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sailor-cresselia · 5 years

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Zi-O 22: WHOOPS I WAS BUSY!

...Okay, so I wasn’t busy per se, but I did keep putting this off.

(carryover curiosity from episode 21: How long, subjective time, did Uhr spend breaking that mirror over and over?)

Oh, GOODY, the mirror aesthetic carried over into BlackWoz’s Storytime Vault!

I… can’t tell, what’s that watch on Mirror!Zi-O’s right arm? It’s with the bike, but I don’t recognize it. It looks gold-ish, and they’ve both got the W and OOO watches, but I can’t make that one out.

Bah, onto the OP, and… they’ve already included a shot of Zi-O II. Huh. Thought they’d wait until after the form actually appears, but okay.

I don’t even know why I like seeing which version of the pre-show sponsor segment we get, but I do. Today’s was the jets-of-fire variant.

Hm… Tsukuyomi and Geiz never even considered the ‘and then what?’ of when they managed to defeat Oma Zi-O. I figured they hadn’t, based on Quiz and episode 21, but it’s nice to hear them confirm it themselves.

Geiz doesn’t… oh. Honey. He doesn’t think he deserves to think of a future, because he considered for a moment about sacrificing Shinji to take down Mirror!Shinji.

Sweetie, you are so much better than you give yourself credit for. You were disgusted with WhiteWoz. You wanted to work with Quiz, because his issues ran alongside yours.

Geiz. It’s like the OP says. Use those bonds that the three of you are building to move forward!

Just why is Mirror!Shinji attacking people who read Ore Journal?! I don’t get it!

Geiz’s face as Uncle Tokiwa (whose name I will someday bother to remember) rambles is precious. Theres a slight eye twitch, assorted types of resignation to ‘Well, this is my life now. This is fine.’ and ‘Okay, yeah, you should… just go do those errands yourself. Fine. This is fine.’

Meanwhile, Tsukuyomi is just dumbfounded. ‘This is a new level of absurd we’ve found ourselves in. How have we kept all of this from him so far again?’

(You haven’t. I’m still convinced he knows far more than he’s letting on. There is zero way he’s not dealing with time travel shenanigans himself.)

They’re acknowledging that Geiz and Sougo’s finishers are different! Huh! I didn’t think that ‘a small lag’ is what was going on with Another Build, but sure. It’s interesting to think about, though.

And here we hit one of the many key points of Geiz’s many problems: why he’s willing to sacrifice himself right now.

It’s because Sougo wouldn’t hesitate. Geiz and Tsukuyomi both trust him, they trust him to be a good person so, so much.

But Sougo’s expression while she’s telling him this. While she’s telling him that she really, truly believes he’ll never become Oma Zi-O.

He’s not so sure anymore.

(note that I paused for those last few paragraphs as soon as Tsukuyomi walked out, knowing full well there was more to come in the clock shop.)

I know that Mirror!Sougo is, in a way, his own character. But his base is still Sougo. And that lets him hone in on all those little niggling fears Sougo’s been having since he met Oma Zi-O. That he’s not as good a person as he wants to be. I re-watched the second half or so of 21 before I started up 22, so… yeah. Sougo seems to be falling into a depression funk. He took on more of Geiz’s usual role during Quiz, when Geiz took his role up first.

The others trust him to be a good person.

But Sougo isn’t sure they’re right to do that anymore, and Mirror!Sougo is honing right in on that.

Also, the way that Mirror!Sougo appears brilliant. Not because he’s using mirrored surfaces, although that’s the mechanic which allows him to.

But because he doesn’t appear in a window, or in any other type of surface.

He’s in the glass front of a display case full of watches, with the opposite wall reflecting in there with him.

And then in nearly a dozen clock faces.

Time itself is the weapon and the enemy in this season, after all.

So Okuno’s acting has gotten really good in the past… it’s only been five months? Wow. He is killing it with both of these performances in this scene.

Great going, kiddo.

