#gundam genre: see.

[daydreamycrustacean]

Ever since I saw that one Gundam fanart by Chiho Saito who did the manga/character designs/various arts for Revolutionary Girl Utena I couldn't stop thinking if maybe Anthy was inspired in some form by Lalah Sune. I vaguely remembered some Anthy design concept art where she had a hairstyle that reminded me of Lalah´s, so I went back to look at it and sure enough, Lalah is straight up mentioned in the notes of the drawings.

The designs dont have that much in common besides the green eyes and the bindi...but I thought it was neat.

#gundam 0079 is an extremely important anime that defined a whole genre #and its cool to see that its influence can be seen even in anime that falls outside of the mecha genre #rgu #gundam #maintagging even though this is a post only for myself lol #i love lalah. i need to draw her so bad if only I had the time...

[scarletlotus182]

Was Magic Knight Rayearth a magical girl mecha series or did they literally just give them robots for SRW? Either way I think it's sick

#scarlet.txt #magic knight rayearth #srw #its neat that they're two genres with a common ancestor meeting in the middle again #and also it's very funny to see these girls interact with judau #'im 14 i cant fight to save the world' vs 'im 14 im gonna steal a gundam'

[yurimother]

The 2023 Yuri Guide - Anime

Your ultimate guide to the best Yuri content with over 200 curated titles from every genre and medium.

Adachi and Shimamura

• School • Slice of Life • Romance • Friends to Lovers • Slow burn

Adachi and Shimamura's days of skipping school offer a new world to explore. But as these delinquents bond, unexpected emotions begin to blossom. Now if they could just admit how they feel…

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub/Dub)

BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story-

• Sports • Comedy • Drama

Eve is an underground golfer who supports poor street orphans with the money she makes from illegal golfing matches. But her life is about to change forever when she meets a young golfer who's just arrived from Japan...

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub)

The Executioner and Her Way of Life

• Action • Fantasy • Isekai • Enemies to Lovers

When Menou, an Executioner of deadly interdimensional “Lost Ones,” encounters a Lost One named Akari who can cheat death, she sets out on a mission to kill the unkillable girl — but her newly stirring feelings might get in the way of her blade.

Streaming on HIDIVE (Sub/Dub)

Flip Flappers

• Fantasy • Action • Magical Girl • Love at First Sight

Cocona’s world is turned upside down with the appearance of Papika. They set off on an adventure in “Pure Illusion.” In the pursuit of the “Shards of Mimi,” obstacles arise, and the shards enable them to transform.

Streaming on HIDIVE (Sub/Dub)

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die

• Comedy • Music • Multiple Couples • Love at First Sight

Two years ago, super-fan Eripiyo was hypnotized by Maina Ichii and her pop group ChamJam. Now Eri dreams of seeing her favorite group make it big, to the Budokan arena! Her passionate desire consumes money and time—but no cost is too high. This is fandom!

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub/Dub)

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san

• School • Slice of Life • Comedy • Multiple Couples

A mutual friend introduces Yachiyo Inugami, a dog-like girl who loves cats, and Suzu Nekoyama, a cat-like girl who loves dogs. The girls find themselves drawn in by their opposite traits and the most outlandish relationship starts to take form in this wild comedy that will have you barking (and meowing?) with laughter.

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub)

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady

• Fantasy • Romance • Comedy • Isekai 

When noblewoman Euphyllia is unjustly stripped of her title as the kingdom’s next monarch, the buffoonish Princess Anisphia takes it upon herself to right this wrong. Despite being taken for a fool ’cause of her silly antics, Anisphia is a magic genius, and she has a plan to help Euphyllia regain her good name. But little do they know—their encounter will alter the kingdom and the entire world! Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub)

Maria Watches Over Us

• School • Slice of Life • Senpai/Kouhai • Multiple Couples

Students at Lillian Girls’ Academy become “soeurs” to support each other during their time at school. Shy Yumi Fukuzawa never thought she’d attract a soeur like the beautiful Sachiko Ogasawara, but Sachiko has unexpectedly set her sights on Yumi!

Streaming on HIDIVE (sub)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

• Sci-Fi • Mecha • Action • School • Drama • Marriage

A.S. (Ad Stella) 122― An era when a multitude of corporations have entered space and built a huge economic system. A lone girl from the remote planet Mercury transfers to the Asticassia School of Technology, run by the Beneritt Group which dominates the mobile suit industry. Her name is Suletta Mercury. With a scarlet light burning in her pure heart, this girl walks step by step through a new world.

Streaming on Crunchyroll (sub/dub)

Otherside Picnic

• Action • Sci-FI • Horror • Slow Burn

Moments from death, Sorawo is saved by the mysterious Toriko in the world of the Otherside. Entranced by its beauty, she discovers that this dimension is inhabited by monsters once thought imaginary. Joining with Toriko in her search for a missing friend, they set out to explore this nightmare realm and maybe make a little money. What they encounter could bring enlightenment—or drive them mad!

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub/Dub)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

• Fantasy • Magical Girl • Horror • Tragedy • Fated Lovers • Multiple Couples

Madoka Kaname is an average 14-year-old girl who loves her family and friends. One fateful day, this all changes when she has a very magical encounter with a strange creature called a Kyubey. Kyubey have the power to grant one wish to chosen girls. However, in exchange, those chosen must become magical girls and use their powers to fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness and catalysts of despair. Was this encounter by chance or fate? No matter the circumstance, this will surely change her destiny.

Movies Beginnings and Eternal retell this legendary and dark fantasy story with new and retouched animation and voice acting. The sequel film Rebellion follows Homura, unable to let her memories die, the magical girl continues to fight alone in the world that Madoka left behind, dreaming of meeting that nostalgic smiling face one more time...

TV - Streaming on Crunchyroll/Hulu (Sub) Films licensed by Aniplex of America

Revue Starlight

• School • Action • Drama • Weak Yuri

Childhood friends Karen and Hikari promised that they would one day become the next theatrical stars. Years later, the two finally have their chance during a mysterious audition, but they are not the only ones who have trained for this moment.

Streaming on HIDIVE (Sub/Dub)

Riddle Story of Devil (Akuma no Riddle)

• School • Action • Enemies to Lovers • Multiple Couples • Love at First Sight

Twelve female assassins are sent to a prestigious boarding school to compete against each other in a secret killing game. The winner will be granted anything her heart desires, but only one girl can come out on top. The mission is simple: send fellow student Haru Ichinose to an early grave. The task should be easy for heartless assassin, Toukaku Azuma – but everything changes when she finds herself strangely drawn to her naive target. Her decision to use her lethal skills to keep her new friend alive will raise the stakes of the game and push the girls closer together as the other beauties threaten to tear them apart.

Streaming on Funimation (Sub/dub)

Sakura Trick

• School • Slice of Life • Comedy • Friends to Lovers • Multiple Couples

Best friends Haruka and Yu are about to take their relationship from friendship to something more when they share a kiss! But when one kiss becomes two and three, how will their relationship change?

Streaming on HIDIVE (Sub)

Strawberry Panic

• School • Drama • Romance • Senpai/Kouhai • Multiple Couples • Love at First Sight

Nagisa has just transferred to a prestigious all-girls school that happens to share a campus with two other elite academies for young women. The new surroundings are overwhelming but Nagisa quickly adapts to life in Strawberry Hall with the help of her new friends. However, when Nagisa catches the eye of the mysterious Shizuma, the respected representative of all three schools, both their lives are forever changed. A bond beyond mere friendship develops between the two ladies amidst a chaotic school year full of heated conflicts, petty jealousies, and crossed boundaries.

Streaming on Crunchyroll/RetroCrush (Sub)

Sweet Blue Flowers

• School • Romance • Drama • Friends to Lovers

Fumi Manjoume enters Kamakura's accelerated high school - Matsuoka All-Girls High School. While waiting at the Kamakura station on the day of her entrance ceremony, she runs into an old childhood friend whom she had not seen in 10 years: Akira Okudaira. As their friendship is rekindled and they start falling back into the rhythm of friends again, it starts a delicate love story...

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub)

Volicia of Pluto

• Action • Indie • Sci-Fi • Mecha

In 2006, Akiko Hoshigami’s dreams of track-and-field stardom are dashed after a leg injury. She enters high school with her best friend, Ayano Umisoe, and between club activites and meeting new friends, the empty Akio begins to resember her former self. Until one day, Ayano suddenly dissapears.

Streaming on YouTube (Sub)

Yurikuma Arashi

• School • Drama • Sci-Fi • Enemies to Lovers • Multiple Couples

In a world divided between humans and hyper-intelligent, man-eating bears, Kureha attends an all-girls school and holds onto a simple wish—to spend the rest of her life with her classmate and soul mate, Sumika. But after a secret rendezvous ends in tragedy, Kureha vows to never back down on her love and put a bullet in any bear she meets.

Streaming on Funimation (Sub/Dub)

YuruYuri

• School • Slice of Life • Comedy • Multiple Couples

Four students decide to occupy the room of the defunct tea ceremony club, dubbing it the ‘Amusement Club.’ While the Student Council does its best to eliminate this club, their endless energy, happiness, and comedy will keep audiences smiling all season long!

Streaming on Crunchyroll (Sub)

Read More of the 2023 Yuri Guide

⚪ Must See ⚪ Light Novel ⚪ Manga ⚪ Visual Novels ⚪ Webtoons

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#lesbian #yuri #girls love #lgbt #gay #lgbtq #gl #queer #anime #manga #sapphic #wlw

[sodasa-was-taken]

Why Suletta and Miorine's story is a romance: A Mobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story structure analysis by Sodasa

So, I recently watched The Witch from Mercury, and I felt compelled to write an analysis of the show's use of the story structure of romances. I'm a hobbyist in the history of trends in genre fiction with a particular interest in romances. I thought it would be fun to use my area of expertise to talk about how the budding relationship between Miorine and Suletta is intertwined with the story of G-Witch.

Something particular about the romance genre is that, unlike other genres of fiction, it's mostly defined by its story structure. This means that just because a story is about two people getting together does not automatically make it a romance in the same way having magic in a story qualifies it as a fantasy. The flip side of this is that while you can't have a fantasy without fantastical elements, a romance can be put in any setting. As long as the story hits the required plot beats, it's still a romance. This makes Romance simultaneously one of the strictest and most versatile genres, as the plot can be anything as long as it ties into the main characters' developing relationship. Use this structure in a story about financial politics and mechs, and you get a story like The Witch from Mercury.

I think the show uses this structure very effectively. In my opinion, a great romance should, first and foremost, be an exploration of the part of the human condition where previous bad experiences make us reject intimacy. The romance story structure is designed to have the characters come face-to-face with their inner demons by giving them a reason to overcome them. Something that's a lot harder to pull off outside of romances, as not many things in life require us to overcome some of our deepest insecurities instead of just pushing them down.

G-Witch is a great show to use as an example of what makes a romance a romance as it follows the story structure almost to a tee, but it's also not the kind of story that most people usually think of when picturing a romance. I also believe that seeing the show through the lens of the romance structure leads to some juicy character psychoanalysis for Suletta and Miorine. I'll go over all the plot beats of a romance and explain how they apply to G-Witch and, if applicable, why I think you don't see those plot beats outside of romances. The names of the plot beats are taken from "Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels" by Gwen Hayes, which is also my primary source, along with my own extensive experience with the romance genre.

I hope someone gets something out of this. I have seen some excellent analyses and theories for this show, but they have been on things I don't know much about myself. Since the only part of story analysis I excel at is the structure of romances, I thought I'd lend my own area of expertise. I want to clarify that while I might sound matter-of-fact, this is just my opinion. I'm by no means saying that you have to think that G-Witch is a romance. I'm just arguing for why I personally consider it to be one.

