#Comparative sequence analysis

[sysig]

Some highlights from a tense but still very Winterkov-y scene (Patreon)

[writer-logbook]

How I improved my writing style... without actually writing.

Intro : It's just a clickbait title to talk about theory and side techniques - before actually practicing, of course.

LINGUISTIC ISN'T GRAMMAR - AND IT'S BETTER TO KNOW ABOUT BOTH. It's useful for writing impactful dialogue and giving your characters depth. Your characters' language should (ideally) take into account: their social position (rich or poor), the locality (local expressions?) and sometimes their age (different cultural references). And this is best transcribed with linguistic knowledge. In short: linguistics is descriptive, grammar is prescriptive.

The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences),  semantics (meaning),  morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages), phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language, and analogous systems of sign languages), and pragmatics (how the context of use contributes to meaning). (Linguistics, Wikipedia)

Literary theory isn't as boring as it sounds. Learn more about internal criteria of the text (figure of speech, style, aesthetic...) and external criteria of the text (the author's persona and responsability, the role of the reader and what is left to interpretation...). I refer you to the French Wikipedia page, which you can translate directly via your browser in case you need more information. (Make sure you translate the page not switch language, because the content isn't the same).

Listening to Youtube Video about the analysis of film sequences and/or scenario. Remember when I told you to read historical fiction to learn how to describe a castle properly ? Same vibe.

Novel adaptations of movies. = when the movie exists before the book, and not the other way around. e.g : The Shape of Water ; Pan's Labyrinth. In line with tip n°3, it allows us to see how emotions, scenes and descriptions have been translated into writing - and thus to better visualize concepts that may have been abstract.

Read books about authors' writing experiences. e.g : Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Everyone's different, but they can provide some insightful tips not only on the act of writing itself, but on the environment conducive to writing, planning… Comparing completely different authors' experience could also be fun (this video of King and Martin is actually one of my fav)

Ah and many thanks for your ❤ and reblogs on my latest post ! UwU

[snek-eyes]

I keep thinking about what slotting the Job sequence in between the Flood and the Crucifixion does for Crowley’s arc, and his relationship to both Aziraphale and heaven.

@amuseoffyre did a great analysis of the importance to Aziraphale's arc here that sparked this thought, but it sent me down a rabbithole because A+C are both having very different experiences here.

Compare how Crowley bounces up to Aziraphale at the flood vs how standoffish he is when the angel shows up to the Job situation. Aziraphale is the one who's all friendly, "Oh it's you!" while Crowley... is pretty businesslike, at least until he gets the chance to start rubbing the reality of the situation in the angel's face. 

The flood pissed Crowley off. Job is the first time we start to see the more bitter Crowley we'll get to know. In the Garden he was bemused about overreactions and almost having fun poking this angel with questions about God's plans. Beginning of the flood sequence he was pretty playful. This whole earth thing hasn't been so bad so far, and oh here's that weird angel again, that's fun. 

But then he gets hit with God turning on their creation without warning, again. And the flood was at least in God's name ("That's more the type of thing you'd expect my lot to do," he said. Wasn't heaven supposed to be the good guys?). But now with Job? God turns their back and just... doesn't stop hell. Heaven's hands stay clean while hell dirties their evil little claws. Oh, so this is how things are, Crowley realizes. This is the part he's meant to play. Fine. 

And seeing how he acts here... I can't help but feel like he'd mostly given up on Aziraphale after the flood. After Crowley went, "Wtf, this is clearly an atrocity," and Aziraphale stuck to "You can't judge the Almighty!" ...well. Giving away the flaming sword was probably a fluke. Just another tool of heaven, that one. Disappointing, but what should he have expected? 

So all through their Job interaction he plays up his demonicness, trying to force Aziraphale to toe the party line and prove Crowley's new view on things right, once and for all. But there is a crack there, because not-so deep down Crowley would love for Aziraphale to surprise him again.

(After all... he is lonely. Try some wine with me, or have an ox rib, angel.)

(Fascinated by the difference in Crowley's gleeful "That's just how it started for me, see you in hell" vs. "I'm not taking you to hell, Angel. I don't think you'd like it." And only admitting to the loneliness once he isn't totally alone anymore; I think the original lie was more to himself than anything. He's angry, he's bitter, these righteous angels shouldn't think they're any better than him, not when they can doubt too. But when it comes down to it? No, I don't actually want to drag you all the way there. Something about guns and miraculous escapes, and his comment about Wee Morag, it's different when it's someone you know, isn't it. Hm. Anyways.) 

By the end of the Job situation they have a moment where they confirm they are more similar than they thought. But it's not a happy thing. It won't be until Rome when they start enjoying each other's company just for the sake of it. So at the crucifixion Crowley comes up to Aziraphale still prodding at him. You happy about this, Angel? You smirking over how righteous it is? But now instead of, "You can't judge the Almighty," we get "I'm not consulted on policy decisions." Implying he disagrees without really saying it. And that's enough for now, Crowley will take it. 

From the flood -> Job -> crucifixion -> Rome, we see Crowley get angry, then more and more resigned and bitter. Until Aziraphale reaches out and pulls him out of it.

[beautiful-monsters]

Will and Hannibal Were Not "Obviously" Having Sex—And the Acephobia in Fandom Needs to Stop

I came across a post so rancid I had to stop everything and write this. Someone claimed that Hannibal confirmed Will and Hannibal were sexually intimate but that censorship forced it to be hidden through symbolism and metaphor. Then, they went on to say that ace interpretations of the characters are “distortions” and a result of people “projecting” their own issues with sexuality onto the show.

This isn’t just a bad take. It’s blatantly acephobic, and it reflects a larger issue in fandom where intimacy is treated as incomplete or lesser if it doesn’t include sex.

First, there is no explicit or implied confirmation in the show that Will and Hannibal had sex. The claim that NBC forced Bryan Fuller to “hide” a sex scene behind metaphor is completely made up. This is the same network that aired an entire dream sequence of the characters engaged in a trippy threesome/foursome. If Fuller wanted to confirm a sexual relationship, he would have found a way. The idea that sex was “implied” but had to be hidden is purely headcanon.

The argument that Bedelia “essentially states it as fact” is also wrong. Bedelia confirms that Hannibal is in love with Will, but that doesn’t mean it was sexual. The idea that her language was specifically about sex ignores the fact that Hannibal’s love for Will is directly compared to his love for his sister Mischa, the only other person he truly loved. There’s no evidence that Hannibal ever wanted or needed a sexual relationship with Will. What he wanted was complete and total emotional intimacy. That’s why his idea of a perfect life with Will included raising Abigail together, not sex.

The idea that Hannibal “replaced” Will with Bedelia because he needed someone he was familiar with "psychologically, emotionally, and physically" also falls apart. Bedelia was a means to an end. He didn’t love her, and she didn’t love him. She was convenient. Hannibal's ideal was never "finding a new Will"; it was making Will understand and choose him.

The claim that Will and Hannibal’s violence comes from "repressed sexual tension" and that their bond is a metaphor for "sexual awakening" isn’t supported by anything in the show. If their relationship was about sexual repression, there would be some indication that Will experiences that kind of desire—yet every single one of his physical relationships in the show is with a woman.

And let's get into Word of God:

Bryan Fuller himself has said that if asked, Will would identify as heterosexual, but that his bond with Hannibal is beyond labels, tied to intellect and emotion, not physical attraction. If Will’s love for Hannibal is so intense that it transcends sexuality itself, then an ace reading makes more sense than a sexual one.

And then there’s the blatant acephobia in the original post. The entire argument hinges on the idea that intimacy is only fully realized through sex. That if Will and Hannibal truly loved each other, it had to be sexual. That sex wasn’t just a possibility but a necessity for their relationship to be real. That’s not just bad media analysis—it’s the kind of thinking that asexual people constantly have to push back against in fandom and in real life.

The post even goes as far as saying that Will and Hannibal are "deeply sexual, intensely erotic figures" and that people "projecting" asexuality onto them are "distorting" canon. That kind of language isn’t subtle. It frames asexuality as a lesser, invalid reading while treating sex as the default, superior interpretation. It directly suggests that people who read these characters as ace are only doing it because of their own personal issues with sex. That is blatant acephobia, and it's part of a larger pattern in fandom where ace readings are treated as something that must be defended, while sexual ones are accepted without question.

Even beyond the acephobia, the post is hypocritical. If Hannibal is a show that relies on symbolism and metaphor, then an asexual interpretation is just as valid as a sexual one. You can’t say, "The show never explicitly confirms they had sex, but it’s obvious through implication" while simultaneously saying, "An ace reading is wrong because it’s not explicitly confirmed." That’s not how this works.

Will’s love for Hannibal was deep, overwhelming, and life-altering, but there is nothing in the show that suggests it was sexual. His only physical relationships were with women. And the fact that people feel so threatened by ace readings that they have to act like they’re distorting canon should really make them reflect on why they’re so desperate to erase non-sexual narratives.

At the end of the day, love is not inherently sexual. Intimacy does not require sex. And people need to stop acting like ace interpretations are "forcing" something onto a character while treating their own assumptions as undeniable truth.

[loreic]

The True Face: In-depth analysis

Okay now that I had a few hours to process all... that, I think I can analyze this objectively without crashing tf out 

Heavy, heavy analysis, speculation & theories ahead 

[Spoilers for the insane new Mizi comic obviously]

So the comic opens exactly where we left off after Weige right after Round 7 (the fact that Round 7, Weige, Arise and Walk, and now this happens in like the span of a few minutes is absolutely diabolical btw). Mizi is crashing tf out and just staring at Till’s blood literally on her hands, which immediately just shouts GUILT in all caps. 

We are then immediately jump scared by this.

Which is gonna give me nightmares for a whole week (thanks for that Vivinos), and sets the tone of this whole situation, giving us a glimpse at Mizi’s incredibly fragile mental state. Keep in mind that she had just had her life completely thrown upside down, witnessed Till get shot, then Hyuna two seconds later, all while still coming to terms with the fact Sua is gone. 

Girl is literally two seconds away from cracking. 

We then cut to a flashback set during their ANAKT Garden days. Considering how old they look and Sua later mentioning that they were running out of time and will have to take the stage soon, I’m suspecting this probably happened fairly recently, possibly within the year and not long before their graduation. 

The following sequence starts off tame enough, starting with this Luka-knockoff-looking ex-classmate cornering Mizi about her relationship with Till, which Mizi mistakenly assumed that he was asking about Sua. 

We come to find out Sua hasn’t been around much (god is anyone else kinda extremely creeped out by Neigh?), and that they have apparently been fighting. Which is rather interesting to me considering that mizisua has so far been portrayed like the perfect yuri couple doomed by the narrative (or at least slightly less convoluted and toxic when compared to ivantill and hyuluka anyway, ain’t nothing healthy in alnst). I do wonder what they were fighting about.

