#both very emotionally mature. despite their actions they both know what's up in their hearts

[astarlightmonbebe]

episode 5 has left me considering the different - and similar - ways taeyoung and kwonsook think about themselves, and how they respond to pain/violence.

kwonsook calls herself a monster, someone who goes crazy in the boxing ring. that monster, she says, was created by her father, and her father used abuse, violence, and emotional manipulation to create that monster. he didn’t treat her like human, so it’s no surprise that the way she talks about herself when she boxes is as if she’s discussing an animal: she gets cornered, gets scared for her life, and lashes out to kill. she calls herself a monster with resignation; it’s not what she wanted to be, but she knows it’s what she was. she ran away to escape that monstrosity, to live as a human, doing good things, but that part of her never really died.

taeyoung, too, calls himself a monster. he’s a SOB, he does thing no one with an ounce of humanity would do. he seemingly has no qualms about what he does, perhaps because he can always justify it to himself, always has an exit prepared for when things really get bad (until, i’m sure, he doesn’t). like kwonsook, taeyoung accepts the label of monster, accepts his own inhumanity, even if they are inhuman in very different ways. whereas kwonsook wants to break away from that monstrous part of her - she’s only returned so she can free herself from that part of herself permanently (and if she finds a way to box without a monster, then...) - taeyoung embraces it. it’s through being a monster that he’s found success, how he secures futures for his athletes, and how he’s able to ‘solve’ their (and his) issues. monstrosity was not imposed on taeyoung, but (due to what we know so far) is something he chose for himself (although the factors surrounding this part of his past are decidedly murky).

in this episode, taeyoung and kwonsook also demonstrate similar responses to violence and (emotional) pain. when taeyoung upsets kwonsook by working with her father behind her back, he offers her an outlet for her anger by punching him. later on, after ahreum has already slapped kwonsook, instead of lashing out, kwonsook offers to let ahreum hit her again if it will make her feel better. in parallel responses, both ahreum and kwonsook debate taking that opportunity to hurt, but decide not to (kwonsook because she’s taking a chance on taeyoung, or moreso giving him another one, and ahreum because she decides that she doesn’t owe kwonsook that, that kwonsook is beneath her in terms of boxing, no longer on her level). 

kwonsook learned to respond to pain at a young age. in boxing, you can’t flinch from the hit - you have to learn how to take the pain, absorb it, and get back up to hit again. outside of the rink, kwonsook absorbs the pain, but she doesn’t hit again. she’s experienced firsthand what her hits can do to people, and that terrified her. after all, she only boxed so that she could protect her mother. so when confronted with violence and pain, she takes the hit, because pain is what she knows and understands. it’s the emotions behind it that are hard for her. pain is easy for kwonsook, because she’s used to living through it, surviving it; beneath it, she’s always empty. she’s never really cared about boxing; it was what she had to do. the lee kwonsook that was a boxing genius was a monster she ran from, after all. but in order to break away from that monster, she has to come to understand the emotional investment of her fellow female boxers. before, they were just her opponents, never her friends, but now she has to face their own feelings about the sport, the passion they have for boxing that she never felt. like ara said, she didn’t feel happiness about winning, and kwonsook has never lost, so she’s never had to live with that humiliation, either. how her feelings will change in relation to boxing will likely be a reckoning for her.

taeyoung, on the other hand, is confronting his fair share of non-boxing sanctioned boxing. even though kwonsook is the boxer, it’s taeyoung who’s been touched by ‘true’ violence in this present timeline. his life is quite literally on the line, which has been shown again and again. he’s been ambushed by her father, threatened, blackmailed, and beaten up by chairman nam’s guys. he lives on the edge, anxious at every shadow, which is chewing him alive. to him, kwonsook’s anger is much easier to deal with. he knows she might hurt him, but his potential to hurt her is so much more (and if he does, in that case he’d find her anger justified, and probably let her beat him to death or something if what we’ve seen of his feelings for her is an indication of anything), and she might hurt him, but she’d never hurt him as much as other people in his life at the moment would (i.e. by killing him, or hurting the people he cares about). taeyoung is used to weathering the storm of other people’s dislike; he’s the scumbag, and he does bad things, deserves other people’s anger when it’s directed at him. 

both taeyoung and kwonsook want to resolve things through violence. i think it’s telling that despite being two emotionally aware people, they both consider other people’s feelings to be so easily taken care of. they want the quick, instant pain, and then they want to get it over with. because the violence is what they’re used to, and to a degree it’s what they both think they deserve. however, what lies beneath that, what doesn’t go away with a single hit, is much harder for them to confront and understand. 

#star stumbles #my lovely boxer #kdrama #my thoughts #in boxing you get hit and you hit someone else and whoever is still standing wins #and it's basically that way in the whole world of (physical) sports #and it's going to be so so good when they both end up embroiled in the very emotional situation that they both want to avoid at all costs #ie their feelings for each other / betrayal / broken trust / fear #i think i ended this poorly i kind of got distracted and honestly...honestly i don't KNOW what their response to violence really says #or how it's going to be played with throughout the drama #this text is the bare bones of what i can understand through what i've seen #and oh yes even though i know some people might argue that they're not emotionally aware i think they are... #both very emotionally mature. despite their actions they both know what's up in their hearts #and they're very adept at reading one another (or at least taeyoung is towards kwonsook i think she's getting there but she's also trying to #distance herself from him so. i do think she's ignoring some of what she'll probably reinterpret later on #nobody made taeyoung a monster he chose that path vs kwonsook left the path as soon as she was able to #and her getting punished for his bad deeds...even though at the end she admits they're both scumbags for going through with this deal #because she's understood that she'll hurt boxing whether good things come out of it or not #because she'll be disrespecting ahreum and everyone else by rigging the match and losing on purpose #which will probably add to her conflict later on #and taeyoung simultaneously struggles with not wanting to string her along vs stringing her along #because he's been upfront with her about how he's a bad person and she sees it too but ALSO #he can't bring himself to tell her some of the worst things because he wants her to see him differently #like he wants to act like a good person for her but also knows he needs her #honestly their relationship dynamic reminds me so much of my liberation notes #it's the ahjussi / disenchanted two people approaching each other and something ending up growing there where they thought nothing would #again

[rubywolf0201]

I don’t know what made me draw myself to Matakara ever since BUCCHIGIRI?! was first revealed last year in May in the teaser other than cute sunshine puppy boi.

But after watching many episodes esp the last one yesterday, I come to the conclusion that a lot of his recent actions, be it shown onscreen or subtle, reminded me of Princess Elise from Sonic 06 (yes that one game that drove the franchise to ruin but that’s not what we are talking about)

I mean 16-17 year old teenage redheads who may appear mature at first glance but deep down, they’re not as mature as you think they are. Elise’s case is that she was forced to rule Soleanna at a very young age and while she is put together, she is also emotionally vulnerable such as when she had repeated visions of the bloodthirsty demon sealed within her kept showing her visions of Soleanna burned to the ground.

Matakara is of the same vein as well.

For a long time since visiting the Honki temple for the first time with his brother, Matakara has always sensed the dark shadows watching over him, which made him afraid. Mitsukuni said that the dark shadows appear because of how it sensed the weakness within people’s hearts. And well it is true in some sense in that despite being a pretty good fighter, Matakara is emotionally immature, possibly even stunted.

Right after his childhood best friend abandoned him to a group of older kids bullying them, Matakara believed himself to be weak and kept clinging on to the idealized version of Arajin, which the latter never asked for nor did he lied about. Even after showing off his true colors even back in earlier episodes, Matakara kept believing in him and it wasn’t until Episode 8 that Arajin confessed to him that he is not the cool and strong person Matakara believed him to be.

This shatters Matakara’s worldview because right after his brother was taken from him to be placed in juvie for maybe 2-3 years, Matakara tried to build himself up and kept on believing that he has to do it for both Mitsukuni and Arajin’s sake. So to hear from Arajin about how the latter isn’t the strong and cool person that Matakara thinks he is, it proved to be devastating for Matakara.

The way how both handled the inner demons within them (or Ichiya in the case of Matakara)

Princess Elise has been shown initially that whenever her emotions are about to go out of control, she is either shown to clasp her hands together to make sure she doesn’t cry lest she releases Iblis or just hug someone out of instinct.

But over time, she stopped doing so to symbolize how her bond with Sonic has made Elise to handle her emotions better in a way that can confide it to the person closest to her. The only time it got out of hand is when the villain killed Sonic out of a sneak attack, that was when Elise started crying, which released Iblis.

Matakara is more of a 50/50. He has inner demons in the shadow that keeps appearing out of nowhere and how he is the only one to sense it. Those dark and creepy shadows tend to appear whenever Matakara is down on himself or if there is a weakness. But when he got into Minato Kai through pure hard work and the friends that he have made in Zabu and Komao. And that is when the shadows had stopped appearing for the time being, tho they did not disappear completely.

However, I want to point out that unlike Elise who managed to keep her shit together despite not having any form of support group except for her servants, maids, possibly her tutors and ministers, she turned out for the better.

Matakara once he got Ichiya due to Akutaro’s manipulations (well maybe it could be Ichiya who knows really), Ichiya does whatever he can to break Matakara’s will and pointing out how things like friendship and kindness are nothing but weakness. The last straw was when Ichiya brought up on how weak willed Mitsukuni is and that is when Matakara succumbed to the anger and hatred that Ichiya has set up, making the blue majinn to take over him completely.

Anyways TLDR; Princess Elise and Matakara are one and the same IMO, with the only differences on how they handle themselves and their emotional maturity.

#rubi’s post #sonic the hedgehog #bucchigiri?! #princess elise #matakara asamine #meta #character analysis #character comparison #these are all just my opinions and observations I have made so far

[mejomonster]

Chapter 82. I love this scene. Luo Wenzhou confirms dinner and ceremony Was a love confession, and Fei Du's internal narration confirms he was warmed by the noodles lol. Fei Adu starts off bringing up he's suspicious, making Luo Wenzhou logic out and explain why he's not a suspect - is it self hate, a habit to be contradictory, to force Luo wenzhou to really show if he trusts him or has logically proven it right to trust, to force Luo Wenzhou to explain why Fei Du IS good based on the facts which comforts fei du to have that outside judgement approval? Is it the usual conflict to cause emotional distance move, who knows. But Luo Wenzhou ends it by saying he does trust fei du, does love him. And if fei du betrays him he might stop loving him and feel hurt.

And I can't say enough how much I love Luo wenzhou and how he handles this. They're more or less equals on some levels now, but Luo wenzhou is by Far more emotionally mature. And more aware that Fei Du NEEDS this stuff explained, that fei du for all they know would play with both their hearts and be a hot cold playboy mess (despite the stability act he put on for seducing Tao Ran). Fei Du in his own mind hasn't even labeled the goal with pursuing Luo Wenzhou beyond the very step he's picking to do. Luo Wenzhou knows he's gotta be the emotionally level headed one who says where they're going, who explains what the situation is, and be the more vulnerable bigger man who opens up emotionally first. He knows he's got to be the one to genuinely say he loves him first, trusts him first, and has decided to stick by that unless fei du betrays him - and that it Is fei dus responsibility to be aware of the consequences if he does. It's a very emotionally mature and constructive decision Luo wenzhou acts out. It's so funny, cause fei dus narration Loves to label him as brute caveman hothead. But the reality is, for all that, Luo wenzhou is still Incredibly emotionally mature and calm and nurturing and supportive and vulnerable and open with Fei Du. Even before they "confessed" I supposed with dinner. But that confession were the flood gates. Luo wenzhou drove back, broke in, and decided to lay it all out honestly in actions and words AND explain additionally in a way fei du, his weird oddball who's not like others fei du, would understand. And fei du deciding to eat and listen and hear him out was him meeting Luo wenzhou halfway, balls in his court now to do more maybe. But regardless of what happens next, Luo wenzhous saying now: well I love you, and I trust you. And thats... a lot. (And of course, to tell fei du the consequences if he fucks it up, because his fei du Needs that kind of additional clarification). I just love it.

Quote:

But the timing of Zheng Kaifeng’s flight really was too delicate.

 

Dong Xiaoqing had attacked Zhou Huaijin around midday. The circumstances had been too confused; Luo Wenzhou had only cared about catching the killer, and Fei Du had been with Zhou Huaixin. Neither had been able to spare attention for anything else. No one had been able to control the scene, and there had been many reporters present. Before the first wave of police had arrived, the reports had already gone out to all kinds of media.

 

If Zheng Kaifeng had fled immediately after seeing the news, that would have been fairly normal—though if that had been the case, he’d have left the city by now, run to who knew where.

 

But it was clear that when the news of Dong Xiaoqing attacking Zhou Huaijin had just gone out, Zheng Kaifeng had been totally calm, not thinking he could implicated in this in any way—because neither he nor Zhou Junmao had known that, twenty-one years ago, there had been a terrified teenager outside the door of the study.

 

So why had he immediately run off in a panic after Zhou Huaijin had told them the inside story of what had happened twenty-one years ago?

 

Who in the Criminal Investigation Team…or the whole City Bureau was his listening ear?

 

“Reasonably speaking,” Fei Du suddenly said, “you shouldn’t be in my car right now. After all, looked at from every point of view, I rather seem like the ‘mole’ among you.”

 

Luo Wenzhou looked at him.

 

“First of all, I know Zheng Kaifeng. I’m more familiar than any of you with the Zhou Clan.” Fei Du’s hands lay loosely on the steering wheel. “Second, the whole thing happened after I came. According to ordinary logic, on the basis of analysis of credible historical record, the newcomer is always the most suspicious.”

 

Luo Wenzhou laughed noncommittally. “In your eyes, is your shixiong the sort of scum who’d suspect a person right after confessing his feelings for him?”

 

Fei Du froze.

 

Luo Wenzhou didn’t wait for him to speak, saying, “I know it’s not you, because you’re really a rather solitary person. Your relationships with other people go no further than mutual benefit. I really can’t think of what Zheng Kaifeng might have that would be more attractive to you than my good looks.”

 

Fei Du: “…”

 

When he was flirting, honeyed words came effortlessly out of his mouth. He considered his own level to be very high. But having experienced this deity’s ability to use honeyed words to flirt with himself, he knew that he still had some things to learn on this subject and should be more modest.

 

“That’s true.” Fei Du had no choice but to echo his boast. “Do you mean that now I can let my mind wander, pull the car over, and kiss you?”

 

“No, we’re on business,” said the upright Captain Luo, scrupulously separating private and public interests. “Anyway, I know you’re thinking your shixiong may be a mental deficient, only you won’t say it right out on account of my handsomeness.”

 

On account of those bowls of noodles in the evening, Fei Du really didn’t want to take a dig at him, but apart from that he really had nothing good to say, so he could only shut his mouth.

 

“Actually, it’s because of what I heard you ask Zhou Huaijin in the interrogation room,” said Luo Wenzhou. “After his little brother was stabbed, Zhou Huaijin didn’t ask why Dong Xiaoqing had done it, and you deduced then that he might have some idea about Dong Xiaoqing, but he’d only remembered it after receiving a shock. Otherwise he wouldn’t have run the risk of letting her get close at the outset.—Hu Zhenyu is one of Zhou Huaijin’s people, Zhou Huaixin is his precious little brother, Yang Bo is the person he’s been carefully plotting against. If this had had to do with the three of them, his reaction wouldn’t have been so slow.”

 

Fei Du nodded. “True. I thought this afternoon at the hospital that Dong Xiaoqing may have something to do with Zheng Kaifeng.”

 

Luo Wenzhou said in a businesslike manner, “If you were colluding with Zheng Kaifeng, you couldn’t be clueless about him. Considering how clever you are, you definitely would have deduced approximately what Zhou Huaijin was going to say before he opened his mouth. So it’s impossible that Zheng Kaifeng would only have been notified then.”

 

This reason sounded much more justified. Fei Du accepted it without any objection. “Him running then really was rather belated.”

 

But Luo Wenzhou sighed. “Fei Du, if I didn’t have a reason, didn’t have any logic, if I’d only said, ‘I trust you,’ what would you have done?”

 

Fei Du froze. Then the corners of his eyes curved craftily, and he purposefully lowered his voice. “I’d be very moved, wanting nothing better than to go down on one knee at your feet.”

 

“Less of that fucking nonsense.” Luo Wenzhou leaned back. “You’d only have thought I was either stupid or lying.”

 

Fei Du smiled, but he didn’t refute him.

 

“Do you still remember Wang Xiujuan? He Zhongyi’s mother. If she was the one sitting here, even if you were holding a knife to her chest, she still wouldn’t think you were going to kill her. Would you think her trust in you was stupid?”

 

Avoiding the important point, Fei Du said, “It’s very rude to judge an elderly lady’s intelligence behind her back—anyway, we’re nearly strangers. She doesn’t understand me.”

 

“I’ve known you over seven years, so I think I can be counted as understanding you,” said Luo Wenzhou. “I also choose to trust you. Of course, if you let me down one day, I’ll be very hurt, so hurt I may not love you anymore.”

 

Fei Du should have taken advantage and come back with some teasing, but he oddly felt something spread over from beside him, pressing on his chest, that left him temporarily speechless.

#silent reading #lb

[thessaliah]

I don’t think I posted this exchange before, but it’s nice to look back to LB4 and previous Lostbelts in general to refresh those who are doing Atlantis that the story themes point out the world system an status quo is inherently monstrous, hellish and tramples those designed as outsiders and weak, by denying them the basic right of existence (because mana needs to be allocated to special chosen timelines). It is  story of survival sure, but it becomes a bit messy in the so-called heroic Novum Chaldea where they justified the forms of oppression as Holmes does as how things are and we should accept them. 

The story of the Crypters so far are the story of outsiders of many kinds. Like the lostbelts, discarded from Panhistory. All experiencing  some sense of otherness, or being very empathetic to this (Kirschtaria), or both (Pepe). Pepe brings it up in LB4, that they are outsiders and rebels. Those who don’t fit in for most part.

 Kadoc and Ophelia offer the tales of the misgivings of mage upbringing and coming of age from different perspective (dare I say to call it “gendered” with some sterotypes?). They are negatively impacted by the competitive and classism world of mages, enough to try to eliminate their hearts and harden themselves (Kadoc to prove himself as if he lacks worth and desperately tries to argue he can live by trying to push himself and prove it; Ophelia meets all expectations she has and pours all her worth in her Mystic Eye, never thinking anything about herself has anything else to offer). Their coming of age arcs is a basic admission they are people with feelings and their worth is not linked to what they were indoctrinated to believe which could probably not happened outside the Lostbelts.

Hinako and Beryl are both outsiders to normal society by their birth, though one is deviant and the other is a victim, but humans would never accept them; one has positive resolution, and while the other does not. Those four have an overfocus on romance, remaining fulfilled (Kadoc, Hinako) or one sided (Beryl, Ophelia). 

On the other hand, Pepe and Kirschtaria are both characters who criticize society and Panhistory, and themselves suffered within their families as a common point (and is not connected to lack of talent but the excess of it), although Pepe is more passive and resigned while Kirschtaria is more hopeful and proactive to change things. They both are on the clock and know it by different reasons (Pepe’s case his ability to read fate and lifespan). They are both more emotionally mature (although Kirschtaria is socially awkward), to need a focus on romance as easy-way to develop vulnerable emotional side to nuance them. They might fancy some people (Pepe does like Daybit, and Kirschtaria’s feelings are ambiguous and open discussion topic), but this doesn’t overtake their characterization.  Daybit is a mystery to speak about him and how he fits in this meta, so I won’t. 

Pepe is the first one to call out Novum Chaldea’s hypocritical mindset (despite being fond of them as a friend and ally), although this is not (openly) dwelled upon by the barebones characterisation protagonist and Mash (whom Pepe feels sorry for they carry those burdens). The players surely remember Russia, right? Where they preached and pushed how Panhistory was kinder and more peaceful to demoralize and get a “higher ground” from the Yaga? Yet in this Lostbelt, they flip and acknowledge (through Holmes) Panhistory is more hellish than any Lostbelt ever and that’s why it’s “good.” Pepe does not allow any illusions of heroism of Chaldea actions, by admission they only “helped” those people to later get the rid of them more easily, even if they feel bad about it. One thing is sure, though:

Panhistory (speaking of a choice from Humanity to take shape, not humanity as concept or individuals here) is not presented as a passive target of what happened unlike Part 1, regardless of the dubious credibility to the Specimen E existence outside a metaphoric sense. All hints that this bad end is something they had hand in it themselves:

“A hidden theme is revenge.” Nasu said once. It reminds me of Jason’s words as those are fresher for NA. Different context, but certainly pertains to my points about the darker nature that’s the elephant in the room, and a cycle that won’t end if all Novum Chaldea will do is perpetuate the same status quo (certainly that seems Holmes is on this for):

#fate grand order #image heavy #fgo meta #lostbelt spoilers #olympus spoilers #speculation #meta #theme #cosmos in the lostbelt #pepe is the best

[captnjacksparrow]

Why do I ship SNS?

