#I love the relationships between the pmmm characters and all the parallels

[wyfy-meltdown]

The apple scene between Kyoko and Sayaka feels both like "a proper introduction between enemies who no longer wish to fight" and "a final invitation to connect with someone and pull yourself back from the edge".

Sayaka tossing aside Kyoko's gifted apple feels like her making a conscious choice to fully go crazy and a denial of Kyoko's attempt to reach out to her.

Additionally, Kyoko giving away to Sayaka something that holds significance for her (food, which she considers incredibly precious) without any expectation of something in return aside from "connection" is an interesting moment for a character previously depicted as "selfish" and constantly against Sayaka.

Kyoko sharing her story TO Sayaka is a moment of vulnerability, later matched by her sharing her story WITH Sayaka by sacrificing herself when she likely could've defeated Oktavia without dying in a effort to ensure Sayaka wouldn't be alone anymore.

[priestess-of-yuri]

Pmmm x alnst anon here. This is what I thought about who would be who LOLLL. Sorry if this seems long and stupid as you can see I'm deeply hyperfixated lmao

Ok sooo obviously mizisua is madohomu but it's a little hard to decide who would be madoka and who would be homura for a number of reasons. Apon first looks you might think that sua would be madoka and mizi would be homura because of the whole sacrificing thing+ that one piece of angel sua devil mizi official art buuuuuuut if you look deeper you'll realize that it doesn't really fit: the most noticable part is that mizi has pink hair and sua has black hair+ purple eyes . Mizis whole thing is that she was unaware of her worlds dark nature until her gf died which kindaaaaa defeats the whole thing about homura as opposed to sua who was generally always kinda sad because she knew what was gonna happen if she lost which isn't really something like madoka??? (Also. Mizi is shown to have a generally supportive alien family while sua is shown to have a neglectful one which kinda contracts the thing about homura basically being a Catholic orphan and madoka being the only character in the show to have a supportive AND alive family. Idk if you get it but yeah) anyways I still decided that mizi would be homura and sua would be madoka because of some other reasons but. Yeah. You kinda understand

Next up is ivantill kyosaya. I think that they fit ivantill perfectly (sorta) because it's kinda obvious (at least for me) that who would be who here: kyoko would be Till because of her overall aggressive nature BUUUUUT also because till crushing on mizi would kinda also fit homuras and kyokos relationship since kyoko is basically the only person that homura can always trust. sayaka would be Ivan because of the whole "longing for someone who doesn't love you back" thing+ some other reasons (thought Ivan sayaka having beef with sua madoka while being close friends with mizi homura doesn't. Rlly make sense so) Ivan being fated to death could also kinda add up the fact that sayaka witched out every time she became a magical girl. I think you kinda understand why

Sooo Mami is Luka for a number of reasons: both have a reasonable amount of yellow in their designs, both are (physically) the eldest of their groups both are kindaaaaa insane ect ect. It's also fitting because Luka being the "king" of the stage could also add up the thing about Mami being an experienced magical girl and being WAYYY too much in the whole thing. R5 could also be a parallel to the Mami vs homura gun fight (specifically the part where mizi beats the tar out of Luka) . The ONE difference between these 2 is that Mami genuinely feels remorse lol

Anddddd last but not least (drumrolllllllll).... Hitomi as Hyuna. YES I know this seems strange but I actually have multiple reasons to believe why this sorta fits??? First of all Hitomi never becomes a magical girl no matter what which kinda fits hyunas rebel thing. Also iirc Hitomi had a crush on homura in one of the timelines???? Which could kinda add up to the thing about Hyuna rescuing mizi In r5. I guess Issac and Dewey could be those 2 friends of madoka from the first episode but idk. Mayyyyyybe kyosuke could be hyunwoo but idk LOLLLLLLL.

I LOVE YOUR RAMBLINGS GO OFF ANON. i love the discussion and details you put into your crossover...

my interpretation of your au was that mizi would be homura, sua would be madoka, till would be kyouko, and ivan would be sayaka. i hadn't got as far as thinking about mami, nevermind hitomi, but i would probably put mami down as hyuna for my own self-indulgence (i love shipping mizi/hyuna), and therefore hitomi as luka.

my reasoning, which is not to say it's superior to yours or anything, but like instead just building off your ideas...

just btw, when you do crossovers, it doesn't have to be 1:1! that's the whole point, you can make your own self-indulgent story! if you enjoy it, then that's mission accomplished! so this is my self-indulgence that i wanted to share with you too :3

homura as mizi: the themes are what i would like to focus on here! in homura's original timeline, homura was saved by madoka. not to mention, homura deifies madoka, just as mizi deifies sua.

madoka as sua: madoka isn't all sunshine and rainbows! she has been known to turn into a witch, so i think her taking on sua's "role" so to speak of understanding the larger picture of the alien society could fit! and like i said, her dying/becoming deified by homura also fits.

sayaka as ivan: their vibes are similar 🤔 and sayaka having an unrequited crush that drives her to sacrifice herself is pretty much right up her alley.

kyouko as till: their vibes are SO similar. i also think kyouko reads as anti-establishment! and this would be perfect for her to take on till's "role". it would mean that her values/attitudes/rebellion of hating the aliens would get painted as part of the show by the aliens, and again this is fitting. plus i like your points. kyouko DOES have some kind of homoerotic thing going on with homura 😳

mami as hyuna: mami might be less of a wildcard than hyuna, but i think being older and more experienced still lends credibility to her taking on hyuna's "role" of a rebel. i also just like mizi/hyuna and homura/mami is a fascinating ship to me.

