#i only have a handful of arcs and scenes properly figured out i need to get my shit together with this. im def deleting this later

[waywardsalt]

theres a lot abt post-ph ive never really mentioned. grants theres also a lot i havent figured out

#i only have a handful of arcs and scenes properly figured out i need to get my shit together with this. im def deleting this later #anyways. i dont think ive mentioned anything abt linebeck being more or less immortal #in the sense that like. he cant be killed through combat means. its some weird healing magic shit #specifically started with the intent that it lets me tear him apart repeatedly but its fine bc he heals anyways #with the limits of like. poison and sickness and certain things CAN kill him. but he can like. get disemboweled and its fine #im gonna delete this later im jsut thinking sbt it #i remember while talking to it with a friend he asked ok so how does it work if he gets torn evenly in half #cuz my logic is like. say he gets an arm cut off. the lost arm decays like normal and a new one kinda just slowly grows in bones first #so his question is one ive been thinking sbt since i need to come up with a good answer #anyways linebeck is fucked post ph hes got insane healing shit due to uhhhh reasons (i know the reasons) but hes still made of papier mache #so its like. bellum is more or less indestructible so hes the only actual immortal #while linebeck is just. prone to being a little more reckless. i need to tweak story stuff. hes the worst in combat #so hes very down to like. cutting a hand open to give bellum some of his blood. its fine itll heal in like an hour #the idea is that the healing becomes faster the longer it is since he gets that ability but there is a ceiling #its like a mixture between technically having phantom blood and some other god-ish deity interference i need to zero in on it dw #look i need it so that he can be covered in his own blood and in agony several times without like. him actually fucking dying from it

[aspoonofsugar]

A Quick Nora Thought...

Nora's first appearance in the series sets up her arc in two ways:

Nora: I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full twenty-four hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm… well, I'm me! But it's just crazy, you know? We've been friends for soooooooo long! What are the odds we'd still be together? Well, not "together-together…" Not that I'm not saying that you're not handsome; you are handsome, but that'd just be weird, right?

Let's focus on 2 lines:

Not "together-togheter"...

I'm... well, I'm me!

Not together-together

Nora is initially co-dependent from Ren. She is saved by him and spends the majority of her life by his side. As a result, she struggles to find a new balance, when her feelings become romantic. They are together platonically, but not romantically. At the same time, Nora's idea of getting together-together as things are is unhealthy.

I'm... well, I'm me!

Let's consider these 2 scenes:

We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me… Jaune… We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore and… Uhh… Jaune!

Nora: Yeah, they’ll be fine. Jaune’s a great leader, Oscar’s grown a ton, and Yang is more than capable of protecting them all in a fight. Oh, and of course Ren is- um…

Whenever Nora can't properly say who someone is, she would define them by their name. In volume 3, Jaune is still unsure of his identity, so he is no-one, but Jaune. In volume 8, Ren is going through a similar identity crisis, so Ren is someone Nora doesn't know anymore. This speech pattern highlights that the character mentioned has a frail sense of self. Well, what does it say about Nora, then? The very first thing she says is that she is unsure of who she is. Ren is someone, for example a handsome perfect student. But Nora? Who is she?

Ren + Nora = Renora

Nora's arc is built around 2 ideas, which seem opposites. On the one hand her story focuses on her relationship with Ren, as he is her objective since early on. On the other hand she must figure out who she is as an individual. So, how can she be together-together with Ren and be just Nora at the same time?

Nora: I don’t know what he is. Every time I think the two of us are making progress, he… (sighs) We’ve been together our whole lives but I feel like I understand him less now than ever. And I don’t know if that’s his fault or mine. Blake: When you’ve been at someone’s side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that’s just it, they’re only a part of you. Don’t forget about the rest. Nora: I don’t actually know who I am… without Ren. Pretty sad, huh? Weiss: Well, maybe take this opportunity to find out? Do something only Nora can do.

The two thematic threads come together in volume 8. Nora doesn't know who Ren is and since she has built her self-image around him, she is suddenly unsure of herself as well. It turns out that to go from Ren + Nora to Renora, our girl needs to figure herself out:

Nora: When my mom ran from the Grimm and left me behind, you found me. We became Ren and Nora. But I realized on this mission apart, I don’t know who “Just Nora” is. And if I’m ever going to find out, then I have to do it alone. Because I’ve always loved you, Lie Ren, and that pretty head on your shoulders seems like it’s doing a lot better. But I still got to get mine sorted out before I can be the partner you need. Is that…okay?

Only in this way, she can be by Ren's side (together), but not in aa codependent way (together-together).

As for who Nora is... the episode Risk makes it pretty clear.

The most beautiful flower of all

What beautiful blossoms we have this year, but look... This one's late...But I'll bet that when it blooms it will be the most beautiful of all. (Mulan, 1998)

The Renora's confession scene ends with Nora being not ready for a relationship with Ren. And yet, the moment looks at Nora he sees the air full of petals ready to bloom. Considering Ren's Mulan's allusion and the importance flowers have in Renora's arcs, I think the reference is pretty clear.

Nora (a pink flower) has yet to bloom. She is late in a sense. However, the flower which blooms late is the most beautiful of all. That is Nora. Our girl will definately bloom into herself, no matter the adversity she meets:

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all (Mulan, 1998)

#rwby #nora valkyrie #renora #lie ren #rwby meta #my meta

[cosmicjoke]

as much as I hate to think about this...

do you think that Kenny ever gave Levi beatings? Levi's 'pain is the best discipline' line makes me think so and Kenny isn't above hurting children either

Hi there,

I think it's almost a guarantee that Kenny beat Levi, yes.

As awful as that is to think about, when one really looks at the way Kenny treats Levi, particularly how willingly and earnestly he tried to kill him during their encounter in the Uprising arc, and as you also point out, Levi's comment about pain being "the best discipline", it's almost inconceivable to me that Kenny didn't beat Levi, likely, in his mind, as a means of teaching him how to fight and survive. Levi's comment alone should be enough to confirm it, really. Where would he have learned such a thing, if not from the very man who taught him how to fight? That Levi sees it as a form of discipline shows that he himself was put through pain as a means of teaching him said discipline, and Levi's only ever had one teacher that we know about.

Further, Kenny's assault of Levi during the Uprising arc comes across to me as almost a test. He tries to kill Levi, really and truly, and doesn't hold back in that regard, almost as if he's trying to see just how fiercely and effectively Levi can fight back against such an assault. And it is a brutal assault, at that. I'm sure in Kenny's mind, if Levi wasn't able to properly defend himself, and ended up dead as a result, that would have just been the way it was meant to be. It would have, in Kenny's mind, been Levi's fault for not being strong enough to live.

One can easily extrapolate from this that Kenny wasn't opposed to physically harming Levi in order to, literally and figuratively, beat into him the skills he needed in order to survive in a harsh environment like the Underground. And how does one teach another person how to fight, and not just fight, but kill, other than through physical demonstration? Actually engaging in hand to hand combat. But we have to remember, Levi was truly just a little boy during those years. He was a very young child, probably no older than 5-10 years old, based on his appearance. He wouldn't have had any chance of putting up any kind of real fight against a man like Kenny, or any man at all, at that point.

Kenny later talks about how "that midget" is his pride and joy, and of course, he's referring to Levi's fighting prowess. He takes pride in the fact that Levi became so adept at fighting and killing.

Kenny was a violent man. He was a true killer, someone who genuinely enjoyed killing, and killing children wasn't beyond him at all. He was going to kill Historia before Rod stopped him, and displayed no hesitation in the act. So it's hardly a stretch to think that Kenny would have employed physical discipline as a means of teaching and controlling Levi for the years he had him.

We also can easily assume that Kenny purposefully and deliberately exposed Levi to dangerous encounters in the Underground as a means of, again, testing him to see if he was ready to be on his own. When Kenny finally did abandon Levi, it was in the midst of Levi fighting a grown man, seemingly to the death. Levi was beat up in that scene, with a scuffed up face and bloodied nose. It clearly wasn't just a one-sided fight. And Kenny was standing in the gathered crowd, just watching it unfold. He clearly didn't have any issue with other people beating Levi up, so it stands to reason that Kenny himself wouldn't have had any issue putting his own hands on Levi in the same way.

I know people like to think of Kenny in a positive light, and to credit him with giving Levi a second chance at life and giving him the skills he needed to survive. But the truth is, Kenny was a bad, bad person, and he abused Levi. Even if one were to dismiss the almost certainty that he beat Levi, he abused him by exposing him to so much violence and death as a child, by teaching him how to kill at all, by putting him into situations in which Levi's life was threatened, by verbally abusing him, calling him names, and finally, by abandoning him. He wasn't some dotting, loving father-figure to Levi.

So, yeah, I'm almost 100% sure Kenny used to beat Levi, as a means of teaching him and disciplining him. His violence toward Levi later on is all but a confirmation. You combine that with Levi's own words about pain and discipline, and his own violence as a means of disciplining his subordinates, mainly Eren, and it becomes pretty clear that Levi was raised in just that sort of thing. Only with Kenny, of course, one has to assume he took it to the extreme, and didn't just beat Levi, but gave him severe beatings. Kenny would probably view a severe beating as going easy on Levi, honestly, if he also thought trying to kill him, and exposing him to situations in which he could be killed, was fair game for testing Levi's skills.

#Levi Ackerman #Kenny Ackerman #attack on titan #shingkei no kyojin

[evelili]

okay I’ve been reading your magnum opus fic and I’m at the chapter with fluttershy and the manticore and GOOD GOD this fic is amazing. Your writing of twilight is stunning. Her steadfast belief in science at the start seemed odd but now that her past bullying has been revealed it feels like she was just clutching to the one thing that couldn’t hurt her. God sunset getting possessed is so cool and I am TERRIFIED of when twilights going to be forced to see her like that. Your characterization of Celestia blows me away, she’s this perfect mix of a loving mentor and a woman who would do ANYTHING to keep her demons locked away. I really like how you write that there’s this shift between her when she is talking to twilight normally vs when she’s talking about magic. She goes from loving to almost cold, it’s brilliant! I’m halfway through fluttershy’s chapter and good god. Applejack’s speech about it not being Twilights fault she got bullied and having to trust her in spite of all that has happened nearly brought me to tears but GOD. Twilight being a bit possessed by the manticore is such a cool shift from the original episode it makes it all so much more intense. Fluttershy and twilight talking about how twilight didn’t deserve to be bullied and it’s alright that she didn’t get over it!!

“Something’s wrong with me,” she whispered back, her mouth dry with guilt. Fluttershy nodded carefully, the stinger still inches away from her throat. Twilight didn’t trust herself to move, and instead added, “I don’t mean just right now. There’s still—” She choked on her words. “I didn’t get over it,” she said instead. “I couldn’t. Not like you.”

Like!!! This bit right here fucked me UP. Your descriptions of the emotions she’s feeling and how she’s expressing it physically between her mouth and her voice and how the wings and scorpion tail are reacting are BRILLIANT!!

Twilight didn’t try to move away. “But I’m not better,” she admitted. Fluttershy’s hand brushed against her cheek, gently tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t know why.”

This line is the one that broke me and made me write this. GOD. I don’t have words besides just. oh my god. Fluttershys gentleness is so good and so heartbreaking and I love it

I’ll be honest I’m not yet sure how to write long comments on fimfiction, but when I finish this fic you’re eithering getting a long ass ask in your inbox or a comment on there if I figure it out. Love this fic so far!!! Ah!!!!

AHHHHHH tysm for taking the time to write such a lovely comment!!! like holy shit you have just given me enough serotonin for WEEKS omg, it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying the story!!

celestia is a rlly interesting chara to me, and im super happy w how the version of her in the fic turned out! actually, most of the reason for the 30k epilogue jumpscare is that i really needed to properly resolve her "arc" with twilight, so if you are a fan of this version of her please look forward to that! and, sunset as a "villain" was something we only saw briefly in eqg1 (and for my tastes, i wasnt a huge fan of how it was done) but there's so much POTENTIAL there i couldnt help myself in exploring it :)

chapter 5->act 2 is the real "turning point" i guess of the fic in terms of tone, and even tho it was a struggle to write shy's chapter i think over time i've rlly come around to liking how it turned out :D in the fic i ended up writing fluttershy as more of a later season version of herself (less cowardly maybe?), but the essence of her chara to me is someone who can be kind even in situations when she is receiving unkindness in return. and sometimes, this "fighting fire with kindness" is actually the only solution, and one that only shy can find.

wahhh i never know how to properly express how much i love and appreciate these sort of detailed responses, so please also accept a little doodle of the scene you mentioned liking as part of my thanks!

#FOLDING THIS ASK UP PUTTING IN MY POCKET KEEPING IT FOREVER #tysm again i appreciate u so much!!!! #lili talking #tte #mlp fanfic #my art #twilight sparkle #scitwi #fluttershy

[sirens-sanctuary]

ache

miguel o'hara x gn!reader

. TW!: miguel fluff, missing home, parent angst, crying ):

.

. i had another little thing i wanted to type out, was thinking about it last night, this isnt proofread like the last one- just typed up and posted~ more in the a/n!

