#i need to make a parallel post using the same quote but for now here's the actual scene

[lowpolybread]

“I warned you. If you're not careful, you'll find out who I am.”

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS 1x07

[bladedweaponsandswishycoats]

Justice in the Dark and the Art of Translating Vibes (or: Why the drama's kabedon (ep. 18) is actually the novel's car kiss (ch. 75-76))

I've been mostly burying myself in the material rather than reading what anyone is saying on social media but @lunarriviera said I should share this, so here goes.

I really like the way the creators of Justice in the Dark worked really hard to translate emotional beats and preemptively plan for censorship, and I think it does something interesting because it moves parallel moments around to where they need to be given the exercise in translation that an adaptation must perform.

Spoilers for both Modu and Justice in the Dark versions below!

The main one I want to talk about here is the kabedon/wall slam that takes place when they go to investigate the crime scene where Feng Bin was killed.

Obviously, the scene as it appears in the book at that moment in the plot would not have made it into the drama in a million years, even if censorship wasn't the way it is:

So it is a given that there was not going to be an interrupted wallfuck in the drama, and the creators were well aware of that. In many dramas, the usual thing to do would be to say "well, we'll try and do as much as we can, perhaps a generous shove would be allowed."

But JitD didn't do this. Instead they looked into the origin of the interaction and considered where the characters stand at this point.

Previously, a similar divergence already occurred at the point of the car kiss/Fei Du passing out at the front door that happens in episode 13 after having gotten dehydrated and low blood sugar from being sick in the aftermath of Zhou Huaixin's stabbing. The kiss, likewise, could never have been shown in this particular reality. To compensate, the creators of the drama made Fei Du's state during the car ride worse, and likewise heightened the severity of the reaction when it happens.

First with the car ride, in which Fei Du is arguably worse off in the drama. (And I really recommend rewatching this bit, both for the filming and the incredible music they gave this little mini-montage):

Then when Fei Du collapses, in the drama they make him actually fully fall unconscious:

The novel version, Fei Du IS out of sorts, and the general progression is the same, but they do also make out in the car before Fei Du gets out and I think it is reasonable to say on that basis that he's not quite as obviously out of it as in the drama. Likewise, he never fully passes out:

So what happened here is that the creators turned it to their advantage; recognizing they can't have the kiss, they decided to crank up the angst/whump and make Fei Du even more messed up (which, let's be honest, is almost as good). What's more, it is an option that was not available if they had been able to do the kiss. So, in a sense, they have adapted to their constraints and provided us with a "two cakes" option.

This is a good example of what I mean by the translation/substitution. Another one is the way they substitute the flashback childhood fever scene since they cannot do the forehead kiss in the very next set of scenes. But I think folks have probably talked about that already, and it's not the one I really wanted to get to.

So now for that: the kabedon at the start of case 4 (or Verhovensky/Doestoevsky/the Yufen School case, whatever we're calling it). This was the passage I quoted at the start of this post, and it, like the car kiss, could never have appeared in the drama.

And here the drama team again did a translation, but in this case it takes into account not just the novel parallel at this moment in the case/plot, but also the relationship progression for each the novel and drama.

Specifically, in the drama, as stated, there was no car kiss. In addition, the novel sequence puts two other important and relevant sequences between the car kiss and this scene: Fei Du's first and second nights out of the hospital. The first night is the one that involves blanket-burrito Fei Du being handcuffed to the bed and the non-consensual hairdrying (glorious moment), the second involves their first fuck, which takes place the next night, after Fei Du has gotten up for water and interrupted Luo Wenzhou reading Lao Yang's testament, and Luo Wenzhou telling Fei Du that he can't explain everything to him yet, so please give him a few days. I won't go into the excellent translations that do occur in the drama condensed single night of that sequence, but suffice to say, when drama Luo Wenzhou wakes up covered in photographs from Luo Guosheng's crimes 20 years ago and Tao Ran's urgent call, in the novel he's waking up in Fei Du's arms. And so later when Zhoudu are going to the Lovers' Mirror on the crime scene date, this is the first date after the first fuck—in the novel.

Meanwhile, in the drama, there has instead been much yearning and a sleepless night where I am certain they were both horribly desperately wishing they were in bed with the other—but they weren't. (Aside: yes I do also love the other interpretation that the filmmakers were gesturing towards them being together with overlapping cinematic effects, but I'm setting that aside for now, what can I say, I like multiple interpretations, I contain multitudes etc.) Thus this moment is not the same moment as it is when it happens in the novel.

What moment is it?

It's the car kiss.

As far as the relationship beats, Zhoudu are still at the heightened point of tension without much physical contact that their novel versions were at during the car kiss.

And that—that kiss was initiated by Fei Du.

(Aside: yes, I also agree with the perspective that Fei Du was trying to get rid of him so he could go have some quality basement time, and he knew that kissing him would make Luo Wenzhou aroused and flustered and furious—and probably he'd storm off. But people can have multiple motivations and he DID want to kiss him too.)

Anyway it is here (apologies for the long screencap):

What does that sound like?

Yep. This is actually the car kiss.

Tbh I don't care at all who tops and I think it is a boring thing to argue about, but I started thinking about this because I was wondering what the writers in the drama were doing and at first glance this was a surprising scene if watched with the novel equivalent in mind. I was convinced that there's no intentional choice made to invert/reverse anything, because in all other matters the creators have been paying an incredible amount of attention to trying to follow the novel in spirit and vibes even when they cannot do so literally. So why would this suddenly be an outlier?

And thus my proposed answer: It's not. It's absolutely in line with the translation strategy they've been pursuing in other scenes previously, but it is complicated by the divergence in relationship progression between drama and novel, the consequence of which its equivalent emotional/horny moment falls at a different plot moment.

The drama kabedon is the novel car kiss, not the novel kabedon.

[serenpedac]

Dismiss the invisible by giving it shape

“Some of what keeps us human is to be outside on a dark night, gazing up at stars and galaxies and simply wondering.”* 

This quote made me pause, because of how I feel the same, but also because it made me think about M. M, who sits on the rooftop at night, watching the stars. M, who would choose to be human again if given the option, even though they don’t remember their human life. I feel like M’s human life is not often discussed, which makes sense, as we know next to nothing about it. However, that doesn’t mean it’s meaningless for who they are now, as a vampire.

On an old version of this post, @/agentnatesewellwas wonderful enough to point out that there’s a Patreon special in which M says they feel like they can rely on the stars, because they are a constant, they stay the same. The night sky that they watch those nights at the warehouse is still the same they would have seen when they were human. Maybe M used to look up at the sky as a child, mesmerised by those twinkling stars. Night after night, they would learn to recognise more of the patterns to be found there. And among all those stars, there are the Pleiades, standing out as a bright star cluster.

Six of these stars can be easily seen with the naked eye, but in the myth of the Pleiades, there are seven sisters. The brightness of one of the stars is variable, so models suggest it was brighter many centuries ago, only to then "disappear", giving rise to this legend (side note: see here for an interesting article about how the similar legends re the Pleiades in different cultures may have a shared origin). Although it's not hard to spot several more than 6, some time to adjust your eyes is needed. 

I can imagine that after their turning, overwhelmed by their senses, they go outside to find whatever quiet they can. As they look up at the sky, that once-familiar cluster catches their eye and suddenly, they see that seventh star so very brightly! And not only the seventh, but so many more, their blue-ish light scattered, veiled by an interstellar dust cloud. Their attention captured by the spectacle, they can forget about the loud, fast, itching world for a while. It’s a moment of peace. 

Adding in @/serially-wayhaven's idea here that it might have been N who tells them later about the myth, because I love that so much. As N tells it, there’s this feeling of remembering that M has, as if they’ve heard the story before. Some subconscious part of them remembers having heard this story when they were a child. Even if they don’t remember it, their past has left an imprint on them.

It's often talked about how looking at the stars is looking into the past, but what isn't talked about is how the universe we see reflects its history. In the very early universe, there were small fluctuations in density, called primordial density fluctuations. These increased in size because of the inflation of the universe, and under the influence of gravity, dark matter accumulated into them. These dark matter "wells" also drew in "regular" (baryonic) matter that condensed into galaxies and stars. The structures we see in the universe on large scales, of galaxies being clustered together and being spread across filaments, are all the result of these initial density perturbations leaving their imprint.

The dark matter that can't be detected directly, but underlies the structure we see in visible matter, creates a neat parallel to how M doesn't remember their past, but it did leave its mark on them. It's still visible in them in some way, whether it's through their Greek accent or the fact they can play the saxophone (among other instruments). Much like we can deduce information about the underlying dark matter distribution in the universe from looking at visible matter, we might be able to piece together more about M's past by gathering those crumbs.

* David J. Eicher in Astronomy Magazine, issue August 2024 The title is from I'll Keep You Safe by Sleeping at Last

Other parts in this series: [ N ] [ A ] [ F ]

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

MDZS Notes + Analysis — Chapter Two: “Reincarnation”

Three main things stood out to me when rereading this chapter: the theme of status, our intro to WWX, and the information we’re given about his state after death.

…Well, four things, but the other one will get its own post.

