#an entire cast of characters was there but for some reason they wanted to highlight mobius and loki together in that scene

[totally-not-kawaii]

can we talk about that last shot of loki and mobius standing together, alone, at the end of it all? at the end of time? can we talk about that?

#an entire cast of characters was there but for some reason they wanted to highlight mobius and loki together in that scene #like......u cannot give me any heterosexual context for that #like none #absolutely none #marvel #loki #loki series #loki laufeyson #mobius m mobius #lokius #loki season 2 #loki s2 #loki 2023 #tom hiddleston #owen wilson

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Florrickology, Part 4: Florrick, Wyll, Ulder, and Character Assassination

We all know it, we all hate it. They did my beloved dirty, used her to shit all over Wyll's quest at what should be a climactic moment, and I will never forgive never forget it.

In Act 3, if Wyll rejects Mizora's offer to rescue his father from the Iron Throne in favor of keeping his pact broken, Florrick will ambush the party, inform them that "Lady Mizora" told her what he did, and seek retribution unless talked down.

This is stupid, makes no sense, assassinates Florrick's character for no good reason, and represents some of Larian's laziest NPC writing--unsurprisingly, in the midst of Wyll's personal quest, and smack dab in what's supposed to be the climax of one of the longest quests in the game.

As I said in previous posts, Florrick being willing to go to the mat for Ulder any day or time of the week is consistent with her other characterization.

Up to the point of this confrontation, the player has observed that she'll follow Ulder to literal hell and back, chase him across half a continent, and become so disappointed in her perceived failure to save him and, by extension, the entire city, that she completely gives up and quietly awaits execution, without even trying to escape (which she probably could do, as a level 11, probably Enchantment School wizard).

All her voice lines and all the things others say about her paint the picture of a loyal and true-blue friend, and a public servant of the highest caliber, "as steady as Tyr's heartbeat" and "as upstanding as the Sword Mountains." She may be sharp and shrewd, and perhaps a bit domineering and curt, but she's not cruel. She may be a bit cavalier, but she's never rash.

She's not stupid. She may be more emotional than she seems.

She has killed someone before, on the spot, for coming after Ulder. It's consistent that she would do it again, even if she had to hunt them down this time and risk being caught by the Steel Watch. In her mind, she has nothing left to lose.

What is not consistent is her being willing to kill Wyll on a flimsy accusation (that she doesn't even really believe if you read her thoughts).

Now as I've mentioned, Florrick doesn't seem to feel any particular way about Wyll; she seems to regard him simply as her friend and boss' son, just a good kid she patted on the head at parades, and when they meet again in Waukeen's Rest, as a valuable asset in rescuing Ulder and saving the city.

And I like this! It highlights that Ulder was Wyll's entire world, and it was Ulder, alone, who failed him and cast him aside. I think this is also part of why there's never any indication that Florrick and Ulder are/were romantically involved, because this would change the expectations for how she treats/feels about Wyll. But as it stands, simply being a woman in the vicinity of a child, even one in need, didn't obligate her to be a mother.

And this the feeling is mutual. In-game, there's also no indication that Wyll had or desired had any sort of personal relationship with her, as he talks about her accomplishments but not, say, seeking her out for advice or spending time with her. He mentions crushing on Stellmayne, but when asked about Florrick, he goes right to "yeah she fucks, she sniped a guy right in front of me once." He only regards her in relation to his father and the city, never himself. She's his dad's confidant and advisor, and an exemplary public servant, but nothing in particular to him.

So, it's not how Florrick feels about Wyll that makes it out of character for her to attack him, but because of how she knows Ulder feels about Wyll.

She says herself, when talked down in that confrontation, that Ulder wanted her to find Wyll and pass his birthright on if he fell, because as many mistakes as Ulder made, and as wrong as he was, and as unacceptable as his behavior was, in the end, he trusted his boy with the fate of his beloved city.

So, Florrick would never betray Ulder by attacking his son, without irrefutable evidence, especially when she'd been told explicitly to trust and help Wyll by the person she respects and reveres the most in the entire world.

As one of the most prominent NPCs in the game, appearing with a fairly significant role in all three acts, and who's been demonstrated to be an unquestionable heroic figure all along, Florrick deserved better than what she got in this blatantly lazy, formulaic scene.

And that's the answer to the question of 'why is this scene so bad?' - lazy, formulaic writing.

That's also probably the answer to any 'why is this Act 3 moment and/or NPC interaction so clunky?' question. This confrontation is Like That because it's how every every NPC Confrontation is: someone is willing to kill you for variably logical reasons, unless you talk your way out of it, and the end result is only nominally different, so it was pointless from the jump. It's the illusion of drama and conflict and a plot twist, not real drama and conflict and plot twist. Of course she (andWyllcoughcough) isn't safe from the "uh oh this game isn't done but we're shipping it anyway so we better make this story beat messy, both under-and over-whelming, and confusing to match the overall tone of Act 3" curse.

So you might then move on to, "okay, well, what's the in-universe explanation for this? How can we make it make sense, considering what we know about Florrick?"

I won't give them credit for implying anything they didn't bother to imply, even though they could have gone several other routes with about 2 lines of better dialogue and a simple animation. So, I think the only true, canonical reason Florrick does this is exactly what's presented in the text. She was approached by "Lady" Mizora, a stranger, told a lie, only half-believed it, slapped a fuckass hood on over her very distinctive freakum dress, went on the hunt, and ambushed the party in front of like 50 human, 5 cat, and 3 Steel Watch witnesses even though she's a fugitive marked for execution.

That's it. There's no further context. Again, nothing implied. As you can tell by this entire series, I will read into anything, and there's simply nothing to read into here.

No indication that Mizora charmed or is controlling Florrick, a simple explanation that could have been easily been introduced with about 1 line, a special effect, and a mocap of her "snapping out of it."

No revelation that "Lady" Mizora has been posing as a patriar and pulling strings in Baldur's Gate for the last seven years, working closely with and maybe kissin haha jk... unless Florrick, making it perfectly reasonable why she'd believe Mizora over Wyll, who's been not only missing BUT cavorting with devils for those same seven years, which is ironic because Florrick had unknowingly been doing the same thing (juicy!). (more thoughts on this)

There's not even really a feeling that Florrick, who again did all that mentioned above for Ulder and her city, is simply just so heartbroken and grieving and demoralized that she's experiencing a mental breakdown and a critical lapse in judgement, grasping at anything to make it make sense or to make her feel in control again, even if she has her doubts deep down. Again, this could have easily been written in with a few lines and some body language. I feel like this is what they thought they did, but the fact is they didn't even though it would have been easy and cost basically 0 extra resources or time.

Clearly, this scene got rubber-stamped because they (painfully correctly) assumed that nobody would care about Wyll's storyline at this point, and his supporting character Florrick with it. They probably just figured that we'd all forget how wack it was when we continued the quest and got gagged by the Emporer being a gay dragon-fucker and also Balduran.

So, what would have made this scene/part of the quest better?

To be clear, better is a pretty low bar as the canonical version full-on sucks. The above suggestions are only what could have made this specific scene (Florrick Confronts Wyll About Killing His Father) better. But really, Wyll's quest, as we all know, needs an overhaul. So, below is what's overall needed to make Wyll's entire quest in Act 3 better.

maintain Florrick's characterization (this post is about Florrick after all)

give Wyll a chance to be a hero in his own story

actually utilize Mizora, who's truly been pretty pointless all this time

provide a sense of stakes--it has to matter what happens

get everything the fuck away from that fucking magic show

I had a whole alternative Act 3 storyline written to suggest, Boss Fight Mizora Avernus and all, but realized just before posting that it doesn't work because it ends with Wyll destroying his pact, and he does sort of need that to remain a warlock for the endgame (being forced to re-class at the 11th hour would be a bit of a bold move). But trust me it was cool and better than what we got.

#bg3 spoilers #bg3 #florrickology #counsellor florrick #wyll ravengard #ulder ravengard #mizora #this one gets real tags bc it's an actual critique and not a simp post about her hips this time

[portsandstars]

Revisiting Red Spring Studio's Interview with Blerdy Otome - Select Quotes

It's been almost a year since RSS had this interview, but I think that many people have not listened to it, or recently revisited it. I thought I'd highlight some quotes from it, though the entire interview is worth watching! Some of these quotes I have lightly modified for clarity or succinctness but the majority are direct transcripts.

23:30: "Touchstarved is a horror romance visual novel where the entire cast is made up of characters where you're like, "I can fix them!" but you actually can't. I think that Touchstarved is a very complex and mature story with really really complex themes and interwoven routes and obviously it's very sexy at the same it's a romance - and I think it's one of those games that I've always wanted to see exist and I think that a lot of the team has always wanted to see this game exist as far as being this kind of like dark, broody, moody, but also very deep, right, and authentic and honest exploration - Monsters, and the feeling of being a monster - feeling of being an "other", right, whether you're queer or POC or anything like that… we've created a game that's not only really fun and action-packed and bloody and all that kind of stuff… but very heartfelt in a way that I hope readers can pick up on.

Imo, this line of reasoning ("you can't fix them", and the cast's monstrous nature and how it intrinsically ties to/is an analogy for being queer, or POC) - makes me think that even in the good endings for the game, your character won't be minimizing the character's monstrousness. For example, even if your character has the Power of True Love, it's not going to make Vere nonviolent or absolve Kuras's guilt.

25:35: "These themes are pretty complicated in a way that's messy and honestly bloody and I think for that reason is why we're looking at a mature rating - that said, when we set out to make the game our goal wasn't really to be explicit, it was much more to focus on sexiness . . ."

Just clarifying that there won't be explicit sex scenes in the game.