#mobile suit gundam: the witch from mercury #g witch #the witch from mercury #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #sulemio #suletta x miorine #honestly I had too much fun making this #I can't write an analytical essay to safe my life #but I'll write a 7500+ words media analysis just to justify calling a mecha show a romance

[toskarin]

before seeing the depths of the horrors, I was a lot less choosy about it, but at this point I just can't take any broad authoritative statements about the mecha genre seriously if the person making them hasn't watched at least two non-gundam non-eva series (preferably pre-2010)

[thedoncasterk3]

yeeeeah so I'm clinically addicted to "the space school sapphic romance that becomes a high tech political thriller that becomes a shakespearean revenge plot"-

But genuinely watch Witch From Mercury, here's my pitch/rant:

it starts off with an ep0 "prologue" that already tells you this show is something. It details a science institute that was doing research on an experimental brain-linked interface for machinework (Gund-Arm, aka Gundam), the life of a few people there (including a mom, a dad and their baby), and the assault the government launched on it without warning because of that interface's drawback of being insanely demanding of the human body, and how barely a few people escaped from it.

And then immediately the toneshift going back into ep1 with the protag joining a new school and somehow awkwarding her way into:

-getting into a big robot fight with the top bully in school

-winning

-gaining a courtship with the daughter of space jeff bezos and not even knowing that that would happen.

The show starts off fun and wholesome as suletta and miorine grow close to eachother and other friends they make, and then from roughly halfway through S1 the show starts to give you both the happy chemicals and OH GOD moments, and oh my god it keeps getting better consistently (There's something insane about seeing a usually serious and angry character break their façade in one ep to talk about their romantic feelings, and immediately next episode, have their façade fully fall apart out of sheer fear of something).

:)

Anyway, on a non-"ohno" note

The characters are all likeable, well written and broad and each grow and change throughout the show (including background characters), multiple threadlines keep being unpacked that make you more and more excited and concerned simultaneously, and there's SO many good twists/reveals in it that completely change how you perceive the show or even where the show is going. Not to mention this show will make you question philosophies and ideals heavily. The writing on this show was done with surgical precision.

Sulemio will bring you to the top of the world and also yank you right back down without a parachute (this post was made halfway through S2 and i am in suffering but also worth it for them)

Also, the morals are surprisingly not as black and white as you think, and every character, be it villain or hero, has a completely different motivation which is insanely satisfying.

Also, the animation is fucking BEAUTIFUL.

And with the majority in 2D even for the big battles with the mobile suits, with 3D only being used for rapidly flying small drones or complicated mobile suit coreography and the like. The soundtrack is also incredible too, with there being a crazy amount of orchestral music written for it and the main themes being of a genre only describable as "pop, orchestral and techno fused into one". Love the S2 opener "slash", my favorite overall.

but yes overall, this is a threat if you don't watch this show I will find your fridge and steal ham from it.

PS: the happy birthday song is brought up more than once in the show, and that's a happy and good thing...right?

...right?

#g witch #the witch from mercury #witch from mercury #suletta mercury #sulemio #miorine rembran #I Love This Show So Much #i will not talk spoilers just yet but AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[animefeminist]

Author and scriptwriter Watari Wataru on cynical heroines, getting a lesbian kiss onscreen, and keeping his day job

Watari Wataru’s appearance at Otakon 2023 was announced with copious mention of his 2011 light novel series My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (sometimes known by the shortened portmanteau of its Japanese title, Oregairu). While it has its issues (like a spate of fanservice-heavy anime promotional material rather disconnected from the novel’s mentality), it’s also drawn comparisons to era contemporary Toradora for trying to integrate more grounded character dynamics into the extremely archetype-dense school rom-com genre. The series earned a dedicated fanbase, three anime adaptations from 2013 to 2020, three separate manga adaptations and three visual novel spin-offs (including one in 2023).

Even more of interest for AniFem readers, though, is Girlish Number. Its heroine, Chitose, is a cynical young voice actress who finally manages to snag a major role; convinced she’d just never been given a chance to shine, Chitose’s ego takes a serious blow when she can’t keep up with her costars. The series isn’t a brutal indictment of an industry a la Perfect Blue or Oshi no Ko, but a work-com closer to SHIROBAKO – ultimately upbeat but unafraid of airing its complaints, or of letting a cast of adult women have a few rough edges.

Stepping into the role of anime scriptwriter and series composer first to adapt his own work, Watari has increasingly taken up work on adaptations. In 2023, that included AniFem staff favorite The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, an ambitious fantasy series that turned heads for managing to include both a love confession and onscreen kiss between its titular couple.

Such a move is almost unprecedented outside of titles marketed exclusively as yuri or BL, and despite the many beautiful queer love stories that anime has told over the years with one, the other, or only subtext to wield, it’s easy to see why this achievement touched anxious viewers: this interview was conducted only one day before Bandai Namco attempted to declare the couple at the heart of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury as being “up to interpretation” despite, among other things, their matching wedding rings (the creative team, in an admirable answering power move, released a staff art book at Comiket that included wedding and honeymoon art).

We were able to sit down with Watari, as well as SNAFU editor and Gagaga Bunko Chief Editor Hoshino Horinori, for a short interview.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

#girlish number #the magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady #magirevo #tenten kakumei #tensei oujo #oregairu #my teen romantic comedy snafu #chitose karasuma #articles

[scope-dogg]

Was going to make a post about it being funny how Eureka 7 is obviously a major influence on Armored Core 6 but had to stop myself. I mean obviously the overall tone is very different despite heavy thematic overlap, and yeah the vibrant surfer-punk aesthetic of E7 is very at odds with Rubicon’s post apocalyptic, post industrial look, but Shoji Kawamori did the mechanical design for both series, Just look at the military LFOs. They’re basically ACs on surfboards.

I’m kind of obsessed with this game btw in case you couldn’t tell. A lot of the people posting lore vids and the like on this series have had good ideas and interesting observations, but at the risk of sounding like lord of the poindexters it’s obvious that none of them have the grounding in the mecha genre to see where some of the game’s most important influences are. It’s valid to spot parallels between AC6 and Dune for instance, but if you haven’t seen Votoms, Zeta Gundam, Eureka 7 and perhaps Ideon you aren’t getting the full picture. I think I might need to write an essay on this game at some point - god help me.

#armored core #mecha #respect the robot

[agathathetransmechapilot]

Slowly going through the Gundam manga rabbit hole cause mecha is my least explored genre in manga and i really want to recomend Gundam Pulitzer.

This is a story following Kikki,the 4 year old comic relief from the original series now a college student one year and a half after the events of Chars counterattack.

Her objective is to write a biography about Amuro Ray in order to catch a glimpse of the real him and not just the propagandistic fallen hero the world is seeing right now.

Despite her being the main character this is a story about Amuro and how he was percieved throughout the series and the impact he left of minor characters even Kikki herself.

This is not a big sci-fi story about giant mechs in a war but rather the aftermath of it and how the people perceived it and how they deal with it.

#gundam #uc gundam #mobile suit gundam #Amuro Ray #kidou senshi gundam #manga recs

[the-eeveekins]

While I'm on a roll, I'm going to go off on a little bit of a personal rant (continuing something I mentioned earlier), that's been on my mind due to some comments I've seen made about G-Witch and Sulemio in recent days. I normally try to avoid writing rants like this but this one has been grinding my gears a bit.

Yes, in the grand scheme of queer media, Sulemio's relationship can definitely come across as underwhelming. No one would deny that you can get more explicitly and textually queer stories out there, especially by queer creators. But that absolutely ignores some of the circumstances surrounding the show.

First, it's been made pretty obvious by now that the staff wasn't allowed to be very explicit in their depiction of Suletta & Miorine's relationship. The company that censored an interview and released a tone-deaf statement that their relationship should be "up to interpretation" because a VA said they were married obviously wasn't going to be cool with Suletta and Miorine kissing, saying I love you and getting married on screen. They would've put their foot down well before we got to the ending. And even then the staff did enough to make Suletta & Miorine explicitly married by the end of the show. They found ways around whatever limitations Bandai put into place to try and make Sulemio subtext, and made them a canon couple within the show itself. I get tired of people saying the show didn't explicitly and textually confirm their relationship and marriage because it does, just in a roundabout way via the "sister-in-law" line because they couldn't do it in a straightforward manner.

Seriously, by all accounts, it's not like the people making this show wanted to end Sulemio with "just handholding" and half-assed the relationship, they wanted to do more but couldn't. Just look at how some of the staff members depicted them in the artbook once they were off Bandai's leash: with multiple wedding pictures.

Second, it's actually a big deal that they ended the show married, even if they had to do it in a roundabout way. Yes, the yuri genre is generally going to have more explicit lesbian relationships than what we got with Sulemio, but the yuri genre isn't exactly mainstream. Dedicated yuri anime isn't airing in primetime and ending with the main couple married, it's usually late-night, niche and usually only gets one season that introduces the couple, maybe gives you a kiss, but forces you to finish the story through the LN/Manga. Mobile Suit Gundam is a popular, mainstream multi-media franchise that has been running for 44 years, and G-Witch was airing on prime time. The fact that a mainstream franchise like Gundam aired an anime series that was centered around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship that ended with the couple married is huge, especially considering the legal status of same-sex marriage in Japan. Niche yuri anime airing in the middle of the night can probably get away with a lot more gay content than a mainstream franchise airing in primetime can, especially when the franchise is owned by a bunch of old, conservative dudes.

As an anime fan, it's amazing to see a mainstream animated series like The Witch From Mercury focused around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship (and make it TEXTUAL, not relying on subtext to carry it), especially a series not specifically adapted from a yuri LN/Manga. And as a lesbian and a long time Gundam fan, seeing a major franchise I love like Gundam, that has always been dominated by male characters, air a series focused around a queer female MC and her relationship with another woman is a much bigger deal to me than a lot of random yuri series would ever be.

Reducing Sulemio to comparisons between other queer media or yuri series and how it's "inferior" to those because it lacked certain elements ignores and disregards the unique challenges and situation of The Witch From Mercury, and the way the staff fought to overcome those issues to deliver an explicit sapphic story ending in a married couple.

#g witch #sulemio #the witch from mercury #yuri

[alpaca-clouds]

Some Punk Genre Ideas

Writing that horribly long Punkpunk genre overview, that obviously missed some of the punkpunk genre, I could not help but think that there are some punk genres that are somewhat missing or could be defined. That is genres, that kinda use the punk idea and mix them with certain scenarios or retrofuturism. And I would argue, that these genre already somewhat exist in one way or another, but have not quite been defined.

Once again, I will go with this idea for punk ideology – and with the presumption that this somehow should play into the genre.

[Punk ideology] is primarily concerned with concepts such as mutual aid, against selling out, hierarchy, white supremacy, authoritarianism, anti-consumerism, anti-corporatism, anti-war, imperialism, conservatism, anti-globalization, gentrification, anti-racism, anti-sexism, class and classism, gender equality, racial equality, eugenics, animal rights, free-thought and non-conformity

Please note: While I absolutely think that there is a ton of stuff that could be explored in regards of retrofuturist ideas based around non-white cultures and technologies (for example by defining more punk derivatives from Amazofuturism and Afrofuturism), that is nothing for my white ass to talk about. 😉

I will start with three anime derivates – that have most certainly inspired this kinda storytelling before…

Mahoupunk

As a genre: The magical girl genre is ripe for deconstruction, and sees more and more of the sort even in western media. While traditionally the genre often concerns young girls and their magical powers in a story of self-discovery and coming of age, it also usually has a lot of potential in terms of both who the magical girls fight and who they get their powers from. I propose that Mahoupunk could feature both stories of magical girl powers being used by those in power for oppression with others – both Magical Girl and normies – trying to fight this system, or of Magical Girls awakening in a dystopic world (possible Cyberpunk), trying to change it for the better. The wide variety of the way magical girl powers can be used would allow for a variety of storytelling opportunities, given the powers can be used both in terms of combat, but also in terms of mutual aid.

