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pinkpruneclodwolf · 2 years

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Wired Take—Chapter 2 is About Nature v Nurture.

Why Savanclaw chapter is about siblings relationships

Before I get into why Chapter 2 is about Nature v Nurture we're gonna unpack the Savanaclaw chapter and why it was actually the hardest chapter for me to grasp because of

1: How short it was—

21 episodes compared to Heartslabyul's 28, Octavinelle's 39, Scarabia's 41, Pomefiore's 69, and Ignihyde's 89.

Listen, I'll give Savanaclaw the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Pome and Igni bc they're later chapters meaning Yana had time to put more than enough effort, but Heartslabyul having 7 more episodes (plus the strong ass start from the Prologue) and Octavinelle having 11 more episodes feels weird asl, especially when you consider how iconic the Lion King is. Becoming the highest grossing movie in 1994 (it beat out Jurassic Park) not to mention the Lion King Broadway that's been running for 24 years, rakes in 1.6 mil a week, and has a gross value of 9 billion and counting.

And you're telling me it's the shortest out of the chapters??? Be fucking fr.

2. How the characters were characterized in a way that you'd have to read the next chapter (or personal stories) to grasp the fundamentals of those characters.

Cramming three hyenas into one boy was a choice and some change but I'm willing to say that Ruggie is a solid ass character, could there have been more? Absolutely. But Ruggie is holding his own pretty well.

Leona actually gets more characteration through Vignettes, Personal Stories, Events, and other chapters and I appreciate it because he was done dirty.

In his own chapter.

But Jack, the one non-Disney character and based off the wolf-dog in White Fang, written by Jack London. The story is about how the wolf dog is rescued from his abusive owner and slowly becomes domesticated through patience and compassion to a point where he protects the father of the man who adopted him.

And 3: How Leona's motivations were ruined because of how much his story ties into Scar's.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Leona after Savanaclaw (bc he had his magical mental breakdown and came to terms with the fact he'll never be king... not) and the sure as hell isn't anything wrong with a "what if" version of Scar who didn't kill his brother and attends school where he can pretend he's king for little whilst that it looks like he's got his shit together and isn't fighting the constant inferiority complex that gets fueled whenever he's sees Malleus exist a likkle too hard...

However, in the face of Riddle (based off the Queen of Hearts) and how strictness ties into his character, how—despite relying on rules—he's actually pretty mischievous, how his mother essentially played God with his life from his very conception until he got to Night Raven and sharing motivations with the protagonist.

In the face of Jamil whose life was decided to be less than Kalim's because of the longstanding history of his family being subservient to the Al-Asim's to a point where his family told him not to overshadow Kalim, but even so he still yearns to be greater than who he is and be able to show the world that his life has as much of the same worth as Kalim's.

In the face of Azul (based off of Ursula) who had been ostracized to a point where he refuses to return to his original form, still keeps every secret, problem, and trait of his childhood bullies who wants to burn away the last vestiges of who he was before NRC yet is still ruled by his old world...

Leona falls short. His motivations are rushed, his backstory a watered down version of Scar's, and his OB scene barely memorable besides the cool ass fit.

Chapter 2 upsets me because Lion King came from Disney's Renaissance era, was the highest grossing moving of 1994 meaning people lined up to watch Mufasa die in a theater to a point that an entire generation is defined by remembering that one scene in that one movie.

Vines and memes centered around the scene and people shaking and crying and throwing up more than Simba did in the damn movie and you mean to tell me Leona rode on those coattails and still flopped????

The Devil is a damn liar.

In an effort to make Chapter 2 less eldritch than it is in terms of incomprehensiblility, I've decided to come up with a better explanation (and fix it) for Savanaclaw.

Only the real will understand.

1. How Short it Is.

I mention how Savanaclaw is the shortest chapter in the game, which is insane considering the game has no sense of time-frame—I would say the Overblots span over a month, but Octavinelle proves this wrong when Jade says "you were the one spying with Riddle the other day" in the JP translation which means Leona's Overblot was the "fastest".

But that makes no sense considering it takes, 3 days~ (making a timeline up) for Jade and Floyd to propose Yuu confront Azul, and when Grim and Yuu take Jack's proposal the Savanaclaw students literally say "Aren't those the guys that trespassed on our dorm the other day?!"

Savanaclaw takes place in October and Octavinelle takes place in November, if I recall most midterms start after 5 1/2 weeks into school, especially in colleges, meaning from the last two weeks in November should be prime time... And this is for a college, not a Highschool, and while NRC is based off of UK schooling they don't refer to the Mid terms as Finals because BrE doesn't have midterms, they have end of the year examinations and this is considered a recent development. [Though I cannot speak from the Brits I just read through a couple articles I will be linking below]

So, yes, I know that Octavinelle starts with Yuu and Grim waking up and then taking the exams but like,,,,, I refuse to believe charas are saying the other day and referring to a week or so ago.

Time is a social construct but it's a prevalent one for a damn reason.

Anyways, why is Leona's Overblot the fastest? Riddle starts accumulating Blot early on because it's a tutorial Chapter to show what you'll be dealing with, Azul doesn't start accumulating Blot around the time Yuu offers Ramshackle as collateral. (Or am I misremembering???) Which becomes a track record as Jamil, Vil, and Idia start accumulating Blot nearing the middle of the chapter and everything starts derailing into Overblot and it wasn't even Idia accumulating Blot, it was Ortho.

Leona does accumulate Blot but it's after the dorm leader meeting which is directly after Ruggie is shown to be the culprit which still threw me off.

The rant about not being told he couldn't be number one should've been reserved for a one on one conversation or after said convo.

I physically cringed when he started off his rant with that bc it sounds like he's in cahoots with whomever is causing students to be injured, he's lucky no one in that room took a moment to process what he said—ntm Azul reacted with interest when he proposed an alternative to defeating Diasomnia.

