#but losing the Protagonist Halo so he can. you know. suck in a lot of ways that the universe didn't let him before

[tcfactory]

This is fully a personal preference thing honestly, but I've been turning it around in my brain why I don't like BingQiu specifically when I'm at worst neutral on almost literally any other ship and I think it boils down to this: it's really important to me that in a ship that's supposed to be lasting and stable at least one character can say "I see you for what you are and I accept you for all there is to you". And that's just not a thing with BingQiu.

Binghe literally can't know a huge part of Shen Qingqiu - the part that is Shen Yuan, the part that wears the scum villain as a mask that it can never even take off completely - because of the transmigration and the System. He also idolizes his Shizun and at the same time puts on mask after mask so that he can be Shen Qingqiu's lovely white lotus which also don't help.

And Shen Qingqiu's head is full of so many bees, so much denial and self-delusion that we watched him actively think himself in circles rather than admit that Binghe might be interested in him for three whole books. I don't trust him to have a reasonably realistic idea of himself, much less of someone else. Especially not Binghe. He will make up a picture in his mind about how things are supposed to be and it has to be an act of divine intervention for him to budge from it. He will deny reality if he has to, so he's incapable of seeing Binghe as anything other than the Perfect Protagonist.

I don't often see Binghe shipped with others (he's so singularly No Thoughts Head Empty Only Shizun that it's hard to put him with anyone else. Shen Jiu sometimes I guess, but he is shipped more with Bingge which feels like a distinctly separate thing to me and anyway, it's usually predicated upon the realization that they are both similar kinds of monsters, even if Bingge outdoes his scum villain by several orders of magnitude) but Shen Yuan has a few choice ships that either challenge his expectations enough that his denial and delusion breaks down eventually (Liu Qingge, Shen Jiu, etc.) or ship him with Airplane who knows him for what he is because he's also a transmigrator and he's familiar with Cucumber bro's acerbic inner self.

Other ships too. QiJiu/LiuJiu/QiJiuLiu any variations of these three tbh thrive on clearing up their misunderstanding and starting to see each other clearly again. MoShang get together once they start to properly pay attention to each other and their respective needs. Airplane in general has just an impossible understanding of whoever he's shipped with as only Author and his creations can have. Tianlang-jun's weird charm comes from it that he can't (or possibly refuses to) pretend to be anything than who and what he is beyond the most superficial disguise.

And BingQiu just doesn't have that. They are both too obsessed with an idealized version of each other to ever see things clearly and that's what makes their dynamic not very fun to me personally.

[scarletlich]

Ancient Chinese Morality and the Lan Sect

Mostly in the context of Mo Dao Zu Shi, although you could apply this to other wuxia/xianxia as well.

I’ve seen a lot of people pointing out the so-called “hypocrisy” of the Lan Sect, with two main examples: Lan Wangji’s punishment, and allowing the destruction of the Wen Sect. I would argue that by ancient Chinese morality standards, the Lan Sect remained perfectly righteous throughout. Just as you should not apply modern morality to a medieval fantasy story (I don’t know or remember GOT very well but imagine getting mad at Ned Stark for being a murderer), you should not apply modern Western morality to a wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan story.

Let’s start with Lan Wangji’s punishment, since that’s somewhat easier to address. First of all, recall that Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren specifically selected thirty-three elders who had watched Lan Wangji grow up and cared about him. Even with his ridiculous cultivation level, there is no way that Lan Wangji could severely injure thirty-three elders who were actually out to get him -- even by sheer numbers they would overwhelm him. Clearly they were unwilling to hurt him.

Now you might think this is a bit self-contradictory. After all, they did hurt him by punishing him! Quite badly! Recall that plenty of people saw Lan Wangji drag Wei Wuxian off, postponing the latter’s death by three months. The other sects simply let the Lan Sect handle the matter internally, trusting in them to see justice done. The Lan Sect couldn’t do nothing -- they had to give the other sects some kind of exchange.

In other stories of this genre, (and often on characters without the protagonist halo) characters could be executed or kicked out of the sect for injuring an elder (let alone thirty-three, and after helping a mass murderer escape punishment). And when someone is kicked out of the sect, they are erased from the family records and have their cultivation base destroyed so they cannot use the skills the sect taught them to continue to do evil (that would be bad for the sect’s reputation also). So the thirty-three strikes from the discipline whip are enough to keep the other sects from complaining that the punishment was too light and Gusu Lan is protecting its own over enacting justice, while at the same time causing minimal harm to Lan Wangji and his reputation. The three years of seclusion further assisted in this -- rumors die down when the subject isn’t around, and Lan Wangji already has two decades of impeccable reputation behind him. Three years gave him and the cultivation world time to heal, so that everyone could more or less forget about what happened. In addition, while seclusion sucks from a mental health perspective, I would argue it would be worse for Lan Wangji to be out in the world constantly hearing about how much Wei Wuxian was hated and how glad everyone was about his death. Three years later, everything had more or less blown over, and gossipers had moved on to more recent topics.

