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mobius-m-mobius · 6 months

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a mr tesseract thought: the tva has so many infinity stones… just sitting there… they might not notice a handful of paperweights go missing

Anon you've got my full attention 👀👀

Absolutely living for all the renewed Mr. Tesseract theories and origin stores going around because he's just too perfect to continue the current story!?? I'd always pictured a Mobius variant eventually entering the picture, having succumbed to the power of the Tesseract after needing to save Loki in some way but never in a million years imagined before now that *our* Mobius could end up in that exact situation...

Plus tbh I almost feel Loki going about their self-sacrifice in such an isolated way, reliving all those centuries determined to find a solution without involving anyone else, had an obviously noble goal but a means in such a misguided way which has almost ensured Mobius will do something similar.

Mobius isn't okay. He's on a timeline that can never be his (partially to escape the memories of Loki by his side everywhere he looks in the TVA and hopefully so that back in the flow of time Loki can at least see him again as some form of company still), looking at a life I think he greatly admires but wouldn't personally want even given the choice, and seemingly the only one left directionless and without purpose with Loki being gone.

It wouldn't be a stretch to think loneliness would turn to frustration (because he's done nothing but repress *everything* in the past and deserves to finally burst and be angry and figure out how to express his emotions), confusion, and finally desperation at the thought he might be the only one who cares enough to burn things to the ground in an attempt to either find Loki again or bring him home. I've been headcanoning that similar to Loki in the last episode, Mobius will start putting himself more and more at risk searching for a solution and cut everyone at the TVA off while doing so to keep them from worrying about what he's getting involved in and stop him, which of course eventually leads right to the Tesseract as potentially one of the only methods left of traveling to what I assume is the end of time or somewhere similar.

Bonus points if Loki is watching every moment, unable to do a thing as the Mobius he knows slips further and further away while experimenting with the Tesseract until finally he can't see him on the timeline at all anymore, and as he mourns a crackle of blue energy opens nearby. Loki immediately realizes what's happened and calls desperately for Mobius, but when the figure who exits steps closer he's all cold, hard lines and an blank, electric blue stare. Temporary amnesia v4.0 let's go but make it even more angsty this time 😂😅 Eventually the Power of Love™ wins out of course but that's pretty much my dream arc for now!

#can you tell this is something that's been on my mind since like... the day after the finale asfjflksk #and don't get me wrong there's every chance the tva gang will reunite and work on a solution together to save the day which is great too lo #but i love angst mr. tesseract and exploring mobius' feelings so honestly feel like he deserves to live his worst life for a while #meaning give in to anything and everything he hasn't allowed himself to do or feel for a millennia or more #also owen clearly enjoys variety in his work and would be INCREDIBLE embodying someone more villainous for a while #thank you so much for this ask btw and letting me get this off my chest even though you absolutely wouldn't have expected such a long reply #well or maybe you did because it's me haha #but regardless tysm again and sending lots of love your way!! hope there's a great day ahead 💖#ask #loki spoilers #just to be safe even though it's mostly just me rambling as usual lol

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min0uet · 6 months

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what people do not understand about nagito komaeda is that his obsession with hope is not romantic or sexual in nature [i do Not care what the dr3 anime had to say hope this helps] but rather comes from a sort of religious devotion as an extreme coping mechanism send tweet

#theres so much dr3 got wrong about absolutely everything that i feel totally justified in disregarding it honestly #anyway if i could delete one thing from the fandom it would probably be the hopesexual jokes amen #komaeda clings so hard to hope because its literally the only thing he has #you can weather any loss and any trauma as long as you can convince yourself that theres smth better waiting for you at the end of it all #and there usually is. komaeda is way more comfortable when something bad is happening BECAUSE it means something good will happen soon #when things are going well hes a nervous wreck because something bad is coming #this is why he goes out of the way to sabotage himself at every turn because why wait for bad luck when he can just bring it on himself #and get to the good luck part of the cycle #most of his actions in sdr2 make more sense if you look at it through this [very warped] lens #anyway sorry for the extremely long tags i just had a lot of caffeine and ive got the feeling thats to blame here #harold.txt #danganronpa #nagito komaeda

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kaidanalenkosprmanager · 20 days