(Heeey. I never noticed that the blue clock in there has writing on it. I’ll be coming back to that when I finish the episode. I might just have to make a post collecting all of these instances of English, actually, since most of it’s been pretty good. This ones just single words, but it’s been well done overall.)

WhiteWoz is incredibly scary. “He’s a troublesome foe, isn’t he? I’m starting to think you might be as well, my savior.”

Shinji blames himself for his mirror world counterparts actions. Which, isn’t wholly inaccurate, but the mirror selves as interpreted by Zi-O seem to be the dark doubts and fears that you would never actually act upon. I’m fairly certain that there was nothing, or at least very little, of that sort in Ryuki proper.

It definitely helps adapt out the Rider War, since the current season makes sure the Riders never existed, though. And it lets them work with the “who you choose to be” aspect that’s been cropping up throughout Zi-O.

That’s not just for Sougo, either. He’s the only one with Mirror issues right now, but it’s been hitting Geiz and Tsukuyomi, as well. More Geiz than her, seeing how Tsukuyomi hasn’t been given nearly enough time to shine…

Although, since this is Kamen Rider, if she gets too much time, there’s a very good chance of very bad things happening to her.

“If I don’t finish this, I won’t even have a reflection of myself. I’ll just be empty inside.”

...You mean like how Sougo’s probably been feeling every time he thinks about Oma Zi-O?

Clearly WhiteWoz wasn’t actually paying attention to any of the previous fights against Another Ryuga, since he doesn’t seem to have known just how impenetrable that reflection is. Case in point, a duplication attack from his Shinobi form? Just gets six attacks reflected right back at him.

Geiz: Guess we’re doing this then.

WhiteWoz and Tsukuyomi: Wait, no, stop!

Cut to commercial (presumably), and then to Sougo… who’s standing in front of the door that he was pulled into the Mirror world from.

… huh.

The other half of the Zi-O II watch… was with Mirror!Sougo. The ‘I think you can make good use of this’ speech, that comes with a Former(?) Rider entrusting their powers to him.

Technically, he just gave the speech to himself.

Because that is one of the only ways to move forward, when you’re confronted with your inner thoughts. You can stop, and just quit moving forward.

Or you can take those, and use both the good and bad, and balance them out. Be both sides of yourself, and keep going.

Sougo. It’s like the OP says. Set your sights forward, jump in, and believe in yourself.

(Guys, you have no idea how glad I am to be able to repeat that ‘like the OP says’ line.)

Yoooooooooo.

That scene? Geiz delivering and receiving the finisher?

THAT’S ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL.

Taking his own attack – quite literally, not just the energy from it being reflected, but taking his kick.

I am dead certain that Sougo and Geiz are not meant to fight Kamen Riders.

Case in point - the Geiz watch broke. Before Geiz went down.

Before he died. Yeah, there’s no way he’s not dead right there, except-

Except Sougo Says No. Sougo’s not having this, and apparently is able to manipulate the flow of time, at least on a small scale.

“Darkness and light, good and bad. Past and future. These watches rule over both.”

Sougo Tokiwa. You are absolutely terrifying when you get down to it.

The transformation call is disturbing. There’s at least three different belt voices in there. And one of them is his.

There’s a decent amount of gold detailing in that armor. And the watch bands that trail down? Those are awfully similar to Oma Zi-O’s clock-hand ‘cape.’

That fight was both beautiful and terrifying. When Sougo means business… he isn’t going to back down. For anything.

I’m not sure that’s always going to be a good thing.

Previewing the opponents future is really… it’s overpowered, but it seems to be a limited span of time, so at least there’s that to balance it out. That doesn’t stop it from looking absurd when he triggers it, though.

This? This was a curbstomp battle.

And his insert song was playing throughout. And it was pretty audible, too. There wasn’t much talking during it this time, not like back in 16.

Okay, opening credits, sure, fine, don’t tell us when the insert songs are coming. FINE. It’s not as though you’re probably legally supposed to or anything.

I’m really hyped for when we finally get these songs released, because “Zi-O Toki no Ouja” is REALLY good, and we can’t even hear all of it yet.

