#and tbh i love doing both the micro-development of each character

[invinciblerodent]

and now that I'm on my "musing about Dragon Age" bullshit once more, now that that stuff is all swirling in my mind again, I'm once again conflicted on who to have as my canon Origins romance!!!!

because.... if I go with Leliana, first of all I fucking love her and it works with the character I have going for that game wonderfully, I'm 3/3 on the "be gay do crime" aspect (Leliana with fAeducan, Anders with mHawke, Dorian with mTrevelyan), AND I really like the thought of the Warden-Commander just casually being married to the Divine, which is overall also just better for Thedas anyway.

BUT!!!!! on the other hand, if I go with Alistair, then if I do end up with Davrin as my canon boo in Veilguard, I can be 3/4 on romancing the tragic Grey Warden dudes, plus the whole "romanced Alistair remains a Grey Warden and barely escapes the Fade by the skin of his teeth only to stare the Calling between the eyes only a few years later" can make for some absolutely bloody delicious drama, AND!!!!!! then my otherwise underdeveloped Hawke can turn into this giant piece of connective tissue, this sinewy throughline of gristle across all the games???

Like...... Hawke's sacrifice saves Alistair, but hurts Anders, completing that circle around games 1 and 2. Then, the "Ten years -- a hundred years from now -- someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no Templars to tear them apart." line that set up my Dorian romance beautifully, can trail from 2 and 3 all the way into Veilguard- in which the Inquisitor can either mirror Hawke in his fate and complete another circle, OR subvert the parallel by surviving, and complete Anders' prophecy!!! Plus, if I make my Rook reminiscent of my Warden in some little ways, those two can then act as another pair of mirror images, and both love Grey Wardens with full knowledge of the tragedy they carry!!!!!!

I just. Grrraahhh!!!! Too much about Hawke was set for my to get SUPER invested into them as a character, but I get so hyped about them existing sort of a ghost that connects everything.

I'm so fucking hyped about Hawke having known Alistair, who, because he survived the Fade and left for Weisshaupt, then knows Davrin, and Anders and Dorian being mirror images of one another in that latter got all that had slipped through the former's fingers, and is anyone even still reading this because I'm just vomiting words out of myself at this point, I'm so bloody excited

[marimopeace]

there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...

a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?

i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!

with isekai - in another world

you see everything from:

pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)

otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)

with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*

you see...

the same tropes!!

pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)

self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)

*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*

similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!

the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?

the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.

like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u

(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)

breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.

at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.

insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*

in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)

but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.

idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!

recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3

// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //

save me princess

super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!

the beginning after the end

an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!

the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion

love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!

trash of the count's family

such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!

this time i will definitely be happy!

v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!

silver diamond

older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!

the princess imprints a traitor

adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml

[battlestar-royco]

IT'S BEEN 84 YEARS. LET'S TALK ABOUT NETFLIX'S SHADOW AND BONE.

8.7/10 ⭐️

spoilers for everythingggg under the cut! i'll be discussing its merits as an adaptation vs as a show, characters and plots, and the overall aesthetic and magic/world.

SHOW VS ADAPTATION:

i say this as someone who knows all the books very well and has been in the fandom for nearly a decade, so i'm biased. but. s&b functions better as an adaptation than as a standalone show. alina's plot moves so well, and satisfyingly renders so many iconic scenes and sites from s&b. the worldbuilding is also pretty easy to fall into, with a forgivable amount of voiceover/infodump. and, hurting budget aside, i mostly liked this visual interpretation of the gv.

(sidebar: the in-universe racism... doesn't work. i tried to view it in good faith but imo it was very heavy-handed. if it was framed like, "wow it's a SHU WOMAN saving the world!!!" it might've been better, but it's just racism without recompense. and it's a terrible look to make other characters of color racist. i just. why?)

as for the crows, however... i'm just not sure how strong they'll be for new viewers? i totally understand why they were included, and i really like certain connections the show made between the two series. it was a great decision to introduce the druskelle in the first Cut scene, and showing nina as a ravkan spy.

the new crows stuff felt in character, but i think the show is at its height when it sticks to the books. the first couple episodes switching between tgt and proto-soc gave me whiplash, but luckily it got more organic as it progressed. if i didn't know and love all the crows before going in, i wouldn't be that invested in them based on season 1. aside from a couple fantastic scenes, it really felt like the writers were trying to make fetch happen for like 4 episodes before they figured out what to do with everyone. plus, ravka is such a different vibe from ketterdam--tonally, sartorially, technologically, etc they didn't totally feel like the same world. it was pretty jarring. although i prefer the duo to the trio, s&b is alina's story and she is That Bitch who walked so the crows could fly. so i didn't hate their inclusion but the shoehorned content did at times disservice both plots, imo.

CHARACTERS:

way too many, which is yet another consequence of smushing everyone into one season.

MAL/ALINA/DARKLING: first and foremost, and i PROMISE i'm not saying this just to be a hater, but there needed to be less malina. i'll be the first to say that show!mal really has what book!mal wants. the new pre-fold scenes were so good. li and renaux have amazing chemistry, and their laughter over stolen grapes was a highlight. his stag plot was also good. THAT SAID, there were way too many keramzin flashbacks and malina parallels like.. 🤢🤢why do they want us to love mal so much. for what. they only needed the teacup scene but they clearly thought they were doing something with micro-aggressions and that meadow shot they showed like 6 times. knowing mal's original character, and how they scrubbed his show counterpart almost to the point of flawlessness, he's just never going to be my fave even though i do respect what they did with him. also, why were there like 5 fake deaths for this dude? boring.

the darkling was great. ben barnes knows what the fuck he's about, and he funneled manipulation and charisma into every scene. as for the backstory: at first i really wasn't feeling it, but i eventually did warm up to it and i'm so glad they showed it because oh god the cut and the creation of the fold were SO FUCKING ICONIC. also, love love love the baghra development. WE LOVE TO SEE OLD WOMEN/MOMS WHO AREN'T "EVIL"/"CORRUPTED" BY THEIR MAGICAL POWERS!!!!!!! BITCH! it didn't have to be 12 minutes long though.

i honestly don't have much to say on alina. jml was excellent in her role and very true to the book. without her book narration she feels much more consistently written.

