thesoffgengar

[thesoffgengar]

It’s so funny to imagine Wicked from the perspective of one of the normal students at Shiz. There’s this girl and she’s weird and an overachieving nerd and no one likes her, but then the popular girl becomes best friends with her overnight so you guess she’s chill now. They might be sleeping together but no one’s really sure. They’re also low key dating the same guy but you’re not clear on if it’s a polycule situation or a love triangle. Whatever. You’re just trying to study for finals. Your history teacher gets arrested and no explains why. You just hope this won’t effect your grade in the class. The weird nerdy girl gets a letter from the president inviting her to come see him. Wow, that’s exciting. She and her maybe-girlfriend go off to the capitol and you go back to homework and dorm room parties. One day later one of your professors is on the national radio saying that the weird nerdy girl, who used to be her favorite student, is now a terrorist, has stolen the nuclear codes, and is on the run from the government. You are still expected to show up to class tomorrow.

[thesoffgengar]

It's really funny to take Spanish with people from different Spanish-speaking countries, because the ones from South American countries are like "Yeah no one uses vosotros, we don't know what it's doing here" and the ones from Europe are like "If you don't give our beloved second-person plural its due respect, the Hounds will find you"

[thesoffgengar]

Katsuki and Growlithe <3

[thesoffgengar]

luigi mangione, the SUSPECTED (innocent until proven guilty) united healthcare shooter, has been charged with terrorism. that’s right. a man who supposedly shot ONE SINGLE PERSON is being charged with terrorism. because in america, billionaires lives matter enough that a SINGLE rich man’s death is considered a terrorist act against this country. think about that.

[thesoffgengar]

if you hate country rap jazz or funk you are NOT welcome on this blog. if youve ever said a dirty word about disco in your life youre going straight to hell brother

[thesoffgengar]

Small problem I had with Ochako's ending

I am writing it here because I do not want to update the big "ochako's journey" post I did before.

Okay, in the previous post I already talked about how Ochako's putting aside her feelings is when the major problems I have with her characters start. To summarize, this should lead to two outcomes (more or less): it works very well, it doesn't work. In one outcome we would see Ochako have success as a hero (and the author can add her longing/sadness for the cost of it), in the other we would see her not have success (a "lesson" in "maybe you do not need to put aside your feelings"). Instead: we have none. Because Horikoshi puts aside her, and she loses a lot of screen time.

But I talked about it before, this time I want to talk about the ending.

I truly feel like Ochako was the only character who had an incomplete arc by chapter 430.

Deku ended AFO, "saved" Shigaraki (well, his spirit or something), then lost OFA and became a mentor like AM. Then he went back to being a hero with his suit - it came full circle.

Ochako instead has smaller arcs, but one of her major ones is the one connected to Toga: in the licensing arc, Ochako put aside her feelings for Deku to be more like Deku and focus on being a hero.

This is connected with Ochako's fight with Toga, because what Ochako admires of Toga is how she can smile so openly and is able to openly live as herself and declare what she wants and love.

During chapter 429 we have Deku noticing that Uraraka hides her feelings (pain, in this case) because she prioritizes others:

So these are two parts of the "hide your feelings" arc.

In this chapter she finally expresses her feelings (pain) to Deku and the rest of the class. This could have been an okay conclusion. She was still trying to hide, but when Deku offered help it is Uraraka who openly talks about what she feels.

And even Tsuyu notices that Ochako did not open up:

As I said, this could have been the conclusion of the arc, and it would have been okay. Ochako finally expresses her feelings openly (her pain, in this case), then in the next chapter we get Deku's conclusion and we find out what Uraraka is doing with all of her feelings for Toga/her confrontation with Toga (the quirk counseling).

Now, new chapter: 431. There are two options for Ochako's arc:

Ochako's scenes about her crush for Deku and putting aside her crush was a proxy for how she puts aside her own feelings in general, so it is the same as her putting aside her pain in chapter 429. In this case, her arc is concluded with her sharing her feelings in general (pain in particular). "Hide crush = hide feelings"; "Admiration for Toga = Admiration for someone who express feelings openly"; "Express pain = express feelings, learn not to hide"

Ochako's scenes about her crush for Deku are a very important part of her general "put aside her feelings" arc. In this case we would have "Hide crush = hide feelings in general but also puts aside love"; "Admiration for Toga = Admiration for someone who expresses feelings openly and can also openly declare who she is in love with"; "Express pain = express feelings, but she needs time to be able to express her love for Deku" -> the end of the arc is still needed.

Chapter 431 starts with a kind of sad/desolate setting, with a lonely Ochako (overworked maybe?) thinking about Toga once again, to let us know that we are in the (2) option: Toga's lesson and what Ochako learnt from her is not fully completed.