28:55: "What are some aspects of the story that you are most excited to showcase?" "I'm so excited that people get to die terribly, that just gets me so pumped up. Like in previous jobs I have not been allowed to brutally murder . . . main characters permanently and it's very important to me that I now have the power to write really just messed up awful endings…Don't worry, there's also good endings there too, they just get as much passion and all that stuff as the bad endings… but the bad endings, oh my gosh, those are some of my favorites."

This line makes me curious about whether the main characters are just MC, or if the other characters will brutally die as well!

30:50 "A little while ago we posted Kuras's character reveal and people really like the fact that he can't cook so for me it's really cute and innocent seeing people obsess over that fact and I really just want them to see the contrast between that version of Kuras in their head and what he's actually like in his route. Like I just really want to see them react to like the terrible things he's going to do. . . They're all awful in different ways that I'm really excited for people to see it - it's very funny to see everyone be like _Literally name any of the characters of the cast and be like "they're my little meow meow" and it's like, oh. good. I hope this continues once they learn more about the characters. Obviously they're all wonderful - right, the characters are all awful but they're also all wonderful".

32:26 : "the theme of monstrousness and how each character kind of approaches it differently . . . because they're all monsters, even if they're not literally monsters . . .it also plays into each character's brand of horror in their own way as well that ties into their monstrous nature."

This line especially (to me) hints at how Leander is likely not SPECIFICALLY a monster, but a human with a monstrous nature.

34:30: - Ais was the first character they made and each of the other characters build upon him, so they spent a lot of time getting him right. Vere was the easiest to create and they made him in a weekend. Kuras was the hardest to create (especially visually).

38:00 "This is a romance game and a big draw of the game is making a love connection with these characters - do you all plan on including platonic friendship routes in addition to romance routes, or is it strictly romance?" The way that we planned out this game is that we wanted to focus on the intimacy of these individual relationships between the main character and the love interest and the route that they're on, right, so this is the way we had planned the game from the beginning. We really like poly romances, for example, and friendships, but we think that it wouldn't have made much sense for the characters in the story that we had written for them because this entire story - with who the main character is and why they're having to turn to these mysterious monstrous strangers - there's a level of intimacy involved in the themes and stories that we really focused on for how we're writing…

It's almost like a narrative design intentionality we did early on because each route that you'll be able to play from the main five cast is very driven and each character is like a ticking time bomb in their own way. So if you choose to romance Vere, Kuras's route still continues and you can see the effects of what not choosing Kuras is in Vere's route when you're playing Vere's route. So the world is meant to be very interwoven and interconnected where you can see the ripples of everyone's choices even when you're not romancing them and in that way we've designed this cast that's woven together. So if we did want to do a poly route, we would probably have to do entirely new characters . ."

43:30: "One of the fundamental goals of this game was to have, as you've been saying, a living world - a world that's evolving, and one of the ways that we wanted to communicate that was with the idea that these characters are not doing great… um, they're all in very very bad situations, uh, they're all essentially doomed if you do not go with them and it's seeing that carried out in each route that I hope will be really interesting for people.. it will be very sad, in a good way".

ARGHHH this is the WORST. This means that if you choose a character, you're essentially dooming the others. Though this will undoubtedly manufacture delicious angst, I'm soooo sad at imagining each of the other characters faltering and ultimately failing on their paths because you didn't chose them. Though, I wonder if there are some routes where multiple characters turn out ok, or if the entire cast is doomed as soon as you don't select them (in different ways depending on the route)?

54:30: "I also want to clarify too that even though we've been talking about blood a lot and all that kind of stuff and death and we love those parts of the story, um, if you get those endings there's a reason why, you know what I'm saying - you have to actively try to get those endings - poke the bear with a stick."

Definitely referencing Vere's bad ending in the demo. Personally I am too curious to avoid them, but it's encouraging that some of the MC deaths appear to be because you deliberately make dangerous choices, rather than simply "tricking" the player and surprising them.

Let me know what you think of these quotes, and the whole interview is definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it!

#touchstarved #touchstarved game #red spring studio #red spring studios #leander #vere #kuras #ais #mhin #touchstarved theory #touchstarved meta #Youtube

[bengiyo]

Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yara ka Ep 10 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Last week, the guys tried to figure out what a long-distance relationship might look like for them and it wasn’t great. Soga decided he’d rather leave his job than give up on this relationship, and Sakae felt guilty about Soga giving up on a big goal and an important promise. We left at Sakae ruining the sanctity of the sauna by initiating a breakup with Soga.

No! Don’t mention the sauna in the breakup speech! I’ll cry!

I actually liked the reasons given for this breakup and the execution of the scene. Because they’re in the sauna, they are essentially bare before each other. It’s a cool choice to highlight the emotional honesty.

I chatted with @lurkingshan and @ginnymoonbeam earlier and have to agree that it’s nice to see a show delving into the immediate aftermath of a breakup. Seeing Sakae struggle with work tasks because he’s distracted works well, as does Soga still remembering key details he had plans for Sakae.

I feel like sending a gift to your ex is a well-intentioned bad idea.

I love everything about this video message and gift. I love how awkward and nerdy Soga is. I love everyone heckling him. I love Kanda taking the glass back and declaring it innocent. I loved Sakae’s smitten smirk by the whole video.

Suddenly Mizuki. I still don’t trust this demon twink.

Hold on, Mizuki is giving good advice. Nevermind, I’m back on his side again.

Not the senpai café callback!! I’m okay with this development. I wish Mizuki and Ryuji the best.

I have really enjoyed the friendship between Sakae and Kaname the whole show.

Good job, Kanda. You have been a real one the entire show.

This joke about them both missing each other and going to the other’s city only works because of a robust transportation network. If you want your populace to fall in love, you need a fast and frequent intercity rail network supported by robust local networks.

The neutral ground conversation is kinda weird, but I’ll let it pass as a way to show them trying to find a compromise because they miss each other.

Soga is such an incredible character. “We’re definitely gonna fuck tonight, so let’s clear things up first.”

There it is: the blinding flash of love.

Final Verdict: 7.5, I Like the Characters. I want to like this show a lot more than I do. I think part of it may be that I’m missing some of the cultural competency around the differences between Tokyo and Osaka. I liked that both Sakae and Soga were coming out of important romantic relationships that didn’t work, and how that also complicated some of the cultural baggage they were bringing to their romance. I hoped we would spend more time with them working through that, and also that we’d involve food more consistently. Overall, I’m not sure I followed the romance of this easily despite really liking the entire cast and some of its ideas. Much of this is probably on me, because I was perhaps looking for something else in the show, which wanted to be about how change was still possible for adults.

#Ben watches #sukiyanen kedo do yaro ka #although i love you and you #japanese bl #bl series

[prototypelq]

The reason I am so ensnared by the idea of Patty interacting with Dante AND the entire DMC cast is that she is, pretty much, the only normal person out here. Dante and Patty's relationship (found family or just friendly, I hunt down shippers for sport) is the most normal relationship, which is also quite important to him. And he has never had that.

Dante's relationship with literally any other character is rooted in very bad, no good, terrible history which neither of them want to talk about ever again. Those relationships are full of landmines, which they need to avoid. Dante&Patty don't have that, there is no big blacklist of topics between them, they can just vibe together without this additional weight of History TM between them. This normality, is in itself, abnormal in DMC and for Dante especially. He needs that, and honestly, every character in this series is mentally deranged in some way, they all need that. But I also think exposing them to this little island of almost-normal will hurt them initially...(this can vary a lot depending on the circumstances, look for reblog for additional thoughts).

This doesn't make other relationships Dante has with characters less, nor does it make Dante&Patty's relationship more important than others. I just wanted to point out how heavily this (1) normal relationship heavily contrasts with everything else this series has, and can have a little earthquake effect of this house build of cards. More importantly, I wanted to highlight how Interesting it would be to compare it with others, and it would be fascinating to see other character's reacting to it.

#it would be especially interesting to see in contrast with dante's familiar relationships #both vergil and nero might have A Reaction to seeing dante have something...so simple #tbh i believe both of them will feel jealous actually in different ways though #vergil is just naturally posessive of his bro so seeing dante have such a simple relationship with someone when their own is so troubled #will be something he has to come to terms with though im sure he will do that just fine it will surely be a surprise though #nero might have a much harder time with this depending on how he learns of it his and patty's background is just painfully similar #if he and dante have not patched their relationship and he hears of this orphanage girl dante has a lot around i think he will get jealous #and be hurt by it #but i think they'll patch it up either way #nero and patty would make awesome cousins #vergil is patty's classy uncle #honestly patty will get along perfectly with all spardas #patty lowell #patty propaganda #dmc #dante sparda

[contritecactite]

Radio Omens time!! Strap in for my subjective personal opinions made by one person about the full-cast radio adaptation of Good Omens.

We're gonna begin with: I am blowing kisses to the scripting/editing/production team. This thing is an impeccable adaptation. Im-pecc-a-ble. The voice talent is fantastic, the energy is stellar, the pacing is excellent, and the sheer amount of atmospheric info they managed to translate into radio-friendly format? Mwah mwah mwah. I think it's the kind of listening format that's not for everyone, but it is SO for me.

Time for some specific highlights! It was a long day so we're a little extra silly this time. It's also long and not in a reasonable order.

(Ok good my page cut is working this time.)

