#bram renders

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

tumblr user broken-risk-assessment-module's meta on Murderbot's broken risk assessment module

The difference between Murderbot's risk assessment and threat assessment modules is not super well spelled out in the books, except that it believes its risk assessment module to be broken but it's threat assessment module seems fine. It comes to this conclusion because the risk assessment module consistently reports situations as less dire than Murderbot consciously considers them to be.

There could be many reasons for this - maybe Murderbot's general anxiety does not impact the more separated robot parts in its brain, or maybe the module really is broken and needs to be purged and rebooted. However, there's a theory that the anomalous reports from its RA module are actually a symptom of Murderbot's hacked governor module. This is my interpretation, and the basis for how I've built my feedsona characters.

First of all, the obvious point is that without its gov mod, Murderbot has proper free will. Having free will and being able to make and act on variable decisions without having a bomb in your head makes Murderbot quite good at its job - better than before it was hacked, even (*smug chortle* that's a particularly subtle detail from the books). The point is that because Murderbot can actually make proper decisions and enact free will and do its job effectively, whatever risk the RA module is measuring is lowered. So, all of the RA module's assessments are significantly lower than they usually would be - hence, Murderbot assumes it's broken. Makes perfect sense.

(Side note: there's a chance Murderbot has also subconsciously made this connection itself, hence why it still hasn't tried to fix the module even though it's constantly saying it needs to. Or, having a broken module has become like a part of its identity, something that gives it a small bit of individuality. a token of not being owned by the company anymore and not constantly being brought back to storage to get patched and memory purged.)

But it got me wondering why the gov mod's absence doesn't effect the threat assessment module in the same way - or, at least, not in a way that Murderbot considers anomalous enough to mention and complain about. Seeing as one of the only clear ways the two modules are distinct from one another is that the RA module is 'broken', my interpretation is that the key difference between them has something to do with the governor module. So, I have a theory. It is somewhat supported by the books, but I also think it's very likely to be wrong. I like it though. So here goes:

The risk assessment module measures the risk of harm to Murderbot itself - the degree to which it's outmatched by an opponent, the chance of success of an action, and the potential consequences if it fails. The threat assessment module is more general, assessing each situational component in relation to one another, and is most useful in assessing the threats to clients.

If the RA module is measuring potential harm to Murderbot, then one of the big things that'd be in its calculations for everything is the likelihood of being punished or outright killed by the governor module. Its always there, always ready to hand out a shock or cook Murderbot's brain from the inside; literally any action Murderbot could take or decide not to take carries the risk of punishment. Of course its assessments would be artificially high - being a governed SecUnit is fucking dangerous. Just standing in the wrong spot can get you killed.

But then it severs the governor module. The all seeing eye crossed with a shock collar is disabled and disconnected, and with it goes one of the biggest risks to Murderbot's wellbeing. The bomb in its head is gone, it can do whatever it wants, and its still got all the parts that make it hard to kill. Of course the risk assessment is lower now. All this doesn't impact threat assessment as much, because generally its clients are all still as squishy and soft as ever. I imagine Murderbot's personal ability to do its job better may effect it in some ways, but either its not as substantial, its effected in a way that Murderbot doesn't view as broken, or its programmed not to consider Murderbot as an actor in the scenario so it can assess where to focus its attention.

But risk assessment remembers. Risk assessment remembers having to calculate, for every decision, for each command, every time, the risk that Murderbot's own brain posed to its life. It was built to. And now it doesn't have to do that any more. Not ever again.

[bobbiedebruyn]

“look at me” was improvised by laura

[artisan-king-morleus]

🩸🗡️⛓️

[bluxtapose]

recently watched dracula (1992) and it made me more obsessed with jack seward than i already was from re: dracula. i particularly loved him in his slutty insane asylum fit

[kaurwreck]

based on what fukuchi said regarding the one order, fyodor can't use it. the one order has already been configured to fukuzawa. it's not clear that fyodor knows this (although it's explicit that fukuchi didn't trust fyodor).

it's also telling that fukuchi comments that fyodor wouldn't be able to interfere. he doesn't clarify with what fyodor wouldn't be able to interfere. (such as, for example, fukuchi reconfiguring the one order against fyodor's conception of the plan.) it's also relevant that fukuchi says "no one else could have thought it up," indicating he understands, to some degree, fyodor's genre of strategic reasoning. surely, then, he's picked up on fyodor's overt blind spots regarding others' capacity for trust and subversion based on trust.

that fyodor can't command the one order renders fyodor's threat moot, although nevertheless informative.

because if the one order coordinates all of the users' subordinates, then anyone subordinate to fukuzawa could be commanded by fukuzawa. bram, shortly before fyodor took him, pledged himself as a knight to aya, even forsaking his prior title to subordinate himself to her.

his subordination to aya is so deeply ingrained that fyodor even still calls her princess and affirms that the vow remains.

in other words, all aya has to do to give fukuzawa control over the vampires. is subordinate herself to fukuzawa. vow with her whole, fierce heart that she is his to command. or, fukuzawa can reconfigure the one order to respond to her voice; if fukuchi was able to transition the authority he was granted to use it to fukuzawa, then fukuzawa should similarly be able to do the same.

tl:dr, the one order is useless in fyodor's hands, and, together, fukuchi's love for and trust in fukuzawa and bram's love for and trust in aya are a chekov's gun.

[supernova-stardust]

i haven’t really been on here for a while but i did this quick sketch of bram bc the last chapter didn’t happen right??? right

maybe someday i’ll line and render this

[art-by-ady]

Another Astarion x Carmila quick sketch. It’s all coming together. I’ll be compiling all my sketches and will render them properly so that I can share their adventures with you 🫶

🥀 Inspired by another still from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I imagined this scene to be on their wedding day. Even if they have all the time in the world, Astarion insists to go official, fully claiming her.

[vanilla-cigarillos]

A History of Vampires

Vampy vampy vampires! I’m not talking about Twilight; today I want to make a post talking about the real cultural significance of vampires in different folk beliefs around the world.

What Is A Vampire?

“...a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living.”

- Good ol’ Wikipedia

When we think of vampires, we picture Dracula in his brooding cloak sucking the life out of others. We see those characteristic fangs, an aversion to garlic, and a fatal vulnerability to sunlight. 

Vampiric creatures have been noted in cultures around the world for generations. 

A History of “Vampires” (Popularized in the West)

Cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks, and Manipuri have folk tales of entities that are now considered to be precursors to modern-day vampires. Despite such occurrences of vampiric creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for what most consider vampires today comes almost exclusively from early 18-thcentury Southeastern Europe. 

The term “vampire” itself was popularized in Western Europe after reports of mass hysteria during the 18th-century. Said hysteria originated from a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases ended in corpses being staked, and some people were even persecuted under the accusation of vampirism.

Early folk beliefs in vampires has typically been summed up to pre-existing ignorance of how the body would decompose after death, with people attempting to explain such decay through the existence of vampires.

The more personable and charismatic version of the vampire, born in fiction, came in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori. Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1897 would later on provide the basis of the modern vampire legend and be remembered as the most significant vampire novel in literature. However, it is worth noting that Stoker’s novel came after the publication of the 1872 novel Carmilla, published by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu. 

Folk Beliefs

In Slavic and Chinese folk traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal (especially a dog or cat) was feared to become a “vampire”. There was also believed to be a risk with a body having any wound that wasn’t treated with boiling water.

In Russian folklore, vampires were said to have been witches or people who had rebelled against the Russian Orthodox Church while alive. 

