airitopia

[airitopia]

Duke Pantarei

[airitopia]

Maitake eating Duke

[airitopia]

YOU AND I WERE RAISED IN DIFFERENT WORLDS.

WE'LL NEVER SEE EYE TO EYE.

[airitopia]

After some thought, it's probably best that SE gave Sephiroth a source of regret that influenced his future life. It is consistent with the events unfolding in Crisis Core and provides more insight into his state of mind following Genesis' desertion.

In Ever Crisis: First Soldier, Sephiroth was faced with a choice: either follow the request to kill someone or allow the people he had grown to care about to die. The decision resulted in a squabble with Glenn and a degree of estrangement. Later, EC Wutai segment shows that the event had left a lasting impact. Not only does Sephiroth appear to be more reluctant to resort to violence first thanks to Glenn, but he is implied to lament the fact that he couldn't save everyone (Rosen).

This contrast is evident in the inner conflict of being praised as a 'hero' (a manufactured image) versus the reality of being one. Sephiroth resolves to embody a true hero, striving to uphold strength and 'save everyone,' avoiding the difficult decisions of choosing who lives or dies as well as the burden of killing or witnessing death under his command. Sephiroth failed to convince Rosen and failed to find another way that brought about no casualties. Even ten years later, he pushes himself to clear a path for cornered grunts, fueled by his insecurity over past failures.

This insecurity also connects nicely to the events of Crisis Core. Sephiroth pushed those missions on Zack because he had a history of failing to persuade someone (Rosen) to change their minds, and the prospect of reliving the same situation while confronted with someone he cared about was unthinkable. It demonstrates that Rosen's case affected Sephiroth, leaving a lasting impression on his actions and decisions.

Even further, the desire to save and prevent casualties is evident in FFVII Rebirth, when the ShinRA squad, led by Zack and Sephiroth, is flung into the mountain stream after the rope bridge collapses. Sephiroth successfully grabs younger Tifa, but is unable to reach another grunt in time. The camera stays on the scene for a while, focusing on his slightly haunted expression.

Following the cut, Sephiroth spends hours looking for his washed-away squadmate. Allow it to sink. After two hours, the rest of the company was still recovering from a dip in a harsh stream, but he was up and about, scouting the cross-country area and going out of his way to find the missing rank-and-file. It's a testament to more than just physical endurance. It strikes a stark contrast to how the episode concluded in the original game, where Sephiroth chose not to search for the missing person, leaving them potentially stranded or deceased. In the remake, it was clear he disliked losing people.

And yet, despite the efforts, it just kept happening. He couldn't save Angeal, he couldn't sway Genesis. By the time he arrives at the Nibelheim reactor, his confidence in his ability to save the day must have plummeted.

It oddly echoes what Cloud goes through at the beginning of Advent Children. And, chillingly, an illusory Sephiroth in Sector 8 in the first part of the remake delivers a biting remark to Cloud:

“You are too weak to save anyone. Not even yourself”.

Which sounds almost projection-like in the context of a broader compilation.

@pen-and-umbra

[airitopia]

here’s a little comparison for people who say engagement hasn’t gotten that bad and anyone who complains is ungrateful.

these are two posts from my first go round on tumblr circa 2014-2017, my most popular gifset of all time

& a text post

notice how the ratio is about even on likes to reblogs?

here’s from this go around, my most popular gifset

and my most popular fic

do you see how that’s discouraging?

i love being on this site. i love the little community i’ve found and the people who follow me and the mutuals i’ve made friendships with and the mutuals that i’m still getting to know. i love it. but at a certain point it’s hard to justify spending so much time on works that get bad engagement.

reblog, comment, send asks. without them, this site doesn’t work.

[airitopia]

Eyyy my Graces stuffs are going around places again

[airitopia]

complaint about ever crisis: did they absolutely HAVE to make the miniroth chibi so fucking precious and smol and then ALSO give him all kinds of shy little gestures and sad-baby poses? DID THEY HAVE TO? this game is making me unstable

[airitopia]

Cute detail from the EC stream that I once again discovered through Japanese Twitter.

Glenn’s VA got hit by the hug scene for the same reasons we did lol. He said Miniroth had probably, because of his overwhelming strength, never been shown affection before in the way Glenn showed it to him, and Ichikawa the director agreed saying that’s probably why Seph is the way he is in CC. It was proof that the two games were connected.

Basically they confirmed that one of the reasons Seph is warm and friendly in CC is because of Glenn. This one damn interaction impacted him for years, as we saw….

BRO IT’S SO WHOLESOME LIKE—

And bonus, they apparently also mentioned that Team Glenn came off like big brothers and sister to Miniroth skdhdh. I mean, Glenn did say this outright in a light-hearted way in Japanese, but it’s like they grew into it. Really cute.

[airitopia]

My adorable Baby Sephiroth ♡

Do NOT repost/republish this artwork!

[airitopia]

Did I sufficiently capture their bro energy or….

[airitopia]

Based on this.

Duke-sensei is now canon!

Do NOT repost/republish this artwork!

[airitopia]

[airitopia]

This stupid wallpaper is making me emo

[airitopia]

My feels have exploded past the point of articulation, so I just made this instead.

[airitopia]

WHOSE LIVES ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU?

[airitopia]

THE FIRST SOLDIER EPISODE 2

[airitopia]

Chibi Miniroth :3