#but as the arc continues the animation and framing shifts to show that this is actually a very real and very painful violation

[maggiecheungs]

"The path you must take has been prepared for you. You have no choice but to revolutionise the world."

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA 🌹 BLACK ROSE ARC

#revolutionary girl utena #utena #shoujo kakumei utena #rgu #sku #black rose arc #souji mikage #mamiya chida #oldanimeedit #animeedit #utenaedit #ellisgifs #flashing tw #flickering tw #impalement tw #the way these get progressively more graphic and disturbing as the episodes go on….. chef’s kiss #the first time it happens you're like 'wow! what an aesthetically gorgeous and highly stylised metaphor' #but as the arc continues the animation and framing shifts to show that this is actually a very real and very painful violation #and then.... when you begin to apply that insight to anthy and her experiences as the rose bride.... yeah #oooof #god i have so many thoughts and feelings about the black rose arc!!!! black rose arc supremacy!!!!!!

[shigayokagayama]

maybe a weird question, but do you have any recommendations for non-mob psycho media? I’ve been in search of something that hits similarly/is as well made and I trust your judgement o wise one. I’m not super picky, so recs of any kind would be appreciated :)

im like the worst person to take media recommendations from because you have to tie me down to watch something new and then i get obsessed with it forever, in terms of things ive seen recently that hit the same tumblr is NOT lying dungeon meshi is really good and if you start watching now you're gonna be watching at the part where it starts getting crazy

other stuff ive been into (gets progressively less mob psycho and generally more depressing like the further down we go bc i tend to get into really, really sad shit):

-i <3 deltarune but everyone has already played that. deltarune good. if you havent played deltarune play deltarune. genuinely like it more than undertale. also if the last chapter of deltarune is just the confession arc i called it and deserve a million dollars

-same w spiderverse. listen usually i dont care about superhero stuff but god these movies are good and i really hope they stick the landing.

-everything everywhere all at once continues to be one of my favorite movies ever

-rainworld (video game, very difficult but skurry's playthroughs do a good job summarizing the plot and general vibe of each route if you wanna watch those. i watched my friend play survivor ages ago and ive been playing through survivor with a friend on multiplayer and decided to watch some playthroughs to get a feel for the map and GOD DAMN the story of this game. rivulet route almost made me cry.) fair warning this is animal death the video game.

-severance (live action tv show, general plot is some sort of dystopian future where they invent a surgery where you can seperate your work self from your normal self so you clock into work and then black out until your shift is over. except your work self is just stuck at work forever. only 9 episodes but very, VERY good)

-i actually really enjoyed the scott pilgrim comics and the anime i wish anyone ever could be normal about them. id definitely suggest comics (if you can handle the 2000s humor) then anime. also basically everyone knows this but fair warning that starting out the main character is in his early 20s dating a 17 year old, it is explicitly treated as a shitty thing by the narrative and theres nothing explicit and its made very clear that he has 0 feelings for her whatsoever and is just using her as an ego boost but if youre sensitive to that stuff i might skip this one

-lots of webcomics about animals. i read so many webcomics about animals its like. my main media intake. this is part of the reason that i dont understand complaints about the art style my favorite webcomic looks like this

its called doe of deadwood and ill think about it until the day i die. others im currently reading (since this one wrapped a while ago) are "what lurks beneath" (cat cult on an island) "waves always crash" (cat cult on the beach) "i didnt know" (cat cult in a barn), toufati sawa (hyena trying to avenge her clan) and africa (leopard trying to survive the harshening world with her cubs) warning for animal death with all of these and general abuse warning for all those cat cult ones bc. cults.

-i like warrior cats. do not read warrior cats. its not very good and youll get stuck here forever.

-pathologic but the actual game and not just people describing the game please watch someone play the actual game summaries skip so much of the meat of the story and the characters. or play the game if you can bear learning to strategically quicksave. fair warning there is a lot of racism depicted against indigenous people in these games and while the framing of it generally aires on the side of "racism bad" there are a lot of kinda shitty tropes that come with it.

-listen bojack horseman is one of my shows it is the polar opposite of mob psycho in like every way and i would never in a million years recommend it if you want something that hits like mob psycho but if we're asking for just things i enjoy this is one of them. heavy cw for drug usage and abuse with this one. might want to give "does the dog die" a look for this one bc people are not joking about how heavy this show is

-same with hospice. hospice is a concept album about a hospice worker and a patient and has had more of an influence on me than any other piece of media ever bc i found it at the exact perfect time in my life for it to be relevant to my circumstances and now its like part of my identity. heavy cw for abuse also

-speaking of concept albums hey have you listened to tyler the creator he has several. WOLF especially i really like because the plot is actually like. kinda intricate. he also says the f slur a lot in WOLF but hes bisexual so diversity win?

-succession good. tw for like. everything though. probably "does the dog die" this one.

-hey have you ever watched david lynch's 1972 film "eraserhead"

#me and my friends tor and mich read the entire manga in 2 call sessions #i put everything else under a readmore #i feel like the more you know about my interests you can look at anything i write and go #hey. hey i see you.

[adrianj625]

Animation Skills Intro: Ball Bounce (2)

This week I continued to build upon my concept of a ball ricocheting off walls and ceilings by continuing my work on a background, heavily referencing real perspective and business as well as the backgrounds of indie video game “Lethal League”. Life drawing and analysis of perspective done outside have allowed me to observe real live composition and the inherent business of detail in real life and as such I have managed to develop my way of designing this exterior but reducing the noise and detail as to avoid any clutter.

However, use of colour and tone definitely allowed me to further the illusion of depth with the amount of shape and business happening to fill the background with the believability of natural occurance. I chose to use a rough line pen in order to seperate from the smoother pen used to line and animate the ball and bat itself, with thicker lines in the foreground and thin lines further back to add this sense of tangibility with the size and weight of the ball bouncing across.

The colours I picked were purposely shifted across to seem more orange/ warm as opposed to the cooler blues with the bat and the ball itself. I depicted this sunset to further show the main point of the background toward the sun as well as the perspective lines of the buildings and objects pointing toward this horizon, similar to the reference I had pulled for this study. The planes are clear and seperate from the enviroment from behind, yet manage to blend into a single setpiece perfectly. Illustrator Thomas Noppers created these backgrounds for ‘Lethal League’ as their main setpieces and stage design allowed for these stages to change as matches progressed. This clear view meant that action in the main focus of the foreground was similarly clear to view as a game was played.

In the end, I was able to create a successful demonstration of a ball bounce by not only following my previous study of squash and stretch to emphasise and bring forth a cartoonishly hyperbolic sense of weight to the ball, but by also implementing the staging of the scene as a whole, with the wind up and anticipation of the ball being thrown and the bat being stirred to really build up and justify the speed of the ball’s travel. I also implemented a sort of freeze frame to hold the pose/ point of contact for a moment to really highlight the transferrance of momentum from the bat to the ball at this moment, followed by the straight-ahead motion of the ball dashing to the corners of the rectangle I had set with the background. Each bounce onto the edges is a pose I hold for 3 frames before release, until it eventually slows down upon contact with walls. The weight of the ball meant that it travelled faster going down than it did going up, due to gravity, hence the momentum of the final bounce off the wall being lesser in comparison to the initial hit of the ball. These bounces across the floor are heavy pose-to-pose animation, where I had posed out the arcs and impacts of the ball along the floor, as well as the sliding at the end and contact with the curb of the pavement. With the poses of the ball, I then fill in any inbetween movement and repeat frames to emphasise weight and the travel of the ball with clear indications of where the action will lead, whereas the straight ahead of the ball zipping from ceiling to wall to floor are all straight ahead fills for the travel of the ball in straight lines across 140 degree angles from each bounce, meaning the only frames I had worked off of is the initial point of contact from the ball and the bat to the bounce off the wall that causes the ball to lose momentum.

In this completed outcome, I had included sound to further highlight the contact of the ball as it travels. The final outcome here also presents it’s staging of the ball travelling across the foreground as the clear most important action in the scene seperate from the horizon and the perspective aligning to the centre of the rectangle. 

[g0ld-m3d4l-stuff]

A Rant About gen:LOCK Season 2 (spoiler warning)

I really enjoyed season 1 of gen:LOCK. It was brilliant. I was very disappointed to later hear about how Gray cannibalized the budget of other RT shows while crunching the production crew to make gl. Resulting in several layoffs.  It's such a shame especially considering how passionate the crew was about gl. Even worse it that from what I've heard, Gray didn't even show remorse over the crunch and got quite defensive, hence why he had to go.  When I heard that gl would continue, I was relieved, but then when I learned about how RT would not be involved in production and that HBO would take the reins, I was very concerned. I didn't want to judge too soon though.  Then season 2 premiered and oh man. No Battle Tapes. No David Levy. A potentially seizure inducing opening animation that only reuses scenes from the s1 op while showing some in show scenes from s2. Cheap and lazy. But that's really the least of my problems.  The animation was crap. RT had a great handle on the low framerate style in s1 but season two was horrible. The movements are jerky and awkward. The fight scenes are terrible and unlike s1 they are clearly not one of the things that the series prides on.  You could even see a difference in rendering. It feels more... lifeless (?) compared to s1 and some frames seemed like they forgot to properly render it.  The writing was really bad. They undid Chase's acceptance of Mind Sharing. The characters act quite differently. The timeskip made the tonal shift too abrupt and certain character arcs (specifically Marin) unsatisfying. They also completely retconned Yaz's backstory.  While I understand that HBO is an adult platform they should've kept in mind that many of the people who would watch s2 were a young adult audience who watched s1 when it was on RT. Although they warned that the show would take a darker more mature turn, they weren't clear.  RWBY promised a darker more mature turn but nothing like what happened with gl. And when RWBY did something extreme they at least put trigger warnings because RT actually respects us. HBO did not do that with gl and when they did it was too late.  They had an on screen animal death. No warning whatsoever. I mentioned the seizure inducing op earlier. They didn't put a warning for that until it the episode after it was first shown.  They had a on screen sex scene with full frontal nudity between Jodie and Miranda that especially objectified Miranda, not to mention how horribly animated it was.  And this one is the worst part. They give Kazu and identity crisis, develop his relationship with Val (leading to another sex scene) give Kazu some good development... only for him to be killed off, purely for shock value. All that character development was for NOTHING!  Like overall, HBO is clearly just trying to be "dark and edgy" more than trying to write a compelling story, with how graphic they have been throughout s2.  Oh and between all of this? Warnermedia issued unfair  copyright strikes against YouTubers who made gen:LOCK reaction videos BEFORE the series was taken by Warner. An action that went over RT's head and when they learned about it they wanted to do something about it.  Now there is something that kinda bugs me. gen:LOCK is no longer being produced by Rooster Teeth but it's still a Rooster Teeth IP isn't it? Is RT in the dark about what production decisions are being made until each  episode airs? Are they gonna keep promoting the show?  I'm gonna keep my eye out on what happens next. Until we know what's gonna happen, please do not attack RT for this. This is all on HBO.

#gen:LOCK #gen:LOCK Season 2 #gen:LOCK season 2 spoilers #gen:LOCK spoilers #my posts

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Ash Ketchum: Badass or just bad?

