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nocttanotheroneout · 2 years

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It's just a thought, but...what if Lunafreya was a real character? No, no, hear me out. What if she had motivations other than seeing the protagonist again, and could influence on the plot in ways besides getting the One Ring to Noctis? Don't get me wrong, there's the bare bones of a personality there, but I'm talking real agency. Something compelling to contribute that couldn't be accomplished by an express delivery driver or anybody else?

For instance: Luna has a unique circumstance that the rest of the main cast do not. She spent something years in Niflheim captivity, around all that tech that's being used against Lucis now. What if, say, the bros are in trouble and Luna saves them by piloting an MT, because she picked up on a lot over the years because nobody saw her as an individual who is intelligent and willful, only a sweet, docile Princess and thus vastly underestimated her? Like the writers. What if her knowledge of the Empire comes in major handy taking them down, making her an integral part of the gang? Let's do something with that, yeah? Make it useful. Make her useful.

Personally, I wanted to see her bond with the Bros. Maybe they need her to come with them for Oracle reasons, or just so they could protect her, and she becomes an honest-to-god part of the group. At first, the guys are polite because she's a Princess and a Girl and accustomed to a certain life, but ultimately are each able to make a personal connection with her. She wants to know more about the world, so they show it to her. Maybe Ignis teaches her to cook. Prompto teaches her about King's Knight and videogames. Gladio trades funny stories about Noctis' early training days. They become pals. It's great. One day they come into a town that has an arcade like the one in Insomnia and Noct and Prom reminisce on the old days. Luna wants to try this "arcade", despite being told it would likely not be her scene. Hard cut to an hour later when Luna is absolutely owning (alternatively: raging at) a particular machine, while Noct is watching on with what I can only assume is The boner, and it's a side to her nobody ever anticipated. I want bonding and goofiness please I'm begging here.

Speaking of Noct, I wanted more screentime with them. Come on, I really, really want to ship this one. But I need to know why they like each other, other than something something childhood friends. Show me more of their friendship, other than Luna expositing for the plot's sake. Show me the silly, childish games they played. Show me their antics. Show me Luna making Noct smile for the first time since his mother's death (and Regis being like "I would protect this girl with my life" being the start of his seemingly almost fatherly affection for her). Show me why Noctis has been pining for her all these years, give me more of their diary entries. Make me fond of her. I want to see them have chemistry. In the same way Noct appreciates the world that doesn't treat him like royalty and comes to enjoy helping others, give me the same for Luna. Have them take on stupid cat-feeding sidequests together. Watch the stars from the Regalia. Fight monsters. Joke. Laugh. Talk. Let them bond. Give Noctis the slow realisation that, regardless of any arrangement, he would have wanted to marry her anyway. That she's genuinely a kind an endearing person with nuance and layers, who can understand the experience of growing up under so much pressure, losing one's family, and feeling very much alone. Let them fall in love honestly and truly.

And then, if you still wanted to kill off your main female lead, I promise, it'll be a LOT sadder.

And goddamn it, I wanted her to turn on the gods in the end! (Mainly Bahamut. Idk, Ramuh just has major grandpa energy, I literally can't hate him. Shiva vibes. Leviathan...can stay, but you're on thin fucking ice, buddy.) Listen. Ardyn and Aera are supposed to be narrative parallels to Noct and Luna, yeah? I think we can all agree. A Caelum destined for the throne only to have it ripped from under him; a pretty, gentle, blonde-haired Oracle destined to serve. But they're different, subversions of one another, because while Ardyn is consumed with darkness, used by the gods, and destroyed in order to clean up their mess, Noctis is...also used by the gods and destroyed to clean up their mess. But it's different because he's the good guy(?) (That's another can of worms, though.) Aera put her duty to serve above all else and died at the hands of one of the Caelum brothers as a result, but Luna...also did those things. And no, I'm not incredibly bitter. I just want her to be. Like, "Hey, what the hell, guys? I grew up in captivity and you couldn't take five seconds out of eternity to help? Maybe not let my home burn in the first place? Also, sacrificing an innocent man: kind of a dick move. I've seen more of this world in the past few months than all my life and it slaps out here. If you got off your godly asses and allowed humanity it's own agency, perhaps - just perhaps - you'd also feel strongly about it. It's not my job to serve you, it's my job to communicate with you on behalf of the people, and on behalf of the people, *raises middle finger*"

Bonus points if she convinces the other gods to turn on him for her because they're actually pretty fond of humanity and don't actually want to hurt them. That'd be really cool. God fight. But that's my own weird preference.

