#and the audience can compare and contrast with 'the past'

[matenr0u]

Oblivion, the Riku Keyblade: Translation

Oblivion/Bygone Memories

過ぎ去りし思い出Sugisarishi Omoide

Here’s my entry point for a bit of a deep dive into the ‘Riku Keyblade’. I have a few points jotted down about Oblivion, since it’s one of my favourite keyblades, but I’ll start with the name of it.

First it’s important to establish that despite being the Riku Keyblade, it’s actually symbolic of not just Riku alone but specifically Sora’s relationship with him. As the series progresses it gains a level of importance to other characters too, but being a Sora enjoyer I tend to regard Roxas and Xion like two little hamsters that escaped their pen and need to be stuffed back in, so I’m not sure if I’ll overly talk about them.

On to the name: I like the sound of the already established translation, ‘Passing Memories’, but I find ‘Passing’ is a word much too vague compared to ‘Bygone Memories’, so as a personal preference I’ll refer to it with my own interpretation unless someone more fluent in Japanese demonstrates another name that rolls more easily off the tongue.

Anyway, let’s get into the meat of this thing and how I reached this conclusion.

EN: Oblivion

JP: 過ぎ去りし思い出Sugisarishi Omoide

過ぎ去りし = Sugisarishi = Bygone/Long ago/Departed

思い出 = Omoide = Memory/Memories 

過ぎ = Too much/Passed/Past

去りし = Gone

Bygone Memories

Generally you can think of the meaning like, ‘a keyblade representing our shared memories of the distant past.’

Another interpretation more specific to the breakdown of their relationship could be, ‘our fond memories which have been left by the wayside.’

An example of how this phrase is typically used: 

過ぎ去りし日の思い出 

Memories of bygone days

I wonder if the keyblade’s name is a contraction of this phrase.

I don’t get the feeling that 過ぎ去りし思い出/Sugisarishi Omoide implies literally confused/forgotten memories as much as the EN name Oblivion does; moreso a nostalgic, or melancholy, reflection on good times between two people which occurred long ago.

I think both the EN and JP names can be interpreted to suit Sora and Riku’s connection to this Keyblade well, but there’s some nuance I’d like to get into.

忘却 Bokyaku is the term used in the JP name for Castle Oblivion — 忘却の城/Bokyaku no Shiro (Castle of Oblivion) — this word translates much more literally to Oblivion, a state of confusion or having forgot, than 過ぎ去りし/Sugisarishi, which is more like ‘long since passed/departed’. 

For this reason I get the idea that the keyblade was named Oblivion in EN because it sounds badass, still gets the point across, and goes well with Oathkeeper (which also has some liberties taken in the translation, presumably because that too sounds cooler to a western audience*).

There is a similar example within Kingdom Hearts’ usage of the word ‘memories’, too. In contrast to 記憶/kioku which is used for Memory’s Skyscraper — and sounds closer to, plainly, ‘one’s own memory/recollection’ —, the term 思い出/omoide usually denotes a memory or memories shared between people. It has a much more reminiscent tone of fond memories (or, perhaps, a particular memory?) shared with another, which fits well with the purpose of this keyblade and adds a bit of nuance that the EN name Oblivion lacks.

*You can also see this reflected in KHIII Oblivion’s default shotlock, named ‘Bladefury Eclipse’ in EN and ドーンエクリプス/Dawn Eclipse in JP. The JP name is much more meaningful to Sora and Riku and it’s a shame this was cast aside for cool points. ‘Dawn’ is written right there in kana, why didn’t they use it?

Meanwhile the shotlock ステラインセプション/Stellar Inception — which is shared with its sister keyblade Oathkeeper — remains identical in EN and JP.

I have Thoughts about the item required to obtain Oblivion in KHIII, known as Proof of Times Past in EN, but for now I’ll offer a simple translation.

EN: Proof of Times Past

JP: 過ぎ去りし証 Sugisarishi Akashi

Certificate of the Bygone

Or, ‘Evidence of Long Ago’

This one checks out, but some EN players seem confused about this certificate being called Times Past while the keyblade is called Oblivion. Hopefully my translation notes on the JP name shed some light on it.

And the item description:

EN: “A certificate awarded to those who have endured the most difficult trial of them all.”

JP: 「険しい戦いを制した者に贈られる証」

`Kewashii tatakai o seishita mono ni okurareru akashi'

“A certificate awarded to those who have overcome an insurmountable battle.”

Not much to add here either, but as a game dev myself I really enjoy the tiny gameplay detail of Sora literally being rewarded with Bygone Memories for pushing through ‘an extremely difficult conflict’— if you’re familiar with other Sora & Riku centric KH analyses, you can probably see where I’m going with this, so I’ll save that tangent for another day.

That about wraps up this part.

A final note for those who subscribe to the necklace theory: Bygone Memory — as in, a singular fond memory shared between two people long ago that may have since been cast aside, is an equally valid translation of the JP name.

This is just a fun little rant into the void, if I missed anything or made any mistakes, feel free to add on to it.

[epickiya722]

Can, I ask, why do you think Yuuji is one of the character that is so underated in JJK? He is the mc, but many people (in fandom) treat him like a side character? At first, I don't think so, but I love many shounen, and somehow Yuuji is one of the mc that is underated in their own story....

Sorry if I'm wrong, just I love Yuuji and want him to get the spotlight he deserve....

I wouldn't say you're wrong, Anon! In fact, I would say he is an underrated character. Yes, fairly popular, but when it comes to how the fandom treats him compared to characters like Gojo, Yuji is Underrated.

I feel exactly how you feel about Yuji. To me, he is the best JJK character. Oh, yeah, I'm being bias, whatever, but it's how I feel.

My guess as to why the fandom treats him like a side character because Yuji isn't like how most older gen MCs are written, let alone the others of the cast.

Let's be real, when the mid-late 2010s rolled around, how fandoms started to treat the new age MCs is opposite of their treatment of other MCs. It's because they're a different formula and honestly, I feel like folks who bash on Yuji and others like Tanjiro and Izuku, just don't want to try something different.

They're used to the MCs who speedruns their training and powerups and suffer little to no drawbacks, "trauma, what trauma" and want to be the best because they got an ego and pride they don't want hurt.

Today's MCs? Pain, not afraid to show a range of emotions, training? Oh, they get the hang of it but still a lot to learn and watch out! They have the scars to prove that they almost lost an arm!

Now focusing on Yuji, as I said he's not like other JJK characters.

He's not overpowered, but he's not weak either. He's a bit of a goof and he's says he's an idiot, but he actually isn't all dumb he makes himself out to be. He's not flashy, but he has amazing moments where he gets to show off.

He has a goal to get strong, not being he wants to be the top or anything. He just wants to help people.

He has a sad backstory, but it's only until later we realize how messed up it is and even still we don't have his reaction to realizing those messed up bits. Yuji was raised by his grandfather and he states he is a loner. But unlike how we see with most characters, Yuji is relatively fine with that. He brushes off knowing about his parents, unlike most MCs who would literally beg for answers. He's a loner, but he's not a loser. Note how people around him in his hometown treats him. They gave him a nickname to reflect his impressive physical prowess that amazes them and yet, he doesn't care for the popularity.

Yuji has this balance to him where he's both spontaneous but also pretty chill. A lot of the cast outshines Yuji because they are more showy than Yuji, even calm characters.

Unlike Gojo and even Yuta, Yuji is literally what you call the audience surrogate. Through him, we learn about the Jujutsu world while experiencing (growth).

From the start of their stories (referring to JJK 0 and Gojo's Past Arc), both Gojo and Yuta are established as powerful sorcerers from the start. Yuta may have had inexperienced but he was still recognized as a powerful kid. Both are born lucky with having such powers. The most Yuta and Gojo really develop and change is their personalities and attitudes towards certain ideas. That's it. They don't even have to do anything and immediately their auras show who they are.

In contrast to Yuji, how is he recognized?

As just Sukuna's vessel. Most of the time, he is literally called that. When he's recognized by his strength and abilities it's when he actively has to fight. Then it's like "oh, so he does have capabilities". Yuji actually has to show he can be just as capable as the others because when people first look at him it's "Sukuna's vessel" or back in Sendai it's "Tiger of West Middle".

It's not "Yuji".

Hell, he'll even be compared to Maki. It's not "Maki's like Yuji". No, it's "Yuji is like Maki". Megumi is the first character to do this. Maki is unique enough that if someone, in this case Yuji, displays a similarity to her, she is the template.

However, for Yuji, while he's unique it's almost like it's not enough to be acknowledged until he has to show them. Like, he has to prove something when he actually doesn't care to do that. Yuji doesn't care to get stronger than the next person, especially at this point. If anything, he seems to be the only one from the very start recognize that none of this is a test of strength when people are dying. Note how he acts during a fight. Every major to majorly minor character has displayed some sort of enjoyment out of a fight or fights to show they're not weak.

Not a single time has Yuji ever even smiled. Look back at all the fights and you will see that he hasn't done such a thing. He fights not because it's a game. He fights because he has to and only that.

And it's not like it gets better for him because he later identifies himself as "a cog". It's like Yuji never really had his own identity.

He's the odd one out.

It's how I think some of the fandom sees him. Without an identity, without recognizable traits. Hell, go on any post that praises Yuji and Yuji alone and there's gonna be a hater to bring up another character.

To some, I feel like Yuji only exists to them to hate on. Only a tool to bring in their praising of other characters to put him down as if that's all he's worthy of. It's a damn shame, too, that people actually feel the need to bring down a character to build their faves. Oh, feel like your fave can't stand on their own and show their greatness?

[romchat]

Visual Analysis of the Slow Burn: My Journey to You, Story of Kunning Palace

How do you film a slow-burn romance?

One of the challenges of filming slow-burn romances is that creators have to figure out how to slowly build tension and intimacy between two characters without testing the audience's patience. We have to feel a couple’s chemistry and growing feelings for one another even if it takes a long time for them to get together. 

And here's where cinematography and visual parallelism can be a helpful tool. Visual parallelism is when we link two or more characters, events, storylines, etc. through a shared image. When we see repeated imagery, our brains connect those moments and give them more meaning than if we had looked at them in isolation. Because of this, visual parallelism can help complicate our understanding of characters and the world around them without having to spell out those nuances in the script.

In slow-burn romances, visual parallelism can be used to:

Connect characters who, on the surface, appear incompatible or unattracted to one another;

Signal major moments of change in a show's romantic storyline;

Compare and contrast a new relationship with a character’s past relationships;

And much more!

I think two dramas that use this technique in interesting ways are My Journey to You and Story of Kunning Palace.

My Journey to You

Before we jump into that scene, let’s talk about some of the visual techniques My Journey to You (MJTY) uses to establish the enemies-to-lovers relationship of its secondary couple, Gong Shangjue and Shangguan Qian. 

Something I immediately noticed about MJTY is that the show loves using certain camera angles and blocking patterns (or how actors are positioned in relation to one another) to define characters’ personalities and their relationships. This repeated imagery is an example of visual parallelism, and in the case of Shangjue and Qian, the show then uses breaks in that parallelism to communicate the subtle changes in their relationship over time. Through this technique, we see their growing feelings for each other even if we don’t hear the characters express those feelings with words. 

For example, at the beginning of the show, Shangjue is usually shot from a low angle while Qian is usually shot from a high angle, and the repetition of that camera language reflects the characters' constant game of cat and mouse.

In cinematography, low-angle and high-angle shots are often paired to visually enhance the power imbalance between characters. Low-angle shots make the subject look more powerful and threatening while high-angle shots make the subject look weaker and more vulnerable.

Qian, who is an assassin, has infiltrated Shangjue’s clan, and he is immediately suspicious of her identity and allegiances. He is cold and intimidating towards her, and she does everything in her power not to get caught. But because she is particularly good at reading and manipulating him, Shangjue soon finds himself intrigued by her. He might be filmed looming over her like he has more power in the situation, but her weakness is an act. We know this because we can see how Qian isn’t filmed with such high angles when interacting with characters who know her true identity and nature like Yun Weishan or Gong Yuanzhi.��She is pretending to be subservient and delicate to seduce Shangjue specifically.

Side Note: One of my FAVORITE moments in MJTY is Shangjue and Qian’s “do you still think I’m gentle?” scene in Episode 12. Not only is the writing and acting electric, but the camera’s subtle shift in angles pinpoints the moment Shangjue begins to feel sexually attracted to Qian. When she gently blows on his fingers, the camera quickly pans to an eye-level shot and we see Shangjue clench his jaw. After that, the camera uses less extreme angles to film his conversation with her—his moment of desire and her strategic thinking equalized their power imbalance.

Which brings us to the famous bath scene in Episode 17. 

Whenever they share a scene, Shangjue is usually positioned at a higher level and facing forward in a thronal position while Qian is at his side, looking up at him obsequiously. The lack of visual alignment in their actor blocking represents how the characters can’t be completely vulnerable or honest with each other while the dominant/submissive pose plays up the sexual tension of their interactions.

So we know that the bath scene represents a critical turning point in their relationship because of the break in parallelism: 

Not only are they sitting at the same level while facing each other, the camera is set at a much more neutral over-the-shoulder and eye-level angle. Over-the-shoulder and eye-level shots are often used to bring intimacy to a scene and that camera language reinforces the actors’ relaxed physical acting and flirtatious dialogue. The two characters are sharing a moment of honest pleasure and have temporarily let their guards down, which is why Qian decides to take the opportunity to share her true intentions for wanting to marry into his family. It’s probably the most truthful and revealing conversation she has had with Shangjue up until this point and creates complications for each others' plans.

One of the lingering questions many MJTY viewers have about Shangjue and Qian’s relationship is whether or not Qian developed real feelings for him in the end. While the script could have done a better job of developing her character’s arc at the textual level, I think the show’s thoughtful use of visual parallelism gives us the answer. 

Not only does their final scene together subvert the camera language and actor blocking we talked about, but it also parallels an earlier scene where we can be reasonably sure of Qian’s honesty: the torture scene. And it’s the juxtaposition of what is shown versus what is said that gives us what I’d consider a satisfyingly bittersweet conclusion to their love story.

Story of Kunning Palace

Unlike MJTY, which uses visual parallelism to show changes in the secondary couple’s relationship, Story of Kunning Palace (SOKP) uses this technique to represent the undeniable compatibility of its main couple, Jiang Xuening and Xie Wei. 

Given the popularity of the show's second and third male leads, many viewers have expressed confusion as to if and when Xie Wei truly emerges as the rightful male lead. Even as a slow-burn romance, SOKP is slow slow. 

And yet when we take a step back and look at the show’s visual storytelling, particularly its use of symbolism and parallelism, we not only see why these two characters complement each other but how they find healing in their (admittedly messy and toxic) love. At its core, SOKP is a story about two traumatized and self-loathing people finding "the one" who still sees them as worthy despite all their flaws. Ning-er and Xie Wei are like two jagged pieces of a broken mirror reflecting one another’s sins and virtues, and the show constantly reminds us of that deep connection with how it juxtaposes the two characters on screen. (Just look at that split screen above--they literally complete each other.) 

We see this connection from the moment Ning-er and Xie Wei are introduced in Episode 1:

The composition and camera movement directly mirror each other. 

