#and these conflicts result in two very different readings of the same character that are imo fundamentally different from one another

[tvckerwash]

I'm convinced the chorus trilogy gaslighted people into forgetting how everyone was characterized prior to miles being the main writer, to the detriment of literally everybody lmao

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Regarding the post about Marinette being punished for trusting people and the response to it, this is something I always have trouble explaining because it sounds callous? But fictional characters aren't people. It's not that their lives just so happen to get in the way leading to something bad happened the writers decided that should happen, and it's important that you stop and ask WHY this happens. If the camera is "on" per se, people assume it's relevant and will tie into something larger. So like if the camera is on and all we see is Alya revealing her identity and then the result is she's outed in the same way she was in Heroes Day, the audience naturally concludes it's connected and thus realizes the lesson is either "Alya learns she shouldn't share her identity" OR "Marinette learns she shouldn't trust people" or both.

Secret identities are a great example of this phenomenon. We're NOT shown every time a villain's plan is foiled because they didn't know the heroe's identity, we ARE shown every time a heroe's identity causes friction in their lives. As such, large parts of the audience think of secret identites as inconveniences because that's what's shown (not just in Miraculous Ladybug, in tons of other shows)

Like you are supposed to make connections in Television about what's being shown to you that no one would make in real life (or at the very least no one SHOULD make in real life) because there's a limited space to tell the story and the audience is assuming the writers aren't wasting our time.

If these were real people it would be unreasonable to say because people have their own lives Marinette can't trust them, but in a story where Marinette is the main character who is explicitly always supposed that's. An accurate way to read the story!

And I also understand that this is a very boring construction if you're making headcanons or thinking about these characters! But that's a different lens, it doesn't make the broader writing lens invalid. You're speaking different languages at that point.

Anyway I hope that helps someone, that's my two cents

You summed it up perfectly! There's a ton of valid criticism to be had of Miraculous, but you can tell from the narrative framing that almost all of it comes down to writing choices and not things that are supposed to be seen as in-universe issues even though a lot of fans treat them as such. It's really weird to see things like people complaining about everything revolving around Marinette as if it's a personal flaw of hers and not the result of her being the main character in a fictional world. "Main Character Syndrome" literally pulls its name from the fact that this is how main characters work in a lot of media. It's a flaw when a real person does it, but in terms of story telling, it's extremely normal - and often good story telling - to have everything revolve around your main character or a core cast.

The issue with Miraculous is that they chose a lot of poor conflicts if they wanted Marinette to be the one and only main character, but that's not her fault. She didn't decide to have the rules around identities make no sense. The writers did. She didn't decide to make the main villain Adrien's dad while also keeping Adrien from being involved in the story. The writers did. The list goes on and on and, because none of it reflects badly on Marinette in the writers' eyes, the show doesn't act like Marinette is in the wrong. Remember, these are the same writers who think that Derision was a great episode that added depth to Marinette instead of destroying her character and making her look unhinged. Their judgement is clearly a little skewed.

While the writers love to make bad plot choices, they are generally using proper story telling language to make those choices, which is why I can tell you how characters' actions are intended to be read. The Rena Furtive and Nino example is a great one because it allows me to show that the writers do understand how to set things up. In fact, once they've decided that they're going to do a thing, they pretty much always set it up at a basic level. It's rarely spectacular and often frustrating, but it's never shocking.

In Rocketear, Alya promises Marinette that Nino will never learn about Rena Furtive. The episode then ends with her breaking that promise via the following exchange:

Alya: (sighs) I'm still Rena Rouge. (Nino gasps.) But now I'm in hiding and that's why Ladybug asked me not to tell anyone. Nino: But why are you telling me if no one's supposed to know? Is Ladybug cool with this? Alya: I can't hide it from you, because I love you, Nino, and we share everything.

Look at how this confession is presented. Look at what the dialogue focuses on. When Marinette confessed her identity to Alya, it was all about the confession and supporting Marinette. There was no discussion of this being a problem for Chat Noir or anything like that because - in the writers' eyes - that wasn't a problem for some reason. This is why Chat Noir almost instantly absolves Ladybug of blame once he finds out about the identity reveal (see: Hack-San.) The writers didn't want it to be an issue so it wasn't:

Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings. Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right

But when Alya confesses her identity to Nino, the conversation is not just about her confession. It's about her confession and how she's not supposed to do this. That's why Nino's response is not loving support. Instead, he asks if this is a good idea and if Ladybug knows.

These things are getting focused on because the writers are telling you that this is a bad thing. It's supposed to feel ominous. When I first watched Rocketear, I assumed that the season was going to end with Gabriel getting the fox off of Alya due to Nino because that was an obvious way to raise the stakes and they'd just heavily implied that Nino knowing would be a bad thing. I was, unfortunately, right. The only on screen consequence of Nino knowing is that he outs Alya to everyone in an incredibly forced series of events (see: Strikeback):

(Ryuko successfully prevents the Roue de Paris from hitting them, yet, it flies to the direction where Rena Furtive is. This causes Carapace to panic.) Carapace: Rena! (takes out his shield) Shell-ter! (Carapace's superpower successfully prevents the Ferris wheel from hitting Rena Furtive on top of the Tour Montparnasse. But the information of Rena Furtive's active status shocks the heroes, as well as Shadow Moth.) The heroes: Rena?! Shadow Moth: (from the top of the Eiffel Tower) She's still active?

Of course the Ferris Wheel goes straight for Alya's hiding spot and of course Nino screams her name before casting his power and of course the villain overhears it. It's all so forced and unnatural, which should make it glaringly obvious how much the writers wanted this to happen. This wasn't something they were kind of forced to do because it made sense for the narrative and they wanted to tell a good story. Instead, they wrote an awkward series of events because they really, really, really wanted Nino knowing to be a bad thing that outs Alya so that Marinette loses all of the miraculous even though none of this makes much sense.

How the hell did Gabriel hear Nino's shout from so far away? Is he able to overhear everything the heroes are saying? How does Nino even know that Alya is hiding there? And since when was a Ferris Wheel a threat to these guys? Your girlfriend is a magical girl and she's in her magical girl form, dude. You could drop a building on her and she'd be fine, a thing you have to know because this scene literally goes on to have Chat Noir go flying into a building, hitting it so hard the cement literally cracks, and no one really cares. I guess it's fine if Adrien is a punching bag, but Alya must be protected at all costs...

Anyway, while the above series of events was annoying, none of it was surprising. In fact, it would have all be perfectly predictable even if Alya outing herself was that treated as a more neutral event. Her choice leading to bad things falls perfectly in line with a truly bizarre running theme in the show: outing your identity to the person you love romantically is a bad thing that leads to bad consequences. That's why Chat Blanc and Ephemeral ended the world and why Nino knowing cost Ladybug the fox and why the character they call Joan of Arc has to give up her miraculous to be with her love and why the Kwami's have this absolutely asinine dialogue in Kwamis' Choice:

Plagg: Sugarcube! Having to force them to choose between love and their mission is just awful! Maybe Master Fu was wrong to choose them. Tikki: No, they’re made for each other. Love is what gives them their strength. Plagg: But the impossible part of that love is destroying them, and I know a thing or two about destruction. Tikki: (sighs heavily) What can we do? Plagg: We must free them of that impossible choice. We must… free them of us.

This is the voice of the author telling you that outing the identities is not and never will be a good choice for the love square. Never mind that Alya is allowed to know Marinette's identity or that Gabriel finding out is what actually ended the world in the alternate timelines or that Felix outted himself in public but is still wielding or that freaking Gabriel was allowed to know half of the temp heroes' identities while they were still actively wielding. For some reason, those things don't matter to the narrative, probably because romantic love wasn't involved. The "identity reveals are a bad thing" rule only seems to apply when romantic love is a key element to the point where it's a reoccurring theme in this supposed power of love show.

[pepperf]

What I think Steve Blackman and everyone who bleats on about how 'Five and Lila have SO MUCH in common!!!' have missed is that...this is an ensemble show. None of these characters can or should exist in a vacuum, or locked off in binary pairs. They need the wider community, or they stagnate. And yes, Five and Lila have some past history and traits in common (thanks for ruining that relationship as well, Steve!), but no more than they do with the others, their bond isn't unique. Their experiences with the Commission and the Handler were vastly different, as are their attitudes towards kiling - Five sees it as just a job, nothing personal, he found a way to rationalise it away, whereas to Lila it's always personal. Five tells both Lila and Diego in the same ep that they're not cut out for the Commission (although frankly I'm not sold on him being quite as all-knowing about it as he claims).

The show has always been about the siblings coming back together, and Lila got integrated into that bond more than any of the other partners, partly as a result of her being one of them. She had so much in common with Allison, we barely got a glimpse of it, but their brief conversations were always so sparky. She and Luther were the only ones who stayed with their abusive parent well into adulthood, that would've been fascinating to dig into - especially as they have very different personalities. Almost everyone expected her and Klaus to be chaotic bffs, and it was such a pity that never materialised. And I would have loved to see how she got on with Ben and Viktor - I've seen it done well in fic, there's so much potential there, but it was basically entirely bypassed.

And Diego, of course. They are each other's best cheerleader and defender, they admire each other's fighting skills, they can read each other like a book, and they have absolutely unmatched chemistry. And all the way through, what they actually want out of life aligns so beautifully: they crave excitement and adventure with the people they love, they don't care about stability or safety, they love being in the thick of it, throwing themselves into a fight. They don't want calm, quiet lives without conflict. Lila gets lost in the subway system for the same reason Diego is off at the CIA. This is in sharp contrast to Five, who was clear from the start that he'd done his time and was dreaming of retirement, he didn't want to deal with yet another emergency every five minutes.

And (again unlike Five), Diego and Lila aren't content to go it alone - they thrive around other people, they are drawn to being around family and friends. It's healthier, in real life as well as on TV, for couples to have close relationships outside of the core one - and Diego and Lila, although they revolve around each other for two whole seasons, never feel like they're trying to isolate themselves from the group, they're always including other people in their shenanigans.

So yeah, unless you weren't paying attention to Lila until Five started making googly eyes at her, you would have seen the beauty of her progress in finding her place with the Hargreeves - and it's significant that her last line (other than "fuck you", lol) is to thank them for letting her be part of their weird family. That's her underlying character arc, and it sucks that all the focus went on a grubby little detour for the last couple of eps instead.

[wolv2077]

Let's set the record straight.