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THE BEST OF PRIORITY: THE CITADEL (PART 1)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Lt. James Vega, EDI, and Thane Krios With: Flight Lt. Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Councilor Rannadril Bibsos Tembin Lesti Bensin Valern, Cmdr. Armando-Owen Bailey, and Kai Leng Kalahira, this one's heart is pure, but beset by wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Kalahira, and she will be a companion to you as she was to me. Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

#mira makes gifs ✨#sophie shepard #james vega #EDI #thane krios #jeff joker moreau #mass effect #mass effect 3 #me3 #mass effect legendary edition #dailygaming #priority citadel is one of my favorite priority missions in the game so it’s a fun one to gif!#i absolutely love how much thane content you get in the front end of the mission since thane is one of my favorites!#and bailey is one of my favorite npcs in the game so i adore that he gets a bit of a spotlight role in a bigger mission too!#but i will say that i do think priority citadel has some.. writing issues? to put it mildly?#i think my biggest problem is that i feel like everything with udina feels like it kinda just comes out of left field #like it feels like there’s VERY little build up for what happens with udina being a cerberus plant #the idea is interesting!! but i wish there was much more build up for it? it’s sort of just- there for me and it just comes at you so fast #like udina had always been sort of portrayed as a kind of shifty/power hungry character (don’t get me wrong)#but the cerberus plot line seemed VERY hastily thrown in and i wish there was a bit more subtle nodding to it throughout earlier missions #and i could write essays about how i wish kai leng was written better #but people who write much more eloquently than i do can put it in much better words than i can what problems there are with his writing #i think he had potential to be a super interesting character if he was introduced earlier and was much less stereotypical in form #also i’m sorry mr. leng but miranda wears the armor better (I SAID IT AND I WONT APOLOGIZE FOR IT)#the fight between kai leng and thane is *chef’s kiss* 👌 tho (i adore the cinematography of the shots as a video editing bitch)#ME3 has very nice fight choreography in some of the cutscenes (especially the ones with kai leng and the phantoms)#thane krios will always be my beloved and in canon he and soph develop a mutual respect over their hand to hand combat skills :)#also i forgot to say joker looking so absolutely done with everything in that first gif is me irl ✨

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livelybook · 2 months

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I always see people say well, if Alicent had just married Helaena to Jace, the war would never have happened. And it's like the war would have absolutely happened, its akin to the waves ever falling onto the shore, its inevitable and unstoppable, all that marriage would have done was put a bandaid on a wound for a little while before everything would just explode.

I don't think there would have been any situation where Alicient would have agreed to that. If Helaena did marry Jace, she and any children born would have been used as a hostage during the war and worse than that, she would have been stuck in Dragonstone with a group of the most volatile people who despise her side of the family, what would have Rhaenrya or Daemon have done to her, an easy within reach target when Lucerys died? Would Jace even be kind to her once his brother dies?

Or let's say that the marriage had gone through and Alicient manages to make Heleana stay in Kingslanding along with the Black team and for a little while, everyone would be in an uneasy peace, forced to get along under Viserys eye and then the Black team would want something done & the Green team would need to agree for it to happen(and this something would undoubtedly not be in favour of the Greens) or if the Green team was perceived as disrepectful whether directly as one of the members doing something(an incident with the boys or Otto secretly scheming or Alicient doing her queen duties, I can just imagine Daemon seething in the background like how dare she command while in the castle of the Targaryens) or someone implying that the Green team would be better and it getting back to the Black team, they would have immediately implied a subtle threat regarding Helaena and declared their authority as the to be Queen party(well, as subtle as a hammer on an unruly nail could be) and any slight disbelieving hopes that this arrangement could actually work would be dashed and the Green team would be furious and unable to do anything about the Black team, and the moment Viserys dies, that's it for them.

And If they had managed to secure the city, the same as the show and had Helaena & any of her children as well, they'd be using them as a hostage against the Black Team too and at least with them, she'd be better treated.

And continuing with what about if Helaena had children? She'd be known to have had children with a widely suspected bastard leading to a shaky line and Daemon is right there with his two targaryen looking boys, there is no way he or even those boys or their later children would have left her and her children alone. If she had married Jace, she'd basically be terribly screwed over twice in succesion crisis in her lifetime.