When we see parallelism in the portrayal of two characters, we should stop and think about the similarities and differences between them. Both Ning-er and Xie Wei share the trauma of having grown up alienated from their birth families, and the pain of what they experienced drives their ruthless desire for revenge and power. During the show’s first timeline, Ning-er violates her innate sense of goodness while Xie Wei hides his true self.

Side Note: SOKP also reminds us of this connection with its consistent use of a fire motif. Throughout the show, we often see Ning-er and Xie Wei surrounded by candles, furnaces, fires, etc., and this symbolism comes to a head in Episode 34 when Xie Wei desperately argues that they belong together because they've both been forged by the fire of their upbringing.

And yet at the same time, as noted by several characters, they are both incredibly loyal people, sacrificing themselves to change the fate of the people they care for.

Both Ning-er and Xie Wei overlook these redeeming qualities about themselves, but they “see” them in the other, which the show demonstrates through the visual parallelism of their gazes.

In Episode 14, Ning-er asks Xie Wei: 

Jiang Xuening: Between my past self and present self, who do you think is better? Xie Wei: Be it the past or the present, it is all you. You're the one and only Miss Ning'er. Besides, the present exists because of the past. Just face it as is. But if we have to make it clear, I think if the present Ning'er knows what she wants, she will be well. And she'll be even better in the future.

In a previous analysis of Episode 14, I've noted how "Ning-er's character arc isn't just about becoming a better person but also about recognizing that she has always had goodness in her and that goodness makes her life worth just as much as someone like Zhang Zhe....Despite being brash and cunning, Ning-er is also tenacious, brave, and even kind (all of which Xie Wei recognized when they first met years ago). She is an 'unrefined jade', someone who can choose a more righteous path than the one she started on. And he sees her. He truly sees her."

So across the show's multiple timelines, the camera will linger on Xie Wei's tender gaze toward Ning-er. In this case, the parallelism of such a distinctive shot communicates something that Ning-er doesn't realize: Xie Wei sees and loves sides of her that she is unable to accept about herself.

She eventually starts seeing him too. 

During the first timeline, Ning-er sees Xie Wei as a threat and warily engages him only out of desperation. But despite her fear, Ning-er also recognizes his true qualities enough that by the second timeline, she implicitly trusts him to help her carry out her own goals. She unlearns her assumptions about him and pushes him to find meaning in life beyond his self-destructive need for revenge.

So it's fitting then that during their private wedding, Ning-er and Xie Wei are shown gazing at each other, fully aware of and accepting of their true natures:

Jiang Xuening: “I’ve seen your light and your darkness, your vulnerability, and your madness. I know everything about you that is known or unknown to others. I might even say that I know you better than you do.”

They've fully entrusted themselves with one another.

[pixiecaps]

hm okay so these are all federation owned islands. the purgatory one USED to be something known as an egg island. however it has clearly changed. this explains why the federation cucurucho cinematic referred to it as a chill place that would be heaven and paradise.

the watcher refers to them being sent there as “they were so kind to send you this way.” clearly the they is the federation. which insinuates the federation/cucurucho had some established conversation with whoever runs this island to send them here. or at least that the watcher somehow KNEW they were being sent here. but here’s the one important thing the federation knew what they were doing to the islanders because elq knew. he was aware of where he was going when he took qq’s ticket, he knew. so the federation very purposefully sent them to this godawful place while they do “maintenance” to the dark matter.

i also am taking note of the religious imagery. cucurucho calling this new island heaven and then the watcher calling them sinners and saying egg island was to be a cute place that they would have loved and specifically “People LIKE YOU do not deserve a pleasant little break from the stresses of your previous island island. so I’VE taken the liberty of changing this place.” so outright stating it knew they were coming relocated AND THEN purposefully changed the calm nature of what this island was into a hellscape as a form of punishment for the islanders because it HATES them. for whatever reason it seems to have it feels like a very passionate form of hate. it called them VERMIN. it fully leads me to believe the watcher knows a lot of information about the islanders and their pasts. or has been fed some information to believe they deserve this cruelty.

the direct contrast of this island compared to their own really strikes me as interesting because obviously they’re imprisoned on quesadilla island but purgatory truly is PURGATORY. in the lore they’ve never had to worry about dehydration, food rotting, etc. all aspects of their lives that they took blissfully for granted. almost as if the federation WANTED them to realize how good they have it. or seem to have it compared to purgatory. and as a reminder purgatory is a place to cleanse your sins so in a way the federation sending the islanders there is a way for them to get them reformed. show them true punishment for all the rule breaking. and get them to a mental state where they’re more likely to obey when they return. to be happy.

this part of what the watcher said was interesting, “i’m sure you’re already hungering and dehydrating. good. whatever makes it harder for you to live.” so again literally stating the whole point of the trials and tribulations is to make them suffer MORE.

the element of a cursed team is the most interesting because that does directly impact the attempt of working together. someone has to lose. someone will lose. “What team is that? Can you figure that out? No.” this felt interesting to me because with the whole thought of a cursed team it seems like you could figure it out easily. i’d say the majority of the audience already has their guesses. but i was thinking about taking this sentence very LITERALLY. they can’t figure it out. because it’s not decided yet. it’ll be decided at the end. perhaps. maybe. who fucking knows. but obviously the threat of all their lives and the eggs is an interesting aspect because that means if theres one cursed team the other two won’t have that punishment if they lose. whichever of the three teams wins gets a “big prize” but the main focus is on this supposed cursed team. because if THEY lose then the eggs are all dead. the probability is very interesting to me. i really wonder why that team cursed specifically and how its chosen.

anyways that was interesting

[abrisaber]

Full Moon kinda sucked :/ (Another HB Rant - Spoilers for Full Moon)

I hate to say this but I think Vivziepop has finally lost me. Now I'm not saying I'm no longer an HB fan, JMI was geneticlly enginered to get me addicted to whatever he's in meaning I could'nt stop watching HB even if I tried. However I am starting to doubt Vivziepops talents. I have no idea what happened between the first half of Season 2 and the second half but this kind of seasonal rot has to be studied in a fucking lab.

I want to like the episodes after "The Circus," I really do. I don't even hate Cherubs, but aside from Oops and the Mid-Special, every episode following The Circus has ranged from disapointing to awful compared to S1.

It's not even like I hate the episodes after The Circus either. Seeing Stars was okay for the most part, Exes and Oohs tried to do something, even Unhappy Campers introduced a potentally intresting character (and thats it). But these episodes have so many glaring flaws in my book that it's hard to grasp.

In my opinion, Helluva Boss was at its best during the balk half of season 1/The beginning of Season 2 (Truth Seekers-The Circus) and the decline in writing quality started at around Seeing Stars.

I made a long post that explains what about Truth Seekers I like so if you care even a little bit about my opinions, you can suffer through that rant, but to shorten it here, Truth Seekers is my favorite episode of the series because it balances the comedy and the drama expertly imo. Truth Seekers feels like Helluva Boss had finally stuck the landing at what kind of show it wanted to be. It showcased how Blitzo felt about his past relationships and his current one, it gave Moxxie a chance to be heard outside of his flaws (before the show decided they wanted to retread the same fucking plotpoint a couple more times), and it was pretty funny (comedy is subjective tho so feel free to ignore my feelings on comedy from here on out).

Ozzies is a good episode because, well, Asmodeus, but also it does more for Blitzo's character. It contrasts with Truth Seekers via two of the three halucinations calling him out on his shit, and it starts to build upon how he views his relationship with Stolas.

While I don't really like The Circus, what it did at the end for Stolas and overall how it setup the relationship for him and Blitzo was genuinly good imo. How it started with Blitzo initiating the one sidedness of their relationship and whatnot.

Notice how I'm talking almost exclusively about Blitzo as my reasons for enjoying these episodes more than others. And thats because Helluva Boss is at its best when it treats Blitzo as its main character. Even from the beginning he was the real star. Obviously you have characters like Stolas and Moxxie also getting focous, but even in those episodes, Blitzo still gets development, because Blitzo is the main driving force for the show. He's the Helluva Boss. He's the center, the emotional core. HB should be about HIM and HIS relationships to others.

Some of the worst episodes are the ones where Blitzo isn't really the main focous, I'm not saying that Blitzo automaticlly makes the show good or that he should be the only one get focus, but when you pull back and look at the series, almost every beloved episode have him (or him and Stolas) at its emotional center.

To keep this already long post from being absurdly long, I'll skip ahead to why I really didnt like the newest episode, Full Moon.

SPOILERS AHEAD

First things first, the Cherubs and Dhorks fucking suck ass as antagonists. They're annoying, they're not funny, and just like Crimson and Striker in Oops, they serve zero narritve purpose outside of being glorified cardboard cutouts for the main characters to fight. They are everything wrong with B-plots in media. Their only existence is to create artifical narritve throughlines that makes artifical suspence to keep the audience engaged like babies watching those baby sensory videos. "Oooo look its the Cherubs from the most nothing burger episode of Season 1. Oooo it's the Dhorks that are easily the most forgetable aspect of Truth Seekers. OOOhhh isnt it sooooo fucking hilarous how the Dhorks killed a bunch of children? Ohhh aren't you so invested to see these characters that mean absolutely nothing to the plot that Vivziepop is trying to sell the show with? DONT YOU JUST LOVE THESE KEY JINGLING ASS CHARACTERS YOU FUCKING BABY-"

I got a little carries away there, but my point is that Dhorks and the Cherubs are worthless slop that should be removed from the plot entirely.

Usually I wouldn't even care since 2/3 instances where useless villans show up to be useless, the main plot not involving them is really good (Refering to Oops and Truth Seekers).

But the main-plot in this episode is just as bad, if not WORSE than the B-plot.

Regarding my previous rant again, I was an avid defender of Stolitz up until maybe Western Energy, although in that case with the aftermath of Ozzies being handled mostly offscreen is more me being skeptical about Vivs pacing and writibg style. I didn't have a problem with the actual idea of Stolitz yet, just with the execution.

In actuality, my problem with the writing started in The Full Moon.

Even with me being an avid defender of Stolitz, even with me analyizng and disecting Blitzo's mentality and reasonings and emotional trauma, even with me trying to justify BOTH sides of this toxic relationship with no real abuser,

THIS does NOT come off as Blitzo begging to keep Stolas in his life because he cares about him and wants to be with him. I'm sure theres some of that in there and I still have faith that Viv try to put more of that into the execution going forward. But no matter how many times I watch this ending scene and the scenes before it, no matter how long I sit and think and think and think about this dynamic, this scene does NOT feel that way to me.

To me, this scene looks like a lower class citizen begging on his knees to the person whos essentaily employing them to let him keep his job to be able to feed his family and keep his colluges/close friends in work.

This feels like a man whos society is stacked against him trying to keep the one thing he has afloat.

I don't feel this way towards the entire scene. When Blitzo tries to avoid the whole conversation by trying to keep the transaction going, thats when I see more of the emotional side, but it still doesn't sit right with me how the dynamic is being represented.

Stolas explains it pretty well in the moments after. He says "This transactional thing we have, its not right anymore. It hasn't been. It never was. And now, all I can see is how wrong it is to be teathered to someone in such an unfair way. And not know how they feel."

To me, this finally feels like Stolas coming to his senses and realizing that he and Blitzo's relationship is unbalanced. He sees that Blitzo's reliance on him is unfair, so he works to end it.

My problems start to arise again when Stolas reacts to Blitzo trying to play it off again as Roleplay.

I can understand his side of the coin, how he feels that Blitzo only wanted him for sex and nothing more, or how he believes that Blitzo doesnt really care for his feelings and only stays for the book, and when giving Blitzo the option, he chooses to ignore it.

But I still cannot get over how icky this scene makes me feel. Blitzo has made it clear how he thinks Stolas feels about their relationship. In the Just Look My Way music video it seems that Stolas somewhat realizes that Blitzo is hurting in some capacity. When Blitzo vents his frustraitions, Stolas says "I didn't know you thought so lowly of me" which doesnt make any fucking sense in response to what Blitzo is saying.

Again, its that image of a person mistreated by society begging someone who is privlaged to let him keep his job. I cant stomach this idea that Stolas got his fucking feelings hurt over someone he indirectly played with for his own pleasure and to escape his marrige venting their frustraitions about how THEY feel about it. HE HIMSELF admitted that the relationship was unfair, so when Blitzo says "You treat me poorly and expect me to believe when you suddenly express your feelings for me? Can I get a minute to actually process what you said," its litteraly just parroting what Stolas was saying.

Stolas knows how Blitzo feels. He knows Blitzo is hurting. And yeah past relationship trauma isnt an excuse to be shitty, but it's not like Stolas made it very obvious that he did actually care about Blitzo's emotions.

Up until this point the relationship has been one sided on both sides. Both parties think the other doesnt care or that the other is just using them for something. Both sides caught feelings and didnt want to admit it, and Stolas was the bigger person for trying to initiate that discussion. But with the ending line Stolas says and all the promotional matreal being released for the upcoming seasons, the show feels like its going to make Blitzo out to be the one in the wrong when he isnt. Blitzo did the same fucking things Stolas did, so why does it feel like the next few episodes are just going to be "Blitzo sucks and we hate him." Like are you fucking serious??

Maybe I'm reading the whole thing wrong, who knows at this point.

[royalberryriku]

Kingdom Hearts: Character Analysis — Kairi and Fear

Okay. I think I need to get this off my chest; I actually really deeply love Kairi's entire character and think her lack of strength and action is essential to the themes she embodies (and starting to literally break out of).

While I 100% agree there are some parts of her character that play off of the outdated archetype of "damsel in distress", I genuinely don't think it was the intention for Kairi to embody only this trope, but to embody the opposite of Riku as a character; specifically, his curiosity and lack of fear towards the unknown. To elaborate further, I believe Riku and Kairi are the two extremes that are supposed to contrast to Sora; Kairi's extreme desire for safety and Riku's extreme plunge into danger.

//Note: this will contain spoilers for the entire series, including Melody of Memory, Re:Mind, and every other game that came before it.

The Main Trio

Our initial introduction to Kairi is on dry land, safe from the wave that swallowed Riku and Sora. Sora himself arrives on shore after escaping, while Riku stays within the waves, beyond reach. While this is excellent foreshadowing, I also believe this is symbolic of each character's thematic role when compared to one another. Kairi (meaning ocean) is safely on land, meanwhile Riku (meaning land) is in the waves of the ocean, standing within danger unflinchingly. Sora is tied between the two; between the safety of land (home) and danger (exploration).

In Kingdom Hearts, land is portrayed as "worlds"; the homes of those who live within them, while "ocean" is used to describe the connections between them. From the start, the premise is to build a raft to explore. But the cast all show they have different feelings about this. Namely, Riku and Kairi. Riku is excited, unfazed and unafraid to explore. He's curious, adventurous and confident that they can handle whatever's out there. He believes the ocean beyond and between the undiscovered lands he wishes to explore to have no dangers. Kairi, on the other hand, is his polar opposite; she's unsure if they even should go at all (note: I'm not saying she's against it at all, she wants to go, but she's unsure). Her "laziness" in building the raft, her anxious laugh when Riku says it's because of her he wants to explore what's out there, her telling Sora "I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready!" and, most telling of all, one of her first bits of dialogue in the series: "Well, I'm happy here." While she wants to know where she came from, to see it, she has clear reservations about leaving her home behind; the safe place that holds no danger. She's shown being afraid far more than either Sora or Riku.