Anyways, the point of this long-winded rambling isn't to whine about how much I hate Luna. Just the opposite. She's a big ball of wasted potential, and I wanted better for her, damnit!! And if I have to write what amounts to an entire AU in a long-winded, rambly post on Tumblr.gov only to realise a minute later that I forgot something to get it, then so be it.

#knowing my luck this actually happened in some side material or something #please guys i've played the main game DLCs and watched the movie an anime #this series wants to make me work #it smacks me in the face and calls me a coward #and i like it #lunafreya nox fleuret #ffxv #i really love this game i swear #long post

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grayyxv · 4 years

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A Comprehensive Analysis of Eustass 'Captain' Kid

I've been wanting to write this for awhile now as Kid is undoubtedly one of my favourite characters in One Piece. Also, I'm majoring in Psychology so I can't help but think about why I love his character so much.

Disclaimer: As we all know, Kid doesn't have much screentime so it's quite difficult to understand his character completely. So, whatever you read will be my own intepretation of his character (based on the little amount of scenes that he has). Of course, you don't have to agree with it but it might give you a bit of a different perspective!

So, withour further ado, let's begin!

*P.s I'll try to make it flow in but it might end up really messy so I apologize for that*

Note: NOT SPOILER FREE!!!

1. Assumptions

I guess I'll begin with some of the common assumptions of his character based on posts/videos I've seen about his character. They frequently refer to Kid as 'cruel' or 'heartless'. Basically, there are many negative remarks about his character that makes him seem like a total psychopath.

Their reasoning for this would be because:

- He mentioned that he would kill anyone would mocked him

- His high bounty = He's notorious & violent

- The way he acts makes him come off as a bloodthirsty pirate

From another standpoint, I can see why people might think that way about him. The way he speaks and acts does make him look villainous. In addition, his primary role in One Piece is to be Luffy's rival. (I'll expand on this point later.) So, one might think that his morals would contrast Luffy. Whereas Luffy is the kind and benevolent pirate, Kid is the 'bad guy' who is cruel and heartless. The question is, though Kid is rival character, why does that necessarily mean that he would be a bad guy? I strongly disagree that Kid is a psychopath and that he is heartless. Firstly, the term 'psychopath' shouldn't be used so loosely. A true psychopath would have no regard for other's feelings which is not true of Kid because he cares very much for his crew. On the other hand, Doflamingo would be a good example of a psychopath. Next, even if Kid WERE a psychopath, not all psychopaths are violent. So it'd be nice if people stopped misrepresenting psychopaths.

Now, if there is one thing I learned in psychology, is that people tend to make assumptions about a person's actions as part of their personal dispositions rather than because of situation. This would be the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). What do I mean by this? Let's take a look at Kid's scenario. He mentioned killing people who mocked his dream. Killing people would make people automatically assume that Kid is 'violent'. But here is a different perspective, what if 'mocking him' had meant that they tried to start a fight with him? Provoking other people repeatedly would cause anybody to get angry. There are many other characters who acts this way as well. Sure, Luffy doesn't go as far as to kill them but I'm sure that many other characters do because they are PIRATES.

In contrast, I think of this situation as Kid standing up for himself. He believes in himself and he would beat anyone up who tells him otherwise. If you think about it, Luffy is kind of similar because he ends up fighting anyone who tries to stop him from attaining his goal.

That is pretty much all the assumptions that people make about his character. It's sad how they don't delve deeper but fret not!! I still have more to say.

