#I may write analysis's that are a little biased and look back on them and cringe a bit

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Sometimes I feel very sad that I didn’t just focus on one creative skill. I look at my art some days and go I wish I’d spent all my time making only that, because that way it would look better and I’d do more and it wouldn’t matter if I couldn’t write very well because my art would be amazing and I’d be able to make the stuff I really want to and maybe even get a job related to it and I wouldn’t feel like so much time was wasted. And often times it really does feel like you’re wasting time and everything is telling you to just pick something to focus on so it can mean something and you can never seem to pick one of anything.

And then other days I feel like an absolute GOD. Anyone else able to write your own fic and then draw art for it just because you can? Can you make an edit/amv after writing a silly little analysis post on the show/character that is so perfectly on beat and fits the lyrics and with transitions so slapping you get chills while watching? Can you write a short silly ditty on the guitar about how you’re feeling using the eight chords know and belt it out only a little bit off key then do a choppy little animation of your sona singing it?

I may not be the most skilled at all of the above, and it can be a little lonely to be a one man band who doesn’t play half as well as a lot of people out there, but when your power goes out or your wifi dies or you have a day off, everyone else is busy and you’re alone...

you play the best gosh dang music in existence

[deargravity]

Akashi for the ask thing: 2,4,5 and 26:What's your opinion of Bokushi and his integration during extra game?

that's an interesting question, i'm so excited to answer.

questions from this

2. favourite canon thing about this character?

uh where to begin. i'm so endeared by his inability to make jokes. i think he's tried and he's always seemed awkward, so he doesn't attempt to make any jokes unless he's around the rest of teiko gang. it's just so cute to me for obvious reasons. i like that he's bad at making jokes but i also like the idea of him trying to crack one around his closest friends because he's not afraid of being viewed as awkward. (i don't know about anyone else but i'm very obsessed with him having the privilege to be his honest and messy self around those in his intimate circle. everyone is also endeared by his jokes, or lack thereof.)

also the fact that he looks like his mother. devastating. i love it and hate it. imagine growing up with the face in the mirror and learning to look yourself in the eye and see everything you've lost and can't get back.

everything about him is incredibly endearing to me. i just chose the one at the forefront of my mind.

4. if you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

SHERLOCK HOLMES. i'm a big fan of everything sherlock holmes and akashi's intelligence and history match very well with someone who could either be a great detective or a criminal mastermind. i do want to see him in detective fiction of literally any kind. a cozy mystery, specifically, i think he'd be such a beloved narrator or protagonist (i may be biased because i love him but i still think he's the kind of character who grows on the audience very fast). i'd want him written in a 21st century mystery novel though, maybe pepper in a little bit of espionage to keep things interesting.

i'd also love to put him in a Jekyll and Hyde narrative because it would be fun to experiment with. i think it would be a nice way to dive into oreshi and bokushi's separate world views & concepts of morality and self. of course, i'd change up the script because i'm not a fan of Jekyll and Hyde being used as a reference for any kind of dissociative disorder, but i think i'd like to use the setting to assess akashi's psychology on a deeper, more technical level. i want to access his headspace and watch oreshi & bokushi's internal exchanges and characters more than anything else, so it might not even have a plot. i just need to poke around his brain a little. if that makes sense.

i think at this point i should just attempt to write an academic paper on him.

5. what's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

buy 1 get 2 free.

26. what's your opinion on bokushi and his integration during extra game?

i love bokushi. my little guy. he is the embodiment of akashi's maladaptive mechanisms. he's grandiose because he can't afford to admit his own faults or weaknesses - akashi has never been allowed to fail or be vulnerable growing up - because he's associated it with abandonment. he has to command deference because he feels unworthy of love, or incapable of being loved, because akashi has grown up being praised by his father without ever feeling like he was loved. that expression on his face when murasakibara offered him a hand to stand up during extra game, how unexpected it was that anyone would want to care for him after he's fallen, after they've seen the cause of his shame in that moment. he does care for his team and he is protective but he doesn't know how to express it. at his core, he's struggling with a lot of shame and fear that he doesn't know how to handle. i love him.

as for the integration, i'm overall indifferent to it. and i'll explain why. i'll try to keep my narrative and technical analysis separate but i can't insulate them completely from each other.

firstly, i guess it worked in the narrative sense. akashi had to accept himself in his entirety to perform his best, even the parts of him that he's afraid / ashamed of. it's also symbolic of how bokushi and oreshi had to accept each other to create a cohesive, skilled player, and how, despite bokushi's past mistakes, he is still essential to akashi's function. also i don't feel much for extra game sorry, so this is the extent to which i can care about it.

in the technical sense, i don't think bokushi would have disappeared like that so instantly and definitively. akashi's osdd clearly stems from the trauma of his childhood which, in large part, seems to go unaddressed most of the time and the progress he's made (as bokushi and oreshi) can be credited to his own efforts in isolation. i like to think of that bit in extra game as bokushi and oreshi co-fronting or, basically, working together with their specific skill sets to achieve victory, which again is symbolic of the concept of teamwork that is central to knb's theme. the scene specifically illustrates the necessity of interpersonal and intrapersonal cohesion to achieve victory. which i thought was nice. though i don't think bokushi would have simply disappeared after that. he's shown a lot of growth himself and might appear occasionally during times of akashi's distress or when his fear of abandonment becomes salient & unmanageable. i think in the future, bokushi and oreshi definitely either work together or they take turns, depending on the situations that specifically trigger each of them to the front. i think akashi is doing his best, and so are his two selves, and they're getting better and better at becoming a cohesive whole but that's more of a long-term vision i have for akashi.

i hope that makes some kind of sense. thank you so much for this interesting question, i really enjoyed thinking about it and answering it.

[lunare-angelum]

My top 4 Skybristle designs: Mortal-made deities or legendary-associated cookies

Hello everyone! Mysticeti or Sea Angel here and as an artist I'm always looking to expand my knowledge, analysis and prowess in character design. My most favorite kind at the moment is creature design, but I enjoy looking at all kinds within a lot of artists I follow, fandom related or not. I recently some videos analysing character design in video games like Pokemon became inspired to do a little essay of my own.

For fun, and with permission of my good buddy @skybristle I will be reviewing my top 4 favorite designs of minx's. While this list is inherently biased, I will generally be following a certain criteria of concept versus execution in general character design a lot of other analysts go by. So, if the character design executes the concept well, it can be considered a good design in the art world. Not only that, but an ugly or creepy character design doesn't automatically mean bad in the art world if it's intended that way. However, this is cookie run we're talking about so my criteria will mainly be this:

1: It's unique and eye-catching, but looks like a believable tasty treat or implements it's main ingredient well. This even goes for elemental deities, even if their concepts won't always be a conventional food!

2:Intimidating and cool, but also looks like it could be a 'friend.' or approachable unless deliberately intended otherwise. It at least has to look sentient and has a unique personality since this is the cookie run world of talking cookies and animals.

3:Complicated, but memorable. Within a world of many cookies, it can be easy to forget most of them. Especially their details with their naturally chibi little gingerbread bodies. However, the best character designs in my opinion are the ones you can't be bound to forget - especially the important details that stand out and compliment the design without overhauling it. Even if you don't remember the name of a cookie, you can instantly recognize them with their design.

For example, Golden cheese cookie's wings, especially in her sprite may seem to be a bit in the background but are still an obvious and staple part of her design, especially her silhouette. You could ask any cookie run fan and they'd immediately think of her wings. This can go for the markings on her wings and eyeliner, too, they aren't even part of the silhouette but are still a very memorable part of her design - double deserving of praise!

Also for this review I'll be looking at the mortal made deities or any legendary associated cookies even if they're not a deity within Skybristle's reimagining of CRK. In the future I may look false deities or the legendary beasts and animals.

DISCLAIMER: ALL of this art belongs to Skybristle! None of it belongs to me whatsoever, I was simply given permission by the artist to use mew's artwork here. Please go give minx a follow or check out all of minxes art and characters in one place toyhouse on their Tumblr I linked earlier!

Now, onto the rankings...! (Also, sorry for the grammar and writing errors, my Tumblr keeps farting every time I go back and edit them)

4: Hyacinth Eclipse cookie

The last priestess of Primordial light cookie herself, Hyacinth Eclipse cookie! While I do have my preferences which we'll go over below, I can't say this design isn't great on its own. One of my favorite parts of this design that I think works really well is the shape language, and the symbolism that slides to Eclipse's name. The sharp, golden regalia of the sun's rays and jewels or patterns that resemble stars and recur throughout the design contrast nicely against the soft and simple but bright color palette, and the symbols of the sun moon and stars never outdo each other. The stars obviously serve to compliment the outfit and design as the symbols of the moon, sun and eclipse are the ones that really catch your eye. While we get a glimpse of the moon phases on the collar of Eclipse cookie's cape and on aer staff, we can also easily spot the striking golden spikes that resemble the sun's rays outside of the cape or shoes. The different distinct patterns for the sun and moon that can be seen on the little paper plates wrapped around the wooden staff's arms are also beautiful, distinct and in tune with each other.

While at first, as a cosmic priest, her expression seems calm but tenative - when looking closely, she looks extremely overwhelmed even with all this regal finery and grandeur. Just as overwhelmed as someone would be looking directly at a solar eclipse, or any cosmic diaster. Which, in a way, she sort of did witness one when it comes to her story. My only nitpick though is that I wish this design utilized the "Hyacinth" in Hyacinth Eclipse cookie's name more. With just the eclipse theme and the relatively average color palette that other cookie run characters related to the dream world directly line up with, she sort of looks like she could be any other character from the city of wizards. However, I'm not sure whether this was intentional or not, since she did look different from before Primordial light died, becoming incredibly jaded since. Her design from when she was a priest though IS very beautiful and unique, however! I'm not sure whether it's outdated or not though.

Not only that, but when it comes to her story of love and loss however, the name is not in vain! Hyacinth flowers can be associated with peace and commitment as they are associated with the God Apollo, but purple ones specifically are symbolized as sorrow and one begging for forgiveness. Blue ones are also associated with sincerity, and loyalty, like the loyalty Hyacinth Eclipse cookie always shows to Primordial light whether alive or dead, along to her family.

3:Wisteria cookie

What can I say? Wisteria's got to be one of the most beautiful cookies within the collective world of Skybristle's lore, both in concept and execution. Sky told me that they inferred concepts from a friend and I can't say I love it more! The idea of a wisteria-themed cookie is wonderful, and as someone who has been lurking around the cookie run Tumblr fandom since about 2017, I can't say I've heard of the concept too much beforehand, much less this strikingly. While there may have been previous wisteria themed cookies lurking around, this design is definitely what comes to anyone's mind when they hear of a wisteria-themed character. It completely utilizes the wisteria theme to it's full potential - from the literal flowers flowing from the hair to the dress patterns to even the hair flowing like the long, fast growing flowering vines of wisteria. Even the tails of butterflies that accompany Wisteria cookie flow like wisteria do.

Not only is the floral cookie theme executed nicely on a surface level, but also fits with the character's outfit and cultural fashion, resemblant of Japanese kimonos or even Korean hanboks but as if they were made of the flower itself. All of this natural majesty and grandeur that simply stems from the floral and cultural inspiration makes Wisteria cookie technically being a deity within the Cookie world feel all the more natural(a huge strength imo when it comes to mortal made deities)Within the naturally bright and saturated world of cookie run, more laid-back and desaturated looking designs are always welcomed and fits her story/character/homeland immensely.

Ironically, it naturally makes her stand out, especially as a goddess, even though traditionally IRL gods are moreso associated with a lot more radiance and light. At the same time though, wisterias irl are considered to be among the most colorful flowering vines ever, alluding to Wisteria's origins being within the dark frozen wasteland that is the Dark Cacao kingdom but still becoming a beacon of hope and peace within the land particularly in her godhood. Not only that, but if you're a newer fan of CRK, flowers and peace aren't traditionally what you'd associate with the Dark cacao kingdom's whereabouts, but it's a pure genius move for that to be the primary theme of Wisteria cookie. From the choice of the flower for what it represents + the environments it's native to paralleling the snowy kingdom, to her storyline relating to becoming a goddess of peace since the first war, to how the floral theme is executed with her design. Her design may seem simple, but full of so many lovely hidden details, and gets more unique the minute I talk about her!

Fun fact, but culturally, the wisteria is also associated with longevity, resilience, and immortality, as it is a flower that can live for centuries - befitting for a goddess of peace and patience. Her expression may seem simple, but can say so many things when you look at it more closely. This person has seen unspeakable things, but still chooses to remain hopeful about the world, like how wisteria blooming even when there is still snow out on early spring. Or is it a look of uncertainty, trying to put on a hopeful and brave face for others as the goddess of peace? On the other hand, despite the jaded and tired looking face, Wisteria cookie's design still retains an approachable and soft demeanor. This cookie is motherly, and will take care of you. However, as a cookie made of such a long-living flower, she definitely looks like a very experienced and ancient mage that is obviously different from the modern-day ones in the Dark Cacao Castle at first glance, just as how wisteria is considered to be one of the most brightly-colored flowering vines, especially as one growing in such dark and cold circumstances of early spring when snows still outside.