. masterlist, rules, and taglist below~<3

๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۩ ร𝓲ᖇᵉŇ. ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۞๑ ๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۩ ร𝓲ᖇᵉŇ. ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۞๑

today was a special day. miguel was here tonight. its been so long since hes spent the night with you. Hes always away saving the multiverse, in and out of your apartment- just to stay and watch over you as you slept. him being away takes a lot out of you...but you were used to it. Used to important people leaving you, coming and going out of your life. But miguel has an excuse, he has more important things to do than stay locked up in your lonely apartment- so its okay. thats what you tell yourself...

you two were laying on your small couch, miguels legs hanging off the arm as hes two big to fit properly (big ahh sexy man), you were laying on top of miguel. your ear to his chest, enjoying the rising and falling as he breathes slowly and calmly, listening to to the muffled and steady beating of his heart. you could listen to it all day. the warmth from his large hands resting on your back, bringing a familiar feeling of safety and comfort. the movie you were watching was one of your favorites, you watched it all the time whenever youre feeling alone. the patter of miguels heart was pulling you into a state, it brought back a memory for you. a good one, you think. you indulge in the memory allowing yourself to be taken back.

you were younger, 7 or 8 years old maybe? you were laying on the couch with your dad, relaxing and watching a trashy film. you were laying on his chest, laughing wildly at the scene on tv, while he draped an arm over you, half asleep but jolting everytime you laugh, smiling gently down at you before being stolen by sleep again. he was a busy man, working all night and into early hours of the morning, doing enough to make sure you and your siblings were okay before going to sleep. It was good. a good memory. you miss him. You love him?.

you were pulled out of your memory by miguel rubbing your shoulder. he asked if you were okay?.. okay? am i ok? you started sobbing. tears staining his shirt. miguel sits the both of you up and scoops your face up. he asked whats wrong. you told him. told him more than what you needed to. he rubbed your cheeks from the tears that littered them and kissed each. he hugged you. nice and tight. safe and warm. you never wanted to leave. you knew you would have to. you cried more. tired of people leaving.

you didnt stop crying. well you did- but only because you fell asleep during it. you needed to cry. youre tired of keeping the flood gates up. somethings gotta give. you gave. youre tired of giving. miguel stayed and held you the entire time. hes there for you. always. he built his arc and survived the flood. he'd do it a million times over. he would swim in your flood just for you. he doesnt care if hes drowns. he'll figure it out. Just for you. Always for you. You need it. You deserve it...

๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۩ ร𝓲ᖇᵉŇ. ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۞๑ ๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۩ ร𝓲ᖇᵉŇ. ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°°๑۞๑

.

. a/n: this is actually a memory i had a while back and thought itd be something to build upon for a fic- i hope its not too sad omg im sorry if it is

.

.

masterlist | rules | taglist

#miguel o'hara #miguel ohara x reader #miguel spiderman #x reader #fanfiction #atsv miguel #miguel o'hara fanfiction #miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel ohara fluff #miguel x reader #miguel x you #the miguel effect #spiderman 2099 #2099 #angst #miguel ohara angst #dads #i cried making this lorddd

[mysillyside]

Lycoris That Blazes The Earth: Review

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I watched Kuroshitsuji's third musical, Lycoris That Blazes The Earth yesterday and it was... underwhelming.

Don't get me wrong, the performances of the actors and the choreography of the musical sequences is phenomenal!

I'm moreso disappointed with the script/adaptation side of things.

Full disclosure, I do not watch a lot of anime musicals. I understand that things I found strange about this musical's script/writing decisions could very much be a quirk of this genre of musical.

That being said, boy does this musical miss a perfectly good opportunity it had to retell the Jack The Ripper arc in a more competant way. And it's a shame.

Red Butler Manga Arc - Iconic but flawed

I love the Red Butler manga arc don't get me wrong. But it is flawed, very... very flawed. It doesn't function as a mystery, which is fine- Kuroshitsuji was never about being a classical mystery story one is able to solve with the characters, it's more about the emotional impact the events have on the characters themselves. That being said, a lot of what happens in the Red Butler arc is left up to the audience. I'm not saying a story needs to spell everything out, but so much is just left really vague because Yana didn't plan it out. Again, I'm not asking to be hand-held and told everything! I am asking for some good characterization and dialogue that gives us a chance to properly analyze the characters so we can figure out the missing pieces ourselves. But sadly, even in the final confrontation scene, so much dialogue is wasted on unfunny jokes that break the tone of the scene.

Lycoris is a missed a great opportunity

A musical adaptation is perfect for this arc that's all about theatrics and performance. Which is why I'm so disappointed that this musical did nothing interesting with this arc.

Too many characters:

First of, there's just too many characters that are completely insignificant to the plot. The servants get this whole introductory scene at the start of the musical only to... never show up again. Well, they technically do show up again in a brief scene in Sebastian's cinematic record, but... that could have easily been written out.

Same with Lau, same with the Double Charles. These characters did not need this much focus (especially Double Charles, WHY did they get a whole song). They should have been relegated to brief character scenes like the Undertaker and Druitt were, but they take up so much time that could have been spent better elsewhere.

Same with Abberline and Hanks. I know they are reoccuring side characters in these musicals, but it pains me to know how much time was taken up by characters who do not play a significant role in this arc, that could have been given to characters who do.

It's unfocused:

The musical lacks structure and feels like a connection of scenes that have nothing to do with each other. Again, the manga version of this arc suffers from this to a degree as well, but I feel a much clearer focus in the manga rather then the 2 hour long musical. Which makes no sense, because the anime covers this arc in a way shorter time frame without removing too much from the manga.

A great example of how messy and unfocused it is, is the songs themselves. Imo, in musicals, songs should be used to tell us more about the characters/story/emotions, rather then feel like the story itself stops for a second for a character to sing and have an epic performance or exposition dump.

And most of the songs in this musical sadly felt like the latter. I don't think I've learned much about the characters through their songs. It felt like the plot literally paused for the characters to sing, rather then the music being intertwined with the story. I will say, Madam Red's two emotional songs are an exception to this.

It misses an opportunity to add further depth to the story:

I think it's obvious to anyone that the central focus on the Jack The Ripper arc are three characters: Ciel, Madam Red and Grelle.

So why doesn't this musical focus more on expanding the canon source material and adding further depth that the original arc was desperately missing?

Grelle is especially underutilized in this. Which is a shame, because the brief moments of charcterization we do see of her are great!

I think Uerhara's performance in this, especially when Grelle's real self is revealed, is rly good. I love how his performance actually makes Grelle feel like a threat. In the scene where Madam Red is killed by Grelle and we see her yell at how disappointed she is in Madam for succumbing to emotions? That was a phenomenal performance. The rage in Uerhara's voice, communicated so much more then the manga or the anime did really.

But can I really attribute that to the script? Or just Uerhara's amazing performance? Because I don't think the script did much at all to make these moments feel impactful. If we didn't see this in the manga/anime already and hold this moment dearly, I doubt it would have the same impact.

Another great Uerhara acting moment I want to highlight is this:

As Madam is singing about how much she loves and wants to protect Ciel, you can basically see Grelle's expression change. She goes from a look of befuddlement and confusion, to a more sinister expression. She realizes in this moment that Madam and her are not on the same page. They are different people, with different values. And that is why she kills her.

Final notes:

I wish this musical gave us more. Expanded the characters and what we know about them. Gave us more interesting characterization moments. "But they can't add stuff that's not in the manga" clearly they can since the Most Beautiful Death In The World very much exists and is purely non-canonically. So it's a huge shame they didn't try doing anything creative, and even as an adaptation it doesn't really hit.

Anyhow amazing performances though!!!

#kuroshitsuji #lycoris that blazes the earth #black butler #kuromyu #grell sutcliff #grelle sutcliff #madam red #angelina dalles #💬 katposts #analyses & meta

[psychewritesbs]

hellooo! I'm interested in your take on this: in the star plasma arc when touji tells getou that he killed gojou.. getou does not react emotionally at all. like he just says "OK so I kill u heh" and thats it. It seems a little off to me compared to gojou who struggled so, so much with having to kill getou at some point and obviously thinking about getou's mortality. But in this scene getou seems so... Indifferent? What do you think about this?

Holaaaa 😆!

Hey anon, thanks for your patience. Quite honestly, to answer your question I had to go back and re-read the arc in question + I needed all three braincells in my brain firing on all cylinders + coffee.

Basically it took me a while to think through your ask. Also... listen, my brain works in mysterious ways. There’s absolutely no way I can give a short answer. I am dumb like that.

That said: What a great observation you make. I do believe Gege is very intentional in how he depicts his characters (from dialogue and design, to their cursed techniques), so you might be onto something there.

While I could be wrong, after doing “research” to answer your q, I see Geto as a complex character who experienced a traumatic event that ultimately led to him being true to himself. As a result, I believe we get to see his true colors:

He has a sense of superiority that he is unaware of and looks down on non-sorcerers. Not to mention the power trip he’s in.

Or as you say: “indifference”.

But there is, of course, much more to it than that...

You know what's below the cut? Word vomit! 🤮 Took me a while, but words were vomited yes...

Since I am a word vomiter extraordinaire, feel free to skip to the very end for the TLDR summary. 

Also, I haven’t properly brain rotted about Geto until your ask came through. Soooooo I may only scratch the surface of his character and his character arc in attempting to answer your question. 

Not to mention that my interpretation will inevitably be influenced by my own subjective experience. After all, the only one with the objective truth about the characters in JJK is none other than Gege. The rest of us in fandom are left to experience JJK through the lens of our own subjective life experience.

OK! All three braincells firing on all cylinders! Woo!

Onto the fun part!

The Shonen Power Duo trope

As always, bear with me while I go off in an odd tangent, I promise it will pay off...

Not sure how long you’ve been watching or reading Shonen anime and manga but one of the most common tropes is that of “the Shonen Power Duo”. 

In this trope, two characters with seemingly opposing personalities are paired together as rivals and/or allies:

- Geto and Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

- Megumi and Yuji (Jujutsu Kaisen)

- Aki and Denji (Chainsaw Man)

- Kageyama and Hinata (Haikyu!)

- Sasuke and Naruto (Naruto)

- OF COURSE I JUST HAD TO MENTION Kurogane and Fai (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)

... the list goes on. 

You get the point.

Also, notice the order in which I mentioned them: “Yin” (passive) character first, followed by “yang” (active) character.

That’s because in addition to having personalities that oppose each other and therefore balance each other out (yin + yang), another characteristic all of these power duos have in common is that these two characters in question are often presented as being the strongest two and are almost equal in power. As a result, either one or both of these two characters tend to see each other as rivals.

So for me, the simplest answer to your question is to say that Geto’s personality is the yin to Gojo’s yang. Sooo you can expect for them to have reactions that oppose one another in style and quite possibly psychology.

In other words, where Gojo’s personality is outwardly expressed (although he hides a more serious personality, he’s a bit of a trickster figure, he clowns around, is quite possibly extroverted)...

Geto’s personality, on the other hand, is internally expressed (he’s seemingly more calm and collected). 

Ah! there you go, name has been confirmed. Don’t kill me but until your ask came through I couldn’t even remember his first name.

I am, OF COURSE, making a MASSIVE over-generalization about their personalities here. But if you boil the personality trope down to its core, Gojo’s outgoing personality (yang) and Geto’s more calm personality (yin) are the characteristics that define their character tropes at the most basic level.

But we love JJK precisely because characters are incredibly multidimensional, don’t we? And aside from that, personality is all surface-level “stuff”.

So yes, it could just be that their personalities are different and that’s why they had diametrically different reactions: Gojo outwardly expressing he cares a lot vs Geto appearing indifferent because he doesn’t outwardly express himself as much as Gojo does.

But again, that's just the face-value layer for the panel in question, and JJK is more of a multi-layered experience.

The thing is that the panel in question...

...is the culmination of a long and drawn out process. 

It is also the beginning of a chain of events that shook Geto to the core.

And I wonder whether it all started with this here moment...

Geto Suguru, the irony of his character

So I never thought anything of Geto’s ears until I started writing this. But Geto’s elongated ears look to me like they are meant to make a statement about his character.

In Buddhism, elongated ears symbolize “making the conscious choice to reject the material world in favor of spiritual enlightenment.” They also symbolize “wisdom and compassion.”

But.... Why does a character who calls non-sorcerers monkeys (because he clearly looks down on them), and who wants to commit mass genocide, have Buddha ears as part of his character design--the symbol for wisdom, compassion and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment?

I may be missing the point here, but Geto’s way of thinking is not entirely compassionate. 

I totally get that Geto came face to face with the injustices of the system he was a cog for. I also personally feel like his reaction to the events that “changed him” is totally and 300% understandable. 

Part of his tragedy was that he subjected himself to horrible experiences for the sake of a lie he was telling himself because he needed to find a reason to not feel the way he truly felt. More on this in a bit.

Not to mention that in trying to protect Sorcerers from non-sorcerers, Geto is also showing us how much he cares.

For this reason, to be honest, I am having a hard time deciding whether he was compassionate before he was broken by the Jujutsu-scheme of things, or whether he was never compassionate to begin with. Hence why his reactions appear “indifferent” to you.

If he was a truly wise and compassionate being, his reaction to "non-sorcerers as monkeys” would have been one of trying to understand how their very human suffering creates the conditions for curses to be born from them. Instead, his reasoning is to kill them.

Consider that compassion is a state of being of the body-mind-soul, not a mental concept (but this is a can of worms for another day).

While I am not sure whether we can call Tsukumo Yuki compassionate, she is at least “trying to understand”.

OF COURSE I JUST HAD TO MENTION Compassion looks more like trying to understand another’s suffering and knowing you can never fully do so because you are not them.

And yet you still feel for other’s pain, and try to understand because suffering is part of the shared human experience.

In fact, the character in the panel above, Sumeragi Subaru, has what I would call a pathological propensity for compassion. Subaru’s compassionate kindness won’t allow him to harm others and will bring that harm onto himself instead. I only share the panel to illustrate what a compassionate character REALLY thinks and behaves like.

But Geto has instead chosen to look down on the very same “monkeys” whom he thought he should be protecting. 

Looking at Geto through this lens, I have to ask myself whether Geto has always looked down at “weakness in general” but had convinced himself to protect the weak/non-sorcerers because he was told that’s what Jujutsu Sorcerers do.

You could also argue that he looks down on non-sorcerers BECAUSE of what happened to him, and that his decision to commit mass genocide is based on his resentment.

Buuuuut, I strongly suspect he always felt a sense of superiority over non-sorcerers that he hid from others--including himself, hence why I say he was not true to himself and came to reveal his true colors towards the end of the arc.

