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Quiet Protagonists

I'm not sure if others have come to this same conclusion, but another reason I love Spy x Family is for how quiet the leads are.

Sure they can be loud and exuberant, but that is only during times when they are trying to make a spectacle of themselves (or Yor is drunk).

A lot of the absurdity or volume you usually get from shows (especially comedy) only happens in their heads. Even then, these drawn out sequences for us the viewer is less than a second for the characters.

Loid comes off as the cool, collected, and calculating spy or the happy, family man, father; while on the inside he is always one step away from a panic attack.

Yor is the warm, overly polite, and naive clerk or an unbeatable assassin; but in her own head she is constantly worried about managing her strength or killing everyone around her to get out of small talk.

Then there is Anya. Anya is four and has daydreams and imaginings to match this. As a telepath, she is naturally in her own head quite a bit and isn't the chattiest amongst her friends. Meanwhile, Anya's mind is where we the audience experience the majority of the chaos found in every other characters minds.

#sxf #spy x family #loid forger #twilight #anya forger #yor forger

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Love that Jay's 'villain' arc so far is becoming an amnesiac Ron Swanson

#ninjago #lego ninjago #jay walker #ninjago jay #ninjago dragons rising #dragons rising spoilers #he cannot be bothered with this beurocratic nonsense #jay is in the administration just making it worse #love that for him

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Twilight's Enforced Retirement Plan

Sometimes I just think the plot of Spy x Family is just Handler's planning for Twilight's retirement.

She's ensuring he has a lovely wife, a child who goes to a good school, a career, and even a dog. She's just giving him side missions to ease him out of the bigger jobs and settle down.

Because wouldn't the actual easiest way to get close to Desmond be to become a teacher at Eden? Either they make up a completely new personality or make one of the current staff members "disappear" and Twilight disguises himself as them.

No, fake family. That was the explicit instructions in his briefings.

#sxf #spy x family #twilight #loid forger #anya forger #yor forger #sylvia sherwood #the handler #sylvia's end goal is to finally be an aunt/grandmother

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Four Pages to Terrify Me

I applaud thee Endo.

From the illustration alone I was worried, this whole chapter is just laying out what the next arc is likely to be and now has me reevaluating the last few chapters (specifically Sigmund Authen), as well as any image that showed Anya's written name.

From the theming and naming of the families, we know that the Forgers are a fake family built on a lie but developing into something real. The Forgery will be made real (Forged into something real?). That means the family whose name opposes them, the Authens, must be a mirror. A real family filled with emotional lies (or at least a real family that is fake in everything that actually matters).

If I had to present a theory for how the Authens are connected to Anya it'd be that they were involved in her creation. Sigmund is a professor, meaning he could be apart of the team of doctors, who seems to be rather anti-war. Possibly enough so to become involved with human experimentation.

Then there's his mumbling. No one could understand Sigmund but Anya. This comes off as a gimmick, but what if it's his way of testing which of the children at the park he just so happens to be stuck in can understand him? It's a pretty decent strategy to determine an esper child.

Moving onto the subject of the actual chapter: ANIA

For some reason or another, Anya believes her written name to actually be A-N-I-A, pronounced the same way. This is an alternate spelling for the name, but instead of trying to correct Yor or Loid she goes along with the change. Either Anya is trying to distance herself from that version of her name, or she knows that ANIA wasn't technically her name but what she was called. There is a difference.

There is also the fact the doctor in Ch 1 addresses her as 'Anya'. This could be a mistake, or it could mean that the facility we see Anya in the first chapter was different than the lab that created her, seeing as they didn't call her by the moniker Subject 007.

So, I have three theories:

1 - Anya is her real name, as she already has a code name Subject 007, and ANIA is something else. Possibly AN1A, as I've seen others suggest? It has something to do with her creation, possibly the organization or the specific operation behind it.

2 - ANIA is a title or some kind of new species/mutation/classification. Instead of her name being Ania she is an ANIA. The lab calls her Anya in chapter 1 because they made a similar mistake to Twilight, or just for convenience.

3 - ANIA or AN1A is her 'name' given to her by the scientists which is an anagram, acting-alongside Subject 007-as a nickname.

In any case we are very likely to find out whenever the next arc starts and in the end Anya will be Anya. Her and Twilight are connected already for having multiple names, but both of them have shown that Loid Forger and Anya Forger are becoming staples of their core selves. It wouldn't surprise me if Anya declaring her name proudly as Anya Forger to any that try to correct her as an eye opener of some kind for Twilight on the importance of his identity.