As an aesthetic: The aesthetic could play around with classical magical girl elements against a rather dark and gloomy backdrop. We see this already a lot in magical girl deconstructions, with the pastel colored magical girls with their hearts, ribbons and flowers against a dark skyline.

Punk-Factor: As I propose it, the genre would play around a lot with the question of “Who has power and who uses it for what?” The magical girl powers – or those, who distribute it – can be a tool of the powerful and the oppressors, but they can also be a tool for those who fight against this kinda oppression. And this fight against oppression and the trial of helping others are most certainly punk elements.

Examples: My Otome, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Note: The idea here kinda comes from my frustration over the lack of magical girl deconstructions. We have dark magical girls, yes, but most of them tend to be “magical girls but dark and gritty and people die”, rather then exploring the themes about magic and who gives it. Yes, Madoka and Uta~Kata kinda explore this a bit, but it never goes further into the who gets and who controls magic – the way that some of the following genre explore those themes.

Mechpunk

As a genre: Admittedly, this almost feels like cheating because the Mecha-Genre has been deconstructed about five hundred times already and kinda already does this on the regularly, which always makes me surprised that so few people dare to put it on Cyberpunk lists for example. What I propose as Mechpunk could also be called Gundpunk, because, let’s face it, Gundam has my ass pretty much covered. In a world where SuperRobo-style Mechas are the most effective type of war machinery, they will get used to oppress people and uphold the (often capitalist) status quo, while not rarely people from the lower classes might find themselves forced to pilot these suits. But being the effective war machines, they also can be used to break the cycle. As such the pilots might need to navigate their way between political strive and the fight for a better world.

As an aesthetic: Again, this genre feels like cheating, because at least a forth of all the Mecha anime out there play it like this – but it also has found its way into western media like this. I feel, we should embrace the aesthetic of the SuperRobo and those neat overstyled pilot suits, though. Put that in front of a rather dystopic cyberpunk backdrop and it plays a lot with the contrasts.

Punk-Factor: Again, fighting the system of oppression definitely qualifies as punk. I would also be super interested in seeing stories, where the Mechas are used in more creative and productive ways, such as mutual aid.

Examples: Basically two thirds of all the Gundam series out there, Bokurano, Iron Widow

Monpunk

As a genre: While the other two are examples of genre, that have been played around with a lot, I also have to talk about my kinda favorite anime subgenre, that has been explored too little so far: Monster taming. While not the first of its kind, Pokémon is probably the most influential part of the monster taming genre, but there are a ton of others out there. While it is obvious that this genre is heavily inspired by Shinto believes, I find it almost sad, that there are rarely any deconstructions – but Monpunk would be one of those. Monpunk would explore both the spiritual and the ecological aspects of the monsters. The creatures, that are inherently linked to their human partners, are exploited – be it by the system or their human partners themselves. Pokémon itself allows itself for such readings, and I would go as far that at least Takeshi Shudo’s novels can be read in a way that the Pokémon and trainers are exploited by a capitalist system. The genre could explore the bonds between humans and creatures, both as friends, but also as an exploitative relationship. It could also feature characters getting aware of the exploitation happening.

As an aesthetic: Something that to me really works well about the entire monster taming genre is the contrast between humans and creatures, so this is something that could be used in the design aesthetic. Slick human designs with kinda futuristic outfits meet wild creatures, that are monstrous and feature natural elements.

Punk-Factor: As so nicely pointed out by that Wikipedia description of “punk ideology”, there is also an aspect of animal rights and environmentalism to punk, which could be explored within this genre. And of course, going the Pokémon route, this could also be super interesting as a comment on capitalist systems.

Examples: The Pokémon novels by Takeshi Shudo, Kaiba, MyHiME

Note: While the capitalist reading might also work with “merch bound mons” (like the cards in Yu-Gi-Oh and its derivates, or the Beyblades), I do not think that this kinda story would quite work with what I imagine here.

Did I choose the genre based on starting with the letter M? No, I did not. It just happened to turn out that way. But I kinda find it fitting.

There is the general thing of course that a lot of western media still kinda struggles with these ideas in general. We do not get a lot of books or movies based around these genre in western media, even though I know there are quite a lot of writers who write about it. I think this is partly, because it is seen as “childish”, but partly also because people do not quite get what it could look like outside of the visual medium, which at least the mechas and mons heavily rely on in their storytelling.

Still, I would absolutely love to see these kinda stories told in all sorts of media. And god darn it, book publishers. Give those magical girl stories a chance.

Moving away from anime/manga inspired ones and going back to some more history inspired ones:

Knightpunk

Note: I know I am not the first one to propose something along these lines. I have seen the title Castlepunk and Plaguepunk thrown around quite a bit. But there is an argument to be made for a world developing technology from the medieval feudal setting onwards, with stories being told within all sorts of time periods.

As a genre: The defining feature of Knightpunk would be that it is set within an anachronistic feudal setting. There are kings and queens and nobility who hold power. The world has duchies and landlords (who actually hold land and not just houses). And most of the population are considered uneducated peasants used for menial work. While technology has improved, there are still some of the problems going around like the danger of famines. The church, too, has some hold over the people, threatening them with eternal damnation. And the knights exist to uphold the status quo. The central conflict of these stories would feature characters trying to either find a way they can exist in peace – or actually overthrow the system. There also could be stories told about the value of education, medicine and moving forward as a society.

As an aesthetic: I would argue that as an aesthetic Knightpunk already exists. There are a ton of stuff that play around with medieval fashion and of course armor and adding modern day or even futuristic elements to it.

Punk-Factor: Playing it as I imagine, the stories would be quite punk both in terms of featuring counter culture, and in terms of tackling themes of standing up against a corrupt system.

Examples: Nimona, Jupiter Ascending, Code Geass

Druidpunk

As a genre: I am surprised this is not a thing yet – but maybe I should not be that surprised after all. Druidpunk takes inspiration from the time between about 200 BC and 500 AD, with both the Roman colonization of Western Europe and the later Christianization of the area, which also included Pegan hunts. This might also be used as an inspiration for more futuristic settings build on those ideas. But the central conflicts arises from the violence that Roman and later Christian forces inflict on the Celtic population of these areas – and it would feature conflicts both of faith and of power within it, seeing that this Celtic population would often be seen as second class. It would also play around with Celtic ideas of fae and magic in a way of fighting the oppressors, as well as with ideas about the value of preserving knowledge through stories.

As an aesthetic: There is a respectful way to go about this aesthetic and one that is less so, and in this case I think both are kinda alright? You can go with playing with the aesthetics of real Celtic people of the time, maybe given them some visual updates and just lean more into stuff like the Celtic knot and what not. Buuuuuut, you also could just take your average Dungeons & Dragons Druid aesthetic and dial it up to 11. Bonus points if you use this against a more downplayed Roman aesthetic.

Punk-Factor: Admittedly, despite it featuring kinda a fight against colonization, I would argue this is a bit less punk and more about the general idea (and my frustration with how little we see written about this time from this perspective).

Examples: I don’t know if there are any books like this. You tell me.

Guillotinepunk

Note: How is this not yet a thing? I really tried looking for something along the lines of this idea, but… it does not seem to be a thing so far?

As a genre: The history of the French Revolution is a complicated one. Other than what you have been told, it did not quite fail, rather it petered out and then there came Napoleon, took part of the ideas and threw away others. But what if we use the ideas of the French revolution and tweak the setting a bit. Maybe this is retrofuturist and the Revolution just continued. Maybe the revolution happens within a more modern setting – but similarly as it did in reality. But there is strive and class struggle here. The people are rising up against the nobles, who have suppressed them for so long. Heads are rolling and for a moment things seem great. But as the revolution continues, the disagreements between the revolutionaries will become more and more clear, with factions turning against each other and a battle of ideas starting.

As an aesthetic: There are guillotines and there is the fashion of the upper class of the epoche, but taken to an extreme, that we did not quite see in reality. This might be mixed with anachronistic elements, that come to play within the aesthetic. Maybe some military aesthetics mixed in there as well.

Punk-Factor: I would argue that the French revolution is pretty darn punk. You know, those punk ideologies from above? Most of it was aspired to by the revolutionaries. Though I would argue this genre would be just a bit more, as it would also consider the rifts between different parts of such a movement – and how they might or might not be mended.

Examples: Cake Eater (2022) – I still think there gotta be others, because it is so obvious. But I cannot think of any right now.

Tsarpunk

Note: Yes, I am aware that Leigh Bardugo already coined this term, that so far is mostly used to describe anything written by her. However… You might see this coming, but… Let’s add a bit more punk to it, shall we?

As a genre: Tsarpunk could play around with Russian society before the revolution happened. There is a tsar and there is the nobility who owns, at the point, also most of the factories that are becoming more common. A lot of the poor people are serfs under them. There are people, who are willing to rise up against the system – and some of the nobility find themselves drawn between the faction of the tsar and the potential revolutionaries. Steeped in Slavic mythology, there might also be magic and creatures, that court the line between fantasy and horror elements.

As an aesthetic: The aesthetic could mix up the entire Slavic influence a lot more. Aesthetically Slavic culture is very interesting, as it has a lot of intricate elements. There could also aesthetic influences be drawn from Clockpunk, as such mechanations are tied to Russian of the time a lot.

Punk-Factor: Again, Revolutions tend to be pretty darn punk, so playing up the revolutionary angle will give some punk points in my book – though if the revolution is less played up, it might also be less punk as a potential genre.

Examples: The books of Leigh Bardugo, but I would also argue that in a way The Witcher qualifies as well.

If you left me to it, I would probably be able to name some more ideas for historically inspired punk genre. After all, there is a ton of potential there, even if we just look at European history. Especially given the parts that we are looking at so far. (Note to self: I kinda wanna write something about how some of the punk genre could do more with the general idea and setting…) I do also think that kinda the issue with how some people are tackling the punk genre so far is too much of “fantasy/scifi, but with [insert historical setting]”. Instead of going: “What if Cyberpunk, but [insert settings]?” So, there is not as much as theming happening, as there could be. And I do not even necessarily mean those anti-hierarchical/anarchical punk themes. But also more general… themes. You know? THEMES!!!

Also there is a kinda genre, that would also make for an interesting exploration…

Vampunk

Note: Alright, I admit it, this is here because of my near constant vampire obsession, but I also think that vampires are a wonderful vehicle to tell punky stories, based on the simple fact that vampires inherently serve often both as the oppressor/exploiter and the marginalized.

Let me start with talking about the duality of vampires.Vampires inherently are dependent on somewhat exploit humans in most scenarios, given they need to drink human blood. As such vampires have always an incentive to somehow keep humans around and somewhat dependent on them. Often enough they are kinda equaled to nobility or in more modern settings with CEOs and boards of directors. At the same time vampires in most settings also need to keep themselves hidden, fearing some sort of anti-vampire inquisition, with this often being kinda a vague metaphor for queerness.

As a genre: Vampunk would feature a world that has some Cyberpunk features. But the world is secretly run by vampires, who work as the world’s CEO and board members, using their positions to get easy access to the blood they need to survive. However, within the vampire society there is also a large divide between the haves and the have-nots. While the upper-class vampires have power, control and all the blood they can want, the lower-class vampires often barely scrape by, their access to blood regulated through those above them. As such lower-class vampires need to figure out, whether their true allegiance should lie with the vampire upper-class or the humans so unwittingly exploited by them.

As an aesthetic: I think the best aesthetic for this would be something along the lines of Gothic Noir with maybe some punk elements within it. A gothic aesthetic is a no-brainer for this genre, though.

