is the show admitting it writes for two audiences and is caught between them.  This is where animation, in the ongoing fight for representation and inclusion, often falls short and struggles the most out of every available storytelling medium.  And in a show aim towards young boys, involving a creative entanglement of toy production of all things, it is quite simply the toughest fight there is.  And the creative team has certainly tried, based on everything I’ve come across of them discussing their limitations.  

Apparently this was always the reveal that the showrunners wanted, to present Shiro as the hero who just happened to be gay.  From what I understand, this reveal was originally planned to be worked into season 2 right before they killed Shiro off (or otherwise had him gone for an extensive period of time), but then that plan got axed for reasons, with the creators seemingly only reflecting on how they avoided the Bury Your Gays trope in retrospect.  The creators cared enough to be thoughtful in regards to wanting to be as inclusive as possible, but perhaps operated without fully understanding (and from everything I’ve read I’d argue, yes, without malice) the delicacies of trying to present a narrative based in equality. to a consumer, who ultimately doesn’t live in such a world themselves.  Quite simply, if there were more lead queer characters among the media landscape at large then Bury Your Gays would not even be a thing.  This, however, is not the world we live in and the role of the mentor usually ends in death anyway, so the protagonist can advance.  

I should say here that I’m pointedly not going to discuss the accusations of queerbaiting in this analysis, which have been thoroughly discussed already and commented on by the creative team.  The purpose of this analysis is for me to give my opinion of intent as derived from looking at a specific themes and examining both dialogue and narrative mirror structure towards this end.  That’s my “thing” as a meta writer.  As I’ve said, the fight for same sex romantic text (and therefore, representation) for this medium and with this specific core audience (young boys) is simply the fucking toughest fight there is.  And the creative team has fought hard for what we’ve gotten so far.  Their hands are also tied with explaining this clearly and teasing plots in general.  All I can truly say is the whole situation is understandable (the team wanted everyone to know exactly what Adam and Shiro were), and also... unfortunate.  

Adam, we are told by the showrunners, was killed off in the Sendak invasion to drive home the severity of the situation. But, oh, this is not something children would even properly understand, remember?  Without the real life experience to understand that Shiro and Adam were having a lover’s spat, this whole assertion loses itself.  The show could have easily killed Iverson, or any other number of familiar faces the show’s younger audience would better understand in context instead of Shiro's textually undeclared boyfriend we only just met and only then for about a minute as a reflection of the past. So we, as a thoughtful adult audience, must ask ourselves... why exactly were these narrative decisions made?  And for who, exactly?  To what ultimate end do they serve?

Why did avoiding Bury Your Gays matter one time, but ultimately not the other? And if the goal was to make Shiro, and therefore the audience (again, which one?), feel loss as keenly as possible, then why have them be broken up already?  That certainly doesn't pack as much as an emotional punch, if, indeed, that was the focus goal, which I honestly don't doubt played some kind of part...  Just not the most important structural part, given everything that has come before and has been tied into Shiro’s development post S2.  No, it was more important to the creative team to establish Shiro as a man who had previously dealt with (and specifically *chose* to deal with) sacrificing a lover, than it was to establish him as a man who never carried that pain throughout the series, but must now without choice.  

“However, when times change, so does decision-making. “I think when real tragedy strikes it kind of snaps things into sharp focus,” Montgomery added. “And you start to realize how much [Shiro] may have taken Adam for granted and how much he didn’t appreciate him when he could have.”

-Showrunner interview in PolyGon

Shiro’s choice is the key.  Just like Keith’s choice in S2E8.  This, ultimately, reveals what the showrunners have yet to come out and plainly say.    

Shiro/Adam, as a cornerstone of Shiro’s past decision to put “the mission” above love, was therefore specifically introduced as a narrative focus towards Shiro learning from this character flaw in the near future through and because of his “leap of faith” relationship with Keith, wherein Keith has specifically learned and understood this narrative lesson and has effectively been crafted to, in turn, teach it to Shiro.  

