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potteresque-ire · 2 years

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Commentary ~ Little Red Little Green Episode 29, “The Soup Saga”

Link to original post in Chinese, posted 2022/07/17. Link to official English translation.

(Disclaimer / Notes + Commentary under the cut!)

Disclaimer / Notes:

While the posts by Little Red Little Green (LRLG) are among my most favourite candies, they are also fake rumours, ie, all CPN below!

The English translation linked above is the only one authorised by the Fake Rumour House; therefore, please treat the content below as a very casual, very *unofficial* convo between fellow turtle friends, and please, do not move it from this platform. ❤️💛💚

Episode 29 had an interesting characteristic that hadn’t been apparent in past LRLG episodes — more than being a compilation of often unrelated tidbits of convo, this episode had a story arc buried within these tidbits.

This story arc, which was about Gg travelling to Dd’s place to drink soup, is the focus of the commentary. The translations below, therefore, covers only the relevant parts of the original rumour; the full text can be found in the official translation. Hopefully, though, the “piecemeal” approach here will manage to make the story more clear.

Okay, with all that said *phew* … onto the commentary!

Part 1: The (Not) Seduction, or, in which Dd really, really didn’t care if Gg would come visit

Scene I:

💚: What are you laughing at? 💚: It’s alright, just a little too hot. 💚: Then you go bury himself in the fridge. 💚: * Sighs * (You) have time to play, but don’t have time to come see me. 💚: Fine, don’t come.

Maybe Dd sent Gg some photos from his film set and Gg thought Dd looked funny and started laughing? Anyway, it was hot where Dd was shooting — timing wise, Dd should be working on One and Only, in Hangzhou that was VERY HOT this summer, not just a little. Gg probably complained about being hot where he was as well (Beijing), and Dd helpfully suggested Gg to go bury himself in the fridge (which is, in all fairness, a common enough suggestion to complaints of heat).

Gg must have told Dd about something he had done for fun — timing size, this should be after he had wrapped up the filming of his latest series. Dd * sighed * then and mused, Gg had time to have fun, but no time to visit him. The language-y thing to note about what Dd said here was… in its original Chinese text, he didn’t addressed Gg directly; Chinese syntax allowed him to say what he said without using “you”, which English syntax didn’t. This indirect way of expressing his wish — the direct way would have been “Gg, you come see me” — along with the * sigh *, made Dd sound more sad-puppy than his words might have sounded resentful.

Gg probably explained why he had to stay in Beijing (work obligations, perhaps?) and Dd had to maintain his dignity — how could Gg reject a sad puppy? And so he was like, fine, I don’t care. * insert likely indignant puppy huff here *.

Scene II:

💚: This is probably chicken breast? Or something? It’s got no flavour. 💚: This soup is delicious. 💚: I searched, there are no locations in Beijing. 💚: Well, it isn’t a chain. 💚: Then, why don’t you find time to come here and drink some soup? 💚: Drink soup! So don’t come if you don’t want to drink it.

Dd is never one to give up! The sad puppy-ness failed to work in Scene I; so this scene introduced the second weapon of seduction: food.

From a bystander’s perspective, the food … didn’t sound promising. The original text actually didn’t make clear at all that the flavourless-chicken-breasty-something was * not * part of the supposedly tasty soup. It could’ve been a separate dish, but the first time I read it, I thought the flavourless-chicken-breasty-something was part of the soup. I imagined Dd spooning the meat, having a taste of it while talking to Gg, before finishing the liquid part of the soup.

Personally, I would be suspicious … very, very suspicious about the quality of a soup with flavourless meat-like things floating in it.

But hey, what do I know? Because ...

Gg was interested! (!!!!!) He must have asked about the restaurant the soup was bought from, because Dd claimed the restaurant had no locations in Beijing — it wasn’t a chain. Given the lack of local access to this piece of fine cuisine, didn’t it make complete logical sense, then, for Dd to subsequently ask Gg: would you like to come (to Hangzhou) and try the soup?

Alas, such a logical flow of dialogue Dd had going, and still, it failed to escape Gg that that an ulterior motive might have existed for Dd to make that suggestion. This suspicion by Gg likely led to Dd insisting: Drink Soup! (That’s what you’ll be here for! Visiting me isn’t part of it!) and to preserving his dignity again, with: if you don’t want to drink the soup, then don’t come * insert another likely sad puppy huff here *.

Some c-turtles wondered if Dd could’ve been drinking Hangzhou’s famous 蒓菜湯. Personally, I’m leaning towards a no because 蒓菜 (the green veggie) has an okra-like sliminess, which Dd would likely have noted.

Part 2: Victory!

👨 = TM1 (Team Member 1) 👩 = TM2 (Team Member 2)

👨: (He) can come? 💚: ☺️ (He) can. 👩: How can it be for soup drinking. 💚: It’s just too hot.

Well, apparently, flavourless-chicken-breasty-something tasty soup was gourmet enough to lure Gg over to Hangzhou (reminder: Gg is a picky, picky eater). Gg was coming! How happy was Dd? The smile emoji said it all (Tumblr would not let me post the original emoji, which was very Dd)(Many emojis are very Dd). TM2 pointed out the (VERY) obvious: Gg’s real reason for visiting had nothing to do with the soup. Dd, who just said in Scene 1 that it was just a little hot where he was, suddenly decided then that where he was was too hot ... for his visitor, one can only assume. (Dd, how many pieces of white hair have you gained this summer?)

Part 3: The Very Complex Rituals of Soup Drinking

Gg was in town! Soup drinking, as it turned out, involved much more than spooning flavoured liquid into one’s mouth for these two. The following serves as a sample of what constituted Gg’s and Dd’s Very Complex Rituals of Soup Drinking.

i. Packing a Whole House and Bringing it Over

💚: (You) brought (our) home over. ❤️: I’m bringing you clothes. I’ll take (home) what you have. You keep these. ❤️: Here’s a box of local speciality. XX’s gift. I can’t finish it at home.

Awwww. Imagine Dd’s room piled high with clothes from home and food and everything Gg imagined Dd might need, even if once in a blue moon ... plus “cute” decorations like the “Garlic Q” merchandise.

蒜Q “Garlic Q” (pronounced “Suan Q”) is a near-homophone of the popular internet slang 栓Q (pronounced “Shuan Q”), which is itself the near-homophone of ... believe it or not, “Thank You” in English. When Chinese netizens say 栓Q, they mean “thank you” in a sarcastic way. The near-homophone joke plus the sheer unsightliness of this garlic makes this a very, * very * Gg thing.

ii. Teasing

Soup drinking requires warm-up exercises for the mouth, I suppose?

❤️: Why are you looking at me? 💚: I can’t look? ❤️: Can you get full looking at me? 💚: I can. ❤️: I can’t get full looking at you. I’m hungry.

Those who’ve watched CQL’s BTS and promotional material probably remembers the way Dd always looked at Gg. This tiny piece of convo harks back to that Dd who couldn’t stop looking at Gg, and Gg teased him. “To look at something until the looker is full” is a common phrase in Chinese, meaning to look at something for all it is worth. When that something is someone, it’s strongly implied that that someone is exceptionally attractive. This sentiment — that looking at physical attractiveness can stave off hunger — is an old one: an ancient idiom, 秀色可餐 beauty that can be consumed as meals, describes exactly the same thing.

Now, take what I just said, and interpret what Gg said to Dd in the end (OUCH Gg!!).

(Because Chinese culture isn’t praise-heavy compared to, for example, American culture, Gg’s response is more playful teasing than being mean. In the BTS, as well as other LRLGs, Gg has consistently delayed / withheld expected praises for Dd as a way of play.)

(My parents does the exact same thing to me 😂.)

iii. Spit-fire bantering

Another mouth warm-up exercise for soup drinking ... (Yeah, I know, I know, there are other ways to do mouth warm-ups. We’re keeping this G-rated here, all right? 😛) To preserve the rhythm of the following banter, I’m translating it with minor sacrifices to semantic and grammatical accuracy and instead, with emphasis on the curtness of each line, and the way Gg and Dd mirrored each other in phrasing to keep the pace fast.

💚: What are you doing? ❤️: Secret. 💚: Then I know. ❤️: Know what. You don’t know. 💚: Fine fine fine. I don’t know. ❤️: You real-know or fake-know? 💚: I real-know. ❤️: How do you know? 💚: I just know. ❤️: Then you don’t know. 💚: Right right right. I don’t know. Don’t know. ❤️: What’s wrong with you, young child? 💚: What’s wrong with you, old child? ❤️: I’m leaving. 💚: * laughs * ❤️: You’ve got too much time on your hands. 💚: I’m wrong I’m wrong I’m wrong.

(And here’s the most ... pointless convo I have the honour of posting in this blog.)

iv. Getting Ass-On-Fire Furious

Chinese culinary art is big on the idea of 火候, the amount of fire 火 the chef puts into the dish. Too little, and the food fails to release its fragrance and takes in flavour; too much, and it’s burnt, tough, and its original flavours gone.

So here’s Gg, bringing fire into the soup-drinking rituals ...

👩 = TM2 (Team Member 2)

💚: Why do you keep moving? Move again, and you’ll fall off. ❤️: Ass on fire. 💚: Oh, don’t irk you, right? ❤️: 😒 💚: Still irking. 👩: Why don’t you two research on what to have for dinner? ❤️: I’m full with anger. 👩: If you don’t want to go out, we can buy dinner in advance. ❤️: Let’s eat out. It’s on me, but he’s paying. 💚: I didn’t say it’s on you and you’re paying! ❤️: I can’t stay here any longer. 👩: Me too. 💚: 😳 👩: I’m full already. ❤️: Blame him. 💚: This is blamable? ❤️: Still blaming. 👩: Please call me when dinner’s here. I’m leaving early.

Imagine this scene starting with Gg and Dd on a bench. Dd kept trying to sit closer to Gg; Gg kept scooting away from him.

Gg was. Just. So. Furious. Just look at how dramatic he was! He almost fell off the bench avoiding Dd. He said he couldn’t eat anymore with all the RAGE in him — to be angry, in Chinese, is 生氣, literally, to grow gas, and the original Chinese text had Gg said that he was full because of all that angry gas inside him. He was so angry that Dd was paying for their dinner (while he, Gg, was still the one treating!!) He was so angry, in fact, that he couldn’t stay at the place for a moment longer, and oh, Dd was to blame for everything, including for TM2′s feeling full. Someone else’s digestive state not being a thing that can be blamed on others? Did Angry!Gg care? Nooooo ...

And yet, Dd didn’t sound particularly concerned. Yes, he agreed that Gg was treating but not paying (!!), but he also promised to continue to aggravate Gg (”Still irking”). Even more strangely, TM2, who had to be a subordinate of Dd, ignored Gg’s fury as well, and asked about the logistics of dinner as if the significant other of her boss wasn’t consumed with rage in front of her.

What was going on? Didn’t Gg’s FEELINGS (TM) matter?

To understand the depth, the chilli-heat that was Gg’s anger, we must hear it from the man himself. No better understanding could be gained than really, truly, fully listening, and appreciating the description he gave to his own ire.

屁股冒火. Literally, flames emitting from the butt. Ass-on-fire.

That was intense.

And that … was yet another popular internet meme. The full phrase was 屁股冒火別惹我 or 屁股帶火別惹我 Ass on fire; don’t irk me — hence, Dd’s response to Gg, after Gg described his mood. Memes, of course, come with graphics (and the ones Gg likes, ugly graphics), and the memes I found below perfectly capture the hellfire, the blood and brimstone harboured by this phrase:

The price of liking Gg: having to post eye-sores pretending to be memes on your blog.

Frightening, isn’t it? I’m shaking, literally, as I stare at these ... organic rockets (not telling what I’m shaking with). No wonder Dd and TM2 reacted to Gg’s anger the way they did.

One more amusing tidbit about this convo was 👩 TM2’s reactions to the highpoint of Gg’s drama. When Gg claimed he couldn’t stay any longer (he. was. just. so. furious), TM2 said “Me too” and at Dd’s reaction — the description of that emoji 😳 was “flushed” — her response was she was already full, but unlike Gg’s full, her fullness * was * from eating (吃飽; Gg’s full was from 氣飽). While it was possible she had just eaten a snack or a meal, her “Me too” came at a strange place — if Gg had just claimed he couldn’t stay because Dd’s irking was driving him away, then, for TM2 to say “Me too” as the immediate response, she had to imply that something was driving her away as well — hence, Dd’s 😳; it wasn’t an expected response.

But recently-consumed food was hardly capable of driving the consumer away from a scene; TM2 also asked to please call her when dinner arrived, which meant she was still planning to have dinner. Gg’s response “Blame him (Dd)” further suggested that what made TM2 full … might not have been actual food at all, despite it was also something TM2 had eaten.

So, what was it?

In Chinese slang, when a couple was behaving in (nauseatingly) sweet couple-ly ways, it’s called 撒狗糧 — literally, scattering dog chow. And so, some c-turtles postulated that TM2 might have gotten full from such “dog chow”, from watching Gg and Dd interacting the way they had. Hence, Dd’s flushed reaction. Hence, TM2 claiming she had “eaten” herself full — “dog chow”, though figurative, still counted as food. She might have also witnessed the event leading to this convo as well — since Gg didn’t seem to be truly angry but was feigning to be, could it be that Dd had done something … lovey-dovey that had embarrassed him? This hypothesis, therefore, had Gg and Dd themselves driving TM2 away from the scene: she couldn’t stand their xxj 小學雞 style of romance any longer and had to flee 😂.

Why is it called 撒狗糧? Because single people in China have given themselves the self-effacing label 單身狗, literally, single dog. The (not always welcomed) sweetness emitted by couples on days like Valentine’s Day, or 七夕 Qixi, was like alms for these poor single dogs who didn’t have a partner -- since the best alms for dogs are dog chow, such sweetness has been called dog chow and the (un)intentional emission of such sweetness by couples, the scattering of dog chow.

Part 4: The Verdict

Now, after all the complex rituals, the home packing and mouth exercises and the human rocket, what was the verdict? Was the soup worth the visit?

❤️: This soup is delicious? 💚: Oh. It’s not delicious? ❤️: Here. You have a mouthful of it here. 💚: * laughs * ❤️: You lied. 💚: * sad puppy eyes * I didn’t. ❤️: Silly fool. 💚: You scolded me. ❤️: Eat! You liar! ❤️: (You think) Without soup, I wouldn’t come? 💚: This cold dish. It’s refreshingly crunchy. ❤️: Believe you and I’m a fool.

Oh noes! It turned out (SURPRISE!) that the flavourless-chicken-breasty-something soup was not at all delicious!

Gg started this convo with disbelief; what he said could be re-worded as: What? You called this soup delicious? Dd acted surprised in return: What, it wasn’t good? Gg * imagine him stretching himself over the table, feigning to force-feed Dd a spoonful of the liquid with flavourless floating thingies *: Try it. Seriously, you’re telling me this is good?

Dd laughed then, confirming what the audience (and undoubtedly, Gg) suspected all along — Dd had always known that the soup was no good, not really worth a trip. Gg called Dd a liar accordingly, then, 瓜兮兮 — a Chongqing-nese slang meaning silly fool. Finally, he told Dd he would’ve come visit anyway, even without the soup.

Dd, being not only 瓜兮兮 but also rather thick-skinned, went on to recommend another dish, and Gg was like Yeah right, like I’ll believe you again. The literal translation of his exact words is much better though, I’ve got to say, for the grand finale of this saga:

信你個大頭鬼 Believe you big-headed ghost!!

=============

Afterthoughts ~ Why Cultural Background Matters, Etc.

So, that’s the commentary! I hope you enjoyed it. As usual, my interpretation is filtered through my own cultural background, which is different from Gg’s, Dd’s and most likely, LRLG’s.

As an example, being from the Southern Canton region (Hong Kong is geographically within the Canton, or Guangdong province) where soup drinking is HUGE, this adds another layer of chuckle-worthiness to this saga — "come back and drink soup” is most often heard from sad housewives in soap operas to their husbands, usually after said husbands had an affair and it meant, please return home and love me. Cantonese soup is believed to have medicinal properties, and it takes a lot of time and care to brew (there’s a reason why, when Gg needed some sweet soup to fight water retention, he went to a restaurant specialising in Hong Kong cuisine). Coming back to drink soup, therefore, also means accepting that care and love from the soup-maker.

I didn’t incorporate this into the commentary above though, because unless Gg or Dd or LRLG are from the same region, this piece of info isn’t relevant to the reading of this rumour. This is also why, even though I know Chinese, I can’t write a LRLG post even if I try — I don’t know enough relevant cultural info, the norms in habits, reactions, word choice etc for people with the same cultural background as Gg and Dd, to write such a post.

Gg’s last chilli words 信你個大頭鬼 Believe you big-headed ghost!! is another example. Cantonese, the dialect I speak, actually has an extremely similar phrase with the identical Believe you and I’m a fool meaning — 信你個死人頭 Believe you dead person’s head!! The two phrases must have shared a past — the dead person = ghost is there, the head is there.