Also, if Jace had married Helaena, what about Baela? Now, I really don't think Corlys would have let it go when he's been promised a Velaryon queen on the throne and has gotten so close to it after all the other times, just to only have a bastard prince. So that's basically 2 main people besides Otto in Helaena's family who would be eyeing her and her children.

Let's not forgot ofcourse, What about her brothers with their future childrens and their claims, the relationship would never be the same and I doubt that something would not be done about her children too if they were to manage win.

What kind of life would that be to be taken away from your family and placed with people who will be actively to passively hostile to you? To know your relationship with all your family side will forever be altered, that your mother wouldn't choose you and your line over your brother and you & all your children will be in danger from everyone for a very long time?

#Like I feel that marriage offer was a really shitty offer and Alicient absolutely knew that #The levels of isolation and fear Helaena would have gone through would have mirrored Alicient so much #And while she wouldn't choose Helaena over Aegon especially since Helaena's claim would be intertwined with the Black team #It doesn't mean that Alicient doesn't love her so much #That she would never put her in that kind of harm #Everyone kinda glosses over this because we're modern and there's no stigma against marrying a bastard #But Helaena would be marrying a bastard and while it was never formally acknowledged in the show #If Rhaenrya lost and had to be forced to admit that to save her life Helaena's standing #And her children's claim & royal life would all be invalidated #And Helaena's own claim to the throne would be severely diminished as well #Somehow #that marriage would make everything so much worse #anti black team #house of the dragon #heleana targaryen #alicent hightower #anti rhaenrya #anti daemon #anti viserys i targaryen #I feel like the only only person who wouldn't have a problem with this marriage among everyone's worry and refusal is Viserys #Because the way everyone says Helaena married to Jace would stop the war #is them assuming that the marriage is a one for all magic solution to everyone's problem and nothing could ever go wrong again #And the only person who would have that view in the show is Viserys #He'd be the only one smiling and being giddy at that wedding like all his problems had now disappeared

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animationismycomfort · 1 year

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#I’m not wrong #the way they look at each other #and just understand and are there for each other is so #AAAAAAAAAAAA #my heart #they’re so cute #married energy #THE married couple #Toy Story #prideyear #my stuffy stuff #🌺my memes #memes #aka I recently rewatched Toy Story while feeling like absolute sh-t and their dynamic is everything #also rewatched the christmas special and PLSSSSS THE WAY THEY ARE WITH EACH TOEHR IS SO CUTE F-CK ME #goals

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mewtwo24 · 4 months

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I just watched s2 episode 10 in the english dub and I have to say. Nothing could have prepared me for Howard's delivery of that final scene where Xie Lian gets worked up about the truth coming out.

The just...sincerely agonized delivery of "That my words were the empty ramblings of a sad child!!" shook me to the core. The absolute self-loathing in that line, the raw emotion. The way concealing the truth was done to spare Lang Qianqiu but also at its heart was about Xie Lian's unresolved feelings of humiliation and shame, the way [redacted] did everything in his power to make Xie Lian lose faith in himself and the possibility of good prevailing in the world.

The way TGCF keeps me up at night, man...

#tgcf #xie lian #lang qianqiu #the runner-up line that devastated me too was: 'it's the least of what I DESERVE!!!'#i dont think there are words to describe how that made hua cheng feel knowing all that he does (from his time as wu ming)#legitimately its on the spectrum of mantis shrimp im guessing bc i can't fathom trying to put it into words either #the way xie lian won't stop punishing himself for wishing for better--for wishing for peace and collaboration--even 800 years later #the way he continues to take responsibility for all the wrongs others commit--the way he deems himself a failure ->#for things he simply could not change or did not purposefully incite. the way he won't stop punishing himself when things go wrong #i honestly cant get over how acutely xl feels like the result of gifted child syndrome #having all of these grandiose expectations placed on him and doing his utmost to uphold them at any cost #doing everything he can to the point of self-destruction to do the right thing #only to end up hated in the end when he proved to have limits--even as a god #and discarded despite his efforts; ultimately deemed worthless for not measuring up to what were impossible/rigged standards from the get g #and like . the way up to this point they made the creative decision to make xie lian's emotional range fairly static #not that he's unfeeling but that he doesn't tend to raise his voice or express anything extreme (for good reason)#until this precise moment where it all comes flying apart with so many old scars torn open #absolutely fantastic im on the ground #honestly i feel like i forget how difficult a decision this had to be for hua cheng #i mean naturally he chose this because he wanted xie lian absolved #and ultimately xie lian really does need to stop the self-flagellation--he takes it too far #but watching him tremble with fear haunted by the echoes of what he almost became #fucking cHRIST

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solvicrafts · 6 months

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Just saw some people saying that the Loki s2 finale was crap because it wasn't approached with a Christian perspective.