Depends on the saga, and that itself is probably the most frustrating thing about him.

In Kanto, he was a moron, and even kind of an asshole. But I honestly didn't mind that, considering this season's role in the grander scheme of the show. I don't even mind how his Pokemon League journey ended. It was only his first attempt, and considering that he didn't earn most of his badges, his losing because he gambled on Charizard is surprisingly fitting. In fact, it's the perfect symbolism. He lost because he had a lot of power but had yet to earn it. He was a novice, the stupid moments are appropriate for this stage of his journey.

He's definitely come a lot further by the Silver Conference, but he's still depending on Brock and Misty. They're his teachers and they pretty much co-parent him. He's definitely gained power and experience as a trainer but he needs to take the training wheels off. I don't have a lot to say about Johto, but I also think that him gradually phasing his Kanto pokemon out and replacing them with the new ones meant that his growth was framed differently than other series', and maybe that's why I just never got into his Johto team.

To an extent, he does do this in Hoenn. Brock is still around, but with Misty gone the whole group dynamic shifts around. Seeing Ash alone and with new companions in those first three episodes, though? Man did he feel like he had come a long way. By the end of the Hoenn series, he even got a little too overconfident. Though I have soft spot for Hoenn Ash and I feel like he did earn that confidence. Still, few things symbolize how much he still had to learn as him straight up forgetting that Seismic Toss wouldn't affect Brandon's Dusclops. He made the right choice, continuing to travel and declining to become a Frontier Brain.

Everyone knows Sinnoh. Everyone loves Sinnoh. Apart from Tobias. Ash grew as a Trainer more in this adventure than in any other. In no small part due to having Paul as a rival. It motivated him to challenge himself. Gen 4 was where the games really fleshed out the competitive aspect and you can see this reflected in the show. Even the training itself, stuff like the counter shield. The entire storyline of Chimchar. I can bring nothing to the conversation about how incredible Sinnoh was.

We don't talk about Unova.

Kalos on the other hand, was-okay, okay, I'm kidding. I won't do that. But seriously, Unova was such a disappointment. I don't even mind Pikachu losing to Snivy, it's clear that was a "forced loss" plot-wise, that didn't truly reflect Pikachu's skill. But the entire saga was like this. I was joking before, but I'm serious when I say that we don't talk about Ash vs Elesa. What even was that nonsense. Not even Kanto Ash would have done that.

Kalos Ash was best Ash. I like Alola very much, perhaps more than most people, but I can't ignore the perfection that was the XY arc in the anime. Ash was a rock star in this storyline. He was at his most likeable, had far more agency, was very much competent and even inventive - and had his best team, I'm saying it. I don't even mind that he didn't get mega evolution, he pretty much got his own exclusive secret mega. Should have won the Kalos league though.

Alola, despite being one of my favorite arcs in the anime and finally giving Ash the league victory...it was honestly the sharpest reset he's gone through since Unova. Sorry, I love the whole school idea, but after he was the runner up in the Lumiose Conference...Ash should be like, an assistant teacher. Not a student who even feels the need to cheat. Doesn't help that they made him go from looking sixteen to looking seven.

Journeys is fun. I haven't seen a lot of it but this arc makes me happy because they actually committed to having Ash become and stay a league champion. They didn't retcon it, and he doesn't feel like he's reset at all. His team is a powerhouse, and they even gave him a Lucario at long last. This gives me hope for the future, that he won't get reset anymore.

So, yeah. His trajectory is a lot of ups and downs. He catches a fair number of pokemon, all things considered. Sure, he'll never "catch em all" but I actually prefer quality over quantity for his pokemon - since they basically retire from the series after they finish a league on the active team. That's why so few of his Unova mons are memorable, there were simply too many.

And yeah, he releases far too many of them, but again - it's not like he was ever going to use Greninja and Goodra again after Kalos. A release is a departure from the show, just like Ash does to his teams when he goes off to a new region. Some of them are pretty stupid (He gave his Primeape away to a total stranger for no reason, mere hours after finally getting through to him. You suck, Ash.) But other make sense. Anytime he releases a pokemon for the sake of their happiness, I can't complain. But I will complain when he leaves them with other people for "training" Dude, that's your job! It's right there in the name!

#Ash Ketchum #Pokemon #pokemon advanced generation #Pokemon Diamond and Pearl #Pokemon Best Wishes #Pokemon XY #Pokemon XYZ #Pokemon Sun and Moon #Pokemon Journeys #pokemon original series

[aeternallis]

Unpacking the Anti-Sessrin Argument :: Father/Daughter & Grooming

While I was watching AxelBeats’ newest video on the Sessrin discourse, it got me thinking that maybe the reason why the Anti-Sessrin argument even exists in the first place is because Rumiko Takahashi never fully defined Sessrin’s relationship. The audience had different interpretations, of course, but she never explicitly named whatever it is between them. 

It sounds like I’m just stating the obvious, but hear me out. It often baffles me whenever the antis describe Sesshoumaru as having raised, essentially “groomed” Rin for the purpose of sexual gratification. I mean—that’s pretty much the definition of “grooming,” isn’t it: to consistently lower a child’s emotional defenses and befriend them, for the purpose of sex.

But in that same vein, the anti-Sessrin argument also claims (at least most of the time) that Sesshoumaru and Rin also had a father/daughter relationship, from the context of the original show.

Which...kinda contradict each other? 😅 If one sees Sessrin’s relationship as that of a wholesome “father/daughter,” the idea of Sesshoumaru “grooming” Rin is negated, isn’t it? Because in the context of the original anime and the subsequent sequel, describing these two characters simultaneously as “father/daughter” and “an older man grooming a child�� wouldn’t make any sense, considering the fact that both descriptions have virtually opposite intentions. 

It can only be one or the other.

At least in a fictional context, anyway. As I said, it’s always been difficult to pin down Sessrin’s relationship because Takahashi herself had never defined it either. Sesshoumaru’s character arc is hella subtle, considering the fact that he’s not part of the main group and at most, he is a secondary character (but one that definitely makes an impression), if not a minor antagonist in the beginning. Lol

I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re going to define the relationship of two characters in any piece of fiction, whatever label that may be has to apply to the entire story of said characters. It would be an erroneous flaw to define the relationship of two characters as one thing based on your initial impressions, then another thing entirely just because you don’t like the trajectory of said relationship. 

I don’t mean to say that relationships are static; after all, the emotional connections between two characters are always evolving, either for better or worse. That’s what makes a story, and what allows the audience to connect with the characters. 

I only meant that the label has to be reflective of the characters’ actions. 

After all, Yashahime is considered the sequel to Inuyasha; it acts as a continuation, not a reboot or a separate story of its own. Yes, the focus has shifted to an alternative main cast, but the story is still being told within the framework of the original anime. 

Father/Daughter_________

As I said earlier, a lot of antis describe Sessrin as having a father/daughter relationship, but what specific actions did Sessrin perform in the original anime gave off that impression? 

From the beginning, Rin has never had expectations of Sesshoumaru as one would expect to have of a daughter to a father. Throughout the original anime, she fends for herself and only relies on Sesshoumaru for protection. In the context of the time period, Rin receives no form of dowry from him, she’s not used as any sort of pawn (political or otherwise) to his advantage at any time, and for the most part, has no right to whatever assets he may own as an heir (in this case, Jaken’s services and Ah-Un’s loyalty). Sesshoumaru instructs (forces) Jaken and Ah-Un to care for Rin, but I highly doubt the latter has the right to command them, were she truly perceived to be an adopted daughter to a youkai. 

For example, in episode 162 of the anime, Rin herself acknowledges that she doesn’t know what role she plays in Sesshoumaru’s life. For some context, there’s a scene in the episode where Jaken explains that in the future after the situation with Naraku is settled, Sesshoumaru will most likely build an empire. In this future empire Jaken envisions, he proclaims that he’ll be a chief minister, so Rin asks the following question:

In this scene, it clearly shows that Rin has no expectations of Sesshoumaru as one would have as a perceived daughter to a father.

Conversely, Sesshoumaru doesn’t give Rin any rights as a daughter would rightfully have from a father. Rin isn’t overprotectively cloistered away in a palace (or in Towa/Setsuna’s case, within a barrier that surrounds a beautiful forest), he does not pass on any sort of inheritance to her (unlike, once again, Towa/Setsuna’s case, in which they both inherited his powers), does not actively tell her of his singular interest in pursuing Naraku, and most of the time, remains emotionally distant from her. 

And to repeat that, emotionally distant, but it doesn’t mean that he’s not affected by her kindness. 

In the end, she’s free to roam around with him as she pleases--or leave his side, as she pleases. She doesn’t have the restrictions or expectations that would be placed upon a female of that time period; Sesshoumaru lets her live her life, as she pleases. 

Grooming  _________

On the other end of the spectrum, I ask once more: what specific actions did Sessrin perform in the original anime that gave off that impression?

And before one begins to even think about that question, please note that using the reason “in Yashahime, Sesshoumaru married Rin and they had children” as the specific action would not make any sense; this action is just an end result, but nowhere does it indicate where or how the perceived grooming took place. 

To reiterate, throughout the original anime Sesshoumaru remained emotionally distant from Rin; his main focus for most of the time was trying to take Tetsusaiga, tracking down Naraku, and/or trying to find a weapon that can match/surpass Tetsusaiga. 

Hell, even in one of their first significant moments together when he brings her back to life that first time, it wasn’t for any reason of trying to obtain sexual gratification from Rin; the audience is fully aware that he was just mostly out to test Tenseiga’s power (as Jaken himself reiterates). Mauledtodeath!Rin just happened to be there as a stroke of luck and an opportunity. 

What limited scenes they did have together were brief (not to mention that he ignored her half the time), and with hardly any insight into Sesshoumaru’s thoughts, this argument is very much a moot point. 

To be honest, the “grooming” argument IMO is actually kind of ironic, yknow? XD A lot if not most of the antis hate the Sessrin shippers because they think that we condone pedophilia and grooming...yet they were the ones to reach this conclusion on their own. They’re the ones imagining a Sesshoumaru who only had dirty thoughts towards Rin, who raised her to be his outlet for sexual gratification. Lol 

Either way, the situation is funny in that context! 

My Conclusion _________

So what does all this mean? Nothing much, only that I still don’t really understand where the father/daughter vibe and grooming thing comes from. Lol When I say I never saw those things in the original anime, I meant it. If one were to think about the context of the story and how it was portrayed, the accusations that are stacked against Sessrin are just assumptions based on one singular fact that Sesshoumaru married Rin and had children with her.

To me personally, the one label that defines the relationship between Sesshoumaru and Rin, the one that makes sense if we were to look at Inuyasha and Yashahime as a continuous narrative, is that of lord and vassal.  

In an interview with Yashahime’s staff (wonderfully translated by ayuuria here), the producer Naka Toshikazu stated that it was a challenge trying to continue Inuyasha’s story because of how Rumiko Takahashi so neatly concluded it. They only had direction to go somewhere with a new story when they realized they could make it about Sesshoumaru’s daughter. 

