#but that is NOT joan of arc and it’s weird of you to say it is

[zevranunderstander]

i hate when people (especially men) say shiv made the choice at the end for her baby. like i hate that. she made the choice for a lot of reasons, like. she was mad at kendall winning and didn't want to just hand him the crown just because he's the man between the two of them when she fought so hard for it for so long. she maybe did it because she saw kendall turn into logan. she did it because she probably genuinely knew he wouldnt be good at it. some of that was rational and some of that was probably irrational and driven by a lot of emotion.

like. chosing between kendall and the man who she put on the throne just so he would betray her in the last second is such a brutal choice, and she chose the two men who betrayed her, because of kendall. like this always comes down to the siblings and she would rather be the CEOs wife and become her own mother than kendall become CEO and pretend to be his father. like. she does not care about tom enough to be hurt by his betrayal, nor does she care which of these choices is better for him

but she sure as fuck didn't do it for her baby. she does not care about that baby. neither does tom, really, but when people in the show say she would be a bad mother that is... kind of true? she doesn't really seem to want to be a mother and does it like a lot of "woman stuff" she does - she didnt care at all about her wedding, she doesn't care for the place her and tom moved into, and she doesn't really care about having a baby and being a mother. like, yeah, of course she's hurt when people say shed be a bad mother, but she probably still isnt all that interested in being a mother? like. there is no way in hell shiv thought about that baby in that board meeting, like she sat down calmly before the meeting and then made a pro and con list about making kendall CEO and then came to the level-headed conclusion that tom would be overall the lesser evil and better option for her baby. that woman? shiv roy? for her baby?

it's just so out of character for her that i can only blame sexism and not understanding the character because how do you look at shioban roy saying 'i dont think youd be good at it' and 'i love you but i cannot stomach you' after having lost so close at the finish line and using all the power she has so that her brother doesn't get a victory he doesnt deserve, even if the alternative is literally the worst 2 people it could be for her personally. just the idea that this was a purely rational choice made by her so that her baby has a better life is so funny to me like hello

[laurapalmersighs]

i hate when people draw joan of arc as an ultra feminine sex symbol. she was boyish and she would hate you. so jot that down

[transjudas]

a collection of moments from the translated trial of Joan of Arc from 1431 that are fucking iconic of her:

‘And then did We forbid Jeanne, without Our permission, to leave the prison which had been assigned to her in the Castle, under pain of the crime of heresy. “I do not accept such a prohibition,” she answered; “if ever I do escape, no one shall reproach me with having broken or violated my faith, not having given my word to any one, whosoever it may be.”’

“Was he naked?” “Do you think God has not wherewithal to clothe him?”

“I have always answered that you will not drag this from my lips. Go and ask it of him.” 

“You shall not have anything more at present.” (she gave variations of this response all throughout the trial/examinations. basically if she felt that god had not given her permission to speak on a subject, she just wouldn’t. she did not seem to acknowledge the authority of those questioning and judging her at all, which makes sense. She also frequently replied “that is not your Case” which I think is basically her saying that’s not relevant to this trial so none of your business.)

“I promise to speak truth on what touches your Case; but the more you constrain me to swear, the later will I tell you.”

“Who induced you to have cited a man of the town of Toul on the question of marriage?” “I did not have him cited; it was he, on the contrary, who had me cited; and then I swore before the Judge to speak the truth. And besides, I had promised nothing to this man.”

“If it should be that I am taken to Paris, grant, I pray you, that I may have a copy of my questions and answers, so that I may lend them to those at Paris, and that I may be able to say to them: ‘Thus was I questioned at Rouen; and here are my answers : in this way, I shall not have to trouble again over so many questions.”

“Did you give, or cause to be given, money to him who took Franquet?” “I am not Master of the Mint or Treasurer of France to pay out money so.”

“Upon the oath that you have taken, tell us, how did you think to escape from the Castle of Beaulieu between two planks of wood ?” “Never was I prisoner in such a place that I would not willingly have escaped. Being in that Castle, I should have shut my keepers in the tower, if it had not been that the porter espied me and encountered me.”

“If I had leave to go in woman’s dress, I should soon put myself back in man’s dress and do what God has commanded me: I have already told you so. For nothing in the world will I swear not to arm myself and put on a man’s dress; I must obey the orders of Our Lord.”

“Do you know if Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret hate the English?” “They love what God loves: they hate what God hates.” (I know that this is all about nationalism during war but this is still hilarious to me. like goddamn, okay! Also I have to note that the examiner follows up with “does God hate the English?” and she basically says she cannot know but I want does God hate the English on a tshirt)

“I had that ring in my hand and on my finger, when I touched Saint Catherine as she appeared to me.” “What part of Saint Catherine?” “You will have no more about it.” “Did you ever kiss or embrace Saint Catherine or Saint Margaret?” “I have embraced them both.” “Did they smell good?” “It is well to know, they smelled good.” “In embracing them, did you feel any heat or any thing else?” (yo WHY is this examiner such a FREAK stop being weird my dude!!!)

“I took it of my own free will, and with no constraint: I prefer a man’s dress to a woman’s dress.” (mood)

So struck by how she really did not see those prosecuting (and persecuting) her as valid authorities and she was not subtle about it. However you see Joan and the voices she heard, she was a brave and bold and relatably snarky 19 year old telling the people who did not accept her belief nor her existence as we would likely now see as a mentally ill/psychotic young woman in society to fuck off.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Conformation and Re-Creation (The Final Day)

Well, here we are. The final two episodes of Season 5. It's been a long and complicated journey, so let me get you up to speed on what exactly happened this season, episode by episode.

Evolution: Ladybug and Cat Noir chase Monarch through time, and it's not nearly as cool as it sounds.

Multiplication: Adrien likes Marinette now because the plot says so.

Destruction: Cat Noir accidentally Cataclysms Monarch, and it somehow leads to the most guilt he feels using his Cataclysm on anyone.

Jubilation: Ever want to have the image of Ladybug and Cat Noir being teen parents burned into your brain? No? Too bad!

Illusion: Nino establishes himself as a leader so terrible, Zapp Brannigan would call him an idiot.

Determination: Marinette likes Cat Noir now because the plot says so.

Passion: Nathalie shows she'd rather silently judge Gabriel for his actions over actually doing anything to stop him.

Reunion: Marinette talks with the spirit of Joan of Arc, and it's not nearly as cool as it sounds.

Elation: Someone tries to murder Marinette over ice cream for the third time in four seasons.

Transmission: Yeah, I totally believe you're replacing Marinette and Adrien with two new main characters in the middle of your fifth season.

Deflagration: Because of Tikki and Plagg's terrible decisions, Monarch comes the closest he's ever come to winning.

Perfection: Kagami becomes a giant cloud Akuma, symbolizing her also becoming a total airhead for the rest of the season.

Migration: The writers realize they have no idea what to do with Luka, so they kick him out of the show entirely.

Derision: “How many things do you want to retcon to make this story work?” “Yes.”

Intuition: Gabriel continues to prove how pathetic of a villain he is, even when he has unlimited chances.

Protection: Even after being tricked three times by her, Kagami still thinks Lila is a trustworthy person.

Adoration: “We have Lumity at home”.

Emotion: The episode where Felix essentially commits genocide is somehow also the one where the writers want the audience to start viewing him in a sympathetic light.

Pretension: Felix likes Kagami because the plot says so, and vice versa.

Revelation: Lila only gets as far as she does thanks to Marinette becoming as dumb as the rest of the class.

Confrontation: Our heroes expose the villain's evil plans by spying on them through a bathroom peephole.

Collusion: Remember kids, violent revolutions against politicians are never the answer.

Revolution: Remember kids, violent revolutions against politicians are always the answer.

Representation: To the surprise of literally no one, Felix is revealed to be a Sentimonster, yet the writers still won't tell us that Adrien and Kagami are the same.

Now that you're all caught up, let's get into the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Conformation and Re-Creation

After a brief news report showing everyone enjoying the first day of Summer vacation, Gabriel and Tomoe finally decide to launch “Perfect Alliance”. What does this plan entail? For starters, Gabriel transforms into Monarch, detransforms to akumatize himself into Nightormentor again, gives himself the powers of the Mouse, Rooster and Horse Miraculous in order to clone himself and fly around the globe to spread his nightmare dust. Because just akumatizing Sandboy again and giving him the Mouse Miraculous' Multitude was just too complex of a plan.

Marinette is the first to be affected by the dust, we get a dream where she dresses up as a knight to save Adrien from a cheap recolor of Fang in his dragon form.

This is a weird episode of Super Why.

Marinette defeats the dragon, who reverts back to Gabriel, who is accidentally killed by the fight, causing Adrien to cry since Adrien was watching the whole thing. Marinette wakes up, thankful that it was all just a bad dream sequence. She decides she needs to find out just where Gabriel sent Adrien to make sure he's safe, something that won't make sense as I'll explain later on. As she tries to leave, she keeps experiencing sudden headaches, as do her parents and Alya.

Meanwhile, Adrien is still left reeling from the effects of the nightmare dust from last episode, to the point where he has a panic attack, demanding to be let out. Gabriel, seemingly aware of this, decides to give Adrien the “antidote”, an Alliance ring with an app called “Perfect Alliance”. So once again, despite claiming to do this for his son, Gabriel willingly chose to make his life worse as part of his evil plans. Remember this, it'll be important later on.