TRILOGY CHARACTERS: i really felt the lack of genya and zoya. genya's character and actress are perfectly layered and effective, even though their roles are relatively minor. i'm so looking forward to her razrushost moment, but i wish they'd laid more groundwork for it. (and i hope throw out the wig and just dye her hair next season.) also like. WHY KEEP THE IRRELEVANT MEAN GIRL/DARKLING THIRST PLOT FOR ZOYA??? AFTER ALL THE EFFORT THEY PUT INTO IMPROVING MAL? they sacrificed so much for malina at the expense of other characters. finally, it was interesting how they decided to kill marie. i love the tailor magic flex. but also they clearly just did that to emotionally manipulate us and connect the crows so. hm.

CROWS: speaking of! the crows storyline felt a little like filler. honestly i wish they waited to roll crows into later seasons. i'd prefer little foreshadowings about them, a la the druskelle cameo or the references to nina and matthias. introducing the crows so soon makes the ice court heist feel less special. the recruitment was super tight and pragmatic, so this felt a little fluffy/fanservicey. kaz also comes off as sooooo old again. especially without the vulnerability of his book counterpart, he just seems like a 40-year-old in a 20something body.

i was pleasantly surprised to find jesper my favorite crow. like wow.... second amendment rights for jesper fahey only!! i like all the crows but book!kanej are my faves by a long shot. they felt a bit stiff tbh, like the actors were a little uncomfy with each other and/or their exposition-heavy lines. however, the one scene that felt EXTREMELY kanej to me was when they killed that dude in the church holy fuck oh my god. WE STAN AN ANGSTY BATTLE COUPLE WHO ARE BOTH DEAD INSIDE. highlight for sure.

and i actually kinda loved helnik? i know helnik is controversial for very valid reasons, but i thoughy their dynamic was fantastic and they were among the strongest performers. it was much less overwhelming than the constantly interweaving kaz/inej/jesper imo. they need to fire their location scout though. those green screen mountains and beaches were um. interesting.

aesthetic and magic:

i really hope they get a bigger budget for costumes, cgi, and sets next season! the keftas are serviceable, but they look a little cheap at times. i will also never forgive ANY of the crows' hats. it's mostly just a personal aesthetic thing but god i fucking hate them. the darkling was best dressed, but in general i liked the ravkan look more than the kerch. why were the crows always in the most elaborate getups? why couldn't they just chill in their waistcoats??? they never seemed relaxed in the way alina and co did; the clothes never felt worn or broken in.

favorite sets: the darkling's room, the crow club, all the grisha tents, the matthias/nina ship, the church where inej killed the squaller, outdoor fountain where they told the story of the black heretic. the lighting was almost always right for each scene, and there was so much detail in every one of them.

THE MAGIC WAS SO COOL! my greatest beef is alina's light--it often looked so fake, and it washed out jml. oftentimes it was fluorescent or blue, and it was used as a forcefield or orb. it's supposed to be sunlight bro. what is so hard about that? the darkling's magic looked good, other than the fold. i've always imagined the fold more like a huge black fog rather than a literal wall. so that was a bit game of thronesy, but not terrible.

and can we talk about the amplifiers? amplifiers are my personal favorite gv lore but season 1 barely gets into them. they never mention the bear zoya slew, nor do they establish the unique strength of the stag, sea dragon, and firebird. BUT THE ANTLER COLLAR FUSED INTO ALINA'S SKIN WAS SUPER DARK AND MACABRE AND I KINDA LIKED IT? ALTHOUGH I HAVE TO WONDER HOW TF IS SHE GONNA SLEEP???

if you made it this far, thanks so much! that's all i have for today.

[explosionshark]

Thanks for recommending Gideon the Ninth! It was so good! Do you have a book rec tag I could check out? :)

honestly i should, huh? i’ve read more books than probably ever before this year and i’ve talked about ‘em intermittently, but not with a consistent tag. i’ll recommend some right now, though, with a healthy dose of recency bias!

sf/f

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon - a truly epic fantasy novel with one of the most beautiful, satisfying f/f romances i’ve ever read. the novel takes account nearly everything i hate about fantasy as a genre (overwhelmingly straight, white, and male centric, bland medieval European settings, tired tropes) and subverts them. incredible world-building, diverse fantasy cultures, really cool arthrurian legend influence. one of my favorite books i’ve ever read tbh.

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir - which you’ve read, obviously, but for posterity’s sake i’m keeping it here! sci-fi + murder mystery + gothic horror. genuinely funny while still having a super strong emotional core and more than enough gnarly necromantic to satisfy the horror nerd in me. makes use of some of my favorite tropes in fiction, namely the slowburn childhood enemies to reluctant allies to friends to ??? progression between gideon and harrow. absolutely frothing at the mouth for a sequel.

the broken earth trilogy by nk jemisin - really the first book that helped me realize i don’t hate fantasy, i just hate the mainstream ‘medieval europe but with magic’ version of fantasy that dominates the genre. EXTREMELY cool worldbuilding. i’ve definitely described it as like, a GOOD version of what the mage-vs-templar conflict in dragon age could have been, with a storyline particularly reminiscent of “what if someone got Anders right?”