2. Pre-Timeskip vs Timeskip Changes/Growth as a character

During Pre-timeskip, Kid is seen as overconfident. I actually agree with this statement quite a lot. His high bounty was a result of his reckless behaviour. He could easily triumph over anyone before the timeskip. That was when he started to become a little too full of himself. Consequently, he suffered heavy losses. His arm was taken by Shanks, his crew was utterly defeated by Kaido (curse you Apoo) and his reputation as the top supernova was instantly lost to Luffy. His true character development was in the Wano arc where we see how he starts to take a step back and re-evaluate his situation. The most obvious evidence for this was when he got captured in Udon. He was quiet (before Luffy's arrival) and deep in thought. So many things had happened to him, you could even argue that he was feeling slightly lost and helpless (not depressed) because he was utterly defeated. The motivation and drive he had in pre-timeskip was shattered- Until Luffy arrived of course. When Luffy arrived, he was battered and bruised but he was still ready to fight. Kid, who saw how Luffy still had his fighting spirit, was somehow inspired to keep on fighting. It's almost as if Luffy is Kid's drive to be stronger.

So, what does this all say about Kid?

I think that this makes his character believable as it can represent real life. There are some points in our lives where we could be the greatest but, sometimes, life can be pretty cruel too. If you get too cocky or overconfident, the world will punish you. I saw a comment that says Kid is Luffy but without the plot armour. That is very true. Kid isn't perfect. He made tons of crappy decisions and dealt which the consequences. I'd say he's as reckless as Luffy, perhaps LESS reckless than Luffy but he suffers more than Luffy does. While Luffy could bask in glory, all Kid got was the short end of the stick. I think that is the reason why I find Kid such an appealing character- because its an accurate representation of real life. Sometimes you can try as hard as someone else but you won't always get the spolight.

The other appealing aspect is his persistence. He made mistakes and bad decisions but he knows that he can't undo them and has to move on. Kid isn't as lucky as Luffy because he didn't have someone like Rayleigh to train him so, he had to put in more effort somehow. The main point is, he had to learn everything the hard way. Yet, he still strives to be the best which is very befitting of a rival character.

3. interactions & Personality

Another thing I frequently see when people Kid and Luffy is that: People say that while Kid makes enemies, Luffy makes allies which is why he has so much support from others around him. I was thinking about this a lot and I can't help but disgaree. I saw another post where they mentioned Kid's MBTI personality is INFJ which made me think even more about that statement. From here on, I will include several headcanons about his character as well.

Let me offer you a different perspective. Perhaps Kid isn't good at expressing his feelings. The way he speaks may come off as cold which makes other people dislike him because they think he is rude whereas he simply doesn't know how to communicate with others very well. Luffy is no doubt an extrovert, seeing how he is easily able to interact with others. Kid on the other hand, if he is an introvert, it could be an explaination to why he doesn't have many interactions with others. I don't see him as someone who's very 'sociable'. So he could experience some difficulty when communicating his feelings. He's shown to be closer to his crew more than anyone else. He is deeply respected by his crewmates because he is sensitive to their needs as well. He isn't the tyrant that everyone paints him to be, he earned that respect by first respecting his crewmates. Also, he would essentially DIE for any of his crewmates. This part is quite self explainatory if you've read the chapter where they revealed what happened to Kid and Killer in Wano.

I just want to add that while Killer suffered so much in Wano, imagine how much it hurt Kid to see his first mate suffer and how he couldn't do anything about it. The expression on his face is perfectly the anger he had towards Kaido, Apoo and more importantly, HIMSELF for not being strong enough. Yet, people call him heartless though he would literally die for Killer.

But anyways, Kid is an excellent listener and he cares very deeply for people he is close to. I just think he's bad at communicating. Look at the way he talks to Luffy. In Wano, you can see how Kid actually does LIKE Luffy as a rival. He just has trouble expressing himself. Anyways, this is just a headcanon but I think that he's rather sensitive to other's feelings- Especially when it comes to his crew. I really like the idea that he's an INFJ because he seems more like the 'advocate' type of character. I still think he makes a very good leader but his approach would contrast Luffy's.

