#Virtue Is A Weakness (trope)

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Both the Blorgons and Circuit Chaps have long viewed empathy as a fatal flaw.

So, why is it that they, the supposedly superior beings, are the ones who end up dead?

[hugsandnoregrets]

one of the cringier forms of virtue signalling on tumblr to me is people acting willfully obtuse and pretending that they don't know what a metaphor or basic storytelling devices are (while half their blog posts are humblebragging/complaining about being a 'gifted child') so they can dunk specifically on taylor swift.

like i'll never get over the reaction to the 'sexy baby' line, where she is referencing both a joke in a popular sitcom, and the 'born sexy yesterday' trope that tumblr frothed over the mouth about how succinct and astute of an analysis it was - but then pretended to take it as literally as possible to call a famous woman 'creepy' and 'weird' when she's relating it to her experiences of feeling tall/huge/taking up too much space/being a villain/monster on the hill vs. the expectation of a small childlike innocent young woman who makes herself act like a tiny weak baby for male validation.

and then they pretended the asylum she was referencing was... her childhood home? and not the music industry she was in since she was 15? the one that slut-shamed her, body-shamed her, stalked her, threatened her, created parasocial relationships with her, and expects everything out of her - but no, everyone played willfully dumb so they could call her privileged for thinking her upper class childhood home was an 'asylum' even when it clearly wasn't the intent.

acting like "the man" is talking about every man on earth and not herself but a man. a rich, white, talented, able bodied man. y'know, like leonardo dicaprio, who she directly references. but no no, she's saying her life would be easier even if she was the most oppressed man on earth. yep. ignore every lyric in the song to tell yourself that.

and finally the horribly cringe way they react to her storytelling songs. simultaneously whining that she only sings about her love life, then screaming about how she 'never cleaned up a house so why is she referencing that in her song!!!!' when she's clearly telling a story. like.

does it feel good? to pretend you haven't gone further than 4th grade reading classes so that you can dunk on someone you don't like?

[artbyblastweave]

after reading Peter Clines Ex-Heroes pentalogy I can confidentiality say that Danielle Harris is one of the coolest heroes ever, what do you think of her?

^This lady So what I like about Danielle Morris/Cerberus is that she's a take on the Iron Man archetype in the context of an otherwise deliberately incredibly low-budget superhero universe, a setting where, with the exception of one millionaire, the superhero population consists almost entirely of working-class people in kludged-together wetsuits and motorcycle leathers who only get away with their low-rent costumes by virtue of the fact that they do, in fact, have incredibly potent superpowers. This is a hard circle to square, aesthetically, if you also want to introduce a hero who uses power armor, because that shit's expensive.

The solution? Cerberus doesn't debut after the other half of the book's elevator pitch, the zombie apocalypse, is already well under way. The fact that there's only one set of the armor despite the extensive documentation that must exist is due to the fact that the armor is a prototype, slated for eventual mass production but hastily deployed as a show of force by a rapidly disintegrating military that's at the point of just throwing whatever they've got at the wall to see what sticks. The typically-inadvisable trope of the suit's chief engineer also being the field pilot is initially justified by the fact that she's the only person left who knows how to operate it; and then by her reluctance to train a second person on how to operate it because she comes to be psychologically dependent on the physical protection it provides her. Protection that's at least somewhat illusory, to boot, because if you take a shot for every time the suit very realistically suffers a power failure or mechanical failure at a crucial juncture, you're going to lose your liver. The collapse of the logistics network impedes the armor's ability to work at full capacity almost from the start; those bracers on her arms in the above illustrations are for .50 Caliber machine guns that ran quickly out of ammo after her first skirmish and had to be mothballed. The series is very clear that Cerberus wouldn't be viable in the long run if she weren't on a team with several other superhumans, including an electrokinetic and a technopath, who can help cover the suit's weak points. Ironic, given the implication that the original point of Cerberus was so the army would have an answer to those same people. Overall, the armor is paradoxically portrayed as both viable and nonviable.

One of the really interesting things about Ex-Heroes's worldbuilding is that superheroes numbered in the dozens before the apocalypse, but supervillains only start to emerge in any real numbers after the apocalypse, when the prospect of being able to start a fiefdom or a cult of personality without someone noticing and coming to kick your shit are significantly greater; before that, criminals with powers mostly kept what they were capable of on the down low because there was no sane reason to adopt the kind of comic-book classic presentation that would call a superhero down on their heads. Thus the quiet thesis of the series is that quite a bit of classic superheroic nonsense would be actively facilitated by the end of the world and the collapse of society; the incentives and the restrictions would change, but heroism would remain pointedly necessary. Cerberus is also part of this quiet thesis. The perpetual tension of Tony Stark is that we know him to exist in a world full of cultural, legal and logistical restrictions, against which the specific fantasy of being Iron Man would inevitably run aground. Cerberus, as a superheroic identity, never existed alongside any of that. It's way easier to be a knight errant or a lone ranger if that's the only version of those things left that anyone can be.

[stromuprisahat]

An icon, not an instigator

Six of Crows- Chapter 35 (Leigh Bardugo)

I've been thinking about this passage in connection to LB's words on Darklina, not quite able to put into words why it didn't sit well with me. First the quote, courtesy of @aleksanderscult :

I've analysed what Aleksander meant by this in the reply mentioning said interview. To put it shortly- I don't think he meant he expects Alina to manage his behaviour. It goes against his characterisation he'd let anyone control him in such way. He merely expressed his willingness to listen to her, should she disagree with him due to her moral stance.

LB herself puts her issue with certain tropes into two points:

Women shouldn't be expected to act as men's babysitter. He should change by himself.

Women don't have to be good. They, themselves could be even worse.

Her logic is faulty in several places.

First of all a woman acting as "a healer" as LB calls it doesn't necessarily mean she's somehow responsible for her partner's behaviour. It's merely about her influence helping him to overcome trauma or other effects harmful experience had on him. I'd even argue it's closer to what Matthias describes above, than whatever could Alina offer the Darkling. Ever.

You'd need specific qualities Alina never possessed. Empathy, caring, some amount of selflessness... What's the point of "addressing" a notion that doesn't have a leg to stand on?

While I agree that "a man should be able to better himself on his own" Helnik passage above has an important weak spot. A man should be able to better himself on his own without such change being significantly tied to a single person, especially if he's "rewarded" for his progress by romantic relationship with said person.

Genuine change should be driven by recognition of one's faults and resulting desire to become a better person, not a promise of possible relationship dangling in front of them. One that would be otherwise impossible.

While Matthias specifically happens to be a paragon of virtue, and once The Realization™ strikes, he never really falters, never tries to return to his old beliefs, ordinary people tend to struggle and doubt new ways less beneficial to them personally. Especially if their motivation happens to be external.

What happens when the one, who inspired his change is no longer around? What if they break up, his old ties severed and new ones either all business or acquaintances made through the ex-partner? Or are we ignoring the possibility that losing the benefits such change produced could lead the man to slip back to harmful patterns of behaviour and thinking as a way to justify one's failure to maintain the relationship or straight up revenge for ending it?

I'm sure no man would ever even think about that. Who'd be so petty or simply lost?!

This is why Malyen's change in R&R isn't believable. He "realized" his coercion led Alina to suicide attempt instead of expected eternal faithfulness, so he went through 180° turn of his behaviour. It's too sudden and too "perfect". Merely a changed tactics of abuse we shouldn't mistake for genuine betterment. "Look what you were willing to abandon!"

Matthias' case could be roughly fixed in this passage- don't make it all about Nina. Have him remember questioning drüskelle philosophy when Brum proudly showed him the laboratory. Or when he watched the broken body of a boy, who was ~someone's~ friend- make that the impulse to help Nina bury him. Have him remember seeing other Grisha as human, so his faith in their humanity doesn't seem so sudden and pussy-blinded.

Malyen's case would be much more complicated. His vices ~targeted~ Alina specifically. They were never openly admitted, described as such, he was never properly called out on them, certainly not by Alina herself. His doubtful development happened mostly off page in a way resembling just another kind of manipulation, and it didn't take long for it to "earn" him EXACTLY what he always wanted pre-change. He doesn't seem to mind the negative impacts of it any more than he did Alina's failing health previously.

To sum up once again- yes, women shouldn't be those to "fix" their man, but not because it's just wrong to expect them to do men's work, but because true change has to come from the inside. Others can help you realize there are "better" ways, but YOU're the one, who has to change the way you think. (Unless we're in Dead Dove territory, exploring all sorts of manipulation.)

Secondly it's kinda ironic reading LB's take on "Woman's rights AND wrongs", considering her strong tendency to moralize, shame and punish for any seeming "vice". Sure, she eventually changes the tune to "Women can do no wrong.", but that's equally stupid and harmful as the above mentioned Victorian take.

The way the books are written viewed through the lens of the interview turns likely a well-meant sentiment into the notion woman's some passive idol to worship by laying change at her feet, which wow- double creepy. Certainly more empowering than intentionally influencing or even FORCING the man to adapt to her requirements.

[ang3lwithapen]

i really love the decision to let the MC be physically weak. as someone who is wholly uninterested in fighting (i really should learn, i admit, bleh) and who has health conditions that makes them have "muscle weakness" as a symptom, i tend to gravitate heavily towards games that let the MC be similar. i like playing a damsel-in-distress (/gender-neutral), i love protective ROs realizing they have a walking weak-spot who cannot defend themself, makes me feel seen, love when things im both largely-apathetic to yet also-insecure about are romanticized as attractive under certain tropes or are the cause of romantic/dramatic scenes in the future, what can i say lol im predictable that way

but usually thats something i pick via a lineage of choices, through virtue of having a low strength/fighting-prowess stat, not at all something i could toggle or have outright acknowledged! which was a really welcome surprise to me, thank you!! i loved that i got to pick that

I have not much to say, but do know reading through this made me smile.

I think it is lovely that such a small thing can be so meaningful for some readers. I will definitely keep it in mind as I write on further. ☺️

[rovingotter]

Two episodes into The Last of Us season 2 and I'm trying to keep an open mind and not assume it's worse just because that's the general consensus but already I'm irritated by so many aspects of it.

SPOILERS, obviously.