- Good GOD I forgot the primary voices were Like That. I shrieked (happily) as soon as Aziraphale's mouth opened. This is why I travel alone /hj

-- (Incidentally, I said "oh fuck holy shit I can't do this" when Crowley started talking, but I did it anyway *sighs in bisexual*)

- Hheeeennghsh the opening scene in Eden is. The way it's written successfully sets up who Aziraphale and Crowley are, who they're supposed to be to each other, and a hint at who they're going to be to each other later because they are SO delightfully snippy at one another in this scene. Aziraphale's "oh, it's you" and Crowley's "mmhm, yeah, well done on keeping demons away. Bravo" (heavily paraphrased) will be living rent-free in my head until I have time to write a fic about it.

- So, having Aziraphale do the early narration is an excellent way of setting the tone. What I need you to do, if you've only done tv omens (which is so so valid and I think really is another excellent adaptation), is remember Aziraphale's magician persona. And then imagine him being that for the entire story. The pitch, the rate of speech, the slightly frantic energy, the drama: it's all just part of his overarching character in radio omens, and it's SO good for storytelling.

- Radio Crowley knows what's in all of Aziraphale's infamous Bibles so well that he can quote them. I love this detail, I love it as a means of establishing their relationship during their "let's be godfathers" scene, and I love how hard he's ribbing poor Aziraphale about the extra verses in Genesis.

- Radio Crowley is SO like... tender? I mean, all Crowleys are to some extent Soft but something about this one has just a little extra something. I love the way he talks about his temptations and shenanigans. He's so proud. It eases what could feel like needless exposition because he really seems to like explaining his process.

- That's a bit of the same of what I mean about Aziraphale's personality. Since he's very obviously inclined to dramatize a story, exposition just fades neatly into his character rather than grating on the nerves.

- They reference The Arrangement a lot and usually with a great deal of affection. There's one particular time when they even acknowledge something about wanting to protect each other.

- I adore the way Anathema and her ties to Agnes are introduced. It's so concise but meaningful, and it's just the right amount of setup for her character appearing later.

- The baby swap scene in other iterations relies so much on descriptive narrative or visual language, but you know what? The heavily trimmed down version also works surprisingly well.

- Crowley knows about the hellhound way beforehand (and, of course, he tells Aziraphale. They plan their roles for the party years in advance, which is an extremely efficient way of communicating about that scene to the listener).

- At Warlock's party in the book, Crowley gets all suspicious about a gerbil being gifted to him. In the radio drama, Aziraphale wonders aloud if the gerbil might be suspicious and Crowley tells him not to be stupid. Just struck me as a funny thing to shuffle around.

- Adult radio Anathema is everything to me actually.

- Poor Newt's childhood gets skipped over (unless I missed it, which is possible), but I liked his adult introduction as well; it brings in the whole Witchfinder-adjacent cast at once and makes it super clear how they all know each other without lingering.

- Shadwell. Just. The actor's voicework is so evocative of someone who is very gesturally expressive. There's no way he wasn't swinging his hands around in the recording space.

- The Them are all 100% perfect. Shout-out to Adam for that mind-rending scream that I was not expecting to go on for so long. Interestingly, in chapter credits, the Them are not grouped with the humans! This makes sense, but it also made my brain go !!!

- The horsepeople (both original and extra) were also so good, and that chunk of the cast gave the impression of good chemistry, so the scenes were really fun.

- Crowley says Aziraphale's name a lot. A lot a lot. Actually, most people do; probably for simplicity's sake, there's no "Mr. Fell," or "Nanny Ashtoreth," just "Mr. Aziraphale" and "Mr. Crowley."

- Well, Shadwell does say "Mr. A," and there is a Brother Francis.

- One of Nanny's rules for Warlock is "don't talk to the creepy gardener" rkahjdjs Crowley what is wrong with you

- I did in fact let out another sound when the Nanny voice happened. We're not talking about it.

- When applying for the jobs, Aziraphale just straight up calls dibs on gardener and Crowley complains and says something like "can you see me in a skirt?" and Aziraphale just pulls a date at random on which he'd seen Crowley in a skirt. This was probably also in the book, but I noticed it here and didn't there.

- Crowley's idea of something calming to listen to was a radio gardening talk show ;~; and he likes listening to televangelists for the lulz (I have never used that phrase before in my life but I'm keeping it)

- Having him hear Aziraphale possessing the televangelist was absolute genius for keeping the plot cohesive.

- Seance scene continues to be painful ahahaha...

- Hell's emissaries know that Aziraphale was discorporated and they're mean to Crowley about it in a way that implies Hell has long been aware that they're working together. Intriguing...

- There's mention at some point about how no homes in Tadfield have PlayStations or Xboxes, and I think that's a cool bit of writing to establish the time period (along with Newt bricking smartphones, which I think was said at least in breadcrumbs).

- Almost forgot, but Mr. Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett being the policemen trying to book Crowley for speeding in the beginning is so cute.

- When Satan is about to show up, Aziraphale worrying about everyone else and Crowley going "and me!" like hello, I am also in danger, that's my boss?? if u even care?? was SO funny in this version to me.

- Look, there were a lot more things, but it's already been several hours since it ended, so I'm sure I'm forgetting many.

- Oh! Pepper's backstory being transformed into her speech to Adam was SO good on so many levels. It really drove home that Adam does love his friends, it deepened their lore gradually, it made Adam's role and decisions very clear, and it also struck me as "Pepper says trans rights" even if that wasn't the intention, so hell yeah.

- The gag reel leads me to believe that Peter Serafinowicz is A) probably the funniest person alive to work with and B) extremely relatable due to the amount of time spent on the struggle bus. Also whoever put the breaking glass sound over all the accidental swears, I love you forever.

#good omens #radio omens #reading notes #cactus chatter #maybe i just need a new tag like “dran being unreasonably feral about good omens for way too many words” #suggestive #maybe?

[adachimoe]

Random tidbits from Hashino's interview in the Persona Club P4 book

At the back of the Persona Club P4 fanbook, there's a 6 page interview with Katsura Hashino about the making of Persona 4. This interview is spoilerific and you have to cut the pages of the book to even read it lol. I have 0 desire to translate the entire thing (I don't trust myself with that, ngl), but here are some fun highlights from it related to Adachi. This interview/book was published in 2009, so before the anime aired, before Golden, before Arena, etc.

The identity of the true culprit - who filled Adachi's role before Adachi?

While developing the story, it originally had Izanami (Hashino very specifically mentions Izanami was planned since the start) and Namatame, and one of the themes was "how the characters get info". From what Hashino says, Namatame's role during this earlier stage in development sounds very similar to what we got in-game. Back then, he was considered the true culprit and he was well-meaning, but he lacked some pretty critical info. After Namatame, there would be the feeling that there was still someone out there, but that someone was Izanami, not Adachi.

The staff felt the plot was lacking, so they wanted to add in a stepping stone between Namatame and Izanami as an extra plot twist - a true, true culprit. And the first character who they considered for the role of the true culprit was................... not Adachi.

The very first candidate for the true culprit was Yukiko. Yup. This came from a half-serious, half-joking convo between Hashino and Soejima. Their reasoning for picking Yukiko was because in the Kindaichi Case Files, whenever there's a murder in the sticks, it's always the lady who runs the ryokan who's the culprit.

The next person who they considered was.......... Yosuke. They thought that because of how his character was shown as a decision maker with a good head on his shoulders, maybe he'd have a relatable reason for devising everything? They talked about making him a villain who would still be adored by players regardless. But Hashino was against the idea of having one of friend group as the culprit.

Ultimately, the reason why neither Yukiko nor Yosuke became the culprit was because their motives for murder would be too personal. Hashino thought that if it's murder driven by personal motive, then players won't be as invested. A personal motive would be too much like the "Tuesday Mystery Theater", a Japanese mystery TV show that was - from my understanding - character driven drama.

Hashino went back to the theme of "how the characters get info". At the time, there existed a person in the plot who's function in the game was to give the main cast information from the police's side. This character just so happened to give you info, and seemingly consequence free on their part - after all, what you did with the info after had nothing to do with them. They were careless. And Hashino followed this train of thought, thinking that kind of carelessness went well with antagonism.

Originally, Adachi was the aforementioned character. He was not the culprit, and he gave the characters info about the police's investigation. Following Hashino's train of thought, then the person who was giving away information would become this new culprit between Namatame and Izanami.

But there was an issue - if he was giving the main cast info about the investigation, then he would stand out among the adult cast, and him standing out might spoil that he's the true culprit. Thus, Hashino changed directions during development and started to create Adachi's character.

(See bottom of this post for a footnote about Adachi's old character design and some ramblings about his old role.)

The Thousand Curses and the Myriad Truths

Per Hashino, Persona 4 is about media literacy (no seriously it says media literacy in katakana wasei-eigo even). Izanami's Thousand Curses represents the lies of the media that humans believe in. The protagonist's Myriad Truths represents how, in this sea of misinformation and lies, you can only trust and believe in the words of those who are close to you.

(I suppose now is a good time to mention that the Japanese name for Myriad Truths is "Tens of Thousands of [Mantras / True Words]". A mantra is a phrase/word you repeat over and over, so it seems the Myriad Truths is a visualization of the protagonist unleashing all of the truths from his social links and bonds. All 10,000+ of them.)

Adachi's Given Name

Adachi's given name was not always Tohru. At first, it was Tamotsu, which is written 保. Hashino changed it to Tohru because the character for Tamotsu 保 could also be read Yasu when used as a name, and at the time, the staff was trying not to spoil who the culprit was.

Why would Tamotsu / Yasu spoil the game, though? Because "Yasu did it!" is an old ancient ur-spoiler meme thing from the 1983 adventure game the Portopia Serial Murders. Think of like... "soylent green is people", "Darth Vader is Luke's father", "Sephiroth kills Aerith", etc. Not only that, but the main character of Portopia is a detective, and Yasu is your buddy cop sidekick.