4. Intelligence

I could probaly go on forever about why I love Kid but this is another thing that I see about Kid and kind of annoys me. I'm not sure why everyone seems to think he's a dumbass. Like REALLY. I think he's pretty intelligent. He even kept tabs on the whole SMILE situation and Doflamingo and planned the alliance. He IS intelligent but his recklessness just makes him seem like an idiot.

Kid isn't perfect, he is flawed just like a real human being would be. By no means is he a GOOD person but I don't think he is as 'cruel' or 'bad' as people paint him to be. He cares a lot for his crew. He is very driven by his own personal values and he wouldn't 'change' for anyone. He believes in himself and if anyone tells him otherwise, he would simply beat them up. He isn't happy go lucky like Luffy, he is much deeper than that. He would consider his options and plan- to a certain extent because he is also quite idealistic. Hence, the reason why I feel like his character is such an interesting one is because there is a lot of opportunity for him to grow and stray away from stereotypical anime character traits. His character is believable because his personality is realistic, it could reflect a real human being.

TLDR: Stop sleeping on Kid.

With that, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Anyways, that's it for now! I'll make a part 2 if I feel like I want to add something. If people like this, I'll consider making another analysis for other characters. Currently I have Law, Ace and Sabo planned in mind but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

#one piece #eustass kid #eustass kidd #kidlaw #killerkid #kid pirates #eustass captain kid

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chibimyumi · 5 years

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What do you think of sascha? A lot of red flags are raising in my mind. Firstly their obsession with death- I know they seem nice but they seem so happy about war and death could they really be considered good (even if they don't harm anyone), also aren't reapers supposed to be punished by being around death- they love it (plot hole, fail by higher ups) and finally what made someone who seems so happy kill themselves and so young too.

Dear Anon,

Very personally, I tend to have trouble really loving characters who have this little screentime and bring this little explicit information with them. I do see why many people would appreciate them a lot though; especially the people who consider representation of gender neutrality/androgyny something important on personal levels.

In the Japanese manga, because nobody is really addressed with gender pronouns to begin with, Sascha did not really strike me as any different than the rest of the cast who are not either MANLYYYY! of feminine～ But, because there is no canon information that makes Sacha being gender neutral impossible, they can fulfill the role of representation to some people. Speculating and reading between the lines can be very fun (and sometimes it’s all people have), but personally it is not really my thing. To love something, I need a bit more non-speculated-information than this.

Why Sascha became a Reaper

The following includes mentions of:

suicide

(suicidal) depression

domestic abuse.

There are a plethora of reasons for anybody to want to kill themselves, regardless of age. The reason is because suffering does not restrict itself to any age group. I myself know a few children in my life who are/were suicidal, or even attempted suicide. I know it is hard to imagine that children or young people could suffer so bad they want to die; but sadly we do not live in Nirvana.

Perhaps Sascha was victim of severe (domestic) abuse or any other reason to bring them severe depression. Perhaps the situation went so bad out of hand that they decided to set themselves free. If living meant torture, and death meant ANYTHING else than being trapped in this torture, we should consider just in how much pain Sascha used to be. It must have been an “anything but this,” situation for Sascha.

I translated the following page from Japanese to offer a bit of insight on the nuances in Sascha’s words.

“For suicides to be forced to witness people’s attachments and thirsting for life…”

Here, Sascha lays emphasis on ‘ attachment and thirsting’ whereas the way they said it was rather indifferent; they seem very detached from this sentiment, as though they do not personally understand why someone would.

Then, Rutger confirms how feeling depressed because of witnessing this thirsting does not seem to apply to Sascha, and Sascha did not hesitate for a second before verifying Rutger’s words to be true.

ハイ！生きてた頃より毎日楽しいです！　転職かも

HAI! Ikiteta koro yori mainichi tanoshii desu! Tenshoku kamo

YUP! I enjoy ‘every day of my being’ more than in life! This might be a vocation.”

In Japanese, the best translation would be ‘every day of my being’, but that does not read quite natural, so as a final product I myself would have settled with just “my existence”.