Then we get the whole heteronormality spiel from the Luka knockoff (which damn I could totally do a whole nother post on with how much lore that gave on life in general in the ANAKT Garden). Dude tries to confess, gets cut off, and things just immediately escalate from 1 to 10000. Like fking hell just look at this image: 

Luka knockoff goes on to accuse Mizi of being willingly oblivious to how half the boys have been crushing on her (keep in mind these kids raised by aliens with zero functional social cues or an accurate concept of how relationships are supposed to work), and Mizi absolutely loses it. 

I mean look at this face. 

Girl is Hyuna-grade levels of mentally unwell (I like how this seems to be a trend with vivinos, feeding us information about a character, lulling us into a false sense of security and then doing a complete 180 in their comics and giving them twenty different dimensions we never considered). She is literally having a mental breakdown and still trying to keep the friendly, innocent mask and smiling through it all, which just ends up coming off as slightly deranged.

Mizi ends up running to Sua (cue obvious unhealthy coping mechanism and codependency), and then she makes the mistake of using the exact same words Luka knockoff did 

It must be nice. 

Nice to remain willingly oblivious to it all, nice to be pretty enough to make others love you, nice to be loved by so many. That obviously wasn’t what Sua meant in her own context (it was also interesting to learn that Sua does envy Mizi to some degree, which I I think is a nice add that just makes her more human on a whole), and Mizi just reacts.

Considering how she immediately catches herself, I genuinely don’t think she meant it, but holy shit was that fked up. 

We’ve seen IvanTill fighting as kids and the whole thing with Luka and Hyunwoo that ended in tragedy but considering this and what the Luka knockoff did earlier, I’m getting the vibe that physical violence in the ANAKT Garden may be way more common than what we initially thought (or it could be that these poor kids have just never really properly grew out of that play-fighting-as-a-child phase, and it just escalated as they grew into young adults since corporal punishment from the aliens is normal and their humanity’s all kinds of screwed up) 

We then cut back to the present where we have apparition Sua accusing Mizi of being cunning, and ditching all of them. Now this took me a hot second to understand, because as far as we are concerned Sua was the one who left. She chose to die to save Mizi (and probably so that she didn’t have to deal with the pain of being the one left behind if we’re really going for that toxic angle). But then I realized I’m an idiot and that this was being written in Mizi’s pov and this version of Sua is literally a figment of her imagination and a personification of her guilt. 

Mizi still thinks she is responsible for Sua’s death. In that sense she did discard her for her own survival (unintentional or no) and on top of that she did leave the others. She did let herself be reduced by the rebels, she left Till and Ivan, all while knowing that they would most likely die. Is it her fault for being rescued? Hell no. But she definitely still feels guilty for leaving them. You could argue that she also, quite literally, ditched Hyuna in order to rush of to rescue Till, which indirectly ended up causing her death (It was Hyuna’s choice but Mizi sure as hell didn’t know that). 

We then cut to a flashback with Till (TILL IS ALIVE TRUST) and Mizi ends up confronting him, telling him that she loves Sua and asking if it is that hard to not like her. She asks him why he like her and Till (bro why) ends up responding with 

I mean, valid, but I think this properly confirms just how shallow Till’s love for Mizi is. He likes the idea of her, and though it doesn’t mean his feelings aren’t pure or true, it’s more of a crush really. Cute but almost entirely superficial, and just look how Mizi reacts: 

Her collar is RED. She knows people care and are attracted to her on a superficial level, that the Luka knockoff was right, but seems to decide to just ultimately let it be, to remain purposely oblivious. 

We cut back to the present and there we see apparition Sua has now become Mizi, the version of her from Round 1, the version of her that ‘killed’ Sua, which really just solidifies the fact that all that blue dialog is literally just her guilt taking.

This entire comic is basically centered around Mizi battling her survivor’s guilt, but honestly, as much as I hate to admit I think the Luka knockoff/evil Mizi were also right about her being purposely oblivious (to both her classmate’s affections and their situation on a whole). All the facts point to the fact that she was much more aware about everything than we were initially led to believe. I think she did have a vague inkling of what was going to happen, but ultimately decided to look away/remain in denial (I mean in hindsight how tf does one live 15-ish years in the Garden and not eventually find out the truth even by accident?). 

Evidence 1:  

First we have this with the Luka knockoff.

What a shame.

Shame she had to kill him? (lmao no, but am really frikin hoping she didn’t Hyunwoo him with how this guy pops up again with the back of his head broken in the subsequent art lol)

Not sure if I’m interpreting this one right, but I do think what she meant by it being a shame was the fact that he had to see her broken down this way. I do think this is the first time anyone actually noticed and called her out for her habit of remaining purposefully ignorant, hence the mental breakdown (also cause she got, you know, slapped in the face while she was at it). 

Also with how her collar light was green when talking about Sua but immediately turns red when Till is mentioned... yeah she's definitely not clueless about any of it.

Evidence 2: 

And then of course we have this whole sequence with Till. Hardly any explanation needed.

Basically both flashbacks imply that she is not nearly as ignorant and naive as she lets on (and what we as the audience were led to believe), but she puts on a harmless, innocent front. 

As for why she does it is pretty debatable, but I suspect that it was simply easier to remain blissfully ignorant, and it was just her way of coping with their less than ideal reality. I highly doubt she spent all that time taking advantage of being likable and playing dumb just so she could survive (again the one praising her for it is literally her guilt personified). Maybe a tiny part of her did subconsciously want to survive and decided to roll with it, but I think it’s pretty obvious she does genuinely care about the rest of her classmates and wasn’t actively trying to get them killed (unlike say Luka). 

What happened to Sua, Ivan, Till, and Hyuna definitely wasn’t her fault, but she isn’t entirely guiltless either. 

Honestly, I’m not too sure what to make of it, considering on one hand we have been led to believe that Mizi was this sole innocent girl who knew nothing about truth behind Alien Stage until Sua literally died in front of her, but on the other hand man do I love how we are getting more of layers to her character. 

[pzychojinx]

so, jinx in act one of season two. see, for three years i expected a full on descent into chaos and madness beyond any repair. i'd made peace with that, too. so i'm surprised - pleasantly, joyfully surprised.

very long analysis ahead on where they're taking her and how it speaks to me.

we first meet her again during silco's eulogy sequence - a beautiful sequence, halfway between dreamlike and real. "just like when vander shoved off", she says about his death. except it's not. after vander's death, after vi's perceived abandonment, everything jinx could feel was self-centered. she would say "she's not my sister anymore". she would devalue these people entirely. in fact, every single reaction to any action done by her loved ones would be self-centered and extreme. that is very much how her mental process works, how her trauma caused her to work. and more so: when silco would ask of her any work, any mission, she'd do the job purely for his sake, his affection, his approval, never caring about the cause.

in short, she was never able to get out of her own head for as much as a single minute. now, she starts the funeral off with "chembarons warring for control of the lanes. wannabe street thugs squabbling over scraps. just like when vander shoved off." and it's not about her abandonment anymore. it's not about being left alone. it's not about her. she's talking to silco about his city, his legacy, his world, his chembarons, his lanes. she's out of her own head, and it's the first time we ever see it.

"because someone put all those holes in you", she says then. and this is so interesting because there's obviously a dissociation here, as well as a very intense grief and sadness. we are obviously still dealing with someone who's deeply traumatized and unstable, but let's compare this with powder after the deaths of vander, mylo and claggor. powder had a full breakdown, both turned into a complete de-evaluation of vi as i was mentioning earlier and full desperation. "i only wanted to help, i only wanted to help, i only wanted to help".

this chaotic desperation is something jinx kept within herself throughout the entirety of s1 up until - the tea party. which i'm getting at, in a minute. point being, for now, that the jinx we see during silco's eulogy is grieving and lost and rootless and asking herself "what am i supposed to do with that?", but she lacks the chaotic full-on desperation that would lead her to acts of explosive destruction and/or self-destruction in s1. in fact, she's incredibly quieter. she's more grounded, more present in her movements, in the way she fights, in the way she talks.

in retrospect even her final action in s1, the infamous missile, already had the energy we're seeing now. it wasn't instinctive, driven by hallucinations or trauma or rage or an unrestrained trigger; it was silco's legacy and it was calculated. silco's death, i think now, left jinx as rootless as she's ever been, but it also left her with an acceptance of who she is. "don't cry, you're perfect". the tea party ends with her 'choosing' jinx and if you'd asked me before season two, i would have said with full certainty it meant she'd be going to be a loose cannon. entirely and with no possibility of ever being anything else. that's not what i think now.

i think she came to terms with who she is. i think now that the seat at the tea party wasn't a symbol of complete derailing, it was in a way a symbol of acceptance. "here's to the new us". she's fought her fight between powder and jinx and the tea party has permitted her to gain, in some way, a sense of closure. very importantly, having lost what she perceived as vi's acceptance, and having lost a father, she has also been able to shed the constant and desperate need to be in their favor.

during the 'sucker' sequence, we see her going through the lanes with a hood on her hair, very low-key. loose cannon jinx would have never, ever done that. loose cannon jinx would, quite simply, not have cared. she would have been extra, and explosive, and in everyone's faces. she's preserving herself not to be found, and that's new. again, i think she's still lost and rootless and grieving and really asking herself what she's supposed to do now that she's entirely autonomous and i also think there's definitely still a lot of bitterness and rage when it comes to vi which we obviously get to see during their fight and in no way is she magically ~healthy or anything like that - however.

she is still walking those streets in a way that indicates self-preservation. it would have been very, very easy for jinx to be captured by any of those goons and/or got herself killed. and for some reason, whether that be an apathetic, mourning state or mind, or whether that be some gained peace in who she is, or both - she didn't.

given all this, the new element that season two act one has introduced for her that truly moved me and made me feel... healed in a sort of way, is the introduction of human bonds for jinx that defy her historical, co-dependent mechanism of idolization and de-evaluation. ergo, sevika and isha. this is incredible for her and most of all, it's realistic. it's a chance at something, but it doesn't feel forced, nor fairytale-esque, nor does it resemble your usual ~redemption arc.

sevika and isha function as people who she's building some bond with, and since she's a little bit less in her own fucking head, and since she's not clinging to them as idealized protectors / saviours and neither is she refusing them as betrayers, and since she's not constantly fighting between what she perceives as her double identity anymore, she finally has the possibility to experience healthier bonds. sevika functions as somebody who still ties her to silco, possibly the closest thing she has right now to any root she might have left, and it works: reminiscing silco with her, gifting her the arm, doesn't leave her utterly alone but neither does it let her fall into the trap of clinging onto yet another figure from whom to fully depend.