Disclaimer: Before we dive into this post, I want to make one fact abundantly clear - I'm not writing this post for the hell of it. My name was brought up publicly first, by an individual who stole and then cherry picked parts of a private conversation to craft a disingenuous, one-sided hit piece. I am now well within my right to respond, and to criticize the blatant double standards. I do find it adorable, in a predictable kind of way, that the clique that practically wrote the book on back-channel Cyberpunk 2077 trash talking is now clutching pearls in what is yet another public performance of self-righteous superiority.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm some sort of infallible holy saint. Nor will I defend the private conversations of some S7 individuals. Unlike the people behind the hit-piece, I'm more than capable of introspection - I've made some decisions over the years that I regret, as have most people.

But I won't be lectured on decency or “mental health” by a class of people who, behind the facades of public positivity, have spent years weaponizing both as shields in order to exile anyone who doesn’t fall in line.

So if you want to drag me into your stupid game of purity olympics, then let’s play. But make sure your own closets aren’t rattling first.

Selective ethics

After all, these are the same individuals that, at best, partake in the exact same behavior they proudly claim to stand against (the crime of private venting). And on average, far surpass it. For years prior to S7 and to this day, some of them have repeatedly cheered each other on as they harass and marginalize. Who’ve built reputations off gatekeeping, tone policing, and vendettas dressed up as virtue. And now they perform outrage as if they haven’t been operating wholesale echo-chambers this entire time, right to this second and beyond. Even as they collectively analyze this very post (hi!). Channels and group chats with surveillance, gossip and exclusion. Corroborated by past members, victims and insiders alike.

Let me be abundantly clear - this is not a justification, nor a defense of the resulting private conversations of some S7 members. Two wrongs don’t make a right. But the blatant hypocrisy and double standards are genuinely baffling.

The same people, who despite their “hatred of drama”, are objectively a magnet for almost every conceivable fandom related drama since December 10, 2020. Tell me, think hard and ask yourself critically, what kind of rational individual has such a long, documented public history of controversy? From regular fandom politics to false accusations hurled without evidence due to a difference of opinion. Now, it’s not a crime to vent or to be upset from time to time, but if you're constantly getting into childish conflict every other month, for years, what does that say about you?

Third parties & moral posturing

And now, i’d like to speak directly to all third parties. To those of you that may be new to the fandom, or to those that have only seen their curated public personas - yes, I'm sure they’ve been kind and bubbly to you. Yes, I'm sure they’ve left a sweet comment, love bombed you, complimented your OC, or helped you troubleshoot a mod.

But repeated problematic behavior doesn’t stop being problematic because you weren’t in the crosshairs. Being on the good side is conditional, it only works until it doesn’t. Voice the "wrong" opinion, associate with the "wrong" person, ship a character in the "wrong" way, and watch the mask slip. As people have already learned, more often than not, their support towards others is calculated social maneuvering.

So, where do we go from here?

On one hand, I can start iterating through each and every relevant receipt brought to me, in detail, one by one, and by the time we're done the clock on my taskbar will read "2077". On the other, I acknowledge that people are inherently complicated. And while I vehemently disagree with their antics over the years, antics that have (a) marginalized people to anxiety (whether they realize it or not) and (b) ironically led people to vent frustrations privately, I don’t doubt for a second that beneath it all, there is some genuine hurt. 

But until then, if nothing is going to change, then you can all sit in your small corner and continue to throw your little public temper tantrums because my comparatively tame private quips bruised your feelings. Maybe you can all desperately parse that stolen HTML document for more cherry-picked material to satiate the next #fandom-wank session. And when you finally get that brief moment of post-session clarity, seize it and reflect on your own conduct for a change.

Accept it or run with denial. I've said what I've had to say, and now I will move on. This is my first and final statement on the matter.

[novlr]

I’m just starting out with writing, and I really want my characters to feel different from each other. How do I make sure they have their own unique voices so my readers can tell them apart?

Experiment with character dialect

Dialect refers to the language people use when they speak: their accent, their slang, their regional or generational vernacular. When we think of “dialect”, we often think of things like “y’all” or “yer man” or “innit” — clichéd indications of place. You can definitely use these in your story, but also challenge yourself to go deeper.

Dialect can be a result of generational trends — you’ll notice that today’s teenagers don’t talk the same way their parents or grandparents do! Words fade in and out of fashion all the time. They can also be tied to a particular industry or subculture. When developing each character’s unique voice, consider what kind of slang or specialised language they might incorporate into the way they speak. 

Vary your characters’ syntax

Syntax has to do with the way we structure our sentences. Some characters will use only short, compact sentences, while others will ramble for miles. Some will always use grammatically correct language, while others will speak in fragments. 

A useful exercise is to write a conversation between two characters who use very different syntax in the way they talk. You can take their different approaches to the comical extreme until you get a sense of their different voices, and then dial it back and incorporate their individual syntaxes with more subtlety.  

Consider your characters’ word choices

There are very few true synonyms in the English language; each word has its own distinct connotation and tone. For example, one character might describe themselves as loquacious, while another describes them as a motormouth. Or, they might describe an authority figure as derisive, while the other character says they’re mean. 

The words a character lands on in any given situation can communicate a lot about how they see the world and themselves. 

Put your characters in moments of conflict

Conflict, tension, and suspense reveal who your characters really are. One character might become loud and aggressive, while another shuts down and speaks only in quiet monosyllables. Sometimes, a character’s voice contrasts the words they’re saying (you can communicate this through dialogue and action tags); for example, if a character says, “I’m not afraid!” in a strained, rattling voice, that belies their fear. 

As an exercise, try writing an argument between two of your characters and explore how the tension changes the way they speak. Then, you can incorporate this into your story.

Don’t neglect body language

On that note, a big part of a character’s distinct voice is the way they behave when they talk. You can convey this through action tags (“She hugged herself tight as she spoke”) or through descriptions surrounding the dialogue. 

Look at how your character holds themself — do they sprawl, taking command of the space, or do they try to make themself disappear? Do they only half-listen to the person talking to them, or do they make them feel like they’re the centre of the world? The way you communicate body language to the reader will inform the way they hear that character’s voice.

Read your work out loud

When you’ve finished the first draft of a story, it’s always a good idea to read your work out loud. This helps you catch any misused words, typos (the age of autocorrect is notorious for this), or inauthentic speech. You don’t have to let anyone hear you while you do this — it’s simply a tool for you as the writer to get a better sense of how your words come across on the page.

When you read, listen to each character’s dialogue and check to make sure it sounds true to that particular character. If you can’t tell the character voices apart, you may need to create a little more distinction through your revision process, using the tools we looked at above. 

Listen to character voices in the wild

A great way to develop your ear for character voices and get inspired along the way is to listen to the way real people talk. Go to a public park, a café, or a marketplace and stealthily absorb the language people use to express themselves. See if you can get a sense of what they’re thinking and feeling underneath their words. Then, you can incorporate elements of these experiences into your characters. 

Remember — human beings are unfathomably complex. Each is the epicentre of their own little universe, with all its dangers and joys. To create characters that readers will follow to the end, ensure that each one has a voice that’s unique and alive. 

[rookflower]

how can people hate leafpool? I only read like 3 books with her and I remember she was just so sweet and nice to everyone

(assuming that by following this warrior cats blog you are cool for spoilers that happen in warrior cats books that came out a decade or two ago) sorry for the unintentionally long post:

when people dislike or have mixed feelings about leafpool, it's usually for one of the following reasons:

the way she treats disabled characters (specifically jayfeather and kind of cinderpelt) around po3. this is warrior cats so leafpool is far from the worst offender in ableism, but i think her treatment of jaypaw hits close to home for people since she's a mother/aunt/teacher to him, and also as his mentor she's the character he spends the most time around in the arc aside from maybe his siblings. therefore she kind of becomes the character through which the series conveys his frustration about being treated differently for his disability. to be fair some conflict comes from jaypaw's own projection (because he's understandably insecure, and can read other people's minds but not hers, so tends to assume the worst) but she can be genuinely harsh too.

because of the way her novella was written, people will sometimes argue that she "manipulated" her sister into raising her kits for her. the least charitable read that people have on this (which is very rare nowadays but some people were fairly vocal about back when i joined the fandom) is that she's a stupid slut who carelessly and selfishly got pregnant and then forced the kids onto squirrelflight via cruel use of emotional manipulation so she wouldn't have to deal with them. which is uh. hm. well. i agree the situation wasnt fair to squirrelflight and i think conflict in the decision between them could be theoretically interesting (even if i think having her be the one to offer to take the kids would be a better writing/character decision) but people used to be reeeeally unsympathetic about leafpool's side of things until squirrelflight's hope came out

people used to think she was boring because she was a "camera" (pov character who isn't very proactive and mostly is written to give the reader information about what's happening elsewhere). i think this is subjective and agree to disagree. personally i dont think wc's character writing is very strong anyways and dont care for most of the tnp journey cats or any of the shit that was going on with the tribe so a cut away to leafpool's boring gay adventures at home were welcome

to be clear, i would definitely not consider leafpool an outright controversial character in the modern fandom, especially on the tumblr and twitter side of things. i never finished sorting the results for my big survey, but in the 500+ answers for "least favourite character" i got through, she only got 3 votes (for reference, the same amount as blackstar, fernsong, firestar, nightcloud, scourge, and spiderleg. which are all characters i think the fandom has very varying opinions on depending where you look. im surprised nightcloud doesnt have more honestly people used to be NASTY to her and still are). but regardless i think the big majority of views on leafpool skew positive nowadays (she was a strong contender for voted in FAVOURITE character on the other end of the list, currently sitting at a comfortable third with a 31 vote difference from fourth)

[icedroppedinparasolcider]

to the mizuki5 doomposters, i have to ask: are we reading the same 25ji story? in what reality does this storyline lead you to conclude that mizuki5 will be some sort of breakup event for mizuena or niigo as a whole given every event since the conclusion of Say Goodbye to Masked Me has been a process of confronting their internal conflicts and finally finding ways to heal from their pain? it would be entirely counteractive to the point of 25ji if they were to write niigo, any of them, not accepting mizuki for who they are. yes, they are scared of this possibility, but they're also traumatised and paranoid, as evident by the rooftop scene of My Footprints, Your Destination. that very event makes it clear that mizuki was caught up in her own fears and acting irrationally as a result; we have several events since then where mizuki openly contemplates telling ena The Secret, and we see in multiple events mizuki concluding that they're no longer going to run away from this problem. the cliffhanger at the end of Reeling in the Lights shows exactly that: mizuki telling herself that she's not going to run away and that it's time to confront this fear. which, again, is the entire point of the arc this story has been on since third anni.