Plagg suggests Adrien transform into Cat Noir, but Adrien reminds him that there are cameras everywhere, so he can't risk it. Plagg disables the cameras, but Adrien still says no. Whether he was aware that the robot who was sent to give him the Alliance ring with the new app had a hidden camera is irrevelant, because Adrien gives a different reason why he can't transform.

Adrien: I'm not in my right mind. I'm too angry; at myself for falling short of Marinette's love, at my father for sending me here in London, at this stupid app and these rings that use my image... it makes me sick! This nightmare is giving me the horrible feeling that, if I transform, I'll get akumatized and destroy everything with my Cataclysm. Marinette, Ladybug...

Plagg: Surely Ladybug can help you.

Adrien: If I ask her for help, I'd have to give her information that would jeopardize my secret identity... and I can't.

Okay, let me make one thing clear. The reason that Adrien can't risk exposing his identity thanks to all the cameras is a good one, and the fact that he doesn't want to risk exposing his identity to Ladybug in particular is a good sign of character development, but the problem I have is the fact that the writers decided to bench Adrien in the first place.

Yes, you heard that right. In arguably the most boneheaded decision in the show's history since... well, a lot of things this season, Adrien, despite being the son of the main villain, isn't going to get involved in the final battle at all.

There are multiple reasons why Adrien staying put in this room is a terrible idea, and most of them involve the fact that almost none of the in-universe explanations for this hold up.

Adrien is being heavily monitored by cameras? We just saw Plagg was able to disable them with ease.

Adrien can't ask Ladybug for help without jeopardizing his secret identity? The fact that he's at risk of being akumatized as is, with or without the Cat Miraculous, will still blow his cover due to Monarch's mind reading abilities (which we saw when Monarch almost learned Luka's secret in “Migration”), so he really has nothing to lose here.

Adrien isn't in the right state of mind thanks to the nightmare dust? Literally every other character who takes part in the final battle is able to either find a way to fight off the nightmares or keeps going while still under the influence of the nightmare dust.

Adrien's ultimate plan to take off his Miraculous and let Plagg choose a new temporary holder? We saw this exact same scenario play out earlier this season in “The Kwamis' Choice”, and things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Do you see why this makes no sense? Even though the show loves to boast about how valuable of an asset Cat Noir is, the writers are bending over backwards to justify keeping Adrien as far away from the final battle as possible, because they know damn well that they'd have to address how terrible his father really is with the reveal.

And the best part? This is basically the last we'll see of Adrien in this episode. Do you want to know how many lines he gets in the next episode, AKA, the final episode of the season? Three. AND THEY'RE ALL AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE.

But we're not done talking about this stupid idea yet, because unlike the other episodes, I have something else to rant about: The writers' commentary. In November of 2023, around four months after the finale premiered, the writers of this show recorded their own audio commentary, and while I don't have the exact translation (if anyone reading this has a translation of this, I would really appreciate the effort), I have seen one post summarizing the things they said, and all I can say is DEAR. LORD. This is not just shooting yourself in the foot. This is shooting yourself in the foot multiple times with Judas Bullets.

Like, it's amazing. We've always speculated just what goes through the writers' heads that makes them come up with some of the strangest ideas to take the story, and now, we have a first-hand account of why these episodes turned out the way they did. For this one moment, they gave about three explanations as to why Adrien was benched for the finale.

Let's start with the first one, Cat Blanc. I know what you're thinking, wasn't Cat Blanc an Akuma from an alternate timeline that our Adrien shouldn't know about? Not according to Melenie Duval. While Adrien's fear of being akumatized is reasonable, Duval claims that he could become Cat Blanc... which makes no sense as A) Adrien's nightmare was of an entirely different Akuma, and B) The aforementioned nightmare dust never informed Adrien of the alternate timeline where Cat Blanc destroyed the world, it just provided him with a nightmare about a similar scenario.

And in case you weren't questioning this woman's judgment, Duval has done on the record to state that her favorite episode of the entire show is “Derision”.

Our next reasoning is especially stupid, as the rest of the writing team reveal that they had planned to keep Adrien out of the final battle as far back as 2014, nine years before the finished product premiered. Why would they do that? Because they wanted Ladybug to unify with the Cat Miraculous, of course! Sure, you could have just saved this unification for a special or something like that so you don't bench one of your main characters, or you could have at least had Adrien willingly give his Miraculous to Ladybug to unify with in person, but nope. This is seriously one of their defenses— I mean, explanations, for why Adrien isn't allowed to be in the final battle, because they thought it would be more important to give Marinette her 10th new form in three seasons than letting Adrien get some form of closure with his father.

And here's the final reason they gave in the commentary. Remember that dream sequence of Marinette dressed as a knight that was also sort of foreshadowed in “Gabriel Agreste”? Turns out, the writers wanted to, and stop me if you've heard this before, play with the tropes and symbolism of fairy tales. Wow, I've never seen any kind of pop culture do that before... except for Into the Woods, The Princess Bride, Hook, Shrek, Princess Tutu, Ella Enchanted, Hoodwinked!, Enchanted, Tangled, Once Upon a Time, Frozen, RWBY, Ever After High, Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and Nimona. But other than those, that's so original!

Even though the writers are acting like they're breaking new ground, do you want to know what they mean by this? They're just doing another damsel in distress situation but this time, Adrien, the boy, is the one who needs to be saved by Marinette, who is, GASP, a girl?! WOW! That totally changes everything!

Okay, yes, the damsel in distress trope has usually been seen as a misogynistic one due to the fact that the people who needed to be saved are usually women, but like I mentioned way back in my “Gabriel Agreste” review, just swapping the genders isn't enough to breathe new life into a trope as old as this one. It's arguably worse because Adrien isn't just someone who needs to be saved. He's a superhero, and like I mentioned, there were plenty of options to get him out of his room in London.

And I'm guessing that some of you are thinking, “But IOTA! You just want Adrien to save the day by himself because he's a guy!” Just remember that I had this exact same problem last season where the roles were reversed. Remember how I hated the way Marinette's arc about dealing with the stress of being Guardian was hijacked by Adrien complaining about Ladybug not trusting him? This time, we have an arc about Adrien trying to break free from his father's influence that's been hijacked by Marinette needing to save Adrien by herself, robbing him of any agency he had to the plot entirely. This issue isn't about gender. It's never been about gender. I would have the exact same problem if Adrien was the one who confronted Monarch by himself while Marinette was trapped in her room.

This leads to the biggest problem I have with this plot development: It ultimately goes against the core theme of teamwork the show keeps trying to convey. Remember how last season, Marinette needed to learn to let other people trust her? Now, she's going to beat up Monarch all by herself without any help. Remember how last season, Adrien needed to prove he didn't deserve to be left in the dark about everything? Now, he's going to stay all the way in London while his partner gets in the fight of her life. It's detrimental to both of them as characters, and makes everything that happened to them in Season 4 completely pointless.

Okay, now that I've spent five pages ranting about this insane decision, let's get back on track, shall we? As the Perfect Alliance app helps Adrien and Kagami calm down, Marinette sneaks into the Agreste mansion as Ladybug. Meanwhile, Nathalie has her own nightmare about Gabriel winning, AKA, the very thing she could have stopped a long time ago by ratting her evil boss out to Ladybug and Cat Noir.

We then learn just what the Perfect Alliance app really does. Basically, thanks to the technobabble, it helps alleviate the stress from their nightmares. Or, to put it in Layman's terms, Gabriel and Tomoe plan to get the entire population of Earth addicted to cyber crack. We see this affect several of Marinette's classmates, but because Mylene has a sudden disdain for technology that “Was made without respect for the Earth's resources”, she's the only one who sees the problem here. I'd ask why this wasn't established earlier this season, but it doesn't matter, since Mylene gives in anyway,

Because it's a day that ends with a “Y”, Gabriel goes to talk to Emilie's body yet again, and it seems like even the writers realized how tired this got, as Nathalie finally decided to ambush him with a crossbow.

Miss Sancoeur, I served with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I knew Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vamprie Slayer was a friend of mine. Miss Sancoeur, you're no Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yes, it only took five seasons worth of evil plans for Nathalie to realize just how demented her boss really is.

Nathalie: I can't let you do that... if you make the wish to bring her back, someone will have to go in her place. Emilie would never have agreed to this!

Gabriel: Do you think I'd be monstrous enough to sacrifice a human being?

Uh... yes? That is literally what equivalent exchange means. You really don't know how the wish works after researching it?

Shockingly, the frail woman armed with nothing but a crossbow isn't able to stop someone with superpowers. There isn't even a fight. Monarch just knocks the crossbow out of her hands and she faints. Maybe you should have actually come up with some sort of plan before confronting Gabriel by yourself, dumbass.

Back to Ladybug, she searches through Gabriel's stuff and finally learns he's Monarch... even though she should already know thanks to Felix and Kagami's play last episode. She even looks pretty shocked to see Monarch detransform.

Back to the commentary, the writers justify this with their absurd “Every episode can be watched on its own” rule. Because simply having Marinette say she already knows was out of the equation, I guess. Seriously, earlier in the episode, Tikki (who, along with Plagg, wasn't affected by the nightmare dust for some reason) had doubts that Marinette should break into the Agreste mansion, and it came across like neither of them knew the truth, and this was a reckless decision that wasn't motivated by Gabriel being Monarch at all. Once again, the writers fail to understand the idea of using “Previously On...” segments to help new viewers catch up on what's happening. It's even more confusing when you remember that Tikki knows Adrien is Cat Noir, so his father being Monarch coupled with his sudden absence should be setting off all kinds of red flags in her book.