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone - i’m not usually big on epistolary novels, but this one really worked for me. spy vs spy but it’s gay and takes place between time traveling agents of two opposing sides of a war. the letter writing format really plays to el-mohtar’s strengths as a poet, the unfolding love story is weird and beautiful. it’s a really quick read, too, if you’re short on time or attention.

empress of forever  by max gladstone - i just finished this one this week! if you’re in the mood for a space opera, look no further. imagine if steve jobs was an asian lesbian and also like not a shitty person. this is where you start with vivian liao. you get the classic putting-the-band-together arc with beings from all across the universe, your romances and enemies-turned-friends and uneasy alliances all over the place. really satisfying character development and some extremely cool twists along the way. it’s just a fun good time.

the luminous dead by caitlin starling - this one rides the line of horror so it’s closest to that part of the list. it reminds me of the most inventive low budget horror/sci-fi films i’ve loved in the best way possible because it makes use of the barest narrative resources. it’s a book that takes place in one primary setting, featuring interactions between two characters that only meet each other face-to-face for the briefest period. the tension between the two characters is the most compelling part of the story, with competing and increasingly unreliable narratives and an eerie backdrop to ratchet things up even higher. the author described it as “queer trust kink” at one point which is, uh, super apt actually and totally my jam. the relationship at the center of the book is complicated to say the least, outright combative at points, but super compelling. plus there’s lost of gnarly sci-fi spelunking if you like stories about people wandering around in caves.

horror

the ballad of black tom by victor lavalle - we all agree that while lovecraft introduced/popularized some cool elements into horror and kind of defined what cosmic horror would come to mean, he was a racist sack of shit. which is why my favorite type of ‘lovecraftian horror’ is the type that openly challenges his abhorrent views. the ballad of black tom is a retelling of the horror at redhook that flips the narrative by centering the action around a black protagonist. 

lovecraft country by matt ruff - more of what i just described. again, lovecraftian themes centered around black protagonists. this one’s especially cool because it’s a series of interconnected short stories following related characters. it’s getting a tv adaptation i believe, but the book is definitely not to be missed

rolling in the deep / into the drowning deep by mira grant - mermaids are real and they’re the ultimate deep sea predators! that’s really the whole premise. if for some reason that’s not enough for you, let me add this: diverse cast, a romance between a bi woman who’s not afraid to use the word and an autistic lesbian, really cool speculative science tangents about mermaid biology and myth. 

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson - it’s halloween month so i’m thinking about hill house again. one of the greatest american ghost stories ever written. especially worth the read if you follow it up w the 1964 film adaptation (the haunting) and then the 2018 netflix series.

the hunger by alma katsu - i’ve always been fascinated by the donner party even though we now know the popular narrative is largely falsehoods. still, this highly fictionalized version of events scratched an itch for me and ended up surprising me with its resistance from the most expected and toxic racist tropes associated with donner party myth.

wounds / north american lake monsters by nathan ballingrud - nathan ballingrud is my favorite horror writer of all time. one of my favorite writers period regardless of genre. in ballingrud’s work the horror is right in front of you. you can look directly at it, it’s right there. but what permeates it, what draws your attention instead, what makes it hurt is the brutally honest emotional core of everything surrounding the horror. the human tragedy that’s’ reflected by the more fantastic horror elements is the heart of his work. it’s always deeply, profoundly moving for me. both of these collections are technically short stories, but they’re in the horror section of the recs because delineations are totally arbitrary and made solely at my discretion. 

short stories

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - tbh i almost put this in w horror but there’s enough weird fiction here for me to be willing to straddle the line. it was really refreshing to read horror that centered queer women’s perspectives. the stories in this collection are really diverse and super powerful. there’s an incredible weird fiction piece that’s like prompt-based law and order svu micro fiction (go with me here) that ends up going to some incredible places. there’s the husband stitch, a story that devastated me in ways i’m still unraveling. the final story reminded me of a more contemporary haunting of hill house in the best way possible. machado is a writer i’m really excited about.

vampires in the lemon grove by karen russell - my friend zach recommended this to me when we were swapping book recs earlier this year and i went wild for it! mostly weird fiction, but i’m not really interested in getting hung up on genres. i don’t know what to say about this really other than i really loved it and it got me excited about reading in a way i haven’t been in a while. 

the tenth of december by george saunders - i really like saunders’ work and i feel like the tenth of december is a great place to start reading him. quirky without being cloying, weird without being unrelatable.

misc

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - there’s something really compelling to me about the glamour of old hollywood. this story is framed as a young journalist interviewing a famously reclusive former starlet at the end of her life. the story of how evelyn hugo goes from being the dirt-poor daughter of cuban immigrants to one of the biggest names in hollywood to an old woman facing the end of her life alone is by turns beautiful, inspiring, infuriating and desperately sad. by far the heart of the book is in evelyn finally coming out as bisexual, detailing her decades-long on/off relationship with celia st. james, another actress. evelyn’s life was turbulent, fraught with abuse and the kind of exploitation you can expect from the hollywood machine, but the story is compelling and engaging and i loved reading it.

smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty - a memoir by caitlin doughty, the woman behind the popular ‘ask a mortician’ youtube series. it was a super insightful look into the american death industry and its many flaws as well as an interesting, often moving look at the human relationship with death through the eyes of someone touched by it early and deeply.

love and rockets by los bros hernandez (jaime and gilbert and mario) - this was a big alt comic in the 80s with some series within running on and off through the present. i’m not current, but this book was so important for me as a kid. in particular the locas series, which centered around two queer latina girls coming up in the punk scene in a fictional california town. the beginning starts of a little sci-fi-ish but over time becomes more concerned with slice-of-life personal dramas. 

[greensaplinggrace]

(1/4) The issue I have with Ada and Leon is that their relationship is portrayed way too unclear for my liking. I like it when there's room for interpretation but I shouldn't have to turn to 5 different media to fully understand the concept developers had behind their scenes. I shouldn't have to listen to the interviews with the VAs to have the "ah, ok, now I see it" moment.

