#ywtext

[criaturamonocromatica]

Twitter is blocked in Brazil, but I'll continue to post here and on Bluesky as always

[magnoliawaltz]

What do you think about Soushi sleepiness in BTL?

I've finally watched BTL this week, so I can answer this now!

It was a cute way of softening his showa era boss shtick. Honestly, the whole biorhythm thing also seemed like a backhanded way of connecting him to KoSoushi. No, seriously.

Can you see how the roles begin to reverse here, audience? Can you see how truly similar they can be when Soushi doesn't suppress his emotions?

( 💢◠‿◠ ) these demons....

He even sleeps while Kazuki is telling him about his life expectancy, a very serious topic. I wonder if he just ended up staying over at his place like that (give me 11 doujins of that please).

Apparently something chief director Noto Takashi said at Anime Japan 2023 caused some commotion among fans. I found a tweet where someone transcribed what he said:

「脚本に眠くなる総士を入れてくれとはいった。隙がある総士が欲しかった。 一騎の前では隙だらけの総士。 あそこは友達というか細胞レベルで繋がってる友情。 自分の一部みたいな感じなので隙だらけです」 “I asked to include a sleepy Soushi in the script. Soushi lets his guard down in front of Kazuki. Better than saying they're friends, what they have is a friendship that's connected at cellular level. He feels like he's a part of him, so his guard is down."

.....Right.

When It's Noto saying it really feels like he is talking about pure love and friendship ❤ however since it is Ubukata writing it also feels like ooh... 🌚 is there some kind of fucked up setting underlying that statement? That may as well have become biologically true after two years of constant crossing and an implied connection through the mir. I'm probably thinking too much.

[criaturamonocromatica]

I'm on Bluesky as criaturamonocro.bsky.social

I have invites too if anyone wants one

[criaturamonocromatica]

reading all the nice and unhinged tags people leave on my drawings sincerely makes my day. thanky

[magnoliawaltz]

I was thinking, I'm not sure why Youko and the other characters are so sure Misao will be reborn because a new mir took root in that lake.... All characters who had died in that last battle came back after receiving Altair and Miwa's blessing, except him, maybe because he was the only one who actually committed suicide in that last fight. Would he want to be born again after that? I'm not sure about that. I guess it all depends on how one imagines the tabula rasa future.

Director Noto Takashi said the following in an interview:

能戸: 二代目操に関してですが、彼はアルタイルを与えられてレガートのように復活す��こともできたと��いますが、「竜宮島で生まれて羽佐間容子の子供――翔子のように育ちたかった」という願いを受けた形として、12話であのように島に根づいた彼を見せました。チビ操はとびっきりかわいいと思うし、それを見に帰ってくる甲洋おじさんの手には世界中のお土産がたくさん――そんな未来が見えませんか？ Noto: As for Misao 2nd, I think he could have been given Altair and revived like Legato, but his wish was "I wanted to be born on Tatsumiya Island and grow up like Shouko, the child of Youko Hazama". So in episode 12, we showed him rooted in the island like that. I think that a Chibi Misao would be extremely cute, and when Uncle Kouyou comes home to visit, he brings a lot of souvenirs from all over the world in his hands: can't you see such a future? (Source: Animage Plus, 2021.12.22)

......I agree that kid Misao would be extremely cute, however after the "KoSoushi Chronicles" he tweeted years before TBY was announced, and which ended up being a total misdirection...... I can't say I believe him! 💢💢

But Misao did die saying "mom..."

[magnoliawaltz]

Talking about Fafner Exodus drama cds: The Follower 1 and 2

Spoilers for both Exodus and The Beyond ahead.

(I had some details wrong the first time I wrote this, I'm reposting with those details corrected. As this drama cd hasn’t been translated I didn’t want to spread wrong info with my half-assed report)

I thought I would have a lot less to talk about these cds, because in Exodus the character’s intentions and interactions felt a lot more obvious, if not shallow, to me. The thing with Fafner is that the more it expands the scope of the world, the more the individual characters’ writing suffer -- it becomes more about how they embody their duties towards said world.