Sora is in the middle of the two. He wants to go and doesn't understand Kairi's hesitation, but he's also much more relaxed than Riku. Sora follows the two of them and shows both excitement and nervousness to a degree, but never enough to really sway him in the adventure he wants to have with his friends.

"Sora, don't ever change", when compared to "Riku's changed", really puts even more perspective into why she's a scared. Later, we discover Kairi's past may have led to her understanding of the world's dangers, unlike Sora and Riku who didn't have such experiences to go off. That being said, I think another aspect of this fear (perhaps a subconscious fear born from those experiences) is her desire for things to stay the same.

Strength in Change

Kairi isn't going on this journey to go on a life changing adventure, she's just a little curious and wants to stay with he friends. Of what we see of our interactions with her, as the audience, is that she wants the safety and for things to stay the same. The thing is though, as we see with Riku and Sora, change makes people stronger; it challenges our flaws and makes us face our own thoughts and feelings. Change is needed to grow and Kairi is terrified of the thing needed for that. It's not until Kingdom Hearts 2 that she realises that this way of doing things just isn't helping her or keeping anyone (including herself) safe. She's actually harming herself by trying so hard to not allow change to happen. "This world is too small", but Kairi herself wants it to stay small; discovered, known, safe.

While Kairi isn't weak of a person by any means, in fact she's very strong, she is held back. Not by others, but by her own fears and desire for simplicity. She may be strong to start with, but she's unable to become stronger. She is stuck, left behind, as Riku and Sora embrace change and move forward without her as she stays waiting for simplicity and safety to return.

I think the end of Kingdom Hearts starts to push this realisation a little as well. Whether Kairi likes it or not, change has happened already. She can't go back and undo what's been done, she can only accept it or ignore it. The problem is, she's still used to the habits she herself created; wait, don't rush in, run away, hide. She's used to allowing her fears to lead her back into safety, into light and warmth, while not allowing herself to grow as a person. She's clinging desperately to this desire to stay where it feels happy, safe and warm all the time. But the thing is, that's unrealistic. Bad things happen. Sometimes, you encounter things that challenge you and change your, for better or worse. Kairi's weakness itself stems from her resistance to any change that may actually be good for her because she's so afraid of the bad.

She doesn't want to grow, to be an adult, or acknowledge the scary parts of life that are a part of growing up. It's even more telling how she ends up in Neverland of all places when she's thrown off Destiny Islands. She is the most childish of the three, not because of how she acts, but because of her fear of aging into an adult. She wants things to stay simple and pleasent.

It isn't until Kingdom Hearts 3 that she really realises just how impossible it is to cling to not changing. She realises that she needs to face her own fears of change to grow; to become stronger and catch up to Sora and Riku who embraced what she couldn't until now.

Princesses of Heart

There is also another matter I need to bring up; what is a Princess of Heart? It is consistently noted that these are the purest of hearts, but it isn't really stated that this requires them to have absolutely no darkness in their heart whatsoever. I think it's easy to forget this since Maleficent said "Her heart is filled with light—not the slightest touch of darkness." But considering the implications from the rest of the series and the reinforced notion that light cannot exist without a tiny bit of darkness, I believe this was more of a mistake on Maleficent's part, perhaps born of envy for Aurora? It could also easily be a mistranslation, although I do not know Japanese well enough to know whether or not this is a translation issue. Regardless, it's important to remember that "there is darkness within every heart" is a constant theme pushed in this series. There is no person capable of not having any flaws or fears, not even a princess of a heart.

This also goes for Kairi, who we see has clear fears and flaws. Many of which have directly led to her being unable to obtain the strength she sees Sora and Riku having due to them not being held back by the idea that change is inherently a scary and dangerous thing. It's also another interesting opposite to Riku who represents the light within darkness, while Kairi is a heart of light with a lot of darkness deep down.

The Three Questions

At the beginning of the first Kingdom Hearts game, Sora is asked a question from 3 people within the starting dream, each having 3 answers. While it is true that gameplay wise it's there to effect stats based on what answers you give, I think there's a possibility of some foreshadowing as well. Though that's more just speculation on my part. Here are the questions and answers for those who don't remember what they were exactly:

Tidus: "What are you so afraid of?"

"Getting old."

"Being different."

"Being indecisive."

Wakka: "What do you want outta life?"

"To see rare sights."

"To broaden my horizons."

"To be strong."

Selphie: "What's most important to you?"

"Being number one."

"Friendship."

"My prized possessions."

"Getting old", "to be strong" and "my prized possessions" all remind me of Kairi. Her fear of change, her desire to not be helpless and gain strength and, finally, her using objects to project said fears and self doubts onto.

Memories and Objects

As noted in the above, Kairi often uses objects to cope with her fears. Primarily, her good luck charm made of thalassa shells. Although she does also use other items as well; her necklace (memento of her past in Radiant Garden), poetry, letters, etc. These are all great ways to connect and to keep memories close to her using a physical object for this, but they also could be a sign she's also afraid of losing what she has and feels more at ease making physical reminders of the people, places and things she loves.

It's also possible this stems from forgetting her memories of Reading Garden and, as a result, she may fear forgetting those she loves. This could also explain her development in Kingdom Hearts 2, perhaps "remembering" Sora pushed her past her fears upon realising that staying in her safe place (the Islands) and holding onto reminders didn't protect the memories she wanted to cling to.

The first thing she says after things calm down and she's able to talk to Sora is "this is real". It could be that she was afraid that her own memories weren't real enough and she needed that physical reassurance. It's also why she needed to hug him, to understand that it isn't false and it hadn't been taken away. Despite everything, she hadn't forgotten those important to her again.

Interestingly enough, Ventus also shares the exact same coping mechanism, which makes sense given his similarities to Kairi and his own amnesia. This likely lead to him subconsciously seeking reassurance in the same ways Kairi does. This will likely be a huge part of the two's development, or at least, I very much suspect it will be. Ventus was able to grow past it due to his journey and curiousity, but Kairi is still growing and only recently realised that change is okay. Their friendship will likely be what pushes Kairi to become the strongest version of herself and mature into herself.

Journey of Agency

Kairi's hesitation to take control of her own situation and return to the safety of what she knows has unquestionably left her hindered in her desire to stay by the side of Riku and Sora. However, since her memory of Sora being lost and returned, her realisation in Kingdom Hearts 2 and then at the end of Dream Drop Distance and in Kingdom Hearts 3 with her introduction into the same dangers and change she's actively avoided, Kairi has grown. She's realised that waiting and allowing herself to just be led around because it's what been safe before now doesn't mean it'll work when she's being left behind and others are getting hurt trying to protect that self imposed safety. She has to run into danger herself and learn what it means to be independent if she wants to stand by the side of those she loves.

And finally, at the end of her journey in Melody of Memory and reclaiming her lost memories of Radiant Garden, she finally faces exactly that which scares her most; her memories of "Ansem" or Apprentice Xehanort who used her, forced he to lose everything once before and most importantly caused the fear that began everything for her. She's no longer just taking steps now, she's facing what caused it directly. This is probably the most powerful of any development for Kairi, it's what may define if she is able to break free of that fear or become defined by it.

It's also a stark reminder that she's still not where she wants to be, she's still defined by the weakness of being left behind due to her own fears. That's why, at the very end when she chooses to start training with Aqua, it's shown that Kairi finally chooses to change. She finally wants to become more than what she's limited herself to; she's finally ready to face her own weaknesses and grow.

Kairi's development could very well lead her to being the one to really push the narrative with the coming arc. While Sora and Riku are struggling with their own flaws (which I'll explain in a different post), Kairi will start to move forward. That being said, I think it's only because of the slow development of learning that what she was doing was harming her and ultimately leaving her behind and alone. I think this will also be a vital theme in the current arc where the main villains goal is to destroy darkness; Kairi's realisation that her own pain and fear were part of her growth may very well be the key in stopping him. Though that's just my own suspicions, not what canon has presented us with at this stage.

Conclusion.

Regardless, I for one am excited to see where Kairi's development goes. Her self discovery is fascinating and her arc is very different to the character arcs I've seen. Her entire story is compelling and I think Kairi's depth is something easily overlooked because of its starting atypical themes and structure (running from change and thus being weaker, rather than growing in strength after adversities). I think her journey of how to even start growing stronger when you're stuck frozen in fear is an important and powerful message, it's also just extremely interesting. I love Kairi so much and I hope this helps people look more closely at her characterisation.

[linkspooky]

You've written about Overhaul in the past. Any tips on writing him accurately?

Overhaul's actually one of the most complex villains in the story that's not a part of the league of villains, however since he's pretty unlikable and has mostly negative and unsavory character traits he's not discussed as often. However when it comes to writing him, there's a lot of rich material to mine here.

So my starting point whenever trying to write a character and make them as in-character as possible, is to figure out what the author intended for them in story. What role are they supposed to play? What function do they serve? In my opinion, Chisaki was an attempt by Horikoshi to twist a lot of traditional "good guy" traits into a villainous character that the audience would despise.

One of my biggest ways of doing this is to compare them to other characters, especially haracters who aren't given as much screentime because there are lots of cogs in a story and often the purpose of one character is to highlight a personality trait in another character because they share it.

Now I'm going to explain Chisaki's characterization by comparing them to another character, but here's the curveball here: I'm not going to use Shigaraki. Because I can explain it real quick with Shigaraki, the purpose of Chisaki is to show how Shigaraki's leadership differs from Chisaki because Shigaraki sees his allies as more than just pawns to be utilized. However, to come to understand why Chisaki wholeheartedly believes that everyone exists to be used thoroughly to further his own ends, we're going to look at a different character.

Hawks and Chisaki are both bird-themed. They are both orphans who were taken in by an organization at a young age, Chisaki by the Yakuza and Hawks by the hero commission. They are both also extremely fanatically loyal to that organization and do everything possible to ensure that organizations survival, in part because they feel they have to repay being taken in.

They are both characters who were introduced to the league of villains, trusted by Twice, only to turn around and kill a member of the league. For Hawks it was literally Twice himself he killed. They were also initially presented as cooperating with the league, but when they reveal their true colors it shows how they view people in stark contrast to how the league views and treats it's own members. Which like, Hawks does not come out looking pretty in the comparison.

Hawks doesn't actively abuse children so he has that over overhaul, but he does drag them onto battlefields that are basically an active warzone where the villains are fighting to kill. Which means that much like Overhaul, he tends to treat children the way he was treated: Ie, weaponizing them.

If you are familiar with Hawks mindset, "I am a pawn, so therefore everyone else is a pawn that I can maneuver around to obtain my objective" then it's easy to extrapolate the same onto Chisaki. Hawks talks about dirtying his hands, Chisaki is literally a germaphobe who has panic attacks if he gets blood on his hands (I'm exaggerating only slightly).

Chisaki is introduced with a deep psychological need to stay clean and avoid everything he considers filth, dirty, or diseased a rampant paranoia of his which spreads to his hatred of quirks. We never get the reason why Chisaki hates quirks, besides the fact that the advent of heroes threatened his home in the Yakuza, but if we're going to extrapolate here it's probably due to the grotesque nature of his own quirk. He literally targets Eri because their quirks are similiar and he finds hers to be incredibly disgusting, and justifies his abuse of her with that logic.

My pet theory is that he was either abandoned by his parents because of hsi quirk, or that he was taken in by AFO at some point and deliberately targeted by his quirk like Toya was (people have pointed out that the wallpaper here and the children playing int he background resemble the house that Toya was taken to).

So, what we get here is Chisaki hates quirks, and he likely hates his own quirk possibly because of how he was treated in childhood because of it. He was definitely exploited by the same man who took him in due to that quirk, considering the fact he's a yakuza enforcer and has probably been committing violent crime since childhood. Once again, a Hawks trait, to be born with a prodigious quirk and yet find that quirk incredibly filthy.

Hawks and Chisaki are a study in how characters can be painted to have "good guy" and "bad guy" traits, when really they're only being painted that way because of circumstances or surroudnings. Hawks in a lot of ways acts the same as Chisaki, he just happens to be manipulating people for the heroes, not to restore the Yakuza. Chisaki values no one, everyone including his childhood friend, the people he takes in off the streets, are pawns to be utilized by the best of their aiblity. He even tries to teach Shigaraki to play Shogi (Shigaraki not knowing how to play probably signifying how much he views people differently).

So, Chisaki's willing to utilize everyone around him in service of a goal, the worth they have is to how he can use them to benefit his larger goal in mind and he's got no qualms about it.

Villainous trait, villainous trait, you say but Hawks does the same thing basically maneuvering everyone on the battlefield in the first and second wars the way Chisaki does, he just does it for an entirely different goal. He's even willing to personally betray and mutilate someone who trusted him in order to achieve that goal. Chisaki's point of no return is him completely massacring Nemoto in order to fuse with him when the tables started to turn against him in his fight against the hero. Hawks stabs Twice in the back in order to prevent him from using his quirk to stop the raid. In both cases it's a personal betrayal of someone who was good to them and trusted them.

You could say Hawks did it for the greater good, but for CHisaki who only knows his Yakzua way of life he's doing it for the survival of the only life he knows. Which is why I say they're so similiar, Hawks isn't really protecting innocent people, he's protecting his role in the hero commission. He takes what he was raised to do to the extreme.

Which is another central character trait they share, Chisaki's biggest defect is that he never, ever gives up on anything ever. A traditionally heroic trait especially in the shonen manga where the character never gives up ever, but his determination is twisted into something hideous because he has no qualms about making sacrifices to get what he wants.

Since childhood Chisaki has done absolutely everything to protect the family's dignity, to the point where it was disturbing. He never changes his mind, never backs down, even when the man he's trying to repay goes against him, but it comes from the same source as Hawks.

He believes he owes the person who took him in, and does everything he does in service of that debt.

So the last part is Chisaki's germophobia himself. Now Chisaki is a man completely divorced from his own sense of guilt who doesn't really hesitate before making heinous actions, but I wouldn't say he feels nothing,the man's clearly not mentally well. If anything I'd say his own germophobia is a metaphor for the guilt and self-loathing he feels and chooses to ignore.

He usually has breakdowns shortly after using his quirk as well. He'll absolutely brutalize people and then have a breakdown about the blood that they've gotten on him. Which suggests he you know, probably does not enjoy bloodshed in any real way. You could even compare it to Shigaraki's statement that he always feels like there's a constant sickness no matter what he destroys, which is likely his repressed guilt that AFO played off as some kind of urge to destroy, or the way Shigarki carries his hands of his family on him so he'll never forget his own self-disgust at murdering them.

Chisaki is living completely divorced from his own sense of guilt, until he's not. Once you remove him from his position of power, when he's away from the mission and forced to sit in his prison cell in tartarus he's reduced to a shambling mess that just constantly apologizes over and over to his boss and begs for the chance to see him again.

Which means that Chisaki represses all of his emotions to perform a task, and when he si not performing a task or functioning in a role he falls to pieces, because he doesn't have any sort of life except for serving in the yakuza. He's even referred to as a "gangster without a heart" because he literally has nothing else and no identity.

Chisaki's gotta be a gangster and he'll even throw a coup and put his boss in a coma for fear of losing that place in the world, because what else is there for him?