Hashino was already aware of the Yasu comparisons because one of the staff who read the script reacted by going, "So Yasu did it, huh?" But Hashino thought that Portopia was so damn old that gamers wouldn't know about it. Only turbo nerds working at Atlus know Portopia, right?

Wrong lmao turns out a shit ton of people knew about the Portopia spoiler. After character art of Adachi was released in a magazine promo for Persona 4, people reacted with, "Yasu did it", so Hashino very quickly changed Adachi's given name.

They had already recorded the audio for the game at this point, which included a line of Adachi saying, "I'm Tamotsu Adachi" when he introduces himself. Hashino had the audio team cut out him saying "Tamotsu", and this is why Adachi says, "I'm Adachi" and not "I'm Tohru Adachi" in April.

I'm sure there's an alternate universe where his name stayed Tamotsu and in that universe I am instead blogging about how you can read it as "Yasu" while explaining the Portopia Serial Murders. :')

Footnote Commentary

If you're familiar with the Persona 4 Design Works, Adachi's page mentions that originally during development, he wasn't the culprit but rather a misdirect. After his role in the story was revised to be the true culprit, Adachi's design was also revamped to be the design we know of today. But this red haired design was his original design back when he was apparently just a leaky faucet. I suppose since we know his name used to be Tamotsu, we can call this version of him "Tamotsu" lol.

Hashino doesn't really go into what he meant by "create Adachi's character", but I'm assuming since the Adachi character already existed in the plot, he meant like... "re-create" the character to fit this new role as the true culprit with this consideration about how he'd come off in the plot.

Hearing that the character originally gave you legit info about the police investigation is interesting, cause in the Design Works, opposite this page of Adachi's old design, Soejima also mentions that Adachi was originally a red herring. I can see how those go hand in hand - a guy feeding you accurate info? How would that not be suspicious?

I also get the impression that Hashino is indirectly saying that the Adachi we got in-game also feeds you bullshit, as to make him seem *less* suspicious, if him giving you legit info would make him more suspicious. Which, well, considering the first thing he says is, "Yukiko did it!" ...Hmm yeah okay lol.

I was pretty amused to see that Yukiko and Yosuke were names being tossed around to be the true culprit. Wild to see that the ancient internet rumors are actually true. Notably, Dojima is still not true. Very funny to read that the real origin was some partially nonsense convo between Soejima and Hashino where they're like, "Hey, so, about the Kindaichi Case Files."

The real moral of the story here is that Adachi is truly no one's first choice. Even his role as the true culprit was originally just a confused Namatame.

#persona 4 #tohru adachi #yukiko amagi #yosuke hanamura #izanami persona #taro namatame #interview #katsura hashino #shigenori soejima #日本語ヘタです #im going to be laughing about the yasu thing for a good year #adachi going “yukiko did it” when she was the first pick for the true culprit is really fucking funny #persona club p4

[respectthepetty]

Hi RTP! What are the BLs you would recommend solely for the colors? 🌈

Anon, before I answer this great ask, I want to highlight other posts I've written that are slightly similar:

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow Awards 2023

Overall Winner - Kiseki: Dear to Me

Top Five - Color-Coded Storytelling in BLs

Honorable Mention: Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

5) Moonlight Chicken

4) My Beautiful Man

3) My Love Mix Up

2) Semantic Error

1) Big Dragon

Top Five Color Moments of 2023

Honorable Mention: 7 Days Before Valentine

5) GAP

4) Bed Friend

3) Last Twilight

2) Moonlight Chicken

1) The Eighth Sense

Bonus: Jeff Satur x SHAUN's "Steal the Show"

I don't want to repeat any of the shows I picked, and I'm trying to pick more recent ones so people can find them if they want to watch them, but per your ask, I'm recommending them based solely on colors regardless of how much I liked them.

Recommended Colorful BLs

Honorable Mention: Intern in My Heart

The show is not finished, and it's not a BL, yet it is doing everything right, which is why it gets the honorable mention. Great (Grey) is coded black/dark in the show, and Top is coded pink/light. They are supporting characters who are best friends, and they have stuck to their colors throughout, but in the last episode, they *almost* exchanged colors after Top revealed that he liked Great. Now I'm praying to all the saints for a full color exchange in the finale like I have a personal stake in this because I do! I'm invested, and it better not disappoint me.

#5 - One Room Angel

When I write "Heavenly Human" for a character who wears white, and "Black Brooder" for a character who wears black, THIS is what I mean. A story about an actual angel and a guy who wanted to die was the perfect place to use the light x dark dynamic. However, calling this show a BL is troublesome, which is why it's number five. It still is a great example of what the light x dark color scheme should be used for, and in the end, the guy who wanted to die is much lighter in mood and color, which is what the colors are all about.

#4 - Why R U? (Korea)

First and foremost, that kiss was LIT! The Thai version had Tutor and Fighter's high heat, which could never be matched, but Korea had that kiss, and it ate! But on top of that, it had colors! Ji Oh was a Black Brooder while Lee Won was a Multicolored Menace, and right after this kiss, they flipped colors. That's right! After five episodes of being enemies, they made out for acting "reasons," and then exchanged colors. Normally, Korea is all about the feelings, so the color exchanges in Korean BLs align with a character's feelings changing, but this one directly correlated with a kiss. And for emphasis - That kiss was fire!

#3 - Secret Crush on You

Destiny Seeker might have won the 2023 award for best group effort in color coding, but Secret Crush on You set the bar for that award the year before. This show is Color-Coding 101. Each character has a color, and by each, I mean each and every single damn character in a cast of eleven (plus three fairy godmothers) has their own color. That is a ridiculous feat! Wardrobe, props, and lighting deserved a raise for this show. Some shows can't even get consistent color coding when it only has two characters, but this show understood the color-coding group assignment for the entire series! I'm still applauding two years later.

#2 - Stay by My Side

Taiwanese BLs are my vice. Even the worst Taiwanese BL will still be better than the rest of these BLs. I WROTE WHAT I WROTE. So, of course, I liked this show beyond color reasons, but the colors greatly helped me enjoy the show even more. We had a guy who was haunted by ghosts. He was colorful and light coded. Then we had his roommate who could magically keep the ghosts away. He was dark coded. Read it again. The guy being haunted was bright, light, and colorful, while the guy with the power to help was dark. GENIUS! It was Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss with a supernatural twist. The dark coded guy is sad and isolated but the one who is being HAUNTED BY GHOSTS brings life to his world! Give me a minute. I'm still not over it.

#1 - Pit Babe

I watched this show muted and without subtitles, yet the colors guided me through all thirteen episodes. I understood the plot perfectly because of the colors, and only became confused when people tried to tell me about the actual plot. Alpha? Omega? Santa Maria? Wasn't important. Didn't matter. I don't know them. Red and Blue were the main characters here, and they did their damn job. Babe, in his black, was his own man. He wasn't trying to fit in, but every time the red light focused on Charlie and Way, I was screaming for Babe to run because the colors told me they were still tied to Tony BECAUSE THEY WERE! That's elite color coding, and it ushered in a whole new way for me to watch a show. I loved it.

Bonus: Old Fashion Cupcake

I love this show which is why it is a bonus. Unlike the other shows where I had issues with some part of the plot, Old Fashion Cupcake is as close to perfect as any show has ever come in my personal rating system. It is an Advanced Color Coding course only offered for graduate students, which, honestly, is very Japanese of it because it was in the ties. The color coding showed up in other ways, but the ties were where the story lived since in the past, Nozue was a bright red, but we saw his red damper in the present, which made his loyal assistant bluer. It was only five episodes, yet it used every second of those five episodes in every single way to propel the story forward, colors included. Actually, let me go rewatch this for the hundredth time instead of just writing about it!

#recommended colorful bls #the colors mean things #color coded boys in love #the color exchange #intern in my heart #one room angel #why r u korea #secret crush on you #stay by my side #pit babe #old fashion cupcake

[mdhwrites]

what's your opinion on how toh handled the detention track kids (viney, jerbo, barcus) in general

WHY WASN'T VINEY A MAIN SUPPORTING CHARACTER!? JUST WHY!?

I'll get into that point soon for the why but first: Jerbo and Barcus are just nothing to me. Not that I don't like them but they are the supporting cast to a one off character who managed to show up a second time. They're not going to get a lot of time to leave an impression, let alone to have some deep amount of personality. I think Barcus has some good jokes though and Jerbo is a good stooge to go alongside Viney's confidence.

But the trio is really defined by Viney. She is their leader, does the majority of the talking and is the one to make the major choices for them. Is that a bad thing? It could be... If Viney wasn't just so great. She has a shockingly firm personality despite such little time. She has loyalty and treasures it in turn but with a jaded edge that keeps up a barrier between her and others. You have to prove you're worth the effort but once you do, you're in for life. She'd be great as a leader of a band of thieves like that. She backs that up with a great ability to be two faced and use that for dryer, meaner comedy that is genuinely about character interplay and can easily mess with more innocent characters. Meanwhile, she'd probably have a hard time taking it back allowing for interesting back and forths.

In other words, she is a character the main cast was DESPERATELY in need of just personality wise. Everyone is either too nice to make jokes with others or too mean and not in an interplay way. It's just "I'm going to be an asshole right now," not "I'm going to mess with you a little." Some of the best lines I remember of the show come from that sort of teasing, like "Are you going soft on me, Blight?" There is way too little of it though.

But of course there's also just the fact that she provides a counterbalance narratively that also really should have been present in the show. See, the main cast only has two modes: Entirely wild and wanting nothing to do with the regime (Luz and Eda) or propping up that Belos is 100% right because if we even try to use other types of magic than the one we do, we practically can't do magic (Amity, Willow and Gus.) Now, the contrast is good on those two fronts but Viney just highlights a critical weakness of the show.