(2/4) I know these days game developers like to think that with modern graphics you can do everything but that's not true. Animated characters will never be as expressive as real people. Sometimes you just have to say something openly to get your point across. That's cool that the RE2 remake director discussed with Ada's VA how much vulnerability she could show to Leon but her inner conflict didn't translate into the screen in my opinion.

(3/4) It goes for their entire interaction. It looks like what was going on on the set between the actors was much richer than the final product. And that we are better at analyzing it than developers at delivering it. It's not actors' fault. It's developers' who can't write. Everything about Jill and Carlos' characters and their relationship was clear to me precisely because the characters were talking not only to each other but they were also voicing their doubts.

(4/4) I also didn't have that issue with Leon and Claire's relationship. I also don't have that issue with any of the characters seperately. Ada and Leon on their own are awesome. But the developers are so hung up on making their relationship confusing that it just annoys me.

---

Tbh I’ve never listened to what the VAs have to say, but it’s so neat when other people tell me about them! 

If, in terms of media, you’re talking about the rest of the games, then I also don’t think it’s fair to say that you shouldn’t have to reference them to get a clear picture of the relationship when their journey throughout the games over time is what makes their connection the strongest. However, if you’re talking about extra content like VA overviews and stuff like that, then I happen to agree! No media should rely on the extra content people might not see as a means to convey a point. It pisses me off to no end when the fandoms I’m in tend to rely on that so much.

And yeah, micro-expressions and other complicated displays of emotion will never come across fully on screen the way real actors can pull off. Resident evil especially seems to have a hard time with that, as I’ve often found their characters lacking in any sub-contextual emotions or subtle displays of feeling. As a result, when characters don’t speak or the exposition isn’t explicit enough, things the writers mean for players to understand tend to fall to the wayside. 

Resident Evil is crippled a lot by it’s poor writing. The inability to carry out a full and cohesive storyline over multiple games as well as the oftentimes shocking level of disconnect between installments will always make it less than it could be. Resident Evil has such strong characters but it also fails to deliver fully on the complexity and depth of their characters. This doesn’t just go for Ada Wong, it pretty consistently applies to almost every character in the franchise (although I will admit that Ada is hurt by it more than most simply because she’s already so secretive - Capcom also being so secretive leaves us with little in regards to her and her motivations).

With Ada and Leon, the developers of the games really need to come out and say things clearly. It was fun at first, but at this point it’s hurting both the characters and the relationship the writers are trying to build. Once more, however, I will disagree that the connection between them isn’t clear (at least to me), but I feel as if I’ve already said why and I don’t wont to repeat myself lol (I hope you don’t mind).

But I will say that I also happen to disagree about the level of vulnerability conveyed in the sewers scene. I’ve never needed the VAs or any kind of overlapping conversations to guide me through it or tell me what was going on. Since the very first moment I saw that scene I got a pretty solid impression of what was happening and how it translated for Ada’s character and her relationship with Leon. The vulnerability and Ada’s struggle with it (especially in regards to him) has always been something I’ve noticed in her.

I’ve also never had a problem with Leon and Claire’s relationship either! XD I love them so much. I just had a hard time reading them as romantic like so much of the fandom seemed to? My first impression of them was so solidly platonic that it was actually surprising to me when I saw people shipping them romantically. Which actually tracks, because I played the Leon A playthrough first. So I never actually got what people meant about “tension you could cut with a knife” because the flirting and interest on Leon’s end is almost nonexistent compared to Claire’s. As soon as I played Claire B is saw what people meant, because you can hear her interest a lot more than you could ever hear Leon’s. 

I always got a strong impression that Claire had a bit of a crush on Leon at first that eventually faded into feelings of friendship when nothing continued. Although as soon as I started to ship it I enjoyed the idea of those shallow crush feelings turning into something deeper and more authentic as time went on instead, with Leon returning the feelings.

And yeah XD, Capcom characters are always much better on their own. Ada’s character thrives when she’s on her own, and it kills me that we don’t get to see more of that. Like absolutely murders me. I am begging Capcom to give us an Ada game. Not an Ada movie, an Ada game.

Please Capcom I’m literally dying over here. I’m being starved! Ugh.

Lol anyways. Thanks so much for the ask!! It was really interesting and I honestly agree with so much of it. I hope you have a lovely day 😊💕

[activatingaggro]

worldbuilding a-hoy

Returning to the old worldbuilding docs, and figuring out what I want for each region, so - quick chatter on how I approach worldbuilding! I don’t always approach it with this specific structure, but I was thinking about the best ways to make Ipomoea distinct from what we’re referring to as the Empress’s region, so I wanted to jot it down.

I tend to think of worldbuilding as a series of questions, namely:

What is the theme of this area, and what question is it asking? This is the biggest thing for me! I’m going to be using Hanhai as a reference throughout this, because it’s the area I’ve been writing my fantrolls in since 2014, haha, so it’s always served as the framework for the rest.

And the theme of Hanhai is ultimately - “how do people live in a society that exists to subjugate them?” In canon, lowbloods live a decent life, but not necessarily the greatest. Aradia, Tavros, Sollux - all of them have a roof over their head, easy access to food, and the ability to, at least theoretically, survive to adulthood! But all of them exist in a context where they’re still disenfranchised socially, at least, if not physically, and where their low social position tends to be overt.