He even hates being called by his real name, much like Hawks, so his central issue is really a lack of identity because he was raised in a fishbowl with no other place to belong in the real world. Except we saw Chisaki when he was taken out of his fishbowl, and all he did was flop around like a magikarp.

As for general guidelines on his voice:

The germaphobia is a constant thing with him. Don't put your shoes in my table. Don't breathe in my direction. Hey stop bleeding on me your blood is filthy.

He talks down to people in general. He's extremely condescending with Shigaraki right off the bat, and states to his face that the only worth that Shigaraki and the League will ever have is pawns to be used as a part of his plan.

He flips between being detached, and extreme anger. Basically he's able to act cold and detached when things are going his way, and when people resist his plans or manipulations he then switches to browbeating, bullying or just otherwise lashing out in anger. If the square peg won't fit in the round hole, then just hit it harder until it does. He's cold and calculating until his calculations fail then he just brute forces it.

He's generally pretty good at negging people, he's got Eri convinced that her quirk is disgusting and she's the source of the misfortune around her. He's also got a bunch of street rats incredibly loyal to him by convincing them they can literally do no better in life than being used as a part of his plan.

He also has a softer and more polite side that only comes out in front of the boss. This is his childish side too. When he's fighting Deku and has basically lost, he flashes back to his boss patting him on the head and thanking him for protecting the family's honor. He literally just craves validation from the closest thing he has to a father figure. He'll go to any lengths to get it.

In general Chisaki should be disturbingly inhuman too, not just in his actions, but in his rationale and how far he can go and how little he considers other people in the equation. Even his own childhood friend and fellow yakuza finds him to be offputting. His boss asks him point blank, "What are humans to you?"

Basically, he's creepy, weird, anti-social, uses everyone around him, and is also completely divorced from his own feelings and sense of guilt which lets him run roughshod over other people's feelings.

So, y'know. Hawks.

Except Hawks puts on a charming and likable personality, whereas Chisaki's personality is having no personality.

[pythonteeth]

hi these are THE notes i took might expand on them later but maybe others wanna compare and contrast idk

reminder that these are straight up copy-pasted and there's stuff that I didn't expand upon entirely HOWEVER these r all things I noticed while I was watching the movies :3

Going to start with a few o the notes I have from Kurayukaba as well.

Main points:

-The police are the same, same chief. Same cops. Same Machines. 

-Laughing Mask guy leading the group that had Soutarou ends up quitting and dipping with two henchmen I BELIEVE to also show up in Kagari later on during one of the meetings with the Ichizaru Family. 

-Soutarou and Kagari BOTH are missing their parents and end up going on a little journey to find someone they care about who goes missing. 

-Soutarou is looking for Saki, an informant in the main capital; which we can assume is Taihei considering the Box Garden is in the same province enough that the same police show up in both as well as the *Masked Mascot Miss Thang running around with her show within The Dim and the City and then later the Box Garden. 

*Note, it could be said that she is more of an entity/narrative device used by the animators to give us, the audience, more explanation into things. However I don’t believe that’s true, I believe she travels around the close districts. 

-Saki (Kurayukaba) being the Saki (DRRR) adjacent character is interesting to think about considering she’s basically adopted by Soutarou and works as an informant away from Iseya (inch resting in Saki’s (drrr) story as well )

-Mushikui cavities were hinted at earlier when describing the discovery of The Dark. In fact this is what leads into kuramerukagari

Moving into the Kurameru Kagari notes:

We learn that the Box Garden is formerly a jail turned into a coal mining town, which I find interesting considering The Dark is clearly near enough to the Box Garden and contains a black market within as well as an entire society. It’s possible to infer that a lot of former criminals from the initial Jail contributed to the rumors and stories of The Dark containing a whole new civilization. 

The Komainu Family seems to be in charge of the specific sect of the Box Garden we find ourselves in. We’re also introduced to the concept of The Mujina (who are hinted at a little bit later) as well as Ichizaru (who we learn more about later) I don’t think the family controlling the Northern Pump are part of the Komainu but rather work in tandem with the Komainu. We’re not given any reason to think these two groups are at odds but they are wearing different jackets than the rest of the Komainu in the movie. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that they are NOT part of the same Group. 

The Komainu family is INTERESTING to pick apart. Because we can assume that Eiwazima is in charge, considering he’s the Security and the Muscle. It seems to be that people follow his lead and what should be done (especially during the later attack) and of course he gets his Information and perhaps even guidance from Iseya. Though the guidance isn’t necessarily a “shadow leader” sort of deal so much as it’s a “royal advisor” type deal. Interesting. I’m thinking of his after typing up notes i physically wrote down.

Candy Shop mentions that the Mappers in the area are scoundrels or not really trustworthy despite Kagari being well known they either do not KNOW Kagari or simply don’t view her as a trustworthy person for some reason. 

We can assume Kagari is well known at least within the sect of the Box Garden she lives in; one of the members of the Komainu mentions “i don’t know if she gets it from her mother” which implies he knew one or both of her parents.* *sidenote: i have a theory about what happened to her parents irt the new years day thing

We also know that Taiehei Industries own the entirety of the Box Garden, as mentioned the Komainu have only a small sector of it. One in which they’re attempting to lobby for higher wages and seemingly safer working conditions or the miners (as mentioned during the planning scene where the aburamashi is revealed) AND they want to fix the currency system. It’s also mentioned the borders to these sectors are always changing which is why there are no “official” maps of the areas.

We know of three groups in particular: -Komainu -Mujina -Ichizaru

The Northern Pump is not confirmed it’s own “family” but to me it comes off as if they are separate from the Komainu.

The Mujina were bandits that lurked around in caves. TO ME this signals mention of The Dark and implies that our Laughing Mask guy is a member of the Mujina family. He is a bandit. He lurks in the dark. Weasels around the mine shafts and cavities. We don’t have enough information to claim the Mujina were actively working with the Ichizaru family especially considering it wouldn’t make…MUCH sense. Unless it would have turned into Mujina taking over the Ichizaru at the end of it. 

Shiina and Iseya have history, she mentions knowing an Inormant in the box garden which implies she either came from the Box Garden or Iseya CAME from Taihei. 

To me this is supported by the way he speaks about New Years Day and what he knows about Kuchinawa HOWEVER it’s also possible he simply knows this information because he is an informant and a librarian and quite enjoys learning about things clearly. 

Iseya was suspicious about Yuya and clearly knows things about Kuchinawa. It’s also likely that Kuchinawa recognized something was going funny, or that things might be hiding in the underground and Iseya also clearly knew something was up. 

They seem to be on good terms so I’m a bit curious as to how much of their interactions are friendly information sharing. (going off of the instances of Izaya actively exchanging information for other information or even compensating others for the information they offer him. It feels safe to say that Iseya does the same thing. ) 

Eiwazima comes in “not here for chit-chat. This time I’m a customer” which implies a level of certainly coming in to chit and also chat. 

I think it’s interesting to note that Kagari dips when Eiwazima mentions mapping the mushikui cavities. It gives the impression that she has made the connection to Yuya, if only because he spends a lot of time mapping those particular cavities out. 

“Closing for the day” they fucked in that library. 

ALSO INTERESTING that Shiina, who is notably looking for a mapper, and also has notably been trying to get in touch with Iseya runs into Kagari outside of the library. And instead of checking with her as a mapper instead decides to continue on with Candy Shop’s plans instead. 

SHIINA is looking for Kanra-do which is now Iseya’s library at the top HOWEVER this lowkey supports the idea that she’s actually from the Box Garden initially (imo) to me this feels like  HUGE potential for her being the “Shinra” adjacent character to round out the trio fully. 

I also really want to talk about the Kanra-Do to Iseya Pipeline, um. It has to be on purpose. I don’t really care what direction anyone thinks Izaya/Iseya is going but this man is clearly under the trans umbrella. It’s hinted at within the characters of Izaya’s names in Durarara and it’s clear enough here in krmrkgr that Kanra-Do is a ref to Kanra. Idk. Argue with the wall. * ykw too in some of the promo material Shiina was also given he/him pronouns amongst she/her ones. Could be a translation issue.

Earlier on in the film Iseya mentions not being Kagari’s guardian or her boss but he OBVIOUSLY cares deeply about her. Her family photo is in the library for fucks sakes. Also she spends like..all her time there. Does she live there? Does she help Iseya with his chores? Do they both live in what was formerly Kanra-do? 

We see at least a day in between the Library Closing Early in which she mentions that Yuya hasn’t been around. Likely she went to look for him 1) to hang out and 2) because. Well. he’s been mapping out the cavities. 

Does Kagari live with Iseya? Does Yuya literally live in a mineshaft hole? I feel insane. Kagari has people caring about her and Yuya seems to be STUCK and STRUGGLING no wonder he wants to get out so badly

I think Kagari has killed two people. 

Kagari (handshake) Soutarou “Too Sturdy!!!” Solidarity

Shiina and Candy Shop must be on Yuya’s side of the Box Garden because we genuinely only see Shiina cross paths with Kagari ONCE (1). And only because Shiina was very clearly looking for Iseya

Also they’re VERY gender Loving that for them. 

Yuya Says he kept distance to “not be involved in the fighting” First thought was how do you know about the fighting, bud? But thinking about it further, he lives in a hole on the side of town where the majority of fighting and initial cave ins have been happening. He’s also mentioned his side of town not being As Nice as Kagari’s which I find interesting. 

No wonder the poor kid wants to get out, it seems like he doesn’t really have anyone looking after him the way Kagari does, and further his side of town seems to suck eggs. Let the Komainu in bud. 

OKAY i had a bit of a time discrepancy here but i BELIEVE thru context clues we’re on the next morning When Shiina meets with the Northern Pump. At the same time is Kagari getting into clothes that are no longer soaked through and talking with Yuya before finally making it to Iseya’s library to let him know what’s going on.

Iseya also consistently refers to the Taihei as “overlords” which i find interesting and signals a sort of disdain for the people in charge of the box garden. 

Automation Regulation Act was passed after the Fucked Up NYE rightfully so

Komainu man the valley

Upon the attack there is no confirmation whether the library was destroyed or simply raided and wrecked. I’m under the impression it was merely raided since some of the Ichizaru report that the librarian was nowhere to be seen. Fingers crossed it wasn’t destroyed but I guess we’ll find out for certain in the manga. I feel like if it were destroyed there would be more mention of that BUT fic writers and art makers keep this in mind i guess. Fun angst potential.

Clearly they did more than just fuck in that library because Zima greets the Ichizaru knowing right where they’re gonna pop out of the ground AND he’s prepared with blockades and weapons. 

My man really said “The entire town is closed. Please leave.” we love a man who is polite and prepared and precise anyway then he goes “Then I’ll hasten your exit 🖤” i’m in love with him

“Komainu brat” I think i mentioned this earlier but i’ve seen a lot of fans assume Zima like…only owns a restaurant…but like. I don’t think yall are understanding that he RUNS this whole marketplace. Like. My man is the equivalent of a Sherrif-Mayor with Iseya as a sort of advisor type. Like they are pillars of this community working together to keep it safe and i think that’s so beautiful. It’s what Shizaya should have had and yet here we are with Eiwaseya living their dream. Anyway I just think it’s so interesting. Eiwazima is clearly in charge here he is the most respected member of the Komainu to the point where people are straight up reporting to him. The fact that he has to specify “i’m here as a customer” to iseya earlier is so interesting and just further cements the idea that they’re always working together and basically The Dynamic Duo. 

Iseya, when Yuya suggests getting out of the box garden to further safety “This is a problem we need to solve” as in he took the initiative to get innocent people to safe area. Safely away from the fighting and evacuated so that the Komainu can defend the territory they’ve been working so hard to uplift. 

Ichizaru got the abumurashi from the Mujina, which further leads me to believe that our Laughing Mask Guy is Mujina aligned but he could also just be a rando. I don’t believe thaat tho.

Zima being visibly worried when he’s told the valley couldn’t be contacted AND that there were explosions heard. I don’t know that he’s terribly worried about Iseya, i mean realistically all of the townsfolk they evacuated are there. But Also….boyfriend….

Also I just want to say Iseya is very cool under the barrel of a gun. He really held it down. Go off king. 

Ushigaeru and the reveal of Kuchinawa’s ‘children’ really FUCKED i loved that bit. I expected it, and during the flashback it made a lot of sense. I’m glad he took Sasara in. Also I think Kagari’s parents died in that NYE mess and it’s possible Iseya has history there too going off of his expression and voice during his explanation of it.

Iseya scooping Sasara out of the dangerzone was cute and he’s so motherly in this iteration he’s so HAPPY to be around people and to have connections. 

“Just like he said” ok zima we get it you’re married

Laughing Mask guy dips as soon as it gets too hairy no one is surprised. 

I really feel bad for Yuya. At first i was really agitated with him but upon recollection and yadda yadda i feel awful for him. He’s got no parents, no guardians. Barely even a boss that cares enough about him. It’d be nice to see him stay with Kagari in Komainu territory and actually get some decent treatment by the town rather than…what I can only assume is being taken advantage of by scummy adults on his side of town. (evident in how his maps were used and he didn’t even receive full payment. Iseya doesn’t even knock him for selling the maps. Why would he? It’s not like he was intentionally planning sabotage and then he was double crossed. He just wanted to get out and make a better life for himself.) 

Iseya’s trust and support in Kagari is very sweet, the battle goes all night long and Kagari had left sometime in the middle to go find Yuya. Interesting. 

The shaft….

Same police chief as kurayukaba and uh i guess they couldn’t get to the box garden coz they were too busy dealing with the aftermath of The Dark and that fucking Circus (omg dark woods circus reference? Inch resting. Might need to look at that later too) 

“Some things never change” Shiina what do you know. I need the backstory NOW.

The trust between Zima and Iseya is so….make me happy. Zima literally puts him in charge when he leaves to go speak to the police. I wonder  like. What that’s like. Iseya is clearly loved by the town as is Zima so obviously their relationship is well known as well. They’re like….a package deal. 

It brings me back to wondering about the possible “growing up together in the box garden” idea i have for Shiina, Iseya and Zima. Cute. 

[skyflyinginaction]

Clamp Art Style Analysis: Part 2: Series styles and Compare and Contrast

Series Styles

Over the years the Clamp art style changes constantly depending on the series, and the art direction always changes depending on the work and magazine. Clamp’s art style always changes to suit the genre of the magazine the work is running in.  When I researched I noticed when I look at their earlier works and recently it's in that their art style changed over the years  I saw that the art of these series improved due to different works' sterilization and the hiatus this is seen in a few series that I am going to talk about.  I am not going to go over all of their works just choose these series and discuss them in this segment, I am going to be heavily biased and choose this series to talk about the art style, lines, and materials used while drawing the series 

X1999

I don’t know the art style with x as I did with the other series since there wasn’t much to talk about in the interviews.

Mostly I think this is the beginning of Clamp’s early years when the art style looked this way. The art style Clamps early years as artists. The one in charge of X's art direction is Nekoi, Nekoi is in charge of the art direction of x with Igarashi assisting, The art in X changed with the art shifted to Nekoi’s delicate style.  