But they just aren’t interchangeable. (Chongqing liars have bigger heads, maybe?)

In the interest of full disclosure, I shall say this here — I have this gut feeling that the hands behind this episode of LRLG may be different from the ones before. There are lots of similarities in how the material is presented, but there’s also a slight difference in style (the presence of a story arc being one), and also, in the presentation of Gg and Dd that I can’t quite point my fingers to yet. With time, things should become more clear. As LRLG posts are written in the POV of one of Dd’s team members, hands can change — it may be just another team member recalling, arranging the tidbits. This is a reminder, however, that these posts are fake rumours at the end of the day, and should be read as such.

Last of all, LRLG’s posts often end with well-wishes, and Episode 29 was no exception. The first well-wish was Happy Birthday — probably referring to Dd’s birthday (this episode was posted mid-July). The second, meanwhile, was 長樂未央 Long lasting, never-ending joy, a popular well-wish from Han dynasty two thousand years ago (202 BC - 220 AD), during which people would carve these words on their roof tiles as a blessing for their homes:

The tiled roof of Chinese ancient buildings. The circular ends are where the excavated tiles in the lower row, with 長樂未央 carved on them, once fit.

Why am I drawing attention to the well-wishes? They’re often sweet aside, referencing ancient text appears to be a Gg thing too (as much as his very questionable taste in memes) — for those who’re interested, here’s a piece I wrote about the recent Hibiscus candy.

And this love, this respect for ancient Chinese culture, along with everything else in this post (all right, I admit ... including the ugly memes), makes the geek in me very, very happy.

❤️.💛.💚.

#pie metas #lrlg

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scrapyardboyfriends · 10 months

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It was not his decision. The producers said they wanted a shocking twist and that they would be killing him off for a big new story to kick off. He was quite teary talking about it when interviewed.

Anonymous asked: Rishi was axed :( Bhasker said on a TV interview this morning the producer rung him up and told him they were killing him off for a big story and a big surprise.

Aww that's sad that he was axed, especially because Bhasker seems like such a nice guy who really enjoyed the job.

Thinking about it more, I'm really of two minds about it all.

On the one hand, I can commend them for actually making a real decision and taking a risk like this rather than just killing off characters whose actors have quit. I can also commend them for managing to keep this quiet so that it was actually a shock death despite the heavy foreshadowing in the episode.

And I said before, they haven't really known what to do with Rishi for years and without Priya too, he's definitely become more of a spare part but at the same time, he's a more relevant, less dull character than say Harriet who they also axed. And with the story at hand and Jai's impending guilt, it's definitely a death that will be more meaningful than some others. And I think in that sense, it's potentially a good risk to take.

On the other hand, the story to get there is...meh. I mean I've seen it pointed out that this is like the fourth or fifth time they've gone for the whole I'm not your dad it's my brother story and that's totally true. We had Cain be Zak's and not Shadrach's. We had the whole Adam is James's son and not John's and the really stupid story with Amelia being Daz's and not Dan's, which was extra irrelevant. So it's really just an overdone story at this point, which is pretty par for the course with the terrible trio. But it also just feels even more cruel to the characters since they then killed Rishi off without any resolution and I'm sure Jai's guilt over all of this will be exhausting to watch. It sort of feels like shock for shock's sake and cheap drama. It depends on what they do with it.

I can commend them on wanting to build up a non Dingle family, but I feel like this whole story has been rushed and a bit short sighted. Everyone immediately knew the brother twist and that Suni would be Jai's half brother. But like imagine if they'd brought Suni months ago and used him in the Nicky story instead of Ally. We'd have seen Nicky sort of reluctantly start something with Gabby and then meet Suni and hit it off with him and it would be clear that something was happening between them and we could have gotten the gay reveal before the Caleb reveal so you would have been intrigued why he would continue this relationship with Gabby and that would make the Caleb reveal more interesting. Plus we could have really seen the Nicky/Suni relationship develop as part of a larger plot and then try and work things out after it all came out rather than Ally just immediately exiting stage left never to be seen or heard of again. And then we wouldn't have immediately suspected that Suni was Jai's brother.

I don't know. I just think there were ways to rebuild the Sharma family without it having to be a paternity twist. And if they then bring in Suni's dad or Suni's sister than it really does feel like they just cleared out one set of Sharmas (Rishi, Priya, Nikhil) and replaced them with another (Amit, Suni, Nisha) and that's not really building up the family.

Ah well...at least I like Suni as an addition so far. There's that. But I'm sad for Bhasker and I'm not exactly looking forward to Jai's impending grief and guilt spiral and I really hope they don't do to Jai and Laurel what they did to Leyla and Liam after Leanna's death. I want Jai and Laurel to stay together and I don't want anyone to relapse please. We can touch on it, but I can't deal with any more drug storylines for quite a while after the Leyla debacle.

#emmerdale complaints corner

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inazuma-eleven-randomness · 2 years

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Let's talk about

❝Aki Kino/Silvia Woods❞

〘Who is she?〙

Aki Kino (Silvia Woods in EU) is one of the most relevant female characters during Endo's saga and has a minor role in Tenma's.

She was Endo's only friend back in highschool when they started their seconds year, and was the only one that helped Endo found the football club.

Later, we meet two of her friends she had back in EEUU, Ichinose (Erik) and Domo (Bobby), whom she used to play with.

Lastly, she's introduced as Tenma's family.

〘Why is she so important?〙

The real question is: was she irrelevant? Short answer: no.

What is more, I think she's one of the most imporat characters in the first saga.

Thanks to her Endo founded the club. Sure, she wasn't a player, but she brought emotional support when was needed and stayed with Endo till the end.

She wasn't a pasive manager, though. As shown in the first episodes and in the movie, Aki was very strict with the players, especially those who lost all their passion and were too lazy to practice with the captain. She also cared about the players’ problems and was willing to prepare them food to boost their energy.

Let’s not forget when she, Haruna and Natsumi stole Zeus’ water (better shown in the game) to help the team, showing her determination to help when needed.

〘Underrated character ruined by romance〙

In the first games we explore her as a individual: she has her motives, her emotions, her feelings. She cares about her friends and teammates, willing to do anything to help them, showcasing her strong but soft personality (a balance between Natsumi and Haruna).

However, in the second game she losses her importance. Well, the three managers lose it due to new characters being introduced. And here comes the main problem: the romance.

It's an open secret that Aki has feelings for Endo, and that's lovely, I actually ship it. In the first games (better done in the anime) she dind't rely too much in them, witch is fine, we need more female leads whose motivation isn't only romance!!

The problem is that in the second game she becomes a jelousy/second option character for Endo with Toko in the scene. Eventhough it's said that she hasn't romantic feelings for him, we can see her (Natsumi too) silently fighting for Endo's attention.

This got worse in the last season with Fuyuka being the new interest for Endo. The only good thing they did was returning her backstory with Ichinose and Domo, sadly, there were just a few chapters.

〘INEGo! dissapointment 〙

When I saw Aki as Tenma's distant familiar I was happy.

Firstly because I thought she was with Endo. Yes, I'm angry that they developed her character around him, but if you had given me a romance between this two I expect them to be together.

But no! He ended marriying the girl that wanted him to close the football and was sure he was going to lose (at least at the beginnig).

At least she has Ichinose, but he's abroad.

She just eneded up losing. First, her individuality, and lastly, her happiness. Aki is only used to care about the main character. The only good thing about this is that Tenma actually sees her as a mentor and searches for her advice when needed.

Also, they could have introduced her to the rebellion. Given her persona it would make so much sense, but not even that!

〘Final thoughts〙

She was introduced as an important female character and was an emotional support during the beginning to the team (mostly Endo).

But the way she was treated as the time passed was sad. (⁠｡⁠•́⁠︿⁠•̀⁠｡⁠)

Her character could have given so much more in the later seasons! (⁠´⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠ω⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠｀⁠)

#inazuma eleve go #inazuma 11 #inazuma eleven #inazuma city #inazumaeleven #silviawoods #aki kino #letstalkabout #character analysis #opinion

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bugtransport · 1 year

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okay here are my feelings on aggretsuko but just like. season 5 on it's own because i didn't have the time to rewatch any of the previous show before seeing it which means that i'm viewing it as way more stand alone. enjoy

EDIT SORRY THAT WAS A LIE. i talk about season 3 haida here too

HMMM. hmm. i both liked and didn't like it. i feel like season 3 and 4 were so off the shits that this felt kind of weak in comparison... it felt like the story that they wanted to tell was kind of hampered by the episode length. in the previous season we've gotten time to expand on side characters and such and even when haida became more of a main character we still had checkins with the rest of the crew but that really didn't happen at all this season. we rarely saw retsuko at work. that's so foundational to the series? i enjoyed the stuff with haida and i liked being able to see his family dynamics but there were so many things that got teased and just never followed up on.

one of those that stuck out to me was when haida and retsuko went to go visit retsuko's family and retsuko's dad cropped haida out of the picture he took of them together and that just... wasn't mentioned at all afterwards besides one comment from fenneko like "oh lol your dad hates haida" and the fact that at the end of the show they all took a photo together with haida in it? i think they were trying to set up some kind of parallels between retsuko's and haida's family especially given the scale of the problems that both of them have with their respective parents and the fact that both of them impact the election plot somewhat, with retsuko's parents not giving her the deposit and haida having to run his gf against his brother, but they never really seemed to dive into that contrast. it just kind of existed.

i enjoyed the haida character stuff that we got, i think it was fun to see him struggle a bit and get in touch with a part of society he really didn't have contact with before and the weird passing friendships that he made with the people in the netcafe seemed realistic. it reminded me of the time right after i moved out of my parent's home and that's all i'm going to say on that matter. love a good family failure oldest son! it was fun seeing him talking with grocery store coworkers. i think what aggretsuko does really well is managing to nail the weird parts of the not-really-friends relationships that you have with people in your life. [tarou voice] you know, the bonds between people.

but again, touching on the bonds between people, the focus on the haida character things really came at the cost of a lot of the people that retsuko hung out with. gori and washimi were only seen like what, 4 times maybe? and they've been there from the beginning. tsunoda had only a couple moments of relevance, kabae learning the gossip about retsuko and haida had no real consequences, everyone else just felt kind of thrown in there as like a "look, we didn't forget about them!" fenneko even felt kind of pushed to the side once retsuko found out that haida had been living in the netcafe. shikabane was interesting as a retsuko parallel at the end but she just kind of disappeared partway through the season... honestly yeah it felt rushed it felt like they were trying to fit two seasons in one it felt like they were trying to do an A and B plot setup like they normally do but both of the plots were A plots actually and it left no room to breathe.

i miss season 3 haida and his worldwrecking feelings, his obvious ass just going through the wringer as he keeps trying to cope; he REALLY felt like someone having a crush and trying to ignore it and move past it and it's just not working. that one scene where he was thinking about choosing between inui and retsuko and he takes a step back reflexively and looks over his shoulder and the scene switches to him standing on the edge of a cliff looking down at what's below: that's what it's like!! that image has stayed with me since i watched it! oh i love that one so much and i came in wanting to be hurt and nothing really hit as hard as that did. yeah sure retsuko and haida are actually together now and it was fun seeing them deal with the mundanities of what a relationship is actually like after the both of them romanticized the concept so much but it felt like both of their feelings were cut in the process. it wasn't what i was looking for there...

i liked the ending of it though. i feel like it would have been a real nail in the coffin if retsuko had actually won the election. i think that would have totally gone against her character. i like that she tries all these different things out but still goes back to being an office worker at the end of the day. i liked that we got to see her idol friends again and that she got to embrace the stage again. i liked the fact that she couldn't really sweep this one under the rug while she went to work like normal (like she has done before) so we had all these people who knew slightly different sides of her all convening at the end and getting to see her as a whole, kind of. I think the baton pass to shikabane at the end was cute. and like, i did enjoy the show. it was still fun to watch. it's smooth and colorful and i like the timing of the jokes and i've enjoyed seeing the characters grow over the years. i don't have a better idea for a plot that could convey the things i think that they were trying to do here so i have no suggestions to make about what i would have preferred to see, just notes about what i think this one kind of failed to do.

wow, i thought i didn't actually have things to say on this one but i guess i did. i've had a good time watching it through the years. i don't regret it. it wasn't bad enough that i didn't want to finish! it just felt kind of lackluster as an ending.

#official bugtransport 2023 media recap #this one's just flow of consciousness don't worry about it

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davidmariottecomics · 1 year

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The Staying Power of the Simpsons

Hey there!

This week we're talking about longevity. If you've been reading my "What I enjoyed this week" bit for a while, you know two things I've recently been consuming a lot of are the Blank Check Podcast and The Simpsons. Blank Check, if you're unfamiliar though I do think I've mentioned it before, is a podcast about directors' filmographies--how they go from their early hits to being given free reign to make the sort of movies they want to make, and loosely, how the movies "clear or bounce". I've been more-or-less bouncing back and forth between the newest episodes and listening to the back catalog from the beginning, so I've most recently finished Spielberg (the Dreamworks years) and Henry Selick.

One of the show's hosts, Griffin Newman (Arthur from The Tick), has a theory that I've been very drawn to. He talks about actors and how interesting to trace how many decades they've been relevant relative to their creative evolution.

Just because I think he's a good example (and he's been on The Simpsons), let's use Woody Harrelson as an example. In the 80s, he is essentially Woody from Cheers. He's in a few other things, but he's a TV actor from one huge show, to the point that even into the 90s, his most frequent role is Woody from Cheers. In the 90s, at the end of/post-Cheers, he becomes a movie star. Like an actual movie star, where the poster is his face, it's his name above the title, etc. The 2000s, he becomes a character actor. He's still working at a good clip, he sometimes ends up on the poster, but now he's back as part of ensembles. And in the 2010s, like so many former-movie-star-character-actors, he becomes a franchise guy: He's a big part of the Hunger Games. He's in a Marvel movie. He's in a Star Wars movie. He's so good in True Detective, that even though he's only in one season, he gets the show renewed. And while we're still fairly new into the 2020s, his 5th (technically 6th) decade as a working actor, the prestige-y films he did between his franchise movies have earned him elder statesman status and he's on posters again. For a guy whose most famous role is also a guy named Woody, he's really stuck around and managed to find a way to stay relevant.

Okay, but The Simpsons?

Tracking of creative evolution over the decades works for all sorts of creators and endeavors. That same framework, that same way of thinking, can be applied to something like say, The Simpsons. If you're a fan of The Simpsons, there's a distinct chance that either A. you believe it stopped being good at the end of the 90s or B. you've heard people it stopped being good at the end of the 90s. I like a lot of The Simpsons, so I wanna talk about that a bit.

In the 90s, The Simpsons was a family sitcom. That's rightfully what appealed to people about it. It's right there in line with Newhart and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as a show about family dynamics that're usually silly and sometimes serious, with the only real dividing factor being that The Simpsons is animated.

But by the 2000s, the Simpsons exists in a really strange place. It's no longer the only primetime animated sitcom or adult animated sitcom. You have King of the Hill and the Mike Judge properties, you have South Park, you have Family Guy and Adult Swim and Futurama. And at the same time, while family sitcoms never go away, there starts to be a shift to occupational sitcoms being the power players--Scrubs, The Office, etc. So the show's in a place where it's competitors are shifting genres and moving to absurdist humor and they have to find a new identity within that. And what they find is they keep it a family sitcom, but heighten the absurdity and start to really play into The Simpsons as a pop culture object that can be aware of other pop culture.

In the 2010s, things have shifted even further--I'd say actually in some ways tied to what I was talking about a few weeks back in the brandification of geekdom. And The Simpsons, in growing and changing their relevance 20 years in, change from a pop culture object that is aware of other pop culture to almost a self-referential pop culture staple. The show, in some ways, is about how long "The Simpsons" can last and the what "The Simpsons" means. It's common knowledge that the Simpsons "predicts the future", but interestingly enough, the future episodes of the show used to be a lot more spaced out. It was roughly one every five years, until 2011 when they became much more regular--from full episodes to end of episode flash-forward tags to "life of" episodes.

Now, in the Season 30-somethings, The Simpsons has truly become such an institution that it can be a bit of everything it's been before. Some episodes lean more heavily on traditional family sitcom "drama". Some are unexpected and bizarre (Lisa the Boy Scout is a personal favorite from the current season). Some are straight up pop culture pastiches. I think to their benefit, it's what the writers find funny because all aspects are true of what The Simpsons is and it's not a surprise to hear they've been renewed for a few more seasons.

Each decade has charms because they're responding to what was needed at the time for the show's longevity.

I Thought this was a Comics Blog?

It is! And here's what that has to do with comics. On the one hand, you can apply this "changes over decades" theory to a lot of comics creators. You look at someone like the much missed George Perez and can track how he maintained a career for so long and how his art and storytelling and even the functions of his job evolved, right? He's a creator whose style is so specific and recognizable that two pieces from different decades can both immediately be identified as his own, even when they might look very different from each other. Part of what I'm getting at is if you are looking at comics as a long-term goal, the thing you want to do with your life, it's worth it to study the people who have managed to do that and the sorts of changes they've made along the way to do so.