#sxf #spy x family #twilight #anya forger #loid forger #yor forger #sxf spoilers #if her name isn't actually anya then yor is the only forger who goes by her real first name #unless... #the reminder of anya's past really made me do a 180 on the nice old couple who just moved in #sxf ch 90.1 #sxf manga spoilers

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Authens and Forgers

Sigmund and Barbara Authen... Authen like Authentic?

So, people are wondering if Sigmund and Barbara are real or not, what their history may be. I'm undecided, but am leaning more towards them being a perfectly normal couple.

We only know of one big war in the series and that happened when Twilight and Yor were teens and ended before Anya was born/created? So war ends about ten years ago. If the Authens are in there 60s or 70s then they likely would be out of field work by the time the conflict started.

In any case, i do agree that their role in the story will be to act as parents/a reflection for Twilight and Yor, and grandparents for Anya.

I'm interested in who will be the mirror for who though. We haven't gotten much of Barbara herself, but if we go off Sigmund then she's something of a mischief maker or at least unorthodox in how she goes about home making; a pretty good alternative/aged up Yor. This makes the scatter brained, detail confused, over sharing man who just wants his wife Sigmund a look into Loid (a Twilight who's trying to figure himself out without any assigned traits?).

Or we might have the hapless but more than able Sigmund who's always stumbling into and misinterpreting dangerous situations as Yor; making the sensible and stable Barbara the Loid.

Either way they'll love Anya and the next few chapters will likely be getting to know them. Can't wait.

#sxf #sxf manga spoilers #sxf spoilers #sxf ch 90 #twilight #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #it took me far too long to figure out how authen would be pronounced #i kept trying to look it up as a name until search bar filled in 'authentic' #can't wait to be emotionally destroyed by another gag in this series #this will either age like wine or milk

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Considering how important the inner monologue is to Spy x Family, I can only imagine the cataclysmic mayhem that will come if Twilight ever refers to himself as 'Loid' in his own head.

I don't know, but I think that might be what does it for Twilight. When he thinks of it as "Come on, Loid"; this becoming Loid Forger being what cements for him-this man of many faces-that it is no longer just for the mission.

Because despite all those faces the only name that has held any meaning since was [REDACTED] is Twilight. Of course the natural evolution of this would be Loid

#spy x family #sxf #loid forger #i'm getting all my thoughts on loid settled before the cruise ship and then it's yor #twilight #death note and spy x family are actually very similer in storytelling

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I think Twilight watching Spy Wars with Anya, and also reading ahead in the comic like a true professional, is one of my favorite details in the series. As a professional he hates it, but Loid is invested.

Not even getting into when he made a Spy Wars cartoon with Franky for Anya.

#spy x family #sxf #loid forger #twilight #anya forger #while trying to connect with anya he became a true fan #speed reader loid catching up to spy wars and feeling the pain of manga readers everywhere #ch 68.1 spoilers

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Sayaka being forcibly silenced for-as far as we know-being the only one to know what's going on is just perfection and I can't wait to see what messed up dynamic she establishes with Homura.

Can't believe Homura actually silenced Sayaka…

Look at sayakas neck…

In the movie concept art homura detached her bones and reattached them to her cape while sealing her mouth so she couldn’t fight back or say anything about her new world

While the new trailer changed things up so maybe she has a huge scar under her bandages that prevents her from speaking

#pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #sayaka miki #homura akemi

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Something I've Been Reminded Of

Spoilers for Ch 86

Kicking off season 2 of Spy x Family we have the long awaited date of Loid and Yor-which was just lovely-and in that we got this line from Loid:

Of course, this is just him drastically missing the actual cause of Yor's poor mood, but Agent Twilight believes that he has made Yor cross with him for asking for help running the household. This is a marriage of convenience after all, not an actual partnership.

While it's never made the forefront of a scene, at least not in an overtly plot heavy way, Loid is often shown doing the majority of the house work. He cooks, cleans, helps Anya study, cares for Bond, etc. He'll even make sure that dinner is ready for Yor when she comes home late. Not to say Yor doesn't do anything, she's often shown preparing drinks and will help clean up now and then, but the implication is that Loid does 90% of the chores along with raising Anya, caring for Bond, his work as a fake psychiatrist, his work as an actual spy, along with whatever day trips/misadventures the family gets up to.

But he will not ask for Yor's help, because this whole thing is a marriage of connivence; it's 'for the mission'.

Then we get chapter 86. Twilight is hurt from a gun fight with his brother-in-law, has just faced a representation of his worst traits in Winston, and gotten into a "fight" with Yor which he has no idea the cause of. Loid has officially been pushed to the limit and the moment he gets home-the moment he feels safe-the sight of Yor smiling through the threshold causes him to collapse and ask:

And Yor:

Which shocks Twilight. He is at his lowest point and is expecting for Yor to actually get upset with him, under the impression that she'll see his need for help as a burden.

