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nanakah · 3 years

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about Ishigami, his growth and Miko's role

most people, myself included, thought at some point that Tsubame's rejection (or acceptance) could wrap up Ishigami's arc and even his past's flashbacks neatly, but Osaragi's arc suddenly revealing there was more to his relationship with Miko made me reflect more and think nah...if anything we're halfway there. It also showed glimpses of him already struggling to find his place in the world by quitting his clubs, even though he was successful at them and there was no Ootomo incident yet to undermine his self-image.

It seemed odd that despite everything he went through he still has his "hair=shield/averting eyes" theme going strong, but it makes sense if you consider even though Tsubame helped him see the way to be more accepting of people and cleared his name, his self-esteem still is super low. I spoke of this in my "sutera" meta, but to Ishigami, his life still has been a sucession of failures and almosts. At his core, he still hasn't fully opened up to people or learned to use his vulnerabilities to his advantage.

If I have grabbed your interest thus far, keep reading for more considerations!

Tsubame is kind to anyone and attempted to do good for him, but ultimately he was never fully himself around her, nor she tried/he alllowed her reaching out to the deepest parts of his insecurities. She doesn't show her own flaws to him either and to this day we get the feeling we don't know her well, just the best parts that Ishigami wanted to see. Kaguya, Miyuki and Chika contribute a lot in a sibling-like way, but there's a limit to how much Kaguya in particular can inspire him. Miko however, has scratched a little beneath the surface and has expressed an interest in helping him with that, even if he himself is still avoiding the topic. She's also more relatable to him in the sense that the rest of the stuco has a history of successes in their lives, while he was able to watch Miko's hardships and failures closely. Their panic attacks even look similar and they're always watching the other to provide backup (in a very roundabout way, at least before) when they happen.

While their personalities are fundamentally different, his arc and struggles remind me a lot of Miyamura from Horimiya and today, as I was musing on what is so different about them as of now, I believe it's how Miyamura didn't have a single *traumatic* mistake to get over, so he goes down his development road much faster. Putting it another way, it's ultimately that Ishigami hasn't yet learned to be kind to himself like Miyamura has through Hori. Like Shirogane and Kaguya are through themselves. In Miyamura's case, sympathizing with how Hori despite her strong exterior can be very fragile inside but still support him (fight for him, defend him, accept his true self, not judge him, hear him, make him feel good enough) made him feel compelled to grow stronger to protect her back.

Miko as she was at the beggining of the story couldn't provide Ishigami this sort of stability (and that's where Osaragi's "prettier story"/"you weren't there for him" reasoning fails) even if deep down she wanted to, but now after making many mistakes, learning from them and becoming more flexible, she absolutely can. Both Ishigami and Miko have deeply rooted issues that took them more than just each other to flesh out and develop, but they're very much the missing puzzle piece the other needs.

Miko still very much has room for growth as well, mainly concerning finding a middle ground between her "bad girl" and "good girl" personas that Ishigami can easily see through, as demonstrated by the consolation chapter. She tried being "bad", she attempted lying but was still saying half-truths, because her love of justice isn't just out of parental abandonment issues or loneliness - she does believe them sincerely. The moment Ishigami headpated her and shared genuine, spot-on words of concern and admiration (thus a hint of fondness), it was all over for her trying to keep up the love-warfare upper hand.

That's not actually new - Ishigami has always demonstrated he was able to see glimpses of her true self, be it teasing how she's an otaku or a closet pervert and such, he never fully bought the strait-laced image she aspired to make real. But it did take him being around her more to see she could be sweet to him and as he puts it, that smiling more is not a bad look on her. Miko says to Osaragi your true self only comes through interacting with others, so given how lonely she has always been (and how the one person close to her - Osaragi - was actually keeping things between them superficial because of her own problems), it's no surprise she's only finding out now who she is. Ishigami can help Miko find a better compromise of good/bad after both not following any rules at all for so long and recently learning that hard work can pay off. Miko immersing herself in his hobby will clash with her rigid study schedule sooner or later, and he'll know how to help her with that better than anyone else.

On the other hand, Ishigami's moral compass, romanticism (love for flowers, planing dates etc) and idealism aren't things he is proud of...yet. He protects himself with layers of cynism, especially in his first appearances, but he is always being contradictory and letting it slip how idealistic/pure he is at heart. He also is only now learning to like his outward image with things like fitness/studying and finding out it's not like he never cared about it - it's just that he was scared shitless of failure, thus never even tried hard in the first place to avoid being hurt. And as I have advocated for in the Sutera post, I expect Miko in some level to help him come to terms with seeing good in himself. Heck, even being able to game with her now and showing off how good he is and having her appreciate it is gonna do wonders to make him feel more "adequate". Tsubame's arc had a lot of him changing himself to become "better", but Miko on the other hand is trying to put herself in HIS shoes to maybe go "hey, I like you as you are. I'm trying to understand you more and put effort in for you".

Ishigami and Miko start out watching out for each other behind their backs - which instead of helping their relationship, drives them further apart because they think the other side is showing no appreciation. As the story progresses, they're slowly learning to make each other more aware of their support, and it is making them open up more in general.

They have a strong belief the other wants to be rescued and there is truth in that. Both want help and to be recognized for their efforts, but won't cry out for it. In the unplugged earbuds chapter Ishigami takes it upon himself to protect Miko's reputation in spite of himself, the election arc has him actually putting effort into the campaign just for the sake of protecting her and at first posing as a rival of hers to Shirogane only to reveal he's trying to "make Miko smile", he is constantly fending off men from interacting with her as protection (while also sounding jealous), he was way more protective of her when she was wearing that cast than needed and is now being able to openly headpat her and sounds almost like her "soothing sounds" from the days of yore lol Sure Tsubame seems like his start to becoming "a better man", but all the way back on the election, it was for Miko's sake that we first SEE him putting effort into *anything* without being coerced by anyone to take action.

And while it's more discreet compared to Ishigami's "white knight" attitude, Miko also tries hard to protect him - cheering him on during the sports festival race and wanting to console him before the stuco intervened, telling him he should study (but he thinks it's just nagging), christmas (which I'll elaborate bellow), making sure he was able to graduate middle school by actually confronting school staff and, of course, their very first meeting as recently revealed.

Many people hated the entirety of Osaragi's arc, but 232 gave very juicy info indeed. Ishigami's reason for supporting Miko from the shadows comes from admiration AND part gratitude for her attempting to talk to him and listen to what troubles him, and seeing they actually had a "falling out" argument was game changing.

He looks sad and troubled to have shut her down there, not simply angry, and so does she (there's tears in her eyes when her face is shown in the next page) - despite her black and white sense of justice at this point of the story, she still wanted to listen to him. And even after that outburst she still believed the rumors weren't real, unlike Osaragi sees it - otherwise she wouldn't have made the effort for him to be able to move on to high school. Why would she care, if she truly hated him and thought he was in the wrong?

If any further proof was needed at all that this info is important, I'm happy to say we have more. I noticed the Christmas stairs scene mirrors this exact falling out moment: "Go away"/"Suit yourself"

But this time Miko had already decided to change, had already seen the mess their relationship became the last time she did not reach out to him and thus already had their previous falling out in mind - meaning she decides to chase after him.

I don't like how the scanlations handled this scene because reading the japanese raws, my interpretation was that Miko was sounding "annoying" because she was still kinda drunk/unfiltered and freaking out when talking to Ishigami, not outright berating him like the Jaimini's box translation made it look like. She also sounds too angry after the fall, so I generally thought Viz's version (the panel shown above) was closer to the original.

"I always have to take care of you! You keep putting youself in danger. You can't make it on your own." is a better translation than Jaimini's, and also parallels better what Ishigami is often telling Miko as well (That she keeps putting herself in danger and that he has to be around to keep her in check). But with 232 in mind, I think it misses a nuance of the original line: "ほんとあんたは私が居ないと危なっかしく駄目ね" - "Honto anta wa watashi ga inaito abunakkashiku dame ne" - while I'm a novice at japanese studies, gathering from what I can read and trying to get a feel of the whole sentence, it's closer to "So it really is dangerous to you if I'm not there/ It's no good if I'm not around you". You can take that as her being full of herself, which is the route Jaimini's goes ("You'd be screwed without me") but that's too hostile - Viz's got the spirit of wanting to protect him better, but the original has an implication that she has "tested not being there"/failed being there before (due to not fully siding with him in middle school) that's absent elsewhere.

IMO the reason Ishigami's "closed his eyes" arc is not over yet is because he hasn't accepted or gotten over or fully learned from his past yet, he simply shut it down. That's why briefly during the sports festival his eyes are in plain view, then go back to their usual for the balloon gag. I'm not sure if Ootomo herself will make a comeback, may or may not - regrets are regrets and sometimes the only solution to them is letting them stay in the past. But the topic of how he saw Miko in middle school and the letter certainly are being set up to still show up in the story.

If I compare him to Miyamura again, he'd still be at the point before Miyamura's haircut - not wanting to face the parts of himself he doesn't like, not quite ready to change. Not quite ready to patch up his own wounds yet and instead silencing everything from his past.

In this sense, Miko does wonders to make him feel more confident even if he hasn't realized it yet, and she's always dropping little hints she'd like him to worry about his future not in a naggy way, but because she genuinely prays for his success. He unconsciously wants Miko to think well of him and it fills him with confidence and a more prideful image of himself he doesn't really display to anyone else, not even Tsubame - like his usages of "ore" (a more manly/confident way of addressing himself) around her (AND HER ALONE):

( I don't like the available translations to the staircase scene either, lol. Zaibatsu has conveyed the tone of the second scene up there perfectly. For the staircase line, I've seen "I'll be there to catch you" and "I'll save you" which are contextually correct, but to me the original "俺が絶対守る" - "I (ore) will absolutely protect you" carries a much more romantic nuance or ambiguity, regardless of him realizing it at that point. It's like, the title to one of the most romantic moments/songs in the CCS Clear card anime ost, for instance. OF COURSE MIKO LOVES HIM. The narrator doesn't overexplain or take apart Ishimiko's interactions like for Prezguya, but all the evidence needed is there. And I gotta add the very next chapter to the staircase one is the "eternal love" x "real love" I'm super fond of that says fate is irrelevant and to find real love you must use your head to realize/understand things, so makes the romantic subtext even greater.)

This whole affair is also making me open my eyes that I should try to study japanese more...of course I'm happy to have translations and scanlators working hard, but there is something inherently lost in adaptations because it robs you of connecting with the author's intentions unless it was the author who wrote the translation in the first place

Thinking back on Ishigami's early "i wanna die/i'm going home/don't look at me" role, it seems unbelievable we're at the point he's now able to directly confront a "stranger" (lololol) or make serious promises with so much confidence.

PLEASE DON'T END SO SOON MANGA, I NEED MORE.

( off-topic kind of, but i'm lazy to make a separate post just for it: Since I mentioned things lost in translation, I saw something on Discord about Ishigami having an unreliable narrator moment in the "compliments" chapter/Iino Miko cannot love part 4 and holy molly, it is true. He first says something akin to "You're just too beautiful" out of context, Miko HEARS IT - and that's why she looks so shocked before asking for clarification - and he DID SAY IT in the speech bubble, but after she's nice to him and he thinks back to what he said he adds a "Your handwriting is just too beautiful" to his flashback. I'm ONTO HIM. ONTO HIM I SAY. It is what he meant, but it's like his mouth betrayed him. Whether it's unconscious or denial...it totally is something. The scanlation completely skips this and had the same line both times it's mentioned.)

#kaguya-sama #kaguya-sama spoilers #meta #ishigami yu #yu ishigami #ishimiko #it's ishigami focused but i'd be a dirty liar to say i'm not at least a lil bit biased #longpost #spoilers #yes i am an overthinker and overanalyzer did u notice #horimiya spoilers #yeah i kinda mentioned miyamura lol #i'm not even procrastinating anything this time i just rly care for them #kaguya-sama meta #this is a clown here that procrastinated 3 months to write a thesis but is churning out meta after meta for manga #plz forgive typos i'm still lazy to spellcheck this one lol #ishiino #ishigami using ore again to invite miko to the dance makes this post qualify for fridge brilliance now

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asagimeta · 3 years

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Enhypen Theory- Ruins & Rituals

So I've been watching Given/Taken alot lately for writing purposes and am curious about something....

What's with the weird monument?

The beginning of the video starts with Jungwon standing in a desert with a bleeding nose, but we don't see this scenery again until the third "arc" of the music video, when the rest of the boys join him and immitate firing arrows at this broken monument of some kind- we later see them at night, dressed in their uniforms, dancing in front of it- though before this Jungwon is seen again slowly burning from (presumably) the sunlight

But... what is it? What's the significance and why does the video open there? Why are they firing arrows? There are just so many questions and I, personally, haven't really seen this part of G/T addressed yet so I'm going to take a shot at it for my first HYBE theory! (I actually have been *following* HYBE theories for a few months now but I'm new to K-Pop in general so I've been quiet until now)

First, it's important to note that it stands out as odd from the rest of the video

The beginning and middle of the video have two primary locations with similar but still considerably different vibes-

Old fashioned clothes, indoors, a sense of containment and "other"ness, even though they aren't the same, you can still feel the connection to eachother- but that's completely removed in the desert scenes, wich are outdoors, in modern clothing, and present the boys with more individuality (IE: lacking uniforms)

And it makes me wonder if the ruins they're visiting are of their old testing facility

Let me break it down a bit better-

The two primary locations we see other than these ruins are a mansion-wich I'll, possibly incorrectly, refer to as "the orphanage" henceforth- and a testing/containment/research facility of some sort

At first I wondered if the ruins were simply the orphanage but that's clearly not the case as you can see the exterior of the mansion in one of the snapshots early on, it's very different looking- even the shape is extremely different, and it seems to be in a forest just below a hill, not in the middle of a desert

What about the other place though? The facility- as I'll call it from here on- doesn't have the same deniability

In fact, we see a very similarly shaped building to the ruins during one of the snapshots, but we don't have any clear indication of what it is, why would it just randomly be there? Unless, ofcourse, it isn't random

Initially I assumed the orphanage and the facility were the same place because the boys are wearing the uniforms in both locations, but I'm starting to think that isn't the case, and that the boys were moved to the facility after being experimented on at the orphanage

The thing is that vampires don't always turn when they're given the venom/virus/blood/whatever-it-is-that-turns them, and when this substance is manmade or engineered somehow, it takes even less frequently, this is true of all supernaturals, and again, is emphasized when the people attempting to make the transitions are humans experimenting with forces beyond their understanding, so it's typical of these practioners to have large "sample sizes" of potential experiments, often turning to hospitals, schools, and orphanages (to name a few) seeking the few candidates that can survive and thrive under these new conditions- from there they'll experiment on all of them until they get the desired result, and those select few will move on in the process to the next step

Sound familiar at all? I think this is further representative of the idol industry

We know that a big theme of Enhypen's storyline is going against the toxic nature of the idol industry, with songs like "Not For Sale" and "Mixed Up", and themes like being museum or display peices in "Let Me In", and the process of a large group of young boys being picked through and groomed until there are only a few left standing, who are then taken away from the "orphanage" and brought to a more intense experimentation/testing facility, sounds alot like idol-potentials who are on talent shows, win, and then assigned to a group and agency who put them through intense preperation for their debut

We know Enhypen went through that exact process on I-Land, so it's not a stretch to say this may be what they're referencing

But back to the ruins

You can see a definite difference in the way the orphanage looks vs the facility, wile the orphanage is a western style mansion that looks like it came from the late Victorian era- though, as Laina Sunflower pointed out, it does seem to have some modern conveniences like pen lights and electric fans- (the person conducting the experiments is also wearing a face mask, wich looks more modern from what I can tell)

-the facility is seemingly more modern than that, and has a much less homey feel, resembling instead a more containment type of vibe- large areas of open space, large glass windows dividing one from another, and the boys all seem to have their own rooms to keep separated from eachother, very unlike the mansion where you can probably safely assume that they share rooms, as unlike the sleek, minimal style of the facility, is cluttered with children's toys, furnishings, and accents, and you get the vibe that the boys are allowed around eachother often, the entire feel is more casual, and considering the number of tables in the dining room, you can also safely assume that there are many more inhabitants of the orphanage than just Enhypen themselves, meaning that it's more likely they share rooms

We know what the outside of the mansion looks like, but we don't have as definitive of a space for the facility

Wile the tower in the snapshot is a bit different in shape from the ruins, they're similar enough, and the landscape is notably perfect for a facility containing baby vampires- a barren desert devoid of the one thing they need most (blood) and full of the one thing that can most harm them (sunlight), it would be like keeping Superman in a chamber beneath the red sun surrounded by kryptonite, there's very little chance of them escaping

There's also something particularly strange about the ruins, in that there's a LADDER hanging off of one side leading to the top of the facility

The entire set up reminds me of the vampire facility in True Blood, and I wouldn't be surprised if the facility had this peculiar setup to make it even more difficult on the boys to possibly escape, I wouldn't even be surprised if these ruins are only a small portion of what's been left, maybe the original facility was a little in tune with the building from the snapshots before whatever happened to it... happened

There's also some other things I want to point out with this line of thought-

Sunghoon is kept in a room filled with orange light at one point, sitting on the edge of a bathtub-?- when his hand catches on fire

Some have theorized that this is Sunghoon's power, just like other boys have the power to levitate, hypnotize, and teleport, but what if that isn't it? What if that was the facility testing him in a room full of manufactured sunlight to see if he indeed burns in the sun? True Blood, again, has a similar theme (and it wouldn't be unusual for HYBE to draw influences from other popular media, what with TXT's frequent Harry Potter references)

Additionally, could this be in part about their escape from the facility? We see the boys make a running motion as though they're trying to get away, only to stop

We see something almost exactly the same in "Fever", but this time they succeed in seeming to go through the door to their freedom

I also wonder if the Victorian style clothing vs the French Roccoco style clothing is meant to show that there was a large gap between the time they were originally imprisoned and the time they got out?