hitomi as luka: look, i'll be the first to say luka is fascinating as a character and i want to put him under a microscope, and in the same breath i'll say i dislike him (yet i understand his actions and do not blame him). and yet i love hitomi. which makes it all the more interesting to list hitomi as luka, actually, because i think i would adore hitomi in luka's shoes. hitomi is shown to be quite mature in the pmmm universe, but put her in the high-stakes alien stage scenario in luka's shoes and i think she would actually get driven to the extremes luka did. especially when you consider that it's theorised luka's skin condition is the result of what can be interpreted as extreme abuse at the hands of his alien owner. one thing that i want to note is luka (and therefore hitomi in his shoes) could very likely feel remorse! remember, he's performing to Literally Save His Own Life. we need to humanize them, we need to humanize ALL the contestants, because the real monsters are the aliens running the show. that's the whole point of alien stage's commentary on idols performing under capitalism: idols irl are dangled around as if they are puppets, and you as the audience eat it up, but the people behind the scenes making them sing for scraps are the real scum.

thank you so much for reading if you got this far!!! and thank you for sending me your thoughts and hearing out mine too. i love Thinking Thoughts about my fave media... 💖

[brokenmachinemusings]

Pmmm x alnst anon here lolllllz. I think I can kinda explain that what I think about who would be who. Warning that it's long. Here we go.

Ok sooo obviously mizisua is madohomu but it's a little hard to decide who would be madoka and who would be homura for a number of reasons. Apon first looks you might think that sua would be madoka and mizi would be homura because of the whole sacrificing thing+ that one piece of angel sua devil mizi official art buuuuuuut if you look deeper you'll realize that it doesn't really fit: the most noticable part is that mizi has pink hair and sua has black hair+ purple eyes . Mizis whole thing is that she was unaware of her worlds dark nature until her gf died which kindaaaaa defeats the whole thing about homura as opposed to sua who was generally always kinda sad because she knew what was gonna happen if she lost which isn't really something like madoka??? (Also. Mizi is shown to have a generally supportive alien family while sua is shown to have a neglectful one which kinda contracts the thing about homura basically being a Catholic orphan and madoka being the only character in the show to have a supportive AND alive family. Idk if you get it but yeah) anyways I still decided that mizi would be homura and sua would be madoka because of some other reasons but. Yeah. You kinda understand

Next up is ivantill kyosaya. While I can understand why you're not a big fan of kyosaya I actually think that they fit ivantill perfectly (sorta) because it's kinda obvious who would be who here: kyoko would be Till because of her overall aggressive nature BUUUUUT also because till crushing on mizi would kinda also fit homuras and kyokos relationship since kyoko is basically the only person that homura can always trust. sayaka would be Ivan because of the whole "longing for someone who doesn't love you back" thing+ some other reasons (thought Ivan sayaka having beef with sua madoka while being close friends with mizi homura doesn't. Rlly make sense so) Ivan being fated to death could also kinda add up the fact that sayaka witched out every time she became a magical girl. I think you kinda understand why

Sooo Mami is Luka for a number of reasons: both have a reasonable amount of yellow in their designs, both are (physically) the eldest of their groups both are kindaaaaa insane ect ect. It's also fitting because Luka being the "king" of the stage could also add up the thing about Mami being an experienced magical girl and being WAYYY too much in the whole thing. R5 could also be a parallel to the Mami vs homura gun fight (specifically the part where mizi beats the tar out of Luka) . The ONE difference between these 2 is that Mami genuinely feels remorse lol

Anddddd last but not least (drumrolllllllll).... Hitomi as Hyuna. YES I know this seems strange but I actually have multiple reasons to believe why this sorta fits??? First of all Hitomi never becomes a magical girl no matter what which kinda fits hyunas rebel thing. Also iirc Hitomi had a crush on homura in one of the timelines???? Which could kinda add up to the thing about Hyuna rescuing mizi In r5. I guess Issac and Dewey could be those 2 friends of madoka from the first episode but idk. Also since Hitomi doesn't rlly have any association with Mami Hyuluka is cut up from this au LOLLLLLL.

sorry If this seems stupid I stayed up late writing this because autism made me

interesting…! i am listening anon. i personally have some different beliefs but i generally agree

i also think that it’d be best to kind of put the pmmm characters in base-shapes of the alnst characters, BUT let them flourish from there. does that make sense?

i personally think madoka would be in mizi’s place, but i think madoka would be the one to die. and they’re not exactly the same characters, either; just similar enough? homura could be sua and live on and only feel anger at everything and everyone (after madoka dies, anyway). well, at least that’s how it’d work with a first or early-timeline homura. if it’s a homura from the later timelines, she would probably try to sacrifice herself, except madoka would still end up losing maybe? the scores are unfair sometimes

ACTUALLY i think that sayaka would be in till’s shoes (with a crush on madoka, or maybe even kyousuke if he’s in this au, and he possibly dies or something, and then sayaka herself despairs) while kyouko would be in ivan’s shoes (longing for sayaka). or maybe the other way around, like you said, just that the relationship dynamics are a bit different? does that make sense on my part? hmmm the more i think about it the more i want to switch them. that’s also the problem with constraining characters specifically but if you’d like i / we can work on this au to develop the characters and relationships more 👍

i’m glad u also see the mami luka thing tho!!! i definitely 100% agree there

i’m not entirely sure about hitomi hyuna but i’m willing to agree with u for now!!!

a big question tho is nagisa. bc she’s beloved by most of the fandom (albeit… in my opinion she is a little bit forgettable. forgive me, nagisa)

and don’t worry it’s not stupid!!!! if no one else indulges u i will. love listening to weirdass rambles even if i might have a different opinion

[sou-ver-2-0]

Writing Master List

I love writing analysis and fanfiction for Your Turn to Die. Here, you can find links to all my writing. Spoilers abound!