I thought Ellie was fine in the first season. She was a kid. Her brashness and impulsivity and constant dropping of f-bombs seemed very teenagerish and like something a teenager would do to mask their fear and trauma. And she and Joel were good foils for each other; they balanced out each other's strengths and weaknesses in a lot of ways.

In s2 she's 19, five years have passed, so I was expecting her character to have matured or changed in some way, but that's not the case. If anything she seems to have regressed a bit. She's still doing the tough-guy wisecracking thing and sprinkling gratuitous "fucks" into every other sentence and rebelling in dumb and pointless ways that endanger both herself and her friends.

One of my least favorite tropes in zombie media is when there is a building that is very obviously infested with zombies and the characters go into it FOR NO REASON or just to "explore," and that happens in the very first episode of s2. She makes a big stink about being allowed to go on patrol, insisting that she is mature enough, and then immediately defies orders and takes a bunch of entirely pointless risks. Dina pushes back a little but mostly enables her and just goes along with it. Very frustrating.

It might be more bearable if these actions were framed as flaws but there's a scene where Tommy and the others confront Ellie over this and she tells Tommy "if you or Joel were there you would have gone into the building!" and he's like "well sure but that's different," but, uh, no, I don't believe your assessment is correct, Tommy. Joel in the first season was never shown to make reckless choices for no reason. He did risky things when it was necessary to achieve a goal but not just for the lulz. This scene makes me suspect that the writers don't actually recognize Ellie's recklessness and thrill-seeking as a flaw.

Which brings me to another pet peeve: writers who think that writing a "strong female character" means writing a character who is always angry and blindly defiant against authority for ego reasons (basically toxic masculinity in female form) and framing those traits as virtues. I'm not sure if that's what's going on here but it kinda feels like that. I'd be more into Dina's character if she had the balls to step up and tell Ellie when she was full of shit but so far she just seems like the Supportive Girlfriend. She's nice but also kind of a blank slate.

Ellie also seems really mad at Joel for reasons that are never made clear. She hasn't (I don't think?) found out that he lied to her at the end of s1; I kept thinking that she'd found out somehow and that was why she was mad, but no, that is never explored. The two never actually talk about it. I guess she just thinks he's overprotective or something but they never talk about this, either. She just acts weirdly passive-aggressive (including getting mad at him when he steps up to defend her from a bigot, like ??????) and he mostly avoids her and never initiates a real conversation...and of course, given what happens in episode 2, we know this emotional conflict is never going to be resolved. Again, very frustrating.

I was interested in the concept of Joel in therapy but that also goes nowhere. I'd say Joel's therapist is comically bad at her job but tbf we only ever see her treating him once, while she's drunk and having an especially bad day. Maybe she's better when sober. I think their dynamic would have benefited from at least one other, earlier scene where they were interacting more normally; we only hear briefly about his therapy appointments, and then the first time we actually see him in therapy, it blows up in his face. I guess the lesson of this subplot is "don't seek therapy from someone whose husband you killed (even if it was self-defense)." Like...who thought that was a good idea, really? But again, feels like a missed opportunity because that's such a weird and uncomfortable dynamic and one that could've benefited from fleshing out.

I'd encountered a few spoilers for s2 prior to watching it so I knew Joel was going to die early on, but the way it happens is, again, very unsatisfying. There's hardly any interaction with Abby; she delivers her big speech about why she hates him and he's just like "okay you're gonna kill me, get on with it," and she beats him to death.

I doubt him explaining the circumstances would have changed the outcome, but I would've at least liked to see Joel attempt to explain why he did it and Abby's reaction to him revealing that he'd only killed her father because her father was about to kill Ellie. Like, did Abby even know that? Would she have been horrified, confused, in denial? Or if she did know, would she have insisted that her father was in the right because it might have led to a cure? Could've been a chance to showcase their different moral philosophies, but we'll never know, because Joel didn't bother to tell her, because that would have led to a potentially interesting conversation, which (so far) the writers seem to be allergic to.

I'm going to give it another episode or two but so far it's left me feeling pretty empty.

[orathearsonman]

anyway so i’m rereading Villain With a Crush / Pure Villain and noticing some parallels between Han Doryeong (pictured left) and Tesilid (pictured right). hear me out for the next (checks watch) uhhhhh,

so both of them could be considered the face of their institution (doryeong more so since he’s practically a celebrity, tesilid on account of him being the Wielder of the Holy Sword)

both were taught and conditioned (?) from a young age— doryeong got his abilities as a newborn and was IMMEDIATELY on the special police radar because he was super strong. tesilid was taken in as one of the sacred sheep as a little orphan child and branded with the stigmata.

both of their powers exceed those around them (doryeong: woah, TWO POWERS?? tesilid: seven deadly sins and heavenly virtues let him power up)

ultimately, they are both somehow victims of their institution. doryeong’s been the best special officer practically since he was old enough to walk. he’s always been the hero, always been the people’s bastion of hope. for the longest time, he’s been burdened with the knowledge that if he ever falters or shows weakness, the people around him will lose their faith in the special police force. he has to win every battle / save every person / etc / etc. all the while, he’s haunted by the question: if he’s ever in danger, who will come to save him? now objectively tesilid has it worse; his childhood was stolen by the vatican treating him like a weapon and a tool to their own ideals. his hands were stained red with the blood of people that the vatican branded as heretics, inhuman, people that weren’t people at all but evil things meant to be purged. his morality struggled against the path he was forced into (it only gets worse during his regressions, of course).

both of them put on façades. for one reason or another, they have to act like pure, upstanding people (who are NOT undergoing a single mental health crisis, thank you very much). doryeong because he can’t let the public down despite his own fears (see above), tesilid because he feels he can’t risk showing that side of himself to ailette (because of that #sweet fear of rejection)

and both of them eventually meet a person (rosa, ai) who sees them as they are (debatable but it’s about the effect not the intention) and is powerful enough to protect them. when doryeong is in danger, who will protect him? rosa, who shatters an entire building headed straight for his face. tesilid forever wishes for a healer? no worries, ailette was studying a decade specifically for this. after forever being the hero now it’s THEIR turn to get deus ex machina’d. they don’t have to be the strongest person in the room or a smiling cutout. they have a chance to experience new things! smile genuinely! perhaps even… be a little bit jealous for once?? damn i never knew they had it in em.

doryeong and tesilid are different characters with different experiences and vibes. they’re not even set in remotely similar worlds. still, it’s difficult for me to not spot the similarities when they encompass so many tropes/archetypes i love (e.g. guy experiences genuine compassion for the first time, 10 dead, 27 injured)

[eyedelater]

demon slayer notes

i started watching demon slayer, without having read the manga, at the urging of a family friend who is new to anime and insists it's extremely good. here are my thoughts on the anime and then the entire manga through to its end.

in this post, i appended followup notes to some points upon revisiting them because i had to make sure to go back and tell my past self what happened.

i watched episodes 1 through 20 without writing anything because i wasn't planning to. i watched many of those episodes on my phone, which is unusual for me, but i was traveling at the time. so i probably missed some finer visual details.

my impression of the show before i started, from having skimmed the start of its wikipedia page some months ago, was that it seemed to be relatively high quality but very formulaic Standard Shounen Fare, and it did not catch my interest. after watching 20 episodes, that opinion hasn't really changed. so many of the elements of the show are typical and just barely riff on extremely basic tropes. i'm sure there are many people who argue that demon slayer in fact drastically and ingeniously transforms those generic shounen tropes, but i'm not so sure about that. [followup note: the story does improve in terms of nuance later on, but i'm not retracting this paragraph.]

they did kind of an amazing job on the anime in terms of animation and effects. i should really rewatch those first 20 episodes on my computer screen so i can better appreciate it.

tanjirou is a very, very good boy. almost too good. where are his flaws? his internal monologues are always so apt. almost too apt. his backstory is of course compelling, but he hasn't won me over quite yet… i do like his headbutts, though… [followup note: i guess his flaw is his penchant for excessive self-sacrifice? which is one of those job interview "flaws" that is more likely to be a virtue.]

i'm looking forward to nezuko having more and more agency as the story progresses.

i'm looking forward to zenitsu learning to shut the fuck up more and more as the story progresses. i do have to give his voice actor a lot of credit for going completely all-out every time and never holding back.

i immediately love inosuke because he's a dumb bastard.

will tomioka giyuu fill the hayakawa aki-shaped hole in my heart by not being doomed? [followup note: not really. good for him not being doomed though!]

the art style is so samefacey… golden kamuy spoiled me…

the demon slayer corps seems to think it's hot shit and have many, many levels of hierarchy, but they're disorganized enough to regularly and greatly underestimate the threat of demons such that they keep sending their own fighters to their deaths. they need to work on their intelligence gathering, if nothing else.

all the hashira seem to care an awful lot about the life of the hypothetical person hypothetically killed by nezuko, but their organization is sloppy and heartless in its deploying of weak demon slayers. is this clumsy writing with plot holes, or is it a hint for the astute as to the organization's dirtiness and disorder? [followup note: i want to say it was the former or i guess neither. the master turns out to be really humble and kind to his hashiras. did he not grasp how bad a job they were doing wrt casualties?]

i like how sanemi's eyes continue to look insane even when he's calmly using polite speech

"My arms and legs are really short right now." ~zenitsu while his arms and legs are really short

i do hope boys watch this and come away with the idea that tanjirou's habit of intense and unconditional kindness is cool.

i did like when the girls told zenitsu to his face to be respectful to girls and he was humbled. [followup note: i discovered this was added into the anime and not present in the manga. good addition]

the last few seconds of the OP for the mugen train arc make it seem like rengoku is gonna die. (explicitly prepares my heart for that)

by the way, after the first season ended and we're on to the next arc, inosuke is still the best. i don't do it myself, but i enjoy watching others live life with true wild abandon. i really enjoy his kind of annoyingness more than zenitsu's.

rengoku is committed to never breaking eye contact with the camera

in ep2 of the train arc, tanjirou said "and where are you looking?!" (in japanese) to rengoku, but they translated it as "and when did you get so big?!" because i guess they felt like it would be a better visual joke because they animated rengoku really big? but they should've kept the "where are you looking?" because it's funny that tanjirou addressed what i was already thinking and had in fact written in the previous point. they did it twice in one episode too. is this going to be something we learn about rengoku? that he doesn't look at people? i thought we saw him look at people… [followup note: it's not. also the same joke was in the manga so they especially should have translated it right.]

rengoku said that black sword bearers never know which thing to master. obvious flag for "tanjiro's going to master them all of them and be the biggest baddest hashira in shounen history." too obvious (if i'm right) [i was wrong]

who's gonna tell gotouge-sensei that headbutts don't make your head bleed

prediction: kibutsuji targeted tanjirou's family because of their ancestry and some great prophecy about how that bloodline is fated to someday defeat him. he killed everyone who was home but thought that had to be all the kids because there were so many. he turned nezuko into a demon just to see what would happen and/or because he did actually remember the right number of kids and he wanted her to kill tanjirou. it may also turn out that kibutsuji was responsible for tanjirou's dad's death and/or the scars on both their heads. [followup note: i was wrong about a lot of this, but he did target them for their bloodline]

tanjirou gathered the courage to slit his own throat waaay too easily and quickly.

the netflix translator for the subs for the first few episodes (at least) of the train arc is taking far too many liberties for my liking. i wonder if the subs are different on crunchyroll, which i don't have. i should note that the first 20ish episodes i watched, i watched on a non-netflix non-crunchyroll site and i guess they were fan subs. but i didn't notice anything wrong with those subs.