This also fits with "Drunk Dazed", we see the mystery woman before the boys, still in their Rococo style clothes, performing a "ritual of blood" by pouring blood into the fountain, could the boys have been rescued, found, or "adopted" by **real** vampires after their, probable, human experiments? If the French Rococo style represents the boys during their escape period, this could make senses, and could also serve to explain, to a degree, their blood festivities in the first place

This doesn't make alot of sense though in terms of timing as the Victorian era is around two hundred years *after* the French Rococo period, so unless it's symbolic....

But I've wondered about the weird contrast between the boys being experimented into vampirism vs being turned naturally, as the mystery woman seems to heavily implicate that she herself is a vampire and that she's showing the boys a "natural" ritual, something that's part of the vampire community/species/way of life, but this is a giant contrast to the more clinical, experimentation vibe of what the boys had been going through in their orphanage/facility days; I'm reminded again of True Blood here, as well as "Bitten", "Servamp" (the manga), and plenty of others where the older, stronger vampires (or werewolves) free the younger ones from human captivity

Things I still haven't figured out or that I find most notable:

-Jungwon seems seperated from the others the most here, he's the one at the beginning with the nosebleed and the one catching on fire- something that doesn't happen to any of the other boys- and in one of the flashbacks he's the one standing outside of the orphanage banging on the window as the others go about their routines, and in “Fever” he’s the one left behind/last in line when everyone is running towards the door, he seems to be the "main" charector in Given/Taken, as he's the last one on screen revealing what everyone suspected: that they're vampires; he's also the one with teleportation, most prominantely seen in Drunk/Dazed, flittering around outside the room where Sunoo is pouring his blood into his glass and coming in between the two groups of three who, according again to Laina Sunflower, seem to be at odds with eachother

-Sunoo is also the one seen to be biting (or attempting to bite) Jungwon, this could be a really interesting nod to their relationship, the two seem to be connected in a special way (is this why Jungwon is outside Sunoo’s room in Drunk/Dazed, flittering around anxiously as though he’s not sure what to do with himself or isn’t sure what to do about something that’s bothering him?) Could Sunoo have been responsible for turning Jungwon, or maybe completing his transformation? Or even just feeding off of him, wich, in some lore, creates a special bond between two vampires?

-Speaking of Drunk/Dazed, we see the mansion reappear during their first "bloody birthday party"- when there was only one candle on the cake- does this mean that they celebrated their life as vampires before being transferred to the facility? Were they vampires for a fair amount of time- several months or maybe even a year or two- before being taken away?

-Why are they immitating firing arrows? They don't seem to be *actually* doing this, just mimicking it, why expose themselves to the sun just for something symbolic? Is it a repetition of something they've done before? Did they originally destroy the facility themselves? Or it it something else..?

If anyone has any ideas definitely let me know, HYBE is my new favorite thing for theorizing!

#enhypen #enhypen theory #hybe #hybe universe #kpop #kpop theory #hybe theory #hybe universe theory #dark moon with enhypen

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA Chapter 286: VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “what’s the record for most consecutive bone breaks within the span of a single minute” and, without waiting for an answer, proceeded to unleash roughly 17 Smashes onto Tomura. Kacchan was all “THAT DOES IT, I’M TAKING THE REINS OF THIS SHITSHOW” and carried Endeavor and Shouto up to where the action was so Endeavor could hit Tomura with a Prominence Burn. AFO was all “Tomura would you rather burn to death or let me take over your body” and Tomura was all “...” and so AFO TOOK OVER and was all “STABBITY STABBITY” and used his Stabbing Quirk to do some Good Old Fashioned STABBIN’. First he stabbed Endeavor, and then he was all “hee and now I’m gonna stab Deku”, but Kacchan was all “SIR THAT’S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT RIVAL” and so he rushed on in AND GOT HIMSELF STABBED INSTEAD. And so basically THIS PAST WHOLE WEEK HAS BEEN A RIDE, LET ME TELL YOU.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “sup Deku lemme just downplay how I totally took this fatal blow for you just now” before he dramatically passes out and is caught by Todoroki “BTDUBS I CAN FLY NOW” Shouto, who is also carrying his dad because the kids really are just doing it all, here. AllForRaki Tomura For One is all “HAHA BAKUGOU IS PRETTY DUMB”, at which point Deku just LOSES IT ENTIRELY and ASCENDS INTO A NEW PLANE OF FURY LIKE A LITTLE GREEN RAGE BUDDHA. But then like two seconds later Tomura is all “ANYWAY, SO” and FUCKING TOUCHES DEKU’S FACE, CAUSING THE TWO OF THEM TO ASTROPROJECT INTO THE FREAKY OFA/AFO MINDSCAPE BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER IS BANANAS. Vestige!AFO is all “reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated but aren’t you glad I saved your life though, Tomura”, while Tomura is all “!!” because he’s hopefully starting to get A Clue, and meanwhile Deku just stands there watching all “what the fuck.” The chapter ends with SHIMURA MCFUCKING NANA showing up all, “HI, I HEARD SOME BITCHES WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC, AND THEY DIDN’T INVITE ME.” Go on, Nana. Give ‘em hell.

you guys. I’m not normally one to take pleasure in another human being’s misfortune. BUT THAT SAID, there are exceptions to every rule, and so let’s just say certain events have transpired early this morning which have PUT ME IN A VERY, LET’S JUST SAY, NOT-TERRIBLE MOOD which this chapter will hopefully improve upon!!

oh my god Deku’s one non-fucked-up eye that he still has control over is SO WIDE YOU GUYS

hmm I know I shouldn’t be all (゜▽゜) while the two of them are all (； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) ... and yet here we are. btw I’m worried tumblr’s formatting will ruin those two emojis which I worked so hard to get just right so I’m gonna repost them on another line here just in case

(； ▼ Д ▼) (⁰ Д゜;) that’s them. Kacchan and Deku. my boys

HERE COMES THE CHEESY “JUST GOT STABBED BETTER PLAY IT OFF ALL COOL!!!” ONE LINER OH MY GOD

(ETA: really love how my son, with what for all he knows could be his dying breaths, decides that the absolute most important thing is to preserve his selfish asshole facade so as not to fuck up his status quo with his rival. “LOOKEE HERE I GOT MYSELF ALL STABBED AND SHIT FOR YOU, BUT I TOTALLY JUST DID IT BECAUSE I WAS TIRED OF YOU GETTING ALL THE COOL HERO MOMENTS” yeah, that’s right! SELFLESS MOTIVATIONS, WHAT ARE THOSE sob.

also tbh I’m glad they didn’t delve any further into their feelings right here and now because this really isn’t the place or time for it sadly. WE WILL JUST PUT THOSE ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER THE ARC ENDS, when they are all recovering from their various wounds and traumas and have time to catch up and have some long-overdue heart-to-hearts. it deserves its own chapter or two or three. maybe time to head back to Ground Beta once they’re healthy? “healthy” perhaps being a relative term given their current condition fjsdjkf.)

by the way it looks from here like only the ones through his torso and shoulder actually hit, so that’s something at least. WE’VE LOST ENOUGH LEGS TODAY. I need to conserve my remaining puns

MEANWHILE TOMURA IS HAVING A CRISIS

ARE YOU MAD AT YOUR EVIL DAD TOMURA. HE JUST WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER WILL HE, THAT GUY

anyway so it looks like Kacchan might have caught a break here because AFO/Tomura is pulling the stabby quirk activation tendril things back out! rip, “Kacchan vs. Deku part 3″ theories

p.s. I got ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE DRAMA and thus glossed over the chapter title which is “one among us”! hmmm this is definitely AFO/OFA related, calling it now. ooh lord I am excited

NOW MY SON IS DRAMATICALLY FALLING

THE BLOOD FROM THE MOUTH OOF NOT GOOD AHHHH. DEKU’S FACE AHHHH. HIS BODY JUST WENT TOTALLY LIMP DID HE PASS OUT AHHHH. SOMEONE CATCH HIM!!

BY HIS FOOT, SHOUTO?!

well NOT EXACTLY THE MOST GRACEFUL THING I’VE EVER SEEN, but we’ll allow it because HOLY SHIT BOY. ARE YOU ALREADY CARRYING YOUR DAD ON TOP OF THAT?? HORIKOSHI PLEASE CONFIRM, IS TODOROKI MOTHERFUCKING SHOUTO FUCKING FLYING AROUND UNBALANCED AF ON HIS ONE FLAMEY LEG, CARRYING HIS 500 LB POP AND NOW HIS FLOPPY PASSED OUT BEST FRIEND AS WELL?!? HOLY SHIT TODO?!?!

LADIES AND GENTLEFRIENDS OF THE VILLAIN STANDOM, FEAR NOT, TOMURA’S HAIR IS THE FIRST THING THAT GREW BACK LOL

even before his eyeballs kfldkakjk. which, btw, how does he even know what’s going on right now? “this fight has shed a lot of useless blood” sdkmkjl okay well (1) WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT, AGAIN??, (2) SERIOUSLY THOUGH, HOW DOES HE EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU STABBED?? ARE YOU EFFECTIVELY BLIND FOR THE NEXT FEW SECONDS HERE, WHAT’S GOING ON, and lastly (3) I seriously can’t tell if this is AFO or Tomura talking right now. or are they going back and forth?? help this is so confusing

HEY

THE DISRESPECT. I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW KACCHAN ANGST IS NEVER USELESS!!

AND NOW HE’S BACK TO THE STABBING JFKJLKJLF I AM NOT TOO HAPPY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW MISTER

okay and now we’re cutting to some quick panels of the unconscious Aizawa, Gran, and Ryuukyuu, along with the “still conscious but in a very real sense might as well not be counted” Manual who is really having a day, that poor guy

anyway but then there’s also some dialogue boxes being all “if you act out of rage your power will respond accordingly, the most important part is to keep your head clear.” which I’m like 90% sure is Deku/OFA related, but honestly NOTHING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER IS CLEAR SO FAR YOU GUYS. except for the Shouto-is-a-badass part anyway

HMM YEP I’M GONNA GO WITH DEKU-RELATED

it must be a callback to some line I’m forgetting. maybe Lariat explaining Blackwhip to him that one time. probably should have been in italics if it was a flashback quote, but hey. anyways the point is Deku is absolutely, 100% following this advice to the letter (/s)

(ETA: yep I’m almost positive this is the same quote from chapter 213. “listen, when you use this power out of anger, it’ll really start working for you. what really matters is controlling your heart.” which is still one of the weirdest pieces of advice in the entire series, but basically I think he was just trying to tell him it’s okay to get mad, so long as it’s calmly mad. like, controlled fury, as opposed to this white-hot berserker nonsense he’s been running on as of late. anyways I do still love me some shounen rage all the same but Lariat has a point.)

...

it took me a minute to realize THOSE WERE DEKU’S EYES. holy --

AND ANOTHER MINUTE TO REALIZE THAT DEKU FUCKING GRABBED THE ACTIVATION TENDRIL WITH HIS BUSTED UP OFA HANDS AND BIT INTO IT WITH HIS RABID OFA JAWS AND SNAPPED THAT SHIT LIKE A FUCKING KITKAT KLJLKSJDLKJFLK WOOOOOOOO I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING BUT GODDAMN. POWER MOVE

(ETA: this is a two-page spread omg. I didn’t even realize at first. this scan ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT DO THIS BADASS PAGE ANY KIND OF JUSTICE but I can’t wait to see the real deal on Sunday holy shit.)

LMAO

DEKU RAGED SO HARD HE TURNED INTO AN ANGRY GHOST SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FKLSKG

(ETA: he actually looks a bit like the Vestiges/Kurogiri tbh.)

meanwhile Tomura basically has the exact same face I would have had in his position. yeah for real man. I don’t even know

p.s. WHEN will people learn to STOP INSULTING KACCHAN IN DEKU’S PRESENCE. WHEN, I ASK!!

WHAT IN THE CINNAMON TOAST FUCK

if this was a physical page I was holding I would have FLUNG THAT SHIT AWAY LIKE THERE WAS A SPIDER CRAWLING ON IT. WHAT THE FUCK

HOT DAMN. well uh. so that’s SUPER DISTURBING, what a lovely panel of Tomura’s melted face slowly growing back while his ears lag behind, and meanwhile that little scar that had been growing and growing and which at one point certain people (ME) thought might turn him into a BEAUTIFUL BUTTERLY instead RIPS HIS FACE IN HALF to reveal the KINDER EGG AFO SURPRISE UNDERNEATH AHHHHH TAKE IT BACK

THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T LET MAD SCIENTISTS PERFORM EXPERIMENTS ON YOU, KIDS. PSA. JUST SAY NO

-- NO!!!

HORIKOSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fuck

oh my god. I almost would have rather cut away right after the Kacchan incident than freaking cut away NOW of all times, jesus. THAT’S JUST A BITCH MOVE, IS WHAT THAT IS. if we don’t cut back within the next three pages I SWEAR TO GOD

anyway so GUESS WHAT GIGANTOMACHIA’S DOING YOU GUYS. if you guessed “the exact same thing he was doing last time we saw him” then you are absolutely right, because it was actually PRETTY EASY TO GUESS

anyway but he says he detects “master’s scent”, except that there’s apparently two of them. interesting! one in Tartarus and one in Jakku, right? lol Horikoshi has burned me so many times already with his excruciatingly slow reveal of this that I’m not gonna hold my breath just yet, but I’ll get the hype train warmed up JUST IN CASE

okay so meanwhile in downtown Jakku, the heroes are handing off the civilians over to the police and rescue forces while they prepare to engage with “the villain”, by which I assume they mean Gigantomachia. does this mean Iida and Ochako are gonna fight Machia you guys omg

OOH!!!

“PLEASE INFORM THEM ON FOOT” well I know a certain SPEEDY BOI who would be PERFECT for that job oh my. make haste, Tenyar FastmLeggy

WAIT WHICH WAY ARE THEY HEADING

ARE THEY HEADING TOWARDS MACHIA OR TOWARDS DEKU AND AFO

so rather than answering my VERY PERTINENT question, Ochako is instead spending an entire page thinking about how their complete clusterfuck of a life keeps getting exponentially worse all the time! well but she’s not wrong though

NOW SHE’S ALL “GUYS...!” and, rather than explaining ANYTHING AT ALL, Horikoshi is again cutting back to THIS, OMG AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: good thing Kacchan wasn’t awake to see his dramatic “I’ll just get myself impaled for Deku’s sake” plan result in this outcome ALL OF TWENTY SECONDS LATER smdh.)