To which Yuki tells him:

The idea that Geto had been resisting the feeling of looking down at non-sorcerers is implied by Yuki in the panel above. And since Geto went onto murderer an entire village (including his parents), we already know that he decided to be true to this feeling of looking down on non-sorcerers--he decided to be true to himself at last.

From my perspective, perhaps Geto came to believe that Jujutsu Sorcerers are spiritually evolved beings and therefore superior to humans, whom, again, he sees as no better off than monkeys.

Myes yes I had tons of fun creating this graphic. 

That said, it’s interesting to me that both Gojo and Geto use “Buddha” symbolism (Gojo quotes Buddha and Geto has elongated ears) because to me this speaks to their exalted state as spiritual beings.

But I feel that unlike Gojo, Geto is missing the point of what strength and following a “spiritual” path truly means. 

Also, when I use the word “spiritual” I am not using it in the traditional sense of the word but in the JJK-sense of the word. Basically Jujutsu sorcerers use their “spiritual/psychic” powers to exorcise curses--in other words, they have conscious control of their “Cursed”/Psychic Energy.

Now, I get that Geto has “good” intentions for wanting to commit genocide. I actually sympathize with his rather twisted logic and somehow feel compassion for the suffering that brought this on for him. After all, a Jujutsu Sorcerer’s job is a massive exercise in futility in the grander scheme of things.

All this said... Geto may have the symbolism of an enlightened being and be one of the strongest, but his fatal flaw, his greatest mistake, from my perspective, was both not being true and being true to himself.

Again, “only weak people apply reasoning and responsibility to Jujutsu.”

The panel in question

So, ALL OF THAT TO SAY that to me what you are seeing as a strange reaction: “ok then die”, is Geto perhaps reaching a tipping point in which he started to question if he truly felt like he should continue to follow the logic he had adopted--“Jujutsu sorcerers protect the weak”.

I personally think that while he convinced himself that “Jujutsu sorcerers protect the weak,” he did not necessarily feel that in his heart of hearts but became a cog to the system because it was what was expected of him. Duty and dharma are important concepts in Japanese society and Buddhism after all.

So when Toji, a “monkey,” shows up and declares he has killed Gojo, the Star Plasma vessel, and her caretaker, all people that Geto had come to care for, the only thing that made sense was to kill the monkey that should have been weaker than him.

So here we have a tipping point. A defining moment in Geto’s character arc.

Geto made a quick decision: this monkey needs to die. There is no rhyme or reason for it, he simply needs to die.

In other words, I headcanon he chose not to follow the logic of “protecting the weak because he’s a Jujutsu Sorcerer” but rather followed his desire to kill “the monkey”, Toji.

Perhaps this is a moment in which Geto was finally true to himself. In turn, this moment led to him wondering how much he wanted to continue rejecting the feeling of looking down on non-sorcerers.

And like... good for him? There is nothing more freeing than being true to yourself unless you want to commit mass genocide then maybe you should probably seek help.

Now... remember how in the Shonen Power Duo trope the two characters in the duo have opposing personality traits?

Well, here’s when it comes into play.

Consider that the trope doesn’t just have to be about how their personalities  are opposites of one another, but rather it can also highlight how their internal characteristics and character arcs also oppose each other--i.e. what these character’s values and morals are, and what they believe in can also be opposites of one another.

Enter one of the beings with the strongest sense of self...

Gojo Satoru, the strongest

The reason the Shonen Power Duo trope is important here is because it’s literally used to juxtapose how Gojo’s sense of self (ego/mind) and Geto’s sense of self has resulted in a gap in strength that cannot be bridged unless Geto overcomes his mental cages--applying reasoning to Jujutsu.

In other words, Gojo is the strongest because of his sense of self. That is the paradox of the question from the panel above.

Gojo = strong sense of self, and in JJK strong sense of self = power.

Which inevitably means that Geto’s sense of self is not on the same level as Gojo’s. 

The purpose of the Hidden Inventory/Star Plasma Arc was probably to show how their respective character arcs were affected differently by the trauma of their respective encounters with Toji.

Which is why I dedicated so much word vomit towards explaining how I think Geto was lying to himself and was only true to himself when he decided to follow his instinct to kill Toji.

When it comes to ego, or sense of self, psychologically-speaking, a strong sense of self requires that you know yourself first and foremost. Which is no easy feat because the moment you THINK you understand your unconscious biases, another one comes up in your blind spot or shadow to be integrated into consciousness.

Such is the nature of ego and consciousness.

Geto seems to think he’s higher on the psychospiritual totem pole of evolution but he’s failed to realize the nature of ego and consciousness is such that he is caught in a mental cage of his own making (applying reasoning to Jujutsu) until he develops a sense of self based on self-understanding.

Unlike Geto (and his elongated Buddha ears) Gojo achieved such self-understanding or enlightenment. In fact, the kanji for his first name, Satoru, is the pictorial representation for the concept of enlightenment: 悟.

Gojo has seen what is beyond his ego/mind--infinity, and transcended himself.

And yet, unlike Geto, as someone who experienced enlightenment, I headcanon that Gojo experiences true compassion for the suffering of mankind.

Think of it this way:

If Gojo doesn’t need a reason (or a logical train of thought) for not committing mass genocide, then why not just do it? 

“The only ones who are able to transcend beyond merely strong are those with an overwhelming sense of self and a complete disregard for others.”

After all, we’ve been told in more than one occasion that it’s not just a strong sense of self that equals power, but also that the most powerful sorcerers are those who disregard others.

I go into more detail about the trope that Gege is using here, "enlightenment does not always result in benevolent beings”, in my liveblog for chapter 181. Check it out if you’re interested because it’s a fascinating subject that is also present in Urobuchi Gen’s Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass.

In JJK, Geto continues to apply reasoning (ego) to solve his problems, while Gojo has transcended reasoning and is in tune with a more cosmic consciousness--he’s become a Bodhisattva, a person who has reached enlightenment but chooses to remain Earthbound out of compassion in order to save suffering beings.

I mention this because this could explain why you felt like Gojo shows he cares a lot compared to Geto’s reactions. To me, Gojo not killing when he could easily do so shows he might be a highly compassionate being.

Again, Shonen Power Duo trope in action--two characters who are the yin to the other’s yang and viceversa.

TLDR

Geto did not look disturbed because he did not really feel it in his bones that he should be protecting non-sorcerers. I really think he reasoned himself into believing he should protect the weak/non-sorcerers. After seeing how sorcerers were suffering because of non-sorcerers, he realized who his heart truly wished to protect and revealed his true colors.

Gojo, on the other hand, appears to be a Bodhisattva, a person who has reached enlightenment but chooses to remain Earthbound out of compassion in order to save suffering beings. Hence why his reactions reflect a much deeper level of “caring”.

Sorry anon who asked about Geto...

Right.

I am certifiably crazy. 

I go in crazy tangents...

And then I often wonder if I can explain things in simple terms but I’ve come to accept that this is how my mind works bahaha.

Like I said, there is nothing more cathartic and liberating than being true to yourself and accepting yourself as you are. Unless you want to commit mass-genocide, then please seek help.

Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far.

To be frank this was a difficult ask for multiple reasons and I am choosing to say this because what I wrote here is my opinion--since you so kindly asked for it.

The main reason I struggled writing this was because part of the fandom does not like it when people have opinions about the “darker” side of the characters they love that they don’t agree with (I speak from experience *cough cough Dark Megumi*). 

Let it be known that I have a soft spot and love for problematic characters who royally fuck up because there isn’t anything more human than making mistakes and learning from them.

Also, I hope I have not sounded like I know what I am talking about when it comes to Geto. I have strong opinions and I trust my conscience, but I know I can and have been wrong about certain details in the past.

The fact that I have to write this goes to show that this fandom is massive and different opinions abound. 

The problem isn’t having a different opinion, but rather when people bully others over having a different opinion. 

Also, I’d be a hypocrite if I did not admit that sometimes I read what others write and think “mmm you’re missing the point” or “this person shared a headcanon while thinking they’re being objective.”

But the truth is that what I have written here could very well be headcanon to others. 

In the spirit of one of the most beautiful lessons from JJK: let’s remember that other’s way of seeing things is right for them, and that doesn’t mean that ours isn’t.

So as always, take what I write with a grain of salt and exercise that sexy brain of yours by thinking critically about the word vomit you read in my blog.

I’ve done my best to remain objective. But as I shared in the beginning, there are limits to objectivity and the only one who truly knows without a shadow of a doubt what he wanted to portray in that panel is Gege. 

ALL THAT SAID, thank you for trusting me with sharing my thoughts on the matter and thank you for your patience!

Sorry it took me so long to answer your ask anon who asked about Geto 😂.

#sorry anon who asked about Geto! #jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen meta #geto suguru #a to the q! #god I love jujutsu kaisen

[new-sandrafilter]

How Timothée Chalamet Channeled The Blockbuster Pressure of Leading Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Back Into His Role – Venice Q&A

DEADLINE: In a few days Dune will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. You first met Denis Villeneuve about the role in May 2018 and started shooting in the early half of 2019. It was always going to be a long journey, but the pandemic stretched it even further. How does it feel to have finally arrived at this moment?

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET: You know, I like to think that with every film I’ve done, whether it’s Call Me by Your Name or Beautiful Boy, The King, or Little Women, the character you play is almost a piece of your flesh. And that’s always true, but simply from the perspective of how long the shoot for Dune was, and also the arc that Paul Atreides is on, as well as the huge love and almost biblical connection that so many people have for the book and the original film, it really felt… tectonic, if that’s the right word for it. Just getting to this finish line feels like: phew.

And independent of what the film is now, and what it has become, the experience of making it was I was put in such a safe environment, which you can never take for granted as a human, as an actor, but especially when you’re just starting your career, and when this is the first film of this size you’ve ever done.

To get to work with Denis on it, to get to work with someone of his caliber, let alone on a book that he considers the book of his youth and one of the things he has connected to the most… When he would have it in his hands on set, his body language would become that of a fan; of a kid who had fallen in love with the book at home in Montreal. And when all the kids around him were wearing hockey jerseys with their favorite players’ names on the back, this was a kid wearing a jersey that said ‘Spielberg’ on the back.

For it all to come together, especially with the added challenge of the pandemic, it has all combined to make this moment feel especially spicy [laughs].

DEADLINE: The entire ensemble will show up in Venice.

CHALAMET: Right. And I just can’t believe it; Jason Momoa has the number one film on Netflix right now with Sweet Girl, which I just watched. And since we shot, Zendaya has had all this success with Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. Just to be part of this cast, period, let alone as one of the title characters, it’s really the shit you dream of.

And let me not forget, too—and I know I’ve told you this before—that The Dark Knight was the movie that made me want to act. That movie had a score by Hans Zimmer, and he has done the score for Dune. And it’s almost not what you’d think. It’s totally appropriate and excellent for the movie, but he has somehow managed to do something subversive, in my opinion. It’s a pinch-me moment all over.

DEADLINE: So, take me back to the start. Is it true you had a Google alert set up to track the latest news on this project before you were ever cast?

CHALAMET: Yeah, it’s true [laughs]. Not right away—Legendary had the rights and was developing it—but as soon as Denis got involved, I set up a Google alert and that’s when I got the book.

In total honesty, I think my understanding of Dune at that point was from a graphic novel I’d seen at Midtown Comics when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards when I was about 10. The year you and I first met, when I was there at Deadline Contenders with Call Me by Your Name, that would have been 2017 or early 2018, and Denis was there with Blade Runner. I remember I was trying to put myself in front of him as much as possible and set up a meeting with him. We had a night at the BAFTA where one of my good friends, Stéphane Bak—who’s also an actor—saw Denis across the room and was like, “Hey buddy, he’s right over there.” So, we went over to talk to him. I kept trying to put myself in front of him, but I didn’t really get a sense of the possibility [of working with him].

I was about halfway through the book when I got the call that he was going to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was in London prepping The King. He asked me if I could come out there, so I quickly busted through the second half of the book as best I could. So, like, the first half of my copy is properly annotated and full of my thoughts, and then the second half I just raced through. And then I had that meeting with him, and it was such a joy.

I’m struggling with this even now, as I’m working with Paul King [on Wonka], because he’s another guy I have huge respect and admiration for, and it’s hard to feel on a level. Not that you ever are, because as an actor you’re a cog in the machine, and you’ve got to be humble to the vision of the director. But with Denis, he was pacing around the room, throwing ideas around, in some fancy suite in Cannes, and all I could think was that a year before I was just sat on a stoop on 9th Street in the East Village or something.

DEADLINE: Was that your first time in Cannes?

CHALAMET: Yeah. Well, bizarrely, my sister would do dance camps growing up. Ballet intensive programs in a town called Mougins, which is nearby Cannes, so I spent a lot of time there growing up, but never during the festival, and not on the Riviera. To get to be there for the festival was just nuts. I went to see the Romain Gavras movie, I think, and it was just a huge joy.

I got attached [to the role in Dune] a couple of months after that, and it was nerve-wracking from the announcement, because like I said before, the fans of the book, and the fans of David Lynch version, the computer game, and everything, there’s so much love and strength of feeling. And so much of our pop culture and films and books have been derived from Dune, and all the philosophy the book. I’ve been shocked to learn how many people have a next-level connection to the book. I compare it to how our generation grew up with Harry Potter, and that one makes sense to me. But it’s cool to see with Dune also, when you actually sit down and read it… It’s not that it’s a quote-unquote “hard read” or anything, but it’s not made to be consumed easily, I think that’s fair to say.

So, I was grateful to be working on something of this size not only with Denis Villeneuve leading it, who between Polytechnique, Incendies and Prisoners had nailed the smaller indie film across languages, and then had nailed Arrival and Blade Runner, but who, in his own words, he didn’t feel he’d made his greatest film yet. But also, to be working with this cast. I don’t know if there’s some nightmare version of a film where a young lead is not supported by the rest of his cast, where every one of them had been the leads in their own huge projects. But on this, everyone was there to support, and I think it’s because we all wanted to be foot soldiers for Denis, and I think we understood the potential, based on the script by Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis, that this could be something really special.