you people are far too obsessed with the idea of divorce arcs and breakup events. i know the wxs second arc teased that possibility for several events, but it was also the entire point of that story to have a "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" message. the other four units don't even approach those ideas?? ichisaki divorce in Parallel Harmonies was basically the exact same concept as shihonami divorce in Unwavering Feelings, Now Put Into Words: two characters struggling to get on the same page about something they're both very passionate about. the difference between the two events being that ichisaki have literally never argued before and had no idea how to navigate the problem without the interference of the virtual singers, while shihonami managed to figure it out on their own, and thus dwelled on the problem for less time. anhane divorce in Whip the Wimp Girl!! was the direct conclusion of a massive underlying conflict in an's story progression that was first made clear in Bout for Beside You, with an finally expressing the feelings and fears she'd kept hidden from kohane, and not once did kohane even begin to get upset. you can see it in kohane's untrained for the set; she's effectively fallen in love with this girl who completely shook her to her core all over again because of an finally letting loose her raw emotion in an unfiltered way. Whip the Wimp Girl!! wasn't a divorce arc, it was an event that only made more powerful the bond between the vivids, it amplified the aibou magic that's existed between them since the main story. and that event, alongside concluding an's story arc, provided the motivation and drive to kohane to achieve what she does in OVER RAD SQUAD.

will there be conflict in mizuki5? yes, because it's an entire event and they always have some form of central conflict for the characters to confront. mizuki's fears are the conflict, and her finding a way to face them will be the entire point of the event. from the pieces before me, i personally think this will happen through mizuki being forced into a position where they have no choice but to face this, but it's not like they're completely unprepared; Searching for a Reflection Beneath the Waters had mizuki tell themselves they need to face their problems so they'll know how to help mafuyu do just that, Next to the Unchanging Warmth was a reminder of how far they've come and that hiding who they are for the sake of being accepted will only make them more miserable, and then the end of Reeling in the Lights was the decision to confront it. it might not happen in the way they want, but it's not like mizuki doesn't want this to happen at all. they've had an entire story arc since My Footprints, Your Destination; hell, they wanted to tell ena during that event! they just didn't because they were scared, and finding the strength to stop running away has been the point of mizuki's story since Our Escape For Survival. pairing that with her being rejected would be completely counter to everything project sekai's story represents.

[lasiocampa--quercus]

For all those stuck in 2019...

I have been very reluctant to share any art / writing for — oof, five years. First because it was plain awful, then because it was not good enough. It still isn't, but as the years passed I got increasingly lonely on other social media, so this is my last resort. After I've failed smashingly here, well, I guess I'll just have to stop trying altogether.

Anyway, a first time for everything. So here's one for you.

[Detail. Scroll down (I mean to say, read the whole post) to see the full artwork]

We don't choose what we love, now, do we?

For five years I've been desperately in love with the idea of putting two brilliant characters — Eggsy from Kingsman (2015, 2017) and David from Bodyguard (2018) — into the context where they could meaningfully interact and explore one another's worlds. Such a context has been established (it is not the subject of the current post but I'd be willing to tell all about it later), resulting in their taking a shine to each other almost immediately. For Eggsy this acquaintance was something excitingly in between the two class extremes he was most accustomed to, sabotaging his life-long distaste for having anything to do with coppers. For David it was a breath of fresh air. He'd been two years well into therapy after the events covered in the series, and he was still struggling to get back on track when he met Eggsy, arch and lively, and at the same time so dashingly insightful as he was. Somehow it felt like they'd known each other for years as they talked throughout afternoons and after-work hours over a pint of lager somewhere in North London. David, usually rather inhibited, smiled and laughed at Eggsy's jokes, charmed by his candour and straightforwardness, taken aback by his astute remarks often delivered in a childlike unassuming manner. To be sure, he'd never met anyone quite like him. The prospect of friendship was an enticing one despite all their differences and despite the pressures of their jobs. While at first one was suspicious of the other's occupation (David, of course, more suspicious than Eggsy, being inherently averse to secrecy of any kind), they soon grew to respect the boundaries imposed by respective lines of duty (David was inclined to believe Eggsy's agency couldn't be that bad seeing as it employed such a brilliant lad). In effect, Eggsy trusted him more than he could ever trust any of his old mates and occasionally slipped into the conversation uncanny details of his field experiences. But best of all he liked exchanging ideas, relaying to David something that Harry had told — or taught — him, expounding on his reflections that were philosophical or even biblical in essence, although he couldn't ever say whom he unwittingly quoted. David would recognise a concept or two, but he never abashed him by mentioning the fellow's name. Over time the content of their communion had got more intimate, insomuch that Eggsy took to dedicating a huge chunk of time to moaning about his relationship with Harry which had gone on for quite a while after he split up with Tilde.

One such time, fuelled by a considerable amount of drinks, Eggsy set to illustrate the supposed reasons for Harry's recent aloofness. He clamorously hurled his jeerings and complaints at David, impinging on much-cherished privacy of the pub tables. Before it started to wear on virtually everybody in their proximity, David took his noisy, fairly plastered companion outside for a breather. The cool evening air didn't seem to have the desired effect of sobering him up a bit as Eggsy nearly blacked out after a brief (but crucial) exchange between himself and David. That occurrence prompted David to call a cab and take him to his place to recuperate. He reasoned it would not be wise to let him dart off home to Harry in such a flustered state, for it appeared as if the conflict between them was merely an ember, or rather, a heap of embers waiting to be stirred. From then on David's conduct was laced with strange acts of gracious benevolence, such as taking Eggsy's trainers off before laying him down, sleepy and a tad confused, on his sofa and leaving the keys to his flat for when he woke up and presumably wished to go home, with little trim notes strewn around telling about it, as well as where to look for aspirin if his head was giving him a hard time after the other night's drunken debauchery. At the time David didn't question his actions, although they clearly ran counter to his long-conditioned circumspection and, to a lesser extent, his vague views on male intimacy. If anything, the day when he, trying not to disturb Eggsy's healing sleep, snuck away for work he couldn't shake off a quaint feeling of invigoration which seemed to permeate his otherwise dull routine of desk duty. Later that day, confident that Eggsy had left, he got back to a startle in the form of his coyly looking, supper-serving friend with unkempt hair and a crumpled white T-shirt. Eggsy stayed not only to defer having to face Harry, but to show gratitude for David's kindness the best way he knew — by doing a kindness in return. He furnished their dinner table with a bottle of wine, promising to go easy on it and proposing a toast to David's general gemness. There they were, having another quiet night of good conversation, the homely setting and their tipsiness conducing to even more warmth and unrestraint, when Eggsy accidentally tipped over his half-emptied glass and stained his T-shirt. If one could ever be sure of such things, one would say that exact moment was the point of no return, the moment of truth. A simple, ordinary incident that tore down a facade with the light tinkle of glass as it touched the floor. From lighthearted jocularity Eggsy went on to unbosom his brooding insecurity. The change in his disposition was so thunderboltingly sudden it made David somewhat uncomfortable. It made Eggsy uncomfortable too. The only suitable course of action suggested they should comfort each other, so Eggsy placed his hand in David's. A bashful kiss ensued. Once it was reciprocated, little smiles creased their flushed faces. Both hardly had an opportunity to process what was happening, but it somehow felt ridiculously, madly right. And peaceful, too.

Well, now that all the heavy lifting is done by that snippet above we can sit back and (hopefully) enjoy this little picture depicting David and Eggsy decently progressed in their ‘comforting each other’. I must point out, however, that what you've just (hopefully) read is really only a summary, a squeeze if you will, of what transpired, produced specifically for purpose of acquainting you with the context. In actual fact the story is teeming with dialogue and detail which, with your kind permission, I would like to show you some other time.

[noxer]

Analysis of the Fox

Not really an analysis so much as a compilation of everything we know about the character, plus my own guesses.

At this point, we have criminally little 100% reliable information about the Fox. What we can say for sure is that he had a deal with Ratau, which resulted in him disappointing him enough that Fox wanted Ratau dead. However, everything else we know is indirect, without any direct reference to the Fox. We know that Ratoo and his lover, who may or may not be the leader of the Pilgrims, were involved in the conflict. However, what exactly happened and why is left to us to guess.

To begin with, who and what is the Fox anyway? It can be assumed that he is neither a crown bearer nor a vessel, for obvious reasons. He is also unlikely to be any kind of deity, since all (or the vast majority) of them, as we know, were killed by the Bishops, and it is also unlikely that he represents any aspect. So far, his nature is closest to that of his bird siblings, who are not quite divine, but not mortal either. In other words, neither they nor the Fox have a cult following or any claim to power in these lands, which meant that the Old Faith had no reason to conflict with them. Clauneck, Kudaai, and Chemah merely provide services to divine beings, and if you think about it, the Fox is not so different. He gives us something in return. He makes deals.

There are several Tarot cards that I think are connected to the Fox that could shed some light on his story. These are Weeping Moon, True Sight, The Deal, and possibly The Burning Dead.

The description of the Moon reads: fear not the terror of night. Terror of the night, teeth in the darkness, this definitely refers to the Fox. Also, as we remember, the Fox can only be summoned near the green Moon symbol. Two more characters are connected to the Moon: Shamura, or rather their crown, and Aim, but I don’t think either of them are connected to the Fox. It’s also interesting that this card can be purchased in the Grotto of Spores, and one of the symbols is also located there. Plus, one of the Mushroomos will say that Sozo is talking to someone in the darkness (which, again, may not mean anything, because given his state, Sozo can talk to himself).

The next card, True Sight, may not actually be connected to the Fox, but a few details caught my attention. Firstly, the description of the card reads “weakness begs exploitation”. This may be a reference to Narinder and his words about the followers. However, the Fox seems to respect the Lamb more if they show “strength” and make sacrifices to him. “Weakness” is the reason why he despises Ratau. “Weakness begs exploitation” is probably what the Fox said to Ratau before doing something to Ratoo and his lover. Also, a symbol appears on this card that only two other cards have, the Leviathan cross, which is usually associated with the devil.