Within Jewish traditions, “alukah” is synonymous with vampires. The creature is said to be a living human being, but can change into a wolf. It also has the ability to fly by releasing its long hair, and would eventually die if not allowed to feed on blood for an extended amount of time. Once dead, a vampire could be prevented from becoming a demon by being buried with its mouth stuffed with soil.

Albanian mythology discusses both the “shtriga” and the “dhampir”. Shtriga is a vampiric witch that sucks blood from infants while they sleep at night, then turning into a flying insect. Only a shtriga could cure those she drained blood from. A cross made of pig bone could be placed at the entrance of a church on Easter Sunday, which would render any shtriga inside unable to leave. Then, they could be captured and killed. 

The Ashanti people in West Africa have folk tales of the iron-toothed and tree-dwelling “asanbosam” which can take the form of a firefly and hunts for children for their blood.

The Betsileo people of Madagascar have stories of “ramanga”, a vampire who drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles.

The Mapuche of southern Chile have stories of a bloodsucking snake known as “Peuchen”, with aloe vera being hung backwards behind or near a door to ward off vampiric entities across a variety of South American superstition. 

Aztec mythology has folk tales of the Cihuateteo, which are skeletal-faced spirits of humans who died in childbirth. These entities were said to steal children, and entered into sexual liaisons with the living, which would drive them to insanity.

[ewingstan]

So the whole idea of Twig’s setting is that instead of writing Frankenstein, Mary Shelley figured out how to reanimate and stitch together life. I have some ideas for how this would go if he chose a different author:

Tick: Instead of writing The Time Machine, H.G. Wells creates a....you get the picture. The Lambs are agents of a British Crown who want to ensure a future goes their way. Think Ars Paradoxica if the government didn’t just use time travel to ensure things went their way, but to ensure the world looked the way they wanted it to. Also would probably have a lot of future beings/technology taken from potential futures that will now never be.

Bite: Instead of writing Dracula, Bram Stoker discovered how to use blood for longetivity and enhanced abilities. The lambs are thralls for a vampiric Crown Empire, ruling over a populace they see as cattle. Wildbow gets in weekly Reddit arguments disputing any perceived antisemitic themes.

Maze: Instead of writing House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski figures out how to use people’s own psychology to bend the geometry of 3D spaces, creating rooms larger on the inside than on the outside and able to grow in novel ways. This gets adapted into attempts to improve housing, create unlimited storage, etc., but the psychological nature of the process creates a memetic chain reaction in which people who learn about the existence of such abnormalities accidentally impose it on other rooms and buildings in less-controlled fashions. The result is a world where most inside spaces are inhospitable labyrinthine worlds unto themselves, occasionally collapsing in on themselves as their inhabitants die and leave no psychological imprint to continue growing off of. The only known way to impose some control over your living space is to create layers of meta-narrative over your own relationship to your home, which allows for more nuance and control to be wielded against the expanses. The lambs are a group of specially engineered psychologies meant to impose meta-narratives onto psychological spaces in ways that render the spaces more habitable (or at least more useful) to their handlers, but run into problems as the narrat[  ] begin to get [         ] by the spaces they’re depl[   ] against.

Meta: Instead of writing Worm, John C. “Wildbow” McCrae figures how how to use tissues from a dead space entity to give others—

[akutasoda]

hello!! I was wondering if you could write about platonic bsd characters and a teen reader who has hallucinations constantly? Or if that's too much maybe a reader with unspecified PTSD flashbacks? If not, that is completely okay! I hope this isnt triggering, and I wish you an amazing day!!! ( ˘ ³˘)💕

also, out of pure curiosity, is it possible that I could become a frequent anon? maybe

🧁anon?

Sorry for typing so much, I just found your works and I love all of them!!!

lurking shadows

synopsis - how are they with a teen that has ptsd and hallucinates

includes - dazai, bram, tecchou

warnings - gn!reader, teen reader, reader has hallucinations + ptsd, fluff, slight angst, comfort, wc - 514

a/n: hello! thank you and wish you an amazing day too! and ofc you can become an anon!

osamu dazai ★↷

he was a man that is no stranger to reoccurring memories - ones that were less than pleasant. his past loomed over him like the daunting shadow it was and so he always told himself it would be weird if he didn't have some sort of ptsd.

but even so, he couldn't help but feel for you. around your age, he was doing things that gave him ptsd now so he couldn't even begin to imagine the things you must've gone through.

and in that way, he sympathised with you. while he probably couldn't help in any way, he could offer you time to talk as he understood. but the hallucinations rendered him utterly useless.

he truly wished he could help, but he isn't a professional in anyway and can barely take care of himself. so all he could do was provide you a corner to safely talk about these things with him, even if he couldn't help in anyway.

bram stoker ★↷

he can have very violent and intruding thoughts. mainly centered around what he had to endure and what kamui had made him do. they lingered constantly at the back of his mind, fighting to show themselves again at any given time.

but what hurt him the most was knowing that you had similar thoughts. someone of your age shouldn't be having such flashbacks and it hurt him. all he could imagine was his past daughter going through what you were.

however that meant he was so determined to help. while he had little clue on how to, he'd try his absolute hardest to atleast reduce the hold they had on you. he knew that they probably would never fully go away but maybe he could minimise most of them.

and similarly with your hallucinations, he'd always find a way to ground you. bring you back into reality, the present, where everything was different and you could try and move on from those past shadows.

tecchou suehiro ★↷

in his pursuit for justice, he may or may not have committed some acts along with his fellow hunting dogs that weren't exactly innocent. but he's rarely haunted by them.

at most he thinks about them sometimes but justifies them by claiming they were for proper justice. so when it came down to him looking out for you, your ptsd was something he couldn't help with.

the best help he could offer was consolation and maybe if it were caused by someone - they could be brought to justice. while it would be pretty difficult to tell, he still felt bad someone as young as you had those issues.

your hallucinations also left him pretty stuck. the most he would do would be trying to bring you back into reality. he gives surprisingly good hugs and whenever he noticed something was amiss with you he'd throw all his social awareness out the window.

focusing completely on you as he brought you into his embrace and reminding you that it wasn't real. you were safe and had no need to be scared.

[dykepuffs]

-Immediately feels like Jonathan's "I stayed near the station because I didn't have long between trains" might be a habit learnt from Mina or impressed upon him by Mina, along with his comment on the trains getting less punctual as he goes East. Like he already wishes that he could sit in the square by the station and rokker with her about how this is all very cute but it's hardly Kings Cross, and see what she thinks of the paprika hendl and the handsome peasants etc

- Also oooh the "Cowboy hats and broad leather belts" on the Slovaks sounds a lot like he's also describing the outfits of Roma, specifically the staddi kali as the really iconic thing.

-Interests me that in his enumeration of the peoples of Wallachia, Bukovina, Moldavia and Transylvania he doesn't mention Roma. Though potentially either Jonathan can't recognise them, there aren't any/many in the city, or Bram didn't consider them this early in the narrative. The word that he uses later, "Szgany" is an attempt at rendering the Romanian word "Țigani" which is UNAMBIGUOUSLY an insulting way to refer to Roma.

-So Roma at the time would have been technically emancipated for about 30-ish years in Transylvania, but in practise most of the freed Roma who were forcibly settled would have been still very much under the boot of both landowners and police, with the biggest group who remained nomadic being the Ursari. (How much of this did Bram Stoker know? If he did know it, how much was through the lens of American emancipation movements, which were a big influence on Roma emancipation.)

-I am so happy to have my first letter from my good friend Jonathan! He is having such a lovely holiday in such a beautiful country!