(Sidenote: The Lan Sect was also VERY kind to Su She, and look how he repaid them... by using their cultivation methods to do evil.)

Now let’s talk about the Lan Sect’s response to the situation with the Wen remnants.

There’s a saying that comes from a book describing propriety (《礼记》, specifically 《礼记·曲礼上第一》) that explains attitudes toward revenge.

父之讎，弗与共戴天；兄弟之讎，不反兵；交游之讎，不同国。

With the murderer of your father, you should not exist under the same sky; with the murderer of your brother, you should not return to grab a weapon; with the murderer of your friend, you should not exist in the same nation (without trying to kill them).

Wen Ruohan killed Nie Mingjue’s father, so Nie Mingjue did everything in his power to kill Wen Ruohan. But on his way to take revenge, he also killed many Wens, some of whom most definitely had sons. Nie Mingjue is allowed to get his revenge, and so are they. This can create a cycle of grudges, until many generations down the line two major families have deep grievances between them, and yet no one remembers the origin. The cycle only ends when one side is completely destroyed, and no one remains to take revenge. So taking out all the Wens at the beginning could be argued as the best method, since it minimizes casualties. By cutting off the cycle at the start, the least number of people suffer and die. (Yes, this is a bit counterintuitive.) How were the Jin or the Lan to know that the Wen remnants didn’t plan on taking revenge? By all rights they should be honor-bound to. Perhaps they should have eliminated them in a less cruel way, but if anything that makes Wei Wuxian the worst offender since he definitely went quite far in killing Wen Chao, and did far worse than the Jins did to the Wen remnants.

In this way, the Lans were still quite righteous. They did not participate much in the elimination of the Wen remnants, but for the reasons I described they could hardly argue against such an action.

(Sidenote: You may remember Xue Yang’s extermination of the Chang Clan. Xiao Xingchen is generally considered one of the most just and kind characters in the series, with the least war crimes (by modern Western standards) under his belt. Yet even he said, if Chang Ci’an cut off your finger, then you should cut off his finger! Or if you are still angry, cut off his arm! Or kill him! But why did you kill his entire family? So there’s an in-canon example of revenge for you.)

Let’s take another angle. One of the most severe punishments the Emperor could carry out in ancient China was called 株连九族, I think this is translated as “nine exterminations”. It’s only been carried out a few times in history, and is usually as a consequence of treason or plotting treason. The perpetrator, their entire extended family (so this includes servants), their teachers and students, and sometimes even neighbors are executed. I think upwards of three thousand people can be executed.

(Sidenote: this is why there’s a saying that accepting students 收徒 or studying under a master 拜师 are not casual decisions -- if you choose incorrectly you could lose your head!) 

By contrast, the allied sects were quite lenient on the Wens -- they really only went after the main family. And while what the Wens did isn’t really “treason”, I would argue it’s worse than a single traitor trying to kill the Emperor. But the assembled sects didn’t even go after their servants, the minor sects that were their “co-conspirators”, or any of the huge multitude of people who were affiliated with the Wens. By Ancient Chinese standards, they were quite lenient (which is, again, odd to think about).

My main point is, most people who complain about how “hypocritical” the Lan Sect are miss the point. “Righteousness” by modern Western standards is not the same as “righteousness” by ancient Chinese fantasy standards. I hope that Western fans can consider that, just as you do not judge works such as Lord of the Rings by modern morality standards, you should not judge Mo Dao Zu Shi by modern Western morality standards.

[nerdingz-obsessed]

An Analysis of Castlevania (Netflix)

In response to mean words from a fren.

My dearest Castlevania simps, it is time to rise up.

My friend (who I will be attacking :)) was dissing Castlevania (szns 1-3) after my recent Trevor Badass Belmont post, so now I must indulge myself with a rant on how much I absolutely love this series. This is a five four part thing, sorta long (Sorry? but if you read then you’ll understand why I love it my friend is wrong) it has minor spoilers throughout, but it's been out for a while so, proceed with caution ig.

TL:DR at the bottom folks.

One: The Nostalgia

When I was a (small) kid, my uncle was a senior in high school. (I think, I don’t exactly remember.) He loved video games and he’s part of the reason I love them today. Mostly I only ever watched him play things like Halo, but one day he was playing this 2-D, fight game, killing monsters and kicking butt. (as he described it.) And later he let me take a turn, and I couldn’t exactly tell you I knew what I was doing, but I remember how awesome I felt as some 7 year old kicking vampire arse. Now, I get to see those characters again as a young adult and it brings me back, especially the kicking monster butt parts, which brings me to...