Even little Miwa already had the sacrificial mentality at age 5. It’s just so sad. But the extended sequence where Michio appears as a memory of the mir and they walked together and talked was so emotional, I had tears in my eyes. I don’t have much to talk about the first cd besides the fact the family reunion between Yumiko, Michio and Miwa was great.

The concept of the Mir appearing as the parent they can’t see anymore was very interesting. It’s at times like these that the sekai-kei aspect of the narrative really shines. In the second cd, only when the three key characters make their personal choice is when the path to the island’s future opens. More on that later.

Maya seems to have come with an understanding with her father, already having seen too much of herself and her hate in him and his actions. And Kazuki is still in that vague state where “mom” is both mom and not mom since he doesn’t remember her much (I remember Fumihiko clearly stating “that” is not Akane, in Gone/Arrive but the concept was evolved, and it is the mir after all). I got taken aback with how curt Soushi was with Kouzou. I knew their relationship really was not good at all (with good reason, since his dad raised him to be a “tool”), you can really hear the strain in his voice -- At the start he is using keigo but by the end has stopped. Only to use it again when saying good bye. How very Soushi. It just left me wanting to know more on their family situation. Need me a whole spinoff about that, specially when it comes to Soushi and Tsubaki’s mom.

So the three choices they made were to overcome the willingness to sacrifice, ask for further dialogue and decide to leave the old world. That’s how Kouzou resumes the choices. I had got this wrong the first time I wrote, as I was trying to much to fit it into my theory without listening again, because oh my god I really can’t stop seeing the Hegel influence everywhere now. 

So in Exodus these three concepts that derivate from this same word with contradictory meanings (aufheben) become manifest as the mir’s blessing. It’s is the same as Kouzou said, just changes the order of things. They choose: 

1. to negate the old ways of Tatsumiyajima, an island hiding from the world, only preoccupied with maintaining it’s own people’s subsistence; 

2. to preserve its essence, the mixing with the festum which possibilites the dialogue between them, here symbolized by the Esperanto; 

3. to elevate itself, which I think means to overcome the need to sacrifice themselves and other people to let their loved ones live.

It’s the whole elevating of the vessel thing -- the show has used pottery as a metaphor for this whole process since the start. How The Beyond is going to do that is what I’m curious about now.

The thing is the trio's choices here, in turn, becomes their destinies in The Beyond.

Soushi has his old existence and old way of thinking “negated” and he is reborn, most likely repeating the process forever. Maya has her existence as a human “preserved”, accepting a mind that will continue to change and a body that will continue to age as parts of herself. And Kazuki has his existence “elevated” to something less than festum and more than human, more akin to a god, losing part of his human heart in the process.

(　ﾟдﾟ)ﾎﾟｶｰﾝ

Everything makes sense now, even the push and pull between the trio, that I couldn’t understand at first and thought was flimsily written in Exodus, specially the interactions between Soushi and Maya that left me ? at the time, makes sense when I think of the characters as both embodying these qualities and going through that sublimation process themselves. Even the initial estrangement The Beyond caused is more understandable.

However, I have to say, it sure is still frustrating to see these characters I love so much become mere puppets of fate at the hands of the writer. Must Soushi suffer so much like that forever????? (Edit: oh I was so innocent about this. “Soushi” is “fine”, the other two? Not so much). Sure, I’ll see how much of my opinion will change when I finally finish The Beyond. I need to get to that before BTL’s BD comes out. We’ll see.

[magnoliawaltz]

I think most fans already know that 総 and 一 mean all and one, respectively.

But did you also know that when you mix 皆城総士 (Minashiro Soushi) and 真壁一騎 (Makabe Kazuki)

you get 城壁騎士 (Jouheki Kishi), a knight in the castle walls?

Dare I say, a Fafner in the Azure?

( ◠‿◠ )

I thought it was an interesting reading.

[magnoliawaltz]

Kazuki is the product of war. He’s been conditioned to survive in war. How would he survive during peacetime?

Honestly? I don't know. I'm not good at imagining a future for that world or even at headcanons in general. I thought I knew these characters but TBY and BTL slapped me in the face and said I knew nothing actually.