Loki is based off of the Norse deity, you absolute chucklefucks.

#loki #there are things I do and don't like about the series and tbh I'm still not sure how I feel about the finale #BUT the symbolism was clearly meant to pay homage to Norse mythology #and it's not like this is the first time it's come up just in this season alone #fuck's sake it was even hinted at like 2 episodes ago #if anything I'm fucking glad they did their homework and tried approaching this series from a pagan perspective #ESPECIALLY given the history of Christianity and the Nordic pagan faiths #every second I think about this absolute garbage take on the series it gets even more gross #I legitimately do not understand Christians being 'fans' of a /pagan/ character that is also very very queer #and then just erasing everything pagan and queer about him #I used to see this all the time back in the day with RPers that would say in their bios that they didn't allow slash shipping with him #specifically because it offended their religion #WHY FIXATE ON THIS CHARACTER THEN?#there's nothing wrong with being Christian and being a fan of the character for the record #I follow Christians who love this series and character so don't get it twisted #BUT THERE IS SOMETHING /VERY/ WRONG WITH DECIDING THAT THE PAGAN PERSPECTIVE ON A PAGAN CHARACTER IS BAD AND WRONG #BECAUSE IT'S NOT CHRISTIAN AND/OR BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T GET YOUR STRAIGHT SHIP OUT OF IT

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r0semultiverse · 1 month

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This is better(?) than the minimalism plague infecting modern web design, but not by much!

I do not like the mobile appification of web sites either! Looking at you as well, tumblr! By all means, get experimental with it (please do), but don't make everything look & function like a mobile app!

Hey, all supposed 34,175+ followers...

Can you do me a favor & go @ (or tag) Neal Mohan on twitter & tell him to have the YouTube video page layout changed back? I'm so serious, go bother him about it. If enough people do this & this gets around enough, resulting in more people to asking it be rolled back, it should at least get him to ask it to be changed!

#Neal Mohan wtf are you doing bro; whose idea was this?#why do the video recs & comments use the same scroll?? wtf? change it back youtube #the new youtube layout is trash & whoever asked for this from higher up at google should feel bad #why is everything so obnoxiously big; I mean that would be more okay if I could look through comments & recommendations separately #this is bad web design & whoever oversaw this should be ashamed of themselves & their poor design choices #I literally don't know anyone who prefers the new layout so far; which is very telling #obnoxious user interface choice; we now are forced onto just one scroll; this is literally a downgrade #mun heila & I who aren't “industry professional” web programmers could make a better layout than whoever requested this #I'm so serious; we absolutely could given the time & resources; this was probably rushed too or it looks rushed anyway; maybe I'm wrong #bothering Susan Wojcicki enough used to work; especially if popular people did it #mine #op #youtube

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bylertruther · 2 years

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do you ever think about the fact that throughout the entirety of stranger things we’ve always seen mike practically shout his love for will from the rooftops by throwing his everything into believing, protecting, and helping will no matter the stakes, and how a majority of byler moments are initiated by him, and how will has always loved him back quietly despite being the one canonically confirmed to be in love, and how will is almost always on the viewer’s right in iconic byler moments but in season four we find him on the left in what used to be mike’s spot because their “roles” have switched AND when we’re taken out of the viewer’s pov and put in jonathan’s pov we see jonathan Come To A Realization here because while mike has always made it clear how special will is to him and how different their relationship is, will has always managed to keep the true depth of his feelings a little closer to his chest and it’s only when he publicly takes up that support role that mike has played for him previously that the audience is purposely made to realize, too, how romantic it truly is, because coming from mike everyone might have thought it was his usual overzealous theatrics but when the same tenderness and earnest love comes from will they realize oh. this is... this is actually something more. this is how they are this is mike and will like nothing has changed and no time has passed but it’s now that we realize just what it is, and now that will is starting to slowly but surely come out from this curtain he’s hid behind his whole life and voice that yes he loves mike of course he does he’s always loved him and loves him in precisely the way that mike expresses he needs to be loved there is simply NO conceivable way that they can come out of this hellish slow burn miscommunication trope not in full acknowledgement and eager acceptance of this love they have for each other and have always had and always will !!!!!!!!

