#or its a character I’m obsessed with I won’t even watch the show I just really like them

[yukiyovelle]

Main Trio With A S/O That Loves Reading - A Little Too Much

★Warnings: None ★Characters: Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki ★Reader: Gender Neutral ★Synopsis: just read the title heh

Not happy.

At all.

I’m sorry.

But he’s not.

Having your face being sucked into a book 24/7 doesn’t let you leave with much attention for him.

He’s attention deprived put down the dang book and hug him.

Another reason that fuels his hatred for your love of books is because your behavior reminds him of Deku - like, a lot.

If he wasn’t deeply in love with you he would have tossed you into a garbage can, but he’s Bakugo so he’ll probably do that anyway.

But if it really mattered that much to you, he’d respect it.

And probably take his anger out on Midoriya instead.

I doubt he’ll surprise you with books as gifts, considering the fact that you have every known book in the universe written by every author ever.

But if you ever see a book you like, he’ll buy it for you, even if you already do have twenty different copies of the same book with different covers.

And no, he won’t let you pay for it yourself.

If you even try, he’ll start yelling and angrily threaten to murder the cashier’s entire family if they accept your payment instead of his.

“SHUT UP, I DON’T CARE IF ITS ILLEGAL, IF HE DOESN’T TAKE MY MONEY I’M TAKING HIS GODDAMN LIFE.”

He’ll hardly ever openly show his respect or liking for your hobby ever.

Which makes him the biggest effing hypocrite on the planet Earth.

BROSKI GOES TO BED EVERYDAY AT 8PM.

AND IS SUPER UPER DUPER ACADEMICALLY AND BATTLE SMART.

YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT THIS MAN DOESN’T READ BOOKS FOR THE SAKE OF KNOWLEDGE.

AND DOESN’T ENJOY IT.

most of the time, at least.

OH YOU POOR POOR SOUL

Yes, dating Midoriya is great and all.

But Bakugo is about to make your life a living hell.

As if one nerd was bad enough for him, now theres two.

And the second one is arguably more annoying than the first.

At least Midoriya can hold a conversation - with your nose in a book at all times, its surprising that you’re in a relationship at all.

Midoriya doesn’t seem like the type to mind at all though.

You are to books, as he is to training.

He fully relates to your obsession with books, he’s obsessed too, just not as much as you are. You >>>> Training >>>>> Books

If you’re into writing as well, and you’re thinking of publishing, he’ll be right there by your side helping you. 

How are ogres different from trolls? He’ll research. When were bees domesticated? He knows. What is the weight and size of the average fictional fairy? research again

“Okay but does it really matter if you’ve been using the wrong tense over a couple chapters? Just tweak it a bit an-HEY NO DON’T DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN I’LL HELP YOU FIX IT.”

With him by your side, you’ll never make any stupid spelling mistakes.

But if you start reading too much and disregarding your studies, he takes it upon himself AS HIS DUTY AS YOUR BOYFRIEND TO KINDLY DRAG YOU AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKCASE

He appreciates your interests, but won’t let you fail school.

So don’t even think about it.

uh

I seriously doubt he sees the root of your interests at first.

He’s understand right away if it were textbooks for school - cause its educational.

But fantasy books and the like? I doubt he’d get it immediately.

Whether you like books or not he’d treat you the same either way.

He’s a mix of Bakugo and Todoroki.

He would never let you fail school.

And at the same time, buys you all the books you want.

With the money he took from Endeavor’s wallet.

“Huh? Oh don’t worry about the cost. Its not my money anyway.”

You’ll never need to worry about paying for your books again.

Besides, if his dad does find about him stealing the money he’ll emotionally guilt trip him into giving him allowance.

Its a win/win anyway!

You get a book and he gets to annoy his dad.

He loves seeing your eyes light up as you glimpse at your new book and watching your grin getting progressively wider.

His house is huge too, so I bet they have a library or at least a ridiculously large bookcase. Either way, he’d take you to his house and while he works on his homework, you skim through the books.

He loves those moments near you - even if you aren’t talking or touching, you’re just there, and thats all he needs.

Hiiiiii :> This is my first post on this blog, although I have been active on my other blog, which is a total train wreck of multiple fandoms. Heh.

Please feel free to interact about anything and send requests too :)) I’d really appreciate that. Have a lovely day or night, wherever you are <3

#bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugo x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #my hero academia #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #midoriya x reader #izuku x reader #deku x reader #todoroki x reader #bnha headcanons #mha headcanons #shouto todoroki x reader #shoto todoroki x reader #todoroki #bnha season six #bnha season 6 #my hero academia season six #my hero academia season 6 #mha season 6

[prince-kallisto]

So because of Wish's movie, does that mean the Dark Mirror being Meleanor is debunked now?

This is an interesting question! I haven’t watched Wish myself, but I recently learned about the King Magnifico becoming the Magic Mirror from Snow White, or at least a very strong reference to it.

Wish being a movie celebrating the 100th anniversary of Disney is what makes this a tricky question. Wish included many, many Disney movie references from the past. Considering how Asha becomes a fairy godmother, a lot of these seem more like Easter eggs than actual Disney canon- although many people have criticized that Wish was a bit too heavy handed with these references. Although as a movie celebrating the 100th anniversary of Disney, many people have said they feel like Wish could’ve had the opportunity to be its “own” movie, instead of filled with past and slightly forced references.

Wish is also a 2023 movie, and I highly doubt Twisted Wonderland has access to the development process of this movie, as Twisted Wonderland was released in Japan in 2020, but was officially announced in 2019. I’m sure was in production for several years before that too. Wish reportedly just began development in 2018, which even then, I feel like it would’ve taken a long time for King Magnifico and his fate to have been developed compared to the progress Twisted Wonderland made. I don’t think Twisted Wonderland knew about this plan with the King’s character, and although TWST has referenced modern Disney movies before (like Ortho and Baymax in Book 6), it seems like the game strays away from directly including modern characters in favor of the classic ones. Of course, this could change in the future, but if the Dark Mirror is as significant as I think it might be, TWST likely won’t include a modern character like King Magnifico

The Meleanor in the mirror theory also tends to assume that Meleanor is the second soul inside the mirror. The Magic Mirror is its own entity, but the Dark Mirror is the Magic Mirror AND Meleanor. Of course, this theory has several different interpretations, but this one seems to be a popular one!

But maybe this means Crowley is doing all this to release King Magnifico from the Dark Mirror instead of Meleanor, haha!

Wait…

Hmm…

should just take this as an opportunity to mention Crowley x King Magnifico🧍 Crowley is trying to release his beloved from the mirror, but it’s not Meleanor: but King Magnifico 😔🫡 And if King Magnifico is the Magic mirror from show white, it’s why Crowley is so obsessed with the Snow White aesthetic and Pomefiore 🤧💖💖 And in the prologue, his “benefactor” is King Magnifico who grants him wishes 🤧🤧🤧 And when he was talking to his “proud, beautiful flower of evil,” he was actually talking directly to the mirror, aka King Magnifico 🥹

Haha, jokes aside (I’m totally not making fanart or anything of this cursed ship…totally…), thank you for this ask, it was super interesting to think about! I hope I didn’t sound harsh in my reply or anything, I just wanted to answer this in many ways I could think of! Thank you for your question! 💖💖💖 And for everyone else who has questions in my inbox, I’ll be answering soon! I took a slight break from answering asks because of a bit of burnout, but I really want to get back to everyone’s questions! Thank you all for your patience! 💖💖💖🐦‍⬛

Edit: Apparently it’s been confirmed by the directors and writers in an interview published a day ago before I posted this!

It’s seems like this is not a deliberate connections for a “multiverse,” but really just a lot of Easter eggs for the 100th anniversary that aren’t meant to be taken too seriously!

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst dark mirror #ask kallisto #kallistopost #I have not watched the movie I’m just gathered all the info from Twitter and such!

[radioluminescentoblivion]

Hazbin Hotel: The Corruption of Creativity. Part 1

1. Introduction

Hello everyone, I normally don’t make huge posts like these, but I thought it would be important to make this review and discussion about the latest animated show on Amazon Prime, Hazbin Hotel, and the people behind the scenes who worked on the show, mostly the show creator Vivziepop. Back in 2019 when I first watched the animated pilot of Hazbin Hotel, I was interested to see how this show, if picked up, would go about with its story. Like many people who were still fans of Vivziepop’s work, I wanted to see this show become a good adult animated series. In fact, as the production was going on behind closed doors, I supported viv and her work via Patreon for a time and bought some merch from Sharkrobot.com to help fund her endeavors—I even still have my Angel Dust t-shirt and Hazbin Hotel poster in a black picture frame. 

2. Personal Fan Origins

Though I wasn’t an og follower of viv back in her older days on DeviantArt, I was introduced to her work around 2014-2015, that’s when I originally saw her fan-animated Kesha Die Young music video and since then I became a fan of her work and was obsessed with her means of creating very expressive and stylistic characters. Vivziepop was the artist who not only introduced me to the furry community, she was also a big inspiration for my artwork and still is to some extent now, had it not been for her, I don’t think I would’ve been in the position I’m in now to make art or it would’ve taken me much longer than where I started. 

But as much as I was a casual fan of her work, I was also a skeptic of her as a person over time. Primarily due to how she would be overly defensive towards criticism, radiate a toxic personality on others and friends of hers, and how she would intentionally and unintentionally weaponize her audience against those that landed on her blacklist. These traits would only become more apparent over time, but I like many others had the mindset of “separating the art from the artist” And while there is some validity to be made on that notion, it makes it all the harder when the person intentionally makes the art inseparable from who they are or they’re still active or alive and will constantly change their position or view on things. I know there’s a much deeper discussion to be had about this notion and how relevant it actually is, but for the sake of this post, I won’t dive into it that much. 

Watching Helluva Boss in 2019 onward would prove to be a conflicting experience since the first time watching the first season wasn’t as bad, some episodes had some strong character development, decent action scenes, and enjoyable songs. 2, 5, and 6 were some of my favorites in the series, but around season 2 episode 4, I was losing interest and I began to see the cracks in the show and noticed that the charm had dwindled going into the second season. Episode 6 was where I stopped which is funny because the last episode (at least currently) was episode 7 which I didn’t even bother to give any attention to because I didn’t like the show much anymore: The characters were losing whatever charm they had originally, making the characters I did like lose that vibe I enjoyed and those I didn’t like before I just didn’t care or it made it all the worse, the pacing didn’t get any better as the show was always going so quickly but rarely having time to sit down and digest even when there were scenes that had those moments, and for a show that would have differing times from 10-30 minutes, it made it all the more rushed, the stories were all over the place in a way I had no fun engaging with or could get behind, sometimes plot points like D.H.O.R.K.S’s evidence of demons would be revealed but never brought up again or have the same impact on the show, and some of the songs were forgettable (though I did enjoy Cotton Candy).

After I stopped giving HB a watch I decided to be patient and wait for when Hazbin Hotel would drop, and on January 18th, 2024, the first episode would drop to present the new show to the world.

3. Hazbin Hotel Review (Spoilers, Obviously)

Summary - 

Hazbin Hotel is an adult animated series about the daughter of Lucifer named Charlie Morning Star, a demon princess seeking to rehabilitate sinners in a less violent way to combat overpopulation in hell. Along the way, she manages to get support from the enigmatic radio demon named Alastor who helps Charlie and Vaggie bring in sinners in an attempt to redeem their souls for a price while trying to be as cooperative as she can with the odds stacked against her. 

When I first watched the premiere of the show, I wasn’t really blown away or impressed by it, which isn’t a bad thing since not a lot of shows have a strong start with their early episodes in the season. Where it did get interesting however was around 4-6 when it started to focus more on character development and give some time for the main cast to shine and maintain some consistency with the story, though this has its limits. There were also some decent songs, some funny dialogue, and even some sprinkling of action around the end. Unfortunately, in the later episodes, it started to fall back to where the show lost its touch. So let me get around to the pros and cons of Hazbin Hotel:

The Good -

As someone who felt burnt out from Helluva Boss, this is an improvement as far as comparing viv’s older work goes, which is a slight benefit. 

Performances are great as far as voices go, especially when you have people like Keith Davids in your line up, though I would be a little more positive on the casting choices if it didn’t also come at the cost of the old cast, I genuinely believe they should’ve been given additional voice roles if not main ones for the show, so that sucks. 

Songs can be hit or miss in this show, with More Than Anything (both the first and reprise) and Loser Baby being the better examples and the rest not sticking out to me as much, either because I don’t think they had as much impact or they felt out of left field. I think it would’ve been better to not have every episode with a song number unless it was a grand introduction to something (i.e. Poison, Loser Baby, More Than Anything). Though I don’t expect this to be a popular opinion so whatever

The visuals are fairly competent with few to no issues that caught my eye, my only critique would be that due to how fast everything feels it can be hard to follow what's all happening, not to mention having the background and background characters look as eye-catching as the main cast can throw people off of where they should put their focus on. It's not as terrible enough where I loathe it, but it could make some contrast of who/what you should pay more attention to. 