"I fused my being with this entire train!" ok i've been giving this anime some shit for being predictable, but credit where credit is due, i did not expect that. that's really funny. i hate Lower One's voice btw.

i can tell that some, if not all, of the move names characters shout out are puns like the move names in one piece, but because there are no translation notes, i can't understand them :( [followup note: there aren't any in the official translation either :( and i looked up an unofficial translation and it didn't have any either :( i guess when i'm done with the manga i'll look at a wiki for the move name meanings… of course i dare not look at a wiki when spoilers are still a concern…] [followup followup: didn't care enough before posting this to look at the move name meanings]

anyone who has read my blog, you know what i'm gonna say about nipples, right? it's obvious, right? about inosuke's and others' empty chests. it's obvious. people will be like "you want explicit nipples depicted on the chests of TEEN BOYS?" no i want minimal abstract representations of nipples because everyone has them and it's normal and it's weirder to see a blank aladdin chest. this is about NIPPLE POSITIVITY. i will die on this hill time after time

if two guys are fighting a train together and they synchronize their breathing, is it gay

i liked when inosuke gently set injured tanjirou back down. character development

ok i REALLY dislike the netflix subs for these episodes. don't ADD shit. it's simple. just don't. you have to respect the author. you have to respect the author.

i prepared myself for rengoku's death. thanks for the hint, train arc OP. i see now that he was introduced to serve the purpose of character development for tanjirou.

the appeal of a stone-faced character like tomioka giyuu is twofold: a) they look cool all the time, and b) you develop a desire to see them emote.

tanjirou's gonna get yelled at for losing his sword again…

i like how akaza made it a point to beat up tanjirou's sword. to give us viewers closure as to whether tanjirou was gonna get that sword back.

i feel like i've seen an oversized amount of fanart involving rengoku, given the length of his lifespan in the show. (nothing i looked up, but just by osmosis.) is this like a portgas d. ace situation? i hate shipping ace with anyone because he's dead. or could it be that the character i've seen around was actually senjurou? doubtful

zenitsu's VA is doing a good job, like i said, but i bet zenitsu is a lot more lovable in the manga where you don't actually have to listen to him losing his shit…

i'll officially be mad if anything happens to inosuke.

uzui's three weed-smoking girlfriends…

so the boys are not even just infiltrating the houses of pleasure but they're aiming for the rank of oiran

tanjirou's bad lying face can't compete with luffy's bad lying face… sorry… [followup note: it was better in the manga]

inosuke who can get ahold of himself well enough to actually stfu and act like a girl… excellent

yeah fuck the translator for these netflix subs in the entertainment district arc too. you can't just write whatever you think would sound cool for their lines.

i have to find out the japanese for inosuke's catchphrase "comin' through" (according to this translation). wait i should just turn japanese captions on. ……there are no japanese captions… gimme a break…

they're literally in japan, literally wearing traditional japanese clothing, and they translate "obi" into "belt" instead of leaving it as is. am i overestimating how many people would know what an obi is........?

i do think it's a smart and interesting decision to explicitly section the anime into arcs instead of seasons, or rather, you could say, putting season breaks only at arc breaks. very smart.

uzui's own wife calls him tengen-sama? red flag

you know, i did have one major misconception about this story. i thought that the fact that yaiba is in the name would mean that tanjirou would inherit some particular sacred demon-obliterating blade and it would play a major part in the story (a predictable trope). but tanjirou in fact keeps destroying his swords. maybe that will actually happen later. [followup note: it didn't really. i mean tanjirou gets his one good sword later, but it's not like the sword is what wins the fight for him or anything.]

looked at tanjirou and thought "deku" tally: ||||||||||||||||||||||||

this story sure does have a lot of the protagonist's internal monologue. that's somewhat unusual for shounen, i feel like. is tanjirou just conjuring up text boxes all the time in the manga? i guess i'll have to read it after this… for completionism. [followup note: it seems the manga has an unnamed narrator who sometimes chimes in and they excluded that from the anime completely, instead relying on a combination of show-don't-tell and tanjirou narrating instead. not a bad choice.]

nezuko bit through her gag, which was really good, but she didn't immediately start talking, which is what should have happened. to remind us that she can. other demons can talk. [followup note: i see now that she is apparently left in a childlike state and has to relearn talking. ok]

(watches nezuko shrink back from grownup mode) self-infantilizing imouto…

ok, i figured out that the subs are just the lines from the dubs. that means my ire lies with whoever translated the lines for the netflix dubs. that's right, i'm not just gonna excuse it because i was mistaken about the source.

tanjirou looking at ezui and seeing rengoku's head appear next to him is 100% a death flag. his three weed-smoking wives are gonna mourn him at the end of this arc. it's gonna be the start of a pattern of tanjirou getting scarred by the loss of hashira after hashira right in front of him. [followup: glad for tanjirou that this didn't happen.]

by the way, i bet someone out there has something smart to say about uzui's three wives and what they mean for feminism. i don't care to think about it very hard though. but i know someone does.

zenitsu is conveniently asleep for a very long time in this very long battle

the budget for this anime must have been SO high. or the animators were seriously overworked. because there is so much love and so much hard work put into what seems like EVERY single shot. it's incredible. like some of these shots there's no logical need to go so hard but it's just sooo consistent that every shot has to have a life-changing amount of work put into it. i can't get over it.

(after entertainment arc ep9) i said i would be pissed if anything happened to inosuke, and i meant it. we'll see what happens from here. if inosuke dies, i'm not reading the manga. because i'm stubborn.

gyuutaro called tanjirou a bonkler…

this battle was already frustratingly long and now the defeated gyuutaro's dead defeated corpse had to release one last extremely destructive attack? according to what logic?

i like when nezuko has tanjirou on her back for once. reverse sibling onbu

this smells a lot more like hunter x hunter than hero academia or one piece. in terms of the character designs, to some degree, and everyone's penchant for talking a lot, and vibes. and i'm saying "smells" in my own way and not in a tanjirou way, okay?

they have IVs in the taisho era? with saline? i don't know anything about history.

does everyone in the sword village need the hyottoko mask? at all times?

i can tell by the OP of the sword village arc that demons will attack the sword village.

i really like the artistic choice of letting characters emote through their masks if necessary.

this son of a bitch has poison too? isn't this getting old?

i liked the little episode preview where kanroji is asked how she sheaths her sword and the answer is she simply just does. very good

of course even haganezuka turns out to be a hottie (rolls eyes emoji)

i don't want to call out gyokko here, but he could just put muichirou in the water vase again.

kibutsuji looks a lot less laughable without his stupid fucking hat.

so demons started existing because kibutsuji took weird medicine from his doctor?? [followup note: I Guess So.]

i guess i have to give gotouge-sensei credit for really sticking with the gimmick of the whole sword village wearing those masks.

i like genya.

tokitou's soft spot for tanjirou is really cute

i caught up with the anime without writing very much. i'm still blown away by the production value. speaking of blown away, i'm curious as to what happened to 2 of kagaya's 5 apparent daughters. [followup note: they really died.]

[{{{{{{{{caught up with the anime}}}}}}}}]

[{{{{{{{{comments below concern the manga}}}}}}}}]

inosuke lived, so i started reading the manga. i'm struck by the different feeling that tanjirou gives off. manga tanjirou seems a little more serious and less perky. maybe it has to do with the line delivery in the anime shaping my view of him (though the voice actor has done a great job). i did, at the beginning of the anime, get the strong early impression that tanjirou's voice was very "grown man trying hard to do a teen boy voice," and i cringed just a bit. but that feeling faded as the anime went on. i also assume the art style changes a lot as the manga progresses, such that the style resembles the anime's style more in later chapters. the anime seems to have done an amazing job of faithfully and precisely adapting the manga, at least for early chapters. i'm really jealous of the demon slayer anime on behalf of all the great mangas that got weird or lousy anime adaptations.

the babyface style of the early manga is also very strong. even giyuu looks like a little kid.

and genya's face in his first appearance is really funny. he got a glowup for the anime. whereas zenitsu looks 100% the same. i'm looking forward to inosuke's manga face.

i read a lot more of the manga without saying anything. i've gone on and on about the high quality of the anime, but i kind of feel like the manga is better. that is to say, the art feels very authentic and pure and full of love and care. manga tanjirou is just as much of a Very Good Boy as anime tanjirou, but without a certain feeling of Trying Very Hard. is it the voice?

the manga has a kind of Classic feel to it. not like it resembles any particular manga from the past, but more like, gotouge-sensei was aiming high and trying to make something evergreen. trying to forge a new classic.