I ACTUALLY PREFER MY DEKUS NON-CRUMBLED, THANKS. ALSO JUST ON A SIDE NOTE, POOR SHOUTO THOUGH. THE LAST NINETY SECONDS OR SO HAVE BEEN ENOUGH NIGHTMARE FUEL FOR A LIFETIME HAVEN’T THEY

so now he’s all “MIDORIYA!!!” because OF COURSE HE IS. his best friend just got impaled, and his dad too, and now he fully expects to see his other best friend crumble to dust right before his eyes holy shit. T R A U M A ™

-- !!!

somehow in the excitement of the moment I forgot his actual goal for a sec lol. meaning I instantaneously switched from HORRIFIED to GRINNING LIKE A MANIAC :D :D :D come on OFA time to show him what’s what

AND NOW WE’RE SWITCHING OVER TO EVERYONE’S FAVORITE TRIPPY DREAM LANDSCAPE FOR ADDITIONAL DRAMA, WELL OKAY

I’M ON BOARD WITH THIS, WHATEVER. also it’s becoming increasingly apparent that Deku is in fact nekkid underneath that mystical cloud bs, so let’s hope one of his remaining yet-to-be-unlocked quirks is a pants-conjuring quirk lulz

“this place...” yeah we all fucking know what this place is son, let’s get on with this. by my count we’ve only got four pages left so PLEASE BUDGET THEM WISELY

OH MY

holy shit. I have so many screaming thoughts about this lol but I just want to keep on reading lkjlkjlkjl okay I’ll come back later and edit them in, how’s that

OR MAYBE I’LL JUST RANT ABOUT THEM NOW GODDAMMIT

shit. okay let me just try and sum this up as quick as I can

so just in case it wasn’t already crystal clear, AFO’s soul being roommates with Tomura’s seems to be just about 100% confirmed now. good for you, All For One For All theory!! the “Kacchan loses his quirk” theory died so that you might live on in glory

AFO does seem to have almost fully taken control now. it looks like Tomura’s still fighting back, but AFO clearly has the upper hand now if their body language is any indication. Tomura on his knees with AFO calmly holding him down and ignoring his struggles... not looking too good for him at the moment

people seem to have somewhat lost sight of this in the midst of the great “heroes vs. villains Who Is Right Who Is Wrong What Are Morals” debate of 2020, but just a friendly reminder that AFO is in fact responsible for 100% of all of Tomura’s suffering from pretty much the moment he was born up till this very moment we’re now witnessing!! like, you can go ahead and blame Nana and Gran and The Complacent Apathy Of Hero Society and whatever the fuck else from here till Sunday, but All for One is the reason Kotarou was orphaned. All for One is almost certainly the reason why the seemingly quirkless Tenko suddenly just magically developed THE MOST FUCKED UP QUIRK OF ALL TIME at the worst possible moment. All for One is probably the reason why no one helped Traumatized Baby Tenko in the immediate aftermath (I can and likely will write a separate post about this in the near future). All for One is definitely the reason why no one helped Tenko at any point after that. All for One is the reason why Tenko grew up all fucked in the head (“HERE’S YOUR DEAD FAMILY’S HANDS, MERRY CHRISTMAS”), and the reason why he grew up blaming Heroes and Society rather than the sole person who was actually responsible who was literally standing right in front of him the entire time. and lastly, All for One is the reason why Tomura has now been manipulated into unknowingly sacrificing his own body and possibly even his mind. so THANKS A LOT FOR THAT. more like jerk for one amiright

basically what I’m trying to say is that Deku and Tomura are not actually enemies here, and they never have been. the two of them have a common enemy, and I’m convinced Tomura’s story is about him eventually coming to realize this. and this looks to be the first step towards that, for two reasons. one, because AFO is finally starting to out himself to Tomura as the rat bastard he has always been. and two, because Deku is catching a glimpse of this now for the very first time. up until now he didn’t have a damn clue lol. but this is now something for him to file away in the back of his mind, and perhaps follow up on at a later date, once all of this craziness finally subsides and he has some time to process

anyway, so that’s basically it! tl;dr AFO is the final villain and unless I’m very much mistaken, this scene is going to finally start to set that up. let’s read on!

OMG

NANA?!?

lKDSJFLKSHGLISHDOGIHOLRKL

NOOOOOO I can’t believe it fucking ended there I can’t fucking believe it, fuck everything

smdh. what a place to end it. didn’t confirm a damn thing. not even whose mental landscape all of this is actually taking place in! like, don’t mind me though Horikoshi, it’s not like THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGES ON THIS QUESTION OR ANYTHING except oh wait it really kind of does. kljkj

but seriously. because if it’s Deku’s mind, it means that Tomura’s attempt to take his quirk wasn’t successful. but if it’s Tomura’s mind, though... well... hhhhhhkhfff

or it could be both, I guess. more of that “AFO and OFA are the same quirk and thus linked” goodness. oh man. anyways stay tuned for next week when Nana presumably helps Deku out with the rest of that black fog and also hopefully finds him some pants. or maybe Nana can just go fight AFO herself. a little payback for everything he’s done to her protege and to her grandson. either way I CAN’T WAIT omg. VESTIGE ANTICS ARE A GO

#bnha 286 #midoriya izuku #shigaraki tomura #all for one #bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #shimura nana #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #never thought we'd be this close to getting to see nana punch afo in the face #please horikoshi I beg of you please let this happen #if this holds up next week pretty much every single lady of bnha will have gotten their chance to shine in this arc #well except for ochako #but things are looking up on that front too!#what a time to be alive

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 3 years

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Marauders #22

I absolutely hated this issue, so be warned that’s a lot of salt here, and my usual whining, so skip this post if you’re not in the mood for that. Also spoilers below.

First impression - what absolute, self-indulgent horseshit. I hesitate to use “fanfic” in a derogatory way, but a lot of Marauders has read as being very “fanfic” in terms of self-indulgence, and greatly favoring certain characters while denigrating others. I actually don’t think that’s a bad thing in fanfic. It can be annoying to read if that’s not what you’re looking for (or it can be wonderful, if it IS what you’re looking for), but ultimately, fanfic is all about self-indulgence. It’s about writing what you want to see in a story, and if Duggan’s Marauders was someone’s actual fanfic, I wouldn’t have anything bad to say about it. I might dislike the characterization, and probably wouldn’t read it, but it ultimately wouldn’t matter because it’s fanfic. Frankly, I’m just as bad about constantly centering everything around Pyro (and finding ways to work him into stories where he doesn’t even belong), because I’m writing just for myself, so I can be self-indulgent. But I’d expect much better from a professional writer. I’d expect much better from someone being paid to write a team book. I’d expect a god-damn balanced book that actually pays attention to the whole cast and gives a thoughtful interpretation to ALL the characters, even the villains, rather than a book dedicated to shining a spotlight on two already well-established characters, and treating them like queens who step all over the rest of the cast.

So, we ignore almost everything set up at the Gala, including the attack on Christian and the Marauder (the ship) being set ablaze. Why aren’t the characters handling that, Duggan? Is that really being saved for another month? We don’t even know if Christian is dead or not, you can’t even spare a panel for Iceman reacting to this? Instead, we tell a flashback story that eventually reveals that Lourdes Chantel is still alive, and Emma helped her fake her own death to escape from an abusive Sebastian.

What exactly is the point of this story, in terms of the overall Marauders arc? Will Lourdes show up later to play a role? Is this meant to further push Sebastian along some kind of path to redemption (recognizing that he drove Lourdes away with his actions). Because so far, Duggan doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested in rehabilitating Sebastian. This seems like yet another story establishing Emma GOOD, Sebastian BAD, the same message that’s been getting pounded into the readers’ heads for 22 issues. Like, we KNOW, Duggan. We know that you think the sun shines out of Emma’s ass, you’ve already well-established that you think she’s a brilliant, wonderful, compassionate, badass queen, through 22 issues of centering the entire series around her, at the expense of EVERY other fucking character in the book (even sometimes Kate, the other obvious favorite). It’s gotten beyond tiresome at this point. Like, I feel like even people who love Emma and hate Sebastian are getting bored by now, because it’s not even good storytelling to have a strawman villain who is no real threat just getting repeatedly knocked down.

So, Duggan has taken both Sebastian and Emma, and further removed any kind of complexity or nuance from them. Sebastian can’t have a kind or tender side, he can’t ever be shown in a positive light. His relationship was Lourdes was previously part of his tragic origins, pushing him to be a worse person than he’d been in a past, but no, lets retcon him to be a controlling abuser, whom Lourdes is desperate to escape. Because it makes Sebastian look bad and Emma look good. Honestly, it would have been more interesting and powerful to have Lourdes come back from the dead, and be disgusted by the person Sebastian has become. That would actually have an impact.

And by the way, why did Lourdes need Emma’s help in establishing her new identity? She was already part of the Hellfire Club, she’s the one who brought Sebastian in, she’s rich as fuck. Lourdes should be well capable of getting away from Sebastian on her own. She might need Emma’s help for faking her own death, but the rest of it? Emma should just do a little hacking to access Lourdes’ personal fortune and transfer it into a new account, and then she’s good to go. But no, Lourdes has to be treated like a little lost lamb, a helpless battered woman for Emma to rescue. And Emma’s deal with the Kingpin further exonerates Emma for her past crimes, because obviously, she’s just working off the debt she incurred helping poor, innocent Lourdes! It can’t be that Emma did bad things in the past because she was ambitious, cruel, vain, and power-hungry, she has to be a woke queen who was always there to help other women.

I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with all this, with the “women help each other,” message, and either ignoring or villifying all the male characters. But he’s not. It’s not feminist to take a very complex, interesting, powerful woman like Emma Frost and completely remove all responsibility and agency for her past crimes by turning her into an abuse victim and repeatedly retconning her to be better than she actually was. (To be fair, Duggan is just continuing a trend already started by other writers). Emma is ambitious, power-hungry, cruel, callous, self-absorbed, vain and snobby. But she is also brave, intelligent, compassionate, kind, protective, heroic, and self-sacrificing. All of those things are part of Emma. She is a teacher who loved her students, and the love for those students is part of what sent Emma on her long, difficult path towards redemption. Yes, she’s a badass queen, but she is also a flawed individual, who has worked to overcome those flaws and become a better person. And constantly re-writing the past to make her an “always good” abuse victim who only ever committed crimes because the big bad men forced her into it cheapens that redemption.

Speaking of cheap redemption -

The Wilhelmina subplot: Wow, Duggan really will prioritize ANY character over Bishop, Iceman and Pyro, won’t he? I know this is me throwing a tantrum, because “Wah, Duggan is writing someone other than my favorites!” but after 22 issues I feel justified in this whining. Iceman, Bishop and Pyro are supposed to be regular cast members, and so far Duggan has given more serious development and emotional scenes to Callisto, Forge, Dolores (the human contact at the X-Desk), Masque, Jumbo Carnation, Magneto, the Cuckoos, and now Wilhelmina. I don’t mind the development for many of those characters, I like Callisto and Forge and Jumbo (although I’m a little annoyed at the Magneto stuff, since he’s already front and center in the Krakoa era, and about to star in a mini-series, does he really need more time in the spotlight?). But honestly? Fuck Wilhelmina. I was never that interested in the Hellfire brats, and I’m not the slightest bit interested in watching the retcon redemption of a character that murders animals for fun. Why does she get a spotlight story while the three dudes on the team STILL haven’t gotten anything more than vague background hints of character arcs. I mean, compare the very emotional flashback and Wilhelmina’s breakdown to the half-assed, mostly taking place off- panel “redemption” that Duggan has given Pyro. Just a single line of “maybe this crew is bringing out the best in me,” with no lead-up, no further reflection, no hints about Pyro changing his ideas before then. Why did you even put Iceman, Bishop and Pyro on the team if you’re not going to use them, Duggan? Because you’ve made it quite clear that you’d rather write ANY character other than them. I can’t even look forward to Tempo and Banshee joining the cast next issue, even though I like them (and I really want to see more development of Tempo), because I know they will be yet more characters that get pushed into the foreground, while Iceman, Bishop and Pyro remain the underdeveloped background clown trio.

Also, it seems kind of offensive to have a cruel, murderous female character, and then say that her cruelty is entirely due to sexual abuse? What kind of message does that send to sexual abuse victims? That it will turn you into a monster? Why do female villains keep getting sexual abuse as part of their backstory? Why can’t they just be bad? Or have something else going on? So the Cuckoos flip a switch in Wilhelmina and she’s magically “fixed,” or at least on her way to better? Again, I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with this, but he’s not.

At least Wllhelmina has been a recurring villain in this series, so I can kinda see how her potential redemption may move the plot along, but Duggan is still introducing new plot threads, while leaving so many others dangling. What about Christian? What about Shinobi and Fenris? Will Bobby and Christian ever even speak to each other again? Will the supposed main cast members of Iceman, Bishop and Pyro ever, EVER get a proper character arc?

Or will we get an entire issue of Emma, Kate and the Cuckoos giving Wilhelmina a redemptive make-over, because girl power, amiright?

#not tagging on purpose #not trying to gum up the tags with my extreme salt #but seriously this was my least favorite issue so far #at least the revenge issue just destroyed Sebastian's body not his character #really fuck this nonsense it was terrible

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galladerocksgamer · 3 years

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Okay so I love the Paranormal Liberation War arc, it does so much fantastic stuff, dang near perfect across the board. But I think it’s pretty widely felt that the pacing got a bit off the rails near the end, we had big reveals and character moments stacking up and half of them barely even felt relevant. And me being the person who just thinks about things in depth and for long periods, I’ve still been dwelling on it for months. And now as the manga has continued, I’m finally seeing how some of the aforementioned War moments could have been better executed in different situations, because honestly this latest arc seems like it would have been tailor-made to address them all. So lemme take a closer look at three different components here: Mirio/Eri, Bakugo, and Hawks.

1. Mirio and Eri

Probably the most random moment from the war’s climax, don’t think anyone was predicting the sudden return of Mirio to battle. I love Mirio, he’s one of my favorite characters, but it was a pretty anticlimactic way to bring him back into the fold. He doesn’t even really bring anything special to the battle, nothing uniquely Mirio. His role is just backing up Best Jeanist against the Nomu, and anyone could have done that. Burnin could’ve arrived sooner, or Manual and Rock Lock could’ve come back after getting the injured heroes to safety. Heck, if you still wanted the Nighteye agency to be involved, then Bubble Girl and Centipeder could’ve been the cavalry to help Jeanist. But instead Mirio returns unexpectedly and none too remarkably.

And on top of that, we’re basically just told “oh by the way Eri has some control of her power now.” Something that the series had been building up toward for awhile just … occurs off-screen with no forewarning. Really feels like a disservice to Eri and her development to not give that intense moment any real spotlight.

It felt extremely weird for me at the time, but I also kinda wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the coming arcs just couldn’t afford to place focus on Eri and Mirio, so their respective developments were tied together to lend an extra surprise to the war’s final bout. But instead this most recent arc has gone the opposite route … through the return of Chisaki.

The man once known as Overhaul, now thoroughly broken and wanting nothing more than to fix his one great regret. With Nagant’s defeat, he winds up back in custody, but having now once again met with Midoriya and made his wish known. So indeed, the opportunity arises for Eri and Mirio to be brought back to the forefront. I don’t doubt that we will indeed have at least a brief glimpse at Eri healing Chisaki’s boss as Midoriya promised, but the potential for that scene could really have been through the roof if it was the impetus for Eri to willingly use her power on a person for the first time.

Imagine Midoriya coming to Eri with that heavy request, of Eri deciding to offer this kindness toward Chisaki of all people, using her power to heal before the man who always told her that she could only destroy. Because really, I don’t think there’d be a question of that, we know the kind of kid Eri is, and she won’t let anyone suffer if there’s any way she could prevent it. Even if Chisaki was the person asking, there might be hesitation and fear, but is there any doubt she’d offer what aid she could in the end? And for Pops to be the first person she helps, to undo the harm carelessly inflicted by Chisaki … well, it’d certainly be poetic.

As for Mirio in this scenario, that could go a couple ways. Route 1: Eri is hesitant to help Chisaki with Pops because she would rather help Mirio get his Quirk back, and we know that her power seems to have a bit of a limit on it via the energy stored in her horn. So what if it did work, but she ran out of juice healing Pops and then made Mirio wait even longer? Well, of course that’s exactly what he’d insist on, he wouldn’t let himself take priority over another person in need of Eri’s help. And he’d take it all in good spirits as always. Or Route 2, if there was concern that Eri’s power could run wild while trying to help Pops, then they could go the complete opposite direction and have Mirio offer to go first, to be the guinea pig for Eri in case of emergency. But of course, he’d have full faith in her all along and coax her through, ensuring her of just how helpful and brave she always is.

So yes, can see how Eri and Mirio’s development could have taken a more satisfying route, and cap us off with some good ole Chisaki angst to boot (though at least we’ve still got a decent serving of that). Now moving on …

2. Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight

So Bakugo’s long and arduous journey of personal growth reached a new peak during the battle with Shigaraki, where his body moved without thinking and he underwent his true heroic awakening to protect Midoriya. Such a sacrifice seems like a perfect cap for his development for the War arc … and then a couple chapters later he forces himself right back into action to back up Best Jeanist, and as promised he reveals his over-the-top hero name to his mentor. In this case I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the reveal, but in light of his preceding big heroic action, it really feels like a hat on a hat.

It’s not like Bakugo’s hero name heralded some major turning point for the battle; Jeanist’s arrival (and subsequently Mirio’s) had already assured that. And like Mirio, there wasn’t any real special reason for Bakugo to rejoin the fight with the Nomu, especially with Iida and Hado on the scene. After getting skewered by Shigaraki, it would have been pretty simple for Bakugo to just spend the rest of the fight bleeding unconscious on the ground, rather than complicating matters by shoving him back into the fray. And ultimately, the moment feels a bit anticlimactic. All the suspense waiting for Bakugo’s hero name, and then it’s revealed at a time where he barely even has the spotlight.

Of course, such a bombastic name as “Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight” doesn’t particularly lend itself to a quiet or emotional scene, so it wouldn’t be thematically fitting to move that revelation to Bakugo’s hospital bed or his somber apology to Midoriya. That said, given his decision to announce the name first to Jeanist, there would at least be precedent for him to have a “Dabi says secrets in a black speech bubble” moment in the hospital in which he talks to Jeanist but leaves the readers in the dark, before coming back to the actual audience reveal later on.