Punk-Factor: The genre could be very much played for punk factors, by playing these stories were much as a class struggle and around the realization that the lower class of any privilege group has as much in common with the marginalized than with the privileged upper class. It should be noted, though, that one has to be careful in this genre. The Victorian vampire had some roots in antisemitic myths and if not threat carefully constructing a genre like this might lead to unintended antisemitic readings.

Examples: Daybreakers (2009)

Fun fact, I find it weird how Daybreakers was universally loathed when it came out in 2009, but recently I actually see a lot more appreciation for that movie. And I think it shows those ideas pretty well. I would also argue that the latter Underworld movies had some of those themes. And I would also argue it is different from usual vampire fantasy on the basis of being more thematically dense. I am kinda hoping that Castlevania Nocturne goes into this direction.

Finally going to some outright futuristic ideas. Things that might kinda exist already as parts of the other punkgenre (mostly Cyberpunk), but are kinda worth exploring on their own. And yes, those again have anime examples, because…

Virtupunk

Note: This definitely is a kind of genre that already does exist but has not been explored in the punky way a lot so far. At least not intentionally.

As a genre: Virtupunk is set in a world that has some Cyberpunk features. Corporations rule a good part of the world, though it might even look like our everyday world. (Because we life under late stage capitalism.) Technology has advanced enough that virtual reality is a thing in one way or another. As such a lot of people interact with the world at least partly through the virtual reality. But even this reality is owned by corporate interest. The virtual world is a thing all on its own, though, in a way that even those corporations running it do often not quite understand. Within it AI is developing faster than anticipated – and only some people seem to understand the importance of it. The protagonist fight – at times with the AI and at times against it – to retake control of this new virtual reality. A central theme is, though, how the virtual world, that kinda functions as a metaphor for the internet, allows people to connect and organize.

As an aesthetic: While I will argue that this is definitely something that exist as a genre, there is not much of an aesthetic so far. Generally, of course, VR headsets will play into this, but not all versions of this genre interact with the virtual worlds through this. The virtual worlds themselves can often be somewhat strange and crazy, breaking with established rules of the real world.

Punk-Factor: I would argue that the central punk theme in this kinda story is even less about the “rising up” part, but rather about the connection and the means of organizing. Though there will usually be some aspects about “taking back the virtual world”.

Examples: I would argue that the main example here is Mamoru Hosoda’s kinda “internet trilogy”, with Belle being the strongest example here. .hack// does definitely also qualify. Also: Serial Experiments Lain.

Augmentpunk

Note: Now, this is a thing that appears in Cyberpunk a lot, but is barely ever thematically explored. Which I find kinda sad.

As a genre: Like Virtupunk, Augmentpunk borrows a lot from Cyberpunk, though its setting tends to be a lot more toned down. The technology taking over in this kind of stories is Augmented Reality, which might either be accessed over devices such as glasses, contacts or masks, or even be just somehow inherently accessible. The AR exists within the real world – mostly – as an additional layer. Depending on how anti-capitalist the stories wants to go, it might feature the constant barrage of advertisement the characters are put under. More often, though, this genre will explore how AR makes the lines between the real and the virtual blur, at times completely destroying concepts of reality.

As an aesthetic: Augmentpunk loves playing around with the idea of overlaying different layers to reality. You will find a lot of holographic images floating over the world and characters in this aesthetic, often contrasting colorwise with the designs of the characters otherwise. There tends to be in general a contrast between a more mundane world and a strange augmented reality.

Punk-Factor: Usually these stories to not go far into the punk themes. There might be a bit with anti-capitalism or something about our addiction to technology, but that usually is about it. It still is something I enjoy, though!

Examples: Dennou Coil, Accel World

Those are just some ideas that I have. I would also be super interested in seeing what other ideas you guys have. How could we interweave those punk attitudes with other genre/settings?

#cyberpunk #steampunk #solarpunk #genre deconstruction #deconstruction #anime #anime and manga #mahoupunk #monpunk #mechpunk #knightpunk #druidpunk #tsarpunk #guillotinepunk #vampires #vampunk #virtupunk #virtual reality #vr #augmentpunk #augmented reality #ar

[hc-werner]

The Dialectical Humanism of Big-Ass Robots: An Intro

“There’s a deep, earnest seriousness to most mecha shows (especially within the “real robot” subgenre) that implores the audience to grapple with intricate ideas and themes drawn from philosophers like Aristotle, Nietzche, and Rousseau, oftentimes complete with allegorical mouthpieces for competing ideologies.”

My high school students always lose their shit when I tell them that I, Coach Werner, also watch anime. I kinda feel bad about it. By now, I know I’ll see the excitement die from their eyes little by little as they pepper me with questions, searching for a connection with show after show after show. 

“Coach, have you seen Jojo?”

“Nope.”

“What about DBZ or Naruto?”

“Not since before you were born.”

“Attack on Titan? Utena? Tokyo Ghoul?”

“Not yet, though they’re on my list.”

“The fuck Coach? I thought you said you watch anime!”

When I tell them I mostly watch mecha, they get confused. After I explain that mecha are the ones with jumbo-sized robots, they groan. I’ve even had one kid say that didn’t count. As a general rule, I try to not let the opinions of 15 year olds hurt my feelings; I only docked his grade a couple points. 

Whatever my students may think, oversized anthropomorphized robots have fascinated me since I was a kid. Over the years, as I’ve revisited shows from my youth and found new mechanized, cel shaded rabbit holes to tumble down, I’ve tried to figure out what exactly was so appealing about the genre. There’s definitely a bit of wish fulfillment, a sorta kaiju-sized power fantasy, sure, but that’s not all of it. Same with intricate sci-fi world building, and of course the thrill of pew-pew dogfights and beam saber duels. But none of those alone seemed to account for the whole thing. They’re all fun set dressing, definitely worth a watch on their own but not enough, I don’t think, to capture my imagination for nearly a quarter of a century.

This series, The Dialectical Humanism of Big-Ass Robots, started off as a rambling, borderline incoherent and definitely substance enhanced diatribe that tried to explain how excited I was for the first episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. It feels right, though, both the name and the bigger through line.

There’s a deep, earnest seriousness to most mecha shows (especially within the “real robot” subgenre) that implores the audience to grapple with intricate ideas and themes drawn from philosophers like Aristotle, Nietzche, and Rousseau, oftentimes complete with allegorical mouthpieces for competing ideologies. There’s also the slightly goofy and always physics-defying “rule of cool” concepts of the robots themselves–I mean, who doesn’t want to see a boom cannon with angel wings, or a crucified rage monster, or transforming karaoke jets?–that can easily be laughed off as a kid’s cartoon. Any foolhardy (read: hubristic and dumbasstic) attempt to try to find unifying threads within such a wide and varied genre has to address both of those tendencies. Here, friend, you will find one such foolhardy attempt. 

Mecha anime, more than any other subgenre, has a fundamental tension summarized by two infuriatingly simultaneous, contradictory truths:

Anthropomorphized mechs bring out the best in humanity, allowing us to overcome our flaws and leap forward into a better future.

Anthropomorphized mechs feed into the worst traits of humanity, allowing us to destroy ourselves in new and technologically advanced ways.

Those two overwhelmingly common truths, when taken together, can be summarized in fancy philosophy jargon with just two words: dialectical humanism.

Dialectics is a concept pioneered (in the West, at least) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel during the late 18th and early 19th century. There’s literally a whole field of study called “Hegelian Dialectics” that we’ll touch on from time to time, but the main thing to know is that two mutually exclusive and contradictory ideas are often both true at the same time. 

Humanism has a long, fraught history, but the most common Western interpretations stem from Enlightenment-era ideals. Essentially, humanism boils down to the belief that humankind can progress beyond its animalistic nature through a combination of empathy and rational thinking. Again, we’ll be touching on a whole slew of humanist thinkers throughout this series.

So that’s The Dialectical Humanism of Big-Ass Robots. I feel like mecha shows–from Astro Boy to Zeta Gundam, and almost everything in between–play with this dialectic, where the mechs themselves represent humanity’s ultimate destruction and ultimate salvation simultaneously. Sometimes we struggle to survive, sometimes we overcome and thrive, and sometimes we find ourselves transformed into an ocean of pink goo.

In this series, we’ll look at:

Magical Newtype Bullshit and radical empathy

Depression, memory, and trauma, and why Shinji can’t just get in the fucking robot

The power of music (and love, hope, and propaganda) in a transforming space city

And much, much more.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a Tanuki pilot a Gundam.

#the dialectal humanism of big-ass robots #dhbar #HC Werner scribbles #neon genesis evangelion #gundam wing #mecha #macross #gundam witch from mercury #gundam wfm #evangelion #rebuild of evangelion #astro boy #transformers #voltron #power rangers #tanuki #suletta mercury #mobile suit gundam #gundam iron blooded orphans #iron blooded orphans #shinji #get in the robot #witch from mercury #g witch

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

OC Story: 916

Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Prologue - "Sing a Song"

Genre: Scifi (Mecha) Content Warning: General descriptions of violence, long text jumpscare after you press Keep Reading lmao Word Count: 8.9k

A/N: TIME TO WRITE BOOTLEG GUNDAM LETS GOOOOOOO, more in depth author's note at the end. Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you do! Feedback is appreciated!

========

“Doctor Moreau, do you think we go to heaven?” asked the small girl.

Doctor Moreau stopped typing for a moment as her eyes glanced over the terminal, seeing the child laying on the operating table, standing out from the rest of the clean black walls and white tiles. The room was supported with soft lights illuminating the room, complemented by the blue screens and dizzying amount of automated surgical equipment quietly whirring into position.

Moreau pushed her aging white hair away from her eyes, looking at the child, subject designated 403. 403 was about seven, she barely stood up to Moreau’s stomach and had long black hair that stopped at her shoulders. The light blue gown was slightly too big for her, the sleeves extending over most of her hands and just revealing her fingers. Seeing her face again reminded Doctor Moreau of 403's rather inquisitive nature. 

“Why are you asking that, 403?” Moreau replied, her tone indifferent. Her fingers went back to typing as she sighed. “If you’re worried about the procedure, the chips are perfectly safe to implant. There has been no previous record of anyone dying from-”

“-But I’m going to die after.”

“...What?”

“After the chip goes into me. Will the others and I go to heaven?”

The question had caught the doctor completely off guard. Moreau had answered questions such as, “Will this hurt?”, or “Do I have to?”. This question was something she could not answer with her usual dismissive tone. She sat up straight in her seat now and turned to look at the child. 403's eyes were still fixated on the ceiling.

“Why are you so certain you’re going to die, 403?”

“That’s what my brother told me. When the chip goes into our brain, we’re sent off to die.”

The girl’s voice stated it as a matter of fact. There was no confusion in her tone of what was to become of her. Doctor Moreau had no response as she stared at 403 with her mouth slightly open. The child simply turned her head, facing her and expectantly waiting for an answer.

“... I certainly hope there’s a heaven, 403. I’m sure heaven will allow good kids like you and your brother.”

“What about my friends? Will they-”

“We’re about to begin the surgery. Please face up towards the light and close your eyes.” Moreau bluntly cut off the conversation.

403 pouted, but complied. It was clear that the answer did not satisfy her as much as she wanted it to. Doctor Moreau took a second to recover and focus back on the job at hand. Facing back towards the terminal, she began typing once more. With the input of several passwords and confirmations, the surgery to implant the combat data-chip into 403’s brain would commence. Afterwards, she would be sent to her brother’s unit, and be deployed to the battlefield.

Just like all the others.

This room had always been nothing out of the ordinary to Moreau. The same procedure had been repeated more times than she could count and yet why did this one make it so hard to breathe all of a sudden?

“Doctor Moreau?”

“Yes, 403?”

“Can I ask one more thing?”