The Bad -

The story loses track of the main premise of Charlie trying to redeem sinners and her relationship with Vaggie. The side plots don’t interest me as much aside from Angel Dust and Husk having some empathy for each other slowly through the series, and the other main cast aren’t nearly explored as much. Idk the best way to describe it, but it seems that most of the focus of the side characters isn’t where it should be (the hotel’s residents) and more so on those outside the hotel, which I think would’ve worked better in the second season rather than just the first. If season one was just focusing on the residents, Charlie and Vaggie more than the other characters, I wouldn’t mind that. I think the only exceptions to this would be the hell overlords discovery of how to fight back and Lucifer helping Charlie with the hotel. But back to the main cast, Charlie and Vaggie’s moments of romance and bonding seem few and far between, which sucks since this is supposed to be about them right? RIGHT?! The potential is just wasted.

Not every song is needed or has a place in every episode, though that could be because I wasn’t feeling them as strongly compared to the ones mentioned. Not much else to say there that hasn’t already been said.

Characters don’t appeal to me as much aside from Niffty and Sir Pentious (they’re the best) and unfortunately, the characters I should care about don’t get enough time to shine due to how this show is hastily paced—which leads me to my next negative.

Pacing is absolutely atrocious, for episodes that last 30 minutes, it feels like everything has happened yet also little has happened in such a short period of time (which is insane to me) Viv has had pacing issues in the past with her work which is concerning to me, mostly because she wasn’t always this speedy with her series, there were times she had more breathing room for her older works for instances like the Son of 666 and Timber, even the short Bad Luck Jack (which I liked) suffered from this in ways. Idk what exactly happened, but it seems like viv’s workflow has just gotten worse over time, and her artistic magic, patience, etc has just vanished.

Jokes? For what attempt of humor was there, it was very little. Once in a while, there was a joke that stuck the landing or made me chuckle, such as Charlie and Alastor swearing unexpectedly, only because it’s so out of left-field you wouldn’t expect it, so the joke works. Or when Niffty and Sir Pentious act their usual awkward selves in front of others. But everything else is just not funny to me because the majority of the humor is either sex or profanity jokes that don’t have that great of build-up or go for something more than just “haha adult words” which ironically makes it more juvenile than adult. I don’t mind stupid humor, but make it funny and not because you want to say “fuck” for the sake of it. Even if it’s just for casual talk, it's overly excessive. It doesn’t hurt to find humor in other ways even if those don’t land either, it's better than just resorting to profanity and sex.

Additional Comments -

When it comes to Vivziepop’s older works, it’s better than Helluva Boss but weaker than her shorts or animated music videos (fan-made or original), the strongest elements within the series lie within the hump of the season and fall short from the beginning and end. Though as annoying as that is, it pales in comparison to the other elements in the show. 

Heaven’s methods of carrying out exterminations every year to dissuade the populace of hell from rebelling is just a very dumb thing to do when there are so many other ways to shatter the morale of a persecuted people or nation without lifting a single sword that would’ve been better implemented and create a larger divide between heaven and hell and less costly as well. Perhaps this is just to further showcase how arrogant and incompetent Heaven is, but I have my doubts on that. 

Alastor as a manipulative radio host works well between Charlie and Vaggie, though I wish they wouldn’t have explained his ties to the disappearances of hell’s overlords so soon, it just takes away from his mysterious nature as this eldritch being. That part to me would’ve worked later on. (Yeah, I’m also aware they did something similar in the pilot too, which brings up another issue I have) 

Continuity between the pilot and the first episode is pretty murky, it doesn’t help matters when the plot of the pilot and the series episodes get collaged in so haphazardly. If I never heard of Hazbin Hotel or Vivziepop’s work before, I’d kinda be thrown off a bit and try my best to catch up on what’s going on. I don’t expect an expose of how everything works, but an organic flow of how things come together would’ve been nice. For instance: the pilot itself feels more like an episode one than the actual episode 1 of the first season. I know the point of the pilot isn’t as strict in its rules, since it's supposed to sell an idea to a network or distributor. Hell, The Amazing Digital Circus does something similar to how Hazbin Hotel does with presenting a first-episode introduction into the world and characters, only it does it far better and it hasn’t even gotten its first episode out yet, but I don’t want to compare apples to oranges on two different shows. The point is, the first episode should’ve had a better flow to it or at least maintained something more consistent like the pilot did. 

But by far the most glaring problem in the show isn’t part of the show itself believe it or not. But to keep this short, I’ll leave that for part 2. 

4. End of Part 1 

Originally when I watched the series I gave this a 7/10 on IMDB because I came at this from a perspective of how I would judge the work based on viv’s prior craft, this gave it a point above Helluva Boss, primarily with pacing, and direction of what it should be about and where to focus the story and characters. That being said, I was being very generous and didn’t also factor in on how it stood on its own two feet, and to be honest? It's not that good. For the first season of a new adult animated show, it’s too rushed, and not fleshed out enough in areas where it needs to be, The majority of the characters I have little interest or investment in, and despite having its moments, it's not enough to keep me hooked to know what happens within the next season. 

This would bring it down to 1 point for that to a 6/10, I know some fans would put the blame on Amazon, A24, or Bento, but here’s the thing, other shows have had episodes with similar limited space and time to tell their stories yet do a far more superior job in doing so than this, from what I understand, Amazon seems pretty open for a studio big or small to do as they please with what resources they have to get out what they can regardless of the restraint of episodes to be made, thereby making studios try their best to work harder on making a show work with such little episodes, so I see this mostly as a personal thing with viv and her team than just amazon. 

Now I would just leave it at that and move on, but I’m afraid this is where things get more muddy and grim.

#longahpost #review #critique #vivziepop #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critical #vivziepop critique #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin spoilers

[death-limes]

i’m ashamed to admit that i have not yet been able to bring myself to watch hazbin hotel, aside from a few isolated clips

no matter what it’s like — good OR bad — I know my brain will be obsessing over it at 4am when all i want to do is sleep. no exaggeration, there have been a few nights now when im literally crying because my brain just won’t shut up, whether it’s being pissed about how mid the thing is and how it doesnt deserve its popularity, or whether it’s obsessing over characters themselves because i’m still drawn to the aspects of the thing that don’t suck. and my mind inevitably ventures towards feeling ashamed of my own chronically fatigued ass thats constantly too tired to just make my own shit

like its not even about the show anymore, it’s a me thing now, it’s clinical. i hate that this shit has such sway over me, but my brain has latched on and i don’t know how to let go other than to just Avoid

#lime rants #negative // #hazbin hotel critical #<still tagging that so anyone blocking hate will have this blocked #even though as i said its not even about that anymore

[marsipain]

hi i literally know nothing about cyberpunk but im DROOLING OVER UR DESIGNS…i like do not have the patience or mind to ever do smth like that so its so cool to see other ppl make really cool designs for several characters like wow. i think zane and harumi r my favorite IM OBSESSED.

what kind of things did u use for inspo ?😳

OH MY GOD?? OH MY GOD?? THE CLAM IS IN MY INBOX?? DIES

anyways hihihi sorry it took so long to answer this eeee

Okay so I didn’t actually do that much formal research for it, because anytime i try to do that i feel my creativity and livelyness is sapped out of me (probably one of the reasons i hate school lmao) anyways

It’s actually a really funny (and long) story how this au came to be, so at first i saw the party clone of MK in lego monkie kid (this won’t make much sense if you haven’t watched that show sorry, but also at the same time if you haven’t YOU REALLY SHOUDL ITS REALLY GOOD AND THE ANIMATION MAKES ME DROOL NGL) and i was like yo wouldn’t it be cool if Lloyd had an evil party clone too? and then it expanded to an RGB evil clone au (cuz i’m a sucker for RGB siblings haha) and then i got the idea for nya to be a racer and to have a cyborg gf (cough cough pixal) and i was like okay scrap all the clone stuff were making this a completely independent au because this is MUCH cooler. and yeah, idk where the whole cyberpunk thing came from, i just thought it would really fit into the themes of fighting rings, clubs and races :DD

After that i was a bit busy for a while with school (just like i am now :c) but the brain rot for this AU was still going strong, so I made a pinterest board where i saved just a fuck load of cyberpunk shit that i thought looked cool, and whenever i had time i’d use those to draw the designs! here are some sketches with their references :D (zane and harumi included since they were ur favs! ps zane is my fav too, he just gives off such manager vibes but, hot, HAHA)

(ignore the lines, procreate just fucks up stuff if you change the canvas size and you try to access prior versions of the drawing through the timelapse option lmao)

anyways as you can see not even all of the references are cyberpunk stuff

AND YEAH I USED UR LLOYD AS INSPIRATION, I REALLY LIKE UR ARTSTYLE OKAY MOVING ON

some of the stuff was different and changed a lot through the process, like for example i decided against harumi having the furs because she would never wear them in this AU, she needs practicality in her fighting matches haha. I also changed a lot of lloyd design, cuz i was like “hehe, heelies” cuz zoom zoom, yk? and then u have zane, which was really straightforward coz i had almost exactly how i wanted him to be set in stone in my mind xd

Here’s a link to the pinterest board if ur interested! there’s a bunch of stuff in here i never got to use, so if anyone is interested idm it being used for stuff ^-^

ANYWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IN THIS ASK, I HOPE IT WASNT TOO LONG AA

#me when cool artist sends an ask #HFBFBFHFH #dies #marsipain speaks #marsipain asks #marsipain art #ninjago cyberpunk au

[k-s-morgan]

Many people share recs with their favorite TV shows, movies or books with me. I'm moving through them slowly, sometimes in a random order, but it's happening, so in this post, I'll cover the shows that were recommended to me and which I’ve watched. I hope you won't get upset or offended if I didn't like the show you recced: after all, such things are impossible to predict! We all have our unique preferences and perceptions.

Now, on to the list and my thoughts:

Stranger Things: Unfortunately, this show didn't work for me. I watched all seasons, but I only enjoyed S1. I appreciated its atmosphere, I liked the characters, and while I didn't think it was anything special, the plot kept me engaged. Other seasons bored me, though, and I found the arcs getting more and more impossible while also staying repetitive.

What We Do in the Shadows: At first, I couldn't get into it, but with each season, my interest increased, and by the end, I grew to love the characters and adore their dumb adventures :D I ship Nandor and Guillermo and I can't wait to see what they do with them in S4. The humor is too sexual for me at times, but once I became fond of these idiot vampires, I started to dote on everything they do. Watching them do nothing but bicker is fascinating now, lol.  

Succession: Oh, this was a hell of a ride. I got second-hand embarrassment so many times that I had to constantly hit pause to scream. Contrary to what I expected, I didn't end up shipping Tom and Greg. I'm interested in their relationship, but Greg is so shallow and his entire personality is basically centered on being embarrassing and greedy - I think Tom deserves better. The complexity, the music (ooh, the music in it), the twists and turns are brilliant, though. I think the show got a little repetitive, but I still enjoyed it a lot and I anticipate the next season.    

Wednesday: Loved it! Which is strange since I was never a fan of the Addams Family. I loved the idea of them, but the execution never appealed to me much. This show is enjoyable, has very good acting, and it presented me with a surprise ship. At first, I thought I’d end up shipping Wednesday with Enid - they have an excellent dynamic of opposites attract, but with each episode, I grew increasingly interested in Wednesday/Xavier. Loved the obsessive element of it and I hope to see more of it in S2.    

Luther: I watched only S1 because unfortunately, this show didn't appeal to me! I felt like it was very disjointed and that there were three writers working on it without consulting each other. Each arc is potentially interesting: brutal crimes, Luther as an explosive, clever, protective but abusive character, and the arc of him and Alice becoming frenemies & perhaps more. But together, they just didn't work in my eyes. Alice's involvement in Luther's life felt awkward and forced; the crimes were astonishingly violent and epic, but their resolutions seemed rushed, trivial and unimpressive; Luther's decisions often made little sense to me, and these three elements didn't seem to mix well. I watched it with my family: my Mom shared my thoughts, but my Dad loved it and he’s watching other seasons right now. 

Interview with the Vampire: YES. I'm a huge fan and I'm thrilled to have found this show. It's clever, intense, and relationship-focused; it has an obsessive, dark romance at the center and every main character is delightfully toxic, twisted and damaged. I only worry about S2 and beyond, but I have faith that everything will remain great.  

Versailles: Absolutely loved it! The first two seasons only, though - I prefer to think that the third one doesn't exist. This seems to be a common opinion among the fans. The music, the characters, their dynamic, the plot and of course the captivating atmosphere of those times... An actor who played Mordred in my favorite 'Merlin' being one of the protagonists was a surprise and made me even more in love. His dynamic with his brother was delightful to watch: it's complex, toxic but also deeply loving. This show is unique in that my most favorite thing about it is a solo character. I grew obsessed with Fabien, a torturer and executioner working for the king. He's perfection, and I would gladly watch a spin-off with him as the central character.