And there must certainly be other opportunities to present the name appropriately. Bakugo is a master of making an explosive entrance, after all. And when Class 1-A finally catches up to Midoriya, if Bakugo really wanted to make a big impact on his friend/rival before getting into the sentimental stuff, then it would be a prime chance to reveal his hero name in grandiose fashion, both to Midoriya and the audience.

Or if his hero name had been Kacchan, then that reveal would have fit right in with his apology to Midoriya, but that’s neither here nor there

This could be one scenario, of course, but it hardly feels like that would’ve been the only option. And compared to the crammed-in reveal in the final fight with the League, it’s easy to say that there could have been plenty of smoother roads to take. But setting that aside, moving onto the final touch:

3. Hawks

The long-awaited Hawks backstory doesn’t really disappoint. Admittedly, there weren’t really a lot of holes necessary to fill in there; we’d had enough bits and pieces provided before this point to pretty much put together the whole picture of his crummy childhood. But even without any really surprising turns, the flashback is welcome and hits some good emotional beats. But really, the glaring issue in this area is the timing.

We’re presented this backstory at an instance where Hawks is hardly the most relevant character. Shigaraki is undergoing a personal crisis as All For One seizes the reigns of his own body, Endeavor’s dark history has been exposed and the Todoroki family is in turmoil, escapees from Tartarus roam the streets, and Midoriya consults internally with the vestiges of One For All ... and the narrative decides to take a chapter to look at Hawks. Practically nothing from his flashback directly relates to present events, serving only to further emphasize his already well-established devotion to Endeavor and his (misguided) understanding of Twice’s feelings. The timing is just kind of baffling, especially with some other more appropriate places being readily apparent.

For instance, only a dozen chapters later, we’re properly introduced to Lady Nagant. As Hawks’s predecessor within the Hero Commission, the two have a lot in common, and the similarities and differences between the two could set up some interesting comparisons if Hawks’s backstory was saved to follow up Nagant’s. Two idealistic young children, handpicked by the Commission and groomed into assassins, yet whose outlooks in the present day are starkly opposed? Nagant's guilt driving her to turn on the Commission, while Hawks holds few regrets despite the blood on his hands, longing for freedom from the Commission’s grasp? That kind of parallel could really have built a more solid foundation for Hawks’s past to be laid upon.

That could be an effective setup, but there’s another approach I’d actually much rather have seen, one that brings Hawks’s backstory not later, but earlier: during the dramatic confrontation between Hawks and Dabi. The instant that Dabi reveals he knows Hawks’s real name, the story opens itself up perfectly to dive into his past. And the timing would be superb, showing Hawks at his worst as he murders Twice, then turning back the clock to look at the innocent child who just wants to save people. A little boy whose feathers tingle with the need to rescue those in need, superimposed against the man whose same feathers are used to deliver the killing blow to a victim of hero society’s ills. You want angst? Now that’s how you do angst. Placing the backstory there would play up the tragedy of both Hawks and Twice simultaneously: a “hero” raised by the Commission to cut threats to their control short at the root, and a “villain” who could have been a kindred spirit but instead suffers for their would-be friendship.

And that’s not even the icing on the cake. The real matter of interest here comes in Hawks’s view of Endeavor. By the time we get to Hawks’s backstory, all of Japan has already learned of Endeavor’s history from Dabi, and the result of the timing feels a smidge tone-deaf, and fails to realize the full potential resonance of the situation. The flashback to young Hawks as a victim of child abuse, who is rescued (unwittingly) when Endeavor arrests his father, is presented to us as the moment when Hawks realized that heroes are real, not merely a fantasy. We see why he developed such an ideal view of heroes, and why he is so specifically loyal to Endeavor ... so just imagine if all that was presented during his showdown with Dabi. Imagine if all that came before the tragic revelation of Toya Todoroki. The true terrible irony, that Hawks was rescued from his abusive father by someone secretly guilty of the same crimes, that Hawks’s whole epiphany of “real heroism” was founded upon one of the most corrupt enforcers of all.

The end result would be the same, I’m sure. After all, this is certainly the same thought process Hawks was going through all along, and his decision to maintain his faith in Endeavor’s personal growth would presumably remain unchanged. But presenting Hawks’s backstory before Dabi’s would have opened up a lot more room for us as the audience to actually see Hawks’s views be challenged. If there’s one real complaint I’ve got about Hawks’s character, it’s that we don’t really tend to see him questioning himself or his actions; whatever happens, he rolls with it and presses on, no matter how his ideals are brought into question. But this simple matter of timing could go a long ways to remedying that, granting the audience the chance to watch Hawks grapple with his personal image of and approach to heroism, and his relationship with Endeavor, rather than allowing most of that to pass unseen in the wake of the war’s end. Even if he would ultimately come to the same conclusion, at least such a narrative structure would provide a much more satisfying presentation of his struggle up to that point.

So, I’m not great at endings, but that brings us to the conclusion of my rambling though process here. To recap, the more I’ve thought about it, the more obvious it is that the backloaded War arc could be remedied, and the following arc only made that more obvious. Why force Mirio’s return so soon when he could be tied in later with Eri mastering her powers and the desperate pleas of Chisaki? Why shove in Bakugo’s hero name when the boy has already made a tremendous impact on the arc, and will be more open to further focus during the conflict with Deku in the next? And why throw in Hawks’s backstory as a standalone chapter at a time when it’s largely irrelevant, when there was such great potential to emotionally contrast him with the backstory of Nagant or Dabi? These are the kinds of things I think about. Little things, really, and honestly the whole reason they stand out to me is just that the rest of the arc around them is so dang fantastic. So … yes. This is the testament to my love for this manga, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, byeeeeee

#mha #bnha #mha manga spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #paranormal liberation war

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towerofgodscreamblogwink · 3 years

Text

reading last chap of s2 after covering several chapters yesterday, also since it's end of the season, for once I put some bigger serious thoughts at the end

who the FUCK ARE YOU PEOPLE???

OH MY GOD KARAKA IS TSUNDERE

there are OTHER slayers?? (except fucking ex white) if they mentioned it earlier i must’ve forgot

that’s not how to talk to your daddy greatest

-(no i don’t like jahad i’m here to bully karaka because i tend to bully my faves)

*punches table* rabbit boy. get out. i have not sighed so loud in my entire life

oh i see why people were calling them furries.

listen, you either give us catboys or leave.

please don’t say “creatures” if it’s like your furry way of talking

that guy: not to worry he has a permit

gustang: *pulls out paper* “i can get whatever i want”

i’ve read “gremlin” im dONE

you know what maybe i should just go to bed rn

also cat is destroying my door dear lord

ok so it’s the next day now

“ahahaha”

“I can’t read...”

SHIT I HAVEN’T NOTICED RACHEL GOT TELEPORTED

erh i’m dumb on this one, why have they made this parallels?

I don’t want to tell you this but he just reminded me of chara undertale...

wangan: onii-chan!?

wait what

ouch

soooo karaka believes wangan’s story even w/o ring then?

*spits tea* ow goddammit not the feels

anyhoo that’s the end of s2, siu put a note about break but yeah that was years ago, so pretty sure i’ll be starting s3 even now but i won’t be posting it rn

anyhoo well that was suprisingly long season? my usual knowledge of “Seasons” is usually from anime, and these tend to have seasons with usual 2 or 3 arcs but they usually don’t go in so many different directions

personally it feels like half of season 2 is a season on it’s own tbh, and maybe that’s how anime could adapt it, perhaps? although 12 episodes would work best with just setting on saving bam from fug.. either anime would make the seasons in parts like aot did with s3 or have lots and lots of seasons, since probability of anime getting 24 episodes has gotten awfully small those years

As for the opinions on season 2... I see first half and season on it’s own, so let’s start from this - Bam getting rescued, and first time they enter hell train. First of all, Bam as Viole is absolutely nailing this, and I wouldn’t mind having Viole as protagonist to be honest, although it would be indeed sad as Viole is not the happiest person, but damn is he a cutie. Is he a baby.

Wangan - oh dear I dunno if others saw the plot twist coming, but I did not - I have absolutely been viewing him as Bam’s counterpart to his Viole side, just a complete shounen protagonist who’s completely ordinary. Boy was I w ro n g. I only remember vaguely being sus about him when Viole has mentioned his ring, but that was about it, as it was never mentioned again, I forgot about it. And then it appeared Karaka has this ring. Boy was I shooketh.

I don’t think I exactly liked the further progression though until Wangan’s story was revealed - until then he kinda fell into background, and then soon again as said story was revealed. However I do know Siu has big plans with him, and at this point I know Siu’s writing enough, so I don’t have much worries about his further progression

Also sadly there was no Karaka-Wangan brother bonding

Next in mind I have Khun, naturally, as he’s my icy hot favourite. I don’t really know why even, when I saw him in anime I was quite indifferent about him. So if you want me to explain why do I like khun, I can’t really explain. Other than when he was becoming my favourite, I remember being dissappointed in myself and making a post to myself “Goddammit don’t fall for him just because he’s your type” and he’s not even really my type in terms of personality, but at that point I was jsut shrugging it off, maybe it was his childish over-dramatic posture contrasting his cold personality because I just hit that protect button

Also yes I may be basic just slap me already

And before I’ll start talking: girl’s scout outfit, really? I support my son and I can understand his edgy and k-pop fashion... But I’d be lying if I said I understood him for shit at that moment

So now that we’re past back... I was actually recently re-reading first chapters, and damn, the difference of Khun before Bam was rescued - was rather intriguing. He was laughing his ass off at silly things (his team being dressed silly) but oh sweetie did it feel weird.

Next, I keep thinking about him on the train obliberating Rachel - despite popular opinion, his cockiness was actually getting on my nerves, and only thing saving it, was his reasons were Bam - so in other words, at least he wasn’t an asshat for his own sake.

I much liked his personality during second half of the season 2 - as much as there wasn’t much khunbam content - seems like Khun has grown as a person,as his cocky aura much disappeared as he became more understanding towards his own weaknesses. Now his “cockiness” became rather entertaining if you catch my drift, because despite his jerk nature, he *is* well aware of his flaws, and I just like that. Not that he *wasn’t* considerate of that already, but the hidden floor really did wonders on him.

And dear my, his relationship with Bam. I’ll be honest, at some point during reading first half of season 2, I felt like I was reading romance story between him and Bam. It was all the little things, like playing with Rachel just to know Bam’s past, Khun noticing Bam was uncomfortable with Viole wig, Khun being near Bam as he spoke he has no reasons to live, Khun standing up for Bam when strangers tried to use him and Isu asked for his help but skipped the asking part, Khun looking back to Bam telling him he’ll be back when going to catch the fish on train, Khun trying to talk to him when Bam locked himself up in his room on train, constantly checking and finally waiting in his room when he notices Bam is gone, Khun noticing lack of Bam’s presence before going to floor of death right *after* he just said he feels like world is ending if Bam isn’t here, and then beeming when Bam does in fact appears. And that’s just all the stuff I can remember right now, and I mean the *little* things. The big things are the ones we know well - “So that I can always chase” and the famous world one I don’t have to quote.

Second half didn’t have much scenes, but there were few that did stuck to me - Bam’s line to Kiseia how he understands why she hates him, but he’ll do everything he can to stop her if she plans to harm Khun *again*. Because it seemed like Bam kind of moved on from Khun getting stabbed by his sis, but that panel did show that not only it *did* stay with him, it also stayed with him that it was *Kiseia* who hurt him.

Another scene was the one I don’t think I need to talk about much, as we all pretty understand - moment of Khun and Eduan awkward father-son bonding. Khun tries to close himself off, but Bam reaches out, and forces him out of comfort zone

But what mostly stuck out to me, was his behaviour after Khun became kinda dead. It was the way he spoke to endorsi and rest, how *he’s* going to take khun and follow the *harder* path, and anyone who *don’t want to come*, can take the easier one. Basically, he was prepared to go the harder route completely alone because it meant taking Khun with him, and he was just, prepared to go without any help, he only optionally added that others can join if they *want* to.

Another interesting scene, was Hwaryun calling him out, when few of his teammates has been captured, due to them taking the different path from Bam - but if they are meant to escape with Khun, they have to leave them, and when Bam gets steamy about it, Hwaryun goes - “I didn’t choose the teams. You’ve chosen them based on who matters more.” It’s so subtle, so cruel, yet intriguing - one of the most worst way to tell someone he cares for someone else more - she’s only saying Khun mattered to him more, but in this context, it sounds accusing, making Bam’s decision selfish. And that’s something that’s absolutely in my mind - his care for Khun, called out in “accusing” matter - as something that stopped him from commiting other decision - as something he’s willing to priotize others over.

So I can’t stop thinking about that, and truthfully? That last “take care of Khun after me.” line.

But the other line from bam’s monolouge that gets me is “Wait a bit more Khun... I’ll wake you up again.” That “again” gets to me, but I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s the way he looks at Khun longily.

So this covers their relationship, and I think I’m only gonna mention Bam now real quick and perhaps Eudan and Jahad, because the post’s getting long and I don’t want to make *this* post specifically long.

I don’t have much to say about Bam, as Bam himself doesn’t have much to say about him. He didn’t have much definying features or characteristics besides the time he was Viole, but you have to hand it to him for growing after meeting after she pushed him for the first time - it was still hard to say anything about him though. For several chapters later - as well, except he did manage to develop the traits of self-sacriface, and actual resolve to save everyone - because he talks about *always* and sure fights for his friends, but who doesn’t? Where his personality shines in this regard, is in the moment of Bam saving his enemies with no questions asked, and White by the way definetely helped Bam to develop his personality for sure.

But either way I’m here roasting Bam, while my goal was to say, that it was in the hidden floor where I’ve actually started recognizing him as his own character - it was in the moment of him having final confrontation with Viole, I finally saw what kind of person he was. And I liked it, he became a solid character in that moment, accompanied by proper flashbacks and exploration. And Bam continues to be then written quite consinstely as in one of later flashbacks, he indeed says, what he said to Viole a while ago - he’s afraid of being alone. Not only that, the internal conflict was added - is he a monster? is he not? It’s simple conflict but can do wonders, and it’s not something that Bam even thinks about, it’s more of a really subtle conflict within a character design itself, rather than Bam.

So basically now Bam indeed feels more of an actual character

And before I’ll end it for now, I want to mention the meeting of young Eudan, andyoung Jahad - truth to be told, I don’t have most unique feelings towards them as anyone sees the point - the adventures with pure intentions turned evil, aka how everyone can turn evil. What makes me more interested, is how Siu has used it for storytelling... Main characters having a big meeting with the younger versions of villians? Haven’t seen that one yet, so I’m interested what direction Siu will take with it, since this is my first time seeing it, so I’m really curious how exactly you can utilize such scenes in terms of long planned story, and not only how they affect story as a whole, but how they also affect just aspects of it as well.

So, that’d be it on my commentary and small “opinion” on season 2. It wasn’t like I exactly wanted to put it here, but I wanted the end of season 2 to have more meaning to myself. But not only to have a meaning to myself *just* for my own reasons, but because I didn’t want to leave the whole season with nothing but small comments there and there. I wanted my experience altogether to be something bigger - but not only experience, but my “legacy” as well. So, that’d be about it x2, if you’re still reading, congratulations, I appreciate that, and you get an apple

#tog #tower of git gud #tower of god #nesreads #nes reads

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iggyalfi2319 · 4 years

Text

Between Borrower and Giant#2

BBAG: 1/X/? - A/N

Oh wow! I didn’t expect it to take off 0.0

Thanks guys for showing your appreciation ^.^

I’ll try to keep doing my best!

Note: I don’t use the word “human” for any realm because, as I said, it’s a perspective matter. They are technically all humans but with two different scales. Giants and Tinies. Borrowers are Tinies who ventures in the Giant realm, but not all Tinies are Borrowers. - Some backstory in this one, and Virgil being a protective brother. (I really love my OC squad as much as Virge XP)

Warning: mention of dark past, nightmares, discrimination, mild fights, Tinies massacre.

=====BBAG=====

Power: (noun) A specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude.

Different: (adjective) Differing from all others; unusual.

Discriminate: (intransitive verb) To make distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit, especially to show prejudice on the basis of ethnicity, gender, or a similar social factor. - Everything is just a question of perspective.

Virgil’s eyes fluttered softly when he caught the sound and the smell of Cara cooking breakfast.

He wanted to stretch out from his cramped position, before remembering that his young roommates where sleeping on him once again.

They came from very far before reaching this closeness.

Especially the youngest and smallest one, Björn and Milka, his childhood friend. The two were like brother and sister.

Their first encounter with Virgil wasn’t really the best.

- Flashback -

The two lost their parents because of Giants when they were even younger, during a Big Raid. Some Giants had come down to the other realm just for playing Smash and Grab in some nearby Tiny towns. It was like humans playing with ants.

After the raid, Amos and a few other Borrowers from other towns went to check the ruins, in case there was any survivors.

It was a real disaster.

There was giant footprints, crushed houses....and stomped corpses...

Virgil was accompanying Amos, at that time he was a lot smaller, but still bigger than everyone.

10ft for 15 years old.