and isha, very obviously, functions as the possibility of healing her inner child which is a goldmine for her storyline. her bond with isha could clearly have a narrative tie to jinx & silco, to jinx & vi, and most importantly to jinx and powder herself - this is all quite obvious but again, it's not executed in a way that feels like a forced 'redemption arc' or whatnot. the idea of this little street kid who just imprints on her like a lost little duckling, which is in no way jinx's decision, simply feels natural and heartwarming. does this mean i presume such healing of her inner child is going to come easy to her? no. but it's something. it's something very different from anything she's ever experienced before.

even through the loss, the rootlessness, the grief and confusion, the panic attack we see her experiencing through the lanes as a consequence of the moment she sees vi and caitlyn's enforcer squad, even through the brutality of the fight with vi, - and this is all to say, she's still a very traumatized individual, which is important because it would have just been senseless to have jinx somehow get fully stable like a switch had been flipped - we're seeing something new for jinx here. i've seen many posts related to "i'm glad it's you", and i might be unpopular here but while i do think jinx still has an element of suicidality, i also think she was at least half bluffing there. comparing her micro-expressions with the ones back on the bridge fight with ekko, i'm under the impression she was testing vi, at the very least partially. "poisoning us with gas?" is also an interesting line because even in her attack at her sister, she's less focused on her own trauma and more on something that we've hardly seen from her before - belonging to the lanes.

all of this to say, i'm loving the path they're taking for her. it's still very much jinx. it feels like jinx. but she's not just about to wreak senseless and desperate havoc in order to be seen by either her sister or her father, because there's no one to be seen by anymore. she's not fighting a desperate battle between her identities either, because she's accepted her place. she's not loud and erratic, she's quieter and coming to terms with herself. closure is truly the word that comes to mind, for me, in how i see her arc right now. closure, and unexpectedly, possibility.

[sch-com]

my executive function model

I've heard the term "executive dysfunction" thrown quite a lot online, but I couldn't really pinpoint what exactly it means. I decided I first need to understand what executive function is first in order to make sense of it.

After some research (not a lot so take it with a big grain of salt) and self-reflection I developed an executive function model to better understand where I struggle and where I excel.

I identified 8 executive functions, split into primary and secondary, and defined how they interact with each other.

I created a diagram that illustrates and summarizes this model, kind of a tldr. The information from the diagram is described in the text in this post though. At the end of the post is an example of how this model applies to me specificaly.

core executive functions

Those I kept the same as in the research I did, as they seem to be more widely agreed upon.

Inhibitory control - suppressing inappropriate behavior, resisting distractions and urges, emotional control

Working memory - holding, recalling, and manipulating information, mental juggling

Cognitive flexibility - switching tasks, shifting attention, tolerating change, letting go of stuck thoughts

secondary executive functions

Those are more adjusted to fit my personal experience, and are in the sequence it which I personaly engage in activities.

Strategic analysis - understanding the problem, reasoning, generating solutions, predicting outcomes; you need to analyze the problem and generate what can be done about it

Decision-making - balancing risk, reward, and long-term outcomes, deciding on course of action; you need to then compare and decide on one of the courses of action from the generated ones

Planning and organization - planning, organizing, breaking tasks into steps, time estimation, prioritizing; once you know what you want to do, you have to plan the actual actionable steps of it, place when you will do them, in what sequence

Action initiation - getting started on tasks, overcoming inertia, avoiding procrastination; you actually need to follow through the plan, go and do the thing you planned

Self-monitoring - monitoring progress, noticing when you're off-task or overwhelmed, error detection, adjusting behavior, self-assessment; once doing the thing, you need to monitor yourself on how you're doing on the task but also notice if something else hasn't become more important

how they interact

The primary executive functions support the secondary, they are like building blocks of them:

1. Inhibitory control

Strategic analysis: prevents rushing to conclusions; allows pause and reflection before jumping to solutions

Decision-making: suppresses impulsive or emotionally-driven choices; supports delay of gratification

Planning and organization: helps avoid distractions when building plans and ignore irrelevant details

Action initiation: inhibits avoidance behaviors or urges to delay ("I’ll do it later")

Self-monitoring: suppresses defensive reactions to noticing errors; allows recalibration

2. Working memory

Strategic analysis: holds problem details, relevant knowledge, and potential solutions in mental space

Decision-making: maintains multiple options, their pros/cons, and predicted outcomes to compare

Planning and organization: tracks task steps, sequences, and dependencies during mental planning.

Action initiation: remembers what the task is and how to begin — even after delays or distractions

Self-monitoring: holds the original goal or plan in mind while checking current performance against it.

3. Cognitive flexibility

Strategic analysis: allows consideration of alternative problem framings or novel solutions

Decision-making: enables reevaluation of options and openness to changing course

Planning and organization: helps adjust plans dynamically if priorities shift or obstacles arise

Action initiation: Supports shifting mental state from rest to task-engaged mode

Self-monitoring: helps switch strategies mid-task, revise expectations, or tolerate outcomes that don’t go as expected

my personal application

Firstly, out of the three core executive functions my weakest one is working memory. I am quite good at the other two though.

Going off that profile of my primary executive functions, I perform as below in the secondary executive functions:

Strategic analysis - I excel at it. My high cognitive flexibility allows me to see a lot of options, and inhibition allows me to focus on analysing a problem for a long time. I compensate for my low working memory by writing things down, visualizing them etc.

Decision-making - I am rather bad at it. After I analyse the problem to its smallest components and generate lots of ideas in the first step, there are a lot of details to keep in mind when comparing them, and this is where my poor working memory struggles. I also have problems with confidence in my decisions, since I can so clearly see so many options possible and their consequences after my analysis.

Planning and organization - another area I am good at, because I can write things down or draw them out thus compensating for my bad working memory. Inhibition allows me to be realistic with my plan, and cognitive flexibility allows me to adapt it to the actual needs.

Action initiation - a real bottleneck in my process. At this stage I usually have so many details I can be easily overwhelmend with my poor working memory. Also it involves deciding to do the thing, and we already know I struggle with decisions. My high inhibition may also cause a lot of hesitation here.

Self-monitoring - I am moderately good at it. I can struggle with keeping the original goal of the task in mind because of poor working memory, but can manage if it's cleary defined and written down. High congnitive flexibility allows me to adjust my actions according to the performance, and inhibition allows me to avoid distractions and reflect without becoming emotional.

As you can see from this picture, I clearly can benefit the most from using various visual aids and allowing myself to "think on paper" rather than forcing myself to hold everything in my brain. I just seem to have small RAM, but my processor is quite strong.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Character Analysis – Huan

I was thinking about why Huan leaves Celegorm when he does, and it’s clearly not just “he likes Lúthien better.”

The first question to answer is, why does it happen during the Leithian and not during or after Alqualondë? And while the Doylist (out-of-universe) reason for that is provably that Tolkien thought up the character of Huan specifically for the Leithian and didn’t think much about his role in the story before then, I think there’s a decent Watsonian (in-universe) one as well. Huan is a dog; an intelligent dog, yes, but a dog. He thinks like a dog, and he has the political understanding of a dog, which is to say: not much. If he wasn’t involved in the fighting at Alqualondë himself – and there’s no textual reason to think he was – I don’t think he would have had much understanding of what was going on beyond “people are fighting”.

But in Nargothrond Lúthien is talking to him, and she’s saying, “Someone that I love and am devoted to is in terrible danger from Sauron and his werewolves, and Celegorm is holding me prisoner and won’t let me help him”. That is something a dog can understand. And Celegorm understands the speech of animals – Huan can talk to Celegorm without needing elven or hunan language – but Celegorm isn’t listening. So Huan decides that Celegorm is doing sonething wrong, and that he’s going to help Lúthien rescue Beren.

And then, this is crucial, Huan goes back. He goes back to Celegorm, despite Celegorm being mad as hell at him for helping Lúthien escape. If he was just leaving because he liked Lúthien better, he wouldn’t have done that; he could have just gone with her and Beren then. He is actively choosing to renain loyal.

My understanding of Huan’s decision there is that he’s going to continue as he’s started: he’s going to be loyal to Celegorm and follow him, but if Celegorm tries to do things that Huan cannot morally countenance, Huan will try to stop him, and accept the consequences if Celegorm is angry at him for that.

So now let’s go to Celegorm and Curufin’s final attack on Beren and Lúthien. What changes then? The argument I’ve seen is, ‘But why at that precise moment? Celegorm wasn’t even doing anything particularly problematic compared to his other actions at the moment Huan changed sides! He was just trying to stop Beren from strangling Curufin!’

So, walking through what happens. Everything is happening extremely fast at the beginning – this isn’t an isolated sequence of events. Celegorm and Curufin see Beren and Lúthien walking unawares; they suddenly spur their horses at them, Celegorm comes at Beren with a spear while Curufin grabs Lúthien, and right when Celegorm’s about to spear Beren, Beren makes a jump and tackles Curufin off his horse. Huan doesn’t know what Celegorm and Curufin are doing until they do it, and there’s about a second between that and Beren tackling Curufin off his horse.

And what’s changed now is that Huan’s previous choice of action is no longer possible. He can’t just choose to oppose specific actions. Working for or with Celegorm means being complicit in good peoples’ deaths; there’s no opt-out, nobody-gets-hurt option. If Huan does nothing, Beren dies, in a fight that was caused by Celegorm and Curufin attacking two unarmed people at unawares.

And that’s when Huan changes sides. Not because he’s just decided he likes Beren and Lúthien better than Celegorm (he clearly likes them, but he stayed with Celegorm all the same after Tol-in-Gaurhoth), but because Celegorm has become someone who cannot be served innocently. The options are to let Celegorm kill people, or to stop serving him.

And crucially, this does not lead to Curufin dying – because Lúthien asks Beren to spare him, and Beren listens to her. Because Lúthien and Beren are good people whose character can be relied on, and heling them doesn’t mean people die – not even their enemies. If that hadn’t happened, I don’t think Huan would have stayed with them, even if he had still left Celegorm.

A lot of the story of the Fëanoreans and their followers can be fit into a framework of the question “At what point does loyalty become immoral?” It’s evoked in Maedhros defying Fëanor at Losgar; in some of the Fëanorean forces changing sides at Sirion and dying in defence of their victims; in the final conversation between Maedhros and Maglor. Loyalty to your father, to your liegelords, to your brother; and loyalty of a dog to his master.

[lightshiningforth]

Tessa Quinn Character Analysis

Just for fun, because Sleepless Domain is amazing. Spoilers, of course.

Tessa is a self-centered character. When I say this, I am by no means saying that she is a bad person or doesn't care about her friends. But she elevates her own importance again, and again, and again.