Ladybug tries to text Cat Noir about who Monarch really is, but chooses not to send it after Gabriel pushes a few of her buttons. Rather than jumping Gabriel while she still has the element of surprise, she only chooses to grill Nathalie for questions once Gabriel is out of the room. And of course, only when she's on death's door does Nathalie tell Ladybug to stop Monarch, but not before telling her to transform back.

We see Gabriel and Tomoe put their plan into action. They create a fake scene of Ladybug and Cat Noir kidnapping Adrien and Kagami in order to rile up the public (who aren't in the best state of mind thanks to the nightmares) in order to for them to use the Alliance rings to transform them into the “Miraculized”. In other words, it's basically “Heroes' Day” all over again. Seriously, think about it. Just like “Heroes' Day”, it looks like Adrien is being harmed by Ladybug in an attempt to push the population to the brink of despair so Gabriel can create an army in the process. Yeah, the public doesn't know the two are the same, but the audience does. Granted, this is a minor nitpick compared to the rest of my problems with this episode, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at here.

Case in point, the reason Nathalie told Ladybug to detransform was because Gabriel has found a way to track her and Cat Noir through their “quantum signatures”. With Cat Noir, it was thanks to the dust from Gabriel's Cataclysm wound, and with Ladybug, it was thanks to the Magical Charm she gave Gabriel earlier in “Gabriel Agreste”... which he shouldn't have since it was destroyed in “Dearest Family”.

Seriously, this is the season finale. How the hell are the writers still struggling to remember important events like this?

Now's as good a time as any to talk about the Miraculized's design. Yeah, they're pretty lame. They all look like they're wearing fencing gear, and don't look intimidating in the slightest. They also now have the ability to use every Miraculous power at once, which breaks the previously established rules about the Alliance rings in that only one ring can handle each Miraculous power. You could at least argue that the robots used in “Confrontation” had more advanced technology that made them capable of using multiple powers, but nothing has changed about the Alliance rings to justify this. And remember, this is something every Miraculized in the world can use, yet the system hasn't been completely fried, and as we'll later see Monarch can still freely use the other Kwamis' power even when they're being shared with the Miraculized across the world. In fact, how can the Miraculized even transform like this? Monarch doesn't akumatize anyone to spread this transformation. Gabriel just tells to say “Alliance, Miraculize Me!”, and now they can transform. Was this always a function of the Alliance rings? Is there a tiny Akuma hidden in each ring? How the hell does any this work?

Ladybug fights off some of the Miraculized who used Voyage to find her, and remembers Nathalie's advice to detransform. So just like in “Passion”, even though she's still wearing her Miraculous, the system specifically designed to track her down isn't able to find her unless she's still transformed. Marinette runs away to a safe place before running into Plagg, who tells her Cat Noir is out of commission. With no other options, Marinette decides to unify with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, turning into Bug Noire, revealing her identity to Monarch in the process, and ending the episode.

Bug Noire's design is admittedly pretty nice. I like the balance of red, black, and green, though the hair is a little too long for my taste. Granted, I still don't get why this is the reason why Adrien can't be here to fight Monarch alongside his partner. I'm just saying, was it really worth it, writers?

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... NATHALIE

Yep, right before the finish line, Nathalie gets her second award this season. After spending several episodes doing nothing but letting herself rot away, Nathalie only chose to finally do something about Gabriel once he was literally about to enact his final plan, thought she could stop him with nothing but a crossbow, and only begged Ladybug for help when it looked like she was about to die and had nothing left to lose.

“Re-Creation”, the final episode of the season, starts off with Lila watching some broadcasts of people succumbing to their paranoia (and she does it while smirking because the writers still don't think we understand she's evil) and transforming into Miraculized while she puts on a new disguise that makes her look like an evil Edna Mode.

How come Lila isn't even affected by the nightmare dust like the rest of the human population? As always, never explained!

Back in the Agreste mansion, Bug Noire and Monarch are duking it out, and we get some pretty creative uses of Lucky Charm, like when she summons a piano to crash down on Monarch. Meanwhile, after Marinette's friends manage to get the Alliance ring off a Miraculized Ivan, we get to see how the rest of the world is dealing with the Miraculized. In Shanghai, the Renlings help Fei through her nightmares, Su-Han has recruited Jagged Stone, Luka, Penny and Fang to the Order of the Guardians instead of actually getting backup like he said he would in “Multiplication”, Present Bunnix finally decides to do something and uses Burrow to sent the Guardians to Paris, while the United Heroez fight off the Miraculized and learn the true nature of the Alliance rings. Just remember, it was too much for the writers to let Adrien get involved in the final battle, yet all these side characters get to do something in the finale for some reason.

Meanwhile, as if things couldn't get any worse, Nino decides the Resistance needs to get involved after reassuring Mr. Damocles that they never give up. Believe me, not much would change if you guys just threw in the towel, especially now that the United Heroez are here, and have Eagle, a member whose powers work as an instant cure for everyone's nightmares. Hey, while we're on the subject, does anyone know where the United Heroez were this entire season? I can excuse Fei as she's just one teenager in Shanghai, but the Americans have a small army of heroes, including the president, yet they just let two violent coups in France happen last week.

As Bug Noire and Monarch keep fighting, Bug Noire comes up with the brilliant idea to Cataclysm the Butterfly Miraculous, only being foiled by Monarch already having Resistance active. Okay, is a side effect of using the Cat Miraculous this season a taste for blood? Why the hell are the heroes so okay with trying to use Cataclysm on their enemies now? Bug Noire then decides to use her Cataclysm for something far more reasonable, breaking the ground beneath her and Monarch. Because I guess Bug Noire is really gunning for Biggest Idiot this episode.

Back with the Resistance, they meet up with the Guardians, United Heroez, and Ladydragon, who have actually been getting shit done. Wow, it's just like that scene from that one movie where all the characters we've come to know over the years rally together for the final battle! What was it called again? Oh yeah, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

While the other heroes are overwhelmed by the Miraculized, we cut back to Bug Noire and Monarch yet again, now inside the area where Emilie's body is. The two keep fighting as Monarch tells Bug Noire why he's doing all this, all while Lila breaks into the mansion.

Monarch: I want my wife, Adrien's mother, to come back to us! Once our family is reunited, Kagami and Adrien will become the eternal icons of this world! And we will be here to witness their absolute triumph!

Bug Noire: “Your wife”? “Come back”? “Kagami and Adrien, eternal icons”? How many lives are you going to ruin in the name of your crazy dreams?!

Monarch: As many as it takes! In order to bring Emilie back, someone else will have to disappear! In order to heal the wound that Cat Noir inflicted on me, someone else will have to be wounded!

Bug Noire: Someone else? But who?

Monarch: Anyone! No one matters except us! How about you, Marinette? Wouldn't you give your life for your sweet Adrien's happiness?

Bug Noire: Do you really think that's what he'd want? To discover that his father has turned into a supervillain, willing to make innocent people pay the price of his madness?

Monarch: Adrien would do the same thing!

Bug Noire: Never! Unlike you, Adrien has made his peace with it. He's not living in the past! He has a whole life ahead of him!

Bug Noire: You'd know this if you ever took an interest in him. But in reality, Adrien means NOTHING to you anymore! You've locked him in your house! Locked him in your Alliance rings!

Bug Noire: Locked him into a life that allows you to hide behind him in order to justify YOUR madness!

Monarch: All I want is for him to be happy!

Remember all of this, because it's going to be important soon.

Bug Noire uses her Lucky Charm, and gets a tube of glue. She uses some of it on this random boomerang she found (I'm assuming it's the remains of Nathalie's crossbow), sticks it to her yo-yo, and then throws it at Emilie's coffin. Monarch reflexively grabs the sticky boomerang, and loses all of the rings on his right hand just as Bug Noire uses Cataclysm on the elevator to get to this area of the mansion, with the intent on CRUSHING EMILIE WITH IT. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! Monarch saves his wife, but because he's distracted, he can't stop Bug Noire from throwing her staff at the Butterfly Miraculous, knocking it off and reverting Monarch back to Gabriel. Bug Noire ties up Gabriel's feet, and when Gabriel tries to sucker punch her with Venom, Bug Noire grabs the hand, threatening to Cataclysm the remaining Alliance rings and the two rings she should damn well know contain Adrien's Amok. Either she's bluffing, or we accidentally got the Paris Special universe's version of these events.

Bug Noire tries to reason with Gabriel, who then breaks down crying, showing how deep down, he just really cares about his family. And even though just six episodes ago, Marinette said that it was very easy for idealistic people to be taken advantage of by others, she buys into Gabriel's last-minute sob story, and wouldn't you know it, he stabs her in the back. Congratulations, Marinette. You just doomed the universe. Even when the Dino Charge Rangers accidentally got everyone on their planet killed, they were at least able to fix it themselves.

It's time to go back to the commentary, where we can learn the writers' true intent for this scene. They honestly believe that both Marinette and Gabriel care for Adrien in their own ways, and the whole reason that Marinette chose to trust Gabriel was to teach the lesson that it's important to talk out your feelings with others... a lesson that fails because 1) Marinette had already beaten Gabriel through violence, 2) Marinette trusting Gabriel backfired horribly, and 3) Gabriel won because he took advantage of Marinette's trust! You can't teach a lesson about trust when for all intents and purposes, Marinette once again lost BECAUSE SHE CHOSE TO TRUST SOMEONE!