The art of X changed expeditiously compared to how the art looked in the first chapter,

The art at the beginning of X had thick ink lines and more dramatic shading in the early volumes and is more or less gone. X is drawn in a more ornate style characteristic of shoujo manga, noting that x is a series intended for a female audience.  X takes on a shojo style bolder and more intense art for drawing X there is a heavy use of screen tone. While drawing X, they used straight lines they drew with Thick lines in the beginning, X had a lot of colored backgrounds in the illustrations, and manga X is one of the series in that they had trouble applying screentone. 

If you compare x it has changed a lot due to Clamp working on other series though mostly it's because it ran the longest in the magazine. X was sterilized during Wish, Card Captor Sakura, Chobits, Magic Knight Rayearth,Suki, Legal Drug, Legend of Chun Hyang and Angelic Layer. 

When it came to creating for x it was the original character profile, Clamp drew all the aspects they wanted to include in the final character in a bulletin-type chart they drew it like a New Year's greeting card.

Unlike with other sterilization, they didn’t decide on the materials they would be using so X doesn’t have any specific material for drawings. Nekoi and Mokona did a lot of experimenting with materials in x. Clamp used many different materials and a variety of techniques when drawing X the colors in x they painted with a lot of new materials and a lot of contrasting colors. There was a lot of experimenting with materials with x. You can see it in the illustrations. 

The materials that are used for x are color screentone. Colortone is a type of colored screentone called overlay, their usual color ink, gash, and pastel products X has many different kinds of illustration paper used for coloring from wrapping paper and cardboard to tea wrappers.  

I am going to go over the materials they used in their color illustrations from 1992-1996 and 1997-2004

1992-1997

Paper: Kent Block, BB Kent, BB Kent rough surface, Kent paper, sand textured paper, Shinden shi paper, Feather Waltz, Arches,  parchment paper, manuscript paper, Watson paper, wood free paper  

Lines: Holbein Color Ink (Special black), Photocopied pencil lines, Pigma Graphic pen, Pigma Graphic ink pen, color pencil, pencil, Holbein Color Ink (sepia), poster color, color pencil, Winsor and Newton Drawing Ink (nut brown), Dr. Ph. Martins Sepia Ink

Color: Dr. Ph. Martain’s Color Ink, Acrylic, airbrush, modeling paste, gouache, color tone, poster color, Liquitex, Acrylic gouache, color tone, white out, Copic markers, Lumocolor Ink pen, Lumocolor

1998-2003

Paper: Watson paper,  BB Kent, copy paper, Sheet of paper with a light brown color, hotel stationery paper, 

Lines: Pigma Graphic ink pen, India ink, Ballpoint pen, Sepia black ink, 

Color: Lumocolor ink pen, modeling paste  Lumocolor, sepia, copic marker, airbrush, poster, Acrylic gouache, airbrush, color ink,  Liquitex,  Dr. Ph. Martains Color Ink,  Gold brown Ink, Poster color, color ink,

If you looked at the materials and techniques in the comments used for drawing the illustrations of x they 

put a lot of work in the color illustrations for x. The materials used in the illustration change the impression.

For the illustrations, There were a few comments about it, A 2002 comment that Fuuma's head looks a little big; this is a drawing habit they had while working on Chobits at the time.

When it came to illustrations sepia ink was used for outlines of characters with pale color profiles since the lines stand out too much in black in illustrations sepia ink was used for characters with pale color profiles. Hinoto, Kakyou, and Kotori have Saphia outlines. Yuto is the only exception. He has a light color profile but looks good with crisp outlines so he is drawn with black ink.  When Clamp drew Kotori they always made sure to draw her with a very faint and soft touch when it came to drawing her in illustrations they used Sephia instead of black for her lines.

X is a shoujo manga that ran in Asuka for some time. It has a lot of action scenes that attracted male readers, Asuka gave the team the freedom to create what they saw fit.  

There is a difference in colors between the first and subsequent printings as seen in the volumes of X. The volumes up to 4 were a lot tidier but on volume 5. Clamp started to get busier and messier. 

Everything in X is written by script, even the details of the collapsing and the destruction of the buildings look like the destruction of the buildings is written from the script from Ohkawa. The backgrounds and destruction of the city were mentioned by Ohkawa. While Clamp is drawing the destruction of the buildings they have reference photos taken beforehand which Igarashi finds tiring and painful. 

In Kamui’s character design, Kamui has Tsuri-me-type eyes like Ashura from RG Veda Clamp considered Kamui's hairstyle and uniform average. 

The character that Clamp had a hard time drawing appearance-wise is Kotori,  Kotori was the character that Clamp found trouble with drawing. When Ohkawa looked at the manuscript copy of chapter one Ohkawa was a little shocked at the drawing of Kotori even considered her like udon. Mokona did her in pencil in the rough draft, Kotori looked soft and sort of limp when she added a pen she looked thicker by thinning down the lines her body became less solid making her float around she became lighter and more impermanent so they used the tip of the pens instead when inking her.

Another one of the difficulties that came with drawing X was drawing all the characters from the dragons of heaven and the dragons of the earth in one picture in the same illustration. They are parts of the character that give you trouble that you confuse with others but individually they are easy. 

Clover 

Clover has a different sense of atmosphere and techniques. The art in Clover has a feeling of decadence or nostalgia, the wing design looks like older Mecha Ohkawa was influenced by the movie “1984” she made Mokona watch it to recapture its mood. The buildings in Clover reference old movies made to resemble German and European countries. They also used European photographs as references, like photos of German factories.  

Ohkawa made modifications to Clovers' art style since it ran in a magazine for young girls the intended audience for Clovers was older so the art style is made to look prettier since it's for girls.  

Mokona is in charge of the art in Clover even the story paneling was planned out by her Both Mokona and Ohkawa planned the panels in the manga Clover. The distinctive layouts and layouts of the panels are created with music videos and movies in mind. The panels in Clover look like frames from a movie. Ohkawa had a hand in it with half having to plan the width of each panel. It wasn't easy and took more time. Clamp found the layout the most challenging and most fun they had in the series, for Clover has dialogue or scenes with big spaces between sentences. Clamp used thinner frames to look pretty.  

The art material they used is gayoushi paper which is used to emphasize the bounciness of Sue's hair. Gayoushi paper is a type of cartridge paper in Japanese. They used drawing paper for clover the drawing paper here is contrasted with other, more common media. Clamp used different paper for clover which is cartridge paper or gayoshi paper for drawing the manga but the screentone kept slipping off and was annoying to Clamp. They used the copy machine to give Clover a picture book blurred look they had a hard time getting it right and tried many times.

Card Captor Sakura

For the art style of Card Captor Sakura, Clamp wanted to create something really cute.  

It focuses on the cute factor so the lines and use of ink are to give it a soft and cute feel Card Captor Sakura uses thin, curved lines the manga Mokona the one who makes the lines thin in Sakura and doesn’t use a lot of ink making the pages light and to make it look soft feel. It is a shoujo manga with a magical girl genre so it would make sense that the series would look soft. Card Captor Sakura uses color ink for the illustrations the color ink is used to create a clear image. For materials Card Captor Sakura and clear card Arc used copic markers and modeling paste in the illustrations. 

For designing the Clow cards, the design of borders of the cards was created first. Mokona filled in the illustrations, and the rest determined the card name and functions in the story. Clamp didn’t have problems with designing characters but the expressions changed from the plan. 

Chobits 

The materials of Chobits are based on Ohkawas decisions for materials. Clamp uses ball pens for drawing. They used ball pens since they wanted something drawn by pencil. The illustrations for Chobits have Clamp use acrylic gouache and more gouache.  

In Chobit's art style the character has shorter arms and legs and the shoulders aren't wide. the character designs for chobits for Chi, Chi’s design is the most detailed one.

Legal Drug

Legal Drug came after Suki, Clamp was into underground crime dramas so the manga has serious and dark tones. The series went on a hiatus so the art style changed compared to when it was first run making the art style similar to XXXHolic. 

Clamp used digital computer equipment for Legal Drug, Legal Drug is the first series that Clamp drew colored digital for the first time. Clamp drew all the CG color illustrations for Legal Drug. They wanted to use CG as a tool so they learned how to use CG from Katsuya, Okazaki Takeshi, and Takashi Yamazaki. Clamp struggled using the computer for the first time they ran into problems like the power ran out of the computer before saving. 

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

The drawing methods changed with Tsubasa and XXXHolic, two series that worked in tandem; this goes with the drawing style of both series since the art style has been changing. Both scripts of XXXHolic and Tsubasa have a lot of difficulty, Tsubasa was supposed to be for a younger audience which caused it to increase complexity but it gave the team complete creative freedom. Clamp didn’t want to make the pacing too complicated due to being about a young man's journey. 

Tsubasa had thicker lines and simple page layouts, Clamp used a marker with thick lines that could be drawn while printing on rough paper since the frames did not work well the fine lines looked blurred Clamp had a problem making the lines too thin, and didn’t have the impact they needed to stand out the lines need to be bold and popped out since it's a weekly manga series said readers tend to forget. The thick lines in Tsubasa are to make the art be seen in the magazine printings since thin lines are too delicate and will make scenes hard to see in the printing of the magazine

Since Tsubasa is running a weekly magazine the thickness of the lines affects the visibility of the magazine printing.

Tsubasa started the trend of drawing thin vertical borders and thick horizontal ones, the difference between the panel borders Clamp separating the panel in the layouts to link it to XXXHolic.  

The art style of Tsubasa was based on a suggestion from the editor The editor asked the group to make the drawing style attractive to readers of Shonen magazine Tsubasa is a shone manga drawn to fit that genre Clamp already had design decided and materials prepared.  

For materials they are seen using when drawing, Tsubasa is a monograph mechanical pencil used for pencil drafting in their manga. The Clamp uses a marker with which thick lines can be drawn to make it pop out on rough paper in printing the ink markers they use to fill in the large spaces. Clamps have Copic markers for colored illustration in Tsubasa. 

Ohkawa directs the art style of Tsubasa, she tells the members to draw the male characters with vigor and take more care of the female characters. Mokona is the artist who crafts the characters and storyboards she draws most of the characters in Tsubasa, female characters have soft fluffy hair and look like they are drawn with soft touches, and male characters are drawn with a rougher touch. Ashura wasn’t easy to draw since they have a feminine beauty and it wasn’t easy to draw those with loose eyelashes. They decided not to draw lower lashes which made the faces stiff, evident with Emeraude they changed her hair and put curls in her hair to make her more graceful. They used their normal style to get the readers to pick up the story. When accustomed to the new style they thought of slowly returning to their art style during the country of Oto.

The script of Tsubasa takes 5 hours, the storyboard 10, and the drawing for the manuscript takes two days for 20 pages. If not going well, it could take three days.  

XXXHolic 

The drawing methods changed with Tsubasa and XXXHolic Two series worked in tandem compared to the two series XXXHolic was the series that Clamp found was easy to draw. 

The characters of XXXHolic are drawn to be very tall and have long limbs; they are thinner and longer in the drawing. It makes characters more expressive in the manga. XXXHolic and Tsubasa have similar proportions for characters The reason is that they cross over Tsubasa is linked to XXXHolic the proportions of the characters are similar to be meant to cross over to Tsubasa.

The materials for XXXHolic they use for drawing are felt tip pens since human characters are drawn by 2 people if they used a regular pen the brushstroke strengths would be uneven Clamp members have strong drawing pressure so having the same pen can even it out. Clamp decided not to use screen tones for xxHolic, XXXHolic is drawn without screen tone to give more of an impression of occultism. 

They used mechanical pencils for the drafting stage when drawing in xxxHolic and inking markers to fill in large spaces.

There are a lot of Japanese and Chinese in XXXHolic The style Clamp uses for XXXHolic is similar to traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings, a Ukiyo-e art style that dictates longer proportions for the characters. The character looks tall and lean. xxHolic looks more like a wood block painting and has Japanese prints and Alphonse Mucha with an art nouveau in it. The female characters in XXXHolic are drawn by Mokona and the male characters are drawn by Nekoi who are also Yokai and spirits that aren't in human shape and animals.  

The covers and color pages are drawn by Nekoi and Mokona together, the base colors of the covers are never white, gold, or silver then color printed over it.

The storyboard for XXXHolic takes 6 to 8 hours done by Saturday.

Kobato

Kobato's art style is similar to Card Captor Sakura’s. The lines used in Kobato are similar to the lines in Card Captor Sakura, and the lines in the manga are thin, like a shoujo manga. The colors of the illustration are pale with a touch of watercolor. 

Kobato was made into a brighter series since Tsubasa was heading into a dark development, Kobato's story is loose and not too dark and is meant to be more relaxing.  

Comparing and Contrasting the panels of these series 

X/1999 & Clover 

Clover and X are two old shoujo manga done by Clamp though Clover was drawn during the run of X 

making X the longest-running series. Each of the members of Clamp is in charge of the art direction of the manga

with Nekoi in charge of the art direction of x and Mokona in charge of the art direction for Clover.

The lines that are used to ink and the line thickness in the two series are different along with the amount of pen pressure seen in the manga. The members of Clamp have strong drawing pressure. You can see it in the way they drew the lines in the ink and the line weight in the ink in the manga. You can tell the amount of pen pressure used in both the manga series is a testament to how strong the drawing pressure is. 

For the line thickness for both series, the lines in X have straight bold thicker lines. The lines in Clover are thin and along with the panels the lines have thin frames.

X uses a heavy amount of screen tone whereas Clover doesn’t use too much screen tone.  

They use a different sort of paper for clover that is gayoushi paper which is used to emphasize the bounciness of Sue’s hair.

These are two styles. The art style for Clover is made to look pretty since it's for girls and drawn with an air of decadence to give people old-fashioned feelings when they read it. The style of Clover stands out due to how it's drawn. The frames of Clover are supposed to look more like a movie. The art style of X went through huge changes due to a long year run so its art style changed to be more defined and detailed.

Both manga series have different art styles to suit the atmosphere of the manga  X used a heavy atmosphere where Clover has some sort of emptiness that the characters in the manga face to symbolize how bleak their situation is though someone pointed out that a large amount of negative space for clover is drawn to emphasize for the characters loneliness. The atmosphere of X gives a more foreboding sort of feel since it's near the end of the world.

Tsubasa and Card Captor Sakura

These two manga series went through two second series there is major art development compared to how it was first runned here to properly focus on the current art style.

When you put the two together they are radically different.

The art styles for the two series are created to fit the genre with Card Captor Sakura being a shoujo manga and Tsubasa being a shonen manga.

For the lines of the series, Card Captor Sakura is thin curved lines and doesn’t use a lot of ink The lines in Tsubasa are bolder and thicker with simple page line art.

The materials used when drawing Tsubasa for which thick lines can be drawn is a marker with thick lines as stated before the impre.ssion of the series can change depending on the materials used this is true for Tsubasa and Card Captor Sakura

The characters in Tsubasa are drawn differently by different artists the female characters have soft fluffy hair drawn with soft delicate touches and the male characters are drawn with a rougher touch to emphasize masculinity. 