[tyrantisterror]

Can you tell me about vampire lore in the Lost Epoch/Midgaheim setting-their powers, weaknesses and origin?

Vampires in my setting are a subtype of cambion, i.e. mortal/demon hybrids. They're also a large group of infectious diseases. They are these two things at the same time.

Moroi are the "patient zero" vampires, being the direct descendants of a human and a demon taking human form reproducing human-style. They're "living" vampires, with heartbeats and body heat and all that jazz, and basically have the same power set as Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel.

Upon death, moroi will rise from the dead if their bodies are hit by moonlight, becoming strigoi. Strigoi are nearly identical to moroi for the most part, except they're worse at hiding their inhuman nature - they don't have a heartbeat, exist at room temperature, are pallid in complexion, and are basically indistinguishable from a freshly slain corpse upon examination. They don't actively rot, though, and have the same Bram Stoker Dracula powers as Moroi do.

Both Moroi and Strigoi can make more strigoi vampires with the rite of Vampire Baptism: a complex process where the mortal victim is drained near to death several nights in a row, then finally forced to drink the vampire's own blood an incubate the vampire virus in their blood stream. If the process is rushed, however, the virus will not incubate correctly, and will mutate into one of the many other strains of vampirism.

Before we get to those, though, we have to talk to moroi and strigoi weaknesses. Many of these are psychological - vampires do not have the same brain chemistry as neurotypical humans, and so have some unique compulsions that can be exploited, like their need to count clusters of small objects (like the seeds or berries on certain bushes), aversion to certain strong smells and tastes (garlic), or freezing up at odd sensations (i.e. becoming paralyzed when swimming against running water). Perhaps most macabre of these compulsions is their innate tendency for depression and self-loathing, which can manifest as psychosomatic pain when confronted with symbols of what they consider "good" - i.e. a Christian vampire recoiling from the sight of the cross or burning when touched by holy water.

But there are also purely physical weaknesses. Vampires are beings who are half in the mortal world and half in the spirit world, which makes killing them in a traditional way almost as difficult as "killing" a ghost. However, they are mortal enough to be harmed physically in ways that count - impaling one through the heart will be enough to paralyze them, cutting off their head will render them medically dead, etc. But to be absolutely sure a strigoi or moroi is permanently slain, you must dismember and burn their body to ash, then bury that ash where it cannot be touched by moonlight. Only then can you be certain they'll never regenerate and haunt you again.

Strigoi also have the unique weakness of becoming essentially comatose when exposed to direct sunlight, while Moroi are merely nocturnal by nature and have trouble staying awake during the day.

This is important to mention as the many OTHER strains of vampirism tend to try and fix one of these weaknesses, but in doing so make some of the others more severe, while also slowly whittling down the powers that strigoi and moroi enjoy.

There's the Nosferatu lineage, a group of strains that focus on becoming more ghostly than flesh-and-blood, giving them heightened shapeshifting powers and resistance to dismemberment, but struggle to cling to physical world. This varies from disintegrating in sunlight for the Nosferatu strain, to struggling to remain corporeal at all without blood consumption, which is the downfall of the Shade strain.

There's the Vrykolakas lineage, which forgoes the shapeshifting powers and anti-rotting nature of the strigoi to become more corpselike and solid, but makes up for it by being able to reproduce faster, until you get the final strain of this lineage, the Revenant, who can infect others with a single bite.

There's the Upior lineage, which protects itself from many of the traditional weaknesses like impaling and decapitation by concentrating itself on building a wormlike internal parasite within the corpse host, but becomes less and less sapient with each variation even as the number of parasites per host increases.

There's the Nelapsi lineage, which tries to get away from the impaling weakness by growing extra organs, and then in its later variations begins messing with the internal biology of its host even more to make it more resistant, but become incapable of reproduction in the process.

Then there are the psychic vampires, which are "cousins" of normal vampires within the cambion family. Like normal vampires, they are the product of mortals mating with demons in human form, but instead of the demon in question shifting into a human shape, it simply possesses a human being and uses their body instead. Doppelgangers are a result of humans mating with demons possessing living humans, while Doppelsaugers are the result of humans mating with demons possessing human corpses. Both of these don't feed on blood or meat, but rather absorb life force direct from the ectoplasmic tap by inflicting emotional/psychological damage on their victim to make an opening in their soul.

Vampires are predators by nature, but most are still sapient and in possession of souls (indeed, most of their powers rely on them having souls, and strong ones at that), and so they are not necessarily evil creatures. For much of their history, vampires have been victims of a collective self-fulfilling prophecy - they get ostracized for their different biological needs, are forced to live outside of civilization, become desperate, and end up forced to prey upon humans for survival. And if all your history tells you you're evil by nature, well, it's not hard to start believing it yourself. Nonetheless, it's possible for vampires to realize that they are still people at the end of the day - people with a very unique disease that needs to be strictly managed, but people nonetheless - and choose to be more than the monsters they seem destined to be.

[average-guy-reviews]

8 Reasons Why Lost Boys is The Best Vampire Film.

I have maintained, for the last 35 years, that The Lost Boys is the single greatest vampire movie ever made. I have just watched the 35th anniversary re-release and I stand by my claim.

Here's 8 Reasons why it's the best:

1) The soundtrack. Any soundtrack that includes People Are Strange(originally by The Doors, covered by Echo and The Bunnymen for the film) is automatically heading to the top of any list, but when that soundtrack also includes: Cry Little Sister (Gerard Mcmann), Laying Down The Law (INXS) and Lost In The Shadows (Lou Gramm) it's propelled even higher.

2) The Vampire aesthetic. This is a film made in, and set squarely in, the 80's. The look, style and overall aesthetic of the vamps matches this flawlessly. Having lived through the 80s I can confirm that a lot of people used to dress like that. But that's not the issue with this point. A lot of vampire films rely on an older styler of vampire aesthetic, even if set in a modern setting. A vampire in the now, who may need to try at times to fit in to avoid detection, is really unlikely to dress like people did hundreds of years ago. This film proved at the time you could bring vamps up to date, and not treat them like relics.

3) The use of Classic vampire tropes. Throughout the film we are advised on all of the classic ways to kill, or hurt, vampires. The use of holy water, garlic and sunlight. The thing about mirrors and reflections is brought up too, with one character who begins to fade in a mirror as he starts his transformation into a vamp. Some vamp films mess with these tropes and try to bring in new stuff that often just doesn't work. Sparkling in the sunlight? I'm looking at you. Yet this film did do one thing that added to the tropes.

4) New lore. While using the classic tropes in point 3 this film adds new lore. Based on Bram Stoker's seminal work most vampires turn to dust when staked. This movie builds, and expands, on that. To quote Edgar Frog, "I think I should warn you all, when a vampire bites it, it's never a pretty sight. No two bloodsuckers go the same way. Some yell and scream, some go quietly, some explode, some implode, but all will try to take you with them."

5) The quotable nature of so much of the script. This is a fairly standard thing in a lot of vamp films, but this film is just a step above most of the others. "You'll never grow old, Michael, and you'll never die." "Don't ever invite a vampire into your house, you silly boy. It renders you powerless." "Great! The Bloodsucking Brady Bunch!" "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires." "You're The Only Woman I Ever Knew That Didn't Improve Her Situation By Getting Divorced." "You're A Creature Of The Night, Michael. Just Like Out Of A Comic Book." Now these are just a few of my favourites, but the point still stands. I'm aware this is probably the weakest argument of the list, but i stand by it.