DEADLINE: I don’t have a connection to Dune; this movie is really my first experience of the story. What strikes me is this is clearly an enormous universe—a broad canvas being painted with various families and factions and politics and mythos—but that ultimately it comes down to very elemental, human themes, and we feel them through this character you play, Paul Atreides. Did those themes help ground the experience for you?

CHALAMET: Yes, and I would give the credit entirely to Denis. He would constantly say on set that he had some opposing drumbeat or something. In my diminished intellectual standing, I didn’t understand it, but it was like some vision for the movie based on how biblical the book is that tries to tackle so much that it doesn’t tackle anything. I think he felt the need to be close to a character in it, and Paul is that guy in the book. He’s a character that is still in formation, like a lump of clay, which makes him a great figure for the audience to mirror off.

It speaks, I think, to Denis’ premonition and his directing ability that there were times when we’d move on from a shot or move on from a scene, and I swear, literally, we’d go back because Denis wanted to get something over my shoulder, or push in on my reaction, just to make sure [it stayed on Paul].

And again, it’s something where I’m pinching myself. I had the best time on Interstellar, and that was one of my favorite films I’ve ever worked on, but it was very much something where I was aware of when I had the opportunity to do real acting. And on a movie like Dune, again, one could think it would get lost in the scale and scope. But I felt every day like my plate was full.

DEADLINE: One of those themes is fear, and Paul must overcome his to become the person he needs to be. When you are number one on the call sheet on a project of this scale, and the cast list reads like an address book of Hollywood in the 21st century, and Legendary has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into this production, and it’s all falling on your shoulders, I have to imagine fear is a theme you can readily relate to.

CHALAMET: Oh yeah, and they can bleed into each other for sure—not to diminish the other work that goes in. It’s great when your life experience can inform the role. That’s not at all to say I’m on some crusade in the universe or anything, but definitely… And I had that same good fortune with The King I think. My life is not nearly as significant or as exciting as Paul or Prince Hal, but we all share an unwitting needle in the haystack feeling. On The King that feeling was because I was so new to having a career. On Dune it’s because of, as you say, just feeling the pressure of the hugeness of the project in all those different ways. Those things can absolutely inform each other.

And then there are the moments of glee that come, too, like seeing Jason Momoa running at you at a hundred miles an hour, or just getting to shoot the shit with Josh Brolin, or getting to do a scene with Oscar Isaac. I felt so supported, whether it was Rebecca Fergusson or Charlotte Rampling. When Zendaya came, it was a total breath of fresh air, and she’s one of my favorite parts of the movie. I just got really lucky, and I can’t wait to see them all in Venice.

Denis split the book in half, and the hope is a second movie will get a greenlight. That’d expand Zendaya’s role in the story.

CHALAMET: Definitely, Chani will play a huge role in the next film. I don’t know if there’s a script yet, but just based on the book, along with Lady Jessica [Rebecca Fergusson], they have a lot to do together, let’s put it like that. And Zendaya was incredible in this movie; the moment she pulls the mask down, it felt properly showstopping and powerful. I was hiding behind the camera, counting my lucky starts, because I was there in month two of the shoot and here was a total powerhouse just coming in for the first time.

And as I said before, this was before I’d seen Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. She’s doing such incredible work and is just trailblazing her own path, and she’s so, so cool. She also happens to be in the most-watched trailer of the moment, too, for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I cannot wait for that movie, and I was there, by the way, with everybody else, clicking through the trailer frame by frame looking for clues [laughs].

#timmy #timothee chalamet #dune movie #dune 2021 #denis villeneuve

[i-cant-stand-idiots]

Anti-Catradora Rant

Number 1: Catradora wasn’t supposed to be canon. A sisterly bond that had been broken between them was implied all the way up until the last season where the creator of the show decided to get on board with a political message. Catradora happening is like incest to me.

Number 2: The show had good messages as it began. One of those messages was leaving behind people when they abused you, even if they were close. Adora had to leave behind Catra no matter how long they knew each other. She couldn’t stay in that toxic relationship.

Number 3: They heavily implied that Adora was DONE trying to get Catra to be on the side of good with her. And I liked that. Catra has tried to kill her multiple times with no remorse, etc.

Number 4: The entire She-ra plot and nearly everyone characters arc vanished when they tried to make fetch happen with Catradora.

Number 5: Catra was abusive - mentally and physically. No one can disagree when there is solid evidence for this. And the whole premises of Catradora is built upon Catra’s abuse towards Adora. There is no proper redemption arc for Catra to try and justify their relationship. She is still nearly the same after her “redemption.” She’s selfish and sees mainly from her point of view. The only thing that changes is the fact that she learned to keep her hands to herself and stop hitting people. Also, every one immediately forgives her, even Adora (the one she abused/abuses). As soon as they get together, it’s as if nothing crazy ever happened between them. They don’t even go into depth of how Catra’s abuse affected Adora.

I literally hated this scene because GIRL, IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. She’s a hero who’s trying to save the word. And Adora was on her knees begging Catra to stay because she needed her in a time of trouble. But what did she do? Leave! Adora stayed by Catra’s side even though Catra betrayed her many times, yet this girl straight up leaves! You can see she’s still freaking toxic here. Not only that, she needs to keep her hands off Adora who’s nothing but an adorable cinnamon bun who deserves better. Stop pushing her!

Number 6: This is a children’s show. Why is it teaching children to be with their abuser?

Number 7: The whole enemies to lovers stereotypical romance NEEDS to stop. If done properly, it can be good. But in this case, it’s horrible. I’m not against enemies to lovers if both characters are willing to change then get together when they’re not toxic. Other than that, an abusive relationship is not a relationship that should be fetishsized.

Number 8: Adora wanted to find her family. This was her biggest goal. That plot was thrown away in the last season when Catradora happened. My goodness, Catrad*ra is such an awful and cursed name to me that I’ll now start censoring it.

Number 9: I just really want to get this off my chest. To the people who say Adora was in the wrong because she “left” Catra and “broke” their promise, stfu - respectfully. Adora had every right to leave the Horde when she figured out what they were doing, so she did (as she should). She even asked Catra to come with her (who knew what they were doing the entire time). But Catra rejected her and went her own way. Later on, Adora would even ask Catra to join her, but guess what? Catra still denied being on her side! If anyone left and broke the promise, it was Catra. Adora shouldn’t have to beat herself up about it. And Adora later learns this after Catra tries to destroy her and the world. After that, she was done trying to sympathize with Catra. Catra made her choice, and now she had to live with it. Adora was done trying to excuse her behaviour.

Number 10: Catra was already abusive towards Scorpia. Even though they weren’t officially together, she was mean as a friend and as someone who did have a crush on Scorpia. What, will she be less toxic because she’s with Adora? That’s the mindset most victims have, and that’s why a lot of them can’t get out of the relationship they’re in. Most abuse and future abuse victims will begin to think this is okay. Oh, wait, they’re already starting to think that. You have people who question why abuse victims can’t leave their toxic relationship, yet we normalize crap like this. Gee, I wonder why they can’t. Maybe it’s because the next generation is being taught that it’s okay to be with your abuser as long as they love you and say sorry and put in no effort to change.

Number 11: If Catra was a man, most of y’all would be pissed off.

[lucemferto]

Niki Nihachu & Barbara Kean

Gonna drop something controversial real quick.

Niki Nihachu is the most tragic character on the Dream SMP – and I don’t mean in the sense of her having a tragic story (though she is up there), but in the sense that she is tragically mishandled.

I want to start out by saying that this essay is by no means an attack on the content creator Niki Nihachu or her abilities as a performer. She is frequently one of the strongest actors on the SMP and I have no idea how much of her character writing was within her power. How much of it was improv, how much pre-planned, how much something she genuinely wanted to do and how much stuff she just stumbled into or – in the worst-case scenario – was forced upon her. I don’t know.

The Dream SMP is not very transparent when it comes to their creative process. As such I can only judge it as a discerning viewer and English major dropout, who retained some half-remembered stuff about narratology.

So, a few weeks ago, I tumbled on here that Niki’s character journey reminded me a lot of the character Barbara Kean from the hit TV-show Gotham. Then I got an ask asking me to elaborate. This is the elaboration.

Barbara Kean

So, a quick crash course for people who haven’t seen Gotham (the greatest comic book show on Television, seriously, what are you doing with your life?!): Barbara Kean was a major female character throughout all five seasons of Gotham – and not once during those five seasons did the writers ever figure out what they wanted to do with her.

Every 10-12 episodes or so, Barbara’s role shifted completely. She started out as cop-protagonist Jim Gordon’s girlfriend at home and moral compass, then became part of a bisexual love triangle, then a hard-drinking jealous party girl with a backstory as repressed, lonely rich kid, before being kidnapped by a serial killer and ultimately making her perfect metamorphosis into the psychotic ex-girlfriend trope.

And that was Season 1.

Since then, she became the pseudo-Harley Quinn to the pseudo-Joker, a whip-wielding dominatrix, the obligatory female member in a supervillain squad, some sort of information broker, a mafia kingpin, the leader of a girl-power posse and – my favourite – the reincarnated wife of an ancient immortal who also controls all of Gotham and transferred that control over to her before that plot-point was dropped harder than a half-dead Oswald Cobblepot of the Gotham piers.

Also, she’s Batgirl’s mom.

In short, it’s a mess – but that’s what makes Gotham kinda fun.

Character Cohesion

Now, obviously, Niki’s character journey has not been quite as extreme. But it falls into the same traps, I find. Namely, that there’s just a distinct lack of character cohesion or character continuity.

Now, character cohesion or character continuity doesn’t mean that the arcs these characters undertake can’t be explained in a logical way. Barbara’s character journey is logical in the sense that you can explain it all with in-universe logic – but it’s not logical from a narratological sense now, is it?

Character Cohesion basically means that a character’s journey is reflected in their personal conflict – their Want vs. Need. Their arc is the natural continuation of what was set-up in previous sequences. Everything falls into a whole with Set-up, Confrontation, Resolution – we set up the character’s Want, their Want and Need are conflicting, the Want vs. Need is resolved. Ideally this coincides with the plot beats of the large conflict surrounding the cast.

When you look at Barbara in Season 1 of Gotham, you’re not thinking “This one right here – she’s the reincarnated wife of Ra’s Al Ghul”. Because why would you? There was no set-up; it’s not part of what her character was about in this moment – or any moment before that concept was introduced. It’s not needed for her character conflict (or any thematic conflicts for that matter).

It’s quite transparently just something that is affixed to her so that she has something until the writers come up with the next at which that first thing will dropped, underdeveloped.

Niki in Season 1

Niki follows the same route, unfortunately. She’s set-up as the resistance in L’Manburg, allies herself with Eret and HBomb until – oops – it doesn’t end mattering, because that entire side of the “plot” is completely underdeveloped. Just be a damsel until Wilbur can swoop in and save you, Niki.

Okay, but now she has a big moment with Tommy and Tubbo just after the pit-scene. “We’ll figure something out”, she says. “We need L’Manburg back”. This is all before the backdrop of Wilbur completely giving in to his role as a villain and Techno’s apparent “betrayal”.

So, now, surely, Niki is gonna affect change in Pogtopia and will have some influence on either Tommy or Wilbur, the two people she’s closest to. What’s this? Her biggest contribution is holding a birthday party where Quackity convinces Wilbur to hold off on his TNT-plan? And after that … she’s just gonna be part of the Pogtopia-masses?

Now, I like Wilbur’s writing and Season 1 generally, but when it comes to Niki (and Eret) something went terribly wrong. Both of them provided many a set-up – none of which were taken advantage of, unfortunately.

And, just to be clear, I’m not putting the blame on Niki here (or at least not most of it). Season 1 was pretty firmly in Wilbur’s hand … and Season 2 was a train wreck.

Niki in Season 2

Niki is – for the most part of Season 2 – a nothing character. She has no real conflict, no character beats, no arc. This is because through some unfortunate writing decisions, Season 2 is pretty squarely focused on a specific set of characters – and even fewer of those characters are granted a fully explored, completed character arc.

It all culminates in her Doomsday villain arc – a moment that can be logically explained from both an in-character perspective and a meta-perspective, but unfortunately, it’s not justified from a technical writing point of view.

Niki burning down the L’Mantree is her “Ra’s Al Ghul’s reincarnated wife”-moment. It’s a big statement that put her character on the map for a large part of the audience again. It was a striking visual. It could not be ignored.

Most of that was because it was a stark departure from her characterization in Season 1. Now, such a departure doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. The problem comes in when

a.) The full potential of the character in their previous narrative role had not yet been fully or even partly exhausted

b.) It cuts into an on-going character arc and drastically changes its course

c.) It’s not foreshadowed or developed properly.

And most of those are true for Niki’s character. She was not necessarily underdeveloped but underexplored in Season 1 and had no consistent storyline going on in Season 2. She was a witness to Tommy’s trial, but that was never worked into an on-going storyline for her. No matter how much we retroactively pretend like this turn to villainy, this breakdown, was brewing deep inside of her – there was no foreshadowing.

The reason, why I said it’s understandable from a meta-perspective, is that the content creator Niki Nihachu had a self-admittedly hard time getting her foot in in Season 2 – because Season 2, for as much love as I will heap upon Tommy’s and Dream’s storyline, was a pretty messy.

So, the villain arc was not well foreshadowed and Niki’s turn was developed, but what happened after she was in it?

Niki in Season 3

Well, unfortunately that problem of an inconsistent storyline never really went away for her. In the beginning of Season 3, she hatched her wagons with Jack Manifold, which was a pretty big tonal shift – from darkly tragic to cartoonish villainy.

But as Jack kept developing his character in that lane and following up on big plot development with corresponding character moments, Niki again just … vanished. She then changed gears again, joining the Syndicate – a great idea if only the Syndicate actually streamed together and developed a storyline and group cohesion.