No one is actually even handed. It's either pure establishment or pure anarchy. Viney meanwhile WANTS to be a part of Belos society but wants the freedom to do more. To at least be allowed to try and expand her horizons. That allows for SO MANY interesting plots that could revolve around differences of opinion, pulling her back and forth, expanding on the world and how its systems work instead of just a black and white question.

But even above that: We'd have someone who ACTUALLY MIXES MAGICS. Now yes, beast keeping and healing are... Awkward to mix, to put it mildly, to the point where Viney doesn't even try. Hell, when she's put on the Flyer Derby team, she's praised for being a great healer... Which is the track people tried to force her to do as her only track. Puddles is purely there for flavor. It kind of discredits her whole choice to have multi-tracked because even other people only want her for one track. BUT if the show had actually tried, they could have genuinely shown how the two make for stronger magic. You know, actually support Eda and Luz's thesis as their only argument in the show is just that knowing a lot of magic is cool. For what purpose? To be cool! What other reason do you need? (That's sarcasm btw.)

She's just bizarrely a character who is almost impossible to ignore as just a good addition to potentially not even the main supporting cast but just MAIN CAST. Hell, if TOH admitted it was a romance, I could easily have seen Luz, Amity and Viney forming a love triangle where Viney is pulling Luz more towards rebellion while Amity, who's parents profit so much off of Belos' world and only uses one type of magic, is more about the establishment and the good it brings them. Just some sort of push and pull that is COMPLETELY absent from the show.

Then again, it would have had to, you know, actually commit to its worldbuilding or ever question if Luz's mindset is actually correct beyond the second episode. It would inherently be more complex and actually have to focus on its story. That's not surprising either because of what Viney inherently is.

She is a wild witch and the show cannot keep wild witches around without actually admitting the Isles is either a complete sham where Belos has no power (not that it doesn't feel that way already) or isn't some idealic, basic bitch fantasy world for Luz to never want to leave. Since neither is an option, Viney shows up for an episode that shoots taking the coven system seriously in the foot, and will be finished off in Reaching Out, while abstractly dissing modern education systems and then exits stage right so she doesn't cause more of a fuss. Yes, technically she comes back later but just as a body for the Grudgby team people might recognize, not to explore her character or issues.

Same could be said for Jerbo and Barcus. A good element that TOH barely uses and wastes all their potential because it's not actually interested in telling its own story.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #toh viney

[scarareg]

Percy Jackson and The Olympians Season 1 Review (1/3)

What I like:

It has color! Disney tends to do their live actions shows/series dark or gray ,so I am pleasant to see colors popping up on the screen. Walker's eyes and the orange shirts are a highlight for me!

Set design is impressive! The team behind it did an excellent job. Each cabin is INSANE! Olympus is sooooo marvelous as well!

I was doubting of Lin being casted as Hermes but he proved me wrong and he did a great job

NICO DI ANGELO'S VOICE!

The credits are so cool and cute! Love the art!

Like the casting for Ares, Dionysus, Poseidon, Sally and Hephaestus

NICO DI ANGELO SCREAMING "BIANCA"

I can see why Walker was chosen as Percy. He fits the character so well,has the vibe,the mannerism,the eyes. My only complaint is the hair,they could and should have made him wear a wig. If Miley Cyrus could do it, Walker can! They have the money to buy one,there are not excuses

Seeing the Mythomagic deck was super cool! Love the design!

Cerberus!

In all seriousness,they foreshadowing the di Angelo siblings using their voices was smart AF, because casting them at this point requires a lot of hard work,time and money that may not pay off

Percy driving scene,love it!

The scene of Grover being pulled to Tartarus is really well done and faithful to the books, truly makes you feel the tension of the moment!

Sally in the rain while Logical by Liv Rodrigo is playing is incredible,completely in love with that scene! My girl just wants to feel a ounce of how she felt while being with Poseidon,it is so tragic!

The Lightning Bolt and Hades Helmet are sooo cool, really well design,I want them!

Ares bleeding Ichor!

The interaction between Poseidon and Percy was cute and I like what Poseidon said about Percy having trouble following rules, but that it was his fault because that is how the ocean is . Super wholesome moment!

Percy calling Kronos grandpa is hilarious

Stuff I feel conflicted about:

Even if I love to see what Mythomagic looks like, I feel that making it a demigod stuff instead of Nico's precious hobby takes away from him. The game is in part a connection to his past, to his era, his sister and a side that divides him from the rest. Nico feels like an outcast even among outcasts, and the other demigods feel he is kinda strange. Even Percy, who tried to be friendly, thought Mythomagic was lame. I don't know, I just think it should be only his stuff

What I dislike:

The entire cast looks nothing like their book counterparts and it is distracting to me. I am going to compare it to the One Piece Live Action to explain my feelings. With OP I did not need to be told who was who ; and I already was fangirling that Coby was in the background,or Buggy will be next episode, or Helmeppo is hot for some reason,etc. Here I was like "some dudes are looking at Percy,is he supposed to be Luke? I do not know. He may be,but I am not sure." And hey,look at that ,he turned out to be Luke!. I don't know,I don't love that, it takes away from the experience and characters

Percy was angsty in a way that feels out of character to me. Like,in the books he was sad that his mother "died",obviously,but he still had his kindness. Here, his anger was more reminiscent of Harry after Sirius died in the books. Trashing everything,yelling,full of fury. And it felt wrong for Percy to act like that. For example: in the books when Percy finally wakes up, he tells Grover that they are still friends and that he know he did everything in his power to help him and his mother. In the show Percy is super cold and actively distances himself from Grover until the quest is going to start, and it feels like Percy chose Grover to go with him because that's how the book go, yet Show Percy dont feel particularly excited for Grover to be there,he dont seems to miss him after their fight , nor thinks of him as his best friend. He said himself "finally I have friend" referring to Luke and the other guys in camp,meaning Grover was not. Which takes me to the next point

Grover is treated awfully by the writers. Everyone keeps telling him to go away. Chiron and Mr D. seem tired of him. In Lotus Casino, Percy and Annabeth acted like they were forgiving him for forgetting them,even if they knew it wasn't his fault that he didn't remember. The writers made the naiad give Percy four pearls only to make Grover lose one, which was unnecessary and just makes him look stupid or incompetent. The list goes on,you get the idea. Grover is not treated with respect by either writers or the narrative

We were told but not shown Annabeth's fear of spiders (that is another problem of the show,it tells but don't show), they didn't mention her passion for architecture and dreams of becoming an architect. Also,I don't love the idea of her listening to Luke's plan. My girl is supposed to still have hope for Luke to change his mind,she believes in his kindness and is in negation and defends him when people calls him "evil" for four books in a row. They taking away all these details ,plus she not having a crush on Luke feels like they are taking away what makes Annabeth herself while removing the side of her that is just a teenager girl. She is supposed to be kind as well, that is why people like Frank feel safe asking her for help because he knows she is not going to laugh of him. Here she is way more stoic. You can be smart and warm at the same time,Rick. It is possible, you wrote it that way 18 years ago

Sally yelling to Percy. I know that people say we should not trust Book Percy's POV because he sees his mom as perfect (fair point) but I think that if Percy has such a great perception of her is for a reason. Also ,I am willing to believe that if Percy says his mother never got mad and screamed at him for being expelled from schools,it's because is true. In the show almost all the flashbacks are her shouting at him. Book Sally don't do that because she understands,she knows who Percy's father is,she knows what having a child of him would mean,she knows that the magical and strange stuff that Percy experience is not his fault; that is why she is patient and kind,and what makes her such a great,mature,kind mother; and they took that away from her.

The acting was not the best in the first episodes. Now ,it got better as the show went on, but in the first 3 episodes legit feels like they are reading the script from a carbon board. I do not know if it is because of the directors or lack of experience playing the characters and that is why it improves later on or what, but it is really noticeable

They are skipping or cutting scenes really weirdly , just fading to black and showing the aftermath of situations. Like Sally's car crashing after the Minotaur attack. At one point we see the Minotaur coming, then the screen goes to black and next scene they are crashed. Or with the animal escape we see them in the car and next scene they are in the streets free. It makes the pacing feel strange, takes away the momentum and feels kinda lazy coming from such a big production.

They tell us but do not show the magic in this world and is frustrating! For example, in Narnia no one tells Lucy or us the rules but we see it. With the music cue we know the Wardrobe is special in some way. The she gets inside it and walks backwards,and keeps going and keeps going and keeps going, which is weird, and there are trees! Later, when Mr Tumnus plays his flute, we see that it's magical and makes Lucy fall asleep; and after that she returns to the normal world and we know hours have passed yet Peter is still counting, meaning in our world just have been seconds. In the Percy Jackson's world an easy way to show the magic is with the Mist, but instead they decided to just tell us everything with endless,boring exposition dialogue

Connected with the prev point,they never figure out who any of the creatures/monsters are (except from Echidna) and is boring. Every scene is the trio meeting them and immediately going "you are Medusa", "You are Crusty and here is all the information about you". Yes,the characters know them from myths, but each creature/monster has gone through changes to blend in modern times,making it tricky to be immediately recognizible, that's the fun of the books.

I also feel the world building was lacking. Like people who are watching the show without having read the books do not know there is no Hades Cabin or which Cabin is for which God. Bet some of them think the first three Cabins are for Zeus, Poseidon and Hades but no; Cabin 2 is Hera's and is and always will be empty because she is the goddess of marriage, meaning she is 100% loyal to Zeus. And please correct me if I am wrong, but they did not mention the Mist nor Ambrosia,isn't it? Because I genuinely can not recall. All these details are important and are missing. They are also wasting the opportunity of foreshadow future characters. Like how cool would be to see an 8 year old Will! Or get know Cabin 9 and Beckendorf, that would give Percy a connection with him earlier than in the books and make us book readers hype to see Leo's Cabin!