Meta I’m Proudest Of

Why Calling It “Logic Versus Emotion” Makes Sense

Sou Hiyori and Kanna’s Sister Parallels

I was wondering why Sou had a zero percent survival rate…

What is Sou proudest of?

What is Kanna proudest of?

What is Keiji proudest of?

Unpopular opinion about Keiji

What are your thoughts on Nao as a character?

Why pushing Fake Reko is logical and sparing her is emotional

Shin vs. Kanna choice: each “valid in its own way”

That was a real comedy of errors on your part, Shin

What “Things” did Shin learn at Sou’s House?

If I could kill Keiji to save both Kanna and Shin...

Thoughts on queer-coded villains and Shin

I make Shin say five nice things about Keiji (not meta, but important)

Some jumbled thoughts about Redemption, and Part 2

How different do you think the story would be if Shin were a girl?

Theories

“Midori is Meister’s son,” and other Sou theories <- my favorite theory!

The Hades Incident, the Present Death Game, and the Role of the Man from the Memorandum

Rambling about Meister Family Theory

A Quick Keiji Theory

I’m staking my pride on this one: Keiji won’t die in the coffin. Part 1 and Part 2

Implications of Kanna being Original Sou’s blood relative

The Mystery of Anzu’s High Survival Rate

Fanfiction

My username is Florencetheflowerfairy on Ao3! Any fanfiction I write will be tagged “my fanfiction” on here.

I haven’t yet posted this to Ao3.

My fanart

Soup Hiyori

Happy birthday Kanna!

All of my meta

How does Sou deal with pain?

When does Sou feel safest? What would others change about him?

What would the others change about Sara?

What do I wish to see happen with Sou?

Chapter 3 Prediction: Sara will lose Keiji

Sou & Keiji’s relationship thoughts; and Personal Headcanons

Opinion on Midori / Original Sou; and Opinion on YTTS

Thoughts on Kurumada’s Partnership with Sou and Kanna

What calms Sou when he’s upset?

What does Sou wish he could change about himself?

Who would be Sou’s favorite fictional character?

What would EVERYONE change about Sou?

How did both Sous do in school?

Who does Sou want to please the most?

How would Kanna spend her money?

What calms Kai when he’s upset? How does Kai deal with pain?

How does Kanna do in school? What’s something Original Sou lost that he would love to have back?

What’s something I wish had happened with Joe?

Unpopular opinion about Q-Taro

What’s something I wish had happened with the Yabusame siblings?

Unpopular opinion about Kai

Unpopular opinion about Original Sou

Who would I vote for in the Second Main Game?

Laughing at Q-Taro in Russian Roulette

Speaking of “I laugh at inappropriate moments in YTTD”

Math Saga (Collection of Theorizing Posts about the Percentage Papers)

Why Kanna can’t take the scarf

More Scarf Meta

I think Shin should fake amnesia in the zaniest way possible, please

Thoughts on Mr. Policeman is Joe’s Dad Theory, Parts 1 and 2 (Some of these thoughts are outdated because I don’t think Keiji knew Joe’s last name in the beginning.)

If I ever seem too harsh on Keiji, please keep in mind

We can hear Joe’s music theme in Midori’s music theme

Thoughts on the Floor Masters

Did Shin send the Sacrifice Card to Joe?

What if Joe had one month to live?

What is Original Sou proud of?

Reading Shin as Queer

Alice and Pain

What would other people change about Kai?

Could Shin and Keiji’s roles switch?

What was Keiji like before the shooting?

I encouraged Sister to vote for Kai in Practice Round

How does Original Sou/Midori sleep?

Who do you think Keiji would bond with the most?

Analysis of Sara’s vote in the Practice Vote

Massacre Ending Thoughts

Thoughts on Naosara?

Dummy Bullet Saga (How did Shin know about dummy bullets??)

Keiji is my Confront Character

What will the fallout with the dummies look like?

Keiji seeing the percentage papers is the simplest answer IMO

Thoughts on Keialice

Thoughts on Joesara

Shin Tsukimi could have DIED ON HIS BIRTHDAY?!

Shin is Poor! Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3

One more funny story, on a walk with Sister...

How would Shin have fared in the Death Game without the Sou persona?

Is Shin too good for this world? (Reaction to above meta)

How would Joe, Kai, and Mishima approach the Second Main Game vote?

What do you think would be Shin’s partnership ability?

Thoughts on AI personalities

Reaction to ‘Sara gets the Sage Card’ Theory

Have you considered the implications of 0.0% vs. 0%?

Foolish Sara AU

When does the Death Game take place, and how long are they there?

Shin’s relationships with Reko and Gin

“When you drink, you gotta be careful not to get swallowed up yourself.”

Judge Keiji by the fact that he’s acting like a cop

I’ve switched to calling him Shin! 

What was Shin like in the years after Original Sou died, but before the Death Game?

Headcanons and Shin, Kanna, and trading tokens

Analyzing Shin and Sara’s doll placements in Safalin’s lab

Shin’s reaction to Sara’s “Haven’t we always been the bestest of friends?”

Scenario: Keymaster Kanna takes Shin’s key necklace instead of his scarf

Artists should draw Kanna grieving Shin however they like

Nao and Shin’s friendship

“I happen to like people with nice personalities”

I’m just putting these here so I can find them if necessary: 1, 2, 3

What if Shin thinks Sara is an adult?