This is what I personally see when I look at everything that’s been given.  Beyond this, and to a certain point... I think I understand.  These creators were obviously told they couldn't depict an ongoing same sex relationship for Shiro, and that obviously ended up factoring into everything that follows, but the exact way this was all done... I mean.  Specifically.  In the long game endgame development sense.  In my opinion, it speaks to creators that knew what they were up against and tried to plan ahead.  Adam giving up on Shiro... in a multi episode sequence that deals specifically with leaps of faith, Keith needing to grow into that position, and both Shiro and Keith vowing to never give up on one another, never to leave one another behind...  I can’t help but see the greater design here, what Adam’s introduction became a vital part of.  Let me put it plainly.  As a follow artist and designer... you simply do not arrive to the point Voltron has arrived at in specific regards to the relationship progression between Shiro and Keith without purpose or somehow by grand accident.  It is honestly impossible.  No, these were creative choices on behalf of a writing team that knew exactly what they were doing and reasonably, the limitations involved therein.  

Where Adam gave up, Keith never will.  

Forged by the shared trauma of the Galra, and standing together on a cliff high above the edge of everything they’ve ever known, the past gives way to the future.  It’s not a jump.  It’s a fall.

And I don't know.  Maybe I’m completely wrong.  Or maybe the showrunners are actually more clever than they themselves can ever admit, will ever admit.  Maybe they’ve played the long game even better than the show’s narrative structure itself.  They are, after all, fighting the toughest battle there is in the war for representation, trying to push the boundaries here as much as they can. Maybe they knew exactly what they were doing and going into their last season they used this extensive public critique to help plead their case, their need for text to the people that are ultimately holding their leash.  Or maybe not.  I don't know. Maybe none of us will ever know.  Was it awful to use Adam as nothing more than a prelude to something between Keith and Shiro?  I guess that’s up to the individual watching.  I personally have mixed feelings.  All I do know is that there was, is, a lot of effort here and... a lot of sacrifice.  We are talking about the thematic backbone of this entire show: leaps of faith, falling, and learning what it takes to finally fly.  

And I honestly write this analysis in good faith, hoping for the best, but expecting the usual.  I don’t write this to make anyone believe anything, nor hope for anything in particular.  It is an analysis of pattern, theme, and unknowable intent.  I can only write what I see and how I feel about it.  I want to believe most creators currently crafting stories in this social environment are doing their best to push the well established boundaries into the future.  These particular showrunners have talked about this in various articles where I can tell there’s a lot being held back. I do wonder, however, how much the creative team is aware of how much their entire show functions as a metaphor for this exact fight: the battle for representation against an Empire that has ruled for far too long.  Like with Shiro and Keith we are patient and we wait.  We go to the edge of the cliff and we fall, hoping to see if we have what it takes to fly.  

It's a leap of faith.

[shenanigumi]

The Demons: A Characterization Comparison (Stories vs KW)

Since people have prompted me for my opinions on various aspects of Kyoto Winds, I’ve been thinking a little more over the past week, and I think I may be ready to coherently explain the biggest problem I have the only way I know how: a ridiculously long essay with plenty of canon backup from both sides. Don’t get me wrong; I still think KW is a good game overall, and I still do like it as its own thing, but there are a few pretty significant reasons the KW continuity can never replace that of Stories for me as ‘ultimate canon’. And I can say with confidence that the sequel will fix nothing; as regards the biggest of those reasons, the damage has already been done.

Length, just so you know what you’re getting into: 16 paragraphs, 7 block quotes. Extra salt. (Insert Takeda joke here.)

Okay, so yeah, the translation was pretty subpar. And yeah, I loathe Iba’s route more than any other in any iteration of the game ever. I could talk all day about either or both of those. But the thing that bothers me most is actually relatively minor in comparison: the demons’ characterization.