Leona got as far as he did not bc he was displaying smarts or cunning but bc the ppl around him were dumbed down/not paying attention to his words. Which is crazy since Leona is propped up to be NRC's top student in academics and he's sitting here in front of someone who discovered and honed their Unique Magic at 10. Merman who got bullied to the point of obsessively studying magic and discovering it naturally. A world class actor and model who knows multiple languages and multiple sports, and genius enough to create a poison strong enough to take the Dorm Leader spot of Pomefiore. Kalim who has (possibly) been advised to be very careful of his surroundings due to multiple assassination attempts, a genius who made a robot in his brother's image. Crowley who runs the show essentially throwing his motivations on the table.

Like,,,, get a fucking grip, save the villain monologing for after you're sure you've won.

Thing is, this goes on for the entirety of the chapter—The fakeout of Ruggie seeming like he's the one accumulating Blot since he's doing all the leg work and Leona throwing out his plans for anyone to hear, the whole point of Jack confronting Leona stems from the first year overhearing his conversation lmaooo.

You can throw your hat in the ring and say that Leona doesn't care. That he genuinely believes that he or Ruggie will get caught and stopped feeding into his complex of "if there's no immediate reward what's the point?"

But why the hell would start by injuring students for funzies if he thinks at a moments notice he'll get caught? Why go on a monologue ab how the Great Seven secured their positions through wisdom and cunning and have the table of Dorm Leader's (besides Idia) rallying behind him if he thinks Crowley will just pull him aside and call him out??

The math ain't mathing.

But it will.

Some events in the chapter need to be reordered.

Jack should approach Leona and tell him about the students dropping like flies—I genuinely believe that Leona should've allowed some students in Savanaclaw to get injured, it looks suspicious if the only dorm not suffering from losses is the one that wants to win the most.

Leona should dismiss his concerns or imply that he'll start investigating the matter and when Jack leaves, cackle evilly with Ruggie to set up the chapter.

You could bump up the Meeting scene but I'd keep it where it is, why? Because Azul can say, "due to recent injuries, if you want to swap students out of your previous roster it will be an additional fee; submitting your Magift forms late will also cost you."

This would imply that the dorm leaders already put in their Registration Forms and the process of changing students can be difficult because the VIP guests, Newsbroadcasters, and scouts will have to be informed of the decision.

Again, that villain monologue Leona through it was insane work, like he was the only one praying on his downfall. So I propose a different monologue:

"Denying students the chance to be number one?"

"You expect Savanaclaw, founded off the Tenacity of the King of Beasts, to lay on our backs and let that monster stomp all over us and our dreams?"

"Magift isn't just about physical prowess. Technique, magic; that lizard only relies on two of those components."

This is Leona's complex talking bc Sebek says that Malleus summons mountains and thunder during Magift because it's all based on spectacle. Think of it is the U.A. Sports Festival in MHA, it's all about spectacle and showing off in an effort to get noticed, which emphasizes another point:

The whole reason Leona is even doing this is bc a part of him believes he owes his dorm members a win. He assumed the Dorm Head's position and since then has lost to Malleus and thus cutting down the opportunities his dorm students can get, thus saying he will never be a true king.

Again, I said that if the scenes were played out right it could've been subversive. We still don't know who would OB between Ruggie and Leona (exactly like Jamil and Kalim) because after the meeting two Blot splatters appear and Ruggie attacks two students.

A lot of people have even said Ruggie should've been the one to Overblot bc Cjapter 2 trivialize Leona's struggles with never being King, relegated to a spare heir who will never see the seat because Cheka is sitting there.

His magic is said to be the manifestations of his people's fears: drought, famine. It wasn't a Unique Magic he discovered like the rest of the OB group, he was born with it.

Imagine your first display of magic being met with disgust and horror while your brother's UM (discovered later in life) is met with praise.

Play it up!!!

Leona has a good grip on his magic but with Overblot let him melt some stairs! Let him dry out the air! Let him have a conversation with his Brother (over the phone/face to face) and turn a door handle to sand/leave a trail of sand in his wake!!!!!

Have students complain about the growing frequency of sandstorms at Savanaclaw, how dry the air feels, have Jack's cacti nearly die!!!!

Stand up Savanaclaw damn!!!!!!

2. How the characters were characterized in a way that you'd have to read the next chapter (or personal stories) to grasp the fundamentals of those characters.

JACK, FIGHT BACK

RUGGIE, STAND UP

LEONA, GET UPPPP!!!!

The Chapters are there to help sell a character, to make you roll for them and get you invested in their arcs and growth throughout the story.

So why in the hell....?

Lemme ask yall this: Who are your fave characters in twst? What attracted yall to them? What was your fave chapter? What characters stand out to you?

I've scoured the twst tags and I've noticed that Savanaclaw ranks lowest amongst the people. Or they are never properly characterized in headcanons/yumeships.

Ofc we can chalk it up to the rampant racism that is within twst—I've seen yall hcs of Savanaclaw being smelly and full of jocks as if these students don't have heightened senses and would probably be the cleanest dorm in Night Raven, beating out Pomefiore.

Or the fact that yall characterize Savanaclaw students as only violent despite the fact they are a martial artist dorm (which requires discipline) as well as a dorm that is the major contributor in Magical Shift leagues (which is like football, you need good grades to even touch HS football not to mention College Football).

But I digress on that—Savanaclaw isn't popular bcccc the chapter was asinine.

Like I said, you'd need to read the charas Personal Stories/Vignettes to get a grasp on them whilst other chapters and characters (besides Pomefiore, Rook, Vil, and Epel are hard as hell to grasp, I tried to do a case study on Rook and was sniped twice)

Personal stories are meant to expand on a character and their themes, yet that's all Leona, Ruggie, and Jack can rely on bc they were written with failure on the brain and defeat in the heart.

The way Savanaclaw should've gone was characterizing Leona.