2:Glace berry cookie

While Wisteria is a cookie that utilizes her theme and main ingredient amazingly within her design while also looking unique, Glace Berry's design takes that to a whole new level. Just looking at her face instantly draws you into this character. Her eyes alone look like there's a whole magical land of frost going on in there. Looking at Glace Berry's design is like being a child and experiencing snow for the first time, seeing it glow like diamonds against the dark night. The dark blues of her outfit complimented by the shiny blue perfect contrast of how winter may be depressing and dark, but also wondrous and magical. Not only that, but the simple looking outfit full of beautiful hidden details looks so cozy and the patterns can remind you of a grandma-knitted sweater, or looks like it could be from a Jan Brett book, like ironically her book about the Gingerbread man.

I can't say how the palette contrast between orange against the relatively monochromatic blues really seals the otherworldly look for this character that just draws you in, like true a snow siren some call her. While incredibly unique, this design also utilizes it's berry theming quite well too. While there are lots of cookies I can think of that utilize both their food themes and cultural/social inspiration well simultaneously, Glace berry takes it to the next level - with her berries not only alluding to her name but also providing a beautiful level of contrast that not only compliments, but enhances the monochromatic palette of icy and dark blues. Despite her canonical connection and similar appearance to Sherbet cookie, this design has so many things about it you can never find nor associate with Sherbet with his own name and food/cultural inspiration. Everything about her design just really gives you childhood nostalgia, especially if you ever grew up with winter in your area, while also having so many unique elements on its own - both food-related and winter-related.

Alright! That concludes the top four. So now, our little winner of the legendary-related original characters is....

ABYSSAL STAR cookie!

(and to answer your question on how she is legendary-related, she does have a lot of narrative ties with black pearl...also, i couldn't really find anyone else) Okay, maybe I am a bit biased. But just LOOK at this thing and say it isn't the most coolest of cookie run designs you may have ever seen. It has so many hidden details and and features that alude to the angler fish inspiration, along with beautiful and striking colors or shape language, all while looking like a completely believable cookie run character even if she's not conventionally sweet, made of a consumable food or human-adjacent. Also, many of the elements of the design are just fucking cool. The locs that look like a deep sea squid's tentacles, the little piercings and ropes, very nice! I also love the little sparkles, not putting the star in her name in vain. Though, I do feel like her tail does look a bit big and un-attached to her relatively frail looking body, though she is a cookie, so it checks out. I think the cape is also a little much for a cookie design especially when she does have the tail going on, but could definitely work in a more realistic or gijinka of this cookie.

While not a grandeur deity nor a powerful mage, what I think makes Abyssal star cookie's design work so well against all the others is how the concept is so simple and very believable in concept, execution, and even design, all while being so unique even against legendaries and ancients. Like I said before, she may not be made of a natural element nor a conventionally sweet food, but it's not like Cookie run itself hasn't made plenty of fish inspired and more mercreature adjacent esigns before whether they are based on actual seafood or not, both of legendary and non legendary status. Even in the living deep sea city, there's an angler-fish cookie! However, her relatively dark color palette with the contrast of bright pink and purple colors, along with the shape of her fins and general aesthetic look very distinct from any other angler fish inspired cookie design.

And on the contrary, this cookie naturally looks intimidating and even otherworldly as she is from the deep sea, but just as cute as any other cookie. It's the perfect ditchomy that I think really encapsulates the legacy of cookie run character design, all while having the artists personal touch and style to it. Her expression is naturally, cold and intimidating, but not just cool and stoic either, showing so much personality in there! It's a nasty, confrontational, "I don't trust you" type of look that tells you to immediately stop what you're doing and question all your life decisions. However, her colorful color palette can also tell us that this cookie is capable of becoming an ally or friend that will fight for you to the end. One of the artist's biggest strengths is how they draw expressions, giving so much personality and life to even the most initially scary and unfeeling-looking cookies. And that's what makes Skybristle's designs so nice. I'm not sure how else to end this, but see you on the next potential review :]

[skydigiblogs]

back on my bullshit (thinking about translation theory in the context of my silly little monster cartoons <3)

(this ended up so so fucking long so i put it under a read more lmao)

specifically thinking about it in the context of like a handful of world/postcolonial lit courses we took and some anth courses

what i mean by that is like

when it comes to just literature there are already so many things that have to be taken into account for translation! let's say you're taking a poem. in its native language, that poem has a sound, a rhythm, a way of communicating that a lot of poetry in a lot of languages do. when you translate it to another language, like english, are you going to translate in a way that preserves the meaning most, or a way that attempts to approximate the meaning while preserving the synesthetic qualities of its sounds?

the homeric epics are a really fun example for comparative translation analysis imo. and i mean fun because there are so many translations of them into english, and at least one madlad decided to make a prose translation of an epic poem. only recently did the first translation of the poem by a woman get published, and that revealed that a lot of biases in the linguistic nuance were kind of getting smoothed over like a crease in clay.

(i have a copy of emily wilson's translation but am not the guy who reads classics in our system, i just write the essays lmao. but she wrote multiple times about the theory of translation she was working with and if you're at all interested in this topic, look her up.)

but even if you aren't translating a text from antiquity and are, say, working with a more contemporary example of literary translation, you still have to bridge the gap between two cultures that may be very different. just a word for word translation may not work too, because figurative language like idioms might not be understood by the language you're translating to.

the amount of cultural knowledge required to sculpt a truly effective translation that preserves the image of the original while making it comprehensible to an otherwise ignorant audience is just. so cool to me. i say this as someone who could never really do translation work myself, on account of not having that kind of complex grasp on another language than my native one, of course, but you don't have to be fluently billingual to understand what i'm talking about here, imo.

another example, and one that i actually wrote comparative analysis on, is work from charles baudelaire's les fleurs du mal ("the flowers of evil"). works of short poetry are effective case studies in what different translations can look like, because translations of baudelaire's poetry still portray the subject matter in a way that is presumably true to the original french. while something may always be lost in translation (there's a saying for a reason there), the philosophy behind one's translation can also highlight one's own reading of a text, and offer a closer insight into said text for foreign audiences (me, it's me, i'm the foreign audience reading charles baudelaire in world lit and going absolutely insane about translation theory).

for my mileage, you end up seeing a paradigm between translations that span between "strict" and "loose," if that makes any sense. a strict translation makes no changes in its translation, preserving the literature in its entirety as it is translated, to the best approximation possible where a direct translation is impossible. a loose translation meanwhile may make more artistic choices in its translation, foregoing certain details in order to better articulate the artistry in the original work.

okay, now, the reason i'm thinking about this today, right now.

in literature this is already a complex subject, but when you get into other forms of art, like animation in the case of this blogs primary topic, there become a lot more moving parts. like with literature, there's going to be the simple fact of looking into a cultural window and trying to communicate that snapshot to foreigners.

with subtitling, you can add things like translator's notes. this is a non-diegetic method of communicating information to your audience, and you can see it present in literature as well (footnotes or endnotes are a frequent addition to many translated works; hell, they're common even in non-translated works). in animated works where there are vocal tracks (like anime openings or insert songs), you can also have subtitles for those, no problem!

however, when it comes to dubbing, you automatically include more elements to juggle in your translation work. you have to take into account individual voice, background tracks, visuals, etc. etc.. the method most dubs handle translating the work often discourages non-diegetic methods of communicating information, so you're less likely to see translator's notes in dub work. sometimes this even includes changing on-screen text so that a foreign audience can read it.

the lengths to which a dubbing company is willing to censor in translation is also, obviously, a conversation worth noting (see again my losing my shit at pinnochimon packing heat). a phenomenon i'm sure we've all noticed when it comes to dubbing (as opposed to most translations of literature i've seen) is that dubs may market to a specific age range in translation. sometimes that may end up defanging a work's themes, or changing them entirely. the censorship of a dub may come out of a cultural difference or hesitance to show certain subjects to a younger audience, but regardless it is part of the theory behind some dub work.

i don't really have a conclusion to this, but it's just in my mind a lot while i'm watching some of these series for the first time subbed. by all means, i don't think dubbing is a bad thing (if anything it's complex), but having the experience of watching the sub is allowing me to do a type of comparative analysis i don't think i've ever had the chance to actively do.

i know that there are folks who have done more thorough comparative analysis work than i'll probably end up doing, of course (there are so many wonderful blogs here on tumblr alone about that meta-analysis). it's just that i'm enjoying engaging with a childhood interest in a way that i suppose i didn't know i wanted to do so badly.

[alan-p-49]

If anyone ended up noticing uh I'll tell you anyways even if you didn't notice but purple hearts has been deleted

I've decided that if imma make a sequel the romance between Jason and Zaccharie it would more be a sub plot rather the whole point of the story

Basically the new planned sequel is gonna be an anti copaganda. The only two non asshole cops in the police department are the two protagonists (which if i say who they are will spoil what i wanna do for blood boy but one of them is Jason). Haven't decided if the chief officer would be an asshole but it would depend if i decide them to be a cis white straight man or an enby (if they're an enby i won't make them an asshole). The forensics and cyber forensics analysts will not be assholes but rather get tired bc

They're the only forensics team in the whole town

The asshole cops may want them to do something fucky wucky/not taken very seriously bc the majority of the cops think fingerprint analysis works exactly like in cop shows (which they don't)

I hope I'm going to be a cyber forensics analyst by the time I get to properly write this sequel so i might end up putting in my own experiences so prepare for me talking about EnCase and hardware write blockers and all kinds of nerdy cyber forensics shit (you gonna learn a lot :D) or any other police station drama that isn't exactly the same I'll experience (tldr imma be biased)

The whole plot idea is that there are many different crimes happening and popping up one by one that are all connected to a single mastermind. If i don't end up killing off Lily Applewhite, that would be her. If i do i might think up someone else but it would be way easier if she doesn't die in blood boy so that I'll kill her in this story bc this bitch omg she can just noclip out of solitary confinement in a supermax prison.

Ik the universe of blood boy is fucking ridiculous but like it has its own ridiculous logic and that includes omniscient aliens that can noclip in and out of reality while 15% of the human population has some kind of super power (which omniscience and noclipping is not available to those humans). Don't get me started on the geopolitics in that universe since 2030 and 2054 and the fact my baby girl Tricia accidentally Thanos snapped Jupiter one time but she put it back together so the gravitational harmony was restored before the whole solar system went into shit

Also there's aliens on Titan. They're called The Boys on Titan. They low-key look like centaur version of this pokemon but with six legs

No they're not actually call themselves that, "the boys on Titan" is the term used by humans (mainly Tricia who isn't a human btw) along with just the term "alien centaurs" or just "centaurs". They don't like going to earth bc they'll either boil alive or evaporate bc 70% of their body is methane (as a liquid btw) and they know aliens exist bc humans like to have a little light show called cities since at least the end of the 20th century but no we live in a boiling hot planet

I'm rambling sorry

[swimmingleo]

Changes: or to take the higher ground before it's too late

I'm going to be real here folks, I cry ugly tears to this song. Bad.

Changes is a song on Cam's album "The Otherside". It's country, it's folk and it's an album a bit influenced by changes in Cam's life (a change of label, personal life). She collaborated with Harry on the song Changes, as she opened for him on a venue and was already working with Tyler Johnson.

From what I gathered: Harry sent her the demo of the song, implying he made most of the writing on this one. What I'm basing this claim on is her interview for Rolling Stones (read it here):

I heard [the demo] and was just like, “Oh, this ache to outgrow something that you don’t want to outgrow!” It felt so good. I normally don’t take outside songs [...]

‼️DISCLAIMER‼️when analysing this song, I'm gonna go from the idea of it being written with a queer mindset (how surprising of me). Cam rendered the song beautifully and it is very much her own, but I believe Harry's input is consequential. After all that's his lil whistle and cute fishsona in the MV.

Sad queer analysis ahead.

Let's analyse the lyrics first:

There is a town

Somewhere down a country road

The speaker describes the town to us, from memory, from experience. "There it is, down the road, can you picture it ?"

I see it now

I take it everywhere I go

The speaker doesn't currently live in the town, they're on the move (nice throwback to the coutry road). But despite all the travelling, they realize the sedentary smalltown never leaves them. It's part of them. It left a mark on them.

The river sways, I can almost hear it now

As if to say, "You're not the only one who wants a way out"

The town is so real to the speaker they can sense it, eyes and ears. But it gets a bit dark: the river sways like it's trying to leave its bed. The river is envious of the speaker who managed to leave. The town is so toxic even nature wants to get away from it. Or the speaker resents the town so bad that they project their own resentment on the river.

So, I go

'Cause I don't wanna feel like I don't know you anymore

I memorize those roads

This is the call for the speaker to leave for good. Their motive doesn't seem to be ambitious or anything grand. They leave because they apprehend a feeling. Apprehending a feeling, something that may not even happen, is the way of an anxious person. Anxiety is the motive of their departure. However, they still memorize the roads leading to the town, just in case. Perhaps one day they'll come back.