Disenfranchisement is easy to show on a micro level! For lowbloods, one-on-one discrimination is usually a part of their narratives, and the risk of helming as an adult is at least implied to be notable. But the theme of Hanhai is essentially examining how it impacts them on a macro level! The Hanhai district features the transition from a wet rainforest to a dry, mountainous desert region. The spread of castes throughout the region is intentional:

highbloods live near the cities and coast, where resources are most easily accessible.

midbloods live on the coastline and in the hilly transition region, where the population is more dispersed, resources need to be retrieved, but the overall environment is very mild

lowbloods largely live within the Hanhai desert, where resources are difficult to find, the population is very sparse, and the environment is more hostile towards the population

This isn’t something that I think I’ve ever explicitly noted in the narrative, but it’s an underpinning that’s heavily referenced in a lot of ways, and by a lot of characters - a lot of early stories and threads focused on the fact that the Hanhai Desert was habitable, once, and when the quality of life lessened, the violets within it left, and the lowbloods were pushed into occupying it in their absence. Pheres’s early obsession with the ruins of the desert was emphasized heavily to contrast his own personal status. He’s poor, he’s disenfranchised, he’s of the lowest social position in both his caste and in society that one can have.. and he’s constantly aware of it, because he grew up and lived within the footsteps of Hanhai’s original residents, who were rich, and loved, and cherished by the society that he still exists in. But like a kid walking through their parents footsteps, he’s aware that he can follow them as much as he likes - their prints are not his, and everyone can see it.

Which leads into the question of the Hanhai district, which all of the lowblooded characters from it (ID, Riccin, Sipara, Pheres) are shaped around: how do you survive in a society that subjugates you?

This shapes the main characters from the region, and that always helps me in shaping the region itself - most of Hanhai’s development is in direct reaction to the characters that live within it, what makes sense for them, and what works best for their story. (Part of the reason I’ve been dragging on writing the rest of the region write-ups, tbh: a lot of these are featured in sidestories at best, and don’t have any dedicated cast to shape them around!)

Sipara and Pheres’s answers to that question are pretty straight-forward, and I don’t want to drag this post on for literally ever, so we’ll skim past that! They are, ftr, “by rejecting and reshaping society,” in Sipara’s case - something that impacted a lot of Hanhai’s outer, fringe aspects of the setting - and, in Pheres’s case, “by trying your best to break yourself to fit into the mold it has given you”. Which plays, in part, to ID and Riccin, who we will dig into this for.

ID and Riccin have a similar answer to the question! they both caste-fake, although in different ways, because they found being identified as a yellowblood to be fucking intolerable. ID goes the hemoanonymous route, and decks himself out in pinks and reds. Riccin goes full caste-faking, and dresses up in facepaint and indigo - but even as a child, they wore their friends’ teals and blues.

These ideas were built in first, and then Hanhai ended up shaped around them in a lot of ways. Riccin is a yellowblood who portrays themself as indigo: the Navigressors were born as an explanation on how this is legal, and why they can get away with it, and a lot of the extended religious worldbuilding from figuring out how others respond to it. Because if even if something’s legal, it doesn’t mean that it’s accepted.

The approach to ID was essentially the same! Both of these fuckers started off as antagonists, so using them more often meant digging further into the characters, and the world-building as a result:

Why are they wearing different colours?

Neither ID or Riccin want to be seen as yellow! Hanhai enforces the hemospectrum less than some areas of the planet, but more strictly, in some ways, than their immediate district neighbors - their coastal position means that helming is linked explicitly to helming, both historically and now, and that fact is a sharp contrast to the region’s very old, very violet and seafaring history, which features enough in ruins, in the language, in everything that it’s impossible to ignore.

Why do they choose that colour?

First answer: Riccin chooses to wear indigo, because it’s high status.

Second answer: Riccin is able to wear indigo, because they were raised in the Mirthful religion. [How?] The Mirthful religion usually only accepts indigoes - so they were raised in a smaller denomination, which accepts lowbloods. [How?] This smaller denomination manages to survive, because it’s endorsed by the local government. [Why?] The religion’s endorsed by the local government, because it’s the carrot in comparison to society’s stick: come to us, join this cult, and be told about how your purpose as a helm is a gift for which you should be grateful for, not fearful of.

But why does ID wear pink?

First answer: ID wears pink, because it’s associated with fuchsias, and he wants to emulate that as much as he can. [Why does he get away with it?] Because he was raised in the same group as Riccin. [But why not indigo?] He doesn’t like the metaphorical carrot: he doesn’t want to be grateful for being helmed, he wants to be entirely free of being helmed. Riccin is the ideal navigressor, in that they aren’t afraid to embrace their role - ID is the worst navigressor, in that he wants to overcome his role.

.. all of which defined the characters a lot, but it also defined Hanhai through them! Why do the lowbloods live primarily in the desert? Society pushes them there. Why does society push them there? Because, on the surface, they want the better, safer territories preserved for the higher bloods - and below that surface, they want lowbloods to feel stigmatised, to want the better environment and safer territories.

And when lowbloods want those safer territories, their primary means through grabbing it is by willingly giving themselves over to the local government and the Empire on the whole - join the local mirthful sect, and embrace your future, and your role as a tool made for the use of the Empire.

Which gave the entire tone for Temasek, the capitol of Hanhai, and for the rest of the district - the question on which the worldbuilding is shaped is “what do you do when society wants to subjugate you?”, but the tone of the area is “how does society present the carrot and the stick, and which option will leave you better off?”.

(The answer is, ftr, neither. Welcome to Alternia!)

[recentanimenews]

Fans Give Their Hot Takes On The Anime Awards

More important than the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Havelock, North Carolina Chili Cookoff combined is the Anime Awards. It's that wonderful time when we can look over the past year of anime and bestow honors upon the ones that most touched our hearts. And with them looming ever closer, we asked some of y'all to give us your hot takes on who YOU think should take the trophy in some of the categories. And you didn't disappoint. Your answers ranged from surprising to thoughtful to inspired, so we decided to collect the twelve best of them and post them here for the rest of the internet to love and appreciate and then, as the internet does, nitpick into oblivion. 