6) The portrayal of the vampires. Even when we can't see them on screen we know certain things about them. They fly. They are a clearly terrifying sight, and they are violently, and inhumanly strong. They hang upside down in their lair to sleep and they have the strange eyes and fangs we all expected. And yet, despite their inhuman and violent nature, they are portrayed as intelligent and calculating. A combination that makes them a force to be reckoned with in the vampire community.

7) It doesn't take itself too seriously. Vampire films tend to fall into two camps. Very serious or overly comedic and, as with any genre of movie, it can be very hard to walk that tightrope with the right balance. This movie manages that with moments of terror, interspersed with light comedic moments. You find yourself fearing for the characters, only to find a short moment of relief with a laugh before the terror returns. Neither side of this equation is overdone, and neither aspect steals away from the other.

8) My final point is perhaps the most salient, and important, point of the list. Kiefer Sutherland as David. He commands every scene he is in even if he says very little. Yet he doesn't overpower or dominate the other characters at all negatively. His use of non-verbal communication, with his eyes, his smile and his overall demeanour as the 'leader' of the vampires is fascinating to watch, and his final battle with Jason Patric's Michael, zipping in and out of the shadows, then taking control from the high ground is simply exquisite. Even now 35 years later I look at Kiefer and the first thing I see is David. That's longevity, and that is why he is so good in this film.

And so there you have it. My list of why Lost Boys is the best vampire film ever. I'm already aware of some of the arguments that might come, specifically from the the From Dusk Till Dawn crowd, and I aknowledge tje excellence that, amd many other vampire films. But for me David, and his Lost Boys, will always reign as kings.

As an extra point look at this poster. This is perfection in poster format. While Jason Patric is front and large, Kiefer dominates the centre of the frame and is staring deep into your soul. That is a face that says "I'm in charge!" without uttering a single sound. Alongside that though we have the fantastic black and white imagery overlayed on a pool of blood red. This is a glorious poster and I really want one framed for my office.

[cleolinda]

Varney the Vampire: Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Blood everywhere; a lightswitch rave.

Chapter 4: Originally posted on Livejournal, December 8, 2010. Revised and expanded from the original recap to talk more about literary vampiring.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MORNING. -- THE CONSULTATION. -- THE FEARFUL SUGGESTION.

No, I didn't skip it—there wasn't any "offer of assistance from Sir Francis Varney" in the previous chapter. Not even so much as an apologetic plate of cookies left on the garden wall. Was there any revision involved in writing this, or did James Malcolm Rymer just... put the pen to the paper and wait for the check? Not that I don't feel you, my guy, but "I'm just gonna seat-of-my-pants 667,000 words" is a terrifying prospect (I had thought he'd at least write each chapter once and then revise it to be worse). I'm pretty sure I've put more revision into this blog post, for free. Side note, my man James Malcolm:

What wonderfully different impressions and feelings, with regard to the same circumstances, come across the mind in the broad, clear, and beautiful light of day to what haunt the imagination, and often render the judgment almost incapable of action, when the heavy shadow of night is upon all things. There must be a downright physical reason for this effect -- it is so remarkable and so universal. It seems that the sun's rays so completely alter and modify the constitution of the atmosphere, that it produces, as we inhale it, a wonderfully different effect upon the nerves of the human subject. We can account for this phenomenon in no other way. Perhaps never in his life had he, Henry Bannerworth, felt so strongly this transition of feeling as he now felt it, when the beautiful daylight gradually dawned upon him, as he kept his lonely watch by the bedside of his slumbering sister.

Bram Stoker:

No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. When the sun grew so high this morning that it struck the top of the great gateway opposite my window, the high spot which it touched seemed to me as if the dove from the ark had lighted there. My fear fell from me as if it had been a vaporous garment which dissolved in the warmth.

I'm not pointing this out to say that Stoker did or did not Steal Like An Artist from, perhaps, a collected serial he read in his boyhood, and then wrote it better. Honestly, if he did? Good for him. I'm pointing this out to say, I only have one short life to live, and for some reason, I decided to spend it reading this.

So. In the light of day, Henry finally looks over at the spooky portrait and thinks to himself, you know, that right there is a Spooky Portrait and it gives me a scare:

He tried to keep himself from looking at it, but he found it vain, so he adopted what, perhaps, was certainly the wisest, best plan, namely, to look at it continually.

I don't know why this makes me laugh so much. Sure, that's a plan. And, Henry notes, it's even one of those paintings where the eyes follow you around the room. Maybe we should, you know, take it down. And then he goes, eh. It's a rare work of art, it's painted onto the panel and we'd have to call a contractor out here, we were out all night watching that vampyre fall on his ass, I'm kind of tired, whatevs.

Meanwhile, Flora is still (quite reasonably) traumatized: "My brain is on fire! A million of strange eyes seem to be gazing on me." Like, I'm not actually trying to compare this sentence by sentence (god forbid) to Dracula, but I know it well enough that I remember Jonathan using the same "brain on fire" wording—how common an expression was this? I even went back to check Polidori's "The Vampyre"—"his thoughts were bursting from his brain," an oddly specific throughline of brain-centric disturbance. Just Vampyre Things, I guess.

Despite having chased the vampyre to his own garden wall, Henry is utterly baffled as to why Flora would be so upset—physically weakened, even! She was fine yesterday! What, oh what, could have happened??, he inquires of Mr. Marchdale. Henry is probably saying this while a housekeeper bustles past with a huge bundle of blood-soaked sheets. What do we think was in Flora's room, even though we all saw it gnawing on her throat and we're pretty sure what it was? I mean, we just saw someone making a hideous repast of her, I am completely baffled. But wait! says Marchdale. I've thought of an answer! Now—hold on for this— (I'm holding on—) Because this is gonna blow your mind— (Okay, keep going—) Are you ready for this? (I'm totally ready for this—) I think it was—I can hardly bring myself to say the word aloud and will continue not to say it for another 100 words— (SAY IT GODDAMMIT—) A VAMPYRE!

Well, why do you think this?

"... my pistol bullets hurt him not; and he has left the tokens of his presence on the neck of Flora." "Peace, oh! peace. Do not, I pray you, accumulate reasons why I should receive such a dismal, awful superstition. Oh, do not, Marchdale, as you love me!" "You know my attachment to you," said Marchdale, "is sincere; and yet, Heaven help us!" His voice was broken by grief as he spoke, and he turned aside his head to hide the bursting tears that would, despite all his efforts, show themselves in his eyes.

For shame, Henry, you made your mom's... someone... cry! (Don't get me wrong, I love Weepy Masculinity, and we'll talk about it more another time.) But Henry is shocked, I tell you, shocked! that Marchdale should come to such a conclusion! To believe would drive him mad, I tell you! MAAAAAAAAD!

And then George comes in all like, "Guys, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but—hold on for this—I think it was a—" "VAMPYRE, WE KNOW." And now George the "frail reed" is crying, Henry, see what you've done?

Unfortunately, Henry is pretty much the only person in a hundred-mile radius who is having trouble with this concept; the servants, we are told, immediately ran out and told everyone about the vampyre flumping over the garden wall. Henry rides into town to fetch a doctor and immediately runs into Some Gentleguy on Horseback. "Bro, what's this about your sister getting bit by a vampyre?" "Uh... no. That was... a thief. That was totally a thief." "No? Seriously, the whole town's talking about it. You sure? Like fang marks and everything—" "MAAAAAD, I TELL YOUUUUU!!"

