i viscerally despise takes that say third semester akechi isn't the real akechi.
i think part of it is the kinnie in me that hates how much that takes agency from goro. but it's also just. wrong. because goro himself says that the people maruki resurrected are not mere cognitions but the real deal. maruki didn't just create cognitive beings, he rewrote history to make it so they never died in the first place.
the way we can know this as fact is by looking at how goro acts in the third semester. if maruki invented akechi he could have made him act however he liked. but goro hates maruki to the point of being willing to murder maruki. and no, maruki has no reason to respect akechi's free will, because he doesn't respect anyone's free will, but more to the point, he created akechi for joker. the only purpose goro serves is to make joker want to stay in this reality. he doesn't respect akechi's wishes or he wouldn't have brought him back in the first place.
i understand why people come to the conclusion that goro is just a cognition, even if i think it is objectively incorrect. even akechi says he doesn't know if he's real. but he's decided to rebel anyway, because ultimately, it doesn't matter if he's real, what matters is if he's true to himself. which he is, to the very end.
but goro awakened to hereward in maruki's reality. a cognition can't awaken to a persona. he proved his agency on 2/2 when he decided to live and die on his own terms and no one else's, and when joker did the same.
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thinking about ford calling shermie shortly after coming through the portal because he hasn’t spoken to his older brother in thirty-something years — he was kind of bad at keeping contact, okay — and he misses him. (and also, yk, as far as ford’s aware shermie thinks stan is dead and that ford owns a kitschy tourist trap, and he really needs to rectify that.)
and it’s probably like 5am when he calls but shermie picks up a few rings in with a sleepy “hello?”
and ford’s heart stops because he can barely believe he’s hearing his big brother’s voice again, and it takes a few long seconds before he finally says “shermie, it’s stanford.”
“stan? hi! what’s going on? are the kids okay?”
“the kids— yes, yes, they’re okay. they’re great, actually.”
“so why are you calling? i’m not complaining, i wish you’d call more, but it’s a little out of character.”
“… speaking of that.” and ford pauses because he didn’t exactly plan on how he was going to broach the whole ‘hey stan is alive and has been pretending to be me this entire time’ thing.
he settles on asking: “did you ever find it strange that i started wanting to go by stan after— after stan passed?”
he expects shermie to say something like ‘no, i figured you were just grieving’ but instead the pause on the other end of the line stretches out until shermie says, slowly and tearfully, “ford? is that you?”
and ford breaks. “yes,” he whispers because if he speaks at a normal volume he’s certain his voice will crack under the weight of his emotions. “yes, it’s me. shermie, how did you…?”
“you think stan could fool me? i grew up babysitting you punks. the two of you switching places tricked me maybe three times before i got smart. and then you got me a few more times when stan realized he could wear your gloves with an stuffed extra finger, but i ended up developing a sense for it. i knew from the second he called to tell me about his death.” shermie scoffs, and then quiets. “stanford… what happened?”
“it’s a long story.”
“i’ve got time.”
“i’m afraid you don’t understand. it’s… an exceedingly long story.”
“well, i’ll make time,” shermie says and then pauses. “is stan still around? is he okay?”
“yes, he’s … he’s here.”
“and you’re not still mad at him, are you?”
“well—”
“after forty years, ford?”
“it’s complicated!”
“then explain it!”
and ford does, he explains, he fills in the gaps of his own side with what stan told to the kids and that gopher-looking man and lays most everything out in the open (except for bill, he’ll never, ever tell anyone about bill) and at the end shermie is dead silent.
eventually he says, “if you weren’t you, and stan weren’t stan… i don’t think i’d believe any of that.”
and ford sighs and says “yes, that’s understandable.”
and shermie says “well, you know what i’m going to tell you now” and gives ford this excellent monologue about how he needs to mend things with stan, and ford knows he’s right but he’s still just so bitter and all he says is “i’ll consider it.”
the conservation wraps up with shermie telling ford to tell stan to expect a call from him very soon and then they hang up. and ford just. leans his head against the wall.
and from the end of the hallway, stan says “yeesh, i was really not looking forward to having that conversation. thanks for handling it for me, sixer.”
and ford can’t even find it in himself to be mad at that because he knows shermie is going to unleash the world’s wisest and most annoyed three hour rant upon stan the next time they speak.
(ford doesn’t warn stan about the phone call either, even though shermie asked him to. he thinks stan deserves it.)
anyways. yeah. thinking about that.
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i know some people were just talking about boycotting artists for the sake of talking about it lmao cause why is selena getting her song streamed rn? why’d y’all quickly turn on to see usher? are you gonna collectively buy pharrell & miley’s collab despite pharrell singing for an IOF fundraising event (and that’s fundraising besides the billions they receive annually)?
if you’re gonna stand on business put an effort to do so at least. this is one of the easiest things to boycott & effectively pressure these folks with large platforms into speaking & acknowledging the harm in having quickly supported israel & remaining deafeningly silent during the genocide(s).
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