“You may.”

“Can I listen to that song you always play? The one that goes ‘Lalalalala~’? I want to hear it one more time before I sleep. I really like it.”

Doctor Moreau’s lips suddenly dried up as she once again stopped typing. With a slightly trembling hand, she turned to the radio sitting on her desk and nodded.

“...Of course, 403. No more questions, please.” 

She could see the smile form on 403’s lips as the mask was gently put onto her face, the anesthesia slowly starting to pump into 403’s lungs.

“...Thank you.”

Doctor Moreau swallowed hard as her finger pressed the on switch of her old radio. Despite being in such a high tech surgical room, her radio was comically outdated. It was a small gray oval-like object that only had a speaker and a few buttons. To even put music in it, she had to insert a smaller rectangle that contained the songs in it via tape. It was a gift from her father when she was 403’s age, the thought of their roles being reversed not lost on the doctor.

‘Sing, sing a songLet the world sing alongSing of love there could beSing for you and for me…~’

Doctor Moreau could hear 403 softly hum along to the song as her voice gradually became quieter, and eventually turning into soft breathing. The whirring of the surgical equipment and the radio being the only things in the room left making noise. The only remaining step was for Doctor Moreau to approve the procedure to implant the chip into 403’s brain.

“Is there heaven…” the doctor quietly repeated the question to herself, attempting to ignore 403’s startling self awareness of the situation.

"Authorization confirmed, Implant procedure beginning.” A deep robotic voice rang out across the room as the sound of a drill began drowning out the other equipment. Doctor Moreau sat on her chair as she closed her eyes, waiting for the procedure to be done and turning off the radio in the process.

 “For me, I don’t think so…Heaven was lost to me long ago.”

...

‘Sing, sing a song Make it simple to last Your whole life long~’

The Doctor was snapped out of her melancholy as the music continued playing. Sighing, she moved to turn it off for good.

“Piece of junk is starting to-” She stopped as her finger was about to hit the switch.

The radio was still off.

Listening closely again, Moreau realized the singing was coming outside of the door.

‘Don't worry that it's notGood enough for anyoneElse to hear~’

Creeping towards the door, the doctor put her ears to it and heard what sounded like a chorus singing. The song wasn’t over the intercom, otherwise the voice would be far clearer.

Instead it sounded like- 

A sudden sense of dread hit the doctor as she swung the doors open and ran towards the hangar. Multiple guards and scientists were opening the doors along the long gray hallway, joining Moreau and investigating what the noise was. When they finally got to the railing after the doors slid open, none of them could speak. 

‘Just sing, sing a song(Just sing, sing a song)Just sing, sing a song~’

Inside the massive hangar stood rows of countless Soldats, giant bipedal machines that stood several meters tall, lined up next to each other as if they were statues. Their bulky legs stood firmly in place and the compact yet slender arms did not move an inch.

The only things moving were their horned box-like heads, slowly moving side to side in perfect sync. Each of the voices emerging from the Soldats were different but singing in perfect harmony.

Their normally offline and horizontal segregated visors were suddenly flickering to life with blue lights, illuminating the large dark room with bright blue rays.

‘La la la la la, la la la laLa la la la la la laaaaa~’

Doctor Moreau could hear the voices of security guards rushing down the stairs to halt the singing, shouting orders at the others to back away.

However, the doctor could only hear their cheerful singing along with her breathing becoming noticeably shorter with each second, feeling her chest tighten.

Once again, the question 403 springed up to the forefront of her mind.

“Is there heaven?”

====

ONE YEAR LATER…

====

“Welcome to the Dyson Incorporated headquarters!” A cheery female robotic voice echoed across the entry hall. 

A man and woman in navy blue uniforms stepped into the building, being greeted by a similarly sharp dressed man in a white business suit. His stomach bulged over his pants and the man himself was at shoulder height, but looked relatively healthy. Excluding the large amounts of sweat coming down his forehead.

“Captain Alana, Lieutenant Justeen!” The large man cheerfully said, extending his arms. “I must say, you are here quite earlier than I expected!”

Captain Alana was a tall and dark skinned man, his hair mostly bald but containing some hair towards the back. His posture stood tall and proper. Lieutenant Justeen stood slightly lower than Alana. Her skin was noticeably paler than anyone else present in the room, her dark brown ponytail complementing her slim figure. Of all the details that stood out, it was her unfriendly eyes that came to the front of attention, seemingly glaring daggers at President Sumner.

Captain Alana stepped forward, extending his hand and offering a friendly smile. “President Sumner, we apologize about the sudden arrival. We had finished our duties faster than we expected as well, and simply could not wait to see how your projects were coming along.” 

“The Florence government hopes that your new project has been producing results, President Sumner.” Lieutenant Justeen blankly stated.

“A-ah, of course ma’am! The company has been hard at work to make sure your investment is well rewarded!” The president replied, trying his best to not sound intimidated by the lieutenant. “If you could follow me this way, please! I will direct you two towards our presentation room!” 

The captain raised an eyebrow at the lieutenant, but she only shook her head unapologetically. They followed the president out of the comfortable entrance hall and towards light blue hallways, passing by several office workers who looked startled by the presence of the two soldiers. The security guards they passed by remained in place and only offered a nod, however they seemed to grip tightly onto the rifles they held in place, fingers off the trigger.

“Admittedly, we don’t have everything prepared just yet, since we weren't expecting you for at least another hour. I must apologize greatly that I have to ask for you all to wait in this room while we get situated!” The president gestured towards an open door that had rows of chairs and a large screen on the furthest wall. 

Inside were two security guards and a woman dressed in a blue suit at the opposite end. The captain bowed while the lieutenant continued to stare at the president.

“No apologies needed, President Sumner. In fact, we should be the ones apologizing for the intrusion.” Captain Alana glanced at the Lieutenant before she too finally showed some modicum of decorum.

“Please, excuse us, sir.” Lieutenant Justeen added, her tone remaining unchanged.

“I will be back in about half an hour, please do ask any questions to our lovely guide in the room. Now if you’ll excuse me,” President Sumner bowed towards Captain Alana before quickly darting away and towards the elevator. 

The two of them stepped into the room and took a seat towards the back, having a view of the screen turning on and the guards who were remaining in place.

“If I may ask, what kind of presentation will we be watching?” Captain Alana turned towards the woman in the back, asking with a smile on his face.

“Ah, I’m glad you asked! The short film we’ll be watching is about how Dyson Incorporated is helping the Florence Government with our myriad of technological developments!”

The captain extended his smile to his lieutenant, but the vacant expression on her face told him that she wanted this over with. They turned to the screen while the room darkened and the screen came to life.

“With only the brightest minds that can match the sun, Dyson Incorporated paves the way toward the future with our revolutionary technology!”

It was the same robotic woman’s voice who greeted them at the entrance voicing over the presentation. Both of them had no doubt it was pre recorded and continued to say nothing. 

“We here at Dyson have well over five thousand employees stationed across the globe, but it’s here at our Headquarters where the most talented engineers and scientists perform their work! We are currently the lead developers on electrical household appliances, vehicles for both recreational and military use, lightning fast connections to the internet, and our top of the line Soldat d'aciers are second to none!”

Pictures of giant bipedal machines stood side by side with soldiers, all smiling with the Soldat cutely giving a thumbs up. As the presentation went on, it continued displaying more and more pictures of the Soldat, Dyson Incorporated’s crown product. Both the captain and lieutenant couldn’t deny their effectiveness. The Florence Government had incorporated them well into the military, to the point where entire divisions were based around them. But they knew this already. And the woman behind them knew it too.

“You’re stalling.” Justeen dryly remarked, turning towards the woman.

“I-I beg your pardon?”

The guards tensed up before Alana raised his hand.

“My apologies, Lieutenant Justeen is rather impatient. What she means to say is that this information is already known to our military. Is there a part speaking about the Dyson Soldat pilots?”

“Ah, I see, that’s what you mean! Well, I do not blame you for wanting to know more about them. Our pilots are our most treasured and respected employees of the company!” The woman’s smile was barely held as Justeen continued to stare through her.

The woman typed something on the keyboard as the video began to skip ahead, getting to the section they were truly interested in.

“Hello, my name is Doctor Moreau, one of the lead scientists behind our Soldat program. While our machines are certainly impressive, they are only as effective thanks to the brave volunteers at Dyson! Our pilots are expertly trained by combat instructors to ensure minimum damages caused to their surroundings, while also keeping costs down on repairs on their Soldats!”

On the screen were many pilots standing next to their Soldats, all wearing helmets that obscured their faces while showing camaraderie, some arms over each other’s shoulders while others gave fist bumps. It was nothing too out of the ordinary, especially for military personnel.

“You know, these Soldat pilots have saved the lives of my men on numerous occasions, yet I’ve never actually spoken to any of them outside of their suit. Are any of these pilots currently at headquarters today? I would certainly like to meet  some of the brave men and women who've been representing the best of Dyson.” Alana asked, his inflection not rising above a normal tone.

“Unfortunately, they’re all currently on duty elsewhere as far as I’m aware.” The woman tilted her head at the question. The expression in her eyes seemed like she was telling the truth despite her nervousness.

The guards on the other hand suddenly tensed up at the question, doubly so when Justeen glanced in their direction.

“Your company keeps their state of the art Soldat’s at this building, correct?” Justeen asked, standing up. Even though they were standing several feet away and behind an entire row of chairs and a counter, the woman still backed up, intimidated. 

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

“Then I presume you're still keeping the same Soldat’s who suddenly went ballistic and attacked our training base here?”

The presentation stopped, with the guards giving each other a quick glance while the Captain’s smile started to fade.

“O-Of course not! As soon as we received word about what happened, we had the Soldat’s dismantled and the pilots responsible punished! That whole ordeal was a terrible incid-”

Justeen slammed her fist on one of the chairs, knocking it over and prompting the guards to reach for their pistols.

“The slaughter we saw that day can't be passed off as just an incident! The screaming, the singing…! Not only are those trainees dead, but so are your precious goddamn products!”

“That’s enough, Justeen.” Alana raised his hand, looking at the guards who still had their guns drawn at the lieutenant. “She isn’t the one responsible for what happened…At least, not directly.”

The guards turned their attention onto Alana.

“Six months ago, we were told that we’d receive further information about what happened that day within due time. Am I to believe that a company as great as Dyson still hasn’t found the answer?”

“Sir,” One of the guards spoke up, pointing his pistol at Alana. “I think it’s time for you two to leave.”

Alana simply sighed and stood up, adjusting his collar.

“I suppose it is. Let’s start wrapping things up.”

One of the vents suddenly swung open as a figure in black dropped down and grabbed the left guard, disarming him and choking him out with an arm tightly wrapped around his neck. The other guard never had time to register what was happening before Justeen knocked the pistol out his hand, and slammed her fist into his face, knocking him out instantly.

The woman let out a yelp before quickly covering her mouth, her eyes growing wide as more figures dressed in black with vests and goggles leapt down from the open vent, carrying SMGs in their hands. The soldiers hand-signaled to each other as they began cuffing the guards.

“Like I said ma’am,” Alana continued as he put his hands behind his back. “We know you’re not directly to blame, but all that being said, we’re going to need you to answer as many questions as you can. What exactly is happening here?”

Justeen and a soldier approached the woman, but gently gestured for her to stand down and allow them to cuff her. Tears welled up in her eyes but she silently nodded as she was forced down, and had her hands behind her back.

“I-I only know that we’ve been getting rid of information and files before you all arrived! I was told by my manager we were supposed to hurry, and I swear to god that’s all I know!”

One of the soldiers approached the captain.

"Sir, security systems are offline. They're completely in the dark."

Alana calmly nodded and turned to Justeen.

“Take a squad and find our inside-man. I’ll find out anything else that I'm able to.”