It is a known fact that when people experience a good media, they like to discuss various things they liked, hated, interpret what the creator trying to say and get something from what they have consumed. Eventually people end up in a shipping war if there are multiple possibilities. 

I started watching Naruto on a whim, hoping to see some ninjas in action with some revenge as a background (after all when you have power, there will always be a revenge). Am a sucker for revenge, btw. I am a person who hates romance in media. Because, every movie, book, novel, series has this same recycled romance plastered into every story even though the story don’t need at all. So, I am very tired of it. Every media portrays romance as something inevitable, necessary and something we can’t live without. That’s wrong. 

Usually, romance goes like this... Person A sees Person B... they hate each other and add some possessiveness, jealousy... they magically gets attracted through some shared experiences eventually... they kiss and make babies. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s just very tiring as I’ve seen million forms of this same repeated trope. I always cringe and yell “Can you give us something different? Grrr.....”.

And also, my motto is that love can happen with any person. It can’t be restrained into certain boundaries. So, I don’t like to put some relationship under an umbrella called Gay, Lesbian, Straight or whatever. Of course, illicit relationships and incest are not normal and am not okay with it.

With all that being said...

My experience after watching the Shippuden series until episode 478 was “Wait, do they love each other?”. I know am very late to realize this, but I have never even viewed them with any romantic lens throughout. 

On my first watch, I was always under the impression that “They are friends”... But there are certain moments I felt “Wait, why are they doing like this which could’ve been handled in a different way!!” I will get to this later in this post. But those moments were overlooked by me because of my curiosity of “What happens next ??”. 

And on my rewatch, it only confirmed my view. 

The other popular ships like SS and NH put forth many points to invalidate what SNS represents. The most common being “They are reincarnated brothers” or  “They are best friends”. Am just going to debunk them from my point of view. 

Naruto and Sasuke are like brothers.....

Nope. 

The best brotherhood title, in this series, should officially go to Itachi and Sasuke. 

You can argue as much as you want that Itachi mindfucked Sasuke and killed his parents....yaada yaada.... 

It is repeatedly shown why Itachi put a curtain on his own clan. The reason is, Uchiha clan decided to forcefully take over the village. No matter how much innocent you are, you cannot take over something with force. Dot. I will write about this in a separate post.

In short, Sasuke realised how his clan members were wrong after hearing the story from the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. That’s why he openly proclaimed “I am going to protect Konoha and become Hokage”. 

Back to the topic, Itachi and Sasuke are blood brothers. If I ship them both, then what you claim is very valid. 

The above gif says, “Sasuke, I know, I made a mistake by filling you with hatred. But whatever you decide to do from now on, I will love you always”. Meaning, He stopped treating Sasuke as a kid and accepts that Sasuke has his own path to walk.

This is exactly how brothers behave. I would do the same to my kid sister. You can see a fraternal instinct from Itachi’s eyes realizing that this is their last time together.

Another thing, Brothers trope always has this hierarchy.... Protect the younger sibling no matter what. It is evident from Madara/Izuna and Hashirama/Tobirama.

Not convinced?

If you pull the Indra and Ashura bullshit, let me tell you one thing. Indra and Ashura were separated and formed their own clan long ago. They eventually branched off into Uchiha and Senju clans. No way you can relate a century old blood relation as brothers. It’s just their chakra got reincarnated over and over. 

Don’t pull up an incest angle between Naruto and Sasuke. Because they never shared a womb. Dot. 

Naruto and Sasuke are Best Friends only.

You know what, you are almost right. I thought that for a very long time. Remember I never wore any shipping goggles ON. 

There are two types of best friend categories. Best Friends without a reason and Best Friends through rivalry. 

Best Friends without a reason in Narutoverse are: Shikamaru/Choji. 

They just became friends and became BFF. They won’t fight or hurt each other. But when you have something to share...you would go to that person and share everything honestly.

Best Friends through Rivalry: Kakashi/Obito, Hashirama/Madara, Naruto/Sasuke

I really cannot provide more proof for the first two pairings as Best Friends as it is not the scope of this post. Although the latter two also qualifies for shipping category. Why?

Because, the common thing among them is that all the three Uchihas awakened/reawakened their Sharingan for their best friend. But Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke are the only pairings to awaken or evolve Sharingan when trying to break their bonds with each other. 

Special Brownie points for Madara. He had 4 brothers and lost 3 but still couldn’t awaken his Sharingan but when trying to break up with Hashirama, his eyes were brimming red. 

Sasuke’s Sharingan matures in the first Valley of The End.

That’s why I excluded Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke from this Best Friends list.

Because to the both Uchihas, the other person meant something special which cannot be comprehended into a mere term called ‘Best Friends’.

Which is exactly why Kakashi/Obito would perfectly fall into this category.

The way they quarrel, fight with each other, protect each other are perfect scores for a friendship. What makes them best friends is when Obito decided to give his Sharingan despite Kakashi was always putting a cold air around him and most importantly asked him to protect his love ‘Rin’. Also Kakashi carried his friend’s will to his heart and passed on to Team 7.

It all falls under ‘In the memory of my Best Friend’ trope.

Obito may be a trash but he is a good friend. Because after Rin was killed, he massacred everyone around him except for Kakashi. He could have killed him. Understandable. Or he could have plucked his Sharingan back (because he literally plucked most of the Sharingans from the Uchiha clan massacre and kept those eyes as a reserve). This could have enabled him to use Susanoo. I believe Susanoo can only be used with Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. But for some reason, he didn’t. 

So what makes me think Naruto and Sasuke love each other, not as a brother and not as a friend but something beyond which I can’t term?

My way of shipping is not about marriage, sex and rearing babies. Because literally everyone does this as an obligation. 

So, I don’t ship them in terms of living together in my headcanon and having sex daily. Nope. But it is not wrong though if you ship in that sense.

In this Narutoverse, Women are just some stow away pieces whose sole existence is to fawn over their dreamboy and cry for them. (Usually literally nothing useful comes out of them). Me being a girl, as much as I hate this setup but I have come to terms with whatever it is and have accepted it. If you are a girl looking for a strong female character...... this is not the place. Watch something else. 

But I draw inspiration from male characters who are characterized deeply for which I have to applaud the creator. Reason being, the very first character which I connected with was Itachi. It was when Sasuke thinks about his past with his family in the flashback before the first VotE battle in part I. I will be writing a separate post about Itachi in this week. 

In short, If you are a person who wants inspiration, draw it from male characters. Not in a single moment, you stoop so low for characters like Hinata and Sakura. That’s not how I envision myself or any woman. Dot.

With all this being said, I ship them as a couple who necessarily don’t have to get married or have sex... But they each other has some special allowance towards each other in their hearts which no one can touch, not even their wives or children. 

This doesn’t mean I accept what came after episode 478 as they are literally something they made for $$$$$. 

There are some basic traits which are absolutely necessary for a ship to sail successfully. They are Acknowledgement, Reason, No Hierarchy, Influence, Owning each others rights and Privilege. (All these reasons should come from both the sides for the ship to be worthy)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement, I mean here, is to accept and acknowledge what they are to each other.

They both agree that they are Bonded/Friends verbally as well as emotionally.

To me, this is essential in any relationship especially for the ones you are trying to ship. I didn’t see this in any other ships like SS or NH where it is always one sided. Sakura confessed before the village entrance to which Sasuke said “You really are annoying!!”. Hinata proposed in Pain arc. Naruto didn’t even acknowledge her confession. He went on to beg for pardon for Sasuke. Again she proposed in the War at the expense of Love Cupid “Neji”. Naruto went on to joke with Minato that Sakura is his Girl Friend. 

If I were in both of these girls place, I would literally be mad and drop this shit right away.

Wheras in SNS, I saw both the people I am trying to ship were asking “What am I to you?”, to which they reply “You are my friend”. To me this is very important.

Reason

To those who are saying “Love is blind”, “Love is Madness”, “Love needs no reason”, you all need self-evaluation. This is not some K Drama situation where you don’t need any reason. You should know why you love someone and why you need the other’s presence.

Naruto’s reason is very simple.

I could provide many reasons. But here, Sasuke, without any reservations... knowing full well of the consequence if he feed Naruto but still extended the helping hand to someone who was always hostile. It is just like what Iruka did. And many incidents which happened during Land of the Waves arc are evident.

He wanted to be friends with this lonely Uchiha boy way back when he was around 7 or 8 for a simple reason that he understands his pain more than anyone. But he really became friends when they were grouped together for Team 7.  

Sasuke’s reason goes even way beyond when Naruto series started.

“Because he felt relief”.

Imagine a young boy who witnessed a massacre before his eyes and lost everyone he loved. But somehow another young boy of his age made him feel relieved. This explains why Sasuke went all out of his way to make friendship with Naruto despite being aloof. 

Isn’t this what we want from someone we love?  

Rather than being completely insensitive about an orphan life or just stalking from the distance and never offered any support, I would prefer someone who understands my pain from their heart and try to reach me. Sasuke reached out to him by offering the lunch and Naruto reached out to him by making him his rival and bug him.

NO HIERARCHY

This is pretty self-explanatory. Unlike blood brothers, there should be no hierarchy in a relationship I want to ship. 

We saw Naruto yells at Sasuke many times absolutely for no reason, despite Sasuke bearing this cold attitude. Probably he is the only person who can call him by such variety of names. 

Sasuke always calls him by his trademark ‘Usuratonkachi’. Sometimes he calls him fool just like everyone. But was never insulting or mean towards Naruto. Except for that time in the final battle, he made fun of his Shadow Clone jutsu citing his loneliness. 

In short, be it a physical fight or verbal offense.... neither of them wilts like a flower. They equally give back. 

The only other person who can verbally assault Sasuke is Karin and probably the only girl who never addresses him as “Sasuke-Kun”. 

U-SU-RA-TON-KA-CHI..... Why do Sasuke spend such an effort to call someone with a 6 syllabic word, instead NA-RU-TO, a 3 syllabic word which is way more convenient to call?? I always wonder.

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

I don’t have to spell out anything here. There are many obvious examples but will try to keep it short. 

Naruto became strong because of Sasuke. He trained hard for 3 years with Jiraiya , a month with Kakashi developing Rasen Shuriken and controlled Kurama’s power with Killer Bee. Except for Sage Mode jutsu everything he learnt was all for bringing Sasuke back. 

In short, Sasuke is Naruto’s predominant strength. 

Though Naruto was not the source of strength for Sasuke, but he brings out many vibrant emotions in Sasuke which he really needed for his traumatic mind otherwise he would always be that cold angry brooding doll without any emotions and I am sure Sasuke enjoys to banter with Naruto.

LOL!!! I don’t know why Sasuke feels competitve here. It’s pretty childish even for Sasuke.

Friendly tease :-) I think he also protected Sakura in this scene. He can also ask her the same, isn’t it? I mean as a friend. 

The best one is yet to come

It’s incredibly hilarious to see how Sasuke pouts when he was with Naruto. Sakura!!!! You third wheeling joker :-D :-D

Throughout Shippuden, Sasuke never shows his emotions with anyone. He either looks very cold or angry.

Reminiscing his Team 7 days, for a split second. 

Probably the only positive emotion is this, in all of the Shippuden. I mean not counting Episode 478.

I don’t think Sakura brought any kind emotions in Sasuke except annoyance when they were together in Team 7. Or Hinata too. These girls just moan “Sasuke-Kun”, “Naruto-Kun” but brings nothing to the table. Total wastrels!!!!!

OWNING EACH OTHER’S RIGHTS

This section is exactly where SNS moves on to a whole different level.

Sasuke wanted to inflict his pain over everyone who lives in peaceful Konoha for what it did to Itachi. (though I don’t really accept with Sasuke here since he never even bothered to question about his clan’s history, but what he was doing is understandable. Just like Naruto tells him).

But the context here is Sasuke is on a murder rampage. Starting from the Kage Summit, killing Danzo, unnecessarily hurting Karin and almost reached a point where he could not be stopped anymore. Then Ms.Annoying appears. She literally have no fucking clue what Sasuke is going through. So started to spout nonsense that she wanted to go with Sasuke-Kun with an ulterior motive to kill him without a strong resolve. 

The interesting SS dynamics here is Sasuke asks Sakura “Do you know what I want?” and to which she gives a carefree-shitty-pathetic answer “I don’t care. I will do whatever you want”. Geez!!!

If I were Sasuke, I would think, “This person standing before me don’t even care about what I want but coming with an intent to kill me and not only that... she is a kunoichi from Konoha where I planned to inflict my pain by slaughtering them.. I better ram my Chidori and be done with it”... He doesn’t see her as his former Teammate. He just want to kill that person.

However, Kakashi deflects the attack and saves Ms.Useless. 

( Me : I am a Sasuke fan through and through. But, Sakura..... You always says you will do this, do that.... But you never succeed at anything... Why is that? Why are you even continue being a ninja? No one asked you to kill Sasuke, you decided to. But why don’t you kill him. Probably you would’ve earned my begrudging respect... Pffft” ****sighs with a heavy second hand embarassment)

Anyways, Sasuke becomes an unstoppable maniac at this point because he was very irritated on seeing Kakashi and Sakura spouting some unreachable nonsense. So he started to attack Kakashi as he is even more irritated on seeing his Sharingan.

Again, Ms.Idiot wants to kill Sasuke when he is at his weakest point due to chakra exhaustion and that too from behind his back. (You!!! Gutless wrench). Sasuke sensed this and attempted to kill her again... (Naruto!!! You idiot. Why did you save her...)

However, Naruto appears and saves her. Naruto and Sasuke’s eyes meet each other.

But somehow Sasuke calmed down and hears out Naruto for what he has to say. He says, “Whatever you are doing until now, it’s understandable”. 

Kakashi wanted to kill him and Sasuke got riled up and prepare his Chidori. Anyways, Naruto intervenes and they go to some meta physical plane and talks privately. And Naruto comes up with his idea and announces as below:

Me: Naruto!!!! Sweety..... Do you realize that you have a big dream of becoming a Hokage which you have been shouting from Day 1? But still you want to overthrow everything for that one person who is in unbearable pain. It’s alright. But you don’t want to go alone or send him alone. No Best friend would go this far. And to those Sakura shippers.... Why didn’t Sakura try to bear the burden? Why didn’t she come up with this Idea? Afterall, you spout nonsense like ‘Sakura saved Sasuke from Darkness, isn’t it?’ And, Naruto.... Who gave you the right to take his hatred and shoulder the burden? And what makes you think you are that only person to do it??? Sasuke, might have other special person in those 3 years. How can you decide on Sasuke’s behalf??? Aren’t you going overboard ?

The answer to all the above is simple, Naruto can risk anything for Sasuke. And he clearly knew that Sasuke’s only living bond is him.

And what happened next was almost unbelievable and for the first time I thought ‘What is it with these two guys?’. 

Sasuke agrees with Naruto’s proposition to not destroy Konoha before fighting with Naruto. 

Me: Sasuke!!!! You have every right to reject his proposition. Since, he was not in your life for the past 3 years, your side of bond with Naruto should have been cut-off long back, right? Sasuke??? Well, at this point he was just your former Team 7 member. You don’t need to honor your proposition. You can attack Konoha anytime. Why did you accept?

Also Me: Sweety!!! Why do you always question Naruto ‘Who am I to you’? Why do you need his opinion always? There is an annoying princess standing behind Naruto vying for your attention. And yet you didn’t even ask her this question at any time. But before Naruto, you completely calmed down from your rampage and willing to wait for what he has to say plus asking for his validation. After all you don’t care about anything, why just Naruto???

And the reason being, Naruto is still his closest bond which he couldn’t cut off despite trying very hard. After all, Many years ago, Sasuke was the one, who readily jumped in to protect Naruto knowing full well that it’s a trap. He was ready to throw away his revenge for this boy back then. Sasuke is afraid that he will give in to this bond once more and Naruto is his weakness which he wants to eliminate so badly.

This is definitely not any Best Friend would do..... Fix that in your mind.

The purpose of these GIFs is not show how protective Sasuke is..... Well, I can talk about it all day. Let’s save it.

Me: Yo!!!! Sasuke..... You wanted to kill Naruto.... You said so yourself under the bridge. Meaning, He is the only person standing between your goal and your resolve and Naruto is always known to weaken your resolve. And yet why are you protecting him here? There is absolutely no need. Because, if there is a situation like Kaguya where both of you are must needed to save this world , then there is a reason to save him. But why now? Plus do you know, if Naruto dies, then Madara’s plan may not succeed because if a Jinchuriki dies, tailed beast also dies. It is perfect for your Revolution, isn’t it? Who gave you the right to own his life? Obito has his reason to kill Naruto, why not let him?Why is it that you want to personally remove him from your life? If he is dead by an external factor, you can carry on your path without any interference and pain. Why go so far to protect him ?

The answer is Sasuke values Naruto’s life more than his own even during his Team 7 days. He has this high esteem for Naruto and almost consider it to be a shame if some worthless fool takes his life. And Sasuke never hated Naruto. He once hated Itachi and his resolve to kill was real and intense. But when Orochimaru asked him to kill 1000 people for practice, Sasuke never killed anyone. He even implemented no kill policy for his team “Hebi”. So, someone like Sasuke who never liked to kill random innocent people, how could he let some trash take away a life, he considers dearly to the same level of Itachi? That’s why in this situation, his body moved on his own to protect something special for him. He may not agree it, but he always shows it.

But some other ship wankers try to say Sasuke may have said “You are annoying” but inside he deeply loved her which is why he was smiling. If so, Why didn’t Sasuke never showed his care not even once? He not only tried to kill her twice when she was defenseless but also let her die twice or didn’t bother at all during the war. Or show me where these soul level connection happened between SS or NH

In short, Sasuke and Naruto own each other’s rights unconsciously. Because they are the only ones who can understand each other’s soul which nobody can reach.

Me: Oh, by the way Sasuke, I think Susanoo should be used like this. You really don’t need your hand to protect Naruto. Susanoo can do it’s work for you. Minato would be proud though!!!!

PRIVILEGE

Most of the points I written above are in and of itself is a privilege they give for each other and not for anyone else. Privilege is essential in a ship. Because it shows how different a loved one is from normal people. 

For Naruto, 

I originally want to put how he begs for forgiveness on Sasuke’s behalf before Raikage and weeps immeasurably before hyperventilating. But this one trumps the other. Naruto literally broadcasted everyone how important Sasuke is to him and how he regretted not offering his friendship at that time and how he couldn’t stop Sasuke from reaching Orochimaru. 

If you want to inspire Alliance shinobi forces, you should have shown how you worked so hard from the bottom to top. Projecting Sasuke as your regret and inspiring people shows how deeply you prioritize this person which affects you after so many years and hence, you don’t want any more regrets. 

It’s very unconventionally romantic which passes the shipping category in flying colours. 

For Sasuke,

The following is the Land of the waves arc which was novelized in the name of Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood released in 2006. 99.9% of the material is exactly as it happens in Manga/Anime. 

This is the privilege Sasuke provides for Naruto. “ But coming from Sasuke, It almost counted as a hug”... 

BROWNIE POINTS:

Now, the following are the scenes which add a mysterious flavour to this ship. I sincerely don’t understand why Kishimoto put this. I mean I am absolutely happy with it, but why? What was he thinking while drawing these scenes? 

It’s also strange that, whenever they clash a Chidori with Rasengan..... They always gets repelled to their own sides and fall with a loud thump. But Naruto’s posture looks very perfect, I mean it looks like someone carried him and laid him down. Anyways, What’s Sasuke doing on Naruto’s side?? He should have fell on the opposite side. Why didn’t he walk away? There is absolutely no reason for Sasuke to come over to Naruto’s side and have an intense meaningful gaze. 

This is another mysterious plus intense scene. I am still wondering, Is this really Sasuke? He is a person who avoids casual touches with anyone other than his brother. I’ve seen so many times Sasuke rejecting hugs from Sakura. I can’t even imagine what Kishimoto was thinking. 

If you people pass these scenes off as Brotherhood or Best Friend chemistry... Then you lack basic human emotions. That’s all. 