Even though he had to unify with Tikki and Plagg to try making the wish in “Deflagration” (I really shouldn't have used the “Great Continuity!” clip earlier), we get yet another retcon this season: Tikki and Plagg have to reveal their true forms. Yeah, I know Tikki's true form was briefly seen in “Dearest Family”, but that doesn't change the fact that Monarch didn't do this when he had the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in “Deflagration”.

Tikki and Plagg's true forms just look okay. I like the otherworldly theme, but they don't really stand out much. They honestly look more like forms Ladybug and Cat Noir would have than anything else.

It's here that we get the culmination of five seasons' worth of lore. After a brief glimpse of it in “Ephemeral”, Tikki and Plagg, the Kwamis of Creation and Destruction will merge their energies to form their true true form, the Kwami of Reality itself, able to grand any wish asked. This majestic, otherworldly being's name? Gimmi. Just... Gimmi. The commentary claims they're named after an ABBA song, and I wish I was making this up.

Like with Tikki and Plagg's true forms, Gimmi has an okay design. They're just a little too pink for something meant to be a fusion of the red Tikki and the black Plagg.

As Marinette begs Gabriel not to go through with this, Gabriel doesn't think twice about it, and instead, gives Marinette the rings containing Adrien's Amok, along with a request, fully aware that his time is almost up.

Gabriel: Marinette, make sure that Adrien never knows about the villain that I was, but instead, that he remembers the times I tried to be a good father.

Alright, we've finally gotten to the most controversial part of the episode: Gabriel's “redemption”, and I put that term extremely loosely.

Put aside the fact that almost a third of this season was spent telling the audience that a certain character who shall not be named is beyond saving despite working alongside him multiple times for the past two seasons, Gabriel's last-minute redemption falls flat because he doesn't even seem to feel remorse for what he's done. Not once does he actually say he's sorry for what he's done, just how Emilie's death affected him. That's understandable, but he doesn't even seem to acknowledge the weight of his actions or how many lives have been endangered. Remember earlier, when Monarch said he was perfectly okay with sacrificing someone else if it means his family can be happy? Yeah, that never comes back, especially now that him making the wish is portrayed as a good thing when every time it's been discussed ever since it was first explained in “Robostus” just how dangerous actually using it is.

In fact, let's discuss the fact that Gabriel is getting to make the wish in the first place. The whole idea of this basically contradicts Gabriel supposedly realizing he's gone too far. Rather than just having Gabriel give up his quest and let Emilie rest in peace, we're supposed to be happy that Gabriel double-crossed Marinette even when the music is making it seem like it's a bad thing... WHICH IT IS! Once again, for a show that loves to go on and on about how powerful love is, it really loves to show people getting screwed over whenever they decide to show compassion to their enemies. Imagine if in Return of the Jedi, when Luke chose to not give into the Dark Side by sparing Vader, Vader took the chance to kick him in the crotch while he was distracted. That's basically what happened here.

Next, notice how Gabriel specifically asks Marinette to make sure Adrien never learns the truth about who he was, and “Remembers the times he tried to be a good father”. After everything he's done, Gabriel isn't even willing to let Adrien learn about what he's done, because he wants him to focus exclusively on the times he TRIED to be a good father. This isn't the matter of Gabriel missing Adrien's fencing tournament because he had an important business meeting. Gabriel was a literal supervillain who preyed on innocent people in order to obtain absolute power, and he wasn't even a good father to his only kid. He was neglectful, controlling, and in the last few months of his life, spent more time trying to ruin his relationship with his girlfriend for no reason other than because he thought his associate's kid was a better match for him. He was a terrible father, and Gabriel even seems to be aware of this, but rather than find a way to repent for everything he's done, Gabriel is basically going to take the coward's way out by forcing Marinette to sugarcoat his life instead of admitting he was, at the very least, a flawed parent, all so Adrien will feel bad when he finally drops dead.

And yeah, let's talk about how Gabriel assumes that Adrien shouldn't be allowed to know the truth... WHEN THAT'S NOT HIS DECISION TO MAKE. Adrien should be the one to judge whether he believes Gabriel was a good father or not. Of course Gabriel would assume he was a good father despite the numerous red flags, but Adrien is another story. By keeping the truth hidden from Adrien, you're depriving him of a potentially important moment in his life where he finally learns to break free from his father's influence. Instead, even though he's a fucking superhero, we're just supposed to accept the fact that Adrien is just a poor, fragile, sensitive baby boy who can't handle hearing any bad news or else I guess he'll explode. It says a lot when, of all movies, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier did a better job handling an idea like this, by saying that pain is a natural part of life.

But let's talk about the biggest problem with this turn of events: The fact that it essentially vindicates everything Gabriel has done, with or without the mask, as well as essentially convey a pro-child abuse message. In case you weren't around before I posted this review, I asked my followers who have been victims of child abuse or poor parenting to share their experiences so I could get an idea of how similar they were to what Adrien has had to go through. And a lot of them were pretty similar.

During almost all of what I read from these people, their parents or guardians shared one thing in common: An inability to admit being wrong. All of them tended to either blame their kids for whatever happened to them, or find ways to justify their poor treatment. As far as they're concerned, it's the kid's fault that they're being treated so poorly. And while I'm sure a handful of people isn't enough to survey the entire population of abuse victims on this planet, the fact that some of these people, as in actual victims of child abuse, were able to see similarities with their own upbringings and the way the main villain treats his son and don't buy the show deciding to act like all of that was perfectly okay says a lot about how much this finale dropped the ball when it came to the lesson it wanted to teach.

Yes, from what I've read from my followers and other things online, some abusive parents do believe that what they're doing to their children is out of a warped view of love, but that isn't enough to validate their actions completely, and it obviously doesn't validate Gabriel's actions during the last five seasons. During the entire run of the show, Gabriel has denied his son a normal life, treats him like an object, and despite claiming that he really loves him deep down, he almost never shows it. It seemed like the show was either going to have Gabriel realize the error of his ways due to how fruitless they ended up being, but having him get the upper hand on Marinette at the very last second ultimately makes it so all of his effort, every evil plan, every civilian endangered, was all worth it. And that's why Gabriel's final moments supposedly acting like he's repented for his actions don't work, and why it turned what was initially just a boring finale into one that was beyond infuriating.

And I'm assuming that you're thinking to yourself, what exactly is the wish Gabriel was so desperate to make that he tricked Marinette at the last second?

We never really learn what kind of wish Gabriel makes using Gimmi, even in the epilogue. I'm also going to talk about this in a later post, but of course Astruc, being Astruc had to give his usual sarcastic remarks to anyone who had the slightest question about what the hell just happened.

I love how someone will ask something like “Do you mind clearing up a few questions I have about the season finale?”, and Astruc will hear what they said as if they just asked, “Is Mylene secretly the reincarnation of the Anti-Christ?”.

So Gabriel makes his wish, somehow reunites with Emilie's soul as he ascends to Heaven... until the angels realize they made a horrible mistake, and send Gabriel to his custom-made Tenth Circle of Hell. Reality itself is rewritten and all of the characters we've come to know over the past five seasons are effectively dead. If that isn't supposed to be a happy ending, I don't know what is.

According to the transcript, it's been a month after the wish is made, we see how Paris has changed since then. Not only has Miss Bustier given birth to her baby, she's also been elected as Mayor of Paris, already passing her first law, the “Eco Rule”.

Miss Bustier: It consists of very simple principles: don't take more from the Earth than what it can give us, distribute its riches equitably and don't pollute more than it can recycle.

Remember when Mylene said that you can't solve climate change with a single law? I guess the writers forgot to recycle that moral too, because despite the vague as hell guidelines, Paris has already adapted to function without plastic wrappers or cars. Just remember, it's only been one month since the wish was made. Even Star Trek needed at least 130 years and a nuclear war before its utopian society could be established. And that's not even getting into the new school she's helped create.

Miss Bustier: In this new school, there will be no classes or struggling to get good grades. Children of all ages will be able to intermix and freely access all kinds of activities.

The fuck you mean “no grades”?! How the hell will that even work?! We're supposed to see this as her being an impressive politician, but it comes across like some grade schooler's “If I were president” essay. And remember, ONE. MONTH.

How else has the Eco Rule been implemented? All of the Alliance rings have been melted down and reforged into a statue honoring... the great hero, Gabriel Agreste.

Yep. This is the ultimate fate of the main villain after five seasons of terrorizing the city of Paris: He gets a fucking statue in his honor. Are we sure this is a victory for the good guys? And no, just surviving the villain's master plan doesn't count as a win.

Even better, according to Adrien, he somehow helped defeat Monarch... even though Gabriel is Monarch, so is Monarch a different person in this world? What about Monarch's previous identities, Hawkmoth and Shadowmoth? Did they still exist in this world? They had to, considering that Chloe and Andre are still nowhere to be seen since the revolution, implying that either she's different in this world, or she also betrayed Ladybug for the same reasons. Nathalie is also back in full health, so did she ever use the Peacock? Was the Peacock ever damaged? We see Felix has it in this new world, but Emilie is still dead, so did she die of different causes in this timeline? Speaking of time, what happened to Bunnix? Did she survive too? Is she aware of the changes to the world like she was in “Cat Blanc”?

To summarize, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?