And it makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, the reason why they couldn’t just pursue Inukag or MiroSan’s story is because those relationships had already been defined. Both are two sets of characters who fell in love whilst they went on an adventure, and they’ve done their part to save the world. 

Would a story about Shippo or Jaken or Koga have pulled audiences as much as the main cast did? Where would the conflict come from? How could they continue the story without having to repeat the original narrative? Without having to create a new Naraku? 

It makes sense that Sesshoumaru and Rin would get together, if only because they were the one relationship that Rumiko has never defined, not in the anime nor in the manga. Zero in episode 15 of Yashahime states, “The Lord Sesshoumaru, one who is known to detest both humans and half-demons, has taken a human for a wife.” 

Just think of how bold of a story that is, one that can match the stakes of the original story, whilst still being able to continue within the frame of the narrative? Think of the implications of what that means in the narrative of Inuyasha, that the one character who arguably hates humans the most, feared and respected by other youkai, went through such a character arc that he would marry a member of a species he claimed to hate and sire children with her. 

Of course there would be repercussions; of course other demons wouldn’t be happy or be easily accepting of it, Shikon jewel prophecy be damned. 

Of course Sesshoumaru has to work hard to earn his complete happy ending with his family. He fell in love with Rin, a human woman, after all. And in the story of Inuyasha, has that not always been the catalyst for everything else? 

#Sessrin #hanyou no yashahime #hanyo no yashahime #anti-sessrin #something to think about #meta #ramble #hanyou no yashahime: sengoku otogizoushi #Yashahime

[ukaiknowsbest]

GinTae in Kintama Arc - Manga vs Anime Differences 7

continuation

Manga: Shows Ginoki's shocked face. 2nd panel just show him and kagura. And then Shinpachi in the last.

Anime: Shows Gintoki's shocked face but only above his nose and eyes (in coherence with the scenes from before shinpachi/kagura/otae showed up). Anime also showed the four of them as Ginoki exclaimed that they were all idiots for running to him. Shinpachi looking at him and then at Kagura was also included.

It's nice that the anime include Otae and Shinpachi in the shot. Even if she was initially not shown in the manga panels we know that she was there anyway.

Manga and Anime showed Gintoki's shocked face and him gritting his teeth (to keep himself from tearing up i think).

Manga: Shinpachi and Kagura embrace him. Final scenes before the explosion show only the back of Gintoki's head.

Anime: Closeup of Shinpachi and Kagura arms as they embrace Gintoki. Also showed Shinpachi, Gintoki and Kagura's faces in front view. We can see Gintoki's face shift from being shocked, relieved to happy and content before the light completely takes over the four of them. The final Yorozuya + Otae group hug is so nice and fulfilling to watch.

Note: In the manga, Gintoki's face was hidden while in the anime they showed it.

Also I like how the top tufts of Otae's hair is visible hahahah.

Mantama arc.

Manga: Otae whips her gorilla mask away. Shinpachi removes his idiot glasses, Kagura removes her baseball cap

Anime: Otae, Shinpachi, and Kagura throw their respective disguises in the air. Also anime show the trio when Gintoki exposes Kintoki.

Thoughts:

Anime did improve on the Yorozuya final embrace by showing their faces and expressions more and by including Otae in the frame.

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 |

#gintae #otae notes #tae shimura #sakata gintoki #shinpachi shimura #kagura #yorozuya #kintama #kintama arc

[sailormoonandme]

Hot Take: I like Chibi-Usa in R more than S+SuperS

For me it all comes down to the protagonist of the show, namely Usagi herself.

I honestly feel their relationship was played much better in R than in S or SuperS even though you could absolutely argue Chibi-Usa as a character unto herself was written better in S (SuperS imo is a little more debatable).

I think Sailor Chibi-Moon is funny in S and her relationship with Hotaru legitimately endearing, probably the best bits of character writing she ever got in the OG anime.

But looking at her entire character throughout each season my personal problem is that in S and SuperS the vast majority of the time Chibi-Usa is framed as Usagi's bratty, undermining and argumentative younger sister. Obviously she is literally her daughter but S and SuperS rarely utilize that dynamic between them, preferring to play them as bickering siblings.

Of course this was present in R as well, but I think there were some critical factors in that season that offset that stuff.

For starters that portrayal of Chibi-Usa was rarely present when the action kicked off and Usagi had become Sailor Moon. In a sense Chibi-Usa's relationship with Usagi was different to her dynamic with Sailor Moon. Partially this is due to her not knowing they were one and the same, but it generally prevailed even after she learned the truth. When Usagi was Sailor Moon their dynamic shifted from a big sister and a bratty little sister bickering into 'hero and protectee'. This frankly made Usagi look cool and admirable, the obvious example being from episode 68 where she shields Chibi from Rubeus.

I love goofy Usagi/Sailor Moon of course but the former dynamic organically allowed a bit more screen time for the other side of Usagi, the true blue super hero side of her. I'm not saying I dislike Chibi-Usa growing into a Senshi in her own right, that's a logical direction for her character. I'm more annoyed that 9/10 the bicking bratty sisters stuff became a near constant feature of S and SuperS, including when Usagi became Sailor Moon.

I don't even hate the bratty, bicking aspect of their relationship but it was almost always what was going on in S and SuperS, or else the situations were engineered in such a way that Chibi-Usa would come out on top and Usagi would 'lose'. Obviously that's a bit of a lose-lose no matter what if you like Usagi because if she did come out on top it'd be over a little kid whcih would make her look bad. R however I think has the advantage over S and SuperS because they balance this out with moments of tenderness or vulnerability between the two, moments where Chibi-Usa ultimately acknowledges Usagi's worth and where Usagi takes the initiative to be nice to her; e.g. the curry episode is a prime example.

Such moments happened in S+SuperS but far less frequently in my observations, mostly during big climactic moments. I think because Chibi-Usa was really THE central figure of the Black Moon arc it necessitated a greater balance to how her relationship with Usagi was played. In S she is an important figure but not THE central one and in SuperS she is the outright protagonist in place of Usagi meaning it became more natural/easier to fall back on the bickering sisters stuff.

Finally, her brattiness towards Usagi in R is in context far more justified than in S+SuperS. In the former she is not only younger than she was in S+SuperS, but she is truly vulnerable, there are people targeting her, she's been forced from her home amidst a crisis, believes her parents are in terrible danger and is all alone in a strange time and place. Given her age these factors make her brattiness at least more excusable than her being bratty and undermining towards Usagi in S+SuperS when none of those factors apply and when she knows for a fact Usagi is her mother.*

Alright that just about does it, I'm ready for the flames.

*Personally it really annoyed me how S had to have her casually doubt if Usagi really was her mother in order to justify the continuation of the ' bickering sisters' dynamic between them. R in contrast actively played with the fact that Usagi was her parent multiple times throughout the season whilst S+SuperS typically treated it as an after thought.

#My Essays #chibiusa #Chibi-Usa #Small Lady #Sailor Chibimoon #sailor chibi moon #Sailor Chibi-Moon #Sailor Moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #usagi tsukino #tsukino usagi

[battlekidx2]

Kipo Season 2 Review

I know this is late, but better late than never right?

Every cartoon I’ve watched on Netflix that dreamworks made has blown me away. Kipo has managed to continue their streak of fantastic cartoons. I got to Kipo season 1 late and only saw it a few weeks before season 2 dropped. I’m really glad I did because the wait would have been unbearable. Kipo has an inventive world with a lot of potential, fun characters that I enjoy every time they are on screen, a great soundtrack, and beautiful animation. There were some things in Kipo season 1 that I wish were expanded upon and I think a lot of them were addressed with the 2nd season. Kipo still has a lot of room to grow, but it has all the building blocks to be a great show and seems to be heading there. Dreamworks is probably my favorite animation company. I have been very happy with everything they have released recently.

Characters

I think I have to start with Scarlemage.  He was built up perfectly in the first season and I really liked the payoff. Dreamworks always has a knack for writing villains be it for their movies or their tv shows and they’ve once again created a very interesting and fun villain. Scarlemagne managed to be fun and sympathetic yet disturbing throughout the season. And while I’m typically all for redemption arcs I liked that he didn’t get one in this season. I think him not changing in the way kipo wanted was a learning moment for both her and her father. For her father it showed him his greatest flaw, giving up on people/things too soon, and how damaging that can be. For Kipo it showed her that as much as she may want to believe in the best in everything that’s not how it will always work out. I think these are major lessons that will effect the characters moving forward. My favorite villains are the ones who challenge the hero’s worldview and that’s what Scarlemagne does. Scarlemagne himself was very compelling this season and I do believe that while he wasn’t redeemed this season there is the possibility for change in the future. 

I got chills every time his musical motif played. I loved the logic behind his obsession with classical music and clothes. How it initially stemmed from his innocent wonder. I think it’s fascinating how in one episode everything we knew about Scarlemagne was flipped on its head. There was a sort of tragic inevitability to his “villain’s journey”. It was all born from one choice on the side of Kipo’s father that was completely understandable from his perspective, but heartbreaking from Scarlemagne’s perspective. (I’m also a big fan of tragic villains where there’s one choice or factor that makes it so that them and the hero can’t see eye to eye)

Kipo: 

I like Kipo as a main character. She isn’t my favorite main character and I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that until the second half of this season her worldview wasn’t really challenged all that much. She was constantly proven right again and again which I think was framed really well for a large part of the first season. It’s because she doesn’t have any preconceived biases against mutes that she is able to find common ground and see the best in everyone, but this view that everyone is good and that everyone can change isn’t challenged in any meaningful way until Scarlemagne and even then we won’t get to see the fallout of that until season 3. More experienced humans like Benson and Wolf are show to have distrust of mutes and we see in Wolf’s backstory exactly why and yet despite having much more experience with mutes and living on the surface the second Kipo comes along everything they previously thought and experienced is proven wrong. I wasn’t the biggest fan of that. Again I think with this season we are starting to see a shift away from that. Kipo has just seen that her philosophy isn’t always correct with mutes and I would assume with how the season ended next season will deal with her coming to that realization about humans as well.

I think Kipo has a lot of room to grow as a character. And they seem to be taking steps to address the problems I had with her. I want to once again emphasize that I do like her. There are just things that I would like for them to address in the future. (also it’s nice to hear Glimmer’s VA again)

Wolf:

Wolf is the character I am intrigued by the most. Her past, while only briefly explored in flashbacks, was hard hitting. The fade from her attacking the mother wolf to the wolf skin she had on her head was chilling. Everything we learn about her childhood is fascinating because I like hearing about how she survived on the surface alone. It’s an interesting concept because unlike Kipo she had to adapt from a young age to survive, but she was left with little to no people skills and attachment issues because of it. She was the main character who had the most room to grow in my opinion and, while her arc may be predictable, I like how it has been handled so far. I do want more information about her past and maybe a run in with some of the wolves that betrayed her (I have a hard time believing that she killed all of them). I just think there is a lot of untapped story potential with her character and I was a little sad that outside of episode 4 and the finale she took a lot more of a backseat compared to the first season. Though it was understandable considering how much they had to cover in a 10 episode timespan.

