#everything is fine analysis

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Its interesting how flipped the gender positioning in Everything Is Fine is. The women are competent and actively push the plot forward, while the men tend to either serve more as devices for them and play support roles within the over-arching story, or share an equal narrative role with a female counterpart.

Maggie from the get-go was the one who killed Officer Tom, made the Faraday Cage, and planned the frame job on Linda and Bob, with Sam being either an antagonistic force or a supporting character helping her with her plans. Her whole fight with the neighbors was mainly her skill against Linda's, with Bob being more of a helper to his wife.

The leader of the rebellion is Judy, and she not only aided Maggie throughout her journey, but is the one heading her own faction meant to play against the government.

Charlie served as a plot device to show Maggie the horrors of their reality and the government's control, as well as to be the push Maggie needed emotionally to make the Faraday.

In s2, we learn that Laura killed the previous male mayor to get her position, and used her power to better the conditions of Lakeview. Julian was there for her every step, but very much as a support to her journey (if we saw things from Julian's perspective it would feel more centered on him, but we don't, because the narrative centers Laura).

We also get Maggie and Sam's collusion with Gina and Chris, with Gina being the one to spear-head most of her and Chris' plans, and being the one to keep up with Maggie. Chris had mostly been a supportive role who's contributions usually come as a spy, gathering information and relaying it to Gina; if he wasn't, he shared importance with her as a team. Eventually he becomes an antagonistic force to Gina when he starts taking control of their team until the fallout.

Thing is, even with all this the male characters are all still incredibly well-written and compelling within their own arcs, whether that be supporting side arcs or moments in the spotlight. The officers all have their stories, Glenn shared a very impactful narrative role with Gladys, and Dave as an antagonist has been one of the best in his role I've seen come out of a webtoon. But the fact that the female characters are so relevant and compelling is what really made the story stand out to me.

I love how centric this story is to its female characters; their importance, their perspective, and their roles. There are so many works, especially male-written works, were there would be men in their positions with the women having even less relevance and nuance than EIF's male character have. But reading EIF has given me such a great look at how fascinating and well-written a story that utilizes and prioritizes its female characters can be. Its insanely refreshing and feels very natural, and should serve as an example of the type of narrative importance female characters should be having. To have a work that ended up giving such fantastic representation to its female characters, while also having them be the focus that drives the plot forward, is so goddamn refreshing.

[devotionfm]

The son (moomin) the father (snoopy) and the Holy Spirit (miffy)

[the-great-papyru]

something i’ve never seen covered: flowey after neutral runs.

let’s say you do a pacifist run, spare flowey, and then just do not reset. you still hold the save file. before, you had the save file, yeah, but you were there and you were interesting. now he has nothing. yes, some dialogue is bound to change, but eventually he’s going to end up bored. and here’s where it gets interesting.

suddenly he has to live life in a linear fashion. no more going back. and i can see him being incredibly paranoid about every choice ever. he can’t go back! what if he does something to change the story irreversibly? so he starts gradually shutting himself off from everyone. more than before, i mean. he can’t even watch people; what if he’s spotted? he doesn’t know where people will be! so he ends up completely isolated from everyone; lonely, unstable, etc. papyrus is wondering where he is but he can’t just talk to him! what if he messes up, what if he reveals too much, what if he says something wrong and papyrus hates him, what if. he can’t interact with anyone. ever.

or.

or he swallows his fears. he’s a being of curiosity. he’s got to keep talking to people. what if they do say something new? what if he misses it?

and maybe, after enough time, papyrus does start saying new things.

but papyrus isn’t enough. flowey can’t miss any dialogue, things have changed and he wants to see them. so he starts branching out. papyrus “introduces” him to sans. and sans is a bit sceptical at first, but the flower really doesn’t seem to mean him or his brother any harm. and why would flowey? he’s got his dialogue. he doesn’t need to change anything. he doesn’t need to hurt anyone. and there’s no going back to get the favorable outcome. flowey messes up sometimes, and they have fights, and it’s okay. they get over them, and their friendship is stronger because of it. and they are friends. flowey didn’t mean for it to happen, he doesn’t even recognize it as friendship until papyrus points it out.

because he’s used to being the one “carrying” the entire “friendship.” (i’ll write an actual analysis about this later in another post, so this one doesn’t drag on.) and now he’s interacting with people without having to worry whether this is the optimal outcome. it’s an outcome he likes. and maybe that’s enough.

[lotus-pear]

bsd fic authors i understand yalls pain SO well right now why is it so fucking HARD to write dazai. like i have a whole fucking spreadsheet dedicated to tireless analysis i have done on my part so i can accurately characterize him but he is such an unpredictable and morally gray character that it's hard knowing his limits and boundaries and where he draws the line for himself.