As it stands right now, Niki’s character exists in the negative space of the fandom imaginations. We are given some scraps and good character moments – her sleeping in a jail cell, “I started baking again”, her secret city – but those moments never coalesce into a full-fledged storyline.

Her character’s journey is still as fragmented and underexplored as it ever was. I really hope that – with Wilbur’s revival and the new character conflict that seems to arise from that for her – she manages to finally get the foot in and get the storyline and dynamic arc she deserves.

#dream smp #dsmpblr #dsmp #dreamsmp #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #dream smp season 3 #dream smp season 2 #dream smp season 1 #mcyt #mcytblr #niki nihachu #dsmp niki nihachu #dsmp niki #dsmp nihachu #nihachu #wilbur soot #dsmp wilbur #dsmp wilbur soot #jack manifold #dsmp jack manifold

[kaistarus]

The Nishinoya Family’s Chaos

Pairing: Nishinoya X Reader

Words: 2.6K

Summary: You’re spending time at Noya’s house and all of his sisters are home for the holidays. Noya can’t seem to catch a break, but you’re easily amused by his family’s chaos.

Notes: Apparently Noya has 3 older sisters? As someone with 3 siblings I absolutely could not let this information exist and not write a fic with Noya sibling dynamic. The name and info on his siblings is all made up, as far as I know the only canon is that they exist! :)

Masterlist // Ko-Fi

The first weekend of winter break you and Noya had decided to spend Saturday relaxing and watching movies. Tanaka had given Noya several Netflix recommendations, so with plenty of options you were currently attempting to toss popcorn into Noya’s mouth. You had forgotten what Noya’d selected, but whatever it was had already lost your attention. Noya needed to inform Tanaka his taste in movies sucked.

You snorted as your popcorn kernel missed Noya’s mouth entirely and poked him in the eye.

“Nice catch,” you said sarcastically, closing one eye to aim your next shot.

“Nice throw,” he countered, tossing the dropped piece in his mouth.

“It was a perfect throw. Excellent arc and speed.”

“My reflexes are beyond human comprehension. I would’ve been able to catch a mediocre toss,” he lightly squeezed one of your shins that lay across his lap. “It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll improve with time.”

You grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw them at his face. “I think a few of them went in! You’re right, I am improving.”

Noya picked up some of the pieces on his chest and tossed them back at you with a glare, but you shielded yourself with your arms. You tried to pick up another handful, but he’d already tugged the bowl away from your hands to hold protectively against his chest. What a cheater, you thought, as he mischievously smirked at you.

“Hey, Yuu. Can you do me a fav-Oh, hey (Y/N)!” His eldest sister, Yuki, appeared over the back of the couch making you jump. You had nearly forgotten his sisters had all come home for the holidays.

“Depends.” Noya threw another piece of popcorn at your face while barely acknowledging his sister’s presence. After the piece hit you in the forehead you gave him a small kick to the stomach that he over exaggerated with a groan and an arm slinging over it, letting his tongue hang out the side of his mouth.

What a baby.

“I’m going out to eat with some friends,” she said, smirking at your guys’ display before pushing herself away from the couch. “I started a load of laundry though, so I need you to switch it to the dryer in like half an hour.”

“Why can’t Mina or Sayori do it?” He passed you back the popcorn bowl so he could look over the back of the couch and question Yuki properly. You had only met her a handful of times, but she was absolutely ethereal with her beauty, like, just not fair level attractive. Not that you didn’t find Noya attractive, but what the fuck. How had he lived with that for so long and still have self-esteem?

“Because they’re busy.”

“I’m busy,” he gestured toward the television with his thumb.

“You’re not actually watching it.” She said irritated as you heard a lot of drawers sliding open and closed. “It’ll take three seconds, Yuu. Stop whining.”

“What are you looking for?” Noya leaned onto his crossed arms.

“Dad wants me to take his car because of the snow, but I don’t know where he keeps his keys anymore.”

“Drawer by the fridge.” He said lazily as he flopped back down, picking up your feet to lay them across his lap again.

“Thanks,” You heard the rustling of a coat as she likely prepared herself for the weather outside. “Do you guys want me to pick you something up while I’m out?”

Noya drummed his hands against your legs as he thought before raising a brow toward you, but you lifted your hands while shrugging. You weren’t really hungry at the moment, so you wouldn’t be any help.

“Not sure,” he said without looking back. “Can you text me when you’re heading home?”

“Will do,” she said, and you felt a chill over your skin when she opened the door letting the cold air inside. “See you soon. Thanks again, Yuu. Love you.”

“Yeah yeah, you too.” He said while rolling his eyes. Noya shook the bowl around while he searched for the few edible ones left since throwing pieces around didn’t leave you with much actual food. When he glanced up he raised a brow at your fond smile. “What?”

“I just like seeing you be a younger brother,” you said, poking him in the nose. “It’s cute.”

“Don’t demean me. I’m the farthest thing from cute,” he pouted while grabbing your hand to make you cup his cheek. Yeah, leaning against your hand really helped prove his case. You leisurely rubbed your thumb along his cheek as he rested against the palm he held in place.

“My mistake.” You whispered. Noya’s eyes narrowed at your obviously teasing tone, but when they flickered down to your lips you figured he must’ve decided on giving you a pass. 

“Yuu did you steal my fucking laptop charger again!?”

His hold on the back of your hand tightened slightly as he squeezed his eyes closed. After a long shuddering breath he gave you a quick apologetic smile before leaning back to glare at the ceiling where you heard aggressive stomping.

“No, I don’t have your goddamn charger!” Noya shouted while cupping his mouth. His head fell against the couch when the stomping moved toward the staircase.

“I told you to stay out of my room!”

“Why would I even want to go into that ugly ass mess!?”

“I’m in the middle of a fucking quiz and my laptop is dying.” His other sister, Mina, came stomping into the living space with murder in her eyes. You shrunk into the couch, but Noya just sneered back at her.

“I don’t even have it.”

 “Well it’s not in my room and you always steal my shit.” Mina menacingly marched to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips. “My chargers, my leftovers, my clothes, my-”

“We’ve been over this,” he stood up so they were nose to nose. “If they were your favorite sweatpants you would have taken them to college. They were free game.”

“That’s not how it works!”

“Is too.”

“Is not you fucking shrimp!”

“You’re one inch taller than me!”

“One more inch I can use to kick your ass!” She actually cracked her knuckles before her eyes flickered to you. “Oh my god, (Y/N)? When did you get here?”

“Uh, I’ve been here.” You laughed awkwardly.

“Really?” She furrowed her brow before turning back to Noya and both pinching then twisting his bicep. 

He squeaked. “What the hell?”

“Give. It. Back.”

“I. Don’t. Have. It.” He sneered, ripping her hand off him. They glared at each other for a few seconds before Noya sighed dramatically; leaving down the hall to his room with obnoxiously loud steps and slamming the door closed when he got there. You just shook his head at the childish display.

“So, how’s life?” Mina asked while taking a seat on the coffee table across from you. “Yuu treating you good?”

“Yeah, we’re great. He’s amazing.” You said, glancing down the hall where he was probably cursing up a storm.

“He’s a brat, but he’s a great kid.” She pointed a finger at you sternly. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Never.”

Noya came back empty-handed and you glanced back to Mina nervously. “It isn’t in my room.”

“You lost my charger?”

“That’s not what I-” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Are you listening to me? I don’t have it. Maybe you just lost it.”

Her jaw dropped. “So, you lose my charger and then try to blame it on me?”

“I didn’t fucking lose-”

“Hey Yuu. I need your help.” Came the voice from his final sister as Sayori wandered into the living room with her face in her phone.

“Oh my fucking god!” He dragged his hands down his face. “So, when I asked everyone to stay out of the living room did that just go over everyone’s head?”

“Jesus, who put a stick up your ass.” Sayori scoffed.

“The brat’s upset because I found out he lost my charger.”

“I didn’t lose-”

“For your laptop?” Sayori clarified and Mina nodded. “Oh, I borrowed that yesterday. It’s in my room.”

Mina blinked and turned to a fuming Noya. “It appears I may have been mistaken.”

“No shit.”

“I will be going now.”

“And stay away.”

She glared at him, but didn’t say anything as she went back to the stairs. Noya, however, like the bigger man he was, stuck his tongue out at her back as she was leaving. You shook your head again. Mina was double the hothead Noya was, so she was absolutely terrifying when angry. And Noya being as stubborn as he was just loved to walk the line.

Once Mina was gone Noya pushed past his other sister to plop sluggishly onto the couch and lay face first onto your lap, wrapping his arms around your waist. Your smile softened down at him and your hand automatically came up to run your fingers through his hair. It was one of your favorite things to do.

“Hey, (Y/N).”

“Hello,” You felt Noya’s annoyed grumbles against your stomach and you lightly tugged on his hair. He whined and tightened his grip around your stomach.

Sayori sat on Noya’s legs on the opposite side of the couch, making him yelp in pain. He tried kicking her off, but Sayori stubbornly didn’t move until Noya just ended up with his legs on her lap. You smirked at the scene while you just continued to play with Noya’s hair. Sayori was probably your favorite among Noya’s sisters because she had the same chaotic nature.

She also had the same blonde streak of hair and you thought that was really cool because it made them look like twins.

Sayori began poking Noya in the calves repeatedly until he whined dramatically and peeked down at her.

“What.”

“So, I matched with this guy on Tinder and I told him that I really love volleyball, but apparently he used to play it and now I don’t know what to do.”

He gave her a look of disbelief before flipping over on your lap. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know. I mean I like watching you play it so it wasn’t a complete lie.” She said as she offered the phone to him.

“Yeah, but you don’t understand it,” he took the device from her hands. You pushed his hair back away from his forehead and fiddled absentmindedly with the blonde strip of hair. Noya began scrolling through something before typing against the screen.

“Okay, well you told (Y/N) that you liked to read,” Sayori rolled her eyes. “I had to research book synopsis while you were texting her and that’s infinitely more pathetic.”

He turned red and kicked Sayori in the stomach. “What the hell? Shut up.”

“Noya, I knew you were lying right away,” you said. “We’re in the same class. You complain about lit class every day.”

“Then why’d you go along with it?” He said, sounding betrayed.

“‘Cause it was funny,” you smirked. “I honestly didn’t know half the books I talked about. I just wanted to see how far you’d go.”

“That’s evil.”

“That’s hilarious,” Sayori added, patting you on the shoulder in approval. “I’m so glad you two worked out.”

“Me too,” you brushed your knuckles along his cheek and he paused to give you a dopey smile.

“Okay, but be mushy somewhere else.” Sayori said, while fake gagging.

“You’re the one invading our space,” he snorted. “This could’ve waited until later, Sayori.”

“What are you even doing?”

“Oh, he’s flirting for me.” Sayori shrugged like it was completely normal.

“And you… want the guy to like you?” You asked, ignoring the half-assed glare Noya sent you.

“He’s actually a great flirt as long as there’s no emotional attachment.”

“Seriously?”

“Stop acting so surprised,” Noya furrowed his brow at you. “I flirted well enough to get you to date me.”

“I guess.” Although if you were being honest you actually fell for how bad he was at flirting with you. You were way more attracted to his awkward attempts to impress you than if he’d been super suave or something.

“This guy’s a loser.” Noya grimaced. “I don’t like the way he’s treating you.”

“Really?” Sayori slid down so she laid beside him on your lap and you lifted your hands awkwardly. He just tilted the screen to her and she tsked. “Man, boys suck.”

Noya nodded in agreement as he handed the phone back to her before she hoisted herself off you.

“So, this is normal then?” You asked.

“Yep, he pulls most of my dates. It’s only when he has crushes that he’s a wreck.” She snorted. “Like, it took three days for him to confidently text you by himself.”

“Don’t tell her that!”

“You were nervous? That’s so cute,” you smashed his cheeks together and Noya furrowed his eyebrows annoyed.

“Isn’t it?” Sayori squeezed his feet and bounced them playfully. “I mean, I had to text you the first day while he paced around panicking and ranting about how cute you were and how he was gonna fuck it up. I’ve never seen him so-”

Noya kicked her in the stomach. “Sayori, leave.”

She rolled her eyes, “After all I do for you…” She got up from the couch and sent a peace sign over her shoulder. “See you guys later.”

“Whatever,” he mumbles under his breath.

“Thank you! I love you!” She screamed from her doorway while Noya reached his hand up to pinch your nose and wave your head around.

“Whatever, love you too!”

You captured the hand on your nose and brought the back of his hand to your lips. “I also love you.” You said softly against his hand.

“I love you, too.” He whispered.

You let yourselves enjoy the first moments of silence together as his eyes drifted closed and you leaned against his hand. The only noise came from Mina’s muffled study playlist drifting through the floorboards as even the television had long fallen quiet-the movie ending a long time ago without either of you noticing.

“I like having you here,” he said, peeking an eye open.

Your eyes softened. “I like being here.”

The washer buzzed and he squeezed his eyes shut while taking a deep breath. He rolled off your lap with a whine, giving you a quick peck on the forehead before he went jogging down the hallway with a promise that he would be right back. You watched after him as he sock slid on the hardwood floor to make a sharp turn and continue running toward their washroom. You couldn’t contain the dopey smile on your lips.

You relaxed back against the couch as your cheeks turned a rosey shade of pink. You stared up at the ceiling fan spinning around and chewed on your bottom lip, mulling over your thoughts.

You really did love being here, being a part of the family chaos. As you heard the dryer start running and a door sliding shut somewhere in the house a nice thrum ran through your heart because… you especially loved being a part of the family chaos with him.

#nishinoya yuu #nishinoya yu #nishinoya x reader #nishinoya yu x reader #nishinoya yū #nishinoya oneshot #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! #nishinoya imagine #nishinoya fluff #nishinoya scenarios

[kittydemon9000]

Alright so I know Literally Nobody asked for this but the idea of leaguers having differnt armor types, speeds, and strengths is so fascinating to me so here’s an entire post about my headcanons about it, staring the Main 7 since they’re the ones we see most and have the most evidence for. 