Me: Well, Sasuke, If you really want to kill him, you should have shovelled your sword right through Naruto’s vital point when you made that exuberant landing. There is literally no need for you to draw a long sword in close quarters. And what about the Personal Space??? With your speed, you can land without leaning on Naruto’s shoulders... 

Also Me: Yo, Naruto... You were panicking when Sai does the same....but you don’t even flinch when Sasuke invades your personal space????

Anyways, it’s funny that both the intense scenes I have mentioned here were initiated by Sasuke. Quite strange and thrilling.

So, to conclude.... All these scenes I have mentioned  made me unconsciously ship them as a pair. With all these being said, I believe all the ingredients for a good romance were laid perfectly. A moment of impulsive tension or affection, say a hug, between them after a difficult battle could mess with both and make a romance happen. And I don’t think either of them will deny especially Sasuke. 

I don’t see any of this aspect in other popular ships such as SS and NH. If I am Sakura or Hinata in this universe, I will not be okay with my pair doing all these things with other person. I intentionally left scenes from Episode 478 as it is so intense and require a separate post. I am happy that even without Episode 478, SNS ship sails high. So, I believe both Sakura and Hinata are still fourth wheeling their respective pairs in Boruto universe also, I guess. 

P.S: I don’t watch Boruto

Final memento:

No way a friend will look this mesmerized on seeing the other one. 

#narusasu #sasunaru #sns #naruto #sasuke #naruto uzumaki #sasuke uchiha #itachi #kakashi #obito #anti sakura #anti hinata #anti sasusaku #anti naruhina

[milgrammer]

[ENG] Molech Voice Drama

Es: [footsteps]

Shido: Hm?

Es: Sorry to have kept you waiting. [footsteps] Prisoner number 5, Shido. 

Shido: No need to. Thank you for all your hard work, Es.

Es: Now then, Shido. Let’s begin the interrogation.

Shido: Very well. Please go ahead.

Es: [hesitates] Ok. Let’s see... Milgram exists to reveal the sins of you, prisoners, and to hand down the appropriate judgement. So, for that reason, talk to me for a bit. 

Shido: Understood. Please take good care of me from now on.

Es: [pauses] Even if this is referred to as an interrogation, at this moment in time, I don’t plan on using violence. In addition to that, any falsehood or silence from you will be acknowledged.

Shido: I see. I might refrain from voicing anything I don’t want to say, but I have no intention of lying to you.

Es: Shido, how’s life in Milgram? Do you have any complaints about its environment? Or have any issues arisen from the other prisoners, etc?

Shido: No particular inadequacies really come to mind. And, my fellow prisoners haven't particularly caused any issues either. Es, I wonder if this is the fruit of all the governing you do? It’s remarkable.

Es: Not really. [hesitates] Hold on a second, Shido. 

Shido: Yes? What is it?

Es: This is… I know it’s me who’s getting things mixed up here, but…  In comparison to all the interrogations thus far, this one has been progressing far too smoothly; it feels somewhat unsettling. 

Shido: I’m not sure what to say to that... 

Es: Hm. [footsteps] Shido, do you seriously not have any reservations about Milgram? 

Shido: Well, let’s see. I mean, without a doubt, it’s clearly a strange place. Its architectural style and the written script it uses are things I’ve never seen before either. If you were to say I was having a dream or a vision, then that would make more sense to me. 

Es: Hm.

Shido: But, all things considered, I’m still very much conscious. My pulse rate is within its normal range. And, I can’t find any symptoms to suggest that I’m hallucinating either. So, I don't exactly find that idea to be very convincing.

Es: Oh?

Shido: Other than that... If this is the afterlife, then this place must be hell. But, if I set that idea aside, then… This is just real life. I, myself, am in normal condition; it’s where I am which is unusual. I may not know the reason behind this place or how it works, but even if I tried to escape from the reality of it, nothing would really change, right?

Es: You sure are composed, aren’t you? 

Shido: That’s just my personality. I just simply don’t think bad of it—this place, I mean. 

Es: You mean, Milgram?

Shido: Yeah, this place will put me to death. 

Es: What?

Shido: I might not get a golden opportunity like this again, so I’ll get straight to the point. Es… You decide how the prisoners will be dealt with, right? 

Es: Yeah. That’s right.

Shido: The death penalty is what I’m hoping for. Thank you in advance. 

Es: I won’t have that. The lot of you can’t decide what your own treatment will be. Only I as the prison guard have the authority to do so.

Shido: Exactly. You as the prison guard have the right to do such a thing, Es, so that’s why I’m asking you for this favour. 

Es: [scratches head, sighs] In regards to your sin, what I’ve gathered so far is that you both regret and have already reflected on your actions. On top of that, you’re also seeking to receive the maximum penalty we have to offer. So, let’s use that information. The idea that I’ll be taking your behaviour into consideration is nothing more than a mere presumption.

Shido: [hesitates]

Es: And, of course, I haven’t thrown away the possibility that you’re only doing this to get on my good side either.

Shido: Hm. I honestly have no idea what you and Milgram are setting out to achieve. You mentioned something about extracting songs and videos from our hearts, and then using them to judge our sins, didn’t you?

Es: Yeah. And, what of it?

Shido: There’s no need for you to go through such a cumbersome process. If you want to hand down the correct punishment for me, then all you have to do is put an end to my life and it'll be over in a blink of an eye.

Es: You’re being annoyingly persistent, Shido! Know your place here. 

Shido: Please listen to me, Es. I’ve killed people. Lots of them as well. It was for such a selfish reason too. I’m a fine specimen of what a genuine murderer ought to be. [footsteps] There’s no reason for you to forgive me. And, I don’t have the desire to be forgiven either.

Es: I really don’t...get you.

Shido: If you don’t put me to death, then neither the people I’ve killed nor their families will be at peace. Don’t you think so too?    

Es: As if that’s my business. I haven’t necessarily sided with your victims and I’m not a family member of theirs either.

Shido: [sighs]

Es: [sighs] Anyway, the only thing I’ll be deciding on is whether or not I forgive you. I don’t even know the details of what punishment will follow after that. 

Shido: Is that so? Es, I suppose you were left in the dark about many things as well just like the rest of us. 

Es: Knowing what happens to the lot of you afterwards might prevent me from making a straightforward decision about whether I should forgive you or not. So, it’s to avoid that from happening. Were you aware of that? 

Shido: Hm… But, this place does smell of the dead though. I’m sure that some sort of death will lie at the end of Milgram.

Es: Smell of the dead? 

Shido: Yes. I can somewhat recognise it from experience… A place which is filled with the smell of the dead, that is. 

Es: Is...that so? Well, either way, Milgram is a three-trial system. It lets me take my time to decide on whether or not I should forgive you. Even if you wish for the opposite, if I decide that you should be forgiven, then it’ll do just that without any hesitation. 

Shido: A three-trial system, right? It’ll take far too long, don’t you think? I’d rather this all be over as soon as possible.

Es: Like I care about what’s convenient for you. Don’t complain about the rules.

Shido: So, if it’s a three-trial system… Then, for example, if you absolutely can’t find it within yourself to forgive me and I don’t lodge an appeal in response, will my treatment be decided on the spot?

Es: That’s the three-trial system according to Japanese law. Milgram’s one is different from that. For the time being, you really should throw away what would be considered common sense there. I mean, if we’re gonna bring up Japan… Due to the abolition of the Prison law, this sort of prison shouldn’t even exist in the first place. (1)

Shido: Wow… 

Es: What is it? You’re going all wide-eyed. 

Shido: Ah, well… I was just thinking about how despite being a child, you’ve really done your research on this.

Es: Hey. [footsteps] You trying to make fun of me, is that it? 

Shido: What? Oh, no. I wasn’t trying to do anything like that.

Es: You were. Something’s been on my mind ever since the very beginning… “Es, this. Es, that.” It’s the belittling way you refer to me…  I’m the prison guard, you know that?

Shido: Oh, I’m completely aware of that. But, you’re still a child in actuality. Coming from me, who’s almost twice the age as you are, I just… 

Es: What is it?

Shido: For a child like you to be entrusted with this sort of role… My heart goes out to you. 

Es: Excuse me?

Shido: I don’t know what circumstances you face while guarding this prison nor the reason as to why you’re doing it, but I’m sure that it must take a toll on you emotionally as well. So, please do your best. [pats head]

Es: [is shook] I see. Oh, I see now. So, that’s how it is. So, that’s how it’s gonna be. [deep breaths]

Shido: Hm? Es?

Es: Don’t you dare… pat my head like that! [kicks]

Shido: [grunts] Please hold on for a second.

Es: Phew, I feel so much better now.

Shido: S-suddenly kicking my shin like that…wasn’t very nice of you.

Es: Shut up! Out of all the prisoners thus far, you’re the one I can’t stand the most. Going all pessimistic like that, running your mouth as if you knew everything, acting as if you’re oh-so mature, and never budging from that composed expression of yours—the nerve of you! On top of that, you even went so far as to pat my head. Do you think I’m your child? Do you?! Don’t fuck with me!

Shido: Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t use violence?

Es: It’s on a case-by-case basis.

Shido: What a thing to say.

Es: Hey, Shido. What the hell do you mean by "I want to die"? Don’t you dare try to insult me with that. Plead for your life with every fibre of your being! Our instinctive desire to stay alive is the very reason why punishments for our sins exist. To Milgram and to me, your very existence is sacrilegious! 

Shido: Es… 

Es: If your shin gets kicked, you’ll feel pain, won’t you? And if it hurts, you’ll cry out, won’t you? You’ll tear up, won’t you? 

Shido: Yeah… 

Es: Well, take that! Even if you boast about wanting to die, the pain you just felt is the exact same thing as your body screaming that it doesn’t want to. 

Shido: [pauses]

Es: While you’re still alive, you should be grabbing life with both hands! Don’t act as if you’re already dead. An adult like that has no right to treat me like a child. It makes my skin crawl. End of discussion!

Shido: I see… If I feel pain, then it’s proof that I want to live?

Es: Hmph!

Shido: [sighs] Well, with that being said, here’s my counterargument to it. It was the nociceptors in my shin which felt that pain. So, it's nothing more than a reaction caused by pain signals being transmitted to my spinal cord and then to my brain. That phenomenon is called nociceptive pain. 

Es: What?

Shido: What I’m saying is… Even if I do want to die, pain is something which will still involuntarily occur. And therefore, you, Es, were making a mistake in your claim.

Es: That's so immature of you. 

Shido: [laughs] It’s payback for kicking my shin like that. But, you know, I think it was an amazing mistake to have made. It was so radiant...to the point where it made me want to turn away. Just as I thought, you truly are a child…but that makes me incredibly happy.

Es: Shido… [mechanical noises] It’s time, huh.

Shido: So, this is what will be “extracting songs”? It sure is intriguing. I wonder what mine will be like. 

Es: Composed no matter what, aren’t you? Is there anything left you'd like to say? 

Shido: Oh, yeah. I don’t know about what the other prisoners may think about Milgram itself, but…  I fully agree with it.

Es: Sure seems that way.

Shido: I’m a fine specimen of what a murderer ought to be. I don’t mind when you hand down your judgement, but if it's possible… Instead of being told by the law that I won’t be forgiven, I wanted a child like you, Es, to tell me that.

Es: What?

Shido: I feel sorry that you had to be given this role. And, I truly apologise for being so insistent about sentencing me to death as well…  But, you’re perfect. You’ll give me the ending I’m most suited for. 

Es: [hesitates] Y-you… What’re you saying? A special request like that is so...

Shido: [laughs] Well, I wonder. I'm just trying to get you to punish me as of now. 

Es: [hesitates] 

Shido: I look forward to you handing down the correct judgment.

Es: You’re making a false presumption there. It’s the fact that it’s my judgment which makes it correct! That’s what Milgram is.

Shido: Then, I look forward to what you deem to be ‘correct’.

Es: Hmph. Say whatever you want.

Shido: Please make sure you don’t forgive me. Okay, Es?

Es: [scoffs] Don’t make me say it over and over again! I don’t give a shit about what you’re hoping for. Prisoner number 5, Shido. Come now. Sing your sins!

「監獄」 [kangoku] were essentially comprised of 「刑務所」 (for those people serving a sentence) and 「拘置所」 (for suspects, those who were awaiting a sentence or those on death row).  They operated under 「監獄法」 (the Prison Law). However, due to abolition of the Prison Law in 2007, those facilities are no longer called 「監獄」, but are now referred to as 「刑事施設」.

#He really should've gone into ASMR lol #Playful Shido is...very nice #Amami's really killing it here #shido kirisaki #shidou kirisaki #milgram #translation #voice drama #drama cd #Tbh if I don't see at least one person simping in the reblog tags #I'll be kinda disappointed #The Shido thirst going around is hilarious #ミルグラム #deco*27

[sitp-recs]

Far From The Tree by aideomai

Harry/Draco (2020, Explicit, 112k)

The arrival of Harry Potter’s children—snapped back in time, the children themselves guessed, twenty or so years—was the most interesting thing to happen at Hogwarts for years.

It was awful, there was going to be no pretending after this. The one good thing that had happened in years, falling into the palm of his hand like a gift from the gods, impossible to understand or earn and sure to be taken away, already slipping through his fingers.

My first 2021 rec was also the hardest one to write so far! Not only I had to check it 268453 times for spoilers, it was also difficult to find the right words to express aideomai’s pure genius without either losing objectivity, giving things away or making a complete mess out of myself. Choosing a quote was also a big challenge - there are so many brilliant, gut-punching lines and I had to find one that made sense out of context, without taking anything away from the reader’s experience. I’m not 100% pleased with this rec, but I hope it has as much heart and devotion as the fic itself!

First things first (and I’m aware I’m repeating myself here, but): aideomai’s superior storytelling skills deserve endless appreciation and praise. They have this unique, seemingly effortless way of exploring a fic concept that leaves me in awe; it’s heartfelt, sophisticated and accessible all at once, which I find very impressive. I was just telling @tackytigerfic​ how this feels like a 400k journey wrapped in 70k because everything happens so organically you don’t even notice 100k flying by. I could wax poetry about the peak world building, perfect atmosphere, exquisite characterization (including Harry’s kids who are so very  charming they immediately stole my heart) or the hot, moving and otherworldly smut, so passionate and breathtaking I can’t think about it without tearing up (I’m serious). But you know what, I think my favorite thing about about this fic is that, despite having all these elements perfectly executed, it remains a love story, and it’s just... as simple as that.

Harry and Draco’s falling in love and evolving relationship are at the center of everything and the author takes their sweet time to present and develop their dynamics in a rich and detailed way, to make sure we realize the hows and the whys later on. The story is told from Draco’s POV and it’s such a privilege to witness his changes of heart, from getting bullied to falling for Harry. We get to see their individual arcs through his conflicted eyes and both took my breath away - their voices are intense, nuanced, and so full of character and emotion it still gives me goosebumps. I love how FFT combined that 8th year’s secretive, light-hearted and experimentative tone with a more mature atmosphere linked to the complications brought by the time travel plotline. These characters are very much 18yo (by that I mean horny, awkward, stupid, tentative and emotionally constipated) but aideomai has found a way to push them into moments of introspection and altruism, and I thought that was phenomenal.

In my humble opinion, this is a perfect fic. It has the perfect amount of angst, humor, mystery, action and romance; these characters grow up before our eyes and everything comes together in such an emotionally satisfying way. The gentle devastation pays off and will make you laugh, cry, cheer and fall in love with their love, which is all we ever want out of a fic. Some moments - especially the RoR scenes - still make me want to relive the joy and hurt I felt while reading them, until it becomes a small and sweet aching, safe inside my memory.  

What a majestic author, what a powerful read. I felt so completely moved, then immersed, then transformed by it, and my emotional hangover is lasting a bit longer than expected, despite Tacky​’s warnings. It’s been a few days and I still feel disoriented, attacked by the bittersweet feeling of knowing that I’ll never be able to read this for the first time ever again. This is a very late rec as I might have been the last person to read it, but if you haven’t yet you’re in luck! I invite you to jump in right now and read one of the best Drarry fics out there, an instant all-time fave that will stay in my mind for a long while. Enjoy!

PS for anyone wondering yes, the graphic is bigger this time because I found the perfect pic but this is the only format in which we get to see it properly - then again this is my first 2021 rec so I say let’s go big or go home 😎

Read on AO3

#drarry #drarry fic rec #fave

[rainbowsky]

The Wolf Reviewed

Spoiler-free section

My life is divided into two eras: ‘before seeing GG as Ji Chong’ and ‘after seeing GG as Ji Chong’. I will never be the same.

GG is magical in this series, and Ji Chong is among my absolute favorite characters of all time (I am actually in love with this character, which is heartbreaking given the fact that he’s fictional). The show also has many interesting characters and some exciting storylines, and in spite of some of its flaws this series is quite good. Highly recommended.

Of course there’s a lot more to it than that, but I can’t give a full review without spoilers. Here’s the rest for those who have already seen the series.

Spoilers under the cut

OK, where to start?

The Characters

There were so many great characters in this story and overall I found the performances of all of them well-acted and exciting to watch. I especially loved Ji Chong and Yao Ji. Both were complex, mysterious characters who stole the show every time they were onscreen.

Ji Chong was incredible. Everything about him was over-the-top amazing. I can imagine that GG must have identified a lot with Ji Chong because he has a similarly gallant, charismatic and kind personality. Seeing GG perform a character like this was mind-blowing because of the harmony between them in spite of their physical differences.

I could go on and on about how much I love Ji Chong as a character but if you’ve seen the series you already know how great he is. I truly fell in love with that man. He was everything I love in a person, and in such a beautiful package. I loved his nimble mischievousness, his rebelliousness, his fierce independence, his devotion to those he loves, and above all, his integrity.  With one exception that I’ll get into later, everything he did in that series was consistent with the image I had of him and it made my heart melt.

And it was pretty insane to see GG go from the thin, twinkish, bubbly and somewhat diminutive Wei Wuxian to the rugged, masculine, mature and level-headed Ji Chong. Not only because of the personality differences between the two characters, but also because of the physical differences. They look like two entirely different people. Ji Chong looks so tall and imposing in the series!

It’s impressive to see GG’s acting ability shine through in these roles. He has such a gift for acting, and for drawing viewers into the hearts of the characters he plays.

Yao Ji was another character that really impressed me. She had so much intensity and complexity, and her character arc was so strong. She was also just incredibly well styled and she looked breathtaking in every single frame she appeared in. The various headpieces and hairstyles she wore were stunning, and her sidekick Zi Shen was an aesthetic marvel.

I also really loved Ma Jing. Despite the fact that she was often used for comedic effect, her character was quite nuanced and multidimensional. I loved her loyalty and strength, and the depth of the love she had for Ma Zhai Xing really shone through in every scene she was in.

The entire Night Fury group was also amazing. I loved them as a team and as individuals, and the trajectories their characters went through were interesting and engaging. I was really invested in what became of them. When Wen Yan died I was gutted, and I was grateful that Hai Die and Mo Xiao had such a satisfying conclusion to their story.

I also adored Butler Shi. What a great character. He reminded me of one or two guys I know hehe. He had such a warm, endearing quality about him.

I’m realizing that I could sit here and name almost every character in this series. Despite some of the problems that I have with it, I’m reminded that the characters are exceptionally well-realized in this series.

The Story

Overall I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the story. It was exciting and engaging, and there were some very interesting side conflicts and intrigues. There was an overall sense of adventure and plenty of action, some really emotional moments and even comic relief.

When you think about it, almost every character had something deeper going on outside of the main plot, and those side/back stories were really interesting and varied. There was complexity to the characters and their motives and experiences without it overcomplicating the plot.

The romances were not my cup of tea. I’ll get into that later on. But despite being the thread that ran through the entire story, they really didn’t feel central to it and it was easy to simply enjoy the show while putting aside the annoyances I had with the romances (I did this primarily by consciously choosing to take the story at face value, and choosing to believe that Ma Zhai Xing really was through with Prince Bo).

The show did a great job of getting me engaged and keeping me interested, giving me a story that was complex without being confusing, emotional without being too sappy (with some exceptions). The action, fight scenes, battles, etc. were exciting without feeling fake and cliche. There were some well-choreographed scenes.

I really can’t complain about much. I mean, there were times when I was watching this series that I thought I hated it, but in retrospect I can see that I really loved it in spite of some of the flaws, which I’ll discuss in a moment.

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack was quite good, even if it felt repetitive when I was bingeing the show. So many songs have stuck with me since I finished the series. I especially like Backflow by Jolin Tsai (second-last song on the playlist I linked). Of course I would have loved a song or two with GG, but the soundtrack we got was memorable.