Someone who has a dichotomous relationship with his family, friends, kingdom, and public perception, the weight of being the black sheep, the scapegoat, ostracized for a power he was born with to a point that he gives up. He's stuck in a cycle of hubris, self hatred, procrastination. He wants to be praised bc he was denied it for so long, stuck in the shadow of the golden child that is his brother, his chance to be accepted swept away by his nephew.

When he graduates he will have nothing to return to but upholding an image.

He is stuck.

That right there is grounds for a reasonable Overblot. Bc I'm sure anyone has felt those feelings before—played those roles before.

And somehow Savanaclaw fails to show that and Ruggie steals the spotlight.

Thing is, I'm not even against Ruggie Overblotting bc the hyenas do eat Scar at the end of the movie.

However.

As much as I fw Ruggie Obing, I'm trying to fix Savanaclaw lmaooooo.

Anyways, Ruggie also is stuck.

Born in poverty with possibly no prior education, he has no mother his father abandoning him and the only person raising his us his grandmother, it's been implied that Ruggie's been picking up odd jobs prior to Night Raven—meaning he's lied about his age and the rich simply did not care. Children in poverty grow up with adult eyes, wisened up to the world in an effort to survive before the hole that is poverty consumes them. Adults hold child eyes because "hope" is the only thing keeping them going, Ruggie knows that one day he will look to the world with "hope" so having Night Raven choose him out of all kids is his golden ticket, surrounding himself with rich kids, mooching as much as possible until he can live a comfortable life...

That's also grounds for Overblot, especially when you consider Leona throwing everything back at his face and nearly strangling him to death.

His golden ticket turning to dust before his eyes.

No wonder yall fw Ruggie Overblotting, that boy was putting in the legwork!!!!

Jack is objectively the most normal mf in the TWST cast, I see yall try so hard to project Trey as normal and it's laughable bc the dude who literally asked to be ignored is the sneakiest mf in the cast, beat out by Rook and Jade.

Like Jack is easily overshadowed in the chapter and after. Only working when hes bouncing off of another character which is crazy bc he's based off of a feral wolf that slowly gets domesticated through compassion and kindness (a reason why he easily warms up to Yuu) him being all about just actually could work in his (and Yuu's) favor when you consider the fact that Yuu is the most proactive (read: forced) in stopping fighting Overblots.

Yet his character is never truly explored, even in his vignettes. Which is crazy work bc, like I said in a previous post, when Jack assumes he's in the right when that Justice comes into play he will shake you down.

He does it with Leona, Ruggie, Azul. FLOYD AND JADE LEECH BOTH??? Like that boy is a force to be reckoned with and somehow,,,,,,

Like I'm grateful Portfest is giving Jack crumbs but this should've been implemented, especially if you're going to sell what is essentially an Original Character in a game that focuses on Disney villains...

Which brings me to Crowley, who is also an Original Character based off of a real person—Aleister Crowley. A real life occultist who was dubbed "the wickedest man in the world." And that mf has been the basis for so many theories, esp popular ones like him being behind Mickey's entrapment in the mirror (it's going platinum in my delusions lmaoo).

So,,, why the hell is Jack?? Getting the short end of the stick??? See where Yana messed up was not expanding on Jack, Ruggie, and Leona.

The entirety of October is dedicated to Magical Shift they have enough time to plan, revamp, and execute Leona's plan. I honestly wanted Leona to come down on Malleus like he did to Azul, and THEN recreate the scene where Mufasa dies.

Thus leading to my next point!:

And 3: How Leona's motivations were ruined because of how much his story ties into Scar's.

Gonna give a strict rundown on what happens in Savanaclaw before we begin unpacking what should be changed and why:

As we know Savanaclaw starts of with Ruggie snatching the cutlet using his UM who then gives it to Leona, and they talk about his status as second Prince. Skip to the Dorm Leader meeting—which is where things pick up for Leona before dropping off the side of a cliff— he explicitly is against Malleus being inducted into the Hall of Fame, rallying the other dorm leaders (Excluding Malleus, obvi) and Crowley concedes.

Ruggie then breaks two other students' bones before prancing off, leaving Yuu to be tasked with investigating the strange circumstances behind the injuries. In that time Trey gets hurt and so Adeuce, Cater, and Riddle investigate those injured and on the possible hitlist to be injured.

In that time Yuu is taught Magical Shift, a game that while on the surface seems focused on brute strength and force ends up being a strategic game that has flashy spells to Wow the crowd.

Jack later ends up listening in on Leona and Ruggie discussing further plans. Fast forward and Yuu and the Investigation troop find out crucial evidence that points to Savanaclaw, but with no solid information they can't fly off the handle.

Thus leading to the final showdown: Ruggie procures a performance enhancing potion and recreates the march that killed Mufasa but—oh? It's all Cater clones? Heartslabyul warned Diasomnia and the other dorms in advance? Leona gives up and Ruggie tries to knock sense into him? The Investigation troop and Lilia give him a stern talking to?

He Overblots.

This is a pretty frustrated retelling of the chapter but I want to reiterate that Savanaclaw is the SHORTEST CHAPTER IN THE GAME and Leona only has a handful of scenes in the entire chapter, if I said he had 3 major scenes (EXCLUDING HIS OVERBLOT) you would assume I'm lying but 16-20 is a whole four episodes where he just ISNT THERE but you wanna know who is?

Ruggie and Jack.

I'm going to maul a small family and eat a couch.

It's not like Leona needs to show up to tell that his actions are harming everyone, other chapters have full on episodes where the Overblotee isn't there, however, it's that for everytime Leona isn't there Ruggie is—a sponge that soaks up and steals Leona's thunder and leads many to believe Ruggie is the one who should Overblot instead.

And the thing is, I want to say I don't care about how long Savanaclaw is because impactful storytelling doesn't need to bee stretched across say,,,,, 89 episodes but I can't lie, I believe many more people would rock with the Savanaclaw trio the way the rock with Octatrio if they had just a couple more episodes, a better vision and maybe coherent plot too.

But here are some things I'd change.