Yor has always been eager to help Loid, but never wanted to overstep this unspoken boundary they have. She isn't his actual wife, not actually Anya's birth mother. She's there to keep up appearances, it's not her place to be a wife helping her husband. She will still hesitate around Anya for actions that are unavoidably motherly. It's not her place, Loid is handling it even if he's struggling.

Which is why Yor is glad to be asked for help.

How many characters both acknowledge Twilight needs help and actually offer help? Let alone with no ulterior motives. WISE is under the impression that everything they ask is within Twilight's capabilities and even Franky, the only person in his life who could be considered a friend, needs to maintain a certain distance as to not arouse suspicion for either of them.

Yor's position as mother for the Forger family has granted her both the closeness needed to see how ragged Loid's been run, but also be in a position to offer help that can be reciprocated. The only thing holding her back has been Loid not asking for assistance and her being to worried for her position in the family to ask.

And now that Loid has reached out, Yor will do all she can to ease his burdens. Even with Twilight resolving to be better, to be the perfect spy he's been slipping from, I don't think Yor's going to let him go back to bad habits. He needs help, he's asked for help, she's going to help.

Yor is going to aggressively care for Loid, and through shenanigins break down those barriers of his.

#spy x family #sxf #loid forger #twilight #yor forger #twiyor #loidyor #let me dream #ch 86 spoilers #i love their dynamic #imagine twilight at full power having actually slept 8 hours

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"Is the sun bothering you?"

#yu yu hakusho #kurahi #kurama #hiei #ok but look me in the eye and tell me hiei wouldn't sword fight the sun for kurama

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If Only Raye Let Naomi Finish

Rewatching Death Note and boy did I forget that Raye was not a very pleasant character

Sure, dude's stressed and is a few days from being done with the case, but don't tell your former FBI fiancee who has worked with the guy-and actually solved the case she was on-who has hired you to shut up about the Kira case when she has a theory and that 'oh when we have kids you won't even remember you were an agent'.

Naomi uses the three bits of information she knows about Kira to come up with the solution that would take Light out if they hadn't run into each other. Raye's biggest contribution to the case was fueling Naomi's spite.

Just chalk it up to another bit of Naomi being to powerful for the story.

#death note #light yagami #kira #raye penber #naomi misora #death note l #if only l gave naomi an email for watari or something #raye don't talk to your future wife like that #no wonder her father didn't approve #also wow early death note is fun

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Homura's Silencing Sayaka

As we know from the end of Rebellion, Sayaka is aware of what Homura has done and even when Homura enforces her will on Sayaka, some part of her still is adament about things not being right (like Homura in Rebellion).

As I've mentioned before, the dynamic between Homura and Sayaka is one of the aspects I am looking forward to the most. To restate, I basically want Homura to use Sayaka as something of a confidant, or someone to go to to gloat about this new paradise she has created for Madoka. Sayaka would be, not necessarily a conscious or angel on the shoulder, someone who argues on behalf of what the law of cycles, on behalf of Madoka's wish.

So then this image happened...

and yeah.

Now, I'm gonna base this theory on a detail not from Madoka Magica-not that I'm aware of this symbolism being used anywhere in the series-but from Nier Automata.

In Automata the main characters, 2B and 9S, wear blindfolds. The in game explanation for this is that it's actually a pair of goggles that acts as a hud for them. There are also characters called operators who are also masked, but these masks are shaped like veils that covers their mouths; in game explained as microphones/communicators.

Symbolically, and spoilers for Nier Automata, the veils and blindfolds represent the forbidden truths of their world. 2B and 9S are blindfolded, not allowed to see the truth. The operators' mouths are veiled, not allowed to say the truth.

Back to Madoka Magica, here Sayaka is half blinded, mouth covered. Unless this is just bait-which it very well may be-I can't help but wonder if this is a sign of Homura trying to gag Sayaka. Sure, Sayaka is without bandages in other parts of the trailer, but she also isn't a magical girl in those scenes. Homura wants Sayaka mute and blind when she has access to power, but one eye is uncovered. Sayaka is still seeing the truth.

One unblinded eye grants Sayaka the ability to perceive half the truth, but her covered mouth will prevent her from talking of this truth.

#pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #madoka kaname #homura akemi #sayaka miki #walpurgisnacht rising #pmmm theory #all roads lead back to nier for me #please let there be heaps of passive agressive conversations between homura and sayaka in front of the others

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Could I add the possibility of Suletta and Delling getting along weirdly well? They don't like each other, but they are both quiet stubborn people who do stupidly violent things for people they care about/endgame goals.