The Deal, in my opinion, reveals the whole story best. Firstly, the same symbol again, which obviously refers to a deal with the devil. Secondly, the description, “the deal is done, but what cost?”. Again, this could be about the deal between the Lamb and The-One-Who-Waits, however, the question “but what cost?” does not quite apply to them, since the Lamb can break the deal, thus eliminating the need for this question. However, the deal with the Fox involves giving up someone very valuable to the Lamb (Ratau’s death is one of the few events when the Lamb cries). Also, there are only two eyes in the background of the card, not three, and they are painted on a red stripe – like on red fur. I am 85% sure that this is the deal with the Fox and, possibly, Ratau.

Interestingly, Ratau, Ratoo, and the Fox all have the same cut ear. Given that the ink used to sign the cards is red, it's safe to assume that the contract was literally signed in blood. Both Ratau and Ratoo are missing an eye, but it's hard to say if that was because of the deal, as collateral, or if it was a consequence of the deal being broken.

I only included The Burning Dead because of the symbol on the skull, but I don't think that card is directly related to the Fox, although there may be an indirect connection.

So what do we know? The Fox and Ratau, and possibly Ratoo, had a deal that Ratau couldn't/wouldn't fulfill, which likely resulted in the death of Ratoo's lover and the loss of his heart. Or, given the card's description that the deal was completed, Ratau unwittingly sacrificed his brother and his lover, and then tried to reverse the deal, earning the Fox's utter contempt. But does he really hate him that much? If so, why didn't he find Ratau himself? There are three possible reasons for this. The first is that the Fox cannot interact with the world around him except through symbols. He is bound to them, and he cannot even use them on his own - he can only be summoned by someone. This actually fits very well with the theory I will present later. The second reason is that maybe he does not hate Ratau that much. He despises him, but he is not going to actively pursue him. He does not even ask to be sacrificed in the first place, only on the fourth time. Third, Ratoo and Ratau have the same symbols on their foreheads, similar to the alchemical symbol for air. Perhaps it works like with Davy Jones. The Fox can only be near water, or in the dark, and the symbol for air protects the brothers from him, somehow.

It's hard to say for sure, but the moon definitely has a meaning in the game. We have a character who is definitely connected to the sun – Mystic Seller. The All Seeing Sun card looks identical to them. The Seller themself is a reference to the biblical angels. Like the Fox, they do not interfere directly, only making deals with the Lamb. If the sun is closest to the heavens in this world, then what should the moon be? Something that represents Fervor and Curse, versus Devotion and Blessing? Yep. The Devil.

Hell, as such, is not present in the game. There is the Afterlife, where Narinder is imprisoned - a kind of Limbo where all the dead go. There is Purgatory, which holds the Bishops, but Purgatory is traditionally located between Hell and Heaven. What do we know about Ratu's beloved? She sleeps at the bottom of the sea. What else is at the bottom of the sea? An Old God may still reside in the depths. Turua, whoever and whatever he is (I say “he” because the Kin of Turua card describes him as a “patriarch”). The very bottom of the sea is probably the Hell of this world, the exact opposite of the sky (Kallamar lives in Satan’s backyard lol). The moon is associated with the sea, the ebb and flow of the tides. Some tentacles appear when we sacrifice a follower. And finally, Ratoo’s heart is returned by the demon Hathor. The Fox always appears either in the water or in the darkness, and is either Turua himself using fox form, or he is figuratively “working for him”.

(Although I don't think Turua and Mystic represent "hell" and "heaven" in the traditional sense. Rather, they represent two sides of divinity: the eldritch, infernal entity whose mere presence can damn you, and the ethereal, ascended one that exists beyond our understanding.)

Ratau didn’t just make a deal with a suspicious fox, he made a deal with literal Satan (or one of his minions). Like, man, I don’t know what you were expecting, that was a failure from the start. What was I saying?

Don’t talk to strangers in the dark.

[thepowercut]

Dialectical Immaterialism

By Tamsyn Elle ( @meserach ), with spot illustrations by Jason K Jones ( @jkjones21 ) and @idonttakethislightly

This essay was originally published on February 14th 2025, in issue #1 of THE POWER CUT, a fanzine about The Power Fantasy, the Image Comics book by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard. You can find that zine free to download right here.

The tagline of The Power Fantasy is “the eternal fight against fighting”. Author Kieron Gillen has described the book, functionally, as being a superhero comic with all the fight scenes removed. This may seem a more audacious move than it is. After all, a truism of narrative is that it’s always about conflict, and surely the fight scenes are where the conflicts of a superhero comic most come to a head. Is The Power Fantasy thus set to be dramatically inert, always trying to avoid pushing things to a point of crisis and resolution?

Well, no. For a start  I don’t actually buy the whole “narrative is about conflict” line, necessarily. Certainly stories in which everyone wants the same things and then just does them are going to lack incident, but clearly it doesn't always need to be zero-sum either. More than that, though, conflict actually runs right through this comic. It’s just a conflict that can’t ever come to fullest fruition because then the world ends; but that doesn’t mean we can’t lose a whole goddamn continent. Conflicts that can’t fully resolve can still resolve partially: people can still get what they want, or try to, with alternate avenues, as you can learn either through studying the Cold War or any middle class dinner party. You can do proxy wars. You can do brinkmanship. You can do almost anything.

Our cast still needs something to not quite fight about, though. And here TPF reveals itself as an embarrassment of riches. For our cast of six features no fewer than fifteen unique pairings (I did the maths!), and amongst those it definitely features oppositions. Points of comparison. Dialectics, by which I mean “I’ve read just enough Marx to be dangerous”, or rather I mean something like “opposing forces that act on history and society, producing through their interaction a unique emergent result”. I’m talking about contrasts. The cast of the Power Fantasy is a study in contrasts. In this essay I will…

No but really, look. Valentina and Etienne form an ethical dialectic, Kantian deontology versus utilitarian calculus. I got that one directly from Gillen’s newsletter, so you know it’s real.

Heavy and Jacky are two takes on the destiny of the 60s-70s counterculture post-1980. Drop out or sell out: leave common society and start your own place that can actually serve your ideals (and then defend it fiercely from the people who will inevitably attempt to destroy it) or in some way become reconciled to power. They’re two different kinds of cult leader.

Valentina and Eliza are literally an angel and a demon. Look, sometimes it isn't subtle. (Not that we can yet fully grasp what those things mean in this cosmology, mind you.)

Somewhat subtler is the contrast flagged up in the conversation between Masumi and Etienne Lux in issue #2. Lux means light, natch. Etienne has a brain that's all light, all sharp angles and clear delineations and clarity, networking everyone like fiber optics, learning everything. Masumi's mind, by contrast, is “a void from which no light escapes”.

Etienne and Heavy form a dualism of responses to being part of a marginalised population: one similar to the Professor X/Magneto dualism which is an obvious partial inspiration for the two characters and their relationship, plus their power sets. Much has been written about this dualism before and will be again (to say nothing of the supposed Malcom X vs Martin Luther King dualism which inspired Magneto and Professor X in turn) so I can’t possibly hope to summarise all of it here, but in very brief: it’s a split between ways a marginalised population (atomics/mutants/people of colour) should interact with their oppressors - with strength, violence, and demanding concessions, or with something subtler, more peaceable and reasonable - as Etienne puts it, being someone “governments can work with”.

Lux and Magus! Their similarity has already been stressed: Magus calls them the two smartest guys in the room. Both are manipulating people, controlling the flow of information carefully, the ones most obviously managing people. But for all Magus’ cynicism, he was the one to cry for the losses after the Second Summer of Love… which of them truly cares more about people? And in what ways? But I’m getting ahead of myself. See their essays, in the exciting pages to come!

Considering the dyads of the cast throws up other ideas. What if you compare Heavy to Masumi? They’ve scarcely interacted thus far, but what shows up if you contrast them? I’d suggest maybe the idea of power as a curse versus power as a tool of liberation. But also there’s something in the idea that the two of them are just barely holding themselves together: Masumi mentally, Heavy physically.

Masumi hasn’t had vast opportunity to rub against Magus and Valentina yet, but doubtless there will be contrasts and comparators there too. Certainly all three work hard, in their separate ways, to contain a destructive force - or at least something they see as destructive. Magus works to amass power because he fears others having it; Masumi wants only to be rid of her power and is afraid mostly of herself. Valentina is a protective figure who at least sometimes is adored by the public - check that graffiti in issue #1 in 1966! - while Masumi is hated and feared.

Yet despite this Valentina ends up in space, held isolated from the world to protect others from being her collateral damage; while Masumi can only be contained by keeping her enmeshed in the very social context Valentina craves to be part of. 

Eliza is the enigma of our cast, having had the least focus thus far, so it’s not yet clear exactly how she’ll be providing contrasts. We can speculate: she’s a person who’s done something bad, something sinful, towards a good end, which rubs interestingly with Etienne’s sense of himself as an ethical rather than a good person. Her evident faith places her at odds with Jacky’s cynicism, perhaps. Maybe there’s something in  comparing her and Masumi as both carrying around a monster of some kind, a difference in how they both feel about being marked or “fallen”. And with Heavy … is there something about martyrdom? Although all the cast are martyrs to some extent…

There’s contrasting groupings, too. The data page I’ve scrawled on over there gave us one: the atomics vs. the extradimensionals. But there’s more. There’s a distinction between Magus and Eliza and the other four: Magus and Eliza sought power, or bargained or worked to get it; the other four were, as far as we know, born into their power (Valentina) or developed it naturally during childhood (the Atomics). There’s the contrast between the superpowers who are considered problems to be managed (Heavy and Masumi) and the people who do the managing (Etienne, Valentina and Magus). There’s obviously a gender split (and never doubt a Kieron Gillen comic will have at least a little about gender in it).

One division I really like is the divide between those who really need other people around them (Jacky Magus and his Pyramid, Heavy and his Family, Masumi and her Isabella) and those who's isolation is more stressed: Etienne, Valentina and Eliza. All the cast are isolated to some extent, in their nature as singular superpowers, six against billions. But their attitudes and needs towards that are where this separation lies: in different ways Heavy, Masumi and Magus all crave people and surround themselves with them; Etienne and Valentina both like people but are held apart from them.

So, pairs of opposites. Groups of opposites. But are there oppositions inside each of our superpowers as well? Yes, that’s why I asked. The power of rhetoric! The oppositions inside each of our main cast - the contradictions and conflicts of their being, is, it turns out, our theme for this inaugural issue of THE POWER CUT, which it thrills me to always type in all caps. This theme was a surprise to me, but it was emerging naturally from what we were writing about anyway, and I’ve learned to honour the magic in such things. For this reason, the oppositional theme, we’ve called this issue “The Balancing Act”, because that’s also a quote from Etienne in issue #1. It being a reference makes what we’re doing literature, I think.