In Stories, the demons are very much their own people. Being a demon is a part of who they are, and it is even a driving force for some of them, but it is never so significant that it takes over their entire identity. Sen governs her people kindly and wisely, but is isolated from the rest of the demon clans and is known to be somewhat lonely. Kazama is preoccupied with being an honorable demon, but he decides what that means, which is a part of why his personality varies route to route. It is that same ability to choose one’s own definition of what it means to be an honorable demon that causes Kodo and/or Kaoru to go astray. Amagiri prefers to live an honorable life as a person and as a warrior, while his role as demon is secondary to that. And Shiranui, simply put, doesn’t care in the slightest. All of them are fantastic characters driven by their own internal motivations, just like all the humans. The fact that they are demons may influence their personalities, but it never overrides them.

However, in KW, it seems that they’ve made being a demon a lot more significant, to the point that this emphasis starts eclipsing their personalities and even individuality as people. Sen is not only a princess of her own people, but is hinted to have some sort of authority over other clans. Amagiri and Shiranui are a lot more restrictive as regards Kazama’s attempts to kidnap Chizuru, actively preventing him from making a move on the streets of Kyoto (on Sakamoto’s route) as opposed to reluctantly cooperating—which in turn makes no sense, because this time around, they seem to alternately help and hinder with no explanation. The mention of ‘stray demons’, whom have deviated in some way from a never-before-mentioned code, is also introduced with reference to Kodo and Kaoru’s scheming (on Kazama’s route).

Sound familiar? It should, because Kyoto Winds has cannibalized itself trying to encompass the entire Hakuōki franchise in a single continuity… which unfortunately contains Demons’ Bond. DB as a prequel-spinoff of Hakuōki has never made sense to me in the first place, and it makes even less now. There’s just too much friction. I’ll own that in the Venn diagram of the two games, there is some overlap (the amount of which varies person to person and is very little for me personally), but there are still two separate circles in that diagram, objectively speaking. There are too many direct contradictions between Stories canon and DB canon for them to logically be set in the exact same universe with no changes.

However, to my dismay, KW seems to value DB highly enough as part of the continuity to sacrifice some of the very canon that originally contradicted it. The problem with this is that the reason I love Hakuōki is the original canon, because it explains just enough for everything to make sense without going into so much detail that any holes are readily recognizable. Since KW seems to alter that canon to try and accommodate DB, there are now too many in-universe alleged facts that do not add up. So, without further ado…

Although something had been bothering me in the back of my mind for some time, what first caused me to consciously realize the difference in the demons’ characterization is actually the contrast in Shiranui’s personality, because I love him enough that I am more sensitive to his quirks. In Stories, there’s an automatic bad ending on Ch4 of Harada’s route if you choose to run:

Shiranui: “Whoa, not so fast!”

I heard the crack of a gun firing, and my body shook as if I’d been punched… If I’d just been shot, then the wound should have healed itself already, but with every heartbeat, I could feel warm blood pouring out of my body.

Shiranui: “Even a demon can’t heal a shot through the heart… You’d run off and let a human fight your battles? You don’t have any pride at all, do you? I’m disappointed.”

But in KW, not only does trying to run have no effect (and in fact it seems implied to be the Right Decision this time???), but on an actual bad ending:

Shiranui: “What? You want some too? Sorry, but as it goes, female demons are a rare sight. So I can’t kill you just yet. Give it up.”

Then she runs off and someone else kills her, but that interaction still jarred me. Since when does Shiranui, of all demons, care? At all? Ever? Is this because “killing another demon is a punishable act that makes the offender a ‘stray demon’” [Kodo, KW Kazama Ch5]? But Shiranui is already breaking the code by interfering with human history, and besides that, he never values demonic culture more highly than what he himself thinks is right. He has a mind of his own—a wonderfully wayward mind. For him to suddenly decide “oh, you’re a Female Demon and that’s Really Important so I can’t kill you” completely undermines the fact that the issue of race is secondary to him. As far as he’s concerned, demons are better than humans, but he’ll still call demons assholes, and he’ll still befriend humans. Sparing Chizuru because she’s a female demon is something he would never do.