What I hated

I really struggled with some aspects of this series.

I found Bao Na mostly unwatchable. She was incredibly annoying. As a character she had all the traits I dislike. Whiny, stalker, demanding, emotionally immature, jealous... I really couldn’t stand that character for a lot of the series.

It’s true that she started to redeem herself a bit through the course of the series but she never really evolved into someone I wanted to see more of. I definitely had some moments where I liked her and sympathized with her, but mostly she grated on my nerves.

I also hated Prince Bo through most of the series, and found it insulting that I was expected to view him as the protagonist and cheer for him to win the princess’s heart. I felt that the ‘love-hate’ thing between Prince Bo and Ma Zhai Xing was overplayed to a point where I lost all sympathy with Prince Bo and desperately wanted him to die a horrible death through much of the series.

His behavior didn’t reflect someone who was in love but wanted to protect her. Much of his behavior was excessive and gratuitous, much worse than was necessary to achieve its stated goal. He was incredibly emotionally and psychologically abusive toward Ma Zhai Xing to a degree that was often really hard to watch. Especially his near-rape of her.

This is a man that I didn’t want to see redeemed. This is a man I wanted to see burned alive. No one who truly loved Ma Zhai Xing would be even remotely capable of the actions Prince Bo took.

I will admit that he did begin to redeem himself in my eyes a bit later in the series, but not to where I could ever see him with Ma Zhai Xing. I don’t think that’s the sort of treatment one can ever redeem in a relationship. He might be able to redeem himself, but not the relationship. There are some lines, once crossed between people, that one can never come back from.

I actually felt that Yao Ji was a much better match for Prince Bo than the princess was. They were true equals with similarly difficult pasts, and similarly dark deeds to redeem themselves from. They were in so many ways perfect for each other.

Ji Chong and Ma Zhai Xing were a better match because they were more natural equals in terms of personality, values and life paths. There were tremendous parallels between the two of them. Although I ended up feeling she didn’t deserve him.

So for me, it was really difficult to get invested in the love stories I was presented with. Ultimately I found them all very unsatisfying. The people I wanted to see together were treated as unsuitable for each other in ways that were completely unbelievable, and the people I was expected to want to see together had unconvincing chemistry and incompatibilities that I couldn’t overlook.

Seeing Ma Zhai Xing die in the end was an OUTRAGE. Especially when I read about the director’s rationale for that decision.

“Her thought process on killing off “Zhai Xing” was that “King Bo” had done so much for her that it was time for her to do something for him. “Her character had matured the most in the series. Dying for Wolf Boy is the best ending for this identity of hers. To me, this perfect ending is even more in line with her character’s growth.””

I found that shocking. I couldn’t disagree more with this sentiment. She wasted so much of herself and her life for Prince Bo. He treated her like crap, and he didn’t ever truly do anything to redeem himself from that behavior. He should have been the one to die.

In my opinion, REAL character growth for Ma Zhai Xing would have been to see her overcome the fixation with Wolf Boy and with Prince Bo and just move on with her life.

I will say this, though: By the time Ma Zhai Xing died in the show, her character had already been so utterly and thoroughly decimated beyond all recognition via the Prince Bo housewife trajectory that there was no point in her surviving.

The absolute worst moment for me, though, was Ji Chong ending up with Bao Na. Talk about adding insult to injury. This is the one thing that Ji Chong did as a character that ran against my understanding of him as a character.

You could have done anything at all to Ji Chong, including killing him or turning him into a villain, and it would have been less of an insult to me than putting him with Bao Na.

I do try to interpret his invitation for them to travel together in a non-romantic way (despite the fact that in the world of the show there’s no way that a princess is going to go traveling with a prince without her reputation being ruined unless they are a couple). But when I tell myself that he took her traveling to get her away from court and give her some life experience - as friends only - then it becomes less of a bitter pill to swallow. I could see him doing that for her, and I could see them developing a strong friendship through their travels.

I just can’t see them as remotely romantically compatible. Not on any level.

I found it completely unconvincing that the most emotionally mature, honorable person in the entire series who had the healthiest boundaries and a lot of worldly experience and intelligence, would have any interest whatsoever in someone as emotionally immature, childish and inexperienced (and with no boundaries whatsoever) as Bao Na.

I would have preferred it if they’d framed that whole thing as him being a sort of big brother/mentor figure to her.

I felt like I saw chemistry and compatibility between Bao Na and Fourth Prince Chu You Ze, and I would have loved to see them end up together. They were much more at an equal footing. I was expecting that to be the outcome and it would have been a sweet one. They would have made a cute couple.

Final thoughts

The romances in this story seemed fixated on unhealthy, often misogynistic power imbalances and they were really, really hard to watch. Not just in terms of Prince Bo and Ma Zhai Xing but also the ugly Ji Chong and Princess Bao Na hookup they tried to get me to swallow at the end. I hate that kind of ‘love’ story. I prefer seeing actual equals find each other in the great wide world.

However, pretty much everything else about the series was excellent. Ji Chong owns my heart and I only wish I could see more of him. GG completely blew me away and far exceeded all of my expectations.

Overall, I really love this series and will definitely be rewatching it.

#the wolf #ji chong #actor gg #review #my beloved ji chong

[skamamoroma]

I am attempting to put my finger on why ATOTS is grabbing people’s hearts like it is and why it’s so charming to use the word you used because same! Lol. What are your thoughts? [PS: I watched Skam Italia along with you And watched ITSAY on your rec and you’ve never let me down!]

Ahhh dude, that made me smile so much. Yey for you still being here ❤️

In answer to your question, I think it’s a lot of things. For me, I watched an interview with the director P’Oaf and I was really heartened that because he’s a gay man himself and felt a disconnect with the idea of creating LGBT+ content under a title other than LGBT+ content that he wanted to create a more adult love story that was for the LGBT+ community and didn’t cater for anything other than that. It was a really lovely interview and I think the finished product shows. The sexuality of Phupha or Tian is really not a thing, it’s not made a big deal of and their story isn’t centred around it at all. They’re just in love. End of. If you know me, you know I am wary of watching shows with LGBT+ themes unless I know they are handled respectfully and made for the right reasons so this is a huge one for me.

Another reason, for me, is the fact that we’re all so disconnected and lacking warmth and closeness and emotional connection because of this shit show of a year and a bit. The show is so kind and gentle and warm and lovely. The music even makes me feel cheered up. It’s full of the things we’re missing and the messages of self discovery, emotional development, community, love, friendship and connection... not to mention meaning in life are just so welcome right now.

The chemistry. This is a huge one for me. It’s not just between Phupha and Tian but the cast as a whole. Tian and the kids, Phu and the other rangers, Phu and Nam, Nam and Tian, Tian and Tul, Torfun and Phu etc. Every dynamic is so full of warmth and playfulness and this lovely sense of familiarity. But the biggie is always going to be between the love interests and JESUS their chemistry is a major selling point. I know Mix and Earth have known one another for many years and are v close friends (which shows) but that doesn’t always = good romantic chemistry. But these two have something that’s often very difficult to achieve and to think this is Mix’s first acting gig is genuinely ridiculous. It’s difficult for any romantic pairing to be SO COMPELLING at Episode 6 with barely touching. If you think about it, they’ve barely touched at all. Their chemistry is in their eyes, their words (“I just want to talk to you” being the most god damn beautiful), their actions, their dynamic, the way they challenge one another, the things they do when the other isn’t around and the way they improve the other. It means that when they DO share moments, the foundation in how you consider their feelings is so strong that the smallest thing is hugely meaningful and emotional. It’s very very well done and often hugely lacking in most dramas and love stories. Most love stories jump from 0-50 relatively quickly or the build up isn’t given time and space. The amount of time given to Tian and Phupha’s connection and gradual development is a huge part of why I think the show works so well. There are NO distractions other than the drama of their existence which all plays into their love story too. The entire show is focused on just these two with the other characters around them still forwarding both of their stories. It’s so refreshing. The fact their chemistry is electric and genuinely sometimes a little overwhelming means that they don’t even need to try too hard and include too much to achieve what they intend but they still do and you feel treated to such a genuine and carefully handled love story. Who doesn’t love that?!

Plus you have the stuff that isn’t directly related to the love story (but still all connects) like the tea seller arc, the truth about Tian’s heart and Torfun’s death and the knowledge that something about his dad will come out later on. All of it is compelling and all of it impacts the love story too... it gives a sense of there being stakes and challenge to overcome but the show is kind so I don’t feel too concerned about a happy ending. I’m so sure it’ll be wrapped up beautifully.

Also, the dynamic between Phupha and Tian is not necessarily new aka they have this push and pull relationship. Phu is technically an authority figure tasked with protection of the village, which includes Tian. But I like that there’s a real passing of the power dynamic between them. They tend to be my FAVOURITE types of relationship. I love characters who challenge each other and there have been real moments of strength and authority by Phupha but also such softness and vulnerability (so much actually) that I smile whenever people say he’s stern because DUDE IS A SOFTIE (and Tian knows it). It’s the same with Tian. He is adorable and endearing but also kinda bratty at times and really doesn’t let Phupha get away with anything. He’s a little more emotionally mature than the Chief in some ways but he still learns a lot from him. He also delights in knocking Phupha off kilter at times in the way he’ll push and push and test him... and insist on sharing or equality in their dynamic. It’s really really lovely. Also, they just like to tease the other ALL OF THE TIME and both of them just enjoy it too much... and then you’re like HOW ARE YOU BOTH SO STUPIDLY SHY TOO?!

But Tian alone is a really really loveable character and seeing as he’s the main, you root for him despite all of his misgivings and his past. You love him and cheer him on. Those moments the show beautifully includes where his old life is contrasted with his new and he recognises it himself are just so moving.

Then you have the setting and the scenery. The show was created in one constant struggle 😂 seeing the BTS is mental. They really really were against it and yet the finished product is so lovely. Some of the shots are just so ridiculously beautiful... some of the moments framed by the mountains or the trees or the way the sun shines, it’s just gorgeous.

And the music. Is it just me or does the score keep getting more beautiful? Some of the swelling music moments make me cry because of the music. I’m a HUGE fan and focused on music in movies and TV and I’ve been obsessed with scores since I was a teenager (it’s why I lost my shit at ITSAY last year). The title song is so beautiful and sweet that I remember when I first watched the trailer all those weeks back, it made me instantly feel something for the show.

All in all, it’s a real gift of a show. It’s just lovely. It’s very very very sweet and just such a comforting thing to watch. I genuinely have been cheered up by it for the past few weeks and I hear the theme song and see the adorable credit sequence and I’m smiling so easily. So I guess there are lots of reasons why it has resonated for people but I’m just glad it’s a show that exists. It’s just sweet and we need more of that!

#wow this is long #a tale of thousand stars #atots #1000 stars #ask #thoughts etc

[scarletarosa]

The 15 Signs of Astrology 

The original Astrological chart which contains 12 signs may often feel inaccurate or biased for many people. This is indeed because it is primarily meant for entertainment; however, it is also because the chart is quite old and is missing essential constellations that are just as present and influential as the “original” constellations. The original chart was also inaccurate in the dates of each constellation, as some signs are in the sky for only a short period of time. You needn’t adopt this completed chart if you don’t wish to, but it is good to question things and experiment with new information. Additionally, the sign you are born under does not represent who you are meant to be, but personal challenges you must overcome in order to reach your potential.

Aries (April 19th - May 13th) 25 days

Taurus (May 14th - June 12th ) 30 days

Orion (June 13th - June 23) 11 days (a mysterious sign)

Gemini (June 24th-July 20th) 27 days

Cancer (July 21st - August 9th) 20 days

Leo (August 10th - September 15th) 37 days

Virgo (September 16th - October 30th) 45 days

Libra (October 31 - November 22) 23 days

Scorpio (November 23 - November 29) 7 days

Ophiuchus (November 30 - December 17) 18 days

Sagittarius (December 18 - January 18) 32 days

Capricorn (January 19 - February 15) 28 days

Aquarius (February 16 - March 11) 24 days

Pisces (March 12 - April 9) 29 days

Cetus (April 10 - April 18) 9 days (a very unique and mysterious sign)

Aries 

Greek symbol: The Golden Fleece/Ares 

Tarot Card: The Fool

These signs are very creative but can be prone to selfishness if they aren’t fully matured. They can also be easily angered and even destructive in such cases- their temper is often quite fiery and explosive. On a positive note, they are able to absorb great amounts of information and can deal well with dynamic change. Sometimes they will do what they want whilst ignoring others, which can be both good and bad. They like to jump into opportunities and may be prone to impulsiveness and stubbornness. 

Positively, Aries’ have a strong-will and can be quite confident in themselves. Their emotional life often focuses around themselves unless someone shows the Aries that they need them. So they usually enjoy people who need them or they prefer being left alone. They have great sexual drive and seek satisfaction more than security. If they do find a partner with whom they want a family, they tend to energetic, protective, and loyal. 

Taurus 

Greek symbol: The Taurus Bull that carried Europa 

Tarot Card: Judgment

These signs strongly value perseverance and determination. They will follow their objective to the end. Taurus’ make good loyal friends who enjoy comforts; however, they will easily sacrifice these comforts in order to achieve their goals. These signs like to have others remind them of their own value, not because they are insecure, but because it helps them feel loved and appreciated. They also enjoy giving and receiving presents, sometimes even hoarding them. 

Though despite their tendency towards the material, they are very practical and they refuse to give up what is essential to their well-being in order to please others. Due to this, they may sometimes come across as stubborn, but this is not fair to them as their opinions tend to be based on fairness towards themselves. They are very sensual people and they love pleasure. They tend to care deeply about their home and family, and are not the sort who seeks solitude, so they may have many friendships. 

Orion

Greek symbol: The Giant Orion 

Tarot Card: (None/Hidden Sign) Illumination and Sudden Gnosis

Those born under the unique sign of Orion make great defenders, protectors, and benefactors of those who are disadvantaged. They will seek to illuminate people and protect them from aggressors, as well as assist them in difficult situations. These signs can be very passionate about teaching/illuminating others, and seeking/showing truth. They are gentle protectors and guides as well. They strongly value truth and wisdom and tend to be just as eager to learn as they are to teach. 

Gemini 

Greek symbol: Castor and Pollux 

Tarot Card: The Devil

Geminis are often prone to sudden sweeping changes that bring havoc to their plans, only to realize later that it helped them evolve. These signs can show a very sensitive side with regards to being good communicators of their feelings. They also sometimes appear to be indecisive and may have difficulty sticking to just one thing. 

Geminis have all the tools they need to find the answers to their questions within themselves. Sometimes they tend to wear “masks” in their social life and may be a bit fickle, they aren’t normally very serious about their relationships and prefer to be light-hearted. They can especially achieve knowledge and wisdom through adversity if they heed the lessons.

Cancer

Greek symbol: Crab sent by Hera 

Tarot Card: The Hierophant. 

Cancers are not very social, but are extremely emotionally sensitive. They tend to have gentle hearts, but don’t seem to know how to demand their own rights. They often feel difficulty when trying to protect themselves from others and may not know how to be vocal with their own needs. They love to daydream and think of various scenarios, causing them to often be lost in their thoughts and withdrawn.

These signs can display an analytical mind but unfortunately, they are sometimes hampered by their indecisiveness and lack of action. They have a bond with theoretical and spiritual thought; especially enjoying philosophy. They are quite good with money as well. They must take care to learn how to set their boundaries and care for their own needs. Their lesson is to find their inner-strength and voice.

Leo 

Greek symbol: The Lion of Nemea 

Tarot Card: Strength

Leos tend to display a fiery temperament and they often go head-long towards trouble without considering the outcomes. However, this often works in their favour because of their dynamic nature that helps them display good leadership. 

They love to be surrounded by friends and will often attempt to be the “magnetic-pole” in a party. They enjoy being dominant in relationships, which can be both positive and negative (depending on their maturity). Sometimes, their ego gets in the way of learning new things because they dislike facing their own errors. This is something they must learn to overcome so they may reach their potential. 

Virgo 

Greek symbol: Demeter, goddess of harvest

Tarot Card: Wheel of Fortune

These signs tend to be introspective and calculating; taking into account tradition, as well as knowledge (which they highly regard). They do not display the most social behaviour unless prompted; however, they are able to deal with most of the social challenges presented to them with little difficulty. They value tradition and knowledge, but will be daring to go beyond that if they discover hidden truths. 

Sometimes they hesitate to grab on to the opportunities presented to them, and others may think that these signs procrastinate. However, they are shown to be level-headed and able to influence those around them positively. They tend to be dependable and excellent friends. They place a lot of emphasis on mutual understanding in relationships, as well as communication. 

Libra

Greek symbol: Astrea, goddess of justice 

 Tarot Card: The World

Libras strongly value justice and always try to have more perspectives added to their viewpoints. This makes them quite wise and excellent when it comes to debates. They can be very social and tend to enjoy being present in every venue if possible. Libras also value good manners and education, and for those of them who are mystically-inclined, they find difficulty in balancing their emotions in regards to their destiny. They can be over-protective in relationships, but usually mean well. 

Scorpio 

Greek symbol: Scorpion that killed Orion 

Tarot Card: The Magician

Scorpios greatly favour their individuality and freedom of expression. They have a tendency towards the supernatural and will pursue this- sometimes disregarding even loved ones. They are seekers of the hidden paths and of mystical knowledge, even making such things the centre of their lives. 

What matters to these signs is their affirmation of will, which can sometimes can be problematic in relationships if they are unmatured. On a positive note, they are very daring when it comes to sexuality and they enjoy exploring this. They tend to be very unique and passionate people. 

Ophiuchus 

Greek symbol: Asclepius, god of healing

 Tarot Card: (None/Hidden Sign) Dark Moon 

These signs are associated with transformation of bad into good, lessons from the past turned into wisdom, and the healing of past traumas. They enjoy challenges and helping others, but sometimes become drowned in their own efforts to help by the toxicities of others. These signs also tend to be drawn to a long journey of discovery, and sometimes lose their sense of self amidst the many options around them. They are strong despite their pain and often find their way through the obstacles of life. 

Knowledge is highly valued by them, especially the knowledge of how to heal emotional wounds and physical pains. This causes many of them to become doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc. However, a big challenge of theirs is learning when to stop trying to heal others- as their valiant efforts can end up making them emotionally exhausted or inclined to take on others’ pain. They are often drawn towards victims, since they strongly desire to assist and heal those who are hurt; which can cause both pain and rewards in their life. 

Sagittarius 

Greek symbol: Chiron the centaur 

Tarot Card: The Star

These signs are very hopeful and optimistic. They tend to be very eager to experiment and learn new things, making their lives and personality quite exciting. They also tend to live an active life-style and are easy-going. Sagittarius’ are often drawn to technology, even as a career. 

These signs are also able to fight through oppositions, making them successful in many endeavors and strong-hearted as well. They can be active and social in gatherings through their friendly personality. They tend to be balanced in relationships and have a good sense of humour.

Capricorn 

Greek symbol: Pan, god of the wilderness 

Tarot Card: The High Priestess

Capricorns regularly exhibit a tendency towards activity and being fiesty. Although they tend to be easy-going and aren’t very demanding of others. They are intuitive and often display great emotional strength.They can also be easily fed-up with the negative sides of people, but are often patient and believe in their own ability to cope with such things. 

Capricorns don’t become unsettled very easily and they deeply value family-life. They enjoy sexuality and need their partners to be both dependable and focused on the well-being of their home life. 

Aquarius 

Greek symbol: Deucalion 

Tarot Card: The Hermit

Aquarius’ never seem satisfied with their life and constantly want to change things up with both their environment and appearance. They are also bold in what they want, but sometimes this will not show socially. They can appear as outworldly giving and empathetic, but they are also very withdrawn and secretive. 

They require plenty of time alone, as they especially need time to think and recover from social activities. They value truth and freedom very highly. Sometimes, Aquarius’ may feel suffocated when restrained to social norms, causing them often appear unique when compared to others. They highly value their own freedom greatly, and so require a partner who is laid-back and not controlling. 

Pisces 

Greek symbol: Aphrodite and Eros as the fish

Tarot Card: The Hanged Man

Pisces’ are dreamers, knowledge-seekers, and deep-thinkers. They are often very mystical and wise, willing to make sacrifices for great change. These signs are very outwardly serene, hiding any inner turmoils. They also have deeply analytical minds and are often protective like mothers/fathers towards others. 