The friendship with Luke feels underdeveloped. Percy says "finally I have friends" but I feel he barely knows him and we dont even know the name of the other dudes who supposedly are his friends. The show could have benefited from having two full episodes taking place in the Camp and moving the flashbacks from episode 8 to episode 2, it would feel more natural

Luke not having his scar. The reason I think it is important is because for Luke looking himself in the mirror is a constant reminder of his father, his grudge towards him, his quest and the failure it was and the shame he feels about it. All those feelings boiled down inside him and is the reason he joins Kronos. Taking the scar away takes that complexity. See it as the equivalent of Zuko's scar in the Percy Jackson universe

Part 2 • Part 3

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Percy Jackon and the Olympians #Percy Jackson Series #Percy Jackson Show #PJO Show Crit #PJO Critical #pjoverse #rrverse

[doggirlbuffysummers]

On Charles Gunn and Community

A large part of why I want to write this meta is that I don’t really see many people talking about Gunn. This is not all my thoughts on Gunn, I am going to write more over time. I have stated before that I personally feel that Gunn is in fact a much more complicated character than many here give him credit for.

I posit that the reason for this lack of credit was a larger trend of people in the fandom accepting the narratives presented by white characters regarding the people of color in the show (this is probably more discussed about at this point regarding Spike and Nikki and Robin Wood). While this essay is not entirely about the racism present in the corpus of Angel the Series, it exists in dialogue with more in depth takes on the racism present in Ats.

Gunn is in many respects unique in the buffyverse. There are no other people of color who achieve the status of main cast member, and certainly not for four consecutive seasons. The lack of discussion regarding him is a huge indignity to his character.

Much more care is taken to fleshing out Gunn in season two than in other seasons. In season two Gunn has a life outside of Angel Investigations. He has roots in the city, a community that he has spent his life dedicated to protecting. In season three, after the events of “That Old Gang of Mine” (3x03), this critical aspect of his character is gone.

It would be inaccurate to say that this happens suddenly, but the way it is handled is different in season three. During most of season two, Gunn exists in two worlds, never fully belonging to either. Both the early stages of the Pylea arc and especially “That Old Gang of Mine” throw into sharp focus that the story the writers want to tell with him is that he cannot live in this state of dual existence. “That Old Gang of Mine” depicts the members of Gunn’s old community as violent and unenlightened, with Gunn being pulled in two highly racialized directions: “black” wanton violence, and “white” enlightened application of reason regarding the use of violence. The way the episode portrays people of color is just downright awful, and Ats’s larger portrayal of race actively upholds existing, current stereotypes surrounding people of color.

I would say that Gunn is someone who cares highly about community. Episodes like 1x20 “War Zone,” 2x03 “First Impressions,” and 2x14 “The Thin Dead Line” contrast Gunn heavily with the other three members of AI. Gunn doesn’t fight for some greater ideal like others, but because it helps protect the people around him, as highlighted by @titsgirlbuffy and @punksouthie here:

Gunn’s decisions in “That Old Gang of Mine” are heavily informed by the idea posed by writers that AI and his old community are ideologically opposed. He is forced to choose between the two. The reason he comes to the decision that he does is largely decided by the dynamics at play in the situation. It is only once he is put in a situation where those who he has bonded with are at risk – the showdown in Caritas – that Gunn fully reflects and decides to turn against those in his old community. Gunn recontextualizes the scenario as being about an “out of town” person stirring up trouble within his community only once Angel and Lorne are put at risk. While he says in this gifset that it is about the mission, he does not necessarily argue against demons as an “other” to humans but more argues in defense of Angel *specifically*:

Anne reflecting the existentialist themes of the show back at Gunn in “Never Fade Away” recontextualizes everything. It parallels Doyle’s conversation with Angel in “City of” around the need to not be cut off. In these short two lines of dialogue, so much is said.

This post contains a similar parallel:

In the larger context of the show, we can see that Gunn starts off a paragon of Doyle’s explicitly stated message of what the show is about. He is incredibly entrenched in his local community. He knows the people he interacts with in “First Impressions” and “The Thin Dead Line.” He fights not for an ideal but for others. Over time, as he interacts with AI, he gets increasingly cut off from those that he is helping, moving further and further away from the actual mission of AI.

In his first appearance Gunn recognizes this, actually:

The conversation with Anne is not just about AI having lost its way but also about Gunn losing Everything. The people he has spent years trying to fit in with look at him and see the reason Fred is dead. He has no one and has so thoroughly internalized the values of his white co-workers that when he goes back to help Anne, he is separated from his old community by a vast ideological language barrier.

Brief aside that I might go into in more depth in a later post but I would like you to think about Fred’s death with regard to Gunn’s words here. A missed opportunity with Gunn’s character is exploring how he is impacted by hypervigilance and his tendency for blaming himself for events out of his control:

One interesting direction a rewrite (from a writer’s room with black writers in it) could go is having Gunn become the leader post 2x11 “Redefinition,” leading to closer interaction with the people of LA. AI becomes a much more high-profile member of the community and there is more focus on how Wolfram and Hart enables material harm in high poverty areas. I will talk about this more in the future because I think it is an interesting road to go down.

This post barely scratches the surface of my thoughts on Gunn. I haven’t even explained the take on valuing community fully. I think to fully present my take on that I need to write up at least another full post on it. There is also so much more to write about other things, like more alternate roles Gunn could have filled in AI as I talk about here:

#long post #charles gunn #btvs meta #Angel the Series

[seriouslysam8]

A Little Ramble - Probably a Rant

I feel the need to say something for a very small percentage of people. Because most of my readers and reviewers are wonderful and I love them so much and I want to give you big, big, big hugs. You guys are amazing and you're the reason I can update consistently.

I get there are people upset with the way I write Hermione out of stories and how I cast her into the background. If you love Hermione, then my stories are not for you. She will never be a main character or even a side character. I will never write her POV. If that upsets you, there is an x in the corner. Utilize it.

I'll only talk about Brumous. This story is really a story about Harry and Sirius. It's about them finding the family they desperately needed for the past fourteen years. It's about Sirius learning to overcome his demons and step up as the godfather he was always supposed to be. It's about Harry learning to rely and accept help from others and learn what a family truly is. The main relationship, the main characters in this story are really Harry and Sirius.

This is not a story about Hermione. This isn't really even a story about Hinny or Remadora or Ron or anybody else. Yes, Hinny and Remadora are the main pairings in this story but Ginny and Remus are really the side POVs in this story. They do not always have a POV every chapter they do not drive the main plot forward, nor are they the center of it. That belongs to Harry and Sirius.

There is really no reason Hermione needs to be in the story. She holds no value, to be quite honest, as she doesn't have a purpose in this story like she does in the books. I'm not writing a character for the sake of writing them, especially when I dislike the character. I don't bash her, I don't make her look bad, I just push her into the background because she's not important to the storyline.

There are plenty of stories where Hermione is a main character, where she gets a POV, where she saves the day with her Mary Sue intellect. That's GREAT! I'm glad there's a bunch of stories people can read about what they like. But there also needs to be stories for people who don't want to read about her. THAT'S GREAT TOO.

The beauty of fandom is that we can find stories for whatever we want. Hinny, Remadora, Jily, Drarry, Wolfstar, Dramoine, Romione, Panville, the list goes on and on and on! There's so many stories that have a wide variety of main characters too! You want to read about Harry: yep, there's that! You want to read about Remus: oh, yeah, there's a bunch of those too. You want Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville, James, Lily, Sirius, whoever the fuck you want, YEP THERE ARE THOSE STORIES OUT THERE. HP is a massive fandom with so many talented authors and art and just people in general. You can legit find whatever you want to read. If you don't, you write it yourself!

You want to know what I want to read but couldn't really find so I started to write myself? A story where Sirius lives and he's like a dad to Harry. A story where Hinny had more time together before shit hit the fan. A story where Harry and Ron have an amazing bromance. A story where Harry dealt with his childhood trauma and started trusting adults around him to help him. Finally, a story where Hermione wasn't the focal point and always solving all the issues.

So, please, don't call me disrespectful for pushing Hermione in the background. Don't tell me I ignore Ginny's faults while highlighting Hermione's. Don't tell me that you're disappointed in my writing because Hermione isn't a focal point. Because at the end of the day, this is my story. This is what I want to write. I'm not pandering to what you want. Just because you're disappointed in me or whatever doesn't mean I'm going to change my entire story to make you happy. Because I won't. I don't care. I especially don't care if you're some anonymous person leaving a review since I'm just going to delete your review and move on. Yes, I do delete guest reviews that annoy me. Yes, I block people on Tumblr who want to hound me on my stance with Hermione. I do it because I can and I want to and that's my choice in order to make the fandom experience I want to have.

So, while you're annoyed with my representation of Hermione in MY stories, I'm equally annoyed with you when you can't just let me write MY STORIES the way I want to. I write for free. You want me to write Hermione in some great positive light, then fucking pay me. Otherwise, just leave me alone. Nobody is forcing you to read my stories.

At the end of the day, people can read and write what they want to. If you don't like my opinions on my Tumblr, block me. I'm fine with that. If you don't like the way I portray characters, don't read my stories. I'm okay with that. I found my little niche and I'm happy. I make it very clear what I like and don't like so you know exactly what to expect in stories from me. So, find your niche and the authors who write exactly what you like and be happy.