If I forgot some of the shows I watched by accident, I'll make a separate post later on.  

Also, just so you'd know: I don't usually post asks with recs that I haven't tackled yet - they serve as a summary of why I should watch something, but please rest assured that if you sent it, I saw it and added it to my list. When I get to it, I'll post your ask! I'll also start answering questions about the shows you recced and which I've already watched soon.

#recs #tv show recs #wednesday #versailles #luther #interview with the vampire #succession #stranger things #fabien marchal #nandermo #personal

[waywardsou1]

That’s it. It’s over. I don’t really know what to say. It was a happy ending more or less for everyone. But I think it could have gone out better. After everything Sam and Dean had been through the fact that that’s what got him, and that they made Sam go on without him. That’s insane. Well I guess I can watch it all over again. But It’s never be the same as watching for the first time. That was the greatest journey ever. I started out like most other fans just one more thing to watch when I was bored and my parents had happened to watch it when I was younger. It’s insane. I never thought it would become this big to me. That it would be more than just some fantasy, sci-fi, horror tv show just something that I’d watch and I’d obsess over and then I’d let go. But I don’t think that’s the case. Supernatural is different, it’s really really different. And it’s special. It means more to me than anything has before. And that feels wired to say. It’s just a tv show but there is something about it. There is something, it really is just different. There’s just this magic about it. It’s such a beautifully crafted story, with perfectly chosen actors and it was a beautiful journey to follow even if I was three years late. It really was beautiful and it meant a lot to me. And it will it will always mean a lot to me. I think with most things like this they come they inspire and then they disappear. But I really don’t think supernatural is gonna be like that for me. At least I hope not. I really really just want it to carry on (pun unintended). It’s so special and important to me. There really just aren’t enough words it’s just beautiful and its just magical, it’s so emotion evoking and it’s crafted story telling, and its imagination and it’s action and it’s horror and it’s love and it’s family. I’m really gonna miss being able to go back and put on the disc and watch it from the start again and have a new adventure each day. It’s gonna be a bit hard knowing there’s gonna be nothing new but at least now I have something that’s so amazing that I can go back to whenever I need. I don’t think it’s ever gonna get old. I’m gonna watch it till the day I die. I love it so much and I’m glad that I found it and coincidently found the SPN Family as well and I have found that community and it’s just something I’ve never experience before and it all because of just this one show. Most people would be like it’s just a tv show, it just franchise series just another CW show but it’s really not. It’s not. And it will never be just some mediocre show in my opinion.

The cast and the characters inspire me all the time and push me to keep going and to try harder and to do my best when a lot of time is just wanna sit down and do nothing, when I just don’t wanna try but they really brought something out in me. I found and discovered parts of myself with this show and it’s showed me so much and it’s helped me learn and helped me think. It was a journey not just for the boys, Sam and Dean and everyone with them along the way but me following them it felt much more than just a simple story a simple narrative it was immersive and expansive and there were so many things to learn that you had to look between the lines to see but I sought them out and it was so worth it. I’ll be sad to see it go in a way. Like it’s not going anywhere but like I said I’ll never be able to watch it again from the start like it’s new and have all the exiting moments and experiencing it like a first time all over again. I can’t get that again but i will always be here. Even if it feels like it’s going. It won’t. And I’ll see the actors online ever where because why wouldn’t I? I wanna keep up with them and how their going because even though they were just performing for a show they did so much for me, so why would I follow their careers and see how they’re going. I really really really love every single persons that was involved becuase they helped make this elegant and exquisite story. But it’s so much more than that and it’s hard to explain but I’m so grateful for it and I’m going to love it always and I’m so grateful that it came into my life and that it’s still around there’s still the community I can talk to and there’s I can talk to who will listen and understand me and it’s all thanks to this one show. It’s just crazy, but I thank everyone who was a part of it and I love the community. I love Supernatural and i love everyhting that came with and everythig. That will come to pass because of it.

(Accurate at time of writing)

#supernatural #dean winchester #supernatural fandom #spn #spn 15x18 #SPN reaction #spnfandom #15x20 carry on #15x20 #spn 15x20 #supernatural 15x20 #spoilers #reaction #AKF

[sweetkakashihatake47]

https://www.tumblr.com/sweetkakashihatake47/718638846176280576/ok-i-honestly-dont-know-whether-to-ship-ss-or

Hello!

I read your post in the link above and I have totally your same thoughts. I would like to share with you something I’m thinking about recently. I really wanted Kakashi and Sakura end up together, but unfortunately I think that Kishi always had the sasusaku pair in his mind. I think he made this decision from page 1, I have never had any hope actually for narusaku too. It was too obvious from the start that the pairs would be Sasusaku and Naruhina. I’m not a teenager so for someone like me who have been watching anime for long time that was easily predictable. What Kishi didn’t expect is that Kakashi became more popular then the others maybe, and many of us are more interested in him than Sasuke for example. I don’t hate Sasuke at all. I can say that I’m indifferent to that character, he never catches my interest. I don’t know why. But let’s suppose even for a moment Kishi had in mind the Kakasaku otp, don’t you think it is quite sad to give Kakashi just an unrequited love after all he have been through? That’s why even if I would like a lot that Kakashi loves Sakura, canonically I think this could not be possible. Maybe Kishi wanted just showing us Kakashi trying his best to put together Sasuke and Sakura in order to help them to realize their love, the one he could not realize with Rin.

Of course this will not stop me to ship them because I really love them together, and actually I prefer that Kakashi remains single at this point, their bond is so special and nobody can take away this from me. In Boruto they are trying to give Sasusaku a happy end with romantic scenes. It doesn’t work with me but as lots of fun ship them it is working commercially. And I really hope they won’t marry Kakashi off for fan service. What do you think about my thoughts? Thank you.

Hi Anon,

thanks for your honest thoughts about this subject! And I love to answer to your question.

1.))The way Kakashi in the end "roots" for Sasuke and Sakura ..I have the very same thoughts as you have. Kakashi is happy ..if others around him are happy! Many believe that Kakashi did not love Rin back then .when they were young. Well...he never says to her such things ...instead ..he just says to her ..that he does not deserve her ..because he turned her down for the mission to complete. I rather have come to the conclusion ..that he might have had feelings for her ...but dumped it ..when he came to know of Obitos feelings towards Rin. The circumstances at that time were not the best for romantic relationships. Him "rooting" for Sasuke and Sakura ...is a clear sign for me personally ..that he compensates through their relationship ...what he ultimaterly never could have experienced. Its something like the obsession with Icha Icha ..its a compensating mechanism ...that Kakashi shows there. Sometimes I even think of ..that Kakashi just knows ..that for himself he chooses the single life ...because its in some way easier. We all know that he hates to take responsibility.And that he took the seat for the 6th Hokage is all thanks to Obito ..and that at that time there was no other candidate who would fit into that role. With the Hokage seat he took a huge amount of responsiblities. That is the canon version of it. For me ...it was never that clear from the beginning..that SasuSaku would ever happen. Sasuke always has seen Sakura as the female comrade. He was willing to team up with her and Naruto ..but thats that! He was always fine with ...being alone! Of course we see that he is highly traumatized ..and misses his parents ...and his whole clan ..but that is no surprise either. He has always chosen to be ..alone. That is also canon. It feels as if SasuSaku is a big fanservice! It feels incredible forced. In Boruto Sasuke still chooses loneliness over his family.If it were for him alone ..I feel he would never have wanted to be ...in a relationship. Did Sakura gain what she wished for? No. Its the opposite. Mostly ...she was alone ..all this years. still ...she is left alone in Boruto. I see no particular character growth when it comes to her. That is also canon. For me persoanlly they are not considered husband and wife....because they never had the officlal marriage contract. For me ...SasuSaku is the irony pairing ..because in my opinion ...as it seems to me Sakura is confusing fear for love. Of course she likes Sasuke ..because he is cool ..and so on. But ...its her fear of loosing him again ..him leaving her ...that draws her to him ..and fear is simply not love. You rather clamp on someone ...if you are afraid of loosing them again ..and that is what she does. The irony is ..that she gets what she feared the most. And its rather ironic ..and I am not that convinced at all ..that Kishi actually had this in mind with them both. I find it interesting ..that the Naruto verse is so ....realistic. A young girl who is clinging to that young cool good looking boy ...and he is rejecting her ...again and again and she is rather forcing herself unto him. To me ...SasuSaku pairing is the irony pairing ...and I feel that Kishi rather had mixed feelings about them both. He could have made their pairing successful from the start ..but ..they both seem not happy at all ..in my opinion. Its rather as if ...Kishi ..did the fanservice ...but its not that ..over all happy life for them both. In many aspects ...Kakashi sees himself in Sasuke....but ...they have chosen different ways to cope with their traumatic past. While Sasuke still ...prefers to be alone ...Kakashi always has sought the closeness to friends and comerades. We can see a little 5 year old Kakashi ...who plays with his comerades ...Rin and Obito and others ...street soccer ...and so on. Yes ...after loosing so many important people in his life ...Kakashi has also chosen ..the lonely path.

#kakashihatake

[kirnet]

🔥 :D

DING DING you are the winner of my blue submarine no 6 rant!!

For context: blue sub no 6 is a 4 part OVA from the nineties about a post apocalyptic world that was intentionally flooded by an evil scientist, leaving the vast majority of humanity dead and the rest living the best they can on the water. It kind of sucks? I am now obsessed with it. No one will know what the fuck I’m talking about.

Because there is only this OVA and an untranslated manga from 1967 that I can’t track down, another 5 part manga from the 90s that i dont think was translated either, and two untranslated video games, I am forced to scrounge the bottom of the barrel from fucking reddit for any sort of discussion. The following is my response to those overwhelmingly negative reactions.

All of the characters get criticized as shallow, which to some degree I can agree with because it is a short series (about 2 hours) with a lot of characters, but I think a lot of it is just a blatant refusal to engage with them in any meaningful way. Hayami isn’t a jaded asshole just bc his friend died, he’s a jaded asshole bc his trigger happy impulses directly led to his friend’s death! Because he’s actually a super sensitive and compassionate man as shown in the series even when he doesn’t want to be!! He’s an addict who has to self medicate to ease the pain because he cares SO MUCH. And a lot of blue sub’s characterization and world building is subtle, not a lot is really told to you. It has these beautiful moments of silence that just show you character and worldbuilding, which people hate bc I guess it confuses them? Did they pay attention?? And yes a lot of the other characters dont really get a lot of depth, but they still feel like real people in the little moments you get with them. It feels like a fleshed out world with real dynamics and real people that you were just dropped in the middle of, which many won’t like, but I think its better than spoonfeeding you every bit of information.

People also shit on the ending, which I get it is actually not an ending. It’s a very open ended end with really no conclusion. I think that fits with the uncertainty of humanity going forward in this world. There’s also a lot of criticism of the villain, who unfortunately is the the weakest part of the show when he should be the strongest, but I think a lot of this is bc of the above reasons. He’s an ecofascist who thinks that there were too many people on earth so he sped up global warming and flooded the majority of the world. Idk, maybe that hits closer to home now than it did in the 90s, but real communities are threatened by the sea and there are very real perpetrators of climate violence. His motivation is weak and kind of non existent- which is a fault of the story, but also like. what actual reason is there to justify something like this other than he was a rich powerful guy who could? Again, maybe it’s just because I’m looking at it in a very modern lens and reading too much into it (I surely am), but there’s a reason it doesn’t really bother me.

I’m gonna stop here before I explode. I dont think i can in good conscience really recommend it to anyone? but if someone does watch please tell me please

#SOZRRY OWEN ILY #I HAD TO GET ALL THIS OUT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME #ask #impossible-rat-babies

[noa-ciharu]

Cherry Blossom symbolism in TB/X

Cherry blossom are most prominent symbolism in Tokyo Babylon and are present in X to some degree as well. Most clear-cut meaning behind it would be darker side of love and feeling entrapped by obsessive love that became ‘tainted’, but there’s perhaps more to it than just corrupted symbolism of love. Before I begin with TB/X, let’s briefly look at what cherry blossom symbolizes in general.

General symbolism of cherry blossom:

At its core, cherry blossom represent spring and time renewal. Since they’re both ever-present (seen every year) and temporary (but only during two weeks in April), cherry blossom represent fleeting nature of human life; even if a beautiful sight, it cannot last as cherry blossom die after just two weeks. Its fleeting nature is tied to Buddhist themes of life circles, mindfulness and living in the present. Hanami (“flower watching") is an annual celebration of Sakura and springtime. People usual gather with family and friends underneath cherry blossom trees, to enjoy delicious drinks and food. Instead of becoming intoxicated and overwhelmed by something that cannot last, point is to enjoy its temporary nature and be locked inside a moment rather than past or future.