Pisces’ tend to be very patient and generous with other people, even to the point of self-sacrifice. However, these signs do find difficulty in forgetting or forgiving once hurt and experience a lot of emotional pain related to past injustices. Love and acceptance is highly important to them, as well as having a stable home. They can also be quite sensitive towards the feelings of others, making many of them deeply empathetic. 

Cetus (The Whale) 

Greek symbol: Leviathan/Poseidon’s sea monster 

Tarot Card: The Tower

These very special signs experience periods of cataclysmic changes very often throughout life. The Tower of their life constantly falls, only to be built back up by Cetus again over and over- gaining more wisdom each time. These signs are changed through pain in order to gain great wisdom and patience. Though they can make their dreams a reality through careful planning. They tend to be excellent managers of resources- whether these are people or materials. 

Cetus’ never betray their friends, as they are deeply loyal and loving. However, their wrath is terrible. Due to their struggles, these signs know suffering very well, but they have become strong from it. They are deeply wise and mature quickly in life. In relationships, they tend to be hopeful and try to look at the bright side, despite any past hurts. 

They also don’t allow disappointments to impact their attempts at recovery. They are very generous, especially in relationships, and focus on true love, no matter how hard it may be to find. They refuse to surrender to people who go against their values. Cetus’ can be very sexually passionate and giving of themselves with the right partner. They desire only the truest partner for themselves, as they don’t want to give themself away to anyone who is less than what they need.

(Additional credit to @melias-cimitiere​ for help with the research)

Read here for an analyses of why the 15 signs are more accurate than 12

#astrology #zodiac #zodiac signs #natal chart

[ariainstars]

Ben Solo - A Sad Star Wars Story

Warning: longer post. (And possibly, a few unpopular opinions.)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a start: I’m not here to say I like how the sequels ended with Episode IX, in particular the way they handled their protagonist.

It sucked, to say the least.

I am writing this because looking back now, I can hardly imagine how the authors could have wrapped up the sequel trilogy with the happy ending we expected.

Let’s start with that word: happy. Honestly, did anyone want Ben to be “happy” with what Rey has become? I did expect her to fall down the rabbit hole. We repeatedly have witnessed how aggressive and judgmental she is; and by all logic, she had to meet her own Dark Side in order to realize that she has no right to judge the man she first knew as Kylo Ren. The moment I heard Palpatine’s evil laugh in the first trailer, I figured he had come to pursue Rey, not him. Unfortunately, her moment of shock was short and she hardly learned from it; if anything, since Luke sent her right back into the battle. This scene may have been what fanbros expected from Luke, but honestly, it was ridiculous. It did not fit to The Last Jedi’s Luke and it did not do Rey any favor.

And: had Ben emerged victoriously, found his happy ending, how would the title “The Rise of Skywalker” be justified? He is a Skywalker by blood, but in fact he is a Solo.

  Wrapping Up the Saga

The sequels were received with mixed feelings from the start. Fans of old were angry at The Force Awakens since it seemed to say that history was repeating itself; that the heroes or the original trilogy had brought down the Empire but not managed to preserve peace. We saw them separated from one another as they once had been, disillusioned and worn out. Not the mention the wasp’s nest that was raised by The Last Jedi! If the Prequel Trilogy dismantled the illusion that the Jedi were perfect, the Sequel Trilogy definitively does the same with the Skywalker family. Both messages are clear for everyone to see, provided one is ready and willing to see them.

If Star Wars is a tale with a moral - and given its approach and the fact that it was handed over by Lucas to Disney of all studios it is - then the authors are trying since the 80ies to teach our minds to a compassionate approach on both villains and heroes. One of the main reasons why many fans dislike the prequels is that they expected to see the Jedi and Anakin / Vader being cool; they felt let down by witnessing the Jedi’s narrow-mindedness and Anakin’s strong emotionality. The affronted reactions to The Last Jedi were on the same line of thought. The prequels showed that the Jedi were not the good guys, and for the observant viewer this is already clear enough in the original trilogy. But it was only with The Last Jedi that the elephant in the room was finally approached.

Through Rey, The Rise of Skywalker makes clear that wanting to be a Jedi does not entail actual heroism but the conviction of being a hero. And Rey’s dyad in the Force, the tragic figure of Ben Solo, warns about the dangers coming from a child and teenager no one believed in as a person because everybody only saw his powerful potential.

The Jedi’s Failure

Neither Luke nor Anakin nor Rey needed the Jedi in order to become heroes. They already were good-hearted, brave and idealistic when we first met them. The Jedi ways did not make any of them happy; they learned to use their powers and employed them for short-lived “victories”, but they never found lasting peace.

Not a few fans have wondered how Luke Skywalker, who believed in his father despite all, could give up on his nephew that fatal night (even if it was only a moment of panic). Simply put: as strong and mature as he is by the time of Return of the Jedi, Luke suffers from a father trauma, and he desperately wishes for Vader to become Anakin again, his father, who used to be a hero. When he asks Vader to leave and come with him, it is not out of pure idealism but also a personal request. But Luke did not need his nephew. The moment he had at the temple was a personal issue, it had little to do with Ben’s strength in the Force or his status as Luke’s model student: Luke was afraid that Ben would be the end of everything he loved. Luke, Leia and Han were thrown together by a trauma bonding; Ben had no place with them because he hadn’t been through the same.

The actual tragedy in Ben Solo’s life was the bitter realization, over and over, that he was not needed by anyone (except for being abused, e.g. by Snoke). Ben desired Rey even before he had met her because she was powerful but unexperienced, and he hoped to find sense and belonging by protecting and instructing her. No wonder Rey’s rejection in the Throne Room drove him out of his mind with rage: it was another confirmation of what he had experienced all his life - that people can do without him. So he decided, bitterly and sullenly, that he could do without others as well. But over and over, he had to realize that he could not escape his want for connection. He kept hunting for Rey; and he was very conflicted both when it came to his father and his uncle, letting on that he did have an emotional connection with both of them although he didn’t want to accept it.

Ben’s tragedy was that he did not want to be special at all, and that contrarily to his uncle and grandfather he was aware of it. Ben simply wanted to belong somewhere.

It is an intrinsic part of the saga that a hero is never a hero “because he is superior to others for… reasons”: Star Wars does not bow to that cliché. Some people are born with the capacity to tap into the Force, but not all of the saga’s heroes have it. The morally good qualities a person has, the right decisions they make are not inborn but passed on, learned, communicated. In A New Hope Luke was saved by Han, to whom he had offered companionship and set an example by trying to save Leia. In Return of the Jedi Vader was won over by his son’s loyalty and sacrifice. For an average action film hero, this kind of attitude or outcome of his adventures would be unacceptable: a hero is expected to be triumphant, not saved by someone else. And I know enough fans who don’t understand Luke and prefer Han or Vader to him, who are both cooler and more predictable.

In film, where characters need to be introduced to the audience within the scope of minutes, narratives are applied in a way that the general audience gets them quickly. The downside is that this goes at the expense of nuances. Fans don’t like to see Anakin being passionate and stormy because as Darth Vader he was coded as brutal but cool; they don’t get Obi-Wan’s many mistakes because he was coded as a hero, or Yoda’s arrogance due to his status as a wise old mentor. The sequels brought this dichotomy to a new level coding Rey as the heroine although she has a bad attitude and comes from bad blood, and Ben Solo as the villain when his attitude is conflicted at worst, and who is the offspring of the original story’s heroes. The difference lies in their intentions - hers are good, his are bad. This is interesting because it makes us, the audience, question ourselves as to how and why we believe we can tell good from evil.

You could probably say into a megaphone that the Jedi are not the good guys who always win, that the Force is not a superpower belonging only to the Jedi and that there is no simple Dark and Light but that the Force needs balance: some viewers will never get it. I guess everybody feels the saga’s subtext on a subconscious level; but woe betide if someone like Rian Johnson brings it up to the surface for everyone to see.

  Narrative Key

One of the main reasons why The Last Jedi is so divisive is, I think, that its major theme connecting all of the others is communication. While the prequels told much about miscommunication or lack thereof, Episode VIII is packed full of beautiful examples of what happens when people actually manage to communicate; and even when they do not, they learn from their misunderstanding one another (e.g. Poe with Admiral Holdo).

It is a common but major mistake not to question the narrative key to a story. Many Star Wars fans believe the story is simply about the good guys defeating the bad guys, so they overlook the deeper themes of the saga and respond with outrage when the authors try to humanize their heroes, bringing them down from their alleged pedestal. It is e.g. helpful to know Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory; to consider that a film saga is not the same as a TV show and that therefore if the characters go through changes these must be significant from one instalment to the next due to the time limitations; to watch a few films by Akira Kurosawa, in particular The Hidden Fortress, to understand the significance of a major event seen through different eyes; or consider the prequels’ parallels with legends, classic literature, or the Bible - Lucifer’s fall, Romeo and Juliet, the tales of King Arthur. Star Wars is a conglomeration of many narratives, from Western films to the Japanese to French fairy tales to Greek mythology to Shakespearean drama. Who approaches these films expecting mere “action” is bound to be disappointed. It is understandable, however, that if you are used to certain kinds of stories, you will assume that every story should basically follow the same lines, and you will have difficulties accepting anything that is different, or believe it’s just badly made.

I still remember the (sometimes vicious) quarrels I followed in an online forum a few years ago about a Japanese mecha anime who some fans by hook or crook wanted to fit into the structure of a French novel. Of course, those two narratives don’t fit together: no wonder most of the other fans didn’t accept that kind of interpretation.

The Phantom of the Opera’s film version of 2004 was largely a failure both with regard to quality and audience appreciation because it made a tacky Byronic romance of a story that actually is a mystery thriller, probably expecting that it would be more appealing that way. What the filmmakers accomplished was making the story flat and the characters annoying by stripping them of the drama behind the original story.

Filming Rebecca’s film version from 1940 Hitchcock managed the transition excellently maintaining the storyline of the original novel; but Daphne duMaurier’s book is a coming-of-age story, and who expects a crime thriller may feel irritated by the narrators’ meandering and detailed inner monologue.

Game of Thrones also could not culminate in “all’s well that ends well”. The last season was not well-made, but I think now that was not the whole reason behind the audience’s disappointment. The show always was very crude and included loads of horrific events; even the worst victims of the war, who seemed to have a justification for their actions and seemed well-meaning, at times did terrible things. It would be a misfit to apply a happy ending to a “sex and violence” narrative as with another martial epic, like Aeneid and Iliad. Who waits for happy endings ought to avoid this kind of story from the start. (Yes, I know, I should listen to my own advice - had I imagined how depressing Rogue One is, Star Wars fan or not, I would probably have skipped it.)

Stories of this kind can be dissatisfying because as an audience, we follow our heroes’ adventures, sometimes for years, and we usually want to see them to find their happiness in the end. But in all honesty: we should have imagined.

That is why I think it was naïve to believe that the sequel trilogy would lead Ben to a happy ending with Rey. I have read more than one fanfiction which irritated me at first, until I realized that they were told on the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey, or Pride and Prejudice. That may work well for a fanfiction, but Star Wars is not a mere romance. Even if there was a hint of the overture to Romeo and Juliet during the abduction: couples based on that trope are not destined to end well. I myself was hoping for a happy ending due to the fact that the saga’s rights were in the hands of Disney of all production companies; and giving that the Skywalker family is one of the most famous in pop culture, I was certain they wouldn’t wipe them out. However I was not quite sure how they would do that and make it convincing, and I was wary when it came to the assumption (which many Reylo’s took for granted) that the love between Rey and Ben would be strong enough to save the galaxy and give them a happy ever after.

When a guy is introduced by murdering a defenseless old man, letting an entire village be wiped out with practiced ease, going on with torturing another guy both physically and mentally and climaxing with the horrible crime of patricide, one can hardly expect a happy ever after for him; even less since so very little was explained in terms of his childhood and adolescence. Some viewers identified with Ben Solo and saw his abandonment and abuse issues; many others didn’t, and none of the sequel films really thematized them. That he made peace with his parents and died to save the girl he loved is sufficient for a convincing redemption arc, not to offer him a happy closure.

  The Trope That Comes Closest

There were a lot of speculations with regard to the trope Ben (Kylo) and Rey were actually modelled on. Romeo and Juliet, Hades and Persephone, Pride and Prejudice or Beauty and the Beast, and there were probably more. Rian Johnson is known for loving The Phantom of the Opera more than any other musical. I don’t think that’s coincidental.

- The phantom is disfigured by birth, Ben is extremely powerful by birth; and Ben also gets disfigured by Rey during their duel. (Vader’s sunken, charred face under the mask was, for a long time, how I imagined the phantom unmasked by the way.) - The phantom is highly intelligent and has huge musical talent. Ben was born with a strong power in the Force. - Both wear masks and look much less threatening without them. They also wear a cloak, and black clothes. - The phantom had committed terrible crimes both to protect himself and to punish a world which would not accept him. Sounds familiar? - In the musical we do not get to know how he became a ruthless monster in the first place. Ditto. - The phantom dies (or disappears, in the musical) because only the girl knew that he was lonely and unhappy and that he still had goodness inside him. She had forgiven him, but the rest of the world wouldn’t have believed her or forgiven him.

Both Kylo Ren and the Phantom are creatures who are at the same time terrible and wonderful. The normal world, populated by average people, cannot accept them because they are both too fascinating and too terrifying. In order to find lasting fulfilment, Ben ought to have found back to humanness. The phantom couldn’t due to his disfigurement and his criminal past; and though Ben loses the scar on his face, the Cain’s mark of the patricide he committed, his deed and his former status as Supreme Leader of the First Order never would have been forgotten.

“Yet in his eyes all the sadness of the world Those pleading eyes that both threaten and adore…” Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (on the rooftop)

  Heroes: Dynamic and Static Characters

A general rule of storytelling is differentiating between dynamic and static (also called “impact”) characters. A static character is like an anchor for others: while they live through crises, learning and maturing, this character always remains his old self and always stands for the same values. He may be misunderstood, opposed and belittled, he may lose the battle, but never the war; and after having helped others through their troubles, he usually is on his own. (Cue: cowboy riding into the sunset.)

Superman stands for peace and justice, Jack Sparrow for freedom, Peter Pan for the innocence of childhood, Paddington for faith in people’s goodness. No wonder they are so popular: it is familiar and reassuring to follow the adventures of someone who is always like a rock in a storm. Static characters are in essence childlike, two-dimensional; which is probably why our child self easily gets attached to them and may be outraged at the idea of them changing, or maybe (gasp) being wrong about something.

But George Lucas developed his saga along the lines of personal growth, and by exploring its themes: thankfully, otherwise it would have become as boring and repetitive as so many other franchises. To continue a story you can either make it dynamic, or press the repeat button over and over. The Skywalker men with their strong emotionality may be unusual heroes, but much more interesting than other, “cooler” guys whose actions are more or less foreseeable. So, I can understand the Disney studio’s choices. On the other hand, it is not surprising when fans of old get angry when their supposedly unalterably perfect heroes make mistakes: everybody wants to know that some things (or persons) never change. Even if on the long run, change might be for the better.

I think one of the sequels’ most important messages was that the Skywalker-Organa-Solo family failed their heir precisely because their mindset did not change. Ben grew up in another world than they did; obsolete political structures, dictatorship or rebellions did not matter to him. But his family wanted him to adhere to the ideals that had gotten them through the war against the Empire, discouraging him from searching and finding his own place in the world, a world that now was very different both from the old Republic and the Empire.

Whether a static or dynamic character is more relatable to the audience is a personal matter. Many fans adore Darth Vader, Leia and Han Solo etc. precisely for the fact that basically they always remain their old selves. Padmé also is a favorite, probably due to the fact that she does not change considerably. Anakin changes a lot, which is perceived as a sign of weakness. Some fans may relate more to Luke, who undergoes serious trials and emerges from them stronger and wiser, far away from the greenhorn he was in A New Hope. And yet Luke’s final decision to throw his weapon away before Palpatine is often perceived as weird to this day. It’s not “heroic”.

The outraged fans who ranted at Luke’s portrayal in The Last Jedi did not realize that Luke was doing something both Obi-Wan and Yoda, or the other Jedi for that matter, never had done: he took responsibility for his actions. In this context Ben was the audience’s self-insert, he was as appalled at Luke’s misstep as we were. Such a blow is enough to send someone on a lonely island to meditate about his mistakes for years, convinced that the world is better without him.

But for the action film audience, that is not acceptable. If you have a light sabre and the Force (an alleged superpower), what do you need responsibility for? You can’t do wrong if you’re the hero, right? Luke also was the only character from the original trilogy who underwent character growth, which makes it all the more ironic that the many, many critics who tear the sequels to pieces are fuming at how Luke could be so “defiled”. Luke grew beyond the person he had been in A New Hope; these fans obviously did not. Which is why the studios thought they had to produce The Rise of Skywalker in order to “appease” them and to give them the Luke Skywalker they wanted.

  Where Does the Galaxy Go From Here?

A conversation between my husband and me, about a year before The Rise of Skywalker came out.

Me: “I hope Ben Solo will survive at the end of the trilogy.” Him: “I do hope that, too. But they won’t give him a happy ending.” Me: “Why?” Him: “He killed his own father.”

I hate to admit it, but he was right. I’m not aware what ethics code is under use in the film industry now, but in any case, the horrible crime of patricide was done; even if it was under coercion, the son traumatized by it, and it ultimately brought him back to redemption. You can’t make a patricide, the former right hand and for a time leader of a terrorist organization a hero and give him a happy ending; in particular when you are Disney of all film studios. (Not to mention that he killed Han Solo, a very popular character.) And from exchanges with other viewers I am aware that many do not understand how Ben killed Han under Snoke’s coercion, and the implications that led him to kill Snoke: they believe he simply did it because it’s something an evil, power-hungry person will do.

Ben dying without anyone knowing that he was not a villain at heart and worse, leaving the fates of the galaxy in the hands of a young woman whom we often saw giving in to evil influences again and again within the scope of minutes was a dangerous turn. If he was but “a child in a mask”, Rey is a child who believes to be a Jedi. How is Rey supposed to be a heroine, with the other half of her soul gone? She and Ben fitted together perfectly because she had the good intentions but a violent attitude, while his intentions were bad but his attitude desperately conflicted because inherently good. Rey came from evil blood but was kind-hearted because she believed in her parent’s love. Ben was the heir of a family of heroes but did not feel loved by them, which made him lonely and bitter. What good is Rey on her own, even more so when at the end of Episode IX she deliberately leaves her friends and goes to a literal desert? The little girl inside of her is still starving for connection, and neither being a Jedi nor a “Skywalker” will appease her. She had to meet Luke to realize that he was a good man but still just a man; a lesson she didn’t quite internalize yet. The sequel trilogy wasn’t her story because her personality hardly developed. It was Ben who went through hell and back.

Films (and film sagas) have a determined length and as a film studio you need time to explore all themes, which in Star Wars are quite complex. The worst mistake I found with Episode IX was that it broke the Campbellian monomyth in favor of a Marvel type B-movie to appease the fans of old who had hated The Last Jedi. Which is understandable from their point of view, but went at the expense of quality. The Rise of Skywalker may have quenched the fire a little, but as a film, it’s frankly forgettable, and compared to the other films from the saga, I doubt that it will age well. Had the sequel trilogy continued Rian Johnson’s approach instead of putting a band-aid on The Last Jedi, it would have been good enough to make a cultural impact the way the classics did. If the sequel trilogy was meant to follow The Hero’s Journey, no one completed it: Ben died and Rey went into exile, and no one brought any kind of elixir or salvation into the world.

All of this is not to say that I have grown to like The Rise of Skywalker and that I am not disappointed about the ending, or no longer sad about Ben Solo’s death. I hope that the next trilogy will give him a second chance: I am still convinced that his ultimate fate should have been to bring lasting Balance to the Force. If I am wrong and his existence practically cancelled the past without improving anything, the whole saga loses its sense. I think that by now he atoned more than enough for his sins.

When I learned that Rian Johnson had negotiated his own trilogy after The Last Jedi, I remember wondering what it would be about. After all, almost everything had been said about the Skywalker saga, hadn’t it?

It hadn’t. I had naively assumed that like with Episodes III and VI, the final revelations were preserved for Episode IX. By now it seems to me like The Rise of Skywalker is meant as an appetizer for the next sequel. It can’t be that the studios unlearned how to make good films in so short a time after The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, also considering that everything else they made about Star Wars in between (Rogue One, Solo, The Mandalorian) is solid work and not by a long shot as flat as Episode IX.

