#like if you get tuberculosis does that mean you aren’t human anymore?

[heraldofcrow]

I literally figured out the best way to connect Djura and Eileen in Bloodborne because there IS actually a way that Djura’s, “Hey, every beast, every monster…was once a person. They still ARE people,”could influence Eileen and actually become relevant to her story.

—

There’s something to be said about Djura’s mentality and how it could clearly be a metaphor for how we see certain people in society. He’s sympathetic. He’s ahead of the game and is shockingly different compared to the people of Yharnam, who literally judge you as lesser and evil based on the fact that you’re an outsider alone.

Beasts? Being people? No way in hell would they accept that. It’s the same issue that Byrgenwerth and the Church had. If they could convince themselves that the sick and the ill were subhuman, then what would stop them from committing atrocities against them? This way too accurate to real life human history as well. We know plenty of examples, and Bloodborne imitates them flawlessly.

“No, these malformed aquatic creatures of this village are not human. It’s okay if we torture and mutilate them.”

“No, these vile-blooded fiends are subhuman. We can genocide them.”

“No, these people in Old Yharnam are all turning into beasts anyway. They lost their humanity. We can burn down their home and seal them away.”

—

Djura is considered a fool for what he does, but his kind heart and will to defend those that others consider monsters is incredibly admirable.

Eileen is similar in a sense because her goal is to mercy kill blood-drunk hunters and ensure they die true deaths. There’s honor in what she does even if she doesn’t believe it.

However, it’s clear that there’s also an element of refusal on her part to acknowledge that beasts and blood-drunks are the same. She warns the Good Hunter to keep their hands clean because a hunter should only hunt beasts, not people.

She warns us that there are no humans left, but that they are all beasts now. She knows that they were human once, but she seems to believe it no longer matters because of their transformation. I actually think this may subtly influence how she sees blood-drunks, whether she believes it or not.

We can kind of see it if we attack her during Henryk’s boss fight. The way she talks to us is fascinating.

"Aren't you a shame? You drunkard. Don't display your embarrasing form like a beast. I'll be your humble suicide assistant. You're a hunter, aren't you? Isn't that the true purpose of being a hunter?

Enough already...No one could blame you. Aren't you a shame? You drunkard."

—

This is the Japanese translation of course, but it still has the same energy we hear in English. There’s a tone of horror and disgust. To Eileen, it seems like she’s convinced that a drunkard is like a beast. They have taken on a shameful and low form. It’s not willful, but it’s definitely not a sign of true humanity either.

I theorize that Eileen may have lost heart at some point, and no longer sees her task for what it is. She thinks it’s sort of hopeless in a sense, because drunkards and beasts are really no different. At some point she believed that she was allowing hunters to die human deaths…but if beasts are human…then how is her work any different than a normal hunter’s?

I also love the theory that she’s on the edge of blood-drunkenness because of this, and even targeted someone like Henryk that was actually sane. She’s slipping.

But that’s where Djura could come in, because what would save Eileen from the madness of what she does could be the full acceptance of beasts being human. She would have to decide if she was willing to kill them, and since she was already a mercy-killer, she probably would. Not out of malice no, but in the way you shoot a wounded deer. That’s been Eileen’s profession as a crow since she began.

The problem is that she was clearly prepared for the “defilement” of becoming a crow, for the honor-less side to it. She willingly shouldered that burden. But did she do the same with beasts?

And when it became her close comrades losing their minds to the blood, did she accept that they were still human? That they were the same person? Did she tell herself they were monsters to get through the pain of having to see them change so much?

Accepting the truth about beasts could help Eileen to avoid giving the “safe” answer for why drunkards or monsters do what they do. You can’t separate the human from the beast. You have to accept that they are one and the same, even if sick.

That’s the whole point. If you accept that a person does what they do because of sickness and not because they’re an inhuman devil, you can show them mercy. That’s a rarity.

Djura chooses to do this by sparing them, and Eileen does this by way of mercy-kills and an honorable burial. They are similar, but Eileen clearly still struggles with it, and honestly who wouldn’t? Who would want to accept that they had so much blood on their hands?

Who would want to accept that someone you once cared for is absolutely unrecognizable and monstrous now? Who wouldn’t try to cope with that by saying that they simply aren’t human anymore?

No, that’s not the person I knew once…it can’t be them…

No, they’re just a mindless thing now, aren’t they…

(You all know what I’m thinking with that last part lol).

But Djura rejects that illusion and embraces it. They’re not monsters, they’re human. They were human. They are human. No type of sickness would ever change that, be it mental or physical.

Yes, Eileen your targets are no different from the beasts, because beasts are humans too. Yes, it’s horrific and depressing. Yes, it feels hopeless, but that’s why we need vessels of mercy like you and Djura.

They both get the idea, and while Eileen may struggle, I think there could be a lot of potential to dig into her psychology and how she could change her mind in the story. Djura could be a strong source of influence. That’s why I want to connect them.

Eileen very likely lost people in her life to blood-madness. That hurts, and exploring the ways in which a person would try to deal with that just fascinates me. It can be hard to watch someone you love change in a darker way, especially if you feel responsible for it.

