#VOL 212

[completeoveranalysis]

[9]

MOM HOLY FUCK THEY REALLY ARE SAYING IT

EXCUSE ME

EXCUSE ME

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT IS THIS THE GREATEST THING 

LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS

Clamp absolutely set the precedent for this with our visit to Shura/Shara all those years ago. We’ve SEEN the possibility of being in the past and future of the same world and teleporting between the two. We knew the feathers could appear pretty much anywhere in the timeline of a world, given how time works differently across the mutliverse, and we DID just straight up go backwards and forwards in time via Mokona, so it’s absolutely possible for them to appear in the Past of the Kingdom of Clow. 

WHICH IS APPARENTLY ACID TOKYO????

WHICH JUST ABSOLUTELY BLOWS MY MIND WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT A WAY TO TIE IT ALL TOGETHER??

X/1999 IS THE SET UP TO THE CLOW KINGDOM?

THE CLOW KINGDOM IS IN THE RUINED ECOLOGICAL DISASTER OF OUR OWN CURRENT WORLD??? 

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as a pseudo-not-really-but-kind-of-sequel-event to Cardcaptor Sakura but ACTUALLY ALSO being the sequel-kind-of-but-not-exactly sequel to X/1999???? Or Alternate Timeline X/1999? Where things are ever so slightly different but the world was ruined in the same way?

AND THE RESERVOIR

THE RESERVOIR IN ACID TOKYO IS THE RESERVOIR IN THE CLOW RUINS????

I’m REELING OVER THIS

THEY SET THAT UP

SAKURA WALKED THROUGH THE DESERT TO PURIFY THE WATER TO SAVE THESE PEOPLE AND IT MADE THE RESERVOIR THAT LOVED SAKURA SO MUCH THAT IT PROTECTS HER

AND WATANUKI! WATANUKI WAS AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF SETTING UP THE RESERVOIR IN A WORLD BEFORE HE EVEN EXISTED IN THAT TIMELINE

And that’s Definitely the feather they’re talking about, isn’t it? The feather that Sakura left in Acid Tokyo is still in the Reservoir right now, and is the reason the water is magic and loves her so much - because it’s a piece of her, and -... well, a piece of her clone. But it’s a piece of SAKURA, and so they resemble and resonate with each other, and that's why the water is so close to her, but 'Sakura' can’t absorb the feather because she’s already a full person and those aren’t her memories, but the memories of her clone.

Meanwhile Sakura (ie, our cloned Sakura) is currently on the other side of the portal at a point in time that DIDN’T exist a few seconds ago, for Original 'Sakura', but the rest of the universe has moved on and decades have passed (even though no time at all has passed for her) and now the feather from her clone has ended up in the past that set up the reservoir potentially centuries before she was even born. 

Timeline!

Oh my god?

Oh my god. 

I’m going to be thinking about this forever. 

No wait I’m not done ACID TOKYO WAS like THE point in the narrative where everything changed forever. And from a Tsubasa point of view it felt like a world picked at random for all the Important Narrative changes to take place - but it never was! It was the most important world of all! It was the Clow Kingdom!

So Syaoran lived his life in the Clow Kingdom, and then his soul collapsed in Acid Tokyo, which was ALSO the Clow Kingdom, and then he went and died defending Lava Lamp, in the Clow Kingdom. All at completely different points in the timeline but all in the exact same world. 

Though I will say I am thoroughly baffled by the connection between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and THE CLOW RUINS???

ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME BUILDING?

Oh my god they’re in the same location aren’t they. The reservoir was underneath it and now it’s under the ruins. I suppose they have Magic so they could probably reshape them however they want but WHAT A CON CLAMP HAVE PULLED ON US

TO SPEND THE ENTIRE MANGA STARING AT THE WINGS OF THE CLOW RUINS AND THEY WERE SECRETLY WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO TELL US THAT WE WERE ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT BUILDING ALL ALONG

THE AUDACITY OF IT ALL

[everyrocklee]

[everykankuro]

[everygaara]

[onhoude]

It's so comedic whenever Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian decide to be the most off-putting couple in a room.

Just, with circumstances as they are, it makes sense Lan Wangji is especially concerned with Wei Wuxian, but the tension between the two reads as so so awkward for everyone else. And that's so funny (as a reader. I'd hate to be there).

(Wei Wuxian is innocent here, he snuggled up against him while he slept).

And Wen Ning had already seen too much by this point. He'd also been pushed around by a drunk Lan Wangji for daring to be in Wei Wuxian's vicinity. Well, his young master is safe with Hanguang-jun, no need for Wen Ning to needlessly get further involved with (gesturing vaguely) that.