The theme of status is immediately introduced* with ‘MXY’’s treatment and the backstory of MXY and his mother, yet again showing just how well MDZS’s ideas are integrated into the text and how well it’s paced! You’re introduced to every important theme so, so early on. Two screenshots are analysed below:

(See: entitlement of the upper classes towards the lower classes, and how this can exist even between members of the ‘same family’; and arguably the idea of debts between a richer family and someone who was 'taken in'. There are a surprising amount of parallels between MXY and WWX, but I'll make my own post about that)

(See: once again, differences in status between members of the same family, and also the worse, and disposable, treatment of one daughter because she was "the daughter of a servant". Now, why does that phrase sound familiar...?)

Also, MXY's mother was sixteen when she attracted JGS's attention... if you somehow needed even more material to hate the guy...

We also get introduced to WWX’s personality(!), which immediately disproves the rumours from last chapter on how he'd cast the world into ruin:

(That's one of the first questions he asks after waking up – I love how he's so concerned about this! It shows us two important things, too: 1) Morality is important to WWX, and 2) Doing immoral things seems to be out of the ordinary for him. Both of these stand in direct contrast to the picture of WWX we were painted earlier!)

(Same thing here, along with showing us some of the (healthy!) pride WWX has – he wouldn't be offended at this if wasn't something he held as important within himself)

(I use this quote again, but here it's once again proving that the vengeful, evil WWX who'd sink the cultivation world into "nothing but chaos and despair" at the first chance he got... very much does not exist.)

(And finally, it's explicitly confirmed here that he's not the type to take exessive revenge and take pleasure in it... at least at this point in time, because. MXY definitely had reason to think this considering Sunshot!WWX, if everyone had been working from the truth. But importantly that isn't who he is now, and isn't who the WWX villified by the cultivation world was – imo that's including Nightless City, we'll get to that when I reach it. But note that actions during the Sunshot campaign aren't even mentioned in the prologue, because, shock, they actually helped the cultivation world win the war! Though that doesn't mean they weren't part of rumours + the WWX hatred mill later.)

Then some non-morality related things:

This is just really funny to me, with how the makeup being badly applied (:o) is enough of an issue to merit a thought – WWX I love you.

And then this way of thinking comes back a few times esp during the earlier chapters, enough to be noted I think.

Confirmation on WWX's status after he died – it's not anything new to point out, but this chapter does give us rare insights into what state he was in during the post-death, pre-rebirth period.

So, he was somewhat conscious, enough to be aware of what he was(n't) doing – seeking vengeance, haunting the living – and was seemingly in control of those actions. However, he was specifically a "wandering ghost" – his soul didn't pass onto the afterlife or "return back to Earth"** like the body-offering spell's caster's would. He was conscious that a long time had passed as well, and this long period of downtime where he could accept + deal with what happened in his first life is what likely allowed him to be so well-adjusted the second time round – even taking into account the remarkably good way he tends to deal with things in general (cue the "forgetting the wound when the pain fades" quote, it summarises WWX's mindset really well)***.

Also, as for resisting the summons from the prologue – I'm wondering how much was due to WWX's experience with resentful energy + general capability (if that affects it..?) allowing him to consciously refuse, how much was due to WWX not being the type to hold onto resentment (so possibly spells targeting ghosts, full of this resentful energy, wouldn't be as affected?), and how much was due to the relative lack of knowledge about how ghosts/resentful energy works compared to WWX. Or, if it was something else. Either way, achieving the impossible, that's WWX for you :D

It is interesting that he hasn't heard a voice in ages despite wandering, too – do ghosts just not hear the same way, or did he deliberately avoid areas with people? I could see both, the second being more likely, especially considering how many people wanted to summon him back for... less than stellar purposes.

Misc:

Poor Mo Xuanyu....

--

*Well, reinforced – in the prologue, one of the things said about WWX is that "if not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets", which is among the insults people throw. So of course, class-affecting-perception is tied to WWX from the very beginnning! But this is the first time it's actually explored, not a throwaway line.

**Though that may be what's literally happening to WWX's soul here – it is wandering around Earth – I don't think that's what this line refers to. There's a very good meta on how different translations handled that line, I really recommend it (tysm @/mxtxfanatic for finding it)!

***It would be very interesting to read a fic where it felt like no time had passed for him since his death, actually! Though the extremely stressful circumstances are gone, it would still be interesting to see a WWX for whom the Siege, Nightless City, Qiongqi Path etc are pretty recent – but only in fic territory, since I'm so, so glad we got the WWX we did in canon. Also, I'd love to see a fic maybe exploring some of his time as a ghost...?

[monkeydluffy19920]

"Now that the world isn't ending, It's love that I'm sending to you, It isn't the love of a hero, And that's why I fear it won't do"

(Nickelback - Hero)

Going Merry Holidays 2024 (day 20): OP theme songs - Hero (Usopp)

Another project from my original youtube channel (monkeydluffy1992) was part of the "OP theme songs"-video which was supposed to have a collection of small songs that I thought would fit each Straw hat.

The reason I wanted to add this "countdown calendar" (or whatever you desire to call it :D) is not only that this song fits Usopp surprisingly good but also that after re-reading Water 7 and Enies Lobby and suddenly everything just made more sense in those arcs both characterwise and plotwise.

I wrote a bunch of thoughts about Usopp's character development and characteristics in the "Reasons to love Mugiwaras: Usopp"-post (which can be read here) but let's summarize it up: Usopp started as a very insecure youngster and after his important realization, (apart from the running gag "coward Usopp") he managed to grow over the ghosts of his past, found his worth and became stronger.

"Hero" by Nickelback reminds me of Usopp because he created Sogeking in order to have a "alter ego" so he could help the crew with Robin's retrieval. I think the disguise was because after the Luffy vs Usopp incident he wasn't sure would be he welcomed as himself but at the same time he really wanted to help.

Now to think about, I think deep down each of his crewmates knew who he was but they went along with the play because they didn't want to crush more of remains of his lost self esteem and they knew they would need his unique skills in this mission.

“I’ll do what you can’t do. You go do what I can’t do!!!” is one of my all time favorite One Piece quotes and I'm really am glad how Oda wrote that scene because instead of scolding his risky move, Sanji wanted to push Usopp because he knew Usopp' has potential on something no one else has in their crew.

Then in the end Usopp became the one who held the keys of the solution and saved Robin from the Tower of Justice with his sniping skills!

Originally I wanted to have Usopp's and Kaya's scenes as black and white or sepia effected (which is usually used for the flashbacks and stuff) but somehow it got forgotten but any case the focus is on Usopp thinking whether he'll be enough for Kaya as he is (or was at that point in Water 7 as a Sogeking) and for sure such long distance relationship (whether it was platonic or romantic) makes anyone wonder would it last.

They didn't have much time together in the series but they would definitely be cute together! Usopp simply wanted to cheer Kaya up just like he tried to cheer his mom up when she was sick (interesting parallel by the way). It's also intriguing to think about a possibility that Usopp might have "foreshadowed" his future when he was telling those stories to cheer Kaya. One thing is for sure in the end when they reunite Usopp will tell about his adventures and this time he doesn't have to lie! he might use a little crayon on it at times laughs*

(original post here)

[stepswowdsen]

Kuroha/Saeru Joker Playing Card: Golden Apple Symbolism 🖤💛🐍🃏🍎

The Golden Apple and Immortality

Kuroha Joker Playing Card by Sidu My Edit (Upscaled Version)

Ene and Konoha: 6 and 9

Haruka and Kuroha: Jack and Joker

Glitter Can Badge Merch (Upscaled Versions)

My Icon PFP Edits (OG Colours)

My Icon PFP Edits (Colour Edits)

Kuroha (クロハ), officially known as The Snake of Clearing Eyes (目が冴える蛇, Me ga Saeru Hebi) or Black Konoha (黒コノハ, Kuro Konoha) when possessing Konoha’s body, is the main antagonist of KagePro who causes the “Tragedy” of the Mekakushi Dan (Blindfold Gang) members.

Now that we've started off with that little character summary... I've been thinking about Kurohoe again /pos /endearing

Because of course. He's KagePro's main villain and antagonist with a banger design and incredibly interesting to me.

I put the upscaled versions of the KagePro: Playing Cards set above! You can also find it in the Drive folder of my Notion page: (X)

I felt like I should post this today since I have this post already written. I'll post the rest of my JuAli dialogue script ideas tomorrow

The Kuroha Joker Playing Card by Sidu made me wonder about the use of yellow in this illust.

Sidu very well could've used red here for Kuroha's eyes and the apples, cuz Kuroha's eyes can also glow red, as seen in the Outer Science MV. Kuroha's eyes glow red in the last chorus of Outer Science. Eye Ability users' eyes glow red when using their Eye Abilities.

Main Eye Colour (Yellow)

KagePro Wiki Screenshots of the Outer Science MV

Eye Colour (Red)

But yellow has more visual contrast against the dark blacks and grays used in the composition of the Kuroha Joker card art.

Like, I was wondering if she coloured the apples yellow just because it's the same colour as Kuroha's eyes, and if there was any symbolism attached to the Golden Apple.

So I looked it up, and there is. The Golden Apple symbolizes immortality (in Greek and Norse mythology), and it was believed that eating a golden apple will grant you immortality.