From Sascha’s words here, we get explicit information that “even though a Reaper’s life is suffering,” it is still something Sascha “enjoys more”. It’s like “being underpaid is not great, but it’s better than not being paid, i.e. slavery. Hence, I enjoy being underpaid more than slavery.”

Still, we are not entirely sure whether the cheerfulness of Sascha is 100% who they are; perhaps they are just very optimistic and simply grateful to ANYTHING that saved them from their suffering as a human.

Death meant freedom to Sascha, so I do see why Sascha does not see the bad of ‘death’. Perhaps Sascha is just very compassionate and is genuinely happy to see people being relieved of their suffering, and considers being a Reaper a blessing because it gives them the pleasure of seeing freedom as a job.

Rutger, William, and the Japanese Salaryman

Personally I find Rutger rather unique exactly because he is plain; it’s a beauty in simplicity. I also think that Sascha and Rutger are each other’s complimentary characters. Through Rutger’s sullen personality we see Sascha’s cheeriness accentuated, and vice versa. If anything, Rutger shows us what most Reapers are probably like; he tells us the standard mindset Reapers have in face of this punishment.

So far, the majority of the Reapers introduced are VERY odd eggs. Ronald is drowning himself in the anticipation towards dating, Grell is preoccupied with being DIVA and redeeming herself, while Undertaker has gone entirely nuts. As such, none of these Reapers are representative of the effect the intended punishment of becoming Reaper is supposed to be.

The only Reaper introduced in the first batch who reflects how being Reaper is a punishment, is William. William is trying to brainwash himself into loving his job by being the ‘Exemplary Reaper’. Most likely, he does so as a coping mechanism. I am not saying that the odd-egg-Reapers do not suffer. The way the odd eggs are so desperate and fixated on their passions also seems like a coping mechanism to me.

In Japanese working forces, one often hears the phrase: “if you are going to have to do something anyway, you might as well do it happily and swiftly.” The Reaper Dispatch Society is clearly based on the Japanese company structure where employees are made to work long, repetitive hours as uncomplaining as robots. William is the TEXTBOOK Japanese ‘salaryman’. We could surmise that the moment William stops being able brainwash himself into ‘loving his job’, he is going to mentally crumble.

We know of the Undertaker that he also used to be the workaholic, the Star Reaper William is aspiring to be. But look how far gone he is now. Perhaps in a few centuries, we will see William becoming like Undertaker too.

If anything, I think William is more similar to Sascha in the way he works, much more than Rutger. The biggest difference between William and Sascha is that William needs to actively tell himself he loves his job, whereas Sascha does not need to try hard. Sascha has achieved “let it be and make the best out of it.” I think that William might look up to Sascha, or even be jealous of them for genuinely loving this job. (That… or Sascha has just set foot on the slippery slope, and is on their way of becoming Undertaker 2.0…) In contrast, it seems to me that Rutger is already disillusioned and long past the phase of living on coping mechanism.

Like Sascha said, being Reaper is a ‘vocation’ to them. In Japanese 天職 (Tenshoku). The ‘ten’ in ‘tenshoku’ refers to ‘Heaven’, and ‘shoku’ is ‘occupation’. So literally, it translates to ‘heavenly occupation.” Rutger the Cynic does not agree, and tells Sascha off for glorifying this punishment under which many suffer. Could you imagine being an underpaid worker among MANY other victims, and then this one person calls your thankless job a ‘heavenly occupation’? That would hit something sore there, would it not?

#Kuroshitsuji #Black Butler #Shinigami #Reaper #Sascha #Undertaker #William T. Spears #Ronald Knox #Grell Sutcliffe #Rutger #A moment of silent please for potential Rogue!William or Rogue!Sascha #Theory #Analysis #Suicide #Tw suicide #tw domestic abuse #tw depression

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linkspooky · 6 years

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I know you usually don't analyze the quality of writing, I'm not really sure if this question even qualifies as such. So, if you don't mind me asking, what do you think could've been done better in regards to how TG turned out? Or rather what developments would you've liked to see unfold?

Okay, so once again not a commentary on the quality of the writing but I can talk about a few things I would have liked more answers to. This is going to be pertaining to stuff mostly that happened around the ending because that’s the freshest in my mind.