Somewhere out in the big wild country

Someone's fallin' in love in a backseat

Givin' it away

Like their hearts won't ever break

Suddenly it's about love ! Young love, one that is lived in the small compartment of a car, somewhere hidden and safe in the big wild country. As if the countryside was unexplored and threatening.

God bless the young hearts sippin' cheap wine

Gettin' drunk with their friends for the first time

Thinkin' nothing's gonna change

'Til everything changes

The speaker looks at the youth with tenderness, wishing them the best. But once again, they're not in the town in the present time, they don't see the youngsters fooling around, they can only guess from first-hand experience. And it's very specific: falling in love, getting drunk with friends and thinking everything's gonna be easy like that forever until it's not and heartbreak ensues.

From there I hop in with the raw queer theme of those lyrics. It started by falling in love and it ended up in a heartbreak. In between, the speaker got drunk for the first time with their friends, people they trusted enough to let go a little, but in the end everything changed. Why ? Alcohol makes you forget about code of conduct, how you're supposed to behave. It makes you say or do things you might not have done sober.

We can interprete this chorus as the beginning of the end for the speaker. It's the only part of the song evocating the past, and it's fun and easy, but it's also where things started to get bad the way they are in the present. Something might have happened that first time the speaker got drunk and it marked the end of innocence and careless childhood, and it probably has to do with love as no other factor is provided apart from falling in love and heartbreak.

They never leave

They're all havin' babies now

Watchin' daytime TV

Livin' off the gossip of a cruel small town

They. With Harry, it's always You, Me, and They. They are having babies, all of them, like it's not a very difficult thing to do, it's just natural. They have the leisure of the day, not a thing to worry about, if not gossip. It's not implied anymore, the small town is downright cruel. Gossip fuels it, but on behalf of someone else, and that someone is most definitely the speaker who left and who describes its inhabitants in the most mundane way, perhaps with a hint of contempt. The speaker seems bitter.

So, I go

'Cause I don't wanna feel like you don't know me anymore

Don't recognize my face

Reprise of the pre-chorus except now, the speaker provides another reason for their departure. Not only they feared they wouldn't know the town anymore, they also feared being seen as a stranger. It's not like the speaker actually changed physically: but it might as well feel like it. Again, apprehension, anguish. As implied in the chorus, things changed to the point where the speaker feels they would seem like a whole another person to the rest of the town, a stranger, a threat to the integrity of the conservatives. So they leave before this shift in perception can happen.

There ain't nothing here for me anymore

They say they don't hear from me anymore

And I don't wanna hear it anymore

The town is not outwardly hostile. It's still the town that saw the speaker as a kid. The town doesn't understand why the speaker left, but the speaker won't give in and get in touch. They want to be as far away as possible, until they don't hear the questions, the river, everything. It's almost like the speaker doesn't carry the town in their heart at all. They want to forget it all, and it hurts everytime the town tries to lure them back in. The way Cam sings it is painful to me man

Somewhere out in the big wild country

I was fallin' in love in a backseat

Givin' it away

Like my heart won't ever break

Had such a young heart sippin' cheap wine

Gettin' drunk with my friends for the first time

Thinkin' nothing's gonna change

'Til everything changes

Yeah, just the confirmation of the chorus being the speaker's experience. I went ahead and assumed it was already lol but it's like a plot twist effect. It's dramatic. It's a personal song to someone.

TO MAKE IT SHORT to me this song is intense and very in touch with the queer experience. Though it describes a specific situation, it is surprisingly not that detailed or full of metaphors the way Harry often writes: this town could be literally any smalltown in the countryside. The backseat could be the one of any car, cheap wine is something any teen can afford. I like to think Harry wrote it for himself but is also aware so many people went through the same thing, and still will. I have to admit I'm heavily biased writing this, as the experience of a queer kid struggling to find their place in a well settled smalltown is familiar.

GETTING DRUNK AND QUEER IDENTITY is an analogy Harry already used in Fine Line when he sang "We'll get the drinks in so I'll get to thinking of her". To drink is to let go, to unveil the most subconscious aspects of yourself you might not want to deal with otherwise. You don't care about judgement and you get to explore those parts freely. In Changes, this is the last memory they recall before stating the changes and their departure. Perhaps getting drunk for the first time would be when they realized they're queer. Or acted upon it, causing their little world to shake. They chose to leave before it eventually wouldn't feel like a choice anymore. There is no life for people like them in a cruel smalltown.

SMALLTOWN BOY

This song reminds me an awful lot of Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat. The song is about a queer boy having to leave the smalltown where he grew up because of persecutions and no future prospects.

Mother will never understand why you had to leave, Smalltown Boy

They say they don't hear from me anymore, Changes

But the answers you seek will never be found at home, the love that you need will never be found at home

There is nothing here for me anymore

Other people not understanding why they leave. People who can't truly empathize even when they mean no harm. They would never understand the speaker's departure, because those people get to find love and have babies and live a peaceful life in the countryside.

You were the one that they'd talk about around town as they put you down

Livin' off the gossip of a cruel small town

Yeah yeah. I really struggle with just seeing this song as nostalgia when such harsh words are being used. I do believe there is a part of fondness for that town, that countryside setting and the early days. But it's not all tender memories.

CHANGES AND ERODA

Of couuuurse we all noticed the adorable purple fish with the pearl necklace. It represents Harry, no question, as it whistles Harry's part. And of couuuuurse we all made the link with the erodian fish, and some even noticed they formed the bluegreener pair when their colors are inverted.

It makes sense for those fishes to be connected with this interpretation of Changes. Both works are about a small town, lost in the nature, where the people are watching, aware of everything that isn't normal, that is peculiar. The early life of the peculiar boy is similar in every way to the early life of the speaker in Changes. The fish in Adore You grows too big for the island and has to leave, and though Eroda makes amends with the peculiar boy, he leaves as well because his future, his fulfilment, is somewhere else. So does the speaker in Changes.

IN CONCLUSION

The more I write posts like this, the more endeared I am by Harry's world. How Harry writes for himself, but also for other people with songs like this. How nature finds its way in all that he does. How grounded he is, how he doesn't seem to forget where he came from. It really is such a rare thing to see in a mainstream popstar's writing and art. How can someone say he sold his soul to LA is beyond me

[variousqueerthings]

Daniel LaRusso: A Queer Feminine Fairytale Analysis Part 1 of 3

Disclaimers and trigger warnings: 

1. These fairytales are European, although there’s often overlap in themes globally. I know European fairytales better, which is essentially the reason I’m not going to branch out too far. I opted to also stick to Western movies so as not to narrow things down, but also in particular “waves hand towards all of Ghibli” amongst many others. There’s a reason the guys in Ghibli are so gender.

2. TW for discussions of rape culture and rape fantasies

EDIT: FUCK I’M A GOBLIN CHILD! FORGOT TO PUT A MASSIVE MASSIVE THANK YOU TO @mimsyaf​ WHO HAS BEEN THE NICEST, KINDEST EDITOR ON THESE THOUGHTS AND CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THEM AND GENERALLY IS A WONDERFUL PERSON!

Part 2

Part 3

1. Introduction

I recently wrote a little thing, which was about Daniel as a fairytale protagonist – specifically one that goes through some of the kinds of transformations that are often associated with female protagonists of fairytales.

I used quotes from Red Riding Hood, Labyrinth, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Dracula, which, as an aside – the overlap between fairytales, horror, and fantasy and the ways each of those genres delve into very deep, basic questions of humanity and the world is something that will always make me feral. I will be generally sticking with fairytales though. Also I am very excited about some of those Labyrinth concepts going around!

I’m going to use “feminine” and “masculine” in both gendered (as in relating specifically to people) and non-gendered (as in relating to codes) ways throughout this, depending on context.

To be binary for a moment, because sample-sizes of other genders are low, women are usually able to fall into either feminine or masculine arcs, although sometimes the masculine-coded woman can become a “not like the other girls” stereotype and the feminine-coded woman a shallow cliché – in both cases they’re also under more scrutiny and judgement, so it’s always worth asking “is this character not working for me because of the writing or because I have ingrained biases? (Both?)”

Men don’t often get feminine-coded arcs. Because. Probably a mix of biases and bigotry. But there are some that seem to have slipped beneath the shuttered fence of “Sufficient Narrative Testosterone,” and Daniel LaRusso is one of them.

2. Some Dude Comparisons (Men Doing Manly Action-Hero Things like being trans symbolism and loving your girlfriend… seriously those things are hella manly, I wish we saw more of that onscreen…)

a. Neo

Much like Neo The Matrix, whose journey is filled with transgender subtext and specifically and repeatedly references Alice In Wonderland, Daniel doesn’t go through quite the kind of hero's journey usually associated with Yer Standard Male Hero, especially the type found in the 80s/90s.

Neo is my favourite comparison, because of the purposefulness of his journey as a trans narrative and the use of Alice. But I’m sure there are other non-traditional male heroes out there (but are they trans tho? Please tell me, I want trans action heroes).

Neo “passes” as a socially acceptable man, but online goes by a different name - the name he prefers to be known by - feels like there’s something inherently wrong about the world around him and his body’s place in that society, and then gets taken down the rabbit hole (with his consent, although without really “knowing” what he’s consenting to) to discover that it’s the world that’s wrong - not him. And by accessing this truth he can literally make his body do and become whatever he wants it to.

Yay. (The message of the Matrix is actually that trans people can fly).

Neo is – kind of like Daniel – a strange character for Very Cis Straight Guys to imprint on. He spends most of the first movie unsure about what’s going on, out of his depth, and often getting beaten up. He is compared to Alice several times and at the end he dies. He loses. He has to be woken up with true love’s kiss, in a fun little Sleeping Beauty/Snow White twist. Yes, after that he can fly, but before that he’s getting dead-named and hate-crimed by The Most Obvious Stand-In For Normativity, Agent Smith, and being carried by people far more physically capable than he is (people who also fall outside of normative existence).

Trinity and Neo in The Matrix. The fact that a lot of the time neither of them is gendered is something. Literally brought to life by true love’s kiss.

I’m not about to argue that Daniel LaRusso is purposefully written along these same thought processes, so much as the luck of the way he was written, cast, directed, acted, and costumed all came together in the right way. And this is even more obvious when compared to That Other Underdog Fite Movie That Was By The Same Director as Karate Kid.

b. Rocky

The interesting thing about Rocky is that he is (despite being a male action icon) also not written as a Traditionally Masculine person. Large portions of Rocky – and subsequent Rocky films – are his fear and insecurity about fighting vs his inability to apply his skills to another piece of work and wanting to do right by his girlfriend (and future wife), Adrian. The fighting is most often pushed onto him against his will.

Much like in Karate Kid there is barely any fighting in Rocky I. Most of it is dedicated to how much Rocky loves Adrian and the two of them getting together. The fight is – again like in Karate Kid – a necessary violence, rather than a glorified one (within the plot, obviously watching any movie like this is also partly about the badassness of some element of the violence – whether stamina or the crane kick, it’s all about not backing down against a more powerful opponent).

Rocky is played by Sylvester Stallone. He’s tough, he’s already a fighter (albeit in the movie not a great one yet), he’s taking the fight for cash – so although he’s also soft-spoken and sweet, you’re aware of the fact that he’s got those traits that’d make a male audience go “Hell Yeah, A Man,” or whatever it is a male audience does watching movies like that… cis straight men imprinting on oiled muscle men sure is a strange phenomenon, why do you wanna watch a boxing match? So you can watch toned guys groaning and grappling with each other? Because you want to feel like A Man by allowing yourself to touch the skin of other men?

Apollo and Rocky in Rocky III. This sequence also includes prolonged shots of their crotches as they run. Sylvester Stallone directed this. This was intentional. Bros.

Daniel LaRusso is not built like that. But that doesn’t really have to matter. Being smallish and probably more likely to be described as “pretty” than handsome, and not having a toxic masculine bone in his body does not a feminine archetype make. It just makes a compelling (and pretty) underdog. 

c. Daniel

So where does the main difference really lie? Between Rocky and Daniel? Well, Rocky has the plot in his hands – Daniel, largely, does not. Rocky is acting. Daniel is reacting or being pushed into situations by others. Just like our boy Neo. Just like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Snow White – just like some of the women in some contemporary(ish) fairytale films like Buttercup (Princess Bride), Dorothy (Wizard of Oz), or Sarah (Labyrinth).

This isn’t a necessary negative about stories about girls and women, so much as looking at what it is girls and women in fairytales have/don’t have, what they want, and how they’re going to get it. It’s about power (lack of), sexuality (repressed, then liberated), men, and crossing some taboo lines. It’s also about queerness.