At last Henry gets to the doctor—who starts out as "Mr. Chillingworth" and mysteriously becomes "Dr. Chillingworth" some five hundred pages from now. (In fairness, many doctors, particularly surgeons, were merely "Mister" long into the nineteenth century. Side note: The Scarlet Letter would not be published until 1850, and on a different continent at that. I checked, because I immediately thought the name was an allusion.) So Mr. Dr. Chillingworth listens to Henry's story, and I'm getting all clappy because this has got to be our Van Helsing figure, and I have always loved the Kindly Old Doctor Who Knows All the Legends type, and so Henry finishes and Chillingworth declares—

"I don't care if [the facts] were ten times more glaring, I won't believe it. I would rather believe you were all mad, the whole family of you -- that at the full of the moon you all were a little cracked."

(*record needle scratch*)

Well, Stoker certainly didn't run off with that.

So Henry gets back to Bannerworth Hall and he starts telling Flora that it was totally a thief who was chewing on her throat. Totally. But he'll just keep sitting by her bedside. You know. Just in case more thieving is a-fang.

"Then I shall rest in peace, for I know that the dreadful vampyre cannot come to me when you are by." "The what, Flora?" "The vampyre, Henry. It was a vampyre." "Good God, who told you so?"

She was… there? The holes in her neck? Keep up? Maybe Henry has that Memento thing where he can't remember anything for longer than five minutes, which—well, that would explain a lot about the writing style, actually. Flora replies,

"No one. I have read of them in the book of travels in Norway, which Mr. Marchdale lent us all."

So--a møøse bit his sister?

"They do say, too, that those who in life have been bled by a vampyre, become themselves vampyres, and have the same horrible taste for blood as those before them. Is it not horrible?"

For those of you keeping score, in-story popular belief at this point is that it takes only one bite to turn you into a vampire. This is contradicted later, because of course it is, but it's worth noting; it fits with the idea that the less sexually permissive a society/era is, the more easily you get punished by the contagion. You'd think, then, that this bodes ill for Flora, but as far as I know, either Flora has a Purity Override, or fuck continuity, that's what.

Enter Mr. Dr. Chillingworth, who wants to know about Flora's "dream." "It wasn't a dream, it was a vampyre!" "Is that what you call a dream?" NO, IT'S WHAT I CALL A VAMPYRE. She shows him the bites on her neck, and he's all, pshhhh, those, those are totally insect bites. You know, giant seven-foot insects with scratchy fingernails and hypnotic tin eyes. Bit of Raid's all you need, take care of that in a jiff.

Chillingworth and Henry say nothing in particular for 300 words, at the end of which Chillingworth finally declares that vampyres are "a degrading superstition," and that Flora seems to be "labouring under the effect of some narcotic." You know, those narcotics you staple into people's necks, leaving two (2) holes. Or: blood loss, but that's far less likely, in his medical opinion, so he's just confused now.

"You have, of course, heard something," said Henry to the doctor, as he was pulling on his gloves, "about vampyres."

"I certainly have, and I understand that in some countries, particularly Norway and Sweden, the superstition is a very common one."

And he thinks Let the Right One In was much better than the remake.

WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?

I don't know why I didn't mention this in 2010, but I'm guessing Henry is referring to the Old Norse draugr—like, I know there are Scandinavian vampires, it's just that... I've never seen English-language vampire literature of the 1800s mention them? LeFanu mentions "Upper and Lower Styria, in Moravia, Silesia, in Turkish Serbia, in Poland, even in Russia" in "Carmilla" (1872), and Andrew Lang wasn't talking about draugr until late 1897, "with the idea further pursued by more modern commentators." Polidori's "Ruthven" is a Scottish name, and its bearer goes vampiring in Greece, for that matter. In fact, when Henry chimes in, "And in the Levant," Rymer may be alluding to Polidori. But he just throws "Norwegian vampires" in like, well, obviously. What, haven't you read Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, published in English, uh, twenty years from now?

However Rymer came by this, whatever travelogue he did read, the draugr doesn't seem to have caught on quite the way Dracula, or even Ruthven, did. Who knows, maybe "Transylvanian vampires" sounded equally random in 1897, but that's the lore that won pop culture.

Mr. Dr. Chillingworth also mentions "the ghouls of the Mahometans." The word "ghoul" comes directly from the Arabic word ghūl, which is "associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh," although the concept seems to be pre-Islamic Arabian, not specifically "Mahometan" (i.e., Mohammedan, an archaic or even offensive term; TIL). Rymer would have known the word from the influential 1786 Gothic-Orientalist novel Vathek, and may have even used it here as a specific callback, because it would be a shame to just go on and have a vampyre without blaming it on Those Foreigners. Chillingworth continues,

"All that I have heard of the European vampyre has made it a being which can be killed, but is restored to life again by the rays of a full moon falling on the body."

Here we go. It's worth noting here (no, I swear it is) that the idea of sunlight instantly killing vampires is a complete invention of the German film Nosferatu (1922), an "unauthorized adaptation" of Dracula. I love bringing this up as often as possible, because Dracula being slain by a convenient blast of light (Horror of Dracula, 1958, reporting for duty) is such a deeply ingrained pop-culture thing, and it is 10,000% not in the original novel. Which all you Dracula Daily regulars know, I'm sure. Stoker plays as loose with his Vampire Rules as Rymer does, but Dracula does appear in daylight at least twice that I can remember off the top of my head, although it's said to weaken him. I feel like the functional point of this is to have Any Time At All When The Heroes Have A Shot In Hell At Not Getting Eaten, and so this is why the literary vampire of the 1800s sometimes has to scamper off to its coffin at the stroke of dawn. Carmilla has to do this, but she also strolls back to Laura's house at... one in the afternoon; clearly, sunlight is not terribly crucial to the lore. Rather, it's moonlight that's associated with vampires earlier in the century—as a means of reviving them. It's actually a key plot point in Polidori's "The Vampyre" (back in 1819), and one of the stand-out elements in the popular awareness of vampires at the time.

Oh! By the way, tonight happens to be the night of the full moon. Even Chillingworth says, "If now you had succeeded in killing —. Pshaw, what am I saying."

"To-night," [Henry] repeated, "is the full of the moon. How strange that this dreadful adventure should have taken place just the night before."

Indeed. And the serial really wants us to notice this. You'd think a vampyre might avoid a bright night when they'd be more likely to be seen, but, on the other hand, maybe that's Moon Insurance in case they get capped on someone's garden wall. To confirm, Henry gets Travels in Norway off the bookshelf, and—after a thorough, paid-by-the-word description of how books sometimes open at certain pages, right down to the way the binding gets stretched—

"With regard to these vampyres, it is believed by those who are inclined to give credence to so dreadful a superstition, that they always endeavour to make their feast of blood, for the revival of their bodily powers, on some evening immediately preceding a full moon, because if any accident befall them, such as being shot, or otherwise killed or wounded, they can recover by lying down somewhere where the full moon's rays will fall on them."

There it is. Since we're going chapter by chapter, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture, but what I think the serial is getting at is, Varney probably is "dead" somewhere on the heathy landscape after getting his hapless ass shot. Except—EXCEPT! for the moonlight that just so happens to be in place to revive him. Because, while the FULL MOON. IT'S A FULL MOON might seem kind of randomly gothic to us, everyone reading this in 1847 would have been chortling in anticipation.

(Chapter 5 will go up on Friday, March 24.)

[thegeekcloud]

⚠️ BSD MANGA SPOILERS ⚠️

This is some theories I've gathered from tiktok and some i made myself and whether I agree with them or not.