Source: (X)

Considering Kuroha's motivations/goals in KagePro, this is interesting.

Kuroha/Saeru, as KagePro's main villain, kills the Mekakushi Dan (Blindfold Gang) and wants to make Marry into his new master so that she can use her powers as a Medusa to rewind the world (due to her strong desire to be with her friends again), thus causing a "never ending tragedy" in which he can keep living forever.

KuroEne Rambles 🖤💙

His main goal is to fulfill Azami's first, original, strongest desire, the one that created him - she wanted to know and understand exactly who she was. And by doing this, he can continue to prolong his life by causing the tragedy. He seeks immortality, basically.

Before Ene lost her human body and became Takane, she wanted a body that wouldn't need to eat or sleep in response to her chronic illness that would cause her to fall asleep and faint and feel groggy even if she slept for long hours.

KuroEne technically have a character parallel going on.

Kuroha's Eye Ability is Clearing Eyes (目が冴える, Me ga Saeru)

(Quotes from the KagePro Wiki)

"The Snake of Clearing Eyes seems to hold power over 'knowledge' itself due to the nature of the wish that created it."

"In the Novel Route, Shintaro refers to it as 'a living encyclopedia with a full grasp of everything from the start of civilization up to modern science'"

"The Snake of Clearing Eyes seems to be able to retain memories of past Routes through its power."

Ene has a pseudo immortal body due to her Eye Ability, Opening Eyes (目が覚め, Me ga Sameru). It allows her to split her consciousness from her body. Through this power, she became a cyber being that resides in and possesses electronic devices.

Kuroha/Saeru kills the Mekakushi Dan, Marry's friends, to spur on despair in Marry (due to the Tragedy), and the strong desire to meet with her friends again.

Kuroha/Saeru wants to preserve his own life, by killing Marry's friends and forcing her to rewind (reset) the world back to the very beginning, and live forever through countless routes (infinite, repeating time loop resets), and continue living on, at least until his purpose (of fulfilling Azami's original desire) is fulfilled.

Kuroha and Ene have an interesting character parallel. One seeks immortality, and one has a pseudo immortal body.

The Mekakushi Dan wants a future. And they want the "Tragedy" caused by Kuroha/Saeru to finally end, and for the Snake of Clearing Eyes to finally be put to a stop. And Kuroha robs them of a future.

KuroEne Rambles (Continued)

(Copy pasting these from last time)

As said before, Kuroha/Saeru inevitably has a power imbalance with every character he's paired with (ie. power in terms of physical strength, and power over knowledge), so that's why you NEED to tread carefully with his ships. Imo, it can definitely still be done, though.

That's why making Ene more assertive and dominant in the ship just fits so well with Kuroha/Saeru cuz it helps alleviate the power imbalance slightly and balances it out more

Kuroha's ships have the potential to be really interesting though, when depicted/portrayed with care.

Cuz his character context with being the main antagonist/villain and main source of tension/conflict of the series, his knowledge of the time loops, combined with his S/O's context, and their current and previous loves, makes for such delicious angst fuel

The one who's the main instigator of the "Tragedy" who insists on the inevitability of fate, as someone who was created even before the creation of the world, and has known the world since the very beginning, and possesses knowledge of the many paths that the world has taken throughout all the timelines… The one who's observed the world since the very beginning

And the ones trying to fight back against it and escape the cycle because they want to have a future, past all the tragedy… Ooooogh

ShinAya and Paper Crane Symbolism

It seemed pretty likely to me that the usage of the Golden Apple is intentional in Kuroha's Joker Playing Card art, since KagePro's hanafuda card sets are filled with hidden meanings and symbolisms, like how Ayano's character and the ShinAya ship are associated with paper crane symbolism due to the symbolism attached to the crane, a mystical and holy figure in Japanese culture.

The crane symbolizes healing, loyalty, recovery, and a long life. In modern times, it's given to those who are seriously ill to wish for their recovery.

Senbazuru (千羽鶴, lit. "One thousand cranes") refers to the tradition of folding 1000 origami paper cranes.

It was traditionally believed that folding 1000 paper cranes would make the person's wish come true, so that's why Ayano always folded paper cranes for Shintaro (even taping back his ripped up test papers)

KagePro Lore Context (Summary)

(Summarized from the KagePro Wiki)

Azami is a Medusa, the original creator and Master of all the Eye Ability Snakes. She originally unintentionally created the world with the Queen Snake, Combining Eyes, as a place for her to be able to learn about and understand himself.

Saeru was created by her first, original, strongest desire - she wanted to know and understand exactly what she was. She was also tricked by Saeru into creating the Kagerou Daze, a never ending world.

Azami despaired at the prospect of outliving her human husband (Tsukihiko) and her daughter, Shion, who were human and half-Medusa/half-human respectively.

Saeru told her to create the never ending world, Kagerou Daze, in order to allow her to be with her family forever, but she eventually ends up going into the Kagerou Daze alone because she believed she was bringing misfortune to her family.

Her existence/nature as a Medusa caused humans to fear her as a "Monster" (which led to humans targeting Tsukihiko and Shion as ways to try and hurt Azami)

Saeru detests the world for changing Azami's wish (the one that created him in the first place) of wanting to know and understand exactly what she was, to wishing to be with her family forever.

Because to him, it felt like the wish/desire that had given him life and meaning in the first place had been replaced.

So, everything HE had wanted, ended up coming to fruition. Saeru successfully tricked Azami into entering the Kagerou Daze and trapping her there, since he believes the world is unfit for her.

Centuries later, Azami witnessed Shion and Marry's deaths at the hands of humans in the real world. She ordered the Kagerou Daze (Heat Haze Daze), the never ending world, to take them in and save their lives, because time doesn't flow properly in the Kagerou Daze.

Azami gave Marry the Queen Snake, Combining Eyes, in order to allow her to be sent back to the real world. Azami lost control of the Kagerou Daze after losing the Queen Snake, so the Kagerou Daze now swallows up all people who die on the same day that Shion and Marry did, August 15th.

The Outer Science MV confirms that everytime Marry rewinds the world, it goes all the way back to the beginning. This means that the beginning of each new Route starts with Azami creating the world with the Queen Snake, Combining Eyes.

Misc Rambles

I think I mentioned this before, but that's insane to me... So, does that mean every single Route has to go through thousands or millions of years of history just to get to the modern age???

Dude (Kuroha) must've been having the time of his fucking life... Cuz he knows that as long as he keeps doing this, he can keep on living forever

Especially when there are an unspecified (XX) amount of Routes, aside from the main known ones (ie. Music Route, Manga Route, Novel Route, Anime Route, etc.)

KagePro's present day plot across all Routes starts on the faithful date of August 15th, Kagerou (Heat Haze) Day.

Kuroha/Saeru is so interesting. Kuroha's selfish, twisted, nature and dark urges... A character who's so inherently dark and selfish and twisted like that, manipulative, dangerous, cruel, sadistic, and bloodthirsty, like that...

A completely unapologetic villain who's fun to watch and cathartic. He's definitely one of KagePro's most interesting charas imo.

[vvivacious101]

Mere liye pyaar ka matlab ho tum! - Conclusion

After putting in so much work, I'm glad I can finally pen down this conclusion.

Sajan Bin

The viral moment that attracted me to this show was definitely most likely due to Radhe's ego though I do feel like Tamanna was still wrong in saying that he wouldn't accept defeat at her hands. When Royalty Free wins the IBC a lot of it is thanks to Tamanna and in the end there Radhe is genuinely happy for her.

Their moment on stage in the last episode is following up on their very last conversation with each other wherein Tamanna was so angry at Radhe but now, it's clear that Tamanna holds no anger towards what Radhe did.

I feel like the crux of that moment on stage in the previous round was that neither of them was completely right but neither was completely wrong either. This was another good opinion I found in the YouTube comments section and considering how disparaging I have been of that particular place, I decided to give it credit when credit's due.

Radhe & Tamanna in Bandish Bandits

What does the future hold for these two? Season 2 definitely ends on a more hopeful note regarding their relationship. The ending shot is literally Radhe looking at Tamanna AGAIN - a direct parallel of how season 1 ended but this time Tamanna is looking back.

In the very last conversation they have Radhe asks Tamanna where they go from here and she reiterates her wish to not be with him because as I previously quoted - खुद से बहुत भागने के बाद, आज खुद को पाया है। तुम साथ रहोगे तो शायद फिर खो जाऊँगी। But, Radhe does say that he isn't as intelligent as Tamanna is and he can't help but wait for her.

Will they end up together?

God, I want them to despite realising how bad their relationship turns out for Tamanna but she does love him so goddamn much that it's hard to see them broken up.

Should they end up together?

That's a harder question. Given the story so far, the intelligent choice would be to say no. Radhe needs to change a lot if this relationship is to be anything healthy for Tamanna and I feel like I will only believe that if he actually does something to show us how much he loves her because Tamanna always seems to go out of her way to help Radhe but Radhe has never done anything to reciprocate at that same level.

Emotionally, I'm still ride or die for these two. I just wish the show does something that makes my wish to see them together also the right choice for these characters and especially Tamanna because she clearly bears the brunt of this relationship.