In a world like Bloodborne, where actual beasthood is a possibility, who wouldn’t try to convince themselves that such a person had simply lost their humanity?

Aaaaand that’s where the drama comes in :)

—

Anyway, shoutout to Eileen and Djura. I love FromSoftware so much.

#I wrote this for one reason and i think you all know #lolol #ok no but in all seriousness i did want to explain what i was thinking about this because it was tormenting #i’m still trying to wrap my head around this #because there actually a fascinating duality with eileen here #hell it’s with every character in the story pretty much #but the story i have come up with for eileen really plays into it #i’m just obsessed with the obvious metaphor about society and mental illness in particular #obviously certain parts of history too but you know it’s just so common for people to see the mentally ill as “monsters” #like as if that person wasn’t the same as any of us and is just sick? #like if you get tuberculosis does that mean you aren’t human anymore? #of course not #the virus and the human are never the same #the demons in someones head are not who the person is #that actually reminds me of the league now wow #i think valtr was trying to eradicate the “vermin”or the virus in people and then lost sight of the difference of course lmao #this just keeps getting better #anyway i’m rambling #eileen the crow #retired hunter djura #bloodborne headcanons #bloodborne #CrowNotes

[recentanimenews]

Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train – All Aboard

In 2020, and what I believe to be the first time ever, the highest grossing film of the year wasn’t American. It wasn’t Chinese, either, which one could reasonably expect to be the first non-American film to take the crown. No, it was Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train. That’s an achievement that may never be matched. It also broke the record for home box office gross, now reigning over both Spirited Away and Your Name.

$500 million gross is a lot of cash to rake in, especially during a global pandemic. But after finally getting around to watch Mugen Train, which is essentially “Season 1.5” of the series, I totally understand why: it is an absolute crowd pleaser stuffed with action, comedy, and drama. I laughed; I cried; I may have pumped my fist and shouted “Fuck yeah!” once or twice.

But! Mugen Train is merely a very good movie. It is certainly a very good movie watching experience. What it is definitely not is a great film, and falls far short of the masterpiece status of the anime films whose records it broke. There is no single big reason for that, but several smaller ones which become evident throughout its prestigious 117-minute runtime.

* * * * *

First, as we know from the end of the first season (yes, you really should watch it), a Kasugai crow ordered Tanjirou (with Nezuko on his back), Zenitsu, and Inosuke to join Flame Hashira Rengoku Kyoujurou aboard the titular Mugen Train, which has a demon problem. Rengoku is, as most high-ranking warriors in these kinds of shows, a bit of an eccentric, but has heard about Tanjirou and Nezuko and is even willing to train him.

Their demon opponent is Enmu, a member of the Lower Six and the group’s resident “gross body horror” niche occupied by the likes of Bleach’s 12th Captain, Kurotsuchi Mayuri (or more recently, Jujutsu Kaisen’s Mahito). Enmu spends much of the movie standing atop the front of the train, talking about how much he’s looking forward to devouring its 200 passengers but never actually doing so despite having ample opportunity. Ya know, typical big bad behavior.

Enmu’s preferred way of rendering his prey helpless is by putting them to sleep. He has made four regular human passengers plus the conductor into his minions: the tickets the conductor punches contain a bit of his blood which is used to put the slayers to sleep along with everyone else. In exchange, the minions are promised wonderful dreams in which to lose themselves.

With all the demon slayers asleep, we take a look into the dreams they’re having, none of which come as much of a surprise. Tanjirou’s is a very happy dream in which he’s reunited with his family, who act like they were never slaughtered by a demon. Suffice it to say, it’s an easy dream to get lost in.

Zenitsu’s dream involves frolicking through forests and fields with Nezuko, which would be touching were his relationship with her in the show not so easily boiled down to “one-sided obsession” or simply “toxic.” Inosuke’s dream is aggressively weird and surreal, like him, but like Zenitsu and Tanjirou’s doesn’t offer any further insight into the character.

Rengoku’s does, but only because aside from a couple of brief scenes last season, we don’t really know who the guy is. What we do get is pure hero boilerplate: following in the footsteps of a former Hashira father who gave up the life and doesn’t care anymore, while having to be both big brother and father figure to his younger brother to keep him from falling into despair. Also, their sainted mom is dead.

Ultimately the dreams aren’t supposed to be particularly enlightening to us, as long as they keep the dreamers occupied and distracted. The minions then go in, find the edges of their dreams, tear them open with what look like icepicks provided by Enmu, and pass into the subconscious where their spiritual cores lie. Obviously, none of the minions succeeds.

Tanjirou already has an inkling he’s in a world of illusion, since his default thoughts are that his family is dead and Nezuko is a demon, so his senses must be wrong. His subconscious actually reaches out to him through a reflection in the water, telling him he needs to wake up, even if it’s being made very difficult to do so because it means running away from his confused and upset family.

His minion, by the way, sought relief in his dreams because in the waking world he was wasting away from Tuberculosis. When he reaches Tanjirou’s gorgeous (and very Spirited Away-esque!) subconscious, he doesn’t have the heart to go through with destroying his core. Tanjirou ends up waking up by slashing his neck with his own sword—call it the equivalent of the “kicks” in Inception that wake you up from dreams (or dreams within dreams).