3. The Karate Kid Part One: Leaving Home

Daniel LaRusso is a poor, skinny, shortish kid (played by a skinny, shortish twenty-two-year old) who doesn’t fit in after having been taken away from the home he was familiar with against his will. Not every male protagonist in a fairytale leaves of his own will, and not every female protagonist leaves under duress – Red Riding Hood, for example, seems perfectly happy to enter the forest. However generally a hero is “striking out to make his fortune,” and generally a heroine is fleeing or making a bargain or being married off or waiting for help to arrive. She is often stuck (and even Red Riding Hood requires saving at some point).

Daniel then encounters a beautiful, lovely girl on the beach, puts on a red hoodie (red is significant), is beaten up by a large, attractive bully, loses what little clout he may have had with his new friends, and generally has a mostly miserable time until he befriends and is saved by Mr Miyagi. To do a little Cinderella comparison: Miyagi is the fairy godmother who pushes Daniel to go to the ball in disguise as well, and that disguise falls to pieces as he’s running away.

Then Daniel asks for help, Miyagi gets him enrolled in a Karate Tournament, and starts teaching him. Daniel wins the tournament and gets the girl, the end.

While Daniel has chutzpah and is a wonderful character, none of the big events are initiated by him, except for the initial going to the forest/beach (and within all of these events Daniel absolutely makes choices – I’m not saying he’s passive): Lucille takes them to California, Miyagi pushes him to go to the dance, Miyagi again decides to enroll him in the tournament and trains him, and only because Kreese doesn’t allow for any other option, Ali is the one who more often than not approaches Daniel, and even their first encounter is pushed by Daniel’s friends.

Daniel really is at a dance/ball in disguise and receives a flower from a girl who recognises him through said disguise, it’s unbearable! It’s adorable! I get it Ali, I fucking get it!

Daniel’s main journey within this – apart from not getting killed by karate thugs (love u Johnny <3) and kissing Ali – is to learn from Miyagi. He’s not necessarily a full-on feminine fairytale archetype at this point, although there are fun things to pull out of it, mainly in the context of later films and Cobra Kai: the subtext of karate and how that builds throughout all the stories, the red clothes, the themes of obsession, his being targeted by boys whose masculinity is more than a little bit toxic and based on shame… more on all that coming up.

He doesn’t technically get a home until they build him a room at Miyagi’s place, but he definitely leaves the woods at the end of this one, trophy lifted in the air after being handed to him by a tearful Johnny and all.

And then they made a sequel.

4. The Karate Kid Part Two: Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Daniel’s won the competition, Kreese chokes out Johnny for daring to lose and cry, more life-lessons are given (for man without forgiveness in heart…) and Daniel and Ali break-up off-screen, confirming that TKK1 was not really about the girl after all, which, despite Daniel and Kumiko having wonderful chemistry, is also an ongoing theme. Daniel enters the screen in The Most Baby-Blue Outfit seen since Tiana’s dress in Princess and the Frog? Or that dress in Enchanted? Maybe Cinderella’s (technically silver, but later depicted as blue)? 

(Sidenote: At everyone who says Sam ought to wear a callback to that suit,  you are correct and sexy).

Surprise, Miyagi’s building him a room.

Double-surprise, Miyagi needs to go to Okinawa.

Triple surprise, Daniel reveals he’s going with him, because he’s his son dammit.

The Karate Kid Part Two is maybe the least Daniel-LaRusso-Feminine-Fairytale-Protagonist of the three, because it’s not really his movie. Daniel runs around with Kumiko (aka the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen), continues to be The Best Non-Toxic Boy a middle-aged Okinawan karate master could ask for, lands himself another Built Karate Rival (twice is just a coincidence, right? Right?), and eventually doesn’t die while wearing red again – twice: When Chozen almost strangles him to death at the Miyagi dojo and then during the final fight. The Saving Of The Girl (both the little girl in the storm and Kumiko) actually puts him in a more traditional masculine space than the previous movie did, even if the main theme of the film is about compassion and kindness and by the end, once more the boy whose masculinity is built on rockhard abs and matchsticks is on his knees. Daniel just has that power over big boys. It’s called kick/punch them in the face hard enough that they see stars.

There’s an aside to be made here about how much Daniel really is an observer in other peoples stories in this, although he is the factor that sends both Chozen and Kumiko into completely different directions in life (Chozen and Kumiko main characters when?) Anyway he comes out of it presumably okay, despite being almost killed. Maybe a few therapy sessions and he’ll get over it. Too bad Terry Silver is lurking around the corner…

5. The Karate Kid Part Three: The Big Bad Wolf

Alright people have written Words about the third movie. It’s fascinating. It’s odd. It’s eye-straining. It’s like olives – you’re either fully onboard the madness or it’s too off-putting for you (or you’re like. Eh, don’t see what all the fuss is about either way...). It’s basically a non-consensual secret BDSM relationship between a guy in his thirties (played by a Very Tall twenty-seven year old Thomas Ian Griffith) and a 17/18 year old (played by a shorter twenty-eight year old Ralph Macchio).

Also recently we got more information on Mr. Griffith’s input on the uh… vibes of the film. Apparently it wasn’t just The Sweetness of Ralph Macchio’s face, the screenplay (whatever that amounted to in the first place – release the script!), the soundtrack, the direction to not tone it down under any circumstances, the fact that Macchio categorically refused to play a romance between himself and an actress who was sixteen, no: it was also TIG coming up with fun ways to torture Daniel’s character and suggesting these to the director. Clearly everyone has fun hurting Mr Macchio (including Mr Macchio).

The point is that aaallll of that amounts to that Intense Homoerotic Dubiously-Consented-To D/s subtext that haunts the movie and gives a lot of fun stuff to play with. It’s also a film that – if we’re analysing Daniel along feminine-coded fairytale lines recontextualises his role in this universe.

The Fairytale goes topsy-turvy. Through the looking glass. Enter Big Bad Wolf stage right. Karate is a metaphor for Daniel’s bisexual awakening. 

“Oh, when will an attractive man touch me in ways that aren’t about hurting me?” he asks after two movies of being hurt by boys with rippling muscles. “Why do men continue to notice me only to hit me? Do you think wearing red is making me too noticeable? Anyway, Mr Silver looked really good in his gi today.” 

Daniel’s diary must be a trip.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

The Video

Alrighty, so as promised, I listened-slash-watched-slash-backtracked the video over making and eating dinner, with a break in between to take a phone call from my sister, so I may have missed and misunderstood/misheard a few things and may need another rewatch to fix any presumptions I make in this mini (?)-review.

Two things I do need to correct from my last post:

One is that I actually was sent the video to pre-watch before it was posted; I found it in my emails two days later but because I was swamped with day job stuff (as in I was working until 11 PM both days, and I didn’t even sit down until 4 on Saturday), and my fandom email is NOT a primary address so it’s not hooked up to my main Mail server on my MacBook (limited space), I hadn’t checked my emails since Thursday afternoon. So yeah, technically I should’ve known it was out, so apologies: technically I knew it was coming out; my sorry arse just didn’t check my emails.

Second, is that meta I did send her did get referenced and used; some of it word for word (like the discussion about the difference between Johnlockers and TJLC) so meta was read, my bad on assuming it wasn’t before watching.

C’est ça on that front.

A few things that ruffled my feathers and maybe I misheard, but I’ll mention them as I remember it:

I did find it slightly bothersome that the assumption was that Johnlockers that we were a bunch of teenagers (we weren’t – most of the people I talked to were in their 20′s and 30′s and many were academics of varying sorts). SZ was younger than many of us in our little corner of the fandom, I think, and it was filled with amazing meta and university-level papers on queer history, ACD canon history, subtextual writing and literature.  EDIT: I did skim back over to a bit of the beginning since I missed it over making dinner, and I guess a lot of the people who contacted SZ were teens at the time of the airdate, so again, my little bubble and all that and apologies for assuming. :P

This is a totally biased view and probably indicative of how deep down the rabbit hole I was: A bit annoyed at the implication in our belief that Mofftiss weren’t trying to deliberately imply the Gay Sherlock / BiJohn thing especially paying special attention to it during Q&As and meet and greets and interviews; That the cues weren’t there. Though she did point out the queerbaiting aspect of it. I don’t know. Maybe I misunderstood since I was stuffing my gob with pasta and wishing I had a cheesecake.

I think SZ should’ve worded her Twitter callout post a LOT better, because the cons were only mentioned for about 10 minutes, and in only in relation to the drama. She did praise the cons as a positive experience for people, so I’ll give her that.

The Twitter stuff pre-vid-posting still rubs me the wrong way.

Still feel that selling the shirts is tasteless. Mug is cute, though.

Things I did find interesting / good / stuff I didn’t know:

I know I’m a minority in this regard, especially since I am a fence sitter, but I feel... relieved? sorry I can’t think of the word... that SZ essentially did accuse Mofftiss of queerbaiting by the end of it – that it’s not just us who see it. I’ve always said without an S5, it IS queerbaiting, and given that S5 probably won’t happen anytime soon... well. Like I’ve said in the past, I hold out a glimmer of hope. Not holding my breath though.

The mentions of some of the fandom theories and speculations were done tastefully, light jesting but not mocking them.

The discussion section about AA / Mary... Yikes. I forgot it got THAT bad.... I guess because I was always in the “Mary’s a kickass villain” camp so I was blissfully ignorant about that stuff until a few years later. 

The ace stuff, 100% true, and I’m glad it was brought up.

The term “Ragnalock” got a chuckle out of me, will admit that. First time I’ve heard of it.

I had no idea the ARG theory was anything more than thelostspecial website. Somehow I missed that whole thing about it being part of the series itself.

And, a lot of things, in hindsight: just an overall, “yeah. :|”

And some additional notes I can’t really classify one way or another:

Cringing at MYSELF because of some of the post-S4 theories that, looking back: oof. Apple Tree Yard specifically. 

AND cringing at myself because I know I perpetuated a lot of the “IT WILL HAPPEN” in my corner of the fandom pre-S4 because I wanted people to be excited for a new season. For that I am very sorry to everyone who were hurt by my belief. S4 was a brick wall and I hit it hard, thought I do enjoy theorizing about how fake it was. It’s the only way to cope for me, LOL.

Ooof the drama stuff, a lot of it I didn’t know the entire deets about, only about the PPG being involved. I tried to stay out of it when I could and focused mainly on meta writing, my own healing processes, and making people feel welcome. It’s what a few bigger bloggers did for me when I joined by interacting with my posts and offering their kindness, and I wanted to return the favour. Inevitable it had to be covered, but yeah, dark times.

LOOOOOOOL the critique about TFP. Literally stuff that we’ve talked about in our “something’s fucky” tag. 

And to address the elephant in the room: Yes, I DID give SZ meta, but it was the link to fandom meta that is essentially on the header of my blog on desktop, just as I do with anyone interested in the fandom.

Overall, it was a thought provoking vid, a bit of a nostalgia hit to be honest. I thought that it was a good video, interesting in that strange way where you relive strange moments of your past. I feel it was a fair analysis of the fandom, but please, please remember: I can’t speak for those directly involved in the events mentioned, because I WAS NOT THERE. Not my place to disregard their feelings if they have a different opinion than I. 

That said, I think it’s worth a watch if only to see what the fandom WAS. But it’s informative and respectful, I think. Though, I think she could’ve left out the bit at the end just before the credits.

And finally: to anyone who are coming here from the vid: I have been here since S3, joined because of LSiT, and later I wrote villain Mary meta and TAB meta. These days, I primarily have focussed my attentions on curating content, offering my advice on stuff, introducing newbies to the series, and trying to spread positivity, all peppered in with the random theory from time to time, and trying to atone for my... “enthusiasm”?... in the past. I like promoting community and open discussion from all viewpoints, as long as it remains respectful. So yeah, I do have some meta you can check out, just let me know what you’re looking for, and I do lots of fic recs, so if you’re looking for something, hit me up.

Cheers, all. I’m going to bed. 