Also, please keep in mind that this is completely made based on memory alone and it’s been a bit since I last saw the show. If I missed something or remembered something wrong feel free to correct me or add your own thoughts.

Also also, I made a chart (the chart is based on the strongest for the leaguer, not out of all of them, ex: Top Joy’s strongest is different from GZ’s strongest)

First off, the leader of Silver Castle himself, Magnum Ace, a Baseball Leaguer. Right off the bat(hah puns) I immediately knew his arms would be the strongest points. He seems to have been created with him being a pitcher in mind and his 44 Sonic has clearly been shown to posses a lot of power which he would need the strength to handle. There’s also how he was shown to be a decent hitter in Gold Arm’s flashback, sending every ball into the outfield. As for his weakest points, they were also pretty easy. The joints are a bit of a constant with all of the leaguers I showed, but the fins are because they seem to be rather thin and probably can’t hold up very well under pressure. There’s also the shoulder joints, which I wasn’t able to put on the diagram, since as shown during the end of the series, if Magnum repeatedly pitches his 44 Sonic without rest the stress on his shoulders start to cause them to break down, to the point where he was forced to sit out for the next few days for repairs. Speed wise Magnum is nothing special and in my eyes pretty average amongst the team.

Next up, we have Mach Windy, a Soccer Leaguer. Similar to Magnum, I knew almost immediately his strongest point would be his legs since, y’know, soccer. Everything(physical) we see coming from Windy is almost always centered around his leg strength and speed. This is outright said when Silver Castle is resting after some baseball training and Magnum tells Windy(I shit you not) “We believe in your leg.” There’s also his Mach Spin which depends entirely on his ability to kick to ball at an extremely high speed. There’s also a scene when trying to help Gold Foot during the Forced Retirement Arc where his kicks a ball of solid rock without any issues. The scene also brings me to why his head is a strong point. Heading is also something Windy has been shown to be able to do, and referencing the Forced Retirement Arc again where he head butts the aforementioned ball of rock. For speed, as mentioned before, when it comes to running Windy seems to be the fastest amongst Silver Castle. The weakness I feel is pretty self explanatory since soccer doesn’t really require use of your arms unless you’re a goalie. There’s also how in the Jet Setter episode Bull sees Windy loose an arm wrestle almost immediatly with Ryuuken, but that might just be since Ryuuken is ridiculously powerful. As for durability, he seems to be not very strong, instead having lighter armor for more speed.

Speaking of Ryuuken, let’s talk about the Karate Leaguer. As you can see, his strongest part is his armor, aka almost all of him. As a karate leaguer, Ryuuken was probably created with the intent of being able to take a lot of hits. There’s also the running joke of a member of another team attacking him with all their power and him not budging and saying something along the lines of “I feel nothing.” Strength wise, we get a taste of his crazy power is during his first spotlight episode where he was practicing kicking with Windy, to which he accidentally broke the stone wall surrounding the field. He then unlocks more of his power when rescuing Ruri from the factory, but we don’t see his real power until the Forced Retirment arc. There we got to see when going to rescue Magnum, Windy, and the Gold Bros how he opened a literal chasm into the ground with a single punch, though I can’t remember if it was rock, metal, or both, but that’s still pretty impressive, and that was before he unlocked his Heart Kit in the Death Football Arc which only increased his power. And then during the OVA when the Fighter Brothers try to fight Windy’s new team and they use their pitch, a pitch that nobody had been able to hit before, Ryuuken straight up punches it with seemingly no backlash and getting a home run all because they made him mad.….maybe it’s a good thing Ryuuken is so innocent and calm. Speed wise, Ryuuken seems to be on the slower side of the team, however I do think Ryuuken(alongside Juurouta) would have the best reflexes. This one is completely headcanon and I don’t have much proof, it just makes sense to me.

Next up, we have Bull Armor, a Football Leaguer. His armor and helmet are easily his strongest parts, for mostly obvious reasons. Multiple times throughout the series he is seen tanking blows that would normally knock another leaguer to the ground, most notably when he’s Silver Castle’s goalkeeper in soccer and catcher in baseball. However, his durability seems to be different from Ryuuken’s since he is still moved by the attacks but can bounce back from more. His durability seems to be pretty tied to his strength too since he is one of the only leaguers who has been shown to catch Magnum’s 44 Sonic. There’s also how when he was first introduced he stopped and lifted a truck much larger than himself with relative ease in order to stop it from hitting a young boy. His speed however is admittedly a bit harder to figure out. He seems to be much larger and heavier, however as shown when he lost control in his past he still has the ability to charge down opponents at a speed in which they can’t properly evade, though it’s up for debate whether they were trying to properly evade or trying to reason with him.

Juurouta, a Kendo Leaguer, is next. His durability is more basic compared to the others, mostly focusing around his Armor Armor(no that was not a typo). Said Armor Armor also seems to be protecting the joints which may or may not be intentional, but I’m going with it. His fins share the same logic with Magnum, as do his joints with everyone else. His strength mostly seems to be localized in his arms, which makes sense since he is a kendo leaguer. His strength was first shown in comparison to the others when he was the first person to hit Gold Arm’s Genocide Screw with a hit(discounting Bull since he technically kicked it). There’s also how in the Arctic he was able to cut down the  blizzard machine, however that spent all his energy. Speed wise I think he’s in a similar i boat to Ryuuken: slow overall, but incredible reflexes.

Now, Top Joy, a Basketball Leaguer, was a fun one to do for no reason more than I like the character. Strength wise, nothing very impressive, he show much. Durability though….it’s not the best. The only points that seemed to be able to hold up were his arms(sort of) and feet, and they’re less based on actual proof and more on logical thinking but I digress. Hand and arms because he’ll need to be able to catch balls thrown his way, but they’re still relatively weak compared to other members of Silver Castle. I highlighted his feet because they would probably be needed to make they don’t break once Top Joy lands after jumping high. If they were weak the repeated slamming into the ground would cause them to break and then Top Joy(and any other basketball leaguer) would be relatively stuck. But where I think Top Joy shines is his speed and maneuverability. As he has demonstrated many times throughout baseball and soccer games alike, his spring legs can be used in a variety of situations, from avoiding attacking players to catching balls that would normally be too far out of reach. And there’s also the possibility of using the force from the spring to propel himself faster when running, thought it’s unclear if he does this already. However, they are not without weakness. As shown in the episode with Gebara, they are easily damaged when seemingly a single coil is damaged and prevents him from walking without assistance from his teammates. There’s also his recording equipment and speakers which, while functional, seem like they would also be damaged rather easily since as someone who has worked with recording/video equipment, I am all too aware of how fragile it can be. Also another note, Top Joy also seems to have an incredibly high pain tolerance. When the members of Section X give him a warning shock with the shock circuit, he pleads with them and says how he “doesn’t like punishment,” implying this has happened before. There’s also his questionable relationship with his past team and much later in the Death Football Arc when he flat out says “I’m used to pain,” which in concerning to say the least.

And finally, last but most certainly not least, we have GZ, a Hockey Leaguer. Similar to Ryuuken, GZ has been shown to be incredibly powerful and being able to take a lot. There are three times where his power is shown. First is barely a day after he joins their team when he defends his teammates from attacks that would normally knock them off their feet(sans Ryuuken). The second time is when he’s babysitting the kids and survives an avalanche that took out another group of hockey(?) leaguers with barely a scratch. And then in the OVA where he’s able to deflect almost all of Garret’s dive bomb attacks without took much trouble. This is undoubtedly a combination of some hockey leaguers being incredibly defensive(like Thunderbolt) and his reformatting which led him to be a mercenary. We don’t seem too much from GZ in terms of strength, so I’m going to say he’s just a little weaker than Magnum. Speed though, that one was a bit hard to figure out. Main because of his boosters. His boosters give him an enormous speed boost, fast enough to get ahead of Garret who was literally flying and dive bombing, and on the ice without as much friction it only increases his speed. However, the few times we see him running, he seems to be slower than the other Silver Castle members, likely because of his weight and how he was meant for ice, not land. 

TL:DR, From most to least

Durability: GZ, Ryuuken, Bull Armor, Juurouta, Magnum, Windy, Top Joy

Strength: Ryuuken, Bull Armor, Juurouta, Magnum, GZ, Top Joy, Windy

Speed: GZ(with boosters/on ice), Windy, Top Joy, Magnum, Bull Armor, Ryuuken, Juurouta, GZ(running), but Juurouta and Ryuuken have the best reflexes

#Shippu! Iron Leaguer #iron leaguer #magnum ace #mach windy #windy #ryuuken #Kiai Ryuuken #bull armor #juurouta #Kiwami Juurouta #topjoy #Top Joy #gz #info dump

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi! What's your thoughts on why that specific group of character fell to the Ever After? I think they're the ones who grieved the most after Beacon and this is gonna be a bookend for that, while the Vacuo characters have a different narrative going on on their own. Not to say Ren and Nora didn't grieve after Beacon, but they were used to loss and both times have resolved their arc in a separate narrative: both of them slaying the source of their trauma in vol 4 and now Ren having realized his growth while Nora is going to realize hers.

Hi!

I am gonna get this chance to also properly apologize for not having answered your other ask yet :''') It is in my draft, but I still did not find the time to work on it.

Anyway, as for this ask, I understand where you are coming from, but I am not sure I 100% agree. Sure, grief is gonna be a major theme next volume (and in general it is a key theme for the story as a whole), but I disagree it is exclusive only of the characters that fell. For example, grief is a key theme in Ren and Nora's arc, while I would not say it is so prominent in Blake or especially Weiss.

Just quickly thinking at the characters stuck in Vacuo, we have:

Renora - their whole background is about losing a whole town and their parents. Moreover, they lost Pyrrha and now think they lost Jaune. They keep losing their family and end up always counting on each other.

Emerald - she has just lost Hazel and this loss and grief has yet to be unpacked.

Winter - oh boy... she has lost in 1 day Ironwood (father-figure), Penny and Weiss (little sisters). Her last scene in volume 8 screams grief.

In general, all the characters in Vacuo are gonna grieve the protagonists. Similarly, self-discovery is another theme shared by all characters equally and the trailer of volume 9 has made it abundantly clear:

What are you?

In short, self-discovery and grief are key themes for the whole story hence they permeate everyone's arcs and not just a specific set of characters'.

I think RWBY + J fell simply because they need more focus than others next volume. To be more specific, RWBY are almost always the ones involved in strange magic shenaningas (see Jinn in volume 6) since they are the titular characters. Every time a male lead tags with them according to character arcs. In volume 6 it was Oscar because Jinn's story had a specific value for him and Oz. This time it is Jaune to unpack what he did in the finale of volume 8. In general, it is also probable characters who are on the island need to interact with each other. As for Neo, I think she fell to drive Ruby's conflict. She is linked to her and she can work as a perfect foil to our girl ;)

Moreover, Ruby and Oscar needed to be separated this volume imo because of their inside/outside motif. On the one hand Ruby's heroine journey leads her to explore her own interiority. On the other hand Oscar's hero journey leads him to go out of his own head and to explore the world outside. Ruby externalizes, while Oscar internalizes hence they are challenged in opposite ways. Ruby falls into a world who mirrors her own head (Alice), while Oscar faces the real world with all its complexity (hopefully like the Little Prince).

Anyway, I really think they just wanted the girls + another MC to fall, so that they can focus on this specific set of characters. Apart from Oscar, the other characters stuck in Vacuo are either secondary protagonists (Renora and I would say Em too), important non-protagonist characters (Winter) or side characters (the Schnees + the Happy Huntresses). Usually, mains are gonna experience the most significative journeys in stories.

Thank you for the ask!

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #asksfullofsugar #maripr

[ouyangzizhensdad]

The Mo Village arc and establishing the MC

MDZS is a sprawling book with many characters, but it seems that it was clearly important to MXTX to establish her MC’s characterisation very strongly from the start. Although the novel in its entirety leans toward providing a strong characterisation for WWX, I thought it’d be fun to look back at how it is conveyed to the readers in the first few chapters before the inciting incident at Dafan Mountain

(N.B. I’m using a composite translation made of different translations so the wording/format might be slightly different than the version you are using)

Framing

The prologue starts with a conversation between unnamed characters in an inn, discussing the news of WWX’s death. While it was a clever way to already introduce an important theme of the novel (the effects of public opinion and how easy it is to make someone into a irredeemable villain) and get the exposition out of the way, it also frames WWX as a character: as readers, we are introduced first to perceptions of him, a characterisation-from-hearsay we’ll be able to compare to his characterisation in the novel. WWX is a “scourge” whose death is celebrated, who “defected” and bit the hand that fed him, a “deranged” killer who took thousands of lives. But before he went on the crooked path, he was a promising youth--although others seem to think he was corrupted from the start.

“But it can’t all be blamed on the path he cultivated. Ultimately, it was still because this Wei Wuxian’s moral character was too flawed, angering the Heavens and man alike! By the heavenly law, everyone answers for their deeds in the end, good and evil……”

The rumours also suggest that if WWX comes back to the world of the living he will enact his revenge upon them all, and his unimaginable powers would allow him to rain fury upon both Heaven and Earth. We get told: this guys is an incredibly powerful villain, reviled and feared by many. 

But the Yiling Laozu had enough power to overturn the Heavens and smother the Earth, move mountains and drain seas—at least, that was the way the rumors went. If he wanted to resist the summoning of his soul, it wouldn’t exactly be outside of his abilities. If in coming days his spirit were restored, if he forcibly possessed a body and were thus reborn, then not only the cultivation world, but all of humanity would inevitably meet with an even greater frenzy of vengeance and curses, sinking into a chaotic age of foul winds and bloody rains.

