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traumatictouch · 3 years

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why tomura reads like a sexual abuse survivor

ive noticed that a lot of survivors - including me - easily read tomura as a csa survivor. ive decided to try to put these impressions into words, mostly for myself, but also for anyone curious as to why he’s so frequently read this way, or why i personally write him as such. i will mostly be elaborating on the reoccurring sexual assault imagery and csa survivor traits tomura exhibits.

triggering themes ahead, including discussed child sexual abuse, incest (sibling and pseudo), trauma and its effects, and sexual assault imagery (from the bnha manga itself). also spoilers for the most recent manga arc.

(disclaimer: i realize symptoms of trauma are pretty much common all across the board, and depression also comes with a lot of these behaviors - but there are some that crop up more commonly in cases of sexual abuse (especially from a young age) than in others. csa survivors also frequently end up with depression, too, so that doesn't necessarily take away from it.)

i’ll start with the cover above. the hands touching him here are much more expressive than the ones he usually wears. it's also framed in a way where you can't see the ends/cap things very well, and they don't appear so symmetrical, making them feel much more like real, living hands grabbing him.

there's also the fact that his face is exposed, which is something we had rarely seen him do willingly at this point in the manga, and even when he had he was still covered up with a hoodie or completely alone. the way he's covering half his face gives off the impression that he's not okay with the way he's exposed.

all of that, plus the obvious distress tomura is in, gives this very glaring assault vibes.

also, the hands on his head are clearly someone's actual, living hands as well. my guess is afo, especially since they seem to be petting him, which is reoccurring imagery between tomura and afo.

tomura's total lack of privacy

there's a clear lack of boundaries between tomura and the adults in his life. most of the spaces that seem to belong to tomura (the bar - he feels safe enough there to take Father off, and his room) are accompanied by cameras and audio transmissions from afo. he has no privacy, and doesn't even seem bothered by this fact.

he also doesn't seem to set boundaries with other people in general. toga can hold a knife to his neck, spinner can grab him and yell in his face, the doctor can shout over his earpiece, dabi (or anyone, really) can say whatever rude or callous things he wants to him… really the only time i can think of that even comes close was when mr. compress made a joke about working with overhaul and tomura said "hey, not funny."

he seems to kinda just let whatever happen to him. earlier in the series, tomura seemed to rely on kurogiri to notice when he needed space and step in for him rather than ask for it himself. that's a pretty telltale sign of someone who's had their needs and boundaries violated (or even punished) for a long time.

Tomuras over-attachment to afo and his praise/affection

obviously afo groomed tomura whether it involved sexual abuse or not, but it is something that could have easily lended itself to that as well. early in the series, tomura clearly highly valued afos opinion of him, and seemed to strive to please and repay him for his kindness. these are feelings afo incited in him on purpose and did, canonically, take advantage of to turn tomura into a villain and pawn - who's to say he didn't use it for other purposes, too?

it's also the kind of thing survivors tend to latch onto to cope with their abuse. it can be easier to think of the event as being affection, returning a favor, and/or special treatment, than to think of it as abuse. tomura looked up to afo so much that it's possible he could have considered (or been convinced) that it was special that someone as great as afo wanted to do something so intimate with him.

also, if this is really tomura realizing his sensei isn't as special and powerful as he'd been led to believe, then his reaction being to cover up while looking angry might, well… be a reaction to feeling used.

Tomura & older men

there's not a lot of people besides afo that tomura seems very quickly, openly… invested in. there are two major ones i can think of, and they are both 1. older men, and 2. mentor figures (even if not to tomura.)

the most obvious of the two is aizawa, who tomura has seemed pretty fond of since his first appearance and, even in the most recent chapters, can't seem to help but think about how cool aizawa is. aizawa isn't a mentor to tomura, obviously, but he is a teacher and tomura knows this. (and seems impressed by the way he tries to protect the students in his care--something afo very specifically does not do for tomura.)

the second, and perhaps less obvious to most, is Stain. i wrote up a whole post trying (trying.) to explain the way tomura seemed interested in him, and you can see a bit more about that and how tomura was hoping he'd be a mentor to him here.

in other words, tomura has shown reoccurring interest in older men, who are mentors, that he does not show for anyone else.

early sexual abuse can influence a person's attractions. survivors tend to be drawn to what is familiar, even if it hurt, and so it's pretty common for them to be attracted to and/or desire a relationship with those who resemble their abuser(s).

and afo is an older man who is a mentor to tomura (and others.)

immaturity (& age regression)

tomura, in early canon, is often described by characters in-universe as being childish, especially in regards to how he processes his emotions. (i don't really like to conflate these things with "age" or "being childish" - but the way the manga itself presents these qualities is clearly intended to give tomura a immature/childish vibe.)

tomura's emotional processing, simple motivations, fixation with video games, toys littering his room, and need for close caregiving (kurogiri) all give off the impression that he's had trouble developing the way he "”should”" have--kind of like he didn't really move on at all.

this sort of stunted development tends to occur in people with childhood trauma, especially csa survivors. ptsd at its core is the brain getting "stuck" in the moment of trauma, so if the trauma occurred as a child, then one's development is somewhat halted there, especially in areas of emotional processing, because the brain and body have to dedicate so much energy to just trying to cope and survive. it's pretty common for csa survivors to have trouble coping with and controlling their emotions.

relatedly: i have no real way to confirm this right now, but i’ve heard that during the mla arc, while tomura was kind of going in and out of flashbacks, he started switching to using “boku” - a self pronoun for young boys - as opposed to his usual “ore”). ive since had to wonder if this is a reoccurring state for tomura - it might partly explain why he keeps his toys around despite never showing interest in them on-screen, and has such close supervision from kurogiri.

again, age regression can go for any kind of childhood trauma, but seems very common in child sexual abuse survivors in particular.

Lack of hygiene (esp oral)

look at how tomura's teeth are drawn compared to even another villains. dabis teeth are straight and clean, whereas tomura's have holes and chips, and tend to be drawn uneven with wobbly lines, like they're covered in plaque.

not caring for one's hygiene is common for people with depression too - but failure to care for teeth also frequently crops up in survivors of sexual abuse, due to an aversion to things touching or being inside their mouth, because it can remind them of the abuse.

in a similar vein, tomura's hair looks unwashed and greasy to me, especially when it gets long. it sort of gathers in clumps and appears heavy. survivors may avoid taking showers because they aren't comfortable removing their clothes for long periods of time, or because the abuse occurred in proximity to bathing. (which is a convenient time for parental figures to groom and abuse their children, since it already involves them being naked and the parent touching them closely.)

in general, there just seems to be something off about tomura's relationship with his body. maybe it's the way he barely bats an eye at major injuries, doesn't care for his hygiene, self-injures, and didn't mind undergoing a surgery that altered its shape and function pretty heavily--but i get the impression that tomura sees his body as just a tool more than anything.

which, if someone grew up having their body regarded as nothing but a means of pleasure, kind of makes sense.

his clothing

im not sure if this has the same “connotations” (for lack of a better word) for flat chested people, but tomura always wearing a lowcut shirt that shows off a fair amount of his chest, but covering the rest of himself head to toe--including his face--feels significant to me. as well as the way he covers up even more (his hoodie) when he’s stressed. the hands, too--being covered up seems to be calming for him.

the placement of the hands afo gave him

you can't tell me little tenko placed these hands where they are by himself. the ones on his chest aren’t even from his family or meant to resemble them - they’re additional hands afo gave him to wear. pretty weird place for “afo”’s hands to go...

I feel like theres a little bit something to tomura frequently having his clothes ripped off during fights

not that it's particularly uncommon for bnha characters to get their clothes a bit shredded during fights, but i can't help but feel like there's something to tomura getting torn down to nothing but his pants twice, with both battles heavily involving tomura's traumas, including the ones related to afo. the vs mla arc with how tomura met afo and how he turned him into what he is today, then the war arc where the methods afo used to control and abuse tomura (the hands) are brought back again--and afo repeatedly takes tomura's bodily autonomy away from him.