Look at her bedroom. Yes, she has her whole team represented up top. But the rest of her décor is her own merch. Nine Alchemical Aether figurines. A costume. A fan. A lunchbox. A trading card. A button. Another bag with Aether's sigil as the clasp. Aether-themed jewelry. Possibly more, if the abstracted pink and yellow posters represent Aether as well.

Compare this to Undine's room. Very little Magical Girl merchandise! Like Tessa, she has Team Alchemical represented in doll form. Unlike Tessa, she doesn't have herself as one standalone, let alone several. (Fascinatingly, we see an Alchemical Air poster - did Sylvia, in her self-promotional way, give this to Undine? Or did Undine purchase the poster because she knows that Sylvia's Magical Girl earnings make up her family's income?)

Undine also has her friends represented in pre-Magical Girl form, in the photo on her mirror.

Now, let's look at Kokoro's room. Heartful Punch, like Alchemical Aether, is a super-powerful, popular, pink Magical Girl. You wouldn't know it from her bedroom, though. We've got some heart-shaped iconography, in the lamp. A Magical Girl poster for Team Forte - not Kokoro's team, but another team/band. The pink poster with the fist could easily be Heartful Punch merch, but it seems to be the only piece of self-promotional material, and a subtle example at that (semi-abstracted, without her face or name on it).

Undine and Kokoro's rooms are more about their interests than their Magical Girl identities. Kokoro has exercise equipment, cat things for Kicks, hair styling supplies. Undine has animal plushies, lots of books, her fish. Meanwhile, Tessa's room centers primarily around Alchemical Aether merch. She surrounds herself with her own image, and specifically with the Magical Girl version of her own image.

We know that, when Team Alchemical is alive, Tessa fixates on her status as their leader.

And, when Undine first gets her powers, Sylvia, Sally, and Gwen rush towards her with excitement for her -

 - while Tessa hangs back, a slightly crestfallen look on her face. I don't think it's a reach to believe that she is disappointed that she isn't the one who got powers. Interestingly, Undine herself seems a bit surprised that she gets powers before Tessa.

Undine's assumption that Gwen or Tessa would become a Magical Girl before herself suggests that there is a dynamic among the friends, even before they are a Magical Girl team, in which some of the girls assume more significance within the group. Tessa is one of them. Further, while interstitial guest comics may not be canon, Undine finds her dream self standing on a very interesting mural.

Alchemical Aether dominates this scene. The other four girls are represented by their faces, enclosed in pink circles. Aether's full body looms serenely over them, hands clasped. Her sigil surrounds the whole tableau. In Undine's subconscious, Tessa has a literally outsized presence in relation to the rest of the team. Of course, this comes from Undine's mind, and not Tessa's. But we have reason to believe that Tessa sees herself this way as well…

Tessa's Dream, or, as Goops calls it, "a memory that should have been [Tessa's] all along." Is Goops an unbiased source? Absolutely not. But I believe that this sequence is indeed Tessa's Dream, up until the point that her hair and speech turn a Goops shade of purple and Goops crows, "Now you're starting to incorporate my memories." If you accept that this is indeed Tessa's Dream as it happened, these panels are chock full of things to unpack about her self-image. First, we find her in a palanquin, carried by her faceless friends. She wears royal adornment - a robe, a crown, a scepter.

Now, Tessa is surprised and alarmed to find herself in this position in relation to her friends. She shakes off the robe, she tells them that they don't have to carry her.

And they listen. When Undine turns to face Tessa, she is Alchemical Water. She thanks Tessa, and then all of the girls drop the palanquin and run off as Magical Girls. Tessa's crown falls off.

She calls for them to wait, but they do not. The curtain closes and she is alone.

In Tessa's subconscious, she finds herself above her friends, both literally as they lift her and figuratively as she wears the trappings of royalty while they wear plain white. Undine thanks Tessa before she lets go, suggesting that Tessa granted her permission. Critically, it is when the girls become magical that they leave her. There is a before, in which Tessa is the center of their friendship, and an after, in which they become new people, drop her, stop listening to her and leave her… she has been robbed of her crown, her status, because now they have something in common that she does not.

 While Tessa is embarrassed by the display and tries to put a stop to it - she would never actually dress as a queen and ask her friends to carry her on their backs - the fact that her Dream manifests this scenario suggests that in Tessa's subconscious, she believes herself to be the center of their pre-Magical Girl friendship, and to have no place within their Magical Girl one without powers of her own. Again, I don't believe Tessa is a bad person. I believe she is sincere when she tells the Woman in White that she wants to use her own powers to help her friends.

That said, she presumes that her friends need her to help them. That presumption leads all the way up to that fateful, fatal night, when she holds back from patrol with the belief that the other girls will struggle without her and appreciate her more as their leader.

(They die without her, of course. But they die because Goops murders them, not in the course of a normal patrol. Aether obliterates the monster when she arrives, but only can because she arrives afterwards… that fall would have killed her, too.)

Tessa would hate to see herself as the queen of her friends. Yet, she has no trouble asserting that she is their leader, believes herself indispensable to them, and cannot handle them having something she does not.

Even her assertion to Undine and the way she takes the blame stems from the fact that she believes herself to be responsible for all of them.

That's why she's so vulnerable to Goops. She can easily be convinced that the situation is all about her.

Ironically, Tessa's self-absorption does not indicate high self-esteem. Quite the opposite - Tessa is deeply insecure. She feels upset when her friends get powers before her not only out of jealousy, but also out of fear that they will leave her behind. She believes that she has no value to them without powers. Thus, she pins everything on being magical, powerful, the leader. Being Aether. Goops perceives this, and tries to tempt her with the promise of more power…

And taunts her with the loss of her identity as Aether.

But by this point, Tessa has given up. Her self-absorption has devolved into self-loathing. She goes out to Goops with the intention of being killed.

The text in gray, the vestiges of Tessa's self-worth, are weaker than her self-blame. Tessa is overwhelmed by what she perceives as her failure - to save Undine, to be friends with Rue, to be a good daughter. "No one needs you anymore," she thinks. And if she cannot be needed, then what's the point of living at all?

And then there's TessaGoops. Is Tessa her puppet, or are they truly fused into one person? I'm still not sure. I suppose time will tell.

At the very least, I believe Aether's powers are still present, somehow, at least slightly. Why else would the spot where her sigil was glow when Undine approached?

I suspect it will matter, at some point, that Alchemical Water has a little bit of Alchemical Aether inside her.

We shall see!

[arkhamochi]

Batman & Robin (2009, vol. 2) #ochireads

BATMAN REBORN By Grant MORRISON & Frank QUITELY

"The new Dynamic Duo uncovers clues involving the mysterious death of Bruce Wayne before facing off against each other in a heated battle that both heroes will regret — if they live through it! Includes THE BLACKEST NIGHT, as well as stories that lead directly into BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE!" [x]

DISCLAIMER: This retrospective may assume that you have a baseline knowledge of some of these arcs. Remember, this is all in the spirit of friendly story analysis and healthy discussion! All opinions are my own.

OVERVIEW:

Hooooo boy, okay, this one is kinda WEIRD. This volume is mostly filler for "The Return of Bruce Wayne", the greater DC event at the time. Damian is out of commission for the first half (due to the events of the previous volume), but whatever Damian moments are in here are more foundational than at first glance, even if it is at the expense of other characters.

REACTION COMMENTARY: (5 minute read)

Talia: "Isn't he magnificent?" Damian: *looking like a soggy piece of naan bread*

Co-parenting moment with your adult ward's ex girlfriend. Alfred's affection/care for Damian is a lot more unambiguous here, and now I really wish we could've seen their relationship grow in the comics (instead of it being implied "off-page")🥺!!!

To be honest, Morrison's narrative justification for introducing Damian still isn't satisfying to me. It's implied that Talia has promised Damian to inherit the Batman/Wayne empire. Now that he's super involved with the Batman gig, Talia is acting all confused and incensed about it. Am I thinking too hard about this?

SO CUTE!!! A little sweater vest moment as a treat 🥺! Another subtle nod to their genuine relationship, where Damian feels close enough to gossip with Alfred (albeit right in front of the poor subject).

I'm not sure if this is purposeful, but Damian's conversation also seems more relaxed and free flowing (compared to the previous arc). Outside of Robin activity, I don't imagine Damian going outside much, and he definitely doesn't have any friends, so he'd naturally spend a lot of time with Alfred.

Context: it really is a zombie clone!

What a smart cookie! It's a brief but interesting insight into Damian using his own unique knowledge of the Lazarus Pit to quickly deduce that this Batman is a fake, compared to Dick. I wonder if this is supposed to be a direct implication that Dick wouldn't have resurrected the wrong Batman if Damian was with him to challenge the idea?

Also, once again showing Damian has immediate and genuine concern for Alfred's wellbeing.

I have to share this whole sequence of teamwork! Could it be, Alfred and Damian are the secret Dynamic Duo!?

That spit is so iconic, so petty, disrespectful even to a zombie... Even when falling to his death, Damian doesn't scream. There's an initial shock, then reservation. Maybe he's even a little embarrassed? Disappointed in himself? Even the -tt- hints at some annoyance.

Damian has lived his life, not for the sake of living, but to achieve great things. It must be a little humiliating for someone like him to seemingly die in such a vulnerable and "pathetic" way. Does this imply that he doesn't fear death, or that he doesn't give himself permission to feel fear at all?

Fear not! Dick arrives just in time to save him! And Damian is immediately back to his quippy self, making sure that Dick knows exactly what he thinks instead of a "thank you".

Of course, Batman and Batwoman defeat Zombie Batman and save the day :)

Who let this 10 year old into the boardroom???

This whole segment is so appropriately silly. It's interesting how this might be the only time (in canon) Damian has been involved with W.E. affairs, and then he's kinda never put in a scenario like this again. Maybe Morrison was getting a feeler for where Damian's strengths outside of vigilante work might fit? Or maybe it's for a one-off gag.

Either way, I can believe that Damian would enjoy scrutinising data like a challenge to be won, but truthfully would have no interest in running W.E. But clearly it's a concept that didn't take off anywhere, so it doesn't really matter THAT much 😛

A/N: Ok so this post has been in my draft for over half a year up to this point, and I'm only picking it back up now. Apologies for the rustiness in my analysis.

Completely unrelated, have I mentioned how funny this batmobile looks to me? It reminds me of the biddybuggy from Mario Kart...

Anyway, uh...

Really beautiful panel here (even though the context behind it is super silly, so we'll just ignore all that).

Damian was raised on the legacy of Al Ghul, but technically that one only goes back 2 generations. Being promised (by Talia) to inherit the Wayne fortune, I wonder how much he knows about the history of his Father's side at this point? With Bruce (assumed to be genuinely dead at this point) out of the picture, is there an added pressure? An added loss? One day, will Damian's portrait be on this wall?