On the other hand, and this is one of the things I find really fascinating about comics--generally speaking, it's a lot harder to apply that same thinking to specific titles. Not to say you can't do it entirely, but it tends to be easier when the comic is the work of one or a one group of people--Usagi Yojimbo or Dragon Ball or I'd say even to some extent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles given how much of it's history has had some combination of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird involved. But when you look at something like Batman, because of the nature of comics--between multiple titles for a single character, runs of incredibly varying lengths, a constant influx of new creators who bring in a diversity of storytelling (but not always a diversity of creators...) it is harder to take these evolutions by decade. Which, in some ways I think is a good thing. Because it means the things that last are not static and are changing to encompass multiple ideas of what it is and what it could be.

Anyway, food for thought and mostly I wanted to talk about how actually The Simpsons has been pretty funny for the majority of their 30+ years.

Coming up: Next week, since it's been about a year since I did a full one of these, I'm probably going to do another "Stuff That Sucks" and talk about the many massively disappointing and frustrating and downright awful things happening right now that we should all be keeping an eye on. The week after that, I think we're going to do another "Ask Me (Almost) Anything"! My inbox is open here (and it's incentive to answer a couple emails in there...) and I'll get a post up with next week's blog on Twitter for people to submit their questions!

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Book), Persona 4 Golden (Video game), Poker Face (TV show), Romantic Killer (Anime), Warioware & the other Gameboy/GBA games now on Switch, Snack vs. Chef (TV show), finally got my hands on a Minerva so that's one more Wrecker! And I got the new Big the Cat figure! Admiring good comics lettering. Seeing The Fablemans tomorrow and very much looking forward to it, and the Kaguya-Sama movie on Valentine's Day with my valentine!

New Releases this week (2/8/2023): Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King #5 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #57 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 13: Battle for the Empire (Editor, collecting Sonic #50, 51, the 2022 Annual, and the 2022 Free Comic Book Day short)

New releases next week (2/15/2023): Off week for my books

Final Order Cutoff (2/13/2023): Godzilla: Best of King Ghidorah (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #59 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #1 5th Anniversary Edition (Editor)

Announcements: Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival - 2/25! This is like 2 weeks from now! They've got a heckuva guest list including me, Becca, Elizabeth Brei, Danny Djeljosevic, Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, and many more! Come and see us! Becca'll have some very cool new merch, too! And tickets are only $10! I'll be bringing a mess of stuff that I've written and edited from Transformers, Sonic, Godzilla, and more! (Promo by Becca)

Speaking of Becca, did you know they have a Patreon? They're doing weekly drawing prompts that're uploading Sundays, so lots of new stuff up there as well as a pretty impressive backcatalog from the past few years. This month, if you sign-up at any level, your support's actually going to a really amazing local organization, The Brown Building.

And final Becca news, they contributed to Aradia Beat, a Magical Girl Anthology Magazine! It's now on Kickstarter! It's both a tribute to 90s magical girl stories and part of a larger project about the overall preservation and mutual support of magical girl stories! We're in the final week and they're about $1K away from their goal. They can definitely make it, but it'd be cool if you could help out by backing or by sharing! Speaking of Magical Girl Kickstarters, it's still early in the life cycle of Sweet Little Resistance, which is by fellow AZ Comic Book Arts Fest tablers, Elizabeth Brei and Danny Djeljosevic as well as a host of cool artists! They're only about $500 away from their goal, and would make for a very nice complimentary piece! (More Promo by Becca)

Pic of the Week: So the actual Pic of the Week is Tiansheng who decided to sleep under the pillows in Becca's office chair, rather than on top of them!

#the simpsons #blank check #comics #comics editorial #aradia beat #arizona comic book arts festival #sweet little resistance #indie comics #kickstarter #patreon #cats of tumblr

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storybook-with-a-hug · 2 years

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Fix-It Miraculously

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067214

This is my baby, a rewrite of the series where I try to correct some of the issues I’ve seen in the show. Things like pacing of the seasons, character investment and growth, relationships, and more. This story was started in response to the problems I saw developing in season 3 that the writers weren’t addressing, and that with greater observation I found to be baked into the story from the get-go.

Problems like the relationship between the main LoveSquare, how Marinette is dismissive and even rude to Chat Noir, instead of supportive and caring like she’s shown to be with everyone else, even people she barely knows. By season 3 she’s hitting him and telling him he’s a waste of space and basically treats him like if he’s not doing what she tells him to do then he’s just in the way. But those seeds took root in season 1 where she looks down at Chat Noir as being useless without her and basically treats him like a joke. As Ladybug, she may treat him as more of a partner and a friend still, but outside the mask she openly insults him following their interactions.

On the other side of the mask is Marinette’s inability to hold a conversation with Adrien, despite supposedly being one of his best friends. Yet somehow, in specific episodes, she could talk to him? And then couldn’t again the very next episode and for the rest of the series all the way into season 4? Sure, at first it was cute and funny, how completely head-over-heels she was over him, but it doesn’t give way to many interesting shipping moments and definitely doesn’t give any opportunity to deepen their relationship so that it’s believable that they end up together by the end of the series for anything more than “gee, that person there sure is purdy...”

And in regards to getting to know characters better, let’s take Marinette out of Suedom and let other people have thoughts and feelings and lives that don’t revolve around Marinette and Ladybug? I mean, I don’t think I can even name 10 facts about Alya that aren’t related to Marinette in any way, let alone Nino, and they’re supporting cast that have been around since season 1! They’re the best friends of the main characters, or should I say main character and main character’s love interest because let’s face it, even though Chat Noir’s name is in the title of the show and he’s the one with all the interesting story beats happening around him (his mother’s disappearance, his father being the main villain, his secondary-mother-figure being the other main villain, etc.) he’s nothing more than a supporting cast member. Season 4 even went so far as to officially brand him “just another member of the team”, a team comprised of MINOR characters who don’t always even get speaking lines in an episode or even make physical appearances in them, all following our shining glory that is Ladybug-the-Mary-Sue.

So to correct that, I give the supporting casts their own story arcs, make them actually relevant with lives of their own and their own agency in the story, and watch things grow. While Ladybug/Marinette stays the primary protagonist, not every chapter is about her, and even when it is other characters get their moments to shine and do their own things. A real friendship grows between her and Chat Noir/Adrien where it’s clear how and why these two complete each other and chose to be together. Everyone grows and changes, and relationships develop naturally.

But to manage this, there has to be consequences that last longer than the end title card, and lessons that need to stick and actually start changing how characters behave. This also extends to Chat Noir getting the credit and fans he deserves in universe, instead of the whole city just being “Ladybug! Ladybug! Let’s not care about interviewing Chat Noir. Let’s never thank Chat Noir for saving the day. It’s just Ladybug! Ladybug! All the way, all the time, only Ladybug! Ladybug!”

And yes, some of those changes might not be for the best at first, and there does exist such things as back-sliding and people refusing to take accountability or to change their ways to correct their mistakes. Sometimes people might not even be willing to acknowledge that they made a mistake in the first place. I’m just trying to make the characters realistic and consistent. Enough of these one-off episodes where the characters are suddenly completely OOC, only to go back to normal the next episode as if nothing were the problem.

Some episodes Chat’s flirting is “SO annoying” and “totally the problem and why they were struggling against the akuma!” and other episodes Ladybug’s flirting right back and even initializing the flirty behaviour. Some episodes Alya “totally has Marinette’s back, girl! They’re BFFs 4Eva!” and others she’s dismissive of all of Marinette’s thoughts and concerns and feelings. Some episodes Nino actually cares about Adrien’s wants and thoughts and desires and welfare, other episodes he’s just an extension of Alya and only interested in making Adrinette a thing no matter how many times Adrien insists he only wants friendship from Marinette.

And that’s not even getting into the problems of the timeline of the show, or the lore of the universe, or all those cases where the show actively contradicts itself. Seriously, how could Alya--Ladybug’s supposed biggest fan and the one civilian who knows everything there is to know about her--forget that in Ladybug’s big debut she saved Chloe from certain death, only to then go on to believe Chloe was Ladybug herself? It feels so often like if the writers just had one more person read through the whole season’s episode synopsis and beats they’d have caught so many of these inconsistencies! I swear the staff didn’t know the Origins episodes were going to exist or what they were going to have in them when they were making season 1...

So far my story is only about half-way through season 1. Each chapter is an episode on it’s own right, and there are OC Akuma that show up as well. In further chapters, there’s intention of adding a larger rogues gallery to Paris so it’s not just Team Miraculous vs Papillon and Mayura. There’s also OC supporting casts because Paris is bigger than just the Akuma class and their immediate family members. There’s friends from other classes and grades, there’s employees of the businesses parents own, there’s celebrities on social media, there’s other schools and friend groups and out-of-school extra curriculars. Some OCs are random one-offs there just to be the akuma-of-the-day. Some are there more permanently to fill out the world and make it feel more lived in.

#ml writers salt #my fic #no character salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #oc akuma

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fecto-forgo · 2 years

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excuse to infodump because i think you're cool and fun: i recognize the name mordred from the arthurian legends but i dont know/remember a whole lot about him, what's his whole deal? what kind of stuff does he do and is he smart or stupid or both

HIIIII TY FOR SENDING THE PERMIT AND FOR THE COMPLIMENTS ILY/PLATONIC

(incest cannibalism and suicide mention)

but yes mordred my beloved!! his role is basically killing arthur for like.fifty different possible motivations, the base idea is merlin had a prophecy arthur would get killed by a baby born on may 1st, in an earlier point arthur slept with his half sister and she got pregnant with mordred who was born on may 1st, so arthur (often fully willingly) had every baby born on that day put on a boat that sunk (i believe whether that was part of the plan or not is rarely stated), and mordred was the sole survivor, from there i find his character is sorta inconsistent between versions?

some will have him just be evil because prophecy plot, others will have him be raised unaware of the prophecy and find out about it from a priest he impulsively murders right after, and ends up spiralling onto repetitive suicide attempts until he comes into terns with his fate, theres a couple that have his mother just raise him to hate arthur and i believe in some he hates him for trying to drown him? (which is honestly fair) i heard in le morte he straight up hit his head and woke up with a murderous craving, i personally like the priest prophecy take a lot!

personality wise ill be honest sometimes hes just guy who kills arthur.png, and a lot of stuff try to have him be the sad emo misunderstood anti hero which i think is lame.very lame.i like it when hes a bastard bastard(joke is hes illegitimate i didnt know where to include that akausjsjfjra), not inherently evil, just a little bit of a funny asshole, hes also not *super* important? his role is mostly around the end tho, when he stands there i think its very funny

so at one point agravaine (one of mordreds older brothers who btw he has a really good dynamic with, they matter sm to each other and sm to me,,) decides to expose the queens affair with lancelot, and mordred is one of the knights who goes along, and is the sole survivor of lancelot massacring everyone there because he stayed in the hallway, after that everything goes to shit, arthur tries to execute the queen but lancelot comes back and kills everyone in the execution including another two of mordreds brothers, and mordreds last brother (whos actually super relevant in every story but not in this info dump lol) loses it to grief and goes to murder lancelot (and often seems to pressure arthur into starting the war against lancelot and his family) arthur leaves mordred in control and mordred steals the knighting sword and takes over (its sometimes said the people liked him better than arthur because he wasnt sending the kingdom to war constantly)(in some versions he also marries arthurs wife but ehhh i find that to be way too stereotypical evil and doesnt suit him at all)

arthur eventually comes back to fight mordred and they kill each other, and i REALLY like this one version where arthur manages to stab mordred with his lance, but mordred pushes himself deeper into it unexpectedly and manages to get a fatal swing with his sword on arthur

some version have his corpse dragged around the fields till its no longer recognizable and one has him survive but get locked with guinevere (arthurs wife) in a grave of sorts and he ends up eating her corpse but eventually starves to death anyway

on his takeover motivation i personally like to-and this has some headcanons-so i like to write mordred as having psychosis, and the stress of losing his brothers and the whole prophecy thing puts him in a very vunerable position, where i then like to mix this version where the emperor lucius plot happens at end, and he gets manipulated into an episode that the prophecy is an inevitable pure truth and he may as well get revenge on everyone by lucius into going through with the prophecy plot

also he has autism.i have no arguments but Dude Trust Me

finally whether hes smart or stupid is sort of its own discussion? some stories have him be extremely planning which i dont rly like? i dont believe hes straight up stupid but i dont think hes some sort of highly manipulative evil genius, hes just.very spiteful and thats what solely drove him at the end lol

so yes thats it mutuals im sorry this is so long </3

#again tysm for sending!!!#ask

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 2 years

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In case anyone’s wondering, the first time the term “corona virus” was used on The Bugle was in episode 4136, on January 25, 2020. This podcast has aired an episode pretty much once a week since October 2007, there were a few short breaks and some filler weeks and a proper hiatus between spring 2015 and fall 2016 while they worked out their re-launch, but mostly, it’s been going consistently since then. I can’t quite explain how weird it is to listen to every episode of this podcast that’s taken me week by week from October 2007 through the years that followed, following history as it was made, remembering events, thinking of this as my journey through the past, and then suddenly I heard the words “corona virus” out of Andy Zaltzman’s mouth.

Obviously I’ve heard Andy Zaltzman say “corona virus” before, because he hosts The News Quiz, and they talk about it all the time there. But it’s different to hear it on The Bugle! The Andy Zaltzman of The Bugle is meant to be a different man from the News Quiz host, a different man from anyone who exists today, a man from the past. But here he was, in a January 2020 episode, discussing a story about something else, casually mentioning the fact that there is this corona virus thing out there but he’s not that worried about it. That’s what he said. “I’m not that worried about it.”

This is how I know Andy Zaltzman was actually behind me in getting on board with worrying about this. I know exactly when I started freaking out about the corona virus. My phone broke in January 2020, and I took the train to the nearest mall to get a new one. I did the whole difficult social interaction involved in procuring a new phone, and then I got back on the train to go home. I remember sitting on the train and playing the previous night's episode of CBC’s Power and Politics, a show of which I still listen to every episode and it’s a very good way to stay abreast of news in a way that will cover international stuff but prioritizes things relevant to Canadians and everyone should support the CBC. Anyway, I remember I was sitting on that train when I heard CBC’s Power and Politics cover the story of how the first case of this novel corona virus had been detected in Canada. It was found in Toronto, because of course it fucking was, all bad things in Canada originate there. I remember sitting on that train and trying not panic. Or at least, trying not to panic until I got home and it was a more appropriate setting for a panic attack. But in the next couple of months, I still coached several tournaments of my full contact sport in the Toronto area, so I guess I’d managed to convince myself that this was one of the many times that I was panicking over nothing. Instead of being the one time when I was fucking right.

I don’t remember the exact date of that train ride I took to fix my phone in 2020, but I know it was in January. The date January 27 is in my head, it might have been then. It was around then. Whenever it was, the fact that by January 25 (or a couple of days before that, it would have been recorded earlier) Andy Zaltzman was only casually mentioning the virus while telling another story, and saying he wasn’t that worried about it, showed I was ahead of the curve compared to him in worrying about it. That’s one thing I have going for me - if it turns out we are supposed to be worried about something, I can claim I was worried first.

I haven’t listened past that episode yet, but it hit me like a brick when I heard Andy Zaltzman say “corona virus” on The Bugle, and I am prepared for some rough episodes ahead, as I listen to them try again and again to predict things and constantly be wrong, because everyone was wrong in those early 2020 months.

When I first started on the Bugle relaunch episodes, I was re-watching Last Week Tonight at the same time, trying to stay at around the same chronological point in both shows, to see where both Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver went after The Bugle’s initial run ended. I stopped watching Last Week Tonight at September 2018, and haven’t picked it up again because I’ve started an in-person co-op job, so it’s easy to keep listening to The Bugle but not so easy to keep watching Last Week Tonight (as I can listen to a podcast on the bus and on break at work). But I am remembering now how cold and bleak and unabashedly angry the early COVID-era Last Week Tonight episodes were, and how perfect that tone was for the situation, and that’s making me think I should pick up the LWT watching again as I go through the 2020 Bugle episodes.

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vyladromeave · 2 years

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Garte Ro’meave: What Is This Guy’s Deal?????

(And why he is likely a Shadowknight)

You all know him, you all hate him: Garte Ro’meave is the Lord of O’khasis, as well as Garroth, Zane, and Vylad’s father. He has quite a reputation both in universe and among fans, despite never physically showing up within MCD. So just who is this guy and what the hell is his deal? I’m compiling a bunch of the stuff we know about him here in this post. For fun.

Mid S1, Garroth mentions a time when Garte fell ill and had a near-death experience. It is my firm belief that when Garte fell ill, he actually did die from his illness. However, through dealings with the Shadow Lord, he was revived with a greater lust for power, and sought control over the surrounding land. Thus his miraculous recovery, and corruption of character soon after.