The eyes of both series are different. The eyes in both series have different textures in the irises with the upper eyes in Card Captor Sakura being thin and dark. The eyes of Tsubasa are angular and thick there are no lashes in the eyes of Tsubasa

Sakura and Syaoran

If you need to compare the series the styles would be seen best in the designs of the two characters of Sakura and Syaoran. Looking at them together the impressions of these two characters do change depending on the art style of the series they are drawn in. Sakura and Syaoran are drawn differently in Tsubasa than they were in Card Captor Sakura Even though Sakura and Syaoran are drawn the same there are a few differences that set them apart seen in the hair and eyes. 

The designs of Sakura and Syaoran are re-used in Tsubasa in designs. I would notice a lot of small details in their designs that make them different and stand out as their hairstyles and eyes differed when you put the two of them together. The new designs of the characters convey the impression of their characters.

There a different impressions of the two characters when you look at the art style how they are drawn with thin lines and how they are drawn with thick lines the impression of the two characters are There different when looking at the different art style and how differences there are in their designs

In the Card Captor Sakura Syaoran looked more like a boy fitting since he is in elementary school so he's drawn to be much younger. The syaoran in Tsubasa gives an image of a young man between boyhood and manhood Tsubasa’s syaoran design highlights maturity in contrast to Card Captor Sakura Syaoran. The height is obvious in the designs drawn with the Tsubasa design. 

If I compare the two Syaoran together their expressions are different, Card Captor’s Syaoran looked dour and moody 

whereas Tsubasa’s Syaoran spots a determined, serious look. Card Captor’s Syaoran looks like a little kid while Tsubasa’s Syaoran looks like a bright honest, sincere young man. The only difference between the designs of syaorans would be their expressions conveying their overall look and personality in their design. Syaoran is designed based on a shonen protagonist it answered with what would happen if Card Captor Syaoran is the shounen protagonist with Tsubasa Syaoran as the answer. 

For Syaoran’s hair: Syaoran’s hair is a crew cut with the end shaved. Both Syaorans have the same hairstyle drawn differently from the series. In Card Captor Sakura there are a lot of lines and details in the hair of Syaoran’s with his bangs being thin lines.  Tsubasa’s Syaoran hair is simplified and doesn’t have too many lines his hair and bangs are drawn simply and look blocky and rough he is drawn with rough edges as seen with his hair that emphasizes masculinity.

For Sakura's hair, both the Card CAptor and Tsubasa have short hair. She does have the same short hairstyle; there are a few noticeable differences. Card Captor Sakura’s hair looked straighter in the art, Tsubasa’s Sakura hair has soft fluffy hair and looks bouncy and floofy. her hair moves in different directions to emphasize the bounciness aspect and there are a lot of strands in Sakura's hair. 

Card Captor’s sakura is designed based on one of Clamps nieces and Despite them being designed as normal girls, they have this cuteness to them that makes them appealing with Tsubasa sakura designs being reused but still have an image of cuteness like with card captor’s sakura still retains her cheerful and lively personality as she had in Card Captor Sakura.

Card Captor Sakura and Kobato

The two of them are both shoujo mangas but have different audiences with Card Captor Sakura created for a younger audience and Kobato for an older audience in mind.

The two series have different tones Kobato is focused on drama and is more serious but light and loose. Card Captor Sakura is a lighter series than Kobato but is drawn with a soft cute-like feel in mind with Kobato being a focus of reality and the supernatrual in the manga. 

The amount of lines when inking at Kobato has a similar style to Card Captor Sakura with the series both using thin lines The lines in Kobato are thin and shojo manga like Card Captor Sakura use curved thin lines and don’t have a lot of of of ink. There are different textures in eyes when inked, Kobato has a lot of lashes in her eyes Sakura has a few lashes 

Card Captor Sakura and Chobits

Card Captor Sakura is a shojo manga intended for a younger audience in mind, Chobits is an ecchi manga drawn for an older male audience in mind the art style is appealing to a male audience. 

Though the genre of the two series has different art styles they are both drawn with the same thin lines the series are drawn with the use of thin lines and both look soft. Card captor Sakura Doesn’t use a lot of ink and has thin curved lines.

The difference is the materials that are used for the series Chobits uses different materials from Card captor Sakura, for materials for Chobits Clamp use ballpoint pens to make it look to be drawn by pencil The thickness in the eyes of Chobits have a thin line drawn, the ballpoint pen has something to do with it changing the thickness in the eyes.

Tsubasa and xxxHolic

Tsubasa and xxxHolic are both manga series that are drawn in tandem so it wouldn’t be a surprise they have a similar art style. Holic and Tsubasa have similar proportions for the characters this is supposed to show they are both linked. The characters in Holic are drawn tall and have long limbs which are thinner and longer in the manga.

Holic is styled as more of a woodblock painting. Holic art style resembles Japanese ukiyo-e paintings with ukiyo-e longer proportions. Holic is drawn without screentone to give more of an occult feeling.  

Clamp uses different materials for the two series, Holic has members draw the characters they use felt tip pens to match Clamps' strong drawing style and use an inking marker to fill large spaces. For Tsubasa the materials they use are a marker with thick lines they used a marker with thick lines to make it pop. Since Tsubasa is more action-oriented since it is a shounen the art needs to pop.

Comparing the thickness of the lines in the series, I would say that Holic has thin lines to contrast with Tsubasa's thick bold lines The eyes of Holic look like there drawn using thin lines and the eyes of Tsubasa have heavy lines in them.

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[prismatoxic]

So like,why do you ship Laios and Chillchuck? This isn't anon hate it's just a ship i never really thought about and now I'm curios and I like hearing people rant about their blorbos

for many reasons! but let's start at the beginning, shall we?

i didn't know dungeon meshi existed until early february. i'd seen some media for it in the past, but didn't know any of it was related nor was i interested enough to dig further.

the very first fanart i ever saw for dungeon meshi was this one (it was on a different site though):

i didn't know who the characters were, but the dynamic spoke to me. it reminded me of two of my partner's OCs that we've been shipping together for nearly ten years: a big buff blonde guy who loves animals and seems stupid but is just socially stunted, and a short aggressive rogue with reddish hair and brown eyes who doesn't take other people's shit and is damn good at what he does. yes, it's that specific. these are them:

even without that foundation to work on, though, chilaios interested me. i love size differences and i love ships between nice guys and angry guys. that said, i mostly put it out of mind after nick's first fanart, but it posted some more not too long later which got me thinking about it again...

and by then more people were talking about dunmeshi because the anime was getting underway. i spotted chilchuck and laios in posts about the series and realized that was where they were from, and that there was an anime, as well as a manga. that was all i knew, but their dynamic was intriguing me more and more, so i told my partner about it and said chilchuck and laios reminded me of harry and jeffrey and showed him some of the fanart. neither of us tend to start new media very often (i'm significantly worse about it, it takes a lot to get me to try), but eventually i looked into the series and found that the anime was brand new (5 episodes at the time) and the manga was completed. both of those facts were ideal for trying to get into it.

we didn't start watching until the week episode 9 came out, not for lack of interest but because there just wasn't really any incentive to get a move on. by then we'd both recognized that we'd be insane about chilchuck in particular, because we love his character type and he's very, very cute. and we were right! you could practically hear the canned audience applause when he showed up onscreen the first time.

we didn't watch all 8 episodes in one sitting, but we did watch several of them, and i think it was clear to us both that chilchuck and laios absolutely had a fun dynamic. eventually we'd go on to read the entire manga, and we're fully caught up on the anime, watching the new episodes every thursday.

the basic thing i like about their sort of setup is the way laios respects chilchuck and never doubts their relationship, while chilchuck is frequently aggressive and critical but staunchly sticks around and keeps helping anyway. it says a lot about them as friends: laios isn't worried that chilchuck actually hates him, and chilchuck's actions speak louder than his words, always staying and doing the best he can even if he complains. he wants what's best for laios, even if he never says it, and laios trusts him completely.

i love that chilchuck cares even if he pretends he doesn't, and i love that laios has utmost faith in him. i love the little intricacies of their individual backstories and the ways they compare and contrast. i love the way their personalities collide, independent of their existing relationship (as in, i'd ship them even if they interacted less). i love their size difference. i love them individually, as really well-written and fascinating characters, and i love thinking of new ways to pair them together and seeing what everyone else does with them. i love chilaios!!!! it makes me very happy and they are a perfect ship for me.

look at that. goddamn. the way the shot lingers. the way laios grips his hand. 10/10 effervescent would ship again

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

Day 13: Abyss Beneath a Smile @arcvmonth

There are some really solid villains throughout Arc V, but my favorite is one is Zarc. He's different from a lot of other final antagonists because the show has been hinting at his revival since episode one. The foreshadowing in Arc V is already amazing, but it's even better when you rewatch the series and pick up on details that you wouldn't normally notice in the first watch. Yuya's voice once he first use Pendulum cards is a bit of a higher or deeper pitch and it's easy to not notice it the first time when the even the voice actors are still getting used to their roles, but it's so cool to realize that was an early Zarc voice.

I love the Zarc battle. It's easily one of my favorite duels in the series. The tensions are high with both the world destruction threat of Zarc's revival, but also everyone trying to save Yuya. There were a lot of great moments with the cast trying to reach out to Yuya. However, I initially just wrote off Zarc as being just overpowered final antagonist. Not that was a bad thing, but since that's pretty typical among final antagonists, I wasn't expecting much from him despite all of the buildup for his return. That all changed with one line from Crow:

“Are you that afraid of losing?''

That combined with Zarc's reaction instantly made me reevaluate him. There was more of a point as to why he was overpowered. He was afraid of losing. He was so consumed by his desire to keep on winning that losing jus once to Ray made him afraid of another defeat. That's why Pendulum monsters can be revived from the Extra Deck instead of going to the Graveyard in the first place. He wanted to keep winning no matter what and knowing that it was partly born from a fear of defeat made Zarc a lot more interesting to me. Even his downfall was interesting to me because the crowds in the Original World demanding more violent duels is oddly similar to what happened with some fans. I don't think it was a common opinion, but it wasn't uncommon to see people say that Yuya was more entertaining in his Awakened State than when he was trying to perform his Entertainment Dueling. It makes those comments both ironic in retrospect and makes Zarc's downfall more believable at the same time.

I love comparing Yuya and Zarc since they feel like opposites of the same coin. Yuya struggled to maintain his ideals, questioning if he was good enough to use his Entertainment Dueling to end the Dimensional War, all while trying to reach the audience's expectations. Zarc is a dark mirror of what Yuya technically was in the past. He couldn't maintain his ideals, he caved into what the audience wanted at the cost of his true dream and completely lost himself in the process. The scene where both Yuya and Reira start crying when they remember Zarc's true dream is quite sad because it was the moment where Zarc truly realized how far he had fallen from that goal. Zarc seemingly had no connection besides his dragons, which meant that no one wanted to save him in the Original World once he went on his destructive rampage. Yuya had made friends over the course of the series, so even knowing that he was Zarc's reincarnation, they wanted to save him. It's such a good contrast and shows what Zarc really needed in the Original World. He wasn't able to learn that as Zarc, but he could as Yuya and I really like that. It makes Yuya's development feel even more noteworthy to me and makes Zarc stand out among the antagonists as well.

[lnkedmyheart]

So I have been sitting on this for a while. A few days ago I made a random post about Rose, a desert dwelling person being given pasty white skin in broho when in 03 she was given more realistic tanned skin. Considering Arakawa was actively involved in the production of 03 I was only curious as to why such a change was made. Mind you Rose was a character in a black and white manga, she wasn't exactly given a specified skin colour.

But anyway, what irked me was the claim that 03 ruined the theme and the plot of the story. And that is such a shallow broho supremacist take its not even funny. I usually avoid 03 vs broho bs because at the end of the day it's just 2 groups that can't get over themselves and get it past their thick skull that people can like different things. The whole point of 03 and broho being so different from each other is the time they came out and the target audience's tastes. Arakawa began writing fma in 2001. Fma 03 was first released in, you guessed it, 2003. The anime was about to catch up to the manga super soon and the manga wasn't even halfway done. So guess what Arakawa basically let the studio do whatever, took part in the story and decided to continue fma manga in a different direction so that the 03 anime could be a self contained piece while also keeping fma manga a seperate story. Fma broho is informed by every other typical shounen save the world manga of its time as you can see from how little the concept of lasting consequences matter. 03 came out at a time where the stories were dark, tragic with bittersweet endings and the consequences mattered. The themes were dramatically different in 03 and broho as well and both stuck to their personal themes. In fact 03 stuck closer to it than broho did to its theme.

Lastly. Why was alchemy basically just magic? Idk man, because not everyone in the writer's room is going to sit and research practical application of alchemy for a show they have to pump out within a year meanwhile Harukawa spent almost a decade writing the alchemy in the manga. And mind you, 03 came out during the 3rd year of fma manga.

Fma 03 and broho are two completely different shows that originate from a single source. They are not meant to be compared or contrasted. One is not inherently better than the other for ruining a plot and theme that didn't even exist back when it came out. You are just being severely biased if you think 03 is trash when it was considered a masterpiece when it came out. Fma 03 put the manga on the map on the global scale and was responsible for the hype surrounding broho. It was adored by the gp when it came out and was absolutely beloved till the manga supremacists rolled in to trash it just to hype up broho. Both shows offer wildly different experiences and themes. As someone who grew up on blood +, wolfs rain, Trinity blood and the likes 03 was more my type while broho was a bit too shounen and slapstick for me. It would be different for someone else.

My point is, I don't like broho vs 03 fandom wank because 90% of the time it's just someone being biased and wrong.

[raayllum]

Plot, Theme, and Pacing :: 4x01 Re-Birthday

So a little over two weeks out past S4′s release date and a few days before S3′s three year anniversary, I was reflecting on the mixed reactions to S4′s pacing, why it feels unique in some ways to previous seasons as well as what it borrows from structural and pacing standpoints, as well as a potential thesis statement for the season, or at least, episode one.

Which is to say my guided research question is: What is the Point of each episode? and my current thesis statement is S4 Writes to Establish Theme Instead of Plot, specifically, and we’re just gonna see how it goes.

None of this means the pacing has to / did work for you, not saying this writing approach is flawless, or that I’m even right in positing this theory but as always, I’m interested in figuring out what canon gives us and why and what I can yield / analyze from it by engaging with, rather than critiquing the material by focusing on what’s not there, so this is undoubtedly going to be the former rather than the later.

So without further ado, let’s get into the season premiere, 4x01: Re-Birthday. 

Now, in actuality, this is one of the most jam packed episodes of the show in terms of the amount of information given, outside 1x01, and definitely one of the most jam packed premieres. 2x01 was heavily predicated on Ezran teaching Zym how to fly and more than that, establishing a deeper basis for how primal magic works in order to set up Callum’s season long arc. 3x01 is intensely plot > worldbuilding or theme focused, even if again, only about three happens (Amaya getting captured, Rayllum making it past Sol Regem, and Ezran showing up in Katolis in the last few seconds), similarly to how Claudia and Soren do at the Moon Nexus at the very end of 2x01

In contrast, 4x01 establishes

Ezran’s fortified council and plans to bring Zubeia to Katolis, as well as Opeli’s reservations

Callum’s paranoia, his research, and lingering discomfort around being High Mage

The secret plot

That Viren’s resurrection is temporary and Claudia’s means to make it permanent

Janai and Amaya’s relationship and proposal

For casual audiences, that Rayla has left and her status / state of her well-being is currently unknown

So 4x01 is mostly about catch up as well as showcasing change, centralizing on two main characters. So let’s talk about it

It’s All About Claudia and Callum (+ Viren)

Claudia and Callum are by far the most developed characters in the first episode, as they have in a lot of ways been through the biggest changes and most explicit trauma (Rayla might be a contender later, but she’s not here yet). They are also the characters most notably tied to stakes.