Shrodinger’s Lock Saga (Many theories came from speculating about Asu-Naro’s weird locks in Sara’s first trial!)

Shin emulating Sou, oh no

Some thoughts on Shin and Alice, and the darker side to their relationship

A Serious Analysis of the Collarbone Sprites (& other Shin sprites)

Midori and Joe Sprite Parallels

Do you think Ranmaru is more or less reliable than Keiji?

Ranmaru and Keiji Parallels and Thoughts on Keiji flirting

Ranmaru and Keiji reacting to Joe

Out of the cast, who do you think is most likely to be the mastermind?

Miley vs. Gashu thoughts

Megumi Sasahara theories and headcanons

I love that this game’s heart is so earnest

AU where Shin has the Sacrifice, and he can’t pick Kanna

Theory/Headcanon: Sou-Shin-Sara-Kanna three year age gaps

Scenery Paintings in the Gallery

Kanna and Original Sou Parallel - “creepy smiles”

Undertale Parallels, and making Original Sou sympathetic

Kai and Original Sou Parallels

Fic ideas: Green-haired characters, and Shin + Sara Friendship

I love Fake Reko so much!

What if the decision to push Fake Reko affects what happens with the dummies?

Follow-up to above meta about Fake Reko

What if Joe died in his First Trial?

Reaction to Keiji Discourse about flirting, Part 2

Reactions to Fem!Shin:

Kanna’s perspective, Bath Scene Shin, More Bath Scene, Keiji flirting with Shin, I DON’T CARE HOW SEXY HE IS, Am I a lesbian

Will the dummies want to fill in for their counterparts’ lives?

Q-Taro Pacman Sister Theory

Poison Stinger analysis and Rio Ranger’s characterization

Megumi returns as a doll theory

More thoughts on “Back Up Candidates” Theory

Thoughts on AIs representing younger personalities

What if the current Death Game is another simulation?

Shin and Q-Taro ages musings

Shin and Sara ages musings

Honorifics Analysis: Part 1 and Part 2

Everyone’s music preferences headcanons

Shin’s thoughts on Gin in Logic Route

What if Shin died and Kai survived in the Second Main Game?

Imagine Trans Kanna

Thoughts on the names Sara “suspects” when learning that there is a human from Asu-Naro among us

Why doesn’t Shin challenge Keiji for lying that he’s a detective at the start?

Shipping

Which death hurt you the most?

Who do you think is overrated? Who do you think is suspicious?

Shin-Sou roleswap AU

Did you ever notice how Shin is crying during the First Main Game?

How do you think the characters sleep?

What if Shin became Sara’s ally instead of Keiji?

Seven Deadly Sins in YTTD

Song Analyses

“Rat” by Penelope Scott

“Villainous Thing” by Shayfer James

“Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)” by Panic! at the Disco

“Butterflies and Hurricanes” by Muse

"House of memories" by Panic! at the Disco

More fun posts

Sister tag (All submissions by my sister)

Sometimes I get self-conscious for loving Sou Hiyori so much

Thinking about how our Sou Hiyori is a queer-coded villainous type

Picrew of the Greenblings

Fannish ramblings and Speculation about Voting for Keiji in 2nd Main Game

Sou has a halo in the manga

Sprite Parallels between Kanna, Sara, and Sou

Confession: Character development is more important than plot twists

Star Wars KOTOR musings

My Favorite Thing about Sou and Sara meeting

Another Greenblings Picrew

How to roast my fave

Are the greenblings next to each other??

Me feeling soft about Sou x Alice and Sou x Kai in spite of myself

I’m too much of a nerd for tumblr

Picrew of Green-haired characters and Sara

Cute Kurumada and Kanna headcanons

Do it for Nao

Happy birthday Keiji, from Sou

Danganronpa Thoughts as of 10/22/20

Top 3 emotional moments

Comparing Eye Sizes

I’m all caught up with 3-1A as of 10/24/20

Link to my “Shin attacking Inbox” edit

I am my PFP

“Disclosure” apparently means “Coming Out”

What did you name your Midori?

Do you think Shin was a gamer?

PMMM Thoughts: Logic vs Emotion

Why would you make Shin a tank?!

Dracula is Sou and Shin is Renfield

Among Us Headcanon

I just think Kanna having the Keymaster first is good drama

So long you fucking fascist (posted on 11/7/20)

Please don’t send me leaks!

Also how are we going to tag spoilers...? (11/12/20)

oh no I’m getting sentimental

Shin and Sara’s confrontation over the smartphone remains my favorite thing ever

Reactions to “I make Shin say five nice things about Keiji”: 1, 2, 3

A Rewarding part of my blog

My undying love for Britney Spears

“Ahaha, I’m glad you remembered my name.”

I love this picrew for the Greenblings

“Saw” and “Cage” on Google Translate

What if there were two Gonbee Yamadas?

Put them in meme boxes

Keiji’s emo eyeliner

Shin can smash something! and part 2

Acrostic Poem for Sou Hiyori

Midori’s canon voice

“Sou” puns

Time sensitive questions!! 1 and 2

All the characters’ ages

Do you think Shin swears?

Let’s not pit bears and twinks against each other!

Here’s how Shindemption can still win

tfw you draw fanart in time for Kanna’s birthday

Keiji accuses Shin of breaking Mishima’s monitor even though he KNOWS Shin is innocent

Q-Taro and Shin college AU

Kugie’s ghost haunting Keiji

Christmas 2020: Part 1 and Part 2

Picrew of Shin and Sou, High School Days~

I struggle to write villains

I play Villains Bingo with Shin

…

This list will be updated sporadically as I write more! You can always use the “mine” tag to find any worthwhile original post I make.