AFO's predatory behaviors

tomuras own behavior aside, All For One himself has some behaviors and imagery that gives off very predatory vibes. i’ll start with Ragdoll…

most people theorize that she was going to be turned into a nomu, but there are two important things here. ragdoll was found 1. alive, and 2. naked. all nomu are made from corpses - if afo had time to take her quirk and undress her, he certainly had time to kill her, especially since three days had passed since she was kidnapped. (and, what benefit would there be to making a nomu out of a quirkless hero?)

her dazed state is also curious - we've never been told taking or giving quirks has a side effect like this, and i would think itd at least wear off after three days…

there's also not actually a lot to suggest she was submerged in one of the tanks (that i know of); in the full body image, she doesn't seem to be soaking wet or anything. there's no water dripping off her. there's just a bit of liquid on her face and neck, which could merely be sweat, or… other fluids.

this next part is more debatable due to it being more dubiously canon (although My Hero: One’s Justice has been known to basically spoil villain related lore before it appears in the manga) - but he has some dialogue that makes him sound... pretty fuckin enthusiastic about sexual violence.

and time and time again, afo has been... very creepy and obsessive about his brother. who happens to look an awful lot like tomura, and is vaguely connected to nana as a user of OFA, and we know how far afo would go to spite both of them.

The "wow this is pretty much confirmed now" page

i always thought i was just projecting when i read tomura as a csa survivor - until i saw this page, which was so viscerally uncomfortable that it made me nauseous. it definitely made me decide i wasn't just reading into things that weren't there. that's not exactly to say this panel 100% confirmed it (though it certainly did in my mind, personally) -- but the imagery here can't not be deliberate.

tomura is literally shirtless and bent over before afo, and sure, afos not completely standing behind him, but that's partially because his lower half is inside of tomura. and from our previous example of afo taking over tomura's body…

i wish i could find the translation i first saw - this is the viz translation, which is notoriously horrible - but the one i read felt much more along the lines of "i saved you, so i get to do what i want with your body."

that is a line of logic that could have EASILY applied to their earlier relationship. the way afo saved tenko was very much on the forefront of tomura's mind early in the series, possibly either an idea he clung onto to justify the abuse he experienced from afo, or something afo personally reminded him of frequently.

also… part of afos body is definitely wrapped around tomura's upper thigh, and in certain panels seems to be emanating from between his legs.

speaking of, tomura's stance is also notable to me. compared to the panel where tomura first realized afo was taking control of him, where his knees are pretty straight on or outwards in a powerful balanced brace, in these panels his knees seem to be bending in towards his body, like he wants to squeeze his legs shut. huh.

i touched on this before, but it's interesting to me that what finally let afo fully take control of tomura's body, was having a hand (one afo very specifically used to control and abuse tomura into doing what he wanted) placed upon his body without permission.

so, all in all, afo is "inside" tomura's body, using it for his own means, against tomura's wishes.

what else does that sound like? no wonder deku feels like tomura needs help, despite everything...

again, this isn't to say that csa is definitely the cause of these things, just that tomura does have an abundance of behaviors and imagery that could easily be read that way.

#shigaraki tomura #tomura shigaraki #Tenko Shimura #boku no hero academia #all for one #afo bnha #bnha #long post #ITS FINALLY HERE #i did my best i hope it makes sense #csa tw #child abuse tw #meta #ooc

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ot3 · 2 years

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hi hello i was rereading some quantum meruit pages and i was wondering! where did you learn comp like this!! its crazy distinctive and cool (you now own the primary colors, legally) and i'm curious abt ur process 👀

first of all thank you so much i really appreciate it!!

i wrote on this subject a little while back but that was almost a full year ago at this point so i've got some more to say and don't really feel like that post was super concise. that post i think tends to cover mostly the design philosophy but less about the actual mechanical execution of it so ill try and give a little of that now

i've been wanting to do a big writeup about composition for awhile now but i've been finding it really hard because the truth is it's more or less a completely intuitive process for me. i just go until it feels right. but i think the main reason my compositions look the way they do is because of my approach to tangents so i'll just talk about that + a couple other tidbits as best as im able here

there’s a lot to be said about tangents. this post is a REALLY good primer for thinking about tangents but i’ll boil it down even more to basically my own personal guiding rule: no two edges should ever touch, and no three edges should intersect.

essentially;

i will almost never break these two rules. unless i’m feeling really tired and just want to move on without micromanaging everything i will make sure that every shape on the page is organized by these principles. i would rather break the perspective or the stuff i’m drawing and make it less technically accurate if it means i can avoid a tangent.

obviously, the more shapes you have in an image the MUCH harder this becomes. gonna try and break this down with some page examples so you can see how that sort of manifests outside of a deeply abstracted visual

heres a page that has some of the most overlapping shapes out of every page in this whole shebang

overall, i managed to do a decent job keeping everything distinct but i started getting sloppier as things got more crowded and i got dick of working on it.here you can see highlighted in green every instance where i think elements get too close to sharing an edge or intersecting improperly. not a huge amount but you can see theres still a significant presence of it. but theyre all extremely small

chances are probably no one noticed these problematic areas except for me, especially the really small ones. so what’s to gain by being so anal about it? well the answer for me at least is that it allows heavy geometry to exist while still feeling organic. when things intersect abruptly or share edges it forces them into a sort of implied grid almost, and really makes everything feel much more artificial and lacking in depth than you want it to.

by being VERY careful about where and how things are allowed to touch both on the micro scale and the macro scale, it just allows me to make sure that the very flat and static images and objects in my panels still feel like theyre flowing because the way your eye is lead Between these objects doesn’t follow a stark geometric grid

heres a couple of breakdowns of what this actually looks like for larger compositional elements. when you break the ‘panels’ so to speak down into just their base shapes you can see the way theyre arranged to carefully follow these rules of overlapping and intersecting

(the phoenix ‘panel’ and mia and greg ‘panel’ in that last one have a shared edge on the left side, but thats intentional as theyre sharing a physical space)

of course, theres minor mistakes on every page. but to just be really actively considering this while i work helps me place the objects in a pleasing way

my speech bubbles also have to follow these same rules of overlap, which helps dictate the flow of the eye through the page. the way elements flow into each other is also REALLY important - you should understand exactly what paths you want your audience’s eye to follow. with comics you have the luxury of speech bubbles for that. a lot of my pages get away with disjointed paneling because of the flow of the speech bubbles.

a lot of the time this ends up looking like a big S curves to take full advantage of the proportions of the page

if i wasnt working with speech bubbles, there’d be other visual elements here that i’d use to guide the eye in a similar fashion.

heres some pages that have stuff going onto them thats closer to the way i’d direct the eye in an illustration. its super obvious and heavyhanded but that doesnt make it bad. its doing what its supposed to.

i also think understanding exactly what you’re trying to get across with the composition is critical, because the page layouts themselves convey information, rather than just being simple scaffolding that your actual visuals rest on top of, if that makes any sense.

for example these pages get forced into these strict nesting verticals, which not only provide a claustrophobic visual as things are sort of crushed between them, but theyre designed to mimic elevator doors. this is a visual motif used specifically for indicating that Edgeworth Is Freaking Out About Shit Right now.

i think that imagery is pretty clear on its own, but since i’m working in a comic format i have the small luxury of being able to establish my own visual language. a composition might not have a clear meaning on it’s first time being shown, but through repetition it becomes shorthand for conveying a certain feeling.

here’s a page composition i keep using for phoenix. none of these pages are particularly special compositionally on its own but by repeating this same visual motif i’m retroactively imbuing it with the narrative significance i wanted it to have. whether or not anyone is consciously picking up on it, there’s going to be a twinge of familiarity every time it’s seen that helps hammer in the character stuff i’m going for.

then similarly theres pages that are designed to interplay with each other on a less 1:1 scale, like these pages of edgeworth and mia which is just the same composition flipped upside down. They’re both supposed to get a feeling of a sort of disempowerment across, but not in the same way.

basically i guess if there’s one takeaway from all of this its to be deliberate

i know i said this is an intuitive process for me but just because that’s the case it doesn’t mean it’s an automatic one. every single element in an image is placed with intent to convey a specific feeling or lead the eye in a specific direction. if youre really thinking about what you’re doing youll get better at accomplishing what youre trying to do. theres no wrong way to do it so you just have to try and figure out what you like.

i hope any of this was helpful !

#lycheestew #quantum meruit #this is very long im sorry #i drew this

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oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch · 5 years

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“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” Movie Review

Back on Oscar nomination day in 2014, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 5 nominees for the Best Animated Feature of the year, and while that list included some crowd favorites like Big Hero 6 and more mature blockbusters like How to Train Your Dragon 2, the largest story that day wasn’t about any of the nominations, but one film that was left out of them. Most pundits and basically any critic who had seen the brilliantly creative, immensely funny, and more-emotionally-affecting-than-it-had-any-right-to-be Lego Movie had it pegged as not only a surefire nominee, but surefire winner of that award, and our jaws were left hanging on the floor at the lack of its mention during the announcement.