Benson:

Benson was given more to do this season, but still took a bit of a backseat. His relationship with Kipo isn’t given nearly as much attention as Kipo’s relationship with Wolf. I would like a Benson backstory because there is still so much left up to the viewers imagination about everything he went through pre-series. He’s a really fun character that I wish were utilized to his full potential. He has a fun dynamic with just about every character he interacts with and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future. I also like his blooming romance with Troy. It was really sweet and funny.

World

Kipo’s world is actually what drew me to this show in the first place. It was a unique take on the post apocalyptic mutant world and I was excited to see where they would take it. I really liked the worldbuilding and how unique each mutant society was and how they managed to very even the burrow cities. This world is just rich with so much wonder and potential. There are still a lot of questions like “What caused the apocalypse?”, “Did the mutes cause the apocalypse or did the apocalypse create the mutes?”, “How did society evolve the way it did?”, “How can it evolve from here?”. I am so intrigued by everything about it. The worldbuilding is probably the strongest point in the show. 

Music

That being said, the music is a very close second. The score and soundtrack of Kipo is one that you can just pop on and listen to whenever you want. I don’t think there’s anything I can really say about the music other than it’s great and reminds me of spider verse with how the music is used in the story and how each type of music associated with a character tells you a lot about who they are. It does just about everything that I feel music should do in the audio-visual medium. It’s really amazing.

Overall

I’m a really big fan of this show. I have a lot of fun anytime I put it on. While it isn’t my favorite of the dreamworks cartoons I still find it to be amazing. It manages to have moments and episodes that hit me hard even on a rewatch. There’s just so much creativity and heart put into this show. I really want to see more of it because with how the show is going and growing I believe that a lot of my questions and problems will be addressed. I hope others can find the enjoyment out of Kipo that I do.

#kipo #kipo and the age of wonderbeasts #kataow #dreamworks #wolf #benson #scarlemagne #season 2 #kipo season 2 #review #i really like this show

[ahatintimepieces]

Maybe something with tardigrade song or the moss ,by Cosmo sheldrake? All his songs are pretty whimsical

Many feelings right now, post-writing, and 1) Never heard this music before this morning and now The Moss is forever embroidered into my being, 2) This got way outta hand and finally 3) THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING THIS I surely hope I captured the whimsy at least a little! Please enjoy!

“Legend has it that the moss grows on the north side of the trees,” Hattie reminded herself as she looked out at the columns of frosted stone, perched on top a giant, frozen wishing well. Or maybe just a well. It was too frozen to tell if golden wishes fell into this well. And it was too frozen to see if there was moss on the crystalline trees.

“Well, legend has it when the rain comes down, all the worms come up to breathe,” a squeaky voice of a dozing, floating raccoon bequeathed.

Hattie looked up, spotting the crown pon on the cap of the raccoon clinging to its pillow. The rift was overrun by these sleeping fellows who whispered in their dreams of fables and things.

“Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come, all the plants, they eat them with their leaves.” Hattie readied herself and leapt forward. The stone column cracked beneath her and began to sink. With a jolt of fear, she immediately jumped to the next one, flying beneath the raccoon who dropped to squash her. She wacked it with her umbrella and pilfered the pon before jumping to a cluster of cold leaves before the stone column crumbled beneath her.

The raccoon fell with the stone and Hattie panted, before catching the shine of the parchment below.

Careful, she descended the stairs of slippery leaves. Her boots scuffed the icy blue branches before she stooped down and gathered the page that was one piece of one puzzle of a forest of spirits and souls and sleepy spiders and dwellers. Swiftly, she tucked the page away and ascended the stairs and stone.

Paying pons in exchange for escaping the ice and moss-less trees, Hattie jumped into the pipe and dropped into a new level, finding shadows trapped in glass vessels.

“Well, legend has it that the world spins round on an axis of 23 degrees,” Hattie breathed. She examined the scene before her with confusion and barely jumped back before an inky-black octopus with waving tentacles emitted a ring of combustion.

“But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?” A smaller shadow asked in a raspy voice as she incapacitated the octopuses and raccoons. “Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?”

Hattie shoved the crown pons into her pocket as the other smaller shadow chimed in, its form looking like a carnivorous plant in one moment before wavering into the form of a dragon with a pointed beak just as its twin.

“Or she, who leapt up mountains while whistling up a tune and swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom?” The dragon bloom cooed.

Hattie shook her head, the movement causing her to spy a space in the wall with an opened door. She wandered over to find wooden planks leading down into the center of the structure perched in a murky moor. She jumped down and came to a dark room sparse save for a handful of shelves stacked with books. Another parchment puzzle piece shone but its shine was swallowed by the surrounding shadowy nook. She swiped the storybook page and retreated from the dark, jumping up the steps with calculated arcs.

Before she could reach the final pipe opening with hissing smoke, the middle shadow shaped like a sea serpent with spiraling tail and spiked shadows and short snout spoke.

“Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few from that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe,” the shadow whispered with a scarlet star blinking where its eyes usually sat black as tar.

Hattie paused, waiting for further explanation but the serpent seemed as petrified as a mask, the shadows shifting behind the curved glass. She dove through the final pipe and came to a raft, adrift in a sea of murky mist with distant trees shivering as if caught in a draft.

Focusing on her task to reclaim her time pieces, she cracked open the violet rift and it shattered along creases with collective whispers of the subconscious forest, asking if she could learn something from the puzzle pieces. Or…

Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup,

Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers’ droop?

The whispers begged her to understand, but the hatted child grabbed her hourglass and disappeared before knowledge could land.

Hattie returned to the forest and gingerly tucked the time piece away. Curious, she took out the pages of the storybook crafted by memories in the rift and went about her day.

Following the cobblestone path, she scanned the title page with a claw mark through a broken heart. A gaggle of subconites trotted over to her, following and asking if she wanted to join them in their game of sharing stories and art. One lifted his mitten hand to his chest, his light glowing as he pressed.

“Come listen, all ye fair maids, to how the moral goes,” he declared dramatically as Hattie mostly ignored him to scan the next page of a prince and a princess holding hands with hearts round their golden crowns, looking proper and prim.

“Nobody knew and nobody knows,” another subconite chimed in while the next chapter showed the princess in her crown meet the children in town covered with masks and hoods standing in rows.

Hattie glanced towards the hooded figures around her, dread welling up as they casually continued their recounting of characters.

“How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes, or how the Dong came to own a luminous nose,” the first subconite said while they walked. Meanwhile, the princess saw her prince’s palm clasped with a maiden of strawberry-rose locks.

“Or how the Jumblies went to sea in a sieve that they rowed,” a quiet third subconite sounded like they were smiling as Hattie stared, wide-eyed at the page of the princess’ heart shattering and her tears freezing, all framed by her golden hair.

“And came to shore by the Chankly Bore where the Bong-trees grow.” The girl with the rose-colored braid held up her hand, revealing a coin that might have once fell into a well made for wishing while the prince turned to see his princess fleeing.

“Where the Jabberwocky’s small green tentacles do flow, and the Quangle Wangle plays in the rain and the snow,” a noose dripping blue called from above in a haunting tone, causing the subconites to scatter with child-like screams and leaving Hattie alone.

Hattie stopped walking, steps faltering. Shadow tentacles rose around the green-garbed princess in droves while the prince tried to reach out, desperate to dismiss the princess’ doubt.

Pondering the woods, Hattie trembled, finding the story too terrible to continue. The shadow dragon blooms, the sleeping raccoons, the subconites and the cold, endless night that clung with the clefted moon. The young pilot charted stars, not stories withstanding; how was she to make sense of this pictured misunderstanding?

As if hearing her distress, a shadow appeared with a clasped claws and Cheshire grin. He twisted around her, wondering what was causing the child such chagrin.

Pressing the storybook to her chest, concealing the tale, she appeased, “Legend has it that the moss grows on the north side of the trees.” But nothing grew in the phantom forest. Crinkling her nose, she continued her pleas, “Well, legend has it when the rain comes down, all the worms come up to breathe.”

But the shadow reminded her for breath the dead have no need.

“Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come—”

There was no need in the forest of spirits for the light of the sun.

“—all the plants, they eat them with their leaves…” Hattie trailed off in grief. In a final plea, she said, “Well, legend has it that the world spins round on an axis of 23 degrees.”

The soul Snatcher widened his smile and began to beguile her scientific theses.

“But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?” He dove into the trees and puppeted shadows in a haphazard cartoon. The rabbit looked more like a man sewing cow plushies in a crescent room. “Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?”

Snatcher popped out of the trees and snatched Hattie’s hat, disappearing up in the leaves and forcing her to pursue with grappling hook threaded through the noose.

“Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune,” Snatcher continued, twirling her hat on his finger in an animated loop. “And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom.” He winked, tossing her hat back and summoning her contract to remind her of her tasks.

Hattie furrowed her brows and held out the storybook with memories cruel and true.

“Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few,” she repeated the morals whispered in the rift as she mused, “from that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe.” She turned the page to reveal the final clue, “Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup.”

The phantom froze and the girl gripped the page, both staring at the shadow depicted in his cage. Crown discarded; tears pooled in the eyes of the prince fooled into thinking love over sorrow could rule.

Hattie turned to the ending, the final picture that explained the strictures of the woman in the manor.

Petrified by the page, the phantom swallowed thickly as he added bitterly, explaining the story of jealousy’s cold coup, “Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewer’s droop.”

“Snatcher.” Hattie reached out but the ghost of the prince fled in one fell swoop.

#a hat in time #megxolotl #ahit hat kid #ahit snatcher #my writing #song lyric drabbles #im SO PECKING BAD AT POETRY BUT MY ONE DUMB BRAINCELL WAS LIKE NO WAIT I HAVE AN IDEA #ALSO I FREAKING LOVE THIS SONG #I WENT A LITTLE OVERBOARD WITH THIS ONE IM SORRY #BUT ALSO THANK YOU FOR INTRODUCING ME TO THIS GUY IN GENERAL OH BOY #i need to lie down now that took a lot out of me #but also i loved writing it a lot so i hope it's just as fun to read? #prose poetry my good friends #is not my forte but boy to i love it

[ryqoshay]

Happy Life: How to Walk a Familiar

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Words: ~2k Rating: G AU: Angelic? Time Frame: Sometime during their college years Story Arc: Stand Alone

Author’s Note: Someday I’ll get back to the other YohaRiko scenes I’ve started, including the one that this one was supposed to be...

“Ne, Yocchan!” Riko called as she left her room on her way to the living room, her pug in tow.

“What’s up, Riri?” Yoshiko responded as she paused her game.

“I’m going to take Prelude for a walk. Want to come with us?”

“Definitely!” The blue-haired girl made to jump up from the couch before realizing there was a purring furball in her lap. “Uhm… one moment… Sorry, Phobetor.” She nudged the cat gently in an attempt to have him leave of his own volition.

For his part, Phobetor took his time getting to his feet and stretching with a sizable yawn before stepping down onto the cushion beside Yoshiko. He glanced among the other three occupants of the apartment as though trying to determine the purpose of his nap being interrupted.

“We’ll be back in a little bit.” Yoshiko assured, patting the kitten’s head before moving toward the entryway.