So! Here it is, our inaugural issue. Have a read, why don’t you. Explore the pages. We’ve got substantial essays on each of our main six cast, some other writing, and lots of lovely art. If it’s a success (by what metric exactly? Artistically, I guess?) I for one would like to do one for every trade paperback that comes out. If you’re interested in contributing to the next one, we’re interested in having you! We have a Discord and a Tumblr and whatnot. There’s going to be lots to talk about:  I think this comic is going to be a long haul, one way or another. These six haven’t finished rubbing up against each other yet.

… that sounds sexier than I meant it. Well, it is Valentine’s Day. (ED: this worked better at time of original publication).

[mangotangerine]

Mangotangerine's Really Cool Guide to Fic Summaries

I finally got my shit together and made something coherent.

What is the purpose of a summary?

The purpose of a summary is to tell readers what they can expect out of your story. Similar to the blurb on the back of a book, this should be short and succinct. It should give the reader an idea of the themes, the characters, the primary conflict, and your writing style.

Regarding giving the reader an idea of your writing style - don't write the summary in an entirely different register than what the fic is. If your fic is a silly goofy chatfic but your summary reads as very serious gritty detective noir, you're setting an expectation you're not delivering on.

And vice versa! If you're writing a gritty detective noir and it's not silly goofy at all, make sure your summary matches the tone of your fic.

What to put in a summary

While the focus of your summary might shift depending on the story, the underlying structure is the same:

1) Who is the story about? 2) What is the context? 3) What is the inciting incident? 4) The Ultimate Question

Who is the story about? Who is your POV character, and who else plays a major role? Is there a romantic partner, rival, or friend? What’s their dynamic? Are they childhood friends with unresolved tension? Enemies forced to work together? Give the reader an idea of how these characters relate to each other and what kind of tension there might be.

What is the context? What’s your character’s situation at the beginning of the story? Are they running a bookshop? Avoiding responsibility? Recovering from trauma? What do they want, what motivates them, and what are they afraid of?

What is the inciting incident? What knocks over the first domino in their story that everything stems from? It doesn't have to be dramatic, maybe they stepped on a banana peel and broke their big toe or something, but it's whatever gets your character to move from the context they're in at the start, to the context they're in at the end.

The Ultimate Question: What is your story really exploring? What question sits at the heart of it? Will they fall in love? Can they survive the system? Will they ever forgive themselves? This gives the reader a reason to care about the journey. Not just what happens, but why it matters.

Example 1: Ship-fic

Character A runs a bookshop with his cat on a lovely street with tons of history, Character B opens up a tattoo shop just across the street. Character B is loud, brash, and causes chaos in Character A's normally peaceful little street. When Character A's cat gets out, he's frantic, and finds help where he least expects it. Unfortunately, the cat gets attached to his tatted up savior. Can Character A and Character B survive co-parenting a cat together, or will their bitter feud result in a cat custody battle and the end to both their businesses?

Example 2: Gen fic

Character A has lived his entire life never being the main character. Sidekick, apprentice, assistant manager—anything but the protagonist. He's content with that, until an estranged uncle dies and Character A inherits the cranky, old cat nobody knew he had. The longer he spends with the cat, the more he notices it's not like any other cat he's met. It's intelligent, it knows too much, and one day he wakes up to a note spelled out in inky kitty footprints—a carefully created message that reads, "Help. I've been turned into a cat." It's up to Character A to investigate the mystery of who the cat is and how to turn them back into a human.

The TLDR Summary Trope

In fanfiction, you will frequently find summaries that add what is essentially a tl;dr at the end, with a single sentence summing up the main themes.

For our first example, this could look like

(Summary Here) OR A story about how co-parenting a cat can bring two polar opposites together.

For our second example, this could look like

(Summary Here) OR A story about how Character A's uncle got turned into a cat and now Character A has to figure out how to bring him back.

It's an easy way to reinforce what the story is about at its core, but it isn't necessary at all.

[emotionallychargedtowel]

Hee Su in Class 2: attempting to account for my biases

Before Hee Su in Class 2 was finished airing, I was already hearing really disparate things. There seemed to be a relationship between loving the manhwa and disliking the adaptation, which makes sense given it seemed there were a lot of differences between the two. There was also some praise, some of it oddly effusive. A good friend of mine who loved the manhwa was disappointed, but thought that without the manhwa version of the story in my head and given the sorts of shows I tend to like, I might actually like it a lot more than she did. There were also some pretty rude things being said by some of the show’s fans, including some people I don’t get along with. At the same time, some people I really respect had some specific and interesting praise for it. I had reasons to be biased in both directions, but reasons to find fault with the series seemed to be predominating somewhat. 

Speaking of bias, the discourse around the show’s reception focused on bias quite a bit. Amongst both those who found fault with it and those who championed it there were those who acknowledged that encountering one version or the other first probably biased them in favor of that version, a widespread tendency with media that I imagine most of us are familiar with. Others didn’t do much, if anything, to own their own bias, but were quick to point out what they saw as bias in others. 

In a lot of ways, it was this discussion of bias that most piqued my interest in watching the series. I just kept wondering what I would make of it. I decided to find out, but I wanted to stop and think first about how I could try to lessen the degree to which my biases might impact my perceptions of it. I knew I couldn’t entirely prevent having biases, because that’s not humanly possible. After all, I wrote my dissertation on cognitive biases! I also wasn't about to bend over backwards in these efforts, since the end result would be a tumblr post, not a new discovery in the cognitive science of media viewing. So I decided to give it a try, but without going to a ton of trouble.

Taking measures to try to get a more genuine reaction

Here’s what I did. I wrote down what I thought I remembered hearing about the show beforehand, so that I could account for and be open about any pre-existing ideas. Then I wrote notes while I watched each episode, to capture my initial reactions before I had a chance to look at the whole gestalt, which is a point at which I (and I imagine most other people) seem to be more susceptible to motivated reasoning or the influence of others. 

I also avoided any new information about differences between the manhwa and the series. (I barely remembered anything about the differences to begin with.) I figured that since I had very little idea what the differences were between the manhwa and the series, any bias in favor of my friend’s point of view (that the manhwa was preferable) would be mitigated by the fact that 99% of the details I might like or dislike could just as easily be direct from the manhwa as invented for the series. I couldn’t exactly be biased against show elements that were exclusive to the adaptation if I didn’t know which elements those were. 

I also tend to have a pretty strong bias in favor of the first version of something I encounter. As I said, I think that’s a nearly universal bias, but I get the impression I have a stronger tendency in that direction than some people. I thought that tendency might help to balance pro-series views against any existing anti-series leanings I might have. 

Here’s what I remembered (or thought I remembered) reading or hearing about the show before I started watching it: 

The show is decidedly different from the manhwa Early on, show Hee Su does something that might be out of character for manhwa Hee Su, something at least somewhat crappy—maybe he tells a lie? The show might feature more conflict The show characters and/or their relationships might be more complex The show may have more hetero romance? Various straight people experiences might be metaphors for queer experiences? Rose said she didn’t like the pacing, thought it was too BL for a non-BL and not BL enough for a BL. 

What I thought while I was watching

When I was done watching, I re-read all of my notes. I’m going to include a condensed version of them below, but since they’re still a bit long, I’ll summarize here first. 

I found Hee Su really hard to relate to right away. He made me anxious, but I didn’t find myself feeling much else about him. I appreciated the production values of the show, including the fancy opening sequence, but since the show wasn’t evoking much emotion in me, they seemed empty and pointlessly slick. I found Chan Young and Ji Yu rather hard to relate to since they were both these perfect, attractive, talented kids who were popular without even trying, and found their interactions more interesting when they were arguing and flirting than when they actually started dating.

The show included a lot of low-key meanness that wore on me. I could tell a lot of work had gone into weaving the space metaphor into the series, and I appreciated the effort and the consistency, but it didn’t feel meaningful to me. I kept hoping that things would change and I’d relate more to Hee Su. I noticed how a lot of stylistic choices made the series feel more like a typical kdrama than any other BL I’d seen before, but much of that seemed arbitrary and superficial.

It bothered me that Hee Su seemed to forget all about Chan Young once he stopped having feelings for him, immediately warming up to Seung Won after finding out Chan Young was taken. I thought this made him seem fickle. I got tired of Hee Su spending so much of his time scolding Seung Won or bossing him around.

I found the show more engaging during the last two episodes, which was a relief. Things that were under the surface started to be stated directly, like the way Hee Su had always expected Chan Young to confide in him while not opening up in return, or the fact that Ji Yu ignored challenges Seung Won dealt with because of his sexuality. The fact that both Chan Young and Seung Won initially responded to Hee Su’s confessions blankly, then avoided him, made me incredibly tense without seeming justified (it was also a bit weird that the two scenes were so similar). During the finale, I found myself liking Hee Su more (and being more impressed by the actor playing him). I liked that Seung Won’s lying wasn’t brushed off as if it wasn’t a big deal. The ending could have been worse, but it felt sudden and anticlimactic. 

What I think now, looking back

To put it briefly, the series definitely had some merit, but it was also deeply flawed. Of course, individual tastes would also inevitably play a role in how different people feel about it. But I found it to be somewhat messily constructed and I suspect that adaptation choices had something to do with that. 

I've always had a hard time with media that includes a lot of cringe-inducing, uncomfortable moments. Think the original UK version of The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or the roughest parts of Nathan Fielder’s oeuvre. HSiC2 gave me a similar tense, cringey feeling a lot of the time and didn’t pay off later in a corresponding way. A few times, I was tempted to stop watching in the middle of the series for this reason. That said, not everyone is as sensitive about this type of narrative element as I am, and some people particularly enjoy it.

It’s clear when I look at my unabridged notes that some episodes left me with very little to comment on, or resulted in commenting on trivialities or being repetitive compared to prior episodes. This is a clear sign that, for me at least, the series was too long and dragged at a number of points. Sometimes the show’s many kdrama trappings pulled me in, but this sometimes felt to me like it was cheating, temporarily raising my opinion of the series by reminding me of other kdrama experiences that I’d found more rewarding. 

This didn’t show up in my notes much, but I thought the show used music very effectively. However, that had a flip side as well. Sometimes I would start to get emotionally involved in a scene and then I would realize that I was responding to the music much more than I was to anything else, and I’d feel manipulated. Not that there’s anything wrong with using music to heighten the emotions brought out by certain scenes. Most—maybe all?—of my favorite kdramas do this. But with a good kdrama, it’s more reciprocal. The music makes the story and the performances more affecting, but the story and performances also make the music more affecting. Here, the interaction didn’t feel as reciprocal. 