I really hope So goes onto some great things after this, because he’s getting some skills here. There’s his pre-existing ballet training, he’s getting really good at acting by now, and apparently he can sing, too!

So… Ryuki has, what, six endings now? Possibly seven, with that “Rider Time” spin-off special?

But that final scene.

Tsukuyomi and Geiz, discussing their plan.

Tsukuyomi is stunned – she hadn’t wanted to think Sougo could become Oma Zi-O, she didn’t think he could, and she said as much earlier this episode. That she wasn’t afraid of the Day of Oma.

And now she’s the one who wants to stop him.

But Geiz?

He blames himself for Sougo accepting that watch.

And I don’t think he’s ready to take Sougo out. Not nearly as ready as he used to be. Not nearly as willing as Tsukuyomi is right now.

“It pains me to say it, but our choice is obvious right now...”

Geiz doesn’t respond.

Her expression is resigned and determined.

He’s conflicted.

I think they’ve switched roles. All three of them. I think…

I think that Geiz is the hopeful one out of the three, now.

And isn’t that just terrifying?

#kamen rider zi o #kamen rider ryuki #sailorcressy says

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dustydreamsanddirtyscars · 7 years

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What do you make of Dean having so few kills this season & none since 12.11? At first, I thought the writers might just want to showcase Sam a bit. But now it's actually a pattern, where Sam or a guest actor get the big hero moments, never Dean. It really stood out for me in last night's episode, where Dean got to finally carry the Colt but Sam was the one who actually used it against 'both' bad guys. I'm hoping that it's not just Dabb's bias but that there might be a story reason behind it?

@suebsg9 said: I am just curious about your opinion on Sam getting another kill. Not that I minded Dean being victim especially to a god he did do a very good job getting out of the plastic wrap. And enjoyed what you had to say about the latest episode. I miss Dean getting big kills.

Hey you two!

Hope you don’t mind replying to both your asks in one go. I thougt it would make sense, as they are about the same thing. :)

While I am absolutely not convinced this may not just be due to writers/showrunners bias, I do think it should be considered a conscious pattern that will culminate in some sort of resolution with likely pretty painful and bad outcome. We have seen the pattern not just with Colt, but something similar too with Dean never getting to actually shoot the grenade launcher for example. So Dean being the one to carry the Colt (while still ultimately imo definitely not knowing the full story about how the BritMoL managed to get it in their hands in the first place - meaning he doesn’t know that Mary was the one choosing the gun over her sons lives) and not shooting it, imo may pave up to a moment in the finale where Dean will maybe fire the gun, but potentially not because he wants to per se.

I personally don’t mind Dean not getting “big kills” all the time. In fact I rather liked that Dean is showing in his very human measures and ability that he can be one huge force to mess with - even for a God. I find that to be much more powerful than if Dean just shot the Colt. The most iconic Colt moment will remain Dean’s Azazel kill anyway and that is kind of where I think the season is headed again loosely based on some of the vey loose spoilers circulating at the moment on the finale “with something disturbing and shocking happening”, the Js shooting some “scene with lots of past characters” that happens after the blackout of the ending of the episode or that the fandom will “hate Lucifer even more than it already does after the season finale” (this last bit annoys me most because it to me suggest we will still have fucking Lucifer - way overdone and boring and repitiive Lucifer in S13 *huge and long sigh* - please kill that character off, please!!!)

So what am I going on about? I personally could imagine that at the end of the season all of the Mary and Lucifer alignments may come together after all. There was a lot of focus on Mary as Lucifer’s vessel in the first half, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that got revisited. Basically I have like three different scenarios that I could see play out in one way or another or as a combination.

1) The finale will somehow feature Sam as Lucifer’s vessel again. But then Mary will intervene and offer herself up as her way to “make up for being the one to “start it all”. So Lucifer would skip vessels and with that of course torture the Winchesters in new volumes. Then I suppose Ketch may factor in into the story too and I could imagine him being the one to shoot the Colt expecting it to kill Lucifer, but of course we know that won’t work and therefore he ends up killing Mary. And after that possibly trying to do the same with Sam and Dean.