#1 Donato

What does this mean Donato? Literally, what does any of this mean. Do the leaders of the clowns shift? Were you the leader for some time until you were captured by the CCG? Who was the crown, was it the one eyed king? Were there two one eyed kings as some people theorize? Donato you seem to be the only one old enough here do you think you could explain it to us?

Donato’s final speech for his motivations basically just boiled down to something that would not be out of place coming out of Komaeda Nagito’s mouth. “I needed to kill all those people in order to make hope and justice shine all the more!” It’s not that I needed to get into the head of the child eater, but if Ishida was going to make the choice to play this scene as sentimental instead of giving Donato an oppurtunity to rip Amon a new one he could have at least gone with a motivation that... made sense?

Basically the entire Amon and Donato scene is a missed oppurtunity. There was a chance for Seidou and Amon to work together again and for Seidou’s growth to be acknowledged. THere was a chance for Amon to actually have to acknowledge people like Hakatori that he’s made the victims of as well, in person and not just... saying that he totally acknowledges that he’s been screwing up the world too in a moment of tell don’t show.

Amon’s final speech is also peppered with the hypocrisies that a just better written confrontation scene could have solved a lot. For example let’s look at this moment right here.

“Most ghouls are regarded by humans as creatures to be feared” Amon says while recalling the image of a ghoul who was living peacefully until humans went out of their way to hunt him down, then torture him to the point of insanity and kill his brother right in front of him. “Donato Porpora is absolute evil” Amon says, in his big speech about how actually the world is more complicated than he originally thought it was. These two ideas contradict each other, if there are shades of gray then why is Donato still absolutely evil? Is it because he ate children because if that’s the case Amon doesn’t even mention once about the Oggai, or the CCG’s habit of training child soldiers, both of those things which were important to his arc in its conception. The only named Oggai character is Hajime Hazuki who is Amon’s whole reason for going after Fueguchi so hard to the point of grave robbery.

Amon still also approaches the entire scene like he’s merely an observer of ghouls, and not that he’s one himself. All of these things were things that could have been resolved if Ishida used Donato in his original capacity. Just as a character who exists to tear things apart, and especially to do so because of his strange affection for Amon. Play for Amon’s mind and make him stronger so Amon can rise to be a true hero of justice because Amon in particular is Donato’s favorite character. If Donato was going to turn out to be a two dimmensional character anyway then Ishida should have just used him to his full capability. For example you don’t have Emperor Palpatine make an emotional speech when he dies, you have him manipulate the protagonist to move him into action and then he gets thrown down an elevator shaft in the end.

Imagine a confrontation scene where Amon is forced to face all the ugly things about his narrative he conveniently ignores. After facing them he overcomes them, but he actually has to face them, not just reappear after being offscreen for awhile and say he’s totally faced those things and come to those realizations.

It would be using Donato better for his original pruppose as a character, rather than trying to make an emotional scene out of a character motivation that just doesn’t make sense. It would also make Amon’s long stagnation as a character before this make sense as well. Otherwise if the purpose was for Amon to just finish the manga with a big heroic speech about justice, and then defeating Donato by punching him after making his sword bigger why not write Amon actually pursuing justice and self reflecting before this point? The Amon that is written up until this point does not accept who he is, represses it absolutely, and avoids the main plot and confrontation as much as possible. He’s barely onscreen for one, and when he is onscreen he doesn’t make use of any of the information he’s been given before this point.It’s written like Amon is clinging to the vestiges of his past identity and unwilling to admit he was wrong or that he can move on, except then Amon just does and it’s fine. And that didn’t have to be that way, it’s not that everything preceeding it was bad writing but rather the set up does not match the eventual payoff we receive. The character who was written with an arc where he self reflected and grew was Seidou, however the character who was rewarded like they grew and changed in the end was Amon even though Amon is basically just the same character through all of Re:.