Emphasis on VIP guests, many royal families (especially Kingscholars) and scouts/recruiters. If Magift is supposed to be anything like College football it'd make sense that there would be an emphasis on recruiting and scouts as well as scholarship and internship opportunities. Savanaclaw is basically an all you can eat internship Hotspot, having Diasomnia usurp that means that internship/scholarship opportunities are becoming unevenly distributed

Sebek said that Malleus can summon mountains and thunder during Magift, meaning that Magift is about spectacle, which again harkens back to recruiters, internships, and scholarships. Magift is a big sport in NRC bc it showcases the overflowing potential and thus puts NRC in a position for more funding.

I mentioned VIP guests and royalty. Maybe Leona's brother is one of those guests? Maybe Cheka shows up? Maybe Falena attempts to reconnect with his brother through a sport he enjoys after years of being apart and nearly no contact? Maybe Cheka sneaks off more into NRC and is indentured into the Investigation Squad? Maybe Leona feels more pressure because not only is Malleus in line to be put on the throne but his Dorm might get washed in front of Falena and thus exacerbating his fears of being less than his brother? Maybe, maybe, maybe.

MORE 👏🏾 SCREENTIME👏🏾 FOR 👏🏾LEONA👏🏾 Have Leona have a dichotomous relationship with Ruggie, keep the audience on the feet and guessing who the hell will OB, I don't know ab twst en players but b4 the translations we had a TimeLoop theory and Leona Overblotting instead of (who we believed should've OBed) was essentially the golden puzzle piece when it came to those theories, entire theses and theories were built off the back of Leona OB being an error/change in the Timeline. Having the story alternate between those two? Twst jp theories wouldve carried over frr.

@/najmaviper already said this, but have Leona use his UM as a way to vent!!! Show that his grip is slowly loosening in the face of all these problems arising? Show that even with him learning to leash a UM that the pressure has his grip slipping!! That the divide between managing the innate magic he's been born with is growing thinner and its harder to grasp something that melds into a foundational problem!!!

Ruggie! Like I said society would advance just off principle of the Savanaclaw fake out! Make it look like Ruggie's gonna Overblot while also balancing the many reasons why Leona should OB as well!! Bc the hyenas ate Scar it would make sense thematically that Ruggie should also hold some burden of Overblot as Chap 6 said that it can have an area of effect and there have been instances of ppl OBing by proxy!!

Savanaclaw needs to be longer.

Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way. Here's my analysis for Savanaclaw.

Nature v Nurture—The Eternal Struggle of the Wild.

As we all know, the wilderness is a dangerous place to be in. To be vulnerable in the elements could very well cost you your life.

That is exactly why Jack London's White Fang, while not known, is still a profound body of work bc of the topic it tackles—The struggle of man v nature.

But we aren't talking about just the struggle of man v nature, we are talking about the struggle of man and nature, where animal and human begin and end and mix and blend.

It is through that that I present to you my analysis on Savanaclaw as a whole.

Leona, as we all know, had been ostracized and stuck in the shadow of his brother since the day he was born—this further exacerbated by the fact that not only are they born a decade a part (ten years apart) but their roles had already been decided.

Falena was destined to be king, and as such was whisked away into learning how to lead his country—to continue the reign of Kingscholars and make sure that balance and harmony would prosper in Afterglow Savannah.

Because of that, I believe that they never truly had a chance to bond—one always running away and the other always standing still; aimless.

It didn't help that Leona was a progidy, that his Unique Magic that he'd been born with essentially being a culmination of his people's fears— "I am your hunger, I am your thirst."

We know that when Scar had assumed the throne he'd allowed a disproportionate amount of hunting that led to food running scarce—I'd assume that Twst!Scar had such a devastating impact on Afterglow Savannah that droughts would forever be associated with him—I also believe that there is still an area of land in Afterglow Savannah that has yet to recover.

So, to be associated with someone who'd killed his brother for the throne, to be associated with droughts and famines, and to have a personality that wasn't favorable you could see now that Leona was doomed from the start.

Because it didn't just start with him being denied kingship—he was denied something essential.

Compassion. Attention. And love.

We can see that Leona doesn't yearn to be king, but rather he yearns for what he should've gotten as a child—recognition. Instead of his efforts being deemed less than his brother's by right of him being king and him being the spare what Leona really yearned for was to have that same attention on him.

Just for a moment.

And if I said that Leona's scar could've been borne from that want—that need to be doted on, to finally be free from his brother's shadow and not be compared to him would I be wrong?

Because at the core of it, what Leona was denied subsequently is what he begins to abhor. We see this when, despite many students of Night Raven coming to him when they face a problem, he actively avoids them. Despite his grades literally being a selling point at NRC you see him not trying at all to come to class. Despite him overseeing on of the most competitive sports in Twisted Wonderland, you see that he doesn't put in that same effort divided to Magift as he does his PE class (as seen in his PE vignette)

Because why strive for something that you know will not be given to you? Why put in effort that will be overlooked? Why do anything at all if there is nothing you can do?

But I wouldn't go as far as to say that Leona is entirely apathetic—moreso inert in his position in life. He was supposed to be the spare king, a thing to look forward to, but as of Cheka his role is now essentially moot. His achievements as a Magift player overshadowed by Malleus, who has been considered to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for his achievements—Something that Leona probably has already done and more but bc Malleus beats him out in sheer magic factor you can see why there'd be some bitterness in that.

He doesn't have to strive to be a king, but he wants to bc thats the closest he'll get to his brother and, in spite of his self sabotaging ways, ultimately have purpose in life.

I do not believe that Leona is lazy, but rather because he believes he has "no place" in life he finds himself meandering through it.

Savanaclaw is the best and worst that happened to him—because for a moment, he was separated from his title as second prince, for a moment he had a purpose.

Only to have it snatched away.

It's why I think that Malleus and Leona are direct parallels of each other at points. First v Second Prince, Treasured v Discarded, Fae v Beastmen.

Because the struggle of human v nature, the struggle of human nature, and the struggle of instinct are all things that have been written and talked about.