Also as its seen during spring, sakura blossom represents healing and fresh start, especially since school year in Japan starts in April. Cherry blossoms are inextricably linked to their blooming, rather than their fruit - after all, the Japanese cherry blossom meaning, ‘saku’ from ‘sakura’ translates as ‘to bloom’. One of meanings it also carries are femininity, beauty, sexuality and (romantic) love.

During feudal Japan, cherry blossom was a metaphor for life of a samurais, who lived by bushido(“the way of a warrior”). It was part of their duty not only follow strict moral code and discipline, but also accept inevitability of their death if needed, without a fear. A fallen flower petal symbolizes shortness of their lives as it flutters to the ground. In that way, cherry blossom represents both life and death, as one cannot exist without other.

Sakura emblems also adorned the planes of kamikaze pilots during World War II (“die like beautiful falling cherry petals for the emperor”). Burning of bodies in Ueno park beneath cherry trees inspired Sakaguchi Ango to write a short “In a Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom”. I’m mentioning that novella here, because just like TB/X, it deviates from standard meaning behind sakura as symbol of pure love and beauty of temporary life, instead corrupts the thematic and shows its darker side.

Sakura symbolism in In a Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom:

I won’t retell the story here, but here’s a link to brief summary if anyone’s interested. Now, there are many interpretations to the story and its metaphorical meaning, especially since whole story is bizarre to say the least, as well as ambiguous and allegorical. One of them is that sakura blossom in this story represents infinite emptiness of human life. In beginning, main character is terrified of being beneath forest full of sakura in full bloom; he mentions how dreadful feeling of utter vacancy when beneath them in the forest, especially when alone. (“Underneath the blossom, wind wouldn’t blow but he still seem to hear it hollowing. There was no wind, no sound of anything, just himself and his footsteps wrapped in a cold, silent wind that never moved” – feeling of life being meaningless due to unchanging nature and routine). Also he couldn’t understand the secret of cherry blossom, why it terrified him so much. He’s terrified of his own fear and promises himself he’d deal with it every year yet fails to address said fear every year.

Cherry blossom is marked by two prominent symbolism: beauty and emptiness due to its temporary nature. It’s also a metaphor for woman (one of main character’s wives) in this story: she’s an embodiment of both ethereal beauty and infinite emptiness. And that emptiness is tied to sense of loneliness ("Even now, no one knows that secret of the cherry forest in full bloom. Perhaps it was loneliness"). Women is both beautiful and monstrous; her hobby is playing with dead heads for example. Bandit (main character) has monstrosity of his own, he kills for own benefit, including pleasing the woman with new heads to play with. In that way they maintain an illusion of a happy lifestyle. The loneliness for the bandit and woman is presented with their infrequent interactions, not understanding one another, being of use to one another solely, and how he feels solitude in the capital city and she in mountains. There’s no place where both can be happy.

She invited emptiness to his life by making him go to capital (Kyoto). He can’t stand the endless repetition of day and night, endless circle of light and darkness; and it suffocated him. (“By killing her, he could stop the endless repetition of light and darkness. But there would be a hole in his heart. The image of the bird would have flown away from his chest and disappeared. Is she me? He wondered. Was I the bird that flew straight across the sky without end? If I kill her, will I be killing myself too?”- she resembles cherry blossom and its repetitive nature; being stuck in a circle without a meaning where nothing ends nor nothing begins because you’re unable to let go of said circle that’s causing emptiness in the first place) She is epitome of beauty and that’s what captivated him in the first place. But she’s surrounded by death and infinite emptiness (“woman’s desire was endless, so now he was bored with that, too. Her desire was like bird flying straight across the sky with no end in sight; flying on and on without a rest, never tiring, slicing cleanly through the wind”). But just like swift beauty of cherry blossom, she couldn’t be eternal presence to his life either.

When underneath the cherry blossom, bandit mistakes her for a demon and chokes her to death. Only after he’s done he realized she was still the same girl, along with fact that he no longer feared cherry blossom (emptiness of swift beauty of human life), because he became that emptiness himself. Whole scene is described by utter sense of vacancy and emptiness. He realizes there actually, was no secret to cherry blossom at all – it is empty. And that’s only tied to ending where not only woman’s body, but bandit himself vanish in form of sakura petals – they literally became “emptiness”.

Now, as you can tell, this story is, from plot perspective, not even close to Tokyo Babylon or X, however they might share some metaphors and symbolism, especially regarding cherry blossom and loneliness. So now onto Tokyo Babylon.

Tokyo Babylon:

Let’s go through manga chronologically:

In vol1, Subaru recalls bits of his first meeting with Seishirou when he asks Subaru if he knows how cherry blossom became pink.

Again, from the very start Tokyo Babylon diverges from standard meaning of cherry blossom as love and new beginnings often seen in today’s fiction; instead adds rather morbid explanation to their existence (even if metaphorical). Nonetheless, like I’ve mentioned before, sakura can represent end of life cycles, meaning death. Seishirou is embodiment of both seductive beauty (as in presenting enchanting lifestyle and comfort/understanding and love Subaru needed) and uncaring invariant emptiness of Tokyo as big city, as well as death. He is a Sakurazukamori (“burial mound guardian of cherry blossom”; one who “guards” death), an assassin who brings death to others. Also in X’s tarot deck he is representative of Death major arcana. In that way, shadow side to meaning behind cherry blossom suits him rather well. He’s a constant, unchanging and unmoving – just like repetitive nature of sakura which blooms every year. But as Seishirou said, cherry blossom became ‘tainted’ due to ‘blood’, so in that way, he’s already ‘tainted’ by the time we first see him in manga. He already has ‘emptiness’ within him, which he’s most likely unaware of on conscious level.

And that’s where subconsciousness kicks in – why make Bet in the first place if not to fill that ‘emptiness’ due to lack of human connections? In this case emotions towards others. Just like Death itself, Seishirou doesn’t discriminate (Subaru doesn’t either but in completely different way); it doesn’t matter who he kills, it’s all the same to him; people have no worth to him (don’t mean anything to him personally) and are same as objects in his eyes. But it is in human nature to be social creatures and no matter how early he learned to not relay on others for anything, including fulfillment of emotional needs as mere existence of them would be a weakness (love is equivalent to weakness in his eyes), deeply embedded wish for connection does exist – thus the Bet.

But why Subaru exactly, especially since he caught Seishirou mid-kill and should be removed as a witness. It’s because of his kindness and ‘pure’ nature. Subaru’s first question to Seishirou’s morbid quotes was if that person was in pain. Keep Subaru’s job as omnyoji in mind, he’s not asking about physical pain most likely (as person is dead physically), but emotional one, something Subaru saw in ghosts/tormented souls on daily basis. If someone as pure as Subaru couldn’t accept Seishirou as ‘inhuman’ as he is, then no one could.

Later in same chapter, Subaru, Hokuto and Seishirou go to Ueno park. Only one tree there is blooming out of season and it attracts Subaru’s attention, just like on the day he and Seishirou first met.

Beside obvious flashbacks and foreshadowing, what’s prominent here are Subaru’s subtle fear and confusion. Which brings me to another meaning behind cherry blossom in TB/X – illusions, fear and confusion about what is real and what isn’t. It’s similar to meaning behind tarot Moon major arcana (on top of Death on): fear, deception, anxiety, illusion, intuition, uncertainty, confusion, complexity, secrets, subconsciousness as well as many more. Plus, Seishirou himself is an illusionist. He wavers rather complex illusions with magic, even if sometimes for dramatization purposes. Sometimes even readers are left in the dark whether something is an illusion or not, such as sakura tree during his and Subaru’s first meeting (after closer inspection, I came to conscious tree was his (unnecessary) illusion). Also in X disappears in form of sakura petals; and uses sakura based spells for killing rather than healing as main traditional symbolism behind sakura blossom.

Here, for example, how Seishirou uses cherry blossom based spells for killing:

It’s both beautiful and macabre sight; still, compared to his usual stab through chest method of killing, far less morbid and gore. Later on, Seishriou said how those who have extraordinary powers either become overconfident (as Kumiko-sensei, woman he killed) and deem themselves untouchable, or too timid (like Subaru) and become a martyr (get used, in Seishirou’s mind). No one can escape death, it’s inevitable part of life. No one should consider themselves ‘special’ enough to think tragedy can’t strike them as well because they believe they’re ‘above’ other somehow. This thematic is seen in xxxholic too, especially in story of monkey paw when woman was first overconfident in her ability to resist temptation, then deemed herself as special and believed nothing bad would happen to her, where monkey paw was impartial and indifferent – it fulfilled wishes whichever way it saw fit, uncaring for consequences. Much like role of Sakurazukamori in TB/X, where Seishirou killed his targets unbiasedly, everyone was the same to him. Death comes for everyone, even Death itself.

Which brings me to self-presenting question: does Seishirou deem himself special enough to avoid death? I believe no. Let’s look briefly at scene where he killed his mother, previous Sakurazukamori. It’s in Sakurazuka’s residence main garden which is in full bloom even in winter; since cherry blossom symbolize beginnings and endings of a circle, it’s fitting that both old Sakurazukamori dies and new is ‘born’ inside such garden that is always in full bloom (there’d always be new circle). In X vol16, Subaru inherits role of Sakurazukamori inside this very garden.

First thing first, there is something unnatural about Setsuka. Mainly about her teen-like appearance when she should be at least in late twenties (since Seishirou is fifteen in this scene). Along with behavior, she had locks on doors and bars on windows to keep her in (I’m not 100% sure on this one if it’s canon or fanon, if someone can confirm either I’d be grateful). She too, was ethereally beautiful and surrounded by death until her fleeting life came to an end – metaphorically cherry blossom petal. Also this is where meaning of cherry blossom as darker side of love comes into play – it’s never explicitly confirmed if their relationship was incestious, but given how Clamp writes in subtle clues and implications, it’s safe to assume it was. They behave more like pair of lovers than mother and son – just serves as another point of how ‘deranged’ their family line was and how pure concept such as love was ‘tainted’ and corrupted into something unnatural and wrapped. Also it’s interesting that even back then Seishirou tried to pretend to love. Why so, there might be few hypothesis but since there’s little to no canon material of his past for me to work on, I won’t be going into that, or his early psychological development.

And finally – when Setsuka told him he’d get killed by one he loves the most, Seishirou didn’t deny he’d be killed, as any sane person would do, but that he’d ever love someone. It’s interesting how Clamp gave symbolism that’s mostly associated with love and gave it to character that believes he’s incapable of love. Also, I doubt it’s a rule for Sakurazukamori to get killed but one they love the most since Seishirou wouldn’t be surprised by her words then; also it’d make little sense practically observing, especially if Sakurazukamori is killed by someone outside their clan who potentially is magically illiterate (they can’t become a successor). So my theory is that meaning is metaphorical and more like this:

Cherry blossom both represents emptiness as a lack of meaning to fleeting nature of human life at one end, and beauty of its present moment which leads to love on other end. As having a connection to someone translates to having sense of identity in Clamp works and sense of identity translates to having wishes, which further lead to serving as a meaning in life (for example Kamui after Kotori’s death: his attachment, even if closer to obsession, to Fuuma along with wishes connected to Fuuma gave him meaning to return to reality from his escapism), said love could bring a meaning to emptiness behind cherry blossom. So it’s cognitive dissonance: two conflicting wishes coexist: to have and not to have a connection (life with a meaning or without). Still, someone who is unused to feelings, especially strong emotions, just wouldn’t know how to deal with intensity of love; it’d overwhelm them and they’d reflexively seek way out of those emotions. To remain on status quo emotionally and psychologically, so to speak. Especially someone who views emotions as weaknesses, like Seishirou does; he deems himself untouchable (but he did get stabbed in the eye due to impulse to protect Subaru), his whole mindset would have to change in order for him to accept he’s capable of emotions, let alone love someone. It’s a death sentence to him. So in allegorical way, loving someone kills Sakurazukamoris as result of love clashing with their unfeeling way of living they’ve known all their life – inner conflict that’s only possible to go out through via ego death, slow and agonizing mental shift of life and self stances as a whole; of course Sakurazukamori’s would rather choose literal death over that.

Back to Tokyo Babylon timeline. Seishirou is an illusionist in allegorical sense too. Bet itself first and foremost, along with his pretending. He’s a mystery, both to Subaru and readers as vast majority of things regarding Seishirou are left in the dark. On same note, Seishirou thinks he understands himself but does so to extremely low degree as he’s willing to accept only parts of himself which fit in with his image of self (cruel, unfeeling and distant); anything else Seishirou dismisses as pretense, when line between his vet persona and real self does blur. So in that manner, he’s a mystery to himself too.

Later on in vol4, Subaru meets with his grandmother and she tells him about fortune reading she had on him.