When it comes to adding more of a hetero storyline to the show, I can’t compare the series story to the manhwa in any meaningful way, but I have to say that the hetero romance, while I really connected with it in some moments, largely didn’t hold my interest. Maybe my standards were higher than usual because I knew the straight romance storyline was added for the adaptation, but I actually think holding such a storyline to a higher standard under these circumstances makes sense. If you’re going to make a queer romance more straight, I want it to improve my viewing experience in a palpable way, and this storyline failed to do that. 

It doesn’t help my feelings about the show that it featured some interests of mine, but in a rather half-assed way. Supposed vinyl collectors who didn’t put outer sleeves on their albums, a beginning knitter who tackled a project in what appeared to be a tricky brioche stitch, and a conspicuous lack of psychology or counseling content when the main character is supposedly a habitual advice-giver and his love interest heads up a counseling club all contributed to some mildly disgruntled feelings on my part. But these aren’t things that would affect most other viewers in the same way. 

I think if the show weren’t quite so long, I might endorse it enough to recommend it to people. Honestly, I think the show would have been better if it had been half as long. As it stands, if a friend asked me if they should watch it, I’d be cautious. If they were a big kdrama fan who loved high school BLs and had a pretty equal interest in hetero and queer romance, I might tell them it was worth a try. Otherwise, I might advise skipping it, or putting it on the low-priority end of one's to-watch list.

One thing is for sure. This show is not playing some kind of 3-D chess that the typical viewer fails to understand, as has been suggested in some quarters. If it were, that wouldn’t actually be worthy of praise. If the real message of a show goes over the heads of most of its audience, it isn’t doing its job. But I don’t think such a message was even present. Rather, my guess is that this show is something much more commonplace in the world of BL: an adaptation of an existing story that takes liberties with the source material for its own purposes but doesn’t end up justifying them. It’s possible that if I had read the manhwa, I’d be particularly frustrated by missed opportunities resulting from these changes, but I haven’t (though perhaps I will one of these days). I can only speculate that the needlessly dragged-out, patchy quality of the series’ narrative seemed likely to be attributable to clumsy adaptation choices, because that's often what flawed adaptations look like.

That’s it for my commentary. My condensed episode notes are below for anyone who’s curious. Writing in brackets is summarizing what I wrote at the time rather than quoting it verbatim, mostly for the sake of length, occasionally for the sake of clarity.

Condensed episode notes

episode 1:

It’s not always easy to relate to Heesu here, he seems kind of self-aggrandizing.

[I liked that Seung Won was into psychology as that’s what I went to grad school for.] 

Heesu is so pent up that it’s really uncomfortable to watch. It’s a tricky combination when he’s acting in such fake ways. I know he has his reasons, of course! But this wouldn’t feel quite so unrelentingly tense if I found him a little more relatable.

[I asked myself if my lack of engagement was just due to being used to certain storytelling conventions.]

episode 2:

The tension from him jumping to conclusions about Seung Won’s crush is killing me. I wish he would be cute when he isn’t also being frustrating in a way that makes me panic slightly, but they always seem to happen together.

When Hee Su is being nice to his heartbroken sister, I think I like him better than I have for the whole series so far.

[I was excited to see Ji Yu’s records as I’m a vinyl collector.]

The production values on this show are quite nice, but since I’m not feeling much about the characters or the story, it ends up seeming meaninglessly slick. This could definitely change, though, and it’s better than it being shoddy.

episode 3:

[I noted that there were also records at Seung Won’s house.]

I like Hee Su arguing with Seung Won at the bus stop. Feels more genuine than a lot of his interactions.

Does Hee Su have to be so aggressive? It really makes me dislike him. It seems like all he does is scold Seung Won.

This conversation [Chan Young and Ji Yu] had…was really sweet and engaging. I’m finding myself rooting for them. That’s not inherently bad, but it’s annoying that the show is selling me on the straight romance and the queer romance is falling so flat—even though it had a two-episode head start, for the most part.

This show really is full of people treating each other like shit! It’s making it hard to even imagine enjoying the manhwa. I guess at least you could say that it’s realistic because real high school is depressing as fuck too. But still! The only person I really like here is Seung Won, and he keeps getting the shaft all the time. Chan Young and Ji Yu are kind of sweet together, but it’s hard for me to give a crap about two perfect little popular cuties.

episode 4:

This opening credits sequence really is cute and well-made, but it feels sterile. Which just reminds me of how much seems to be missing from the series so far.

Please let this episode be the one where I start being able to relate to Hee Su!

I’d root for these two hetero kids more if they weren’t so perfect and (seemingly) fortunate.

Still seriously liking Seung Won so much more than Hee Su.

Little stylistic things really do make this feel like a kdrama, but they’re kind of arbitrary. For example, the credits starting out with stills from big moments in the episode feels a lot like a kdrama. It’s interesting how that shifts my feelings a bit. But it’s not making me like the show more. If anything it points out how much less interesting I find it than most kdramas I’ve watched.

episode 5:

Space talk again! I don’t like it. I sometimes like these sorts of motifs/metaphors but this is somehow both heavyhanded and lacking in meaning.

Hee Su is so dense, it’s driving me bonkers. I know the irony is the point, but the fact that he gives people relationship advice is maddening. Speaking of which, are we ever going to see him giving anyone advice besides that one girl in the very beginning of the first episode? I guess you could count Seung Won as well, though it’s a bit different. Anyway, for something that’s part of the premise we sure don’t see him doing that very much. It’s annoying because I was looking forward to that aspect of the story.

Hee Su really has been pulling away from Chan Young. Is he so self-absorbed that he doesn’t understand that Chan Young relied on him all this time and might have a hard time if he just disappears? It seems like Chan Young has been a lot more loyal to Hee Su than he’s being to Chan Young.

Two moms! Hee Su’s relief that seemingly Seung Won won’t hate him if he finds out about him is pretty sweet and relatable. This is the most I’ve liked/rooted for Hee Su this whole time.

I liked Chan Young and Ji Yu better when they were fighting. It felt more authentic and interesting than now that they’re getting along and making confessions.

episode 6:

At least Ji Yu is pointing out that Seung Won lying isn’t OK.

Please show Chan Young that you’re a real friend, Hee Su. If you treat him like trash just because you’re falling out of love with him, I’ll really hate your guts.

I don’t love that Hee Su is only looking at Seung Won that way now that he knows Chan Young is taken.

episode 7:

Seriously, couldn’t we have seen at least a glimmer of interest on Hee Su’s side before he knew Chan Young had a (real) girlfriend? It makes him seem fickle and self-serving. I’m willing to believe he probably isn’t, but it’s frustrating that it looks this way.

[I ranted about Hee Su’s friend and his knitting. The pattern he chose was unrealistically challenging, the actor seemed to be faking it, and the girl who liked him downplayed how hard it is to put stitches back on the needle after frogging.]

It’s so convenient that Hee Su’s crush on Chan Young has just evaporated. Too convenient!

Man, no matter what’s going on with Hee Su, it manifests as scolding Seung Won.

episode 8:

I like the bit where Hee Su is putting on a show of not liking “the carrot” in front of Seung Won

I can’t help feeling for Chan Young, but when the scene changes, I’m like, “all this…because he has an extracurricular activity?” It strains credulity.

I do like this excuse for Hee Su and Ji Yu to bond. Hee Su is giving advice/being like a counselor for once!

Why not meet the carrot even if he likes someone? Even aside from the possibility that it IS the person he likes, wouldn’t it be mean to just ignore this person? He should face them. Maybe he will when the time comes. But even saying he won’t seems kind of gross to me.

episode 9:

[I liked the scene where Seung Won confronted Ji Yu about how confessing is more complicated for him than it is for her.]

Interesting that they’re doing the side-by-side sleepover thing with Hee Su and Chan Young.

“You know everything about me. Why does it feel like I don’t know anything about you?” Why is he only noticing this now?

“That’s why everyone comes to me for advice all the time.” Do they? All I’ve seen was one single occurrence.

Interesting that he’s telling him he liked him, rather than just coming out.

I liked this episode more than the others. It felt like there were stakes, Hee Su showed some authenticity. In this moment I feel like it was worth it to get this point, but I wonder if I’d feel that way if I could really feel the weight of all the time I had to spend to get here.

The space metaphors still feel stilted to me, though!

episode 10:

WTF, Chan Young! Running away like that is bound to scare the bejesus out of Hee Su.

Can’t believe Chan Young just let Hee Su go like that without saying something. Again!

Why is Seung Won being colder to Hee Su than before? It seems like he was handling everything and then he just wasn’t and there was nothing in particular that happened in between that I could discern.

In some ways, I like that they’re dealing with the past and HS’s feelings for CY. In others, it feels like such a weird pendulum swing.

Seung Won! You’re seriously going to let it end there? WTF! Why does everyone have to leave Hee Su hanging this way? Is it because he feels weird about having lied for so long? You’d think he could at least say something if that were the case.

It’s fair that there are real consequences for all the lying.

[I was afraid Seung Won hugging a crying Hee Su was the ending, which I wouldn’t have liked, then had the same worry about the next scene, so I was relieved that it ended with them having a sweet moment holding hands. But I didn’t find the ending very cathartic or satisfying.] 

[absolutebl]

Given the wide range of BL you've consumed and analyzed. I am curious at your perspective when comparing BLs made/written by men and those that were written by women, in a different direction, comparing BLs directed by men in comparison to women.

If you could have the time and give your perspective in this two sources of BL , that would be great.

Hum, I'm not sure how to answer this. Except in a kind of avoidance way because I question the premise.

I think, in general, in most of the film industry, the original writing has very little to do with the final result, because so many new voices and povs are imposed on it the moment it begins to be adapted. After a BL leaves its author (predominantly female) it goes to script, a writers room, and eventually into the hands of director and team. All those people are different genders (predominantly male). And all of them have a significant impact on the end result.

Sometimes the author has unprecedented influence (mame for example) but that's pretty unusual.

Statistically speaking, the origin IP (whether novel or graphic) is most likely written by a female and the resulting BL most likely directed by a male.

There are always exceptions, of course.