Adrien is hesitant to wear the ring because he's not sure if he can ever be even half the man his amazing father was. Marinette tells Adrien to be himself while handing the ring to him. So... was this an order? If so, was it intentional? Does Marinette even know what she's doing, or because she's a product of Gabriel's wish, she has to do this without a hitch? In fact, when he made the wish, why didn't Gabriel make Adrien, Felix, and Kagami humans instead of forcing them to rely on rings containing their souls that can easily break?

This scene is a great way to summarize Adrienette this season: The writers trying to write a heartwarming scene while hoping the audience doesn't think too hard about all the uncomfortable things it implies.

After reforging the Miraculous she got back from Monarch, Marinette decides to hand them off. Because fuck it, let's break the temp hero rule while we're at it! Chloe who? Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Viperion, Pegasus, Ryuko, Vesperia, Polymouse, Pigella, Purple Tigress, Miss Hound, Rooster Bold, Caprikid, Minotaurox, Bunnix, and even Argos (despite being the reason the heroes lost their Miraculous in the first place) assemble, ready for whatever challenge the world throws at them. Also, there's no reveal between Ladybug and Cat Noir this season because the writers still want to drag this plotline out, even when there's no excuse as to why they can't now that Monarch is gone.

We then learn who got the Butterfly Miraculous: Lila, who plans to get revenge on Marinette. Yep, the girl who has never even touched a Miraculous in five seasons is going to be Hawkmoth's successor. Not Tomoe (who I should mention never answered for being Gabriel's accomplice), not Audrey, not even Chloe. It's Lila. How the hell did she even get it anyway? Did Gabriel intentionally recreate the world to have Lila get the Butterfly Miraculous, or did Lila somehow retain her memories through close proximity to the wish and--

Fuck it, season's over anyway. Thank God...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS...MARINETTE

While I can't say for certain what she did with Adrien is her fault thanks to Gabriel making the wish, I can say a good chunk of the things Marinette did leading up to Gabriel winning are on her. She recklessly used her Cataclysm multiple times in her fight with Monarch, tried to crush Emilie's comatose body with debris, once again chose to gloat about how she was going to take Gabriel's Miraculous instead of just doing it the first chance she got, seemingly forgot Adrien was a Sentimonster, and somehow managed to lose even when she had Gabriel at her mercy.

So, yeah... this finale was terrible, if it wasn't obvious from this review.

It was just a complete trainwreck from start to finish. A good chunk of the first part was spent either ignoring the events of the last episode, or coming up with excuses as to why Adrien shouldn't get involved. And that's not even getting into Nathalie's “redemption”, which only really happened once she had nothing to lose, seeing how she was even closer to dying than Gabriel was. In fact, now that I think about it, why was more emphasis given to Nathalie's declining health over Gabriel? You know, the guy who's enacting his final plan because he's supposedly hours from death, yet effortlessly manages to clone himself, fly around the world as an Akuma, and keep up with Bug Noire when he struggled to enact a plan that required him to leave the lair without traveling around the world during “Intuition”? Given how we now know that the writers wanted the final battle to involve Bug Noire, I'm starting to think they also prioritized her opponent being in top shape while ignoring the Cataclysm wound affecting him.

The second half was mostly boring thanks to just how low the stakes felt. We know where Adrien is, and since Bug Noire was fighting Monarch, there was no danger of them taking her Miraculous, so for the most part, the Miraculized fighting the other heroes just felt like padding. Nobody even seemed to look for Ladybug or Cat Noir, not even the heroes. Of course, then we got to Gabriel's wish. I've gone over this before, but it bears repeating. Gabriel's “redemption” just doesn't work due to how little effort is spent actually making the audience feel bad for him other than saying “His wife is dead, and he's sad, so that justifies everything”. It doesn't help that we kind of had four episodes explaining why some people can't change, and it wasn't used when talking about Gabriel, but rather, Chloe and Lila. Because these writers really have their priorities straight.

The ending of the season itself practically falls apart with how many plotholes and unfortunate implications it has. And before you say that stuff like Adrien once again being left in the dark can be resolved next season, here's the thing: This was planned to be the series finale with how everything feels wrapped up. There's a sense of finality that shows all the main characters getting their happy ending, and we're just supposed to not question the new utopia Paris is now, much less the fact that even after eight years, Ladybug and Cat Noir still don't know who the other is. Even putting that aside, the show has always done a poor job of following up on plotpoints established in earlier seasons, as the lunchroom scene from “Illusion” shows.

Here's a summary of all the lessons the finale teaches: We shouldn't hold terrorists accountable for their actions if they just say they love their family, abuse victims should be constantly coddled and shouldn't be allowed to know the truth about their viewers, it's okay to keep crucial information from your significant other, genocide is okay as long as the person who commits it says it's for a good cause, love for others can easily be taken advantage of, so never trust anyone, genocide is the only way to create an eco-friendly world, environmental protection laws can be passed within a month and nobody (not even car manufacturers) will complain, teenage girls are worse than abusive parents who double as supervillains, and even if it was planned for almost a decade, don't let your main heroine be the one to save the day, but rather, the villain.

If anyone reading this is planning on becoming a writer and is worried that people won't like their work, just remember that there are people who get paid to work on this show.

But yeah, this is how the season ends, not with a bang, but with a nosedive. I was mostly pissed off with how Seasons 3 and 4 ended, but here? I'm just disappointed. This was the finale that we waited eight years for. The epic final battle against Monarch, and rather than the ultimate fight to the finish, the writers came with several excuses to not involve one of the two main characters in the final battle, the other main character fails to actually save the day, and the villain is rewarded for all of actions because he chose to turn himself into a messiah. I tuned into this season to at least see how the story would end out of curiosity, but it didn't even deliver an ending that made all the pointless filler, poor writing, and bad characterization worth it. I started this finale off bored, and I ended up furious for how lackluster this ending felt. It says a lot when this finale has been compared to Star vs. the Forces of Evil in terms of just screwing everything up.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE SEASON IS... MARINETTE

Marinette may not have been able to beat Gabriel in terms of stopping his plan, but she did manage to outdo him in terms of stupidity. Because she got the award four times this season (Evolution, Revelation, Confrontation, Re-Creation), she takes home the title of Biggest Idiot.

And for those who are curious or didn't keep up with my reviews, Gabriel gets second place with three Biggest Idiot Awards (Intuition, Protection, Revolution), we have a five-way tie for third place with Luka (Determination, Migration), Mayor Andre (Adoration, Action), Chloe (Deflagration, Collusion), Felix (Emotion, Representation), and Nathalie (Passion, Conformation), who all got the award twice, and a ten-way tie for fourth place with Alya (Multiplication), Xuppu (Destruction), Mr. Damocles (Jubiliation), Nino (Illusion), Joan of Arc (Reunion), Ice Cream Man Andre (Elation), Kagami (Perfection), Kim (Derision), and Tomoe (Pretension) each getting the award once.

And with that, we're done with Season 5. It's been a long road, but all I can say is...

At least, until the analysis and ranking posts.

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

Round 5, Match 2

propaganda below the cut! (wall of text warning)

Selena:

"truly probably one of the most beautiful women to have ever walked this earth. voice of an angel, dazzling smile, looks like she smells good"

"if u don't vote selena ur mexicanphobic /j"

Brian Molko:

"Gender"

"IM GOING TO EAT HER. He is soooo beautiful and freakish and small and weird and girlfriend and tiny like a little princess bug fairy. Literally gorgeous she has to win"

"When he flipped over the table with the little limp wrist.... someone find the video"

"1998 woman of the year"

"Brian Molko is peak gender envy, gender bending and being yourself without caring about other people's opinion, on top of all that he is a great guitarist that writes amazing songs"

"Brian’s gonna win this. I think we all kinda know that."

"Tumblrinas would be nothing without Brian molko"

"Kills her kills her kills her kills her kills her kills him kills her. He's my everything <3"

"He came 10th in the list of hottest women sometimes in the 90s. Gender goals."

"No one in the world can sound so nasal and look so angelic....."

"don't you wish you had his gender"

"Single-handedly took my gender by the scruff of the neck and threw it in a washing machine at full speed. He talked about not expecting to "get away with" passing as a woman to the degree that he did when he started purposely presenting feminine. He talked about the importance to fuck with people's heads through his appearance and behaviour, the importance of ambiguity. About how being in the band allowed him to do stuff he couldn't have done otherwise, to exaggerate some of his traits. He had the fuck ass bob makeup nail polish dresses stuff down, but not in an overly sophisticated way, especially in the early career 90s days the vibe was more shabby punk rock chick. Also he fantasized about being in an all-girl band called Skirt and playing guitar and singing backing vocals in drag. According to a 1997 melody maker interview bandmate steve hewitt called him "the most confused woman he's ever known". And if you go down that rabbit hole there's just more of this. Lots of material to focus on if you like genderweird bisexual unclean libertines (song ref) who will just say Anything in interviews. It's fun."

"I've drawn him as saints and martyrs such as saint sebastian and joan of arc. Or all bloody lying in a wet alley after being thrown out of a club. Or unconscious on a snowy road. Or dying in a glue trap. Or shocked after seeing a dead body. Also as a nun and as rose mcgowan in the doom generation. This is because I'm normal."