Establishing WWX and how he reacts when he’s thrown into an unpleasant situation

When WWX is brought back by MXY, we already have something to contrast him against thanks to the hearsay and rumours, and from the get-go we get a sense that WWX is not this fearsome figure that people made him out to be.

I’ll never get over the fact that our first introduction to WWX’s is the equivalent of the “the audacity of this bitch”.

Hazily, he thought: that’s quite a lot of courage you must have to kick this Laozu. 

Our MC and POV character is thrown into a situation, and from his reactions we can rapidly tell that he is someone who is observant, resourceful, good at deductive reasoning and thereby apt at solving mysteries. This is something that is reinforced at many, many points in the first few chapters and helps us buy in into what happens later in the novel when they uncover many other mysteries. WWX is a guy who figures shit out.

When WWX figures out he was summoned as a “an unforgivably evil malicious spirit“, we  get his take on his public perception.  

Wei Wuxian reeled at the implications. How had he been classified as “an irredeemly evil, malicious spirit”?

Yes, his reputation was rather poor and his final moments, horrifying tragic—but he had neither haunted nor had he seeked revenge on the living since becoming a spirit. He would dare to swear upon the Heavens and the Earth that you would never find a more peaceful and well-behaved lonely soul of a wild ghost!

At the same time, readers get a sense that even when he’s dealt a bad hand, WWX does not wait in despair for his luck to turn. Even though WWX describes his situation as “hopeless” and keeps “repeating over and over How could this be! in his heart “, he immediately goes into problem-solving mode, trying to figure out the situation and the wishes MXY forgot to share. This also happens  later. 

There was not a single thing to help him find some joy in being reborn! He might as well sit and meditate for a time, and adjust to the new body.

That same passage gives us a sense that WWX is not rushing into situations without taking the time to take it in, make up his mind and prepare as much as he can: the fact that we see him do meditation twice during that day (before he goes to the East Hall and after he checks on the Lan juniors) also contributes to that idea.

The chapters convey as well that WWX is sympathetic to MXY’s situation and does not resent him even though he forced WWX to enact revenge in his stead. As readers, we thus receive the following message: WWX is not prone to being resentful, to hold grudges.

He had originally wanted to wash his face and pay a few respects to the owner of this body, but there was no water in the shack—neither for drinking nor for washing. 

WWX is also, for a lack of a better word, sassy. It’s clear that he has a flair for the dramatics and lots of attitude. Look at that dramatic entrance.... he just.... yeets the bowl he was holding....

He pondered for a moment. Then, rising to his feet, he kicked the door open.

The two servants, in the midst of making eyes at each other, screamed in horror as the double doors of the shack suddenly burst open. Wei Wuxian threw aside his bowl and chopsticks and walked outside without anyone’s leave [...]

We are also introduced to the fact that WWX does not seem to take himself seriously and loves to shock people. 

When it came to wild displays of misbehavior, Wei Wuxian was a master. In the past when he ran wild, he still had to mind appearances lest others accuse him of having not been raised right. But now that he was a lunatic anyways, what face did he need! He could go straight to making a scene, acting however it pleased him.

While WWX is clearly not the one-dimensional evil monster depicted in rumours, we do see that he can be cunning: he lies easily if he feels it motivated, he is very good at talking people into a corner, apt at making them do incriminating things by leading them on, which he does by humiliating the Mo family for their mistreatment of MXY in front of a crowd. But in a way, that is also a quality of his: he is not just silver-tongued; he’s good at assessing a situation and people’s characters, able to figure out what will set them off.

We further get proof that he is not a blood-thirsty monster who disregards others when he tries to figure out if he can satisfy MXY’s spirit without having to wipe out the Mo family (although it is clearly the obvious solution) and when he is shown to care for the well-being of others. This is illustrated by the way he double-checks (through ruse) that the zhaoyin flags are properly set up and will be used safely by the Lan juniors. 

During the conversation, Wei Wuxian had already finished making a rapid examination of the Yin Summoning Flag in his hand. It had been painted in the correct manner, and there were no missing sigils either. There was not a single error or omission, so they should worked as intended. That being said, the person who had painted the flag lacked experience, and the painted sigils could only attract the evil spirits and walking corpses within at most five li. That should however prove to be enough. (chapter 2)

[...]

Wei Wuxian’s first thought was that something had gone wrong with the flag arraw the youth had set up. His inventions needed to be used with extreme caution, or else risk disaster. This was also why he had gone to check earlier if there were anything wrong with the array. (Chapter 3)

As our POV character, WWX comes across as endearing through little details: it’s in the way he calls LSZ a “good little seedling (好苗子)” and calls the Lan juniors a group of “小朋友“ in his inner monologue, or when he defends the Lan juniors from Mo-furen’s accusations. Or the way he likes Xiao Pingguo because it looks at him with contempt:

A donkey was tied to the handle, chewing on it. When it saw Wei Wuxian run over rashly, it seemed like it was surprised, and eyed him sideways as if it were a real person. Wei Wuxian made eye contact with him for one second and was immediately touched by the minuscule amount of contempt in its eyes.

Establishing how WWX acts in high-pressure situations

Things escalate quite quickly into accusations of murder and death and resentful corpses. This first sequence is thus our introduction to how WWX acts under pressure and in high-risk situations (which will continue to happen to our MC until the end of the novel). 

WWX is shown to be cool under pressure and quick to think on his feet, constantly re-assessing the situation and the risks. He is also seen as expecting people to arrive to conclusions without him needing to explain them out loud, like when he takes out the zhaoyin flag that MZY stole from his corpse, letting the Lan juniors understand on their own what happened. When he needs to explain, he will not do it in a straight-forward manner, giving small hints first (this preludes many of WWX and LWJ interaction when they understand each other’s thought process with only one sentence being said, and preludes how WWX will continue to act with the Juniors later on, making them think through the situations instead of feeding them the answers).

We also get the proof that WWX does not privilege self-preservation over the fate of others.

If he wanted to avoid having the situation get out of hand, Wei Wuxian should retreat. If they people who came did not know him, then all would be well—but if they happened to be someone who had dealt with him or fought against him in the past, it would be hard to guess what would happen next.

But the curse meant he could not leave Mo Village yet. As well, the spirit that had been summoned had taken two lives in quick succession, meaning it was extremely vicious. If Wei Wuxian left now, once the reinforcement arrived, the streets of Mo Village might already be packed with corpses missing their left arm, of which some would be blood relations of the GusuLanShi. 

After a short deliberation, Wei Wuxian thought, fight a quick battle to force a swift resolution (速战速决). (Chapter 3)

[...]

Wei Wuxian was watching the battle attentively. His tongue was slightly curled, suppressing a sharp whistle inside of his lips, preparing it to be let out. The whistle would be able to evoke even more hostility in the cruel corpses, which might turn the tables. Then, however, it would be difficult to ensure that nobody knew that it was his doing. 

In the blink of an eye, the hand moved like lightning, ruthlessly and precisely breaking Madame Mo’s neck. Watching as the Mo family grew closer to defeat, Wei Wuxian prepared to blow the whistle that he suppressed under his tongue. At the same time, the echoes of two strums on a stringed instrument came from far away. (chapter 4)

As well, we are told something about WWX when he only leaves once LWJ arrives: certainly because he’s afraid that LWJ might recognize him but mostly because (as it will become clear later on) he trusts that LWJ will be able to handle the situation in his stead. In order words, although WWX is willing to risk himself to help others, he is not careless with his life and safety (for instance he makes sure to destroy the proof of the Offering ritual before fleeing to make sure no one can figure out the fact that he is back from the dead).

WWX will not hesitate to fool people or pretend in order to help his goals. In this case, he is trying to help and fight without appearing like a powerful cultivator who can do modao, balancing self-preservation with the incentive to protect the people present. This is why he pushes LJY in front of LSZ at one point in the battle, instead of blocking it himself, while pretending to just be a lunatic doing lunatic things.

Inside of the Lan clan’s uniform jacket, there were compact stitchings of incantations using thin threads of the same color, included for protection. However, against strong ones like this, it could only be used once before it became invalid. During the emergency, he could only kick Lan Jingyi and use his body to protect Lan Sizhui’s neck.

This sequence also allows the reader to know more about modao and WWX’s skills, and how he can control corpses, as well as how WWX perceives his own abilities. 

TLDR:

The Mo Village arc, in conjunction with the prologue, competently sets up a lot of the moving pieces for the novel. It also leans heavily toward establishing a strong sense of characterisation for our MC and POV character, which is neat! 

NB: I think it’s also very telling that the next chapter after the Mo Mansion arc begins with us learning that WWX has been, in the past few days since his retreat, lorded over by a capricious donkey. WWX is clearly not someone who takes himself very seriously (often mocking himself):

The donkey ran over there and nothing could make it leave. Wei Wuxian hopped down and slapped its honoured buttocks. “You’re definitely destined for wealth, even harder to please than I am.” The donkey spat at him.

#mdzs meta #i kind of hate to call this meta because it's not uh very deep lmao #wwx #wei wuxian

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 22)

Today we'll talk about the Time-Travel Arc. Obviously, the focus in that arc is Yuka's past, so there's going to be a lot of content that I'll skip unless it's relevant to NatsuMikan. What ship/character content there is I will dissect heavily. This is just a warning that I'll be skipping even five or so chapters at time, and it might seem jarring. Sorry about that.

In this part, we'll see how Natsume and Mikan are in many ways fated, but also how selfless Natsume can be, even in the face of losing the person he loves the most forever. He's going to keep his promise to protect her no matter what happens, even if it means never seeing her again.

Chapter One Hundred and Seven

For most of this arc, Natsume and the others are merely observers of Yuka’s past. They keep the talking and interaction to a minimum. There will be some instances where Natsume does enough for me to be able to analyze him, but they’re limited to start with.

For example, when Tsubasa, Tono, and Nobara are finally able to join them, there’s a dramatic reunion.

Nobody has seen Tsubasa in some time, and his whereabouts were a mystery. Obviously he shares a meaningful embrace with Mikan, but he also makes eye contact with Natsume, who looks shocked and relieved to see him again, even if he wasn’t the one to find him. Tsubasa knows Natsume had searched tirelessly for him, so he apologizes for making Natsume and the others worry. For a moment, it almost seems as though maybe they will share the next reunion hug. But to show that everything truly is back to normal, Natsume’s demeanor shifts and he gets annoyed with Tsubasa for hugging Mikan for so long.

Thinking really hard about Natsume's love languages: nicknames, being willing to die for you one second and then pretending like you're a nuisance the next, never giving compliments so they hit like a brick when he does, just hanging around you, and physical touch.

Natsume doesn’t know how to show feelings properly. With Ruka, he can be more openly affectionate and loving, and now with Mikan he has recently (today) had the opportunity to be more honest about his feelings, but Tsubasa is different. For a very long time, he has pretended like Tsubasa was nothing more than a nuisance. Suddenly being honest with everyone would be tiresome. Besides, Tsubasa already knows that Natsume cares, since he struggled so much to find him.

If you want to hug somebody, Natsume says (or doesn’t say… this conversation seems to all be telepathic), go hug Misaki. Not my girl. It hardly matters that Misaki isn’t around and that idea is impossible to make a reality. So Tsubasa naturally shoots back that he will simply pretend Mikan is Misaki.

Natsume is a good person, as we have seen over the course of the manga. When he loves someone, he loves hard and with his whole chest. He doesn’t half-ass his feelings. Despite his occasional bouts into saying something kind and heartfelt, he is and always has been naturally a bit more reserved. His personality is one to withhold a little, and to interact with people through teases. Even at his most free, before he came to the academy, he would tease and insult before saying something sweet. His love will always be something that needs to be interpreted, because he hates being open about why he’s doing the selfless things he is. If he is too open, then people will know and then they might feel guilty or like they owe him something. He doesn’t want that. Another thing is that he just likes having fun with his friends and loved ones this way, with occasional taunts and teases. That’s just the kind of person he is.

Chapter One Hundred and Nine

We get introduced to Igarashi Kaoru, an upperclassman of Yuka’s and a mysterious figure. Yuka first met her in a compromising position, when she’s about to sleep with a boy who we will later find out is Natsume’s father. She looks very much like a more grown up, female version of Natsume, and they seem to have a lot in common when it comes to their basic personality.

Just like Natsume, Kaoru can be serious-minded and doesn’t take any shit. She’s also like him in that she shows affection through teasing.

Mikan, in this chapter, finally asks who this Igarashi person is, since she looks so familiar. Natsume sarcastically says, “Heaven knows.” I’m sure he wasn’t actually expecting to see his mother in these flashbacks. She died when she was very young and as a result she didn’t have the opportunity to talk much about Yuka. It must be a surprise to see that she played such an active role in Mikan’s mother’s life.

Heaven knows. Get it. 'Cause she's dead. Hahahaha.

To everyone else, it’s obvious that the Igarashi person is related to Natsume. Ruka might even directly recognize her from the painting he saw at the Hyuuga house that one time, but either way they look and act so similarly that it’s apparent to everyone but Mikan.

In any case, Natsume is seeing more of his mother than he ever has before. He knows very little about her, since she died when he was so small. He couldn’t have many conversations with her and he spent more time mourning and missing her than actually being with her. Not only is Mikan getting the chance to know the mother that was a mystery to her for her whole life, but Natsume is too. This is also his chance to discover his mother and get to know her, and it’s just his luck that Yuka and Kaoru actually had a strong bond.

After Kaoru intimidates Yuka at the Hana Hime den, Mikan and the gang react to the shocking scene. Kaoru is a force to reckon with, and Noda comments on how this force and tough love helped Yuka find strength in herself and confidence in her own alice.

Ruka insists on knowing more about Kaoru, and since everyone but Mikan seems to get that Kaoru is Natsume’s mother, we can see that Ruka is asking for Natsume. Natsume won’t ask. This is about Yuka, after all, and about Mikan. Natsume will see what he will of his mother insofar as she’s in Yuka’s life. Beyond that, he won’t ask for anything. Ruka knows this, so he asks instead. He wants to know about Natsume too, and what better way than to learn about the woman who seems to have so much in common with him? Natsume is touched that Ruka would go out of his way to ask a question Natsume will not ask.