If Leona was raised better he'd be able to handle the disappointment, the dejection, and the shortcomings he faced. But that is an if scenario, and we know that if he were a better Beastmen he wouldn't have Overblotted.

However, for all his carefully crafted apathy we know that Leona still wants—we see that when he objects Crowley's proposal to induct Malleus into the Hall of Fame by arguing that everyone should have a chance to best him. Because to be in Savanaclaw is to have Tenacity, to claw for what you want regardless of birth order and predetermined circumstances.

In the end, we know that Leona has a competitive streak and clear cut goals—he wants to come out on top regardless of the odds.

And as we know, lions are group hunters, while reliant on their female counterparts male lions still have to hold their own.

The clear cut goal is—hunt and catch prey. There's nothing more and nothing less to be added.

And yet, his defeatist attitude always wins out in the end. A reality check that Leona had known since the beginning yet to hear it from the mouth of someone who, by virtue of being in Diasomnia and thus closer to Malleus (someone who would win by default), sends him over the edge.

Either way, even after his Over Blot I believe it's important to note that Leona does not truly change who he is fundamentally—its an act of defiance, because in the end he still gave it his all even if it was underhanded, even if it meant he'd possibly injure Malleus in the process.

In the end, after all those years spent being inert and constantly shifting gears to please that competitive streak in himself while also doing the bare minimum, he learns to go at his own pace.

He learns that he can't strive for a goal without truly, actively chasing after it. We see this in Chap 3 where he participates in Savanaclaw Magift training even mentioning that there is a RSA v NRC tournament coming up and that gives him the drive to train for it.

It might not be satisfactory, the fact that Leona hadn't drastically changed like Riddle and Vil had but it's a change that fits him. Because he'd lived his life wanting to have the odds play in his favor while actively sabotaging himself with his own defeatist mentality.

He doesn't change for the sake of changing, but rather he changes for himself and to make it easier to better 'hunt' for his goals.

#twst #twisted wonderland #Savanaclaw #leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #jack howl #dawgggg #do you know how long this mf had been sitting in the drafts just stewing?#this mf is my magnum opus #my great analysis that could put all my works to shame #i am god and this is my new testament #i really have become deranged yall this is it #Savanaclaw my beloved #This is the Savanaclaw manifesto i swear yall hop on the wave rnnnn

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silvertsundere · 11 months

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Silver Talks AniManga (25/06/23)

a new series and a finale today wao tho next week will be quite busy with 3 anime finales and 1 manga one and the 1 hour premier of the ryza anime let alone any stuff I might catch up to too since I'm on vacation from work, should be fun

blue - finale/completed green - new series/new to me

Anime

Megumin Ep12 (Finale)

I made a TLDR post about it the other day but the show is finally over. As I said a billion times since then, it should've ended after ep6, I felt like everything after that was very weak, especially ep9 when they were just cramming as many konosuba references as possible. As a disclaimer I don't like konosuba or find it funny, I find kazuma, aqua and darkness extremely annoying, tho I like megumin (even if the main show makes her a bit too dumb). "Oh why did you watch the spinoff if you don't like it then?" cause, again, I like megumin and I figured it being a spinoff prequel to the main show it'd be better since she wouldn't be such an idiot, and hey I WAS right the first 6 eps were really good, but as soon as her and yunyun left their village it started going downhill. but ANYWAY. Art/Animation: I know konosuba usually looks like ass but since this was a different studio and all I had some hope but I was wrong. now, it looks a lot better than konosuba but it's still barely animated, the only impressive thing was megumin's explosions but I mean, they better be right? Music: was alright I don't really remember anything to write home about, OP was alright as much as I'd like to praise it more cause I love machico and the ED was really good, always let it play every time Story: story was alright, I wish they stayed longer at the school/village or only arrived at the noob town in the last ep and spent more time traveling different places but oh well. finally the voice acting carried the show HARD. takarie and aki had great performances and stole the spotlight but a lot of the other charas were good too, fairouz ai as cecily and nazuka kaori as arue for example at the end, I wish I could say I liked it more but it simply isn't the case, oh well at least it wasn't a complete waste of time like some other stuff I've watched in the past

Idolmaster CG: U149 Ep11

holy moly amazingly good episode, just WOW, can't really make justice to how good it was with my words. tho I do wanna point out how early in the episode there's a long scene with absolutely no music or dialogue, only sound effects and it was really really good

Mashle Ep11

WOW there was ACTUALLY some sakuga in this anime that's crazy, honestly with how disappointing the anime has been visually, from the start I'd given up hope, I was like "well they'll just have sakuga at the end for the big fights right haha" and then when there wasn't any, even for the razor fight I lost all hope so I was extremely shocked when I saw a clip of the scene linked above getting posted. tho I highly doubt there's gonna be any in the finale, there's gonna be a fight but I don't remember it having anything impressive but anyway. finale next week, which is lining up with the manga finale so that's neat, it was also funny that the episode had the first instance of the victory dance pictured below, when it was also on this week's manga chap lol

Pokemon Horizons Ep12

new milf dropped let's goooo alright episode otherwise, some lore drops to set up the overall plot for the show which is traveling around to find the shiny ray and the rest of the party of this legendary adventurer guy, they found one in paldea and next they're going to galar so I'm guessing there's gonna be one per region, or at least an excuse to travel there, since they've been in 3 so far. tho, ep titles referenced iono in some weeks so they're gonna go back to paldea? we'll see how it goes

Jigokuraku Ep12

decent ep, action was p basic tho it's a cool fight and still better than a lot other stuff. I thought this ep was gonna cover the whole fight, including after daddy shion shows up but I was clearly wrong considering he showed up right at the end. looked at the manga again and now I think it's gonna end on ch44/45 with yuzuriha telling sagiri about ninja genjutsu and how gabimaru's wife might not be real and all that stuff, but honestly that depends on how fast they do the fight cause this ep ended at the end of ch40 so they'd need to do 3 chaps of fighting plus 1 of the aftermath at least... well we'll see how it goes next anyway. hopefully they also announce s2 p soon tho with s2 of jujutsu and csm too it'll prob be a while