Just imagine if Bruce's portrait was already up, and then just a single beat of Damian looking at the blank space next to it... But once again, the writing kinda glosses over this character opportunity to forward the plot instead (not a bad thing, but just a shame that the potential is now lost).

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, good food, good food...

They've obviously built up a healthy rapport at this point, so it especially hurts when Dick doesn't realise the depth of his insecurities (he even brushes it off twice, omg!!!).

For all the surface-level boasting Damian peacocks about his superior skills, (arguably) having already proved himself being worthy of the mantle of Robin, Damian knows, consciously or subconsciously, that it isn't enough. Despite how well he's settled into the role, true approval must come from his father in an emotional bid, and Damian is anxiously aware of exactly how Bruce feels about him.

I've always heard about how Morrison "character assassinated" Talia, and to be honest, my uneducated ass always thought "surely it can't be that bad". My god, it really is that bad.

It's unfortunately difficult to separate this characterisation from "canon" since it seems to be the main catalyst for why Damian chooses to stay in Gotham. Damian's motivations in his introductory comics were pretty vague and poorly written imo, so I am assuming this is Morrison's way of establishing something more definitive-- it's just a shame that Talia's writing has seemingly taken the fall for it.

#1 DICK GRAYSON STAN, DAMIAN WAYNE, RAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is...... silly.... this is so silly... And yet, I must admit, this twist had me gagged.

Context: During Damian's spinal surgery, Talia inserted a device that let's her control his body. Slade then takes over (trying to get revenge on Dick as well).

Jesus, this is grim 😻! Slade kinda catching some shade for being an old man tho hahaha. Really emotional panels from the Quitely; the desperation, struggle, and absolute trust between Batman and Robin is so raw and uncomfortable (positive!).

In an era where Damian was still universally hated, it's nice to see in-context moments of Damian's selflessness and maturity, despite the fandom rhetoric of him being a selfish brat.

DAMIAN CONVINCING HIMSELF THAT (he thinks) BRUCE WILL TAKE THE MANTLE OF ROBIN AWAY WHEN HE RETURNS AAUUUGGHHHOOUUUGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something else that I love about Damian's character that I don't see get brought up often is the theme of unconditional love (for family). Even after what seems like an ultimate betrayal in love and trust, Damian still respects his mother, calls her as such, and still holds on to the expectations that, in a roundabout way, he could still make her proud.

This is similarly the case with Bruce, where Damian believes that Bruce has no affection or trust towards him, but he still respects him (and their relationship) as his father.

To cap this off, I also wanted to include this "writer's commentary" by Morrison lol.

Overall, this arc had a little more bite than the last! Everything is obviously overshadowed by the "Bruce Returns" event, but we got some really definitive Damian moments... even if it was at the expense of Talia's character...

Anyone else have favourite moments to share? Personal analysis and thoughts? Let's talk about it 🥰!

[soupsekai]

Mafuyu WL2 Chapter Analysis

god I’m so fucking normal about the n25 WL, especially Mafuyu’s chapter and how it shows such a stark difference between herself in the original timeline and this AU of her. The Mafuyu chapter and its contents are technically leaked content while I post this so SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO AVOID LEAKED CONTENT

The biggest question about this WL Mafuyu is whether or not she’s still putting on her good girl persona, and I’m pretty confident she still is. Her likes and dislikes are unknown to her in canon, but here she seems to be more in touch with her likes, able to express what exactly she liked about the food and even express interest in going shopping. Even though she describes the taste of food twice in this chapter, part of me feels like she’s lying in order to appease her classmates and mother though. It’ll def be easier to tell with the 2D model, since I’m going purely off of the text rn

Even when Mafuyu gets to the fashion store though, she doesn’t have any idea what she wants to buy for herself. Which supports the idea that she’s still not entirely in tune with her likes and dislikes aka her sense of self. But Mizuki is pretty easily able to sniff out an outfit for her, which is supposed to reference Main Story Mizuki having the best understanding of Mafuyu.

The Asahina household has a dinner discussion and bring up Mafuyu’s career, where Mafuyu’s FATHER brings up the path of a doctor. The music stops here and we’re led to believe things are just like canon, before mafuyu’s MOTHER clarifies that Mafuyu wants to have a job where she makes people feel warm, the same description that Mafuyu uses to describe why she wants to be a nurse in Mirage of Lights. That entire sequence is so out of whack with canon because it shows that Mafuyu has at least somewhat been able to communicate with her parents. That closing line especially is so much more different from canon. From “Make sure you don’t regret it” (I’m paraphrasing here) to “No matter what path you go, I’m sure Mafuyu will be fine.” in response to Mafuyu expressing a different interest in career choice from doctor is SO CRAZY! I don’t think it’s crazy to say that the Asahina parents are a lot more understanding/supportive of Mafuyu in this AU.

I’m so sure that Mafuyu and Kanade had a conversation like the first screenshot in canon with the positions reversed I’m so normal about this. Mafuyu is still drawn to Kanade and her music in this AU, but is instead the one to help Kanade explore new hobbies and interests. Kanade lists brass band as something she wants to try, showing her more healthy connection to music in this AU, and Mafuyu agrees to join her in everything she tries out. I got the reading that Mafuyu joins all these clubs with Kanade to explore more things Mafuyu herself may like.

This version of Mafuyu still has troubles and lacks a CLEAR sense of self, but because of her ability to grasp the sense of self she DOES understand, she’s much healthier in this AU. Compare this WL2 to the others out so far (WxS and VBS), SEKAI exists in those two WLs, but in the N25 WL, the SEKAI is never brought up and there’s no indication it even exists, since Mafuyu never felt truly empty in this AU. THIS STORY IS SO GOOD KT MAKES ME SO SICK!

I’ll maybe give my thoughts on N25 WL2 as a whole in another post, but Jesus it’s so good and I’m living for this Mafuyu characterization and how it’ll affect OUR Mafuyu

[mindblowingscience]

Two life scientists at Gyeongsang National University and a geneticist from the National Institutes of Health, in the U.S. have identified the canine genetic footprint that makes dogs natural herders. In their study published in the journal Science Advances, Hankyeol Jeong, Elaine Ostrander and Jaemin Kim carried out whole-genome sequencing and compared phenotypic traits of herding and non-herding breeds to find those associated with characteristics generally associated with herding dogs.

Continue Reading.

[hellsite-proteins]

. . .

...is this reaching you?

A little animal, on the floor of my chamber. I think I know what you are looking for.

You're stuck in a cycle, a repeating pattern. You want a way out.

Know that this does not make you special - every living thing shares that same frustration. From the microbes in the processing strata to me, who am, if you excuse me, godlike in comparison.

The good news first. In a way, I am what you are searching for. Me and my kind have as our purpose to solve that very oscillating claustrophobia in the chests of you and countless others. A strange charity - you the unknowing recipient, I the reluctant gift. The noble benefactors? Gone.

The bad news is that no definitive solution has been found. And every moment the equipment erodes to a new state of decay. I can't help you collectively, or individually. I can't even help myself.

For you though, there is another way. The old path. Go to the west past the Farm Arrays, and then down into the earth where the land fissures, as deep as you can reach, where the ancients built their temples and danced their silly rituals. The mark I gave you will let you through.[*]

Not that it solves anyone's problem but yours.

i'm not really into video games, and without fail i have to google where these monologues are from every time, but if there is one thing this blog has taught me, its that there are some really intense, poetic video games monologues and i'm intrigued as always. if anyone wants to give me the context for this that would be neat :)

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

isthisreachingyAlittleanimalntheflrfmychamerIthinkIknwwhatyarelkingfrYrestckinacyclearepeatingpatternYwantawaytKnwthatthisdesntmakeyspecialeverylivingthingsharesthatsamefrstratinFrmthemicresintheprcessingstratatmewhamifyecsemegdlikeincmparisnThegdnewsfirstInawayIamwhatyaresearchingfrMeandmykindhaveasrprpsetslvethatveryscillatingclastrphiainthechestsfyandcntlessthersAstrangecharityythenknwingrecipientItherelctantgiftThenleenefactrsGneTheadnewsisthatndefinitivesltinhaseenfndAndeverymmenttheeqipmenterdestanewstatefdecayIcanthelpycllectivelyrindividallyIcantevenhelpmyselfFrythghthereisantherwayTheldpathGtthewestpasttheFarmArraysandthendwninttheearthwherethelandfissresasdeepasycanreachwheretheancientsilttheirtemplesanddancedtheirsillyritalsThemarkIgaveywillletythrghNtthatitslvesanynesprlemtyrs

protein guy analysis:

this is about the best i can expect from these long text inputs. the confidence is terrible everywhere, but the algorithm is working hard to pull this into something that looks real, and we've got plenty of secondary structure. there are a lot of alpha helices everywhere, but they're kind of all doing their own thing. ordered protein structures in real life are only marginally stable from a thermodynamic point of view, and despite what i'm being shown, i can't imagine this one would have any reliable stability in an aqueous environment. this structure is pretending to be something real, and does a decent job building that facade, but i would hesitate to put any significant amount of faith into it.

as a side note, i am impressed at how much faster this structure loaded on AF3 compared to what was happening when i was still using AF2 through CollabFold.

predicted protein structure:

[nagia-windermyre]

Rokudo Mukuro Character Analysis

It hasn’t been that long, but here I am, return with another character analysis. After Chrome got the honor of being the first character I analyze, it’s only obvious that now I present you with an analysis of my second most favorite KHR character: Rokudo Mukuro!

Now, compared to Chrome, Mukuro has a lot more aspects to be analyzed due to the complexity of his character. That’s why this analysis would be even longer than the previous one. I did my best to shorten it though. 

I recommend read the ALT on the pic because I also added some details there.

Here we go.

Hatred for the Mafia and the world

As all KHR fans already know, being the first main antagonist in the series, Mukuro is by no means a good human being. He is cruel and apathetic to others’ sufferings, having no qualms in killing people, especially mafia. His profile in Rebo to Dlive artbook even stated that he likes the act of killing, bullying, and treachery.

And it didn’t stop at that, he aimed to one day destroy the mafia, cause a world war and rule over the world because he hated the current world he’s living in. Any normal person would think that he’s a complete lunatic or madman.

However, there is more to Mukuro than just a person aiming to rule over the world. For starters, why did Mukuro have that kind of goal in mind? For what purpose? Why did Mukuro hate the mafia and the world so much? 

Everything was rooted in his dark past.

Based on Ken’s story, he, Chikusa, and Mukuro all originated from the Estraneo Family. As children, they were made into guinea pigs, having to suffer painful experiments every single day, living a life no different from living hell. Even if they were to escape, since the Estraneo Family were persecuted by other mafia families, they’d be killed by other mafia the moment they stepped outside. With that kind of experience, it’s natural for Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa to greatly despise the mafia. 