"She's a sick little angel faced freak. My theythem girlboy queen. He reminds me of an ant. He's like 5 foot 4 or something. My goth girl boyfriend. <3"

[tumbleweedsthesecond]

I hc topher as achillian so I'm always open to him having a crush on Joan being genuine in some way but half of me thinks it is half of me thinks it isn't. It could be either I was kinda looking forward to him liking her(I think he does kinda). I think when he has crushes its usually not out of genuine falling head over heels in love which is especially weird when everyone else in the show is basically like that. But I also like interpretation that he's just trolling Abe in a way because lets be real that arc was nothing but a plot device. Even if he did like joan I don't think he'd be so invested in it, he literally smiles when he tells her she isn't in the group and when they set lose snakes(these are highschoolers they don't have to be head over heels in love I wouldn't even say he loves her). I wanted to add the lyrics but couldn't cause it kept crashing when I tried. Its just one interpretation I have of it cause he's a satire character basically.(how he's written not the way he views himself I think he'd try to make his crush seem more than it is its ironic he never really interacted with her before much in s2) Its not supposed to be that he faked everything to her I think he's genuine when trying to be nice to her letting her in the group which is funny cause he says stuff like 'you're clearly craving companionship you have no friends!!' And stands there afterward smiling like he's genuinely helping her. I think the love part is where he'd be faking most of it cause he can fight his attraction to that white woman. Either way he'd probably just lie and say he never liked her if he really did. Flew over your head part is cause she doesn't know about it anyway I read way too into this I love yapping

Their relationship isn't too romantic to me that doesn't mean he doesn't like her in a way canonly. Anyway maybe grayromantic

Or maybe he doesn't like her I mean idgaf any interpretation could work really

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam, I have a weird question for you! So Michaelis adopted Noah, and then Gregory and Eddie, excuse me, Theophile adopted Joan. The whole family adopted Caleb and Buck... So when are Gerald and Alanna going to find some random person to adopt? Will it be a kid at the Maritime Academy making the adults around them crazy in their own, wildly neurotypical way? A young adult disaster doing the best they can until Gregory says "wait a minute kid, have you been tested for ADHD? No? let me get you a referral." Maybe its just some nerdy preteen who writes to Gerald in his capacity as Grand (Evil) Vizier with questions/comments on some aspect of governance that he's involved in. I have my headcanon that it's the third option, which morphs into the first when Gerald gets all Fairy Godfather about them.

"Look Greg, I'm just saying, Uncle Mike has his Minion, you have a minion, and I don't have one yet. I'm going to have to get one just for self defense. And fairness!" Greg looks wearily at Alanna who just says "I'm ok with it as long as some one else provides the adult supervision here."

Anyhoo, love the Shivadh verse, thanks for writing it!

Oh, I think Gerald went pretty hardcore on adopting Caleb. Friend To Drag Royalty and ADHD-haver Duke Gerald saw Caleb onstage at the National Final and went "Oh, neurodivergent genderfucker? Same hat. That one's mine," and immediately began Brothering at him. The whole family did take Caleb in, to an extent, and certainly Michaelis also added Caleb (and Buck) to his collection of Tavats, but it's Gerald's job to make sure he's looked after. Caleb's a full adult but he's also still quite young to be as famous as he is, so someone's got to make sure nobody tramples him. And Al is there to make sure Gerald doesn't exuberantly also trample Caleb by accident. :D

Although this is an interesting thought you've put before me, because in the football novel, presumably the next in the series (I'm doing some date-juggling) Gerald is a more present force than the rest of the royals -- he's the main character's friend from their party days, and tends to be the link between the football program and the palace. He's also the one who brings Caleb in for a cameo, to mentor a young trans man in the program.

Now, possibly not in the football novel since there's no real narrative space for it there, but possibly in a future novel, it would absolutely be in line with Gerald and Alanna's arc to semi-adopt a kid or kids from the football program. Gerald's starting to open up more publicly about his ADHD, and I can see one of the kids sidling up to him to ask about it; I can see there being a significant number of kids with ADHD in the program, since it's a lot of running around and yelling. Also the program's academic side is pretty lenient with the kids, making it a more welcoming space for a child who can't learn traditionally (a lot of the more intensive program kids do half-day study at Maritime, too). I'm making a note, that's a fun idea.

[no-stupid-questions-official]

would it be… weird? wrong? to write historical fiction where the joan of arc is a trans man? i read a book recently (transgender warriors by leslie feinberg) where the author suggests that joan of arc is trans (not necessarily a trans man — but says she would count (at the time, this was the 90s and “trans” was a much more broad term) as trans because of being a woman chooses to dress as a man) and i kind of wanted to explore this in a short story.

i know i can write fiction about literally whatever i want theoretically, i guess my question is more “would you think it’s weird if you saw a book about this in the wild”

(for the record, i’m a trans man — my worry here is more about writing about a real person, even if that person is long gone lol)

-

[dolche-tejada]

I saw your ror post and I just wanted to say

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you–*is slowly pulled away by the fandom police*

Seriously though, it bothered me so much that there weren't any goddesses with actual roles cause you guys show Apollo but not Artemis??? Where's Athena! Or the baddest bitch, Ishtar?? Izanagi or Amaterasu when Susano is there?

WHERE'S PERSEPHONE????????!!!!!!!

ALSO! A good theory regarding Jack the Ripper is that he was actually a WOMAN which is why they were never caught. No woman could possibly be educated or blood-thirsty enough to commit this crime! Of course not!

Marie Curie was a side character, damnit!

What about Cleopatra? Joan of Arc?

There's so many badass women in history and they aren't being highlighted enough!

Sorry for ranting, ROR just frustrates me despite being such an interesting concept. Tbf, a lot of anime and manga have the same issue regarding women, so maybe I should be used to it by now

Thanks ahah and don't apologize, you're totally right !!

Of any fighting manga I've read, RoR has the weakest excuse for its lack of female fighters : The Ragnarok is supposed to feature the most powerful deities/humans that have ever existed but we're supposed to believe that out of over 26 fighters, not even one of them is a woman ?

And here it's just my opinion but there's no way Apollo was a much better choice for the roster than fucking Artemis. Okay he turned out to be a great character (one of my favorites actually) and he's also known in mythology as the god of archery but Artemis is literally the goddess of the hunt.

And even if she doesn't fight, AT LEAST give her some screentime in her brother's backstory or a cameo in the crowd, something ! At what point do you just turn her into some weird-ass statue ? What's the point of talking about myths if you're cutting out half of them ?

Plus like you said, concerning the other female deities it's just as annoying : Athena is never mentioned once ; Persephone and Demeter are just Poseidon and Hades' move names ; Hera is barely referred during Heracles' backstory and only for the writers to imply that she died a long time ago, talk about a waste.

Not to mention that as you pointed out, even on the human side there were plenty of candidates with a lot of potential.

Now I still love RoR don't get me wrong but at this point, I no longer have any expectations from its authors on this aspect. I can already bet that Izanami and Amaterasu will be the names of either Susanoo's swords or his special moves.

That's why if you or anyone else is looking for a manga similar to RoR that does more to showcase historical women, I recommend you to try Majo Taisen.

It has its issues with its lack of poc characters' representation and its portrayal of Cleopatra but it's still really enjoyable and its authors understood that History is full of badass and amazing women who also deserve the spotlight

[showtoonzfan]

—⚠️SPOILERS FOR THE LEAKED CLONE HIGH EPISODE!!! ⚠️—

Okay time to rant about the Clone high episode but in a way some of y’all aren’t expecting. This is just me but some people are painting the leaked new episode of Clone High to be WAAAY worse than it actually is. Like…good god some of y’all are overreacting, I’ve even seen people compare it to freaking Velma like GOD no. While I personally enjoyed the episode, I can see why people may not like it. A lot of people are bummed about Ghandi, the cancel culture stuff, and maybe the comedy, though for the comedy it’s mostly a hit or miss, but for me it was a hit. As for the Cancel culture stuff, it didn’t piss me off like a lot of people are because I honestly expected this. Clone high has always been known to poke fun at whatever was going on in the world at the time, so like…yeah of course they’d do an episode regarding that, and I personally liked the idea of a fish out of water concept since the clones have been frozen for 20 years. Some people were saying that Abe felt out of character and OOC, but honestly? Abe’s character has always been that he’s a stubborn loser who constantly gets into trouble, so him getting cancelled and fucking up everything he’s saying felt in character for me, it was one of the reasons I liked it so much because everyone felt in character, even if you could argue it wasn’t as good. I will say that Abe saying slurs felt incredibly forced to fit the plot, but he’s still a loser like he was in the original so I can’t be mad about it yet. I certainly wouldn’t call the episode perfect, but I overall enjoyed it.

The only two issues I had was Joan and JFK. These personal issues was more of a nitpick, but I was expecting…I dunno, more out them? Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge shipper of the two and I’m happy they’re together, but at the same time I find it weird that they’re both….okay with being a couple. I was surprised that Joan was 100% on board, I’d predicted that she would act like the night they spent together was a “one time thing” and that she needed to figure things out. The beginning of the episode even hints at the drama, but there was really no drama around the love triangle at all, aside from Abe moping. It just…felt like kind of a let down, but I think that’s just me because I was expecting more or something really big to kick off immediately. Joan as a whole however in this episode felt …..off to me, but I can’t really explain it. She just felt….off, like kinda out of character? I dunno I was expecting her to be against the popular kids since her character in the show was more being on “the good side” of things, like I would think she would go “I don’t need to be popular”- but she wasn’t bad or anything. I was always expecting her to be annoyed by JFK’s entire vulgar personality but she seemed to have no mind. As for JFK himself, I was surprised he wanted Joan to be his girlfriend, since he was known for being the ultimate fuck boy, going from one woman to the next. I had really hoped that their relationship would be more of a slow burn, rather than them getting together immediately in the very first episode, since JFK still has a lot to learn about relationships. The scene they shared outside of the prom to me opened a new door for a good character arc and relationship exploration, it was the scene that made me ship them, because there was so much potential for them to become a really good couple, so now that they just start off immediately being one, it felt VERY underwhelming to me. However, this is still the first episode, so for now I’ll wait to see what the writers do with these two. I could care less about Abe moping because all my homies hate Abe, but not in a bad way per say, to me, he’s enjoyable to watch, but we acknowledge that he’s a loser lol.