Manga

Ice-Head Gill Ch1

the newest series, debuting on jump today. it was.... alright. I quite enjoy that it's based on norse mythology, not something you see often in manga but on the other hand I don't like how young the mc is. "oh but wsj is for kids it shouldn't be that weird" yes yes the same old tired argument, but he's even younger than the usual jump mcs. but anyway, not much to say about chap 1 tbh, the art's not impressive but it is solid and the designs are good, story is p simple, the kid had to flee his home cause supposedly his dad betrayed the kindgom and now after getting his hands into the dad's diary, he's setting off into the world to find him and stuff, p standard adventure manga type of stuff in the vein of red hood or ginka not that long ago, hopefully for the artist it can last longer than those but we'll see

Blooming Love Ch7

cute chap, it started off with them exchanging contacts after the date at the start (moving fast) and then the lad asking his friend for advice about texting since he's not used to it, culminating in him messaging her mistakenly instead of him.. been there brother

Dandadan Ch111

VERY cool chap, the first half had 0 speech bubbles focusing solely on the action, culminating on okarun finally arriving at the battlefield in a cool ass spread, after which the text bubbles started again, the final spread was vey cool too with our cast getting ready to finish up the aliens, really looking forward to next chap since it should be just a lot of cool action

Choujin X Ch38

not only was the chap 50 pages but it also had a TON of exposition so it felt extra long, it could've probably been cut into 2 separate chapters, at the halfway point when they go to the meeting, and we coulda had those chapters more spaced out instead of waiting a billion years for this huge one but oh well

Kaiju 8 Ch88

not much to say about this chap, was just the wrap up of the narumi fight and the start of the hoshina one tho I just wanted to be smug about saying it was gonna be hoshina next on the last chap, very pogged up for this fight I always like his style

ST☆R: Strike it Rich Ch5

nice chap, the rest of the "fight" with nozomi and hina was nice ending with this shot down here of hina lifting her with her leg monka. they also set up the next few opps for hina and hopefully they should last more than just 1 hit so looking forward to that

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins Ch30

haven't talked about ichinose in a while but it's just been floundering about, rehashing things over and over, we've only had some real developments the previous and this chap with the sota guy from the dream being revealed to be the older brother of the family. should be ending soon now (hopefully) since there's really not much else to cover so that's good

Kill Blue Ch10

uh oh, it's a bit early for you to be figuring that out isn't it? tho the series has been doing quite fine in ratings so I don't think it's heading to cancelation but help but think that when there's a development like this yknow

Witch Watch Ch114

good chap, I didn't expect to get a 1v1 battle arc so soon but I'm really looking forward to this now

Blue Box Ch106

very cute chap with taiki and natsu going back to school after their break and the tension that comes (mostly for taiki) from them hiding the fact they're dating. this is exactly the kinda stuff I was hoping for when they got together so I hope we can get a few more chaps like this. also it's good to see that despite this happening, they're both still focused on their respective sports and the series isn't throwing that to the wayside in favour of romance. tho miura is trustworthy so I wasn't worried

Tenmaku Cinema Ch11

another nice chap but sadly it's still doing p badly in ratings, even with mashle ending next week and ichinose seemingly ending soon I don't know if it'll survive, which is a big shame. can only cross my fingers and hope but not holding my breath

Martial Master Asumi Ch2

oooh, good chap, really keeping the momentum from ch1 that's good that's good. anyway I'm predicting nito is gonna lose so we can get some more backstory™ for okiba but despite losing the dad will still let her participate in that tournament thing but we'll see

Cipher Academy Ch29

good chap like usual finishing up the first class vs class battle with our protags winning without the leaders even having to participate. also wanna praise how good cipher's composition is in general, you can see it in the page I picked but also on the final page of the chap where they introduce class B the next enemies for the class battle. cipher was in the middle of the ratings this week, so I would be p pogged up if next week is the same, giving me some assurance that it won't get canceled suddenly anymore

Sakamoto Days Ch124

nice and action filled chapter, the battle against slur's goons has finally started and with quite the bang, looking forward to some quality setpiece scenes in the next few chaps

Mashle Ch161

next chap is gonna be the last and it's weird seeing it go even if I wasn't here from the start, chap was alright not much to say, just wrapping up the after fight stuff and what was gonna happen with all the people that died and stuff. expecting the finale to have what everyone ends up doing in the future and that kinda stuff

Undead Unluck Ch164

what the hell they made mui busted in this loop let's go, it was always a shame she didn't get to do much til the end in the previous loop. it's a shame 2 of shen's fights against union were resolved so quickly like that but knowing this makes it ok, looking forward to them fighting

The Elusive Samurai Ch115

it's refreshing finally having a full chapter with out protagonists after so long, tho the manga is indeed following historical fact which is quite worrying for our boy tokiyuki. but nevermind all that, a new cute girl is joining the cast and that's what matters baby

Akane-banashi Ch67

EXTREMELY good chap, sheesh akane never ceases to impress me, don't got anything to say other than wow they didn't show her score at the end of the performance at the end of the chap but it'll be at the start of the next one and I'm still very confident in my prediction. this performance being so good just made me more excited for akane's tho, can't wait for it to start

Ayakashi Triangle Ch134

argh quite the cliffhanger to leave on when there's not gonna be a chap next week, good chap tho it was nice seeing shadow mei help despite her still being tsun about it

#quite late today cause I didn't get to watch my shows yesterday like usual so had to do it after reading jump #silver talks animanga

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homely-lunatic · 2 years

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ok so turns out my previous theory ab mallory and edgar being neuman’s parents is like 50% less outlandish than I initially believed SO I'm gonna expand upon it a little bit. no idea how all of this fits together but here's some random observations that I think potentially could be relevant to this (or also could just be me reaching):