Tamanna & Ayaan

I did talk about these two in a previous post but I did not conclude my thoughts on their relationship well enough. So, let's do that.

Tamanna is clearly in the wrong for cheating on Ayaan but I sympathize with her plight just because you are in a relationship, a relationship she has stated on multiple occasions she is not ready for doesn't mean you can overlook your own emotions especially when they get the better of you.

She is in love with Radhe and it's very hard for her to not give in to his wishes because it's also something she herself wants despite knowing how badly such a relationship worked out for her the first time around.

The truth is she should not have been in a relationship at all. She wasn't ready for it and to some extent, Ayaan kind of pressurizes her into the relationship by saying it can be something casual when he already has feelings for her. Both of them end up lying to themselves and each other in that regard, he when he says he can do casual and she when she says that Radhe & I are over. This was not the right time for her to be in another relationship, she is already in love with someone and she is far from over it in fact she is just NOT over it! She is still actively in love with Radhe.

Where does the story go from here?

If Season 1's purpose was to build up Radhe and Season 2's purpose was to build up Tamanna where does this story go from here. Frankly, if the show ends with season 2 it will still be a very coherent storyline with an open ending on the question of Radhe & Tamanna. A potential season 3 could only serve one purpose either to build Radhe & Tamanna as a couple or to destroy them forever.

The only BIG question that is left to answer is just that - will Bandish Bandits ever make a comeback?

Part One I Part Two I Part Three I Part Four I Conclusion

[ananke-xiii]

Castiel: vessel, body, woman, (best) friend.

This title comes from a previous post of mine where I talked about Yockey’s episodes in s12 and how they all deal with the theme of interconnection between motherhood/fatherhood and human vessels vs demons, angels and other humans. Ultimately, the post was about Kelly Kline, the final “doll”, the real one, true vessel used to pour angelic grace in, give birth to a Nephilim and be discarded once her “job” is done.

However, since I’ve been thinking about the mothers of gods and monsters and how they all, in some way or another, end up being associated with Castiel, I’ve found an interesting discovery about “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” (the linked post about mothers and this one seem to be disconnected now but it will all make sense with later posts, I promise).

I’ll quote myself from my initial post in order to explain my theory:

Cas: Benjamin is always very careful. Long ago, he found a powerfully devout vessel in Madrid, and her faith, it… she gave him everything – her trust and her body. Dean: Wait. So Benjamin’s a woman. Cas: Benjamin is an angel. His vessel is a woman. But it – it’s – it’s more than that. She’s not just his vessel. Sam: She’s… She’s his friend. Cas: Yeah. Benjamin would never put her in unnecessary danger. So Lily killed Benjamin, the angel AND the “powerfully devout from Madrid” who’s first described as a vessel, a body, then as a woman, then again as “more than that/not just a vessel” and ultimately as a friend (with a romantic undertone to the word). So we GOTTA ask: when is a human being just a body? And when a vessel? Are there “vessels” and “not just [some angel’s]vessel”?

I’ve always interpreted this dialogue as an interesting lesson on “Angels and Gender Politics”, and it is, but maybe there’s something less intellectual and more mundane about it. Maybe it's just the same-old SPN parallels technique. But more fun.

“Vessel, body, woman, friend” is how the powerfully devout woman in Madrid is described. But in this episode, “vessel, body, woman, friend” is also Castiel. Castiel is the powerfully devout woman in Madrid and Dean’s… her Benjamin. There’s a complete reversal of roles here where Cas is paralleld to a human and Dean’s his angel which I find very interesting.

The comparison between Dean and Benjamin starts even before the Castiel-woman-in-Madrid one:

CAS: It was, um... Look, Benjamin wouldn't call for help lightly. And he wouldn't put himself in harm's way if he could help it. DEAN: Wow, this Benjamin seems like he's pretty cool, you know. Like he wouldn't make any half-cocked, knee-jerk choices. CAS: Yeah, you know what I like about him? Is that he's sarcastic, but he's thoughtful and appreciative, too. DEAN: Now what is that supposed to mean?

What Dean is saying here is that Benjamin is not Cas because Benjamin sounds like a cool type who wouldn’t make reckless decisions (while Cas is not this type of person). But what Cas is saying is that Benjamin’s like Dean because they’re both sarcastic but Benjamin is better than Dean because he’s also thoughtful and appreciative (while Dean’s not).

Let’s see if I’m right about this.

Vessel.

The moment Cas meets Ishim and Mirabel he just has to open his mouth and say it: “Kept your vessels all this time. I'm impressed”. Ishim and Mirabel say that they were not careless with their vessels like Cas was. Which, of course, means that they’ve known Cas in is “old him”, his old vessel.

Body.

Whether they like it or not (and Ishim doesn’t like it because he thinks humans are apes, monkeys and primates which, to be fair with Ishim, is not technically not true however he does throw shade at us) angels on earth are incarnated beings, meaning that to live on Earth they need to take… a body. Specifically, a human body (no cat angels for us). Human bodies, however, are, from an angel’s pov, weak. Ishim might have been careful with his vessel but this doesn’t mean he can’t get hurt. Lily doesn’t manage to kill him in the alley but she hurts him a great deal because his wound is deep and healing it will be painful. Bodies suck, huh? But maybe also… not so much after all.

Woman.

The big reveal of this episode is that Cas’ old vessel was a woman. We don’t know anything else but the fact that she was a woman. We don’t even know if Sam and Dean know about it because we see the backstory through a flashback while obviously they don’t. They must have wondered because they know for sure that Castiel took Jimmy Novak as his vessel after resurrecting Dean. Whatever the case may be, though, what we know is that that was the first time Castiel possessed a person to visit Earth.

Friend.

Friendship is one of the episode’s themes. It’s not the central one but they do bring up friendship a lot. Benjamin and the devout woman were "friends". Benjamin and Castiel were friends. The angels in Ishim’s garrison were friends. Sam and Dean are friends with Castiel. Dean and Castiel are best friends. Since Benjamin and the devout woman were established as “friends”, meaning that they were a little more than that, then where does it leave us? Well, frankly the usual: Cas and Dean are more than friends. Woah, what a surprise, I absolutely did not see that one coming.

The scene that confirms that my theory is correct is when Ishim dares Dean to finalize the sigil and blast every angel in the room. You see, “Benjamin would never put her in unnecessary danger”. Neither does Dean with Cas.

The scene also pretty much sums up the whole episode as far as the theme of “vessel, body, woman, friend” is concerned. Cas has healed Ishim who’s now fully recovered and brimming health from every pore. Cas, on the other hand? Not so much.

ISHIM: I used to envy you, Castiel. You believe that? ISHIM: You survived Hell. You were chosen by God. But now look at you. You're just sad and pathetically weak. ISHIM: So now... I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna cure you of your human weakness same way I cured my own– ISHIM: – by cutting it out. DEAN: Don't move. ISHIM: Do it. You blast me away, you'll blast away every angel in the room. I'll survive. Castiel, on the other hand, he's hurt. He might live or he might just end up a bloody smear on the wall. Roll the dice.

Castiel’s “bodiness” is exposed in this scene, but there is a… ahem… “positive” side? Unlike the poor guy that Ishim is wearing as his meatsuit (ugh), Cas doesn’t have to worry about his vessel’s safety but his own. He is his own vessel now (well, he kinda still stole the looks from Jimmy Novak, nevertheless his vessel has become his body. An angel with his own body, crazy, I know. Maybe this is really why Ishim is jealous of him). Which, to be honest, is still concerning because Cas is reckless as fuck. Thank God Dean is not.

Dean doesn’t roll the dice, he doesn’t endanger his powerfully devout friend, he doesn’t bet on the odds of having to scoop up Cas’ remains from the wall.

So cool, right? Do you think that Cas has learnt the value of life, the value of his own life and will be less reckless with it? Of course not!

By the end of the episode Cas still says (re Billie’s murder)that he doesn’t regret his actions even if they cost him his life. He also says, after all he’s been through with Lily Sunder, that he doesn’t know if he’s capable of killing an innocent baby or not.

SAM: But, Cas, at the end of the day, it's a mom and her kid. I mean, do you – do you think you'll be able to... CAS: There was a time when I wouldn't have hesitated. But now, I don't know.

I don’t know if the show ever answers this question. He does bring Kelly to the “sandbox” but then Dagon shows up and then Joshua gets killed and then Kelly takes his hand and then Jack shows him “the future”… And then, and then, and then. Stuff happened, life happened, you know? I mean, it’s complicated but this is what makes it more interesting!

[redflagtag01]

finalboybyers is heart_byers on Twitter (tw: rape, pedophilia, and abuse).

When they post about Henry and Will, likening them to Father and Mother, Hades and Persephone, Hannibal and Will, Lestat and Louis, Villanelle and Eve, and other romantic fated pairs, they're trying to semi-subtly get more people on the Henwill train.

Don't believe me? Take it from Yarrow themselves (Tweet's date is May 20 and their first Tumblr post is soon after on June 5):

They don't censor their tweets in any fashion and they have a public account, which makes them easy to find when conducting a regular content search about either character, the cast, or simply looking in the Quotes of popular tweets. You don't have to be a proshipper or devils sacrament attendee to find them—they're out there in the open.