“Yes, sir. Bravo, with me!”

Justeen grabbed both the security guards’ pistols, one for her, the other to a soldier. Clicking the safety off, her and a group of four departed the room silently. Alana stepped towards the woman and got on one knee as one soldier sat the woman upright.

“Do you know what information you’ve been disposing of, ma’am?”

====

Sweat ran off of Doctor Moreau’s head, but she did not bother wiping it off. She stood inside the surgery room, though this time there was no patient on the operating table. She hurriedly typed several confirmations onto the keyboard as a progress bar appeared on the screen. Another scientist quickly opened the door, scaring her but quickly readjusted herself.

“Moreau, are the files deleted yet? Florence Military reps have already arrived!”

“What?! Why are they- Er, yes I’m deleting them right now.”

“Good, we need to hurry and transfer the generation two EH’s offsite.”

“I’ll be right behind you. I must approve a few more deletions.”

The scientist nodded at her answer and departed. When the door closed again, the doctor sighed in relief. The progress bar showed ‘Data Transfer Complete’ before she unplugged a small flash drive. She opened a screen and confirmed who was on the list of transferring out of headquarters. There were twelve, and only twelve, generation two enhanced humans. Though she recognized every number, there was one that she specifically was looking for. 

“916,” Moreau whispered to herself. He had the generation one chip implanted into him and was to undergo surgery procedures directly after 403, but he was put off the queue due to unforeseen complications with 403. Before she could recall the horror she witnessed that day, she put her mind back to the present. No one would remember any of the atrocities committed here if she failed to act now. Seeing the radio beside her reminded Moreau exactly why she was doing this. Taking the tape out of the radio, she put it in her pocket. Finally clenching the flash drive in her hand, she closed the screen and left the implant surgery room.

Moreau entered the hallway and found where the scientist had gone. Quickly and quietly following after them, she saw the sign of the door. ‘Enhanced Human Testing’. Her breathing shortened as she stepped forth and saw the row of twelve children standing completely still, staring blankly into space even as she walked in front of them. The scientist stood in front of a door, trying to swipe his card through a reader. He turned when he heard Moreau enter, but turned his attention back to the door.

“Ah, there you are. Help me with this door, it’s not accepting my credentials for some reason!”

The doctor checked outside and looked both ways down the hallway. Security personnel were too busy escorting out the higher ups and scientists, and no one would dare interfere with their work. Perfect.

“Here, let me try.” Moreau said as she grabbed a wrench.

The scientist turned around only to be met with a wrench to his head, dropping on the floor and twitching. Moreau turned around and saw the kids did not even budge an inch despite the apparent mutiny. It disgusted her all the more how detached they were, and that she was the cause of it. 

“916, step forward.” She commanded, though she did not need to find out where he was. She could see him already, but it was more to give her some precious few seconds to brace herself for what was coming.

916 did as she commanded, stepping forward without so much as blinking. He was eight, with dark blue hair and even darker violet eyes, standing much shorter than the other children. Everyone in the room wasn’t wearing a shirt and so Moreau could see the wires that protrude from their spines and into their chests. Their number designations were written onto their necks so that in the event they were killed, they could easily be identified and brought back to examine their combat data.

“What’s the status of your behavioral inhibitor chip?” Moreau questioned as she ran over to the terminal behind them, plugging in the same flash drive into a port.

“No anomalies detected.” The child replied emotionlessly. He did not sound that different from the company’s robotic greeting voice. Hearing his voice made Moreau cringe, her fists balling up in frustration. Another reminder of what she’s done.

“Your memories are unaffected?”

“No ma’am.”

“Recite the incident report of EH-403 on August 12, 1164.”

“EH-403 after Implant surgery displayed signs of communicating with other generation one EH’s, despite it being only possible when conscious. This caused a neural degradation of the pilots mind and due to negligence from maintenance, were left unrepaired. This caused her and other generation one EH’s to go rampant on a Florence Government training facility, leading to the recall  and termination of all twenty four generation one pilots and accelerated production of generation two. EH-916 was excluded due to his extensive data for the generation two pilots.”

Moreau was pained to remember what exactly happened, but was relieved that the files she hid away hadn’t been discovered. The accident was supposed to be scrapped and erased from history, but after what she saw in the hangar the day of her surgery, she couldn’t just forget it. 

“That Captain better be good on his word…” She muttered to herself while searching for any other information that could condemn Dyson.

She brought up screens that displayed the status of every generation two Enhanced Humans, their inhibitor chips registering as operating within normal parameters. She moved to put in the command to disable them all before stealing another glance at 916. He remained completely still, not even turning his head to the moaning scientist on the floor. Neither did any of the children next to him.

“If you can still be given a normal life, then I can make up for at least just a little for what I’ve done to you all.” Clenching her fists as the progress bar on the screen began, Moreau wiped away a tear that threatened to fall down her right cheek. Of all the kids she had augmented, only twelve might be saved today. If only she could turn back the clock and save every single generation one child, she thought to herself.

Double checking the files she began to read the report of the termination of all EH’s of generation one. Corporate wanted them taken off site due to the true nature of generation one EH’s and away from the public eyes of the employees. However, during the transport to one of many remote bases, communication was suddenly cut off. When security arrived to investigate, the vehicles in charge of the transfer were completely obliterated, and robotic limbs were strewn everywhere, far more than they could count. Explosion marks and bullet casings littered the scene, though it appeared there was no attack from the outside. Even when they attempted to scan them, they couldn’t properly register whose remains belonged to the correct owner. 

The higher ups attributed it to the machines destroying themselves conveniently, and ultimately were able to save far more money than paying engineers and scientists to break them down. And in a strange way, she was thankful they decided to do no further investigation. That meant 916 could find them. His communication chip that allowed him to contact his fellow EH’s could possibly find the-

…No. That wasn’t 916’s decision. He needed to be free, just like the rest of the kids with him.

Moreau turned to face him again, and still he did not move. Once the behavioral chips were disabled, it was up to them to do whatever they wanted. The progress bar on the screen flashed green, Moreau typing in a password and almost slammed the keyboard when it asked her to disable the chips. The other children in the room blinked several times before they looked around, confused. They turned to each other, then to 916 who remained unaffected, then finally to Moreau.

“...You’re free. All of you, you’re free. Find the Florence government soldiers, they’ll get you out of here safely, and avoid Dyson security!” Moreau sounded as if she were about to break down in tears, seeing the lights in their eyes slowly return as they got a better sense of their surroundings. The tiny patter of their feet was the only sound as they quickly left, one of them pulling on the arm of 916 who only turned his head blankly.

“He’ll join you shortly, go!” Moreau commanded. The child tilted their head in slight confusion before leaving him behind. Since 916 was intended to be a generation one Enhanced Human, his chip was far more primitive than the others. While theirs could be remotely triggered, 916’s had to be manually removed. Making sure no one could take control of their lives again, Moreau entered a kill command on the terminal and deleted all the relevant files, making sure her flash drive only contained the data of their reports and not any of the commands. 

“916, follow me,” she calmly said, going to the implant surgery room as 916 tagged along.

====

The main hangar was bustling with activity, with white Soldats covered in blue and gray stripes detaching a fuel pipe from a plane as the hangar doors opened to reveal a massive runway. The Soldats were Dyson standard issue, their bulky legs stomping around the concrete while the compact and slender arms put the pipe away and reached for large rifles that fit into their hands. Their horned box-like heads were slowly moving left to right, examining their surroundings. The voices emitting from the machines were distinctly adults, shouting to get the plane moving as soon as possible. Their visors shone a bright blue that showed every single one of them was ready for a fight.

President Sumner did not care about the Soldats he had seen hundreds of times before guarding him, and muttered several obscenities underneath his breath as the plane door opened, many security personnel stepping out of his way.

“What the fuck do we pay high security wages for if you can’t even detect a single government vehicle arriving?!” He shouted at the chief of security.

“Sir, we can’t seem to contact our outside teams. I think it’s possible that-”

“I don’t want conjecture, I want definitive answers, god damn it! Have we deleted all the files yet?!”

‘Yes sir, we have.”

“Good, now get us out of here before they suspect something already!”

The security chief was about to ask about the remaining staff inside headquarters, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he knocked twice on the pilot’s cabin, signaling for them to take off. The president sighed as he sat in one of the chairs as he felt the plane begin to slowly move forward.

“This is just a political shitstorm waiting to happen. Well captain, I’ll be long gone by the time you-”

President Sumner was rocked out of his thoughts as the entire plane shook violently, making many members shout out in terror while security struggled to remain still. The sounds of gunfire erupted around the plane before several of the Soldats were hit by single shots, many of them falling completely onto the ground while some had their arms blown away and remained still, looking as shocked as the others who weren’t in the bipedal machines.

“Put your weapons down!” An unfamiliar yet commanding voice shouted, loud enough for everyone outside and inside headquarters to hear. “Under authority of the Florence Military Police, we hereby place everyone working under Dyson Incorporated under arrest for the crimes of kidnapping, illegal incorporation of government assets, and bribery! Put your weapons down and surrender peacefully, we are authorized to use force!”

Several Soldats came into view with headlamps bright enough to overpower even the runway lights, all colored in a dark brown and seemed far bulkier than Dyson’s machines who were skimpily armored in comparison. They had no such colored stripes to make them stand out, with the only color separation being their joints connecting each armor piece and limb. Everything about the machines were far more compact and looked as if they could take a beating, though they stood a meter shorter than Dyson’s Soldats. Their head visors were all one large piece of red glass, staring down every company employee.

“I am not being caught by a bunch of federal dogs! ORDER THE MEN TO ATTACK BACK!” The president shouted. With a single nod, the chief of security reached for his transceiver and spoke calmly.

“Fire at will.”

With a single command, the Soldats in the room raised their weapons to open fire, before getting completely shredded by concentrated and disciplined shots, each nailing them straight through the cockpit in the chest or exploding limbs apart. Machines fell to the floor as parts of the plane were caught by Dyson Soldat stray fire, and came tumbling down with all the people inside screaming as it did so. The empty field and hills surrounding Dyson headquarters suddenly became a warzone, with the company deploying their Soldats from the hangars and hidden bunkers that emerged from the ground, some of them getting shot as soon as they appeared.

Florence Soldats emerged from hiding on top of the hills as they aimed their shots carefully at the flailing security mechs, some of the company stray fire hitting the headquarter building, shattering glass and steel and sending it tumbling towards the ground floor. Several of the Dyson Soldats emerged with grenade launchers and fired them at the hills, causing dirt and rocks to soar upwards into the air and onto the already stained machines. Though a few of the Florence Soldats were caught by the explosions and gunfire, they were shot wildly and mostly into the heavily armored parts, letting them shrug it off and continue firing.

“Shit, where did they come from?!” One of the Dyson guards shouted over the comms.

“Don’t fire wildly, dumbasses! Shoot carefully, you’re hitting our own damn building!”

“How did our radar not pick them u-?!” Another one was cut off as a well placed shot went straight through the guard’s cockpit. The machine’s finger was still attached to the trigger as it fell down, the bullets hitting and forming a line of damage across the windows of the upper section of the building.

Compared to the Florence Soldats, the guards were panicking as they aimed wildly and spun around, only landing shots on their enemy’s armor or their own building they were supposed to protect. The soldiers slowly closed in the building, making sure each threat was eliminated one at a time, whether it was by a disabling or a lethal shot. The soldats marched rigidly, the heavy thump of their machinery echoing across the battlefield. The Dyson guards attempted to dodge but were taken out easily as their Soldats moved in straight lines firing wildly, or were just standing completely still. One of the soldiers who was examining the battlefield from a distance with a pair of electronic binoculars just clicked his tongue. 

“Aren’t these supposed to be the people who made ‘top of the line’ Soldats or whatever crap they were spouting?”