and reading the manga was shocking because it's like, the anime is truly the most faithful adaptation i've ever seen. every scene feels like it's shot-for-shot-for-shot precisely what was in the manga, with every line carried over. practically nothing was left out. the spacing and timing of content was perfect; nothing was excessively crammed or stretched out. only a few things were added, like the scene with the bento sellers before the train arc (unless that came from some bonus chapter i never saw). but the additions feel normal and necessary. truly a staggeringly faithful and loving adaptation. why did they give demon slayer this exceptional treatment…? because reading the manga, it's like, this is good… but is it life-changingly good enough for them to have gone THIS all-out with the anime? i haven't decided yet. [followup note: i still haven't decided?? i might make future posts about this.]

right, demon slayer is solidly good, i would say, but on the whole, it's not quite For Me. that's because if i evaluate it by my old standby metric, the COCK test, it is decidedly NOT Completely unhinged, and there is a decided lack of Creatures. to be perfectly fair, i'm sure it Offends the church, and it does Kick ass. and really, if someone is just a bit less weirdly picky than me, this manga could change their life. but it's just not batshit insane enough to push all my buttons. i feel some hunter x hunter influence, but obviously hunter x hunter knew how to be insane enough. not that hunter x hunter does it all for me either.

it does get credit for having somewhat deeper and rounder characters than jujutsu kaisen. like at least they have an extremely strong reason to be doing what they're doing.

the manga is self-serious in a genuine way, and the anime feels self-serious in a very slightly phony way. though i don't mean they're overly self-serious. there is welcome comic relief in both. it's better in the manga but still well-translated into the anime (literal translations of the subtitles aside). and the comic relief is actually funny a lot of the time, which is more than i can say about jujutsu kaisen. this has been my obligatory shitting on jujutsu kaisen for the first time in a while. if you missed it, the story is that i gave jujutsu kaisen all the chances in the world for me to love it, but it disappointed me (and killed my favorite character for no reason).

i've been worried this whole time, not having a good sense of exactly how much chapters have been squashed or stretched, about how many chapters would remain after i caught up with the story as far as the anime went. but now i'm just about at the end of the hashira training arc (mansion just blew up) and there are still about 60 chapters left. that's sooo many. i was worried there wouldn't be much story left, but there is! that's good, because there's a lot left to explain.

i have noticed exactly what has been added to the anime adaptation. pretty much everything added was smart and suitable. although the extremely long approach of kibutsuji to kagaya's bedside was i think not so necessary. but yeah, fleshing out the training in the hashira arc a bit, going into slightly more detail on people's backstories, adding a few more character building moments, none of it feels irritating in any way. but if it turns out they added any zenitsu whining moments, that's unforgivable. there are already enough of those.

i bet huge inosuke fans were a little irritated at the casting of his voice. a true ruffian's voice that clashes to the extreme with his pretty face. i think it's pretty apt though. maybe a little too large-adult-sounding. but teenage boys are like that.

i've been reading an unofficial manga translation, not sure who it's by, and it's interesting to note which phrases were left untranslated in this compared to in the official translation. in this unofficial TL, why is oyakata-sama left as such instead of translating it to "master" when it's just a title that plainly means "master?" and in the netflix subs/dubs, why are hashira and hinokami kagura left untranslated? and yet both translated "obi" as either "belt" or "sash" when i think it could have safely been left as is. and why was "nichirin sword" left untranslated in both when you could just call it a sun blade or sun sword? is it because nichirin sounds too cool and japanese?

oh yeah, i kept thinking but kept forgetting to write: it's well known that demons are always eating humans, but we don't see them in the actual act of eating people very often at all. it seems they often like to just kill people, like weasels kill hens. for fun. but we have seem douma in the act of eating people note once but twice.

the unifying backstory of Everyone's family being killed by demons is getting a little old…

ok i remembered one bad thing the anime did. giving us that whole ridiculous nezuko montage when she was exposed to the sun and we thought she was gonna get obliterated. that was reeeally pushing it. trying that hard to fool us is just embarrassing for you.

so ubuyashiki kagaya became a father at the age of 15. no, younger, because kiriya has two (twin?) elder sisters. at least 14.

the two ubuyashiki girls did die… that's not cool… don't use them just to confuse kibutsuji…

zenitsu leveled up? zenitsu can work while awake now? maybe he'll also shut the fuck up?

…

i ended up staying up very, very late and read many dozens of chapters in one night and finished demon slayer. not the best circumstances for properly absorbing the story, but i did it anyway.

i was not prepared for genya to die and i think that should not have happened. we needed to see more of him and his future. i'll say it: it should have been sanemi instead. justice for genya.

i don't think that many hashiras needed to die… especially tokitou-kun didn't need to die so horribly... and i certainly didn't expect sanemi to be one of only 2 hashira survivors.

i guess we're just lucky that inosuke and zenitsu got away with all their limbs intact. limbs were dropping like flies for a while there.

i was satisfied with the reveal of the backstory about the tsugikuni brothers and how yoriichi entrusted his earrings and stuff to tanjirou's ancestral family.

i thought the final reveal that yoriichi's 13th move was all the other moves strung together didn't have an amazing payout in the end… did it? did i miss something big?

there was the Explicit mention, in dialogue, that kanroji and iguro and others may reincarnate happily. i wish gotouge-sensei would have allowed that to happen in the audience's imagination instead of having a timeskip chapter that shows everyone's descendants and reincarnations. it wasn't unbearable, but i didn't like it. also inosuke's descendant didn't go hog wild at all.

after reading the whole manga and no longer fearing spoilers, i finally looked up inosuke's catchphrase. i was very pleased to find out that it is chototsumoushin 猪突猛進, which is an existing four-character compound that includes the kanji for boar and means rushing recklessly (as a boar does). i knew there would be some degree of untranslatable nuance in there! the nuance is that that phrase definitely describes an undesirable act, but inosuke yells it with glee while rushing in recklessly, and that is perfect. it's like yelling "BULL IN A CHINA SHOP!" in the anime, one subtitle translation was "COMIN' THROUGH!" which is a little lifeless and completely missing any boar energy. my favorite translation is "BOAR RUSH!" because it carries the boar energy and makes it seem like he's shouting a move name when he's really just barreling around the hallway. i don't remember if i saw that one in the netflix translation or if it was a fansub. one more version i saw, in an unofficial manga translation, was "pig assault." that one's not a winner. it isn't even the kanji for pig; it's the kanji for boar. also if i had been watching the anime with earbuds it's entirely possible i would have been able to discern what inosuke was saying from the beginning, because i went back and he says it quite clearly, but that doesn't matter now.

i feel a little weird about making a whole long post about something i don't have crazy strong feelings about, but i wrote all this out, so... read my important opinions... sorry for saying "i guess" so much and using so many ellipses...

overall, i wish the ending was less bittersweet (i hate character death, as always) and dislike the timeskip chapter, but i still rate demon slayer (the story itself) as GOOD. that means it is worth watching and reading. there are several slots above GOOD on my personal rating scale, but GOOD isn't bad. it's GOOD. and that's what demon slayer is. someday i will probably rewatch and/or reread, and i'll keep up with the next anime season.

[animentality]

the fun thing about durgetash for me as far as definitely toxic ships go, is that gortash and durge, as individuals, are toxic. but the ship itself? not toxic at all in my take. because as horrible as they are as people, the love they have for each other is actually very genuine. everyone else in the world is dust under their boots except for each other. they truly respect each other and get along frighteningly well and listen to each other and support each other’s atrocities and so, if you ignore the screaming of their victims in the background, their relationship is actually kind of healthy.

to be fair: this is with my version of them in mind lol i know other people have spicer takes where they ARE actively toxic to each other and such, and those are fun too but ive gotten so into the version of them where they both just exude toxicity to everyone in their lives EXCEPT each other. it’s already a trope im very weak to but its especially crazy with them. its like they cancel each other out somehow lol

like i think it takes a while to get to that point of course, to build up actual trust enough to feel even slightly safe around each other, but once they open up to each other the affection-starvation just jumps out. and then despite everything they manage to actually be gentle with each other. and neither of them deserves gentleness of any sort, but they get it anyway, from each other.

so for me durgetash is “toxic” only by virtue of the individuals involved being horrible terrible people, and because they gleefully support each other’s evil plans, and not because of how they actually treat each other, which is actually the closest thing to “normal” either of them will ever experience (and it is still so, so far from “normal” lol)

but it’s still also nice to be in a ship where the discourse is so obvious we don’t even bother lol. yes gortash has a list of human rights abuses longer than he is tall. yes he’s gonna have an evil cuddle with his evil partner-in-crime in their evil bedroom after a long, hard day of being evil. and i’m gonna be thinking about it <3

Anon, you get me.

I think durgetash just works because...they are so blatantly evil.

Gortash tortured a bunch of people trying to figure out how tadpoles worked, and the evidence of his crimes is in the mindflayer colony beneath Moonrise and in the Steel Watch Foundry. His Steel Watch guards literally kill children and innocent families.

The Dark Urge mentions killing (eating?) a BABY. They have killed thousands. They eat human meat. They torture people.

They both started the entire plot by being total pieces of shit.

So what are you going to do?

Cancel them???

The game cancels them.

Gortash literally got cancelled so hard his brain popped.

The Dark Urge dies in most playthroughs. They only become redeemable by literally dying and becoming a new person. Plus their life is so fucking awful, that it almost cancels out how bad they are, because they're a vessel of Bhaal, who can either choose obedience or death.

They are both so outrageously evil, you can't even be outraged.

No one on the entire planet is defending either of them.

It almost defeats itself as an argument, like, you say Gortash is horrible, and I say yeah, man. You say, the Dark Urge is evil, and I say absolutely.

But that's kind of why...a relationship between the two of them IS so good, though.

Sure, there have always been villainous ships, but...something about these jagged creatures having a soft spot for one another...

It just works.

It's...it's taking two wretched beasts, and giving them something human to hold between their claws.

How can you support them being together, but how could you deny them this?

They're so horrible, they don't deserve love, but at the same time, seeing profoundly evil people are still capable of love, and humanity is inescapable, no matter how inhuman you are...

Hmmmm.

Yes.

The worse Dark Urge and Enver are, the better Durgetash comes.

That's the wonderful conundrum.

It's honestly such a SHIP, anon.

THE Ship.

[mamamittens]

Random idea for something I'm sure.