Noda answers that Kaoru and Yuka will become best friends after this, and Mikan is shocked. How could someone so scary be Yuka’s best friend? But Noda explains: Kaoru has a compassionate and caring heart behind her cold front, just like Natsume, and Yuka could rely on her, even in her darkest moments. Yuka wouldn’t have gained confidence in her alice the way she did without Kaoru by her side.

That is a really fucking long red string!

And then Noda says it so even Mikan can tell now, that Natsume’s mother has always been beloved and a truly amazing person.

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

Noda further explains about Kaoru. She used her alice to spy on the academy for the HSP, and then after she graduated she continued to use her alice to expose corruption. She was deeply committed to doing the right thing and holding the academy responsible, and this commitment was inspiring to Yuka as well, who went down the path she did for the same reasons.

Somehow, their children met at the academy by pure chance, and are standing side by side now.

Here they are, standing together and in love with each other. Fate is a silly thing.

They are fated somehow. The same red string that tied Kaoru to Yuka now ties Natsume to Mikan. In fact, it’s his love for her that motivated him to go against the academy, more than his own misfortune or the wellbeing of other students or even because it was the right thing to do. The strong bond between their mothers now lingers between them, but differently, and maybe even stronger.

Natsume and Mikan are holding hands, looking at each other. Were they always meant to meet? To be together? Nothing is said out loud, but it’s apparent that they’re both thinking about their moms’ past and what exactly it means for their future.

Perhaps there's a difference between fated to fall in love and fated to be together.

Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen

Lots of chapters are getting skipped because there simply isn’t enough content, if any, of Natsume, not to mention NatsuMikan specifically.

Izumi is about to die, and everyone knows it as they watch. Mikan has just returned from falling through the time window. She wanted to warn her father, but Tsubasa was able to bring her back without much changing. Natsume immediately goes to Mikan’s side when she is safely returned and doesn’t leave. He holds her hand because what she’s about to witness will be deeply traumatizing and he knows that she will suffer all the more because she wasn’t able to stop it.

Everything happens as it is meant to, perhaps. Izumi is dying from Rei’s alice, since his own nullification can’t fight against Rei when he uses so much power at once.

I don't have anything clever to say here. He just loves her so much.

Mikan is distraught, and although Natsume first just tries to keep her from approaching the window again, once he sees her crying, despairing face, he shifts. All he’s ever wanted to do was keep her happy, keep her from sinking into even a fraction of the darkness he’s had to live in. It hasn’t always been easy, because Mikan was also destined to suffer, just like him.

Everyone else is pleading with Noda to get them out of the hole, to stop the flashbacks, but Noda can’t. The window is too turbulent and any moves on his part might be dangerous.

Protecting her no matter what doesn't only mean protecting her from physical harm, it means protecting her from seeing horrible things that she shouldn't have to see, like the death of her father.

So Natsume holds Mikan close. It is the only thing he can do, to tell her not to look and to hug her. She doesn’t need to see anymore. Natsume doesn’t just want to protect her physical safety but her mental and emotional well-being as well. He fell in love with a girl who always looks on the bright side, who is so optimistic and kind that her cheerfulness bleeds into everyone else. From the start, he was concerned that if her life darkened, her own light would fade and become tarnished.

But Natsume doesn’t need her to always smile. He just wants to protect her the best he can. If she needs to cry, then she can cry on him. He will hold her and support her and comfort her. She can’t always be happy, but all he’s ever wanted was to be there for her when she can’t be. When she needs to crumble a little, he will be there for her, because she would do the same. She comforted him too, even if she never knew she was doing it. It's not about having her be happy all the time, just minimizing the trauma. He can't protect her from all of it. Everything else is more powerful than he is. He can't keep her ignorant and blissful forever. Nobody can. But if they can't escape the flashback, then he will keep her from looking.

He can do this openly now, so he does. He wants her to know that she can rely on him and seek comfort from him. No matter what happens, he will be there for her.

So as Izumi dies, Natsume and Mikan aren’t looking. She doesn’t need to see. He keeps his focus on her, to support her, because she has to process a deeply traumatic event in a very short time. After all, the flashbacks are still going. Time didn’t stop for Yuka, and it won’t stop for Mikan.

Natsume’s shirt is probably soaked with tears. Not that he cares.

He holds her, not just through Izumi’s death, but for most of the aftermath. He stays, holding her, for as long as she needs him to. He will only let go when she’s okay to stand again. He ends up holding her for a couple chapters, and even when they stop hugging he still holds her up. He'd hold her for hours if she needed it.

Conclusion

Natsume and Mikan learned that their mothers were besties and are now struck with the knowledge that by pure chance they managed to meet and become as close as they did. Natsume confessed to the whole DA class (including Mikan) that he loves her in the last part, and he's done nothing but prove it over and over again.

We'll wrap up what is left of NatsuMikan in the Time-Travel Arc next week on Monday. His low self-esteem, selflessness, and all-consuming love will all take center stage in the next few entries.

Thank you all so much for reading so far. I hope you have a lovely day!

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#gakuen alice #alice academy #hyuuga natsume #natsume hyuuga #natsumikan #sakura mikan #mikan sakura #my meta #ga #mine #ga meta #ga meta: nm #ga meta: manga #ga meta: manga nm #let's talk about natsumikan #let's talk about natsumikan: natsume #nm song of the day is.... synesthesia by mayonnaise #i found this song through an amv for them si #its really fitting especially around this time #ga is interesting when it comes to fate #fate and time and things being the way they should... that sort of thing #i personally am not a big believer of fate irl but with fiction i go ham with it #natsumikan are canonically fated. lots of soulmate stuff. i very much believe theyre soulmates #but theres also potential in those anti-soulmate aus that i love so much #because as much as i love that theyre fated and meant to be and all that i also love that especially mikan CHOSE to be with him #theres a lot of choice involved specifically with her love for him #and although natsumes doesnt really feel like choosing as much as just falling in head first and not being able or willing to stop #he also chose her in a lot of ways. #i guess it can be both. theyre fated on accident but they still choose each other. both can be good. anyway im conflicted. whatever

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Water Seven

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

i’ve mentioned several times before that the davy back fight is one of my least favorite arcs, mostly because i found it very dragging and tedious when i was reading it, but there are a couple things i really like in it, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, most of them have to do with zoro. i really like his moment here with chopper, and it also showcases his ability to act as more of an authority figure to the crew, which is something that makes a substantial return after enies lobby with the matter of usopp’s return. 

zoro and sanji’s match in the davy back fight is far and away my favorite part of the entire arc. it’s just really fun.

like i said, this arc isn’t a favorite of mine, but i do definitely understand why it’s important to the saga and greater story in a couple different ways. one of them is that it’s just an easy, lighthearted detour that both gives the audience a chance to breathe and the strawhats a chance to showcase just how much they love each other and work well together- which turns into a fucking sledgehammer to the skull in the next arc when that unity is directly threatened. and the other reason this arc is important...

...is because of aokiji.

aokiji’s introductory scene is a brutal showcase of absolute power, and a very clear reminder that the strawhats are still very much little fish in a very, very big pond. all of the strawhats are impacted by this to some degree- it’s how badly they get curb-stomped here that leads luffy to come up with his gears as a way of closing the huge power gap he’s just learned about.

most important, though, are robin and usopp. for robin, this is a stark reminder of the fact that the government will never stop hunting her down; for usopp, who’s less obvious, it’s the seeds of the full-blown inferiority crisis that will later explode with the news about merry. both of their arcs throughout water 7 and enies lobby, essentially the twin emotional backbones of the saga, start right here.

i really like that the other strawhats all fell asleep waiting for robin and luffy to wake up. it calls back to them doing the same when nami was sick before drum, and also it’s just so fucking sweet. 

water seven is my favorite island, full stop. if i was going to live anywhere in one piece’s world, i’d want to live on water seven. it’s just so creatively designed and visually great, with the canals and the tiered city and the massive fountain in the middle. the supporting cast are still one of my favorites, and the culture feels very real and authentic. i just love water seven a lot.

i just said it but it bears repeating- the water seven supporting cast is really good. iceburg, the galley-la shipwrights, franky and his family, kokoro and chimney are all really memorable, and most of them are really likable, too- and cp9, with all their eccentricities, fit in perfectly. water seven’s cast is very interconnected, as well, and their relationships all feel very believable.

all of which, of course, only makes the later treachery hurt all the more.

the atmosphere of water seven is really, really well done. the bad starts slow, with the news that merry is unfixable, and then continues into an accelerating downwards spiral of hopelessness: usopp and luffy’s fight and usopp leaving the crew, robin’s seeming betrayal, the assassination attempt on iceburg, the city and galley-la turning on them as a result, and the agua laguna- it just gets worse and worse and worse.

and then, after they’ve been stomped down about as far as they can go and come out alive anyways, they pick themselves back up again and go to save their friend, because that’s what the strawhat pirates do.

i just really like getting to see these four going feral on the franky family, it’s one of my favorite scenes in this whole arc. in general, i tend to love the moments where luffy specifically gets properly angry, and we get a lot of them in this arc. 

even though the fight between luffy and usopp is genuinely very tense and  fast-paced and would probably be exciting if it were any other two characters fighting, it never really feels anything other than melancholy. i think that’s a testament to just how good oda is at setting the mood of the scene. it’s made very clear, especially through the reactions of the other characters- merry ‘crying’ is fucking heartbreaking- that this is nothing less than a tragedy. 

:(

i think it’s kind of interesting we aren’t shown franky’s face until about halfway into water seven. prior to this, we’re given pretty much only reasons to hate him, with his theft of the strawhats’ money and the franky family beating usopp to shit. but just after this point is when we start getting our first humanizing and sympathetic moments for him, starting when he gets worried and a little frantic when he hears about the attempt on iceburg’s life.

i just really, really like the way some of these water seven action sequences are depicted. they feel very tense and desperate, which matches the general mood of this part of the arc perfectly.

this panel of usopp working on merry always reminds me of the shots of the klabautermann doing the same during skypiea. i’m not sure if it’s even intentional, honestly, but it’s an extra little bit of heartbreak either way.

one piece has a lot of amazing spreads, but this might be one of my favorites for sheer impact. cp9, watching as the city they’ve lived and worked in for years burns down in a fire they set, satisfied by a job well done. it’s almost all in black and white with very little grey, which creates some fantastic contrast, and their pitch-black silhouettes against the nighttime inferno are just striking. 

this entire scene between usopp and franky, as usopp works on the merry and franky gives him advice and tries to make him see its hopeless and they kind of awkwardly, accidentally bond, is probably my favorite in the whole of water seven. it was also the scene that singlehandedly made me love franky as a character.

they have a really good, really enjoyable dynamic, and at the same time the conflict between them is real and understandable, and brought about because they’re both trying to do the right thing.

tom’s workers are one of my favorite little groups of characters in the whole of one piece’s story, and they deserve more appreciation. they’re family!! a little family of broken pieces who worked together to build something really, really amazing. and they still care about each other in the present, even though they got shattered apart so badly and none of them ever really recovered. 

this is a tremendously under-appreciated chopper moment. not only did he carry two full-grown men out of a fire, he even managed to get zoro’s sword and iceburg’s hamster. extremely cool of him.

this is also the exact moment the strawhats’ collective luck begins to turn: chopper saves the day, and nami learns that robin did what she did to protect them, and sanji gets aboard the sea train, and from there it’s a no-brakes train from their very lowest low straight to the triumph at enies lobby.

i love all the shenanigans sanji gets up to with the sea train, i think the whole sequence is absolutely one of his shining moments. it’s always a delight to see sanji get up to Sneaky Bastard Bullshit, and the whole thing is just so fun, which is a dearly needed breath of fresh air after how relentless this arc has been until this point.

robin’s little smile when thinking of luffy and when she joined the strawhats... :( i’ve noticed it’s a recurring trend for strawhats who try to leave the crew to flash back to when they joined as they do. usopp has it earlier this same arc just before leaving, and sanji does it in whole cake island in the sanji vs. luffy chapter. 

i really like how much everyone comes together at the end of water seven leading into enies lobby. after how fractured and fraught things have been throughout the arc, both within and without the strawhat crew, it’s great to see them not only all united again for a common goal, but with a huge group of allies at their backs. 

these three are SUCH a hilarious team, and i would love to see them work together again like this sometime. they’re literally just clowning on the marines all the way up the train, it’s fantastic. 

factually i understand sanji’s aversion to fighting with his hands and his fighting style is very unique and cool and also meaningful to him because he learned from zeff, and also if i remember right it’s implied he learned how to swordfight from the vinsmokes which makes it very reasonable he would want absolutely nothing to do with that skillset 

but speaking purely in terms of stupid idiot lizard brain i think sanji should fight with knives more

this is another of my absolute favorite spreads, and i think what makes it for me is the casual confidence- luffy tells zoro to cut the train, and zoro does, both of them with no doubts at all about zoro’s ability to do so. it really goes to show how far they’ve come from back in east blue when zoro couldn’t even cut luffy out of a metal cage.

there’s something very impactful about the fact that of all the strawhats, robin gets this speech from usopp. usopp, who’s had the worst falling-out with luffy in the series to date, is the one who tells robin: you haven’t left the crew yet, you can’t leave the crew yet, luffy is coming to get you. believe in him. 

franky’s “existing is not a crime” line is one of the most memorable and iconic lines from this entire saga, and for good reason. it sums up one of the main themes of not just this arc but also the series as a whole- the very same idea will come up again for ace during marineford, and in law’s backstory as well. it’s never a crime to just exist, and people should not never be persecuted for their blood or heritage. one piece doesn’t fuck around with its theming, it really doesn’t. 

to be continued next time, with enies lobby!

#the voyage so far #one piece #long post #arc: water 7 #not japanese #opmeta