#byler #like. do i make sense. am i making sense.#tagging my posts is so scary now tht there's 92380923028020 of us bt. i can be brave ig .. [trembling in my boots] [sweating shaking crying]#s1-2 was mike loving will more than anyone and not being afraid to show it and s3 was him thinking he had to grow up n out of tht love #bc clearly it's just a kid thing and they'll get over it if they just get girlfriends #and it ended with him having his italicized 'oh.' moment as the byers drove away #and s4 was mike thinking he had lost will for good that time only for will to show him that he's wrong he never lost him and he won't #s4 was about will showing mike that he's always loved him back s4 was abt will showing mike what it means to be in love with someone #s4 was abt will showing him tht he's just as lost without him as mike is without him and tht he doesn't need to be normal or cool #he's absolutely perfect just the way he is and he's loved and needed for who he is not all that he can or can't do #s4 was mike stumbling and will catching him and carrying him the same way that mike carried him in s2 #and s5 will be about them supporting each other and living their complete and total truths now that they see there's no reason to hide #and then in s5 we will finally find our way out of this god awful miscommunication trope</3 #they're a team they're best friends mike needs will and mike is will's heart mike makes will feel better for being different and will shows #mike that he doesn't need to conform and be 'normal' to be worthy of love that he has no obligations to others that everything he is is what #encourages those around him to fight the good fight #and that support and love and the way that they'll come to see each other wholly and truly is what will defeat all evil <3 #it's all coming full circle is wht im saying !!!!!#mine #also when i say audience and we i mean the general audience bc i kno my brothers in byler Understand n Watch The Show With Their Eyes #<3 #also no i will not structure my posts in a way tht makes sense u will read my uninterrupted stream of consciousness and WEEP

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panharmonium · 1 year

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well, after a little break, we picked up our naruto rewatch again with the beginning of season 10 (it’s so good. SO GOOD), and since all i want to do is sit here and talk about how good it is, i figured i’d try to do that while simultaneously catching up on some overdue fandom correspondence.

when i was watching last night, i kept thinking back to a conversation i'd been having with @professor-of-naruto after they sent me an ask about how naruto started off as an ensemble show and then became solely “the naruto show,” and i STILL owe them a full response about that, but i’m going to consider this post my attempt to talk a little about it, because season 10 is simultaneously one of the best examples of “ensemble show” that naruto ever pulls off AND the scene of one of the most frustrating crimes of “the naruto show” that it ever commits (in my opinion; your mileage may vary).

but before it reaches that frustrating point - season 10 is unbelievably well-constructed! EVERYBODY is doing something important and relevant to their character arcs, and the plot is moving fast, and the world is expanding in fascinating ways:

first of all, there’s the fact that the season starts off with young ninja from a totally different village, all of whom are deeply concerned about their missing teacher, and then shows us their confrontation with team 7 and later naruto himself - instantly expanding the world and humanizing the leaf’s [former] enemies and forcing the audience to widen their perspective and confront the idea that ‘hang on, people in other villages are just like people in the leaf; they care about their friends and families and comrades the same way; and HMM, what sasuke did to bee was really bad actually; is it fair to expect other nations to just sit around and accept it; would we expect one of our favorite characters from the leaf to do the same”

the political tension created in the first episode by tsunade’s absence and danzo being named hokage creates a compelling new dynamic where the leaf is being “led” (ruled) by someone who doesn’t have the confidence of the people or the support of the jonin assembly, which then forces kakashi to start making hokage-level decisions covertly (aka taking down the foundation agents sent to spy on naruto, openly instructing a subordinate to lie to the hokage, smuggling the nine-tails out of the village, engaging in diplomatic relations with a foreign kage), which dynamic continues to escalate when danzo loses the trust of the other kage and said other kage decide that kakashi should act as the leaf’s representative, which later, despite tsunade’s recovery, is a dynamic that continues to push and and foreshadow throughout the war to the eventual conclusion of kakashi actually becoming hokage at the end of the story.