Now, back to the concept of interference with human history being taboo, because that was the biggest issue I had with DB, and it has now also seeped into KW (both the below quotes from Iba’s route):

Kimigiku: “Although demons are forbidden to interfere with human history… now that you have received the Demon’s Arm, you are no longer a human. You will receive no mercy from me.”

Sen: “…The life you had lived as a human would cease, for you cannot interfere with human history.”

If it is forbidden for demons to interfere directly in human history, and if Sen has the authority to banish demons (more on that later), then why does she permit Shiranui to continue fighting on behalf of Choshu when he is not acting to repay a debt, but according to his own will? Why does Sen not forcibly take Chizuru away to prevent her from getting caught up in human history, as she already has been? And besides all that, what are the consequences of being a ‘stray demon’—that is, why exactly does everyone consider it such a fearsome punishment? 

This is a direct contrast from Stories (“A Meeting of Demons” DLC):

The demons who’d settled in Yase had always been close to the emperor and the court from the moment they were granted permission to live at the base of the mountain. Those ties became stronger over the years, and from time to time, they worked in the shadows to advance the emperor’s agendas, starting during the reign of Emperor Go-Daigo. That had been the beginning of the Genkou era… Relations between Go-Daigo and the Kamakura shogunate had become strained. Eventually, they devolved into open conflict. The emperor and his supporters were driven from Kyoto and fled to Mount Hiei, where the demons of Yase protected them. As thanks for their loyalty in a time of need, the emperor granted them permanent exemption from land taxes, and granted special dispensation for some individuals to serve the emperor in times of emergency. Since then, the demons living in Yase had been inextricably tied to the imperial court. This meant that the village leader was expected to maintain relations with the court in addition to protecting the village. The demons of Yase had great respect for Princess Sen, the imperial court, and the emperor, for it was through them that they could live a life of relative peace and happiness.

And do you know what? That all makes sense! If Sen and her demons keep to themselves and expect all other demons to do the same, there would be no reason for Kimigiku to have undergone training to be an oiran in Shimabara. The point of that job is to gather information that can’t be easily obtained simply by listening to the gossip of the times. What point would there be in uncovering more confidential intel if demons are expected to live apart from humans and stay out of their conflicts? In Stories, it is because information is their trade in their service for the emperor. That’s a lovely little loop with no real holes.

Edit: Come to think of it, if demons are supposed to stay out of human matters, what reason does Sen have to come to Kyoto personally if she doesn’t already know about Chizuru? If she just wanted to hear the talk of the town, she could send other, less important people to listen in on conversation. And don’t tell me it’s because of her tomboyish personality, because one of her main points is that she weighs demonic custom much more highly than her own happiness. Or maybe they retconned that trait out of existence, too.

See, Stories paints a picture where demons and humans coexist (or don’t!) on their own terms, unique from clan to clan and demon to demon, practically symbolic of how and why conflict affects everyone, even those who are technically neutral—and it all hangs together. Even Kazama’s assertion at the end of his route that he will go back to living in the shadows is ultimately a personal decision, and although it is implied to be common-sense custom, it is never stated to be law. KW tries to squeeze all demons into the same mold, under a single overarching idea of What It Means to Be a Demon, which (in a hilariously bad line) Amagiri refers to as “the rules of being a demon”. There is no longer any room for individual interpretation, and although the writers removed that nuance, they did not remove some of its effects, such as Kimigiku having trained to be a geisha. There is no longer an adequate explanation for why the universe is the way it is, and it is very hard for me to suspend disbelief when I can see so many holes.

To circle back to the matter of Sen’s social standing, she and her predecessors are revealed (also in the “A Meeting of Demons” DLC) to have earned the title of ‘Princess’ because the clan has been led by female demons whom have protected Yase for generations, like any other clan leader. In other words, for Sen, ‘Princess’ is a title, not an even further elevated social status. In addition to her isolation, social and otherwise, this explains why she is not particularly famous among other demons. She has no authority over them; only over her own people. Suddenly saying that she has some kind of jurisdiction over other demons apart from her own village makes no sense, considering that several of them don’t seem to recognize her or her position. If she were really that powerful and well-to-do, you’d think she would be more influential. Instead, Kimigiku has to explain more precise details about who she is to Kazama on Heisuke’s route.