[coladaminx]

At this point all I'm asking (with absolute trust in hori) that before this all ends is that izuku and kacchan FINALLY talk and hold hands because this has been building up long enough it's fully marinated lol it can't soak up or cook anymore and that we get izukus introspection back ALL his thoughts other wise I'm going to be very very confused about this whole manga

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

[jin-zixun]

ok ok ok ok ok ok ok so... the whole thing where JGY has different smiles for different people... And one of them is just for lan xichen, and then he's got one for 'useful people'. And that sounds a whole hell of a lot like su she, su she is the most useful of people and he'd be happy enough with that. I mean, that's definitely the smile he gives him in their first on screen meeting in jinlintai so... makes sense right? I mean... JGY would want to encourage SMS to continue being useful, right?

So uh... How does JGY smile... What smiles does he give Su She... Literally any other time than that first meeting...? I mean lock in ur answers now I guess because I brought pics under the cut.

Oh. He doesn't. He doesn't smile. At Minshan.

Because smiles are performative and he doesn't need to perform? He doesn't need to worry? He doesn't need to wear a mask? Because this is an aspect of his life that has caused him pain at having to hide away and deceive and he can afford to drop with one person who won't in turn drop him? Because he... Doesn't really like Minshan? ...It's probably not that one.

IDK I just think it's neat! Crunchy little analysis tidbits in there. Because yeah it's kinda easy to assume one thing based on what's said, I mean who else does that refer to so well, but... Actual story here seems to be a lot more interesting.

(there are a couple where he's kind of smiling? Maybe? So I can include them here too! The first one is JGY hearing NHS passed out from shock and is telling SMS not to toss him around and stuff, which he follows with a smile to an unconscious NHS...

...The second is an expression JGY has on his face already before shifting his eyes to SMS, which like, instantly changes to one of concern once he takes in the sight of SMS's injuries...

...So. Thought I'd include them for posterity. But well...)

[makotonaegiunderstander]

something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.

“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”

[bowtiepastabitch]

One more day to contribute to fandom science, and if you've already submitted your response here's some fun facts about Good Omens fic on ao3 for you:

Prior to the release of the first season, there were 3,574 fics on ao3 under the Good Omens book fandom tag. Especially compared to current numbers, they are almost overwhelmingly general and teen. Popular tags included fluff, humor, crossover, established relationship, romance, and drabble.

The "anal sex" tag did not make its debut on the top tags list until January of 2024. The ratio of explicit fics is also much higher than any month since the s2 release. Y'all nasty (I love you).

The longest fic under the GO Tv tag is 1,041,533 words with over 200 chapters and is published in spanish. The second place is at 500k, also in Spanish. The third, and the longest english fic, is 479,886 words and 56 chapters, and it's a rarepair Crowley/Gabriel with Aziraphale as the villain. Interesting choices were made here, major respect for the author. Takes guts.

There are 150 pages of fic, or about 3,000 fics, with less than 50 words (my cutoff for calculating average wordcount). That's 3k archived works consisting of podfics, artwork, and short poetry. Very cool!

Y'all are all simps and suckers. With the singular exception of August 2023 (Neil you know what you did), the top tag accross all dates I pulled data from was always fluff.

As I said, if you haven't already PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GO VOTE to contribute to the biggest survey of Good Omens fanfic statistics made to date, and maybe give this or the poll a reblog to get it in front of more writers.

Bonus fun fact: In the time it took me to type this post, 4 more fics were posted.

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

Something about Whit’s character that I don’t see a lot of people talking about is how often he is willing to hide things or even just straight up lie in order to protect people. In the CH1-9, he lies about being friends with Charles in order to prove his innocence, and mind you not only has Whit not known Charles for more then about three or four days with the only interactions between them being Whit teasing him, but Whit outright admits in CH2-2 that he used to be the most judgemental of him

Now obviously Whit and Charles became friends after the trial, but the point here is that in Chapter 1, Charles is not someone that Whit particularly knew, and yet Whit still chose to lie despite the small chance that Charles was actually the culprit. But the instance I really want to talk about is in CH2-11 when Whit hides David’s secret from the rest of the cast. This isn’t an Eden situation where she was threatened into keeping quiet, Whit chose to keep quiet about David’s secret despite it being a massive piece of evidence and potentially risking everyone’s lives in the process. David was also someone that Whit lacked any real relationship with, I think the only time the two interacted was in the kitchen in CH2-7 and that was very brief

Whit mentions after David goes into his emo phase that the reason he hid the secret was to protect David’s career, but honestly it feels strange that that would even be a concern in his mind in a situation like this, especially when like I said he barely knew or had any interactions with David. There is another reason for this behavior. Now, in CH2-3, Charles does say something that could give a lead