Some sort of adventure, epic-type thing where one of the companions is this dude. He's impossibly strong and tall and haggard beyond belief. He wears a cape at all times and never removes it, it's the nicest thing he seems to own but it's clearly never been cleaned once. Despite that, the feathered cape is in otherwise immaculate shape. He's seemingly very generous otherwise, so long as he keeps his cape. His reason for traveling with the group is to find his lost love, the cape a gift from her.

Anyway, the general vibe of the party is "The world is super fucked up, has been fucked up for a long time, and we're trying to un-fuck it up".

Long story short, they find what appears to be the literal source of ALL EVIL in this world, including a plague of endless suffering where you can't die but rot eternally. Fun stuff. And it's this massive, rotting giant. Bodies fused together painfully, still screaming in agony in their suffering. Attacks do nothing, it cannot die. And every time the party tries, there's a wailing symphony declaring that only mercy may free them, so they cling to her until she delivers them from their suffering. Each body capable of speech screeches against any attempt to pull them away.

It's very visceral and unpleasant.

Then, out of desperation, someone casts a healing spell and bodies start falling off. One by one, this towering giant turns into a frail, emaciated body in the center. Bleeding wounds on their back as they weep.

This is where that dude runs forward, manically clutching the near corpse to his chest. Muttering and rambling as the fragile being tries to squirm away.

Yeah, turns out that's the literal embodiment of Mercy, who this man fell in love with and refused to let go of. To the point that he cut off her wings to keep her with him, but in doing so deprived this world of her virtue, as the wings were more... Metaphorical. Mercy goes where it's needed most, after all, and is always in reach.

The dude insists that it's their torn love that caused all those ill, but like, Mercy CLEARLY FUCKING HATES THIS DUDE and is just too weak to fight him off just like she couldn't fight off those wretched corpses before. The party barely even suggests returning Mercy's wings and he goes FUCKING NUTS.

that's right.

The actual final boss.

It's only after ripping away the cape and returning it to Mercy that she's restored to her true glory. Unearthly beautiful and serene, she opens her arms for her tormentor and he rushes forth only to be fucking obliterated by holy light.

Her suffering ended, she thanks the party and promises to continue her true work... Perhaps this time unseen by mortal eyes. Good call, tbh.

The world slowly heals, the plague cured, and general Bad Times and Bad Vibes are lifted by seemingly randomly blessed individuals who are carrying out Mercy's work. Or perhaps enabling Mercy's touch? Unclear.

Basically, something something, some dude yandere'd so hard he severed the concept of Mercy and kindness from his world in a selfish bid to hoard it for himself and Gets Holy Fucked for his hubris.

Idk.

Sounds fun.

And he spends the entire time playing into the trope of a forlorn lover, who only wants his true love returned to him. The cape a 'gift' he cannot bear to part from for a single second but is actually a trophy of his cruelty. Mercy having given him the benefit of the doubt until that last betrayal and no longer wants to like... Physically help people after that. She still helps just... Social distancing kind of help.

Can't have shit around here lol

[kannra21]

Why do I put up with this cuss any advice

These people don't understand men or men's brain lmao. 😂

Gojo has an obvious crush on Utahime. He loves teasing her. This is so infatuated man behavior. He is whipped. He needs her attention bc if he doesn't say anything stupid to get a reaction from her, he'll explode. Utahime is a beautiful woman (who is too good for him lol, she'd probably get along better with someone more serious).

Everything Utahime rly wants from him is to be more respectful. She's not even asking for too much. Gojo just needs to stop being so goddamn annoying. 😂 If he returns to life somehow, I just hope that he'll become a better person honestly.

So far I loved the baseball episode, he cares ab her interests. He also gave her the word before the goodwill event as fellow colleagues bc he knows how much respect and aknowledgement means to her. He relies on her help. They have each other's numbers memorized and they talk even on their day off.

Utahime has an obvious problem; she's a semi-grade 1 sorcerer. She's obviously weak bc of the nature of her CT and she faced many prejudices before; from her scars to her incompetence as a sorcerer. Despite all that, she didn't grow resentful. She's a loving teacher to her students, taking on almost a motherly role.

It's hard not to love her when she's being so selfless and kind. People called her out on her weakness (Mei Mei too in hidden inventory) but she never gave up and never gave in to teasing. She has amazing problem-solving skills and she's so smart and cute when she gets all happy (when she hugged Shoko that time).

I love careless Utahime bc she reminds me of Gojo sm (lol she needs a day off). This is jjk 0.5 extra edition promotional feature.

In the same edition, Utahime exploited Yuuta and the squad (first-years at the time) to cook for the Grouper she attended to only to leave them with below minimal wage paycheck. 😂

I think that Utahime is a great girl with many virtues and vices. Her and Gojo are different in a way but they also have things in common; they love their kids. And when they talk about them it's like they're always in some sort of friendly parental competition. They're funny. And they knew each other for so long. It is a nice ship, especially for those who enjoy enemies to lovers trope.

So yea, people should enjoy whatever they want in fandom spaces. And "anything straight will always have the best treatment" is a given, considering this is shōnen we're talking about. Japanese fans ship gojohime so much, even more than western fans. Idk I like this ship.

[bestworstcase]

anyway. something interesting about how the thematic narrative unfolds with regard to the opening narration (and ozpin’s rejoinder)

in her v1 soliloquy salem invokes strength twice—once as an intrinsic quality of mankind and once as a characteristic that emerged "in the shadow’s absence"—and the context in which she goes on to say that "there will be no victory in strength" makes it clear that she means the latter kind of strength; she’s referring to ozpin’s "guardians" and "monuments" and this is reiterated again in her v3 soliloquy and in divide and in her strategic approach to the war generally, in that she strikes at ozpin’s isolated guardians and symbolic monuments because she understands them to be false projections of strength masking his true weakness, which is that he lacks faith in mankind’s intrinsic strength—what salem defines as wisdom, passion, resourcefulness, ingenuity, hope.

ozpin’s retort that victory is found in the "simpler things that [she’s] long forgotten" which "require a smaller, more honest soul" misses her point altogether and is revealed very quickly as a statement of belief in the importance of finding the (correct) chosen one; his "smaller soul" is merely the rhetorical distillation of his guardians, a single heroic figure who achieves true perfection and so inspires the whole world to follow.

salem is correct on all counts—there is nothing special or unique about ruby herself that makes her capable of doing the impossible; she succeeds by banding the world together against a common enemy, which is precisely what salem mocks ozpin for refusing to do—not just in the sense of understanding the story’s themes but also in the more practical strategic sense. you cannot win a real war with symbols and martyrs.

gestures at v7-8.

"victory is in a simple soul" (this will be the day) -> "but through a simple soul, we lie complacent" (until the end).

"strength will not bring victory" (divide) -> "strength’s not victory" (for every life).

the "smaller soul" idea is given the appearance of being the narratively correct position by its inclusion in the first opener, while "no victory in strength" is the villainous—and therefore presumptively wrong—retort. the common trope of evil cannot comprehend good predisposes the audience not to think deeply about this or pay close attention to the specifics of what the villain is really saying.

then in atlas the narrative throws this reversal down like a gauntlet; suddenly we have the heroic voice in agreement that the "smaller soul" engenders complacency and that strength is not victory. how can this be? the villain understood all along that ozpin’s "smaller soul" was nothing more than a belief in salvation through the strength of a single heroic paragon obfuscated by poetic language. "there will be no victory in strength" and "when [your guardians] fail and you turn to your smaller soul, know that you send her to the same pitiful demise" are the same statement, spoken first in salem’s own words and later repeated in ozpin’s.

i’ve made this point before but taken into context with the whole soliloquy, "there will be no victory in strength" implies its own converse: there will be victory in the virtues salem sees innate in mankind, wisdom and passion and resourcefulness and ingenuity and above all, hope.

she reiterates this again more overtly in her v3 soliloquy, naming hope as mankind’s greatest strength and mocking ozpin for his failure to put his money where his mouth is and ACT on his professed faith in mankind. "your faith in mankind was not misplaced," she says, dripping sarcasm. if only you had given the people a common enemy rather than sowing doubt and distrust among even your inner circle by keeping them in the dark.

and on the foundation of this reversal: “balance is not two forces locked in never-ending battle. balance is an ecosystem, an organism, a living, breathing thing; thus, balance cannot be restored by force or calculation. true balance finds its own equilibrium. it only requires love, and the patience to see things through to the end.”

NOW this is where the recontextualization of the "victory in a smaller soul"/"no victory in strength" conceit starts to become really interesting: there is no victory at all.

there is only the state of being in equilibrium, or not. this is a story about balance.

as with salem, the specific language the blacksmith uses here is important (and it helps to have some familiarity with hellenistic philosophy, heraclitus and plato in particular, because that strongly influences rwby’s metaphysics): she doesn’t mean that opposition or strife is antithetical to balance. the first emanations of the tree were darkness and light, given destruction and creation. the central conceit is chiaroscuro. one cannot be without the other.

equilibrium is found in the tension between weight and counterweight and lost whenever these two opposites become unequal, such as (for example) if light decides that darkness should obey him rather than seek compromise with him when they disagree.

that in turn is passed down from the gods to ozlem through ozma’s belief in light’s (false) conception of balance as a state of perfection without strife. within this framework "unity" demands the complete absence of conflict or disagreement and becomes synonymous with obedient submission, and thus salem—who wants nothing but to be free—is rendered as the great evil who must be destroyed.

there is no question that salem understands the narrative themes with respect to humanity and the injustice of the divine narrative; she does. it is absurd and unserious to argue that she does not fundamentally believe the things she says in soliloquy just as it would be absurd and unserious to suggest that ozma doesn’t believe what he says in his.

what is in question and what does have crucial implications for the story’s resolution is whether salem herself seeks victory (to defeat the gods) or equilibrium (to remove herself as the blade held to remnant’s throat by ending the divine mandate); does she intend to win the war or to end it?

and that is a more difficult question. the fact of her commitment to war does not in and of itself provide an answer because ozma has existed in a perpetual state of (imaginary) war with her for thousands of years, with or without her participation. if she comes into the open and tells people the truth about his mandate and what the huntsmen academies are for, there will be a war. he already knows why she rejected the divine mandate and she has no reason to believe that he will react any differently this time if she appeals to him again, not when he’s had thousands of years to think about it and reaffirmed his commitment to the mandate over and over again.

or she can cut him down and strike at the academies one after the other in quick succession to claim the relics and be done with it before he returned—remember that neither the siege of atlas nor razing vale were part of her original plan, and she intended to leave atlas for last. it is likely that her plans for shade and atlas resembled her minimally-destructive plan for haven.

and even when she panics and commits to open warfare, she exercises a great deal of restraint; it remains to be seen what the exact situation is in vale but razing vale mere weeks after oz decimated hundreds of thousands of not millions of her grimm is in and of itself a demonstration that she’s fully capable of burning the whole world down to get what she wants by brute force. perhaps she felt emboldened once she’d claimed two of the relics but even then the sheer disparity in power between herself and ozpin is so vast that it is becoming absurd to believe that her restraint is motivated by "caution" alone.

she rips a continent open and uses the liquid core of the planet as a siege weapon. oz explodes every grimm for miles around with a blast of magical energy that took lifetimes to accumulate and that slows her down for maybe two hours. salem knows that humanity is strong when banded together in common cause but she also knows that didn’t stop the gods from wiping them out in the blink of an eye, and the difference in power between herself and modern humans is in that ballpark.