  I'm gonna go down category by category, and what better category to start with than the big one: Best Anime.

  BEST ANIME

  "Yorimoi for AOTY" by Cameron (A Place Farther Than The Universe)

  A Place Further Than The Universe was the best anime of the year. It was the best anime by far and no other show came even close. There were plenty of other shows I loved this year like Laid-back Camp and Revue Starlight but none of those shows compare to the good good Antarctica girls. The show teaches amazing lessons and made me cry many times. The email scene at the end of episode 12 made me cry for hours and I still tear up every time I think about it. It's just genuinely one of the best shows I've ever seen. This is my new go-to recommendation for people who want to get into anime. Their adventure is so inspiring and it deserves anime of the year. 

  "Devilman: Crybaby" by Manic Stylo (Devilman Crybaby)

  It's been almost universally accepted by both formalist and populist anime fans that Devilman Crybaby has the qualities of an instant classic. From its unique visual direction, infectious soundtrack, and unrelenting use of adult content, Devilman Crybaby breathes new life into Go Nagai's classic manga and beautifully streamlines it for a contemporary audience. Remaining mostly faithful to its source material, director Masaaki Yuasa's sensibility for abstract and avant-garde visuals makes for a delightfully nightmarish fever-dream adaptation of Nagai's original concept (it's a match made in heaven...or hell in this case). As far as adult anime go, Crybaby is consistently balanced fare with uncompromisingly violent action for anyone who just wants a fun romp, solid thematic undertones for those who want more bite out of their shows, and tastefully implemented real-world commentary if you want more than just escapism. A hyper-stylized modern gothic masterpiece, whether it worked for you or not, Devilman Crybaby will not leave your subconscious any time soon.

  "Zombies But Still Alive" by Jouii-chan (ZOMBIE LAND SAGA)

    2018 has been quite the year for anime. It's my first year that I've been watching and keeping up with seasonal anime with Crunchyroll! But one show stood out to me, and that show was Zombie Land Saga. For the first few episodes, I was pretty doubtful about the series. I mean, an idol anime with zombie girls? That was just plain crazy!

  But as the show went on, I realized Zombie Land Saga was more than some silly comedy show. It was beauty. All the characters had great chemistry, and the music was great. It got me addicted to it with it's great music too. The best part of the show was how it showed the indomitable human spirit and how even through the toughest of storms, anyone can prevail. Sakura provided a great lead with her past sucking her of all her confidence, yet she overcomes this to lead Franchouchou to a great future. Zombie Land Saga was one of the surprises of 2018, and I was always hyped to watch the new episodes when they came out.

  "Violet Evergarden: An Anime for a Lifetime" by James (Violet Evergarden)

  Violet Evergarden is an anime that grabs your heart. The loss of a father, mother, daughter, son- the fears of rejection, regret, and failure- Violet Evergarden reaches inside you, and pulls tight on these strings. It's not just a post-war story; Violet Evergarden is a somber filled tale that elicits a strong sense of empathy from the audience. Beautifully rendered and well-paced, the story features a subtle escalation in heart ache and healing. Each episode takes the time to fully immerse the audience in a complex micro-story filled with very human lives. This anime understands the importance of a well developed character, and spends it's time wisely weaving this incredibly vibrant, living world. Story aside, the animation and artwork are absolutely stunning. When paired, the audio and visual cues truly bring the world of Violet Evergarden to life. From start to finish, there is no other animation that delivers a more compelling sense of catharsis and satisfaction, and that is why I believe Violet Evergarden deserves to be Anime of the Year.

    Best Boy

    "I Would Lay Down My Life For Toono Hiyori" by Nija (Free! -Dive to the Future-)

  200 words definitely aren't enough to properly convey my intense love and appreciation for my everything, the light of my life, the absolute blessing that is Toono Hiyori from Free! but I'M STILL GONNA TRY because he deserves everything. Starting out as a fun antagonist, turning into a slightly confusing antagonist, and then ep. 6 hits you with that ABSOLUTE GUT-PUNCH and I weep for him always. He did some things wrong (though I understand why he did them and wouldn't say I necessarily disagree tbh) but in the end he's just a lonely boy giving everything for the person he cares about the most without ever asking anything in return. Less important but still Important things include: he's a jerk sometimes and I love it. His frenemyship with Asahi? The funniest thing. He can and will ruin your life with a smile, he loves reading and coffee and has a really good fashion sense, he's very organised and on top of things, even if he's a social mess lbr... And if he likes you, he'll probably kill for you. All in all he's just the best and you, person who's reading this entry, should know that too. Bless his soul.

  "Katsuki Bakugo, A Living, Breathing Explosion" by Mimi Valentine (My Hero Academia)

  Katsuki Bakugo is easily one of the most dynamic characters of the year. Starting with his complicated relationship with Izuku, his hidden jealousy for a boy with no quirk, to outright anger at him suddenly having a quirk, to the rejecting the trope of "rival becomes evil for greater power," to confessing his feelings of inferiority towards Izuku, and the intense self blame for what happened to All Might. Katsuki has always shown that he has this heart, from treating Uraraka as his equal in the torunament, to fully acknowledging Izuku's growth ans strength. Seeing his slow dismantle from just a typical bully to a hidden broken boy only to show you that under all that anger, he's truly just a boy who wants to be a hero.

  "Why Rimuru Tempest is the bestest boy of not just this year, but of all time" by Kat (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)

  There were a lot of good boys this year, but who was the goodest? The undoubtedly most delicious smudge-muffin in existence?

My answer is Rimuru Tempest and here's why:

He is the kindest ball of squidge you could ever meet. He would stop and help anyone in need at the drop of a hat. In his previous life he DIED saving his kohai from an attacker and he would do it again.