Please feel free to talk to me about YTTD anytime! I love hearing from you all! It keeps me motivated and makes me happy to meet people!

[littlepurinsesu]

V Watches MagiReco - Episode 3 Review

*Spoilers for Magia Record Anime Episode 3*

And so the Rena and Kaede friendship-ending plotline comes to a very satisfying conclusion! This episode actually had me in tears quite a few times (;Д;)

So many things to talk about and unpack so I’m going to try and keep it as succinct as possible >_< Starting with the most obvious: OH MY GOSH THOSE TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCES. I LOVE THEM. SO MUCH. HOLY CHEESE (♥ω♥*)

Yachiyo was the most elegant water goddess ever. True beauty right there. I have nothing else to say. Perfection. Momoko’s was super BADASS I LOVED IT omg all the flames and kicks!!! They really did a good job showcasing the duality of her tomboyish image and her gentler, “girly” side. Rena’s was like a cuter and more whimsical version of Yachiyo’s (since they have the same water theme), and I really love how the anime took the mirrors in her doppel and featured the imagery so heavily in her transformation! That last shot with the thunder was also super cool! And Iroha leaping off the building with all the feathers was so pretty *___* The bird imagery is as heavy as ever with this transformation, especially with the fact that she’s literally “flying” as she “falls” off the building. I also find it quite interesting how the cloak always comes last with a slight delay, especially with how the cloak was depicted as being almost “its own thing” before she caught up and merged with it!

All in all, these transformations were top-notch, and I love them even more than the ones we saw in Rebellion. They definitely lean more towards traditional magical girl transformations (which I personally prefer), while still retaining a decent amount of the trippy look of the Rebellion transformation style and overall PMMM aesthetic - a really good balance that encapsulates the tone of MagiReco quite well, in my opinion ^^

Okay enough rambling about transformations and onto some plot xD

Mitama finally appeared! Her voice is as Mitama as ever, and I really like the touch they had with how all her movements seem very deliberate and calculated, and very flamboyant. She gives off the impression of a very friendly and approachable person, but you can’t quite tell what she’s thinking or hiding, and get the feeling that there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye. Which is basically Mitama in a nutshell, so A+ for her portrayal. I do wish we saw her do a bit more, though, but it was only her introduction this week, so hopefully we’ll see more of her in the coming episodes :) The Mayu cameo was shorter than the Ren one, but I do like this method of “debuting” characters without shoehorning too many girls into the main plot, so I hope they keep this pattern up.

One small issue I had with the episode was the fact that they seemed to either change or gloss over the tension between Yachiyo and Momoko? This is biased because I’m a viewer who’s familiar with the game story, so seeing them getting along fine threw me off for a moment. But I guess it wouldn’t be an issue with anime-only fans, especially if they really did decide to just do away with the tension and have the two of them as perfectly amicable friends. Which is fine, too. I was just confused for a moment because of my expectations (one of the interesting things when you watch an anime with a preconception of the plot and characters) ^^;; I did like their tension and the way they made up in the game, though, so I’d be a teeny bit sad if they really did cut it, but that’s more of a personal preference, so not really an actual problem :)

Momoko’s super awkward and stiff “apology” was hilarious to watch, though xD Also, Momoko with her hair out!!! Definitely wasn’t expecting that! I thought it was supposed to show how stressed or tired she was worrying about Kaede, but no, seems like she sometimes just walks around with her hair like that. While I prefer her with the ponytail, I always appreciate it when anime (especially magical girl anime) show the characters with different hairstyles; makes things so much more realistic :3 And Mitama doing her hair was super cute, too ^^

The way they went about showing Rena’s internal struggles was really well-done. One thing I’ve always liked about PMMM is how you often get a sense of things being either “not quite right,” or you just have no idea what’s going on. I felt that in the scene with Rena watching TV in her room (Sayuki cameo!), transforming in and out of different characters. It’s strange and eerie, and it disorients you because you’re wondering what’s going on and what’s even real. But it’s a really nice kind of confusion that keeps you on edge, which PMMM is really good at, and I think it was captured very well in this episode.

I personally don’t relate to Rena’s personality or struggles at all, but for some reason she always manages to make me cry. I bawled when I read her Magical Girl Story in the game for the first time, and the little bits of it they incorporated here (much appreciated) got me sobbing as well... I really hope they don’t stop developing her character after the main five enter the scene and Team Momoko takes a backseat. There’s so much to explore with Rena, and I think they’ve done a really good job so far.

Kaede is as precious as ever, and her interactions with Rena were super sweet. I think it’s nice that Rena has a friend who’s so open and patient when she’s trying her hardest to open up and express herself well. The past two episodes really showcased the relationship dynamic between these two, including all of its strengths and weaknesses. I did, however, furrow my eyebrows slightly when they found Kaede. It’s understandable if they wanted to change the brainwashing from the game version of events, but the fact that Kaede seemed so chill and undisturbed when they found her seemed kind of weird to me, and frankly, didn’t make much sense xD I’d expect her to be a bit more scared or even traumatiised after being stuck in a place like that all alone, especially considering her timid nature xD

But the fight against the Rumour was definitely a feast for the eyes. The Rumour looked quite different from the game version, but in this case I think the creative liberty they took actually made the Rumour seem more distinct from a Witch. The barriers aren’t exactly identical in nature, the the huge winding staircases extending into the sky really go to show how large the scale of a Rumour can be. Iroha didn’t do much, but Yachiyo and Momoko had amazing teamwork; the water and fire looked amazing together! And again, I loved the use of mirrors in Rena’s attacks! It’s a unique and aesthetically interesting choice, and also helps differentiate her water-based attacks from Yachiyo’s. Kaede’s trees and leaves also looked lovely!