"in pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great," she says… in praise of cinder’s restraint. i couldn’t stop them from evacuating the city, i couldn’t stop them from using the last question, i couldn’t stop the maiden from escaping without putting the relics in jeopardy—you’ve done well.

so in salem’s view, for the sake of a new world, allowing thousands of innocents to evacuate to safety and laying aside personal grudges or ambitions is worthwhile. conceding a partial victory to one’s opponents is a fair price to pay in pursuit of a new world. what does this tell us about how salem thinks?

gestures, also, at witch. what does it say about salem that upon learning one of her five hostages is her general’s daughter, she gave up on recovering the lamp and lost a fight on purpose to let all of them go?

"there will be no victory in strength," she says. the rest of her soliloquy implies the converse that victory is found in human virtue and hope. in her second soliloquy she gloats about dedicating all her power to extinguishing ozpin’s hope; two volumes later she cautions cinder against relying on power to "take what [she] wants by force" because power comes with a cost but the "usefulness of others" cannot be overstated; three volumes after that she’s all smiles when ruby reveals her to the world as a rallying cry for hope and tells cinder that sparing lives is a worthy price for a new world. she intends to gather the four relics—that is her game to win, as she puts it to cinder—but what’s her plan?

is it to summon the gods for another confrontation? because there any number of things that salem could do, or try to do, with the relics in hand in pursuit of a new world: destroy the relics, end ozma’s curse to prevent him from coming back, release the imprisoned spirits, use the relics to carve open a doorway to a literal new world where the brothers can’t follow—she’s had millions of years to research and thousands to consider a way to escape the final judgment—use the crown to force ozma to stop, if it works like the golden cap. or even tell the world what will happen if anyone brings the relics together and use the implied threat of her having all four as leverage in negotiations, much as ozma did after the great war.

if salem believes she can beat the brothers and is dead set upon using the rest of the world as bait to lure them back, that makes her more dangerous and more difficult to persuade to talk—it’s what i’ve been anticipating on the grounds that it is the most straightforward way to keep the narrative stakes high.

but the other way ’round is also compelling—salem having a specific minimal-risk plan to dispose of the relics and/or ozma or otherwise end the mandate by making it impossible to summon the gods, and team rwby hitting upon the idea of bringing the relics together in the ever after to persuade the god of light to ascend—and seems more in line with salem’s characterization whenever she isn’t venting her rage at ozma; risk-averse, restrained, pragmatic, willing to compromise. if her most important priority is to end the eternal crusade against her and she doesn’t care about the brothers as long as they don’t ever come back, and these children get it into their heads to confront the brothers face to face… well it makes the negotiations crunchier, that’s for sure.

[dangermousie]

Out of all the scenes in ep 6, the conversation between them was my favorite. This is a rare drama that gives character interactions room to breathe - it's not afraid to have long conversations, not just fights and aesthetics.

The way he slowly keeps winning her through gentleness is just my favorite trope. When he offers her to have medicine made to help her rest though he has the same problem, it's just sweet.

This drama is so good about loss. People get killed a lot (hello, assassins etc) but it's not glib. The way Ziyu mourns his brother and all the empty spaces left by him feels so real.

This is just for the prettiness...

He opens up about his brother, he opens up about his mother - and the story about how his mother would not wipe his tears because men don't cry so he stopped crying is terrifyingly sad. He's by far the gentlest character in the drama and clearly it's against every facet of his upbringing but not only does he not view it as a virtue, it is the biggest danger to him in this world - kindness is weaponized against him. And yet - if anything might save him it's that very kindness because that is what she's responding to. His greatest weakness is becoming his biggest asset and he does not even know that.

I love that in return for his vulnerabilities, she offers something true and vulnerable about herself. This is a huge huge gift tho he does not know it.

This sums them up, doesn't it? He's gentle but not dumb and she's tough and armored but less than she'd like - she's still reachable.

The layers of truth and manipulation are so intermingled in her and that is what actually makes it so effective - because he can tell the sincerity.

[natequarter]

Classic seasons 17-18 and nu season 3?

season 17

destiny of the daleks: boring. another fucking dalek serial, and it's not even a good one. every worst impulse of terry nation in one serial. its only real virtues are an excellent doctor/companion dynamic and douglas adams as script editor. 4/10

city of death: one of the all time greats of doctor who. exactly as funny as it is renowned for being. my only regret about this story is that none of the rest of season 17 is nearly as good. 10/10

the creature from the pit: i really like this story! it's a parody of science fiction tropes - it's called the creature from the pit because it sets up the predictable scifi premise of "oooooo, there's a Scary Alien inside the Evil Pit and the illiterate peasants are going to feed the doctor to it!" then it ruthlessly mocks all that - erato is actually an alien ambassador who got waylaid by adrasta, who is not an idiot but merely a jerk. of course the creature isn't actually from the pit - that's the whole point. it's also a quote a minute, the quippiest story since... city of death. david fisher really likes to ruthlessly mock precious eras, doesn't he? (see: the stones of blood, a parody of the hinchcliffe era.) probably the oddest part about this story is that lalla ward is clearly doing her best mary tamm impression, but then this was her first outing as romana. 7/10

nightmare of eden: a similar concept to carnival of monsters, but somehow even worse. go back to school, bob, since you clearly don't understand anything about drugs. 3/10

the horns of nimon: pure campy fun. some of the silliest acting in doctor who history. did you know the guy who played soldeed turned down the part of the fourth doctor? 6/10

shada: my first classic who story. i don't think it's the lost classic everyone seems to describe it as, and it's certainly the weakest of adams' stories (which is not an insult; the pirate planet and city if death are simply very, very good). but it's definitely enjoyable. suffers mainly from "should've been a four-parter" syndrome; adams has jokes to crack, but he doesn't have that many jokes. 7/10

season 18

the leisure hive: it's not the best story ever, but i actually quite enjoy it. it's good some really WEIRD scifi concepts going on, and it plays around with the doctor's ability to drive in a far more interesting way than, like, literally any serial previously. he gets aged up! ENTROPY! 6/10

meglos: the goddamn scientists vs priests plot is insufferable, and it's basically a silly runaround, but it's so bonkers that i can't help but enjoy it. again, there's more of an engagement with the metatextual elements of the doctor - the doctor has actually Been Here before; the villain traps him in a time loop and masquerades as him to gain people's trust; also, the villain is a cactus. and the last of his species. ENTROPY, and BONKERS. i love it. 6/10

full circle: you know me. i love weird alien companions. i love the fourth doctor. i love entropy. this is the serial where season 18 fully comes into its own, with some really well-thought-out rumination on history, and evolution, and ENTROPY. plus adric almost works here. its only weakness is sidelining the hell out of romana; tom baker is at his best here, with some genuinely rousing performances. this is one of my favourite serials for the fourth doctor specifically for a reason. 8/10

state of decay: the hinchcliffe years did hinchcliffe stories, some of which were by terrance dicks, and those were fairly conventional horror stories. the williams years also did hinchcliffe stories; those varied between conventional executions of the hinchcliffe/holmes format, some of which were by terrance dicks, and david fisher's overtly parodical version of the hinchcliffe/holmes hammer horror (that's a lot of alliteration) in the stones of blood. this, therefore, is the jnt/bidmead answer to what a hinchcliffe/holmes story could look like (bear in mind it was a script that had been held back for a few years). and it works! it's got more of the preoccupation with science, history, and ENTROPY (plus a flash in the pan of time lord history; that crops up in the three serials before state of decay as well, with the time lords as a looming higher power which call upon romana) than previous eras, but it retains the creeping horror of VAMPIRES. also, deeply shippy. you! are! wonderful! 8/10

warriors' gate: ENTROPY. this ought to be considered an all-time great, up there with city of death. it's of the same school of thought as enlightenment or ghost light: no, it doesn't strictly make sense, but it's not a story about logic (stories about logic in doctor who tend to fail). the visuals are gorgeous; the skeletal warriors' hall is maybe one of my favourite sets ever. it's a story preoccupied with its own themes: compassion, commodification, history again, the rise and fall of empires, presents as wretched as the past. the future is the only way on. romana's actual departure is rubbish, but the setup for it is perfect. here, as with in the chase earlier and hell bent later, we see a very rare thing: the protagonist of the show kindly hands it back to the doctor. goodbye, romana who; it's time to get back to the main universe. romana is most definitely the protagonist here, and has graciously handed the reins back to the doctor. the doctor is aging in this series; his death is as inevitable as it was in the tenth planet, not because of the villain, but because he's getting old (see: the leisure hive), and his body's wearing thin. he can't keep up with the youth - with romana. sooner or later, it's going to be someone else's turn. also he got divorced and kept the teenager. RIP. 10/10

the keeper of traken: not as beloved to me as the e-space trilogy, but adric actually does work here, and i really do love his dynamic with four. he's more of the artful dodger character he was conceived of, and in an alternate universe without tegan and five (not a knock on them btw) i can imagine his character working quite well with nyssa and four. fortunately (another season of four would be nightmarish), it was not to be. the story is quite good, but feels a bit dry; it does not compel me. however, we gotta love the ENTROPY. likewise geoffrey beevers is stellar as the master; the character, for the first and last time in a while, works brilliantly. 7/10