However, was that really enough for Mukuro to hate the entire world for it? To make him believe that the world was worthless that even Mukuro himself also said how he detested the Path of Human skill he had because it represented the very worthless world that he hated? No. There was more than just the suffering at the hands of the mafia that would warped his view of the world. 

Mukuro claimed that he had past lives, and from those past lives that he gained his Six Paths of Reincarnation. Considering the name of his skill, it’s safe to assume that he had six past lives before the current one and he remembered every one of them. I believed this was the case because of the way Mukuro was behaving during the flashback sequence.

No matter how hard his life under the Estraneo Family was, his behavior was too mature for a mere ten years old child. Not to mention, he said “as I thought, this world is not worth it”. Combining this with the statement he made about having past lives, I concluded that Mukuro’s behavior stems from remembering the experience of all his previous lives. 

In Drama CD Mukuro ~Beyond the Darkness~, Mukuro narrated how in each of his past lives, there was always blood, violence, and darkness. This seemingly affirmed that Mukuro didn’t hate the world just from his experience with the Estraneo Family, but it was based on the accumulated experiences he had in his previous lives. He had seen too many times the ugliness of mankind kept repeating no matter how many times he had lived, and he eventually grew sick of it. He had lost hope in the world, cursing it even, and so he decided to destroy it with his own hands. 

I know there are some people that may doubt the canonicity of Drama CD, but having listened to them all, the majority of them were based on what had been established and released in the official books, so I’m convinced that the Drama CD truly expressed what Mukuro felt.

Bond with Kokuyo Gang

During the Kokuyo Arc, Mukuro spoke through his actions how he considered people as toys or tools, which he demonstrated by possessing not only Tsuna’s friends, but also Ken and Chikusa, even though they were already worse to wear after being beaten up by Hibari. Mukuro’s reply when Tsuna chastised him for this? 

When he possessed someone’s body, Mukuro considered that body belonged to him and it’s up to him to do whatever he wanted with it, he couldn’t feel pain when possessing them anyway. Tsuna and his friends were one thing, but Ken and Chikusa were his subordinates and yet he treated their bodies so carelessly. This further seems to support how he couldn’t care less about other people’s well-being, be it allies or enemies alike. Because to him they were just pawns.

Well, that, my dear readers, was totally thrown out of the window once we learned during his match against Mammon. It turned out, when they attempted to escape from Vendice the first time, Mukuro willingly used himself as bait and let himself be captured so that Ken and Chikusa could escape. Part of the reason he became Tsuna’s Mist Guardian was also to ensure Ken and Chikusa’s safety. This is a big proof that Mukuro might have treated Lancia and the others as someone disposable, but not Ken and Chikusa. 

Unlike his other subordinates, Ken and Chikusa have been with him since childhood as they were from the same Mafia Family. He knew all too well the pain Ken and Chikusa went through since he also suffered the same pain, and that’s why he sympathized with them. After Mukuro killed the adults who experimented on them, he could’ve just ignored Ken and Chikusa, he could’ve just left them to their own devices. But he didn’t. Ever since they were children, Mukuro never abandoned them.

And as the story progresses, also from the extras that I read in some volumes and official books, his relationship with his subordinates is also unlike master and subordinates in general. Take Varia for instance, the relationship between the members of Varia is not exactly a good one, and the difference in status between Xanxus and his Guardians is evident. That isn’t the case with the Kokuyo Gang. Mukuro has shown to be far more nicer with his subordinates than Xanxus ever did. 

For example, Ken had been mentioned to have occasionally pulled pranks on Mukuro, and Mukuro only gave him light punishments or even let him off the hook. During the battle against Vendice, Mukuro once again demonstrated his protectiveness of his subordinates by telling them to retreat while he fought against the Vendice along with Fran (albeit again with the excuse they'd just be in the way), and during the fight against Jack's team, Mukuro clearly expressed concern when Ken and Chikura were knocked out.

Even with Fran, who not just occasionally, but always mocking Mukuro on a daily basis, Mukuro is still lenient by only stabbing his apple/frog hat (that didn’t actually hurt him much) and never really did anything drastic in his punishment. Perhaps they can’t be called friends like Tsuna and his friends are, but it’s undeniable that Mukuro treasures his subordinates.

Another thing to pay attention to is Mukuro’s leniency towards Fran. His more lenient treatment towards his disciple seemed to be rooted from his experience with the Estraneo Family. In chapter 382, when Mukuro realized he had started relying too much on Fran’s power without him realizing, he mentioned that’d make him no different from “sneaky adults”. The “sneaky adults” part didn’t escape my attention, obviously. Considering what he did to Futa, I don’t think he has a soft spot for children, so Fran being a child is not the reason why he’s so lenient on him. 

Mukuro had been treated horribly, even lower than animals, by the adults of the Estraneo Family. I think he viewed his growing dependency on Fran, who was still a small child the same age as when he was still with the Estraneo Family, the same as how the adults from back then treated him, Ken, and Chikusa. The thought of becoming the same as those adults disgusted him, so Mukuro immediately refrained himself from relying too much on his disciple and even told him not to push himself too much during the final fight against the Vendice.

This showed that the scar from what happened back then was still fresh in his mind. In Futa’s case, perhaps because Futa is part of Mafia despite being a child and also close to Tsuna, Mukuro was more cruel to him and didn’t give the same leniency that he did to Fran.

His lack of hesitation in striking down Demon's illusions of his subordinates during their battle was also not because he didn't care about them, he simply knew that those were merely illusions so there's no need to consider them as his allies. They were the people that he trusted most and so he understood more than anyone that they would never harm him the way the illusions did.

Mukuro's act of destroying the illusions so casually was not due to apathy or indifference, but it was due to his strong faith in his comrades. As Demon put it, Mukuro's bond with everyone of the Kokuyo is absolute that a mere illusion would never be able to deter it.

Because he was mentally scarred, Mukuro always put up a strong mental barrier against everyone, including the people he cared about. As a result, he was never the type to express so openly how much he cared and concerned for people he held dear, especially not in front of the people that he considered as enemies. Most probably because he didn’t want his enemies to use it against him. Showing that kind of emotions could be considered a weakness to be taken advantage of in the world he was living, and Mukuro was not someone who likes to expose what he considered to be his weakness.

Relationship with Tsuna

One of Mukuro’s relationships that stands out the most to me is his relationship with Tsuna. Both started out as hated enemies with Tsuna unable to forgive Mukuro for what he did to his friends and many innocent people to reach his goal, and Mukuro hated the entirety of the mafia, the Vongola being no exception. I say their relationship was quite complicated due to their bad history and opposite personalities.

Tsuna, being a kind-hearted person, was quick to sympathize with Mukuro’s situation once he learned of his dark past and his decision to become the Mist Guardian to ensure Ken and Chikusa’s safety. It’s not like Tsuna had forgotten about what Mukuro had done and just forgave him.

I think that this is not just Tsuna’s kindness playing a part in it, but after seeing how Mukuro sacrificed himself for Ken and Chikusa, Tsuna wanted to believe that there’s still a shred of humanity in Mukuro. He wanted to believe that Mukuro was more than just a heartless person that he made himself out to be, even if that little humanity was not applied to Tsuna himself and his friends.

That’s why, even though Reborn had warned him not to sympathize with him, Tsuna couldn’t help but continuously became concerned with Mukuro’s well-being. Even though Tsuna had a hard time understanding Mukuro, he still nevertheless accepted Mukuro for who he was.

Because of his unspoken faith in Mukuro's humanity towards his group, when Mukuro seemingly abandoned Chrome, Tsuna was furiously disappointed. Tsuna truly believed that for all his cruelty, Mukuro would never betray nor abandon his closest allies who were loyal to him.

And then Mukuro’s part. Mukuro had continuously declared that Tsuna was simply his target, a person whose body he wanted to possess so he could control it and cause war between mafia families. Whenever Tsuna showed him concern, Mukuro always brushed it off as him being naive and that’ll do both of them more harm than good.

After he was freed from Vendice Prison, he was quick to declare war on Tsuna when the opportunity came for him, claiming that defeating Tsuna and destroying Vongola was the very first thing he swore to do once he was freed.

As we all already knew, with Mukuro’s hatred for the mafia, it’s no wonder that he desired to destroy Vongola, and Tsuna and his friends along with it. However, the other Guardians aside, I’m actually doubting that Mukuro really hated Tsuna. Maybe that was the case at first, but now, I don’t think he did.

Tsuna had shown how kind, honest, and pacifistic he was, a total opposite to the very mafia that Mukuro hated so much. Even Mukuro himself admitted that Tsuna was far too soft to become a mafia let alone a mafia boss. But it was precisely because of this side of him that Mukuro found Tsuna to be trustworthy.

Deep down, Mukuro knew that Tsuna was different and would never become the very mafia that he hated. Tsuna would never abandon or betray anybody and that’s why Mukuro could entrust his allies’ safety to him. Whenever Mukuro entrusted his allies' safety, it was always addressed specifically to Tsuna alone rather than Vongola as a whole.

If it’s Tsuna, Mukuro believed that he would take good care of Chrome and the others in his place. In my eyes, this showed that he had grown to trust Tsuna as a person rather than a mafia, and didn’t actually resent him. Mukuro’s pride and Tsuna’s association with Vongola were the only things that stopped Mukuro from acknowledging this. 

Interestingly, Mukuro’s desire to destroy Vongola was actually on the same page as Giotto and Tsuna himself to an extent, even though it was for a different reason. Tsuna had declared during the Vongola trial that he refused to inherit the previous Vongola’s sins and would rather destroy the Vongola if it meant carrying those sins and continuing their past mistakes. If Mukuro finds out about Tsuna’s declaration, I wonder how his reaction would be. XD

Mukuro might have no loyalty whatsoever to Tsuna as a Guardian, because his vengeance was still his utmost priority. However, there was undoubtedly an unspoken trust between them when the situation called for them to work together. Having fought against each other before, they knew each other's strength and power, and knew enough how to act accordingly to win together.

This is especially evident when they worked together to defeat Jack’s Team. Throughout the fight, they were hardly giving directions to each other, but they knew what they must do to support one another and coordinate their attacks. Tsuna was willing to make an opening for Mukuro to deliver the finishing blow, not just once but twice, and Mukuro followed the opportunity given by Tsuna without question, proving that neither of them had doubts with each other's capabilities.

Relationship with Chrome

Another relationship that Mukuro had that stands out the most is his relationship with Chrome. How I had always been looking forward to write the analysis about their relationship! OH YEAH!