Despite that though, The Lego Movie went on to be an animated hit in the homes of people all across the world, two mildly-to-wildly successful spinoffs were launched to critical praise, and the studio immediately began plans for a sequel, with directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller not returning to the project as they were already booked to direct the Solo movie for Lucasfilm (which they were fired from, and then they moved on to Into the Spider-Verse and we all saw how that shook out). Thus, we have The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which finds Emmet and the rest of the Lego people 5 years removed from the ending of that first film. Bricksburg has been ravaged and destroyed by the toys of DuPlon, and our heroes now live in Apocalypseburg. But when some of the residents are captured by a mysterious new character from the Sistar system, Emmet must embark on a daring new mission to rescue his friends and prove that he truly is The Special.

I’ve made it no small secret that I love The Lego Movie and thoroughly enjoyed Lego Batman. Lego Ninjago was…fine for me, but I mostly chalked that up to it being very much tied into the popular children’s Ninjago series, which I hadn’t watched. With the direct sequel to the film that birthed them all being not only released but also set 5 years after the original, I was curious to see if the team at Warner Bros. would be able to pull off the same magnificent feat they did in 2014, especially without the direction of Lord & Miller. And, for the most part, they almost do. Much like How to Train Your Dragon 3, I thought Lego Movie 2 was pretty good – just not as good as those initial outings. While there are certainly moments of levity and plenty of jokes from a script by Lord & Miller, something did feel missing in its direction and pacing.

For a start, there are too many musical numbers in this movie. That may seem like a strange thing to say about a Lego movie, especially as a critique to start with over something more significant, but that’s exactly my point. It doesn’t make much sense until one realizes that the studio fell so in love with what worked in the original that they just decided to do that again – but a lot more. Sure, the original film this one is following had an iconic original theme song, and even Lego Batman dabbled a bit in the introduction, but Lego movies are not musicals. Even Tiffany Haddish (who can’t sing very well, as we find out) gets no less than two numbers essentially all to herself, and basically all of them take place in the second act. This not only overcrowds the movie as a whole, but the second act is simply too repetitive. On a story level, that means there’s less time devoted to moving it along rather than just using the same jokes for a little while longer than necessary. They’re not bad jokes, and some of them are actually quite funny, but that zippiness that was so profound in the original film is missing here, giving way to a slightly more elementary-style humor, which follows, considering the director they found to replace Lord & Miller is Mike Mitchell, director of Trolls.

Not only is the second act overly repetitive and reliant on the same jokes, the newer characters added to the franchise aren’t exactly super memorable. None of them leave the lasting impact that a character like a Lego Batman did on the first movie, and there are basically zero interesting cameos throughout (save for one that actually does turn into a pretty hilarious real-world reference joke during the third act). General Mayhem seems to be the stand-in for the Batman character this time around, but apart from capturing the main heroes and transporting them to the Sistar system, there’s really not much else to her until the final couple of minutes and she doesn’t help craft other characters’ development like Batman did for Lucy. In addition to this, the villain this time around (whose name I’m not even going to attempt to type since I’m writing this at almost 2:00 in the morning) might be a more intimidating presence than Lord Business, but she’s not exactly as or more compelling.

One of the things that made Lord Business compelling was his tie-in to the real world that informed the surprise reveal at the end of the original Lego Movie, but while the added-on real-world element to this entry in the series presents a beautiful intent with its message, the actual Lego sections don’t handle telling that message quite as clearly as the first one did its central themes, which makes understanding the villain character in The Second Part more difficult than it honestly should be. Most of the supporting cast that are introduced in this movie aren’t very memorable, which doesn’t bode well for a franchise plan. Even though the Rex Dangervest storyline does go to some pretty ambitious places, he remains sort of a watered-down version of what he’s probably meant to be, and a lot of that is wrapped up in his very convoluted storyline.

Even the animation seems to have taken a bit of a hit; in the original movie, it was made fairly obvious that everything was made of legos, and that was a super cool and innovative way to create an animated movie, but when this sequel gets busy in the Sistar system or with characters not from the Lego world, it becomes difficult to get very invested in the animation, as it no longer carries that particularly unique look. If we’re going to continue to get Lego movies in this vein for a while, spending more time outside of the Lego world than in it is a bad idea. Legos are fun! Spending time in the Lego world should take up the majority of a movie in this franchise, not a minority.

There is a fair amount to like about this movie though; pretty much all the original characters carry the same weight and charm they have since 5 years ago, and the story and themes this movie presents in conjunction with the last one are actually very sweet. Some of the music is actually quite catchy as well, and The Lonely Island come back again with a stellar closing credits sequence. While the direction could have used quite a bit of work, the script by Lord & Miller does what it can to keep the franchise fresh and new, and if nothing else, most of the jokes are funny on first arrival.

It may sound like I’m knocking on this movie too much, but much like How to Train Your Dragon 3 (the superior film between these two, if you’re wondering), I did enjoy it – I just find it to be a bit disappointing as a sequel. That’s the tough part about being a film critic; if you’re reviewing a sequel, talking about the stuff that worked again isn’t nearly interesting as what doesn’t work as well this time around or what works better because that sticks out more, which can make it sound like that’s all you think of the film. With Lego Movie 2, that means telling you that while what worked last time mostly works again this time, there are a few spots that don’t work as well, and that’s okay, if a little bit of a bummer.

“I’m giving The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” a 7.6/10

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ot3-old · 7 years

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tell me about all the alpha switched johns

ITS TWO AM SO YMMV WITH THIS ONE RE: COHERENCY BUT.

OH MAN i actually had a very large au written up forever ago (i’m talking 2012) called scratchswapped which, at the time hadn’t been done to death yet. it was exactly what it sounded like. i don’t think theres any way to talk about this au without talking about jane too because the act of switching poppop and nanna’s places really changes a lot about the crockerbert family dynamic. i have over thought this a ton. lets hope the readmore code is the same because this is long.

so in a beta universe where the order was poppop -> dad -> jane i think there’d be some pretty significant changes. we know the condesce left the beta timeline to go to the alpha timeline sometime around nanna’s young adulthood. i want to say she was around eighteen or so but this could be completely fanon that i’m misremembering as canon so take it with a grain of salt. regardless, we know that 1. the condesce left nanna’s life right before she could reveal that she managed to learn her secret and 2. that the condesce was an abusive guardian.

we also know that john’s the only one who never rebelled against her, in the traditional sense. he didn’t run and he didn’t fight. so in an au where poppop ends up in nannas place instead it’s really curious to wonder what things would be like when the condesce just exits stage left. i think he’d have to start thinking for himself and directing his own life in a way. i think he really wouldn’t know what to do with himself

i think maybe he starts introducing himself to other people with a new name and it starts off as a joke and eventually he just keeps it because he likes it better and he know’s its strange but can’t really bring himself to question his decision. i think he marries a woman he meets because he feels like that’s how life is supposed to go when you’re an adult. IIRC in canon timeline condy pulls the rug out from jane’s feet and ends up leaving crockercorp to gpa instead as one last fuck you to her, but i can’t see condy giving the company to jade over john. so i think its his and i think he just dumps it off on whoever the highest executive is, cuts his losses, and fuck runs

maybe he still buys the joke shop. he likes to make people laugh and his entire childhood, learning to run a business was the only thing anyone bothered to teach him so its all he knows how to do. and thats how you’d end up with jane egbert. who i’ve decided not to elaborate on because this is already getting embarrassingly long.

and then you’d have john crocker. i think things are a little worse for him then they are for jane in some ways. for one, the brainwashing and conditioning jane had to endure was subtle until it wasn’t but i think with john the condesce would need a firmer hand because 1. john, while incredibly suggestible, is almost physically incapable of being told what to do if he doesn’t want to do that thing and 2. this would be a timeline where nanna had enough time to bring her condemning evidence against crockercorp to light, and im sure the consequences of that on the entire prospit family (and alpha bro dirk/ alpha mom roxy, but i digress) were grim

this is also a john we’d be introduced to starting at age 16 instead of 13 and im one of the very firm believers of the interpretation that john is someone who, over the course of the epilogue and the yellow yard, is struggling with some very serious depression. so i think that combined with the pressure of inheriting crockercorp AND being actively brainwashed i think he’d be in a very bad place. and i think he’d love his dad but i think there’d be this gap there, because dad doesn’t really know how to relate to and engage with john because john isn’t really in a place to be engaged with.