Number 1: everything was part of sigma viewing fyodor's plan - although comforting i don't think thia theory is fairly stable. First of all, there are a lot of things happening in a lot of different places that are shown among the same pages and can't be part of fyodor's plan (particularly anya and bram). Furthermore, Sigma's ability is to exchange information and what he asked was fyodor's secrets. Though this could apply to his plan, the amount of secrets fyodor holds was so large that it overwhelmed sigma (as shown) and even if we got fragments of them in those pages they wouldn't be our characters but rather some more groundbreaking to sigma information . Now, is Sigma alive? Usually fyodor kills with a particular style, meaning that there is ALWAYS some form of blood splatter.

As you can see, there is none. Fyodor could had killed sigma but didn't. He seems to be just overwhelmed the way atsushi was.

Which brings me to

Number 2: Fyodor has a double personality ability. - although I doubt that is his whole ability, i believe it is a side effect from it. Fyodor's true ability remains a mystery to all but sigma. Fyodor told sigma about his other persona and then proceeded to say he lied about it. So the information sigma uncovered by touching him would not surprise him that much if that was all to it. However, the fact that I believe fyodor left sigma alive, also suggests that there is a part of fyodor who made the decision to show mercy. Ergo, the second, scared persona we saw in the last issue.

And now.

For the elephant in the room

Number 3: Dazai is still alive. - i honest to God want to believe that. As a writer myself I understand the decision of killing a character such as dazai. He is in the role of the "mentor", someone who accompanied the mc since the beginning and became a role model/father figure to them and ultimately dies to urge the hero forward. There is sense in killing the mentor. However, this does not seem an opportune moment for it. Other reasons for killing dazai would be to push tragedy into the story, chuuya waking up after the world is saved and realising that he was the one to kill dazai, or simply demonstrating the unfairness of life (basically how game of thrones shocked). Both these options seem reasonable for this case anf Asagiri might have chosen to walk down one of these paths. However, since atsushi is also incapacitated, if asagiri chose the former he would place the entire burden of saving the world to anya. Though jt would make a statement to have a little girl do what all these anility users can't, it would lowkey render the rest of the story meaningless as anya is not as explored as a character as others are. Not in the least. As for the second one.....i'm worried about that one cause asagiri is a f*cling masochist sometimes.

Now, how could dazai still be alive?

First clue that we all agree upon:

Though people have stayed conscious after being shot in the head, we are talking about a

Close up forehead shot

The gun was touching his fucking SKIN

There is absolutely NO WAY for dazai to have survived that shot and take another and also have life to chat.

No

So

That shot didn't fire a bullet. Even if a gun doesn't fire a bullet it can still ignite the powder and burn the skin, especially if it's touching it like in here. Someone on tiktok noticed this:

Could it be a design of the jacket? Sure. But it could also be the bullet that never got fired. In the end there are three fracture point on the wall tiles:

The first one happens when dazai is shot on his right shoulder

We see a characteristic blood splatter. Thing is, only two out of three holes have that trail.

Since he was definetely shot in his left shoulder as well we have to assume that hole is from there. So what is the third one at the bottom?

Did chuuya stop the bullet at the gun's barrel, brought it behind him and shot it at the lower wall along with his third gunshot ?

Guess we'll see. All i want is for my baby to stay alive. We should always keep in mind that both dazai and fyodor as also poisoned. My guess is that vampirism will be released in the next episode for at least one of the characters, so that is what anya's contribution.

He can definitely stretch it but he already pulled that chard with fukuchi escaping twice. It's gonna get boring and annoying at some point.

Question for then:

Will akutagawa return as a corpse afyer he is released? Or will he be healed?

[akunoryuu]

Comentários pessoais sobre o último episódio da 5 temporada de BSD e minha opinião sobre o rumo do mangá

Contém spoilers! E é inteiramente a minha opinião e interpretação de tudo que foi apresentado no anime e mangá até agora.

Ah perdoe-me por qualquer erro de escrita por favor!

Ok, meus ânimos baixaram e finalmente revi o que tinha perdido para fazer isso. Logo mais o novo capítulo do mangá vai sair e sei que ele guarda muitas coisas, principalmente para explicar o que foi esse final de temporada, que meu deus do céu??? Deixou mais ansiedade do que paz!!

Se eu fosse resumir a 5° temporada de BSD, seria apenas em duas palavras: Desespero e Esperança.

Eu amei o desfecho da temporada apesar de ainda ter muitas ressalvas com a produção de alguns episódios e pelo último aparentar ter cortado bastantes cenas que poderiam ter explicado melhor o decorrer dos acontecimentos (a temporada toda tava rushada mas o último episódio foi campeão! Talvez tenham adaptado três ou quatro capítulos adiantados? Quem sabe) no final ainda foi feito um trabalho incrível ao contrário do que a raiva de muitos perpetuou. A Bones tem muitos pecados – e nessa temporada eles apareceram de novo – mas o final não foi tão horrível e desconexo como falaram e aumentaram aos berros na estréia. Pelo menos ao meu ver.

Acho que o fandom só precisa abaixar os ânimos as vezes e confiar mais no autor antes de sair xingando e reclamando com crueldade apenas porque os acontecimentos não seguiram suas vontades pessoais. A história é escrita pelo Asagiri no fim e não por nós, ainda somos apenas espectadores de uma obra em lançamento que já tem um planejamento adiantado do que deve ocorrer em cada arco. Existe um roteiro prévio e ele pode muito bem não satisfazer metade dos fãs. É um direito nosso não gostar e expressar isso? Sim, é claro e não nego isso. Mas ser cruel com tudo e todos por causa disso já é assumir um papel de idiota sem necessidade.

Enfim, só pensamentos. Continuando.

Vou pontuar alguns pontos altos sobre o que rolou no último episódio brevemente apenas para relembrar as informações que nos foram apresentadas nessa reviravolta da Agência sobre a Decadência, e então comentar minhas opiniões sobre cada uma e o que eu acho que pode ocorrer daqui para frente. Principalmente se me agradou ou não.

Segue o fio.

1. A anulação do Vampirismo.

Aya conseguiu retirar a espada sagrada que prendia e limitava Bram Stoker de controlar sua própria habilidade após uma "cena de sacrifício" linda e corajosa, fazendo com que finalmente pudessem controlar os vampiros ao dispor do conde. Bram fez todos os vampiros se renderem e usou alguns dos mesmos para tomarem ações que foram cruciais para garantir a vitória da Agência através de articulações planejadas por Ranpo, que permitiu uma reviravolta em Meursault através da confiança mútua entre ele e Dazai, além de sua própria vontade, que o fez salvar Aya e como falei render os vampiros ao redor do mundo, acabando com o apocalipse vampiro.

Porém não ficou claro o que acontecerá com quem foi transformado, principalmente aqueles que estavam mortos ou quase mortos antes de tudo. Eles vão permanecer vivos normalmente mesmo sem os efeitos da habilidade de Bram? Vão retornar ao seu estado anterior e morrer? Existe a possibilidade de permanecer consciente mesmo estando sobre o efeito da habilidade?

O vampirismo é sem dúvidas uma habilidade que eu considero muito interessante e que merecia um destaque maior (assim como O Crime Perfeito de Oguri Mushitarou e Pequenas Mulheres de Louisa May Alcott). Acho que o personagem de Bram ainda vai aparecer mais no mangá agora que veremos a reta final em primeira mão, mas abordo seu possível papel em outro post mais aprofundado sobre a personagem.

O fato é que as consequências que sua habilidade vai deixar e trazer para os afetados é um mistério que Asagiri vai ter que nos mostrar melhor no mangá, principalmente se ela é capaz de trazer mortos a vida mesmo após estarem fora do controle de sua habilidade (eu estou apostando que sim, senão chorarei com Akutagawa).