The soldier next to him just shrugged as he looked back to their own mechs who were kneeling and out of sight. Many more APC’s and Florence Soldats stood behind them, ready to engage if the need arrived.

“They’re a corporation, those guys are probably just paid to tell people they’ll shoot if someone gets too close. Besides, what do you expect when you have Special Forces executing the operation?”

“Heh, explains the bullying I’m seeing…Wait, a sec, the hell are Special Forces doing here, shouldn’t this have been left to us grunts?”

“Apparently it’s got something to do with the nature of the pilots…Hang on, we’re getting the signal to secure the front entrance. Looks like the guards near there are taken care of.”

‘Roger, let’s go.”

====

“Warning! Warning! Facility under attack, evacuate to the nearest shelter immediately. Follow Security personnel and instructions. Warning-”

Moreau’s ears rang as she felt blood rush down her head, brushing aside some of the glass and bits of rubble off her. Inside the surgery room was now a massive hole that revealed the chaos going on outside. She moved to stand up but felt her leg immediately give out. Looking downwards, there was a massive piece of shrapnel that was embedded into the flesh, making her scream in pain as she tried to touch it. Her eyes went wide as she turned to the operating table where 916 was laying. The right part of his head had his scalp visible with the hair surrounding it shaved off, revealing where the behavioral chip was put inside. 

While there were scrapes and minor bleeding around his body, thankfully none of the equipment landed on him and was instead scattered around the floor. He was still knocked out from the anesthesia, but she couldn’t tell how long they were knocked out for. Hopefully the blast hadn’t just killed him, but she had no way to check since the terminal was in pieces on the floor.

“If we stay here any longer, we’re going to die! I’m not waiting around for the Florence soldiers…!” With the adrenaline pumping into her body, she stood up despite the burning pain overwhelming her leg and the rest of the body screaming in agony. She went to pick up 916’s small frame into her arms and rushed towards the hallway and to one of the hangars meant for the Enhanced Humans. 

Limping across the halls for nearly ten minutes and leaving a trail of blood, Moreau was able to carry 916 and almost to the door before another explosion rocked the building and caused parts of the walls to collapse. Almost dropping them and slamming against the wall she yelped in pain as she felt a sharp stinging pain near her abdomen. Looking down and she realized it wasn’t just her leg that had shrapnel, there were more pieces jutting out the sides of her stomach. When she recognized that, she almost dropped to the floor again, but she clenched her teeth with tears of pain flooding down. She couldn’t stop here, not now.

Slamming the door open into one of the backup hangars, inside were multiple Dyson Soldats, specifically meant for the generation two pilots. Feeling her strength slowly sap, she activated the elevator to bring them up to the cockpit and had it opened, putting 916 inside. Looking at their scalp, her fingers slowly reached for the chip’s handle and gave it a gentle tug. This was the last step that required her presence.

916 slowly opened his eyes and blinked repeatedly, looking downward and recognizing that he was in the cockpit of a R1-N0. And in front of him was Doctor Moreau, who was bleeding profusely and coughing up blood. 

“...Doctor, you’re dying,” 916 said, his voice slightly rising above the usual monotone she was used to. She smiled at that. He was able to make his own decisions now.

Cough “I know. Seems a bit too good for me, doesn’t it?” Her bloodied hands first crushed the implant chip, causing even more blood to fall out before it fell limp, Moreau laughing weakly.

“You’ll experience some dizziness after a few days but the symptoms will subside. The rest of your combat chips will remain in you since I wasn’t able to get it out in time.”

“They took longer because I’m an older model.-”

“Don’t…Don’t say that. You’re more than just a product…”

916 did not say anything else as her hand struggled to get up. 916 moved his hand to help her, but she shoved his arm away. Before she fully got up, she reached for something in her pocket and tossed it to 916.

“This is…” 916 looked at the tape with the word ‘Sing’ written on it. “403 showed me this song.”

“It’s yours. If there’s anything positive leaving here, I want it to come with you.”

“What are my orders?”

“Hah…you’re free, why are you asking-”

“I do not know how to act freely. I only know my orders.”

Again she laughed, though this time it was barely audible. She smiled at him, the blood seeping from her head, stomach, and lips. A sight that would startle anyone else, 916 only blinked in mild confusion. They both remained silent as the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed distantly outside the hangar, soft rumblings occurring every other few moments.

“Death really is too good for me…Your orders are these: get the hell away from here as fast as you can. Don’t trust any Dyson employee. Live your life to the fullest, and don’t waste this chance…”

Moreau fell to her knees as she closed the cockpit, the tactical screens coming to life and 916 felt his spine connect to the chair, the suit suddenly springing upwards. The main camera displayed in front of him, and he could see the doctor on the floor, curled up as the life signs on her began to fade. The hand of his Soldat slowly raised upwards and picked her up, as if to comfort the dying woman. Moreau looked up and saw the horned head staring right at her. She did not even need to see the cockpit open to know what his face was like. She threw her blood soaked lab coat with the flash drive safely tucked into its pocket and threw it away from the Soldat.

“...If you can…Put the tape inside the right console. I’d…like to listen to it, one more time…”

916 grunted in affirmation, though she couldn’t hear that. The right console in the cockpit stored his communications and had a slot that could contain mission data. And at Moreau’s request, it could also fit small tapes in the odd event of classified data needing to be stored more subtly. The very idea of it was quite strange to him, but he decided to go along with it…Did he always think of it that way? He had been inside the R1-N0 on at least twenty different deployments, yet he swore he never had an opinion about it before.

The Soldat began to broadcast a tune that echoed throughout the entire hangar. What 916 did not realize was that he had the song on an open channel, meaning everyone in the vicinity could hear it as clearly as he did.

‘Sing, sing a song Let the world sing along~’

====

Many Florence Soldats stopped their firing and turned to their comms, frowning and trying to find the source of the music.

“The hell is this?” “Is that music?” “I think I know this song.” “Sir, the source is coming from inside the building!” “Didn’t this play at the training site…?!”

‘Sing of love there could be Sing for you and for me~’

The Dyson guards suddenly snapped around towards the direction of an unopened hangar, many of them trembling in their cockpits.

“It’s…It’s that fucking song again!” “Weren’t the EH’s taken care of?!” “G-GUNS READY! FORGET ABOUT THE FEDS!” “Oh god, please no…!”

‘Sing, sing a song Make it simple to last Your whole life long~’

Alana and several soldiers looked at the intercom, listening to the music playing as they secured the main lobby. Many of the employees looked frightened at the song while the kids they were escorting suddenly started humming along, albeit emotionlessly.

“What’s happening…?” Alana thought to himself, a sense of dread suddenly washing over his calm battle instincts.

‘Don't worry that it's not Good enough for anyone Else to hear~’

Justeen and a squad burst through a door with a blood trail coming out of it and found a singular Dyson Soldat blasting music, with a scientist slowly bleeding in its hand. The head seemed to be moving in sync with the music, but did not appear to be hostile despite the fact it saw them.

“Shit, is that our man?” Justeen grumbled, pointing her pistol at the Soldat.

‘Just sing, sing a song

(Just sing, sing a song)

Just sing, sing a song’

916 wasn’t smiling as he listened to the song, but it made him feel at ease. A few years ago, 403, her brother, and several other generation one pilots listened to this song together in the waiting rooms. It made those nights much more bearable, being able to ignore the cold of the facility simply by just having sung together. Pleasant. That was not a word he had used in a while. Cold, feeling at ease, many other feelings 916 did not know the words for, but it made him feel something. All he felt was beginning to overwhelm his senses. 916 called to memory about 403’s brother after listening to the song. He had asked a simple question.

‘La la la la la—’

The song stopped as 916’s battle instincts kicked in and he slammed his right fist against the communications console…Then, a feeling he did know the word for, though it was the tip of his tongue. He remembered the words 403 asked that had caused the incident, what had caused the guards to open fire and hit the trainee center, what had caused all the generation one members to go rampant. What had taken his only friends away. He always knew the feeling, and thanks to Moreau he had remembered. It was thanks to Moreau, those feelings were taken away in the first place.

His facial expression remained unchanged, but his pupils dilated as the hud in front of him showed a rise in heartbeat. He finally remembered the name for the feeling. Anger. 

He finally remembered the question. 

“...Doctor Moreau. Is there heaven?” 916 asked.

“...Isn’t that voice coming from the Soldat?” One of the soldiers next to Justeen asked. The Soldat’s head was looking at the doctor, and finally the squad began connecting the dots.

“...Is…Is that a child?!” Justeen asked, her mind fully comprehending the horror that was unfolding itself.

“All 403 wanted was just an answer…” 916 stated, his heartbeat spiking further up.

“...Isn’t that voice coming from the Soldat?” One of the soldiers next to Justeen asked. The Soldat’s head was looking at the doctor, and finally the squad began connecting the dots.

“...Is…Is that a child?!” Justeen asked, her mind fully comprehending the horror that was unfolding itself.

“All 403 wanted was just an answer…” 916 stated, his heartbeat spiking further up.

“ONE OF THOSE GEN ONE FREAKS IS IN THE SOLDAT!” A Dyson guard shouted in the comms channel. A channel that everyone could hear. 916’s violet eyes quickly turned to red as a deep robotic voice echoed within the machine. 

“CE-DRIVE ACTIVATED.”

Justeen saw the visor of the Soldat turn scarlet as the fist suddenly clenched, making a sickening crushing noise as blood gushed and seeped through the fingers. The head jerked towards the hangar door as the Soldat crouched, then ignited its thrusters to crash through it.

Both sides witnessed the speed of which an unopened hangar suddenly burst with a Dyson Soldat, shrapnel flying through the ground and shattering the silence and door alike. Its visor was completely red and it was unarmed, making it stand out from its fellow machines. The head suddenly jerked again towards one of the Dyson guards and leapt with an unnatural agility.

It landed on top of the Dyson Soldat it singled out, one of its hands quickly reaching through the chest and tearing out its cockpit and stomping on it like a wild beast. The guards began to open fire with their rifles, but not before it quickly used its thrusters to speed away from the gunfire, no one able to land their shots anywhere near it. The Florence Soldats quickly stepped back and watched in horror as this lone Dyson Soldat tore through its own ranks.

“S-Sir what the hell is that?!” One of the horrified Florence soldiers shouted, narrowly dodging one of the stray shots. “No way that’s just a guard!”

“That thing’s way too bulky to be moving around like a human! How the-?!” 

“Pull back, pull back!” The officer commanded, everyone trying their best to get out of the way.

916 felt the electric surge throughout his whole body, his spine connected to the R1-N0 enhanced his awareness, his combat performance, but also his emotions. Though his face did not change,  his rapid breathing, the dilating pupils and the rush of adrenaline told him exactly what to feel. Rage. Rage against the ones who took the lives of his friends. Of his own. 

916’s R1-N0 crashed straight into another of the Dyson guards, using their mech to block incoming bullets, most of the bullets bouncing off the armor as he sped towards another guard. Putting its fist through the cockpit and the other at the waist, 916 tore the machine in half. He threw the upper half aside and used its legs as a bludgeoning weapon, completely caving in the torso of the one shooting and slid past it. From the perspective of everyone else, he had just accomplished that feat within ten seconds.

 He felt blood rushing down his nose, as his breathing became more frantic and rapid. Though there was combat data rushing into his brain, he was not using a single bit of it, instead relying on pure instinct to tear them apart and escape. Grabbing one of the rifles on the ground, the R1-N0 hurtled towards the back of the headquarters and fired single shots at the main cameras of the suits, disabling them and causing them to panic and shoot wildly. The soldiers would deal with them first before getting to him. The part of him that wanted to ask why there were soldiers even present was buried by the one telling him he needed to flee.