but i can’t imagine the betas having the interpersonal issues the alphas had ever. i think that jade would have figured out rose and dave’s Future Secrets by merit of her prospit dreams and just being a shrewd girl in general. i think she would have told john and i think john would have believed her. and so i think that john, who lives in the suburbs with a loving parent, while all of his friends are in these absolutely horrible situations, would feel very bad for feeling so depressed when in his eyes everyone else has it worse. john is incredibly compassionate and supportive towards his friends, except when he accidentally takes a joke too far and ends up hurting people without realizing, and it’s show in canon that he thinks of himself as dumber than his friends. its such a significant thing in his brain that that’s the physical manifestation his nightmares taken when gamzee chucklevoodoos him. its the writing on the wall, quite literally.

and so i think that john would see the thing in his life that he’s viewing as the source of his problems: his father, his future career, himself, and just view it all as petty, stupid, and childish compared to what his friend are going for. so, in his typical fashion. he’d bottle it up. and i dont think it’d really be addressed for him until there was a big betty crocker reveal a la Gusher Breakdown.

but john would never go crockertier. its a very significant fact about his character that he’s fundamentally uncorruptable. the thing about crockertier jane and grimbark jake was that their corruptions both exacerbated the negative aspects of themselves they had tamped down: grimbark jade was harshly judgemental and critical. this sort of behavior is seen in her conversations with karkat and jadesprite. jade wants the people in her life - including herself! - to get their shit together in a much more rational way. grimbark took those feelings and amped them up to 11. for jane, crockertier did essentially the same thing, but it did it with her desire to but inability to make herself just say what’s on her god damned mind. but these are both external problems to a degree. their problems are in the way they interact with those around them.

john’s problems are entirely involved with his sense of self. i truly believe he holds none of the pent up resentment for his friends that a lot of the homestuck characters (and a lot of people in general) do. i don’t think there’s enough ill intent in him to amiplify via posession or mind control.

but it i think there’d be a breakthrough. john’s character is very archetypal in terms of coming of age stories. entrance into the unfamiliar new world, death of the father, apotheosis in as literal a form as it gets, and a lot of that is about a loss of innocence. for john this is finding out that everything he believed about the world and thought he knew was misinformed. and i think, an alphaverse john, who was already sort of at his lowest point before finding this out, i think he’d try to take the condesce head on. this is essentially his outburst at davesprite but instead of just shooting out all of this anger at a nearby proxy in a fit of helplessness and hurt he’d have The Big Bad to target things out. and i’m quite sure it’d kill him, perhaps heroic perhaps not. either way it wouldnt last. he just needs to hit rock bottom, get his world turned upside down entirely before he can start shaping his mindset again.

and i should really stop before this gets to be less of john theorizing and more of just a window into my brain.

ANYWAY theres my thoughts, unless you were asking about john in jane, roxy, dirk, and jake’s places respectively, in which case im sorry for only answering 1/4th of your question

#long post #john egbert #john rant the blog #Anonymous

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themoneybuff-blog · 5 years

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Ten Lessons from My Well Worn Winter Coat