This is also confirmed by Tamaki remarking that her work must be exhausting so she must get some time for herself. She seems confused, because clearly she does not. (And Ochako also confirms her personal life is put aside for work, and she does not have a lot of time for her).

Ochako says that a month ago (when Deku basically came back to work as a hero) she started to dream Toga again.

Now, this is fine, I liked it. If we are in option (2) it is clear that the story is telling us that Ochako kept aside her love for eight years until she had to see Deku daily once again. While I am not a fan of the idea of a female character holding a love/crush in silence for eight years - I am not here to talk about that, so I will skip it for now.

At this point is where I really hated the chapter (in the context of Ochako's arc).

We move to Deku.

Now:

Deku's arc was over.

Deku never had an arc about his romantic feelings or about not noticing romance.

The romance arc was Ochako's

She had an arc specifically about how she put aside her love for Deku, and then overworked-focused on work - she is still in the middle of the arc

she is also the one who had a revelation from her confrontation with Toga

And yet, Deku steals her ending.

Ochako wants to talk more with Deku, but again, she decides not to. She is walking again. She is not moving towards her goal/end of her arc.

She did not learn Toga's lesson.

It is only because Deku moves towards her that she "agrees" to talking more with him/a romance.

Toga's wish is for Ochako to live as she wants. Ochako admired that Toga could declare her love with an open smile and live as she wants. Ochako hid and is still hiding her feelings for Deku, she is not acting on her wishes and not living as she wants - and yet, she still doesn't.

Instead of having an active Ochako take a step forward and moving towards the goal and growing, we have Deku doing that.

When Ochako put aside her feelings she was acting on her new resolution, we had a monologue of her thoughts too. Now she is passively thrown at Deku by Toga, and listens while blushing - while Deku is the one who declares himself and takes a step forward. Without Deku doing that we know that Ochako would have not expressed her feelings openly.

So what was her arc conclusion? To just wait for a man to make the first step?

This is how I would have changed things a bit:

Kept everything the same until the end of the dinner. Maybe added Ochako's pov earlier, so we can see her at dinner. The problem is that Ochako's mind does not change through the chapter like we see for Deku, she does not realize that Toga's words were true, that they were right, we never see her seeing her friends living their romances/personal lives and thinking "wait..."

The scene of Toga pushing Ochako should have been just after the dinner. Ochako walks away and then she finds her resolution, she realizes she cannot keep living like this (add how many flashbacks as you need, even one of her licesing exam).

And maybe both Ochako and Deku walking towards each other's and declaring their feelings at the same time.

I just really really wanted Ochako to have some agency IN HER OWN CHARACTER ARC.

[thesoffgengar]

You know what *yuris your yaoi eyes*

[thesoffgengar]

Himiko must've felt so alienated from other girls her age. Of course she had friends at school, but never being herself must've created a painful and lonely barrier.

Himiko tries so hard to connect with Ochako; from the moment she meets her in the woods, she's interested in becoming friends. She wants to talk about love. She wants to be like Ochako.

If Himiko and Ochako had the chance to develop their friendship, Himiko would've been able to enjoy a sleepover. Share secrets and silly gossip. Style each other's hair and nails. Eat snacks late at night and talk a little more about love.

Himiko will forever be a teenager and yet she'll never be able to do things they all do.

[thesoffgengar]

What patriarchy does to masculinity and femininity is the equivalent of what humanity did to those dogs with the faces so flat they can't breathe: it contorts them both over long periods of time to fit a standard it invented while causing indescribable amounts of pain and suffering.

[thesoffgengar]

I'll upload old work to celebrate 10 years since the Hobbit movies has concluded.

#ホビット完結十周年

[thesoffgengar]

More screenshots from this Tiny Glade build I'm working on :3 My wife has affectionately dubbed it "circle world" 😂💕 It's looking less like an empty highway than it was last time! Hurrah🥳

[thesoffgengar]

an incomplete taxonomy of christmas music

[thesoffgengar]

Imagine if Marin got super into an intense, drama heavy anthropomorphic animal manga (a la beastars) and Wakana falls into an internet hole of how to make a fursuit

[thesoffgengar]

love when a mutual has a new blorbo and they keep putting posts on my dash that are completely incomprehensible. it's like watching a friend win a game show in a language I don't speak. I don't have a fucking clue what's happening to you but it's nice to see you happy

[thesoffgengar]

“no rapping tonight"

why?

"you rap about arthurian knights everytime, it's embarrassing"

ok

[after one beer]

uh oh y'all i go into a trance a lot

[thesoffgengar]

Hi! Do NOT donate to any fund claiming to raise money for Luigi, he is being held without bail, and his defense lawyer has also so far turned down offers for payment. All these fundraisers are scams.