In that situation, his size was rather convenient for working through the ruins.

The young Giant looked around.

It reminded him when Amos found him in the forest with no memories of what happened to him nor his family. He was just lying in the middle of a destroyed village, with no one else around but him. He was so scared and confused when the man, clearly older yet smaller than him by a foot or two, came to him -

Virgil’s breath started to get shallow.

The massacre surrounding him was making him anxious and scared.

When he heard a small whimper from a pile of rubble.

He immediately went to it, calling the rescuers.

“Leave the clearing to Virgil and secure the place.” Amos instructed. “Get the medical kit ready if they are severely injured.”

They are counting on me... It’s my first rescuing mission...I can’t mess up...

Virgil’s hands where shaking.

“No pressure. You have to stay calm.” Amos said.

The Giant teen exhaled softly and started to work. He delicately peeled off the big pieces of concrete, making sure to set them in a safe place, away from the ruins who threatened to collapse.

Soon enough, with the help of the other rescuers they cleared a path among the rubble.

“See anything yet?” One asked. “No, it’s still too narrow but it’s too dangerous to try to jostle the building any further.” Another shook their head.

Virgil couldn’t help but think he messed up.

When he saw what they were looking for.

“Move away.” He told the team, before grabbing a great handful off the building.

It revealed a small ginger haired boy, curled up on himself.

Instinctively, the teen went to pick him up.

Immediately, the boy let out a shriek of fear and tried to back away from his hand. He shot Virgil a terrorized look.

The sight of the boy’s icy eyes froze him to the core.

The boy was scared of him.

Of course he would be scared of you. He just got attacked by Giants...

Amos was about to tell the boy there was no need to be scared of Virgil -

“LOOK OUT!”

A big piece of concrete flew out of nowhere, aimed at Virgil.

He would have easily avoided it, if only he wasn’t frozen in place, the boy’s eyes locked into his.

The Giant teen got the full blow and was sent crashing down a few feet away.

“VIRGIL!” Amos yelled and ran to him.

“STAY AWAY FROM US! MONSTER!” Another child shouted.

They were probably a few years older than the first, standing rather tall, with short blond hair, glaring at Virgil with their valid brown eye while the right side of their face was badly injured. The smaller boy went to hide behind his friend.

As soon as the icy eyes were off the emo teen, he suddenly unfroze.

“Are you okay?” Amos asked him.

“I don’t know why but I was completely frozen...” He groaned softly. “But I think I’ll manage...”

“Are you siding with that...thing?!” The blonde snarled, trying to be brave.

But they were as shaking as the other child.

“His name is Virgil. And he’s not a thing.” The bearded man scolded.

“H-He’s a Giant!” They protested vehemently.

“He’s actually a special case.” Amos said. “As special as you two.”

The children’s eyes widened.

“How...” the smallest whimpered.

“When you locked eye with Virgil, you totally froze him. So I guess you have the ability to paralyze anyone who looks into your eyes.” The boy looked down.

“As for you...” Amos looked at the oldest. “The piece of concrete didn’t fly on its own, did it?”

“That’s quite some strength you have in here, lil guy...” Virgil grunted, rubbing the sore spot where he received the blow. Luckily nothing was broken, but that would surely leave some bruises.

“Milka not boy!” The little one huffed cutely.

“Björn!” The blonde hissed.

Virgil blinked.

“Sorry for assuming -”

“Keep your apology!” Milka cut him. “Girls aren’t supposed to be strong... so I can be as strong as I want as a boy!”

Virgil snorted.

“You can be a girl and strong at the same time, you just proved it.”

He poked her, as she growled and shoved off his hand with a surprisingly great ease.

“Where Björn and Milka go now?” Björn sniffled. “B-Bad Giants taken Björn’s and Milka’s parents... no family...”

“Did he always talk like that?” Amos asked, wanting to check if it was from the beginning or a trauma.

“Björn is...well...” Milka tried to choose her words, but the boy already looked down in shame.

“Hey, now, it’s okay.” Amos knelt down to their level. “You see, I have a daughter, and she is slow on her growth too.”

The children slowly eased down, but they were clearly still scared of Virgil.

“I get it...” he stood up and went to help on another site.

The kids exhaled in relief.

“Don’t be too hard with him...” the bearded man mumbled. “After all, he lost his family in similar conditions...”

“Are you sure he’s really not one of them?” Milk asked once again, trying to fight the urge to feel bad for the teen.

“We cannot be sure, but in scale speaking, it’s the same as you with him.” Amos tried to explain. “He’s merely doll sized to the Giants.”

Milka still wasn’t conviced but didn’t press the matter.

While the children were getting a medical check, Virgil helped the rescuers by clearing the rubble or carrying injured people toward the safe zone.

The team noted that thanks to him, they managed to save a lot more people that they ever did during all their previous after raid rescue missions.

Sadly for the teen, as expected, rescued people were scared and some even mad at him. For everything Giants did to them.

“You’re not like them.” A rescuer tried to comfort him. “These people are just scared.”

“B-B-But what if I really become a Giant?” Virgil rubbed his eyes.

“Just the fact you’re worrying about it makes you different from them. Also, you grew up with us. Another reason for us Tinies to trust you because we know you’ll never hurt us. At least not intentionally.”

“Exactly! What if I accidentally hurt you?” Virgil whimpered.

“Hey, it can happen to anyone. Everyone makes mistake. Now stop worrying over things that didn’t happen, a storm cloud is literally growing over your head.” the rescuer chuckled.

Virgil smiled slightly.

The night fell.

Everyone was gathered in the safe camp.

Well...almost everyone.

Virgil was a few feet away from there.

He could feel the people glancing at him warily, sometimes glaring. But the worse were the not-so-quiet whispers.

Either despite being the greatest sized type, he was still a Giant who could attack them any time. Or worse, he caught a disease that caused him to grow and was turning him into a Giant and they were afraid it might be contagious.

Virgil was scared about that one.

What if it was true? What if something was clearly wrong with him? What if he did turn into a Giant? What if -

“You should eat something.”

The teen got startled by Amos touching him. He looked down, seeing his foster father with a plate of food.

“That thing is going to eat all the food... They should give it to the ones who really need it instead...” Someone muttered.

Virgil hugged his knees, trying to make himself smaller.

Amos wasn’t the one to get mad easily, but there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

“His name is Virgil, and he’s not a thing.” He said sternly. “He’s my son.”

“It’s a Giant!” Someone else protested.

“So what?” Amos glared. “If he really wanted to harm us, don’t you think he would have done so a while ago?”

He rested a hand on the teen’s leg.

“This young man here is the one who helped us to rescue you. So instead of throwing stones at him, you should give him some gratitude.”

The rescuers who worked with Amos for a long time and who knew Virgil since he joined the Andersen family went to the teen’s sides. Maybe not all liked him, but they at least showed some respect because he was a good person despite the great bumps on the road at the beginning. If the teen could be a real moody pain in the @$$ sometimes, he still tried to do his best to help people he cared about.

“Everyone is tired and stressed out. I think it’s better for all of us to call it a night and go to sleep.” Amos said.

Virgil stood up, his hair shadowing his face.

Of course, people whimpered and cowered, expecting the Giant teen to be mad at them and attack.

“I’ll take the first turn.” He said, walking away from the camp.

Despite his size, he was pretty swift and quiet.

Björn and Milka watched him go, saying nothing.

The next day, they woke up on the sound of someone scratching the earth and wood snapping.

They went outside, looking for the source of the noises.

The other villagers had the same idea because they joined the children outside.

Their breath got caught in their throat when they found it.

Virgil was digging holes in the ground, bare handed. Then he carefully put down the deceased Tinies, planting a wooden cross next to each holes.

There was at least a hundred of corpses.

Each were ceremoniously placed in the improvised graves, a flower in their hands.

“Virgil.”

Said teen jumped out of his skin when Amos went to him.

“O-oh...good morning Amos...”

As the sun was slowly getting up, Virgil’s state was getting visible to everyone.

He looked really exhausted, like he hadn’t slept at all but also got a very rough night. He was all dirty with several injuries that looked like claw and bites marks

“Virgil...what happened?” Amos worried

“Hm? Oh you mean these?” Virgil showed his injuries before shrugging “I had a “little” skirmish with a bear, that’s all, haha...”

Dread fell upon the villagers. Seeing the Giant teen’s injuries, it was certainly not a little skirmish like he said. He had a bad gash on his flank, barely patched up and deep bite marks on his arms.

“You went to fight a bear?! On your own?!”

“Of course on my own, you guys wouldn’t be any helpful...” Virgil huffed.

“Virgil...” Amos muttered.

The worse was to admit that the young Giant wasn’t completely wrong. If Virgil, being almost at the same height/length as the bear, struggled to fight it off, what a bunch of Tinies could have done against such a beast?

“It was sniffing around the corpses.” The emo muttered, starting to work again. “I thought they deserved at least funeral...”

He laughed weakly.

“Too bad I’m not dead, huh-”

A resonating slap echoed through the ruined town.

Virgil was shell shocked.

Amos had grasped is shirt and downright slapped him.

“A-Amos....” Virgil teared up.

“Don’t you ever say something like that again.” The older man’s eyes were really stormy.

Virgil tried not to weep when, Amos hugged him tightly.

The teen broke down, the lack of sleep and stress catching up.

That was the only time Amos raised his hand at him. He was very angry and scared at that moment.

“Let’s get you treated, okay?” Amos spoke softly.

Virgil nodded.

Before collapsing.

“Still think he’s a nuisance?” A rescuer asked the villagers while the others rushed to help Amos with Virgil. 8 persons were needed to move the 10ft Giant.

Though, the teen was worryingly light for his size.

When Virgil woke up, he was surprised to find Björn and Milka seated by his sides.

“What are you guys doing here...” he muttered

“Hey, Björn, look! Mr Giant is awake!” Milka said.

Before deliberately placing the little boy on Virgil’s chest.

“Is Mr Giant okay?” the small Tiny fretted around the teen. His impossibly icy blue eyes locked inton Virgil’s dark violet ones.

“!!!” His entire body froze up, causing him to be unable to move or talk.

“Yeah, Mr Giant ~” Milka said sweetly. “Are you okay?”

“...” Virgil couldn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

While he did believe that Björn wasn’t aware of the use of his ability on him, he was definitely sure that Milka did that on purpose.

Just you wait you sneaky little -

“Björn, my boy, I need you to come with me. Amos wants to discuss about something very important with you.” A rescuer picked up the boy. “Ah! Wait -” Milka reached for him “Don’t worry.” The rescuer said, cradling the small child. “He’s not in trouble.”

Björn cooed softly in their arms.

Closing his eyes.

“Oh and Virgil.” The adult looked back. “Be nice to her, okay?” They walked off.

“Oh no...” Milka whimpered.

She slowly turned around, seeing the Giant form of Virgil towering her.

“Don’t worry.” he grinned dangerously as he slowly creaked his knuckles. “I’ll be V-E-R-Y nice to you.” “I’ve discussed with the village’s elders. They agreed to let you two live with us since you don’t have anywhere to go.” Amos told the boy.

“Huh?” Björn blinked, not sure to have heard right.

“Yes Björn.” Amos said, trying to focus on the boy’s flamboyant hair instead of his big teary eyes. “You and Milka will live with Virgil and I.”

Big fat tears flooded out the boy’s face as Amos hugged him tenderly.

“I wanted to tell you first because I think Milka would have done everything to make you refuse...” He ruffled his hair. “I know she just wants to care about you. But if it’s you who wants it, I’m sure she’ll follow you with no hesitation.”

“Björn is so happy!” The boy bawled out, creating a big wet spot on Amos’ shirt.

“Now now. Dry up your tears and let’s tell the news to Milka and Virgil. Okay?”

Björn paused.

“Does it mean Mr G- Virgil will be Björn’s brother?” He whimpered softly.

“Don’t worry.” Amos reassured him. “I’m sure you three will get along just fine.” SLAM

“GOTCHA!” Virgil said triumphantly when he pinned Milka under his hand onto the ground.

“Oh yeah?” Milka glared, before biting into his finger.

“OW!” The teen drew back his hand and glared back. “Oh really is it now!”

“Bring it on!” She challenged.

While Virgil was clearly advantaged by his size, Milka’s terrifying strength wasn’t something to scoff at.

The two bickered and fought over ferociously.

Every time Virgil immobilized her, Milka easily broke free from his grasp. She tripped him off his feet several times, but he was quick to get back up.

“Milka! Milka! Guess what!” Björn ran to them before stopping abruptly.

“AAAAAAH!” He screamed.

“Björn?!” Amos ran to him, when he saw the scene.

Virgil was restraining Milka by her waist as she was pushing his face away.

“ENOUGH!” Amos’ voice thundered.

Virgil froze and Milka used that opportunity to elbow him in the ribs and made him drop her.

“What on earth is going on here!” Amos crossed his arms.

“He/She started it!” They both said before glaring at each other.

The older male pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily.

“So, since you two seems to get along very well, there’s no problem in me saying that Milka and Björn will live with us, starting today?” Amos told them

“WHAT?!” Both screamed.

“I never agreed -” Milka protested. “I already asked Björn and he accepted.” She quieted down

“What about Cara and the twins?” Virgil spoke up.

He already had to deal with Matthias all the time. There was no way he could stand Matthias AND Milka.

Amos scratched the back of his head.

“I’ll face the consequences later.” He said sheepishly.

Virgil groaned and covered his face.

- End of Flashback -

“Hn..Hn...”

Virgil was pulled out of his reminiscing when he heard soft whines.

He looked down, seeing Björn curled up, crying softly. He was probably having a nightmare.

Björn didn’t grow much over the years, both physically and mentally. On cue, Björn still slept with a pacifier and his teddy bear.

Virgil sighed soft and sat up, careful not to wake the others.

He gently scooped up the ginger haired boy and rocked him against his chest like a baby.

“There there, it’s okay. I’m here.” Virgil hummed softly. “Shhhh.”

The boy cooed softly, gripping his shirt.

Virgil smiled lightly.

“He had another nightmare, didn’t he?”

The young man looked over the person who spoke.

Milka.

“He really likes you.” She said, standing before him. “I’m jealous.”

“Don’t say that.” Virgil shuffled, letting her sit on his lap. “You will always be his big sister and best friend.”

She sighed, crossing her arms.

“Do you want me to comb your hair?” He asked her.

“Huh?” She looked up at him.

“Your hair. Do you need help with them?”

“...” She looked away. “Fine.”

She went to retrieve the hairbrush before giving it to the young Giant and carefully sitting on his knee.

Virgil moved lightly his right arm so he could support Björn against his chest before taking the hairbrush and starting to work.

Despite his size, he was very gentle and careful.

“A lot happened since you grew them out, huh.” He said.

Milka just hummed.

Her vanilla blonde hair now reached just below her waist, as long bangs completely covered the right side of her face, hiding the reminder of the scary event.

Amos came over, about to wake the children for the day, When he saw the scene.

Despite everything they went through, it was clear that Virgil cared about each member of his family.

The old man chuckled softly, deciding to let them bound a little longer.

=====BBAG=====

(EDIT 19/05/2020: art of Virgil and Bjorn here )

BBAG: 1/X/?

Leave a comment and a like if possible ^^

(want to be @? let me know)

#bbag #Between Borrower and Giant #sanders sides virgil #virgil sanders #giant!virgil #anxiety sanders #writing #fanfic #sanders sides g/t #g/t #OCs #OC squad #tiny!oc

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afinepricklypear · 4 years

Text

Compare and Contrast: K Project vs. Bungou Stray Dogs - Part 3

**Disclaimer: I love both K Project and Bungou Stray Dogs. I highly recommend watching both of them. This series of Compare and Contrast posts I’m doing is merely for my own sake, to get these thoughts out of my head. If you are a fan of one show and not the other, please don’t read, or if you do, save your bashing comments for like-minded antis elsewhere. If you have not seen both, there are a lot of Spoilers ahead, please don’t read. I am heavily critical of both shows, so if you are someone who cannot handle negative things being said (I try not to outright bash and just provide reasonable evidence from the material to back my stances) about your favorite fandom or characters please don’t read. Thank you! ***

Read Part 1, Part 2

Characters

Both Bungo Stray Dogs and K feature ensemble casts, with large numbers of characters. That being said, the shows have vastly different approaches for how they handle those characters and those approaches impact the way they come across for the viewer.