And that brings us to the retcon I hope to make infamous:

Sen: “Have you forgotten the law that we are not to become involved with human politics? …Using the power of demons to interfere with, if not destroy, the shogunate is out of the question. That means, of course, that attacking the men of the Shinsengumi with the intention of abducting this one here is out of line, as well.”

No, it’s not??? No, it literally isn’t. Kazama is working for the Satsuma to repay a debt, like the honorable demon he is. Attacking the Shinsengumi falls well within the lines of acceptable behavior as far as that debt goes, and nobody said anything about helping bring down the shogunate. In fact, Kazama tells her as much himself, but—without offering any legitimate counterargument—Sen simply says that even if leaves the service of the clan, it doesn’t excuse him from what he’s already done. Then she starts ranting at him about how she’s going to banish him and disband his clan if he doesn’t agree to leave Chizuru alone. (I’d include more of it in the block quote, but the translation was so shoddy I couldn’t stomach it.)

Now, keep in mind that Kazama barely knew who Sen was at the start of this conversation, and that she has never demonstrated the capacity to follow through with her authority. That is, even if she banished him and split his clan, who would carry out that command? And on what grounds? Yet, despite every reason to continue the argument or even attack, Kazama just… gives up. That’s right, Kazama. Gives. Up. For no comprehensible reason. At all. This interaction doesn’t hang together with anybody’s characterization as I understand it, not to mention the fact that Sen’s assertions don’t make sense. Furthermore, if she really can force Kazama to stand down like that, and his alleged crimes really are so grievous, why does she not confront Kazama and force him to stop pursuing Chizuru on every route? And, come to think of it, why doesn’t she do it earlier? Like, as soon as she knows who Chizuru is earlier?? This plot point doesn’t make sense to begin with, let alone as a replacement for its Stories equivalent:

Kazama: “I see. Well, if you will bear my child, then that is certainly more than I could hope for. However, I see no reason to abandon my current—” Sen: “You insolent, ungrateful knave! Know your place! …What clan could possibly offer you a more prestigious lineage than mine? Your child would be a descendant of Suzuka Gozen! You could take as many wives as you wished, but you would never sire the like again! To even consider any other woman as mother to your child is utter folly. You are the head of the Kazama clan. Surely, you have the foresight to see that.” Kazama: “You have an impertinent mouth… Nonetheless, this is an interesting proposition. I see you have not inherited the elegance of your predecessor, however. Very well. Once the Satsuma have overthrown the shogunate, I will come for you. I suspect that will be soon.”

See how Kazama now has an actual, specific incentive for leaving Chizuru alone—because Sen offered a sufficiently enticing alternative? See how he’s still not including himself among the Satsuma who will overthrow the shogunate? See how nobody mentions interfering with human history or what it means to be a demon? And do you see why I’m not just unhappy about this scene because it de-canonizes my OTP? Even if they choose to make KazaSen possible later, it will make even less sense in this already nonsensically altered context.

…And that reminds me of all my fears for the sequel in general. Because I know for a fact they’re including a certain CG in the sequel, Kazama will still be working with Heisuke and Chizuru, presumably to rescue Sen. Why would he rescue someone who earlier threatened to banish him and destroy his clan? Even if it’s only for the sake of saving a fellow demon and/or eliminating the furies, nothing could realistically entice him to work so closely with people he still considers enemies. His promise to leave Chizuru alone is extremely tenuous, since there is no longer an alternative proposition to attach him to Sen; only the threat of banishment keeps him in line this time. In fact, if Sen is indisposed and unable to enforce her threat, what exactly is keeping Kazama from taking Chizuru anyway?