This past weekend, I put my winter coat away until next November or so. Its a hardy winter coat, a green Carhartt arctic coat, one that gets me through an Iowa winter where you can have entire weeks where the temperature doesnt peek above 0 F. I keep a nice spring jacket around that will serve me well for temperatures down in the thirties, but the winter coat is now in overkill territory. Ive had this coat since 2003. That means this is the seventeenth time Ive put the coat into storage for the warmer months. Its a little worn in a few places, but its still as sturdy as can be and incredibly warm on a cold winters day. This wonderful winter coat is kind of a living embodiment of a lot of the financial principles I live by. Lesson #1 Paying More for a Well Made and Reliable Item Is Worth It, Because You Wont Have To Replace It As I said, Ive owned this coat for seventeen years. During that period, Ive owned at least four spring jackets that I can remember. They were all somewhat less expensive than this thick winter coat, but each and every one of them has had split seams or tears or other major problems. I repaired some of those issues; other issues just werent worth it. In the end, Ive spent quite a bit more on those four (at least) lighter spring jackets than I spent on this well made winter coat, even though each of those lighter spring jackets was individually much less expensive than my winter coat. The winter coat was well made from the start. I paid more to get a well made one, one that would last for many, many winters. The other coats were less expensive, but they werent well made. I knew with some certainty that they would probably not last nearly as long as my winter coat. Whats the lesson here? Its worth your money to pay for something thats genuinely well made and reliable because youll be able to use it for years and years and years. If you go cheap, youre probably replacing that item before too long, and it wont take too many replacements before that pile of cheap items was more expensive than that one well made item. The lesson has been learned. My next spring jacket is going to last me until Im 70. Lesson #2 Theres No Reason Not To Use an Item Until Its Truly Worn Out This winter coat of mine has some signs of wear on it, dont get me wrong. Its clearly not a new coat any more, especially if you look closely at it. There are some spots where the fabric has worn to a very smooth patch, but its still strong. This coat has quite a few years of use left in it. Its not unsightly, though; its just not new. I am reminded of an old martial arts instructor that I know. He achieved a very high level black belt, a level at which it takes an incredible amount of discipline and work and time and effort to earn another level. His belt was extremely worn, almost in tatters around him, as he approached the time to get a new belt. Yet, there was something deeply impressive about his worn belt. Worn doesnt mean bad. The idea that something being worn is a bad thing is a curious construct of our modern society. Something being worn but not broken is a sign of strength, of durability, of resilience. Its something to be lauded. There was a time in my life where I didnt see it that way. Something worn meant something that needed to be replaced. Sometimes, that might be true, particularly if that wear indicates a functional problem, but often, wear simply means that an item is very well made and reliable. Much of our lives rest on a backbone of well made items that have shown a little wear. At this point in my life, I like things that have some wear on them. That shows theyre well made. That shows theyre reliable. That shows that theyve put in the work. Id rather have a lot of items that have a little wear but have done the job reliably for a long time and will very likely keep doing that job reliably for a long time to come. My winter coat falls into that category, as do many of my favorite possessions. Lesson #3 Buying a Used Car or a Smaller House or a Sensible Insurance Package (and So On) Means You Can Afford To Buy Many Other Well-Made and Reliable Items One of the big knocks against buying a more expensive but well made and reliable items is that the up front cost is usually pretty high. If youre on a tight budget, a well-made $200 coat might be wonderful, but your budget only accounts for a $60 coat, so which one are you going to buy? Sure, the well made coat might outlast four of the cheap coats, but the expensive one just isnt an option. Thats the point at which you have to stand back and look at the big picture. Obviously, over the long haul, a well made and reliable and highly regarded item thats still reasonably priced is going to be the item that gives you the most bang for your buck. Over the course of 20 years, a $200 coat is going to give more value than four or five $60 coats that fall apart or look like theyre about to. However, to get on that bandwagon, you need the resources up front to invest in those things, plus the willpower to make good financial choices now and later. In the short term, the best thing you can do is cut back on the big things. Rather than replacing that car, keep driving it until its ready to give up the ghost and is facing a big repair bill to stay on the road. Rather than having a bigger house or apartment than you need, get a smaller one all youre really losing is extra space to pile up stuff you dont really need. Those kinds of moves save hundreds of dollars a month. Then, rather than spending that money frivolously, start putting it towards stuff that returns value. Pay off credit cards. Put it into your retirement savings. Spend a little more to get well-made reliable items like a $200 winter coat that will last for many years rather than a $60 one that will be trash in three winters. Not only that, driving a well made car for a very long time is basically the same idea behind wearing a well made coat for a very long time. You might pay a little more up front for it, but its going to last and last and last until the total cost of ownership is lower (and its a lot less headache, too). Lesson #4 Worrying What Other People Think Is a Trap One of the big motivations for many people to replace things like winter coats when they show the slightest bit of wear is an over-concern with what other people think. The reality is that other people rarely think of you nearly as much as you think they do. They just dont. Rather, people spend a lot of time thinking about themselves, and their spare thoughts about others are spread across so many other people that you rarely get a deep thought from others. Its called the spotlight effect. We think others think about us as much as we think about ourselves, which is simply impossible. We obsess over our own flaws and think others are similarly concerned theyre not. Even if they notice the flaws, they often dont care. Often, when someone criticizes you and is cruel, its because theyre grinding an axe about something completely unrelated to you. The truth is no one is going to care about a little wear on your coat, and very few are even going to notice. People are almost never looking for those kinds of things at all because theyre just not relevant. It makes no difference in my life whether a person on the street has mild wear on their coat, so why would it even enter my mental radar? The truth is, it doesnt. That doesnt mean you should give up on all hygiene and start dressing in rags. The best maxim to apply when interacting with others is to treat others as you would like to be treated, which for me means being clean, wearing clean clothes, and being friendly but not overly intrusive. Does anything really change for you if you interact with someone in a brand new coat versus someone in a coat that has mild wear that you would really only notice if you were looking for it? Lesson #5 A New Coat When My Old One Still Works Doesnt Bring Me Real Value or Joy For some people, buying a new coat might bring them a burst of joy that fades quickly. For others, it may even bring some degree of lasting joy, though I would suspect that it fades as the coats newness does. For me, though, my coat is not a source of joy. Its a functional item. As long as it keeps me warm in the winter and doesnt cause me to look too out of place, Im happy because its serving its purpose. (If anything, I feel slightly good about the wear, as I noted earlier.) If youre buying something you dont need, it should bring you at least some measure of real joy, ideally a lasting joy. This isnt just about coats or about articles of clothing. Its about everything you buy, from electronic devices to cutlery, from a cup of coffee at Starbucks to a can of black beans. Is this something I need? If not, is it bringing me significant joy or lasting joy that I cant easily get elsewhere? If not, I shouldnt be buying it. I dont need a new coat. Getting a new coat would not bring me any significant or lasting joy, at least not any that I couldnt get elsewhere (like the joy of grabbing that warm coat on the first cold day of the year, which I can get from my current coat). This is a valuable perspective to apply to everything you might spend money on. That worn coat of mine is just an embodiment of the idea. Lesson #6 Reliable and Reusable Are Earth-Friendly Concepts Remember those four worn out and falling apart spring coats that I talked about earlier? Those things were sadly trashed, to my regret. Im not sure where they all wound up, but wherever it was, it was likely not a positive thing for the environment. However, this winter coat of mine has been in my home for almost two decades. It has outlasted all of those other coats. It has never taken up space in a trash bin. It has never taken up space in a landfill. And it wont for quite a while yet. Thats an Earth-friendly move. Yeah, its a small one, but lets say everyone in America had a winter coat that they didnt replace for two decades rather than a winter coat replaced every five years. Thats 900 million coats over the course of twenty years. Thats a landfill full of coats (at least). Yeah, but what difference does it make? This goes back to that old analogy of a beach full of starfish. You cant save all of the starfish no one can but you can certainly grab a few and toss them back in the ocean. Buying a long lasting item that wont need to be replaced soon is the equivalent of tossing a starfish back into the ocean. Thus, you can certainly toss back quite a few starfish in your life. Lesson #7 The Coat Has Memories This might seem strange, but when I pull the coat out of the closet, I often think about the many different adventures Ive had with this coat. I think about sledding down a hill with my kids, especially when they were small. I think about my misadventures with skiing. I think about our trip to Yellowstone when it was unseasonably cold and my choice to bring my winter coat turned out to be a great one. A new coat wouldnt have those memories and pleasant thoughts associated with them. A coat that gets replaced every three or four years never has the chance to build up those kinds of associations. Its similar to how I feel about our kitchen table. There are a few notable scuffs and scratches on it, and I remember what was happening when almost all of those things happened. Theres a huge scuff that came from a heavy crock that we were using to make a jumbo batch of sauerkraut. Theres a big scratch that my son made with his fork when he was two or three. Those things have meaning and value to me, and those things go away if we just replace the item as soon as possible. Not only is such a replacement expensive, theres something of value thats lost and can ever really be replaced. Theres something special in a worn item. Lesson #8 The Savings Is Building Toward Greater Things Ive made the case that a reliable and long lasting item at a reasonable price saves money compared to buying cheap items that wear out quickly. The financial implications of this are numerous. First of all, the expense of replacing an item comes up much less frequently. I havent bought a new winter coat in almost two decades. Its just not an expense in my life. Sure, if I replace it with something durable in a decade or so, it might be expensive, but its simply a long way down the road. Second, Ill see that replacement coming a mile away. The nice thing about having a durable well-made item is that its usually pretty clear when its getting close to replacement time, but youre not usually facing an emergency replacement. You have some time to save, to research, and to shop around for another reliable and reasonably-priced replacement. This process wont be an emergency replacement. Ill have time to find the right thing and to look for sales. Third, I can use the money in the interim to build the future I want. Because I know these two things about my coat, I know that the money I might have to throw at a regular coat replacement cycle can go to other purposes in life, namely building the future that I want. Its a lot easier to save for retirement when youre not replacing a lot of the regular use items in your life with any sort of frequency. Obviously, my coat alone isnt making that kind of difference, but when you add up lots of things that are well made and reliable and dont have to be replaced, it does make a difference. My goal is to eventually have all of my frequent-use items be well made and reliable so I never have to worry about replacing them, ever, and Im not too far away from that right now. Because of that philosophy, I recognize that my worn winter coat and other items like that in my life are contributing to my early retirement goal. There are so many things that I simply dont have to replace with any frequency, and because of that, my regular expenses are lower, and because of that, I can contribute more to retirement, which is the big financial goal that matters to me. Lesson #9 Im Setting an Example Another thing I value about this worn coat is the example it sets for my children when it comes to practical frugality. You dont need a new coat every year. You dont need a new coat every five years. This one keeps doing the job and, yes, real people use items until theyre truly worn out. Ive noticed that my children take after this idea. None of them are ashamed to shop for clothes at a secondhand store. They dont mind used items a bit as long as they work. They appreciate the value in getting something thats of high quality at a reasonable price rather than the cheapest thing they can find, a phase they seemed to outgrow well before their friends. Its also in line with my core social circle. Most of my closest friends apply the same principles to their possessions. Get something thats good quality, even if its used. Use it until its genuinely worn out before replacing it. Repeat. The coat is a symbol of that, in a subtle way, and it very subtly reinforces that idea within my social circle. Although Im aware of the spotlight effect, Id like to think that if anyone does really notice my coat, it nudges them in this direction as well. They see a coat with a little wear on it and they think that its a good thing, not something to just be replaced immediately. Lesson #10 The Homework Matters The final lesson Im reminded of is how the homework matters with these kinds of purchases. Finding a well-made and reliable item that does what you want it to for a reasonable price isnt easy. There are a lot of companies out there selling badly made items, or items that look good at first glance but will fall apart quickly with regular use. Taking the time to sift through the options and find the item thats actually of high quality does take some time and effort. However, buying a well made item should be a pretty irregular purchase, so you should have time to do the homework for each one. Lets say it takes 30 minutes to buy a coat as an off-the-cuff decision, but its likely a poorly made coat that will be replaced in five years. If I spend an hour right now researching coats and find a really good one that lasts, then I spend 30 minutes shopping for a good price on that coat, and that coat lasts me for twenty years, Im still saving time. The homework pays off, in terms of both money and time. Finding the right item might take some effort, and finding it at the right price might take some diligence, but if you dont have to replace that item for twenty years, that effort and diligence reap real financial rewards. Final Thoughts My well worn winter coat is emblematic of the kind of life I want to live. I dont want to spend my time buying poorly made things that wont last. I dont want the expense of that, either. Instead, I want items that provide lasting value and perhaps build up a little character as well. Good luck! https://www.thesimpledollar.com/ten-lessons-from-my-well-worn-winter-coat/

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comicteaparty · 6 years

Text

August 9th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on August 9th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Himawari Share by Harmony Becker.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY START!