Backtracking a bit to the very beginning, but I wasn’t expecting Touka and Nemu to make an appearance so soon! That short scene did a pretty good job at showing the basic facets of their personalities, especially Touka’s, as well as their relationship dynamic. It was a really nice way to parallel and lead into the friendship-ending dilemma that Rena and Kaede are experiencing.

And on the topic of things I was not expecting... that Mami appearance at the very end!!! She showed up earlier here than in the game, but I think that scene provided some pretty important information that the game glossed over. Here we aren’t just told that Kyubey can’t enter Kamihama for mysterious, unknown reasons; we’re actually shown what happens when he tries. And seeing Kyubey openly asking Mami to go to Kamihama and investigate gives her a very logical reason to be there when she eventually gets introduced to the game’s main cast. But yeah, seeing Mami definitely had me feeling all nostalgic again ;___; I don’t even remember the last time I saw her, or any of the Holy Quintet  members, moving in anime form (;Д;)

Oh, and Lil Kyubey is possibly one of the world’s most adorable creatures ever and I WANT ONE AS A PET OMG (ᗒᗨᗕ)

This week’s review turned out a lot longer than the ones in the past weeks (and I just keep jumping all over the place between topics and not even going in chronological order) ^^;; Probably because I just had too much to scream about because of the transformation sequences ^3^ So I’ll quickly end this now by saying how excited I am to finally see the mightiest magical girl Tsuruno Yui debut next week!!! (*≧▽≦)

[clonerightsagenda]

The epilogues look terrible and I don’t want to spend my time reading them... but I love + trust your judgement and your takes on things. Could you summarize them? (No pressure if you don’t want to)

OK, it’s been a few weeks since i read it, but I will do my best.NOTE: This is probably not comprehensive and definitely not objective. As a supplement, I did some poking around, and the MSPA wiki has some bullet points. I also eventually found another  summary on tumblr, albeit by someone who also didn’t like it, so it is probably biased as well. 

ANOTHER NOTE: Those content warnings weren’t a joke. Below are references to sexual content, assault, suicide, sexism, transphobia, character death, and probably some other stuff.

WHAT HAPPENED:

In the prologue, Rose summons John to inform him that he needs to defeat Lord English right now, or they will all experience terrible consequences. These are mostly meta consequences you can interpret as ‘if we don’t produce new Homestuck content on its 10th anniversary, everyone will give up on this franchise for real, and also canon doesn’t seem stable when the big bad never got beaten’. John goes to visit Roxy and Calliope before he leaves and is given the option to eat either meet or candy. This represents a choice he is supposed to make, and that choice creates two timelines.

In MEAT, John travels back in time and gathers three 16 year old versions of his friends. They confront Caliborn in the battle he represented in his Masterpiece and are sucked into the house juju. Vriska activates it, but not before being pulled into the black hole. Rose and Jade die immediately, with Rose’s body being destroyed and Jade’s falling into the black hole, because why should women get to fight the story’s biggest misogynist. Dave lands a solid hit on English before having his head bitten off Mami from PMMM style. John gets chomped on as well and a gold tooth ends up embedded in his chest. Davepeta appears and drags the wounded LE into the black hole. John finds his father’s wallet, retrieves his car, and slumps inside. Terezi appears, in bad shape after a long time wandering the ring. She seems confused at his state (explained because in CANDY she has been texting that version of him for years). She removes the tooth from his chest and they have sex.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Dave and Karkat have avoided talking about being a relationship for seven years, while Jade harasses them about becoming a threesome. This is explicitly tied to her abandonment issues but also she is referred to as a slut so like. Don’t love that. Jane is running for president, and Dave thinks this is terrible because she’s a woman fascist and doesn’t understand the economy and Karkat should run instead. Other shit is happening but I lost track. Rose is ill because she’s becoming her ‘Ultimate Self’ and seeing all timelines. Dirk claims he’s overcome the same problem and offers to help her but ends up controlling her and revealing he is the one actually writing this narrative.  There is a bit where the narration starts addressing the reader directly and then turns orange which I admit is genuinely cool and might have been interesting if done with characters I didn’t actually care about.

Dirk amps up controlling the narrative, directly forcing people to do and think certain things. (For example, he sequesters Rose away in his workshop and tells Kanaya via narration she believes Rose is better off with him, and she uncomfortably agrees without understanding why she thinks that.) He supports Jane’s bid for the presidency, even though she wants to crack down on trolls because they are naturally violent and reproduce too fast. Everyone tries to get Jake’s endorsement because he’s popular, which includes Jane attempting to seduce him in a very uncomfortable scene.Then Jade slips into a nice coma, because it’s not Homestuck without Jade losing her agency, and alt!Calliope starts using her as an avatar to take control of the narrative away from Dirk. They have some back and forth arguments before he is pushed out which, again, is genuinely clever but would be more enjoyable without all the edgy bullshit. Dirk eventually tricks alt!Callie and sedates Jade, taking back control of the story. Jane wins the presidency. Also at some point Meat!Roxy and Callie ID as nonbinary and start using they/them, and narrator!Dirk freaks out about it and misgenders them a lot, which is character assassination bc everyone knows Dirk is a trans icon. Anyway. Dave and Karkat have an awkward talk about their relationship where they keep dancing around things and Dirk tries to force Dave to kiss him. Dave gets frustrated because he’s aware someone is trying to make him do something (like with the Aimless Renegade), and eventually yells at Dirk to get out of his head before kissing Karkat. Terezi brings John back to Earth, and he begins to fade, since apparently LE’s tooth was poisoned with something more powerful than god tier that makes you irrelevant. Possibly a meta commentary on the hero or story not being needed once the big bad is gone. Terezi is sad about this and listens to him bleed while she smells him die. Then Dirk contacts her via narration and implies he can help her. She gets a text (later revealed to be Vriska). Dirk gets a spaceship from Jake after forcing him via narration to grovel about how much he loves him and then rejecting him and flying away with Rose and Terezi in tow. Jade wakes up long enough to tell everyone Dirk’s gone bad before she gets repossessed and starts pointing in his direction, prompting everyone to give chase. 