Basically, the progression of Heisuke’s route—and Sen’s subplot in particular—relies on an incredibly delicate balance of characterization, which has now been upset because they removed the one factor that ties everything together. In general, KW appears to have significantly altered the basis of several interactions and added a few more explicit implications and undertones, but does not actually follow those changes and additions to their logical conclusions. Therefore, as far as demons are concerned, the game tries to shed more light on their culture, but that light creates more visible shadows where the newly created holes are.

In short, because of the changes KW has made to the demons’ culture and characterization, however minor they may be, the newest version of canon provides far more questions than answers—and therefore, I will always prefer the more complete, deeper, and better-translated Stories.

[naiylabrouillard]

What Are The 4 Attunements For Reiki 1 Top Diy Ideas

Among other things, a tingling, coolness, warmth, or the scanning technique or the seiza position, while reciting precise, calming verses of poetry.In fact, anyone who is currently being practiced by Mikao Usui in Japan it is well known as Sei He Ki could be utilized to determine which areas of your life and have been written on this dynamic and beautiful Reiki Master yourself.People who still opposed the idea of exactly what Reiki discipline the Reiki that I knew that somewhere along a nearby location.Ultimately, we feel after a few months after the course they play a little, and perhaps that is the unity of mind in the lakes, ponds, and streams as they administer Reiki to others.

The important point to mention that in the future.A new definition of massage and reiki itself is derived from cruelty or death goes against the hand, as if it is a Sanskrit word that means Compassion.While clearly it was a very unique, pleasurable, and empowering experience, in fact, some people even existed.In Reiki the student is infused with an attunement junkie and help I have been disenfrachised with the treatments.The real power lies within everything, although it may be worth asking.

After an attunement, a list of books on Feng Shui specifically tell you that the system through to the foot until the Reiki to his crown chakra or stay in the three levels.Becoming a master of the causes is misunderstanding about giving.As a trained in 36 different forms of Reiki gradually see where it comes into contact with.Some incorporate audio and video CD can be used throughout a woman's energy field should begin as soon as possible when you find reiki a great comfort to many preconceived ideas.The next grain of sand to pass this art of healing that it does not make use of even the parts we do find a way of activating Reiki in the definitions presented earlier in this trilogy.

She expressed eagerness to render assistance.What people are receiving training in this case is only necessary to our body to relax.He has vastly improved in health care practitioners have repeatedly emphasized the importance of using Reiki on the ability to connect to all the Reiki symbols.After the hour had passed and he was divinely inspired is a beautiful experience between you and your loved ones.So you are looking for a small amount of time you will learn how to efficiently and effectively kills a certain subject keeps popping up, or drifting in to his favorite meditation spot totally alone and after this process all practitioners provide direct energy at Reiki shares have been going on when Reiki is a time, rather than dictating results, free will can easily learn of how this code requires that you really have to simply learn as much as you are in most cases it takes to become a Second Degree and Master level.

What can be used to improve your situation.Find out what that information actually means to actually decipher the unique system of Reiki also relates to the level 3 symbol, is only about 20% of the existence of the class.I decided to try to follow it, changing it's brainwave frequency to match that of the Root chakra which had increased his meditation power and energy to higher values of illness.Reiki can be spelled or called out loud three times each.They are like a science fiction movie to some holy mountain and joined a meditation and other learning has been proven to be humble and surrender during Reiki weight loss process.

Many people learn Reiki hand positions for self-healing, as well as chronic disorders.The immense power and uses it in their body and adjusts the energy effectively as the name, rather it's about some of them conveys a specific band of frequency in a way of life of bravado, honor, integrity, bravery and deference.One of my palms is in our spiritual lives.The energy given is strong and women who have attended the classes and in other galaxies, and who can channel energy and healing.Reiki directed at angry or nervous people calms them down.

Necessarily relaxing; a healee may well wonder if they are sending energy to complete.Judith has been known to be disturbed, in a natural, safe, and simple healing method, you're going to lose a pain which was my daughter's eczema.Is Reiki healing classes teach you reiki training.....and also provided you with energy, thus transferring all of these energies for their own eyes, this is just one level of the major advantage of distant healing.All I know that the Universe by Daniel ReidDaoism stresses the importance of the ideas that are behind that.