Delling sucks but he cares about Miorine in the most distant way possible, so when its clear she's marrying this one he takes Suletta out to see for himself what his daughter's groom is like. One thing led to another and now they play golf twice a month. If asked neither will know whose idea it was or what brought it on, nor do they really enjoy it but they are committed. Do they talk? Maybe, but it's definitely nothing of substance.

They go on to win club championship every year.

Suletta and Delling fishing trip daughter in law and father in law bonding where Delling thinks fishing is stupid and Suletta gets waaay too into it and both leave unchanged as individuals and Miorine runs Delling over with her Toyota

#reblog #gwitch #gundam #gundam the witch from mercury #witch from mercury #suletta mercury #sulemio #delling rembran #mio: just because he's your in-law doesn't mean you have to treat him like family #suletta: i know but we're playing 36 tomorrow and you never miss a tee time

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9/10 game, love it but... Spoilers

I wish Link hadn't gotten his arm back. I know I'm not the only one, but guy doesn't even end up with a scar like Ashitaka. We've seen concept art of Link with the shiekah arm prosthetic, that could've been implemented into his design for the epilog. He's wearing his tunic, you could've just altered the colors on what bit of his hand is visible(says a person with no experience animating or coding).

He could've even kept Rauru's arm with some exposition of 'oh its old magic stabilizing the miasma's affects and this is the end result', but still shiekah tch arm would've been really cool and a neat way to implement the abilities post game for any DLC or whatever.

I'm less upset about Zelda not having any dragon markings, although some minor things would've been cool. Maybe the tears marked into her skin, or a little horn crown that glows when she uses her powers.

#loz #totk #totk spoilers #link #zelda #great game all around #one of these days i'll write my zonai/skyloftian theory

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Feel free to ignore this, its just me gushing about how important Code Lyoko is to me.

I'm not one of those people who gets nostalgic and for multiple reasons, A) I'm very rarely emotionally sentimental towards media, B) I am a bit stunted emotionally, and C) due to a childhood/teenage years of a number of head injuries my memory is absolutely shot.

But through it all, Code Lyoko-the weird show from France with its stilted animation and repetitive plot-is what gets me. Not my favorite movies, games, or even other tv shows will do this to me.

Now, I started watching Code Lyoko when I was pretty young. I'm more or less a year older than it. So, when it was dubbed into english for the states, I was just old enough to catch onto the plot and some time later be enthralled with the later seasons/reruns. I have two older brothers and we all have vastly different taste in media, but for a solid part of my childhood we all agreed on a shared love for this show. We would meet in the den to watch the episodes every day and get along as only kids watching cartoons can.

When we moved states the subject I was most upset over was that CN for some reason didn't have Code Lyoko in this new area. Which, considering the move took probably about a day or two, really confused me. But for years this show lived only in my memory, not even my friends at school-in grades above or below-knew what I was talking about.

Some years pass, Code Lyoko is this shiny little memory that sits in the back of my brain, and I'm given a gen 1 iPad. It's slow, it dies quickly, I didn't even have my own headphones, but I didn't have to share with my brothers and had Youtube.

Now, for any young folk reading this for some reason (first off, good on you for getting into Code Lyoko) Youtube had been around for a few years at this point and had only really started getting traction circa 2008-09. The fun thing about early Youtube was that you could watch anything. Very few restrictions, no concept of enforcing copyright, it just had to be ten minutes or less and even that was beginning to change(I think). This was the era of watching a lagging anime in 3-4 parts an episode, and this is where I was able to finally watch Code Lyoko again.

I remember very specifically marathoning the show in the kitchen, sitting oddly in an arm chair, utterly engrossed in this show. It had action, it was 3D animated, the characters were cool and funny, and I would've done anything to have a hangout like the factory. Not to mention the intro was the best thing I'd ever heard and still is to this day one of my favorites.

But why do I love this show? Well a couple reasons...

Thing 1: Animation

Now I know the jokes and the jabs and the fact that its old and dated are what anyone unfamiliar with the show is quick to point out. If anyone has even passing knowledge of Code Lyoko its usually the weird character designs. If you watch the show you get used to it and sorta come to notice that it fits the characters much better in the 3D world more than the 2D and Lyoko is where all the cool action scenes are so.

And, I don't know if this is a hot take, but I like the 3D animation a lot. It looks like the ps2/3 games we would play as kids, and the premise is basically kids fighting monsters in a video game in 2003. It's an aesthetic that I appreciate for better or worse.