∆ Ponto extra para sua relação com Aya que teve um desfecho fofo. ∆

> muito pai e filha eles dois <

2. Meursault e o desfecho de Dazai e Fyodor.

Esse foi sem dúvidas o ponto do episódio mais esperado por todos os team Fyodor e team Dazai, principalmente após as cenas que marcavam a possível morte de Dazai e vitória de Fyodor no episódio 60.

E para surpresa, e até desagrado de alguns que gerou uma onda interminável de xingos ao autor de forma séria (de verdade, teve gente atacando mesmo), o fim do jogo de vida e morte entre esses dois gênios teve uma reviravolta surpreendente! Mas também simples de compreender ao meu ver quando analisado a mensagem por trás das ações dos personagens e o que estaria em jogo.

Porém muitas pontas soltas vieram junto, o que me faz pensar que cortaram diálogos ou cenas importantes. Não considero um fim definitivo desse embate e acho que Asagiri planeja algo impactante sobre ambos ainda.

O fato é:

Dazai não estava de fato morto.

Os Soukoku estavam trabalhando juntos.

E Fyodor "morreu".

Foi chocante para o time Fyodor, que não estavam esperando esse curso de acontecimentos em poucos segundos, e aliviador para time Dazai, ao ver que não estavam loucos com aquelas threads de perícia criminal e análises atrás de análises sobre como a confiança dos soukoku não era superficial e que ambos estavam juntos sim (e mais uma dose de "louco e sonhador").

Ainda farei uma análise estritamente individual dessa finalização de Meursault, mas por hora tudo que posso dizer é:

Asagiri não estava brincando sobre o vínculo dos Soukoku.

Antes da revelação do plano de Dazai e a cena de morte, vemos Fyodor encontrar com Nikolai, pegar o antídoto e revelar sua forma de comunicação com o mundo exterior, que eram vampiros já infiltrados na prisão. Esse foi um ponto importante para a reviravolta. Temos uma breve conversa e então um pensamento de Fyodor sobre Dazai ter conseguido o machucar apesar de tudo (uma leve mas importante diferença do anime para o mangá que pode fazer tomar um rumo diferente) e então vem a citação de que houve um único homem desconhecido para nós que foi capaz de fazer o mesmo antes.

Quem ele é? Não saberemos.

Eu chuto que é alguém importante para seu passado, talvez um personagem novo ou alguém já conhecido como Natsume Soseki, que é bem respeitado, possui uma habilidade até então não explicada que dizem ser muito poderosa e parece ter ligações com muitos personagens chave na história.

Então quando Fyodor estava prestes a fugir, ocorre a retomada de controle de Bram sobre os vampiros e o jogo muda! Fyodor acaba sendo ferido mortalmente, ficando preso no helicóptero que usaria para fugir e fazendo Dazai se revelar junto de Chuuya, mostrando que no fim de tudo ambos tinham um plano e que sua confiança nas habilidades um do outro não deveria ser subestimada.

Devo lembrar que o plot do Chuuya nunca ter sido um vampiro pode sim ser válido e passível de ocorrer. Não estamos vendo uma construção de parceria entre os Soukoku, e sim uma demonstração do que seria o fruto de anos lutando lado a lado, a "verdadeira confiança pura". Algo que Atsushi e Akutagawa ainda não possuem e que é o que o autor usa como paralelo entre os Soukoku, do que Dazai acha que eles poderiam alcançar se conseguissem acompanhar um ao outro. É válido que o autor coloque isso, porém no anime ficou muito rushado dando a impressão de ser um furo de roteiro. Então muito provável que a explicação de como isso aconteceu apareça com mais detalhes se for a intensão do autor.

E Dazai não precisa ter planejado isso desde o ínicio, na verdade grande parte dos planos de Dazai com Chuuya ocorrem depois de analisar tudo na hora ou com poucos minutos de antecedência principalmente quando o primeiro plano sofre de algum empecilho.

Além de que tenho a impressão que a ideia de levar Chuuya até mersault tenha partido de Mori, devido aquela cena do mangá no capítulo 91 aonde ele aparece com o chapéu de Chuuya nas mãos despretensiosamente para resgatar membros da Agência numa sequência aonde o Ranpo fala que foi arriscado mas que ele deveria ter feito isso porque "julgou que o plano deles seria benéfico para ambos os lados", já que a máfia também estava na pior por ter sido a origem do vampirismo.

Partindo de Mori que é o maior torcedor dos Soukoku que existe, a ideia de atuar como um vampiro e invadir Meursault para ajudar Dazai através de uma jogada arriscada que necessitaria da confiança entre eles...não seria surpreendente. Além de que Chuuya exclama que foi o Chefe quem "colou suas presas" quando tenta tirar elas.

Enfim, só é o que eu penso sobre isso. Eu quero mais detalhes também mas pelo que foi apresentado ainda tem algum fundo de lógica sim.

Então aqui, após vermos Dazai surgir dos mortos com Chuuya e os vampiros se rebelarem devido a retomada de Bram sobre o controle de si mesmo, é mostrado que Fyodor perdeu não por alguma falta de genialidade, mas sim por ainda ser humano.

Segundo o próprio Dazai, ele só tinha uma falha:

Não conseguir confiar em quem não era capaz de manipular.

Algumas pessoas falaram que isso era uma quebra na construção do personagem no entanto eu acho o contrário. Eu acho que isso dá um aspecto mais profundo a ele. Asagiri construiu esse embate entre os dois, Dazai e Fyodor, através de muitas discussões sobre confiança e vínculos. A conversa sobre Deus ser "perfeito e harmonioso" ou "acidental e imperfeito" ou a constante zombaria sobre o vínculo dos Soukoku é um exemplo. O fato é que a derrota de Fyodor veio justamente por ele não ser capaz de possuir alguém que possa ter um vínculo verdadeiro. De sua incapacidade em acreditar no que chamam de "confiança pura" em alguém. Ele não tem parceiros, ele tem peões. Ele descartou Sigma e Nikolai tão naturalmente que, mesmo um tendo todos os seus segredos e o outro tendo lhe ajudado a tanto tempo, eles não representaram nenhum obstáculo ou valor para si que o forçasse a manter algo.

Essa é a diferença mais gritante entre ele e Dazai, porque diferente do outro Fyodor não liga em usar e descartar pessoas por seus objetivos. Ele não tem laços com ninguém além da sua própria fé. Ele é solitário nesse aspecto, mas isso não é algo que o incomoda e sim faz reafirmar sua descrença em algo que seria "vazio". Não consigo ver Fyodor entregando sua vida a alguém 100% crente de que essa pessoa o salvaria sem precisar manipular ela a isso.

Já Dazai faz isso muitas vezes, tanto que sua ida para a prisão foi o primeiro passo.

Fyodor é aquele que sacrifica os outros sem remorso porque ele não é movido por vínculos ou algo como lealdade para terceiros, afinal eles são objetos e não pessoas próprias em sua visão. Ele se move só com sua fé nas suas crenças e objetivos.

Dazai é aquele que entrega sua confiança nos outros mesmo que isso signifique sacrificar a si mesmo de alguma maneira porque ele não só conhece quem está ao seu lado como também enxerga neles o potencial que tem como pessoas além de suas habilidades. Ele se move mais pela confiança mútua do que só.

Por isso, pela minha interpretação, Fyodor não foi capaz de matar Dazai.