SAI’S ARC. how he witnesses naruto taking that beating from karui; how the editing later cuts from naruto crying at the raikage’s feet to sai sitting in the forest thinking about naruto telling him to “stay out of this,” and his decision of “no. i can’t just sit still, either,” and how he then goes straight to sakura to tell her that he still doesn’t know team 7 all that well and he’s not very good with emotions, but he does know that that naruto’s been suffering, and that they’ve all been relying on naruto too much, and that he doesn’t know what promise naruto made to her, but “it’s really no different than what was done to me. it’s like a curse mark.” how he tells her that he doesn’t think it’s right that sasuke has caused naruto and sakura so much suffering, and he’s not going to sit silently by and let it continue -

and how that then PERFECTLY intertwines with the konoha 12 discussing the situation, and shikamaru - newly matured shikamaru, shikamaru who took down an akatsuki member, shikamaru who lost asuma, shikamaru who used to be so lazy, shikamaru who used to be so allergic to responsibility - entering the tent and agreeing with sai and saying that they’re not kids anymore. they have to act. they can’t let sasuke start a war between nations...so many people will die...him asking for sakura’s consent -

and how THAT perfectly dovetails into sakura’s arc - her ENORMOUS decision, which none of them are even aware of yet - when she says she wants to be the one to tell naruto that they’ve decided they can’t protect sasuke anymore, but what she’s really decided is that SHE IS GOING TO KILL SASUKE HERSELF, because she’s the one who put naruto in this position by asking him to promise to bring sasuke back, and she can’t stand to make him suffer anymore, so she’s going to take the burden off his shoulders and suffer herself instead -

and MEANWHILE

this is happening against the backdrop of naruto’s petition to the raikage, which is a) the set-up for the raikage’s eventually decision to let naruto join the war many seasons later, b) the set-up for the raikage voicing his support for kakashi as hokage after danzo flees the summit, and c) the visual parallel for us between sai and sakura discussing naruto’s suffering and us simultaneously seeing him down on his knees, crying in the snow

and THIS is all happening against the larger backdrop of the five kage summit, where we’re introduced to MORE characters from an even WIDER world, and each kage and their attendants have their own unique personalities and we’re once again thrust into this new perspective of being asked to humanize and care about previously unknown entities who have always been considered potential antagonists, if not outright enemies

and the five kage summit brings back gaara and our old friends from the sand, which is important not just for the way it highlights the difference between new and old ways of thinking/generational changes, but because whoops, suddenly sasuke is crashing the five kage summit, and as soon as gaara hears about this, he leaves the summit room and goes to confront sasuke and tries to HELP, in his own way, which is brilliant and so effective on a storytelling level because gaara fought sasuke during the chuunin exams, and back then gaara was the one who was out of his mind with rage and pain, and now their positions are reversed, and gaara wants to save sasuke from that same fate, not just because it’s what naruto would want, but because gaara himself was saved in much the same way

but unfortunately gaara is butting up against the lowest point of sasuke’s arc, as sasuke tips over into something truly disastrous, and his descent is (magnificently! deftly!) illustrated NOT through his behavior towards danzo (which is never depicted as unjustified) but through his behavior towards TAKA, who notice that he’s not acting like himself (suigetsu: “gee, and this is the guy who kept telling ME not kill anybody?”) and whom he then systematically, one by one, abandons, betrays, or outright sacrifices in the service of his goal, when all they’ve ever done is aid and protect him.

in other words: the worst thing sasuke does, in this story’s eyes, isn’t breaking the law; it’s abandoning his comrades. his lowest point in the narrative isn’t communicated to us by his rebellion against authority, but by his betrayal of his friends. SOMEHOW THIS SOUNDS THEMATICALLY FAMILIAR -

this betrayal then flows seamlessly into new character development for the taka crew - for suigetsu and juugo, whom sasuke abandons to die or rot in prison, and for karin, who finally sees firsthand that sasuke is using her and that he doesn’t care whether she lives or dies as long as he gets what he wants - which turn of events pushes karin into the arms of the leaf, where she’s technically a prisoner, but where she’s still healed by sakura and carried by kakashi, and where she comments internally on how everyone’s chakra, even that of her cell guards, is so warm and different from sasuke’s... (i’m frothing at the mouth here at how well all of this with taka was set up and how it just falls apart later aGUGHHHHHH)

and these are hardly the only things going on in this season - i didn’t even touch upon the way kakashi and yamato are told the truth about itachi (this was something!!!!! it needed to be something!!!!!), or even the brief confrontation between “madara” and yamato, because when obito first pops up on naruto’s windowsill, it’s yamato who strikes first, and yamato who says “you’re in my territory now,” and obito just laughs at him, and i cannot handle how well this sets up him being captured, interrogated, and used by obito later (if the story CARED enough to CARE about it, i mean; i just - !!!)