Many of the soldiers got out of the way as the R1-N0 destroyed every single Dyson Guard, though many of them realized it was actively ignoring their presence. Or rather, it did not seem to care if they were there at all.

916 hurtled down the open field and towards one of the hangars that was opening and revealed two more Dyson guards. Inside was an emergency tunnel that would lead towards the border of the country and outside of Florence jurisdiction in case of emergencies of being found out. The guards had no chance to even react before 916 slammed into one of them, slamming the finger on the gun’s trigger at the other’s cockpit and making sure to hit the generator inside with its hail of bullets, causing it to create a miniature explosion. 

The way behind him caved in with rocks and metal falling as he grabbed the mech he slammed into, using its body to block the tunnel and used the remaining ammo to detonate the other guard in the same manner. There was a small bus traveling through the middle, which he could only assume were scientists and soldiers, and barrelled right through them, sending the machine toppling and into the railing on its side. 

916’s breathing finally started to stabilize as his consciousness began to fade, his eyes turning back into violet. His eyes struggled to remain open as the autopilot initiated, and kept driving forward.

…

David had just received word about some kind of skirmish happening at the borders of Florence and Cumbria, and was sent alongside his PMC to ensure it would not break out into Cumbria. David’s dark skin glistened in the sun, his muscles almost ripping out of his tank top, brushing back his brushed up black hair. He almost felt insulted that he was hired for such a boring job. He sighed to himself as he and the other mercenaries stood outside their Soldats, standing around doing nothing.

Each of their Soldats was unique, David’s was a glorified tank with arms, standing only a meter taller than an actual tank, but was engineered to have a head, massive battle cannons mounted on the shoulders, and machine guns on the arms. Part of him wondered if some crackhead designed the thing, but he couldn’t deny how effective it was. Meanwhile, the men serving under him were Florence Military Soldats salvaged from black markets and empty battlefields, but with markings and mismatched armor plates to set them apart. Was it the best? Hell no, not by a long shot, but it’d get the job done. Especially an uneventful border patrol like this.

“Boss, think any actions gonna come to us?” One of the younger voices spoke out.

“Psh, if we’re lucky,” David replied. “But you know what happens if some shit does show up. Florence is gonna cry bloody murder it ain’t them who’s breaking the treaty. Probably gonna blame it on people like us.”

“To be fair boss, not exactly untrue.” A female voice chimed in.

“Heh. Didn’t say we weren’t to blame.” David replied, chuckling. 

He sat on the side of his Soldat, his legs hitting the tank tread as he contemplated what to even do with the money they would get from this job. On one hand, it was easy enough to where even the rookies could do it in their sleep. On the other, said rookies would have zero experience in case an actual fight broke out- Something in the distance caught his eye. The ground was slowly starting to move upwards, revealing a large metallic door.

“...What in the-?” David muttered to himself, raising an eyebrow. The other mercenaries saw the same thing, and immediately got into their cockpits and aimed their weapons at it. Getting into his tank Soldat, he aimed the cannons right at the door.

“No one fire until my go!” David shouted into his comms, his finger ready on the trigger.

What the hell was Florence doing? If they launched an actual invasion there’s no way both sides would not resort to firing everything they got in response- His thoughts were cut off as the door had a noticeable clang ring out from behind it. Something very heavy just collided into the door, but it did not seem to have an intention to come out. Two of the mercenaries slowly approached it, moving as tactically as they could as their machines moved to pry the doors open while having their weapons still at the ready.

When they finally opened it, everyone braced themselves for an attack, only to find a single R1-N0 Soldat standing on the opposite side, the white armor completely stained in dirt and blast marks. The notorious blue visor it had was flickering between black and red. It then shut off for good as it collapsed onto its back, causing a small dust cloud to form and stain the white even further.

David scanned the Soldat and saw that its systems had gone completely offline. The two mercenaries by the door checked inside and saw nothing. Nothing on their scanners for miles on end, and with two diverging paths at the end of it. There was no telling where it came from. The female merc got out of her Soldat and investigated the cockpit. Her eyes went wide as she reached for her earpiece.

“Boss there’s a kid in the seat!” She shouted right before going to grab the child out of it. 

The other mercenaries surrounded the area to make sure an ambush wasn’t waiting to happen, while securing the perimeter. David stepped out of his Soldat and got a closer look at the child himself. He had a bloodstain below his nose, and his spine was protruding out in a way that made him feel sick, and that was not even including all the wires connecting it and his chest.

“Is he alive?” David asked.

“Think so. Kid looks like he went through hell…”

“Sure looks like it…Are those numbers on his neck?”

“It says…Nine-One-Six…?”

=======

PROLOGUE: END

A/N: HOLY CRAP, you actually reached down here, thank you SO SO much for reading this! I know that was a lot of words thrown at you, but I hope it was at least an enjoyable read! There's a lot more to come, so if you're at all interested in this story, stay tuned! See ya at Chapter 1! - Chris Side note: Chat GPT is HORRIFYING. I used it as a feedback machine to make sure what I was writing was coming across correctly, and it got every one of my intentions correct. Even my foreshadowing. WHAT HAS TECHNOLOGY DONE

#916 #oc story #original story #mecha story #oc scifi story #long post #long chapter

[thechibilitwick]

on their way to go watch the barbie movie!!! ok but now i wanna ramble a bit about soudam movie dates teehee feel free to keep reading

aight ok so gundam has a less strong reaction towards movies (unless it’s animal related, he will then fall to his knees and start monologuing) (or he will start bawling his eyes out if it's sad). kazuichi my boy, on the other hand, is a major pussy. his reactions are always pure and utter raw emotion, if it's scary he will shit his pants, if it's sad he will be a destroyed sobbing mess, etc. etc. it's literally just souda being souda.

gundam's favorite genre is horror, cuz ooh spooky and nice film direction, while kazuichi obv likes action and comedy and what not. (i'd also like to think both of them like animated movies/shows/TV in general, since they probably grew up with it so they bond over that too) gundam's not as fond of comedy but will watch it because he likes seeing kazuichi giggle and laugh and just having fun :,,,,3

kazuichi tries to return the favor by watching horror films with gundam, but unfortunately he always gets scared shitless less than halfway through. but hey, free cuddles!!! i love them SO SO MUCH ARGHHHHHHHHHH i want to squeeze them until they pop /pos

anyways thanks for reading my ramblings here's a lil sonia doodle as a treat

girlboss girly pop

#hiyoko saionji #kazuichi souda #gundham tanaka #soudam #sonia nevermind #danganronpa #hiyoko workibg a minimum wage job at a movie theater #yknow what she’s probably a south park fan ik it has a weird fan following in japan #cartman sympathizer…. #/hj btw #random thought lolz #anyways they’re watching the barbie movie #sonia went to go watch oppenheimer #oh yeah souda definitely stood there in silence for a solid min and finally asked for caramel #then went to go cry in the bathroom #dw gundam comforted him n was like “don't listen to that witch blegh i would eat you if you were popcorn hrrr i mean what” #and then they hug :3 #ok but soudam movie date fluff would be so cute #hiyoko and gundam probably also got some beef going on #i should think of hiyoko a lil more i like more-mature-but-still-a-big-bitch-hiyoko #ok i’m done rambling good bye #oh god i cant fucking SEPLL #spell* #chibi's art/rkgk

[unhinged-comics-scree]

Bravern Ep 9 thoughts! Oh my god this got so long I'm sorry

I think if I was more genre aware the transformation/level up shouldn't be a surprise. I am actually fine having to remake the decal because I had to lift it up to fix how I applied it so its already lifting lol.

I'm glad that the theories are right like, a plot twist that can be predicted via foreshadowing isn't bad plus it helps my "keep shows weekly" fight. I honestly think the ramp up of hint dropping is done well like "oh he has lewis vibes, oh he knows a thing about Lewis, oh here's a direct showcase that they have the same gunpla hobby" (btw I love that they got an actual gundam box artist to do the ones in the show, such commitment to the bit). The final nail in the coffin being the Lewis flashback where his favorite toy looks a whole lot like Bravern.

For how mysterious Deathdrives were for a while, I like that the limbo zone reinforces the kind of importance in passing on on their terms for them. Just like, restating that this is the core motivation for them. Like yeah this is Cunty's goal death but Lewis isn't satisfied yet so he's in their loading zone going like "hey no this isn't right for me". My only complaint is that I wanted whole ass. No glowy cowardice. Full naked and just enough to keep it aired on TV.

The like, entire thing that gets me though is that Isami is now living thinking that Smith is dead. And he like. Is. If we consider the overly uh horny parts of Bravern to be from Cunus then he's not 100% himself in the end. Like he sees himself as Smith but is it wholly him? Like Smith is happy he can protect and save the world and have Isami inside him. But especially with Bravern/Smith being all shady Isami is just going to have to mourn him.

I hope that this makes Lulu get closer to Isami and she ends up revealing it somehow. Ooooor Isami is on such a wavelength with Bravern he figures it out on his own. I just want him to know. Bravern has a mouth to be kissed after all.

I don't have any idea what Lulu is cooking but I wanna see it. I like that she's getting agency which, apparently to Deathdrives, is totally unheard of.

The alternate timeline theories slap. Everyone who is able to point out proper discrepancies between episodes I love you keep it up. I don't have the mental capacity for that. I kind of want to go with "world without Bravern" ED/promotional art stuff to be like, final loop maybe? I don't know what kind of time loop that needs to work but like, maybe he takes Lulu with so he doesn't need Isami and can defeat the Deathdrives really early on.

Which. Interesting thought. Before Cunus' proposal she yeets one of her Lulus but appears to have two spots. Lewis, also a two life form system yeets his Lulu so you'd think the resultant mech is a two life form mech, the Lulu from Cunus + Lewis himself makes it whole but he clearly isn't in top form unless he has Isami. Bravern is also more than a Deathdrive/Special TS so who knows how that maths out.

Ugh okay sorry this got so long congrats on getting this far. I like, clearly don't have anime friends to scream about this irl except my partner who watched me go through the spectrum of "gay sex wins" to crying for Isami.

#sorry I'm flooding the tag so much ;-; #I don't have anime friends irl #bang brave bang bravern spoilers

[toskarin]

this is a bit of rantpost without a real thesis or point

I'm not gonna be too weird about what counts as being a "mecha fan" or what's the right reason to write mecha stuff because like... by a lot of people's standards, VesalBlood is already teetering on the line of what counts as mecha. it's based more around mechabare and john carpenter visuals than, say, ultraman or gundam proper

but at the same time, I do feel a little pang of disappointment at the way that a project I've been chipping away at for as long as I have accidentally aligns with a wave of culture it really didn't emerge from. it looks like it's in a genre that isn't

it's not that I think it's "better" or "more pure" than the whole modern wave of mecha interest, but that I worry it's now much easier to dismiss as a trendhopping piece based around vague ideas osmosed from current pop culture trends than what it actually is: a loveletter to the fantasy biomecha of Aura Battler Dunbine, the sci-fantasy of The Five Star Stories, and the tasteless grindhouse excess of Hirano's Hellsing manga

which unfortunately does mean that it's much more likely to miss the target audience (people who want Lynch's Dune with mecha and gore) and end up in front of an audience that's more likely to be unhappy with certain parts of it (people who are looking for queer narratives set around mecha)

nobody's to blame and it's overall neutral. just kind of an issue of accidentally making something that might not catch the attention of the audience who would enjoy it while pulling the attention of an audience that isn't looking for it

does that make any sense? nothing to be done either way, and I'm not going to discard what I've been working on, but I do need to rethink how I'm pitching it to make sure it's hitting the audience it's for, and that's always a little exhausting

and again, this isn't looking down on the new wave of mecha fans. it's cool to see new blood around, it's just that I have to find a way to make it clear this isn't really being written as like..... good queer representation, or trying to portray romance, even