Poor juniors, feeling so flustered that they'd escape with the excuse to water their scrolls or something.

[empirearchives]

Evidence of Napoleon’s awareness of the concept of vampires

(Tombstone in Père Lachaise Cemetery, by Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont)

“They [vampires] even confronted Napoleon during his reign, as exemplified by an anecdote from the early nineteenth century about Napoleon’s reaction to a story about a strange man named Rafin who disappeared every night into Père-Lachaise Cemetery only to reappear in the morning: when Napoleon heard the this, he reputedly asked if Rafin was “a vampire” (Mozzani 1988: 212-14). Certainly, the general population across Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century found them of interest, especially as their literary place began to take hold.”

Source: Lynn, Michael R. “Wonders Never Cease: Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Curiosities in Early Modern France.” Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, vol. 12 no. 1, 2023, p. 27-54.

[paganimagevault]

Shoroon Bumbagar, tomb of a Turkic (Gokturk) nobleman, 650-700 CE

"Like Chinese historians, Muslim writers in general depict the ‘Turks’ as possessing East Asian physiognomy. For instance, Sharaf al-Zamān Tāhir Marvazī describes them as being ‘short, with small eyes, nostrils, and mouths’ (1942: 53–4, 156). Similarly, Tabarī (d. 923) depicts the ‘Turks’ as being ‘full-faced with small eyes’ (1987: 21). In his Qābūs-nāma, the eleventh-century Ziyarid ruler Kai Kā'ūs also describes the ‘Turks’ as possessing ‘a large head (sar-i buzurg), a broad face (rūy-i pahn), narrow eyes (chashmhā-i tang), and a flat nose (bīnī-i pakhch), and unpleasing lips and teeth (lab va dandān na nīkū)’ (Kai Kā'ūs ibn Iskandar 1951a: 103; 1951b: 64). The Arab historian and geographer al-Mas'ūdī (896–956) writes that the Oghuz Turks residing in Yengi-kent, a town near the mouth of the Syr Darya, ‘are distinguished from other Turks by their valour, their slanted eyes, and the smallness of their stature’ (wa hum ashadd al-Turk ba’san wa aqsaruhum wa asgharuhum a‘yunan wa fī al-Turk man huwa aqsar min hā’ulā’) (al-Mas'ūdī 1962–: Vol. 1, 212). However, Muslim writers later differentiated the Oghuz Turks from other Turks in terms of physiognomy. Rashīd al-Dīn writes that ‘because of the climate their features gradually changed into those of Tajiks. Since they were not Tajiks, the Tajik peoples called them turkmān, i.e. Turk-like (Turk-mānand)’ (Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: Vol. 1, 35–6; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99:  Vol. 1, 31). Hāfiz Tanīsh Mīr Muhammad Bukhārī (d. c. 1549) also relates that after the Oghuz came to Transoxiana and Iran, their ‘Turkic face did not re-main as it was’ (1983: fol. 17a (text), Vol. 1, 61 (trans.)). Abū al-Ghāzī Bahadur Khan similarly writes that ‘their chin started to become narrow, their eyes started to become large, their faces started to become small, and their noses started to become big’ after five or six generations (Abu-l-Gazi 1958: 42 (text), 57 (trans.); Ebülgazî Bahadir Han 1975: 57–8). As a matter of fact, the mixed nature of the Ottomans, belonging to the Oghuz Turkic group, is noted by the Ottoman historian Mustafā Ālī (1541–1600). In his Künhü'l-ahbār, he remarks that the Ottoman elites of the sixteenth century were of mostly of non-Turkic origin: ‘Most of the inhabitants of  Rum are of confused ethnic origin. Among its notables there are few whose lineage does not go back to a convert to Islam …’ (Ekser-i sükkān-i vilāyet-i Rūm meclis-i muhtelit ul-mefhūm olub ā‘yānında az kimsene bulunur ki nesebi bir müslüm-i cedīde muntehī olmaya) (Fleischer 1986: 254; Mustafā Ālī, Künhü'l-ahbār 1860–68: Vol. 1, 16)."

-Joo-Yup Lee & Shuntu Kuang, A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples

[journeytothewestresearch]

Zhu Bajie's First Wife

In JTTW chapter eight, Zhu Bajie tells Guanyin that he inherited his cave from a mysterious figure:

It's called the Mountain of the Blessed Mound," said the fiendish creature, "and there is a cave in it by the name of Cloudy Paths. There was a Second Elder Sister Egg originally in the cave. She saw that I knew something of the martial art and therefore asked me to be the head of the family, following the so-called practice of "standing backward in the door." After less than a year, she died, leaving me to enjoy the possession of her entire cave (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 212). 叫做福陵山。山中有一洞，叫做雲棧洞。洞裡原有個卵二姐，他見我有些武藝，招我做了家長，又喚做倒蹅門。不上一年，他死了，將一洞的家當，盡歸我受用。

I'm surprised that I've forgotten this "Second Elder Sister Egg" (Luan erjie, 卵二姐) considering how many times that I've read JTTW.