The studios assuredly will keep their secrets as long as they can. The Mandalorian was met with huge expectations, yet nobody knew about Baby Yoda before the first episode was aired. Due to their depth and love for details, Star Wars films can be watched and discussed over and over, and the message regarding the necessity of Balance is still widely unknown or not accepted by the fans. If this is supposed to be not only an entertaining but also an educational tale, authors must give new fans room to get to know the saga, and old fans time to let the new ideas sink in. Lucas and his collaborators have taken decades trying to teach us that morals are not black and white. But still when The Last Jedi came out, the message was utterly hated.

Whatever Johnson’s trilogy will be about, it can’t be a part of the Skywalker saga any more: they are all dead. Even if Ben is brought back somehow, he is a Solo, so this time it would be the story of his own family. The Skywalker saga was basically Anakin’s, and by reconciling with a Palpatine and giving his life to save the woman he loved his grandson ultimately made up for his sins. The Last Jedi was a bold move; but what are “bold moves” supposed to be good for if they are not followed through? Apart from the fact that the sequels weren’t even exactly bold but drawing sums from what we already could see in original trilogy and prequels about the Jedi and the old Republic.

  Family Is the Key

Star Wars is a family tale. It is for families and it is about families. One of the most frustrating things about The Rise of Skywalker was, for me, that the “new” heroes didn’t make any kind of home or family of their own; and a Star Wars film or series never works without a father figure at its heart. I am sure Ben Solo was ultimately meant to be a father figure; the sequels couldn’t work without even giving him the chance to be one. Anakin and Luke both founded a family - one through marriage, the other befriending many different people. The third generation did not even get a chance either way.

“I believe that you are redeemed by your children.” George Lucas

In Star Wars, children always have to pay for their parent’s sins, and only they can make them atone. Which makes it all the more tragic that Ben is not a father; by this logic, only his child could have saved him, or an adopted one. On seeing the enslaved children of Canto Bight, of whom one is Force-sensitive, I was convinced that the sequels would be the children’s trilogy. (I might have accepted Ben dying had he saved and left them with Rey, who also is an abandoned child and so would have found a meaningful task.)

What the galaxy needs most are not heroes but people. Heroes exist to save desperate situations; lasting peace can only be made by normal people. With Luke becoming a hero in the original trilogy and Anakin a villain in the prequels, I was expecting Ben to find back to humanness. Since we have another trilogy to look forward to, I do still hope Ben will get another chance and this time he will find his happiness; but I also believe that he will have a long way to go before that. By the end of The Rise of Skywalker he is a hero, but in order to be happy he would need to learn how to be fully human, realigning both sides of his personality and healing the gap between them (the way Anakin couldn’t). And you don’t learn how to embrace your humanness quickly after having lost it within the scope of years and years. Ben wanted Rey because she was the only person in the galaxy with whom he could be completely honest. But being human also entails bonding with other people, not only with one’s significant other.

Ben tried to pull off the “bad guy” role and failed because it’s not in his nature. A lot of fans see him as a loser, because whether good or evil, a male protagonist is supposed to be always unfazed. The gentle, nurturing and emphatic personality that comes out in Ben when he is balanced is not that of a warmonger but of a peacekeeper: I see nothing inacceptable or emasculating in that. Unfortunately, who has Luke, Anakin or Han as blueprints for “real” men, won’t accept someone like Ben Solo. I hope that in time, he will be more appreciated, and that his life story will be a warning both for the audience and for the saga itself, i.e. that it is more to the point not to punish a criminal but to prevent him from becoming that way in the first place. Which brings us again to the topic of children and a better way to raise them, Force-sensitive or not.

Rey and Ben both are children with unhealed wounds. Their brief moment of harmony during the Force connection on Ahch-To was so powerful because both were speaking to each other’s inner child: Ben saying to Rey that she was not alone, Rey offering Ben an understanding he had not known before. Padmé also always saw in Anakin the good little boy she had first met; one of the reasons of the unbalance in their relationship was that he felt powerless to do something for her in return.

I think that the sequel trilogy of the Skywalkers wanted to tell us is that even if you save the whole galaxy, it’s not sufficient if afterwards you can’t support and protect your own offspring. When we met Han, Leia and Luke again, their personalities were pretty much as we left them; their mistake in handling Ben can’t have been something they actually did to him, the blunder must lie somewhere in their attitude. All three of them were traumatized by cruelly losing or never having known a healthy family life, so we must assume that after the war against the Empire, they tried to build a new world that would fit to their needs. But if adults build a home, they must do so thinking first and foremost not of themselves but of the ones who need it more than them. Children shape the future, not a victory of “good” over “evil”. And I find it interesting that the codebreaker DJ, who had such a pragmatic view of war, was also someone we met on Canto Bight, like the children. He was a traitor, but as everyone in the saga, even he had a point when he said that ultimately, wars are useless because they always flare up again.

“Good, bad, made-up words. You blow them up today, they blow you up tomorrow.” DJ in The Last Jedi

The last scene of The Last Jedi showed us a Force-sensitive boy sweeping an open space before looking up at the sky and dreaming about being a Jedi. I still believe that this scene’s meaning was “Clear the stage, it’s time for us - the children.”

The Jedi, respectively Force-sensitive creatures, must find new and better ways if they want to be advocates for peace and justice. No institution can claim to have a moral standard if it does not protect, nurture and encourage their most vulnerable and needful members, i.e. the children. Watching the prequels it is shocking to follow how the intelligent, brave and affectionate child Anakin could become the most hated man in the galaxy, crushed in the powerplay between the “good but narrow-minded guys” and the “bad but not always wrong” guys. Both his and his grandson’s dark fate could have been avoided, had it not been for the Jedi mentality based upon the conviction of having the right to destroy everything that does not (or does not seem) to line up with them.

The Star Wars saga told us over and over that power is not what it takes. The Jedi lost the Clone Wars; Vader was a lonely, bitter guy (not to mention Palpatine); Kylo had all the power his grandfather never had and it did him no good. Anakin, Han and Ben all were loved most by their women when they were at their weakest. And this brings me back to what I stated above: stories can be interpreted in different ways, but what about the message the author actually wanted to convey? If I am not getting it all wrong, it’s that compassion and not power is the key to everything good.

Episode VII and IX mirror one another, only VIII hints at a possible balance. Star Wars has a cyclical narrative; Anakin / Vader had his happiest moments and successes in his youth, while his grandson in his own youth hit rock bottom and committed his worst sins. If Kylo Ren’s destiny, as per Adam Driver’s words, is supposed to be the opposite of Darth Vader’s, how can The Rise of Skywalker really be the ultimate ending for him?

  P.S. What do you think, could baby Yoda and Ben meet? Then Obi-Wan and Yoda would be together again in a new way. P.P.S I would also like to see the Force, for once. I’m sure it’s not black and white at all. How about a rainbow? (Does anyone have Rian Johnson’s e-mail…? 😊) P. P.P.S. On the other hand, if the next film starts with Rey being pregnant and not knowing how, I might be sick… ☹

#star wars #star wars sequels #ben solo #kylo ren #bendemption #savebensolo #reylo #rey #rey palpatine #luke skywalker #han solo #leia organa #anakin skywalker #darth vader #disney lucasfilm #the force awakens #the last jedi #the rise of skywalker #the phantom of the opera #read more #narrative technique #obi-wan kenobi #yoda #baby yoda #canto bight #padmé amidala #george lucas #sw

[xfadingstarx]

A Bleach Retrospective: In defense of Bleach

These are opinions, please respect that.

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My Journey with Bleach (please skip if you want to go straight to the analysis):

On September the 8th, 2006 YTV’s weekend evening anime programming block (Bionix) aired the first episode of Bleach. I, unfortunately, did not catch this episode, instead, I caught the second episode on September 15th the following week. I was ten and from then on, Bleach fascinated me. It had an interesting concept, tight pacing, catchy music, a good story, and unique character designs. I also really enjoyed how Bleach lacked the same kind of emotional labour that Naruto demanded (as child who survived off of constantly seeking validation from others because of absentee parents, Naruto is way too much work).

My fascination with Bleach got me started in the fandom communities of yesteryear, for I was a child with zero internet supervision. My introduction to fanfiction was because I loved Hitsugaya Toshiro.

Bleach was my entry into poetry (poem at the start of every volume).

But alas, all good things were not meant to last and by the summer of 2009, I was officially done with Bleach. It had felt stilted for some time before then. Over the years, I would gradually revisit bits and pieces of Bleach, but I would not read it in its entirety until months after its finish, about a decade after I had first saw Bleach on my TV. Between the time I stopped reading and the series ended, I became friends with people who didn’t think highly of Bleach and I also started seeing criticism I had made about Bleach in 2011 being repeated by fans on the internet, I started to think that maybe Bleach was bad, but I knew what bad writing looked like —I started reading fanfiction through Bleach fanfiction AMVs on YouTube — and somehow Bleach didn’t sit right with me in the “bad writing category”. 

I sit back now, a decade and ahalf later from when I first started and ask, “was Bleach really that bad, and if so, why do I keep coming back to it?”

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What Made Bleach So Good?

Unique story and aesthetics: When Bleach first started in 2001, it was one of the first manga series to talk about souls and death in a poetic way and with such coherence. Bleach clearly knew what it wanted to say about life and death. It also had a very unique aesthetic, very similar to that of “The World Ends With You” or “Persona 5″ — an urban Japanese take on R&B kind of vibe. Also, Bleach had the most “realistic” and minimalist art style amongst the Big 3.

Cool Music: Bleach had cool music, from very solid rock’n’roll and R&B style songs in its OPs and EDs to very funky OST music with lots of pizzazz. Many singers feature by Bleach ended up successful (to varying degrees) outside of anime, eg: Orange Range, UVERworld, YUI, sid, etc.

Versatile tone: Bleach was edgy, there’s no doubt about that. It was willing to show a lot of blood and bodily violence, especially in the manga (eg half of people blowing up and bits of bone still attached). Despite this though, it was not pretentious about its edginess — it didn’t revel in it. To contrast the edginess, there is a lot of humour in Bleach with character interactions. It was able to be laid back enough with its strong characters that it would rely on the characters’ relationships for comedic relief. The post-credit skits and the fillers really helped to add to this overall feel as well.

Maturity of the Story: Bleach was very willing to handle topics that made people think. For example, the Ulquiorra - Orihime subarc was treated with a sense of carefulness about it, as if to reflect Ulquiorra’s own cautious curiosity about the heart. A less emotionally mature story would’ve gone for the cheap rape/torture porn, but instead we are treated to determined strong Orihime, who has found strength through the heart after the death of her brother, clashing with the nihilistic hollow who wants to know if there is happiness outside of emptiness. It’s a very loaded question and one that requires both perspective and life experience to fully understand both parties. As well, Bleach always knew what it wanted to say about life and death as the final conflict of Bleach is between Ichigo, who has accepted his transient life and Yhwach, who is scared of death. And ultimately, underneath all that action, Bleach produced takes on its themes that were hard to relate to unless the reader themselves had a certain level of emotional maturity (eg: 12 year old me got nothing out of the Ulqui-Ori arc, but 20 year old me spent a good 10 mins crying after)

Strong characters: Contrary to popular belief, Bleach does have quite solid characterization. In fact, Bleach is the journey of Ichigo as a character, from grappling with his weakness and pain to finally accepting all the parts of himself and his history in order to defeat Yhwach and protect those he cares about. Even the secondary characters of Bleach receive a sizable amount of backstory and/or development. Bleach also managed to have more proactive female characters. Even the damsel in distress Orihime stands up to Ulquiorra and slaps him. As a result of these strong characters, Bleach was able to rely on them and their relationships to drive aspects of the story (eg Ichigo crying in the Fullbringer arc).

Willingness to Deal with Emotion: Given that Ichigo is an internally motivated character, it was obvious Bleach would deal with emotion at some point in time. Making Ichigo just a normal high school boy also relives the previous edginess. Bleach also clearly too the time to make its readers feel in its early years. We are treated to beautiful panelling and very real displays of strong negative emotions. Bleach is also very good at giving its characters room to breathe and be sad. Eg: moping Orihime, moping Ichigo, etc. As well, Kubo went to extraordinary lengths to break Ichigo down during the Fullbringers Arc.

Interesting Character Designs: Every character in Bleach feels vibrant and unique with their personality showing through in their designs. For example: Shunshi’s sloppily tied up hair, visible stubble, and overcoat-hidden-haori show that he is both easy going and not looking for a fight; meanwhile Byakuya’s neatly pulled back hair and neck covered by scarf show that he is both someone who likes structure and is conservative.

Poetry and Symbolism: Kubo manages to weave poetry into Bleach in the beginning of each volume. The poem was said by the character on the volume. It gave the reader insight to this character and it gave Kubo a chance to flex his poetic chops. Further proof of this is the fact that many people don’t realize that the name “Bleach” refers to the bleaching of soul that is key to the story. Kubo loves to use rain to set sad scenes. It rains when Ichigo fights Grand Fisher, Zangetsu tells Ichigo that he hates the rain, etc. Kubo also specifies that he wishes for the reader to read certain volumes on stormy, rainy nights.

Panelling: Many people like to criticize Kubo for the lack of effort with the Bleach manga, but Kubo has stated that he uses negative space (i.e., foregoing backgrounds) to focus more on his character’s expressions. This not only further proves that Bleach cares a lot about its characters, but it’s done well enough that the average reader likely doesn’t notice the lack of background on the first read through. As well, Bleach has very cinematic panelling. Kubo uses the format of manga well, utilizing the human mind’s ability to fill blanks in with clever panelling to create tone and build tension and the feeling of movement through a scene.

In fact, in finding pages for this analysis, I found myself noticing that Bleach panels very similarly to slice-of-life shoujo but with a boy MC manga like "Horimiya": focus on expression through intimate angles and use of panels and breaks to create mood and the feeling of cinema; whereas something like DBZ panels like a shounen action manga with many hard lines and action shots, instead of a focus on subtle details and emotions.

Some Examples:

Notice now in Chapter 197: The approaching danger, Kubo uses a gradual zoom to build tension and the black background to add intensity and signal to the reader that Hitsugaya is relaying important information.

Here in Chapter 234: Not Negotiation, the immediate close up to Ulquiorra’s eye from the full body shots creates a sense of intimidation and unease with its sudden intimacy. As well, the immediate zoom in from Ulquiorra’s side full body shot to his facial profile creates tension and the change from the dark background to the white face with Orihime releases this tension (very fitting with considering the line for this panel is “but not you”). (This scene also ties into Ulquiorra’s central dogma of “that which is not reflected in my eyes does not exist’.)

Again in the same chapter, this gradual zoom in on the two creates tension that is then release in the next panel and summarily cements Ulquiorra as a terrifying BAMF.

In Chapter 262: Unblendable, Kubo uses the negative space to create a feeling of isolation, similar to how Orihime is supposed to be feeling.

In the same chapter, notice how Kubo creates a sense of intimacy (not in the romance sense) with the relationship of Ulquiorra and Orihime. He creates tension gradually with the zooming into Orihime’s eye and releases it with the zoom out to Ulquiorra. Through this scene, Kubo has shown us that Ulquiorra and Orihime have a tense relationship and with the implication of eye contact through the shots and panel breaks creating both the intimacy and showing Orihime’s defiance.

(Interestingly, I’ve noticed that Ulquiorra and Orihime have a lot of these intimate zoom shot-reverse-shot eye panels)

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What are the Bad Parts of Bleach?

Okay, so by now, you’re probably thinking that I’m ignoring the massive amounts of critique that Bleach gets and don’t get me wrong, while Bleach does have a very special place in my heart, I’m also not maudlin enough to pretend that Bleach was all good.

Pacing:

Pacing in the First Half of Bleach (Karakura Town - Arrancar)

When Bleach first started out the pacing was excellent. Kubo showed great mastery of pace to control the tone and highlight the emotions throughout the first two arcs. Mid-way through the Arrancar arc, the fatigue sets in and it was hard to keep up with, especially since Kubo would interrupt one exciting fight set up to go set up more plot elsewhere (eg Fake Karakura town right as Ichigo and Ulquiorra were about to battle). Whilst looking back and reading it all at once does help with the pacing, it was frustrating if you were reading/watching on a weekly basis.

Pacing in the Anime:

I don’t ascribe to a simplistic belief of “fillers bad” simply because I think that sometimes fillers can be a good thing, for example, since every chapter is ~15-20pp, some character interactions have to be cut for the sake for space, so filler is a great opportunity to add those moments back into your story. For example, a lot of early Bleach fillers are just the people of Karakura town just hanging out. That being said, Bleach does have an unfortunate amount of fillers, with some of them even interrupting tense fights (eg the Beast Sword Arc interrupts Ichigo’s battle with Ulquiorra). However, the padding that the fillers provided did wonders for the transition between Soul Society to Arrancar Arc in the anime. Ultimately, the Bleach anime adaption was a long-running anime made for syndication and that’s okay.

******* Brief Aside: many people like(d?) to point out that Bleach has a very cyclical plot structure. I used to think this way too; however, this is not the case. There are many other long running stories that repeat similar goals. The problem lies not in the idea, but the execution. The main complaint about the Orihime rescue was not that it was uninteresting, but instead that it felt a rehash of the plot of the previous arc. This is largely because the story was not given enough time to breath between similar character arcs. For example, in One Piece, Luffy and Co have to save Nami and by extension, her home village so she can join them; however, the next time a Straw Hat needs to be saved is 227 chapters (2 whole story arcs) later. In between saving Rukia and Orihime, there is only a really an arrancar encounter, a bit of training, cheering up Ichigo, and a Grimmjow encounter before Orihime goes with Ulquiorra, thus making the goal of this arc “save Orihime” in only ~59 chapters vs 227. These two similar arc goals so close to each other does indeed create the sense of repetition.

Pacing from Fullbringer to End:

This is where Bleach really lost a lot of people. If you weren’t gone after the Ulquiorra fight, you probably were by this arc.This arc went at breakneck speed, and ngl, during my first full read through I almost gave up here too. I mention earlier that Ichigo had been broken down in this arc, but it was hard to feel his despair and the weight on his shoulders because there wasn’t enough for the reader to take a beat and breathe. The Thousand Year Blood War, similarly suffered from sloppy pacing, with many readers feeling like story lines of Squad 0 and the Soul King were anti-climactic. As well, this arc started with a massacre and feature the deaths of many fan-favourite characters, and unfortunately due to the pacing, their deaths were not given a sense of gravity.

Missed Opportunities and Forgotten Story lines: Many people felt that Kubo forgot about a lot of his characters after the Aizen arc. Many thought the Fullbringer Arc was going to be a Chad/Orihime Arc. Whatever happened to Uryuu lolol? We all just collectively forgot about him for a large portion of the last half of Bleach. At one point in time, there was a rumour going around that Kubo had written out the story for Bleach and lost it. Idk if there is any credibility to it. However, in a 2017 interview, Kubo did say that he did end the series exactly the way he wanted to.

(If anyone wants to see me write an entire ass text post about Orihime and her treatment in Bleach, please let me know because I will do it)

Too mature:Even though above, I praised Bleach's mature handle on its themes, an unfortunate side effect of this is forgetting that the characters are only 15 at the beginning and for the first half of Bleach. This unfortunately, leads to some readers feeling disconnected from Bleach.

Epilogue: THE DESTROYER OF SHIPS!!! A lot of people hated this ending. Many people felt like the romance was shoe-horned in, others didn’t like the pairings, and there were some people who actually liked it. Personally, I didn’t like it too much, but it was a cute conclusion nonetheless. Since it didn't add anything to the story except for a "where are they now" look and because of that, I low-key felt like it was unnecessary, but w/e.

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Perspective

Making a long-running weekly serialized story is hard and doing it for 15 years is gruelling (obligatory “fuck capitalism” here). Like many artists of long-running manga, Kubo destroyed his health for the sake of publishing Bleach weekly. Kubo on his health after Bleach (photo from AshitanoGin on Twitter):

Given this insight, I think it’s only fair to be respectful and grateful for Kubo’s contribution to the anime-sphere. Also, through his work, Kubo seems to be a very understanding person and artist. I’m sure he knows better than anyone where Bleach went wrong, but there’s nothing that can be done now. Despite him having a twitter, he is not Joanne and doesn’t feel the need to constantly hemorrhage out word of god info about Bleach (and thank god for that).

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Final Thoughts

It’s hard to forget my happy memories when I think about Bleach. It had my first adolescent crush and first OTP. As a result, I think the best way to enjoy Bleach is to take what you want out of it. People always think that something has to be 100% without flaw for it to be good, but that is not true at all. It is totally okay to just like the parts that you like without engaging with anything else. It’s special to you for a reason, you know? 