How to save the one who brings salvation? I think tby was trying to answer that through Miwa's storyline. To Kazuki maybe that answer came too late. Really, to someone aimless, who wanted to sacrifice himself to some greater cause, living as an (presumably) eternal soldier during peacetime is just punishment. Maya was smarter because she went ahead and became military personnel.

If it was not for Miwa and Altair's blessing I would promptly answer "by stop having to pretend he's still human". That is, if he had completely lost his human heart by the end and left like that, as he has been detached from the human world for some time, even before receiving the mir's blessing. "Change is a blessing in itself" is Fafner's message in a way and I think having the elements clumsily cling to their past selves goes against that. Being someone who cooks for others but not for himself was an extension of that consciousness, that need to be a support for other people, as expressed in daily life. Food as a symbol of peace and humanity was for the others but not for himself. That's why I can't see him going back to the island and simply working at Rakuen with Kouyou like usual after that ending.

Flying the fafner, in turn, has become his life, so for a while that alone should be enough. Expand his horizons and remember he chose to live because he desired first and to devote himself to realize Soushi's wishes/protect the island second. He has not blessed the world yet, has he? From a practical standpoint, there are probably many places in need of humanitarian aid there. Since he always had a philanthropic inclination, maybe he and Kouyou will travel around the world helping places that have been destroyed by festum/Benon. Although, as I said, I want don't him to live just to devote himself for others again....

However, everything I said presupposes "change" in the character. Since Altair's blessing seems to just have reverted his heart back to a previous state and by the last episode he is back to spewing the same lines as before, talking about finding another way to "use his life".... I'm not sure if we're supposed to infer that his way of thinking has stagnated after all that. Seems very likely given how other adults are portrayed.

(then he needs to come back to the island at least once to apologize and talk to Soushi like a proper adult!!)

[magnoliawaltz]

So, festum body won’t get ring marks?

The ring marks are a small reflection of the assimilation process that occurs when a human pilots a fafner. So, the elements, whose bodies are mostly made of silicon like the festum, either don't get that aftereffect or regenerate fast enough to a previous state that it becomes negligible to them. That is unclear, as far as I know. The know elements so far are Kazuki, Kouyou, Misao and the two Soushis (apparently). Every element is a bit different, and the two Soushis are also different from each other.

I found a settei that explains what is the status of Soushi's body in Exodus:

皆城総士: 通常は人間の肉体でいるが、同化現象に接するとフェストゥムと同じ体に変貌す。 Minashiro Soushi: He normally has a human body, but when he comes into contact with the assimilation phenomenon, his body transforms into the same as a Festum.

We can presume that he had no ring marks because every time he piloted Nicht and was met with that assimilation, his arms and hand were "festum". The same is not true of Soushi-kun, as he has them, same as Miwa. Has his body "returned to a previous state" because Soushi chose to die as a human? I don't know.

An interesting fact is that in Exodus, Narain also had his life "maintained by the festum" and his arm also became golden when he came in contact with assimilation, but he had the ring marks. Presumably because it happened after he had been a pilot for some time. The word "maintain" is important in both of their cases, I think. And Soushi ended up assimilated himself, so it is not like having a festum body prevents that from happening.

Another character who doesn't have the marks is Maris. He is also human. I think in his case the reason is because he always pilots using the soldato armor from Benon that protects the wearer's whole body. Wouldn't that be an important discovery in the Fafner world? But to receive that armor you have to receive Malespero's blessing first. Maybe in the future he'll disclose that info?

Malespero himself does not have them, as he is a core like Misao. And so does Chaos/Mitsuhiro, who is a puppet/alter-ego of Malespero and whose situation is so weird I can't even begin to explain. How different from an element is he? Maybe after I rewatch Exodus I'll understand. But he does not seem to have marks in The Beyond, although he also developed them in Exodus, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pass as human. I don't have a good screenshot in hand to show.

Meanwhile, in The Beyond we have another interesting case: Seri. She is not an element, as Malespero very didactically pointed and has the ring marks, making her human. But her hair turned white as Sakuya's and she says "she can't die". An influence of Altair, probably. What is she? Unknow to me, but her case and Soushi-kun's may be pointing at something.