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning~! Today we are discussing Himawari Share by Harmony Becker~! (https://tapas.io/series/Himawari-Share) For those new or in need of a reminder, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer, and you can pay them no mind if you wish. If you miss out on any though, they’ll be pinned for the duration of the chat once they’re posted~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! As a bonus, each chat a top comment will be picked and featured in the archives and on an ad for CTP! All that being said, let’s get started and have a great discussion!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

snuffysam

It's really hard to pick, but I'd say the Hyejung-focused parts (chapters 5 & 6) were my favorites. Focusing on her studies, not knowing what she wants to be, tearing out her roots to move to Japan, getting homesick and feeling guilty for it.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hello!

snuffysam

like, emotions and stuff

also hello justin!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hey~!

yeah heyjung's backstory is a lot more tense than i was expecting. but i loved how everything was visually framed

although my favorite moment had to be when she went to that counselor and she just flat out couldnt say what she wanted to do with her life

cause man have i been there and that moment so purely relateable

snuffysam

yeah that was a big turning point, and my favorite moment in her backstory

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Thanks for the greeting~

I have to run a quick errand but I'll be back!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i also loved the aftermath though of all the others bringing her stuff for her hangover. like that was just sweet and heartwarming.

snuffysam

sweet and heartwarming seems to be the general theme

for example, the scene where tina brings nao a soda

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes. also a great scene. but also that scene made me like tina a whole lot. it had that element of goofiness (since she just picked her favorite) but had that immense kind-hearted underbelly. because i mean really, i dont know anyone who would bring me a soda to congratulate me on my first day of school.

i think my personal fave scene is actually when nao and masaki are walking together and each just having these thoughts about how they should interact and the various scenarios. especially nao imagining the music would bond them as friends while masaki is like "oh no i will be looked down upon for liking lady gaga."

snuffysam

and then they both end up too afraid to talk to each other lol

relatable scene, and i love how it helps build the characters of nao and masaki

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes. i also love that it shows a good side to masaki in that hes basically just an average, socially awkward dork who is probably having some language and cultural gap problems. since ya know, our first impression of him was just rudeness otherwise.

i want to say in general i really love this comic's pacing though. like i always feel like the emotions are given time to be showcased but dont drag on too overly much.

snuffysam

the pacing is a real strong suit of the comic, agreed

were we ever told what masaki and shinichi's nationality/native language was?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

no albeit i assume for shinichi its japanese since he doesnt seem able to really do english and speaks quickly. which generally if youre a native, the quicker you speak. at the very least theyve gotta be fluent.

snuffysam

wait, i guess they aren't international students, because the comic description only says there are three

so they're just two japanese brothers who happen to live in the same house as three international students

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah. for reasons O_O. although i am curious if anyone else lives there. cause nao asks tina who the curly haired guy was and tina was like "hmm maybe masaki" and then nao had to say rude for tina to be sure

so either this is just a writing goof or its implied more ppl live there?

snuffysam

yeah you'd think if it was only the five of them, "curly haired boy" would narrow it down quite a bit

also i think we ignored @Sa💅

hello Sa!

not really a scene per se, but i really like the way the comic scratches out words that aren't understood

like this page: https://tapas.io/episode/756155

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

ah i just thought it was a reply to the hellos. welcome @Sa💅 if you felt ignored O_O;;;

of all the things that is my fave part

cause i was skeptical on the language thing when i read the description

but man do i think it actually captures the language gap well

since it is what happens

you know lots of words but then theres always those difficult ones where youre like "omg wtf was that"

snuffysam

hamini really delivered in terms of showing how second languages work

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i also selfishly enjoyed that nao and i are decently close in japanese language understanding cause i wound up reading a lot of the japanese she could understand.

but then kanji

always kanji everywhere all the time

snuffysam

i took a semester of japanese four years ago and flunked lol. i can get through "はい " and that's about it.

i'm a bit better with spoken, but not much

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hey its something.

this reminds me, i really liked that scene where tina applied language knowledge to figure out vacuum

snuffysam

that was a really cool moment!

as were the rest of the parts where tina had to figure out the instructions given to her

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes. like man do i give tina all around props for that. i would have left crying cause new jobs are stressful enough without adding a language deficiency to the mix

QUESTION 2. Of those staying in Himawari Share, Shinichi and Masaki are the two we know least about in the current story. Do you think there’s any particular reason the two are staying at Himawari Share, or does it just happen to have a convenient location for them? Like the other characters, do you think they have personal histories or pasts that will come to light? Do you think that it is significant in some way that Shinichi and Masaki are mentioned to be brothers? As time goes on, do you think the others will bond with Masaki, or will the language and culture gap keep interfering? What about Shinichi? Will Nao, at least, become able to understand him better, or will his fast talking still prove too much?

i want to go out on a limb and just say theyre there cause convenient location. but i do think they got some sort of hidden past history. cause at the very least shinichi and masaki dont really look like theyre related. so it makes me wonder if this is maybe a half-sibling relationship going on

snuffysam

oh theory time?

i think they are actually brothers, they just happened to look different. that's how it goes somethimes

i think himawari share is a convenient location for them, but i have no idea what it would be convenient too. like, what are their jobs?

also, my guess - nao is going to start understanding what shinichi is saying, but at first it'll only be, like, she catches every other word.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah im confused at what the share is. cause the girls make it look like its like a special house dorm house for international students who are coming to work and learn in japan. but shinichi and masaki definitely dont appear to be international, so what are they doing there? now its possible they are also going to college in some fashion. but im not entirely sure since it still seems weird to have potentially two natives with three international students.

but to be fair, maybe they own himawari share

cause shinichi and masaki are def both first name

snuffysam

yeah maybe that's just their family home that they rent out

perhaps there are plenty of other people there, and the girls just don't hang out with them because they don't relate as much

international students sticking together and stuff

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah that could also be. although the house seems in a residential area so there cant be too many

alternatively

theres only one other dude living there and hes a shut in that you see once in a blue moon

and theres gonna be some other festival and suddenly hell come out and nao will be le gasp

snuffysam

that sounds about right, yeah

and it would explain tina not knowing who nao was talking about

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

alternatively alternatively, it is just the 5 of them and tina just happens to know a lot of people who look like masaki and forgets who even lives with her

snuffysam

maybe masaki doesn't live there, he just really likes the bathroom

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

masaki lives never door but his bathroom broke and hes too lazy to fix it. comes over to his brother's place all the time.

i really hope we get to see more of shinichi cause of all the characters he seems the most one note atm. and idk what to make of him. although i do like that hes kind of like their tour guide who take sthem to festivals

snuffysam

i think it's just that the comic isn't particularly long yet and shinichi isn't one of the main characters

the description says romance is in the cards, but it doesn't say between whom

that may be where shinichi gets some development

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

it could be. and to be fair, shinichi's mystery kind of suits the fact that theres the language gap cause he clearly doesnt know english well or at all. so its hard to get to know someone well when theres only so many words shared between

like how that convo between nao and hyejung was really formal and stifled before they realized they both spoke english

snuffysam

well, hopefully shinichi is more open to talking about his interests than his brother

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah. although backing up the train for a moment, id like to know why both brothers seemingly dont seem to know any english. cause english is generally required learning in japan and while a lot of ppl arent good at it, theyed probably at least know a few basic phrases. so it strikes me as interesting neither has attempted that much. tho tbf has masaki even said anything?

snuffysam

i think masaki corrected the neighbor lady about his name

but that's it

we don't know if they can speak english or not, i think

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i mean they could. but i could also see them choosing not to since the girls are all there to kind of learn japanese

snuffysam

oh no wait, there is a page where it's shown shinichi doesn't understand english

https://tapas.io/episode/839877

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 3. One of the comic’s themes revolves around finding yourself, and this issue has given many characters quite the obstacle. In the case of Nao, do you think she will come to terms with that missing part of herself by being in Japan, or will there forever be a gap no matter how much time she spends there? As Nao spends more time there, do you think she’ll feel the culture gap grow or shrink, and how might that affect her? In the case of Hyejung, do you think she’ll figure out what she wants to do with her life, or do you think that still might remain elusive? Additionally, do you think she’ll be able to reconcile with her family? Lastly, in the case of Tina, do you think her part time job will work out, or will the language gap make things too much of a struggle? If she does lose her job, what do you think she’ll do and how might this affect her reasons for being in Japan?

snuffysam

do we know why tina is in japan?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i dont think so. and if you dont think so, im gonna feel safe in saying we havent been told

although tina seems like the type to just like adventures

although whereas nao and hyejung give me the impression that they might someday go back to their home countries, tina gives me the impression that this is a permanent thing

at least compared to hyejung, tina seems to care the least about reliving her own culture persay

snuffysam

i think it's not going to turn out how any of the girls' plan. maybe hyuejung finds her purpose is back in korea, maybe it's in japan, etc.

nao is here to reconnect to the missing part of herself and re-learn japanese. while she may end up learning japanese, i don't think reconnecting with her past will happen so much.

she'll see a large culture gap, or get distracted with something else

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I'm back!

snuffysam

hi justin!