That is one possibility, but I rather think actually that instead of Ketch (who would factor in on this arc in some other way) Dean will be the one to fire the Colt, but not because he wants to, but because he is forced to do it by Lucifer or Daegon or someone else.

That would bring together the threads of Dean being shown to be forced to do things against his will by his loved ones as well as bringing in the Colt and Dean firing it in a new way. And I feel it would match the markers of “Lucifer being hated even more” if Dean was force to kill his mother and it would definitely count as “disturbing”.

2) I can see the scenario described above also imagine to play out not with Lucifer who possesses Mary, but Daegon instead, because that would bring the show full circle to the end of S1 when Dean has the Colt aimed at John possessed by Azazel and can’t bring himself to shoot him. It would make a whole lot of sense if they revisited that scene imo. I mean, I wouldn’t want that burden to sit on Dean’s shoulders to be the one to shoot Daegon and in order to kill her also kill Mary, but in reation to poetic symmetry it would absolutely work. And this time Dean would be able to pull through. And maybe then Ketch would shoot Dean, because he can’t be without Mary or sth. ;P

3) In a turnaround to the ending of S11 where Mary’s return was aligned with Sam getting shot, another possibility would be that this time a season may end with Mary leaving and Dean getting shot. Now, it could be that Mary is the one to do it. Whether accidentally while wanting to fire the Colt at someone else or because she is forced to do it by Lucifer or Daegon or hell, even, Ketch. I know there has been talk about death foreshadowing and while I personally didn’t get that vibe from mayn scenes, I guess one could say that if you saw those, this is what they may lead up to. Though if we talk death, I personally would always have thought rather metaphorical death in so far as Dean would rise as a more free person, but that’s a topic for another time.

So these are kind of the ways how I see the Colt and Dean not firing it could be revisited or tied up. Of course it is also more than possible that Dean will simply be the one to pull the trigger of the Colt when killing Ketch, but yeah, I’d prefer something less “blah”. ;)

In any regard and while of course the season finale spoilers are to be take with a bucket load of salt, I think this season could end with more than one Winchester death (which of course won’t be permament) and the scene that the Js talked about they filmed for S13 could be understood as a scene on Heaven.

All that said, there are two more thoughts that I have been kicking around in my head and one would be - though I am fairly certain they won’t go that route, because it would render the entire season “useless”, because nothing would have truly happened - that maybe at the end of the season it would turn out that Dean was in the Empty after all. But again, I don’t think the “it was all a dream”, would be something they’d do, because yeah that’s lazy and bad writing 101 and would basically confirm that Dabb had no clue what to do with this season and therefore pulled a 360 right at the end.

Much more than that though and this has popped up as an idea in a conversation with the lovely @lemondropsonice who propsed what if Amara returns? While I think it’s sadly wildly unlikely to happen, I have to say I would LOVE that, because wouldn’t that be just beautiful? For her to return, because she expected that giving Dean his mother back would heal him and make him happy, but instead it all just got a million times worse and so much got destroyed. I would love that because it would emphasize how much she actually care about Dean - she defintely seems to have cared about him a lot more than his actual mother does. So what if she returned and asked if she should “turn back time” and let Mary keep resting in peace? It would be a twist on the “it was all a dream”-scenario that I would be able to live with, if Dean was able to rememeber everything that happens and the development wouldn’t be erased from the Winchesters’ brains. Yet, it would undo nephilim problem for example and various other things.

Question of course would be if Dean would be able to tell her “do it” or if he’d plead for her to not do anything, that he may not be happier as she had hoped for him to be, but that he is glad that he finally knows the truth and that he values that more than living with a memory that was comforting at the time, but sadly never truly real.

Of course all of this and any of these scenarios would place major emotional torture and hardship on Dean that is beyond comprehension or may actually see him hurt badly or dying due to his family’s misplaced trust etc., but yeah I guess while endings like this couldn’t redeem how awfully executed and written this season was, it sure could show that maybe the showrunners and writers may have realized that they may have to do a better job in S13.