Yu (Wu & Yu, 2012) confirms that Zhu and this figure were married, for the practice mentioned above is a "colloquialism of the Huai'an region, referring to a man living in the woman's house after marriage" (vol. 1, p. 517 n. 31). This means that Zhu had a wife prior to "Green Orchard" (Cui'lan, 翠蘭) from chapter 18.

I was interested in learning more about her and found this Baidu page. It mentions that the luan (卵, "egg") part of her name is actually a transcription error, for the original 1592 edition of JTTW shows a different but similar-looking character. I checked my own copy, and found that it reads Mao erjie (夘二姐, "Second Elder Sister Mao") (see the right side of page 105 here).

Like Baidu, Pleco notes that Mao is the fourth (of 12) earthly branches, which is associated with rabbits. Therefore, Zhu's first wife could have been a rabbit spirit. Can you imagine the kids? They would be a strange pig-rabbit hybrid, pretty much an aardvark.

The Baidu page also mentions that their pairing may be an allusion to yin-yang theory since the fourth earthly branch, Mao (夘/卯, rabbit), is associated with yin wood, while the 12th, Hai (亥, pig), is associated with yang wood (i.e. they complete each other). This kind of stuff is over my head, so I don't plan to delve into it further. But this page does give an overview of the stems and elements.

On a related note, if we were to apply this yin-yang/earthly branch dating approach to Wukong, his partner would be a chicken! This is because the ninth earthly branch, Shen (申, monkey) is yang metal, while the 10th, You (酉, chicken) is yin metal.

[aashi-heartfilia]

Ochako Art Poll: Vote here!!

Let's talk about Ochako. NO! Let's talk about how specifically Ochako is drawn to be one of the prettiest characters of MHA. Horikoshi's art is legendary but he still doesn't get enough credit for the way he draws her. She's always beautiful, confident, brave and yet soft, serene, feminine and elegant.

Promotion art from one of the animators of MHA on Twitter

You can be soft and you can be Heroic. Ochako is the literal definition of that.

So in appreciation of his art and Ochako's character arc, here is a poll voting for the top Uraraka art from any cannon content. Cannon means, it's either from Manga ( including volume covers, color pages, double spreads) , Team up missions, school briefs or one of Horikoshi's Twitter sketches. Personally, here are some of my top 10 pics, feel free to add yours (reblog)

Pics are given below:

(1) Ochako on Volume Cover: Vol 33

(2) Ochako on the cover of Team up mission

(3) Chapter 212: Chapter Cover

(4) Ochako Double Spread: Vol 33

(5) Chapter 295: Devastated

(6) Ochako on Anniversary art 2022

(7) Ochako on Anniversary art, 2023

(8) Ochako cleaned color page

(9) Horikoshi sketch on Twitter

(10) Other: Reblog with your fav Ochako art of your choice!

[thecrowperson]

Kaidou manga panels I like: (pt 212)

Holiday Spirit: feat. Kuboyasu, Saiki, Hairo, and Nendou

From: vol 12 ch 120

[domusplautii]

Thinking about the women who weren’t aristocratic, whose lives we never hear about in the histories, and only with snide humour in the satirists.

*

From the article, Roman Women by Gillian Clark.

[Greece & Rome, Vol. 28, No. 2, Jubilee Year (Oct., 1981), pp. 193-212 (20 pages), on Jstor.]

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

PLEASE HOLD PLEASE HOLD PLEASE HOLD PLEASE HOLD

[everyrocklee]

[ineffectualdemon]

My disciple is the most awesome in the world! If he weren't so good, so kind, and so easy to take advantage of, none of you could even dream of defeating him!

Shen Qingqiu never thought to reflect on what this agitated attitude of his meant.

SVSSS Vol 1 p 212

Can you believe there are people who read this and say with their whole chest that Shen Qingqiu never showed any sign of being in love with Binghe until the very end?

They are in the same fucking mental gymnastics class as Shen Qingqiu himself ffs

[everygaara]

[sparklecarehospital]

💕 Sparklecare Update 💕

VOL 3: Pages 212-214  🌈 Click here to read!

✨ Support us on Patreon!  

✨ Updates Mondays & Thursdays