[xjoonchildx]

Hi Ana, it’s 🦷!! I’m back and I really pushed myself to work super hard on writing about gum disease this weekend so I could enjoy the newest chapter of Greedy and I loved it!! I absolutely adored seeing our favorite smiley duo kick some serious butt together! As promised, here’s Mr. Min’s smile analysis (congratulations to him on being promoted to co-bias 🥰):

Face shape and profile 🧑🏻: so I would say compared to Hoseok, Yoongi definitely has a rounder facial profile. If you look at his face divided into 1/3rds, his middle 1/3 is slightly larger than his top and bottom 1/3, which is probably to make room for those adorable dumpling cheeks!! Make no mistake, while Yoongi may be cute and round from the front, his profile is deadly!! Perfectly convex and that jawline could cut glass 🤯 (I’m picturing silver haired Yoongi in his mic drop bandana in full profile view 🥵)

Nose, lips, and chin👃🏽👄🗣: Yoongi’s nasolabial angle (angle between the base of the nose and top lip) is more acute than Hoseok’s, and he also has a less defined philtrum (the little columnar grooves that sit above your upper lip). Never fear, this is probably the reason why he has an adorable gummy smile, as his muscles want to lift his upper lip nice and high to show off those gums! His lips seem nice and competent, indicating good muscular support! Unlike Hoseok, I think Yoongi in profile view has a very defined chin, probably due to his defined labiomental groove (the groove lying underneath the lower lip and above the chin)! (We can make labiomental groove Yoongi’s sexy facial feature of choice) 😉

Smile and tooth analysis 🦷: probably my fave feature of his!! So I would say Yoongi’s smile line follows what we call a reverse smile or gull-wing arc, meaning it is the inverse shape of his lower lip!! While gull-wings may be considered less aesthetic, I find it fitting how this amazingly lyrical man has a smile shaped like the wings of bird 😊 The technical term for a gummy smile is known as excessive gingival display!! Yoongi’s gums being on display could be considered unattractive by orthodontists and plastic surgeons, but as the proud owner if a gummy smile myself, he rocks it and manages to make it look soooo good! A couple of his teeth are in crossbite in the back and there is some negative space when he smiles, but I’m going to chalk it up to the fact that when this man smiles, he smiles wide enough to wrap around Earth 4528 times (not an accurate measurement, just a scientific 😅approximation). The negative space and the teeth coming together the way they do makes his smile so wide and warm and full of joy, and I appreciate that about him (again, biased because my smile is kind of the same)! My final comment would just be that I think Yoongi has seriously pretty teeth. Like they’re actually gorgeous (to echo Tae’s thoughts on his Suga hyung). Typically males will have very square teeth with sharp lines, but Yoongi has really feminine teeth. They’re soft and rounded around the edges, which gives his smile a really youthful looking appearance. His teeth are so delicate, much like his other facial features that lend to his face just being Angelic 😇 When I’ve talked to my patients who’ve lost all their teeth and are looking into choosing teeth for a denture, a majority of them go with Yoongi’s tooth shape, regardless of their gender identity!

TL;DR: Min Yoongi has a face which defies the laws of science!! A lot of his features vary from the norm, but he still manages to put them all together and make them look hot while simultaneously melting our hearts with his gorgeous smile 😍 He’s living proof that there’s beauty to be found in imperfections because when all paired together, they can still create a perfectly amazing human being

I hope you liked this analysis as much as Hobi’s and I can’t wait for the next chapter of Greedy (even though I’m sad to see the story end 🥺)!!

Here’s to hoping you have many reasons to smile today,

🦷 anon

my sweet, beautiful, brainy 🦷 anon!

you covered so much ground in this ask and i love learning from you.  let me take it step by step.

congratulations to him on being promoted to co-bias 🥰

girl, i had to stop fighting nature. i gave up and gave in 🤣

Make no mistake, while Yoongi may be cute and round from the front, his profile is deadly!! Perfectly convex and that jawline could cut glass 🤯

oh i love that you pointed this out because we get two different kinds of serves from yoongi. i love the sweet roundness of his face that we see sometimes but then we get that serious, angular side profile and oooooooof

We can make labiomental groove Yoongi’s sexy facial feature of choice) 😉

today’s sexy phrase i learned from you is “labiomental groove” and YES i will throw this into casual conversation at dinner parties as soon as people start having dinner parties again

I find it fitting how this amazingly lyrical man has a smile shaped like the wings of bird 😊

help, i’m misty

My final comment would just be that I think Yoongi has seriously pretty teeth. Like they’re actually gorgeous (to echo Tae’s thoughts on his Suga hyung). Typically males will have very square teeth with sharp lines, but Yoongi has really feminine teeth. They’re soft and rounded around the edges, which gives his smile a really youthful looking appearance. His teeth are so delicate, much like his other facial features that lend to his face just being Angelic 😇

yes! all of this! hard agree 🦷 anon.  

and i seriously love that you showed this to your professor like honestly how cute. and your professor liked it? gah that’s so cute, too.

keep killing those tests and essays, babe. 

you are going to very very far in this field!

[cannotescape]

Gretchen's experiment is unsociological, actually

I'll try to explain to the best of my ability why Gretchen's experiment feels so off. Spoilers: it's because it's dumb af and could never have happened in real life. Let's begin!

Before anything, I would like to state that yeah, I'm aware that Gretchen's experiment is meant to be flawed because she's a villain, and the show wants to drive the point home. Were there subtler ways to do it without making her completely idiotic? Maybe. But I would have accepted it if the show hadn't try to pass this experiment as sociological, when it just... isn't.

Why the experiment couldn't have happened in real life:

- the funding: it's well known: getting grants to fund your research project is hell, especially in humanities or social science, where private investors can't make money on your results lol. So Gretchen being able to conduct not one, but probably two experiments on an island? excuse me while I laugh

ok to be fair, the funding is kinda explained: she obviously managed to convince private investors (but even that isn't really explained yet like... what did she promise them? that the results would be good for them? that they could use the results for their own interest? <== all of these are unsociological. you can't predict the results and absolutely can't convince someone of what results you're gonna get before the experiment even starts wtf).

- the ethics: like we all know this shit isn't legal anyway, but let's pretend it is for a minute. Is it ethical? the answer couldn't be more obvious. Why is it important in the sociological field though? Ethics in science has been an ongoing issue: how to treat the test subjects obviously, but also how people could use the results your research produces (hi Oppenheimer!). Among social science and humanities disciplines, sociological studies (and psychological studies) are more likely to be unethical, because you're directly studying humans and human interactions.

More and more ethical committees are created in universities and you can be sure that Gretchen's experiment wouldn't have been approved (is it why she's been fired in the first place?). Actually, having Gretchen be independant from any university kinda helps to remove the ethical question from the equation: she doesn't have to be approved by her peers ==> she can do all the unethical shit she wants and hurts young girls. great.

That being said, and because sociological studies are at risk of being unethical, we learn pretty early on how to make our studies ethical. the first rule being: you have to inform the participants in the study that they're being studied lol. you can't just go behind their back and do everything you want. And yeah, it can make them more suspicious and their behavior may change, but if you're a good sociologist, this is something you can analyze! First rule of sociology: everything is worth noticing. And after a while (or if your poll has a lot of respondents), the discrepencies disappear anyway. Also a very important thing: as a researcher, you're not here to help people or make them feel better (or worse for that matter), you're here to observe and draw conclusions. You have to try and have as little influence on the experiment as possible.

obviously, Gretchen failed all those rules. The "they're on their own" speech doesn't hold up because she influenced the study from the start by choosing the girls, which leads us to...

- the sample: this is probably the dumbest thing in the experiment lmao. Because... what is Gretchen trying to prove? that women are essentially better rulers than men or can create a better society if they're left by themselves (feel free to correct me on this one. my brain mysteriously shut down each time Gretchen started to talk). For one, removing girls from a patriarchal society won't make them forget what's been ingrained in them for years and how society has built them to begin with. As teenage girls, the unsinkable 8 have already suffered from primary (their family) AND secondary socialization (school, friends etc.) Their behavior, personality and aspiration in life have been altered by society, and we actually see it in the show! Removing them now and acting like what they're doing is in no way linked to the way society shaped them is???? astounding.

Side note but a scientifically better (but even more horrific) experiment would have been a group of girls, separated from the rest of society at birth, with the unsinkable 8 as a group control.

Even more ridiculous than that: Gretchen is trying to prove this... with 8 american girls... who obviously haven't been chosen at random... like... there's no way a real sociologist would do this. We learn in first year that we need to choose our analysis tools and our samples based on what we want to analyze. You want to analyze how patriarchy affect women and want to universalize your result? You can't choose qualitative tools, you'll have to use quantitative analysis lmao. And with a big fucking sample at that, a sample chosen randomly to display sub-groups if you want it to be representative. I'm talking thousands of people if it's only US centric. 8 fucking girls lol, give me a break.

To be fair, qualitative and quantitative works often complete each other, but Gretchen never mentions any quantitative analysis so I will take this as just another proof of her incompetence.

- Gretchen's theory: her theory itself is unsociological. It sounds a lot like essentialism which is... the opposite of sociology. Sociologists try to find social explanations (and not psychological or biophysical reasons) to an event or a behavior.

As stated, sociologists rarely try to prove things. They observe a phenomenon and ask themselves what could have caused it. One of the first things to do before a study is actually listing all the biases you could have about the subject (Durkheim's "prénotions") and letting them go or at least be aware of them so it won't hinder the results you could potentially find. The observation must be as impartial and non-judgemental as possible. In the show, Gretchen's prénotions are in full play: we live in a patriarchal society (this one is true, but you have to question it all the same), and women are better leaders than men. ==> unsociological

Again, I would have found the experiment part annoying but wouldn't have complained too much if the writers hadn't made it clear that they were trying to portray a sociological experiment lol. It was confirmed in an interview and the "field notes" are pretty telling. Actually, the field notes are a better sociological study than Gretchen's experiment, how sad. Beyond that, the method used by the characters in the show is also inspired by the sociological method:

- (so called) passive observation with the team watching and monitoring the girls from afar (but the team is still interfering so...)

- direct participative observation in Jeanette's case: you observe and take field notes while being immersed in the subjects' environement. Nora is doing this too actually: she's writing clear social facts in her notebook. "No one's cried for a while. No one even seems that afraid anymore. Still, it's been healing for some." This is sociological

- semi structured interviews in the bunker. They're probably the most sociological part of the experiment tbh. Ironic considering Faber is a psychologist but whatever. Toni's interview is the most representative of what a semi structured sociological interview looks like: the non-judgemental questions ("Why does seeing that make you smile?"), the follow-ups when the answer is unclear or could be more precise ("I'm wondering if you can expand on "cocktease"?"), the specific questions on what a subject thinks of a specific event and why they're thinking it in the first place without making assumptions ("Were any of you alarmed by Leah's behavior?"). It doesn't last long. When Toni answers evasively and doesn't cooperate, Faber drops the sociology charade: "It sounds to me like it was a pretty unsettling loss of control" lololol. neutrality who? You can also point out that something the subject said is at odds with something usually accepted, to better understand how they justify it (like when Faber says that Toni's "alone is safer" is not "the conventional wisdom"). All of this is sociological. Too bad the experiment is not. This interview is also a far cry from what Faber is doing to Leah in episode 6 (and there's 0 value to the "data" he pulled actually, sorry Gretchen).

- the fucking control group. It is a sociological tool. I know for a fact it won't be used well, for the same reasons the sample was a joke.

I don't know, I find it frustrating that the show is clearly trying to show Gretchen's experiment as flawed, while keeping a veneer of scientificity to hide behind. Gretchen is not, and could never be a sociologist,.

[aerltarg]

2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 26, 27 from ask game

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

oh, it's actually hard to answer bc pretty often my otps can work as brotps for me as well. it also means that when i can't ship some characters they don't work for me as friends either. not to mention that in asoiaf i'm open to many ships, and if i'm not very passionate about some it's not a sign i can't see them in romantic light.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

may i say any sansa ship? 😭 as well as sansa herself lmao. idk generally i can't ship characters i don't like because i'm just not interested. and it's not to say i don't like book!sansa (show!sansa is another case 💀), i just don't find her arc as intriguing and epic as arcs of some other characters. however, it's absolutely her obnoxious fandom's fault that i don't want to touch anything about her now, pairings including. sansaery? pass. sansan? i used to have a soft spot for them in my heart but now? nah. sansa x anyone? pls have mercy, she's already a fandom bicycle.

and jonsa ofc. i would never mind some crack ship as i do this one if not for their obnoxious stans that did way too much to list there right now. but this burning desire to persuade every rock on the street that your crack ship is canon will never stop being ridiculous lmao

also braime. tbh i used to low-key like them but some of their stans weirded my away lol. i get that not all of them are like that but still. it's generally my great pain when i see braime/brienne/jaime stans who are also dany/targ antis. every time i see them i cackle and run away as fast as i can crying from disappointment lmao. it's really a pity because i'm either very neutral or like in my own way all three of them.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

jonrya it is! i never hated them, you know, but they never were more than siblings and brotp to me. however, later i encountered the deluded crack ship fandom that shall not be named and understood that if there is any possible romance for jon with any of his sisters-cousins we all know which one it will be lmao. also their stans are very sweet and i really like many of their takes on arya and jon! i generally love relationships of jon and arya very much so it wasn't that difficult in practice to see them in a quite different light.

7. Is there anything you used to like but can't stand now?

meta culture lmao. reading different analysis and interpretations of the text used to be very interesting to me (and still is tbh but in other fandoms) though asoiaf is a different case. imo many people aren't honest in their so called theories and analyses. i get that all of us are biased but some "meta writers'" denial of their own biases influence fandom in a bad way. it looks like too many people run to them to get answers to their questions about any minor detail as if they were grrm himself. yk instead of using their own reading comprehension lmao. you see how this meta culture ruined fandom just looking at the most delusional stans and shippers who spread their agenda by writing endless text posts full of nonsense and bullshit but styled as oh so intellectual and thoughtful analysis. it's insane how many people actually buy it and don't check canon accuracy of such claims themselves. it got to the ridiculous point when random people try to argue with you with some far-fetched embarrassing "theories" as if they were canon facts or quotes straight up from a fanfic because they read somewhere some other confused soul's post and got from a context that this quote is canon (despite the fact that it wasn't written in grrm's style at all but some people can't use their brains even if their lives depended on it it seems).

anyway it's become too long and rambly already so tldr. because of such "neutral unbiased" analyses i got the habit of fact checking almost everything i see in such posts. there's only a small amount of meta writers from targ/dany/jon/arya stans that i trust because i know by practice and following them for some time that they don't pull anything out of nowhere, back up everything they say with canon quotes, don't decontextualize anything and (that is the most important thing to me) are reasonable and open to discussion unlike so many bnfs nowadays.