Lemme break it down for you.

(WARNING THIS POST IS LONG. IT’S OVER 4K WORDS. PROBABLY 5K IF YOU COUNT THE SCREENSHOTS. SERIOUSLY I WARNED YOU.)

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GARTE’S ORIGINS

So it’s no secret that MCD’s lore is... inconsistent... You can find hints of the current story and what most fans consider to be truly “canon” within the early bits of the old story. So who was Garte in the early episodes of MCD? I think this transcript of a conversation between Aphmau and Lord Burt is a pretty good introduction, so let’s check it out:

Sooooo yeah. If you’re like me, you’re probably sitting here thinking, “What the fuck are these guys even saying?” Because literally none of this is correct in the current standing of MCD lore. Don’t worry, you’re not crazy, and don’t try to think too hard about what’s going on here because Yeah: It’s not canon. It’s old, outdated, and the small bits of lore from this conversation that manage to stay relevant are almost completely retconned and overwritten.

MAINLY: This conversation is one of many alluding to the King and the Shadows, concepts which will go on to become Garte and the Shadow Lord.

In early S1, there are plenty of instances of the King and the Shadow Lord being mentioned in conjunction. I’ll leave a few of them here for you, but don’t spend too much time trying to make sense of them. I could go on about them and what they might mean for these early versions of the overarching story of MCD, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because it isn’t consistent with what we know in the current day.

Yeah. This is just a small amount. And mostly? All of this is an artifact of poor writing. A lot of MCD’s story and lore was changing as Jess was creating it, and this is a remnant of those inconsistencies. With our current understanding of the Shadow Lord in MCD’s lore, we know that he is actually Shad, previously a Divine warrior. Garte is the Lord, not King, of O’khasis, with a family and life of his own. Seriously, this is the same era of MCD where Zoey was a fairy and not an elf. Meaning none of this factual currently, and can’t really be trusted.

However, that doesn’t mean we should completely discredit everything here, and I wholly believe this is a sign of something greater going on between these two. Just keep in mind that even in the earliest version of this story, the concepts that went on to be the Shadow Lord and Garte, Lord of O’khasis, were intrinsically linked.

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GARTE, GARROTH, AND ZANE

Ok, time to get into the real stuff. Let’s go over how Garte’s first two sons view him. Both of these images are from S1 Ep52. Here is what both Zane and Garroth have to say about their father:

I’d also like to put this line from S1 Ep68 here for consideration:

Analysis aside, here is what we have stated plainly by the text:

Garte is the Lord of O’khasis.

Garroth suggests that Garte’s rule is not a kind one, and that he might as well be a dictator (or perhaps a King? ;] ) instead of a Lord.

Garte is explicitly seeking to become King of the land.

Garroth trained as a knight while he was supposed to be preparing to inherit the position of Lord, which went against Garte’s wishes.

Garte later had Garroth engaged to the firstborn of Scaleswind as part of a treaty to encourage peace between the two villages.

Garte “disowned” Garroth when he ran away, but Garroth still seems to be considered part of the family (at least for business purposes?). For example, Garroth is still needed for the engagement with Scaleswind, and he is still considered next in line as the future Lord of O’khasis.

Garroth has reason to believe that should he reject the engagement again, Garte will use his power/influence to “do something terrible.”

Zane does Garte’s “dirty work.” (To the point where Garroth seems to believe that Zane’s presence in Phoenix Drop is actually Zane carrying out Garte’s will.)

And although it’s not very present in these images, Garroth repeatedly stresses during this time that Zane’s actions in Phoenix Drop are extensions of Garte’s. Therefore, any actions they take against Zane will be seen as actions against Garte, and by extension to, all of O’khasis.

So, Garroth dislikes Garte for repeatedly pushing him into things he does not want to do, and in turn Garte dislikes Garroth since Garroth keeps going against his wishes. But how does Garte feel about Zane? For that I’d like to bring in one more small quote from S1 Ep54. (The “he” referred to in this quote is Zane, if that wasn’t obvious.)

Zane is “loyal” to Garte and “does his dirty work.” He acts as an extension of Garte and his wishes, and he is given power in return. I think the S1 Ep68 line, “Zane knows where I am, therefore our father knows where I am,” is very indicative of Zane’s role here. It’s easy to assume that Garte likes/favors Zane, given Zane’s loyalty to him. But from what we know about Garte here… I’m not so sure.

To me, it seems like despite all his attempts to get in Garte’s good graces, Garte still favors Garroth over Zane as the future Lord of O’khasis. Exactly how he feels about Zane is unclear, but Garte clearly does not care enough about Zane enough to make him future Lord of O’khasis instead of Garroth, despite how easy this could be for someone as powerful as Garte. Why? The answer is simple: tradition.

Garroth gets to be the future Lord of O’khasis, not because he wants it or is fit for it, but because he was born first. Garroth is set up to be married to the firstborn of Scaleswind because he himself is firstborn, and tradition states that to do otherwise is taboo. Garroth goes against Garte’s wishes time and time again, but Garte never truly “disowns” him, even though the second son in line is more than willing to do what Garte wants. Why? Because he couldn’t disown his son, he could never have something less than a perfect, ideal family, because to him that would be wrong, abnormal. (This is also why Vylad’s existence and Zianna’s affair bother him so deeply! But more on them later.) Despite how loyal Zane is to Garte, he can never be the future Lord because he was not born first. And despite being this all-powerful dictator with ridiculous influence and military power, he refuses to simply instate Zane as the future lord over Garroth, simply because to him, that just isn’t the way things are meant to be. Zane has power BECAUSE he is loyal to Garte, because working under Garte makes him an extension of Garte’s power, and not because Garte actually favors him.

(This also works really well into what I think Zane’s mentality is through all this and how it shapes his motivations, but that’s a post for another time.)

Let’s also note here how Garte views his children as tools instead of people. Garte has Garroth engaged against his will to form a peace treaty between O’khasis and Scaleswind. Garte has Zane “do his dirty work,” to the point where Garroth even assumes that Zane finding him in Phoenix Drop is under Garte’s guidance instead of on his own, which is interesting. Essentially, he seems to have no love for his sons, and only uses them to further his own rule. He is a heartless dictator as a ruler, and is heartless as a father as well.

Essentially, Garte is a heartless ruler, father, and husband, who puts tradition above all else, even his own family, in his pursuit for further power. Wuh oh!

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ZIANNA AND THE AFFAIR

It’s not a real post about Garte without talking about the affair! The best insight we get about this is from Vylad on S2 Ep61. Here’s another funky cool transcript for your convenience.

We get a couple things from this. First of all it lets us double down on the whole “strict traditionalist” thing, given his insistence on literal children learning in depth about politics because Garte Says So. The strict traditionalist thing also additionally feeds into why Vylad’s existence bothers him so badly.

I also want to point out Vylad’s insistence that Garte would have his biological father killed if he knew who he was. It’s implied here that Zianna also believes this, to the point where she has hidden his identity from his own biological son. I don’t have much else to say about this in relation to Garte, I just think this demonstrates really well the dynamic going on with him in relation to his own family here and just how little the people who care/cared about him trust him now (and how little they continue to trust him even in the short amount of time where he is doing better).

Lastly, I want to point out how Garte’s opinion of Vylad changes over time. I think it’s important to note that Garte, this man who we have established is obsessed with tradition and rules, is able for once to put that aside while Vylad is a child, even if it ends up coming back later.

This section’s a bit short, and that’s because mostly I want to use all the information here to build off some points in the next section:

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GARTE’S ILLNESS (AND WHO HE USED TO BE)

This is kinda what inspired this whole post, mostly because it’s maybe the most overlooked piece of information we have on Garte. This line is from S1 Ep68, I’ll paste the screenshot here so you can read it for yourself.

As far as I know, this is the only time in the entire series that Garte’s illness is mentioned. There’s a couple things that are interesting to me here. For instance, Garte is a powerful lord who is well respected by his people. You’re telling me that with all the magic in the world, all the doctors and trained professionals, and with all the power and money he had at the time, he only barely avoided death? (And probably actually didn’t if he is a Shadowknight like I think he is but more on that later.)

It’s very likely that this was not a normal or natural illness. It’s possible that someone else was responsible for it, or at least responsible for its unlikely severity. Either the illness itself was odd and caused in a way that made it hard to treat, or the treatment he was getting was poor. (It’s possible the Shadow Lord himself might be responsible, but there’s literally no basis or proof for that. There is also the possibility that Garte was never really ill at all, that some other significant injury happened to him, and him being “ill” is the coverup. But again I have no basis for this, besides the fact that this would maybe explain away the inability to get proper treatment.)

Despite all this, the most notable thing to me here is that combined from what we learned about him around the time of Zianna’s affair, we can tell that his attitude and general character went back and forth a couple times. Here’s a timeline to help visualize this:

(The “…” around Garroth’s birth is representative of the fact that we technically don’t know how he was acting around this time or before, but assumedly he was still a kind and respectable leader up until his first point of change after his illness)

The main thing I want to point out is that basically everything we know about Garte only applies to what he’s like now during his, for lack of a better phrase, Nasty Bitch Phase. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch at all to say that Garte acts the way he does today BECAUSE of whatever happened to him during his illness. If there was ever any good part of Garte, we as the audience have never seen it or it’s results. After recovering from his illness, Garte’s character shifted so drastically that Garroth goes from highly respecting him and wanting to be like him, to being afraid of him and what he might do. Garte changes so much that his own wife no longer recognizes him. It’s important to note that there was a time before the current Garte we know today, where he was a kind and just ruler who cared about his family. He was powerful as the Lord of O’khasis, but was not completely driven by his lust for strength and control. So nearly everything that we’ve learned up until now gets tossed in the garbage when discussing Garte pre-illness

The only incident that led him to act somewhat kinder after said illness was when Zianna had an affair and Vylad was born. This incident didn’t leave him with lasting kindness, (nor is it clear just how much better he actually was at the time. Depending how long this good period was, it’s possible that the “teaching children about harsh politics before they are ready” incident happened during this time.) and he reverted back to his Nasty Bitch Phase over time, but ultimately this is the only time after his illness where he was closer in personality to the “good” person he used to be.

This is really exemplified by his treatment of Vylad. We know that in his Nasty Bitch Phase, Garte becomes deeply rooted in tradition and presentation. When Vylad is born, for a short time this doesn’t matter to him. Vylad, despite breaking the idea of the perfect nuclear family by his very existence, is treated like Garte’s own for a short time. And as Garte shifts back into his Nasty Bitch Phase, this value of tradition returns and his resentment for Vylad grows. But until then, that’s one of the few things we really know about Garte’s personality and what he values, gone for presumably a couple years.

What this illness was, what caused it, why the treatment was poor, and why it changed Garte drastically into who we know him as in Minecraft Diaries is never explicitly stated. It seems like a rather permanently extreme shift of Garte’s mood, character, and ideals, to be nothing more than a worse-than-average illness. Leading me to my theory…

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GARTE RO’MEAVE IS A SHADOWKNIGHT

Let me be clear that this is never explicitly stated anywhere within Minecraft Diaries, although I think given what we know about Garte it’s very very very likely. The short version is that the “near-death experience” Garte had while ill was him seriously actually for real dying, and the miraculous recovery is due to him then being revived as a Shadowknight.

(And let me also be clear that this is not an excuse for his actions and how he treats people, but rather an explanation. Trust me I hate Garte as a person as much as the next guy. I just think it’s interesting to dissect who he is as a character and WHY he acts the way he does. I don’t care if he has 1 billion issues, it does not change the fact that he is a living shit stain <3 thank you.)

With that aside, let’s go over a couple characteristics of Shadowknights and how they relate to Garte.

DEATH

Let’s talk about Garte’s illness from a narrative standpoint. Without reading between the lines at all and just taking Garroth’s information at face value, what does this illness bring to the table story-wise? All it really does is give a (not very good) reason for Garte’s behavior. However, if the illness as a narrative device is useful for Only This, you have to ask… Why not just have Garte be a shitty person to begin with? Why waste time telling us about how he used to bea good person and isn’t anymore because of this illness, if this change and it’s cause has no significance otherwise?

The answer is that there is more going on here than what is initially visible. It’s not a waste of time, it’s trying to clue us in to a larger situation. It’s drawing significance to this moment in time, trying to get you to think about what could have happened here to cause this drastic change. Think on everything we’ve seen in MCD (especially things introduced around this time, I’ll touch on this in just a bit.), what do we know that could alter someone like this? Well, becoming a Shadowknight seems to usually result in a drastic personality change. And to become a Shadowknight, you have to die. And a near-death experience from an illness sounds like the perfect time for Garte to die and be reborn somewhat inconspicuously.

And if this isn’t the significance of the illness then… what is? Genuinely I cannot think of anything else that we have been introduced to over the course of the entire series that this could be referencing or related to. It even parallels the Lords of Brightport and Pikoro potentially being put through rituals to become Shadowknights. We literally have a precedent for this sort of thing!

POWER

This theory explains why he gains a sudden lust for power. We have seen how becoming a Shadowknight can twist the person’s personality into something more malevolent multiple times within the series (most notably with Laurance in S2, although it is present with basically every Shadowknight that has made an appearance on the show). I can very easily see a Lord’s desire to do well for his people twisted into a desire for power over them. Many other Shadowknights within the series are driven by similar desires as well, seeing as Shadowknights are often created and sustained off the concept of desire itself. Vylad, in S2 Ep66, when attempting to describe what it feels like for him to be a Shadowknight, basically describes it as constantly wanting something that you cannot have. Gene was revived in the Overworld because of his desire to take vengeance on the people of his village. He is a perfect example of how a desire strong enough can result in a Shadowknight being born in the Overwold. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that if Garte was desperate enough, he could become a Shadowknight in a similar fashion.

FAMILY

This theory also explains his lack of care for family, especially why he doesn’t care Now when he used to be well-known for it. Let’s look at some more lines said by Vylad, from S2 Ep66 at 10:19:

Vylad also says in S2 Ep96 at 14:49 that Shadowknights often leave their friends and family behind when they turn since it, “isn’t something a Shadowknight needs.” Taking these quotes and applying them to Garte almost exactly describes his attitude towards his own family. He no longer cares for his children or his wife, and literally uses his sons as tools and pawns. They are no longer family to him, he has given up his attachment to them in order to further his own goals.

The only time Garte rejects this ideology after his illness is when Vylad is born. I think this can simply be explained by the fact that with effort, Shadowknights can hold onto their attachments to others, and that these attachments often ground them and help them act more like their previous selves. Strangely enough, we have seen examples of things like this with Vylad himself as a Shadowknight. Vylad was perfectly content with having all of his family think of him as dead, but hasn’t actually moved on from them. He reminisces on times with his brothers and mother to Aphmau a couple times, helps his brother Garroth get back to Phoenix Drop when he is incapacitated by an arrow in early S1, and only agrees to work with Aphmau in S2 after he learns that Garroth has gotten into trouble that Aphmau cannot immediately get him out of. Vylad admits to experiencing this urge to leave friends and family behind, but also very clearly makes an effort to care and fight against it, which demonstrates that with effort this urge can be suppressed. It makes perfect sense that Garte makes this same effort when his wife is in turmoil, but isn’t able to keep it up after the conflict has passed, causing him to fade back into the natural habit of disregarding his own family.

GREATER THEMING

As I went over in the very first part of this post, theming between kings and the Shadow Lord has been consistent since the very beginning of the series. A lot of the early lore about this sort of thing revolves around a king who is compelled to revive the Shadow Lord/bring him back to full power, which makes a lot more sense if our “king,” a.k.a Garte, is a Shadowknight, since reviving the Shadow Lord is their main priority.

(And as a side note, we see multiple times in S1 where people and their magickal talents are sacrificed to give the Shadow Lord more strength. Do you think sacrificing an entire Continent of people would maybe be enough power to revive the Shadow Lord for real? And do you think a Lord with enough power to potentially take over an entire continent would be a good asset to have in that scenario? Again there is no basis for this, just food for thought.)

MISCELLANEOUS RELATION

O’khasis, Zane, and the Shadowknights have been linked multiple times throughout the series. Although most of these do not directly mention Garte’s involvement, I still think these are still important to consider. Zane did literally try to open a portal/tear to the Nether within Phoenix Drop in S1, during a time where Garroth stated that it was likely Zane was acting as Garte’s emissary. Jeffory, who served under Zane, is implied to have become a Shadowknight himself in the later parts of S2. Both Zane and Jeffory (but mostly Zane) are involved in “Shadowknight rituals” concerning Lord Burt and the Lord of Pikoro in S1 after Zane’s first Phoenix Drop incident, and it’s implied Zane does this to pursue Garte’s wishes of uniting all the villages of Ru’aun under O’khasis’ rule.