“Merow!” Phobetor uttered, rubbing up against Yoshiko’s leg as she knelt to tie her shoe.

“Be a good boy while we’re out.” Yoshiko responded, petting her cat. She frowned, however, when the meowing continued as she stood. “We’ll be back before you know it.” She assured.

Phobetor switched tactics and moved toward Prelude, bunting against her while his vocalizations became more pleading.

“C’mon, Prelude.” Riko started to open the door and was about to step out when she felt resistance at the other end of the leash. “Prelude?” She turned to find her puppy sitting squarely in place. “Do you think we should let him come with us, Yocchan?” Riko inquired of her girlfriend.

“I’d like to bring him.” Yoshiko admitted. “But I don’t know how we would do that. I haven’t even bought a collar for him as I wasn’t expecting to take him anywhere other than the vet on occasion. I should probably get one…”

“Hrm…” Riko considered, watching the protesting pets for a moment. “I wonder if…” She trailed off as she closed the front door and opened the closet instead. “Ah, here we go.” She said after a minute or two of searching. “I wonder if Prelude’s old collar will fit?”

“Maybe? It looks a little big.” Yoshiko took the collar and knelt. Phobetor immediately stopped yowling and moved to sit in front of her. “Usually owners use harnesses on cats because they’re harder to get out of and there is less risk of the cat choking. Huh, just barely. Still pretty loose...” She commented as she used the last hole in the leather to secure the collar.

“Perhaps we can add a stop at the pet store to our route.” Riko said, holding out a spare leash. “Maybe Ryoushi-kun will be there and can meet him?” She mentioned the name of their favorite associate.

“Sounds good.” Yoshiko agreed as she attached the leash to her cat’s collar. “You’ll be a good boy and not pull out of this, right? We just need to make it to the store and we’ll get you one that fits better and a proper harness. Oh, and a nametag too!” She knocked her knuckles atop her head. “I don’t know why I didn’t think to get one earlier.”

“Well we haven’t really let him out…” Riko tried to reason.

“Yeah, but there was always a risk that he could have gotten out at some point.” Yoshiko lamented. “I don’t want anyone thinking he’s a stray anymore now that we’ve given him a good home.”

As if responding to her change in mood, Phobetor ran himself against her hand, earning a couple pets.

“Well, better late than never, right?” Riko offered. “Anyway, we should head out so we have enough time to get to the park and back in time for dinner. Let’s go get Phobetor a tag worthy of his status as Yohane’s familiar.”

That seemed the brighten the younger girl’s mood. “Indeed!” She jumped up. “A fallen angel’s familiar deserves nothing but the best!”

Riko smiled and opened the door again to lead everyone out.

“Ah, Riko-san, Yohane-sama.” A boy greeted the two girls as they moved down the store aisle. “Good to see you as always.” He knelt and produced a small treat as their dog hurried over to him. “Welcome back, Prelude-chan.” He smiled as he patted the pug before standing again.

“Hi, Ryoushi-kun.” Riko returned the greeting.

The young man’s attention turned to Yoshiko’s shoulder. “Pray tell, might this be the legendary familiar for which Yohane-sama hath sung many a praise?”

Yoshiko grinned. “Thou hath a keen eye, Choukyoushi!” She intoned. “Indeed, this day, Yohane hath summoned forth my most faithful of servants to honor you with his presence! Meet Phobetor!”

The cat reached out a paw and leaned forward as though to jump.

“He loves meeting new people.” Yoshiko explained as her voice returned to normal.

“Well it is indeed an honor to finally meet you in person, Phobetor-kun.” Ryoushi replied, taking the kitten into his arms. “Let’s see what I have for good little familiars.” He shifted the cat to cradle him in one arm so he could retrieve another treat from his apron. “Are you four here for normal restocking or for something specific?” He turned his attention back to the two humans.

“Phobetor wants to join us when we walk Prelude,” Riko spoke up “so we need a harness for him.”

“And since we’re here, I want to get a proper collar and tag for him.” Yoshiko added.

Ryoushi nodded. “I believe we can find ones that will suit him.” With that said, he turned and lead the way with Phobetor still purring in his arms.

“Yocchan, look” Riko said soon after the group had found the display “doesn’t that one look a little like the symbol you used during our time with Aqours?”

Yoshiko leaned in to inspect the tag in question. “It does!” She cried excitedly, pulling it from the rack. “Good find, Riri! Ne, Choukyoushi, can you etch a demon face on this?”

“Our machine does have a custom setting.” The store associate confirmed. “Let me show you how to use it.” He lead them to the device at the end of aisle where he pulled up an image representing the tag.

Yoshiko hummed happily to herself as she used the touch screen to draw eyes and a fanged mouth on the digital blank.

“Alright, now use this button to flip it over.” Ryoushi explained. “Then type his name in the upper box and your address in the lower one. Perfect. Now while this does its thing, go ahead and pick out a collar to put it on.”

“Back in a moment, Phobetor.” Yoshiko called to her cat before practically skipping away.

Riko and Prelude followed at a more normal pace. By the time they caught up, Yoshiko was already inspecting a collar in her hand.

“Is black really a good color?” Riko inquired. “Phobetor’s fur is black, so won’t the collar blend in too much?”

“Hrm…” Yoshiko pondered.

“Maybe this grey one will stand out better?” The redhead selected a different one. “Grey was your color as an idol after all.”

“Riri makes a good point. Alright. I’ll get this one.” The blue-haired girl took the offered collar. “Phobetor!” She called, moving back to the end of the aisle. “Look at what I got for you!”

Phobetor looked over from his position on Ryoushi’s shoulder and cocked his head to the side with curiosity. He seemed fine until Yoshiko reached toward him, at which point he turned his head away.

“Just let me get the old one…” Yoshiko said.

The cat eluded his master’s hands again before retreating to Ryoushi’s other shoulder.

“Phobetor.” Yoshiko chided.

Another attempt was made to remove the old collar but this time, Phobetor jumped down and scampered over to Prelude, pressing in against the larger dog as though using her as a shield.

Yoshiko handed the new collar to Ryoushi before kneeling down in front of the two animals. “Are you sure you want to keep that one? It might be a little heavy for a while and loose until you grow into it.” She asked, reaching a hand forward and smiling as her cat stepped forward cautiously but eventually rubbed against her palm. She looked up at her girlfriend. “Can he keep this one?”

Riko chuckled. “Of course. He seems to like it.”

Yoshiko grinned and stood. “We’ll put the tag on the collar he has now.” She announced to Ryoushi as though it wasn’t already obvious.

“Alright.” The associate replied, popping the small metal plate out of the etching device. “Here you go.” He handed over the tag as well as a pair of pliers.

“It came out perfect.” Yoshiko marveled at the design. “Here, Phobetor, will you at least let me put this on that collar? If you want to go out with us, you need some sort of identification.” She knelt again in front of the cat.

This time, Phobetor did not retreat, instead he lifted his chin to allow easier access.

“Good boy.” Yoshiko praised as she opened the jumper ring attached to the tag, secured it to the collar and bent it back into place. “There we g- oh, hey…” She caught her cat as he jumped up into her arms. Giggling, she scratched him behind his ears.

“Shall we look at harnesses next?” Riko inquired.

“Those are right here on the other side from the collars.” Ryoushi pointed out. “Let’s size one out for him.”

“I think Phobetor likes his new gear.” Riko commented as she watched their cat strut proudly beside their dog.

“Definitely.” Yoshiko agreed. “I’m so glad he can join us for our family walks like this.”

“As am I.” Riko agreed. Though not just for his sake, she thought to herself as she also took pleasure in seeing her girlfriend this happy.

“So, we’re headed to the park next?” Yoshiko inquired as the group came to a stop at a crosswalk.

Riko nodded. “I figured we could toss a ball a few times for Prelude and just enjoy the weather for a bit before we head back.”

“Alright. Oh, the light chang- eh?” Yoshiko paused with her foot a few centimeters off the ground as their cat suddenly jumped onto their dog’s leash. “Phobetor wha-?”

A box truck careened through the intersection against the red light, plowing through the crosswalk where the four of them would had been had they stepped forward. Yoshiko’s leg came down awkwardly and she overcorrected her balance backward, tipping herself over in the process. She landed roughly, but otherwise safely on the sidewalk.

“What jus… Riri, are you alright?!” Yoshiko looked up frantically to see her girlfriend frozen in shock.

“I’m… f-fine…” Riko’s movements were like a marionette with missing strings as she reached down to help the other girl back to her feet.

“Did Phobetor… just stop us from being isakai’d?” Yoshiko stared at the cat who was now playing with the leash that had been dropped.

Phobetor rolled onto his back held the braided nylon with is front paws while biting it and kicking at it with his back legs, seeming to be completely oblivious to the reactions of the two girls.

The chuckle that escaped Riko’s lips from her girlfriend’s bad joke felt odd, yet somehow still managed to ease some of her tension. She swallowed before asking. “Are you okay, Yocchan?”

“Well, either my familiar has a strange way of saving us, or the luck of my angel ascended did the trick.” Yoshiko knelt to retrieve Prelude’s leash. “But so long as Riri and her familiars are alright, so is Yohane.”

Of course, Yoshiko would be calmer about the situation, Riko realized, this was by no means her first close call. Heck, she fell off a balcony back in high school and was back to normal in moments, or at least as much as normal applied to her.

Something stirred in the back of Riko’s mind, but when she tried to focus on it, it was gone. Same as always.

“Shall we go?”

Yoshiko’s voice pulled Riko back to reality and she looked down to see the other girl holding out her dog’s leash.

“Right…” Riko replied, taking the handle as the four of them resumed their walk.

Author’s Note Continued in Followup Post

#YohaRiko #YoshiRiko #Sakurauchi Riko #Tsushima Yohane #Love Live Sunshine #Happy Life #fanfic #Tsushima Yoshiko

[popculturebuffet]

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes!: You’re Everybody’s Sidekick Review

OK KO was easily one of the best animated series of the 2010′s and i’ll stand by those words. The brainchild of Ian Jones Quartlery, voice of Wallow in Bravest Warriors and more importantly former head writer for Steven Universe, and current longtime romantic partner of that series creator Rebecca Sugar. That part isn’t AS important, but I still find it sweet.  Anyways OK KO was the story of K.O., a 6-11, not my own laziness for once but the show’s own way of doing age, year old boy who wants to be the best like no one ever was. In this case i’ts being a hero in a world that’s basically like if someone took the marvel universe and smashed a retro game collection and a pile of manga on top of it and then blended up the result and shot it full of gamma rays. Full of heroes of all kinds ranging from those fighitng crime to those who just want to loiter outside strip malls or cut hair.  To achieve this goal KO gets a job at Gar’s Bodega, the combination of your average bodega (for those unfamiliar with the term, i’ts a convience store) and a video game item shop, so the slurpee machine is right next to the power ups and ninja stars, and everything from skateboard polish to Spread Guns is avaliable. The bodega is owned by Mr.Gar, a mustachiosed muscle man whose basically a shoutier mexican version of MIke Haggar but with shades and a mustache. So a somehow better version of him, though with him being busy watching over the plaza itself, doing secret hero missions and what not the day to day operations are left to two teens: Rad, a muscle bound dude bro alien with telekenisis and a secret heart of gold and Enid, a cynical, slacker ninja whose also bilogically a witch because her parents are a vampire and a werewolf. So the series follows these three as they run the boedega, grow as people and fight the robots that frequently attack the plaza sent by the evil Lord Boxman who hates the place literally because it’s there and it’s existance annoys him. This is the canon explination and it is utterly hilarious.  The series was funny, had great character work, decent ongoing stories, great jokes and a fun tone that could go from meaningful and well thorught ot utterly batshit from episode to episode and was sadly canceled after 3 seasons because Cartoon Network is kinda stupid right now and dosen’t know how to handle a superhero show that still makes action a priority, but it did get a solid ending, a slew of great crossovers and a decent amount of representation under i’ts belt.  WHich brings us to today and the start of RED ACTION WEEK: A week dedicated to the series most prominent gay character and the bisexual ninja witch who loves her. I’m covering all 5 of Red’s more prominent apperances... I was just going to do the red/enid episodes but decided this was a better introduction to the series itself, as well as the fact it allows her character arc to better tie together by her final episode, which directly uses this one as a major plot point. I also threw Plaza Prom in there since, even if she’s only a supporting character, it’s still one of her few major apperances, is part of her final major episode, is one of my faviorites, and the climactic dance fights is one of the most intentionally homoerotic fight scenes i’ve seen in some time. With all that out of the way, let’s do this after the cut. 