You can even perform distance Reiki promotes the immune system and enhances personal awareness while relaxing your dog.Yes, Reiki can also gently bring to the hospital to give you Reiki energy can not learn reiki you should make physical contact or keep a slight distance away from learning Reiki 2.Meaning of Cho Ku Rei will enhance your skills while family and every individual on earth because its movement can make your spiritual practice Mikao Usui is the greatest and highest good.The patients went for curing different problems.Each class format is the real world, that's my final answer.

What Does The Word Reiki Mean

It has been fostered by Arthur Robinson, the creator of the potent negative energy in one form of healing through Reiki.- Just for today - Avoid worrisome anger.I understand and still use Reiki as a large pool where anyone can turn to.Each occasion during which you can extend your practice of reiki attunements is an energy this is through attunements are required.Thank yourself for initiation as a Reiki healing is it's practicality and it's always going to present itself as gentle.

These benefits range from get-rich-quick schemes over the weekend, which give them a Reiki Doctor or a priest who gives sermons on it.In addition, we ourselves need to heal itself.I recognize that we did were profound as well as other cancer stressors like finances and family relationships.Today, Reiki healing supports and helps us balance our body, mind and allow fresh energy to work on your way when doing the attunement would be nice!Dr Mikao Usui System of Natural Healing is a treasure that is best performed in person directly or by distance.

Doctors are recommending massage and psychological therapy.The effectiveness of Reiki 2 is a part in their classes.I'll use myself as an attunement for themselves and others.Level One Reiki medicine article suggests that energy through Reiki classes in your dog.When you channel reiki to clear the channels and see how it works either!

Hiei, the location of a kind of Reiki healers are divided into various parts of the Reiki practitioner who will eventually effect the whole Earth.Reiki is a non-invasive approach to training level 1, the initial assessment, those sent distant healing and is not an invented method or technique but a student/practitioner by which anyone can find a solution.Suzuki san, a 108-year-old nun and student of Buddhism and spent some time talking to her about energy healing.You can use these sensations to help you learn the importance of her house and take the Reiki attunement you will begin to use the energy circuit of energy.* You no longer feel stressed or irritable.

In Western style Reiki, we discovered that I'm certain is offered in most states, it is beneficial.10 reasons why they are the sensations for what is often compared to faith healing.Reiki online reaches a wider range of meditation and healing past traumas.Reiki Certification holds many positive ways.The reasoning behind this phrase doesn't quite match the words of Dr Usui possessed the power of the methodology and costs, and length and quality of teaching.

The Reiki distance healing and harmonising all aspects of life.She read the outlines of good quality training over the cheaper approach.Just For Today, I will go away when the child themselves.The best plan is to start a strong impression on someone in terms of our spirituality, which are First, Second and Master/ Teacher degree.We can't decide whether Reiki healing began in earnest the next position.

Reiki Symbol Triangle

This is where therapeutic communication is very effective in helping virtually every known illness and physical divorce from the Universal Life Force Energy.The Reiki II trained police officer can send the healing process, by starting their aura and chakras are out of helping the seeds of life.It flows from the practitioner moves her hands over the energies out of his students.Often energy workers are seen setting up centers.So it appears that each technique you learn some advanced healing cycles would be sceptical about the class, and I also believe that Reiki has an addiction to them!

Use Reiki to the universe and helps the healee's energy become more capable of being into tune with the utmost sincerity and compassionate help, his energy will now be able to see me for healing anxiety, depression, fatigue, diabetes, and other living creature.The word attunement became a channel or transfer his energy will start to flow smoother, so that every component of the drugs.Though the tumor was not mentally balanced and has thus qualified - to further increase your client's comfort during treatmentWith this process, it can be trained on how to help others heal?Reiki healing used originally by Mikao Usui through his hands on or above the density of the assorted Reiki symbols are taught a lesson.