This last piece of evidence might be a weird pull, but it’s also possibly the most damning of all. In Minecraft Diaries Rebirth Ep4, Zane is shown having dealings directly with Gene. Not only this, Gene is serving UNDER Zane. Gene is still established as being high-ranking within the Shadowknights, he refers to the Shadowknights as “his men,” implying possession or superiority above the rest of them. And yet, he is serving under Zane for reasons which are never really elaborated on? Even after Zane aggravates and antagonizes him, Zane is confident that the Shadowknights will not be a threat to him. (In fact, he seems more concerned about treachery and traitors within the Shadowknights than he does about Gene betraying him for his mistreatment.)

We know Zane isn’t really with the Shadowknights, he refers to his own side being separate from the side of the Shadowknights later in the same conversation. And yet Gene takes orders from Zane, and Zane is confident that he will return to him at some point, and also not turn against him. So what compels Gene to serve under Zane despite disliking him, and what could make Zane so confident that Gene will be back? Perhaps if Zane serves Garte, as we already established, and Garte is a Shadowknight ranking higher than Gene.

Think about it. Gene is so valuable to the Shadow Lord because his memory-manipulating magicks allow the Shadow Lord to have better control over the Shadowknights. This value is reflected in Gene’s high rank and respect among Shadowknights, which has been consistently above average since S1. If you think better control over the Shadowknights is good? Try control over potentially the entire CONTINENT. Because that’s the kind of potential Garte as a Shadowknight brings to the table. Regardless of rank, Gene would almost certainly have to defer to Garte in this situation, and Garte most likely values Zane as a pawn above Gene, therefore Gene deferring to Zane. Zane is obviously on his own side with his own ideals and ambitions, but because he is at least somewhat loyal to Garte, Gene is forced to be loyal to him in turn.

Also, I think Rebirth technically has a bit more canonical weight to it than some parts of MCD given that it is more recent, and given how many inconsistencies are in the early parts of S1. Regardless of what was going on in S1, Rebirth is technically the most accurate and canonical source when it comes to MCD, which means that Zane and the Shadowknights relations cannot be disregarded. Their presence this early in the story of Rebirth, especially in comparison to the original MCD, should not be overlooked.

DIVINE

Let’s also remember that Garte is a descendant of Esmund (most likely, afaik it’s never actually specified in MCD but like. Judging by his Mystreet appearance, Garte looks like Esmund and Zianna does not, and it seems like most of the favored descendants Generally resemble the originals for thematic reasons. Anyways.) Corrupting the last remnants of one of the Divine Warriors who killed you and trapped you in Literal Hell seems like a valid villain move to me. Especially if the Divine Warriors and their relics are a potential threat to your plan, having a certain amount of control over one of those bloodlines/relics makes things a bit easier. This is more of a side note than anything, but I think it’s still worth including.

THE WRITING HABIT

This isn’t strictly a Shadowknight thing, but as a last note I’d like to point out just a little writing habit Jess has. She likes to tease smaller ideas for foreshadowing, and then elaborate on them typically a couple episodes later. I’m not talking about your typical foreshadowing, it’s more of a case where you can kind of tell that the story is being written only a little bit ahead of what is being recorded, and so you can literally see parts of the script in the future kinda making their way into little bits of the current so that they are better integrated. (And sometimes “future” is actually the end of an episode, and the “current” is the middle of the same episode. So yeah. great planning.) You can kinda see this all over MCD once you start looking for it, and I think knowing this habit means that we can look for things that are introduced around the same time to see if they are potentially related retroactively.

So some of the things introduced/addressed around this same time? Well literally in the same episode, immediately after Garroth tells Aphmau about Garte’s illness and how he changed afterwards… Laurance talks with Aphmau about how being a Shadowknight is slowly changing his personality and how he acts. Yeah. It’s kinda the first time we’re introduced to the idea of this within Shadowknights, in fact. Literally introduced in one conversation after the other. Coincidence? Possibly. But with all this in mind? I’m not so sure.

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TLDR?

So yeah. Garte maybe died and became a Shadowknight. Or maybe Jess forgot about the whole illness thing entirely and therefore none of this really matters. Or maybe it’s been retconned since then. Who knows! MCD is a silly little enigma of a show and if you enjoyed reading nearly 5k words on an analysis of one of MCD’s worst fathers, then that’s all I can ask for :D

Thanks for reading!

-aiki

#aphmau #Minecraft Diaries #Garte Ro'meave #Ro'meave family #ro'meave brothers #garroth ro'meave #zane ro'meave #vylad ro'meave #zianna ro'meave #minecraft diaries fanart #mcd meta #big post #mcd theory #idk what else to even tag this as actually.

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ender-baggins · 3 years

Text

Just watched 14x13 Lebanon.

Will preface with the fact that this was a bit of my commentary on the previous episode, and that I do think John Winchester was a crap parent

Lebanon was a pretty good episode, actually. I know some people hate it, and I started off prepared to seethe every moment that John was on screen. but then I managed to get one foot out of the John-crit zone and put it in Sam and Dean’s shoes, and looking at it from both perspectives? The episode has a lot of nuance to it.

Spoilers for this 14x13 Lebanon (obviously)

Overall I think the most important thing to remember about this episode: the theme is that some things are too good to be true.

I knew which episode it was, but I was surprised because I thought it has been in season 15, and then John didn’t show up for a while, so I thought I was wrong until the Pearl came up.

I gotta hand it to Jensen. When John appeared, there were so many emotions packed into Dean’s face in that first short scene, I had to rewatch it several times to get them. Part of it was simple shock, but I could also see… something a little like panic in his face, along with Waay too many emotions for me to name.

The conversation between Sam and John was… I started off mad and then focused more on Sam’s perspective and realized that… yeah, Sam isn’t the same person he was last time he saw his dad. And he didn’t get closure. He never got a chance to get real closure on it, and then here, he did, at least in some form.

Also, interesting thing I noticed- I could see the beginnings of how it could turn into another argument, and John said something that seemed a little accusatory, “you didn’t have a problem talking about it before you left,” and then Sam was like “nope, not gonna argue, not gonna do it, REDIRECTING-“ Which, after what Dean said in the scene before—

—Sam doesn’t want to mess this up for Dean. No way is he gonna start a fight, not now, not when they just got their dad back.

I don’t like the last line of Sam and John’s conversation: “But you did your best, dad. You – you fought for us, and you loved us, and… that’s enough.” Because honestly- it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t. And… dammit he could have done better. But then again, that’s Sam’s dad, and he’s been dead for over a decade, and sometimes people tend to put rose-colored glasses on over the past. So I’ll still happily condemn John’s parenting but I won’t condemn Sam just because he’s unable to see things for what they are in this case.

Now- my absolute favorite part of this entire episode is the section of Sam and Dean going to get groceries and noticing things are changed, and realizing “oh shit, what else is different?”

One, gotta love Dean for implying that Sam being a kale nut is a worse thing than Dean being considered a serial killer by society (which, it’s not like society is wrong??). Like, ah yes, wonderful priorities there, Dean. You’re a wanted killer with your face up in the town, but clearly Sam giving a lecture about the wonders of kale is a much worse thing. (If you can’t tell, I’m being incredibly sarcastic here)

And then here. Castiel’s appearance. I was screeching watching this. Completely freaking out- so much adrenaline. I bet if I’d taken my pulse it would have been skyrocketing-

This was followed by the scene of Castiel and Zachariah in the restaurant, which was Awesome, very clearly highlighting the difference that Dean and the Winchesters made in Cas’s life (later this will be relevant in the Confession - “You changed me, Dean”).

*cue me posting an unnecessary amount of screenshots*

Castiel unfurls his wings—

(Note the messy hair from flying around everywhere. Not the same as his old haircut, but they did what they could with Misha’s hair at the time)

Notice that Dean’s got the angel blade point down, and when he attacks Castiel, he’s using the blunt end to hit him, not the sharp end

(On the other hand, Sam uses the sharp end of the blade to swipe at Castiel. No judgement from me here, Sam sees this as “not our Cas” while Dean still sees this as “my Cas, I can talk him away from Heaven again.”)

Then, the most interesting thing here- when Cas pins Dean agains the wall, Dean’s not even trying to fight Cas here.

See how his hand settles on Castiel’s chest? Not really pressing, just touching. His other hand is gripping Castiel’s wrist, I imagine to try to remove enough pressure from his neck that he can speak. Trying to use his connection to Cas to get Castiel to stop hurting him. And it doesn’t work. Castiel stares him the eyes, not even a flicker of doubt or questioning.

You’ll note that I referred to alternate Castiel in this episode as exclusively “Castiel” and not “Cas.” Because it’s not Cas. Cas is the angel that saved Dean from Hell, and the angel that’s been by Dean’s side for 11 years (at this point in time). And this Castiel has not done that. So he is not Cas.

I’m reminded of the scene wayy back in season 5 where Cas beats Dean up in the alley for trying to give up and give in to Michael. There, Dean actually encouraged Cas to kill him, at the end, and Cas softens. Can’t exactly parse out the parallels there because my brain isn’t working, but there you go.

Now, probably my favorite conversation with John is this one, with Dean.

Right here. The way that Dean says “I have a family.”

It feels almost defiant. “I do have a family. I have Sam, Cas, Mom, Jack. My mother, my brother, my best friend… and I have a son, we all have a son. And beyond that, I’ve got Jody and Donna and Claire and the girls. I do have a family. Yeah, it doesn’t look like the apple pie life, the white picket fence, wife and kids, and yeah, our son is the child of Lucifer, and yeah, I’m in love with my best friend who’s an angel in a man’s body, and I wouldn’t trade him for any woman, and you’d hate that. But they’re my family. And I’m good with that.”

It’s proud, it’s a little defiant, it’s also a little bit of a reassurance, as we see from John’s smile afterward. I don’t think John caught the hint of a challenge in there.

I loved that moment. That might be my favorite line in the entire episode. “I have a family.”

I also like… Dean’s acceptance, “I’m good with who I am.” Part of that… I think it’s both a good thing and a sad thing and also a half lie at the same time. I think he’s good with who he is, in the sense that he’s accepted that he and Sam are the people that have to fill this role in the world, y’know, saving everyone. I think he loves the people he’s with, he loves his family and wouldn’t trade them for anything, not even having John back. No way would he ever trade Cas or Jack or Sam, or Mary, for anything else, ever.

It’s sad, though, because it’s like… he can’t imagine who he’d be if he had a different life. Yes, he’s had a few runs at an apple-pie life, but they weren’t happy, there was always something wrong nagging at him. He… I think he believes there’s no way for him to be happy, and that this is the best he could have.

I’m not even sure how to analyze the goodbye scene. I mean, the clearest thing here is just so much grief from everyone. They got a taste of their father back, and now he has to go back to being dead. There’s so many complicated feelings for both of the brothers, because of the complicated relationship with John, but in the end? They can’t help but love him, and they can’t help but feel grief at losing him. I won’t fault them for that.

In short, I wanna give Dean a gigantic hug and also give him therapy-

And then Cas coming back to the bunker when he did. I bet he sensed something and headed back to the bunker as fast as he could. Also, no clue what he experienced during the whole “Castiel and Zachariah are alive” thing. I imagine it’s possible there were two Cas’s running around for a bit? Because Mary didn’t get affected by the pearl. And Sam was there with his own memories, despite there being videos up of him doing things in the parallel universe. As for Cas, he’s part of Dean’s group of “people” so my guess is two Castiels running around for a little bit.

I like how Dean looks at Cas at the end. He’s relieved to have his angel back.

In summary-

The theme of this episode is “some things are too good to be true.” John came back, the four of them got their moment together, but John couldn’t stay. Things were good for that single afternoon, because everyone was just happy to see each other again, but it sent so much stuff into chaos that it couldn’t last, it had to be undone. And even then, if they’d tried to keep going with it, I know it would have degraded, the illusion of perfection would shatter, and they’d fall into old habits, old arguments and new ones.

And so it had to end.

#THIS IS NOT JOHN APOLOGISM #JOHN IS A TERRIBLE PARENT #HE MAY HAVE APOLOGIZED BUT THAT DOESN’T ABSOLVE HIM OF HIS ACTIONS #john winchester #spn 14x13 #spn Lebanon #dean winchester #sam winchester #mary winchester #castiel #jack kline #destiel #supernatural #Ender’s musings

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hopeshoodie · 2 years

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Why do you like Shannon so much

Why WOULDN’T I like Shannon?? I can’t tell if this was supposed to be antagonistic, but you really shouldn’t ask open ended questions on cross examination. So here’s a disorganized list of all the reasons I like Shannon

Starting with canon- I feel like she’s one of the most fun characters to read. Her dynamic with Rahim is really entertaining- she teases him and is goofy but also knows when to stop if he gets cagey. She’s playful with MC, first during the evening that the girls come back to the villa and then afterwards when getting MC up to speed. She’s really confident, but not like Priya is where Priya TELLS you how confident she is, she’s really smart and observant but not how Marisol TELLS you she is. Shannon’s generally pretty nice to all the girls (excluding Jo but we’ll get to that later) but unlike Hope doesn’t constantly TELL you she’s nice to everyone. She’s pretty wealthy and posh, but that comes out more subtly and she waves it away much easier than Rahim and Lucas do (granted, neither of them tried to be showy about it so it was probably just a situational thing).

Her motivations are more realistic than some of the other characters. Henrik bringing Blake back, Hope being into Jakub, Kassam agreeing to graft onto anyone in CA, these things don’t totally make sense with their characters and motivations. But Shannon always makes sense- she’s trying to get to the end of the game. In turn, she’s trying to find the most well liked but unattached guy (Rahim), make friends with the girls who would be good allies (MC but also Hope to a lesser extent), and protect Rahim’s perception of her. She admits as much to MC, but then insists she genuinely likes Rahim (which it’s always ambiguous if that’s true, which I LOVE).

That’s why I don’t mind her attacking Jo like she does. She genuinely IS confident that Rahim won’t go for Jo, but then when it’s clear he is, she scrambles to do damage control. She tries to intimidate Jo, when that doesn’t work she escalates to trying to turn the other girls against Jo and then more directly fighting with her. The morally right thing to do would be go to Rahim and try to work it out between the two of them, and then give him space to make a decision about his feelings. But Shannon isn’t trying to be morally right, she’s trying to do well in the game. Confronting Rahim would only trigger his defensiveness and sour their relationship, so she doesn’t do that. And I just think that’s so COMPELLING. That’s way more thoughts that I’ve had about it than I’ve had about Lottie’s choices or even Marisol’s.

And also once you’re close to Shannon, she’s genuinely so sweet and supportive. I know it’s not just her being tactical, because she is one of the few islanders who is able to follow up with MC and do things outside of the villa with her.

Shannon at the wedding is literally one of the few things that redeems the wedding episode for me. She’s really in character (which isn’t the case for a lot of other best men/women), is so insanely supportive of MC while still teasing her, and is above all just so nice. I love Hope and Shannon in the wedding episode sm.

She’s hot. She’s just really hot, I’m sorry. Her, Hope, and Priya are just so hot, like I’m actually attracted to these pixels.

She diffuses tense situations where she’s not emotionally involved so easily. Like yes when she’s invested emotionally she crosses a line by how she went at Jo. But also, when Rahim gets awkward or MC says something weird she’s the first to laugh, clap them on the shoulder, and move the group on without dwelling on the moment. I love that, she clearly feels like she can outmaneuver everyone but also cares enough to build genuine friendships with people.

She stays out of other people’s business when it doesn’t affect her in ways that Hope and Marisol never managed to do. Thoughts she has about the other islanders? She keeps them to herself unless tactically relevant. I would kill for a conversation in late game (maybe right before she leaves when she has nothing to lose) where MC asks how she really feels about people and what she’s seen.

Did I mention how hot she is?

This isn’t a canon reason, but I LOVE her dynamic with my OC Bellamy. The next few bullets are just going to be about that because y’know. That’s all I care about.

Ami is a very pretentious yet emotionally underdeveloped dude, he’s 27 but has never fallen in love genuinely or really been exposed to a lot of the world. He’s pretty catholic and judgmental, but also doesn’t usually take much of an interest in other people. Shannon is three years younger than him but loads more experienced, has that same judgementalness but is way less blunt about it, and has an intense interest in other people and their social circles. In a way they both experience the world through each other- Ami hears her analysis and observation of other people and is genuinely interested in the cues and information she picks up that he’d never notice. Shannon adores how intensely passionate he is about things (fashion, craftsmanship, music, media as opposed to events/people like she knows about) without having to worry about how he comes off or what other people think about it. They travel a ton and Shannon takes a quiet pleasure in him getting genuinely excited about the places they go, because she feels like she /did/ that.

Ami is just so happy to be in her orbit. Shannon calls a lot of the shots in the relationship, and he’s just so taken with her that he doesn’t really mind. Granted, he’s a rather emotionally unavailable person to begin with, so when Shannon takes the lead it’s more of a relief.