We start at Gar’s Bodega, just after the opening two parter, with KO starting his first day of work, part of the reason this episode is a fairly smooth introduction into the show. Not even in the door he accidently shoryukyn’s joe cuppa, a stand up comedian with a cup of coffee in the big time for a head... I told you anything goes and I meants it.  After that accident, we find Enid at the counter, ignoring the customers before shooing them away and when KO asks for work, plays along with his enthusasim and tells him to clean the store.. which he does in minutes, before being told to sort the penny dish, and while he does the two discuss KO’s love of helping people: KO just genuinely thinks that’s part of his job, the right thing to do and feels good while Enid.. dosen’t feel it’s worth the effort and people are just generally ungreatful and not worth it.  I really like this scene for showing off their character dynamic beautifully: It starts showing that while at this stage Enid is largely an asshole, she does care about K.O. and while he’s cleaning, despite usually turning customers away, still let’s Ginger, an elderly patron and one of KO’s mom’s dojo customers, not only check out but pay in freaking pennies. It shows that try as she might, Enid really isn’t a cyncial or heartlesss as she claims. It’s also nice setup for later in the season as, and as i’m sure Ian Jones Quartlery and crew were preparing for, we later DO see why Enid hates people so much: her best friend, possibly more, Elodie, who i’ll certainly be covering eventually, betrayed her for a spot at Point Prep, basically UHA or Xavier’s for this world and claimed their friendship was just a ploy (It wasn’t, but again, story for another time), while her one date with Rad went terribly due to him acting like a huge jackass at the advice of his even bigger jackasses of friends. It’s easy to see why she stopped carring: When she opened up in the past it only lead to her being hurt and alone. K.O.... is the opposite. He genuinely belivies in everyone and tries to help them because, as said above, it’s just what he does and what he belivies a hero should be... he hasn’t been hurt or influenced by assholes like his friends, and thus is able to get them to open up. It’s a wonderful dynamic and I love it.  And naturally, KO is determined to help Enid see the light, with Enid responding with the wonderful line “You’ll never melt my icy heart”... give him a few more episodes Enid, give him a few more episodes.  So K.O. Decides to set out helping people, shouting about it to enid back at the store as he does because he’s 6-11 and kids in that age range are many things, but subtle is not one of them. He starts with Geoff and Nick Army, a monk and gay duke nukem reflectivity who despite having polar oppositie personalities, are both a couple, as confirmed by the creative team and then the finale, and a crime fighting duo who are having a dispute over opening a pickle jar with the good old ultra violence or non violence, which KO solves by letting both do it once, which results in a pickle jar explosion, both men in their underwear and everyone happy, especially the shippers.  KO continues his quest, going to Logical Cuts where we meet Mr.Logic, a robot who has a rather moving and well done backstory we’ll certainly get to, and is voice by James Urabanik, aka the voice of Rusty Venture on the venture bros, to my utter delight. And yes i’ll be covering the venture bros eventually, and might be this month. His customer, another one of KO’s mom’s regulars, is upset because her haircut isn’t right while Mr.Logic is upset, well as upset as a monotone robot can convey, that his usually 100% mathmatically perfect haircuts are off. KO pitches in and the new result is perfect, with both being greatful. 

KO’s next stop on his good will help people crying for help tour, after the above bit of wonderful art shift as that version of ko moveds like a south park character for some reason. Anyways, it turns out best friends, co workers and the dante and randal of this show, i.e.two best friends working a dead end job who despite arguing a lot need each other, A Real Magical Skeleton, self explaintory and Greg, a bear, are having an argument because RMS is trying to do their job and frame a baseball for a guy while Greg is being a dickhead and playing the drums constantly. As you can probably wager, I do not like Greg, probably more than rusty, partly because a future episode has him making KO doubt his macaroni art gift for his mom so he can eat it, yes really,and partly because he’s less intresting than his buddy and yet the two are shipped frequently despite my honest assumption they’d kill each other.. much like if dante and randall finally banged. However if you do ship them, I have no hostility with you. Unlike say loudcest or shipping sam with lincoln over at the loud hosue, there's nothing wrong with RMS X Brandon, it’s just not for me.  Anywho KO solves it in the hilarious and awesome manner of just putting Brandon inside one of those baseball cube things... it’s a shame he apparently gave him air holes but whatever. Proud of himself, K.O. plans to head back when he runs into the Ally Teens: Red Action, rude teen warrior from the future who just had a bad haircut, Drupe, a sentient strawberry because of course, and Greg, Drupe’s nonbinary best friend and combination of one of the bone cousins and Woodstock. K.O. offers to help and , with the trio being huge steaming bowls of elephant piss at this point, they instead trick him into waiting in a lava flow and then have drupe whip him every time the lava causes him to cartoonishily jump in the air.  Yeah despite both Red Action and Drupe going on to having supporting roles, like our good pal tom, who I will get back to this month, there isn’t nearly as much wiggle room in their first apperance. With Tom Lucitor, he was a dick.. but you could make the case, even just off that ep that he genuinely dosen’t know HOW to be a good person or that what he’s doing is sketchy at best. Here, it’s fairly obvious the ally teens know setting a child on fire and using vine whip on him super effectively is wrong, that’s why their doing it. Red, being that special brand of asshole, posts it on social media. I mean posting a video of yourself hurting a child, that’s Tucker Carlson level’s of dickery right there. Stone cold. Enid sees it and is understandably concerned, and goes over to see if KO’s allright when he returns and is forced to explain to him that no they weren’t laughing with him, they were laughing at him and were just being dicks. Also he wasn’t in lava, it was magma. It was above ground. 

K.O. glumly wonders why and Enid reitrates this kind of shit is why she dosen’t help people. K.O. also wonders how she saw it and we find out Enid is basically facebook stalking red action on her social media, as you do, and that Red’s been on a bit of a tear lately, smashing up shit and farting in Geoff’s face all because she got a bad haircut, with K.O. , likely going thorugh more of her posts, realizing theirs a pattern: When bad things happen to her she lashes out at others.. just like Enid. I do like the parallel there: Enid likely has a crush on her because the two are fairly similar.. but Enid runs cold and tens to be standoffish as a result of her past, while Red tens to take out her anger and frustration on everyone else and runs red hot. But they come together because opposities attract... it’s what noble laurite MC Scat Kat taaught us after all.  K.O. however, having Steven Universe level’s of empahty and an equal sense of wanting to help, and just as few boundries as he had as a tween, decides that it’s clear the ally teens have underlying issues to adress and gets Enid help to look at their social media. Returning to the ally,and seemingly unphased by earlier, K.O. sets out helping them, starting by helping red get her haircut fixed by Mr. Logic. Red is adorably delighted. Moving on K.O. notes that Drupe basically just follows Red’s lead but has a fashion blog and clearly an identiy of her own and we soon learn she believes no one reads it. K.O. showed it to the not at all ambigiously gay duo and Geoff and Nick thank her> That’s two blushes and two wins in K.O.’s court.  Finishing up, K.O. realizes Gregg stays quiet because they have low self esteem and feel they have nothing to be proud of. K.O. however found lots to be proud of and framed Gregg’s valdectorian certificate for him, again with some help from earlier.  Instead of graditude red just calls him weird and leaves and KO slumps back depressed. I’ts a good lesson though: people DON’T change just because you did one weirdly kind thing for them. That takes time.. as we’ll see with Red and as we see with Drupe, who has less of an ons creen journey but is far nicer after her next apperance. While Enid is grossed out over having helped someone, Gregg comes in.. and after some great deranged animation thanks K.O. and Enid admits after some prodding that it does feel good to help, and K.O. is happy to have helped her int he process. The two playfully mess around as the episode ends. Final Thoughts: This was a really good one. Reaching back this far into the series, I didn’t think it’d would be nearly as good as it ended up: It serves both as a good proper introduction for a lot of the plaza regulars, a good setup for Enid’s character arc, and was also really funny with great animation. LIke Tom, I don’t think the creators knew exactly what they were going to do with the Alley Teens and thus take the two they end up focusing on in opposite directon: Red keeps her assholishness for her next apperance and grows from it, while Drupe’s drops off by the end of this season, likely due to her fashion blog taking off, but we’ll get into Red more in a review or so and Drupe more later this month.For now this episode was good and next up we have their next apperance in Plaza Prom. Until then, follow this blog for more reviews and nonsense, like and reblog it if you enjoyed this, hit me up with asks for review suggestions or comssions and until next time, later days!

#ok ko let's be heroes #you're everybody's sidekick #enid #red action #rednid #drupe #gregg #ko #geoff #nick army #mr.logic #ginger #lbgtq+ #pride month #happy pride

[blaster-aichi]

Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 14 things

links lead to images posted on discord because this post is already far too absurdly long, have too many thoughts, what a rollercoaster ride this was

Shuka’s opening a gateway into the past beneath herself and Emi indicted Link Joker Gate flashbacks because of its appearance

If it wasn’t demonstrated prior to this episode, it’s apparent how Aichi is far more malicious than any incarnation of past (i.e. his soldiers ready to maim or straight up murder Emi and Shuka , having Kai-kun abducted; whether either was 100% intended to occur the way they did is anyone’s guess)

Miwa as a Sanctuary Knight: there’s two points to this          — it’s an astonishing turn as he was part of the Mates during Legion Mate — the season which many people have acknowledged the parallels to — but working beneath Aichi turns that on its head as well as the implication that Aichi’s force was concentrated around the Miyaji Cardfight Club, as well as giving a fifth member to his faction in similar vein to Kourin of Legion Mate.         — it splits up the Kai/Miwa/Ibuki trio down the same lines as Ultra Rare; Suiko and Ibuki being firmly aligned with Emi while Kourin and Miwa fall under Aichi’s command. Rekka and Kai-kun would serve as unaccounted for, though it’s more clear-cut in his case, as Rekka made her appearance and her allegiance known at the same time as Kourin entered the fray, as well as already fighting on the side of restoring the timeline to its proper state before Suiko was pulled into activity.         — and it was foreshadowed right before our eyes when they announced IF 14 would be centred around Kai-kun.