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

ah, not in this fandom yet, god bless! i think i'm not loud enough for the needed amount of time to deserve it lol. but since i'm not going anywhere soon maybe one day i will 😂

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

robert baratheon and tywin lannister, obviously. tbh it's pretty hard for me to hate any characters because you know. they're fictional lmao. just lines on paper, they can't hurt you. and even such dudes as tywin or robert don't get real distaste from me if they're written well enough. my problem with them lies not only in their canon crimes and shitty consequences of those but in fandom's (or at least some parts of it) unwillingness to acknowledge that they're canonically written as shitty, not as stan/pity/worship material. tywin isn't as clever as some think and robert is a coward outside of battlefield, not to mention some absolutely disgusting denial of his nature from targ antis only because the man happened to be the most vocal targ hater in-universe so these folks feel like he is their main book representative and whitewash him completely lmao

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

uugh idk even. i'm either low-key interested (or used to be at least so i can stay pretty neutral for the sake of nostalgia lol) or too indifferent to really care.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

all my faves have their own crowd of haters i'm afraid 😭 but let me say rhaegar. even among some dany/targ stans my man is so misunderstood lmao. it's not even his fault i dare say it's fanon about his half-imagined crimes that somehow got widespread to the unbelievable degree. and when i say they're half-imagined i'm being very generous actually. ofc he isn't perfect, no one in asoiaf is. and yes, he's a pre-series dead minor character but almost all little information about him is actually positive, not to mention the narrative itself that doesn't paint him as a villain or just a shitty dude. on the contrary, he's an idealized to some degree dead prince who could've been a good king (like some other historical targaryens, jacaerys, baelor breakspear, aemon son of jaehaerys, etc.), a mysterious yet tragic figure. i have much to say about why it's so popular to shit on him in fandom but yeah. his haters should send their complaints to grrm instead, no one forced the man to write him like that lol. and i mean that no one has to like him ofc. but it's misinterpretation of the text to claim he was intentionally written as a villain or smth by grrm.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

i don't know if it counts as unpopular but i would say tyrion's arc as a whole because i enjoy his character and like in my own way. i can get why some people don't like him but this man will always have his own place in my heart i must admit.

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

is this unpopular tho?.. ok but renly wouldn't make a terrible king. i dare say he would be better than both robert and stannis. yes, he wasn't shown as perfect and i don't claim this. he wouldn't be the best or the most brilliant or the most just or noble. yet still better than his brothers. his flaws weren't anything other high lords didn't have, his mistakes weren't anything other lords and kings didn't do. in many ways he would make a better job than robert or stannis, too bad he died so early, even though i get why it was important for the narrative.

26. Most shippable character?

well generally for me it's the ones i love the most lol. jonerys/snowstorm is my never dying otp but i admit my sins, sometimes i just see dany with other characters (often from other fandoms pls don't @ me). however, since dany is THE fave of mine it means i would rather twist the other guy or girl to fit into the good match for her than twist her for another character in my new born crack ship lol. and i never stay for too long with the ships with which i feel they don't really fit and don't do justice for each other lol. maybe that's the reason i'm not much of a rare shipper / crack shipper afshdjdb

27. Least shippable character?

everyone i don't like? 😭 as i've said sansa for the reasons above lol. you can insert many others in her place lmao

[thefoulbeast]

A little bit good deal of character analysis in regards to Saburota Todou in the Kyoto arc. This is for my own benefit bc I’m writing smth involving him...

Skipping over the 1st appearance in ch16 because it didn’t really have what I was looking for. Instead I’m skipping straight over to ch25 where Tatsuma shows up and they fight.

This got. Very Long And Very Rambly. So uh, yeah.

tw for canon typical violence and gore

So - Todou already has considerable enhanced physical abilities and regeneration before Karura. Granted, not as strong, but still there. 

(man i wish i could do backflips like that when im 56 lmao)

He’s been planning this whole fiasco for over 10 years now (Myou Dha joined the order 10 years ago, and that’s when he first started on manipulating Mamushi)... I wonder how long he’s been eating demons and stuff? How did that even start? How many has he gone through over time? Things to ponder...

Anyways, my biggest question here is... what the fuck is up with his pain tolerance?

He’s straight up getting barbecued and all he has to say is, “I can’t heal fast enough!“ He doesn’t even look a little distraught. Just mildly inconvenienced by the whole thing. (Also - what kind of knife is that? The shape & handle is really funky :O)

I think he was originally intending to like. Eat Karura as soon as it showed up but he had Impure King as a last resort in case he couldn’t overpower Tatsuma (as was the case). The guy really did all his research and had a lot of back ups planned huh.

...I also want to know just how he managed to find out all the stuff regarding the Impure King. How exactly did he know that it hadn’t been destroyed completely? How did he know about Kurikara being empty? And the deal between Karura and the Head Priests?

Sir please cite your sources I’m so curious...

Back on track though! Stuff happens, Tatsuma gets it in the neck with the weird knife, Todou’s all healed up from those nasty burns again and it’s all dandy.

And then we get straight up fire eating.

Again... that should hurt, no? That’s mouth, throat, oesophagus and probably tracheal burns. And Todou just... doesn’t care. He’s still as calm and collected as before, no indication of discomfort. Personally? I’m unnerved by this lol.

The closest we get to discomfort is this when he groans a lil bit after he’s done eating but I think that’s more the stomach upset. From this point on I guess we assume he doesn’t feel pain from fire... but I’m still squinting at everything before this...

Adding this purely because I love these panels. This guy is so messed up. So very very messed up lol.

[Skip forward everything Im not interested in right now]

Someone is having a bit of a bellyache. This is why we don’t eat things while they’re still alive, sir!

But upset stomach or not, he’s still??

“Yeah it’s fine - hello yukio how have you been? - yes, I’m ready to throw hands with you; pain who?“

also... he may be a Huge bastard but I absolutely love how!! Polite he is!!

“Thanks for cooperating ^w^“ <- Todou after cutting off Yukio’s escape route with a wall of flame. lol. However he got evasive when Yukio asked: “What the hell are you?“

He seems to happily give out tidbits of non-vital information, but he obviously knows when to keep his mouth shut (10+ years spying on True cross and no one knew? This guy is very clever! Very tricky! Many secrets!)

I’m sorry this whole thing is so funny... Small, polite talk during fighting is exactly the kind of unhinged I expected from him and he did not disappoint in the slightest. Bless. (I mean he does admit that he’s only doing it to rile Yukio up a few pages later... but still... This man knows just how to get under people’s skin and is so very good at it...)

Also I love how this fight reveals so much about his character so subtly?? I honestly just rec ch28 for p much most anyone would need to get a feel of him as a character.

He’s got this new body and these new powers and the first thing he does is fight a teenager for shits and giggles. Except both the teenager and the younger body keep reminding him of his own youth.

Lower right panel... his face says they’re not happy memories. (In my very biased opinion I would call that expression a mix of “oh whoopsie” and “these memories literally make me want to die”) (And oh Boy does it go well with ch106 pages 23-26 where we actually see how the Todou brothers interacted with each other and that is So Much To Unpack i dont even know where to start lol)

And then right after remarking that family is a sore spot for Yukio, he immediately goes “lmao me too I get it“ ( it’s actually ”Heh heh heh! I feel such a connection between us! Asleep or awake, you’re always hung up on your family! I understand. I used to be the same way.“)

And then finally I reach the part that originally made me want to re-read his scenes in the Kyoto arc...

Todou literally getting his brains blown out with water type bullets 😍😍😍 This is literally the only instance of him admitting that something hurt that I could find so far! What the hell! But that’s not all!

Even then he’s still smiling! He’s still playing around! He got shot through the head, said “oh ouchie“ and immediately shook it off and kept trying rile Yukio up like nothing had happened. Pretty fucked up in my humble opinion, not gonna lie.

“Ah yes I’ve sustained a horrific facial wound let me just dab at it with a handkerchief for a bit that’ll do it.“

He does underestimate Yukio though, becaue he doesn’t see the naiads coming at all. But even with the whole water prison, it bothers him for a few seconds and he’s back on track. He’s very... I’m not sure if tenacious is the right word, but perhaps diligent? Goal oriented?

Very hard to knock off balance, that’s for sure! And even if you manage to catch him by surprise, he seems to adapt very quickly. He’s just genuinely fighting Yukio to have a good time and doesn’t see him as a serious opponent.

But the chilling bit is that he was going to kill Yukio, just like that. He got a feel for his new abilities, had some fun at the expense of Yukio’s emotional state, reminisced on his past for a bit... and that would have been it, if not for the Satan-eyes.

Anyways this got so much longer than I wanted it to lol and I managed to fry my brain so I’ll leave off here. Maybe I’ll do smth aditional later maybe I wont. But just know that I am screaming about this unhinged bastard like 24/7 ❤

Idk if anyone even got to the end of this but I wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere I could find them later lol. Thanks xoxo

[woogurl]

WOOSAN’S RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS

yeah, it’s your girl, it’s me again, i’m back with another analysis, ‘cause i’m bored in quarantine. 

so, basically, i wanted to share my opinion on what i think woosan’s relationship is. as a woosan shipper, obviously i’m biased, but i’m going to be as practical and as impartial as i can possibly be. i wanted to do this because i know people think they’re either best friends, friends with benefits or actually romantically involved. i can say that i’m actually pretty uncertain about it, but i want to argue why i do think think they are at least in a intimate relationship. 

again, i’m not a professional body language reader/psychologist/analyst or whatever. these are solely based on my observations.

REASON ONE: woo’s body language/relationship with yeosang is completely different than his relationship with san. 

Now people argue that they’re both woo’s best friend. which i agree that you can certainly have two best friends. however, in this case, it’s still different? woo puts a lot of emphasis on his relationship with both san and yeo.

yes, i know you can all hear this picture, woo always needs to emphasize his four years of friendship with yeo, and even picked yeo when he had to choose between him and san as his bestfriend. also keep in mind that woo left bighit bts for yeo. that’s a real ass friend.

which left san devastated, i mean look at the way he looked at mingi, like wtf, you’re not woo. lmfao. 

woo and yeo have been friends for four years, yet i think most of us can agree that the nature of his relationship with san, is just different.

woo sees san as his other half/twin, by the way he’s been friends with yeo for five years now. again the language is completely different. on the other hand, san wrote:

i’m not entirely sure what he meant by you also, the not sure was the translator’s note. but as you can see their responses for the chemistry that they have for each other is entirely different. 

Let’s move on to the legendary asmr video. 

again, they’re super physical, just look at the way san touches/grab woo. anyhow, we aren’t there yet.i wanted to emphasize something else. that being the talk after.  i’ve highlighted the parts that i think are important to take note of.

WY: You always go along with whatever I do

WY: And you take interest in the things I like

WY: I'm very thankful for that

WY: No one takes care of me better than you

WY: If you think I'm exaggerating, it's to the point where even my parents asked him to take care of me

ummmmm.....

WY: Take care of me in the future, too, please

S: You're cool

S: You’re cool and

S: I honestly

S: Now I can sincerely

S: To the people around me or my relatives

S: I can proudly say that my friend is Wooyoung!

S: You're that kind of friend

S: To that point where I'm not embarrassed

S: Or rather say you're my friend that's worth showing off!

S: I think this is more than enough!

you can’t tell me that this doesn’t legitimately sound like a love confession.

Next, the handshakes man? i don’t think i should include all of their handshakes as this would get too long, it already is, but you guys get the gist. they have so many like jesus christ. whyyy?

Lastly amicus and aras. The fact that woo really went searching for a word or saying meaning a friend forever is very telling to me. also note here they were the only ones in each others fancams which was super sweet.

REASON TWO(yeh, we JUST got here): woo’s obsession with san, now a lot of people think woosan is one-sided because woo is very good with hiding his emotions on cam. but a lot of us now are a lot more aware that woo sticks to san like gum. 

san literally asked him if he was a piece of glue, also hi baby yunho. 

literally like glue, you can’t tell me this isn’t boyfriend culture. 

as soon as seonghwa leaves for the mission on wanted film woo goes back to san. lol, i know he was prob just tryna get a better view but i wouldn’t put it past him. anyway, like glue. 

woo’s leg over san’s, like glue. or that time woo ended up in san’s bed, even though he was supposed to be with hongjoong/yunho/etc?

don’t believe me? then just take san’s word for it.

also, it’s supposed to be, “you really like me more than i thought.” so even san is surprised by woo’s clingyness.

i don’t even much to say about this interview it speaks for itself. woo was literally all over san during it. this is also one of the interviews that completely solidify my beliefs of them being in an intimate relationship whatever it may have been. i just felt like this interview was like, “yeh, we’re together.” that’s just the aura i got from it also it was valentine’s day or at least themed?

also, i’ll mention but not add all the times san has said that woo comes to his room. it’s very often there’s plenty of vids that we avid woosan shippers know of. moving on with woo’s obsession with san.

that time the members were supposed to post pics of themselves, and most of woo’s at least three pics were of him with san. don’t you like san too much woo?