this is all i mean when i say that naruto is at its best when it’s an ensemble show. all of this happens in just the first six episodes, but every single character who appears has something important going on in their own story. everything that they do connects to something else, and every move they make affects the plot. every time someone appears on screen, you care about what’s happening with them - because something IS happening with them! everything is intertwined, and all of it matters. this season is woven together so well - it’s hard to stop watching.

that isn’t always the case later, though. after naruto appears on the scene of the sasuke/team 7 confrontation (aka the point where the show attempts to make a “naruto is and has always been Everything” retcon that i will never forgive them for), the story starts leaning harder into the “naruto is the only one who can save sasuke and oh yeah do everything else too” message, which is eternally frustrating to me, because the original message of the story was always “teamwork is more important than anything. all of us are necessary to succeed.” itachi literally chides naruto, “you can’t do everything on your own. never forget your friends,” but then the show keeps creating situations where only naruto can Do the Thing and the other characters’ sole purposes are to sit back and monologue about how amazing he is.

i understand that this is a silly thing to complain about when the story is in fact titled “naruto,” but i do still feel frustrated about it sometimes, because i think an approach like this makes for a weaker story. there ARE ways to tell a naruto-centric story and have it be incredible - eg, the pain arc is all-naruto, all the time, and i have zero complaints about it, because everything naruto is able to do in that arc makes sense and is completely appropriate for who he is and what his strengths are. he should be able to use sage mode and toad summons - those are powerful inheritances from his own teaching lineage that he worked incredibly hard to master. he should be able to resist the nine-tails transformation - he has help from his own father’s spirit, as well as a lifetime of experience living as a jinchuuriki. and - crucially - he should be able to save the day in the end, not because he’s a super skilled ninja with godlike powers, but because he’s able to compassionately connect with nagato on a personal level and lead him back to the light.

that is naruto’s true power. it’s not about him being the strongest fighter, or the smartest strategist, or the most skilled shinobi in history. his special ability is precisely what kakashi called a “remarkable gift” in season one: “[naruto] doesn’t need much time, or many words, to make friends with everyone he meets.”

that’s why i think the pain arc is an example of “naruto-centric” done right, and that’s why i love how war arc!naruto is able to befriend kurama/the other tailed beasts and use the nine-tails’ power. those things are so, so appropriate for who he is and where his strengths lie. but there are other points in the story where naruto is showcased for things that don’t make as much sense or haven’t been earned (as an isolated example, the six-paths magical powers stuff was too much for me) or where he’s highlighted at other characters’ expenses (what happens to all those amazing intertwining arcs of season 10 by the time we hit the end of the story? why do so many of them falter or disappear?)

it’s not enough to make me dislike the back half of the show - i love it right up until the last episode, my frustration with the ending notwithstanding. but i do think the shift in focus from “ensemble show” to “one-man band” becomes a bit more dramatic after S10, and the overall story after that point is much weaker than it could have been (even though i still think that a lot of what it achieves is amazing).

#long post #naruto #pan watches naruto #(again)#the post i linked is obviously old from when i was watching it the first time #and my fears about the 'reanimating dead characters' part that i typed up back then did end up being mostly assuaged #(eg i was afraid that bringing back itachi would cheapen the impact of his original death but)#(that whole arc with sasuke and itachi and kabuto became one of my absolute favorites)#(and itachi's last scene is the absolute CRUX moment for sasuke's development so)#(i'm happy to have been proven wrong on that front)#but the stuff i wrote about the story becoming less ensemble-focused is still pretty much how i feel today #again it's not something that makes me enjoy it less #everything is so well set-up that it's not difficult for my mind to fill in the blanks #but it being so well set-up also makes you go like - 'WHY? YOU HAD IT! IT WAS RIGHT THERE! WHAT HAPPENED?'#ah well #i still love this show a lot

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