logopolis: i love it too much to use words. deeply strange. rarely has a season been so thoroughly drenched in its own themes before; frankly i don't think classic who gets anywhere near rivalling the consistent thematic preoccupations on display here until seasons 25/26. ENTROPY at it again. rip four, you were a strange one. considering where he started (robot) and what he went through (the brain of morbus, city of death, warriors' gate, to do a whistle-stop tour of genre and style that is actually worth watching), logopolis is a damn strange story for tom baker to go out on. but go out he does. thank god. this is the end of one of my favourite doctors and favourite series, but the show has the common sense to look forwards, not backwards. rubbish last line for him, btw, but oh well. 9/10

series 3

the runaway bride: lots of fun. catherine tate kills it out of the gate. ten/donna is a fantastic dynamic; glad we got more of them. not much to say except that it's very good. 8/10

smith and jones: MARTHA! this is a mostly alright episode in terms of actual plot, but it's a tour de force in companion introduction, which rtd is excellent at. the whole thing is carried out very well on a technical level. 8/10

the shakespeare code: written by gareth roberts. this complicates things. it has some fun ideas, but hoo boy has it aged poorly. it's enjoyable, but there's always that but. 6/10

gridlock: i love this one. brings back the macra. lesbians. catboys. this is the stuff i live for. 7/10

daleks in manhattan/evolution of the daleks: another fucking dalek story. i think the individual elements and characters of this story are actually quite good, but... man. daleks again? daleks? again? 6/10

the lazarus experiment: weird and a little bit creepy. sets up some of the finale nicely, which is not actually a strength, because the finale sucks. been a while since i watched it, though. 6?/10

42: so it turns out there are exactly two chibnall-penned stories in all of doctor who that i like. this is one of them. lots of great ideas. the stakes are high. david tennant screams in pain. 7/10

human nature/the family of blood: objectively very well written. uncomfortably racist in its treatment of martha. i don't know how to categorise this one, exactly. but on a purely technical level? 8/10

blink: pure moffat weirdness. technically brilliant from start to finish. a classic for a reason. 10/10

utopia: just brilliant. great dynamics, great payoff to jack's... agonies. the yana plotline is superb. really the only thing letting it down is that it's setup for the finale. an all-time great piece of television, if you just ignore what comes next. 10/10

the sound of drums/the last of the time lords: like so many other rtd finales, a bizarre mix of great ideas, superb emotional moments, and terrible, terrible handling. the master is a good villain, if you ignore that he's supposed to be the same guy roger delgado played. "the doctor becomes jesus" is not a problem from a pure who standpoint; the show does this all the time. it is, however, david tennant, and more than that it frankly detracts from martha's agency and importance, so... nah. do not like it. 5/10

(link)

[talonsaga-trash]

As much as I love the Talon Saga and will defend its literary merit until the day I die, there is one scene that I actively dislike, and it is unfortunately a lynchpin scene for the whole series:

Ember and Garret's first meeting.

Attempted sexual assault, only to be stopped by a male love interest to exemplify their goodness or otherwise endear them to the would-be victim, is one of my least favorite tropes. This is not because I believe SA shouldn't be portrayed in literature, or even because I feel that literary women should save themselves instead of needing rescue from these situations, but because the use of this trope in this context takes an incredibly traumatizing event for many IRL people, and it's turned into, not a moment centered on the woman having violence inflicted upon her, but instead a method to prop up the male character and give him an opportunity to be heroic in her eyes. In this, the woman's interest/attention in the man is often given as a reward for his virtue.

Is this a cynical reading of the trope? Maybe. But again: I hate this trope, so I'm going to be cynical about it.

That being said, though, this trope comes up in a lot of literature. It's very popular. I have read a lot of said literature. And The Talon Saga is the version of it where, if I don't like it, I don't dislike it nearly as much as in other books. This is for two major reasons and two petty ones:

JKags at least as a precedent, since she's basing a lot of TTS on medieval romances. So at least it fits with the genre.

She gets to dole out some violence to her would-be rapist. Is this largely superficial? Yes. But it still helps.

The scene does not exist SOLELY to prop Garret up as a Good Guy (TM): it also facilitates that the first time Garret and Ember meet, it's within the context of violence. The first thing Garret learns about Ember is her anger, and that is an important part of both Ember as a person and their development as a couple. So at least it's serving a dual purpose.

Most importantly, Garret is not saving her from being raped. He's (unwittingly) saving her from committing a triple homicide. This doesn't help with the above "violence against a woman is used to prop up a man", but it does shift the power dynamics in this situation— Ember was not, at any point, unable to defend herself, and it was pretty explicitly stated that she would not have refused to defend herself in order to avoid outing herself as a dragon. She would have immolated those guys. Ember never loses her agency in order for Garret to take his role of "rescuer"

Overall, I don't feel like these reasons are good enough to save the usage of this trope, and that does weaken the romance as a whole in my eyes. I think that Garret and Ember could have met under violent circumstances that didn't place Ember as a victim of sexual assault or use that sexual assault to facilitate a romance rather than treating it as the trauma that it is. However, breaking it down shows how someone turn even weak tropes into workable scenes.

[whbtheories]

Character Preview: Beelzebub

Domain: Abyssos

Sin: Gluttony

Birthday: April 4 (Aries)

Idiosyncrasy: olfactophilia

Mental condition: ADHD

Ability: creates 'phenomena'

Theme colours: green, black

~

Interest

The only king with an official 'philia to his name thus far, and we see that Beelzebub gets excited by using his nose - more specifically, for scents and odours emanating from the body.

This may well extend to all scents, and it's easy to see how that fits in with the sin of gluttony. as the vast majority of what we classify as taste is actually from smell.

His ADHD is an interesting touch in that it has only a subtle relation to his sin, but great relation to his personality. A hyperactive Beelzebub is not a common trope, and indeed it is a different demon entirely that exhibits traits of ADHD in Obey Me.

That said, Gluttony in a more modern sense can definitely be linked to ADHD under impeded impulse control.

Personality

[Disclaimer: to discuss Beelzebub we have to discuss Mammon, for reasons that will become clear!]

From what little we know so far about Beelzebub, he is definitively a demon of mystery. So called 'phenomena' are said to occur around him, and he is 'unbound' by such things as reality, powers more suitable for a god than a demon...

There are reports of him appearing in multiple locations at the exact same time, which implies either time travel, ability to create copies of himself, or indeed some manner of omnipresence.

Unlike the depressed Satan and agoraphobic Leviathan, Beelzebub is described as hearty and lovely, as well as sexually desired by many. A regular ray of sunshine in the dark, perhaps.

The first negative point is that his cooking, which he does wherever he goes, must be avoided at all costs - a trope we've seen before in OM with Solomon, and the only time his Gluttony, in the traditional interpretation of the sin, is touched upon.

And the second negative point is that he has seemingly abandoned his throne, which is quite the royal failing and has left another demon forced to try and keep his kingdom together through duplicity in the meantime.

With the three other demon rulers we have seen the impact of their classically defined sin directly upon their personality, but with Beelzebub it is almost as an afterthought and quite a weak link - IF we go by the definition of Gluttony that is solely food related, as that is not mentioned at all.

For those who were frustrated that OM Beel was often reduced to no more than his "I'm hungry" complaint, this is definitely a welcome change.

And in my opinion points to a more complex and insightful interpretation of Gluttony that ties in better with the modern understanding of this sin.

The examples given of Beelzebub's activities when two versions of him are spotted in two different locations at an identical time, are gambling, as well as smoking and drinking. These are all pure vices of excess, of overconsumption, because none of them have much of a virtue even in moderation.

(It is no coincidence that these more spontaneous and destructive vices are ones enjoyed by OM Mammon in his cohort, and indeed this is the first of many parallels. The second if we include Mammon's ADHD type behaviours.)

Greed and Gluttony are overlapping sins, and especially in the modern age where Greed, the desire or coveting of material gain beyond one's needs, is fed by overconsumption which is intrinsically connected to Gluttony - ie the sin of consuming more than is needed. Greed wants, and Gluttony provides. Further, Greed as a sin extends well beyond wealth and into the excess of any material or worldly good - adverts demand that we purchase the latest and greatest technology, sales tempt us into wanting new and shiny things, and companies offer credit cards to lead people into crippling debt. Even those who overwork themselves without need, who may think of themselves as virtuous in their slog are in fact labelled with the sin of Greed, because they are covetous of more productivity than their neighbour. (Where Greed strays into coveting power and fame, war and love, we turn to the sin of Lust. Greed is, like many of the deadly sins, overlapping.) If Greed is the thought, the crime in one's head, Gluttony is the action, the crime made manifest. To covet is one sin, but to take makes two. The consumption of any material or worldly good in excess is Gluttony, to take more than one needs, and because the difference between want and need is so vast in the modern world, it is perhaps the most widespread sin of all. Classically, Gluttony only applies to food and drink, which makes sense when historically those were the only things that could reasonably be over-consumed with the immediate impact being that others would go without, often fatally. But in recent times, the standards of living have been raised such, and the capitalist drum beaten so, that we are urged to over-consume many resources - and almost all at the expense of the health of our literal world (and often even our own personal health).

This Beelzebub is especially interesting to me in light of the interpretation of WHB Mammon and his Greed - rather than being driven by desire to hoard and own, or to gamble and revel, Mammon is instead content and leisurely in the belief that all things are already his. Despite his mental condition being listed as compulsive hoarding, he doesn't actively hoard anything - he merely believes everything already belongs to him.

So there is no impetus for Mammon to covet or consume, least of all in excess, and instead we see that facet of the two overlapping sins here in Beelzebub instead.

This gives the demon far more opportunity to truly show the more powerful sides of Gluttony - over consumption of resources other than food, and the wastage of such - that are often instead labelled as Greed.

WHB has separated the sin of thought from the sin of action, and has even then divorced Mammon from needing to covet at all, leaving him wide open to explore the other aspects and consequences from the sin of Greed (guile, treachery, fraud, usury, falsehood, violence etc), or maybe something entirely unexpected.