REASON THREE: Body language in general

The stares man, the stares...You just don’t look at friends this way. 

including these stares: 

i’ve also noticed in a couple of videos that wooyoung tries to avoid san’s stares,  there are times where he just doesn’t even look at him even though he knows san is staring at him. sometimes he literally turns his face completely away from san and i think it’s to avoid getting lost in san’s eyes. i want to express that woo does this very intentionally, as i said before he’s much more aware of the camera than san. it’s hard to notice because these aren’t motion pictures, but i want you to watch their moments and you’ll notice that most, if not all the time that woo always turns his head away first while san stare’s linger for at least one second longer.

otherwise, we’d just get more moments like this:

REASON FOUR(very important): How touchy they are with each other.

san’s nono is square on woo’s ass, that’s far from straight. anyway, moving on, they’re very touchy and the fact, that they’re even more touchy when the cameras are off is very telling to me. like i said the valentine vlive was enough to convince me that they’re physically intimate and the fact that san said woo likes to come to his room a lot. i also want to note that anytime san mentions this woo gets incredibly uncomfortable? why? you can just say you like playing games together or whatever, but woo always freaks out. lmfao. also apparently they were in a room together and in bed together according to woo. i think something may happened, because woo was more clingy than usual on camera, and their expressions were quite transparent.

REASON FIVE: The time they spend together off camera

Since the vlive from a while ago, the christmas one, we learned they spend a lot of time together off camera. i already did an analysis about this for the woosansang drama post. but the fact that the members felt so pouty about how much time they spend together tells me that they spend a lot of time together. i also want to note that i think mingi’s comments are important because after watching him stuff his hands in his pants and literally reading off the piece of paper that the staff writes telling them to do something it’s obv this boi skipped idol training. ‘cause he fcking pours tea. lol but anyway mingi said that one day while with yeo, yeo said, “san really likes woo, huh?” and they all started screaming that’s weird ‘cause obv, it’s so gay.

here’s another moment, where mingi is exposing their asses. lol. even the members say they’re constantly afraid that he’ll say something he’s not supposed to. mind you that they’re probably having a semi-casual convo.

lol. why bring up woo so suddenly mingi?

mingi’s like btch stop lying.

so, mingi laid it all out for us, but san said, “no no no, he’s the clingy one, woo’s the one always following me--WELL, we follow each other.” anyway, i do feel like san brought this up because people always assume that he’s the clingy one, after all he didn’t have to read it i felt like he read it to check us lmfao.

REASON SIX: people may not all agree on this, i get that this will be extremely controversial but i honestly do believe the escape woosan vlive was solid proof enough for me that they are physically intimate.

i know i said before that i think they were tired, but someone said it was apparently only 4pm, so now i’m convinced they were drunk. lmfao. anyhow, there’s a lot of moaning, and “stop rubbing”, as i already made an analysis about this i’m just gonna comment about the part that sold me and that was the part where san literally shouted woo’s name as he was holding in his voice. which convinced me that woo was being a little shit rubbing him inappropriately. let’s be honest, woo is THAT type of person(to secretly rub someone off in public) lol. there’s just no explanation for that shout, and the “you want me to tell?” and woo’s “no!” yeah, no, you can’t convince that they weren’t doing some freaky shit. lol

lastly.

REASON SEVEN: Their commitment to woosan.

now we can agree that most ships do not like being shipped, but woosan came up with their own ship name and handshake, as well as phrase for it. amicus ad aras as well as san: WOO woo: SAN. also, the time they walked together holding hands on tour with little umbrella’s that read woo and san. your ship could never.

do i think some of it is fanservice? sure, i mean KQ even made an entire woosan vcr.

but, definitely not all of it, and woo has said himself during the lie detector test, that it isn’t just business.

they even have a fandom name, i mean? come on? i’m sure the company isn’t forcing them to do it lol. i think they really just are committed that much to each other. also, when someone asked about woosanhwa, they said they’d think about it. lmfao. what woosan share is something entirely different than what we’re used to.

anyway, thas it. thank you for your time. c;

[rook-writes]

College Graduation and Paper Withdrawal

I’m working on a project I started during the summer where I actually do a reading journal while I systematically pore through my TBR. It’s been on hiatus since the school semester begun, but I’ve officially made it to the end of finals week--- I have my BFA in Creative Writing now (or, technically, they’ll mail me my diploma in a few weeks if I recall correctly; either way, confetti!)! But despite the misleading fact I chose a Creative Writing concentration, I’ve found I really, really like doing analysis work. (I jokingly told a friend once I should have been a Lit Major.)

It has been less than a week since I wrote an analytical piece.

And I want to do m o r e.

To get over what I’m calling “Paper Withdrawal,” I’m going to work on my TBR and reading journal and (hopefully) will be starting a new regular project that I hinted at last time I did my rambling: Rook Talks Book Talks. Or, an excuse for me to talk about the books I’m reading and how they make me think as a writer about the way I do craft, as well as an insight into how I do reading. I’ve got a WIP of one in the works from a year ago that’s mostly just a smattering of notes I put together on my Favorite Book Ever (An Enchantment of Ravens, because yes, I am biased), and am going to be hopefully explaining the process better within the next few weeks as I do my best to avoid the side effects of Paper Withdrawal.

Some things I hope to incorporate in this project are:

Things I learned from my minor classes on the ways we teach our children to read (the pedagogy of analysis); may discuss some research I’ve done into how to engage readers from the standpoint of casual reading, writing strategy, and when trying to teach a text!

Serious engagement with the writing effort that goes into any book I read, including a look at literary elements and a discussion of themes; basically an excuse to use sticky notes if I really want to or just fill up this notebook with all the cheeky little thoughts I have when I read, because 75% of them are just like “I’m fixating on this Single Line and IDK if it’s going to be important but it will color my reading from henceforth and back.”

A good old scale where I contextualize it all with my enjoyment of a text from “Ranges almost as awful as Joseph Conrad whose text I would like to bury in the ground” to “I would eat this like figurative garbage, give me more--- NO, MORE.”

If you want to join me on this adventure, consider leaving a follow!

-Rook

[reliciron]

Exploring Arcann’s Romance: Part 2

Alright, now on to the arguably more fun idea: he was interested in your character from the beginning or at least while he was still the villain.

Part 1 here

Admittedly, this option is much newer to me (though I’m not sure why I didn’t occur to me before), but the possibilities are very interesting.

I like some pre-existing structure. Thinking up missing scenes in the existing content is easier for me because I have a definite starting and stopping situation. If my character just came from a cutscene on the bridge of the Gravestone, and the next cutscene is in the Dark Sanctuary of the ship, then its easy to write what happens in the middle. I know where they were and I know where they need to be by the end. When the gap is too large, like between the end of KotET and the start of Iokath, I don’t really know what to do with myself and the possibilities overwhelm me, turning my scenes into a disjointed mush. So this option is actually very appealing to me (on top of extending that sweet, sweet pining).

Of course, when I say that he was interested in your character while he was a villain, I don’t mean that he was actually pining per-say, so much as his obsession with you was not just out of hatred. And as weird as it may be, I think it was Valkorian that spurred that interest.

Yeah, I know, Valkorian playing cupid is a really disturbing image, but he did sow the seeds of what would eventually be your romance.

When we first meet Arcann, he’s pretty dismissive of you. Even when he’s saying that your past accomplishments are “impressive” it’s still with a mocking tone, and when he tells you to “come along” it’s like he’s speaking to an errant child. As if he’s annoyed at the very idea that he has to babysit a prisoner, like some lowly guard.

He clearly doesn’t think much of you.

The exact moment he starts taking you seriously is when Valkorian extends his hand to you, giving you respect and asking that you join him.

Like I talked about in part 2 of my Redeeming Arcann posts:

Arcann trained for years, went through battle after battle for months, lost him arm, murdered his brother, just to be extended the same courtesy.

As far as he’s concerned, you’re just some asshole who did some cool stuff waaaaaaay over there. Prior to the destruction of Marr’s ship, Arcann didn’t even know you existed, and you haven’t even met Valkorian, yet he’s treating you like he’s known you for years. Like he’s been eagerly following your exploits, while Arcann was just doing what Valkorian expected of him.

It clearly enrages him. Lucky for us that rage is directed (rightfully) at Valkorian.

Still, Valkorian acknowledging your strength made Arcann take a second look at you. If you were so awesome that his father immediately treated you with respect, than you were clearly someone to watch out for. And that is were his interest starts.

Of course that interest is definitely later bolstered by the fact that Valkorian took up residence in your head, but he didn’t know that at the time (I think? I’m not entirely sure but we’re going with it).

He didn’t kill you. It would’ve been easier to kill you right then and there in the throne room. But he didn’t. You were interesting enough that he froze you rather than put you to death.

When you escape, he’s incredibly pissed, and I think a decent portion of the ‘anger’ we see then is actually fear. We know that our PC is the ultimate badass, but all he knows is what he read in the records of Marr’s ship. As far as we know at least.

Its been 5 years. He probably had his hands full at first when he conquered the Republic and Empire. But after that it was just day to day stuff, which he clearly didn’t care much about. You cannot tell me that he never looked you up in all that time. With how worried he was when you escaped, he had to know more about you than a basic list of titles and accomplishments.

It’s one thing to do great things when you have a decent support and power structure, but doing great things when you have nothing is an entirely different beast. He wouldn’t have known that the Outlander would be capable of doing damage as a nobody unless he read up on how you accomplished the things you did.

It’s the difference between knowing that you won the Great Hunt, and knowing that you did it in spite of a powerful foe blocking your way at every turn and only having like two people at your back.

The first one is impressive, the second one is scary.

Every time he has you cornered in KotFE, you manage to squirm away, doing further damage on your way out. He consistently underestimates you, and every time it happens he gets more and more angry. That’s why he’s so pissed by the Battle of Odessen that he’s willing to ignore Scorpio.

You challenge him. And as much as he hates you for it at some level I think he’s also intrigued by it.

Why does this person keep fighting him? Why does nothing seem to phase them? How did they get this strong? (This one is probably even more upsetting to him when the character is solidly light-side. He’d done a lot of terrible things to become this powerful and he definitely looks down on light-side choices as ‘weak’, so why is this ‘weak’ person able to challenge him? And if they are able to get this strong from the light-side, were all the things he’d done truly necessary?)

“When we first met all those years ago, I felt threatened by you. But now I see that I admired you even then – and it angered me.” - In-game Message

---------

Ok, best part, once he’s aware of his feelings for you, how does he act? And what is he like post-confession and into a relationship?

(Everything in this analysis is subjective, but I’ve been trying to leave room for other people’s interpretations. This part is going to be heavily biased in favor of how I read him as a character. If this isn’t how you see him, that’s perfectly fine, maybe this can just get you thinking about it.)

Alright, here we go.

Arcann screams ‘unsure’ to me more than anything else.

Why did the Commander spare him? What does the Commander think of him? What is expected of him in the Alliance?  How does he even begin to atone for his past? WHY IS THE COMMANDER SO NICE TO HIM?!?!

He is also positively drowning in self-hatred.

Which unfortunately means that once he realizes he has feelings for the Commander, he likely makes the decision that he won’t tell them. Ever.

He doesn’t deserve to have feelings for anyone. Least of all the person he tried killed several times.

He should be happy that he is allowed to be in the Alliance. Happy that he can use is abilities to protect them, instead of hurt them. Happy just to be near them.

The poor bastard probably has zero people skills beyond intimidation. And intimidating is the last thing he wants to be now. So there’s going to be a long period of awkwardness where he wants to be closer to them, maybe even friends, but really doesn’t know how. He’ll come across as stilted and there will be a lot of long awkward silences. Of course he’s a very smart man, so he’ll know that he’s  being awkward, which then leads to him getting frustrated with himself. We’ll see a little flicker of his old temper, not enough to be scary, but our character might not know whether that anger is focused at them or not. He’ll be hesitant and cautious, and will often fall back on submission. (Thanks, Valkorian). It will take time for both parties to get on the same page, and the Commander will need to be patient and do a lot of work to drag him out of his shell.

I foresee some talks with Senya. Probably for both Arcann and the Commander, but never at the same time. Poor, long suffering, Senya.