I'm still suspicious of the whole grandkid situation, especially the bit about the teeth not being found (which ik other folks have pointed out as possibly pointing to their deaths being faked). not entirely sure what the real situation would have been, but it would track with mallory's past not being what we've been led to believe. also neuman has a daughter who has yet to have any notable role in the plot so thats at least one grandchild right there.

as far as interactions between these three characters go they've been pretty limited. we've never seen mallory and edgar interact in the present day, we've only recently seen neuman and edgar interact (and that was a part of the reveal of him being her dad), and we've never seen neuman interact with mallory without another person present (so like. if they were actually on the same side we've never been presented with a situation where they'd reasonably drop the facade)

obligatory "neuman didnt pop mallory's head in the courtroom despite apparently having no reason not to" post

this one's SUCH a reach and I invite mockery but. that one scene in episode 7 where the whole gang is talking about the trial and neuman tells mallory something along the lines of "I guess we'll have to trust each other" and then they exchange a knowing smile™️? I feel like thats one of those subtle breadcrumb things you look back on after the big reveal.

seeing mallory and edgar meet in the past is setting up for them to interact in the present again (like even if this theory isnt correct at all we'll see them interact in some context mark my words)

this is really opinion-based but I kinda feel like the reveal of edgar as neuman's dad was sort of,,,,, anticlimatic? like here's the thing: it feels like the kind of plot point that shouldve been a big twist but it was almost too easy and too early in the season. having the entire Big Twist reveal be "mallory and edgar are working together and they're a (married?) couple and neuman is their daughter" is too much to cram into a single plot twist thats dropped on us all at once, but having the reveals be shown to us gradually (edgar as neuman's dad right off the bat, subtly showing us that edgar and mallory have, at the very least, met before) and presenting mallory's involvement in the situation as the Big Twist would make sense as to why the edgar reveal happened so early. idk this could also just be me expecting a huge twist when there isn't one.

how absolutely brutal (and entirely on brand for edgar who is like perpetually ten steps ahead of everyone) would it be for ryan to go through everything he did to escape vought only to end up back in edgar's clutches being raised by his wife?

again I have NO idea how any of this would fit together plot-wise this is just Vibes only. but also I feel like thematically it would work to have mallory as one of the big bads to really cement the whole thing of the system truly being rigged.

tl;dr I'm going to keep pushing this delusional theory that I have no actual proof of until the show proves me wrong

#gonna lose my mind if this turns out to be true #grace mallory #stan edgar #victoria neuman #the boys #the boys season 3

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winterinhimring · 3 years

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Star Wars: Visions Reviews

Guaranteed SPOILER FREE to the best of my ability, because I want to rant about these to everyone but I would have hated to have some of the plot twists spoiled for me.

The Duel:

Very, very well done. The MYSTERY. The CHARACTERS. The PLOT TWISTS (yes that is twists, plural, in a fifteen minute episode). A stunning example of "show, don't tell" that left me begging for more about the characters..but not really sure I wanted to know any more, because could any knowledge be better than these questions? Also, the animation style is unlike anything I've ever seen before, and it's gorgeous. 10/10.

Tatooine Rhapsody:

I was not sold on the premise of this episode. Then I saw the opening, and it sucked me in. The music, for how central it is to the plot and how much time is spent on it, isn't great, but the plot is fun and well executed, if a little improbable. Also, it gets bonus points for Temuera Morrison showing up as Boba Fett. 7/10.

The Twins:

This episode should have learned from "The Duel" and killed about 80% of its dialogue. If we hadn't had the entire premise of the episode handed to us on a platter by Sir Exposition Droid at the start, I think it would have been much better. As it is, it came off as over-exposited and hammy, and left me with some unanswered questions of the not-so-good kind, such as "why does the droid have a space suit and not the human". 3/10. #thatsnothowtheforceworks

The Village Bride:

I loved the premise, but the execution didn't quite click for me. Some of the characters' actions, including very important decisions, seemed to lack motive. I think that a better look inside the main character's head and also a little more backstory would have made it much better. However, it gets points for a cool climactic action sequence. 7/10.

The Ninth Jedi:

Another standout. Makes excellent use of its status as the longest episode in the series to flesh out a very nicely executed mystery, also featuring multiple plot twists, at least one of which I absolutely did not see coming. I am fairly sure that lightsabers do not work that way, but it follows the Rule of Cool so I'm not gonna kick up too much of a fuss. On rewatch, the main character feels a little one-dimensional, but the rest of the episode makes up for it. 9/10.

T0-B1:

Mostly just cute and fun, but has its share of unexpectedly touching moments. Not the greatest one in the batch, but also not the worst. Some of the visuals were just lovely. Bonus points for the punny name. 7/10.

The Elder:

A Master and Padawan, Master-and-Padawan-ing around the galaxy, sharing wisdom, snarking at each other, getting into trouble, and befriending the locals? Sign me up. (Seriously, they're adorable.) The dialogue was a little clumsy in places, but this episode is more about the dynamics and the duelling, and those are both spot on, especially the duelling. Also contains some surprisingly good life advice. Liked it even better on rewatch. 10/10.

Lop and Ochō:

An uneven episode. When it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad it's...bad. There are some very emotionally tense, thrilling moments, but some of the early setup scenes come off as very much being filler, and pretty kitschy filler at that. Once the main plot has gotten off the ground, the quality skyrockets, though we do still get the occasional moment of overacted emotion. I had a hard time rating this one, but finally settled on 7/10, because I did wind up invested in the end even though the beginning was not so great.

Akakiri:

This was a movie plot crammed into a 20-minute TV show episode, and it showed. It needed at least forty more minutes, if not an entire hour, to adequately set up all the relationships and interactions that would have had to exist for it to actually stick its landing. 4/10.