Neither of them really plan ahead for the future. Ami because he just... doesn’t think about it (which has been problematic for him as it gets him into bad financial situations and prevents him from doing a whole lot of long-term goals), and Shannon because she genuinely believes planning for the future will prevent you from taking opportunities as they come. So there’s not a whole lot of conflict between the two of them about plans or goals, they just kinda roll with the punches.

Because Ami has such a specific, weird yet formal style and Shannon intentionally dresses down (until formal is called for and she turns it up to a 10) I love the idea that they go to a fast food restraunt with vastly different aesthetics. Like here are some fits they’d be out about the town in:

He’s very much an introvert, and while Shannon seems extroverted she prefers to keep a close knit group of good friends. So she’ll take him to these insanely crowded parties, but he doesn’t mind because it’s not like a whole lot of socializing needs to happen. Instead what happens is they end up bonding and focusing on each other, with a cruise or club as the backdrop.

He’s really short and thin, she towers over him and can (and does) pick him up and throw him. Despite that they very much trade power roles back and forth in the bedroom and I’m just obsessed with smol!dom tol!sub dynamics.

#litg shannon #final trash dump

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years

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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep11

Studio Passione: “We paid good money to animate Rika’s festival dance, and by god you’re gonna ENJOY IT!”

Anyway, thoughts under the cut, plus Umineko spoilers.

I know I talked about my theories for how this episode would be paced out last week, but I’m genuinely amazed that they managed to stretch the rest of this loop out into the entire episode, lol. It’s almost impressive how they managed to pad out half an episode or less worth of content into a full episode.

It kinda doesn’t even give me that much to talk about, yet again, which is kinda awkward, but either way this basically proves that I was totally right about my interpretation of the whole Keiichi scene, so I feel kinda pleased about that.

Long story short, the scene we saw in Gou was just an illusion depicting the story that Satoko told Ooishi about what happened, after she set the crime scene up to make it fit her version of events. I guess there’s still a non-zero chance that there’s some extra layer of mystery going on there, but at this point I really doubt it. I think that’s basically all that was going on.

I think this is going to be one of the more polarizing parts of Sotsu for people, depending on how they feel about the way that this is tying itself in to Umineko. This is the sort of storytelling device that’s basically never been used before in Higurashi, but is integral to how Umineko is set up, so it’s one of those times where it becomes undeniable that this is meant to bridge the two series, and is drawing inspiration and ideas from both of them, instead of this just staying within the boundaries of Higurashi alone.

With how this arc feels like a point of no return in the transition between the two stories, I really like how the first thing Satoko does when she accepts that she’s a witch is to start bringing Umineko-style narrative trickery into Higurashi for the first time. I think it’s a neat way to show how she’s starting to ascend beyond the game-board itself and is operating with a different set of rules. Obviously people aren’t gonna like that if they don’t like the idea of this being tied to Umineko, but I think that ship has long since sailed at this point, lol.

And honestly, even without relying on knowledge from Umineko, I think they did a fine job of having that scene in Gou seem weird and suspicious right from the get-go. For one thing, we were also told in Gou that Keiichi had no memory of what happened, and everyone else in that scene was dead, so it’s not that hard to start guessing that we were shown a false version of events.

I think I said this last week, but the confirmation that this is literally just Umineko Logic 101 really makes me wonder if Ryukishi is doing it this way in part to ‘prepare’ people for what to expect from Umineko. There’s still the possibility that we’ll get a full on remake after this, but even if it’s as simple as this basically ending on the note of ‘go back and read the Umineko VN’, he might still be trying to give people an idea of what to expect from it so they don’t get turned off by ep2.

This is getting more into theory territory, but if we keep going down this rabbit hole of transitioning into Umineko logic and narrative structure, I wonder if the entirety of Gou/Sotsu is going to end up being contextualized as a set of forgeries, in the same way as it worked in Umineko. Something along the lines of Satoko ‘seeing Rika’s loops’ being a metaphor for her being given manuscripts to read by Featherine based on Rika’s account of events, and then the Gou/Sotsu loops being forgeries made in collaboration between Featherine and Satoko, and presented to Rika as a new mystery to read and solve. At the very least, this could arguably justify stuff like how everything seems to go in the way Satoko wants, regardless of how reckless she gets.

I’m not 100% confident in that, but it’d definitely continue the trend of this being a blend of Higurashi and Umineko’s writing styles. I think it’d also provide a more comprehensive non-magical interpretation for what’s going on than just ‘Satoko fell asleep in the shrine and just dreamed all of this’, or whatever.

I also don’t really think that’d contradict the whole idea of Satoko being Lambda, though. Looking at it through this whole lens, it’d be sorta like how Ange goes through her own whole character arc in the process of reading Featherine’s forgeries, and basically ends up becoming a witch by the end of it. So the whole narrative arc of Satoko venting out her anger at Rika by trapping her in a new set of loops and slowly becoming a witch would still be intact, and still for all intents and purposes lead to her becoming Lambda.

There’s also various ways this could be tied into the whole deal with Lambda being Takano’s benefactor in Higurashi. Considering how Lambda never actually plays a part in Higurashi itself and is never mentioned by Takano, it could be as simple as ‘Satoko reads Featherine’s manuscript version of Higurashi and ends up relating a lot to Takano and wants her to succeed’, which gets morphed into her granting Takano her blessing of certainty. Either way I think that the whole timeline of events is weird and nebulous and isn’t really intended to make logical sense.

Anyway, probably the most surprising part of the episode was the reveal at the very end that the next arc won’t be called something like Nekoakashi, but instead it’ll be Kagurashi. I’m not really sure how much to read into that, though. It could just be as simple as them speeding through the Nekodamashi stuff, and most of Kagurashi will be the aftermath of that, so they gave it a unique name. Or it could be a completely new arc that does something totally different. Lots of people have suggested the idea of it being an arc all about Eua and Hanyuu and their backstory, which would be one way of doing something entirely different to a Nekodamashi answer arc, but who knows. I don’t think the final scene of this episode necessarily proves that the next arc will be about those two, though.

But on the topic of those two, at this point I think it’s probably safe to say that Hanyuu is effectively meant to be Eua’s piece in this game, and that they probably have a similar relationship to Bern and Erika, going by how much Eua seems to look down on Hanyuu. Although it’s not exactly clear if this Hanyuu is the same person as the Hanyuu from the VN, or if she’s like a clone of her that Eua created after Hanyuu disappeared or whatever after Matsuribayashi.

Either way, I’m not entirely sure how they’d even approach an arc focused on those two. It’s not like Umineko really explained Featherine’s backstory, unless Sotsu is going to straight up introduce Ikuko/Tohya, which I guess could tie into my above theory about this being a forgery. On the other hand, I guess they could maybe do something like the Hanyuu backstory arc from the Higurashi console ports, but that wouldn’t really feel relevant to Sotsu’s story at this point.

Really the big question is just if the entire story will wrap up in four more episodes, or if there’ll be some sort of third season or whatever to wrap things up. Considering that this entire episode was just about wrapping up this loop, and we haven’t even gotten into anything from Nekodamashi, it at least feels like we’re running out of ways they could pull off an ending with just the next arc. But it’s not impossible. The simplest way to handle it would be to spend one episode at most on skimming through the next set of loops so we can get back to the cliffhanger from Gou, and then continuing from there, but if my theory about the overarching structure of the story is correct, then there might not even be that much to show after the cliffhanger, and the continuation of it might just happen in the meta world [or the ‘real world’], not the world of that loop itself. It’s also possible that, if this does lead into some kind of Umineko remake, the ending won’t even be particularly conclusive, and will just be continued in that series instead.

Even with how the pacing has gone thus far, I’m not really sure how confident I am in the idea that we might get another entire season out of this. Maybe we might get another nine episodes to fill Sotsu out to 24 episodes total, but I don’t know if we really need another full cour or two after the next arc. At the very least it’d feel kinda agonizing to have to wait even longer for ANOTHER full season to see how things actually end, lol.

There’s still the whole question mark of how the OP and the key visual for Sotsu depict Rika and Satoko as teenagers, and the other club members in different outfits to the ones from Satokowashi, but who even knows how that all might play into the story at this point. I still think we might get a Saikoroshi-style arc where Satoko loses her game and is banished to a world where Rika doesn’t exist and her relationship with the club members is totally different, but I’m not even sure what the whole point of that kinda development might be, or how long it’d take to get through.

At this point I think the best thing to do would be to just go all in with the Umineko stuff and have this end with the birth of Bern and Lambda and their whole love-hate relationship of mutual torture, even if it means leaving things kind of inconclusive, and without Satoko getting much punishment for her crimes. I think it’d be much worse if they just drag this out for even longer only to end it on the note of this whole conflict being neatly resolved and everything looping back to square one like nothing ever happened.

I guess we’ll just have to see how the next few episodes go, lol.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi sotsu #petition to replace the OP and ED with Rika's festival dance

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enerday · 3 years

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So I don't usually write here about any series and stuff, but I wanted to share some thoughts on final space season 3. It's been released 12 episodes out of 13 and the last one hit me really bad.

I love final space with all my heart for its comedy and I love it much more for its dramatic moments. Season 2 has this perfect blend of golden comedy (well, except the piss battle) and heartbreaking drama. I mean I liked season 1, I thought that avocato was amazing character and his death in the middle of season was brilliant move, but season 2? I fell in love with it. I managed to get through first episodes without caring much, yes, even episode 3 with ash and her sister. But episodes 4 and 5? They rip your heart out. (It's the one where little Cato gets stuck in time anomaly and the one where Gary's mom appears). They made me fall in love with themes of loneliness and family that the show invests so well, with so damn good animation and the perfect amount of comedy in drama and drama in comedy. So I rewatched those like 3 or 4 times.

So what about season 3?

I'm not gonna say it's bad or even that it's worse that previous seasons. Don't get me wrong - it's still great. I enjoyed every minute of watching it. Yes, I thought that episodes were a little less memorable as episodes in season 2. But that may or may not be because I rewatched season 2 for numerous times and I watched most part of season 3 within 3 hours (I tend to remember a little bit less stuff then usual when watching it in one shot).

So season 3 I liked a little bit less than season 2. And here's some thoughts about it - I tried to make them as little biased as possible.

Of course there are spoilers.

1. Opening

Why is it just Gary falling down? The story has never been just about Gary and it is shown in openings 1 and 2. My guess is that they didn't want to spoil who's gonna stay in team-squad and who's not. But in my personal opinion it wouldn't matter if they showed all members of team-squad from the beginning of s3 and then Fox died and so on.

Opening 1 was all of them standing together in nearly static fight scene and well it wasn't that interesting but the viewer was getting the ambiance of the show. Opening 2 was so good - it was well-animated, it showed characters' personalities and basically was fun to watch every episode without struggling or fast-forwarding (my personal favorite is when Gary throws KVN - it says so much about both of them). And I guess it wasn't so fun for me to watch Gary failing down alone for 12 times.

2. Comedy and drama

Like I said season 2 has perfect amount of comedy and drama mixed together. And for me it just didn't feel that way in s3. Drama is on a whole new level - Quinn episode or death of Fox, and don't even get me started on little Cato and his real parents. And while dramatic episodes still hit so damn hard, there's an episode with kinda new atmosphere for the show - the one with ash and her new (girl)friend evra. It's kinda melancholic but not in a sad way, more like in a reflective dreamy and wistful way. I'm really glad they're not getting stuck on the one and only way of doing things.

But sometimes it feels like they don't mix comedy and drama anymore. Like I can't really remember fun part of sad episodes, maybe just a couple of jokes but as for me they're not the same. For example, said 4 and 5 episodes of season 2. There's funny bonding moment in the ep.4 and hilarious loggins dancing scene, then little Cato stuck in this time zone and it's sad but also fun with Clarence, and Tribore others stuff and KVN becoming murderous crazy. And then it turns out that they had never been here, and the amount of loneliness little Cato had to face just tears your heart apart. Unforgettable, and it works so well because of the comedy and fun parts of the episode. Because you can only feel that devastated if you don't expect this while laughing. Same with ep.5 - you laugh on fun part with Gary not wanting save his mother from jail and pretty cliche (still funny though) moments of Sheryl befriending everyone except for Gary. And then it's not the betrayal that hits you with sadness, it's the realization during that heartbreaking flashback that Gary still had hope that he can be family with her. And the moment of him losing that hope.

What I'm saying that in these episodes comedy and drama coexist in the same space and inseparable from each other.

There's still funny parts in season 3 which are mostly hilarious (personal favorite - "I finally found him - father of beelzebub") but it feels like there's a little bit less of them and that they carry less weight for the story-telling and building the atmosphere purposes. And as an aftermath you can separate fun parts from sad parts without losing something. They don't support each other and the story feels less holistic.

Again, it could be that creators were trying to show that the stuff became so much more serious than it used to be, but personally I wish they mixed drama and comedy a little bit more.

3. Themes

So I don't actually know if I think of it as a good or bad thing. It's different for sure, though.

I think themes this season were much less obvious and straight shown as before. For example there's still loneliness theme - but sometimes it's so subtle you might not notice it right away. Like this last episode little Cato tries to spend some time with Gary or Sheryl but everyone shooshes him because they have stuff to do. And you know that they're still family but that feels kinda sad and a little bit familiar. (Also in the beginning of ep.12 there's this kinda sad intonation which with he asks Gary in which team he was).

There's a lot more moments with different themes which you maybe don't notice but feel I can't really recall what are they specifically.

So yeah while season 2 serves themes of the show on big plate and put them right under your nose, season 3 sprays them in the air and makes sure you feel rather then see them.

(Maybe I'm overthinking it but still).

4. Characters and stuff

I'm not really gonna say too much in this section because everyone has pretty much different opinion on each of them.

But some things have to be said.

I saw a lot of people hating ash arc this season and saying that it's artificial. But I find it quite natural. Like, yeah, she makes bad decisions and jumps to wrong conclusions but it's not like it's not in her character. She's always been proactive type and now more than ever she wants to take action, not to sit and wait. And it doesn't mean that if character does something you don't like it makes a plot poorly written or her arc artificial.

I like how Quinn's decision to stay in final space raises debates. There is no clear answer whether her decision was right or wrong, and it's amazing that the show can ask the audience this type of question. And again there's much more to discuss with no clear morally right answer than it was in season 2.

Every father-son bonding moment between Gary and little Cato is precious. Period.

Gary himself feels much more mature and this is amazing job with his arc and character development. Avocato has this inner (soon to be external) conflict with him killing little Cato's real parents and sometimes it feels like it's all that he got in this season, but it's fine, I guess. Tribore is simply the best as always.

Not sure I have something unique or smart to say about everyone else that is not obvious itself and I don't want to extend this so freaking long post for things that have already been said.

Except for that it's been 12 episodes and I still have no idea why it was story-wise necessary to add Biskit to team squad. He's not plot relevant. For me personally he's not even that funny.

So, I guess that's all for now. Definitely gonna update this when season finale is released. Just to talk things out.

Sorry, there are probably ton of mistakes. English is not my first language but I try my best to be better, so feel free to correct me.

#final space #ash #little Cato #gary goodspeed #final space season 3 #final space review #opinion #review #correct me if im wrong #i mean it #final space season 3 spoilers #final space spoilers

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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A meta and analysis on Hurricane Touchdown

Hurricane Touchdown sure is one of the Digimon entries that’s really difficult to describe. Often said to be “confusing” and “like an acid trip” (for pretty good reason, honestly), it somehow also manages to have a lot of hold in public memory, partially due to being one of the three movies that got widespread international distribution via Digimon: The Movie. Moreover, its relevance has started to re-emerge thanks to Kizuna, the director of which has stated Hurricane Touchdown to be his favorite movie (multiple times). Rather recently, there was even an editorial written by a journalist who had been covering Kizuna, professing that he had watched Hurricane Touchdown as a kid and hated it, only to rewatch it as an adult and appreciate it much better.

With all that, plus the fact that the movie recently got a new translation, it’s probably a good time to go back over the movie and analyze it! Despite what popular sentiment may have you believe, the plot of the movie isn’t that fundamentally incomprehensible, just buried under some rather unusual production and execution decisions. But there’s a lot to be said about the themes and story of the movie, so let’s dig in!

(All screenshots and quotations from the movie are based off the Hudie translation.)

Hurricane Touchdown in meta franchise terms

The full title of the movie isn’t technically Hurricane Touchdown by itself, but rather “Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!!/Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals”. (The Japanese fanbase tends to shorten it to “Digimon Hurricane”, or, for even more shortening, “dejihari”.) The double-titling there is because of how it was originally screened; it was the 02 “summer movie”, screening in July (between the airings of 02 episodes 14 and 15). Functionally, the franchise has thereafter treated it like a single movie, but at the time, the fact it was technically “two” movies gave it the longest running time of any Digimon theatrical movie, clocking in at a little over an hour. (The tri. movies are officially considered OVAs and not theatrical movies due to their limited-screening nature, so as of this writing Kizuna, at 95 minutes, is the only theatrical movie to break this record.)