#SPN spoilers #SPN speculation #SPN Meta #Supernatural Meta #Narrative smmetry #Visual and narrative callbacks #Anonymous #Ask #Season finale spec #Season finale scenarios #Dean Winchester #Mary Winchester #The Colt

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thesleepstudies · 6 years

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Sleep Dread aka. Fear Of Going To or Dying in Sleep – We Asked Experts About It

Sleep dread is real and nothing to be shrugged of. Over the past few years, we interviewed a few dozen of of sleep therapists and one of the questions was always regarding sleep dread - its causes, whether it's a phobia or not, the forms it can take and finally, what you can do if you can relate to what you'll read you'll see below.

Having a good night’s sleep is vital for our overall health and daily functioning. During the 7, 8 or 9 hours, our brain process information gathered during the day and helps our body heal and re-energize.

Disturbance of this process night after night, leads to chronic discomfort, panic attacks, sleep disorders and it can develop into a sleep phobia known as "sleep dread."

What’s causing the fear of going to sleep?

Sleep dread can be caused by number of reasons, including come conditions like PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders or fear of sleep paralysis - https://thesleepstudies.com/sleep-paralysis/ (if you already experienced episodes).

Most commonly, however, it’s a side effect of insomnia.

However, in most cases the main trigger is one simple, everyday thing- fear, irrational and exaggerated fear, to be precise.

How our body reacts to this

When we are scared, our body’s natural reaction is to activate the “flight or fight” mode. This is normal and necessary human reaction, and when it’s reasonable we can benefit from it.

But our sleep is time when we need to go completely opposite from it. Having this mode on when you need to rest is counterproductive. And that’s an understatement. When your mind is telling that you need to be prepared to run from a threat, you can’t rest.

If you do manage to fall asleep at some point, the brain will stay highly alerted during whole time, making the quality of sleep low. Because of the hyper arousal of your nervous system, you will feel more aware of your surroundings, and will probably have nightmares. In this case it’s common to wake up few times during the night, which breaks sleep cycle, so don’t be surprise when you get up in the morning feeling like you worked the graveyard shift.

When mornings feel everything but good

After sleeping in this state you wake up feeling less rested and refreshed. The brain not only didn’t get the chance to store all the data from previous day, but was infused with new information throughout the night.

This leaves you feeling tired, forgetful, and with weakened state of awareness, prone to injuries and accidents during the day. It’s easier to break a glass or cut yourself feeling this way, not to mention more serious stuff.

Bad quality of sleep is often a main reason for the poor performance at job or school, and it also affects our emotional state.

In the long term, disturbance of sleep can play a significant role in causing the variety of health problems, from mood disorders to heart diseases and stroke.

What causes sleep dread

Think about the quality of your life. If you are often isolated and your social life is close to non-existing, this can make you more subjective to influence of bad news. We are social beings; we need to be in touch with each others and share our thoughts and experiences. When a lot of ordinary good things are happening to you on a daily basis, you feel happier and calmer.

If you watch TV and read newspapers, you are probably up to date with all sorts of bad and disturbing news out there. It’s hard to avoid them, to be honest. The world is definitely not a rosy place these days.

This is not something that can be tossed aside. Remember, our brain process information, and the source of information is everywhere. If you think that doesn’t have any effect on you, think again.

Beside that, try to remember all of the movies and TV shows with violent and aggressive scenes in them. Personally, I’ve lost count. And if you are highly sensitive person, or have a wild imagination that likes to visit dark places, even worse. It can take you further and the dread can turn into fear of dying in sleep.

So, even if you’re not suffering from anxiety, or any other mental disorder per se, if you are scared to fall asleep for no real reason, that’s a problem that needs to be taken care of.

The fear of sleeping alone

If you are scared of sleeping because you have bad dreams, that’s one thing, but in most cases, sleep dread gets triggered when sleeping alone.

It’s proven that women are battling this problem more often than man. They usually don’t have trouble sleeping when their family members or partner are in the house. My friend once told me that she feels safer sleeping when “man is in the house”, and I am talking here about the girl that trained martial arts for years.