Meanwhile, Scudworth is the same, he’s hilarious as always and I get a kick out of watching him, and introducing a female boss who he has fallen in love with solely because she’s trying to kill him is funny to me. I have no idea if she’ll legitimately be a love interest or not, again we’ll have to see, but I will say that these new board of shadowy figures ain’t it. I miss the old iconic guys, particularly the main one with the soothing voice because he was iconic and funny. I guess it makes sense on why Scudworth didn’t unfreeze them since they had planned to kill him and take the clones away, but I do miss them and it kinda is a downgrade. Then there’s Ghandi, who we all miss but for the people demanding that he be brought back and that the show isn’t the same without him, y’all need to chill because I highly doubt this is in the creators control. I’m pretty sure if it was, Ghandi would be in the show, but they were kinda forced to take him out due to the controversy, so despite me missing him, I can see why it had to be done, and I don’t blame the show itself. As for the new clones and characters, I’ll have to get used to them and warm up to them, but I certainly wouldn’t call any of them “bad”. Again, this is merely the first episode, and unlike the majority of people on twitter right now, I want to give the show a chance and see how this all plays out until I say it’s “god awful” or act like it’s the worst thing in the world. I will say this however, to the people complaining about the gore and even the comedy style, do y’all know what show you’re watching? Like…this is Clone HIGH lol, I expected most of this to happen since I saw the original show, so I will be honest and say I don’t 100% know why everyone is so pressed about it. I get that people are maybe bummed about the whole “cancel culture” thing since nobody likes that, so I can see why but like I said, this is what Clone High is known for so I wasn’t taken aback.

With all that said, I’m 100% confident about the show and have high positive hopes for it. To me, the show hasn’t changed at all, the spirit of the original is still there, the characters for the most part still feel the same, and so does the humor. I think it’s way too early (LITERALLY since this got leaked) to say that the show shouldn’t have been rebooted or the show in general isn’t good and will be a lost cause. For now I think we’re off to a pretty okay start, and I’ll have to see more in the future to see where things go before I can say my full opinions on wether I think it’s good or not. Keep in mind these are all MY personal opinions on the show so far. Fill free to disagree with me. We all need to keep in mind that there’s always room for improvement however, because I will admit that I think it’s unfair that a lot of people are already saying the show is going to suck. We have no idea yet and we’ll just have to wait and see. Thank you for reading, and I personally can’t wait to see more Clone High!

[drovvninq]

clone high season 3 thoughts:

joan was handled a lot better but it sucks that her and jfk NEVER talked abt their relationship again. it's all about her and abe/confucious now and i hate it. i liked her going back to her indie girl roots but the og joan would NEVER accept that whole "i'll pretend to date you if you pay for my film festival" shit. she had more class than that. it feels like she's doing that thing they did in z-o-m-b-i-e-s where s2 she thinks she belongs with harriet and jfk but now she thinks she's a bleacher creature... idk it's weird.... bleacher creatures were kinda cool tho :) not topher.

i liked jfk being the mc actually, it was refreshing. i found the christian arc really fitting especially at the end where they tied it together as him being a kennedy. i didn't like him dating harriet again and i also didn't like the jfabe hints ???? that scares me... but the dick pic thing was funny,, also the fact that he's just like,, one of the guys now?? him and confucius and abe being buds. just dudes being dudes.

abe was SO much more in character this season. i didn't particularly like the bloody mary episode but the whole "i found a girl and she's nerdy like me and she's cute and funny but she wants to get rid of joan" thing is okay i guess. it really feeds back into s1 when he abandoned ghandi for cleo. overall he was good but he was VERY hypersexual this season and it was just awkward to watch.

cleo acted... KIND of like herself?? i liked the slim snowsuit thing and the supporting frida because she got free stuff but that's like it. i still wish her and frida had more setup in s2 but they handled it well this season at least. them being the christian icons was funny i guess but i seriously want cleo to accidentally use frida and manipulate her power at some point and then feel guilt. that's the ONLY reason cleo should ever feel guilty for anything in this show.

frida was chill tbh, not much to say abt her. the whole fish pointing, painting stuff for cleo, only snorkeling to make her happy was sososososo cute </33 i want more stuff like that :")

harriet is terrible character writing. her only trait is that she's smart and loyal, but she cheats on confucius. with eye sex. I HATE THE EYE SEX THING. WHY WAS IT NECESSARY. and then she goes back to confucius as soon as she thinks he's available just because she thinks he likes her. WHAT. AND THEN SHE'S MAD ??? i feel like she's only there to be joan's friend and to be with frida at the beginning of s1... WHY!!!!! IS JFK!!!!! DATING HER !!!!! STILL !!!! NOT ONLY IS SHE A BAD FRIEND, SHE'S JUST A BAD PARTNER IN GENERAL!!

confucius is a good character though imho. he was a good person this season and his actions actually made sense with his motivations. he's a huge people pleaser and because of that he wants validation in points (ep1) and doesn't wanna tell harriet he's dating joan. he wants to keep everyone happy and he's so sweet tbh he's growing on me.

SCUDWORTH. AND. BUTLERTRON. FART JOKES. SEX JOKES. GAY LOVE JOKES. GANDHI JOKES. WESLEY JOKES. I LOVE THEM!!!

[lumiereandcogsworth]

belle saying “you’ve taken me as your prisoner and now you want to have dinner with me? ARE YOU INSANE?” is genuinely soooo funny.

like imagine you wake up in the morning expecting to have another normal, kind of boring day. and then you spend all morning overhearing people gossiping about how weird you are. and then your beloved father LEAVES. and then you get harassed for attempting to teach a child to read. and then the town dickhead follows you home and insinuates he wants to have children with you, nearly follows you into your house while pulling on the skirt of your dress, and essentially proposes in the process. and then when you manage to escape him, your horse, whom your father Took On The Journey, comes back without your father, so now you gotta hop on the poor exhausted horse and go looking for him. and then you end up at some abandoned castle where it’s somehow snowing?? and you find your father locked up in a tower dungeon. and then you meet the guy who imprisoned him — turns out he’s like, some kind of BEAST — and then you decide hey, my day couldn’t possibly get any worse, why don’t i just wrap it up here and let my dad go home and get some rest. so you TRICK him into taking his place in the dungeon. then you have to watch as the beast guy drags him out. and then a talking candelabra and his mantel clock friend release you and take you to your own bedroom (but are being super sus about the other rooms in the castle). and then there’s a feather duster who’s apparently in love with the candelabra, and then your wardrobe turns out to be an opera singer who just wants to dress you in fine attire. and you’re like “well, i guess i’ll use all this fabric to try and joan of arc myself outta this place!” and then when you’re FINALLY making progress on this whole ridiculous situation, SO close to getting back home and completing THEE weirdest day of your life, that beast guy comes by and knocks on your door and asks if you want to have dinner with him.

LIKE I’D BE AT MY BREAKING POINT TOO! ARE YOU INSANE?? I’D STARVE BEFORE I EVER ATE WITH YOU!!!!! FUCKING MEN.

[missmaywemeetagain]

Dear Miss Madisyn,

What makes Elementary superior to the Cumberbatch Sherlock for you?

a fellow television enthusiast...

norah

PS X-Files was my first grown up appointment TV show....

My Darlin' Dearest Norah,

I want to preface this by saying I do like BBC Sherlock because I know there are some pretty intense camps out there on both sides and I don't want anyone coming for me lol. I definitely think there is room for both in the canon. I will also say it has been quite a while since I watched the BBC version, so make of that what you will...

However, I prefer Elementary for a few reasons:

One, while I think the highly stylistic "movie" sort of quality to the BBC version is interesting, it gives Sherlock this sort of superhero-esque quality that makes him so "other" it's hard to relate to him in any way. Like I think he's cool in an objective way, but I don't really like him much or find him very redeemable. And the attitude around him is kind of like, "Well, that's just Sherlock! He's just a brilliant asshole!" and it just...stays that way.

(Now don't get me wrong, I love all the actors in both versions for a multitude of different reasons! But the writing lends itself to highly different interpretations from an actor's perspective.)

I prefer the realism of Elementary more. I absolutely love the characterization of both Sherlock and Joan. They feel like dynamic, flawed but redeemable characters who are fleshed out in most every way. They learn and grow and change in crucial ways throughout the series. Sherlock's behavior and neurodivergency are explained but not used as cop-outs or excuses for his not-so-nice treatment of people. He faces very real consequences in his relationships because of it and because of his drug addiction, but the key difference is that he figures out he wants to do better, especially for the people he comes to care deeply for. He tries, in his weird Sherlock way, to connect, because he starts to realize that yes, he is brilliant, but his actions affect others, and that being totally alone is not all it's cracked up to be. And Joan is very much her own person who struggles with her own issues and relationships with people and with the direction she wants her life to go. She (unwillingly at first) learns these new things about how to look at the world and how to help people in a different way, and she doesn't take a backseat to Sherlock. After the first season, she becomes a true partner to him, not a sidekick, and I really appreciate that.