He is adorable. How could you take one look at his face (or lack there of) and not fall in love instantly with this soft boy? Not only is he soft in his ball form but once he grants the wish of a dear friend, he becomes the ultimate soft boy. One you could probably hug endlessly and both of you would still be comfortable.

He is the definition of epic. One of the first things he does with his new life is befriend and EAT a dragon. He ate him, whole. Then he proceeded to eat everything else in the cave. If you hurt one of friends he'll eat you too! Not before he beats you in a hilariously and awesomely one sided combat sequence though.

  BEST FIGHT SCENE

  "SSSS. Gridman's True Final Battle" by Donovan Bertch (SSSS. Gridman)

  The greatest part about SSSS.Gridman's final battle wasn't the sheer amount of quality animation and editing on display. It wasn't the satisfaction of seeing Gridman finally return to his original form, theme songs blaring, as he finally decked the villainous Alexis Kerib in his smug face. It wasn't even finding out what the hell SSSS actually meant in the end. All of those were wonderful moments that made the fight shine, to be sure. However, the greatest part was that when all was said and done, the fight wasn't Gridman vs. Alexis Kerib. It was the show's antagonist, Akane Shinjo, vs. Herself. Her sins, her insecurities, her self-hatred...it took a lot of effort, and it wasn't a total victory (given that Akane's final scene with Rikka shows her still processing her guilt), but few things are that simple. Even when the heroes came to encourage her, it was Akane who made the final choice that led to Kerib's downfall. Gridman may have landed the final strike and had the big speech about human potential, but Akane Shinjo defeated Alexis Kerib and saved her world. The action-packed duel was just icing on the cake.

  BEST VA PERFORMANCE (EN)

  "My Hero Academia, Episode 61: Bakugo's Breakdown (Clifford Chapin)" by Masky (My Hero Academia)

    In one of the most emotionally stirring episodes of the entire series, we finally see all of Bakugo's pent-up anger come to a boil in this what could be considered a huge turning point for his character development. As a character who is known for his angry outbursts, this episode let us have some insight into Bakugo's inferiority complex and really reminded us just how young and emotionally immature these upcoming heroes are, and yet how much responsibility is weighing on their shoulders. With such an important milestone for a character like Bakugo, the voice acting in this episode was critical. Clifford Chapin gave an extremely raw and powerful performance that truly echoed Bakugo's pain; a performance that exceeded expectations of even those who don't normally give dubs a try. It was real, emotionally-charged, and could be considered a landmark for just how far english dubs have come.

  "Clifford Chapin (Katsuki Bakugo)" by Katherine (My Hero Academia)

    My Hero Academia fans sure are spoiled with a fantastic same-day English simuldub in addition to everything we already love about the series! With great casting overall by ADR Director Colleen Clinkenbeard, Chapin's take on Bakugo is one of the highlights. He's consistently been such a natural fit for the role that I can't imagine anyone else voicing him, and always seems to give 110%. Season 3 has been no exception with some key moments to really shine, including a fan-favorite emotional confrontation. His vocal cords would probably disagree, but I'm definitely glad he's a part of one of my favorite anime from 2018.

  BEST OPENING SEQUENCE

  "Fighting Gold - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" by Loon (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind)

    "Fighting Gold" is an intro I was honestly excited for long before it was even announce. I may be slightly biased as a manga fan and long time Jojo fan but in all honesty "Fighting Gold" is really a masterpiece in my opinion. It highlights the series so well with plenty of hidden spoilers as most Jojo intros have had before it telling the story perfectly if you break it down. It is an intro I will honestly never try to skip to get to the anime itself faster.

  BEST DIRECTOR

  "Akira Amemiya - SSSS.Gridman" BY Katherine (SSSS. Gridman)

    I would not be surprised to see SSSS.Gridman represented in quite a few categories this year, but its direction is where the show truly shines as one of the best of 2018. Akira Amemiya and Studio Trigger juxtapose the understated, day-to-day activities of our heroes with glorious, city-destroying kaiju battles without ever being jarring. However, that doesn't mean the former is only viewed though a mundane lens while the latter are just beautiful hype machines. Character moments have just as much flair as any fight with dynamic framing, art, and sound design, while tokusatsu battles are given so much attention to detail with how the kaiju move to pay homage to the live-action shows the team grew up with. Amemiya has a confident sense of visual language, and it shows every episode. SSSS.Gridman is subtle when it needs to be and bombastic when it wants to be, which is not an easy task to pull off.

---

  And there you have it, the diverse tastes of anime fans and people that praise the holy name of Bakugo. But even if you didn't find your submission on here, thank you for taking part in this and double thank you for supporting Crunchyroll over the past year. We do our best to give you the greatest anime collection in the universe, so we appreciate y'all taking the time to give us your thoughts in return.

  Remember, if you haven't voted in The Anime Awards, there's still time! And if you have, we look forward to sharing the winners with you on February 16th, when the Awards are streamed live on Twitch. 

    By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[thellamalair]

Hi, thanks for sharing your reading of that "what you really are" quote. Can I ask though, what do you think Mary means Sherlock and John could _become_ more specifically? She seems to imply it's something they a) aren't already and b) could not be while she was around. And as you said, we already know they help people & save lives and they know that too (wedding speech) - also within the show they're already famous (press conferences, everyone recognises them) for that,not for their brokenness.

Hi Anon! Thanks for the ask, sorry it took a bit for me to answer, I had think about it for a couple of hours.

I need to start this by saying that I’m not happy about Mary’s redemption arc, but that being said, it is what we got (unless we get more evidence) so I’m going to have to look at it from the perspective of darling Mary, reformed ex-assassin that genuinely cares about both John and Sherlock.

So I’m going to have to go back to the quote for this:

“I know you two. And if I’m gone, I know what you could become, because I know who you really are. A junkie who solves crimes to get high and a doctor who never came home from the war […]“

So this could be read a couple of different ways. I’m gonna start with the one that seems likely to her character as presented to us by TPTB. 