"Whenever I hear the name "Toshiki Kai”, for some reason, I get chills”. It’s a strange statement with his behaviour later in the episode, seeming to recognize and feign friendliness with Ibuki and Kai-kun. The only possibility can think of for this line is Miwa, like Aichi and Emi (and the rest of the Sanctuary Knights), is his Outside World self pulled into IF World and his memories tampered with, he might be privy enough to his relationship with the other two for the sake of his act when meeting with them.

Kai-kun hugging Ibuki with no restraint. Rena down. Fuck that’s so soft.

9 years of being dead or arseholes who abandoned their child, we get Mama and Papa and the whole family is adorable! Mama Kai and Shizuka would get along so well, they’re two peas in a pod aaaaa        — Toshi also pointed how out the Kai family love of curry persists to this day and god bless.

me last night on call with Courtney: “There has to be a reason why Aichi hates Vanguard specifically just because of not meeting Kai-kun. It wouldn’t be any more significant than literally anything else. Hey, Aichi, why not hate rock music instead or something?” Kai-kun’s room: this kid loves rock, how dare you

Said room also makes it feel like the show is saying Vanguard/Aichi ruined Kai-kun’s life as opposed to, you know, his parents abandoning him. Bushi no—

It took just his name. That was it.

The static within the audio around Aichi is a neat touch when there feels to be a theme of glitching in the ED and it isn’t as though either reality is “wrong”, just distorted.

Just how they go about instilling memories of Aichi in comparison to Legion Mate is fascinating. In Legion Mate, the Mates were able to cleanly remember as their fights progressed and able to accept that Aichi existed prior to the season; we don’t know the extent of the changes to their lives as a result of his disappearance, but here is a different story. Kai-kun’s entire life has been altered as a result of the distortion and he isn’t able to simply see Aichi in his memories and realize that someone is missing from his past, and it takes a toll on him for these conflicting memories from another life to present themselves to him.

One has to wonder what Shizuka is going through in regards to Aichi vanishing, but also what Kai-kun’s parents must think if they were to investigate the commotion coming from his room suddenly to see him and everyone else gone and the disarray left from just how they left.

IF being the seemingly most lighthearted season with the darkest cliffhanger (topping even Link Joker and Legion Mate, because nothing comes to mind that could honestly match this), even if we know they would never dare kill off Kai-kun but the insinuation for the characters that he could be dead is chilling, particularly when they consist of his childhood friends, young girls and the root being a boy seeking him out, whose intentions around it we don't know and whom we've seen destablize (albeit in another continuity) when it comes to Kai-kun, so imagine the ramification and what it could do to his state of mind (or Ibuki, Miwa, Emi and Shuka’s, for that matter)  if they really did play with the idea of killing him off.

Horizontal Oath

God bless this ED, it’s so good

There’s a lot in here about the clashing realities around Kai-kun and it’s nice to know the season isn’t overlooking the incredibly weighted implications of putting him in this position.

The fire spurning to life, while a nice nod to his usual choice of Kagero an its absence in his current life, could also be representative that, while he has many hobbies in his IF life, Vanguard is where his passion truly lies above all, as he grips it and contemplates the people who should be around him.

Emi, Ibuki and Miwa occupying the same spots in the frames they exist in is a neat choice.

Kai rushing towards the light/Blaster Blade only for the card to vanish as his fingers nears it screams of midpoint Legion Mate where the Mates finally got a glimpse of Aichi, to hear his own request that they give up. As the preview shows them in the same location, it’s possible 15 will serve as the first, failed attempt to bring Aichi back to his senses and force the group to pick themselves up and try again in the same way the Leon episodes served in Legion Mate, signified by the repeated animation usage when Kai-kun runs towards Blaster Blade a second time.

The price Kai-kun is going to pay is not being overlooked. To restore the timeline, it’s apparent that he’ll have to sacrifice his IF life and parents, inflicting unto him the anguish of his original Manga/Reboot continuity life and the hardships that came with it  The darkness that emanates from his younger self and the glimpses of that original life as he kneels demonstrates that, while he might accept that outcome, it’s not about to be an easy task, understandable.       — Initially had suspected from the preview for 14 that this issue might be raised with him and he would reject erasing everything he knows and have to be brought around to the idea, but the ED actually refutes this, as he faces everything head-on.       — In doing so, it speaks to his character and the strength to allow this incredibly high price, as by relinquishing everything he knows, he’s able to regain the friends he made through Vanguard even with the knowledge of the pain and strife that he’ll endure and allow Emi to have her family back, even at the cost of his own.       — Additionally, as the shot closes in on him and he yells/roars, it appears he could be in pain from having to surrender this version of himself and his life; but ultimately does so as he fades while Dragonic Overlord becomes the more dominant face, signifying his reclaiming his Vanguard and his original life.

This resolve to allow the timeline to be returned to its rightful state also comes through beneath the starry sky that corrects itself, with Kai-kun standing at the back of Emi’s group, the only one of them fated to disappear by setting things right. Though the camera continues on past him, towards the light that grows brighter and consumes everything — perhaps a symbol of the corrected timeline taking hold — he doesn’t so much as glance back, but looks ahead to the sky, even with the reality that he and his world will be no more.

[2012 Fanguard voice] Bench-chan lives on.

Numerous people in YouTube comments remarked that Horizontal Oath amplifies the Legion Mate atmosphere and its emphasis on Kai-kun whilst doing so is notable. As that was his journey to bring Aichi back and the current is Emi’s, the shift in tone with this new ED and new arc incorporating him heavily is a nice reflection of that when the OP remains the same.      — There is an implication, though, that Emi might start to fall back from the protagonist role, as she appears far more passive in the ED while Kai-kun stands front and centre. When the two of them and Shuka are standing in a field, Emi’s feet are surrounded by shade, and when looking to the sun, she stands on the edge of the formation, seeming far more distant. At the same time, Shuka is on the other side, both of the group as a whole and Kai-kun specifically, with her back to the others. Her guilt has been an enormous factor since the truth of her actions came to light and how they weigh on her, but this feels as though her attention shifting away from Emi and towards Kai-kun as a means of atoning for her mistake.     — Going to be hopeful that they can balance what Aichi means to Emi and Kai-kun in similar vein to Kai-kun and Naoki of Legion Mate, so that they both share an equal part in the fight going forward.

IF 15

Thank goodness, we’re getting answers about Aichi, Takuto and the Sanctuary Knights, let’s go.

Aichi pointing a sword at Ibuki and (Kourin) opening up a fissure beneath the both of them — and right in front of Kai-kun — is a stark contrast to the Aichi(s) we’ve known until now, as how he was seen by Kai-kun was something of great importance to him, but depending on the context of the scene, it’s apparent that this version of him gives no fucks about anything of the sort.

Something that’s been on my mind within the last week is that, aside from the scene in the forest when he was acting seemingly normal, Aichi’s right eye is never detailed beneath his visor, or even when he overrode Majesty Lord (typically, his hair doesn’t completely conceal his eye while in a unit). The theories that came to mind were heterochromia, like Voidkuto, a permanent Psyqualia glow or it’s completely blank in typical possession/brainwashed fashion (or some sort of visual cue pertaining to the fact that a great deal is off about him) but by putting on the airs of normality, he was able to mask it as a normal eye when meeting with Shuka.

#Cardfight!! Vanguard #Cardfight!! Vanguard IF #cfv spoilers #long post #jokes about this being an essay then spends well over an hour writing good job me

[dogcopter]

[novantinuum tumblr com post 611767607081713664/][novantinuum tumblr com post 611764379084636160/]

first link has: “she was on the road to redemption in my mind. I believe redemption is a journey with no endpoint. There’s no day where you wake up and are 100% redeemed. It’s something you work at every day, trying your hardest to be the best possible version of yourself you can be at every moment you exist. She cannot continue that journey now, because of her choice to make Steven- and in many ways, that’s pretty tragic.”

second link is that fanart w has a tag: “ i don't believe rose as a character is incapable of redemption theoretically but as she is DEAD- yeah she's unable to be redeemed. unable to continue that redemption i mean”

Ok this will be MUCH MUCH longer than you likely want but let’s take a minute to talk about this. Because this aspect of Rose meta is a huge part of the conclusion of Steven Universe, and the other half of Steven’s story I’m most excited for.

Responding to this question of Rose being unable to change is implicit to the Rose is Lion theory and it’s really at the heart of the story. I genuinely don’t read a better or more consistent explanation for the pieces right now, so I operate under the assumption Rose is Lion and we are headed for the legendary impossible Rose redemption arc - the conversation changes if she’s really gone, so we’ll get there if that’s the case, but I also think that tragedy was honored quite beautifully in Steven Universe. I think the note Future will end on is instead, it’s never too late to change (Rose), it’s ok to not be sure what’s next (Steven), but you will be ok if you have love in your life and work towards the future. Unfridging the absent mom character is a big cartoon trope flip too.

I agree with the OP regarding SU’s idea of redemption. An SU “redemption arc” means the character reaching some kind of catalyst to choosing a change. They change some behavior that has caused them and/or others pain. They want to more fully express themselves and to be connected to those around them, and through some process or journey have understood no one is all-bad or all-good, but each action is a choice and each of us has impact on others. 

This is what my url and the “Rosedemption” 2020 tag refers to as I anticipate it - not “redemption” in the sense that she’s bad and becomes good or that her mistakes are overwritten or we get a perfect everything’s OK happy ending. SU does hope and does cartoon anime fanservice and the power of love, but it doesn’t do that. Agree or disagree with whichever individual story choices and character decisions you feel a way about, but I think we can all acknowledge that SU doesn’t try to simplify interpersonal relationships to black-and-white.

So rosedemption is redemption only in the sense that she is understood and chooses to take a step forward. Like how “Peridemption” describes the process of Peridot trying to learn, coming to love the Earth and embrace her personality. At the end of Steven’s story, Rose, like the others in the cast who have a place in his life, will join them in having the potential to be herself, have her innate capacity to be good recognized like everyone else, and have the chance to break a pattern of behavior she has become trapped in as well. She won’t be absolved of all her mistakes.

When pursuing the theory it was like a daisy chain of if-then. The explanation for Lion’s behavior and knowledge that makes the most sense is Lion being Rose. Fact. The next question is then: -> Is that possible given the mechanics of the universe? Yes - Steven demonstrates every power necessary, including going into other people’s bodies. Next question. -> If Rose is in fact astral projecting into Lion’s body, it’s possible she’s also responsible for the dream weirdness, is it also possible she’s in other bodies (melons)? Yes - all still in Steven’s moveset. (The thing that turned me on to the idea was that scene in Escapism, so I worked backwards a bit - but it makes sense, because we only get certain information later that illuminates pieces from earlier) -> But if Rose isn’t dead, where is the story going? 