Even putting aside all the other people, mostly script writers, in between the two primaries (which I just don't think you can) it would be statistically challenging to draw any commonalities amongst female directors (since there are so few) or amongst male writers (for the same reason). In other words, we have many many examples of really only 1 of the 4 possible combinations, and all those examples are muddied by the nature of the filming process (not to mention the nature of gender).

In other words, it would be challenging for me to say things are generally preferable in any one version of the pairings.

I have liked BLs written and directed by women, written by a woman directed by a man, written by a man directed by a woman, or written and directed by men (although those last two I would struggle to name any BLs).

However, I have also liked and then disliked BLs from the same general team and combination of genders behind the creatives.

For me, at least, there doesn't seem to be a reliable team or a reliable writer or a reliable director whose BL product I will reliably love.

I would hesitate to place a predictor on my BL taste (or anyone else's) based on the gender of any part of the team behind a BL. That seems..... weird. Especially when queers and 3rd gender etc are involved (and we have always been involved in artistic spaces for as long as humans have existed, I suspect).

But then I feel that way about most entertainment, from music to books to plays to comedy to fashion. I can be a fan of a director's style but not like some of their shows, just as I can be a fan of an actor's performance but not the character they're playing, or a fan of a pair's chemistry but not in those roles, and so forth.

I think what youth and influencers and the internet age has forgotten is that it's okay to admire a creative individual and not slavishly adore everything that they produce. (For fuck's sake though, don't tell them that, you absolute troll.)

Creatives and creative teams also have their own taste, and that may conflict with yours. Especially with newer IP where you might want the same old same old and they need to evolved. Consumers of entertainment are remarkably resistant to creativity, innovation, and change (so oxymoronic) .

It's okay, maybe you'll like their next BL, song, book, painting, performance......

I have no idea how I got here but:

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

I do have some stuff on a queer lens here:

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

On a subject related to why it is important not to self censor in tags on ao3 so people can filter properly, one thing that drives me crazy that I have seen repeated by people who are deeply misinformed about ao3 when referring to the big four mandatory archive warnings is that ‘ao3 has entire categories of fic for these terrible things in fics and therefore its use and existence is morally wrong,’ which absolutely boggles my mind.

Those are not categories of fic. Those are content warnings. People are mad because the archive has content warnings. I’m sorry but I for one am extremely grateful for the ability to look at a fic, see a major character death warning, and be able to choose not to read the fic.

Like fandom has been having this same argument between these two points for decades: a. People deserve freedom of expression in fandom spaces and b. Other people deserve to be able to avoid triggering content. The archive warnings are the result of the synthesis of those two points, the already arrived at compromise for this conflict. If you don’t want to see something you should be able to filter it out. That’s what content warnings are for.

Also periodic reminder since I’m on the subject that chose not to use archive warnings is also a valid alternative to using warnings in the interest of preserving suspense. Which is why -chose not to use warnings is Very Different from -no warnings apply and people should take care to remember that when posting or reading on ao3. If you are sensitive to one of the four warnings, please remember that there is a difference in order to avoid content you do not wish to see, and approach fics labeled ‘chose not to use warnings’ with caution.

[rabbit-habits]

asks for fic writers :)

Tagged by @saltedpin! Thank you! <3

How many works on AO3? Only 10. I write VERY slowly and tend to write very long fics, so the result is that I don't have very many fics.

Total word count on AO3?

1,275,869 3. Top five fics by kudos?

I Know How Those in Exile Feed on Dreams of Hope Among Conflicting Winds in a Frail Boat The Softer Pillow The Error Bred in the Bone Drying Inward From the Edge 4. What fandoms do you primarily write for?

Mostly Golden Kamuy now, but I wrote for The Untamed for a while too. 5. Do you respond to comments?

Almost always, yes! Mostly insipidly, but yes. 6. Angstiest ending?

Probably Isn't Bite Also Touch? Drying Inward From the Edge is fairly bleak too, because it has an open ending that could be read as things playing out as they did in canon, i.e., not well. 7. Fic with the happiest ending?

Pretty sure it's Among Conflicting Winds in a Frail Boat. I tend to go for bittersweet endings, but that one is at least somewhat optimistic? 8. Do you get hate?

Maybe once or twice. I don't think enough people read my fics for me to get hate. 9. Do you write smut?

Yes! It's usually not the point of the story, but sometimes it is. 10. Do you write crossovers?

I haven't yet, but I'm not against the idea. 11. Ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of? Again, I don't think enough people read my fic for anyone to think it worth stealing (if you see what I mean). 12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, once, into Japanese! 13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes! Twice now with @saltedpin and hopefully more in the future! 14. All time favorite ship?

I'm really not sure! In general/to read, I would probably say YuuO, but I don't know how to write either of them, so I've never actually written it! Same with GinHiji! As for what I write, I guess I'd have to say Fenders, because while I have written VasiO and Chengxian, I don't endgame ship either of them. 15. WiPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have two historical AU kpop fics that I'll probably never finish. Actually most of my unfinished fics are RPF. 16. Writing strengths?

Good grammar? I genuinely don't know. I like to think that I tend to keep everyone in-character. 17. Writing weaknesses?

Long-windedness, limited number of characters I feel confident writing, sappiness, tending toward the most obvious choices. There are probably a lot more! 18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue?

It annoys me when it's an easily translatable word. For example, when it's clear that the characters are speaking French, but then they're like, "Je t'aime! Let's get married!" Like, just say, "I love you! Let's get married!" I don't mind it if the characters are meant to be speaking different language from each other and the POV character doesn't know the language being spoken. If it's something that's not really translatable or is a title or something like "ani-sama" or "gongzi", I think it's better to leave it in the original language. Clearly I have a lot of thoughts about this! 19. First fandom you wrote for?

Unofficially, The Wheel of Time WAAAAAAAY back when the books were coming out (it had a Mary Sue in it and was never finished). Officially for fic posted, SHINee/SNSD. Officially on AO3, The White Stripes. 20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Not counting collabs, I think Isn't Bite Also Touch? and Drying Inward From the Edge are my two favorites.

Tagging @seabirdsong, @mackdaddyofthecravate, @sphinxyvic, and anyone else who writes fic and wants to play!

[linkspooky]

Just got done with reading your "How To Do a Dark Deconstruction of your Shonen Hero" post, first off amazing work as always! As much as it pains me to hear (good faith, non-reactionary and well thought-out) criticism due to having gotten into MHA in middle school when I was impressionable and attached onto works quicker than I do, it was satisfying to hear someone as well-worded as yourself put into words a thought that I had. For a while I could only summarize it by thinking "Man MHA sure does feel toothless and inconsistent about what it delivers on, and what ideas or themes or messages or what have you are left in the fridge and forgotten about."

It was also fun to hear about Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, growing up YGO was only ever a game some of my friends played or "HEART OF THE CARDS" and Kaiba memes, so hearing that there was a lot more to the series was a welcome surprise, even if quite anecdotal on my part.

As for the question part of this ask, near the middle of it you brought up how despite being quite captivated with the idea and the final result, you weren't as impressed with how YGO got there, and vice versa with MHA in how it was paced better but so far(let me have a little bit of hope lol) ultimately hasn't made good on it's "storytelling promise" if you will.

With the preface that no story is "perfect" along with the fact that everyone has their own interests, biases, icks, etc., I wanted to ask if there was a story which in your opinion, that blends proper pacing and build-up, with proper follow-up and payoff? I had the idea of deconstructing the perfect shonen protag or similar character in mind, but I'm also curious to hear about other ideas as well if you have them.

PS Thanks again for writing and posting these. They're often the highlight of my day when I remember to get around to reading them. And apologies for this long-ass ask hehe.

If you want a shonen series with similiar themes of "saving the villains" as MHA and Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX! but better pacing, buildup, payoff and overall story structure then both manga then I strongly reccomend another Yu-Gi-Oh series, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal.

To begin with as a disclaimer I think Yu-Gi-Oh, but especially the spinoffs post 5DS get a bad reputation. For several reasons, the dub, but also the Duel Monsters anime adaptation is kind of bad. A lot of people forget that Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a very dark urban fantasy, or just the fact that it runs in the same magazine as MHA and JJK. Once you get over the fact that it revolves around card games, Yu-Gi-Oh is as much of a battle shonen as MHA or JJK.

If you give Zexal a chance, it has everything MHA promised us. A conflict where there's really no heroes and villains, a story about what it means to save people, and a protagonist who wants to save everyone.

Yu-Gi-Oh no Cristo!

If you want to take my word for it that Zexal is good, and avoid spoilers then don't read any further. However, I thought I'd demonstrate HOW Zexal tackles the same themes that My Hero Academia tried to tackle.

I'm going to limit this analysis to Zexal I, because while Zexal II is superior in every way I don't want to spoil the whole darn show. Zexal deconstructs the idea of what it means to save others, by having the central conflict in its first season focus on several different factions where no side is the clear good guy. it also tackles the theme of "revenge", and how no character's revenge is justified no matter how wounded they are.

Zexal has three main characters, Yuma, Kaito, and Shark. The latter two are deuteragonist, and tritagonist respectively, and vacillate between being rivals and outright antagonists. If you wanted a story where Shigaraki post My Villain Academy was basically given deuteragonist status alongside Deku then this is the story for you. From her on out I'm going to focus on the cycle of revenge and also the intertwining arcs of Yuma, Shark and Kite and how these characters develop the themes.

Before I get to the World Duel Carnival, I would be amiss to mention that Zexal has a faster start then any Yu-Gi-Oh anime barring 5DS. The introductory arc is episodic in nature, but it does two things really well, first establishing Yuma as a character and second laying the groundwork for both Shark and Kaito showing they are human beings with their own motivations even when they act as antagonists to Yuma. World Duel Carnival starts at 27, but in my opinion the real conflict starts in episode 33 with the introduction of the Tron Family.

In comparison My Hero finishes the Stain arc around episode 33, so I'd say they equally have as strong a start, and both works have introduced their main trio in that time.

With the Tron Family the secondary antagonists of the season we're finally introduced to the season's main confict of revenge. There are four factions and I'm going to take the time to explain each one's motivation before digging in deeper.

The conflict starts with the parents of the three main characters, Lord Byron Arclight (who will later return as Tron), Dr. Faker, and Kazuma Tsukumo. The three of them were studying alternate dimmensions together when Dr. Faker betrayed his two close friends. Kazuma and Lord Byron were dropped into an alternate dimmension as sacrifices to open the door between dimmensions. Kazumi did his best to try to save himself and Lord Byron, but he was unsuccesful and they both dropped out of the world.