This irrational fear comes from the idea that we might get attacked during the night, and staying awake will keep us safe. When there are no men to protect us, we must rely on ourselves. This feeling of vulnerability makes our primal fears alive.

We can talk about the century’s old roll of women being a “weaker sex” embedded in our minds, but it’s not just that. For this we can also thank a huge number of movies with highly aggressive scenes that include women getting attacked in the middle of the night in their beds. We are not accusing anyone, this is a simple fact.

How to threat sleep dread and stop it from happening again

Bear in mind that even if you get rid of your fear for a night, or week, the feeling itself casts a very long shadow that can affect you for months or even years, and can make sleep dread episodes reoccur at any time.

This problem needs to be approached directly and systematically. You really need to work on this, by yourself or with doctor’s help.

It takes time, but it’s worth it.

Let’s start simple, small steps

Minimize the flow of violent images and stories that comes to your mind. If you watch a lot of horror movies or crime shows, stop doing that, or at least don’t watch them right before you go to bed. You don’t need to have a sleep phobia to feel frightened to fall asleep after watching some of those, so think logically. Good idea is to move the TV from your bedroom, if you have one there. If you really can’t stop watching movies at night, switch to something relaxing and funny.

Restrain yourself from short-term solutions, like sleeping with your TV on, or lights on, or asking your friend to stay the night. It may help you once, but not in the long run. You can’t erase the fear this way, it will keep coming back.

If you don’t exercise, this is something you really need to consider doing. Not just because of obvious health benefits, but as they say “make your body tired and the brain will follow”. When we exercise, our bodies release serotonin and dopamine, hormones that are responsible for feeling of happiness. With tired body and happy mind it’s a lot easier to hit the bed.

Meditation, positive affirmations and mindfulness have a strong positive influence on our mind. If you think that’s a bit silly, let’s talk about how silly it is to deprive yourself from sleep due to irrational thoughts.

Fight the bad thoughts with positive ones. You already know that the sleep dread is caused by fears that are not justified, that negative state of mind didn’t come from nowhere. Change the way you talk to yourself, and you will change the way you see the world. Practicing yoga, keeping a journal in which you can write down things you are grateful for every day, or just saying positive phrases few times a day like “I am safe in my home”, can be really helpful.

You should also work on your bedtime routine. Your sleep time should be sacred, literally. In general, your bedroom should be dark, well aired and peaceful, so that vibe can be transferred to you. Make your bedroom as cozy as possible, and avoid using computer or telephone before going to bed. Take a bath, or read a nice, relaxing book, or play some of your favorite music. There is even music for sleeping; tracks with calming sounds that help you fall asleep. If you like to sleep with radio on, you should do it, but because you are enjoying it, not because you are terrified of sleeping in silent room.

A more serious approach to sleep dread

In cases of anxiety disorders that affect sleeping and cause insomnia, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to have great results. In sessions with the therapist the focus is on indentifying the fear and getting over it. Your doctor will lead you to confront the actual cause of the problem and together you will work on establishing a healthy sleeping routine. The key thing is to stick to the therapy even if it’s hard to handle in the beginning.

In some cases, medications like alpha-blockers are prescribed to keep the sympathetic nervous system under control.

We believe that consulting with your doctor is the way to go, and that with a right treatment you can overcome sleep dread. This is something it should be discussed with psychologist, especially if you are already battling some type of mental disorder. It can be solved and there is no need to panic.

If the situation is less serious, natural ways we talked about are proven to be effective (even doctors agree on this), and you should try at least one of them.

One step at a time...

We understand how troubling sleep dread can be, and that’s why we worked very carefully on this guide. We hope you will find it useful and follow the advices.

If you are experiencing the fear of sleep, or have a story related to it, please share it with us in the section below.

Don’t be scared to go to bed. Good night

The article Sleep Dread aka. Fear Of Going To or Dying in Sleep – We Asked Experts About It was originally published to www.thesleepstudies.com

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