Now, the most obvious explanation would be that she’s begging Subaru not to fall in love with Sakurazukamori but:

Subaru’s grandmother doesn’t know about Seishirou. Nonetheless, metaphorical meaning could be not to fall in love with over-top love, kindness and tenderness hes given as they’re nothing but an illusion. Similarly, Seishirou represents this beautiful, larger than life Tokyo that is actually empty at its core. Subaru loved both but both were unable to love him in return; he couldn’t change their unfeeling, disconnected and unwavering nature but he became ‘empty’ like them instead.

Even if Subaru knew about Seishirou (or even doubted his nature on conscious level), there’s nothing he could have done to stop the Bet countdown (except killing Seishirou, something I doubt Subaru in TB is emotionally and mentally capable of). Because, even if Subaru actively had suspicion about Seishirou and told him to leave on very first day of Bet (and whole grooming part didn’t happen), Seishirou would return exactly year later and kill Subaru. So there’s no ‘escape from death’ (ego death in canon timeline), so to speak. Much like fleeting life of sakura petal, Subaru is caught in a limited timeline of one year, where he has to ‘die’ in the end; either via literal death or ego death as he has no chance of walking out of Bet with same mindset as he had prior, not without becoming aware of ‘tainted’ nature of humanity on his own skin.

So more logical explanation would be to not be deceived by sakura, which only ties back to its symbolism as illusion and seductive beauty that’s actually empty as it offers nothing in return but temporary ‘love’. She knows about Sakurazukamori inverted pentagrams on Subaru’s hands, she knows he is marked for death and it’s only a matter of time before he comes and takes what’s ‘his’. But she’s keeping Subaru in the dark and giving him illusion of safety when he’s by no means safe. In grand picture, would it have been better if Subaru was aware of the marks or not, that’s open to question since there’s no clear-cut answer.

Next time sakura blossom became significant are during Bet end scene. 

Seishirou wavered an illusion in form of utter blackness with sole sakura tree in the middle – breathtaking sight, but indisputably speaks of emptiness. He could have created any possible scenario with cherry blossom, from country side to your casual shojo manga scenes to grotesque forests full of dead trees where what little of blossom was left looks like blood (if we’re going for horror elements); but no, utter blackness instead as symbol of both subconscious vacancy in his life and very conscious soon-to-be emptiness in Subaru’s. Also it’s interesting that Seishirou is shattering Subaru’s illusion of previous year inside an illusion; perhaps to serve a point that Bet year was like a cherry blossom: alluringly beautiful love that couldn’t last as its permanence and existence were nothing but an illusion. On top of that, right before opening door to Seishirou’s hospital room, Subaru realized he’s in love. In that way sakura tree stands as taunting reminder of shadow side of love and pain he’s undergoing at the moment due to love; corruption of thematic of romance where it’s shown as ‘tainted’ and tragic.

Let’s look briefly how Subaru’s and Seishirou’s first meeting went, more precisely how Subaru found his way to Seishirou’s illusionary sakura tree.

Glass shattering in first page indicates illusion of sense of safety/ innocence shattering - Subaru remembers their first meeting and corpse he saw. It’s interesting that Clamp hasn’t offered any explanation for Subaru wandering around like that, which is out of character for him as he’s disciplined and obedient. It’s more of a ‘it was fate’ thing. Subaru sensed “tree harbored the grudges and hatred of many”, but thought it was beautiful nonetheless. Then he tried to remedy those grudges but to no avail, there was nothing Subaru could have done. It’s an allegory to future Bet year – Subaru, with his pure, selfless and kind nature implicitly tried to remedy years and years of distant, inhuman and uncaring lifestyle of Sakurazukamori by making him feel something, but task was deemed fruitless from the very start as Subaru just can’t ‘change’ corruption and unfeelingness of both Seishirou and Tokyo as a whole.

Here, sakura symbolizes just what Seishirou said: becoming tainted.

But in which way? Again, dualistic symbolism: awareness of one’s emptiness and loneliness on one end, and awareness of (unacceptable) love on other. Subaru became aware of both in one-go. Tainted and ego-dystonic love is self-explainatory, loneliness is cause by Hokuto’s death and Seishirou’s abandonment, on top of proclaiming Subaru as worthless and ‘no different that object’. But what about Seishirou then? It might be that just that called Subaru to him and that sakura tree in the first place: his own unrealized loneliness. Now, keep in mind scenes like Subaru asking what’s the point of love/like and Seishirou replying with “It’s because we’re lonely. If we have feeling of liking then we can dream. There’s no person strong that he can live without dreams” (again, ties liking/loving to both wishing and weakness); or ending quote “maybe all people that do bad things are just lonely” which is interesting choice to end manga with since it’s not universally true nor justifies any of Seishirou’s actions. Still, in X after his death, Kamui says that Seishirou felt no attachment to life while living and that he might have found happiness in death – just like sakura symbolizes loneliness in story mentioned before, it might symbolize loneliness as result of emptiness in life. Loneliness is one of main thematic in Tokyo Babylon, not just in Subaru’s case but in all tragedies he was met before having his own; Subaru’s tragedy is inseparable from narrative as a whole since it drives point that Subaru’s tragedy is “just another tragedy in Tokyo”.

Seishirou has his talk about betrayal, how he’s Sakurazukamori and unfeeling, how Subaru, despite Seishirou’s ‘best efforts’ to love him, lost the bet; then he beats Subaru up, breaks his arm and kicks him to sakura tree where we get this scene:

Seishirou is puzzled why Subaru won’t fight back as he doesn’t realize Subaru loves him. That became a pattern later on as Seishirou never realized in which way he mattered to Subaru. Here meaning behind cherry blossom topple one on another:

 Tainted and broken love; self-explainatory. After this scene and period of denial Subaru goes through after Hokuto’s death (which duration is unknown; it’s unclear whether he wanted to get killed by Seishirou for a year or two, or 8-9 years) and realizes he still wants Seishirou, said love turns into obsession and something that haunts Subaru within his mind.

Similarly: being tainted mentally and emotionally by realization whole year of your life was a lie; these types of psychological betrayal are extremely damaging as victim cannot tell what was real and what wasn’t; also blames themselves for not seeing the warning signs. Also Subaru’s perception of world and people as a whole is being tainted. To put it briefly - everything he thought he knew, every stance about life and love in general he had would be brought it question as he’d be forced to go through ego death and change vast majority of those. And in that manner also:

Death; both literal as Seishirou is about to kill Subaru (or so Subaru thinks at least), and metaphorical end to life Subaru knew. Also Sakurazukamori himself represents death as explained before.

Emptiness and worthlessness Subaru feels by Seishirou’s betrayal and his talk how Subaru is like an object to him. Subaru already has issues with self-worth but after this scene in crumbled into negative levels. He internalized Seishioru’s words how people have no worth to him and truly sees himself as nothing better than the object.

For the first time: being chained by something outside own control. Subaru is literally trapped by cherry blossom and its branches and for the first time aware of how chained down he was from the very first time he met Seishirou seven years ago. Later on in TB and mainly X, Subaru would feel imprisoned by cherry blossom as he’s unable to let Seishirou go, whether it’s for revenge plan or to get killed by him.

There’s also a reason why Subaru doesn’t even try to fight back and whole analysis could be written about deep rooted corruption, loneliness and tragedy of no one caring for tragedy of people in big cities as it’s a part of ‘daily life’ (“Why are you so sad? Tragedies like this happen every day in Tokyo”), but main point here is cherry blossom and its meanings so I’ll skip those. Subaru’s grandmother sends her shikigami and shatters Seishirou’s illusion at high cost (her mobility); that illusion shattering moment might also be a metaphor for Subaru’s illusion of reality shattering (happened the moment he stepped into hospital room however). Still, there are theories that Seishirou subconsciously wanted Subaru to get rescued since he postponed killing Subaru for so long (when all other victims were killed swiftly). So in that way, it might be that illusion he was presenting to himself was shattered too. Still, it would imply Seishirou becoming aware he might not see Subaru in same ‘object way’ as others and I doubt it happened during TB timeline so I’m not certain that’s another meaning behind illusion shattering. Howbeit, Bet year as illusion was over, and that’s probably main meaning behind that glass/illusion shattering moment.

Subaru goes into catatonia for a month and wakes up when he sees Hokuto was killed. One of things Subaru saw in that moment was this:

Both of them are disappear in form of sakura petals, just like in the ending of story mentioned above. Both of them literally disappear from Subaru’s life in one-go and moment he woke up from catatonia marks the beginning of emptiness and loneliness he’ll feel for rest of his life. Also marks the beginning of time he’ll feel haunted by cherry blossom: reflection on past, feeling of being restrained and unable to prevent tragedies from happening (in one dream Subaru was restrained by cherry branches and couldn’t prevent Hokuto from seeking Seishirou), love he feels and self-reproach that gets evoked as result of love deemed ‘sick’, obsession, having no meaning to life and so on.

Since it takes place in TB timeline (even if revealed in X vol16), let’s take a look on Hokuto’s death scene as there’s a sakura tree.

What’s interesting is that it parallels both Bet end scene and Subaru’s and Seishirou’s first meeting scene; imagery of illusion Seishirou wavered is the same: sole sakura true in infinite empty dark space. In a way, Subaru is only connection Seishirou had, thus only connection to little bits of humanity he possessed. By killing Subaru for real, he’d kill what little connection he had during his whole life; then he’d know true emptiness and loneliness as extreme situation would probably trigger some degree of self-awareness (like when Subaru lost an eye in X). So, in a way, Seishrou is killing ‘image of Subaru’ (as he and Hokuto are identical twins) while Subaru actually remains alive. Perhaps that is one of reasons why illusions look the same, as well as inviting vacancy into Subaru’s life by killing only person who genuinely understood him and loved him more than anything else.

Now, it’s hard to tell what exactly made Hokuto believe this was the only way to snap Subaru out of catatonia and sort of keep him physically safe. But one thing is for certain - she did it out of love. Perhaps it was also because she saw how easily Subaru disregarded his own life and concluded he’d gladly let Seishirou kill him (”You truly think it doesn’t matter if you die. That’s why i wanted you to become devoted to something” - Hokuto in vol7). Also, she’s keeping her promise to ‘kill Seishirou’ if he ever hurt Subaru and bolting Subaru awake from his escapism in one go. Hokuto is aware her wish to keep Subaru safe is hypocritical given how she just gave up her life for him. After she dies, her body dissolves in sakura petals as spell she cast onto Seishirou takes hold. It’s possible this isn’t solely allegorical, perhaps her physical form really doesn’t exist anywhere (as Kakyou indicated in X). However allegorical meaning could indicate just that - vacancy her death left in Subaru’s (and Kakyou’s) life. On top of that, sakura indicates illusions in TB/X, just like her wish for Seishirou and Subaru to live happily together was nothing but a (hopeful) illusion she gambled her life on.

Yet, even if Seishirou killed Hokuto during this scene, in a way it felt like she had upper hand over him; he certainly looked unnerved or even wary of her. Even if Seishirou was aware Hokuto had hidden agenda, he killed her anyway (curiosity killed the cat perhaps? Maybe he likes to play with fire just or wanted to kill her for reasons mentioned above, ones subconsciously related to Subaru); rather swiftly actually, unlike how he extended things when planning to kill Subaru. Perhaps sakura tree is present because it marks an ending/death of life period to all three – Hokuto died, Subaru as a person that he was ‘died’ as well in same breath and Seishirou turned blind eye to Subaru’s presence all until year of 1999. Also this is first scene he’s seen with a blind eye, rather than bandages – marks a beginning of era where Seishirou is subconsciously forcing himself to ‘turn blind eye to reason behind his blind eye’, so to say.

Right after stabbing, Hokuto begins explaining what sort of spell she will cast in moment her heart stops, how she wants both Subaru and Seishirou to live, how Subaru saw him as special, how she needs Seishirou to trust her that spell actually wouldn’t work (to prevent him from even thinking about trying to activate the spell as its efficiency would be like Schrodinger’s cat pretty much) – and look at Seishirou’s face during all of that. He’s serious and thrown of loop; he doesn’t understand the situation and why Hokuto is doing all of that even one bit (that’s what I meant by upper hand). And then she says this:

In a way, this is mirroring to Setsuka’s death scene when she told him he’s capable of love/will love someone. Seishirou is at one end of spectrum of sakura’s meaning, one where death and meaningless to human life are. Love is unacceptable to person that he is; love and emotions are deeply down in his mind internalized as weaknesses and ego-dystonic. It’s a paradox: subconscious internalized loneliness as result of lack of connection but mental barriers aren’t allowing him to consciously seek said connections. Still, one way or another, somewhere deep down Seishriou was unnerved/surprised by Hokuto’s words otherwise he wouldn’t make brief himself-unlike expression like that. Perhaps it was at exactly that moment that he decided to stop keeping eye on Subaru from afar and abandon him for real. All until fate had them meet again in 1999.