I am probably missing some things as I haven't rewatched Exodus since 2019, feel free to correct me.

[magnoliawaltz]

This song came up in a 2000's jpop playlist I was listening to and I thought "wow this has impeccable Soushi and Kazuki vibes..." It's about a sequence of meetings and farewells, eternal love and allegiance.

I went to search to see if anyone had said something about it on Twitter and turns out Noto Takashi said this in a suggestive tweet:

It was not a good idea to listen to Kiseki no Hana and Sora while working (ノ_＜) My hands have stopped and I'm looking at the ceiling

Oh.... I see

Sora is probably referring to this song by the same singer, which is even sadder the previous one as it's about reminiscing on a childhood love who passed away.

I recommend listening the first one from Soushi's pov and the second one from Kazuki's (^Д^)

[magnoliawaltz]

I've reread After All Alone, a short story Ubukata wrote for the Fafner manga version after I wrote this post. While it technically seems to take place after episode 15 of DA, in my interpretation it really is about The Beyond. It was released just before the last three episodes went to the cinemas. Just like BTL is set between HaE and Exodus but is making heavy allusions towards TBY.

In AAA Kazuki dreams of an ideal world, where everything that was previously "warped" is now "right". Shouko is not only alive but is a healthy girl who goes to school, practices sports and has cut her hair short. Now I'm thinking that detail was there to connect her to both Kanon and Misao. When thinking about the prospective romantic situation between Shouko and Kouyou, Maya says "a storm may be coming". Hey, isn't that the name of the episode where Misao fucking dies 😶 "Probably three different ones", she continues. Meaning three different.... lives?

He then remembers Shouko saying "it's like I come back from all around the world, while praying to be born correctly this time. Fantasizing about being shattered into small pieces and disappearing makes me feel relieved." Sick. Is this making a reference to both Malespero and Kazuki's situation at the end? Shouko is not a person anymore, but a vessel for metaphors, it seems.

Kazuki says something about a white machine being the "right shape, condensed". But then by TBY the white machine – Sein, is not his anymore, it's Miwa's. Miwa is the.... "correct version" of himself? Very plausible, considering that ending and the role she played. Is she also "Shouko"? Or are they also implying a White Alles after all that because Kazuki will be going to the island again to talk to Soushi. After the Black Sein limited edition moderoid was released anything is possible, really.

I guess what this short story also implies is that the right and correct version of events was already happening with new actors, but Kazuki can't see it, because despite also having changed a lot, he is stuck in the past.

[magnoliawaltz]

I wish we had more Kazuki in TBY

Me too, anon. He was cool in a somewhat dangerous way, but also looked like he was going to disappear at any moment, as if only a mere vestige of his existence remained there.

But to be honest, following TBY's line of thought, if they showed more scenes of Kazuki just to have him be a scumbag father figure to KoSoushi I don't think I could take it lol. Do you realize he left the island without saying sorry to him once? Now that I think about, I don't remember him apologizing even to Soushi in DA. He only said he wanted to do that, but then there was nothing to forgive because Soushi was actually grateful.

Hohoh... Is that also part of Makabe Kazuki's hubris...

TBY was trying to remove itself from the shadow of Kazuki and Soushi's story, right. That's fine (it's not but let's pretend it is), but it also refused to give us relief by presenting his conclusion. It feels incomplete. Purposefully so (eternal return...), but still.

More than that, it feels like they intentionally omitted some vital scenes here and there to leave us speculating. The fact I keep seeing wildly different interpretations about his behavior in the last two episodes in the Japanese side is a good indicative of that. It's like the tabula rasa in that way. It could go either towards a positive development or a negative one, it is only full of potential.

And I am a pessimistic person, so I can only imagine somewhat gloomy scenarios after that ending lol. Because what I want most is to Kazuki to come to reject that island's way of thinking too. KoSoushi did a lot but it wasn't nearly enough, and he too embraced militaristic power with real zeal, otherwise he would have no voice there. Even the meaning of a blessing has been re-contextualized, so they've all supposedly been freed from any restrictions imposed by the Mir, right? Stop being a soldier, Kazuki. Stop.