Confronting Amon about literally any of this would have been a good move to alleviate a lot of this odd build up and pay off problems, but Donato doesn’t play it like a confrontation he just loses on purpose because of fondness for Amon. Which is fine but also, as I said before the emotions of the scene don’t make any sense at all, nor does Donato’s motivations he sounds like a Dangan Ronpa character so it’s a weird choice around. Not to mention Donato in the end answered none of the questions of his association with the clowns, the previous king, or clarified anything on the timeline which could have been a useful spot for that.

#2 Ui’s Entire Subplot with the Garden

So the garden is an amazing world building idea, but it’s also something that should have been covered far more than it was in canon. The problem with introducing victims like the garden children into canon is that they kind of need their story to be told, just because their problems seem a lot more pressing than everybody else’s but that’s not really the case. The person who knows the most about the garden Furuta, as I jokingly said before we ever got more than a few pieces of his story got killed in a ditch by Kaneki because Kaneki doesn’t care that much about the garden. Which is... weird, because the garden should be a really big deal to anybody who hears about it. “There was human breeding going on, and these children are being forced to be child soldiers for life, and some of them are forcibly raped” you think would rouse most people with the ability to do so to an immediate call to action. If the ending of the story is a more empathic world like Ishida is trying to tell us it is, it’s weird that basically nobody cares about the garden of the children left behind in the garden after Furuta’s Washuu purge.

Not only do we as an audience not get any more information on it in the sixty or so chapters after 101, but also it’s not revealed to any of the other characters besides Kaneki, even those with strong connections to the garden who it seemed like they were building up for a reveal towards, Ui,. We don’t know even what exactly and how much Take told Ui about what Arima’s plan was, and why he defected from the CCG because it’s a conversation that mostly took place offscreen except for a joke line of it that made it into an omake.

So we never get clarification on a bunch of key worldbuilding elements, all of thme having to do with the washuu and the garden, and also the garden children’s story really never gets told, or it’s only told tangentially to Kaneki’s story, and that in itself is a problem because the garden children are such huge victims it kind of necessitates the story be told. They are the literal bottom of the ladder, the lowest rung of society.

It’s like “Why do people have a problem with Endeavor’s Redemption Arc in MHA?” and it’s not really the concept of an abuser getting a redemption arc in general, but rather that Endeavor’s perspective is being favored over his victim’s. Endeavor gets five times more screentime than Rei, his primary victim and we never see her chance of healing, or her chance to redeem herself as a mother to Shouto. Endeavor’s emotions and thoughts take precedent, but at the same time Endeavor’s not a victim to anything but his own bruised ego and hurt man feelings, so his story is a lot less narratively interesting to read.

When you set up victims like this, it’s good to have their story be told. But we really only get to see them from an outsider’s point of view. Matsuri, one of the oppressors of the garden children gets a much happier ending than most garden children, and way more narrative coverage. And I’m not saying Ishida is bad for not telling the garden kid’s story, but rather that it’s such an interesting story it really should have been told rather than hinted at and it seemed so much like the last portion of the manga was building up towards that reveal and we just never got it. Only bits and pieces. Which makes me question why Ishida even introduced it in the first place if he was only ever going to leave it vague when it’s something that requires a lot more explanation than we were given.

On that note what happened to Hairu’s head? Ishida at least told us her revival was impossible, but they had her head and body in preservation. Wouldn’t an Ui who had moved on make sure to at least recover the body and bury it?

Really it seems rather than Hairu was never going to be able to be revived to begin with, Ishida was building towards a revival and changed his mind at some point because a lot of ideas with Ui and Hairu’s plotline were pretty much dropped. What Okahira was referring to here was never explained, and also the kind of revival that Okahira himself experienced was never explained either even though they were given a brief mention in the epilogue.

So yeah, the garden kids are kind of a big black spot. Especially since there are more garden kids being made into half ghouls by the CCG’s mad science (sorry the TSC) and nobody seems to see anything wrong with that.

Especially since the TSC apparently made no effort to actually help the shortened lifespan of either of the garden kids until they stopped being effective soldiers.

Just any kind of coverage on whether their lives are better or worse since the Washuu were purged, because it kind of just sounds like they’re being used exactly the same way the Washuu used them.

#metasks #donatoporpora

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