Both are aware of the passage of time in a way that is absolutely painful. Both have lived and were forced to live for two years with someone they desperately love (in fact, because of the same person and same trait, of Rayla’s sacrificial nature and willingness to die for a cause). Callum has been in limbo with no direction other than magic as a crutch, while Claudia has been also relentlessly using magic to try to revive her father, concentrating on very little else.

Furthermore, through dark magic, Claudia is able to achieve the one thing Callum cannot: bringing the person she loves back to her. 

This establishes Claudia as being Active on a narrative level with Callum being comparatively more Passive, as well as being an inversion of their original S1 roles in some ways. While Claudia’s early S1-S2 arc was dominated by chasing after the princes to stop them from returning Zym and trying to make up for losing the egg, we will see the trio’s mid S4 and onwards arc be about trying to stop her from unleashing Aaravos. 

[ If you are interested in learning more about narrative passivity, I’d suggest checking out this meta I wrote contrasting and comparing Claudia and Ezran as foils in S2-S3. I also have one planned examining Rayla and Viren’s parallel passivity in S4 ] 

Then, of course, you have the more overt parallels drawn between Callum and Viren in a few key ways. Examining the mirror with parallel framing, meeting Soren on the battlements, waving to kids as they walk on by, their shared position as High Mage.

Callum can’t say Viren’s name either, which feels purposeful precisely because the man is Callum’s political and narrative predecessor, but also because of the emphasis the series puts on routinely calling things what they are. It also sets up how unstable Callum’s identity as a mage will, in some ways, become later this season when Aaravos is brought directly into the fray. 

Of course, while Viren and Callum have always had a plethora of parallels, the biggest one in some ways is that now, they share a birthday — or re-birthday. Callum is attempting to move on in some capacity (which given the Rayla drawing in his study, he’s not trying that hard to let go — yet, anyway) while Viren is playing catchup. 

I’ve talked about Callum’s mental / emotional state in S4 and the way he, to a degree, acts like he’s already dead because Rayla leaving metaphorically killed him, in a way. We can see parts of this already in 4x01; whenever Callum isn’t with or doing things for his brother, he is alone (unless he’s trying to get answers out of Soren because he hates secrets now, or Corvus and Soren are stumbling through stalling him) and typically in his study with the mirror and maybe Bait as company. 

But we see Callum carry this weight with him, stuck in the same kind of grief Rayla was in TTM.

E: Why aren’t you celebrating? C: It’s not really my birthday anymore. Not to me. It’ll never be the same.

His birthday has been permanently changed, even if everyone else has tried to breathe new life into the day. He has been permanently changed; he’ll never be the same, either. We also see a similar sentiment for Viren. He’s not particularly joyful at being back alive, even if his stance on it swings between happiness to reluctance even over this first episode and the rest of the season.

Claudia will never be the same because of what she’s done to bring her father back, shown by her hair. Viren will never be the same because of the trauma of death, shown by his battered garments and changed attitude. Callum will never be the same because he’s had spent two years mourning and missing Rayla, and like Claudia and Rayla’s TTM cloak, is decidedly split down the middle. 

Claudia has a second chance to save Viren. Rayla took a second chance to kill Viren. Viren now has a second chance at life. What does Callum have a second chance at? It’s certainly not the mirror and it’s not magic. So, she’ll show up in an episode or two, but we’ll get to that when we get there.

The main point is that for Callum, a lot of his characterization and framing this episode is to get us caught up to who he is after two years, the way he’s been hurt, and how tethered he is to Claudia in terms of motivation and Viren in terms of theme. Just as Viren is going through a kind of rebirth, Callum is gearing up for one too, even as the episode goes on, we see just how different a place he is in, narratively, as well.

Secret Keeping and Subversion 

Now onto what tethers our arguable A and C Plot together most obviously, which is to say: Amaya and Callum both have secrets kept from them that turn out to be happy, celebration occasions. While both believe for most of the episode that the secret can’t be anything good, both are proven wrong. Amaya is overjoyed by Janai’s proposal even if it initially went awry, and Callum is touched by Ezran’s attempts to give him a happy birthday, even if it doesn’t work. 

So Amaya and Callum are drawn together into disliking secrets being kept from them. There’s the obvious layer here, of course, of Janai paralleling Rayla and her secret-keeping in TTM, leading to Callum’s behaviour and responses in this episode. Amaya states, “You shouldn’t keep a secret from me,” even if Janai posits, “It’s safer for you to not know yet,” Amaya still doesn’t like it.

However, there is perhaps the less obvious parallel between Amaya and Rayla, and an inability to believe you are safe even when your partner assures you otherwise. Amaya never entirely lets her guard down until Janai re-emerges and Rayla was unable to let her guard down in TTM, torn between angrily holding on and questioning if anyone was right to try to move on, let alone her. 

This also speaks to how Rayla’s paranoia has, in some ways, gravitated to Callum instead, too. Now he’s the one who fears the worst. Now he’s the one who can’t believe that everything is fine. It’s an awful way to live. 

However, where Amaya and Janai end their plot line happily, the ending scenes of the episode all emphasize what other characters have that Callum does not, which is

Partnership 

Callum’s lack of partnership shows up in many ways throughout the episode, both big and small. The person he always used to discuss magic with is gone, and he notes that nobody else really entertains him. He has his drawing of Rayla from 2x07, also from when he was worried about losing her, up in his study. He demands answers from Soren and doesn’t ask for reassurance; in fact, despite spending most of the episode worried, he doesn’t get any reassurance until the very end. He’s so focused on magic that even when he thinks Ezran may be in active danger, it’s enough to distract him. And of course, there’s the way he tries to pretend to be fine when his brother asks.

As I’ve noted before, Callum actually confides very little in anyone in season four, at least not without prompting. This is a big change from prior seasons for numerous reasons, which I’ll expand on more in the next and final section of the meta. For now, I’m just going to let the screencaps of each plotline’s final scene (or close to) in the episode speak for itself.

As previously discussed, Claudia has been able to do what Callum could not, and brings her loved one back to her. She’s reunited with her father after two long years of worrying. She then also joyfully introduces her boyfriend, Terry, to her father, who in spite of Viren’s lukewarm to cold reception, the two are happily unfazed by: “I think that went well.” Janai and Amaya’s engagement is reaffirmed by Janai stating Amaya’s fierce battle prowess is one of the things she “loves about her.” 

(Meanwhile Viren is without his partner in his ex-wife, Lissa, likewise leaving him.)

Callum ends his birthday on the balcony initially alone, then with his brother, crying under the light of the moon, and unable to even admit he loves Rayla out loud anymore because it hurts too much. He worries and mourns his best friend and girlfriend, Ezran able to provide only minimal (if any) comfort by the time the episode closes out. Again, we see Love tethered to this idea of Death per Viren and Claudia, as Ezran’s “She’s alive. And wherever she is, she love you too” makes Rayla loving Callum synonymous with her being alive. 

All of this compounds the fact, though, that Callum is fundamentally without his partner or one of the two people he loves the most in contrast to the rest of the main cast, even the ‘villains.’ Even with Ezran, who can understand this heart break the most, Callum is alienated in his grief. To Ezran and everyone else, his birthday is still a day worth celebrating. To Callum, it’s not. It never will be.

In his own words, it will always just be the anniversary of the day she left. Of the day he lost her, while he lay sleeping. And, speaking of isolation, let’s talk about

When Does Callum Self Isolate?

Callum doesn’t self isolate often in previous seasons. He definitely does so sometimes, and will often catch a quiet moment for himself just to draw on purpose. Callum doesn’t mind being alone (and indeed I think he’s more introverted than extraverted at his core) but he typically isn’t alone when dealing with his emotions, except for a few exceptions.

In 1x01 when hearing about Harrow, Callum doesn’t want to worry his little brother, so he goes to Soren and insists on helping. We can see parallels to this in 4x01 as well, with Callum believing there’s another plot to kill the king that Soren has accidentally ‘spilled the beans’ over. (The king and high mage standing on the same balcony talking about Moonshadow assassins. The same cycle that just keeps on restarting, but again, more on that next episode.) 

The main times Callum isolates for emotional reasons in S1-S3 is

1) He can’t sleep (2x07 before Rayla joins him and he was still chatting with Bait, so he wasn’t wholly alone and this one probably makes the most sense)

2) Lingering out in the storm in 2x04, using magic to help take his mind off Soren and Claudia’s betrayal. Again, until Rayla joins him, and even when he goes into the storm, he happily takes Zym with him

3) Perhaps the one true time in 2x05, where he goes below deck on the Ruthless to try to read Harrow’s letter and bursts, angrily, when he thinks he’s being interrupted/intruded upon (even if he softens and asks Bait to stay). 

The last one is notable since we know that Callum’s instinct with grief is to isolate and then seek out companionship. After Claudia tells him the truth about Harrow, he walks back to the dwelling alone and in tears in 2x02 before Rayla finds him. When he brushes her off, it’s with the intent of telling Ezran the truth, before he spends the night sitting up alone (while Rayla does the same outside the garden). Then, after he tries and fails to tell Ezran, he seeks out Rayla and fully lets himself start grieving. 

By S4, we see this has radically changed, as again, 90% of his scenes where he’s around people centres back to doing something for Ezran (the council meeting) or worrying about his brother. The one main exception is Callum seeking the Crowmaster out to ask about the Tome of Translation, and that was more of a happenstance passing in the halls than Callum going to the rookery, perhaps. The one main exception is him finding Soren on the battlements and even that is related to him dealing with leftover trauma from Rayla’s departure. In spite of being the king’s brother, Callum actually sits farthest away from Ezran and indeed from any other council member as he can possibly get.

We also see that how Callum grieves has changed, or at least, the way he grieves Rayla is notably different. He’s still actively grieving, yet shuts himself from everyone else, including his own party. He has been outside for “a while” (as Ez says) completely on his own before Ezran notices and then goes after him. There’s no attempt to get him back to the party, either. 

His temper is fast and loose, he’s more paranoid, patient, worried, slightly more of a workaholic and prone to spending a lot more time by himself. He doesn’t have his confidant. He doesn’t have his counter-balance. And it goes a long way to making him feel off-kilter, even before the season really kicks off. 

Conclusion

To wrap things up, 4x01 introduces some of its primary themes of the season: stagnated grief, separation and reunion, partnership (or lack thereof), and life-death symbolism being brought heavily to the forefront. 

A lot of the characterization and parallels between Callum, Viren, and Claudia are subtext that provide a picture, meaning that while the episode’s primary job is to catch us up, it’s also laying the ground work for the bigger thematic questions the season interrogates later (largely beginning in episode two and three), as well as leaving room for future seasons. 

If you enjoyed this post, I hope to make one like it for every episode in season four in order to chart out the thematic waters I can see and understand at this time. All posts in this little mini theme series will be specifically filed under my “Establish Theme Series” tag as well as my more general “analysis series” tag. I do have some metas I plan to upload concurrently with this mini series

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I’ll see you in the next one!

[captmickey]

I got an ask and remembered that I um... never answered this... so let's fix that!

My thoughts are all over when it comes to the boys (and as I type this and struggle to find a way to sound coherent), especially at the concept of hurt/comfort because, that aside, they have a lot of overlapping traits... like, a lot-a lot. Yet at the same time, they also handle their situations differently? There's a lot. But I'm gonna (try to) focus on this particular hurt/comfort which is touch starved. Because BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS.

So it should go without saying, Graham is definitely the more 'touchy' one of the trio. Being the one in game to really get up into people's spaces, not afraid to touch and what not. So for 3adv, this is a stark contrast to Guybrush and Link who are... not as touchy, if at all. Like, yeah, they'll give the occasional hug, nudge, playful punch but not to the level of Graham.

And I just... keep thinking of that aforementioned 'handle their situation differently', with Link being brought up to not show emotion so as not to jar the audience's opinion of him, Guybrush just being essentially neglected of it as a whole for a good portion of his life (sans Elaine giving it tenfolds, obviously... I'm not about to slander her!), and Graham going to Daventry for the first time and he goes on to say, canonically, how he could use a friend and really is just excited at talking to somebody.

I've also thought how, regarding Guybrush.... Words are Guybrush's specialty, he can comfort with a few choice sentences, but he has been burnt before in the past by trusting others (it's why he's very very veeeeeeeeeeeery particular who he calls his friend), so it's not... as natural for him to physically comforting (sans, again, Elaine) but when he meets the two, and when he finally starts to know Graham, he knows that sometimes the poor kid needs a hug. Same in regards with Guybrush towards Link... it's almost kindred in that sense though he can't quite put a finger on it as to why. It probably also helps that he always relaxes them with their 'knightly' status and has them let loose and be themselves and that includes hug (because this nitwit won't outright say he'll need a hug but will gladly offer it to those two and those two only).

Link is still... trying. He's not as good at words as Guybrush is, so the closest he'll try to show comfort, to show that he cares is gentle nudges and side hugs. He's trying, really, and so far those two are the only ones he feels he can drop his guard and be as physical with them compared to, say, Zelda. He'll playfully punch, nudge, and lean his head against them, because being around them, subconsciously, has him realize just how starved for physical affection he is.

Graham, who was brought up in a loving, very touch-affectionate environment (from his family to Wente), is very quick on the uptake and just, instinctively goes to comfort, it's veeeeery apparent to him that these two need it. It's almost like breathing air. And after being alone (again, according to chapter 1 and him saying how he could use a friend), it's a no brainer why he gives them all the comfort he can muster.

I like to think how Graham initiates it with hugging them or clinging to them physically, offering them a hug if they need it (or just hugs them without warning... Wente would be so proud). Almost as if whenever those moments that reminded them of their loneliness comes creeping up, when he sees them going quiet and clearly being reminded of that time, him hugging and giving literal physical comfort is his own way to let them know, physically, that they're loved and he cares for them, that those doubts aren't true even though it happened.

Especially when he learns of their past and understands the severity of their loneliness. And he gets it. Of course he is going to do anything he can to make sure his friends know that they're loved.

And I also grin thinking how it gets to a point where Link and Guybrush also just... instinctively know that when Graham is down. When he's not as optimistic or down or he has his brows furrowed etc. they know he needs the comfort, whether it's those quiet side hugs, just holding him, or letting him lean against them, they'll go out of their comfort zone to give him that.

It's kinda why they're finding themselves, pretty often, in a group hug without even knowing it. These are three kinda lonely guys who are finding comfort with one another and it gives them strength and I'm not even sure if I'm making sense haaaaaa.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Madi Diaz & Jack Van Cleaf Live Show Review: 3/6, Lincoln Hall, Chicago

Madi Diaz

BY JORDAN MAINZER

"I've got these purple shoes--they're very cool," Madi Diaz shared Wednesday night at Lincoln Hall as she tuned her guitar. Someone in the audience replied, "Tell us more!" Diaz didn't hear them, but the crowd member's response was apropos of Diaz's open-book nature as a songwriter and performer. Over her past two albums, 2021's History of a Feeling and last month's Weird Faith (Anti-), through her unflinching honesty, Diaz has created a solidarity of self-expression, anthems out of moments and feelings we might otherwise be ashamed of (loneliness, crying in public). She's put to song the peaks and valleys and beginnings and ends of relationships with others and herself, the non-linear nature of realizing that she loves, hates, feels a burning desire, and in turn deserves to feel it all. Turns out, a lot of other folks have had experiences similar to hers, making it easy for them to sing Diaz's words back to her and feel a palpable connection.