They're a proshipper that enjoys child/adult relationships, uses pictures of Noah where he is as young as eleven in their fantasies, ships Henry and Will romantically, and habitually posts explicit sexual and romantic content about them, all of which feature both Will and Noah as minors.

The ages listed on both accounts and their general speech patterns are the same. They post about the same parallels, same ideas, and same desires for the pair. They react to the same things and share their same findings at similar times. Their Tumblr is practically the exact same as their Twitter, just with more sugarcoating, denial of this behavior, and less explicitly romanticized rape.

I found that they tend to post first on Twitter and then refine it into a more elaborate post on Tumblr, but not always. Here are some examples:

It's the same user. If you can stomach that content and decide to see for yourself, then you'll note the similarities listed above and many more (assuming they don't go private or change usernames). Seriously, you will find every parallel and complaint on both accounts, as well as the same typing style and manner of speaking.

Using pictures or the likeness of real minors should never accompany such fantasies. They don't use drawings with no resemblance to real children; that is a real child plastered all over their account(s), and his name is Noah Schnapp. They're using his likeness from when he was a minor, anywhere from eleven to sixteen, when picturing Will and Henry as a couple, as one can see based on their Tweets. Here are some examples (Likes, Retweets, and one of their own) to get the point across swiftly (though they do have their own similar Tweets too):

If you wouldn't feel comfortable with someone thinking of any random non-famous child that way, why would it be okay in this instance?

The fact that they romantically ship Henry/Vecna/001 and Will is clear from the way they speak about them in their Tumblr posts and Tweets, the way that they liken them to romantic ships or dynamics while admitting to there being a romantic element (which is in line with their many Tweets, some below), but just in case you weren't already aware… now you know.

If you're turned on by minors and/or enjoy thinking of them in that way, then you need to seek help. Pedophilia can't be cured, but it can be treated with therapy. That isn't a kink—it's a paraphilia that is one act upon that desire away from being a psychiatric disorder. You wouldn't even have to interact with a child to reap criminal consequences; just producing or consuming any visual depiction of their engagement in a sexual act is a crime itself—and yes, that includes fan art and cartoon depictions.

Most people understand there's a difference between fiction and reality—ergo, enjoying the drama of a fictional abusive ship does not mean you support abuse in real life. However, things change when real minors are involved in sexually explicit materials. No child should be spoken of or viewed that way by adults that should and do know better. Noah could not have consented to have his pictures, or his likeness, used in this manner, and he likely still wouldn't. Children cannot consent and have the right to exist in the world without being sexualized by adults.

Will is fictional, but Noah is real and his underage likeness is the face of their fantasies. Artwork of Will engaged in sexually explicit conduct would be illegal and considered obscene under the federal law of the United States. Such content is illegal to produce, distribute, receive, or possess, and those convicted could be fined and imprisoned. Historically, this has even extended to textual depictions, too.

There's a reason why it's prohibited on many platforms, why these specific proshippers get suspended and have to remake accounts multiple times, and it isn't because evil conservative "antis" are "kinkshaming" the oppressed proshippers again. The material they produce and share is obscene by legal definition. They're not only picturing Noah's underage face in their mind and their works when they romanticize Will being raped and groomed, but they're proving that by always using pictures of him when he was underage, and only those underage pictures.

Yarrow admits to having interest in and consumed such prohibited materials, as noted by this Liked Tweet, and their own admission (one of many):

The fact that Will is a child and was played by someone with a baby-face is a deliberate and crucial part of the appeal to these people. The corruption of a child's innocence and naïveté, tarred by sexual exploit, sinister intentions, and his lack of consent, is all Henwill's charm (and they say this themselves in Tweets added below). It doesn't work if Will is aged up to an adult and that's why he never is in their fantasies. He has to be a child, helpless and pure and preyed upon, and he has to look like Noah's eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen year old self.

They know that it's pedophilic and that's what they like about it. That's the entire point (again, see for yourself beneath the cut). That's why they shamelessly Tweet about it, but deny it here on this platform, where they [hopefully] are not among like-minded company.

I've included an array of tweets that show they do not view Henwill in a platonic fated enemies fashion and never have—no matter how many times they deny this now. You may notice similarities between those Tweets and their posts, how they "refined" their Tweets into something more palatable, as I mentioned earlier. Read at your own risk, but this should be available for viewing to all unless they change their Twitter handle, go private, or delete/unlike them.

There will always be people who become involved after being exposed to this content, but if you already liked to think of children that way, then there wasn't anything anyone could've done to deter you. Pedophilia is resistant to treatment—a Tumblr post wouldn't have cured you and you would've found this eventually. Still, I have blocked out usernames to prevent further exposure. With this post, I hope to inform others who don't share this paraphilia and who were unknowingly helping spread their thinly veiled pedophilic content.

If you cannot stomach explicit pedophilia or rape, then do NOT continue reading this post or visit their Twitter.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Keep it in Your Heart

If we're doing another leg of this flashback, it's time to dust off a old concept that proved right with the last time we stepped away. We...might not be coming back to how this situation with Saturn gets resolved. We may come in directly on the resolution. There are a lot of ways that can go. But for the moment I just wanted to focus on a few things that are relevant. Starting with the chapter I borrowed a title from here, 603. Viz slightly changes it, but the noteworthy "heart" theme is part of the whole package, one you probably remember with this scene.

Of course it's relevant that Kuma asked for this final mission. This direction for the flashback has a high chance of us seeing an alternate view of the story we all know and love. Really, really would like to see this cover Kuma's POV on Thriller Bark. What I forgot until looking at this chapter again was how much the Straw Hats, particularly Franky, know about the cyborg project. Franky offering a dire warning that is quite pertinent; that Kuma is someone they're indebted to...but if they ever cross paths again he will be an emotionless weapon.

There is no such thing as coincidence, only fate. That was how Van Augur put it. Remember, that was when the story was taking an odd moment between Luffy and Blackbeard and spelling out the thread that had been running since Drum. How a quirk of fate tied the brothers' story together. It's interesting to see it on display here leading into explaining just how Kuma protected the ship. Had a hand in setting the Straw Hats up to learn what they'd need to take on the New World.

I used that quote from Augur in one of our earliest Post-Wano Musings, titled Holding Pattern which covered Chapters 1062 & 1063. Looking back, man it's cool we're still looking at Bonney the same way and Drake has the same potential. I really dug up the coincidence thing because Law having boobies was so on point. 1063 was the first time I really started wondering if there might be a real reason to keep the hopium around because it was so weird then to cut away to Law like that. Egghead has gotten a lot longer than we imagined then but really leaned into those early threads we were looking at.

Those who have been following along would recall a while ago I stopped fully caring about this from the perspective of Kiku actually being #10 or not and more that using her as a guide was clearly paying off enough I'mma keep doing it until we get our answer. So then it's worth noting it may be no coincidence, but fate that made Kuma's decision to split the Straw Hats land them at the right time to stumble into the Akazaya's revenge plot. Though the length of their time apart is out of Kuma's paws even if he knew about it. That was just one thought looking back on 603 here.

You even had Caribou stumble in at the end. Don't forget him. My hunch right now is if the Blackbeard ship is actually Moria & Perona then Caribou fits their aesthetic to a T. That's not a bad vehicle to show some of what happened during the skipped night in the lab. Reading that old review was a great reminder; some of the little oddities we noticed early did and continue to snowball.

As for Kuma? Who knows where the flashback goes from here. I'd love some deep Makino lore but they could just be ships passing in the night. Where Bonney's story runs parallel will also be telling. I'll dust off one classic though. The longer this flashback goes the better the odds we come back to the present in a weird fashion. I don't think this 1100 turn can be ended in just one followup chapter either. Gut says wait til the first one of a new year, those are always big too.

Hell...worth mentioning too. If this is our second segment like this in the arc, what does it mean if/when we break down into a third? Just saying, we already had the idea Egghead was the 4th more accurate part of Wano doing a Rashomon type thing. What if that story itself is a nested Rashomon narrative? I will make and send Oda an award for literary brilliance if he does that and it's really, really starting to feel like we might.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOOO nah dw abt embarrassing me it must be done….Id rather you see it than have me send it to someone who doesn’t match my freak and have them think im insane

Omg Karasu in the lead?? Guys…….Mira you’ve fr cultivated Karasu nation LMAOO but no you’re so right I remember seeing a poll awhile ago from someone and ofc there were the fan faves like Nagi Reo Kaiser as options and I was shocked to see Karasu there?? Ofc he was dead last in the results but not unexpected ig….also BAROU THIRD GUYS!!!! Barouism rising too??