One of the things that K does a hell of a lot better than BSD, is fleshing out and managing of its characters. This may in part be due to the fact, K doesn’t attempt to give all of its characters a starring space in the story. It’s comfortable letting some characters fall into the background, allocating them to the role of side characters. There are only a few members of each of our main clans (Silver, Red, Blue, and later, Green) that are given attention and the rest of the clansmen (Red and Blue are the only clans shown to have notable clans members who regularly show up and are given names and little else outside of our mains) fall to the background. For some people, this may be frustrating, as we don’t learn a whole lot about the rest of Scepter 4 or HOMRA in the anime, but narratively, I’m comfortable with it because I’m not asked by the show to care about those characters, and the characters that I’m meant to care about are given adequate screen time to develop them into someone who’s story I am invested in. That being said, K does have moments that utterly flop. Scepter 4, for me, beyond Fushimi, is an absolute failure in presenting itself as a likeable or, even, relatable organization of individuals (Full disclosure, I hate Munakata, and while Awashima has potential, she’s treated by the series as little more than a miniskirt and bad boob job obsessed with Munakata). They seem to be there only to be obnoxious. I get the sense they were originally intended to be viewed as villains, but they became so popular following the first season, that the creators tried to treat them more as heroes in the movie and second season. However, it was painfully obvious in the final episode of K: Seven Stories – Nameless Circle, as the surviving members of the Green, Red, Silver, and good Colorless clan members (Yukari and Kuroh) enjoyed their final farewells with their fallen clansmen (I dare you not to cry when Mikoto and Totsuka pour Kusanagi a glass and Yata takes Anna’s hand in the background), that Scepter 4 staring up at Munakata’s lost Sword of Damocles was the least humanized of the Clans. They lost nothing, they felt nothing, their presence in Nameless Circle was nearly pointless beyond fan service. Likewise, K heavily drops the ball in Season 1 with its primary antagonist, the Evil Colorless King, who’s back history, motivations, and even his (her?) name remain a mystery to date.

BSD starts out with an already large cast, and while Atsushi and Dazai might arguably be the “main” characters of the show, starring roles in various arcs and episodes are given to the other characters, as well. Most of those episodes, however, can easily be relegated to the “filler” pile. On top of this, BSD continually introduces increasing numbers of characters, it also likes to bump characters up from side character to more main character type roles, which only serves to take limited screen time from the initial cast of characters and ultimately fails to give itself enough space to flesh out the cast. Time constraints, of course, doesn’t always mean a character can’t be adequately developed (see the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up for how it’s done right), but possibly, because of this limitation, BSD has a tendency to fall back on telling instead of showing. It also feels like many of its characters were not fully developed in the creator’s minds (this appears to have been confirmed in several interviews with the creators) when they started their story, so that when those backgrounds are revealed, especially in those far too often instances where characters that have interacted in past episodes and given no indication of a history between them are newly revealed to have a connections to one another. It feels tacked on and last minute, and consistency of characterizations is lost. As previously discussed in a past post for this Review Series, this may also be due to the fact that K was envisioned as a self-contained story, and BSD seems to have been developed as an ongoing serial without a predetermined ending.

For these next several posts, I want to do more individualized character analyses, but to keep things simple, I will only focus on the characters of K that are given focus in the story and I’ll try to reference only its anime (just to be fair, because I’ve read all of K’s extra materials, and have not for BSD because I lack access in my country). Likewise, I’m only going to talk about BSD’s characters from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, as well as, a few key villains like Shibusawa, Fitzgerald, and Fyodor. Once again, I will attempt to keep to only what’s been revealed in the anime.

A reasonable starting point on character analysis for these two shows would be our sort-of main protagonists. Although, BSD and K are both ensemble anime, they do each feature a character that may ostensibly be considered the “main” character, in the sense that they kick off our main events and are positioned as integral to all subsequent storylines. For BSD, that character is Nakajima Atsushi, and for K, that character is Yashiro “Shiro” Isana. Interestingly (maybe), these characters share a similar aesthetic. Both are young males, with white hair and light-colored eyes, they are also both small, waif-like, bishounen that might be better suited to a shojo or even yaoi anime, rather than leads on a seinen series.

At the start of both series, Atsushi and Shiro, respectively, find themselves thrust into a world of supernatural powered people in which they are targeted for reasons to be revealed throughout the story. The greatest similarity between these two, however, is that they are both weak characters. Neither one proves interesting enough to shoulder the responsibilities as main character of the show. You would be hard pressed in either fandom to find someone who would name Atsushi or Shiro as their favorite character. I’m not saying these fans don’t exist, because they do, they are just few and far between.

Shiro spends the first half of the first season trying to avoid being killed by the Red Clan, who believes he killed their Clansman, Tatara Totsuka, at the same time, he is trying to convince his reluctant ally and potential executioner, Kuroh, that he isn’t the Evil Colorless King responsible for Totsuka’s death. Atsushi’s story, on the other hand, begins with him finding out he’s an ability user that shapeshifts into a white tiger, and, subsequently, being rescued and recruited into the Armed Detective Agency by Dazai. Then the Port Mafia begins hunting him because a bounty has been placed on his head, conveniently only after he’s learned that he is the white tiger that he believed had been hunting him his entire life, he’s joined the ADA, and Dazai has the chance to warn him with a picture of Akutagawa “beware of this bad boy” mere hours before Akutagawa attacks him.

The initial drawback with both of these characters is that they are merely victims of the plot and not helping to drive the plot forward in anyway. Shiro only becomes invested in determining why there’s video footage of him murdering Totsuka because Kuroh demands he provide evidence that he’s not the Evil Colorless King or he’ll face justice at the end of Kuroh’s blade. When Atsushi learns about the bounty on his head that Port Mafia is pursuing, rather than show interest in why anyone would want to capture him (alive, to boot), he “nobly” decides to run away, in his naivete believing that it would spare the ADA war with Port Mafia.

Throughout the K story, we do see real change in Shiro’s investment in his own mystery when it’s revealed that his memories, and the memories his classmates have of him, are not real, but fabricated and imposed upon him and those in close proximity by the cat girl that’s obsessed with him, Neko, AKA Official Provider of Fanservice #1. This provides a further explanation for why he’s so lackluster about pursuing the truth, she’s been bending his reality and his perception of it from the start. It isn’t until her ability and how she’s been using it is revealed, and she runs off in humiliation and panic, that Shiro begins to actively pursue the truth. Even before this, however, Shiro is shown to be a wily and clever character who is quite self-sufficient. In his first meeting with Kuroh, he’s able to escape Kuroh’s justice by lying and manipulating the swordsman. He later throws off the Red Clansmen pursuing him by appearing just as Kuroh is facing off against a very annoyed Yata and calling out to Kuroh as though they are allies. This falls in line nicely with the big reveal of Shiro’s true identity as the Silver King, Adolf K. Weissman. In flashbacks to an unnamed great war (FYI, people speculate this was WWII, which, fun fact, would make Adolf a Nazi, but because this story takes place in an alternate history of the world, it’s equally possible Nazis never existed), we see that Adolf was originally researching the Dresden Slate, a mysterious artifact capable of granting people mysterious powers.

As Adolf, Shiro is shown to be a light-hearted, goofy man with no place in war or battle (consistent with what we’ve already seen in the show). Nothing of his character feels last minute retconned, and no previously unheard of connections are revealed to other existing characters in the show that haven’t been heavily hinted at or already explained. He believes that his research will be helpful in granting people their wishes throughout the world, yet when his sister is killed during an air raid, he runs away, leaving his research and the Slate with his friend, a Japanese military officer who becomes the Gold King and curator of the artifact. This turn of events does grant Shiro greater weight as a main character, and an importance in the plot that doesn’t feel contrived or heavy handed. Hints exist early on that Shiro is not who he thinks he is, starting with his high school classmate, Kukuri noting in introductory scene that she feels like he’ll disappear if she takes her eyes off of him. After all, one of the things that K is often praised for is its mastery of foreshadowing, this comes from having a very clear idea of the entire story its creators hoped to tell and a firm grasp of the connections between all of its characters.

That said, Shiro still remains throughout the story as relatively uninteresting, serving more as a plot device rather than a character. After the Blue Clan, the Silver Clan is the second least relatable and their scenes in Nameless Circle also remain a bit ‘meh’ as the “losses” the Silver Clan experienced throughout the anime were far removed from the actual plot. They didn’t resonate. We see, in Nameless Circle, Adolf’s sister and the younger version of his lost friend, the Gold King, enjoying breakfast with the Silver Clan every morning on repeat. Yet, Adolf’s sister was never developed beyond “here’s a tragic thing that happened in Adolf’s past”, so it’s hard to really feel her loss. She isn’t a person but a plot device, used to reveal more of Adolf/Shiro’s character rather than having anything of her own. As for the Gold King, he suffers the same fate as Adolf’s sister, but also, he lived a long life, and died of old age, so his death isn’t any kind of tragedy in the same sense as Mikoto, Totsuka, or Nagare’s deaths. There’s certainly a melancholy to these scenes, Adolf misses his friends, but it doesn’t pull at the heart strings, quite the way the Red and Green Clans losses do.

The real reason that Atsushi is being pursued at the start of the manga is yet to be resolved. We’re given a loose explanation, a foreign organization known as the Guild put the bounty on his head because allegedly his ability is the key to finding some powerful book that can manipulate reality. When the main antagonist of the Guild, Fitzerald, is defeated, this explanation and Atsushi’s importance becomes all but forgotten in subsequent arcs featuring new villain, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Atsushi himself can best be described as whiny and severely underdeveloped. He continues to be a victim of the plot just dragging him along, but worse, he quickly becomes one note with the constant flashback to his Orphanage’s director telling him he’s useless and doesn’t belong anywhere. There are entire scenes dedicated to this refrain causing him to full-scale breakdown into bouts of self-doubt. All I can say is he was eighteen when he was “kicked out” of the orphanage, he had zero work experience, and when we find him at the start of the story, he’s only been on his own a couple weeks and is already considering turning to assault and thievery to survive. Considering that Dazai and Chuuya were sixteen when they became Executives in the Port Mafia, Kunikida is only twenty-two and has already had a successful career as a teacher before becoming a detective with the ADA, Kenji is fourteen when we find him at the ADA and a former hard-working farmhand, Kyouka is a capable fourteen year old assassin before joining the ADA, Lucy is eighteen and comes from a similar abusive background and is already busting her ass to work for the Guild and then the ADA’s favorite Coffee Shop (jobs she got herself, thank you very much, for spending anytime looking for her like you promised, Atsushi, you jerk), and so on…I’m inclined to side with the orphanage director: Atsushi is useless. It’s a good thing they kicked him out, or he’d probably still be a bum surviving off social welfare the rest of his life.

I also can’t help but agree with Akutagawa, Atsushi has practically had everything handed to him and yet still manages to pull a pity party routine on the regular. It isn’t long after getting kicked out of the orphanage that he’s taken under Dazai’s wing and handed a job with the ADA. This wouldn’t be so terrible if he didn’t constantly squander it, and consistently prove that he doesn’t earn it. It’s hard to like him, especially when the author seems to be bending the story over backwards to give him some semblance of importance in the plot to the point it hurts the narrative. This is best exemplified in Dead Apple. Throughout the entire movie, we see every other character acting to bring the plot forward, meanwhile, Atsushi spends the entire time whining that they need to find Dazai, because Dazai will know what to do. Bitch, Dazai is busy trying to outsmart two super smart bad guys; he doesn’t have time to also prop you up on your own damn feet. It gets so bad that even Kyouka becomes fed up and leaves him. It really says something that the majority of comments for the movie on CrunchyRoll are complaining about how whiny Atsushi is throughout the movie.

While some people are quick to defend Atsushi by pointing to his abusive childhood to excuse his behavior, it is worth noting, he is not the only character that has an abusive past and he is far from being the character who has suffered the most abuse, and that’s including the odd growth on the side of Dead Apple’s plot that is the inexplicable, unnecessary, and might I add, ridiculous connection that was made between him and Shibusawa at the last minute that only raised more questions than answers and created huge plot holes. Atsushi’s travel companions in Dead Apple, Kyouka and Akutagawa, both have their own history of being abused. Just to underline Akutagawa’s complaint that Atsushi has everything and manages to forsake it all, Akutagawa was abused by Dazai, whereas, Atsushi is saved, fawned over, and praised by Dazai seemingly only for the sake of further tormenting Akutagawa. This continues to contribute to making Atsushi a weak character that I find difficult to really like all that much or see as having anything more than a forced relevance to the plot.

Atsushi does have redeemable moments in his interactions with Kyouka and Lucy. With the aforementioned Dead Apple aside, Atsushi is often at his best when he is with Kyouka. She sees him as her savior, and it reflects in the way that he treats her, being seen that way helps to boost him from pitiful status to someone that may actually have potential as a hero. As for Lucy, because she has a similar life history as Atsushi (abused orphan with matching burn marks), he can’t get away with the same woe is me lines that he throws at every one else. She’s got the same kind of past and manages to stand on her own two feet, forcing him to also rise up to meet her. Both of these girls have tragic histories, but seek to lift themselves up from those histories and stand their own ground, which serves to lift Atsushi as well, unlike with other characters that only patronize, validate, or outright feed into his insecurities leaving me playing on my phone hoping his scenes end quickly. More interactions between Atsushi and Kyouka, Atsushi and Lucy, or all three together would be a welcome addition in Season 4. These babies build each other up, and it’s beautiful to see.

At the end of the day, Shiro and Atsushi are prime examples of the “perfectly innocent protagonist whose only flaw is their own self-doubt” and exemplify why this type of a character is always, ultimately a failure. They’re bright eyed, they’re kind, without internal debate they always make the right choice, everyone is drawn to them because they are light and goodness, I guess, and even when they are clearly the weakest in a fight, they always come out on top without working towards bettering themselves in anyway beyond putting in some old-fashioned good guy gumption. This is so painstakingly evident in Atsushi, who receives zero training upon joining the ADA, and is expected to battle (and is successful) against exceedingly powerful bad guys on the regular. Contrast this against Akutagawa, who we see underwent harsh training from the Port Mafia, yet still manages to always lose in his battles against the untrained Atsushi. Proving yet again, that you don’t need hard work to become the best, when you got the power of good on your side. Self-doubt exhibited by these types of characters never rings true, because we see them always get their way, everything turns out fine for them in the end, they never encounter lasting consequences for their choices (at one point in BSD, Akutagawa mocks Atsushi that everyone around him dies, but we have yet to see anyone he cares about die – the only person’s death that we see him have to deal with is his Orphanage Director that was coming to visit him with flowers and probably apologize for being a jerk, and his struggle there is with whether he’s allowed to still hate the guy or not, I mean, come on), and everyone around them that matters respects and dotes on them even before them being shown to truly do anything that should earn that respect and affection. I still don’t fully understand what compelled Kuroh to swear loyalty to Shiro, if I’m being perfectly honest, when Shiro is a lay-about, coward and liar, that ditches his clan in the end to soul search in his airship. Though, I will note, Shiro does demonstrate this character type a mite less than Atsushi. He’s not often shown to come out on top in battles, he doesn’t actually engage in any physical battle himself (his fight with Nagare at the end of Missing Kings, not withstanding, because he’s really just blocking that whole time waiting for Kuroh to show up and do the heavy lifting), he typically needs to rely on the strength and intelligence of others, and is more often than not shown running away. Also, Shiro is never really put into a position where he needs to make any hard, moral choices which has its own drawbacks for a main character in a show where a lot of hard, gray moral choices are being made around him.

I have seen it commented in defense of these characters’ weaknesses that the main character of a shonen/seinen story are always weak. This is not true, and I will point to one of my all-time favorite characters from any anime, as example: Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions of the anime). Ed is badass, he earns his name as Fullmetal, and he earns his title as the youngest State Alchemist. We see him earn it as we watch him and his brother, Alphonse’s journey to become stronger, yet he also makes mistakes. It is his own arrogance that kicks off the entire anime when, in the Elric brother’s attempt to bring their mother back to life using forbidden Alchemy, Ed loses his arm and then his leg to save his brother who has lost his entire body. Their journey to find the philosopher stone for Ed is entirely about restoring his brother, he doesn’t care about his own body and, in fact, views his missing limbs as his own deserved punishment for challenging God, and throughout we see how their moral failing in the past effects all of their choices going forward. We know why Ed makes the choices he does; it isn’t merely because he is the “perfectly innocent protagonist that exudes light and good”; it is because he has learned from his mistakes. His naivete is not shown as a benefit, but as something to overcome. Ed is always acting on his own motives, while the plot is being driven forward by other characters around him, he is not merely a victim of the plot or being dragged along by it, his own actions and goals also help to forward the story and eventually brings him in direct conflict with the big bad. He struggles under the weight of the choices he’s made, he bears the burden of those he couldn’t save, he doesn’t leave the heavy lifting of gray moral decisions to the other characters, he’s seen to struggle and even lose in the anime, and in those instances, we watch him work to better himself so that he can come back stronger. We know where his power comes from – he trained and studied for it; it was never handed to him. Throughout the anime he is shown to literally and figuratively grow and develop into a powerful hero that we can believe is capable of overcoming our main antagonist, Father, in the end, but not without losses and struggle. This is a protagonist done right. Compared against Ed, the failings of both Shiro and Atsushi is glaring.

That is all I have to say about those two. Next up will be the Black Dog of the Silver Clan versus the Black Dog of Port Mafia.

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anneapocalypse · 6 years

Note

How would you go about making Donut (and maybe Doc as well if you wanna) relevant in the later seasons?

Great question, thank you!

As my canon review of Donut has progressed I’d like to modify my statement a little further: since bringing Donut back from the dead, none of the writers have known what to do with him.