Tanjirou is the first to wake up. Rengoku’s survival instinct kicks in and he chokes his minion before she can destroy his core (a very graphic depiction of violence against a woman that’s very oddly scored as triumphant) but he remains asleep. Tanjirou sees that Nezuko burned away the rope connecting him to his minion, and asks her to burn away the others’ ropes while he goes topside to meet the boss.

After exchanging some standard big-bad/hero dialogue, Tanjirou manages to behead Enmu, but of course his head isn’t really his head, nor his body his real body. Turns out he’s merged with the train, meaning the entire train his his body, with his head hidden…somewhere (the head of the train).

Enmu then continues to put Tanjirou to sleep, taking the same route as the Farscape masterpiece “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, turning the dreams into increasingly disturbing nightmares to throw the hero off his game. Tanjirou counters this by continuously slashing his neck as soon as he enters his dream.

With every surface of the train suddenly erupting with reddish-purple goo, suddenly all 200 passengers have to be protected at once. Fortunately, thanks to Nezuko burning their ropes the others start waking up, starting with Inousuke, who is ready to rumble. Nezuko slashes at the tentacles attacking passengers, but is quickly overwhelmed and restrained.

Enter Zenitsu, who gets to have a seriously badass moment with his thunder breathing assault, rescuing her from her doom. Let it be said this film does nothing to make Nezuko more of the bit character/mascot she devolved into in the anime, and outside of Tanjirou and Zenitsu’s dreams, she never speaks, which remains odd as there are plenty of demons who can talk.

All the commotion caused by Zenitsu’s thunder and lightning finally wakes up Rengoku, who has does his whole “how have I been sleeping through all this” line, and fills the cars with tentacle-burning flames (which naturally don’t affect the passengers). He orders Tanjirou and Inousuke to find Enmu’s head while he protects the passengers in five of the eight cars and Zenitsu and Nezuko handles the remaining three.

When his best water breathing technique can only tear away the flesh of Enmu’s “neck” to reveal the bone, Tanjirou employs his dad’s Hinokami Kagura breathing, which does the trick. Enmu’s real head is separated from his body (the train) and in his death throes, the train is derailed and crashes…which really should kill a lot of the passengers, yet doesn’t.

During his struggle with Enmu the minion conductor stabbed Tanjirou in the abdomen, but Rengoku quickly teaches Tanjirou how to use Total Concentration, Constant to staunch his broken blood vessel. Even so, Tanjirou is in no condition to fight anymore, with more than forty minutes left in the film. Enmu slowly disintegrates after lots of whining, including about how he was never able to enjoy his meal (which was all his fault) or rise to the ranks of the Upper Ten.

Right on cue, one of the members of that Upper Ten shows up completely out of the blue: the Upper Three, Akaza, covered in tatts and slightly resembling an evil Tanjirou with his short-cropped red hair. And while the ensuing duel between Akaza and Rengoku is pretty cool, the combat animation isn’t appreciably better than that of the TV show. More importantly, Akaza and the battle feel tacked on rather than a natural escalation of the conflict.

It also begs the question of if an even bigger demon big bad could show up willy-nilly, why couldn’t the same be true of other Hashira? The answer is, because the movie needs Rengoku to die, even though he was being set up as Tanjirou’s new mentor and big brother figure. At the end of the day, Akaza can regenerate almost instantly, while Rengoku is a mortal human of flesh and blood, and the wounds he suffers prove fatal.

The climax of the film also plays with the timing of the rising of the sun, which begins to light Akaza’s face as Rengoku tries to hold him in place so he’ll disintegrate. Instead, he flees into the forest to fight another day and provide Tanjirou with a future opponent with whom to avenge Rengoku. Like Demon Slayer reinforcements, the sun doesn’t show up when you’d think it should.

The final act consists of Rengoku providing Tanjirou the same encouragement as his little brother in his dream (and presumably in real life), as well as meeting his force ghost sainted mother, who tells him she’s proud of him (he did reject Akaza’s repeated offers to turn him into a demon, after all). Tanjirou is naturally very upset over losing another important person in his life.

As for the impact it had on me…the film just didn’t do the adequate legwork to make him anything more than a passing guest star. He had a few goofy moments, a few badass moments, and a very long death scene, and was suddenly gone, seemingly as soon as he arrived.

So as much of a funny, thrilling and sometimes genuinely moving crowd-pleaser as Mugen Train was, as a sequel to the series it fulfilled a fairly utilitarian role, establishing how tough the Hashira can be, while establishing that the most powerful demons are even tougher, on the biggest screen possible.

It also gave Tanjirou both further motivation to fight the demons, though considering what he’s lost so far, I’d say he already had plenty, as well as the direction to the next nugget of info about his pop’s Kagura, which he’ll surely pursue in the second season. Mugen Train had no shortage of faults to go with its merits, but one thing at which it unassailably succeeded was making me excited for the second season, for which my ticket is already punched.

By: braverade

#Anime #News #RABUJOI – An Anime Blog