There is a final scene that will make more sense later, so I’ll add it later.

CANDY

John decides not to go fight LE. Roxy is delighted, and they began dating. Calliope tells John it is time to let Gamzee out of the fridge. Gamzee pops out and claims he is redeemed in a long speech making fun of sloppy redemption arcs. He then proceeds to be terrible for the rest of the story.Candy essentially satirizes Harry Potter epilogue style fics. Jane marries Jake (it’s implied she essentially roofies him with the trickster lollipop) and has Gamzee on the side. They have a son named Tavros. John and Roxy have a son named Harry. Rose and Kanaya adopt a troll clone of Vriska and name her Vriska. Jade, Karkat, and Dave are all dating, but Dave and Karkat are miserable. Dirk kills himself when he realizes the timeline went off kilter. Jade’s corpse from the Meat timeline crashes to earth, and in the middle of the funeral (which was genuinely a good scene) she sits up, possessed by alt!Calliope. Alt!Callie sequesters herself on the old meteor, now landed, and explains to Aradia and Sollux that this timeline is a dead end and she is protecting it from the influence of the prince. She also, in a parallel to Dirk’s reveal in Meat, talks about how every narrator has an agenda even if the text is formatted to make you not realize that.Jane becomes a fascist dictator and begins oppressing trolls. Karkat eventually get sick of being in a trio and runs off to be a resistance leader, including getting a sick eye patch (reference to Summer Teen Romance). Meenah stole the Ring of Life from Meat John and lands in the session; she and Karkat begin dating. Other ghosts begin falling from the sky as well, and Gamzee converts them to his redemption religion.John feels like something is really off.  His only solace is texting Terezi a lot, and he seems closer to her than he is to his wife. He and Roxy break up for a while and then (non-romantically) reconcile. Jake eventually leaves Jane and takes Tavros with him. Jade and Dave become rebels as well, then Dave meets a hologram of Obama, who helps him attain his ultimate self, putting his soul in a new robot body. 

Oh, also Vriska falls out of the sky, has hatesex with Gamzee, kills him, and then talks with Rose and Kanaya’s Vriska about how she loves Terezi. Then she texts her, as seen in the Meat timeline. Isn’t Vriska 13 and Gamzee an adult at this point? Probably. There’s a lot of questionable age stuff in this.

I’m sure I missed some details. Can you tell I’m losing steam.

Anyway, the two last chapters of each section reference the other storyline. At the end of Meat, Lord English’s body falls out of the sky, and alt!Callie (still in Jade’s body) devours it, becoming powerful enough to battle Dirk. Candy!Davebot arrives and he and Aradia jump into the black hole in pursuit.At the end of Candy, Dirk’s ship nears a new planet where he intends a new game of SBURB to be played. Rose is in a robot body serving as his handmaid essentially, and Terezi’s also on board.  

TAKEAWAYS:

There are a lot of different interpretations of the epilogue. A mockery of the two extremes of fanfic. Andrew Hussie continuing the theme of ‘all authors are tyrants by nature’ and using his self-insert to display how he hates his own story but also can’t stop telling it. Dirk trying to create conflict by making himself a villain because otherwise they’ll lose relevance and disappear. Musing on how being arbitrarily labeled 'grown up’ when you’re not ready (aka handed godhood by a game that doesn’t understand people) can fuck you up, and there is no single winning screen in life. Just a big old meta experiment on unreliable narrators. I can see where some of this is coming from, but frankly, I found it disturbingly sexist (even if it is intended to be so for effect). A lot of the sex and violence felt over the top and graphic just to be #ow the edge rather than serving any narrative purpose. Also, authors can do what they want with their texts, and they’re allowed to write tragedies, but after Hussie’s self-insert informs Caliborn that the most important stories are about friendship and teamwork and the fandom (that I’ve seen anyway) really responding to the bonds between characters, it felt cruel. That’s my feeling. Not everyone shares it. But hey, I’ve got my solution.

[aspoonofsugar]

I saw, in one of your metas on snk, that you had made a parallel between Sayaka - Madoka and Eren - Armin. The question is a little vagueness so I understand if you don't want to answer, but could you explore another parallel between snk and pmmm? These are two mangas / anime that I love especially and I found that what you had done last time was very interesting!

Hello anon!

Tbh I don’t remember the post you are talking about and I tried searching my blog, but found nothing, so could you please give me a more precise description of the post?

That said, I can still try to talk about these two series since I like them as well :)

Some time ago I made this post about Madoka Magica I may use as a reference since it is a synthesis of the major themes of the series.