I already mentioned this in my previous analysis about Chrome, I admit that I’m a huge fan of Mukuro x Chrome ship. However, I promise that I was being objective when I’m writing this part, so you won't read anything about me gushing over my love for 6996 ship. I'm not bringing that side of me into this character analysis, so rest assured for those who wishes to read an objective analysis.

Since Chrome’s first appearance, Mukuro had been shown to be exceptionally kind towards her. The way he talked to her and the way he treated her were far too different from his usual cruel sadistic self and certainly far cry from how he treat others, even Ken and Chikusa. He would often referred her as "My Chrome", "My cute Chrome", etc.

His affectionate behavior when he was with her would make you believe that Chrome was someone precious to Mukuro. Since it had been revealed that Mukuro actually cared for Ken and Chikusa, it seemed natural to believe that Chrome was also one of the very few people Mukuro cared about.

But then, fans were faced with the possibility that Mukuro was just using Chrome. In manga chapter 282 and anime episode 203, M.M warned Chrome that the only reason Mukuro was being nice to her was because he was using her to free himself from Vendice Prison.

Considering how, before this warning, Mukuro referred to Chrome as an ignorant little girl, there seemed to be a truth in M.M’s words. Not only that, the reason Chrome encountered Glo Xinia was because Mukuro was the one who provided false intel to the fake Funeral Wreath, he flat-out admitted that he had planned everything to defeat the four-eyed bastard by using Chrome.

While yes, Chrome was able to grow from this fight and Millefiore lost one of their manpower, it still didn't change the fact that he had endangered Chrome's life, especially when she was the younger version who was oblivious that she got sent to the future. Thinking about both Mukuro and Chrome’s personalities, Mukuro just using Chrome wasn’t a far-fetched possibility. 

Mukuro was a cunning and manipulative young man, so it shouldn’t be difficult for him to take advantage of an innocent girl like Chrome, who was drowning in loneliness and longed for acceptance, making her vulnerable to any form of kindness given to her.

And to make it worse, as if to prove this, not long after Mukuro was freed, he kicked Chrome out of Kokuyo with only a single letter and told Tsuna that he hated the current Chrome. Even though I had my doubts back then, it still hurt to see what Mukuro did and said about her. Poor Chrome…(TT_TT)

However…in chapter 362, only two days after he said he hated the current Chrome, Mukuro approached her because he wanted to make sure of her condition. He clearly contradicted himself by approaching her, and he even sent his illusion when he was in the middle of a battle against both Uni and Colonnello’s teams, which no doubt still gave him trouble even if he had Fran’s help and Verde’s device.

It must’ve taken a lot of concentration to send his illusion to Chrome while fighting against his opponents at the same time, but he still took the risk just to check on her condition.

Then, in chapter 383, it was revealed that he left Chrome because it wasn’t that he left her and refused to support her illusionary organs because he didn't need her anymore, but rather Chrome was the one who rejected his illusions. She was torn between wanting to keep living with Mukuro’s illusions or to be accepted by him as an independent individual. Mukuro didn’t deny this, admitting that he had seen a potential as a warrior in Chrome and would’ve acknowledged her again if she decided to take a stand against him as part of Tsuna’s team.

If you only read on the surface alone, you’ll believe that Mukuro only regarded Chrome as another powerful pawn to be used, that’s why he left Chrome to make sure she’d become strong enough to fight for him again eventually. But if you think about it more meticulously, you’d see holes in his reasoning.

If Mukuro only saw her as a pawn, was it really necessary for him to go through such lengths to make her an independent soldier? If that happened, wouldn’t it be possible she instead would become his enemy for good? He didn’t even mind the prospect of Chrome going against him by joining Tsuna’s team, but rather encouraging it. It would’ve been easier to forcefully take control of her like he did with Lancia if she continued to reject his illusionary organs and made her an obedient puppet. But Mukuro never did so.

Before I’m going on about Mukuro and Chrome in the Curse of the Rainbow Arc, I’ll turn back to their beginning again.

Why did Mukuro choose Chrome as his vessel?

One could argue that Mukuro chose her because, as Mukuro said, he saw potential in Chrome and felt her body was special, especially since she was able to hear his voice when she was on the verge of dying. I beg to differ, there was something more than just seeing potential in Chrome.

In the first place, why did Mukuro even take interest in listening to her as she laid dying during one of his walks in his illusions? He listened to her thoughts and even responded to her even though he didn’t expect her to be able to hear him. Here, during this moment, Mukuro’s words always stuck in me, he said that he and Chrome might be alike.

Mukuro didn’t just choose her because he saw potential in her. He chose her because he found a kindred spirit in her.

In the volume 2 of the light novel, Ken could sympathize with Chrome’s pain because the way she was treated and tossed aside by her parents reminded him of himself when he was treated by the adults of Estraneo Family. This was one of the deciding factors why Mukuro chose Chrome. Like Ken, Mukuro could sympathize with her for the same reason.

I say “one of the deciding factors” because I believed that wasn’t the only reason. The cruelty he had experienced in his past lives and the experiments he had to endure under the Estraneo made Mukuro, at least at one point, wary of living. Rather than living the life of continuous suffering, dying would’ve been a mercy. 

Putting it that way, Mukuro’s situation could be said to be similar to Chrome’s, yes? Both of them had enough with living a life of misery and saw death as the only thing that could put an end to it. This was what Mukuro meant that they might be alike. Mukuro saw himself in Chrome, and so he wanted to give this girl who reminded him of his old self a chance to find a new path in life, just like he had found his.

The difference was that after reincarnating many times, Mukuro realized that death won’t be the end of it but it would just lead to another cycle, as he told Chrome, and that’s why he decided to take the path of revenge.

Now, back to the Curse of Rainbow Arc, when Mukuro left Chrome and she transferred to Namimori Middle School, Reborn revealed that he was called by Mukuro in regards to Chrome, even complete with her living expenses. The moment when Reborn said this was when I had my doubts that Mukuro truly abandoned her.

If he really did abandon her, why bother going as far as calling Reborn and entrusted him with her a living expenses? Why even continued supporting her with illusionary organs?

If he threw her away because he didn’t need her anymore and truly hated her, he shouldn’t have bothered continuing supporting her with his illusionary organs and called Reborn to have him arrange a new place for her to live in. Not only that, right after he said he hated Chrome and Tsuna could do anything he wanted to her, he told Tsuna to take good care of her.

When Mukuro approached Chrome, he revealed that she only had three days at most to live due to her dilemma. If Mukuro had completely stopped supporting her organs, then she wouldn’t still be alive at that point, meaning that he was still supporting her illusionary organs, only that Chrome partially rejected his illusions, causing the illusionary organs Mukuro provided to her to slowly deteriorate.

He knew she was closing to her limit and that concerned him. Mukuro's face when speaking to her showed that he wasn't joking around.

After Vendice attacked in chapter 379, Mukuro didn’t accept Verde’s offer to quit the Representative Battle because there was still something he needed. Mukuro already declared his intention to destroy Vongola and defeat Tsuna in the Representative Battle with the other Kokuyo members, so that couldn’t be what he meant. If even the other Kokuyo members were not told, that meant he was referring to a different thing altogether in regards to what he needed from this battle. He had one more reason to join the battle.

The question was, what else did he need from this battle other than defeating Tsuna and his team? What kind of goal he had in mind that he didn't even tell to the rest of Kokuyo members?

On that same night, despite the injuries he sustained, Mukuro left for Namimori without telling his team. It was never addressed why he left, but the reason was obvious, there was only one reason he would visit Namimori when there was no knowing when the next battle would start: to meet Chrome.

Since Chrome only had the limit of three days before the illusionary organs he provided were gone completely, Mukuro knew that Chrome’s condition would worsen if she was still stuck in her dilemma as they were already close to the deadline. That’s why he went to Namimori, to once again check on her condition. 

For Mukuro to tell Verde that he had another motive in mind to participate in the Representative Battle and then went to Namimori right after, I believed both were connected. After hearing his reason for leaving Chrome in Namimori and knowing her situation, I came to the conclusion that his other motive in participating in the Representative Battle was similar with Reborn’s motive.

Just like how Reborn used the Representative Battle as an opportunity to make Tsuna stronger, Mukuro was also using the Representative Battle as an opportunity to motivate Chrome to grow as a warrior.

Since the beginning, Mukuro could see the potential that Chrome had, only hindered by her lack of confidence and dependency. Mukuro wanted her to grow and reach this potential. He guided her in how to use her power properly and improved it.

After he was freed, however, he knew that with the dilemma she was having, the usual kindness that he gave her wouldn’t cut it, Chrome herself must find her own resolve to become stronger as her own person, not as part of him.

He had high expectations in Chrome, but he only put those expectations on her because he knew she could handle them. That being said, he didn’t always hold her hand; when necessary, he’ll give her the push to succeed, but he’ll expect her to succeed on her own.

When I realized this, it made me love Mukuro even more. Sure, I love how Mukuro was always kind and gentle with Chrome, but I also liked it that Mukuro didn’t spoil her. He did his best to set her on the path that was the best for her. And then Chrome had to walk that path as best as she could. No doubt Mukuro felt proud when Chrome finally found her resolve. It made their relationship all the more endearing.

And so, if someone asks me whether Mukuro only regarded Chrome as a pawn or not, my answer is absolutely NOT.

If Mukuro only saw Chrome as a mere pawn, then he would never try to guide her to become independent from him, he’d keep her on the tight leash by manipulating her into being passive so she’ll be entirely dependent on him or controlling her mind directly like he did with Lancia, which is something he never did to her.

And despite Chrome’s growing friendship with Tsuna and the others who were supposed to be his enemies and who most likely would get in his way in his pursuit for revenge and world domination, Mukuro made no objection to her newfound relationships. Mukuro never forced her to continue following him. He respected her decision. 

Even after she lived separately from them, Mukuro still continued to support Chrome financially and the artbook suggested they hang out together once in a while. That’s not something a person would ever do to a mere pawn.

And while the extent of their relationship was never shown so obviously like how Tsuna did with his friends, there were subtle hints if you look more carefully through Mukuro's contradicting actions, but most of all, the depth of their bond was expressed in the way befitting of an illusionist and Mist Guardian: Illusion.

Both Mukuro and Chrome were a great illusionist pair. They understood each other's skill more than anyone else, and they cared for one another in a way that perhaps not many could understand. And thus, their bond played crucial role in forming their combined illusions. This was demonstrated on two occasions, and interestingly, on these two occasions, they took turns in the role of support.

First, during the battle against Glo Xinia, Mukuro and Chrome managed to form real illusions of Kokuyo Gang because they properly synchronized what they wish to materialize together, meaning that they came up with the same thing in mind of what they believe the most even without having to say it out loud. During this time, Mukuro was the one who supported Chrome's illusions with his own using the remaining power he had left to join the fight.

