She/Her • ESTP • bisexual • English & Français • I make memes & meta sometimes • Here be vampires, anime, fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and fine art • AO3: neoqueenserenity
Shuro talks a lot of shit for someone who just subjected Laios to one of the funniest examples of emotional whiplash I’ve ever seen.
He went from this:
To this:
Within the span of what?? An hour?? Less??
Yeah, sure. It’s completely normal to swing violently from “you disgust me I hate everything about you,” to “if you’re in danger ring this bell, and I’ll immediately get someone to to transport you to my country—where I have a great amount of power and influence—so that you can be safe forever.”
Poor Laios just went through a mixed signals marathon at the hands of this man, can you possibly blame him for misinterpreting Shuro’s behavior up to this point??
Shuro talks a lot of shit for someone who just subjected Laios to one of the funniest examples of emotional whiplash I’ve ever seen.
He went from this:
To this:
Within the span of what?? An hour?? Less??
Yeah, sure. It’s completely normal to swing violently from “you disgust me I hate everything about you,” to “if you’re in danger ring this bell, and I’ll immediately get someone to to transport you to my country—where I have a great amount of power and influence—so that you can be safe forever.”
Poor Laios just went through a mixed signals marathon at the hands of this man, can you possibly blame him for misinterpreting Shuro’s behavior up to this point??
But when Francis is using his ability, which is named after the irl Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he glows GREEN.
The GREEN LIGHT was a central narrative tool used throughout The Great Gatsby novel. It was a huge deal to Gatsby, and was a consistent metaphor for his love for his romance interest, Daisy.
Fitzgerald, whose character in BSD is meant to directly mimic Gatsby, has a wife and child he would commit atrocities for. He believes what Gatsby believes: that only through money and power can he can live happily with the people he loves.
He embodies the green light and everything it stands for when he activates his ability, and that’s so fucking cool to me.
@evesevilart It’s from the most recent episode that aired a few days ago (episode 16). In this scene, Chilchuck reveals that he’d figured out the pattern of the spell that had been moving the structures around the city center, keeping them trapped on that level. Cracking this code meant that they could finally get out, and return to the surface.
A thankful and joyous moment, right? Except that same moment in the manga was just MORE heartfelt, and MORE affectionate, and for whatever reason, Trigger didn’t include the most endearing part:
Ah, what could have been.
I’m convinced that Trigger DID animate the “good job, Chilchuck! You’re so cool!” praise/petting scene, but they edited it out because they accidentally made it too horny
The Black Butler revival will, of course, in this day and age, be the complete embodiment of pro-ship vs. anti-ship discourse, given the subject matter.
But for those of you who are watching this for the first time in 2024 (which includes myself!), there are certain things about the show you simply must understand, for the sake of media literacy.
The first is that Black Butler is supernatural gothic romanticism at its core. This genre alone should tell you that the relationships integral to the plot will be complex, messy, and toxic, by default. That is not only a huge part of this genre’s appeal, but very much the point of the story.
The themes are dark, the terrible things that happen to the main characters are dark, and therefore the relationships at the forefront (and in the background) will reflect that.
The gothic genre has been alluringly popular for over a century (longer, if you know your history) because audiences are entranced by the macabre, the tainted antiheroes, the monsters who live inside us all. It’s popular for a reason.
That being said, understand that whether you, the viewer, ship Sebastian and Ciel or not is irrelevant. Their bond doesn’t need to be understood as romantic or sexual, but it sure as hell isn’t normal. It isn’t healthy. And the audience knows that. That’s the draw. It’s what makes them compelling to watch.
Ciel and Sebastian’s relationship mirrors many gothic novels, poems, and penny dreadfuls written in the Victorian Era (the very same time period in which Kuroshitsuji takes place). The Victorian folks who read these tales for the first time ate that shit up, because it was tantalizing. It was shocking. It was inappropriate, and monstrous, and violent, and erotic, and went against societal norms. But that was the point.
A huge part of gothic romanticism is the blatant sexualization of the relationship between the “monstrous” characters and their human counterparts in the story. Sex itself doesn’t need to take place for their bond to be sexually charged. The forbidden nature of their relationship—which typically involves layers of social taboos, moral ambiguity, or simple infatuation—is what makes their interactions erotic. Sexual contact rarely ever actually happens in these stories. It’s the taboo nature of their bond that creates the tension.
One of the many reasons audiences love this genre is the constant question of morality in its themes. Who, between them, is the real monster? Could the human character have ever been saved? This genre is often associated with tragedy, because the bond forged between the characters in these stories are destined to end in death and destruction. The reader knows it can’t end any other way. How can it?
But an integral element of these gothic tales is the catharsis that comes with this tragedy. The corrupted human often gets what they want in the end, even if it’s at the cost of their own life. Whether they regret their choice to foster this monstrous relationship varies on the story, but it doesn’t change the trajectory of their descent.
Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship is the whole plot of Black Butler. Their closeness bears a grotesque ick factor, but it is deliberate. It is a constant reminder of how unnatrual their bond truly is. Rationalizing or watering down how abnormal they are about each other misses the point entirely. They will never have a normal, healthy relationship, and that’s what moves the plot forward.
I’m convinced that Trigger DID animate the “good job, Chilchuck! You’re so cool!” praise/petting scene, but they edited it out because they accidentally made it too horny
Fellas is it gay to kneel between your friend’s legs and beg him with tears in your eyes to pause the mission, just temporarily, so that one no one in your party dies in the effort? Is it gay to plead with him and tell him that you’re afraid to lose him, that all 3 of them matter to you, but that your fate is ultimately in his hands?? Fellas????
The laishuros and the labrus had a delightful episode today.
Not only did Laios and Shuro have an adorable reunion, full of ~informal~ and affectionate language (to his household’s dismay), but also gentle and affectionate touch, encouraging Shuro to take care of himself.
Then Kabru shamelessly inserts himself into the conversation, bats his eyes at Laios, and tries to “introduce himself,” when the man clearly has no idea who he is.
Kabru then sees Laios leading Shuro away for perfectly normal reasons and goes “I’ll join!!” with as many ulterior motives as possible.
These three have a hilarious dynamic, I want as many scenes with them together as possible.
re-read the 200s and I love their awkward phase in-between animosity and rekindled friendship :) bakugo has an awkward way of expressing his interest and worries regarding deku’s quirk and deku in general it’s so funny to follow