First of all, both PMMM and Shinjeki no Kyojin are set in a world with supernatural creatures which symbolically represent the worst parts of the characters or the parts the characters don’t want to accept.

As it is explained in the post I linked above, each witch the girls fight is a metaphorical representation of a character’s fatal flaw and the twist of the witches actually being magical girls whose soul gems got tainted stregnthens this idea.

Similarly, in snk, titans are seen as the enemies of humanity in the beginning, but it is soon discovered that they are none other than humans which were transformed into monsters.

In short, both witches and titans represent the worst of humanity and this is why the revelation of them actually being humans is firstly suggested through a character with a white and black mentality transforming into one of the so much hated monsters:

Another similarity between pure titans and witches is also that the process is considered impossible to invert. Once a magical girl transforms into a witch she can not be brought back and the same can be said so far for a pure titan who can’t change back into a human unless he eats one of the nine original titans.

All in all the two systems are similar and they are the reason why the characters are stuck in an endless cycle of tragedy.

However, two people are said to possess a power which might change the world.

The Coordinate Eren possesses is said to be the point where all the paths meet. This concept is similar to what Kyubey says about Madoka:

“You are the central point of karmic destiny from many different timelines”.

Kyubey, ep 12

The difference is that Eren’s power is something which was born for unknown reasons and who he has inherited by chance (even if there could be some kind of destiny to it), whereas Madoka’s power is the result of Homura’s attempts to save her.

However, it is important to underline how in both cases the person who has the power is a common individual who ends up with such potential because of the relationships developed with others:

“I wasn’t special at all. It’s just...that I was the son of a special man”.

Eren Jeager, chapter 71

And Madoka is Homura’s friend.

That said, this doesn’t mean that Eren and Madoka don’t have value as individuals, but their value doesn’t lie in their powers, but in who they are.

This is specifically shown in Madoka’s final wish. I am quoting myself from the post above:

The idea of making of one’s lifestyle their own dream is something which has been touched at the beginning of the series. There, Madoka wanted to make of her magical girl style of life her wish, but back then she was still looking at things in a superficial way. As a matter of fact Madoka was trying to solve her self-esteem and self-loathing problems by acquiring magical powers. By the end of the series she doesn’t become a magical girl in order to grow up, but she can become one because she has grown up.

Through her wish Madoka shows to have realized her value as an individual also thanks to Homura’s efforts to protect her and can now use this power she acquired thanks to her friend’s suffering to change the world.

I think (hope) that by the end Eren too will find a way to use the power of the Coordinate to subvert the system he is a slave to and that this way will mirror who Eren is as a person and his love for freedom.

All in all, both Madoka and Eren’s characters are in the beginning presented as willing to be special and they try to reach this objectives by embracing a specific “profession” and nurturing what are superficial attributes (like the physical strength to kill titans or magical powers). However, they ignore that there are people who love them for who they are and who would prefer them to be safe over them being martyrs:

Mikasa and Homura are people who are struggling with grief and loss and who refuse to let go of a person they love for this reason.

Mikasa’s parents’ death resulted in her attaching herself to Eren as a defense mechanism. However, the story is slowly asking her to let go of him and to become more independent.

Similarly, Homura can’t accept Madoka’s death and starts a hopeless journey to prevent it.

Both Homura and Mikasa’s characters find their value in the other person and this is something they both have to overcome in order to find value in themselves.

When it comes to Homura, her later conflict with Madoka which is set up in Rebellion might be similar to the possible one between Eren and Armin which the story seems to be building up in the current arc:

H: “Kaname Madoka, do you treasure this world? Do you consider stability and order more important than desire?”

M: “Well, I…Um…I do treasure it. I guess I do think it’s kind of bad to break the rules because you feel like it”.

H: “I see…Then I suppose one day you will be my enemy as well”.

Homura treasures personal feelings and individual desires over the world, whereas Madoka thinks the other way.

This could be the very root of a conflict between Eren and Armin if it turned out Eren gives more importance to the interests of Paradis and to the well-being of his friends, while Armin treasures the world the most. All in all, it is too soon to say, but we’ll see soon.

Let’s also underline that Eren hiding things from his friends, putting them in a cage to possibly keep them safe and so on are actions which are very similar to what Homura does at the end of Rebellion.

Finally let me underline how Sayaka and Kyouko’s inverted arcs are similar in concept to Historia and Ymir’s ones.

Both couples have a character who superficially appears as too much selfless:

And a character who appears as too much selfish:

However, it is revealed how the apparently selfless character has selfish reasons for her selflessness. To be more specific, Historia’s selflessness is born from a martyr complex, whereas Sayaka’s one is a way to refuse that her wish was animated also by a selfish desire to be recognized by the boy she loves.

At the same time it is revealed how the apparently selfish character used to actually be extremely selfless and became more self-centred because of a tragic experience in their past. As a matter of fact, Ymir’s attempt to protect the people around her ended up turning her into a pure titan, whereas Kyouko’s wish made so that her family was destroyed. Not only that, but both Ymir and Kyouko see in respectively Historia and Sayaka their old selves and want to help them.

However, Historia and Sayaka react differently. On one hand Historia is able to integrate with Ymir and to become more “selfish”. On the other hand Sayaka fails to let go of her rigid vision of the world and ends up dying.

Finally, both Kyouko and Ymir show that their “selfless” selves had not really disappeared and in their final moments sacrifice themselves for someone else claiming to do that without regrests.

These are some of the major parallelisms between the two series I was able to find. The series have some common themes, but also very different ones and are structured differently. However, trying to find how they are similar was fun!

Thank you for the ask!