Arclight wandered around between dimmensions, until he was eventually saved by the Barian world, a world of pure chaos kind of like the flipside of our world. However, his salvation came with a cost he was reverted from an adult man to a ten year old's body, and he also lost half of his face which is now a black hole (it's weird I'm not sure how that happened). The only thing that sustained Tron was the idea of getting revenge against Dr. Faker and now that he's returned he's determined to have it.

Tron had three sons, Michael, Thomas and Christopher. Which he renames III, IV, and V because he can't be bothered to remember their names I guess. Tron was once a very loving father and left his children behind on what was supposed to be a temporary research trip. However, their father apparently died, and Christopher the oldest was not old enough to take custody so III and IV were sent to different orphanages. At the same time Christopher was broken-hearted to learn that the man who killed his father, was the father of his student and close friend Kaito Tenjo, and ended that relationship for those reasons.

With the return of Tron the family was allowed to be back together with a now older Christopher taking custody of his brothers and now parenting his ten year old father (which is hilarious by the way). However, Tron distorted by the Barian world and his desire for revenge now uses his sons as tools in his revenge scheme against Dr. Faker. All three sons comply on the thin hope that if they complete their father's revenge, he will go back to being loving Byron Arclight. The Tron Family is a family united by revenge, but also defined by an intense family loyalty to each other, both as siblings, and to their father. While their father may not deserve it, all three sons love him deeply and would do anything to try to save him.

IV: You can't trust me that much. Just because I can't become an obedient servant to you like III and V. IV: But even so...I still also...for your sake. IV: Dad, you always smiled gently in the past. IV: But... after you returned from the parallel world it's like you had an entirely different personality. IV: Despite that we were still willing to follow you, Tron. Shark: Stop pretending to be a victim. Shark: Even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Which dovetails nicely into the conflict between Shark and IV. IV, obeying his father's orders challenged Shark's sister to a duel in a building that later blew up. He knew about the first part, but not the second, but still is somewhat responsible despite his ignorance. He did his best to save Shark's sister from the flames getting scarred in the process, but she was left comatose.

Soon after, IV engineered Shark's disgrace as a duelist, by purposefully letting his cards fall on the ground so Shark could see them during a tournament so he'd be disqualified for taking a peek.

All of these under his father's orders to turn Shark into yet another tool of revenge against Dr. Faker, as a wildcard to be pointed in Faker's direction. IV further antagonizes him by giving him a Numbers Card knowing that the darkness of the Numbers card will soon possess him in order to further his father's scheme. He also just wants to flat out defeat Shark so he can prove to his father he's more useful.

Shark looks like the clear victim in this situation, but his complete lack of sympathy for IV is total hypocrisy. Because, Shark is also only after revenge for what was done to him and his sister. Shark was hurt by IV's revenge, but Shark will also attack completely innocent people, including Yuma, just to get his revenge against IV. Shark is the aggrieved victim, but he fights only for revenge not to save someone and he just does not care for anyone other than his sister, himself and Yuma to an extent. Unlike IV, who has the added motivation of saving someone, and also is self-aware that he did something wrong that he can't take back.

Shark is very much a case of "well, my revenge is different from your revenge" somehow, and it makes him look like a hypocrite. Which is why Shark wavers between being an anti-hero and an anti-villain, because in spite of his mroe heroic qualities and his friendship with Yuma he pretty consistently is only motivated to duel for revenge and not for saving others like Yuma is and the show is clear on it's themes of "there is no such thing as a justified revenge."

Shark does not get his revenge, in fact the same way IV is manipulated to pointing his anger at Shark, Shark gets manipulated by Tron to pointing all of his anger at Yuma. Yuma basically has to act as the punching bag, in order to try to calm Shark down again and in Shark's own words even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Shark won't forgive IV, but he ends up committing the exact same unforgivable acts, and by his own logic manipulation is not an excuse.

Now that we've introduced Shark as the wildcard, the last faction is Dr. Faker's. Kaito and Dr. Faker both are fighting to save Haruto, Faker's second son and Kaito's little brother. Here is the twist with Dr. Faker's betrayal he's presented as a "I did everything for power" type of villain, but he's actually doing everything to save his son from dying and is willing to backstab his closest friends to do so, and turn his son Kaito into a pawn. There's an added layer of complication where Dr. Faker is legitimately using his son as a pawn, but much like the Tron Siblings, Kaito is also willing to comply because saving Haruto is just as important to him.

Kaito is a numbers hunter who rips out the souls of people in order to reclaim numbers cards from them, something which ages them and leaves them completely comatose. Kaito also blatantly says on several occasions, he doesn't care how many people he has to hurt to save his brother. So Kaito's motivations aren't revenge like Tron's, but he's also just as willing to get innocent people involved. He even attacks Shark once who didn't even have a number card, simply for GETTING IN THE WAY when he was trying to steal Yuma's key.

Kaito's not just an "I'll do anything to save my brother" type of character, he actively does not care about how many victims he creates along the way.

KAITO: You're wrong. Just one person matters to me. I only care about Hart.

And he sure does mean that. His own allies? Don't matter. His former friend Christopher? Doesn't care. Yuma who actively wants to save Hart too? Get out of the way bucko.

YUMA: Kaito, Droite fought desperately against Tron for your sake. YUMA: Droite liked y- KAITO: That's none of your concern.

Kite's obsession with saving his brother is all-consuming, and even ignores that Haruto does not want Kaito hurting himself for his sake, because it is just as much about Kaito as it is about Haruto.

Kaito also clashes with V from the Tron Family, and is deeply hurt by the fact that V will make punching bags out of both Kite and Haruto in order to get revenge against their father.

However, Kaito who has at this point put several people in comas in order to save his brother (the exact same motivation V has for his father and two younger brothers) is a complete hypocrite in this regard.

V: Friend you say? V: But that ideal was completely wrecked by Dr. Faker. V: Could you forgive that person's son? V: When I realized the truth, I... KAITO: Enough of this nonsense.

I'm sure none of the people Kaito put in comas had brothers, and they all kicked puppies when no one was looking. Even after Kaito realizes that Christopher was only trying to save his family the same way that he was, and promises to inherit his feelings, he forgets all about that when dueling Tron.

Kaito's one and only loss in the whole series comes from when he loses himself to revenge against Tron after he provoked him one too many times by tormenting Haruto. Once again, no matter what the reason revenge is never justified in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal!

Tron: You're right I have no emotions. Droite and Shark... I was willing to even use my sons in order to create rage. Kaito: Say what? Tron: You did pretty well, too! You get angrier and angrier when it comes to Haruto. It's all thanks to you, have a look.

As much as Kaito would like to make a martyr of himself, he is just like the Tron siblings, just like Shark, an angry little kid lashing out against innocent people for the pain both him and his brother has suffered. Even kaito who has the most explicit desire to save someone, succumbs to revenge in the end when he's pushed.

The tragedy of season 1 is that basically every faction involved has a case of "my revenge is more important than your revenge, and my loved ones are more important than your loved ones". Even though both the Tron Family, and Kaito are fighting to save their families, neither of them ever backs down or considers the other side's motivations because THEIR PAIN is more important.

The last faction of the story is Yuma's, and as stated above Yuma is the only one who attempts to see his opponent's side. Yuma's central motto is "if we've dueled each other, then we're already friends." He also believes that duels should never be used as tools for hurting each other, something Shark, Kaito and the Tron Family all gleefully do in their conflict against one another.

Yuma is a deconstructoin of the "save everyone" because while he is involved in the conflict too because he lost his father to Dr. Faker, unlike the other three factions he has a support system. He still has his grandmother and sister, childhood friends, friends at school and Astral.

This fact is explicitly called out in his duel against III who by that point Yuma considers a friend. III spends a day with Yuma, bonding with him over their shared love of archaelogy, seeing his family and home life, only to turn against him.

Yuma tries to reach out to III the entire time through the duel and talk him down, and it doesn't work because Yuma with his support system, cannot truly understand where III is coming from and the desperation that drives him. Yuma's not caught in the same rock and hard place that III is, and all the sympathy and good intentions in the world cannot overcome the difference between that.

Yuma also in spite of his desire to solve things peacefully is basically forced to still fight, because if he loses a duel his close personal friend Astral will die, so it's actively a challenge for him to seek the third way to settle things without contributing to the cycle of revenge.

So Yuma represents the correct path, forgiveness and understanding the other's point of view, but it also shows that Yuma is able to do that because unlike everyone else he has a support system. Yuma is not internally more good than Shark, Kite, or the rest. He's just in a place where he can afford to look at the other people's perspectives because he's not desperately fighting for survival.

It's also a challenge for him to do so, because Yuma is someone very immature. As I said with III he does not understand the depths of what they are feeling even if he wants to make the pain go away. He tries to offer his unwavering support to people, but he fails just as often as he succeeds due to his immaturity.

In Yuma's case it's less being a perfect hero, but rather making an unrelenting effort to help others and offer a hand that matters. Yuma's character development in season 1 for me crystallizes in his final redemption of Tron, the character besides Faker who makes him the most angry because of his gleeful abuse of his sons for the sake of revenge. Not only does Yuma start to get through to Tron at points in the duel, because he tries so hard to make Tron understand how much he's hurt his sons, but at the end of the duel he mirrors his father's own action of trying to save both himself and Byron Arclight I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Yuma: I won't give up! Tron: But why? Why are you trying to save me? Yuma: It's obvious, isn't I? Everyone I duel are my friends. Yuma: I don't understand all that complicated stuff, but we create bonds through dueling. And since you dueled me you are my friend. Tron: I finally understand. Your dueling goes beyond my desire for revenge. Yuma I can't live the same way as you and Kazuma, but I can't let Dr. Faker go either. I'll release all the souls I captured.

Yuma does represent the themes of love, and understanding being the only way to heal revenge (because more revenge does not fix anything) but he's not just propped up as a saint by the narrative. He's a character who has to go through serious character development before he's finally able to back up his good intentions with actual concrete action.

Yuma isn't just good internally, but rather his constant efforts to find the third path, and befriend other people is what makes him the hero of the story. Yuma is Deku done right and I will stand by this.

I hope I've been able to demonstrate the themes of Zexal, and I would be amiss to mention this is just Zexal I. Zexal II the second season does all of this even better. The Barians are an even better version of the League of Villains because despite starting a war with the main characters, they are all sympathetic and their point of view is just as valid as Astral and Yuma's. I don't want to spoil Zexal II though, so if anything about Zexal I caught your eye I reccomend watching both series.