I am tired of people constantly trying to convince me Hermione is a great character (save your breath because you won't change my mind) or people being rude and telling me my opinion about her is wrong (it's not since we're all allowed to have opinions because they're OPINIONS and not FACTS) or people calling me a Hermione basher (I'm not bashing anyone in my stories - except maybe, maybe Snape a teeny tiny bit but he's a fucking cockwombling asshole and I will not apologize for that. I cannot stop from constantly portraying him in a negative light. Okay, I'm guilty of that.) I'm really tired of answering asks about Hermione or having to explain my reasoning on why I don't like her. I just don't, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. People can like whoever they want to. I shouldn't have to constantly justify my opinion.

I dislike Wolfstar because I don't think it makes sense with canon and I hate the fandom versions of their characters. I do not read Wolfstar stories, I do not follow Wolfstar blogs, I do not bother people who love Wolfstar. They can read and love whatever they like. Good for you! That's amazing. I'll never argue with you about Wolfstar. Because that's your opinion and what you like.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, you don't need to read my stories or follow my Tumblr or bother me if my stance on Hermione bothers you that much. In words of Elsa, let it go!

I've ranted enough but it's just been something that's bothering me for awhile and I'm tired of deleting reviews, asks, or blocking tumblrs.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[i-heart-hxh]

One thing I notice and appreciate about hxh is that in addition to the positive and very thick lgbtq subtext (which in it of itself is not treated as a joke or smut, but is treated as essential in regards to the two leads journeys) is the amount of black characters he put in, especially for a manga that debuted in the late 1990s. I don't know if I'm phrasing this correctly, but I like how they are portrayed as...people.

Battera or Squalla, for example, are villainous foils/comedic relief to the lighter skinned leads, but it's never on account of their blackness. Though they die, it's not necessarily in brutal or stereotypical ways (baise, tocino, agon, etc. don't necessarily suffer much prettier fates) . Even more positive characters like Abegane or Canary aren't necessarily 'good' (in terms of moral alignment), but then again, who else is in this universe? They feel like, well, people, with dreams and flaws and reasons of their own. Their blackness is never treated as the butt of a joke or even drawn attention to, but simply who they are as people(and again, not drawn in a stereotypically racist fashion either). I'm asking this because this is the first time I've seen so many incidental black people in an anime before, even ones that began airing today. It's even more surprising considering how monoethnic Japanese culture is and its eurocentric/colorist beauty standards (hence my comment above of never seeing any characters explicitly depicted as black in an anime before) and togashi as far as I know grew up entirely in that kind of society. Do you have any comments?

Hello! Thank you for the lovely ask! I agree that the diversity and humanity of Togashi's characters is one of his great strengths as a writer and artist. I love that he includes black and other POC characters among his cast and treats them like any other character, with varying designs and roles in the series. It's refreshing, and I definitely think he was ahead of his time on this subject. (Though I think you meant Beretta rather than Battera, easy mistake to make!)

You expressed this well and I agree with what you're saying, so I don't have a ton to add! I appreciate you sending this because it's a feature of HxH that deserves to be highlighted.

I did want to make a couple recommendations off the top of my head, though. Anime director Shinichiro Watanabe (known best for Cowboy Bebop, but he's worked on a bunch of other series as well) includes a lot of black characters in his works, as well as other POC characters, and he's said in interviews he intentionally makes an effort to include people of all sorts in his works. I also wanted to recommend the series Run with the Wind/Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru for having a really wonderful black character named Musa. He is one of my favorites in the cast, and the series itself is fantastic! Just thought I'd bring these up in case you'd like some other works to check out.

Anime and manga have more of an international audience than ever before, so hopefully that'll encourage more creators to include diverse casts of characters!

#hxh #hunter x hunter #asks #guyinmink #my posts

[hezuart]

Small question, if it was answered before then I must have missed it: What inspired giving RNK any powers? Not that it's a bad thing, especially not in the channel change story (which is great, btw! If there's more to come then I'll be excited to read it!) but I personally always liked how normal, so to speak, he was in comparison to the rest of the cast so far. So like, don't take this as critisism, more like, wondering what the thought process was? I'm trying to word what I mean right, sorry if it just comes off as if I'm repeating myself.

Glad you asked! So I explain his powers and a little bit of why I chose them in the description here and here.

I totally get where you are coming from, so here is where my thought process lies: (color coding my paragraphs to sort them by topic)

Absolutely no one in Little Nightmares is normal. The story seems like it's a supernatural post-apocalyptic meta-commentary on corruption that comes with adulthood. Nearly every highlighted character in this series has some sort of deformity or power. The Janitor has long stretchable arms. The Butler from the mobile game has telekinesis. The Doctor, despite his size and weight, can crawl along the ceiling like a bug(wall sticker?) and has successfully reanimated the dead. The Lady is a soul sucker. The Teacher has a neck that can extend indefinitely. The Granny can breathe underwater. The city folk have some kind of screaming power that can kill Mono or render him unconscious.

There are a few exceptions, like the Hunter and the Twin Chefs, but we don't see enough of them to truly determine whether they're completely powerless or not.

It's hinted that the deformities are caused by the tower. Whether or not powers come from that as well, or if people are simply born with them in this world is entirely up for debate. The Pretender was the first confirmation that some children are merely born with these powers and are unable to control them, whereas Six is portrayed as someone who gained powers from an adult later on, whereas Mono might be somewhere in between. The fact that porcelain fake children are running around like they are alive is also a highly questionable supernatural occurrence.

Most of the children we encounter are "normal" at first. But we have seen very few kids in this series before their untimely early deaths to figure out if they had powers. But most of our main characters that typically survive have major influence in the story on top of having great supernatural powers. That's one reason I gave RK the fandom's "Seven" name and powers. Because he is a main focus, no longer on death row.

In this post, I describe Seven's many connections to water before his death, and why, if he had canon powers, these would work best. Seven having powers isn't something common in the fandom. I wanted to contribute to that.

The main bigger reason, however, is that giving Seven powers balances his friendship with Mono. I didn't show it in my comic properly at all, but at the very least, you can tell Seven is nervous whenever Mono uses his powers. Seven witnesses him create a shockwave scream at the fearsome Lady. He witnesses Mono travel through television. He sees him open a metal can without touching it. I'd imagine some other things happened offscreen that Seven picked up on. Regardless, he was aware of Mono's powers. He didn't know exactly how powerful, but he had a feeling. Seven felt... weak? In comparison. He felt vulnerable. He still wouldn't give up on trying to help, nor was he willing to give up his trust in a friend who saved his life, but it still made him very uneasy and unequal. Mono is oblivious to this.

Seven gaining powers, powers that Mono can't wield, is important to their friendship and their dynamic in the future. Mono's powers are frightening and intense, but can only be used on land, otherwise, he'll short-circuit and burn his hands with water. Mono controls the land, while Seven controls the sea. There are many dangers in the water that surrounds them, so even though they escaped to this "Island" they're still, in many ways, trapped. For Seven to gain control over the sea, means they are also finally, truly free. (Well... not completely, just yet, but still more free than they were before.)

I wanted them to feel like they were on top of the world, that they could do anything. That no one could stop them. A calm before the storm. A win before sadness.

I will be doing one final edition of my comic, but I'm stuck on it at the moment because it involves the time loop. (Which is really difficult to solve) I plan to take this comic in a controversial direction of a popular, highly debated, and unconfirmed theory. There's a possibility people may be unsatisfied and confused with this ending, and I worry about that. I want to make it in a way that would feel like a good send-off to this AU. I don't know if I will succeed or not, but I'd like to try. I'm used to Little Nightmares typically ending badly. In a way, for the threequel finale, that will still ring true, but also may be a good ending. But I want it to be more significant and I just haven't figured it out yet. It may be a long while before I can even start drawing it.

#little nightmares #lN au #channel change au #text post #long post #ask #seven #LN seven #the run away kid #the runaway kid #channel change #ln channel change

[jess-the-vampire]

what's your opinion on miraculous ladybug?

i consider ML to be kinda a hot mess of a show, it's a show with a lot of cool ideas, but for one reason or another, never quite makes a lot of them work

it's desire to be story focused gets held down a lot because it also needs to be mostly episodic, so events feel like they happen at a snail's pace until s5 where they clearly slammed on the gas because they thought the show was over.

you can tell stuff gets retconned as they go along and that some elements are underdeveloped. Not to mention the elements that are dropped entirely or never touched on.

the show is basically at a constant war with itself, it's got potential but doesn't seem to have the best priorities, especially when it gets more story focused. You can only drag out the romance for so long before it stops being fun, meanwhile you want lila to be your next big bad but she basically vanishes for a decent chunk of the show for example so there's not nearly as much setup as they could of given to make people more compelled in her as one.

and there's more then that, putting what happened with chloe aside, Zoe could be a potentially interesting character if they explored her relationship with her sister more or even with other cast members to get to know her better.

But she's in very little episodes, there's not nearly as much to say about her, and she's given a miraculous so quickly that it all feels like it's there to be a slap to chloe rather then building up a new fleshed out superhero character . That's just an example of not handled well ideas.

so many ideas are good on paper, not handled well in execution.

now that's not to say there's nothing good in it, on occasion, this show can make some good episodes, i loved the paris special, the movie was decent, and the premise of the show is genuinely pretty cool with the kwamis and animal superpowers.

i like a lot of the cast members, kagami, felix, luka, juleka, Nathanial, ect ect

the show can make some great villain and hero costumes

but the show as a whole is still mostly a mess, that even it's highlights aren't enough to save it if you watch it as a complete picture.

HOWEVER, i find the show to usually be an enjoyable hot mess, i didn't go into the show expecting a serious show akin to something like owl house or gravity falls, i came in expecting a ridiculous show that went off the rails more and more as time went on and at this point i watch just to see how bad and crazy it can get. I just don't take it as seriously.