Once, he’s more comfortable, he might start doing things for them. Little sweet things, that are still safely within the boundaries of ‘friend things’ (at least as far as he understands, I don’t think he’s ever had a friend that wasn’t a sibling). I can see this sort of gifting behavior as a subtle I’m-not-trying-to-court-them-this-is-what-friends-do-RiGhT?! behavior. This culminates with the armor he gives you in the canon confession scene (assuming you include it).

Giving you armor, especially ‘to ensure you’re always protected’, just screams ‘I like you’ in big neon lights. And I personally love the idea that in Zakuulan culture, it IS a confession of romantic intentions. He just assumes the Commander doesn’t know that, so he can confess without actually confessing.

Ok, however you did it, they’re together.

I think he’d be borderline timid in the beginning.

Personal Headcanon is: Arcann had never been in a relationship before. Sex, yes. But not a relationship. Given what Valkorian says in his voice over during the KotFE trailer, I seriously doubt that he would have let them have enough freedom and down time to be able to have one. Especially since forming a strong attachment to someone else would threaten Valkorian’s power over them. So in addition to him just generally being unsure of himself, he also has zero experience in the relationship department.

He’s rarely completely out of his depth, so this would probably be a source of anxiety for him. He loves the Commander so much, but he’s so scared of doing something wrong and driving them away.

There will need to be some talks and comforting on your character’s part, letting him know that there really isn’t a ‘right’ way and that they’ll figure things out as they go along. That there will always be some hiccups in a relationship, but that’s OK and not the end of the world.

His insecurity about his looks will probably surface again, in one way or another. I mean, he wore a mask for years because he was so uncomfortable with people seeing his scars. And I think he left the mask behind, not because he’d come to terms with his appearance, but because he knew that his masked face had more or less become the symbol of his tyranny and he wanted to distance himself from it (along with being less recognizable while he was running around the galaxy). So I don’t think he’s really accepted his facial scars, let alone the scarring around his cybernetic arm. The arm will also be a source of anxiety for him, since most cybernetics seem to be stronger than the original limb. He might worry about accidentally hurting his new partner, either by gripping to tight, or by catching skin or hair in the joints of his fingers. You’ll also have to decide if his cybernetics are detachable (so he might take it off before sleeping), or if they’re permanently attached and can only be removed by a specialist. Does he do maintenance himself, or does he have someone else do it? Does your Commander have training in cybernetics and can therefore help him?

He’ll be very aware of what others think of his relationship with the Commander, and what it may cost them to be with him. I can see them keeping the relationship secret for a while, until its a little less new, and a little more comfortable. Then they’d let the inner circle know. Then the rest of the Alliance. There won’t be any official announcement, they just won’t hide it anymore.

Of course, I think Arcann will generally be less affectionate in public. There will be little things, like guiding them with his hand on their lower back, hugs, hand holding, but there won’t generally be kisses unless he’s worried enough to forget everyone who could be watching. The poor bastard is probably extremely touch-starved, so I bet he’ll really be into any affectionate touches the Commander will give him in private. For a while though, the Commander will likely be the one initiating things, until he feels secure enough in the knowledge that his touch truly is wanted.

Down the line, he’ll eventually come out of his shell more. He’ll be more confident, and openly protective (not to a controlling degree). I feel like this period is even more up to you, as it depends even more heavily on your perception of Arcann and what fanfic events you’ve put him through to get here.

One Quick Note About Alien Races:

It could be that I missed something, but I get the feeling that aliens are a new thing to Zakuul. That Nautolan chick who serves Scorpio seems to have immigrated there while we were frozen, and the only other alien that I remember seeing as a Zakuulan citizen was that random Bothan lady with the rebels in the beast pit of Vaylin’s party. I’m guessing that she’s an immigrant too, because other than those two, I don’t remember any other aliens there. I know the higher ups were AWARE of the greater galaxy, they just thought it was a backwater nowhere compared to them and saw no reason to poke around. I’m not sure the general population was aware, since they seem so blissfully ignorant to just about everything.

So I headcanon that aliens were pretty much unknown to most of them. Assuming that, I’d say the first time Arcann met aliens was on those battles Valkorian sent him on. ‘testing’ the Republic and Empire. He clearly didn’t have aliens on staff, so his contact with them has been minimal.

I like thinking about this because it adds another layer of ‘what the fuck do I do’ when he’s pining for, and eventually in a relationship with, the Commander. I’m not saying he’d be racist towards them, I’m just saying there’d be room for some cultural misunderstandings, and that he’d be extra worried about it. Even more fun if he’s ignorant of some of an alien’s natural abilities, like a Nautolan’s ability to sense people’s emotions, or a Cathar’s advanced senses. Cause once he finds out, we’d get the added horror of him realizing that he might’ve given his feelings away in a way that he hadn’t even anticipated or been able to control.

By the time Arcann and the Commander get together, dating aliens must’ve become a thing in Zakuul. It’s been over 5 years, and if Mass Effect has taught me anything, it takes exactly 0.6 seconds for humans to be DTF an alien.

It’s just one more facet of their relationship to explore, that’s all.

Ok, I think that’s it, any more and I’ll feel like I’ll be talking in circles. This has been more of a stream of consciousness thing, so hopefully it made sense and wasn’t too boring. One last time, this is all my own perception of Arcann and how I would approach a romance with him in a fanfic. If you guys have anything to add or any contrasting ideas I really would love to hear them.

Part 1 here.

[koiryuu]

Jitterbug (Hashiya Nanashi, feat. Hatsune Miku & MEIKO) analysis, from an autistic point of view

Disclaimer: This is based on my personal experience growing up with autism, and the experiences of the people around me. This song is also really gay by nature, so if MikuMei isn't your thing, this is your warning. Obviously this is in no way any sort of official analysis, and actually, ironically due to my autism, I may misinterpret some things or have a hard time not taking lines literally, so don't get mad at me if I get something clearly wrong. I'm just very passionate about this interpretation, and this song comes very close to representing a real (canon) autistic experience. No one else seems to comment on it from that point of view though, so naturally I had to write this up! This is also my first full analysis, and I'm not good at being concise, so please bear with me!

[[MORE]]

Overview: The video, for me, is a major factor in how Jitterbug comes across as an autistic narrative. The name itself, while it is still a reference to a 1920s dance (befitting of the electroswing style of the song), doubles as a meaning for someone who can't sit still, and actually on a personal note was an affectionate nickname my family called me as a kid, so that tipped me off right away. All throughout the video, I noticed most of all, the way Meiko moves her hands while she dances is very close to stimmy behavior, not really like how a neurotypical would normally dance (nor is it a part of the jitterbug itself). While Meiko is moving her hands like that, Miku very often has something in her mouth, either a kind of stick, or the laser pointer, definitely suggesting an oral fixation. Of course, both girls obscure their eyes with sunglasses (I think Meiko's aviators look so cool), and while that definitely has some metaphorical meaning as others have pointed out in their analyses of the song, it's really not uncommon for autistic people to wear shaders and/or noise dampeners to combat overstimulation and sensory issues. None of these things on their own prove anything, of course, as the video is often a small part of a song's meaning, so let's dive into the main course!

Lyric analysis:

I can't talk about any wishes, nor my ideals

Giving out the same, invariant answer all the time

For being the first line in this song, this really already punches home the idea that Miku is dissatisfied with herself, and, as is often the case with autistic people, doesn't even know how she's supposed to navigate the world. She either doesn't know her aspirations in life, or doesn't know how to talk about them without being judged.

You don't need a rotten yesterday

Dump it before you get betrayed

Meiko, being the free spirit in contrast to the masking, frustrated Miku, assures her that she can't just hold onto bad things that happened, being judged or not knowing herself, she needs to dump her perfectionist tendencies and learn to live as herself a little before her own precariously-built persona comes crashing down on her.

Just fully utilize it, tame it

Can't give it away nor dye it tomorrow

I'm fully ready

Meiko tells Miku that she has to learn to work with herself the way she is, find her talents and use them fully, rather than constantly trying to change or push her feelings deep down. She can't give away her personality, and she can't truly make herself different inside, no matter how hard she masks on the outside.

Hungry critics that can't even move

are just glancing at you sideways

The people who would judge Miku for who she is are just hungry for something to laugh at, someone to other or exclude, but when it comes down to it, they're no real threat. If she can just get over that initial hurdle, she'll realize her haters are just pathetically lapping at any entertainment they can get, and they're really not that scary at the end of the day.

Who cares! Ignore those idiots

Given this is the first line they sing together, it almost feels like an admission on Miku's part, she wants to believe Meiko and stand up for herself for once, even if it is just among them for now.

Come at nights, grab my hand and dance

The girls are obviously fond of each other (just gals being pals), and in a way, understand one another on a deeper level than other people understand them, having similar neurotypes. Dancing itself is sort of a wild, energetic activity, that can help express a wide variety of pent-up emotions, and the jitterbug itself is a pretty manic dance that fits the image rather well.

Use your eyes only for me and let's light it up,

Your one and only, scorching laser light

This line is honestly just gay. I don't think there's any deeper meaning to the laser light specifically, but it is a cute thing to call your funky spunky girlfriend, isn't it? It actually may be a reference to how Miku really is on the inside, bright and strange, and often blinding and scorching to others. She hides that side of her pretty well normally, but with Meiko it's not only fine to be bright and weird and full of personality, but actually encouraged.

Fitfully ranking things and aligning them vertically

Abandoning my heart, I convert them to numbers out of impulse

Honestly, upon my first translated listen of this song, I didn't think absolutely anything autistic was happening until this line hit me. This is so autistic in nature, I'm surprised that a lot of analyses leave it out. Miku not only sees the world in sets and orders and numbers like many autistics do, but actually feels (most likely from outside influence) that by her brain being wired to see the world like that, she's abandoned her humanity and become a robot.

The magic gradually faded out

Instead, pessimism flowed in and was entrenched

I'm taking a little liberty here, but many autistics with savant syndrome (and/or gifted kid syndrome) are praised in their youth for the amazing things they can do, such as doing complex math quickly or reading at a faster speed than their peers, but later in life, when those skills are either no longer relevant or have averaged out, the things they used to be praised for become seen as annoying, not something to brag about, or a burden. Miku no longer sees the way her brain works as magical and special anymore, it's a curse and proof to her that she's not like the people around her.

Struck speechless by the awful scenery,

Very clearly overstimulation.

I linger in the raining streets, soaked from head to toe

Some wait for the sun, some grumble about the rain

All pointing at me inside their umbrellas

This line could very well be taken literally, but it's most clearly just a way of describing how different Miku is truly. She doesn't see the same things as bad as other people, she doesn't see the same things as good either. She could be the type that embraces darkness in life, both literally and figuratively. People may not actually point, but she can feel eyes on her, and it makes her feel even more alienated. Even when she tries so hard to fit in, there are some parts of her that are too obvious to change, and she knows she draws attention anyway.

Who cares! Ignore them right now

Let's smile, choose my hand and sing

Feel the rhythm with your heart and dance

I'm not sure exactly why, but the line about feeling the rhythm with your heart made me feel really connected to the song. It might just be because of my own personal music stim habits, but either way it's another line about leaving behind your facade, being as true to your nature as possible, and just dancing out your worries to the beat of the song.

On this rainy stage, as bright as the scorching light

This line embraces the idea of Miku preferring the rain. No one else has to like the stage they set for themselves, because when they're together, it's just about them and what they want to do. Miku can soak herself in rain and bright, scorching light, and just exist with no one around to point and stare.

Eyes go dim and words are lost

While this can just be a reference to depression in general, it's worth noting that many autistics have trouble showing expressions, and/or go nonverbal, often in response to stress or unusually upsetting circumstances.

The colors of today have faded out

Still, it couldn't end because of someone

This can be a way of insinuating that Miku is actually suicidal due to how she's seen by others, and Meiko is the one thing keeping her here, or it could just mean that Meiko stopped her days from getting too bad in a moderate sense. Either way, pretty gay, and shows more how much the girls depend on each other in mutual understanding.

Who cares! Ignore those idiots!

Come at nights, dance and grasp your aspirations

Referring back to the first line, Meiko does assure Miku that not everything needs to be worked out for others' sake, but by spending time with your true self and unpacking your feelings, the future you're supposed to have and the things that truly make you happy will become clear.

I shall dedicate my entire life to you

Let's shine on, like the scorching light

Reach your hands out, until the very end

Miku is in lesbians with her. Ending the song on such a gay note is never a bad thing of course, but it is a little anticlimactic for this analysis. Though, the line of reaching your hands out might actually refer to their hand movements in the video, symbolizing to keep being weird and authentic as long as you can, but that may be a bit of a stretch (or a reach, if you will)

Final thoughts: I have seen other analyses (though not as in-depth) about the meaning of the song, and while they definitely do have some meaning and I can see it from that point of view, there are just some obviously autistic cues that I couldn't ignore that just swayed my perception of the song entirely that direction. I'm not sure if I only picked up that meaning because of my own experiences biasing my view, or if I actually am onto something with the original intention of the song. If you guys have any insight to offer on any of the lyrics, or if I missed or misinterpreted something, feel free to let me know! Thanks for reading this far, honestly! 🌸