X:

Now, in X cherry blossom symbolism isn’t exclusive to Subaru, Seishirou or their tainted relationship. During first volume, cherry blossom is seen on campus grounds during some scenes between Kamui and Kotori (as well one between Kamui and Fuuma). This is mostly to give illusion of ‘normality’ to manga as cherry blossom is common symbolism in shojo manga; and even if X is shojo manga, it’is anything but regular high school romance drama. Since it’s first volume and sakuras can indicate beginning of a circle, symbolism is fitting. Also, Kotori herself has nature symbolism attached to her, mostly little birds, but also trees. Allegory to her innocent, unsophisticated, free but also fragile nature. Sometimes when a character is confused regarding something or believes in a lie/illusion, cherry blossom could be seen as backgrounds in panels. Nataku himself sometimes has flowers/sakura symbolism attached to him for these reasons.

Here, from vol1. Gives illusion of regular shojo manga where cherry blossom indicates start of something ‘pure’, ‘innocent’ and ‘beautiful’, often either romance or close non-romantic connections.

Later in vol4/vol5, Kotori and Kamui meet underneath the tree accidentally; since it’s April in manga timeline, it’s very likely that tree is in full bloom. Both Kamui’s and Kotori’s flashback involves tree somehow – potential growth of a relationship and both of them as individuals. Nonetheless, prior to that moment in manga, Kamui was worried if he should break his connection to Kotori (and Fuuma) in misguided attempt to protect them. After all, he saw a future in which Kotori will die (bond being broken again, this time literally via death). Their little romantic/emotional moment was interrupted by no other than being attacked by Sakurazukamori himself. In a way, light side of cherry blossom (love and new beginnings) was met with its shadow (illusions and death). I wouldn’t say Kamui’s illusion of safety was shattered because he never had such illusion in the first place; more like that encounter served as an upstep for Kamui to realize he wants to protect Monou siblings. Seishirou wavers an illusion, fights until Fuuma interrupts them, then once he senses he might no longer have upper ground, disappears in form of sakura petals; this type of fighting became a pattern to him. This is the last time sakura blossom is shown in connotation of Kotori and Kamui.

Still, what’s interesting is that sakura isn’t show as a symbol of connection between Kamui and ‘Fuuma’ (as parallels are drawn between them and relationship between Subaru and Seishirou; is seen one or twice between Kamui and Fuuma previous to transformation but that’s for identical reasons as with Kotori), but Kotori and Kamui, who have very little in common with Subaru and Seishirou, if anything at all. However in this connotation, cherry blossom serves as metaphor for love and connection that cannot last in reality because it’s on borrowed time. It’s beautiful and intoxicating sight, but swift in duration as its permanence is nothing but an illusion one want to maintain. In case of Kotori and Kamui, it’s because of ‘fate’ (X plot, more or less), that connection between them was cut short too swiftly. Her death was foreshadowed from very beginning and it’s debatable if it could have been avoided; especially since Hinoto said she would have died regardless of side Kamui chose.

Love between the couldn’t last and new beginning was interrupted by uncaring and impartial nature of death that can suddenly come for anyone, leaving nothing but emptiness behind; so those few moments they spent since Kamui’s return to Tokyo were nothing but an illusion built on borrowed time. In case of Seishirou and Subaru, if we were to follow meaning of cherry blossom as “love and connection that cannot last”, then it’d be an indicator to Bet year. Beautiful memories tainted in Subaru’s eyes as they were nothing but a lie. Seishirou pretended for a whole year to be someone who he’s not and that act has it expiration date.

In Seishirou’s case, cherry blossom in X represent his role as Sakurazukamori; as grim ripper pretty much. Especially since sakura based spells are part of his magic and abilities. Sakura was always part of his symbolism for dozens of reasons mentioned above. However, part of that symbolism is passed onto Subaru as well. They’re usually shown when Subaru is reminded about Seishirou or talks about him. Meanings pile on one another:

Longing/obsessive love which causes mental torment as it’s deemed forbidden. In both images Subaru has rather conflicting expression (lovesickness) when thinking about Seishirou. Cog in second represent fate and domino effect where chain reaction can’t be avoided - fate made them meet again. Meaning behind cherry blossom as romantic love is being corrupted and ends up showing its darker side where not only love is source of self-resentment, guilt and partly suicide wish, but also continues its existence past its due date (cherry blossom is temporary, but one can ended up obsessing over its beauty even after it stopped existing); Subaru has no clear-cut reason for why he still loves Seishirou after everything. However, he isn’t longing for an illusion of vet persona, but for metaphor of death himself; after all, when Subaru saw Seishirou’s image in Kamui, it wasn’t his vet persona but how he looks in X. And yes, it is possible for someone to see someone who ‘isn’t real’ in Kamui, Nataku did so (saw Kazuiki’s father, but with symbolic of cherry blossom on same page, indicating it’s nothing but an illusion). As it’s obsession and obviously toxic love, reasons are probably pathological, starting with Subaru’s loneliness and excruciatingly low self-worth.

Loneliness and emptiness. Image of Hokuto vanishing explains it all (as well as Seishirou using illusionary spell to disappear in form of sakura petals; he first disappeared from Subaru’s life by abandoning and betraying him, then later when he committed suicide-murder). Also scene in hospital when Yuzuriha gives Subaru a bunny and says “so you won’t feel lonely” brings Seishirou to his mind. I doubt Subaru is projecting loneliness onto Seishirou since he sees him as untouchable and indifferent, certainly not to be bothered by something human as emotions, let alone loneliness. Instead Subaru thinks about his longing for connection with Seishirou (even if via his own death) and loneliness he feels as result of his absence. Still, it’s a cognitive dissonance: Subaru both longs for Seishirou but doesn’t actually want to ‘fix’ their relationship or be with him (not like it’s ‘fixable’ in the first place, but still); he isn’t like Kamui harboring an illusion about Fuuma, Subaru has no delusions about Seishirou’s cruel and emotionless nature. So Subaru is put in the spot where he wants something not only he could never have, but also wouldn’t permit himself to want in the first place. For very valid reasons. This scene sums up perfectly how he views himself because of his ‘love’:

In a way, no wonder he thinks death is only solution: he can both, in twisted sense, feel closeness to Seishirou and bring meaning to his existence (by Seishirou validating it as he’d see Subaru as worth of killing at least) and bring end to his mental torment and loneliness he felt for previous decade. Even if Subaru needs some help, perhaps in form of therapy so his self-destructive tendencies, prolonged maladaptive guilt and low self-worth could be addressed properly, Subaru is by no means ‘sick’ and other degrading things he calls himself with. Just like other X characters, he’s stuck in binary loop: he concluded he’s never get ‘better’, gave up on even trying as he thinks he doesn’t deserve it and thinks death is his only way to not be haunted by cherry blossom (’sickness of his heart’) anymore.

‘Being tainted’, especially becoming self-centered and selfish because of pursuing death wish (which would hurt other). Prior to this he told Yuzuriha he’s not worth of her affections/care. Keep in mind that Subaru had maladaptive behavior patterns in Tokyo Babylon, where his selflessness and self-sacrificial behavior, even if praise-worthy on first glance, were actually pathologic. With that mindset, Subaru is bound to think that anything less than being a martyr is ‘wrong’ of him. He views himself as selfish and while yes, being self-centered would be an improvement to him, Subaru’s selfishness mostly evolves around his longing for something that’s not good for him (smoking, self-destructive behavior, Seishirou himself, suicidal wish etc.). That’s perhaps why he views himself as ‘bad person’, when that’s obviously far from objective truth. He became ‘tainted’, in his eyes, he was changed by sakura and all that it represented.

Death (“only one who can make you happy” = only one who can make your wish come true + one you long for). Subaru is literally marked for death by Sakurazukamori, representative of Death itself. But Subaru believes he’s not worth even that, that Seishirou ‘turned blind eye on him’. This is also both a reminder of his own death wish, and all who had died at hand of Sakurazukamori, including Hokuto.

In similar manner, his own perceived worthlessness. Subaru literally put a parallel between his own life and sakura petal (as well as branch on the ground and many more degrading things). Sakura petals themselves, they are metaphorically empty if we go by meaningless of human life as it’s an endless circle of beginnings and endings where in grand picture nothing truly changes in a way that is significant. But practically too: they’re not fruit, to humans overall they serve no purposes beside aesthetic one. Still, one way or another, Subaru got his wish of ‘bringing meaning to his life by having Seishirou validate it’ granted: it’s a question without clear-cut answer if Seishirou loved Subaru or what his last words were, but all implicit clues in manga indicate that Seishirou didn’t see Subaru ‘like the rest’, at least not in the moment of his death.

Being allegorically trapped and unable to break free. This is an interesting one, because Subaru isn’t free physically, mentally nor emotionally. Subaru is only given an illusion of safety since he is marked; he never knows if he’d actually live another day or if it’s a day Seishirou decides to give him long-promised demise. So in case Subaru didn’t possess a death wish, that’d be a serious threat to his safety where only way out would be if he killed Seishirou instead. Emotionally because of love he still feels for murderer of his own sister, and resulting self-resentment. Even if Seishirou is excluded directly, there are many many Subaru’s self-destructive emotional responses and overall behavior that became maladaptive given their prolonged length, frequency and intensity. As a result of them, along with memories of tragedies and Bet year, Subaru is trapped within a mind cage, by his own mentality and emotions. This is not something he can break of easily or if at all, not without some serious help. So in that way, Subaru perhaps believes he was trapped by love/death/loneliness/in a circle where nothing begins nor nothing ends/ illusion of being ‘free’/Seishirou (all could allegorically mean cherry blossom), ever since that day – probably Bet end day, but could also mean day he and Seishirou met, since it is where Subaru’s tragedy is rooted in the first place.

In the end, Seishirou dies, and cycle comes to an end; just like sakura, Sakurazukamori can’t be ever lasting either. In moment of his death, an era of Subaru’s life came to an end too. Where it’s clear why Seishirou is chosen for Death arcana, let’s look at Subaru as Hanged Man major arcana for a minute:

At it’s core, Hanged Man is about being suspended in time, waiting for a change (Death being next card) to come. It’s about surrendering to period of introspection and pause as there is no swift break out of mindset one had (upside down represents change of perspective) – it’s about slow and often painful inner metamorphosis as opposed to Death card, which also means change, but swift and unexpected ones. Number 12 is often associated with time (12 months, 60 (5*12) minutes and seconds, 24 hour clock) – meaning being stuck in a loop where nothing new begins and nothing old ends. It also has traditional meaning of sacrifice, lack of direction and stagnation. All in all, fitting metaphor for how Subaru’s life was during nine year time skip.

Still, meaning doesn’t have to be so grim, that period of stagnation doesn’t have to be meaningless: in traditional tarot decks, most of the time Hanged Man is directly facing front and his hands are hidden from a view. Meaning he could manipulate and use time he’s forced into stagnation to his own benefit – new healthy perspective on something, gain in some way, enlightenment (halo around head) etc. Time of pause doesn’t need to be wasted. However in Subaru’s case, his hands are visibly tied behind his back – he has no control over situation, all that’s left for him is to wait for change to come for him as he can’t bring it himself (mental cage). Halo around head in his case also resembles enlightenment, but in from of self-awareness. During Tokyo Babylon Subaru is in denial about his own feelings and wishes, he’s literally living like personification of an angel sent from above. After Bet end, Subaru became aware of multiply things: death around him, personal tragedy, selfishness he possesses actually, loneliness and emptiness within his life, wished for revenge and later his own death. And of course, obsessive nature of his own ‘(love)sick’ heart – that’s all why he’s restrained by sakura branches and surrounded by sakura flowers.

Flowers and trees by themselves symbolize growth and healing, however meaning here is totally opposite one as Subaru cannot heal as long as he doesn’t give up his self-destructiveness and breaks free of both mental cage and sakura (obsession). In most tarot decks, Hanged Man’s legs are bent in 4 shape, but it’s a bit unclear if Subaru’s are too due to his shikifuku (those ceremonial robes indicated purity and innocence – he was ‘tainted’ by sakura around him). That position can indicate a cross (sacrifice), simply uncomfortable position he’s enduring or waiting for a change (in Japanese 四 (shi, “four”) has same reading as 死 (shi, “death”), so four is unlucky number in Asian culture; one of meanings is that Hanged Man represented Norse God Odin, who hung from the World Ash tree for nine days and nights and at the end his ordeal was granted the gift of prophecy). Black background on tarot cards often indicate something oppressive, all-consuming and constant as there’s no variance to blackness. It also can resemble being left in the dark regarding something, mysteries and the unknown - after all, even if Subaru gained an enlightenment about himself and own wishes and is able to understand most of people at their core, he never understood Seishirou nor what he meant to him (same could be said for Seishirou not understanding Subaru’s love/longing for him and nature of his wishes).

But Hanged Man can also indicate it is time to let go and break free when timing is right. Something Subaru is unable to do.

In vol17, Kamui visits Subaru in Sakurazukamori’s residence.