The movie itself has a pretty fascinating development history – for one, Akiyama Ryou was originally planned to be the starring character instead of Wallace. It’s also the first Digimon movie to be in “questionable canonicity” territory – this is very normal for Toei tie-in movies, since development for these kinds of movies usually starts at the same time or even before the TV series itself, making it hard to reconcile canon, but unusual at the time for Adventure, which had both its first and second movies be plot-relevant to Adventure and 02 respectively. It is generally understood that the movie takes place in “summer” – possibly between episodes 14 and 15, at the same position it screened in real-life – but, interestingly, the Western and Japanese fanbases’ opinions on why it’s questionably canon tend to differ: in the West it’s usually based on the appearance of Tailmon and Patamon’s higher-level evolutionary forms (which shouldn’t be possible as per 02 episode 27), but in the Japanese fanbase it’s based on Wallace’s existence posing a timeline contradiction (according to Adventure episode 45, there shouldn’t be any Chosen Children before 1995, but the movie states that Wallace had been one before then). Add to that The Door to Summer, which seemingly contradicts the ending of the movie (in which Wallace and Gumimon find what’s implied to be Chocomon’s egg, whereas The Door to Summer has the line “Chocomon isn’t here anymore”), and everything is just a tangled mess.

Despite that, it’s pretty remarkable how lasting the movie has been in public memory. Even with all of the factors working against it – the fact it’s often accused of being confusing (or, by many a Japanese kid, boring and slow) or an acid trip – Wallace is a very popular character, more so than you’d expect for a “guest” character in a one-off movie, especially one so controversial. 02 fans often even consider him an honorary seventh member of the 02 group. His article on the Pixiv dictionary wiki is pretty surprisingly thorough, at that. Questionable canonicity aside, the fact The Door to Summer even exists is pretty significant – how many one-off questionably canon movies have you seen getting an actual sequel?

As an aside, Hurricane Touchdown has a bit of an interesting relationship with Ojamajo Doremi, which is in some sense classic Digimon’s sister series (it aired at around the same time as Adventure through Frontier, and was also headed by their producer, Seki Hiromi). Wallace was voiced by Miyahara Nami, a voice actress who grew up in an international school in Austria and thus speaks fluent German and English, thus often putting her in roles that require speaking one of those. (If you listen to Wallace’s Japanese speech through the movie, it has a very heavy accent, which is deliberately affected on Miyahara’s part.) A year later, Miyahara would be cast as major character Momoko in Motto! Ojamajo Doremi, and The Door to Summer would prominently feature Nat-chan, a girl voiced by Shishido Rumi, who voiced Ojamajo’s Onpu (who is generally agreed to be Doremi’s most popular character, and Shishido’s most famous role). Coincidence? Opportunistic casting? Who knows.

The movie itself

But that’s enough beating around the bush. Let’s get to the movie itself!

I’m not going to dwell on this too much because I’m going to be going more in detail about it below, but our story starts off in Wallace’s hometown of Summer Memory, a fictional rural village in Colorado, in 1995. (As mentioned earlier, this is a bit of a timeline contradiction; Adventure episode 45 establishes that “the one who wishes for stability” and the Agents didn’t get the idea of human Chosen Children until 1995, whereas the events of Hurricane Touchdown imply he’d been one before then.) Chocomon suddenly vanishes, and a gust of wind is left behind, implying that he must have been kidnapped. It’s not exactly said by what he was taken by (Digimon: The Movie ties it into Our War Game! by having both be traced to a “virus”, but no mention of such is made in the original Japanese version).

The mystery of what it is that took Chocomon away is never fully elaborated in the course of the movie, but as it goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent that it doesn’t actually matter. Why? Well, stay tuned.

So, timeskip to 2002!

As Takeru and Hikari are visiting Mimi in New York, Hikari, who is known to have a bit of an empathic connection to Digimon, senses that there’s a “crying Digimon” (this will be important later), and Mimi suddenly vanishes – as do the other Chosen Children.

I think part of the reason this movie is often pinned as feeling like an acid trip is that the demeanor and attitude the 02 kids express in this movie feels a little too laid-back for the very urgent situation of their seniors having suddenly up and vanished (which is also not helped by the movie’s overall soundtrack being a lot more laid-back than the events on screen should suggest). This is especially odd because it’s absolutely not like the kids aren’t worried about their seniors at all! Rather to the contrary; “getting Taichi and the others back” is the major motive driving the whole group for the rest of it, and it’s constantly brought up as their goal in dialogue, shaping their actions throughout the rest of the movie. The execution of the dialogue and the overall direction create a bit of a tonal mismatch, but on its face, the actual storytelling checks.

Shortly after, Chocomon – now evolved and corrupted into something – appears, and Wallace and Gumimon confront him.

The fact that Wallace refers to his partners by their Baby-level names (Chocomon and Gumimon) even after they’ve clearly evolved brings up a lot of interesting implications. One is that, not having been privy to any great adventure in the Digital World before, Wallace doesn’t have a lot of awareness of names changing after evolution the same way his Japanese peers do. But another important thing that comes out here is that, through the course of this movie, Wallace primarily sees his partners the same way he did as a young child. A lot of this movie’s story centers around Wallace’s difficulty in moving on from the past and accepting that things aren’t the same way that they are anymore – and so, just like how he has a hard time swallowing that the circumstances have changed, he has difficulty seeing his own partners as having changed, and calls them by the same names despite everything.

Takeru and Hikari catch on, and Hikari’s psychic sense catches on that something’s happened to her brother, too.

Oh, and incidentally, said seniors aren’t in a pleasant place to be in at all.

The fact that the older kids are clearly Not Having a Good Time in the realm they’ve been kidnapped to – it’s depicted as cold, lonely, full of negative emotions, and eating away at their ability to even bodily function – is very heavily connected to what we later learn about what’s been going on with Chocomon through the last seven years. Moreover, the one truly coherent thing Taichi and Yamato can spit out at this stage is concern for their siblings – i.e., love. Keep that in mind for later!

Wallace drops a line to his family (”Amy” presumably being his sister) saying that he’s going to head to Summer Memory, and skips town. Repeat: Summer Memory is in Colorado – he’s doing something as drastic as going out of state to follow Chocomon, which naturally does not amuse his mom very much (as we find out later in the movie). Patamon eavesdrops on the conversation and relays the information to Takeru and Hikari, who contact Daisuke in turn.

So the remaining three kids nyoom all the way to the US using frequent flyer miles (which makes you really wonder whose those are, or what on earth they told their parents to allow three elementary school kids go around unassisted in another country) to go save their seniors, which apparently doesn’t fund their trip all the way to Colorado, forcing them to hitchhike from New York.

(We also get a quick scene implying that Daisuke has better proficiency in English than Iori and Miyako, as he translates some of the statements for the guy they take a ride from. This is pretty surprising, given that Daisuke hasn’t really been portrayed as particularly book smart…but then again, language skills sometimes just happen to come naturally to some people regardless of skill in books, and hey, it might just come in useful for his future ramen chef career in New York…)

We get our first major scene of dialogue between Gumimon and Wallace, and we learn quite a bit about their characters in the process. Gumimon has a similar laid-back attitude to the more prominent Terriermon in Tamers, but beyond that (and a shared voice actress), it’s important to note that they have very different personalities otherwise. In this scene, Wallace and Gumimon get in an argument over how to handle Chocomon, with Wallace insisting that they shouldn’t have attacked him and that they should have just “talked” about it – even though, as Gumimon correctly points out, he was pretty obviously trying to physically attack Wallace.

In fact, at this part of the story, Wallace is being extremely irrational and in denial. You don’t even have to watch the rest of the movie to see that Gumimon’s very practical stance on the matter is reasonable – Chocomon was very much trying to attack Wallace, and getting caught in the fight was pretty much all he could do for Wallace’s safety. But Wallace, still stuck in the past, can’t accept that at this point in the movie, and, honestly, is being a bit of a brat about it too – he’s engaging in progressively more self-destructive behavior over the course of the movie (ditching his family to set off by himself in order to hitchhike to Colorado, for one). We later find out that Wallace is specifically obsessed with going back to the flower field where he lost Chocomon, having independently come up with the idea that this would somehow let everything go back to what it was before – even though there was really no sign this would actually fix anything.

The Adventure universe generally runs on a concept that a Digimon partner is representative of part of the self, and so, tying that into Wallace and his two partners, it can be taken that Gumimon and Chocomon reflect the duality of Wallace as a character – Chocomon representing his desire to latch onto the past and hope that everything can be the same that it was before, and Gumimon as Wallace’s sense of reason, advising him about the reality of the situation and how to practically get through it (and, thus, to move on). In fact, Gumimon is the one constantly advising him about said self-destructive behavior (reminding him that his mom is probably worried about him, but also berating him for just ditching the train as a result instead of thinking about how that’d leave them without reliable transportation for the rest of it).

The symbolism is driven in even further when the only thing Gumimon has to say, in response to Wallace clinging further onto the idea that going to the flower field will fix things…is a cryptic statement that Chocomon didn’t like the heat, then suddenly offering to be a hat to provide Wallace shade. Because right now, Wallace and Chocomon are the same: clinging hopelessly to shards of the past.

The other 02 kids make their way to meet up in Colorado, but run into some snags when Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori end up missing the exit to Denver (Takeru is not amused), and Hikari and Takeru’s train ends up stranded thanks to Chocomon’s interference…

…and, making things worse, Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori try to take a plane back to Denver, only to overshoot it again. (Sorry, Taichi…your juniors are idiots.)

Fortunately, they get lucky by running into the very same boy they’re indirectly looking for on their way to hitchhiking. We learn that Wallace has never had exposure to other Chosen Children before to the extent of knowing there were any Digimon in Japan, nor has he ever been to the Digital World, so for all intents and purposes, his experiences with Chocomon and Gumimon are all he knows (i.e. he has no awareness of large-scale Digital World affairs). He also apparently speaks Japanese, which is convenient for this movie so that they don’t have to have a language barrier, but, amusingly, Wallace claims that it’s because he “had a Japanese girlfriend once”. (Gumimon, who is much more reliable of a source, says that he’d apparently put an honest effort into studying, so an interpretation that Wallace really likes anime or something is not out of the question.)

It’s also interesting to see how the others react to him, especially considering that it’s becoming increasingly apparent that he’s involved with the disappearance of their seniors. Miyako is as openly friendly as she generally always is, Iori presses him very calmly about questions relevant to the disappearances and Chocomon without even batting an eyelid (future lawyer in training here), and Daisuke is suspicious from the get-go…which is exacerbated when Wallace starts flirting with Miyako. The running gag of Daisuke getting angry about Wallace flirting with Miyako has a lot to unpack here – the most obvious standby is the shipping interpretation (or, at least, that Daisuke may be as protective of Miyako as he is Hikari), but there are other points to observe as well. Firstly, Daisuke is a rather abruptly straightforward and overly honest person, and it makes sense that he’d play badly with people who seem dishonest – after all, his suspicions of Wallace started even before he started flirting, and he also shows similar hostility around Takeru (also not a very straightforward person) when he suspects he’s being made fun of. But also, the Pixiv dictionary entry takes the interpretation that Wallace’s personality had gotten a bit “warped” by his experiences – or, in other words, he’d developed this penchant for acting like a flirt, wandering off on his own, and altogether being incredibly wishy-washy because of the trauma of losing Chocomon and his inability to get over it.

And as much as Daisuke’s being a prick about it (to the point that mocking Wallace for it gets him left there stranded with him), he’s absolutely right about the contradiction Wallace’s posing – he’s acting all high and mighty about trying to become an “adult” (meaning that going off on his own and flirting with girls presumably are part of his perception of what Mature Guys do), yet he’s being a total mama’s boy by constantly dropping everything to call her repeatedly through his trip. (It’s even worse than the subs here suggest; he calls her “mama”, the kind of super-affectionate language used by Mimi and Ken.) As Gumimon says, Wallace thinks he’s actually right, but he doesn’t actually have it together at all.

Another interesting thing to note here is that at this point of the movie, Wallace calls Daisuke “Daisuke-kun” (with honorific attached, slight distance). Remember this for later.

Chocomon appears to confront them again, but he seems to not properly recognize Wallace – because, as we later find out, he doesn’t see the current Wallace as “Wallace”, and will accept nothing less than a younger Wallace from exactly the way he was when they were separated. (It is later stated in the movie that this is why he kidnapped the seniors and turned them younger; since he can’t recognize “Wallace” the way he is now, he’s taking anyone he can find with a Digivice and de-aging them in the hopes that he’ll find “Wallace” among them.) Gumimon recognizes that Chocomon is beyond recognition, and tells Wallace to not see him as Chocomon, but Wallace refuses to accept this and continues to intervene in the fight, telling Chocomon that they’ll meet again in the flower field. Again, Wallace’s mentality isn’t that different from Chocomon’s at this point – he may not be delusional to the point he wants to literally turn back time, but he still thinks that reproducing the conditions of seven years prior will fix everything and make it all better again.

During this whole time, the older(?) kids are getting progressively younger, and it’s turning out to impact not only their physical bodies but also their mentalities. At this point, they’re starting to lose awareness of what’s happening to them, as they become more and more connected to Chocomon’s emotions.

Daisuke is smart enough to catch on that Wallace definitely knows what’s going on, and starts to interrogate him. Recall that Daisuke is completely within his rights to do so at this point – Wallace is not only acting incredibly shady, he’s also being dismissive and refusing to give Daisuke any concrete answers about something that most certainly involves him at this point. As the 02 kids keep reiterating, their seniors have been kidnapped, and it’s pretty clear to anyone that Wallace knows something about this, but he continues to blow them off.

Wallace also doesn’t seem to be very happy about the fact Gumimon had evolved during the battle – remember, Wallace is very resistant to changes in his status quo, and especially when it involves Gumimon evolving in a similar way to Chocomon.

Daisuke continues to pry into what’s going on with Wallace and Chocomon, and Gumimon, who understands that there’s no use in denying that this is a problem, tries to be straightforward about it – but Wallace, still stubbornly refusing to open up about it, won’t even let Gumimon tell Daisuke about the truth.

Daisuke realizes that they’re not going to make any territory as it is, so he decides to have Lighdramon take them to Summer Memory for the time being, bonding a bit more with Wallace in the process.

Once they reach Summer Memory, the kids learn about Takeru and Hikari getting stalled by Chocomon on the train, and the fact everyone else on it had disappeared – meaning that the responsibility that Wallace is carrying for not taking care of this problem begins to weigh further on him. Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori continue to interrogate him about what he knows.

But Wallace, still stubbornly, refuses to talk, and being in Summer Memory only drowns him in further memories of his past with Chocomon and Gumimon. We learn a bit more about Gumimon’s past, too – apparently, he was quite the crybaby…

And when Gumimon finally begins to spill the details of what’s going on – that Chocomon wants to see the younger Wallace and is kidnapping kids with his Digivice and turning them younger as a result – Wallace still continues to double down on his denial. Notice his wording – his specific insistence that things will go back to “how they used to be,” because it’s not just about getting Chocomon back, but also a fixation on recreating that happy childhood he had with him.

(There’s also a bit of a cute moment around here where Daisuke asks Wallace if he needs to call his mom – after having teased him for being a mama’s boy earlier, Daisuke really is starting to care about his welfare. It’s also amusingly mentioned that Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori are broke out of money until they meet up with Takeru and Hikari again…)

That night, Wallace tries to go off by himself to the flower field, not even bringing Gumimon with him – as he implies later, he doesn’t even want to get Gumimon involved with this because he was the closest to Chocomon – but Daisuke, having finally caught on to his suspicion that Chocomon is not only relevant to Wallace but also Wallace’s partner, confronts him about it. Wallace thus finally spills the details – that Gumimon and Chocomon were born from the same egg, that Wallace kept them from his mother and stuck with them during childhood, and that, seven years prior, Chocomon suddenly vanished while they were playing at the flower field.

Wallace: I’ve never been able to forget about Chocomon since then. Not even after moving to New York, not even once. We were such good friends…So why did Chocomon have to end up like that? Does he hate me for not being able to save him? Daisuke: So the enemy we’re fighting is actually your Digimon? Your most important friend?! Daisuke: Of course you’d never be okay with that…

Daisuke is in shock, even though he’d already started to suspect this.

I said, earlier, that Wallace is being extremely irrational and in denial. I did not say that his feelings aren’t valid. Wallace’s situation sucks, and Daisuke recognizes why this hurts for him so much, especially after putting himself in Wallace’s shoes (and in fact it’s even worse for Wallace; Daisuke’s only known V-mon for less than half a year, whereas Wallace is talking about his formative childhood friend).