I wouldn’t change much about Recollections. I like Donut’s role in season 7, in relaying Tucker’s message and giving us a flashback to a debrief with the Counselor. Both of those things are pretty vital to the plot. Even Wash shooting him serves its purpose and delivers the impact it needs to.

Season 9 has no “real” Blood Gulch so we’ll bypass that for the purposes of this post (but ask me sometime how much better it would have been to make Epsigulch a four-part miniseries between seasons and actually show us the break-in mission to retrieve the memory unit onscreen, showing us the reveal that Carolina is alive through Wash’s eyes instead of Epsilon’s with her iconic “You’re gonna help me kill the Director” line delivered to Wash instead). Season 10 is where Donut returns, and by then it’s so late in the Freelancer saga that there isn’t time to do very much with him, though I do like the fact that a) they have at least a cursory explanation for Doc saving his life, b) he and Doc are chilling together in Valhalla and growing vegetables because that’s cute, and c) he does go with them to the final battle.

I do think Donut is underutilized in season 15, but I think nearly all the Reds and Blues (with the exception of, ironically, Grif) are underutilized in season 15, and that’s more a function of making Dylan and Jax the protagonists and letting them drive the plot entirely; more on that here.

Where I really think Donut specifically could’ve been better utilized is in the Chorus Trilogy, and here’s how I think that could’ve been done differently. (Sorry, folks, I’m incapable of brevity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You knew who you were following here!)

First: Is there any real reason why Donut can’t crash land on Chorus with the rest of them? I mean… it actually makes more sense if he does, because unlike Doc he actually went to Offsite Storage Facility to find the Director and he’s in the Hargrove photo op, so… I mean, I get dropping him off at Valhalla with Doc because they’re married now and all. I don’t even necessarily dislike that. And when the two of them show up and send away their ride–it’s not that it doesn’t work, Donut’s main joke since season 1 has been his obliviousness (yes, it’s that more than the gay jokes actually, I know, I was surprised too) and Doc’s joke is that he’s… well, not good at anything. So for them to show up for the express purpose of being blithely useless doesn’t not work, but it would make just as much sense for Donut to already be there, and since Doc arrives only to disappear and be forgotten for a season and change, I’m not sure what purpose his arrival at that time even serves.

But here’s my real question:

Why can’t Donut be a Captain?

There is legitimately no story reason why Donut can’t be put on the New Republic side of things in the first half of season 12. In fact, character-wise, it makes more sense for him to be with the other Privates (bow chicka) than with the COs. Sure, it makes the teams uneven, but in the New Republic sequence it really doesn’t matter because the whole point is the Reds and Blues are no longer acting as Reds and Blues; they’re acting as captains of their own respective teams.

For Donut to be the fifth captain of Lightish Red Team and part of the New Republic shenanigans opens up endless possibilities for character and relationship development. We get to see how the other four function as leaders; why not Donut? We get to see Tucker and Grif wrestle with their own sense of identity; why not Donut? Caboose learns what it’s like to be taken seriously; Donut occupies a similar place on Red Team where he’s used to no one ever really listening to him except to tell him to shut up, so what’s it like for him to be put in a position where people respect him and look up to him? There is so much that could be done with Captain Donut that if he was That Character for me I’d probably already have written an AU for it.

But let’s say you don’t care for Captain Donut. You like four on each side, it’s nice and symmetrical, so Donut goes with Wash and Sarge and Lopez and lands on the Fed side of things.

Why do both Donut and Wash act like season 7 never happened?

Yes, Wash’s Casual Whistling was a funny joke at the end of season 10, I will give you that. As was Donut not actually recognizing Wash–a joke that worked, I would like to point out, because Wash changed the color of his armor.

I’m sorry, what did Wash just do at the end of season 11? Oh right, he went back to his gray armor.

I owe this point to my good pal @tuckerfuckingdidit, who just today pointed out to me that Wash is alone with Sarge and Donut more than once during the Chorus trilogy–and at no point do either of them address what happened.

Now, I won’t say there’s no way that Donut still doesn’t realize who he is, because again, Donut’s central joke from Day One is his obliviousness. But if that’s gonna be the point, then do something with it. Lampshade the fact that Donut still doesn’t realize the guy who put a Magnum round in his gut (obligatory joke about Donut having Wash’s Magnum inside him goes here) has been chilling with the Blues for two seasons now.

Note that this doesn’t have to be serious, or angsty–you can keep Donut primarily a comic character and still build off past canon. Hell, you’ve got Lopez right there, you can bring him in on the joke too, as it’s been established that Donut can only understand Lopez occasionally, and only at the most inconvenient times. Lopez keeps trying to tell Donut, “This is the guy who shot us,” and Donut doesn’t get it, chattering blithely about how much better this is than the last time he was held hostage.

As for Wash, he absolutely knows who Donut is, and the lack of any visible discomfort over the prospect of Donut realizing who he is–not only is that a missed opportunity to create tension, it kind of undermines Wash’s Vaguely Remorseful Fever Dream if he never expresses any of that remorse to Donut himself. I will accept that Wash has some vague residual Bad Feelings about what he did, but it seems to me that it’s more about what kind of person Wash is and how he sees himself than it is about actually feeling bad for what Donut went through.

And from a story standpoint, that’s fine–that’s the kind of person Wash is. But the potential for tension between himself and Donut, building on past events and both characters’ established temperaments, is really interesting, and it’s just not utilized at all. As I said above, I would ultimately have preferred Captain Donut, but if you make the deliberate choice to stick him in close proximity to the guy who shot him, at least… do something with that that involves both characters.

And finally, we come to Doc. Poor Doc.

Look, you can’t give me Doc saving Donut’s life and returning to live with him in Valhalla and grow vegetables together and fly out to Chorus together for a failed rescue mission and then have Doc just disappear and Donut not notice. Not when Doc has been basically the only person in Donut’s life for such long periods of time offscreen. I don’t care if Docnut is canon; I don’t care if you ship it, I don’t care if I ship it. Doc’s Joke is that he’s not good at his job, or much of anything else, and that neither team really wants to claim him. But Donut is the exception. Doc successfully saves his life. They live together.

If Donut’s Joke is that he’s oblivious, it doesn’t work if everyone else is also oblivious, because there’s no joke, it’s just… everyone forgot about Doc. But what if you turn Donut’s Joke on its head, make him the only one who does notice that Doc is missing? Let the joke be that even though everyone else forgot Doc, Donut just assumed they were all searching for him this whole time. Why were we flying out to all these remote outposts if not to find Doc? Space pirates? Alien temples? What are you guys talking about? And thus, you can still use the obliviousness joke while maintaining relationship continuity, which is something that Donut out of probably all the Blood Gulchers desperately needs to feel like a full character.

(And I’m sorry I didn’t get to how to make Doc himself plot-relevant, but this post is already long enough, so that will have to wait for another day.)

You don’t need to have every single character perform some major heroic act to feel relevant to the story. You do need maintain some kind of emotional continuity, and actively look for moments to carry their established character beats forward, and that takes more than just repeating the same jokes over and over.

#docswiss #ask anne #franklin delano donut #avian dentistry #rvb critical #red vs blue #franklin donut

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popcultureliterary · 7 years

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Framed Stories: Fiction Inside Fiction with Adventure Time and Ponys

If every author followed the exact same formula for crafting stories, their readers would languish in boredom! Creators constantly combine different storytelling techniques and literary devices in order to make their works shine amid a sea of other brilliant works. One available narrative device is the framed story.

Perhaps one of the most popular stories told using this device dates back to the 9th century: One Thousand and One Nights, also known as, Arabian Nights. The tale’s protagonist, Scheherazade, tells her husband awe-inspiring stories with intense cliffhangers in order to avoid execution and to rescue other women from the same fate. The majority of the action occurs in the stories that she tells in between the pockets of narration detailing her life.

Framed stories can be found in today’s popular media as well. TV shows often use this device to create playful episodes in which characters take turns telling stories. Examples include Futurama’s “What If Machine” episodes, Gravity Falls’s “Bottomless Pit!” and episodes of Family Guysuch as “We Three Kings.” Popular examples of movies include Forest Gump, Tangled, and Big Fish.

What Exactly is a Framed Story?

Imagine a painting hanging on the wall, decked out in an ornate golden frame. You stand and appreciate it for a while, taking in the average-looking home and admiring the way that the artist used blue around the old woman sitting in the middle of the room. You get a lonely feeling looking at her, and can’t quite make sense of the soft smile on her face. Then, you notice a painting hanging on the wall in the background. It contains a young woman laughing with children. You realize that it is a portrait of the woman and her family. They seem quite happy. It gives you insight into why the lonely old woman smiles.

Framed stories are just the same: a story (or a set of stories) within a larger story that gives you a deeper understanding.

These works typically begin with a framing narration that introduces a character, or multiple characters, who will tell a tale. They set the scene, and launch into the telling. At the conclusion of the tale, the framing narration returns in order to show the impact it had on the listeners.

Creators can use this narrative technique in several ways. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular ones.

Fiction Within Fiction in Adventure Time

Sometimes the framed story comes entirely from a character’s imagination. Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time gives us great examples in its Fiona and Cake episodes.

These rare but well-loved gender-bending episodes follow the adventures of Fionna and her magical cat companion, Cake. The first of these episodes, “Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake,” opens right into the adventure. Fans don’t find out what is really going on until the end, when the scene switches to Ice King reading pages from his book of fanfiction.

Unlike other framed stories, the episode does not open with a framing scene introducing the story, but that doesn’t disqualify it from being a framed story. Authors occasionally use creative license in order to end their work with the framing narration instead of starting with one in order to leave the audience in the dark until the close. What’s important is the purpose that the story serves. Ice King’s imaginative “Fionna and Cake” episodes give the audience (and maybe even other characters) some important insight into Ice King’s personality.

It’s no coincidence that his two protagonists resemble Fin and Jake. At first, it seems like just a fun nod to the fans (which it might be!), but further examination tells a much sadder story.

The ancient wizard constantly tries to befriend the heroic duo, only to have his efforts fail time after time. Ice King just wants to feel included in the adventures and lives of the people of Ooo. He doesn’t have the social skills to do so, and creates his fanfiction to make up for it. We can see this in the episode “Bad Little Boy.”

It starts with a poorly crafted Fionna and Cake adventure told by Ice King, who inserts himself into the story’s climax and rescues his heroes. They tell him that he’s a super cool guy, and Ice King cries for joy at having the opportunity to meet them. Fionna tries to cheer him up, and invites him on the sort of adventures he wishes he could take with Finn and Jake. In the end, Ice King visits a room in the depths of his ice castle devoted to the fanfic’s heroes. He kneels before two massive ice sculptures of his protagonists and discloses his hopes that he will meet them one day in the real world.

We see him wishing to meet Fionna and Cake in another episode as well. In “Mystery Dungeon,” Ice King tricks various denizens of Ooo into helping him through a dungeon in order to bring his stories to life. After the adventure fails his expectations, Ice King tells Fionna in his Imagination Zone that he believes she’s real. Watching from a distance, Finn comments that nobody in the world is as sad as the Ice King (except for Shelby watching the situation play out, perhaps).

We can infer that Ice King, isolated in his land of snow with only a surly group of fleetingly loyal penguins for company, lacks companionship. Knowing this casts his princess-nabbing antics into a new light. He isn't kidnapping the royal ladies out of malice, but out of a desire to fill the void with the companionship that he can’t seem to earn on his own. Failing time and time again, he writes fanfiction in order to know what having friends feels like.

A few novels that utilize the framed narrative in a similar way include The Canterburry Tales, Frankenstein, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

BONUS: The Ice King’s imaginative tales aren’t the only framed stories featured in Adventure Time. What time is it? Scavenger hunt time!

It Came from the Past

Framed stories aren’t limited to fictional stories told inside of fiction. Many creators utilize the technique to delve into the past of the framing narrative. These stories start with a character introducing a riveting tale about their past, and launching into it for the majority of the work. Just like the fictional frames, these past-delving narratives can happen in different ways depending on the creator’s wishes. It might continue uninterrupted to the end, with the framing narrative coming back to wrap things up, or it might revisit the framing narrative throughout the work in order to introduce new elements of the story.

Let’s take a look at My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The first season’s twenty-third episode, “The Cutie Mark Chronicles,” uses this narrative style to explore the history of the Mane Six.

The episode opens with the Cutie Mark Crusaders conducting their usual shenanigans to find their cutie marks. After another epic failure, the determined trio set out to ask their role models for cutie mark origin stories. Along the way, they run into each member of the Mane Six and get their cutie mark history. Each of their histories occurs inside of the framing narration of the Crusaders running around Ponyville on their quest.

The framing of the episode serves several purposes. First, it gives Lauren Faust and team an engaging way to tell their intended story. It also discloses the protagonists’ cutie mark history in an engaging way and sets the stage for future episodes.

So why didn’t they just tell the whole story in the past? That’s where a third purpose comes in. Using the framed story technique allowed the writing team to give more information about the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Here, we see the trio trying a new technique to solving their problem: asking the older ponies how they did it. Telling the story this way gives the creative team a chance to demonstrate the Crusaders’ resourcefulness while also exploring the relationship between the Crusaders and the Mane Six.

Finally, their choice to tell it this way allowed the episode to end with the Main Six sharing their stories in the bakery. They reach the essential conclusion that they all got their marks from the same event, which serves to cement their friendship even deeper.

Flashbacks aren’t Framed Stories

An important thing to keep in mind is that framed stories are different than flashbacks (a narrative device where the author gives us a glimpse of events that occurred in the past). You can determine the difference by asking yourself one question: does most of the action take place in the past, or the present?

If you answered that it takes place in the past with occasional narration from the present, you have a framed story. If instead, you determined that the majority takes place in the present, you have a flashback. The events of a flashback usually serve the main story in some way, such as explaining an important event, revealing information about a character, or creating contrast between past and present.

Both My Little Pony and Adventure Time make use of flashbacks in multiple episodes in order to give the audience a glimpse of what happened. Let’s take a look at “Memories of Boom Boom Mountain” from Adventure Time’s first season. Flashbacks throughout the narration show the audience scenes from Finn’s past that guide his actions in the present. These glimpses take up only a short portion of the overall story. The majority of the action takes place in the present as Finn works hard to keep everyone happy.

Video Games Put a New Spin on Things

Video games also utilize this narrative device. Games like Assassin’s Creed and Fable 3 use a framing story to launch players into the heart of the game.

Video games as a genre have also created a unique spin on the framed narrative. Many RPGs, especially open-world RPGs, feature books and letters hidden throughout the world that players can discover and read. The items, while not always important to the player as a tool, often contain the history and lore of the world. Sometimes, they just tell the story of characters who the player will never meet, or ones they interacted with on various quests.

These items give the player a deeper understanding of the world as they run around exploring it. Occasionally, they provide insight into certain characters’ actions, or hints on the location of an obscure quest. Framing these tales within the game’s overall narrative gives players a more in-depth understanding, and allows them to create their own experiences of the journey throughout the game. Players can generally complete the game without reading any of these, but taking a moment to pause and peruse gives them a more wholesome experience.

Tag, You’re It!

Do you have any favorite shows, games, comics, or movies with a framed story? Don’t forget to leave a note! Tell us your take on what purpose the framed story serves in the work.

You can also connect with me on Twitter at @Popliterature, or send me a message.

And as always, if you have a literary device you want to know more about, or a game, comic, show, or movie that you want to see make an appearance on the blog, leave a shout-out!

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tomeandflickcorner · 7 years

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OUAT Episode Analysis- Tougher Than the Rest

Well, after a long hiatus, we finally get the conclusion to the load of malarkey that was the Wish World. And after what we were treated to in the first half of this two-partner, complete with the problematic message that Emma needed to suffer to become the woman she is now, and it was therefore a good thing that she grew up feeling unloved and unwanted, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this one. But, people were saying it was okay, so here we go.

We open to a 7-year-old Emma, who is living on the streets of Minneapolis during the winter of 2000. It turns out her last group home was so horrible, she felt that life on the streets was preferable. To keep warm, she’s reduced to burning the pages of an old children’s book. However, she’s approached by a 17-year-old boy who waxes philosophical about the story featured in the book- The Ugly Duckling. According to this teenage boy, the story is about a duckling who became a swan because he believed in himself. He goes on to say that it’s up to Emma to decide her fate. His words apparently do the trick, because Little Girl Emma makes her way to the local police station so she can be returned to the foster system. When the receptionist asks for her name, she states her name is Emma Swan, apparently taking the name ‘Swan’ from the story of The Ugly Duckling.

So it turns out Emma chose the surname of ‘Swan’ for herself. I guess that’s alright. All this time, I just thought that she got the surname ‘Swan’ from her first family. You know, the one that returned her to the orphanage when she was three. Jennifer Morrison even said that was the case in a tweet one time. But I guess we’re just supposed to conclude actor tweets don’t count as canon. At least this way, we know the surname ‘Swan’ doesn’t have any negative memories associated with it. On the other hand, I still find it a bit problematic. I’m obviously no expert, but I’m pretty sure the courts automatically issue surnames to abandoned and unclaimed children. And Emma probably had a case file and a social worker assigned to her somewhere. Can a kid really pick and choose their own surname? But again, this is Once Upon a Time. The show where crappy squatter dens always remain vacant and available for use by the Nevengers despite no one ever paying the rent. I guess we’re just not supposed to overthink things.