There’s no use in fretting over what Bleach could’ve been, besides, very rarely is the reality better than the fantasy in your head.

I do think though that a lot of Kubo’s issues could’ve been fixed if he planned the story better but not all of us can be “I've been planning One Piece since elementary school” Oda Eiichiro.

Other voices on this issue: here

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Wow. I can’t believe you made it this far down. Congratulations! Thanks for reading my 2:30am non-sober take on Bleach (it only took me 7 hours to write). Here's a cookie <3

#bleach #pro bleach #analysis #writing #characters #ramblings #pro orihime #orihime #ichigo #ulquiorra cifer #hot take #quarantine thoughts #late night #weebshit #criticism #critique #anime review #manga #i'm still bleach

[fgodestinyawakenings]

FGO Destiny Awakenings: Fujimaru Ritsuka and Fujimaru Ritsuko bio

My procrastination on life, writing my story, anything I needed to do is bad enough I’m surfing web day by day so.... Might as well get my ass to work on this

This is pretty long since it’s two people bio, so everything is under the cut! 

Note: In regards to their Magic Circuit quantity, neither FGO wiki or material gives any information about them. I’ve estimated them to be around Emiya Shirou’s level of circuit, but can be lower or higher... But more likely lower as they are only receiving magecraft training in the story

Note 2: Foreign languages in here are courtesy of google translate, if you’re able to improvise its grammar, please drop me an ask so I can edit

Note 3: Some of the info are quite spoilerly but not that much spoiler since it’s a base information for me on their personality, background, magecraft

Note 4: After reading the bio, I know some will be enrage with me at the sensitive topics I’m about to touch for this story. Some are imagination, some are based on what I experience, and I won’t revealed which of what is imagination or experiences in reality. The bio will contain sensitive potential topics such as Depression & Family abuse, you’re entering this at your own risk to read.

Reminder: Yes this is fiction, but you need to separate in from reality. I’m not your babysitter to cater your needs, I have put up 4 notes to remind you of the content you’re entering. And yes, I’ve pacing back and forth on their backstory knowing the backlash I received since this is Fate lore we’re going in out of consideration.

Fujimaru Ritsuka

Character Type: Human, Master, Magus

Affliliation: Chaldea Security Organization

Gender: Male

*Lineage: TBA

Birthday: December 6th

Height: 1.72m

Place of Origin: Japan

Alignment: Lawful Good

Likes: Meeting and getting to know historical figures, Magi*Mari, Reading and Researching about history

Dislikes: Needles

Talents: Stage Magic 

Circuit Quality: D

Circuit Quantity: D

Magic: Projection (Illusion), Hypnosis

Elemental Affinity: Air, particularly closest to Mist

Profile

Background

Ritsuka’s father divorced with his birth mother for unspoken circumstances and remarried to Ritsuko’s mother at the age of 11. At their first meeting, Ritsuka’s body was completely frail with his bones visible in plain view, wearing a dead emotionless face that shocked Ritsuko completely. His family situation was only described to young Ritsuko that Ritsuka’s father is doing everything it takes to ensure his mother will never come near him again.

But after spending more time with his new sister, Ritsuka gained back not only his weight, but his ability to speak, where first happened to yell at her for being reckless in fighting against their bullies. Though, he immediately regretted doing so and apologized afterwards when he knew all she did was to protect him.

Whenever someone brought up about his mom, Ritsuka immediately pushed the subject away to another topic. However when prodded further a little, he’s often described to be showing his real self by a broken look with a heartbreaking smile whenever he mentions about her

Personality

Intelligent, compassionate, self-conscious and rational with a reserved personality holding a snarky mouth, Ritsuka is considered the “brains” and leader to his sister and contracted Servants in their goal to restore humanity  

By many Servants and Chaldea Staff who are Mages, he’s often described as someone “born with a heart that’s unfitting to be a magus”. Ritsuka would often bring his tablet along in each Singularity to inquire and take photos of the historical in each singularity. His scrupulous attention to detail comes in handy when he is off creating strategies to win against the enemies in the Singularity. And his ability to learn magic quickly helps in fasten his pace to be a better Master, but sometimes his answers in avoiding his friends to find out his meeting with Merlin within his dreams leaves others questioning his credibility for his talent. 

Because of his strategic mindset, Ritsuka is highly perceptive to the others' feelings, and can figure out the source of most people's inner turmoil in a matter of a few important conversations.

“The last time someone falls in love with somebody, they had either--created a stepping stone to an illegitimate son to bring his father’s kingdom fall into ruins, trapped themselves forever in a land of utopia or even knocked up with his Master’s sister because why the hell not. No offense to you, Caster.”

-- Ritsuka to his sister while mentioning about Arthur’s, Merlin’s and Cu Chulainn’s love life  

However his lack of experience in love and holding low regards about it from reading tons of historical and mythology books, had made him completely oblivious to his own and other people who had fallen in love with him. Though this is mainly of his own low self-esteem of his own worth as a person may have stemmed from his childhood, despite being considered an ace in everything he does by his sister. Ritsuka usually hide this but immediately quickly putting back up the façade of “a reliable and dependable but also ridiculously goofy person” when someone notice.

Understanding how critical their situation is, Ritsuka often refuse to sit still when there’s a given chance to do anything to help Chaldea. He also seems to get a little annoyed sometimes when people think he's cute or adorable, as he wants to be taken seriously like a grown-up from people around him as at most times Ritsuka is more mature and wiser than others. 

When Ritsuka and Ritsuko are on their adventures in the Singularity, Ritsuka is the one to act as the leader because he is shown to be very brave and smart. He can be very protective of his sister, whenever she is in danger he is always there to help and will do anything to get her free.

It is also well mentioned that unlike his sister whom is open about her problems and sociable, Ritsuka is much more reserved and emotionally distant often avoiding talking about his past and himself. Even though he admired Heroic Spirits greatly and wished to understand them more, some would notice he often forced himself to draw a line from getting too close for some reason. But as the journey goes, Ritsuka has become greatly attached to everyone in Chaldea amd considered them strongly as his secondary family.

With his strong knowledge in history and novels, Ritsuka thinks much like an actual detective.

Despite his serious personality, living with Ritsuko his whole life (who is famous for her silly attitude) has caused him to indulge in childish activities with her. As such often either jokingly teased he’s forced to join with the shenanigans with the Child Servants, or mostly being the butt monkey teasing by them.

He also holds a huge soft spot towards children in particular to Jack and Mordred. When asked why in particular, Ritsuka easily gives his true smile that children like them deserve the love and acknowledgement they needed. But, he does a huge comedic soft spot to Alexandar and Ko-Gil, making his heart thumping when both used their charm while calling him “Onii-chan”.

He also seems to not mind breaking the rules in order to have some fun, which often having him to be scolded by Emiya when he does so. In particular habit is often staying up late or staying over at Romani’s room to watch Magi*Mari.

Abilities

“Merlin: After all, you and I are very similar, Ritsuka-kun. There shouldn’t be a problem for you to learn my tricks. Ritsuka: By similar, if you’re talking about having the same sexual reproductive organs... That’s captain obvious, Merlin.”

-- Ritsuka to Merlin on his first lesson with him

Illusion Magecraft

With his experience in entertainment magic, Merlin had taught him in magecraft of deception and proficiency in Projection. A magecraft that relies on fooling a being’s psyche to win, a magic which Ritsuka concluded only a mage like Merlin befits this magic for his notorious mischievous behavior.

Misdirection

Under the incantation chant “maintenant tu me vois maintenant tu ne”, Ritsuka will fool his enemy thinking that he had disappeared by their five senses. Rather than concealing his presence, Merlin described this spell as “Putting one’s attention focused strongly onto another. Like falling in love at first sight, where your world focus on that person alone!”

This spell Ritsuka commonly mostly to hide himself from enemy, and also additionally do a surprise attack from the back

However due to his quantity and quality of his magic circuits, Servants and enemies with strong sense and Clairvoyance are able to notice his whereabouts.

Projection (Illusion)

Unlike Emiya’s projection, Ritsuka’s projection creates objects based on his memories and imagination. A skill he’s able to do easily as though it’s strangely natural from his muscle memories, he currently lacks the learning to reinforce his projected works to a reality

Under Merlin’s teachings, Ritsuka is able to create an illusion of manipulating to fool his enemies five senses during battle. But, it may not work if one is able to see through eventually  

To perform this magecraft, he need to act/pretend of an action in order to project the desired item from his mind into reality. However because it’s like an illusion, not only it lasted for seconds to minutes, that item may not even appeared in his enemy vision if the latter noticed the truth.

Combat

Even if magic circuits is weak, Ritsuka makes it up by physical combat via kendo. In combat, Ritsuka will give commands to his Servants while fighting against the lower mobs summoned by enemy Servants. Lacking any fear towards death, Ritsuka won’t hesitate to step forward to deal against enemy Servants if needed to buy some time for his allies Servant to summon their Noble Phantasm

As such even facing against a professional magus, Ritsuka treats it as an experiment test nearly at the cost of his own life to find a weakness within them.

Role

Ritsuka acts both support and fights with their Servants in Chaldea. He has no specific Servant in mind as being dragged into the World of Magus. Ritsuka admired all Heroic Spirits, often near instantly switched into his fanboy mode when meeting those he admired. 

While he enjoys their company and wishes to personally know each of them better, he does get exasperated by some of the extremely colorful and chaotic Servants summoned in Chaldea.

But, Ritsuka instantly draws a line between him and the Servants from getting to close by often avoiding talking about himself and his own true feelings. Despite making himself distant from them, he cares a great deal about them and strongly hated the idea of treating them and anyone as tools or weapons to use.

Unlike his sister, he’s the one who supplies mana generally to most of the Servants via a technique Merlin taught him when he requested earnestly for his help.

Fujimaru Ritsuko

Character Type: Human, Master, Magus 

Affliliation: Chaldea Security Organization 

Gender: Female

Lineage: TBA

Birthday: May 29th

Height: 1.58m

Alignment: Lawful Good

Likes: Sports (mainly excel in softball and basketball), Morning workout as early as 4am, Sweets

Dislikes: Studying through reading of books, Anyone who hurts her brother and even attempting to bring up his family problems, House chores

Talents: Accuracy in throwing and quick learning speed taught via hands-on

Circuit Quality: D+

Circuit Quantity: D+

Magic: Nine Hand Seal Magecraft

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Profile

Background

Ritsuko mentions to Mash in Fuyuki Singulary Section 9 Part 1 that her real father disappeared on both her mother and her when she was a baby for reasons unknown. As such, it’s noted her mother has been raising her single-handedly by herself before remarrying Ritsuka’s father when she was 10.

At their first meeting, Ritsuko was completely horrified at Ritsuka’s body was completely frail with his bones visible in plain view, wearing a dead emotionless face that barely even respond to her when she first greeting him warmly. His family situation was only described to young Ritsuko when she asked was that Ritsuka’s father is doing everything it takes to ensure his mother will never come near him again, and will only explain to her when she grew older.

She mentioned though he was quiet, he was still receptive if not hesitant in answering to her. But after spending more time with his new sister, Ritsuka gained back not only his weight, but his ability to speak mainly to yell at her for being reckless in fighting against her bullies. Though at that time, Ritsuko chuckled she was unsure why she was crying while he apologized; whether it was the bullies, her brother scolded her, or the happiness she felt when she saw life in her brother’s eyes after months of wondering if the effort was futile to get closer to her new older brother. 

Personality

On the surface, Ritsuko is fierce, independent, and pugnacious, but beneath her tough exterior, she possesses a strong loyalty toward her friends and duty as the Humanity’s last Master with her brother. She also has an admirable compassion and devotion, demonstrated when she expresses love toward things such as her family and friends. Unlike the calmer and reserved Ritsuka, Ritsuko is similarly quick witted and impulsive, especially in heated situations. And, she lacked perception towards her rash decisions often resulted in her accidentally insulting others.

Ritsuko is tough, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, and assertive. Due to her crush on Mash, she tends to pull her away and shield her from others who showed interest in her. Like her brother, Ritsuko fully embraced her position as the Humanity’s Last Master, but lamenting her weakness how she isn’t calm and level-headed as her brother. A trait of Ritsuka she admires greatly when they were kids, as she’ll always be grateful during the times she was in near trouble. Mainly Ritsuka’s willingness and accepting of her secret towards her interest in woman, as she didn’t want her mother to know out of fear of disappointing her.

Because of this, Ritsuko also tends to be protective and even more so than her brother when it comes to his own well-being. Her mother never told anything about Ritsuka’s parents, except as she quoted: 

“Mom said I was too young understand. Telling me Ritsuka’s mom did something really bad to him so Dad ensured his mom will never come close to meet Ritsuka again.”

As such, Ritsuko often keeps an eye on Ritsuka’s reaction whenever someone asks about his mom; ready to deflect or even pull him away at the uncomfortable situation.

Initially frightened and frozen with fear at Fuyuki Singularity, Ritsuko lamented with regret greatly how if her strength to save Mash from Artoria Alter’s Noble Phantasm could do the same for Olga Marie. But, she knew better she can’t wallow in grief, vowing to grow stronger and requested Emiya’s and Sadakuni’s aid to train her in combat and magecraft respectively.

Abilities

"Boomer-Dagger”

A pair of dagger crafted specially by Emiya after considering her skillset. It can be used for both physical combat and her magecraft. When thrown to her enemies, it returns to her via an invisible string connecting to her magic circuit. Also, it’s used as a placeholder on her talisman before conjuring her Nine Hand Seal Mudra Magecraft

Talisman

Her catalyst to invoke with her magecraft. Taught by Sadakuni, she needs to place it on her target before doing her Mudras to attack her opponent. Ritsuko often brings her mat of magic circle drawn by her blood to imbued powers into the talisman daily through meditation.

Onmyoudo Kuji-in aka Nine Hand Seals Magecraft

Taught by Section Chief Agano Sadakuni, Ritsuko mainly uses this magecraft for combat. This magecraft relies specifically on specific hand gesture and pattern to conjure her spells. From reinforcing her weapon and physical strength, to summoning fire magic for combat

Rin-Pyo-Toh, ready for battle: Enhancing her physical strength

Kai-Jin-Retsu, release: Conjure an explosion burst of flames

Jin-Pyo-Zai, bind: With ranged of 10 talisman connected by a burning magical rope to bind the target

Zai-Sha-Kai, heal: Transfer her mana for healing or empowering her Servant

Combat

Like her brother despite having slighter better circuits than him, Ritsuko sides along with her brother via physical combat. She often pairs with her brother, acting as a bait to go against the enemy, while Ritsuka pulls off a surprise ambush via his illusion magecraft.

In the face of an enemy Servant, Ritsuko steps back to give orders to the Servant she contracted with.

Role

While she treats Servants who are Kings or Queen with respect by their title, Ritsuko treats everyone equally with respect and as a friend. She’s shown to be more than willing to teach them about the modern technology and slang, also joining them in their crazy plans often resulted in chaotic humor, much to Ritsuka’s chagrin.

Like her brother, Ritsuko detested the idea of anyone treating Servants as tools or weapons as she view those who contracted her as their friend. This feeling also extend to her enemy Servant, believing they are living beings with their own free will and emotions.

While her brother generally supplies mana to their Servants, Ritsuko acts second-in-charge right after he finish mana transferring to their Servant which resulted him immobile and carried around by Emiya or Caster Cu Chulainn.

#fgo destiny awakenings #fujimaru ritsuka #fujimaru ritsuko

[sunflowerhazzavol6]

i haven’t seen many blurbs like this around but i want more where harry and y/n are in a fwb type relationship but for y/n it’s strictly that and nothing more but harry wants more bc he’s fallen in love and y/n has a lot of trouble with commitment and is closed off 🥺

Unrequited

A/N- Mature content! But please enjoy some angst, since every piece I ever write is fluff. Requests are still open, so don’t be shy, put some more! Inspired by the lyrics:

‘woke up alone in this hotel room

played with myself, where were you?’

Harry wakes up to the late-morning sun shining through his window and into his face, causing him to groan and lift his hand to block it from his eyes. His head pounds while a sheering pain breaks through his consciousness, causing any lingering sleep to escape out of reach. This is the exact wake-up call he had hoped to avoid last night when he had stumbled into his bedroom, his thoughts clear enough to yank the curtains closed until he stumbled to his bed and blacked out. He glances to his bedside table to see the time, only to find a bottle of amber liquid and his empty scotch glass tipped over with its contents drip-drip-dripping onto the floor. He couldn’t find it in him to even care, pouring another glass and downing it before closing his eyes and slinging his arm over them so that all he can see from beneath his lids is black.

The sound of his ringer cuts through the silence, and he realizes the culprit for his waking up in the first place. He blindly reaches over and pats around until he finds it, lifting the screen into his vision. Jeff. The third call of what two had seemingly already been missed. He silences it, declines the call, and then turns off the screen, throwing it across the room. It ricochets off the wall and onto the loveseat covered with a pile of discarded clothes that by now were probably sour in their need for a wash. In the back of his head he thinks about how the discarded clothes used to be hers, theirs. Her panties haphazardly tossed onto the back of the chair, his shirt landing on top of them. His cock aches at the memory, and he reaches down to cup it over his sweats. In his mind’s eye he can smell her perfume, feel himself breathing it in through his mouth and through his nose while her hand travels down, down, down, over his stomach and under his slacks, finding its place where he needed her most. Against his better judgement he does the same with his own hand, allowing himself a gentle squeeze before his mind nestles itself in the memory that he had repeatedly told himself to forget, the memory that had played in his head over and over again for the past two weeks.

He liked watching her like this. Whenever she called him telling him she was thinking about him she was all corporate, strictly business and transactional. Even when she came through his door she was this way, her heels clicking against the tile until they made their way to his socked feet, her acrylic nails finding their way into his hair and her tongue searching until it met his. This is when the walls would come down, as each article of clothing would hit the floor- first her blazer, when she would whisper his name finally. Then her blouse, when she would tip her head back while his lips memorized her neck. Her bra, when her shoulders would relax and he knew she was his, in that moment. Her body would become near liquid and he would get her onto the bed, shedding his own clothing until they were nothing but moving bodies and pleasured moans, unable to tell where one of them began and the other one ended.

Her intelligence was the sexiest thing about her. She had just graduated from law school and was making her way up through the ranks of the firm, her focus never leaving the corporate ladder for a second. She was determined to surpass her male peers, and she did so with pride, knocking out any competitor that stood in her way. She had graduated at the top of her class and had a job before the commencement ceremony had even begun. Harry felt lucky to even be a part of her life, considering how she herself said she only had time for work and no fun. He knew she wouldn’t have it any other way, though, and he reveled in the fact that he could make her unravel with the curl of his fingers or the flick of his tongue despite her self-proclaimed laser focus.

He felt that power now, her orgasm fresh on his tongue as his mouth made its way up her body, kissing between her breasts until they found her matte-red pout. She takes this as a que to pull him closer by his shoulders, reaching down to grasp his hard length in her hand. He feels her press his tip to her entrance, her mouth leaving his to say “I want to ride you. Make me ride you.”

He groans at her words, flopping down to the side and grabbing at her hips to pull her over him, desperate for the stretch of her walls around him. “Make me ride you,” She repeats, but her words come out more as a breath than as an actual voice. “Make me make you cum.” He moans softly at her request, sinking himself into her effortlessly and without hesitation due to his preparation beforehand. She moves his hands to her hips and he begins to guide her, rocking her until he builds up pace and starts thrusting up into her heat. She closes her eyes and tips her head back, and that’s when he feels what was once a glorious pressure in his stomach turn into a painful one in his chest. She had been doing this lately, disassociating from the task at hand into her own state of pleasure, tricking him into thinking she was allowing him to do what he wanted when really she wanted the lack of control for herself. First her eyes would leave him, and then her hands, and he had a feeling that his moans echoing in her ears could be anyones and she wouldn’t bat an eye. She was wound up so tightly, so meticulous about her own thoughts and actions, that she used sex with him to have someone else be in control of what she was feeling, what she was doing. At first it didn’t bother him; he liked that he was that escape for her. But now he couldn’t help but to feel that maybe that was all he was. That it didn’t matter that it was him that she was tearing down walls with, but that it could have been anyone else filling her up, making her forget. He can feel her get closer to her orgasm as he gets further from his, her jaw going slack as her moans increase in volume and intensity. Pretty soon she’s coming undone on top of him, and as soon as the last wave of pleasure rolls through her body he pulls out, feeling himself going soft despite his lack of orgasm.