No seriously Isagi would be sooo cooked if Nagi wasn’t there….trust I know that Nagi goal in u20 is gonna make him skyrocket I’m imagining all the edits to it now LMAO

It’s just the miraverse of content….new genre it’s called “would Mira watch this?” The parallels do go hard though I wasn’t expecting to find so many LOL

HAAHA SHIDOU lowk that’d be really funny….imagine like a 200k wc fic of Shidou shenanigans and sus quotes

Maybe I’ve been too desensitized because when you said too extreme I was expecting a lot more violence LMAO you got the perfect amount though I think when you said extreme I was thinking of Shidou level oops

NO FR?? Like he’s not gonna ever take the top spot but lowk I’ve grown to appreciate him….youre so right though LOLL closeted sweetheart >>> closeted asshole bro wait the grape candy scene was so cute I forgot to mention….its so funny how he kinda just gives it to her without saying anything about it like how people would do secret deals or something but no it’s just grape candy LMAOOO

THREE bro….the aura is crazy…to the dude who wanted your insta you should’ve been like “if you buy me a $50 cupcake I’ll give it to you” /j lowk investing in a bodyguard does not sound like a bad idea tho

OOOOOOH very excited for everything….also the whole masterlist layout for the oaeu>>>>>>>> the visuals look so CLEAN omg but guys look it’s aiku on Mira’s blog!!!! I saw the poll and have not touched it like wdym I’m supposed to choose???? Let’s see if I can be decisive for once but just know I was debating between tabieitaken and barou….speaking of im kinda curious to see which idea of mine will spark inspiration first LMAO take ur time tho im being so well fed with everything in the lineup so far

Im also laughing missing the cutoff is so funny to me because (unless I didn’t read something) it’s like if you didn’t safely get something in before the impending arrival of aiku you’re in for the long ride LMAOOOO

Ok actually real time update I just put them into a random generator to pick and voted LOL because there’s no way I’m deciding in time but I needed to show some opinion somehow….ok but anyways the main point I came back for was why is Nagi tied with your vote tracking option LMFAOOOOO I’m ngl I’ve never set up a poll here what’s the purpose of that…I just know that people aren’t supposed to pick it but I’m crying why does it have more votes than otoya and yuki

- Karasu anon

HAHA okay that is fair i will def keep you posted on any future typos 🤩 honestly they add to the experience though i mean what is a translator without occasional goofs (/j but also as someone who read a 1.5 million word novel translated online from korean #orv i am very used to wading through odd phrasing to get to the heart of a story so ngl sometimes my mind just skips over typos entirely and i don’t even notice)

unfortunately karasu nation has fallen…he’s in second now (w barou as a very close third) because SAE ITOSHI has a healthy lead 😭 honestly it was expected that man just has too many fans 😓 and most of the other characters on there aren’t AS popular (i’m sure there would’ve been more of a split if rin kaiser or isagi were included but honestly none of them were screaming oaeu to me…sae is kinda in the same category as them for me but he had strong oaeu potential hence why he’s included despite not being a miraverse all star like nagi karasu and barou)

I AM SOOO HYPE FOR THE EDITS PLSSS karasu and otoya edits from third selection?? nagi edits from the u20 game?? BAROU EDITS FROM THE U20 GAME 🤤⁉️ AHHH it’s going to be so good i just know those editors are going to cook up so many delicious concepts i’m actually hype (barely one more month we’re so close!!) and LMAOO no literally iirc nagi scored like four of the five goals against barou and naruhaya or something like if he hadn’t done that isagi would’ve had the naruhaya treatment and been out for good 😭 tik tok fans forgetting who the og goat of bllk was 😢 okay but honestly that’s why i love having nagi AND barou as my favs because one or the other is always up!! truly no losing there (and bllk bros automatically respect anyone who loves barou because most of them are barou glazers as if barou is ANYTHING like them 😒)

i guess part of it is also probably just kaneshiro using typical character archetypes too?? like girly dude white haired dude flirty dude etc etc the nagi dragon art was insane work though like what was the reason for that except to cater to us specifically

nah because yk i’d cook even for shidou 😭 but he would not be my first choice (or my second, or third, so on and so forth) HAHA he’s just a bit too chaotic plus like we’ve mentioned i don’t really find him too attractive even though ik some people do?? LMAOO omg idt i could ever write a character as violent as him especially not kiyora…like he’s chill for the most part just not hesitant to punch someone if needed i guess is how i interpreted it?? whereas shidou would just do it for funsies

I HAD FUN WRITING THE GRAPE CANDY SCENE IT JUST FELT SO HIM like the way he gives her a piece after she successfully swallows a pill as if she’s a dog or smth it’s just so innocent 😭 meanwhile reader is like “wow our tongues will match 😏” FBXJFKDS and him writing his number on the empty box so he doesn’t have to throw it away OR actually give her his number in person for fear of rejection…kiyora my underrated goat fr 🥹

JFNFJDDJSJ PLSSS just drop a quick “erm have i known you since you were four years old?? yeah i didn’t THINK so!!” and move on…i fear writing has made my standards very high hence why i’ve never been in a relationship but you’ll never catch me settling fr 🥱 if they’re not like bfb karasu or peregrine nagi or white butterfly hiori I DON’T WANT THEM 🤣 or ig someone like seabird sae would work too HAHA i’ll sacrifice the pining for a man w money and a sense of humor 🤩

OMG YAYYY I’M GLAD YOU LIKE IT i was inspired by those dollar store self help books as well as rom com movie covers when i was making it and i think it turned out well!! and then i saw one of the graphics accounts i follow had posted the green and purple hearts divider and i was like holy shit this is PERFECT it matches so so well w his entire aesthetic…also peep oliver and aiku being diff colors like his heterchromia 😮 LMAOO genuinely this is probably aiku’s first appearance on my blog (besides his cameo in the last part of fwtkac) but ahhh i’m trying to figure out which req to do next myself!! i have a few to choose from so there’s def a bit of variety…i’m thinking of your requests i’ll probably do chigiri?? because barou is part of the oaeu and idk if i feel connected enough to bachira to write for him yet 🙂‍↕️

NFJDBXSNK no because that’s literally what it is…after the gagamaru req my inbox was pretty stagnant in terms of new reqs so i was like ok let me just get these ones cleared out and then i’ll go back to posting my own things again as well 😭 literally the two hiori requests are from my 500 follower event so from back in JUNE like i need to wrap these up and post them 😭 but idm making the newer ones wait like they can go on the crazy oaeu ride w all of us in the meantime 😩

OMG WHO DID YOU END UP VOTING FOR (unless you want to keep it a secret because if so i understand 🫡) also omg that annoys me sm like fr a pet peeve…basically no one can see the results of a poll until they vote but that includes the creator of the poll?? so if you don’t want to skew the results you just make another option so you can keep track of the poll while it’s still open 🤩 but i absolutely HATE when people pick that option like are you seriously that desperate to know the answer that you pick the option that literally says it’s only for me?? it doesn’t matter what you put people will vote on it but it’s so annoying ughhhh i can’t stop putting it because i’m nosy and like to know what’s going on with the poll in real time but it fr irritates me that people pick it like literally just choose a random option if it’s that deep 😒 i think part of what annoys me is like it so clearly says don’t pick it…and then people still pick it…like were you all dropped on the heads as children or smth…ANYWAYS sorry i feel like i’m so chill normally but there’s random things that genuinely make me crash out for no reason 😭 ALSO POOR YUKI AND OTOYA they’re still behind the FOR MIRA ONLY OPTION (me rn: 🤬😡) atp i’m not going to do polls anymore…like damn sorry i tried to get you all involved why are you being stupid and illiterate rn

actually tbh it’s not that deep idk why it enrages me sm 😰 but uhhh i fear it does for some reason

[galingam]

⚠️–Long Post Warning–⚠️

For Women’s History Month, I read the Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. https://d-pdf.com/book/5244/read

What was most striking to me was how little has changed in the sixty years since the book was published (1963). Other things I read were frightening in how they’ve gotten worse! I want to share the parallels between what Friedan was writing about in her own time and what’s currently happening in the world today. 

-In chapter two and some further comments in the epilogue (which comes from a later edition of the book as there are details of events in 1970), is how the media wants to constrict women to “one passion, one role, one passion” which is: housewife. The current manosphere consisting of blogs, YouTubers, and the such is the most vocal on pushing this ideology on women. Occasionally, it does reach the mainstream. Not that long ago, there was widespread concern from educators about the young boys who watched the creator Andrew Tate and his influence upon them. Despite Tate having been arrested, this hasn’t dampened the spread of his misogynistic views. There are still plenty of other YouTube channels, Twitter accounts, and more parroting the dangerous ideas. 

-Chapter four touches on the “trend of some women clinging to the ‘old image of glorified femininity.’” For today this certainly would be the infamous posts found under the ‘tradwife’ tags on platforms such as TikTok, Tumblr, or YouTube. Connected to this is how some of these tradwife women who reject feminism say they are the way they are because they see only the sensationalized versions of radical feminism which portrays all feminists as man-haters. Using the same rhetoric as anti-feminists back in the 60’s. 

-An issue then and still an issue now is how the American workforce is very uncompromising towards women who are pregnant, recently haven given birth, or have small children. The persisting problem for women who want to get married and have children in extremely demanding careers still need to make a choice between the two. It’s very difficult for a researcher in a lab to take time off for maternity leave and then jump back into their work. 

Let’s take a moment with this quote: “Because the race to get ahead, in the big organization, in every profession in America, is so terribly competitive for men, competition from women is somehow the last straw.” This is talking about keeping women out of the workforce or out of positions of power. While now Title VII is enforced and anyone regardless of sex, religion, race, and national origin can easily find paid work, yet even today the glass ceiling is a well-known phenomenon. This competition has resulted in what some call a full out gender war in South Korea. Men there are frustrated that they must now compete with women for employment. This has led to the 4B counter-movement by South Korean feminist women. This is a good time to mention that this isn’t an American only dilemma, and that it spans the entire globe.