It would be cool if this show had a serious story and handled it that well but i'm in it more for the ride then i am here to be seriously invested in the plot. Even if the show does make me genuinely mad in quite a few places.

Cause this show has a lot of the same problems as like, star vs, like a LOT of the same issues. But star's downfall felt like a betrayal because it felt like the crew cared about handling these things well when you joined that it was more insulting to the audience about how little they did care.

At least ML has the benefit of not being a show i ever took too seriously, and i think that prevented me from being as angry as i could be. Doesn't mean i don't get mad at it, just means my expectations were always a bit lower from the beginning.

i'm here to see how crazy the show can and will get, and hey, maybe on occasion, get to see the team make some good stuff

#miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous lb

[midnightrings]

Siena and her opera performances - a short character study

So, I thought I might share a short little analysis of the operas Siena performed, as I’ve not seen anything like this on here before and I’ve spent some time digging into those operas for my fanfics.

I want to post a whole character analysis of Siena at some point, but the operas play an important part in highlighting Siena’s character and her relationship with Anthony, so I thought it might be interesting to dig a bit deeper into those performances. Especially when it comes to a character like her (who barely got any screentime), those few seconds of her performing make a nice addition and add some depth to her character and storyline.

I won't focus much on the opera Siena performs in episode 1 – Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride – as it's not as interesting as the other two, because there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection to Siena’s character or her relationship with Anthony per se. Unlike the other operas, the focus in this scene is clearly not on her – she’s mostly just in the background, with two very short closeups, so we see that it’s her that is performing on stage. There is a deleted scene between her and Anthony according to the published script of that episode:

However, while I think that deleted scenes and such can make for interesting footnotes during an analysis/interpretation, I don’t like taking them too much into consideration – after all, there might be a good reason why this was deleted.

So the actual scene we see doesn’t really highlight anything in regards to Siena’s characters besides the fact that she’s an opera singer and that this is one of the only times we see her wear some brighter colors – while she’s on stage, playing a character. The other two operas she performs in episode 3 and 4 are much more focused on her character and storyline, especially her performance of I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 1.03 – this is the only time we see her perform without any of the other cast members present.

However, that’s not the only difference between Iphigénie en Tauride and the other operas. I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Les contes d'Hoffmann are also anachronistic. Iphigénie en Tauride premiered 1779, while I Capuleti e i Montecchi premiered in 1830 and Les contes d'Hoffmann in 1881.

People tend to make fun of historical inaccuracies or dismiss them as mistakes, but most times, anachronism is on purpose. I think it’s safe to assume that everyone working on this has been aware that those operas would not premiere until decades after season 1. The operas were clearly chosen for a reason.

Les contes d'Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach (1881)

Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) tells the story of Hoffmann, who choses to give up on love and devotes his life to art and poetry instead. It's based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, and some are probably familiar with the movie, but just to roughly summarize (also because there’s some important differences): At the beginning of the story, a prima donna named Stella invites Hoffmann to a meeting in her dressing room after her performance. Before the meeting, Hoffmann recounts his past great loves to his students. The opera consists of three acts, each telling the story of one of Hoffmann’s previous loves. After recollecting his stories of heartbreak, The Muse can convince Hoffmann to give his love to her (poetry) instead of visiting Stella.

There are many parallels to Siena and her relationship with Anthony here. The most obvious one is the prima donna part – Stella represents Siena. While there might not be direct similarities within the story or between Anthony and Hoffmann, the ending to Hoffmann’s story is still in some parts similar to Anthony’s. The opera ends with Hoffmann declaring that he doesn’t want to love anymore – which sounds quite similar to what Anthony says at the end of season 1.

Siena is obviously not performing the entire opera – we only see her sing “Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour” as the courtesan Giulietta – who tries to fool Hoffmann into falling in love with her.

Storytelling-wise, it obviously does not fit Siena’s story at this point – she is not trying to fool Anthony into falling in love with her, quite the opposite. Though it does work well as a juxtaposition, especially when we see Siena noticing Anthony’s stares and she slips out of her role. There’s a clear contrast here between her performing as a devious courtesan and looking almost flustered as a result of Anthony’s gaze.

And although Siena at that point doesn’t want to seduce Anthony in any way, the piece still beautifully represents the actual scene that takes places here: Anthony longingly staring at her the very moment he recognizes her voice – almost as if under a spell (a very horny spell). Even when Violet tries to distract him, he cannot help but look in Siena’s direction. He’s completely enthralled by her here – similarly to how Hoffmann was enthralled by Giulietta. And similarly, both relationships are doomed to end unhappily.

Adding onto that, this is also the only time that we see Siena on stage where she represents exactly who she is: a courtesan. During the other two performances, she’s wearing bright, pastel gowns – very different from her usual style. The costume she wears here is also different from her usual style, which is fairly plain otherwise – but it does highlight the role she plays within society.

I find it quite interesting that this is the only time we see Anthony and Siena interact with one another during one of her performances – and one of the only times we see them interact in public altogether. This scene clearly shows the class difference between them: Anthony attending a ball as the lord he is, while Siena performs for everyone else’s entertainment, playing a seductive courtesan. They are present at the same place, yet they can’t talk to one another – there is an invisible wall between them which is highlighted by the positions they take within that scene as well as the clothes they wear. Had Siena performed any other part of that opera, she would probably have worn a pretty gown and those differences would not nearly be as noticeable. But she’s performing as a courtesan and as a result, this might be the most visible representation of her and Anthony’s differences and main conflict.

Returning to the actual story of the opera: At the end, Hoffmann explains how his three previous loves – Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta – all represent Stella. They show different aspects of the prima donna: the musician, the young girl and the courtesan. As I said, Stella represents Siena, and so do all of the other characters. In this scene, we see her visually represented as the courtesan. The show highlights this several times, especially during episode 3 when she talks to Genevieve and then later visits the gentlemen’s club and is inviting Simon to join her the next evening. Her need to find a keeper that can protect her and provide for her plays an essential role within her storyline.

Then, she’s obviously also a musician – a good amount of her scenes consist of her performances, and her character is defined by those performances. And, in the end, she’s also a young girl – and the show ensures to highlight that part as well. Through showcasing her vulnerability and emotions, we can see that she is not that different from the other young women in the show, like Daphne and Marina. They are all young, dealing with heartbreak and making decisions to secure their future. And this is in my opinion what sets Bridgerton apart from other stories of its genre. Usually, a character like Siena would only be the musician and courtesan – either sidelined or vilified. The show humanizes her, however, by granting her screentime to show her pain and struggles and even, to some extent, her innocence – which is especially well done during her performance in 1.03.

I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini (1830)

As you can probably guess by the title, I Capuleti e i Montecchi tells the story of Romeo and Juliet. I don’t think there’s a need to summarize the story, and I also think it’s pretty clear why this particular opera was chosen: Romeo and Juliet originated the star-crossed lovers trope – which is the exact trope Siena and Anthony would fall under.

There are many things I love about that scene – it’s just all around a brilliant scene, not just in relation to Siena’s character. Though I will obviously only focus on how it relates to her character here.

The aria Siena performs is “Oh! quante volte” – Juliet waiting for Romeo, begging for him to come for her. It’s quite emotional and allows for Siena’s character to express her own emotions throughout her performance.

First, I adore how beautifully this ties in with the next scene. For one, because it sets up the atmosphere and essence of Siena and Anthony’s relationship – the tragedy of it all. The scene with Anthony in Siena’s dressing room underlines how this is not meant to be a love story with a happy ending, and the performance right before that amplifies this. Their story is doomed to end unhappily. And, similar to Romeo and Juliet, it is not merely a tragic story about love – it’s a story about the dangers of defying societal norms and duties and your own identities within that society.

But the dressing room scene also shows the clear differences between both stories. When Anthony visits her, Siena choses to reject him. She might have been emotional during her performance, but when Anthony showed his face, Siena did not act based on emotions but was very much rational in her words and actions. Because Anthony is not Romeo, and Siena is also not Juliet.

I also love how this performance builds a beautiful contrast to Les contes d'Hoffmann. Instead of a courtesan, Siena is playing an ingenue, wearing a pretty gown and looking all around sweet and innocent.

As the opera is in Italian, Juliet is obviously called Giulietta – just like the courtesan from Les contes d'Hoffmann. I have no idea whether this has been an accident or was done on purpose, but it’s a wonderful parallel. In both operas, she’s playing two very different women who happen to share the same name.

It underlines the differences between both roles but also draws a connection – which is Siena’s character.

By society, Siena is seen as the Giulietta from Les contes d'Hoffmann: the courtesan whose intentions are dubious and malicious. When Siena performs as I Capuleti e i Montecchi’s Giulietta, we can see a more vulnerable side of her as she openly cries on stage. We see her heartbroken and emotional, letting her guard down completely for a moment. In the end, it’s merely a performance. But Siena uses this performance to allow herself vulnerability – a vulnerability she is not usually allowed.

Those different performances do an excellent job at showcasing Siena’s character and also her main conflict and the different roles she plays. The chosen operas add some wonderful depth and insight into her character and I absolutely love how the shows has implemented them.

#bridgerton #siena rosso #anthony x siena #i have so many notes for analyses saved especially about siena #one day i will hopefully post that whole character study #also really want to do an analysis of the parallels between her and daphne and marina during season one #and i kinda want to dig a bit deeper into those operas too #there's definitely a lot more to focus on here #but i always need some time to actually write meta posts because I'm honestly fine just thinking about that stuff for myself #but sharing is fun too and makes for great discussions so i'm trying to post more #meta