Y/n doesn’t seem to notice, laying down on her back with a blissful smile on her face. “Mm, you sure know how to use post-orgasm sensitivity to your advantage.”

“Do I?” He swallows, sitting up and rubbing his face.

“Well, you work that tongue of yours like a fucking dream. And then by the time I’m finished you’re hard and desperate, and make an honest woman of me with your cock…” She trails off with a sigh, biting her lower lip at the thought. Any other day this would have him up and running again, ready to give her more reason to talk like that, but now he couldn’t hold it back.

“Why don’t you look at me anymore?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you look at me anymore?” He repeats.

“Of course I do, what makes you-”

“Y/n.”

She can tell by his tone that this conversation has taken a turn, and finally she opens her eyes. When she finds his they’re visibly upset, ringed with red as if he was trying to hold back further emotions.

“Why don’t you look at me anymore?” He asks for the third time, his green eyes staring deeply into the ugliest parts of her soul. She knows he doesn’t know what he’s looking at, and she doesn’t want to be the one to break it to him even though it was her doing in the first place.

“Harry, you know what this is for me…”

“Do I? Because you sure seem to not know what it is. You call me when you’re upset, when you’ve had a bad day at work. Me, y/n. Not the other way around.”

“I just need an outlet, Harry, someone to talk to.”

“Not someone to talk to. Something to do.”

She sits up, suddenly feeling very exposed both physically and emotionally. She tugs at the corner of the sheets and he lifts his leg to free it so she can hold it to her chest, covering herself. His heart aches at the thought that he’s caused this sudden bout of self-consciousness, and suddenly wants to take it all back to have the soft y/n he had before he had opened his damned mouth.

“Well isn’t that what this is? Just sex?”

She isn’t looking at him, and suddenly he’s angry all over again. “Just sex isn’t telling someone your deepest darkest secrets at three a.m.”

She’s quiet for a second, and he can feel the fire in his chest grow as she struggles to find the right words. “I thought that was friendship. You know. Friends with benefits. You know I can’t have anything else right now, not with work and me trying to eventually make partner. Other women don’t stand a chance when they settle down and start to have kids, and I’m determined to not be those other women.”

“Who the fuck said anything about settling down and having kids, y/n? How about having a partner in life, someone to talk to, someone to come home to? That’s everything I am now, just without the label. You call me nearly every night, begging for just a few hours knowing that I’ll let you stay the night. And we don’t even always have sex! Fuck, you use me and I know it, but I let you just on the off chance that you’ll come around and change your mind-”

“Well then that’s on you for thinking it could be anything more-”

“On me?! I love you, y/n! You know for a fact that I love you, otherwise you would be calling on other men to get you off. You call me because you know I’m just desperate enough to say yes.”

“Then that means you use me just as much as I use you, Harry.”

“Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? So you telling me that I’m like home to you, that’s just some casual shit you’ve said to all the guys you’ve slept with? And me soaking it up, wanting more of it, that’s me using you?”

“Oh, grow up, Harry.” She stands up, grabbing her panties from the chair and yanking them on over her legs.

“Grow up. That’s rich, coming from you. You think that just because you’ve been successful that you’re more mature than anyone else? Maturity is admitting when you’re wrong.” The tears finely spill over, and he chastises himself internally for letting it happen at all. “Bloody hell, y/n, you think casual sex is you being a grown-up, just because it’s sex? I know you’re more intelligent than that, and you do too.”

“I’m done with this conversation.” She pulls on her shoes, the rest of her clothes having been hurriedly put on in his lecture. “It’s sex, Harry, not a fucking wedding.” He starts to speak but the slam of the door cuts him off, and he’s left to his own silence. The smell of her perfume wafts back to him, and he falls back into the pillows to let himself come undone, the sobs wracking his body as grief settles over him in a thick cloud.

He wipes the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand as his orgasm takes over him, biology taking the lead despite his estranged state. It was her. Her smile, her laugh, the way he would find strands of her hair all over his apartment as if she belonged here. In his head she did belong here, his y/n, his smart, beautiful, cunning y/n. By the time he cleans himself up he’s shaking his head and sighing, hoping the memories will rattle loose from his skull and make their way out through his ears, or his mouth, or at least something. It would be so much easier if his attraction to her would just disappear, if his dick would stop thinking for itself and let him have a go. 

His phone starts to ring again. Jeff’s name lights up the screen and he resists answering it, for fear that the pressure in his chest will rise to his throat and choke him until he blacks out. He swallows thickly and picks it up, swiping his thumb across the screen.

“Hey, Jeff. Yeah, yeah it’s Harry. No, I’m fine. Just caught a cold is all. What’s up?”

#Harry Styles #harry edward styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fluff #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles angst

[skullsandwineglasses]

Ashes of Love Ep 40 Impressions

It’s a very standard mythology/fantasy romance drama where the male lead is a brooding, high ranking war god who falls hard for a bubbly, vulnerable, and naive spirit/fairy who barely ranks as an angel (but who is really of noble birth). 

Deng Lun and Yang Zi have easy chemistry, though you don’t really feel the full effects of their acting until the episodes when they’re in the mortal realm. They’re great actors, but they don’t really bring anything new to the table until their characters are given more depth when they’re out of the heavenly realm.

DL plays Xufeng, a near-perfect love interest in both the immortal and mortal realms. It’s easy to see the appeal of the drama because his character is essentially a wish fulfillment fantasy. He’s romantic, protective, reasonable, willing to love Jin Mi unconditionally, and just all around a flawless character (this is problematic though, as I’ll explain below). 

On the other hand, while Xufeng is the ultimate hero, Jin Mi is the repressed victim who isn’t even allowed to have romantic feelings for anyone (literally) since her heart is sealed off by her mother’s spell (read: pill). 

This is where is gets frustrating. The angst in this drama comes from the fact that Jin Mi isn’t able to fully reciprocate Xufeng’s feelings, even though deep down she wants to. She’s emotionally stunted because apparently people are able to enter her heart and re-seal it, as if her feelings are a switch that can be turned on and off. 

She has no agency in the immortal/heavenly realm. Everyone makes decisions for her, trying to decide what’s best for her, and keeps her in the dark. In the mortal realm, where she’s uninhibited, she’s able to love and make her own decisions, and live on her own terms. She breaks the rules and follows her heart. Despite being veiled by a mask, mortal Jin Mi is more of a free spirit than the immortal Jin Mi who feels that she needs to consult her elders and afraid of offending them. The scene where mortal Jin Mi confesses that she loves the king was hella cathartic because she finally expresses what she feels freely and loudly. We’re 40 episodes into the drama, and Jin Mi still can’t freely think, or even feel, for herself. When she returned to the heavenly realm, it was like having taken 10 steps forward then 20 steps back. 

Jin Mi doesn’t make things happen, but instead things happen to her. Everyone’s fighting over her and she doesn’t even know it. 

This drama is also filled with cliche tropes:

-The false sibling trope (like in the Mortal Instruments) -The unwanted arranged marriage trope -Instead of a “memory loss” trope, you have a “feeling loss” trope where she loses her ability to love -There’s a revenge plot passed down from a previous generation (the whole your-mother-killed-my-mother) -The father/son mirror trope where the sons falls for the daughter of their father’s past lover -The reincarnation trope (which tbh was probably the highlight of the drama)

I feel like all that’s missing is some sort of love potion trope and a stolen identity trope. 

With less than half way to go, there are still 3 things that need to happen based on the promos, so I’m guessing that the “angst” has only just gotten started. 

-we see that Jin Mi goes ahead with the wedding to Runyu, but Xufeng crashes the wedding. -Xufeng becomes the demon king somehow -There’s more crying from Jin Mi, and a scene where we see Xufeng walk away from her, which is out of character for him since he’s never turned his back on her. He’s always the one chasing after her, so it’ll be interesting to see what prompts this scene. 

The problem with this drama is that the angst comes from external sources. Everyone is trying to get between XF and JM to keep them apart. The time in the mortal realm showed us that XF and JM have no problem being together. The plot is just trying to create problems by cramming people between them. 

There’s a Zeus-like emperor. An evil Hera-like empress. An evil, jealous princess.  An evil, jealous prince (with a tragic backstory). 

As the comments say, the heavenly realm seems to have the most evil people. The only non-stereotypical, non-caricature character is probably the demon princess who’s main goal isn’t to try and sabotage the relationship between the main leads. 

The problem with all these external obstacles and with Xufeng’s near perfect characterization is that the drama isn’t so much as angsty as it is frustrating and intellectually condescending. When I think of angsty stories, I think of stories in which characters cause their own downfall. Stories in which characters make decisions that come back to haunt them later down the line. 

For instance:

Love and Destiny Probably the closest comparison to Ashes of Love yet also the least angsty and frustrating. The obstacles that Ling Xi and Jiu Chen face only bring them closer together instead of tearing them apart. They have a few misunderstandings that are quickly resolved. The biggest angsty plot point was when (spoiler) JC has to kill moral LingXi pre-maturately to ensure that she keeps her immortality. We sympathize with Jiu Chen because we know it’s the only way to save Ling Xi, and we can’t say he didn’t try to be honest with her. He literally told her that she’s not a mortal and who she really is, but of course as a mortal, she can’t bring herself to believe that. Still, the angst here is that the characters are trying their best to reach out to each other, and yet they are also the very ones blocking each other out. Ah Mo feels like she’s just Ling Xi’s replacement, because she can’t understand that she’s both Ling Xi and Ah Mo. 

Journey of Flower The angst that started the fantasy angst trend in the mid-2010s. BZH’s flaw is that he puts his responsibility and his morals above everything else, even himself. He’d rather repress his feelings than betray the world he’s tasked with protecting. This means that he’d sacrifice everything in order to uphold his morals, including HQG. He thinks that he can betray her because he’d make it up to her by killing himself (until she prevents him from doing so in order to punish him, much to his dismay). His flaw is that he’s too righteous. HQG’s flaw is that she trusts in him too much. 

Goodbye My Princess LCY isn’t just flawed, but he’s a straight up villain who’s willing to kill innocent people (even his own family) if he feels desperate, jealous, or betrayed. He’s selfish and malicious, and ultimately his punishment is to live out the rest of his days in regret and loneliness. Even during the episodes where he thought he was protecting XF, he pushed it way overboard. There was really no reason to go as far as he did in the name of trying to “protect” her. GMP is a good example of a plot where there are characters who make choices with unexpected consequences, and other characters who make choices in spite of the consequences. But overall, the hate that the characters felt for others (and themselves) were driven by their own choices and actions. They were the cause of their own downfall. 

Eternal Love Again, the angst stemmed from Ye Hua’s flawed thinking that he can keep everything under control. His mistaken assumption that he can protect Su Su by hurting her. His flawed logic that he can destroy her livelihood (by taking away her eyes) but justifies it by thinking that he’d be able to keep her alive with him, which is all that matters to him. 

Comparisons In all these dramas, the male character thinks that the best way of protecting the female character is to pretend to be indifferent about her. They think that pretending not to love her is the best way to protect her, despite the consequence of hurting her in the process. They’re always making decisions for her, thinking for her.

The female character wants to hate the male character but can’t bring herself to do so because she still loves him, so she ends up hating herself for not being strong enough to hate him. She then kills herself and is “reborn” as someone with more agency and courage to not only hate him, but to also protect herself so that she no longer needs him. 

Ashes of Love is the opposite. Jin Mi wants to love Xufeng, but is prevented from doing so because everyone else seems to have access and control to her heart except herself. Xufeng is different from these other male characters because he doesn’t hide his love. In fact, he’s desperate to try to show Jin Mi how much he loves her. It’s a completely different dynamic. It makes Xufeng an easy character to like, but it prevents any kind of character growth in either Xufeng or Jin Mi. It doesn’t look like Jin Mi is going to “grow” insomuch as be liberated. It’s just annoying how she isn’t allowed to grow and how everyone keeps running circles around her.

It’s also exhausting. It feels like the drama can drag on and on because the plot can just keep throwing obstacles at them, which it looks like it’s going to do. In other dramas, you usually know what to look forward to: it’s usually when the moment of truth is revealed and when the main characters redeem themselves. There’s no redemption plot to look forward in this (maybe for the 2nd male lead). Instead, you’re waiting for all the secondary characters who are obstacles to be eliminated so that the leads finally have an unobstructed path to each other. It would say this is much more of a plot-driven drama than a character-driven drama. 

#ashes of love #香蜜沉沉烬如霜 #deng lun #yang zi #cdrama #heavy sweetness ash like frost #heavy sweetness #ash like frost #jin mi #xufeng #jin mi xufeng #杨紫 #邓伦 #review #impressions #rant #opinion #chinese drama #xianxia #ancient drama #fantasy drama #fantasy romance #love and destiny #journey of flower #jop #eternal love #ten miles of peach blossom #goodbye my princess #character analysis

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - One Angry Princess

There’s two halves to this episode. The first is a well constructed, if over simple, mystery for the kiddos to solve. The other is a failed attempt at being ‘deep’ and ‘mature’.  

Summary: Attila is finally opening up his own bakery, but people generally don't want to stop by because of his scary helmet. The next day, Monty's Sweet Shoppe is destroyed, and Attila is arrested. He is about to be banished from the kingdom, but Rapunzel makes an appeal to investigate the matter further. 

The Episode is Meant to be a Homage to 12 Angry Men, but Misses the Point of the Original Film

So for those who haven’t seen the movie, (though really you should) 12 Angry Men is about a jury trying to decide if an accused person is guilty of a violent crime. At first the evidence seems clear, but one lone juror refuses to vote guilty until the evidence has been gone over again. One by one he convinces the other men to vote not guilty as they each have to face they’re own personal biases.

Sound familiar? 

In the show Rapunzel is the sole believer in Attila’s innocence despite evidence to the contrary. She insists on investigating herself while challenging everyone else’s personal biases. 

The difference?

12 Angry Men is a hard hitting look at how privilege, prejudice, and cognitive bias can interfere with the American judicial system. None of the jurors are named, but they are all middle class, presumably Christian, white guys. And that is the point. They are all different from the accused; a young, poor, arguably non-white teen (the play is intentionally vague about the kid’s race so that you can slot any minority in there) who has a history of getting into trouble. If you were to change the ethnicity, race, gender, class, or age of any of the 12 characters then you would suddenly have a very different story. It’s their backgrounds and pre-formed opinions that inform their decisions. Even the main protagonist is not exempt from re-examining his own personal biases. 

Meanwhile the writers of Tangled: the Series are too busy showing off how clever Rapunzel is to actually deal with the themes of injustice and bigotry that they added in themselves in the first place.

Rapunzel Knowing Attila Before Hand Weakens the Message

In 12 Angry Men none of the jurors know the accuse. In fact, they can’t know him. It’s against the law. In order to have an impartial jury, no one can have any ties to either the defendant or the prosecution, and they must not have knowledge of the case or have had specific experiences that might cause them to be biased or unfair. 

Rapunzel being Attila’s friend means that she already has her own bias and an invested interest in making sure Attila goes free. She’s not acting out of the simple goodness of her heart here. She’s doing something that directly benefits herself. 

I don’t expect a children’s fantasy show to recreate the US judicial system with all of the complexities there in, but I do expect it to uphold it’s heroine as the selfless person it claims her to be. Yet the show constantly undermines this supposed character trait by only having her help the people she befriends, and only if that help doesn’t require anything emotionally challenging or mentally taxing from her.   

How much more powerful would this episode be if Rapunzel was defending a stranger or someone she actively disliked? Imagine if it was Monty who was being accuse and Raps had to swallow her pride in order to do what is right. But that would require the show having Rapunzel actually learn something instead of placing her on a pedestal. It would also mean giving Monty a reason to exist rather than keeping him around to be a convenient red herring.      

Rapunzel Shouldn’t Have to Prove Attila’s Innocence 

Rather than have a courtroom drama the show opts to have a ‘whodunit’ story instead. This unfortunately gives the implication that Corona’s judicial system runs on a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ mantra, which is backwards to any humane legal system. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’, ‘reasonable doubt’, ‘due process’, are the cornerstones of our modern social ethics. 

In 12 Angry Men, we never find out if the accused actually committed the crime or not. That is because his actual innocence isn’t the point of the story. It’s about whether or not the system is working like it should or if it’s being compromised by human error. 

Once again, I don’t expect a recreation of the US judicial system, but if you’re writing a story for a modern audience then you need to reinforce modern morals. Simply crouching Corona’s legal system as ‘of the times’ or ‘fantasy’ while ignoring why we no longer have such systems in place reduces the story to puerile fare. 

It also means that show’s writers didn’t put enough thought into their world building. 

No One Calls Out the Obviously Corrupt System 

The show has interwoven throughout its ongoing narrative themes of classism, injustice, abuse, and authoritarianism, but then fails to follow through on those themes by not having any of the protagonists actually examine any of these issues. They just sit there in the background, even as the show tries it darndest to present Rapunzel as an arbiter of reform. However a person can’t bring about change if they can’t even admit that there is a problem to begin with.   

In this episode alone we have

Banishment is considered a reasonable punishment for an act of vandalism. A crime that is usually considered only a misdemeanor unless the damage goes over a certain amount. Keep in mind that not even most felonies would be given such a punishment in the real world

Introduces the prison barge that regularly carries away convicts. In the past ‘undesirables’ would be shipped off to prison colonies as a form of persecution. Attila and every other person we see subjected to Corona’s legal system are of a lower class. 

Many prejudge Attila based off his appearance, lower class, and past upbringing. However, it is either Attila who is expected to change or Rapunzel who is expected to win people over. At no point is anyone told that they shouldn’t be prejudiced to begin with. 

There is no judge, jury, or lawyers. The king alone decides the fate of criminals, the Captain is expected to be the both the prosecutor and the ‘executioner’, which is a conflict of interest, and the defendant has no one to represent them unless they so happen to know a kind statesperson. Meaning you have to be either rich or well connected in order to even have a chance to defend yourself. 

Oh and there’s this...

Uh, yeah you do. You’re the flipping king. You make the law. You’re the one to bring charges against Attila, and nearly every other criminal in the show, in the first place. 

The show constantly wants us to view Frederic as simply an everyman who is only doing his job, but he’s not. He’s a ruler and as such he has powers and responsibilities that no one else has or ever will have. The series gives both him and Rapunzel all of the privileges of being in charge without holding them to account for the consequences of their actions. 

By not pointing out how wrong these actions are, the show winds up avocating them instead. When I call Tangled the Series authoritarian, this is why. Because authority is never questioned even when clearly wrong and nepotism is presented as the solution to conflicts as oppose to being the problem itself.

The Show Introduces Complex Issues but Then Oversimplifies the Conflicts Surrounding Those Issues

The creators of the show have constantly declared that the series is ‘not for kids’. That they were shooting for an older audience than the pre-school time slot they were given. Now ignoring the fact that Tangled was always going to have a built in audince of pre-teen girls and ignoring that children’s media can be mature, TTS lacks the nuance needed to viewed as anything other than a pantomime. 

As stated before, this episode alone ignores the very real issues interlaced within the conflict in order to give us an overly simple mystery that anyone over the age of five could figure out.  

It’s frustrating to watch the show constantly skirt towards the edge of complexity only to see it chicken out and go for the low hanging fruit instead. As a consequence the series winds up being for no one. Too shallow for adults and older teens, but too confused in its morals to be shown to small children and younger adolescents. 

I wouldn’t recommend this show to a parent, not without encouraging them to view the series either before or alongside their child in order to counteract it’s ‘lessons’ and I know parents within the fandom itself who’ve stopped showing newer episodes to their kids; stating that they want their child to be old enough to point out the harmful messages to before doing so. 

Once Again No One Learns Anything 

Rapunzel doesn’t learn that the system is flawed. Attila doesn’t learn to open up to people. Nobody learns to treat people with respect and to not judge others based on appearances alone.

The whole point of the episode is to just show off how much ‘better’ Rapunzel is than everyone else. The show constantly feels the need to tear down other characters in an effort to make its favs look good as opposed to just letting the mains grow as people. 

Conclusion

Tangled the tv series is no 12 Angry Men. It’s no Steven Universe/Gravity Falls/Avatar:TLA/She-Ra/Gargoyles/Batman:TAS either. It barely reaches the same level as the likes of DnD, Sonic SATAM, or Voltron. Interesting ideas but poor pacing, build up, and lack of follow through, with some naff decisions thrown into the mix bring things down in quality. And unlike the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the early 80s, TTS lacks the benefit of being a pioneer in the field of animation, where such flaws are more forgivable. 

#tangled #anti-tangled #Rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #king frederic #critique #salt