Now, it’s not obvious right now, but that teenage boy is eventually revealed to have been Teenager August. And that he knew that he was talking to Emma. I get the feeling we’re supposed to think ‘wow, August was so great, ‘cause he was able to encourage Emma to believe in herself.’ However, I’m kinda wrinkling my nose at this. I can cut Young Pinocchio a bit of slack for leaving Baby Emma, because he was just a little kid at the time, and it was rather unfair of Geppetto to burden him with the hefty responsibility of guiding Baby Emma on his own. But at this point, August is a teenager. Is there really any reason why he couldn’t have just explained to Emma now that she did have parents somewhere who loved her? You know, something a little more substantial than just spouting off his personal interpretation of a bedtime story? Also, if Teenage August knew Little Girl Emma was that miserable, you’d think he’d have made more of an effort to stick with her. You know, like he was supposed to? But no, he just tells her a pretty story and then goes back to doing his own thing, leaving her to do all the work herself. Also, that story about how Emma can decide her own fate? Yeah, okay, August. Did you think about that when you conspired with Failfire to send her to jail ‘for her own good’ roughly a decade later? Seriously, August. For someone who was supposed to be her ‘guardian angel,’ you really botched it all up.

With that flashback out of the way, we return to the dumb Wish World, where Emma and Regina have missed out on their chance to get home via magic bean portal. After Wish!Robin confiscates some of their jewelry, he hurries off, leaving Emma and Regina with barely enough time to hide from Wish!Henry, who is searching for them in order to avenge Wish!Snowing and get his mother back.

Once the coast is clear, Regina voices her shock that Wish!Robin didn’t age the way Wish!Snowing did. Emma tells Regina not to worry about it, as this world isn’t real. Although, I do find the statement that the Wish World isn’t real slightly problematic. Now, if they can journey back to Storybrooke via magic bean portal, wouldn’t that mean the Wish World is a physical realm, and therefore real? But maybe this is the rules of magic just being arbitrary again. Or A&E not thinking this whole storyline through. You make the call.

Anyway, since the magic bean portal closed up, Emma and Regina are left back at square one in regards to how they’re going to get back to Storybrooke. Fortunately, Emma gets an idea by noticing a fallen tree nearby. Remembering that she was sent away from the Enchanted Forest via magic wardrobe in the actual timeline, she makes her way to see Wish!Pinocchio, who accepts Emma’s story about her and Regina being from a different reality. Unfortunately, while the magical wardrobe had been made in this universe, Wish!Pinocchio had dismantled it years prior, due to it reminding him of darker times. However, Wish!Pinocchio speculates that they can replicate the original wardrobe, as he remembers the location of the grove where the original magical tree was taken.

While Emma and Wish!Pinoccho focus on the task of making the new wardrobe, Regina decides to go off on her own. She’s starting to wonder if everyone would have been better off without her, and wants to see if Robin was better off without her, too. Gotta say, I’m genuinely surprised she’s came to this conclusion. She’s actually realizing people would have been happier if she hadn’t been around to massacre villages and rip families apart by casting the Dark Curse? (Would it be rude to say ‘well, duh?’) On the other hand, I’m wondering if this means she’s finally accepting the fact that she played a significant role in the death of Robin Prime.

Regina locates Wish!Robin in a tavern, which clears out rather quickly when people notice her presence. The only one who doesn’t seem bothered by her arrival is Wish!Robin. Regina quickly concludes that Robin was better off without her when Wish!Robin declares himself to be happy with his life, but before they could have a further discussion, they’re interrupted with the Wish World version of the Sheriff of Nottingham, who promptly captures Regina and Wish!Robin.

When they’re confined in one of those cage wagons, Regina discovers that this version of Robin never ended up with Marian, as she died before they could marry. As a result, he never became Robin Hood and was simply an ordinary thief. Once this is out in the open, Wish!Robin admits he hasn’t been genuinely happy in a long time. Their heart-to-heart is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Wish!Rumplestiltskin (accompanied by some rather horrible CGI of Wish!Sheriff being magically dragged backwards) Regina’s relief at their rescue is short-lived, as Wish!Rumpelstiskin is not exactly happy with her. Turns out, he went looking for Wish!Belle, and found her remains locked away in the tower, where she’d starved to death. (Wait, so you’re telling me that, in this version of reality, Snow and Charming, after defeating the Evil Queen, never bothered to check the cells in her prison tower? That sounds kinda odd to me.) Either way, Wish!Rumpelstilstkin decides to take his rage out on Regina and locks her and Wish!Robin up in his castle, with the intention of torturing them to death later. While they’re once again detained, Wish!Robin shows he’s intrigued by what Regina has told him, accepting the fact that, in a different reality, he turned out completely different. After a brief back-and-forth, Wish!Robin manages to unlock the cell door with a nail he took from the nearby bed, allowing them to escape.

Meanwhile, Emma and Wish!Pinocchio locate a new magical tree to create a wardrobe from. They talk for a bit about what Emma’s role as a Savior is. Although, I get the impression that Emma doesn’t really know exactly what being a Savior entails. She seems to think it’s about saving and protecting people. However, I personally think it’s about more. Just look back at Season 1. A large chunk of Emma’s role was inspiring people. Like the way she did with Ashely. And when she encouraged Ava and Nicholas’ father to take them in. Maybe 6B will actually do what the Patchwork arc promised to do by actually exploring what it means to be a Savior. Let’s all cross our fingers.

Getting back to the episode, Emma and Wish!Pinocchio are interrupted by the arrival of Wish!Killian. And yes, this version of Killian is not in a very good state, even sporting a bit of a beer gut. Okay, I suppose I should discuss my feelings about this. On the one hand, yes, I do agree this was a wasted opportunity. This version of Killian is a Killian who never managed to get his revenge on Rumpelstiltskin AND never met Emma. It was the perfect opportunity for A&E to explore how Killian would have turned out if Emma hadn’t met him and helped remind him of who he really was. Instead, they decided to play it up for laughs had have Wish!Killian be this bumbling man who doesn’t realize he’s let himself go. And I suppose it is nice to know that Colin had a ball portraying Killian like this. Besides, I’m firmly sticking to the side that says this Wish World was simply Evil Queen’s warped interpretation of reality, and what we’re seeing is essentially how she viewed Killian. It’s not actually how Killian would have ended up if the Dark Curse hadn’t been cast. Still, there’s a part of me that can’t help but admire Wish!Killian. Think about it for a minute. Wish!Killian doesn’t even know Emma, and firmly views himself as a salty pirate. How many pirates would go out of their way to rescue a princess they never met? Even if there’s reward money involved, there’s still the matter that the man’s a pirate. If he went to collect, chances are he’d be arrested on the spot. Meaning he wouldn’t get to see the reward money, anyway. And yet, despite this, Wish!Killian still seemed determined to come to Emma’s rescue. Even in this warped version of reality, Killian still possesses his courage and determination, not to mention the uncanny ability to locate Emma. (The entire royal guard of this Wish World is out looking for her. But it’s Wish!Killian who locates her.)

Anyway, Wish!Killian attempts to duel with Wish!Pinocchio, but Emma, not wanting to see this version of Killian hurt, magically knocks him out and transports him back to the Jolly Roger. And yes, she makes a comment about how she’s going to see to it that her version of Killian cuts back on the rum and sweets. I suppose you can interpret this in multiple ways. On the one hand, you could take it as Emma knowing that her Killian would be horrified if he saw himself end up like this, and so she wants to help him avoid a possible future when he wouldn’t be living a healthy lifestyle. On the other, you have to ask yourself. Would it be funny if Killian made a comment about Emma cutting back on the bear claws and hot cocoa if he came across a version of Emma that was a bit overweight? Then again, A&E don’t generally think their jokes through very well.

Unfortunately, in the struggle with Wish!Killian, the chisel that could help them carve out a new magic wardrobe gets broken, and Wish!Pinocchio can’t fix it. This leads to Wish!Pinocchio to go off feeling sorry for himself, stating he could never live up to his father’s example, leaving Emma to try to carve the tree with the broken chisel on her own. As she struggles with the task, she chances across a wooden box in Wish!Pinocchio’s toolbox. Seeing the box has her name on it, she opens it to fins a wooden swan carving inside. When she questions Wish!Pinocchio about it, he explains he always liked swans, and how they reminded him of a story his father used to tell him. Anyway, listening to his response enables Emma to figure out that August/Pinocchio was that teenage boy she encountered in the opening flashback. I’m not going to comment on that, as I already ranted about that in the start of this analysis. Regardless, Emma tells Wish!Pinocchio to take his advice and start believing in himself and his ability change his fate. And so, Wish!Pinocchio is able to successfully carve the new wardrobe.

Once the wardrobe is done, Regina returns, with Wish!Robin in tow. Regina announces the time to leave is now, as a lot of people are after them. As Regina starts to bid Wish!Robin goodbye, he gives her a fletching feather, so she’d have a piece of Robin with her. Regina instantly remembers how Roland had entrusted a fletching feather from Robin Prime to Zelena, with the intent that it be given to Regina, and that the fletching feather had been lost before she could get it. Emma speculates that, somehow, a portion of Robin Prime’s soul ended up in Wish!Robin. Which is kinda iffy logic, but whatever. In any event, Emma suggests that Regina bring Wish!Robin with them. Funny thing is, the whole reason why Emma grew up alone was because the Magic Wardrobe could only hold two people. But then again, Wish!Pinocchio did say this tree was growing for an additional 28 years, so the magic within this wardrobe is probably stronger. Which I suppose is as good an explanation as we’re gonna get. Anyway, Emma, Regina and Wish!Robin venture through the wardrobe. But at first, it looks like Wish!Robin didn’t make it through. Emma grants Regina’s request to have a moment alone, and she goes off to rejoin her family. However, once Emma is gone, Wish!Robin appears, much to Regina’s relief.

Now, the question is, did the Wish World vanish when Emma, Regina and Wish!Robin left it? The fact that they can travel from that world to Storybrooke through Magic Bean Portal and Magic Wardrobe suggests it’s an actual realm. Which would mean it probably still exists. In which case, we’ve left a world at the mercy of an angry Rumpelstiltskin. Not to mention left Wish!Henry completely alone, without his grandparents or a mother. Can we get some definite answers, please?

As for the Outlaw Queen angle, I’m not sure how I feel about this turn of events. Now, I had no problems with Outlaw Queen. I actually low-key shipped it myself. But while it is nice to see Sean back again, this isn’t Robin Prime. This is A Robin. I know they’re saying he has a bit of Robin Prime’s soul, which is why he didn’t age in Wish World, but that’s just a theory. And considering no one seems to be able to decide if the Wish World was real or not, it’s gonna be hard to give much weight to that theory. Either way, this isn’t the same Robin that Regina was led to via pixie dust. And, in the unlikely event that Roland returns to Storybrooke, how’s he gonna feel about Wish!Robin? This man isn’t his father. He’s just someone who looks like him. I’m really on the fence about this whole thing. Was this really the best way A&E could think of to bring Robin back? Why couldn’t they just go talk to Phillip and Aurora? Seeing as they figured out a way to get Phillip’s soul back from the wraith, they should be experts on recovering lost souls. At the very least, they could have discovered Robin Prime’s soul was trapped in the Olympian Crystal. Introducing a Robin clone into the mix just doesn’t seem like the best choice to me. But that’s what they’re going with, so I guess we’re going to have to live with it.

While all this was going on, Charming and Killian were searching for the Hooded Figure, who they know is in town because of Grumpy being the town’s biggest yenta. Killian, noticing that Charming is getting very high strung over the matter, voices his concern. Charming admits he feels responsible for the Hooded Figure’s presence, as he made the wish that Evil Queen got what she deserved. Charming believes that the wish is what summoned the Hooded Figure to Storybrooke. Killian does his best to console Charming by assuring him that he’ll stand by him. We then cut to Rumple and Belle, who are being confronted by Adult Gideon, who states he was raised by the Black Fairy in a place where time moves differently. Gideon’s ultimate plan, it appears, is to kill Emma. Because he believes that killing her will enable him to become the next savior.

Okay. Hold the bus a second. Gideon, I’m pretty sure the Savior mantle isn’t passed on like that. You’re thinking of the Dark One mantle. I mean, just think about it, guy. How does committing murder make you qualified to be a Savior? You know, since murder is generally considered to be a dark act. And from what we’ve seen, the role of Savior is typically tied to the ability to wield Light Magic. This shouldn’t be rocket science. I know you say that the land where you were taken needs a Savior in order to free itself from the Black Fairy’s clutches or whatever. But wouldn’t the logical conclusion be to, I don’t know, ask Emma for help? Hate to tell you, Gideon, but I think your Stiltskin genes are showing. That’s the only explanation that could exist for you actually believing killing someone would instantly make you a hero.

Regardless, we get a scene where Gold tries to talk sense into Gideon, but that doesn’t really accomplish anything. Although, Gold does accept some responsibility for Gideon’s predicament, stating he wasn’t able to protect him from the Black Fairy. But he neglects to acknowledge the fact that none of this would have happened if he hadn’t tried to corner Belle with the intention of using the sheers on her baby. If he had just left Belle alone like she’d wanted, she wouldn’t have felt the need to send Baby Gideon to safety. In the end, Gideon teleports off, refusing to accept Gold’s help. (On a side note, I couldn’t help but notice Gold claimed he knew how it feels to grow up miserable. Right, miserable. Being raised by two loving adoptive mommies and stuffing your face with meat pies sounds like a horrible tragedy. Not nearly as glamorous as living on the street at the age of seven and being shuffled from group home to group home before being sent to jail for a crime you didn’t commit and giving birth in jail to a child you were practically forced to give up. Yeah, Rumple definitely had the worst childhood.) Meanwhile, Belle seeks out Charming and Killian to tell them the Hooded Figure is Gideon. She asks them to help her find him, hoping that she can reason with her son. Charming and Killian agree to her terms, saying they’ll let her try to talk to Gideon before doing anything rash.

It’s at this point that Emma makes it back to Storybrooke, where she’s confronted by Gideon. Instantly she realizes this is her vision come to life. And she’s even brought the sword that’s supposed to kill her back from the Wish World. In the blink of an eye, the fated duel begins, with Charming, Killian and Henry appearing just as Gideon gains possession of the fated sword. Also joining them are Regina, Wish!Robin, Belle and Gold. Gideon magically freezes everyone before they can interfere, leaving him and Emma the only ones mobile. But much to Gideon’s surprise, Emma decides to choose her own fate, and her magic returns, allowing her to shove him backward, changing the vision in the process. The fated sword also shatters, allowing Emma to take one of the shards. But as she holds it to Gideon’s throat, Gold begs her to stop, as this is his son. (Which is kinda ironic, considering he did try to kill Henry on more than one occasion. Not that anyone is going to acknowledge that.) Gideon insists he doesn’t need Gold’s help, and teleports away, with everyone unfreezing.

As Gold and Belle both leave, Charming, Killian and Henry all have a joyous reunion with Emma, as well as express their amazement at the presence of Wish!Robin. Emma and Regina give a hurried explanation of the Wish World, with Killian expressing confusion over the veiled reference to his Wish World counterpart. And again, the whole ‘switching to water’ thing from Emma can easily be taken the wrong way, but I’m choosing to view it as a call-back to Killian’s line in ‘Heartless.’ “Oh, I knew it. Never trusted the stuff. Rum would never do that.”

Later on, Emma visits August to thank him for helping her out as a kid. (Yeah, thank you, August, for doing the bare minimum instead of stepping up to the plate and actually sticking with Emma and telling her about how she had a family that loved her somewhere. You know, so she would know her parents didn’t just throw her out. And can we discuss the whole jail thing? Seriously, you didn’t think she belonged on the streets, but jail was perfectly acceptable? How’s that for warped logic?) As for Belle and Gold, they have a moment by the wishing well, discussing Gideon and how they could go about helping him. At one point, I think they had Gold acknowledging that he was wrong for trying to come at Belle with the sheers, but it wasn’t very clear. And the site I use for episode transcripts hasn’t posted the transcript for this episode yet, so I can’t examine the dialogue too closely. Regardless, I really don’t care about Rumbelle at present. But it sounds like they’re going to be using this whole thing with Gideon as a way to bring Gold and Belle back together. I know this is just a goofy mid-budget fantasy show, but is this really a good message? Saying that non-stop lies and abuse can be overlooked and instantly forgiven when the wellbeing of a child enters the equation? Just saying, a couple staying together solely for the child is rarely a good, healthy decision.

So that was the start of 6B, which currently doesn’t have a name. But who knows, maybe this will be the arc that actually explores the whole Savior mythos. We’ll see.

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