It is a birth of new Sakurazukamori, a beginning of new circle. Subaru isn’t forced to continue it, he is offered a way out, to simply not accept Seishirou’s eye and try to move on as his wish of getting killed is obviously never going to be realized. That’s also why Kamui pointed out Subaru would inherit role as Sakurazukamori if he accepted the eye – so Subaru would be fully responsible for his decision and their consequences. Instead Subaru just like he couldn’t break free of sakura’s hold while Seishirou was alive, can’t so after his death. Parallels to intensity of Subaru’s reactions here are a telltale:

Seishirou still matters to him, even if man is literally fish food below that bridge. Subaru can’t let go and instead wants to erase his own identity by crossing a final step – becoming a Sakurazukamori, something that was prominent part of Seishirou’s identity while he was alive. But just like Subaru is metaphorically chained by cherry blossom and it’s toxic love, in a way Seishirou was too since Subaru lost an eye. He had a wish that was connected to another person, who Seishirou could no longer deny doesn’t mean anything to him, that couldn’t come true. Both eye injury and potentially wanting Subaru as there is no ‘happy ending’ for two of them. Mental cages both of them have prevents them from that ‘happy ending’ in every alternative universe Clamp made so far. Also by intaking Seishirou’s eye, Subaru finally has something that connects him to Seishirou (as inverted pentagrams were gone after his death), something to keep him allegorically alive and going. If he dies, eye dies too. Very object-related way of attraction, especially in that one scene where Subaru hugs eye container closer to himself. Also, Kamui implicitly confirmed that Subaru did matter to Seishirou, even if in twisted and also object-related way; and that whatever Seishirou’s last words were, Subaru got a confirmation that they were the truth. Subaru got some sense of closure at last, but at incredibly high cost as he became the Sakurazukamori now, who is detached from World and humanity as a whole as no one is special in his personal world anymore.

Even if this isn’t X ending, it is metaphorical ending of Subaru’s story. He did appear in vol18 and vol18.5 later on, but he serves as a mirror to other characters (mainly Kamui, but Kamui as well) and someone to serve as a reminder where ‘losing sight of yourself’ leads to.

Now let’s look at moment that brought all this tragedy once again:

Panel of blood on white petals is direct illustration of “Cherry blossom started out white. White like snow. Do you know how cherry blossom petals turned pink? They drank the blood of corpse underneath the tree” quote. That is what happened to Subaru. He was pure as snow, but was tainted by ‘blood’, ever since he met Seishirou and cruel, unfeeling nature of Tokyo around him. Sakura petal and that quote are a metaphor for him and love that tainted him. In the end, much like protagonist in In a Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom, he became “loneliness itself”. But unlike him, Subaru disappeared only in name (his identity and wishes, which in Clamp works give sense of identity to characters) since he took on a role as Sakurazukamori.

Much like season of cherry blossom, yet another period of Subaru’s life came to an end (first time - when he met Seishirou; second time – when they met again seven years later; third time – Bet end and Hokuto’s death; fourth time – Seishirou’s death and himself taking on Sakurazukamori position). But it’s also marking point of new era of his life, one yet again filled with loneliness and emptiness. Subaru can’t break free of endless and meaningless circle of cherry blossom and all it represents. Even if cherry blossom season isn’t permanent, their presence every year is. They’re both permanent and temporary. Infinite emptiness of endless circle that cannot be broken.

#analysis #clamp #tokyo babylon #x/1999 #subaru sumeragi #seishiro sakurazuka #seisub #sort of #kamui shirou #kotori monou #kokam #sort of? #hokuto sumeragi #setsuka sakurazuka

[tnmeem]

Marvel Sidelined Doctor Strange In His Own Movie

When I watched this movie at the theatres, I was completely entranced. Despite the fact that I do not enjoy horror or gore, it did not affect my enjoyment of the movie at all. The change in aesthetic and shift in genre from what Marvel generally produces also did not faze me. After watching the TV shows of phase 4, I was used to changes in genre, tone and theme. So I was shocked when I heard that many fans did not enjoy the movie.

But after marinating on it for a day, I think I understand why.

Marvel’s Changes In Genre, Tone and Aesthetic

Up until phase 4, Guardians of The Galaxy and Thor: Ragnorak have been the biggest deviations in genre for the MCU. Marvel has built its fanbase by creating conventional superhero movies so it’s no surprise that many fans are frustrated by the sudden changes in genre, tone and aesthetic. I’m sure that even just a few years ago, no one would have expected Marvel to release a sitcom. And so it’s perfectly valid to feel hesitant to accept change.

Marvel is evolving, whether fans want it or not. Phase 4 of the MCU is by far its most diverse collection of stories present (both in terms of the characters and the range of genres). In order to remain an MCU fan, one must let go of preconceived ideas of what a superhero should be.

I think the biggest reason why so many fans have reacted negatively to phase 4 is due to an unshaking loyalty to the movies that built the foundation of the MCU. Fans are so caught up in their own expectations that they fail to enjoy the movie for what it is. To some fans, this deviation feels like a betrayal but it’s not.

The fact of the matter is that the movies that built the foundation of the MCU are generic superhero stories (I say this despite loving them deeply). They lack diversity and you could find countless stories like them. Though we may feel a nostalgic connection to them, if they are all we receive, the MCU will become boring. No one, not even die hard MCU fans, will be happy if every movie is about the same white man who created his own problems through ego and recklessness (Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, Thor and so on).

Marvel Doesn’t Slow Down For Anyone

Marvel has created such a devoted fanbase that they now expect viewers to have watched every movie and TV show produced by them. The truth of the matter is that the MCU is just one giant TV show. If you want to enjoy a movie, you have to watch every movie that comes before it. They don’t do recaps or give you time to acclimatise to the story, they simply expect you to know the context.

And so if you walked into this movie without having watched Doctor Strange, every Avengers movie that Wanda has been in, WandaVision, What If and Spiderman No Way Home at the very least, this movie will make absolutely no sense. Without context, this movie is trash. With context, this movie is amazing and the culmination of numerous character arcs.

Without watching WandaVision, you won’t be able to understand Wanda’s motivations. Without watching Infinity War and Endgame, you won’t understand why Wanda calls Strange a hypocrite. You won’t feel empathy for them in the same way I did, having watched everything related to their backstory. And What If will give you valuable context on the multiverse.

This movie will not slow down to accommodate anyone. Parts of it are confusing even for fans who have watched everything related to the MCU multiple times. If you are a relatively new fan, this is not the movie for you. In fact, most of phase 4 isn’t for you (except for maybe Eternals, Shang Chi and Ms Marvel).

Marvel Fans Need To Manage Expectations

A major problem with the MCU fandom is our obsession with theorising. So many of us are so caught up in coming up with theories that we almost feel entitled to watching them be confirmed. We don’t stop to simply watch and enjoy a movie. Fan theories are great but they should never stop you from being able to enjoy a movie for what it is.

People were so caught up in their expectations of events that they were unable to enjoy the actual events on screen. I can almost guarantee that many more fans would have enjoyed this movie if they had spent less time developing and becoming irrationally excited over headcanons and predictions.

At the end of the day, we are not the writers of the MCU. We do not get a say on character or story direction. Even if in our heads, a certain story idea would be amazing, the MCU is not obligated to accommodate us. We as fans seriously need to work on our entitlement.

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#mcu #marvel #doctor strange #doctor strange into the multiverse of madness #multiverse of madness #movie reccomendations #movie review #wanda maximoff #steven strange #scarlet witch

[yjwhatif]

How are you feeling about the young justice news? I’m lowkey in denial about it and trying to hold on some form of hope.

Well…

It all kinda sucks to be honest - though I am of the mind that there always a chance until they officially say there isn’t… which maybe also puts me in the denial column - but that’s what I’m going with 👍. Clearly there’s a lot going down with hbo max and Warner bros. (a lot that I’m not even gonna try and comprehend) but from what I heard, hbo max is getting merged with discovery plus to make a new streaming site - which to me meant there was probably no chance of any kind of renewal information for anything until TPTB got at least some of their shit sorted out with this restructuring malarkey. Guess I’m not absolutely losing it at the minute because I wasn’t really expecting to hear any good news for the time being - I’m just sorta seeing what happens.

One thing I will say about hbo max and its content is that they really need to do something about the fact that it’s not available outside the US. They have been denying so many people the opportunity to actually financially support the content they love - which makes absolutely no sense to me. I am someone who can’t access hbo max and therefore has had to find other means of watching this show that I absolutely love and want to follow along with the rest of the fandom - all because hbo max won’t let me give them my money… MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!! Now, the problem with using those other means is that it don’t help the show - I’m not paying to watch it as is intended - therefore TPTB can’t see my continued support because I haven’t gone through the official streaming site where those numbers are tracked. I want to support this show - I want to invest my money in supporting this show - but I can’t* - which totally sucks - and I know I keep repeating myself here - but it’s all so stupid!!!!

*except, that is, with the comics which I am buying both the digital and physical print versions of - so at least there that now… and I will be buying s4 when (if) it’s available for purchase elsewhere like S3 was… but is that enough? Probably not with the way things are going at the minute.

The other thing I keep thinking about with the information I’ve heard is that, the dude in charge basically wants to fix the dc cinematic universe so it’s more like the mcu with an actual 10 year plan and feels like y’know the actual comics universe brought to the screen… and I’m just like - you mean like what Greg and Brandon have been doing with young justice since day one?! Whether you like the stories they tell, or not, I don’t think anyone can deny that there’s an immense about of depth to this shows universe - it feels real and lived in - there’s history upon history that exists within it and it’s all so fascinating as I just want to know everything about everyone! I stand by my belief that nothing has ever captured and maintained my attention quite like YJ. I’m obsessed and I don’t even care because it is such a remarkable piece of creative construction that deserves to be explored and analysed and obsessed over. It doesn’t just copy and paste things straight from the comics or do the same things everyone does with the characters - grandon think and reconstruct and adapt things to make them concise and interconnected for the story the want to tell… and a hell of a lot less problematic in some cases! The characters have emotions and complexities and flaws and hopes and fears and histories - yj can put a character on the screen for 5 minutes and have me hooked on them - or they can have 5+ hours worth of exploration and development and I can write post after post after post with my current interpretations and understanding of their character as if they were a real living person. I love this show because there is love put into every aspect of it - and that is always something worth protecting and supporting!

I realise this has gotten kinda long (as usual) but what can I say, I don’t have anyone in my life to rant about these things to… I genuinely tried doing that today and all I got were cricket sounds… which is why, no matter what the outcome is with the future of the show, I will likely still remain here, ranting my random thoughts to whoever the heck wants to listen… (unless life dictates otherwise.) I am determined to get through the major backlog of asks that currently fill my inbox (honestly, I consider it shameful for how bad I’ve let it get - all I can say is I’m slow and my brain never works when I want it to… I apologise!) My goal is to get them done by the years end… but we will see if that happens.

Anyway, thank you for asking Anon - I shall be holding out hope with you! #SAVEYOUNGJUSTICE!💛

LB

#renew young justice #saveearth16 #save young justice! #thanks anon! #ask box #my response #my thoughts #young justice #yj #hbo max #warner bros discovery #warner bros #dc #dc animation #personal opinion #not my gif

[overobsessedfanboy23]

Hey

It’s been a bit...

I rewatched Zexal’s finale.

...I still kinda don’t like it.

I enjoyed it a lot more this time around, I like where we end up with the ending and the actual Yuma vs Astral duel is really good and exciting and brings everything that happened over the course of the series together in a really nice way.

The emotions of the duel on the other hand... “Yuma needs to remember to have fun duelling!” Hi, Judai called, he wants his character arc back, he says he did it way better. And I agree with him. We see Judai hit rock bottom, we see Judai become so obsessed with winning over anything else that it warps who he is to such a drastic degree that he becomes a villain and kills people. Sure, Yuma changed as a result of constantly having to duel for his life but it’s not nearly as fleshed out as Judai’s arc. If you’re gonna repeat the same arc, can you at least do it better so I don’t feel like this has already been done and been done better.

Also “the two partners who’ve done nothing but work together over the course of the series are now duelling each other with the ultimate conclusion of separating.” Yeah... that’s just Yugi vs Atem again. Except that duel had the characters being honest and even vulnerable with each other in their final meeting and did well acknowledging both characters’ growth while Yuma vs Astral... did okay with Yuma but Astral’s growth is somewhat ignored. It’s shown at the end but for a lot of it, he’s faking this honestly still really jarring goal of wanting to destroy Barian world.

Also, as a side note even the “partner lies that he’s gonna do a big bad so his partner will beat him” aspect was something VRAINS later did better with its finale duel. That’s not Zexal’s fault as VRAINS came after but it does add to my point: Yuma vs Astral isn’t a bad duel but falls a bit short as a finale. All its main points are things three other finale duels in the series did better and in 2/3 cases, did first.