With Beelzebub at least though, we do get a peek of how his sin is manifesting, in a seemingly impulsive king who abandons his throne in favour of obliging his senses and indulging in vices to excess.

He is, in some respects, a good candidate for a Greed demon of old, further underscoring the way these two sins have intertwined and separated.

Regarding his neurodiversity, we also know that ADHD symptoms can be worsened by over-consumption of short form media - tiktok for example - as it encourages our brains to crave rapid fire rewards and shortens attention spans further. We are also more susceptible to addictions, particularly that of gambling, and giving in to the impulsive behaviour will also worsen the downsides of ADHD.

Beelzebub appearing in two places at once in order to do three things at the same time is in my opinion a really good portrayal of a (demonic) ADHD brain, and an emphasis of this interpretation of the sin of Gluttony. If I could do more things at the same time I absolutely would, because my ADHD brain craves input at a ridiculous rate.

(NB - another property that divides these two sins and respective demons thus is In Nomine, a tabletop rpg from the 90s, where Mammon has lost power due to the rise of Gluttony off the back of capitalist excess and consumption.)

~

Aesthetics, symbolism, and my rating in the cut! ↓

Aesthetics

Beelzebub is quite possibly the most infamous demon who isn't either Lucifer or Satan, although admittedly part of his fame is that for a large chunk of history his name was used for both of them.

One pertinent example being that the Beelzebub who is involved with the various tales of Solomon is in fact Beelzebul, who is in fact Lucifer.

Consequently, Beelzebub doesn't have any one predominant set of features for his humanoid form. I say humanoid, because the Lord of Flies has quite commonly been depicted as a giant monstrous insect.

That name comes from a deliberate bastardisation of his original name as a god in the Hellenistic period, Ba'al-zəbûl, Lord of the Heavenly Dwelling, as part of a campaign to usurp the god and recast him as a demon as lowly as flies upon a dung heap.

(A similar thing was done with Belphegor, more info on both here!)

Bael, Baal, Ba'al, and Beelzebub - are these separate beings or different names for the same one? The answer, as with all things mythology and demonology, is... yes.

That is to say, they are separate and they are the same, and both are true depending on what period of history you point to, or what makes sense on a Tuesday.

Ba'al is an old god. Ba'al is also a title for lord, and thus was many gods. Bael is one or all of them. Beelzebul and now Beelzebub is one or all of them.

Because while the translation above of his name as Lord of the Heavenly Dwelling is true, it is also true that 'zebul' itself can be translated as 'prince', making his name essentially interchangeable with Ba'al-ba'al, the lord of all Ba'al, and Lord Prince himself.

Or he is one of the many Ba'al's, such as Ba'al Pə'ôr, now Belphegor, and Bael another.

Some might say confusing, I say fun ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

(Incidentally, Ba'al was also used for human lords in the same time period, or rather were written of by the same people that came after. History is after all written by the victors...)

This Beelzebub's thematic colours of green and black are a very interesting choice, suggesting symbolism of prosperity, youth, luck, and refinement.

Green is a colour more commonly associated in the west with the sin of Envy, or for OM fans, with Wrath. But prosperity is a theme that (once again) interplays with both Gluttony and Greed.

And this colour scheme is also what he has in common with his subjects in Abyssos, unlike the other kings who aren't so easily matched with their followers.

Like the other rulers, he is a fan of accessories, and aside from his piercings he sports three giant purple gems in a marquise cut - one on each knee, and one on his belt. The stone could be anything from amethyst to a hellish gem, but the setting appears to be gold, ie luxurious, and the shape at least has associations with both flamboyance and nobility.

A skull is chained around his left ankle, and his loafers feature more skulls, chains, and some gold inverted crosses (see Satan here.) And a gemmed skull also appears on his phone, alongside a cut-out, flamboyant, star.

One of Beelzebub's most eye-catching features to me is the writing on his body, tattoos or markings. In popular media, multiple tattooed words are usually the mark of someone impulsive and/or villainous, or a sign of attempting to compensate for memory loss.

It is also a common trope of exorcisms and demonic possessions, that words will appear upon the skin denoting demon names, atrocities, or sins.

All of the writing on Beelzebub is linked to his sin, his demand for consumption - feed him, pleasure him - other than the one that simply labels him as 'flesh'. But again, that also carries a connotation of being consumed. Either way, this is the only part of his appearance that directly correlates with his sin.

Or rather, the words are - such writing also appears on his long coat with 'sex' and 'feed' visible.

There are two strong contenders for the more modern image of Beelzebub within pop culture: Beelzebub of Obey Me, a large demon with firey red hair, stacked muscles, and an overall jock/himbo frame with horns and insect wings in demon-form who overall echoes the idea of Beelzebub as a large and imposing demon with a connection to flies; and Beelzebub of 7 Mortal Sins, a dainty and petite dark haired woman with long twintails, a single horn protruding from her forehead, small bat-like wings, and a collar and chain.

Arguably WHB Beelzebub shares an overall frame size with OM Beelzebub - a muscled stacked body with large chest and arms.

And undoubtedly he shares the unicorn-style horn with the 7MS Beelzebub.

While the rest of this Beel is unique, I think the singular horn can only really be read as a nod to 7 Mortal Sins, as depictions of any classical demon with a single centred horn is quite unique.

(Yōkai and yaoguai of course often sport single horns, as seen in various depictions of oni and tengu for example, but classically the horn is to one side rather than in the centre, and none have direct links with Beelzebub.)

Neither unicorns nor narwhals (nor rhinos or alicorns) have particularly gluttonous symbolism, minus perhaps a tenuous link with consuming the unicorn itself being life-giving in some capacity.

In fact, the unicorn is traditionally an emblem of Wrath, with references to such in the early 13th Century - hence it being the symbolic animal of Satan, Avatar of Wrath, in Obey Me.

Looking beyond the unicorn though, we also gave the qilin/kirin, a mythical creature with an occasional or mandatory single horn depending on region. Unlike the unicorn which has dual symbolism of peace and virginity versus unmitigated wrath and violence, the qilin is a holy being, who represents only purity and goodness, justice and wisdom, with their ire reserved only if threatened by unjust souls, upon who they unleash their fiery breath. They are also often bejewelled, and I suppose punishing the wicked does fall under the purview of a king of hell... Before the Qin dynasty, the qilin was the most powerful of all mythological beings, capable of killing even a dragon. So perhaps a fearsome beast after all, but only if provoked. The one thing both unicorns and qilin have in common with Beelzebub is their link with royalty - unicorns have been associated thus as far back as Babylonian times, while the qilin would appear only during the reign of a great leader, or before the birth/death of a great sage, as was the case of Confucius.

Beelzebub though is not the only single-horned demon in WHB, and among them is Amon, a resident of Abyssos, who sports the more traditional oni side horn. Some more modern oni portrayals have moved the horn to the unicorn position. Leraye of Gehenna (the domain of Wrath) has a similar unicorn-style horn, so this certainly doesn't seem to be a feature that is unique to Beelzebub.

As for the rest of Beelzebub's appearance - the blonde mullet hair, the darker skin tone, the bright (human colour!) green eyes, fondness for shiny accessories, bondage hints, multiple piercings, inked words on his skin, and near omnipresent shades lifted on his hair - is all new.

Well... kind of. There is an OM character that is reminiscent of Beelzebub, and it isn't the same-named demon. It's Mammon.

OM Mammon has white messy hair, a darker skin tone, bright (human colour!) blue eyes, fondness for shiny accessories, bondage hints, multiple piercings, and near omni-present shades.

As I mentioned above, the differing interpretations of Greed and Gluttony in WHB are striking, with the demon representing Gluttony showing much of what is associated with Greed in the likes of OM.

This frees both characters to be layered and interesting, more than just their sin. (Whereas OM sdaly only achieves this in one of the two demons.)

Is it coincidence that this Beelzebub then is more reminiscent of OM's Avatar of Greed? I mean yeah, probably!

But aesthetics are also chosen to show the demeanour and vibes of a character's personality, so I do wonder if in time this will be the demon that fans of OM Mammon are drawn to...

My Rating

So you can probably tell that I'm pretty enthusiastic about what they've done with Beelzebub here, and more specifically, how they've shaken out the sins between him and Mammon.

My apologies for referencing OM again, but I think this is a really proactive way of not having the demon of Gluttony reduced to an "I'm hungry" stereotype (I'm sorry OM Beel, you deserve so much more!!).

What OM did with Mammon, taking the demon associated with the most shallow of sins - the accumulation of wealth - and turning him into a nuanced guy with baggage from his years as an angel, who exercises the virtue that opposes his own sin, and has incredibly strong powers masked under his ability to show restraint, seemingly an impossibility for any demon let alone the Avatar of Greed, is what makes that character a great interpretation of the ancient being.

And I think WHB is very much signalling that for them, Beelzebub is that character. One who is leagues beyond previous interpretations, that modernises his sin, gives him god-like powers but an unpredictability that sees him abandon his throne, a power that all demons should by definition desire, and gives him a starting point of intrigue that the other demon kings we've seen thus far lack.

The others, we know, how they are beloved as rulers, what their kinks are, how they manifest their powers.

But Beelzebub begins in media res, his story already in motion, his disappearance a mystery, his sightings oblique, another demon wearing his face in his place, and his appearance provocative and unusual.

Sure Mammon has some massive tiddies, and yes Satan is delicious, but Beelzebub has a damn unicorn horn, sunglasses in hell, and lewd demands scrawled over his naked skin.

He is loud and vibrant, unique and commanding, and sparks a shedload of questions with not a hint of fly in sight.

Beelzebub may very well have a personality in complete contrast to OM Mammon, but for his sin and his aesthetics, he is a worthy contender indeed.

And as a version of Beelzebub, I think one of the best I've seen.

My only caveat would be that he is the most mysterious of the four, so there's still room to flop with such a bold start, but overall I'm pretty optimistic about this dude!

8/10

~

PS. What I wouldn't give for OM to have followed up Beel's S3 development with his lingering guilt and close relationship with Lucifer as angels, his perceived failures as protector of his family, and how he is punished far more by his sin compared to the others, which corresponds to his greater guilt... gah!

~

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