-Perhaps many don’t know, but I was engaged to a man here in Japan. Obviously, we did not end up getting married. I would say he was anti-intellectual in general, despite him being quite intelligent, being fluent in English and managing a popular YouTube channel all by himself. He told me he believes that education is useless, but especially for women. He was one of those concerned about the declining birth rate in Japan and blamed it on educated women. Echoing the sentiment of the men in Friedan’s time. The sad thing is that, I know there are more men out there who hold the same belief. More so concerning is that those men are in powerful positions in the government running the country. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/05/japans-deputy-pm-blames-women-for-nations-falling-population

What scares me in what has gotten worse since the book was published is how much a house costs has grown. She mentions that a split level ranch in the suburbs used to be $14,990 to $54,990. A quick glance at Zillow or any other popular real estate site shows that a split level ranch in the suburbs would be well over $200,000-$500,000 today. There are other points brought up by Friedan about the ill effects of capitalism and the consumer society we live in that still plague people today, but I want this post to focus more on women’s issues. 

-Abortion rights being stripped away from women in America is the other thing that horrifies me. Friedan says the right to abortion is one of the critically vital things in maintaining women’s independence and autonomy. 

-Hindsight makes Friedan’s prediction of “By 1976, I predict, even the Republicans will have a woman running seriously for vice-president, if not for president” come off as overly optimistic. It wasn’t until 2020 did America finally have its first female vice-president and she is a part of the Democratic party. 

I am so grateful for the thousands of women who came before me and fought for all these rights I can enjoy. But the feminists' fight for equal rights for all is not over.

Not mentioned in her book, but still an issue that continues on is equal pay. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/12/1237505064/equal-pay-day-women-gender-pay-gap

As well as violence against women which has been a global dilemma that has been around probably even before written history.

Happy Women’s History Month! ♀️

[picnokinesis]

AHHH the last chapter of part 6. I held my breath for a sec when I realised the paralells of BOTH hallucinations using the name John not the Doctor. In the Doctors chapter hallucination!Koshei calls her John in the flashback and now Koshei calls his hallucinations John, too ahhh the parallels!! And then the part with him getting ready and him describing his dysphoria/euphoria when wearing the dress. It was written so soft that I forgot that it was still a murdering and manipulative bastard (1/2)

(2/2) And then Koshei saying "Someone has to have a sense of style around here". I squealed because I remember you put that quote in a tumblr ask about I think it was anterograde AU? And I loved that you put it here too. And then the scene with Gat where he thinks about how he controls her to and she has no idea. It makes me think of a parallel where the predator has no idea that they are actually the prey, so that was amazing. I loved the flashbacks but Im worried what happened at the barn?

Ahhh oh my days!! I'm so so happy that you enjoyed the chapter! :D I've wrote the first segment (right up until he leaves the first room) waaaay back in like, January this year? So I've been sitting on at least THAT much of it for that long. The rest got written mostly in July, and maaaaaaan it was such a blast, so finally being able to have other people read it and react to it is so so great! <3

Regarding the name thing - yeah!! It's because the name John has become so synonymous for both of them of that history between them. For the Doctor, it represents the person that she was before that she's now forgotten - the teenager who went by that name. Whereas for Koschei, she's using the name for this version of the Doctor that she has stuck in her head, the version that she's been hallucinating/vividly imagining in order to keep herself sane when in bad situations - and, back in those times, she didn't KNOW that the Doctor wasn't going by John anymore, right? So as far as she knew, that was what the Doctor was called. And, as she says in the chapter.....old habits die hard.

Also SKSKSK the sense of style thing!! I genuinely forgot that I used that in the tags of that post (I actually had to go rooting through the anterograde tag to dig it up lol) and it's so funny because, without a doubt, when I wrote those tags I was thinking of the scene in the last chapter in my head, because even BACK THEN, I knew that line was going to be in it HAHA - it was one of those key moments that I was really looking forward to writing hahahah. Also, yknow - same blorbo, different context. But SSKSKKS oh my days yeah it's like: diversity win!! The vengeful maniac who's haunting the narrative is genderfluid!

Also I looove the stuff with Koschei and Gat, so I'm so glad you love it too!! I really love Koschei's like....tendency to give herself little 'projects' that usually mean needling someone until they break SKSK because she wants to see who they are underneath. But so much of it comes from her desire to be in control in a situation where she can't be, right? Like, she can't leave this place, and it's been heavily insinuated that when she is allowed to leave, it'll be in a body bag sksk, and she is VERY AWARE of this and cannot STAND it. Her need to be in control (whilst also wrestling with and revelling in her own chaotic and erratic nature) pretty much defines her - and so she does this powerplay where she like, tries to rile people up so much that they attack her in a way that's lowkey flirtatious SKKSKSK but then pulls the rug out from under them and I'm lowkey obsessed with her about that. Like go off, babe <3

Oh I posted and the forgot to say anything about the barn. Not that I'm gonna say anything about the barn. But yes. The barn sure is there!

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

Ms. Sans-Culotte and the obvious French Revolution symbolism

This episode is a field day for me, so I'll need to analyse it bit by bit. Let's first start with the obvious and less obvious French Revolution references in this episode. This will be especially obvious for French viewers, but I thought that it may be interesting for others.

Sans-culotte

I know that the term sounds funny to most, but sans-culottes are a key figure in the French history. Those were the commoners who revolted to the King and aristocracy, and undertook the French Revolution of 1789. As Mademoiselle Bustier explains in the beginning of the episode, the sans-culottes were called so because:

Contrary to rich aristocrats, they would wear simple pants.

So when Mlle. Bustier is akumatised, we see the following character design:

THE PANTS. Very obviously the pants. But there are more obvious symbols in this character design.

Marianne

Marianne is the national personification of the French Republic. She is very much synonymous with the free and republican spirit of France. Yes, that's also the name of Master Fu's girlfriend, and for good reason (she was a Résistance fighter during the German occupation of France!).

By the way this exact painting is in the background in the few seconds after Mlle. Bustier is akumatised:

Marianne is usually depicted with the following symbols:

the Phrygian cap

Greco-Roman clothes

Partial nudity

We see these signs in Mlle. Sans Culotte's character design.

Mlle. Sans Culotte's helmet has the unique shape of the Phrygian cap.

2. Mlle. Sans Culotte is dressed in a Greco-Roman armour. The usual depiction of Marianne is in flowy Greco-Roman clothes, but the helmet and armour really add to that fighter spirit of Mlle. Sans Culotte. Also, even though rarer, there are some depictions of Marianne with a Greco-Roman armour.

3. Partial nudity. Obviously they couldn't actually show that on a kids show. However, I think that the character design does hint to a type of nudity. The fact that the white of the French flag covers all of Mlle. Bustier's face and body make it seem like it is not actually her clothes but her skin. And other than the golden armour she wears, she has no other clothes on her.

The Guillotine

Mlle. Sans Culotte's weapon of choice is a freaking guillotine knife. This was a device used by the French revolutionaries to behead their opponents. To this day, it is associated with the violence of the French revolution.

Now to more implicit references:

Ça ira

When Mlle. Sans Culotte hits people, they turn into balloons that chant:

Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!

Which is a song sang by the sans-culottes during the French Revolution (thanks to @2manyfandoms2count for helping out with this one!)

Other quotes and remarks

There are various quotes throughout the episode with a revolutionary lexicon.

Monarch: The power of Jubilation will help you show the people their dream of freedom, and as such gain partisans/supporters to your cause.

Monarch: To arms, citizens! Form batallions!

This one is especially striking for me, because it is very explicit call to violence (frequently used in French revolutionary history too).

Mlle. Sans Culotte: No one stops the revolution. Long live the revolution!

She quite literally says Vive la révolution. Seriously, it doesn't get any more obvious than that.

She literally runs head-first into a group of policemen, paralleling the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. And literally afterwards Chat Noir mentions this same event:

Chat Noir: It is not the 14th of July, my Lady. Do you think that this akuma victim wants to celebrate the Bastille Day early?

And later on:

Mlle. Sans Culotte: Ladybug, Chat Noir! Help the sans-culottes (plural!) to liberate Paris from its aristocratic Mayor!

Ladybug: Terror is not the solution!

Chat Noir: To get your voice heard there are the elections!

Ok, the word "terror" here is important. I had previously mentioned in my post on Felix's anarchist revolution that the French Revolution was followed by a period of violence where all those against the revolution were murdered. The name of the period is literally the Reign of Terror. We see that Ladybug's words is a reference to that.

Ladybug: (after receiving her lucky charm) Revolution, sans-culotte, and the Mayor of Paris who acts like the King?

The parallel is there. They're not even trying to be subtle. This is the retelling of the French Revolution.

Except that it doesn't turn out like the French Revolution. In the end, Mr. Bourgeois willingly steps down, Mlle. Sans Culotte rejects Monarch's powers (as in, she drops her weapons), so there is no revolution and no bloody reign of terror.

But still, the power dynamics end up shifting tremendously in the Miraculous Paris. How and why? I'll make a post specifically analysing this. Stay tuned for part two!