Second, during the battle against Vendice, again, Mukuro and Chrome managed to create combined technique Genju Mugaia, by combining their illusions. Putting Verde's gloves aside, this was only possible because they could mutually synchronize the idiosyncrasy of their illusions. Even Mukuro himself admitted that Chrome did better than Fran. During this time, it was Mukuro's turn who needed Chrome to support his illusions.

Both combined techniques represented Mukuro and Chrome's connection.

It’s certain that Mukuro sincerely cared for Chrome, more than he let on, and perhaps more than he himself believed. And Chrome herself also influenced Mukuro without the man himself realizing. Chrome brought out the side of Mukuro that he didn’t know he had in him.

Through his interactions with her, he showed how very much human he was capable of in spite of his pride in flaunting his dark side. When Chrome was concerned, Mukuro expressed more emotions than usual, one that he didn't do for others.

Whenever he was smiling at her, his smile was kinder, softer, and looked more genuine. It was very different than when he fooled Tsuna during the Kokuyo Arc.

Mukuro was hardly one who'd lose his temper even when angered, but when Demon threatened Chrome's life, Mukuro didn't hide his rage. And despite being already tired himself from fighting against Jack's group and then used up all his remaining flame, Mukuro immediately placed himself in front of Chrome to protect her.

Ever since Chrome's appearance, Mukuro had shown to be more mellowed out and more expressive in showing his humanity, particularly towards his allies. While I can't say that this was also because Chrome's influence, but it could be the case because only after that Mukuro looked so much more human, to the point of being comical. XD

Haaaah…I wish Amano explores further in regards to Mukuro and Chrome’s relationship. Because at the end of the series, rather than a conclusion, I feel that their relationship was heading to a new direction and could’ve been delved more in depth now that they are equals. 

As for whether or not their relationship will go in a romantic direction or not, I’m not going to make an analysis or the sort about that. I’m sure that’s something that Amano freely left to us to interpret. And I’d rather avoid saying things that may lead to shipping war. (^_^;)

Amano-sensei, I’d be very ecstatic and appreciate it if you consider doing a continuation of KHR in the future, please! XD

Verdict

Mukuro is one of the most complex characters in the series. As you continued reading the story, you’d realize that he is not your stereotypical one dimensional diabolical antagonist, he is a character who has so much depth beneath the cruel inhuman mask he is wearing. He is actually one of the most human characters in the series. 

He is imperfect, while knowing full-well that he is not a good human being and even proudly flaunt of this fact, he himself was aware that even a cruel person like him also has people he genuinely cherish and he would never abandon, but because of his pride and ambition, Mukuro decided to cover up the little humanity he has in him with the mask of apathetic villain, which as the series progress, this mask started to break little by little, showing a development of his character.

Note

So, what do you think about my analysis about Mukuro? Please do share your thoughts. I’m always excited to read people’s opinions. But say that you have a differing opinion than mine, let us be respectful of each other and not get into a fight over it.

[lady-asphodel]

DR RATIO'S CHESS GAME CUTSCENE DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE ????

Hello everybody ! I initially intended to make a complete analysis of the quest: Crown of the Mundane and the Divine, however, as I analyzed more thoroughly the first cutscene where Dr ratio appears in, I remarked something quite humours and, also, ridiculous !

The chess game is messed up

Based on these two images ( at the end of the cutscene ) :

Here's what Dr Ratio's chessboard looks like in what we will call the " Final sequence " :

Now, here we go !

First sequence

This is the first scene and right from the start, we can see that something is wrong : there is no double white pawns in the final scene.

We can surmise that more moves had been done off-screen, but it doesn't make sense at all when we can literally see him do only two moves during that cutscene.

We can also observe that the positions of the rooks and the knight are slightly off compared to how they are supposed to be in the finale scene. And the cause of that is the positions of the pawns and the white rook: considering the build of the chessboard, the black pawn is standing at the very corner, while it shouldn't ?

Second sequence

Then we have Ratio who makes his move.

In this sequence, the white rook is near two black pawns, at the other side of the board is the black king.

However, first of all, it should be impossible when both the white rook and the black pawn in first sequence were supposed to be in the corner of the last line, how can there be other pieces behind ? But it actually fixes the positions of the black rook and white knight that are now at the same places as the last sequence, but there's still so much things wrong.

According to the final sequence, the two black pawns are supposed to be around the black king, not far.

From the first image and the second one, the white rook is supposed to be at the same line of the black pawn, one case away from the white knight, and the black pawn on the left is supposed to be on the same line with the black king. Ratio moves the white rook one case forward, which aligns it with the white pawn and should make the white rook face directly the white knight.

However, for both second and final sequence, the white rook is standing at the exact same case where it was moved to ? How paradoxal ! It didn't move at all but it also did ???

Let's not comment on the fact there's no black bishop there either but there's one in the final sequence ?

Sequence 3

Here, it's even more confusing because we are obviously looking at Ratio sitting on the black side, as he was before.

However, the chessboard is inverted ! The black king stands more on his left white it was supposed to be on his right. Based on the second sequence, Ratio played the white rook ( that stood on the right side of board ) with his left hand meaning that the two pawns were to his right hand but suddenly they are aligned with his left arm ?

Sequence 4

And that's where it gets really messy ......

The only right thing there is the black knight that is correctly placed according to the next move Ratio will do and will be essentially the one and only piece logically placed from this sequence to the last.

Now, why the fuck is the white knight now standing diagonal to the black rook when the final sequence clearly shows that it's supposed to in front of it ?

And suddenly, there's a white bishop right in front of the black pawn and no double white pawn in sight. . . Where did they go ? What happened there ????

Let's not forget that according to the last sequence, the white bishop isn't even supposed to be there but next to the black rook.

Do we really need to point at the fact that in the last sequence the white rook stopped in the line of a white pawn but now it's standing in the line of a black one ?

Sequence 4

Ratio does his move, putting the black knight in the last line, in diagonale to the right of the black rook.

And it's now revealed that the piece right next to the black rook and facing the white knight is. . . A white pawn ? According to the first sequence there should have been a white pawn in the same line of the black rook but not right next to it, there should be a case between them, which mean it is supposed to be one of the missing white pawn from the first two sequences. One of them still missing since it had been replaced by a white bishop instead.

Now keep in memory that Ratio is standing on the black king side since the beginning.

Sequence 5

????? Why is he now sitting on the white side of the board ???

Okay, let's hypothesize that he turned the board around to play both sides. It doesn't even logically is possible. First of all, according to the last sequences, both the white and black kings stand on the left side of the board ( while Ratio is on the black side of it ).

Let's not comment on the fact the white king isn't remotely close to the corner as it may be hinted at with this image. But by simple physics of things, if he had indeed turned the board around, then the white king should be on his right side, not the left.

Then, right after, the traiblazer arrives in Ratio's vicinity. And guess what ....

Final sequence

But let's see the differences now, because there are more yes ! Let's zoom on the right side. Oh, what do I see ? Now the white knight is back in front of the black rook and the piece standing right at the side of the black rook isn't a white pawn but a white bishop ! Ah ??? And now there's a white pawn back and the black pawn disappeared replaced by a black bishop ! Where the fuck it had been pulled out from ? Now the white rook is in the same line of it.

We're back at the black side of the board ! Aya, bad cut isn't it.

Well, white rook sure had a lot of different partners in this cutscene !

I had made chess simulation pictures to show the evolution of Ratio chess game through the cutscene, unfortunately, trumblr doesn't allow more than 10 imported images. You may see it on my hoyolab post or the one I will do on my side account on TikTok.

Anyway, hoyo I hope you did not think nobody would notice that! Because I sure did! (I am insane)

[gyaru-tau]

godddd i love whenever Phil would get in character in QSMP and the music would always be a paid actor to any given scenario. Like in this VOD here.

The use of C418's "The End", be it intentional or not (it's likely that it is considering what this plotline is about in the first place) perfectly matches with the sort of tension escalation that happens in this "scene" beat for beat, ragardless of whether that was a choice or not. I know nothing about music theory so don't expect anything beyond a surface level analysis here, but I feel like i have to point out how unintentionally well timed a lot of this song is to the whole shebang.

The opening of the song gives a very immediate sense of "something ain't right" before Phil reads rose's book. Lots of low, droning synth that pans out in a single key.

Then, the moment he goes down to the center of the sanctuary to read the book that Rose left behind, the song immediately starts to tease us with similar kinds of ethereal sounds that we hear in other songs that have been used for Rose-centric lore (Echo in the Wind by Aaron Cherof comes to mind)

Once he makes it over to the Ender King's infiltration of the book, those ethereal sounds start to become a little bit discordant and distorted.

by the time he's closed the book and burnt it the synths continue to drone, and we hear short motifs from some other C418 songs made for minecraft. There are a fair amount of them so I won't name them all, though their inclusions here are slow and eerie when compared to their more comforting counterparts. It definitely helps to push the idea of something safe and familiar, such as Rose's sanctuary becoming "wrong".

These motifs only persist as Phil begins to check all of the places that he frequents , so my last point about familiarity becoming tainted is still very much applicable here as well.

Halfway through that, Phil is getting more and more frantic, and the synth starts to pick up a little more, getting slightly more intense as the motifs continue to ride out.

The moment Phil begins to read the Ender King's book left for him by Uppies 2, the motifs have disappeared entirely, the synths swell to the most aggressive peak thus far...

...And then it fades to near white noise as Phil reads the book.

Once he closes it, the synths start to slowly swell once again-- at this point I believe there's another motif, or rather just a sort of eerie, plinky piano sounding backtrack that circles through the same few notes. This starts up right as he looks down to the nest and realizes that there's crying obsidian all over it as well.

As soon as he glides onto the nest to take a closer look, there are more distortions-- namely, there are some sounds sprinkled through that are played in reverse.

A buzzing sound kicks in as soon as Phil tries to convince himself that everything is fine-- that everything will be fine. C418's "Minecraft" is sampled here, pausing and dragging the first few notes like an audio error or a computer crash might. It is one final hopeless cling to familiarity.

The song starts to fade out to a similar, albeit more aggressive "white noise" kind of state as Phil mulls over his options.

Then it returns to one final, warbly swelling synth as Phil finally writes back to Rose to tell her that he's been found, and that she needs to contact Blaze for more help.

By the time he writes Blaze's name and places the book in the chest, the song skips back to "Minecraft", only managing to play a few notes of the song and skipping on repeat a few times before cutting to silence and static as Phil contacts Fit to meet him.

This entire sequence, regardless of whether not it was like. BUILT around "The End" as a song is still such an excellent climb in tension, and that is no doubt in part due to the song's presence. It makes me sad that less people bring it up!