Two: The Fight Scenes

(Light Spoilers) HOLY MOTHER OF GOODNESS, if you would have told 7 year old me, “this is going to be a badass anime one day and you’re going to squeal with excitement,” I would have laughed in your face. But I’m not laughing now. If you’ve watched it then you just know. From Sypha and MAGIC (I stan so hard lemme tell you) And Trevor WITH THE WHIPSSS (Szn 3 Episode 9 THAT SCENE Ashshishgishguhsi) And Alucard WITH MAGIC AND MAGIC SWORD (YES) And just Isaac (Whom we love to hate and hate to love) And all of the Vamps and their kool little fighting quirks. I just love love love how amazing, fast paced, and epic the fight scenes are. And it never felt incorrect. i.e. yeah Cypher uses magic and she always seems to never never run out of stamina, but to me it made sense, she’s trained for her whole life, always on the road and there are times when she does look appropriately winded. @ my friend Or Isaac, he’s powerful yes absolutely, but we still see his human weakness. @ my friend(I think this goes for all humans when compared to the Vamps and Monsters tho...)

Three: The Animation

Can I just say that this is one of the most aesthetically beautiful anime I’ve seen in a while. Like the fight scenes, for instance, when fire engulfs a lot of the screen it looks beautiful. Okay that wasn’t very specific, here, in fight scenes, the lines change. If you look, you’ll notice in intense fight scenes the lines getting harder, intenser I suppose, it therefore adds that intensity. (Especially by season 3.{Szn 3 episode 9, dual whips got me drippin fam XD}) But it was also so smooth and elegant (Hi I really love the fight scenes in this show. :)) On small details: the details in Dracula's castle and Alucard's hold under Gre- that city whose name I cannot spell. Not only that, but the scenery, my particular favorite: When Isaac is ‘forging’ his first set of monsters when he’s out on his own. I’m a sucker for the way from a distance those red flames (flames?) shot up into the sky, it was just *chef’s kiss* in the scenery department, just ahhhh :

Oh, speaking of Isaac, it’s time to get on to important, meatier things...

Four: Characters

First off, the villains/antagonists are not just evil to be evil. (Unless you’re Carmilla... :| ... I mean ig she thinks she’s justified bc hello, she’s fighting for her peoples... and I mean, she’s badass, but I sorta have to side with humans? idk) Big Daddy Baddy Drac isn’t just “I vant to suck your blood,” his pain is real. I mean, losing the only person you ever truly loved? Heartbreak. Isaac and Hector both have totally a plausible and low-key understandable reasons for their actions. Okay it’s not an excuse for their bad behavior, but the way they respond to Drac. And, back to Carmilla, can we just stan the four Queens that rule. The four ruler thing they have going is Genius! It’s brilliant, they share their acquired and unique skills and there’s no mans to ruin plans. @ my friend

Edit: Yo I didn't even touch on our two sibling bastards from szn 3. Lol. They are great manipulators, you can feel the betrayal hurt just as bad. They're the jerks that you LoVE to HATE >:(

And The side characters and minor antagonist give the story life. They aren't just blown off characters who don't promote the plot @ my friend. They add depth, perspective, atmosphere and life into the story. Some may not be particularly necessary, or may not need all the character building they were given, but none of it felt forced. It made sense with the story and the interactions they had with other characters flowed and was natural. Yeah, that was brief, but ya get the point.

And importantly, our protagonists. 

Trevor Belmont, technically the main protagonist and center for the for the entire story. His character instantly pops of the page as a reluctant hero, but one that is so damn good at his job. His emotions are believable, it's fairly easy to sympathize with him and he is a vibrant character that you can easily follow along with. See the badass Belmont post ✨ here ✨

Sypha Belnades has easily become one of my most favorite heroines. Her personality, physicality and entire character are so vivid and colorful. She is a believably strong character who does not deserve the resentment she gets from @ my friend. I admire the steps that her character has gotten to take in the story and I am so excited for more Sypha. Also ✨ M a g i c ✨

Lastly, Alucard, our troubled, half vampire son who deserves the world and a hug. He is introduced as the badass immortal that we love to see, but seeing how he has to deal with well, everything, is why I so love the writers. They gave us a dynamic in which we get to see someone, who at first didn't care or need for interaction with others slowly realize how much he needed it. And you can see the stages of his development through each episode. It's lovely. He also doesn't deserve the hate my friend gives him. Also, ✨ Tiddies ✨ (I'm so sorry omg)

And Extra ! Extra ! they are all attractive, like have you even seen an unattractive face in any of the characters with surplus screen time? Sure they may not be your type (@ my friend) but they each have their good looking qualities.

Five(ish): Dynamics/Relationships

I'm lazy and can't write another paragraph lol, but point is. Everything in the amazing show flows together so well. Nothing feels awkward or forced, and more importantly everything has a cause and effect factor for other things. Maybe not directly, but it's there. And everything will come crashing together soon, can't ya feel it? As for relationships b/t characters, well, what can I say, they work so well, are unakward, and have me begging for more.

TL:DR:

This show is beautiful and amazing, both in animation and writing quality. Characters pop of the screen as do the scenes. Fight scenes = Epic. Villains = Important + Badass. Characters = Relatable. Writing = Good. Scenes = Pretty. Hotel = Trivago.

And I didn't even get into the details. Smh.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, I hope you had a good time @ my friend