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hey Snuffy!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

wb!

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Thanks!

Ooh, a Japanese festival?!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

there was one in the comic, yes already, yes.

tbh i do think hyejung isnt going to find exactly what she wants. because i feel her desire to go to japan was driven more by a desire to escape her reality versus thinking "yes this is the place where i can find myself"

and shes the one who seems most homesick as well

not ot say i think the journey will be in vain

and i think shell at least learn things about herself

like how to live independently for herself

away from the parents

in nao's case, i think shell...come to terms that she cant have a different past. im actually thinking whats going to happen is shes going to run into something that makes her go "whoa wait america was way better in this aspect" and then shell realize that if she had stayed in japan, she also wouldnt know the american culture she grew up in.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Perhaps

snuffysam

at some point nao likened it to having a twin that was separated from her at birth. and i think her journey will involve coming to terms with the fact that she can't recover that lost twin. she's gone forever.

lots of great metaphors in this comic btw

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I thought Nao was from Korea.

snuffysam

no you're thinking of hyejung

nao is the one who was born in japan but grew up in america

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Oh right, my bad I saw this page and I thought wrong because of it https://tapas.io/episode/1021922

snuffysam

yeah that chapter follows hyejung

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

aye, thanks

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i do think thats the case with nao. shes going to have to realize that she cant have two pasts or that other half. but i do think being in japan will be both good and bad for it. cause on the plus side, she gets to see what she missed out on, but on the otherhand shes also going to feel the sting of that gap cause im sure shes gonna run into a festival where shes plain just like "i dont understand this"

although assuming her mom is still alive(?) then itll be interesting if she can talk to her mom in japanese again or something

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yeah.

You know, reading this comic made me remember how much I thought it'd be cool to visit Japan back in high school and planned to go there as a graduation present. How wrong I was.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

this comic gives me the should go to japan itch again. especially to eat the food

which im glad food is involved a lot

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Mmm

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

cause thats a huge facet of the culture

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I wish I loved Japanese food.

more than I do now

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

on a side note

i loved that little moment where hyejung bitched that the kimchi wasnt even spicy

and how it was made by a japanese run restaurant

cause i liked that detail that just how america amercanizes certain foods, other countries do the same

or at least japan does for sure XD

their mcdonalds are crazy

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol yeah

This hit home for me, in a way

like it's not "authentic"

snuffysam

I’ve had Korean food in a restaurant owned by Korean people. And yeah, it’s a lot spicier

I don’t blame Hyejung lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

nah i dont blame her either. cause regardless if you grow up used to one flavor, you probably arent gonna be a fan of change

QUESTION 4. Given the focus of the comic is on international students and cultural gaps, to a degree, there are lots of interesting potential scenarios. Did you find the comic’s unique method of showcasing language gaps interesting? How did it change how you viewed the characters’ experiences? Are there any cultural experiences that you’re looking forward to seeing the characters experience? If so, why? Do you feel our heroines will continue to be able to wing it, or will they commit some sort of cultural blunder? If the latter, how do you expect that to play out and emotionally affect the culprit? On a more character oriented level, what other struggles do you think the characters might have in their everyday, personal lives? Do you think everyone will continue to get along, or might tension in Himawari Share grow for some reason? Lastly, do you think romance might be in bloom with any characters?

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

It's certainly very interesting and it shows up the potential troubles of going out into a whole new world

snuffysam

Everyone gets along so well, I just know someone’s going to mess up

Call me a pessimist lol

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

snuffy, youre a pessimist

but no i agree

they have been getting along real well

and at some point theyre going to fight

cause at the very least living together isnt easy

cause everyone has different habits

and call me biased, but pretty sure if its a living together thing tina is gonna be the cause of it just cause she has the most unreserved personality

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yeah.

Eventually all that rage and stress will just need to be all let out.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

one thing i didnt mention about the language thing was that i was glad to see there was a difference between nao and tina. cause tina clearly has a better grasp and that shows, both in how much she understands and how she has learned to learn via context clues.

snuffysam

yeah there's a clear difference between everyone's skill level

even just the "yeah it took me a while to get used to shinichi talking" is an example of that

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

It's great seeing everyone talking in all the different languages(edited)

Especially since it's not easy to do Japanese and Korean in comics unless you're overly familiar with the language yourself (or have a translator)(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes thats also true with the shinichi talking part. i really felt for nao in that moment.

cause its an easier said than done thing

im gonna ship nao and masaki. thats where im putting my shipping chips

snuffysam

perhaps a source of conflict comes from romance coming about with an odd number of people in the house?

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

I made it for the last bit. O.o Though you mentioned a lot of the stuff I liked in the first half hour already, I'm noticing. The bit where Tina brought the soda for Nao and the bit where the two characters were having different music conversations in their minds.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

eey Math

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

I enjoyed those two. The Hyejung at the end, I can see how it's very relatable, and it was emotional, but I guess I just like a bit of funzies in my fave scenes. ^.^(edited)

I'm gonna ship Nao and Tina, because you KNOW me.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hi math~! was even just thinking "aww i guess math isnt coming after all."

plz math

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

mmm, ships

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

clearly tina and hyejung are the ship

they have more history

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

That's just it, they haven't fallen in love yet. Chips go on the new relationship.

Also, related to what SJ was saying before, the author must be very good with languages or know many herself... I have zero clue if it's right or not, but it's a pretty gutsy venture.

snuffysam

yeah either the author knows three plus languages, or has some really good friends

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

the japanese is correct from what i can tell. at least the parts i could read.

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

There's also those little things that can trip one up in translation, like the "Let's Eat" kind of being the Japanese thanks for the food thing. I think the author even pointed it out once, with the part time job, both of them thanking the other for working, not really being an English thing.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yeah, I wouldn't ever think to do a foreign language in something of mine unless I rely on a translator.

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

I didn't totally pick up on the skills of the individual characters either, but since you did, it's cool that it can come across too.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

I'm bilingual for English and French and even I'm not sure I'd want to do it.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

what you mean you dont want to do a strip where all the tans start speaking french? XD

i feel like shinichi would be the one to bring a relationship in from the outside

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

Not so much, no.

Yeah, we haven't seen much of the guys (which I notice you mentioned earlier)... honestly, I'm okay with that. I like the focus on the women (and not just because I ship that way) as they all have sort of a bond.

snuffysam

shinichi seems a bit more outgoing, so i wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to already be in a relationship

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

Oh, and the speed-talking thing was well portrayed.

I also want to say it was neat having that character who lives across the street come back in a later scene, when they were going to the post office. Helps make things extra real, incidentals like that.

snuffysam

i liked how she didn't know masaki's name lol

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Lol

snuffysam

he might not get out much

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

Could be to avoid talking. And just not wanting to talk even to strangers for fear of making a mistake.

Maybe that explains the rudeness too.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

to be fair, i dont know a single one of my neighbors. and if you dont interact with your neighbors, you dont know their names

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

If you start with rudeness, people won't talk to you either, and you won't have to interpret. Yeah, I don't know my neighbours either. ^^;;

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I don't even have any neghibors

MathTans the super Pun 👑Prince👑

Final thought, super impressed by the translation stuff. Including the blurring of just some words, which was also pointed out earlier. I don't think I've seen anything like that.

Also, Nao + Tina.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY END!

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party time is now up~! Thank you everyone so much for reading and joining this week’s chat~! We want to give a special thank you to Harmony Becker, as well, for making Himawari Share and volunteering it for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support Harmony Becker’s efforts however you’re able to. All that being said, if you would like to continue discussing this week’s comic, we highly encourage you to do so~!

For next week, Comic Tea Party will focus on Raison d'Etre by Cloud Fourteen (Funari and Leigh). As always, please use the next several days to read as much of the comic as you would like. We hope to see you next Thursday on August 16th from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat~! Until then, happy reading~! Comic: http://raisondetrecomic.tumblr.com/

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic tea party #ctp #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #comic book club #comic bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub

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a-2-da-g-2-da-u-2-da-std · 7 years

Text

So here it is. this is only like 5 songs Katie and hasn't been spell checked and needs a lot of development but these are the rough ideas basically.