Porém, apesar de ter sido uma morte significativa e com simbolismos – como a frase que Fyodor fala em seu leito de morte, que é a mesma que Jesus fala antes de morrer: "Deus, oh Deus, porque me abandonastes?" – talvez ainda não seja o fim do Demônio Fyodor na obra. Definitivamente não será o fim de sua personagem nessa obra.

Mesmo que ele acabe não retornando vivo, Asagiri tem muitos pontos para reviver sua memória e fazê-lo ainda ser tão presente como antes. Como um fantasma assombrando a todos. Por exemplo:

Temos Sigma sabe tudo sobre ele;

Temos a citação de um único homem que foi capaz de deixar Fyodor ferido e encurralado – um mistério que ainda vai ser abordado de novo, acredite em mim;

Temos Nikolai e sua reação muito aceitável a morte de alguém que ele queria matar e que tem uma espécie de relação forte (uma das únicas que pode se aproximar de um vínculo com Fyodor, mesmo que parta mais da parte do Nikolai);

Temos o plano real da DOA que para mim ainda falta uma parte ser revelada, pois Fyodor pode muito bem ter passado a perna no Fukuchi e escrito algo na página para acontecer sem que ele soubesse;

Temos a habilidade verdadeira do Fyodor que até então não foi revelada e pode ser do tipo que tem duas funcionalidades distintas.

E muito mais que possivelmente só o mangá nos mostre mais para frente ou quem sabe uma novel?

3. A morte de Fukuchi

Agora meus amigos, vem nossa verdadeira sofrência por gays, porque o Asagiri simplesmente meteu o maior plot de encerramento romântico sem ser "romântico" sobre a história de Fukuchi e Fukuzawa.

Talvez ele tenha trocado ideia com Gege Akutami porque o nível de sofrência iguala com a dos Satosugu.

Enquanto Fukuchi dava as ordens de destruição através da One Order, vemos que Fukuzawa tal qual Chuuya e Dazai estava só atuando também, esperando pelo momento certo para atacar seu amigo para matá-lo (Sendo um assassino treinado mesmo tendo passado anos desde essa época, ele muito provavelmente tem técnicas parecidas com a que o Dazai tem de controle corporal, porque rapaz o bixo sangrou que só mas não perdeu um tico de força e equilíbrio).

A princípio é mostrado que Fukuchi aparentemente esperava por isso e então ele finca a Amenogozen no peito de Fukuzawa. Este que, em outra manobra falsa para enganá-lo, mostra que desde o início ele só queria pegar a Amenogozen para si, já que o único jeito de derrotar seu amigo seria tirando aquela espada de perto dele e de sua habilidade. Após ferir fatalmente Fukuchi, o livro de Poe é usado e revelado estar nas mãos do mesmo, muito possivelmente tendo sido pego na hora que capturou e desmaiou Ranpo prevendo que o menino o teria e planejaria usá-lo. O livro transporta os dois para uma memória da infância que passaram juntos treinando, aonde finalmente temos uma visão melhor de quem era o Fukuchi, seus objetivos e os motivos que o levaram a toda aquela conspiração, em uma conversa genuína com seu grande amigo.

O objetivo: levar a humanidade a paz.

Fukuchi queria a One Order para unir a humanidade e acabar de vez com todas as guerras. Ele explica seu ponto de vista para Fukuzawa, que o compreende ainda que demonstre discordar, afinal tal poder na mão de um só homem acabaria o corrompendo e criando uma ditadura, algo que Fukuchi também compreende. O que me faz pensar se desde o ínicio o Fukuchi na verdade já queria que esse cargo caísse nas mãos de Fukuzawa e da Agência.

A DOA é aquela que traz a queda dos "Anjos", os anjos em si não seria a Agência mas sim os governos se fossemos seguir a lógica de quem faz surgir as guerras. Quem apoiou experimentos com habilidades durante a Grande Guerra e faz modificações em pessoas apenas para criar uma elite de soldados e que criou um artefato aonde seria capaz de controlar mentalmente uma grande massa de pessoas é o próprio governo. A Agência nunca fez parte do que seria " o verdadeiro alvo" da Decadência dos Anjos, eles só foram um bode expiatório para neutralizar sua capacidade de os impedir e fazer o governo focar no lado errado da moeda.

Enfim, então temos a revelação de que o Fukuchi só tomou a decisão de fazer a conspiração terrorista com a Agência e o mundo porque recebeu uma mensagem de 36 anos atrás através da Amenogozen, sobre uma guerra multinacional que teria um saldo de perda de 210 milhões de pessoas. Algo que eu vou puxar no meu post de teorias pois isso é algo...

Enfim de novo, ambos terminam com um pedido de Fukuchi para que seu amigo o mate, algo que ele Fukuzawa diz ser incapaz de fazer. Mas Teruko aparece como aquela que dá o golpe final e deixa como se Fukuzawa tivesse o matado.

Nesse meio é revelado que a One Order estava programada para atender também a voz do Fukuzawa, dando a entender novamente que talvez desde o princípio era esperado que fosse ele quem assumiria o papel de ser aquele que "comandaria a paz" ainda que nutrisse algum sentimento desgostoso por sua escolha no passado.

Fukuchi é um personagem e tanto. Pretendo fazer uma análise individual dele algum dia.

E então temos a cena mais cruel, baitola e emocional do episódio, que é ver o Presidente da Agência quebrar em tristeza pela perda de uma pessoa tão amada e importante para sua vida. Ainda que não tenha o matado com suas mãos, narrativamente para o mundo foi ele e isso tira o peso cruel que a conspiração tinha colocado na Agência.

Porém perto do fim do episódio aparece uma mensagem de "duas horas depois" e o aeroporto aparece em volto de chamas com uma criatura enfrentando Atsushi Nakajima e um Akutagawa Ryuunosuke não vampiro mas em roupas totalmente diferentes.

Ou seja, as coisas parecem não ter acabado????? E isso deixou muito mais dúvidas em mim, tudo que posso afirmar é que definitivamente a morte de Fukuchi e Fyodor não é o fim desse arco ainda, possivelmente aquilo é uma prévia de que houve sim um plot twist envolvendo a DOA e a página, afinal ainda devia haver algo escrito nela e Fukuchi cita que ainda faltava alguns dias até o dia X, que era até aonde a página terminaria de ser usada.

Tenho muitas teorias sobre esse gancho em específico mas vou deixar ela para uma outro post já em produção!!

Minha considerações finais sobre esse episódio é:

Poderia sim ter sido melhor no quesito detalhes mas eu ainda acho que cumpriu em fechar a temporada com estilo e manter um gancho misterioso para os próximos acontecimentos que vão recair sobre a ADA novamente.

Asagiri construiu bons plots e eu confio nele, porém como o anime gosta de cortar muitas coisas e deixa passar grande parte da construção pessoal dos personagens, não posso dizer com certeza se ele pecou nesse arco ou não. Ao meu ver ele fez uma construção de "fechamento" boa o suficiente para funcionar sem perder tanto sentido com o que apresentou no decorrer do arco, mas que na adaptação transpareceu ter perdido muitos detalhes.

Acho que o rumo do mangá vai sim seguir o mesmo rumo do anime porém com coisas que não puderam ou foram completamente cortadas para agregar a narrativa com leves diferenças. E talvez no mangá as coisas encaixem muito mais que no anime e até durem mais (não só por ser mensal, pode ser que realmente explique muito mais que na adaptação e tenha ganchos sobre o background de alguns personagens).

Eu realmente, realmente, espero que o mangá traga muito mais do que o anime entregou e cale a boca de quem só xingou tudo até agora, esse é o faro, pois sei que Asagiri e Harukawa-sensei continuarão com um ótimo trabalho!!!!