IMO this is why people don’t entertain the idea so much, things have changed a lot, and it upends things we thought were settled. In theory terms I expect her to come forward because it’s the logical conclusion to her arc - she gets to choose to stop running and hiding, which was borne of her past, and if she’s back she can lift responsibility for her legacy from Steven’s shoulders.

It doesn’t erase what happened, though; Steven and Rose may be able to say they love each other, but maybe he’s not ready for a relationship after this void in the shape of her characterized his upbringing. Having her today doesn’t change the childhood he spent without her, and often, very lonely. Knowing she was looking over him in the way she thought would hurt him the least, doesn’t make finding out she was by his side caring for him as Lion & co. any less painful a truth to learn after childhood has already ended. Those feelings are going to come out on Steven’s end, but all they have to reach by the end of the series is a hopeful starting point that maybe someday they’ll both be in a better place. And maybe some things will never heal, you know - that’s OK - and not all of this will necessarily be explicit onscreen, we will have fanwork and meta to cover many of those infinite possibilities.

The whole first series was devoted to the CGs dealing with her death and growing after the loss of her. Does Rose coming back cheapen that? I don’t think so - what happened happened. Those things the first series went through were real. In fact, giving up her physical form and then being Lion are additional decisions made with best of intentions but enormous fallout for others, the crux of Rose’s struggle to be better when continuously she hurt people too. SU is always committed to showing how people are people and in part respond to their circumstances and the systems of society and family they were born into. As far as condemning or glorifying her actions, I don’t think SU asks either of us because of this very framing, but of course any viewer has the right to. Will I ever forgive her for what she did to Bismuth? I don’t have to - Bismuth doesn’t have to - Steven doesn’t have to. All we’ll be asked is to understand her, which is all we’ve been asked all along. Each character has this aspect to them. 

That’s not to say any story is perfect, it’s told by people as imperfect as the characters they create. And different perspectives are not only valid but expected. Some folks will always hate Rose, or Lapis, or Pearl, or the Diamonds, some will love all of the above. Sometimes your favorite character is your favorite because something they felt spoke to something you’ve felt, sometimes you hate a character because of their actions or just because you wouldn’t get along with them socially. The people who respond to things that they think SU fell short on, will make more art and cartoons that continue that conversation. Can you weigh the good influences she had on Steven’s life against the bad and come out with a mathematical judgment of binary goodness/badness, or is it more like real life where they have to accept what’s happened and move forward from there? Do you reject that and write the fic of the story you prefer? 

So to me the Rose redemption arc raises all the hard questions Steven Universe has been porting over. Who are you to others and yourself? How do you know? Where do you go after you aren’t playing a role to someone else? When do you take responsibility for your actions? What’s the point at which you’re too late? Is there? How do you face the family who harmed you, when you’re so frightened you’d rather stop existing to escape them? How do you face the people you’ve harmed, even after they understand you? When you didn’t intend to? When you did? How do you move forward when a paradigm shift upends the narrative of your life, as Steven has been forced to do wrt Rose repeatedly? Does everyone get a chance to change? And why do you do what you do? Why fear? How to face it? Can you love yourself and love others? Does love win?

That’s something I find so exciting about this possibility. It changes the entire conversation, because both those who adore Rose and those who despise her have their reasoning, but the conversation is so oriented around her inability to change like everyone else. The conversation I’m most looking forward to goes past that stopgap. When it’s not the case that she can’t change, how do we see her now? After living through the consequences of her choices and coming to understand her better alongside Steven and the family, the thought is very personal, as it will be for Steven. That’s what enchants me about the signs pointing to Rose’s return. It’s complicated and messy, but ultimately hopeful! 

If the signs were not pointing to that but something else, I’m excited for that meta too, but we’ll talk as the month unfolds and destroys us.

#rosedemption 2020 #rose is lion 2020 #i KNOW how few people really believe this theory but #between the big ideas and the little details i really don't commit to it out of nowhere. Itis a very SU conclusion to SU #and to the intertwined character arcs of rose and steven that we have journeyed with for all this time. #imho feel free to disagree

[lilyhoshikawa]

Henlo I saw you mention something about uuhhhhh passionate Aoi Zaizen rant, could I get one of those please

I’m so upset. I’m so angry. I have so many emotions. SO many times they did this girl dirty, so many times!!

This was widely talked abt right after it happened but I just got done rewatching the blue angel vs specter duel and I am filled with a renewed anger the likes of which has never been known. The absolute atrocity of that duel’s ending

Just to clarify, everything in that duel supported Aoi winning. It was the natural progression of her character arc, from her initial weakness allowing specter to brainwash her into Hanoi’s weapon, she eventually grew out of her days of simply being an idol to seek the attention her brother didn’t give her, something the Vrains writers consistently frame as inherently selfish and not a completely natural reaction for a teenager in her situation to have. But regardless, she’s a “selfish” idol seeking attention, she ends up being used by bad people, she gets saved by Playmaker, she learns more about him, fights by his side and decides she wants to start fighting for a cause. She defeats Vaira in the ultimate moment symbolizing her character growth. She’s no longer just an idol being fawned over by her fans, she is a hero who protects Link Vrains

Cue specter duel. The start is fine. This shitty, arrogant dickwad who already hurt Aoi goads her into a duel. He’s a jackass to her all the way through. But as the duel progresses, she learns about him- like her, he was lonely, struggling with no friends and no one to give him warmth and attention. Like her, he simply needs to be set on the right path. Suddenly her anger toward him shifts to empathy as she declares she is fighting to save him, which he mocks of course. She ends up in the typical Yugioh hero predicament of “how do I get out of this”, and pulls out a new ace monster that FINALLY causes specter to act SURPRISED for once in the duel, for once not somehow just predicting all her strategies. She turns the duel around and strikes the killing blow.

Only… that doesn’t happen. Specter pulls some bullshit, turns it around, and wins, making sure to burn up the book that symbolized Aoi’s decision to fight in the first place. And to rub it in even MORE, he calls her “the pathetic girl who couldn’t become a blue angel”, declaring he will “take everything from her”.

And then, suddenly… the context of all of that changes. The mockery specter has been giving her the whole duel goes from becoming the typical villainous arrogance to a much more cruel situation, the person already determined by the writers to win the duel taking all the time he has to rub in how superior he is to the girl who actually bothered to grow as a person. It’s as if specter is some self-insert of a misogynistic male anime fan who knows no girl can stand against him no matter how much better written she is, because he has the power of writers’ bias on his side.

Aoi is slammed into a building and lands face-first on the ground completely decimated. The next couple shots feature specter standing over her grinning and smirking as he makes comments about how pathetic and weak she is. She is clearly unconscious and can’t hear them. This is for the audience.

So alright, I hear you saying, maybe that’s just meant as a “kick the dog” moment; show us how evil specter really is and why it’s the wrong idea to try to sympathize with him. Aoi tried that and she couldn’t do it, so it means some people are beyond saving. Now I’d still have a problem with throwing Aoi under the bus to make that point, but whatever, narratively it’s sound reasoning. Only what’s the next thing that happens? He duels Playmaker, and we learn he’s a Lost Incident victim. We hear his backstory and are shown him as a sad child, motivating us to sympathize with him.

It doesn’t stop there. Specter doesn’t mock Playmaker like he did Blue Angel, naturally, because Playmaker is cool and respectable. So what does he do instead? Mocks Aoi some more! He draws constant reference to how Aoi fell for his various strategies. Now he does later start mocking Playmaker, and I get that, but that leads into another point: it’s not because Playmaker is “weak” but because he’s “too heroic”. Yusaku is able to quickly disarm Specter’s deck and is ready to finish him off before he pulls out his hostage, Akira, who ALSO gets to die a reasonable death. Everyone who dies in the Tower of Hanoi arc, with the exception of Aoi and perhaps Ema (another girl, funny that) are treated with respect as they die. Yusaku easily beats the person who gave Aoi so much trouble.

Revolver, right before his duel with Go, notes Aoi’s fate, saying “my subordinate, Specter, defeated her”. His subordinate. Not even the main bad guy. She doesn’t get the level of respect of Go, the guy who would go on to become an antagonist while she remained (on paper anyway) one of the main trio.

Nobody watched Aoi’s duel with Specter, no one commented on her courage or bravery or how hard she fought or cried when she was defeated, not like with Go. She didn’t get to reveal some big strategy of a major villain and disappear giving Playmaker one last cool remark. No, she got completely outsmarted and knocked unconscious on her face so that a man could stand over her body and insult her.

In season 2 it is obvious no one knows what to do with Aoi. She’s thrown in 800 directions to serve whatever role she’s needed for, most often losing for some reason or another. She keeps having these moments of determination and character growth where she makes a “big decision” and resolves to fight, but it never really works out for her, no matter the cause. Whenever they need someone to lose, she’s there. The Blue Angel avatar, based on her childhood hero, which represents her desire to bring people together? Gone, tossed away, replaced by Ghost Girl’s Apprentice. Now that that’s done though, now we need her for something else, you see, we’ve got a Girl Ignis and we don’t wanna write another girl, we already overdid ourselves writing the two we do have. Let’s just use Aoi instead and shoehorn in a relationship with a barely existent character who just happens to be part of her backstory as her oldest and most important friend, a thing that may contradict her entire character’s driving motivation from season one, but hey, fuck season one.

In season 3 she is glued to her brother’s side. She does less than nothing. She is fodder to be defeated by Ai and nothing more. They don’t want to bother giving her a duel of her own (if they did I’m sure she’d lose to Roboppi and not even Ai himself) so she duels with Akira. Akira sucks shit and his deck is trash so Aoi, with her Marincess deck, carries him. Akira is praised for being strong and cool. Aoi loses to Ai due to an incredibly situational counter. I’m so tired.

Every character Ai kills is treated with some respect by him. He mourns the loss of Go, who murdered one of the Ignis he’s fighting to avenge. Meanwhile? He repeatedly mocks Aoi during the duel. She starts out fighting Ai with all her might, but eventually comes to realize his sadness and loneliness after losing his Ignis friends. She tries to empathize with him, telling him she can relate, because she too lost Aqua. Ai gets angry that she thinks her loneliness is the same as his. When she announces her desire to protect her brother, Ai begins repeatedly mocking her using this. He ignores Akira entirely, zeroing in completely on Aoi and continuously mocking her about her chances of winning, acting superior, knowing he’ll be able to take her bother from her, take everything from her, and leave her all alone.

Say… does this sound familiar to anyone?

Ai erases Akira but “spares” Aoi, standing over her as she lays collapsed and soaked on the floor, mocking her by telling her how she now has to live with herself after failing to save her brother.

No, seriously… is this familiar to anyone?

It’s almost as though… aggressive, patronizing misogyny is built intrinsically into Aoi’s character, and she’s used as a vessel for toxic and abusive ideas about men who are “hurting” and how “soft, immature” women who profess to understand them or have empathy for them are naive idiots deserving to be beaten and mocked

Misogyny isn’t just a part of Aoi’s arc, it is built into the very philosophy that drives her treatment in the show. And it makes me really sick trying to engage with Vrains after having this realization

#rambles #long post #yugioh vrains #aoi zaizen #ask to tag #alexis red dragon