UsUK cardverse Raleigh Ritchie au

Story begins before music plays, with a monologue of sorts from narrator[Arthur] set out like a fairytale beginning, but with mentions of darker things, death and famine and plague.

Werld is mine-light intro and humming like a heartbeat to the song. Begins on the light piano with Arthur stalking through a lavish castle, passing deep, age old tapestries hung up, with the view being glimpses of Arthur caught, a glimpse of a crown, the footfalls of soft leather riding boots in black that reach mid calf, a ring finger weighed down by a deep cobalt sapphire. All dark ambient lighting, as if something sinister is unfolding. As the bass kicks in more, enter a glimpse of Alfred, just as passing as of Arthur, both glancing over at one another as servants rush around, preparing and preening the monarchs ,heated loaded looks between the two rulers. 1st verse delves into memories that correspond with the lyrics. ‘Fucks given at an all time low’ flashes back to Arthur, head held high and a dangerous glint in his eyes. At ‘sticks and stones.. I don’t know any better’ more flashbacks to show glimpses of their journeys to being together, of how they started apart, with hatred, and have grown closer, how they are now in love and in power. Slow focus in on both getting dressed and made into their royal images. ‘Take take me away’ Arthur is shown leaning in for a deep kiss and Alfred inhales as if Arthur’s his oxygen, as the ‘I wanna live forever...but honey this world is mine’ plays, and the focus is back again on Arthur, who has a small smirk and a put upon self confidence that carries his hidden past, and the audience sees the first real look at both monarchs together, something dark and fiercely protective and utterly in love between them. Back to piano is focused on their achievements. ‘I wanna live forever’ focus on their deep relationship, flashbacks of their love. ‘I wanna be better’ their royal relationship focus on their crushed velvet robes and glinting crowns. ‘I wanna be scared’ personal turmoil, war, plague, famine, all part of a rulers plight. Ending of the two walking out to face a full audience of court, heads held high as last line is sung, ‘this world is mine’.

[the next ones Stronger than ever and it shows their bond and sort of delves into their relationship. its introduced by another monologue, which speaks of a pair of lovers so deeply infatuated that theyd tear the stars from the night sky if they should so scald the other. a king and queen so deeply in love that the ruled alongside one another, in tune with one another, as no such monarchy had done before, or with such a deep dedication]

Stronger than ever-Beginning to show how they got to the throne, Alfred’s background as hes growing up and trained from a young age how to be a king, how he must be a soldier from a young age and fulfil his duties to his kingdom. and Arthur’s brief background, how he was on the verge of death so often, a bastard child of some nameless whore, thrown out onto the streets from the day he could walk, growing up on an empty stomach and only his own grit and wits. and now how they have so much power and grace, and how they support each other, how their pain has brought them to where they are. When gets soft ‘this is easy’ shows a scene of marriage, a softly illuminated scene in a grassy field, beneath a silk canopy and the softly setting sun. both are in crowns of wildflowers and loos white clothing without shoes or any significance of royalty, the lighting surrounding them orange and gentle as they look over at one another fondly. (note arthurs bouquet.White lilies - Virginity; Purity; Majesty; It's Heavenly to Be with You.Yellow lilies- I'm Walking on Air; False and Gay. ORANGE BLOSSOM IVY - Wedded Love; Fidelity; Friendship; Affection. FERN - Magic; Fascination; Confidence and Shelter.FERN Maidenhair - Secret Bond of Love - Innocence; Eternal Love; Marriage and Fruitfulness. AMBROSIA - Your Love is Reciprocated. AZALEA - Take Care of Yourself for Me; Temperance; Fragile Passion) then the drop in the music, and theres a sudden flash of two perspectives, both of theirs, of war and pain, and then the mention of family is them back to back, looking as though the shaodws falling across their faces were closing in on them. The soft next part shows them facing trials together and rising better from their experiences.

Was not always this way . cue some dramatic monologue

Bloodsport- shows forced marriage between the prince who is grieving, and despises the impoverished background of Arthur. Arthur is trying to earn his respect, fighting against him, for the people, in political matters. Shows shouting and sparring, until soft part where they dutifully pick each other up. I am all yours is Alfred knighting Arthur, begrudgingly. As the song picks up again they seem to keep disagreeing and fighting, yet still picking each other up, though Alfred still distrusts Arthur greatly which causes them to fail as one monarchy unit. They’re shown in a carriage in soft silence, Alfred refusing to look at Arthur, Arthur looking out of the window resignedly. Just before slow soft part around 230 the scene breaks to heavy bootfalls and fire, the monarchs being ambushed on their carriage ride. Alfred thrown out the carriage and Arthur grabs his hand helps him up, beginning to kill their ambushers, ‘ill protect... might need me later’ Arthur takes a knife wound instead of Alfred, both meeting eyes, alfred gaining respect. Flashbacks to their sparring at the castle as outro plays, then Alfred catching Arthur before he falls.

[Arthur gets medical help as narrator talks of this event spurring on the beginning of an alliance between the two monarchs, and then a conversation can be overheard between the two monarchs in the carriage ride home, Arthur pale and leaning heavily against Alfred. The scene is slow and soft and the beginning of a curious love between the two. ‘So where are you from, Arthur?’ ‘N- Northern peninsula.. Albion- in a fishing village not far from one of the main ports.. i.. I forget the name of it..’ ‘oh? Friends, family there? What’s your story?’..’ my story?’]

I Can Change- focuses on arthurs upbringing, parents no where to be seen, a starving toddlers, turning to a street urchin, up to a sneaky teen, to a 16 year old kissing a girl against an alley wall. ‘see my lady’ focuses on the lovesick daft grin on his face despite their surroundings. Arthur leans in again and resurfaces signing contracts he cant even read to be enrolled in a higher purpose. Switch to ‘this is my calling’ and ‘more mature’ enrolment into the army, and an aggressive fight between Arthur and his lady, as she screams and tells him hell never find better and that no poor man gets in and that to even attempt is showing her how little worth she is to him ‘cant live without..’ shows clips of the army training, and how he almost beats a man to death whilst thinking back to the fight, having to be dragged away by officers. Cut to the officer speech as Arthur is displayed before the rest of the army, being beaten and flogged. Cut to him ‘rid of the excess pain’ boarding a sailors ship, when the outro plays it shows arthurs ship getting blown to pieces by a pirate ship, and Arthur being tied up with the rest of his ships crew, when a pirate offers him a hand ‘seen enough of those army pigs to know a good fighter flogged.. make your choice, well not cause you that flogging..’ the music fades as Arthur grabs the pirates hand, being welcomed with a warm embrace to the pirates family.

[’they’re the family I ‘ad, that ship.. ‘til we got cocky, too far intae naval waters. Captured us in th’name of th’ king, s’mthin’ about a queen’s mark. Course I ‘ad it. Took me aboard, locked t’others in dungeons..’scene is Arthur lying, bandaged, in the castle, drifting into sleep with Alfred sat beside him ‘ill get them out, I swear, arthur’ ‘ta, Alfred’ and shows Arthur fall asleep. narrator speaks of how since then the two found company in one another, visiting more often through the weeks of arthurs recovery, culminating at a soft warm early summer evening, when Arthur and al sneak out in the evening]

Keep it simple- Alfred and Arthur sneak into the small seaside town, grinning and playing as commoners, Alfred grabbing arthurs hand at ‘I know I don’t know you’ marvelling at the sights, sounds, the gaslamps and the seaview, walking along the ports promenade, following the lanterns above their head celebrating the beginning of summer, until ‘im full of shit sometimes...’ when Alfred glances over at arthur fondly, as Arthur looks around in quiet awe and soaks in the smells of fresh food and the salty breeze off the sea. Alfred is pulling Arthur onto a ship, and Arthur grins as they pull it away from port, Alfred watching in slow gentle awe of love as Arthur controls the ship with practiced ease, hanging from ropes in commoners clothes with practised ease as if this is comfortable for him more than riches. Alfred smiles, and shakes his head- scene cuts to Arthur laughing and shaking his head at Alfred fondly as Alfred shoves food into his mouth, both adorn in flower crowns, walking back to the castle arm in arm, tipsy and warm and looking both at each other with the same awe and love that was never before realised. Scene fades to the night sky, and then to Arthur smiling up at Alfred as Alfred presents him with plans to improve the naval fleet, with Arthur being allowed his old crew and ship back, and free reign over spades expansive seas of spades and the whole naval fleet, and a faint, sincere thank you is heard as the scene fades to narrator.

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