(Also, I have likely forgotten or omitted some other symbols, feel free to add them to the comments - if there are enough, I can make an addition to the post :))

[nico00235]

I wanna talk about S3 so bad, let me ramble about this, Wukong's and MK clothes during this season

‼️Season 3 | Specials spoilers ahead‼️

BC THERE'S SO MUCH DETAIL AND I THINK SOMETHING THEY DID IS INTENTIONALLY A PARALLEL OR SMTHING, but ok, first of all, let me get my things. UhHH, also, this is a very long and messy post so, yeah,

____

Ok, first of all I want to point that in LMK, at least, the clothes and that stuff is important to the series, because they represent what each person means, in addition to aesthetic aspects and to determine personalities and other things.

But there's one set of clothes that I think it was to tell and portray something very important that happened in season 3.

We all know the set of clothes that Wukong wears from the first season, which consists of his red scarf, what appears to be a wooden chestplate and other things, something that is very characteristic of him are his colors, specifically being yellow, red and a type of aquamarine and we all know what happened in the first episode of S3, we know that Wukong was incapacitated, powerless and his clothes were LITERALLY torn apart because of the shield protection being destroyed, and that's why they bring us this a little later

This

After his clothes are literally destroyed he has no choice but to wear his old clothes, the same ones he has worn in his youth, this is when we realize something.

This slight change was more or less intentional, even more so knowing that from the third season everything went downhill. The third season was a huge development process for several characters, especially MK.

Without the staff, without his powers, and with nothing to defend himself and his friends with, MK tries every possible way to follow Wukong's footsteps, literally all of his steps, being unconscious that it is not a good idea to do, at least not in the full literal sense, his way of showing that he still can and is still capable of being useful is to follow the example of Wukong, who despite being incapacitated by getting the samadhi map he still fights.

We see how he literally copies Wukong's jokes and way of acting, which in his own words is to be "impulsive and launch without thinking twice", which takes most of the time to put at risk his life and that of others, as shown in the first episode of S3, throwing himself into the fight against Macaque without considering that he no longer has power and that because he didn't think through his actions, he could have severely hurt his friends who were on the ship.

But after that, the really important thing comes, the first episode was just the beginning, once the adventure starts we see how both MK and Wukong change places in a metaphorical way

In the second episode we see this transition being clearer, seeing how MK now has the colors of Wukong and I don't know if I'm the only one but the first time I saw it, I thought it was funny and strange when they put that magical and significant transition for just a change of clothes but I think that looking more closely, everything was intentional.

And once THIS happens, we realize that from here, MK is being tested.

MK is being tested to prove that he can be the best possible version of himself through his mentor, and without his mentor. The clothes are a metaphor that despite the fact that Wukong does not do anything relevant during the first 8 episodes of the season is still an important part for MK, to remind him of where he came from and who he is successor to.

MK, despite admiring his mentor, he is much better in several aspects than Wukong himself, being more mature, more aware and all this comes to light in S3 once you look closely.

And if you realize, from this change everything makes sense, the colors and the meaning were changed now.

Which leads us to this special quote.

"Sometimes, to find what we've lost we need to begin where we started, look our inner selves"

MK changed to the colors that his mentor has, but now Wukong is the one with the clothes that he once had in his youth.

Throughout the season we see Wukong being more childish than normal, even making jokes in life or death situations, although in the first and second seasons he is aware of everything and even clever in a few situations, in the third season it seems that he does random things until he comes up with a specific plan, without first thinking through what could happen.

In amnesia rules we see in more detail how young Wukong was, the one who was in JTTW, this Wukong seems to have very little awareness about his surroundings and is dedicated to doing acts totally without consideration, the greatest act is when he asks the dwarf where the demon that had Tang was, he literally stays a whole night doing what? listening to the stories they told him, if Tang had no way to defend himself and the scorpion demoness had captured him to eat him, Tang would probably be dead.

Reckless and immature, Wukong doesn't seem to care too much what happens to other people but that's not entirely true.

Wukong understands what a family is, he understands what it is to have friends and people who care about you and your safety, but as they say, time is cause, time is consequence.

Imagine that you are an immortal, who has already lost all his allies and all his friends over time, and has been left alone, 500 years do not fly by and we really do not know how long he has been alone.

But we know that it is enough time not to be able to finish maturing and learn to communicate your needs and problems.

He said that he didn't even plan to live long enough to train someone and even in this episode he says it explicitly, he is aware that he could not teach but nevertheless he tries, in his best possible way.

The metaphor here is that MK matured in the aspects that Wukong could not and Wukong tried to recognize the problems of his past that still tormented him, genuinely recognize that he must learn to speak and above all also listen to others.

They both matured in some way, but Wukong's change was even slower than MK's because he was the one who caused the problems in episode 9 and 10 and it was until the specials when he realized that he should not do any of this alone and without first communicating with others

During the specials, we see a major change as well, how MK is wearing Pigsy's jacket, which could symbolize a meaning like what his family and friends means to him

"As long as I have my friends by my side, this world is perfect"

And that brings us to the last change of clothes MK had.

The old and original jacket, the one that has accompanied him and the symbol of what MK has always been, the successor, the hero, the warrior, the friend, the son, the assistant, everything that is Monkie Kid, not Monkey King, Monkie Kid.

Everything that being MK symbolizes can be established by that little symbol and everything that it represents for him and others to be Monkie Kid, a separate version of what Wukong is or could be.

That's why the change of clothes was so important for this season and it was somewhat intentional.

___

And that's all....

This was so long ohmygOd, i just-

I'm sorry, i overanalyze too much

[wakandaiscoming]

Wakanda Forever, second viewing

Here are some things I'd like to discuss

-- The parallel between Ramonda's speech at the UN when she says "now is our time to strike" putting words in the mouth of the US and France, compared to when Shuri says "now is our time to strike" about Talokan.

-- Okoye's "we are home" to Ramonda just like she said to T'Challa in the first film. I said out loud, "This never gets old." People looked at me funny.

-- How Ramonda is trying to get Shuri to go back to research on the Heart-Shaped Herb. I think she is trying to get Shuri ready to be the Black Panther, and trying to get her to do the emotional work necessary, but it's so sad that it's only her death that makes Shuri go back to it.

-- Okoye calling MIT the equivalent of a "Wakandan village school." I'm never going to get to go to Wakanda, guys, I got rejected from all but my state school. Ack.

-- Both Ramonda and Shuri seem to see Nakia as almost kin to them. They both go to her when they feel totally alone (Ramonda after Shuri is kidnapped and Shuri at the end).

-- Namor's description of his childhood is kind of scary. People thought he was a god since he was a child? No one seems to be providing any sort of parental guidance after his mother passes. I think he's gonna need all the therapy.

-- I notice all of the Talokanil drink their blue herb (it's like the Heart-Shaped Herb but all I don't know the name, just that it's blue not purple), and then seem to pass out or pass away. I wonder if they go to their version of the ancestral plane? We don't see it but it seems to be put there for a reason. Wakanda is powerful but it's not like all its citizens take the Heart-Shaped Herb. Only the Panther. They really can't survive a war with Talokan, unless Shuri starts growing a LOT more of those Herbs.

-- Disturbing to see how planned the attack on Ramonda is. The Talokanil draw defenses (Ayo) away from the Throne Room specifically so Namor can kill her, and she seems to know it because she tries to make Riri leave. (Angela Bassett's face when Dominique Thorne askes if she can call her mom!) And then Namor waits there, while Ramonda drowns, to tell Shuri she is Queen now.

-- Is Killmonger's sweater the same one he wears in BP1 just in white not black? I love the detail on these things. He doesn't seem to understand why Ramonda died for a girl from the "Lost Tribe" when T'Chaka killed his own brother. And I'm like, "Cuz Ramonda was fucking great, that's why."

-- I do wish Angela Bassett got some fight scenes. I'm an iffy on her white wig and usually I love the hair in BP movies compared to the terrible, terrible wigs in most MCU projects.

-- I want to talk more about Ayo being the General of the dora milaje now!! When Okoye is there, she wears the gold adornments, and after, it is Ayo who has gold. so clearly she got promoted in Okoye's absence. But how does she feel about that? Aneka seems to have left the dora also. What is that relationship like? Guys, I need more. I feel like there was more Aneka that was cut, because all we see of her leaving the dora is her giving those daggers back to Shuri?

-- I wrote a whole post about the parallels to the Challenge Day from BP1 and this film and didn't notice Shuri quotes M'Baku's line from BP1, "Your technological advancements have been overseen by a child" back to him and that's what prompts the line about her not being a child anymore. Sob.

-- I would be interested in a post about Shuri's hair journey. There's definitely an evolution from the first scene to the last.

-- Namora is such a badass. She takes a blast right in the chest from Riri and is not deterred in the slightest. I think she's neat.

-- Ryan Coogler said W'Kabi is in exile, but where do we think he went exactly? Ramonda suggests somewhere Okoye can visit. I wonder if they are trying to make it work still. She is very loyal, I guess. Usually putting a spear to your husband's throat ends a marriage.

-- Griot addresses Shuri as "princess" but in the scene where she says goodbye to Riri he calls her "Panther". She levelled up.