#star wars #star wars visions #the duel #tatooine rhapsody #the twins #the village bride #the ninth jedi #t0-b1 #the elder #lop and ocho #akakiri #winter says things #sw visions

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agl03 · 6 years

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1 Hi. I'm sorry, I know you must be tired of negativity, but I can't shake this feeling that in 15 and the clip for 16 there's this weird feeling of OOC surrounding most characters. Like the way they act doesn't feel quite right, and not cause they're traumatized or whatever but because in my mind things don't fit with the characters I've known for 5 years. Like, Jemma saying in the clip with all the nonchalance in the world "Oh, yeah Fitz made a hard choice and is paying for it". It feels...

2 weirdly forced. First, it reinforces the notion that Fitz just said to himself “ oh well, I guess I gotta torture Daisy to use her powers and I’m gonna use the doctor to do it!”, when is obvious that he had no idea of what he was doing at the moment. Second, the way she says it feels like there’s no doubt that he did what was right and at the same time it doesn’t carry the emotional weight that Jemma would be feeling at seeing Fitz experience all of this. That’s just an example, but it all…

3 feels too weird since 14, like someone grabbed the characters that I loved and is writing a fic that doesn’t really capture their essence :( I’m not writing this to be negative, it’s just that 14 triggered me badly (taking my favorite MCU character into a route with no real way back) and since then I don’t feel any action from any character is really soothing the injury, just making me feel more at odds with everything :( I can’t even watch the wedding, cause it makes me sick to feel that…

4 the writers just gave us something that they knew we valued so much just to break our hearts a moment later. Looking at things now I feel like the writers don’t really have a plan to give Fitz a real closure from everything and just did it for the shock value. I miss our Team SHIELD and I know it feels like overreacting but Fitz is really important to me, I saw myself in him in a very unique way and I can’t really cope with what they chose to do, cause I don’t even feel like it’s “a hard

Anonymous said:5 subject that leaves a lesson”. Just needed to get this out my chest. Sorry, I know you probably shouldn’t even publish this to try and stop negative asks bit I needed some soothing from you :(

Hi Anon,

I don’t know how much help I can be. Because yes, the negativity was getting to me so I went behind my moat and am not engaging and deleting most that comes into my ask box. I am very well aware I am looking at this story a lot differently than many fans are. I am not a writer for the show, I actually enjoyed the twist with the Doctor (no not the how Daisy got her powers back), excited to see the Fitzsimmons team up, and am excited to see where it goes. Its messy and complicated and complex. This even deals with things that are very close to me and hit very close to home.

In order for this rift in the team to really be as nasty as its going to be they needed an equally nasty catalyst for it. The writers did it by having Fitz have the break and the reveal he’s been hearing the Doctor since the Framework. Then the Doctor ‘taking over’ to do what Fitz himself was unwilling to do. They reminded us Fitz has been through a lot, he needs to heal from the Framework. Which is something many in the fandom where screaming for.

I also like this route because it does give Fitz the chance to learn to accept it and use it when he needs too. Its part of him now, he cant just wave a magic wand and make it better again. The team has to also accept this too. Between his previous injury and what AIDA did to him in the Framework he was hit pretty hard and as a result he changed. “Your just different now and that’s okay,”. Just as the team had varying reactions to Daisy’s Inhuman reveal the team will have different reactions to Fitz’s and its further complicated by the how of giving Daisy her powers back

I don’t think he’ll ever break to the extent he did in 14 again. That series of events won’t be replicated and now that Jemma knows she can help him through it when it does get bad. I won’t be surprised if he isn’t tempted/under pressure again. That gives a chance to show Fitz actively choosing to do good. We are very well aware what he is capable of and he’s using both the shadow and light to protect people. He also doesn’t like how he did it either.

If Fitz wanted too, he could go full on real life super villain. 14 he could have killed everyone else or let the fear rift take out the Lighthouse and the Town above. Fitz isn’t okay with how he got Daisy’s powers back, he fought so hard against what he knew deep down was the solution he suffered the break. He has a considerable amount of “power” in The Doctor but now its how he chooses to use it now and in the future. It goes back to that discussion about potential in Seeds.

Not to mention they are really allowing Iain a chance to just run with this.

I did find 15 a little OOC but a lot of that was just the time. A new writer had a ton to cram into 10 minutes. So I am waiting until after 16 to really comment on this….bearing in mind 16 is also written by a new writer.

Jemma is NOT condoning the how but she sees the science behind it. They were out of time and it was the only way. We also don’t know what happened before that scene between her and Daisy, I got the gist that Fitz is being kept in there for more than giving her powers back. HERE is a meta I did earlier on why I feel what is coming is fully in line for Jemma.

Do I wish they’d found a less icky way for The Doctor to give Daisy her powers back, absolutely. I would have much preferred he created some sort of special EMP that shorted it out. She still would have been upset with him for giving them back but it would have been considerably less traumatizing all around.

It hasn’t taken away from the wedding at all to me, if anything it makes it more special. Marriage is hard. Crap happens. I am not the same person my husband married nor is he the same. And he certainly didn’t sign up for some of the crap that has happened to us over the years. But we got through it and are even stronger for it. Would it have been nice if we’d gotten more than an episode of Honeymoon time before poop hit the fan, yes, but we had a whole bunch of good leading up to the wedding and were due. This is also AOS and things need to move along, especially this point in the season. And part of what makes it more special for me is they are actively fighting for their future together. Jemma isn’t letting him go and he’s letting her in.

We are supposed to be missing the team right now. They are supposed to be broken. That was one of the major reasons they did what they did. Only what is different from previous seasons is the rift has come from within. Its also a result of nearly everyone doing what they think is the right thing. They need to get back on the same page and that takes time, “A team that trusts is a team that triumphs”.

I don’t know if that helped at all or if I just did a lot of rambling that didn’t go anywhere. This is dealing with very serious and personal topics so I will encourage everyone to do what they need to do to take care of themselves. This is supposed to be messy, complicated, and morally grey. I’m going to give the writers the chance to see where they go with it and how it all plays out…and I’m honestly excited to see where it leads.

#aos spoilers #aos speculation #ask agl03

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