Diaz

Diaz walked out to Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music", a fitting sentiment to introduce a show in which she laid bare her vulnerability and created an atmosphere for others to do the same. Truth be told, she knows how to start a song, an album, and a set; "Same Risk" confronts a love interest about a level emotional playing field. "What the fuck do you want? Cause I'll give you all that I got," she sings on the Weird Faith and set opener, each subsequent line one-upping the prior in terms of frankness, culminating with the question, "Do you think this could ruin your life?" and the admission, "Cause I could see it ruining mine." Though the album version has the proper canyons of space to give room for Diaz's heavy confessions, the live version was comparatively stripped-down. On stage, Diaz played guitar and sang alongside multi-instrumentalist Adam Popick, who played drums and synthesizer, sometimes simultaneously. Though Diaz's lyrics are often diaristic, conversational, and clear, that they were less obscured by instrumentation as on the album made them all the more in-your-face. As such, a song like upbeat strummer "Everything Almost", wherein she wonders whether she's doing and saying the right things in a burgeoning relationship (and she's even doing the wondering out loud, in real time) is borderline like watching theater: At one moment, she cracks up at the thought of being a needy pregnant partner, and at the next, cowers at the idea that her parents might not be around to meet their grandchild.

Diaz

Diaz's unbridled outpouring can be jarring, but it's undoubtedly powerful. On Wednesday, huge-sounding songs like "For Months Now", "KFM", and "Resentment" transformed into intimate singalongs. "Hurting You", performed solo on acoustic guitar, became an even more hushed ode to picking yourself back up after a heartbreak, learning how to move on from grief. And though Kacey Musgraves didn't show up to duet "Don't Do Me Good", the crowd's belting of the all-timer country chorus was as stubborn as the song's protagonist herself.

If Diaz has grown as a songwriter over time and as she's penned for pop and country stars, it's clear that her time opening for the likes of Waxahatchee, Angel Olsen, and Harry Styles has allowed her to understand that, when performing, just because a space is big doesn't mean it always needs to be filled. The subject matter of her songs could be constantly cried out, but she belted only for maximum impact, contrasting the dulled tom thuds on "Get to Know Me", or holding a single note on "Crying in Public". For the most part, her vocal delivery was subtle, especially when she harmonized with Popick on "Girlfriend" and delved into fatalistic tricks on the unreleased "Worst Case Scenario", a song that tests her "theory of imagining the worst possible thing happening" so that it won't happen, or "expecting nothing and then being pleasantly surprised." At one point, on "Worst Case Scenario", she exclaimed, off-beat, "I'm gonna think of it!" over chugging drums and barn-burning riffs, recalling the tossed-off singing of Jason Molina.

Adam Popick and Diaz

Where Diaz finds ultimate peace is not in fatalism or nihilism but a sort of existentialism. She spends a lot of Weird Faith looking for meaning in giving your all to someone, and even weather patterns. But on "Kiss the Wall", she proclaims, "Nothin' is a waste of time," connecting the most boring moments when we're waiting in line for something to one's own legacy, perceiving that we all make tiny changes to earth. During her encore, Diaz said she didn't believe a mere two years ago that she could spend time on stage singing about such a raw period in her life. As she wrote Weird Faith "on the backs of mantras," she started to believe in herself. It's clear, now, that one of those mantras is that every moment carries weight. She ended the night performing the title track on acoustic guitar, visibly emotional as she left the stage. As the house lights went up, we were graced by none other than Limp Bizkit's cacophonous cover of George Michael's "Faith", a reminder that even the cruelest of jokes can be earnest expressions of the universe's necessary chaos.

Jack Van Cleaf

Opening was Nashville-via-Chicago songwriter Jack Van Cleaf, an acoustic guitar picker whose songs and performances, like Diaz's contain heart-to-heart chatter. Lines like, "Love is like a rattlesnake / Before it bites, it tries to warn ya," from "Rattlesnake" were perfect bedfellows to Diaz's "Same Risk". And perhaps it was a mix of Van Cleaf fans and Diaz fans attuned to storytelling, but I was wowed by the audience's reaction to his songs as much as the songs themselves. On the unreleased "Using You"--which employs drug metaphors to explore how people use each other for attention during a relationship--the audience reacted with every lyrical twist and turn, despite likely never before having heard the song. After performing it, Van Cleaf asked those taking videos to tag him on Instagram, not for clout, but so he could watch it and fine-tune the song. Yes, such symbiosis carried seamlessly into Diaz's set, but for Van Cleaf in a vacuum, it's easy to see how another unreleased song like "Piñata" came to be given his appetite for feedback. It wasn't just the words themselves but the way he delivered the line, "I'm full of sugar / I'm full of niceties / I'm full of shit," that hit harder than a candy bar after too many edibles. Next time Van Cleaf comes to Lincoln Hall, he might be the headliner making people cry.

Van Cleaf

Van Cleaf

Van Cleaf

[hopeymchope]

2022: The Rise of the Sneering, Manipulative Protagonist!

...and I mean that in the BEST possible way.

Based on my other writings on this Tumblr, you might read that headline and expect this to be a teardown of the characters I’m referring to. After all, you might think that a certain purple-haired lad with a checkerboard scarf could be described with the same words. But I say thee NAY! I come not to condemn the heroes of Tomadachi Game and Trapped in a Dating Sim, but instead to praise them!

So: Over the past couple of months, I’ve fallen in love with two boys who have truly embraced the notion of being the hero people need even if they’re not the one people want. Not only are they really compelling characters in their own right, it’s also interesting to see how their attempts to “playing the bad guy” contrast with somebody I’ve previously ragged on in this blog quite a bit. 

But we’ll get there. First, let’s talk about these two guys with their somewhat-similar solutions to problems as well as their obviously-similar hairdos.

We begin with Yuuchi Katagari, the protagonist of Tomadachi Game. (Which should really have been translated as “Friendship Game” for English audiences, but I guess someone in localization did precisely 1/2 their job and then rolled over for a nap or something.) Tomadachi Game is about Yuuchi and his friends getting trapped in a series game “rounds” where huge amounts of money are on the line — and unfortunately, huge amounts of debt are given to them from the outset. The kind of amounts that could destroy them and their families. I’ve given a VERY spoiler-free shout-out to it before. (And dont worry. I’m not gonna spoil either of these anime/manga/light novels beyond their setup details.)

The rest of the jist is that it soon becomes clear that the game is rigged towards making them all lose, and Yuuchi? He’s not going to let his friends destroy their lives. But he’s not going to let whoever’s behind the scheme get away with it, either. He wants justice.

A face you can trust. Clearly.

So, although Yuuchi starts off seeming pretty wholesome, once the titular game gets underway and shit begins to get real, he is soon looking a lot more... unhinged. He starts using his intelligence to manipulate everybody around him in such a manner that will lead to exposing more and more information about the game and its mastermind. Yuuchi is willing to act like an absolute maniac if that’s what he thinks the people in charge will want and need to see. He’ll embrace the role of villain externally, but at the same time, he’s working to keep his friends from suffering for their involvement — that is, provided their involvement is innocent. In the course of his actions, he appears to be manipulating all of his friends at times. And sometimes, it’s true. But even that manipulative appearance might be a maneuver in itself in certain cases — cases where, in reality, he’s being totally being upfront and honest with some of them while fronting for other people’s sake. 

It can sometimes be hard to figure out when he’s legitimately winning a game and when he’s legitimately losing one, because he just fronts so goddamn well. He’s easily one of the smartest characters I’ve seen in an anime — I’ve seen one YouTuber compare Yuuchi to the likes of Lelouch from Code Geass or Light from Death Note. And who doesn’t enjoy watching these sorts of master manipulators? .... Especially when they get to unload on people who’re much, much shittier. Having to act like a douchebag to other decent people? That may be necessary at times, but it kinda sucks. The complete jackasses though? Those are always the highlights.

Sure, he’s probably not gonna do it, but I mean... he’d be pretty justified if he did.

Even as things get tougher/darker for Yuuchi and he questions his own morality, starting to think that he really is a bad person at heart... the audience at home never has much reason to doubt his goodness. Even when he reveals some dark secret about his past, it inevitably seems to lead into a context that is actually NBD. And even when some of his friends seem to turn against him, he’s quick to forgive and bring them back under his protection — which they readily embrace. The result is surprisingly heartwarming.

Aw, see? He’s just an innocent lil’ fluffhead.

It just takes a little bit of honest communication to make his manipulative “villainy” into twisted teamwork. And sure, he stumbles a little bit — at one point he’s mean to one of his friends just because he wants to drive her away from him so she’ll be safe. But that same damn night, he rushes to be there for her and makes it all up to her. So even when he’s legit acting like an asshole, he can recover from those events pretty quick. Just because he’s playing 4D chess and acting like a psycho for external observers doesn’t mean he’s being a selfish dick about it for those who matter to him, and I love that.

I might love Leon Fou Bartfort even more, though — it’s hard for me to say. I just *might*.

Claims to hate “hot guys.” Is actually kinda hot though?

Leon’s the protagonist of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs. YEAH, it’s one of those overlong titles that tells you “Oh, this is based on a series of light novels.” And it’s even a dreaded isekai story.

Historically, I don’t care for isekais much. Not only are they WAY overdone these days (and even when I write it in all caps and/or bold it, “WAY overdone” feels inadequate to explain just how fucking much isekai is out there currently), but I’ve found precious few of them do much with the conceit that feels unique. I do think Konosuba is pretty funny overall (though it has its obvious downfalls), and I adore the reverse-isekai The Devil is a Part-Timer! But in truth, I think I got more deeply invested in TiaDS than either one of those. This damn thing is something special.

The setup: Leon finds himself reborn in an otome game in which the matriarchical society allows noblewomen to attend an academy in their young adult years. Said academy is ostensibly about academics and etiquette, but it’s really about the men trying to impress the women that they’d make good husbands. Leon’s sister made him play this otome game to completion back in our world, and now, Leon hopes to use his knowledge of the game’s world and events to avoid any danger or drama. Initially, that seems like it’ll be easy because he’s just a background NPC of lower birth. But naturally, he soon finds that he’s going to face a horrible fate if he doesn’t achieve some level of nobility that will get him out of his predicament. And when he swiftly pulls THAT off, he’s forced to attend the same academy as all the game’s central characters. So once again, he tries to stay away from them and avoid their problems. And once again, he predictably cannot leave well enough alone. Both his moral code and his extreme irritation with the school’s highest nobility make him unable to stand aside and let things play out. That’s when he realizes that if he wants to both monitor what events are coming/what “route” the game is on AND also give some comeuppance to those who treat others as “lesser,” he needs to embrace acting like a douchebag. He must vilify himself to become the hero this world deserves. 

“Do you ever wonder why there are so many treasure chests throughout these dungeons? Like: Who put them there, and why?” “Nope. Sure haven’t.”

Leon is nowhere near as smart as Yuuchi, though. Even as he attempts to manipulate events through his behavior, his plans seem to backfire almost as often as they succeed. Sometimes he self-sabotages by acting impulsively. Leon is also probably a worse person than Yuuchi because he lacks Yuuchi’s self-doubt and self-awareness. It’s not too surprising when Leon starts to genuinely enjoy his cruelty on occasion, turning him into something of a “toxic gamer” type who verbally abuses others as he takes them out. (Yes, this supposed otome game has combat in it. Combat with mechs, even. Go figure.) But honestly, if gloating over people he beats in combat is his biggest sin? I think we can handle that. .... Though it is pretty rude, tbh.

Even with that character flaw, however? Leon waffles on his ability to fully play the villain role he’s assigned himself. Yuuchi is much more dedicated; Leon can’t help but make moves behind the scenes to help his enemies out so they don’t suffer overmuch for his actions. Even when he’s in the midst of a fight for his life, he refuses to kill anybody — something which his A.I. companion notes could definitely come back to bite him in the future.

That’s right, Leon has an A.I. companion: Luxion! Luxion was once housed within a robot that attempted to kill Leon. After a simple bit of reprogramming and a transition to a far less intimidating body, he now serves Leon with politeness that only barely masks his grumpiness and loathing. Their back-and-forth is really funny, and it’s cool to see how they gradually come to like each other at least a little more with time. 

Leon gives Luxion the privilege of naming his mech suit.

Even better, though, is Leon’s personal growth as he learns things about himself and how to treat others by comparing his behavior to that of the people around him. You see other characters in this world who first appear one-note come to show FAR more nuance, too. 

Plus, as I’ve said before, the English dub for this show is just insanely fucking good. Top-tier.

As much as I think Leon is great? I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how cool Angelica is, too. By the end of the season, she was my second-favorite character. Angelica is the otome game’s ostensible villain — the girl who has it out for the protagonist and tries to prevent her from getting with any of the various pretty-boy nobles. She is also, like many of the characters in this show, deeper than she appears on the surface. Viewing the scenario from a different angle gives Leon a new perspective on her whole deal. The same goes for us viewers, presumably.

“Evil” is in the eye of the beholder, my guy.

But let’s get down to business (to defeat the huns): You might be inclined to wonder why I love these guys but despise Kokichi Ouma. After all, isn’t Kokichi ALSO publicly playing the part of the villain in order to draw out a mastermind and end a game — which sounds just like Yuuchi, who I claim to love?

To some of you, I bet the difference is already obvious.

Yuuchi and Leon are both keeping people in the loop on what they’re doing, and they avoid unnecessary cruelty (plus they try to make up for it with quieter acts of kindness). Yuuchi does try to do the “convince his friends that he’s evil” thing a couple of times, but he swiftly backs down on it in less than 24 hours. Because as soon as they need someone, he can’t help but be there to stand up for them. And Leon? Leon never tries to push his friends away. His initial pals at the academy, Dan and Raymond? They are ALWAYS in the loop on his plans. HIs newest friends, Olivia and Angelica? Even though he just met them, he’s still constantly open with them about what’s going on and why he’s doing it. His performance is only for the people he doesn’t know at all or just doesn’t like. 

Part of the fun is in watching them maneuver other people by pretending to be evil and/or psychotic while simultaneously being good-hearted people who show obvious care for others. Yuuchi and Leon are never going to be relentlessly cruel to the people around them without swiftly making up for it, and they’re never going to withhold information that could save lives for personal amusement. That’s only Kokichi’s jam, see?

Be Warned, Though: Neither “Tomadachi Game” or “Trapped in a Dating Sim” are currently a complete story as an anime. Both animes end with the door wide open for future seasons. But if you wish to keep going, the option to explore the source material IS there. Tomadachi Game’s manga is widely available in English online, and the series of Trapped in a Dating Sim light novels even has an official English publication that will take you far beyond the limits of the show. I don’t believe either of those source materials has wrapped up, however. So at some point, you’ll have to hit that wall. 

Personally, I’m going to start digging into those light novels first.