Part of it is there is just more time over 7 traditional seasons to explore character arc, versus the wonky "we put seasons out whenever it works for us" way of BBC. The nuances are much more developed over time in a more natural way for Elementary.

Not to mention that the gender-bending in Elementary is just *chef's kiss*. They did it so well, you'd hardly know it was any other way!

Back to character, I just think Johnny Lee Miller knocked that role completely out of the park. He was absolutely stunning in playing those subtle changes and emotional moments and showing Sherlock's growth over time. He was multi-dimensional and it made his growth heartbreaking and lovely. He should've won a million Emmy's for that performance. And honestly, as much as I like Benedict (and I do), I truly think Johnny is the better actor overall (side note--if you ever get a chance, watch both versions of the Frankenstein production that they did together for the National Theatre in London, where they switch roles, both playing the monster and Dr. F for different performances. It's brilliant! But I do think Johnny is much better as the monster. 😊) And Lucy Liu is just a badass and I love her, too, and the chemistry between them is just awesome. They play those comic moments so well, too.

And I'm not gonna lie, I'm 100% a Sherlock x Joan shipper, and the writing in Elementary was fantastic in this way, because it left it open enough for the audience to decide for themselves what kind of love we were dealing with there. But the shippy moments were soooo good, imo. You named a bee after me? We're just two people who love each other... Come ON. Beautiful. Fabulous. Fantastic. And the ending? I wept.

I also think Elementary dealt with the addiction piece much much much better. The realism of going to AA, dealing with the fallout of relationships, relapses, the ongoing challenge of always being an addict was just so much more poignant without being a crutch. Similar thoughts about how the neurodivergency and PTSD were handled.

Anyway, I could probably go on, but this is long enough already! TL;DR: I just think Elementary is better in all the ways: writing, acting, arcs, relationships...LOL

Thanks for the ask, my dearest!!

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

Round 4 Match 4

propaganda below the cut! (massive wall of text warning)

Miki Berenyi:

"shes the most beautiful woman i have ever seen. her hair is amazing and she's just gorgeous idk what else to say or how to fathom her beauty"

"I met miki berenyi a few weeks ago and shes the coolest and nicest person I've ever met so down to earth and nice and lovely which imo makes her incredibly hot"

"Founding mother of Shoegaze"

"I want to hold miki so tenderly and tell her jokes that make her laugh like we’re childhood friends and have a sleepover where we do each others makeup and then fuck so nasty the neighbors get alarmed and debate with each other whether or not to call the cops"

Brian Molko:

"Gender"

"IM GOING TO EAT HER. He is soooo beautiful and freakish and small and weird and girlfriend and tiny like a little princess bug fairy. Literally gorgeous she has to win"

"When he flipped over the table with the little limp wrist.... someone find the video"

"1998 woman of the year"

"Brian Molko is peak gender envy, gender bending and being yourself without caring about other people's opinion, on top of all that he is a great guitarist that writes amazing songs"

"Brian’s gonna win this. I think we all kinda know that."

"Tumblrinas would be nothing without Brian molko"

"Kills her kills her kills her kills her kills her kills him kills her. He's my everything <3"

"He came 10th in the list of hottest women sometimes in the 90s. Gender goals."

"No one in the world can sound so nasal and look so angelic....."

"don't you wish you had his gender"

"Single-handedly took my gender by the scruff of the neck and threw it in a washing machine at full speed. He talked about not expecting to "get away with" passing as a woman to the degree that he did when he started purposely presenting feminine. He talked about the importance to fuck with people's heads through his appearance and behaviour, the importance of ambiguity. About how being in the band allowed him to do stuff he couldn't have done otherwise, to exaggerate some of his traits. He had the fuck ass bob makeup nail polish dresses stuff down, but not in an overly sophisticated way, especially in the early career 90s days the vibe was more shabby punk rock chick. Also he fantasized about being in an all-girl band called Skirt and playing guitar and singing backing vocals in drag. According to a 1997 melody maker interview bandmate steve hewitt called him "the most confused woman he's ever known". And if you go down that rabbit hole there's just more of this. Lots of material to focus on if you like genderweird bisexual unclean libertines (song ref) who will just say Anything in interviews. It's fun."

"I've drawn him as saints and martyrs such as saint sebastian and joan of arc. Or all bloody lying in a wet alley after being thrown out of a club. Or unconscious on a snowy road. Or dying in a glue trap. Or shocked after seeing a dead body. Also as a nun and as rose mcgowan in the doom generation. This is because I'm normal."

"She's a sick little angel faced freak. My theythem girlboy queen. He reminds me of an ant. He's like 5 foot 4 or something. My goth girl boyfriend. <3"

[leonscape]

asexual characters. i take no criticism, i have claimed them for the aces.

1. Artem Wing

He gives “im focusing on school/work” ace but doesn’t realize they’re ace vibes. Please stop bullying him for being a virgin with one doctorate degree.

2. Yves Kloss

He bakes cakes and cake is better than seggs.

(also a lot of his steamy smut scenes feels like they’re just for fan service because it’s an otome game.)

3. Chevalier Michel

If Chevalier can do everything because he’s a genius, how come no bitches?

If you said “because he never needed bitches,” that seems like ace culture to me.

4. Clavis Lelouch

He’s purple. Just kidding. He just has demisexual vibes. I think he wouldn’t be interested in a sexual relationship unless there are romantic feelings. I could be wrong ngl, the ace vibes aren’t strong in this one but because he’s purple I shall claim him.

4. Sariel Noir

He’s also purple. Just kidding (not really). A professional man. Leads me to believe he’s a kinky grayace. (again the ace vibes aren’t strong because i know next to nothing about him. i can’t wait to be proven wrong 🤠)

🖤🤍💜

🤫

(coincidence? i think not 🤨)

5. Isaac Newton

Bro discovered gravity so the allos could get laid. Okay that was a terrible joke but I’m leaving it in here. No but fr, another case of “I have to study, I don’t have time for a relationship,” vibe.

Irl Isaac is believed to be ace too.

6. Jean D’arc

Irl Joan of Arc aka “Jehanne la Pucelle” (Joan the Maid, as in Joan the Virgin).

Read more about her here.

Ikevamp Jean just screams clueless and oblivious. He’s like the *doesn’t realize that having sex isn’t a joke* type of ace. Again, his spicy scenes are a little 🤔🤔🤨 They do feel like they’re just for the ✨thirst✨

7. Zero

The Ace of Hearts 😈🖤💜🤍

Maybe it’s because he was made in a lab idk. His route is very ace friendly, they don’t just shove weird spicy scenes in your face. Or at least from what I remember. I played his dramatic route and I don’t remember there being any smutty scenes.

8. Fenrir Godspeed

The Ace of Spades 😈♠️ He’s purple.

Sex positive ace. Yeah i actually just put him here because he’s the ace of spades 🧍🏻‍♀️

9. Luka Clemence

He’s another purple character. He also bakes cakes and stuff and that’s better than seggs. He’s too innocent, always so clueless.

10. Uesugi Kenshin

Very suspicious of irl Kenshin never marrying, having a concubine, or having children of his own🤨

Ikesen Kenshin saying he hates women is kinda funny to me for some reason maybe because he would be canceled to fast for saying that. Anyways he’s too busy with his battles to think about relationships.

[weirdcat1213]

ok i'll bite– why should i read requiem of the rose king?

YES IT WORKED, COME HERE FRIEND :D

ok fair warning: im like 10 chapters away from being done. the ending could be terrible and ruin everything but i doubt it. i know it in my heart, its gonna be great

from what i know from you, i know you like to suffer (same) so this manga is totally for you, but let me give you a list

-the main character is intersex and although the world (fuck you 1400s) is queerphobic, the topic is still handled with respect and depth. it asks interesting questions about gender and identity

-the mc is so emo you dont even know. but not in a cringy way i would say

-toxic gays >:D

-joan of arc is there. as a ghost. pretty cool imo

-the vibes are gothic because of the time period but also the main character himself: he wear black, there are crows, dark forests, etc

-the art is soooooooooo pretty i love it. its so delicate and aggressive when it has to. it has the classic shojo style but when it shines it does really shine

-theres a shit ton of blood and gore (think mcr revenge era kind of gore)

-cool religious imagery and themes/parallels

-it really feels like a journey. not only a political one (cuz historical fiction) but also a personal one. the main character may not get to the right conclusion and it will make you say "nooooooooooooooooo stopppp" but thats the whole point. hes a flawed little man with flawed and sad little thoughts. its really interesting to watch him get what he really wants

-the story really knows how to drag the reader to feel what the characters are feeling. like in the latest chapters i have read i was able to feel so much desperation and panic from the little guys that it made me really sad and i laid on the floor for a bit

-theres always drama and i love it

-theyre not afraid of being really weird sometimes and i love it

-the mc as a child looks like this

-i dont know what else to say without spoilers but i will say that a lot of moments are replaying in my brain like a record

now onto the warnings

-transphobia and dysphoria

-r*pe

-kinda incest

-SA

-implied r*pe

-you may be tempted to watch the anime instead of the manga but the anime tried to put 78 chapters in 24 episodes. the adaptation was sadly doomed from the start