I think that Mary is extremely self-aware. If you take them at their word, that the dynamic trio are really what they show they are, then Mary knows that she comes between them. She’s tried before the wedding to make them see that they could still do what they love even with her in the picture, but things get in the way, her shooting Sherlock, Sherlock shooting Magnussen, the exile, THE BABY, AJ, and she must realize how much of a stress agent she became in their relationship, even though they’ve apparently made their peace with everything and found some semblance of peace [if you ask me, had she not died, they’d have gotten divorced anyway, because I think John had reached his boiling point after Morocco, and that’s not my johnlocker heart speaking, I promise]

So, going by hairstyle and lack of any signs of pregnancy, I think we can assume that she recorded the videos either before she left John to go take the target off their backs[which seems likely, as insurance in case something happened to her before returning] or after they got back from Morocco, which tbh I don’t think she had the time.

The first idea I had was that if she died, John would be less family oriented [which tbh I didn’t see anyway in TST, they both seemed to pass Rosie off on each other or other people pretty often so it doesn’t really seem that it kept John from cases all that often], but had she died less…ehu, melodramatically, John’s responsibility towards Rosie would have increased drastically,  so he’d have to cut down on time with Sherlock too manage his shit, and that would make him stir-crazy for a few years, so it could be taken as a reminder that they need each other, to make time for each other. Though now that I’ve written it it doesn’t make that much sense. So. Next one.

I think the DVDs were filmed to be sent off in case her death would come about in sort of the same circumstances (and I’ve seen people complaining about the DVDs existing at all, but do you really think that if she was an ex-assassin she wouldn’t have a network of contacts that could deliver a couple of DVDs in case the worst happened?). By that point, her past had come knocking on her door twice, so she would have had to think about a way to do damage control because you can’t outrun your past forever. And if it hadn’t been her past, with the lives they led as Sherlock’s friends, one could think that it might be possible that any of them could die at any point. She might even have thought about John’s reaction, and how he’d shift the blame on Sherlock because yes…Sherlock’s a show off, and he did make a vow he failed to fulfill [god, could they foreshadow it more aggressively in TST? if we took a shot every time Sherlock said he’ll keep her safe….], she could reasonably predict they’d have a falling out. 

Writing this, it occurs to me that Sherlock might have turned to drugs anyway even without her explicit instructions because of the guilt, and her DVD to Sherlock, in addition to helping him and guiding him in saving John, might have also been her way of micro-managing the way he went about his self-destruction, potentially stopping him from spiraling out of control by giving him a goal to strive for, but I’m going to have to think about this a bit more [yes I know fandom wants to believe that Mary had it out for Sherlock and turned him towards drugs with malicious intent, but until we are told otherwise, I’m taking their Mary at face value]. 

So in this sense, I think what Mary could be saying with “I know what you could become” [especially considering that it is immediately followed by “a junkie who solves cases to get high and a doctor who never returned from the war”] is that she knows that both of them could go off the deep end, and might end up as the darkest version of themselves because they don’t have each other to fall back on and balance each other out. And it remains a reminder that they need each other. She reminds them that they have to possibility to be great together, to make each other the best possible version of themselves, to channel the grief and anger and resentment in the adventures, and saving people [hunting things, the family business].

As for the they know they save people and they’re famous… You have to remember, while John forgave Sherlock, at that point I don’t think he fully trusted him anymore [just saying that he was a bit more cautious, more hardened]. Not after knowing he’d fake his suicide and not after seeing him relapse. And Sherlock doesn’t trust himself either. He miscalculates with John’s feelings, Magnussen, with Norbury, with Culverton [he wasn’t expecting to be choked] and then all the fuckery that happened in TFP [which btw, I completely loved for all the character development]. Plus Sherlock doesn’t count on John anymore for a while there. He doesn’t think he deserves forgiveness, and he doesn’t know if he will receive it. He’s a bit of a mess. For all that they’re famous they are also infamous. Sherlock sky-rocketed to fame via John’s blog but his image was also tarnished and dragged through the mud. And although we don’t see it, John quite possibly was dragged along with him for a while. And then he dramatically come back to life. Plus the public’s image of him is of the cold sociopath, so mostly a last resort when people couldn’t find suitable help elsewhere.

So potentially she could have guessed that her death would create even more of a rift between them. It’s not so much about what they weren’t already, or what they couldn’t be with her alive, it’s more about the possibility of what they would be on their own, and how self-destructive they could become. And she probably wants to stop that from happening so she sends John a reminder of who they SHOULD be, who they’re meant to be and what their purpose is, after what I assume, she deems a suitable mourning period. Because she can’t predict what they go through in TFP.

It’s intended as I said… a reminder of who they should be. What their collective purpose is. What will make them whole. Appeals to John’s instinct to protect and Sherlock’s desire for justice. 

But by the time it gets to John, it’s more a cementer of their dynamic. By that time, John has seen how far Sherlock would really go to save him from himself, and he witnesses Sherlock’s personal growth, and receives an insight into his psyche with everything they go through. And Sherlock gets to finally become the person he’s meant to, with John right by his side. They’ve already rebuilt their bridges, and become stronger in their bonds and re-established their trust in each other. So when it comes, her message cements who they are going to be going forward. And it’s a blessing to move on. 

So that’s about it for my interpretation of it. I might think of other possibilities but I think that if you want to discuss those you can DM me. 

So in a way, I guess it could also be read as a blessing to be a couple. I don’t think she meant it as a romantic couple but anyone could read it however they want, this is just my take on it.

Sorry for the use of [] instead of parentheses but it’s a long thing to write and I’m just too lazy to hit shift 0 every time I have a comment.