Daisuke: I’d never be able to do it. If V-mon were to turn into something completely different…Even if he went on a horrible rampage…There’s no way I’d ever be able to bring V-mon down. Wallace: Daisuke… Daisuke: So then, what are we supposed to do? Wallace: It’s not something you need to be crying over. Daisuke: But…

This entire scene is an interesting one for many reasons, especially because of the position in which it aired – this was in the middle of the arc in 02 when everyone was getting their second Digimentals. Daisuke had, only a few episodes prior, expressed trepidation over “friendly fire” – fighting any friend who had become controlled by the Digimon Kaiser. This is consistent with that (and the 02 kids’ general bleeding hearts and difficulty with fighting friends), and it’s even worse – unlike before, when we were talking about evil mind control, Chocomon is pretty obviously a victim of his own madness. And although Wallace continues to insist that this isn’t Daisuke’s problem, Daisuke, for all he’s rough around the edges, is a genuinely kind person who thinks of others to the point he breaks down in genuine tears over the problem, and it’s consistent with not only his prior characterization of thinking about others’ feelings in 02 episode 8, but also how this eventually ties into his indignation over seeing others being hurt (episode 20) or their feelings being trampled on (episode 49).

Another interesting thing here is that at no point in the movie is “killing” ever brought up, but rather the word used is taosu, which literally means “defeat”. In 02 proper, its use is somewhat euphemistic – most famously, it was used in episode 44, when Miyako and Hawkmon have a crisis over killing LadyDevimon (so in short, there’s no illusions about the fact killing is in play here). But in this context, it’s not even really about killing. Wallace doesn’t even want to fight in the first place. The sheer action of physically beating up a beloved friend is painful, with killing as the ultimate unwanted outcome. Everything about this sucks. But Daisuke correctly points out that Taichi and the others’ welfare is on the line here, and everything feels like the wrong thing to do. “What are we supposed to do?”, indeed.

So that’s why Daisuke momentarily indulges in Wallace’s denial-induced pattern of thought, because it really does seem like the only out here. (Especially because, from Daisuke’s perspective, Wallace seems to understands this situation better than he does – even if he doesn’t actually.) If they go to the flower field, they won’t have to fight and everyone will be saved and it’ll be fine! Wallace is irrational and in denial, but you can’t blame him and Daisuke for really, really wanting to believe this.

And Daisuke drops this zinger of a line, too:

Daisuke: So don’t say you’re gonna go alone.

Daisuke’s characterization really is important here, because, again, this movie came out during the first arc of the series, before episode 21 and the second half that centered around Ichijouji Ken’s redemption. At this point in the series, Daisuke was still being extremely deferential to others, especially his seniors, in almost all cases, and although episode 8 was a momentary glimpse into the kind of resolve Daisuke could have when it involved something he really cared about, this movie is really the first major sneak peek into how supportive of a person Daisuke is going to develop into, especially when it comes to Ken.

And Gumimon reaffirms that he’s going to stick by Wallace no matter what – filling the traditional role of a partner that Chocomon won’t anymore.

So they go to the flower field, and everything…fails spectacularly.

Well, before that, we get a glimpse of how the older kids are doing (they’re barely even conscious now), and we finally get to see Chocomon “in his element” and not as a rampaging monster. Things really, really aren’t going great for Chocomon either. He desperately and sadly jumps among the kids, trying to find Wallace among them, and what he really, really wants is just to be with his partner again. But they’re all “wrong”…

At first it seems like Wallace is making headway – for a second, Chocomon even recognizes him as Wallace! – but he continues to insist that he wants Wallace to come “with him”, to where it’s “cold and lonely and no one is there”. The way he starts chanting that he wants to go back is represented by the young Chocomon’s voice getting progressively lost in the monster’s voice, and Wallace, starting to grasp how futile Chocomon’s clinging to the past is, makes his first statement of the movie’s core theme: you can’t go back to the past, the only thing you can do is look forward and think about what you can do from there.

So after witnessing very clearly, in front of his eyes, how Chocomon is not going to listen to reason and will accept nothing less than something he can’t have, to the point of evolving and distorting everything around him, Wallace’s denial finally hits its limits, and he accepts that fighting him will be the only option out. (Again, note the use of “defeat” here – it’s not really about beelining straight to euthanizing him as much as Wallace has finally gotten over his refusal to fight Chocomon at all.) And considering that the situation is clearly rapidly escalating, and that Chocomon himself is clearly not in sound mind and having a terrible time himself, it doesn’t take much to see why the bleeding-heart Daisuke would also end up conceding so quickly. There’s a limit to how much you can hold out with pacifism when that just happened right in front of you!

(Also, Wallace no longer uses the honorific on Daisuke. Friendship level up!)

Chocomon evolves further and further, and his personality starts to actually take a turn for the cruel as he starts toying with the Digimon. In fact, it’s made pretty apparent that they’re no match for him from the get-go – he keeps toying with reality and forcing the Digimon back and forth between forms. He ends up “altering the world” into something reflective of his own heart, and it’s repeatedly pointed out that it’s “cold and lonely” – in short, Chocomon is subjecting the world to feel the same pain and loneliness that he felt, the pain that was enough to drive him mad.

And Wallace finally has this to say:

Wallace: Like Daisuke said, I’m a big baby. But you’re not Chocomon anymore. No, you’re the one who did this to Chocomon…Chocomon was all by himself and lonely, and in that loneliness, he tried so hard…But you took his heart and locked it away somewhere! I’m going to fight. If I defeat you…If that means I can free Chocomon from you…Then I want to fight, too! I need strength…

Firstly, Wallace acknowledges that he’s been a brat – that he’s been philandering around and acting spoiled and stringing everyone around (character development!!). And secondly, Wallace finally acknowledges the truth of Chocomon no longer being recognizable anymore. The ending quarter of this movie focuses heavily on the idea that Chocomon has now become so distorted that he can no longer even be considered the same thing anymore – it’s ambiguous as to whether that “you” that Wallace refers to having taken Chocomon away is actually a separate supernatural entity, or whether Chocomon was drowning in his own loneliness to the point those negative feelings became their own entity and consumed him.

In actuality, though – it doesn’t really matter! 02 as a series would also go on to blur the boundaries between external interference and internal forces – Ken having the Dark Seed as an influence but also being personally responsible for his own emotions driving him over the edge, and having to take responsibility regardless, and Oikawa technically being possessed by Vamdemon but still being goaded on by his own fixation with the past (in fact, notice how all three of these cases have to do with a fixation on things that can’t be brought back). Right now, the only thing that matters is that Chocomon is no longer recognizable, the thing in front of Wallace is no longer the same friend he knew, and even being able to bring back Chocomon’s sense of self is something Wallace wants.

(Daisuke also throws in a more charitable interpretation of Wallace’s actions even when he’s being hard on himself, pointing out that he can’t really be called a “baby” when he also did have genuine determination to come all the way there to find Chocomon despite his age.)

Hikari and Takeru arrive on the scene, and after Daisuke loses his marbles a bit over his happiness at seeing Hikari-chan there, Hikari points out the same thing: “You’re not the Digimon that was crying.”

Chocomon starts turning the 02 kids younger too – and remember, it was established earlier that he was using the Digivice as a guide. That meant it made sense for him to target the older kids, since they had the same model of Digivice Wallace did. But Daisuke and the others have D-3s, and there’s no way to really mistake them for Wallace – so in other words, Chocomon has devolved to inflicting cruelty for no good reason, with the original motive having completely vanished.

In increasing desperation, Angewomon and Angemon decide to evolve, and…look, I don’t have an explanation either, but I have to admit I’m somewhat amused by the fact that even they don’t really seem to have an explanation beyond “well, we’re desperate and hopefully it’ll do something!”

So they evolve, and Chocomon oneshots them. But that’s okay, because they released some golden Digimentals for Daisuke and Wallace to use! So V-mon and Gumimon get shiny new golden forms –

– and Chocomon pretty much oneshots them, too. More specifically, he eats them…and within his body, Magnamon and Gumimon’s consciousness gets eaten apart to the point they start forgetting their partners. Wow, this situation just got worse.

Yeah, so, despite the movie being named after the golden Digimentals, the actual point being here is that power means absolutely nothing in this situation. Remember, I pointed out that even from the beginning Chocomon was straight-out warping reality – they really didn’t have a chance.

So basically, everything devolves into complete chaos. Everyone’s being turned into little kids, with the mentality to match. All the Digimon are being oneshotted and being tossed around like tissues. But the one constant through all of this is that the kids are constantly running after their partners.

Remember how, back when the older kids were first getting sucked into Chocomon’s world, the one thing that seemed to remain intact at first was “love”? That “love” is what reaches out to Magnamon and Gumimon inside Chocomon, and makes them remember their partners again.

And, more importantly, that “love” is what awakens Chocomon – the real Chocomon – inside his consciousness, and he wordlessly makes a gesture begging Magnamon and Gumimon to kill him. And so they do – with understanding and consent from all three involved.

So in the end, the most extreme conclusion was reached. Chocomon died, at the hands of Daisuke and Wallace’s partners. But in that moment before he died, Chocomon’s pain was relieved, and he was himself again – Gumimon says that “Chocomon was smiling”, even in spite of his usual personality being that of a crybaby. They may have failed in their struggle to prevent the inevitable conclusion of having to kill Chocomon, but they did, to some degree, “save” him – so all of it did mean something in the end. And Daisuke promises that this still doesn’t mean the end of everything – they may have not been able to bring back Chocomon, and especially not in the exact way that would make things “the way they were before”, but the future is still there for him to return someday.

So, we clean up loose ends. Taichi and the others are returned safely, and in the end, Wallace decides to still be a vagrant for a bit longer – and to flirt with Hikari and Miyako a bit before he leaves. In the end, Wallace still has a long way to go if he wants to really grow as a person. But as Miyako points out, he’s gotten a bit bolder than he was before – and he’s greeted with an egg in the end, as if opening up new possibilities.

The Door to Summer contradicts the finding of this egg, or at least opens up the possibility that this wasn’t actually Chocomon’s, so it’s ambiguous as to whether the frame of Terriermon and Lopmon at the end of the credits is meant to be taken literally, or if it’s just symbolic. But even in the case of the latter, Chocomon is seen as Lopmon, a form he never got to have in Wallace’s childhood – so, in the end, it’s about different possibilities opening up in the future, rather than replicating that of the past.

All right, let’s recap this movie for those doing a tl;dr! Or, more specifically, let’s recap the events in chronological order:

Sometime before 1995, an egg emerges from Wallace’s mother’s computer, and hatches into twin Digimon, Chocomon and Gumimon.

In 1995, while playing in a flower field in Summer Memory with Wallace and Gumimon, Chocomon disappears for unknown reasons.

For the next seven years, Chocomon is trapped in delirium, full of loneliness and pain from being unable to see Wallace, and starts to become obsessed with the idea of reuniting with him, but, in his madness, accepts only a version of that reunion that involves him being the same young child he was when they parted, as if nothing had changed since.

Wallace, likewise, develops a fixation with getting Chocomon back so that things can be like “the way they were before”, even after moving to New York.

In 2002, Chocomon begins to kidnap kids with the same model of Digivice that Wallace has, and starts to forcibly turn them younger and send them into delirium like his own, hoping that this will bring the “Wallace” he wants back. Wallace starts to chase after him and decides that returning to the flower field in Summer Memory will allow him to communicate with Chocomon and make him go back to the way he was before.

Takeru and Hikari, hoping to find a lead on their seniors’ disappearance, drop a line to Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori, who head to the United States, also hoping to find a lead in Summer Memory. On the way, they run into Wallace, who is evasive about his connection to Chocomon and the kidnapping incidents.

At Summer Memory, Daisuke confronts Wallace and learns about his story, emphasizing deeply with the difficulty in killing an important friend, and agreeing that they should reach out to Chocomon at the flower field.

Chocomon continues to fall deeper into madness at the flower field, and Wallace and the others realize that they have no choice but to fight him. As Chocomon becomes so distorted he’s no longer recognizable, Wallace declares an intent to at least save his consciousness.

As the fight carries on, the kids are de-aged by Chocomon in his madness, and Magnamon (V-mon) and Gumimon are swallowed by Chocomon. However, the kids’ love for their partners awakens Chocomon’s consciousness again, and he asks Magnamon and Gumimon to end his pain.

With everything settled, Wallace and Gumimon are able to face forward into the future in the hopes of meeting Chocomon again and starting anew from scratch.

The Door to Summer

Actually, there’s not much to really be said about Hurricane Touchdown’s spiritual sequel The Door to Summer, except that it revisits similar territory to the movie, observing it more in Daisuke’s context than it does Wallace’s. (The story is very much more Daisuke’s than it is Wallace or Mimi’s.) The short synopsis is that Daisuke, having had a pretty bad time recently, finds himself in contact with a mysterious “winter” (in the middle of summer!) that seems to reflect his own heart…and a mysterious amnesiac girl whom Mimi names Onpu “Nat-chan”, who immediately latches onto Daisuke. In the end, “Nat-chan” turns out to be “a Digimon who’s taken in a lot of evil data,” who goes on a rampage and forces the others to fight and eventually kill her.

Although the reason for Nat-chan going on a rampage is more concrete than what was given in Hurricane Touchdown (it’s portrayed as “data chips” that seem like fireflies), The Door to Summer also makes it very clear that it wasn’t just supernatural influence, but also Nat-chan’s loneliness, desire for a human partner, and jealousy of Daisuke and V-mon’s relationship. Daisuke, while showing immense hesitation about fighting her when she had befriended them, still manages to “save” her in some way, to the point she actually verbally thanks him as she dies. And in the end, Daisuke and the others decide to take her egg and find a partner for her – even if she can’t be Daisuke’s partner like she wanted, she can still start anew with someone else.

Wallace in Kizuna

Warning: The rest of this post contains spoilers for Kizuna.

As said before, Hurricane Touchdown has been said to be the favorite Digimon movie of the director of Kizuna – and certainly, while Kizuna references all four Adventure-series theatrical movies, Hurricane Touchdown’s references are the least subtle, with the plot point of de-aging kids lifted directly from it. (Except, in this case, it’s in the context of trapping oneself in blissful memories rather than being portrayed as the upfront listless torture it is in Hurricane Touchdown.) Moreover, the theme of warning against being fixated on the past is just as present in Kizuna as it was in Hurricane Touchdown, especially when Kizuna’s main antagonist (Menoa) also falls victim to something that’s part supernatural influence and part getting swallowed by her own negative feelings…so it’s only fitting that Wallace himself makes a cameo in the movie. Two cameos, in fact.

The fact that Wallace is established as canonically existing within the Adventure main timeline has thrown a lot of people for a loop, especially since recent franchise events have made it questionable as to how it’s possible for canon to even make sense anymore because consistency has just gone out the window, but the Pixiv dictionary’s chosen rationalization for this is that, at the very least, “(some version of) Wallace exists in the timeline of the main story”. I’m inclined to agree with this evaluation; the fact that people around the globe can agree that the movie is questionably canonical but can’t even agree on how, and the fact that certain franchise entries considered canon (Tag Tamers) have their own contradictions, plus the fact that it’s not like Hurricane Touchdown takes a complete knife to timeline and lore common sense and more that it has some contradictory minutiae that are really easy to sidestep, it’s not actually that hard to say that some timeline of events that reasonably resembled Hurricane Touchdown (with maybe only some minor timeline or evolution differences) happened during the summer of 2002, and thus that Wallace exists.

Assuming that the story of our canonical Wallace is mostly the same or similar to that of the story presented in Hurricane Touchdown, Kizuna provides us with quite a bit of interesting information. We’re treated to two shots relevant to him: one in the form of his name at the top of Koushirou’s list of kidnapping victims, and one where he appears in person at the very end. It’s hard to miss him; he’s wearing similar colors to the clothes he wore in Hurricane Touchdown so you can identify him even at a distance, and he’s also the only loser around here with two partners. That’s right, two! Two!! Chocomon is back – and as Lopmon, exactly like the end credits card of Hurricane Touchdown depicted him!

So it looks like that, one way or another (after Hurricane Touchdown, after The Door to Summer, whatever, make up your own story), Wallace did manage to reunite with Chocomon and start a new life with him. It looks like not all of his habits have died – he’s depicted in a place with palm trees, meaning he’s definitely not in New York or Colorado, so either he’s moved again, is still maintaining the vagrant lifestyle, or just happens to be on vacation.

The other interesting thing here is that Wallace is depicted as one of the Eosmon kidnapping victims. According to Menoa, kidnapping victims were ones who were entertaining thoughts of wanting to go back to the past and remain a child forever – something that should intuitively be against everything Wallace learned in Hurricane Touchdown. But it’s important to point out that Eosmon’s lure is depicted as working on a subconscious level – certainly, if the kidnapping victims in Kizuna were to be outright asked if they wanted to be kidnapped and de-aged and trapped in their childhoods forever, most of them would probably say “no!”, and Wallace is likely no exception! But even if he’s starting his life anew with Chocomon now, it’s not hard to believe that there would still be lingering subconscious regrets about everything he’d lost with Chocomon and the childhood they could never spend together, ones that Eosmon’s allure would end up connecting with, even if the events of Hurricane Touchdown had consciously taught him better. Alas, being a human is hard.

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #hurricane touchdown #shihameta #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #kizuna spoilers

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