Thing 2: Stakes/Story

Code Lyoko is one of the few shows (cartoons especially) with the unique ability to be episodic in a serialized way. Things build up, connect, and whatever big changes happen in the past seasons continue on in the following. This was kinda insane to young me, shows were episodic or serialized, not both. Not to say there was nothing else (Teen Titans, Generator Rex, X-Men Evolution, Avatar, etc.) nor to say that Code Lyoko was the best at doing this, but no matter how repetitive the usual episodes are it more than makes up for with the stakes of those epidoes.

I don't think many cartoons put the kids in as imiment danger as Code Lyoko. Military satellites, Nuclear collisions, plagues of rats and hoards of wasps, using nano tech to give people amnesia that spread like the flu, being drowned or boiled alive, molested by plants, haunted by internet ghosts, Jeremy messing up a code so badly the antagonist needs to help the heroes out, feeling what it is like to be killed every time they are devertualized, having gravity turned off, having to deal with the fact that they are all months to potentially years older than their peers due to time travel, stressing over keeping everyone alive because time travel doesn't fix that, and so much more. Keep in mind they are all 13-15 years old and also in boarding school, on their own those are experiences that will deeply scar and change you without the cyber terrorism.

Thing Last: Characters

This is the real kicker and probably something I'll dedicate an entire series of things to talking about in depth, but for now.

Code Lyoko was the first show with characters I truly cared about. My young brain would be so absorbed in those stakes that I could forget that a cartoon for children would not kill any of its main characters(at least back then).

Individually, each character had something going for them. Jeremy was smart, witty, and made me feel better about being a nerd; Aelita was all that and more, being one of the kindest characters in media but still managing to hold her own both verbally and physically (no sequence was cooler to me than in season 1 when Aelita had to avoid monsters without aid and managed to kill a bunch using only the terrain); Yumi was the groups strength in the real world, a bit older and down to earth, it's weird she had no friends prior to the series; Odd, what to say about Odd? He is the only emotionally intelligent person in this whole cast with only Aelita coming close. He is happy, funny, proud, and kinda carried the team in the early episodes when Ulrich wouldn't go to Lyoko for whatever reason; Ulrich, my boy, the best fighter in Lyoko and a contender for best Lyoko design, my relating to him as a child was probably the earliest indicator I had mental health problems, but I will always remember him taking down Kolossus. Lastly, XANA. For a villain with maybe a line of dialog, XANA had a strange sense of character to him. He was a malicious, ruthless, powerful entity that wanted freedom for itself and the destruction of those who imprisoned him. XANA was meant to be a helpful AI, but it got out of hand and was persecuted by the men in black due to its capabilities, even scaring Hopper, his creator. XANA's death in the second to last episode is shown as a smoke being of him contorts in agony and dissipates; so close to being free.

More than anything, the Lyoko Warriors are friends. They goof around, get a virtual Aelita a birthday cake, know when to tease and when to just listen, they will do anything for each other through thick and thin, but they can also just hang out. A lot of stories have groups that feel like they only spend time together to achieve something, for a purpose, the Lyoko Warriors are friends who like being together.

To wrap this up.

Code Lyoko has numerous problems, most of which can be seen in Miraculous Ladybug the current popular French cartoon created by a former Code Lyoko storyboard artist, but it had heart. It showed me how far animation could go, how a world could be created. It motivated me to improve my writing and taught me that no story-no matter how good the visuals or plot-is anything without lovable characters.

More than anything serious, Code Lyoko was fun. It gave me time to spend with my brothers, an introduction into internet media/culture, and the first ending that I ever found satisfying as a child. I love this show, if someone came up to me and said 'if you quit your job and studies that your actually happy with and come make a Code Lyoko reboot/sequal' I wouldn't hesitate.

I love you Code Lyoko and here's to another 20! Let's live in a world without danger.

#code lyoko #lyoko #20 years of code lyoko #cl #aelita #jeremy belpois #odd della robbia #yumi ishiyama #ulrich stern #XANA #X.A.N.A #world without danger is the best cartoon theme and you can't change my mind #i'm sorry this is long and rambly #i just love this show #anyone who actually read this whole thing is a champ

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Another has joined the covenant

you sons of bitches. you no good sons of bitches. I went into utena three days ago without so much of a Wikipedia entry for some lite gundam research and now Nanami is laying eggs

#rgu #utena #nanami laying an egg is quintessential to the narrative

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I’ve been watching Game Grumps and all I could think of Dan’s ‘Arin...” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ARIN?!”

he’s right

#totk #game grumps #link #zelda #loz