Iffy finale aside though, man I loved revisiting this show. I forgot just how much I loved Zexal’s characters and how beautiful the animation is and how well executed the twists are and how emotional some of these duels are-

My god, it’s great. And the dub managed not to take away from most of that, except the Barian’s backstories, holy shit were those massacred. But the rest is actually pretty faithful to the sub, at least in spirit. It’s not perfect, and I certainly prefer the sub version overall, but aside from the Barian’s backstories, none of the changes it had really took away from the experience for me.

And with that random and amazing rewatch over I should probably pick up Sevens again. I like Sevens don’t get me wrong I just don’t feel much inclination to watch more than a few episodes of it at a time. Plus I’m watching it in sub so it’s not something I can watch in the background like I can with the dubs.

Also quick update: I have no intention of quitting Tumblr, and I never did. I love this cursed place and Yugioh too much to ever leave completely. Heck, even during the week I took off from posting I was still lurking around in the shadows of this place like... *long sigh of ‘I really hate to make this pun but it fits’* like a spectre. I’m not leaving. But I won’t post as often as I was.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh zexal #ygo zexal #zexal #yugioh zexal II #ygo zexal II #zexal II

[lemon-inferno]

Remon here,

Spoilers ahead. I know this drama came out on Netflix a while back, but I only just had the opportunity to finish watching it. I had my eyes on it even before it was released, mostly because Nana is in the main cast, but also I’m a sucker for Sci-Fi and Mysteries. Combine them and you have me hooked. Come to think of it, can one exist without the other? But let me give you some information about the drama itself before I begin my… “review”. Give yourself and awkward pause here, because I just gave myself one.

So Glitch is Korean Mystery Sci-Fi drama that came out on Netflix on October 7 (On Screen on October 6 during the Busan International Film Festival), 2022. You may know some of its cast members, such as Park Won Suk from Missing: The other side, Ryu Kyung Soo from The Sound of Magic and Hellbound, or Lee Dong Hwi from Reply 1988. But the main roles go to Yeon Yeo Bin (Vincenzo, Be Melodramatic) who plays Hong Ji Hyo, and Nana (former After School member, Oh! Master) who plays Huh Bo Ra. The show follows Ji Hyo and Bo Ra’s story in two timelines. Past and present. In the past version of events, Ji Hyo is obsessed by aliens and researching stories about them, while Bo Ra is a delinquent who has become an outcast in school. The two develop a deep friendship until a scary misunderstanding causes them to fall out. Years later Ji Hyo’s (ex) boyfriend goes missing, which leads the two girls to meet each other again as adults. At first Ji Hyo doesn’t recognize Bo Ra, but that is due to the fact that she’s nothing like the girl she remembers. From a skeptic, Bo Ra has turned to a passionate YouTuber who has dedicated her life to aliens, holding meetings with her fellow alien enthusiasts. Ji Hyo, on the other hand, has become the skeptic herself. The only thing she believes is hard science facts and aliens are e distant (and painful) topic for her. The present version of events follows their adventure to discovering the truth about what caused them to fall out, where is Ji Hyo’s (ex) boyfriend, and last but not least, are aliens real.

Now I’m going to talk about the show the way I experienced it. The two most accurate (to me) words I can use to describe it, are unsettling and fascinating. No more, no less.

The imagery of the show, the tone the show sets. That slight retro feel it gives off, so reminiscent but also so out of place, it makes you want to press the pause button just to stare into the void for a couple of minutes. Everyone around Ji Hyo is so mundane, everyone is so deaf to their own words, but yet Ji Hyo’s life is bizarre. It’s wrapped in a mystery that she ignores for the longest time, but you’re on the edge of your seat because you need her to go look for it. After her reunion with Bo Ra however, you start feeling the opposite. Like no one is in their right mind except Bo Ra. Bo Ra may come off as crazy and weird, but she’s just actually very honest with herself and everyone around her. But that’s exactly the thing you’ve needed, to get away from the depressing scenes (which I might add makes you depressed without you even realizing it, or is it just me). Everything these two do together is a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess that makes you relieved. I must admit, at the beginning I did think Ji Hyo’s character was a little bland, like you could swap her for any other “good-girl-main-role” heroine and it wouldn’t make a difference. That however is untrue and I do understand why the show wants you to feel like that up until a certain point. By the end of the show I was in love with both character (although I can’t help but favor Bo Ra a little more, she’s the coolest).

The psychological factor adds to it. Actually, I’d call it the main factor. Up until the very, very last episode you go back and forth between “Ókay, the aliens must be all in her head.” And “Okay, the aliens are real then.” I found myself changing my mind several times, and no matter which theory you go by, you won’t be wrong with either, but you also won’t be right. However, the development of the story is not unpredictable at all. In fact, if you’ve ever seen or heard anything about the cases of Jim Jones or Heaven’s Gate (and I do 100% believe this show was inspired by both), then you could most likely predict the ending of the show. However (again), I guarantee you, you will never be able to predict the feelings it will invoke in you and the way you’ll experience the story. Before I recommend it to you though, I should note that if you don’t know much about Korean culture, or if you haven’t seen a lot of kdrama, this show’s humor will probably be mostly incomprehensible to you. It could take away from some key moments where you’re prepared to shed tears and then it hits you with a ridiculous response to the emotional build. To me it was nearly perfect, it made me experience every emotion on the specter. I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated, annoyed, I was excited, happy. And then repeat.

Big SPOILER alert.

Something else I’d like to talk about is the relationship between Ji Hyo and Bo Ra. I know a lot of people who have and will watch this, will be writing fanfictions about them. But I think we saw the ending as it is on purpose. When the drama begins, we have Ji Hyo who feels so pressured by her (ex) boyfriend to finally move in together and eventually get married, that she actually gets drunk (she who must always be sober and in control) and breaks up with him. In my humblest opinion, I think that was something she never, ever wanted out of their relationship, but she didn’t know how to stop it because everyone expected it of her. I almost feel like that’s why she wanted to find him so badly after he got abducted. I’m not saying she didn’t love or care for him, rather I think she needed to find him, make sure he’s safe, so she could then end it with him and move on. As to not have any more regrets before beginning her new life. That’s also why she thanked him when he “broke up with her” at the end of the series. It was difficult for her to bring up after everything that happened, to be the one to say it twice. But that was his way of giving her the okay, you go live your life. And how this relates to Bo Ra exactly? Well, to begin with, Bo Ra was the first meaningful friendship (or so I’ve been led to assume by the show) Ji Hyo ever had. Or at least meaningful enough that it would break her heart when she thinks Bo Ra has betrayed her. The second point is, that when JI Hyo wraps up her past, the first thing she does is go to Bo Ra and ask her if she wants to live together. The very same thing that terrified her when her boyfriend brought it up. She’s now offering it, but to someone else. Obviously, she feels like it’s a big commitment, because it was before. As I said, I think we got that ending on purpose, so we could decide for ourselves. Whether they’re friends or something more, I’ve just accepted that they make each other the happiest and most complete. I don’t want to dwell on this because there haven’t been any other hints. For me personally, that last one was enough.

And to talk some more about Bo Ra, I think Nana did more than amazing in her role. I have no complaints towards anyone’s acting but Nana was really great. Her character was meant to stood out, but with it, her acting also stood out. It was just meant for her. I could probably make a separate post on Bo Ra alone, but that’s a bit obsessive so let’s not do that. Yet. Maybe after my rewatch. Because I can’t not rewatch this. I'm still pondering whether I want this show to have a second season or not, because I think it got the perfect ending and I don't need any more. But also I do. But also I know the experience I got the first time can't be recreated. I don't know. I'd rather just take this as it is and not risk a second season ruining it. Even if hypothetical second season was better, I still wouldn't wanna risk it. I think a continuation is not very likely anyways. But yeah, that's it for now.

(Mind you, I wrote this at like 5am after binge watching all night.)

#glitch #kdrama #kdrama thoughts #glitch netflix #netflix #nana #nana after school #jeon yeo bin #lee dong hwi #ryu kyung soo #remon #scifi #mystery

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

scattered updates about me lately include :

took the first step towards learning to drive and getting my license. I took a photo for it and its maybe the worst picture i’ve ever seen of myself. I already don’t like looking at myself by default, but the combo of being barely sleeping last night because of my rashes and not having much time to prepare myself in the morning really made for a horrific image that i’m too lazy to redo because it costs money.. But who cares! Maybe the time where i’ll be driving around and knocking over street signs is coming close! 🚙💨

since i already mentioned the rash above, i was all itchy last night and woke up covered in rashes. I was soooo red like my skin was made of patches of beetroot. This is the second time this has happened to me in my life and just like before,I have no idea what causes it 🤕❓👽

i almost never watch shows or pick up whatever is trending but i am watching bocchi the rock. I like it n_n I think my fav at this moment might be ryou which feels a little embarrasisng because all she usually does is say a funny line every now and then in a deadpan voice, but it works on me every time.

i recently finished and published more touhou fanfic. Used to have so many swirling thoughts about Tenshi in my head but now they’re out there in the form of mediocre short stories, so my brain is now free [to obsess over other touhous nonstop instead]. [[Even though i'm already thinking about fifty different characters on any given day ]] [[[I say that as if I won’t still overwhelm myself with Tenshi thoughts every few weeks regardless]]]

Finally, I impulse ordered a drawing tablet online? why?? I guess after I drew that spoink on paint with my mouse, i was like “if i have any more impulsive needs to doodle something rumbling in my mind, i’d have a nicer time if i could use a tablet pen!”, which i guess is probably true but was that really necessary??? Well it’s already on its way so maybe it’ll be fun to play with.

i can’t find a new job!!! The last response i recently got to my resume... I’m 90% sure it was a scam 😑;

[queerextremity]

ok so i finally watched ‘she-hulk’ and oh god, it was so bad

(spoilers for ep1 ahead!)

1. i’ve already posted on why making steve’s virginity such a big deal is problematic at its core, but it also makes jennifer so creepy and unlikeable from the get-go. she’s never met him, he’s not her friend, he’s basically like a celebrity in her world and i thought we’ve all agreed that ppl who obsess over celebrities’ sexual life so much are creepy. i just feel like we’re so tangled up in our perception of steve as a fictional character that we don’t realise how weird it is from her side. the post-credit scene literally sounds like something bruce came up with so that she would leave him alone. it’s just so weird to pester steve’s friend with questions about his sexual life. oh, and her line about how sad it is for ‘that ass to die a virgin’ is so acephobic and i feel so very offended by it. it literally says your life is sad if you never had sex, which is incredibly toxic and has the possibility of making many people who see this feel bad. sex is just an experience someone has and someone doesn’t. it’s not the most important thing in life and it doesn’t change anything about the person you are and the happiness you’re able to get from life.

2. the virginity stuff is generally very good at representing the kind of character jennifer is. i feel like in that scene they were trying to make her super progressive, sex positive and show us that women in mcu discuss sex freely and aren’t ashamed of it. and i think we’ve seen the fight against slut-shaming turning into virgin-shaming thousands of times before, but it’s like the world was so done with it somewhere in early 2000′s teenage comedies. mcu is so late in here. the show is just like that. it tries to be feminist so hard, it tries to make jennifer independent, funny, totally in control of her life, but she just comes off arrogant, invasive and mean. it’s not internal misogyny, i would’ve hated a male character like this even faster.

3. her monologue about women and anger is true, but it’s just... stuff we’ve already heard a billion times in countless of other shows. i don’t even see the point of she-hulk if she’s so good at controlling her anger. you can’t just throw some feminist monologue in my face to justify it. she-hulk had so much potential to play with gender norms since women usually aren’t allowed to be angry, uncontrollably angry especially. a giant green monster who smashes everything it sees isn’t a type of character written for women. it could’ve definitely been interesting. but jennifer is still good with her anger, instantly good at being hulk and she’s not a big giant monster at all. she’s still very feminine, just green and stronger. what is the inner struggle of her character so far? what is the point of her learning to be hulk if she’s so good at everything already?

i’m not sure if it was like that in the comics and i don’t really care, because it’s still just boring to see and it’s not the story we need to see in 2022. 

4. i’m all for feminist talk in any shapes and sizes, but i want deep and layered stories about women’s struggles. ‘she-hulk’ just acts like its audience is stupid, so they need everything explained at the most basic level. well, probably more is too much for mcu. maybe we’ll get stories like that in 10 years!! let’s hope they won’t be late by that time, just like ‘she-hulk’ is by now.

5. oh, and yes, as for a comedy show, it sucks. i haven’t even smiled once during the episode. this is the least funny mcu show so far.

6. i know dozens of shows where the first episode is shit, but the rest is gold, so i never instantly judge. i’ll give it another chance and hopefully have the desire to take half of the stuff i just said back. but something tells me i won’t

7. tatiana maslany is actually great and i see how she tries to make something out of this terrible script. 

#she hulk #i'm just mad and i needed to vent #i expected to only be mad at steve stuff but oh boy... #i only liked the mentions of tony moping about steve #because it got me in my stony feels #not that i have a lot but still!!! #julia rambles and screams