Well, he already left that place anyway, maybe that's enough for now. I think it was meaningful to end TBY by having two characters who had to fight since childhood, to the point they stopped being human, leave with their deadly machines. They finally earned the opportunity to see the world with their own eyes and reevaluate their experiences.

[magnoliawaltz]

how would you rename the MS-09 Dom? the fact that the Dom and Rick Dom are basically the same (aside from extra verniers on the Rick Dom) makes it confusing, so what would you rename them?

Hm... That's a hard question. Doms and Rick Doms are like the epitome of grunt robots that are always getting blown up in the background alongside the Zakus to me, so I've never payed much attention to them. Compared to them I think the Acguy is super cute and unique and the mobile suit I would like to pilot. But I like how they are usually purple and pink, it's cute.

...Er, that was not the question. So how to rename the Dom, huh. I think Dom has a ring to with that makes one think "Oh, this is Zeon's half-assed attempt at making a GunDam, huh?" It sounds incomplete, purposefully so. So I wouldn't change it in principle of its narrative purpose. A Dom finally reaches wholeness by turning into a space-use mobile suit in the form of a Rick Dom, and is able to face a Gundam (not really lol). Maybe they should just add some visual details to Rick Dom to distinguish it and make it cooler.

However, maybe in a spin-off manga where some underdog Zeon soldier keeps coming up with new powerups for their Dom while overcoming all adversities in a guerilla warfare zone, then maybe something like MS-09 Hound Dom would be cool.

[magnoliawaltz]

Some musings on Fafner again

Spoilers for both Exodus, The Beyond and the drama cd The Follower 2 ahead

Here is an excerpt from the drama cd The Follower 2 I found interesting. In the cd, the Mir appears in the form of a parental figure in front of the characters to offer then a choice. Here we have Mir!Kouzou and Soushi talking before lowering the camouflage mirror + the choice to submerge Tatsumiya alongside Altair:

公蔵  「島を危機にさらしてでもか。 これまで何のために戦い、犠牲を払ってきた」 総士  「父さん、僕は長い間、あなたのように考えることを課してきた。 だがもう、そうはしないでしょう。 ただ閉じこもり、自ら対話の道を拒むと言うなら 今の僕はその選択を、この島のあり方を否定する」

Kouzou: "Even if you put the island in danger? What have you been fighting and sacrificing for?"

Soushi: "Father, I've been tasked with thinking like you for a long time. But I won't do that anymore. If you say we must simply continue to seclude ourselves and refuse to engage in dialogue. Then right now, I reject that choice, and the current state of this island."

Here we can see a symbolic parricide, separation between father and son.

It is truly ironic then that in The Beyond, KoSoushi also comes to a similar conclusion by rejecting the current way of thinking of the Islanders. Maybe we could say then that an implicit torch pass was drawn here between the two. And so the father he had to symbolic kill this time was Kazuki after all.

[magnoliawaltz]

Ngl finally biting the bullet and reading Hegel is helping me understand Fafner and vice versa.

Can’t believe they used the concept of aufheben to explain a character (Soushi) and that later became the core of the show’s philosophy. That’s genius. But it sure wasn’t clear in the scrappy subs I first watched back in 2010. I don’t remember if they clearly said sublation or sublimation, that would be easier to understand and research. I think I remember Soushi saying 止揚 various times but I’m not sure. Of course I wouldn’t understand back then anyway.

[magnoliawaltz]

That talk between Ikuhara and Anno about Char's Counterattack where the former talks a lot about Gyunei and how he "identified" with him told more about his character than any analysis his fans usually do.

Funny dude. In the analogy about anime industry he describes there he sees himself in the character who both admired, hated and envied Char. Tried to surpass him and the first step was by unsuccessfully trying to woo Quess, a very young girl and also super powerful newtype. Way powerful than him.

Also does nothing right and dies like a fly. A notably horrible character no one likes but I find funny. We always need at least one of these deranged types in a Gundam. Also I’m glad he exists and it’s not Kamille there running after Quess like a dog or I would commit a hate crime.

This is not part of my Utena is heavily inspired by Gundam theory......... But maybe it is.