Whit is a very empathetic person, and probably puts himself in other people’s shoes when it comes to situations like this. As such, he is not the kind of person to sacrifice someone else’s privacy willy-nilly as he can imagine how that would affect someone. This also lines up quite well with his talent, I must add. As the Ultimate Matchmaker, part of his talent probably has to do with keeping people’s secrets, and this lines up with how DRDTDev describes his talent too

However, I do think there is another reason for this I feel like Whit and Hu share a similar mindset of wanting to assume the best in others. Hu is obviously more direct with it, but I think Whit also has this mindset to a smaller degree. You could argue that this is also due to his intuition, and I’d say it is partially that, but with the whole David situation I don’t think that’s all there is to it as every other example of his intuition has turned out to be right. Whit hiding things and lying for others probably comes from a place of wanting to believe the best in them. I don’t think Whit would really care about protecting David’s career if he thought he was a scumbaggy manipulator, nor would he lie about being Charles’ friend to cover for him if he thought he was the culprit. He chose to do those things in an attempt to see the best in them.

[neolxzr]

Literally a genuine question no ill intent

What do you like about Aira? As much as people are absolutely adamant Akira is projecting (I really don't think he is (I'm not saying Akira is innocent) I just think he's trying to address the prejudiced thoughts the average Japanese person will have on the Ainu) Aira's weird comments and behaviour to Hiiro have been there since day one. And I also think Aira being the one who says all this is because he's supposed to reflect the fans and the average Japanese fan probably isn't that educated on the Ainu + there can be a good few racist enstars fans...

I'm not trying to sound heated about this I'm just coming from a genuine place, what appeal is there in Aira?

Also, as much as the Aira fans are talking about blaming Akira, I feel like there should absolutely be a focus on Hiiro right now considering that comment was... yknow said to him. I just think we should actually be talking about the Amagis considering that comment was intended to discuss the Amagis and their culture and the discrimination they go through.

i had someone ask me a similar question once but not in the context of all thats happening currently so you can read that here if youre inclined

buuuut what made me like aira so much in the first place was honestly that his concept as a character is really funny. i made a post a long while back that went into the funny meta jokes that you could make using aira as a character before i really knew much about enstars at all. having a character in your idol series that loves idols and canonically reads fanfic about them is just a funny concept in general. and as i continued to read more he continued to be funny and annoying and endearing (his little mini interaction with midori comes to mind immediately. there is something wrong with him)

also i tend to gravitate towards characters that give me like. little sibling energy. i love having a favorite little guy to dote on

but afterwards what really drew me to him was the main story!! thermometry specifically comes to mind (ouuugh,,,,). his feature scout stories are also great and so is feather touch! i wont like. go into detail really cause my blog is covered in me talking about aira already

his dynamic with hiiro is one of my favorites too, especially in mainstory. their dynamic isnt JUST aira says shitty things to hiiro and thats it. their relationship develops really far to the point where aira admits that he needs hiiro as much as hiiro needs him. they're young and inexperienced and kind of codependent as they're trying to keep themselves from going under in a sort of cutthroat industry. i think thats really neat. their relationship is really sweet to me and aira is a great tsundere type of character. he regularly is shown to actually like hiiro a lot as mean as he can be to him sometimes i.e. here. and you know the whole holding hands thing (which they also fucked up in the climax story but Whatever)

theres also this. which i think about regularly. the hiiai shipping fuel is vast

and additionally i think aira has some really great relationships with other characters too, alkaloid especially. feather touch develops his relationship with tatsumi a lot and its one of my favorite aira moments. i couldnt find my screenshots for this one but basically aira gives tatsumi his unlocked phone (something VERY important to aira since hes a little screenager) and it shows tatsumi just how much aira trusts him and he realizes how important aira is as a friend to him. being someone with a history like him aira's friendship is sort of new to him and it helps them both grow

he loves his friends so so much and he’s had a positive impact on all of alkaloid. he is its heart after all

but in any case i'm not going to like, defend myself for liking aira. i am aware that the shitty stuff has been there from the start but i've said something similar in the past that was like. aira isn't real and he cannot take accountability for what he says. he's a character written by real people who doesn't have any control over how he acts. so i guess that's why when i think the writers write something i dont think he would do or say in my own personal aira opinion i can sort of brush it off as just bad writing.

and not in the sense that i dont recognize that enstars sucks, because it does. enstars can be terribly racist sometimes and not just when concerning aira, and thats important to talk about (i.e. the orient cards, the king of thieves cards, etc). but at the end of the day the most important thing to recognize is the people and company behind the game as well as the real people who play the game and are affected by it. and not like, the specific characters in the game. cause they didn't actually do anything or feel anything you know

[sadquickchristmassnowman]

Please please please post your Jeff Winger analysis that you wrote for your college class

fine. here it is.

for those of you that don't know, this my final paper for my abnormal psychology class I took last spring (at a community college lmao, I have since graduated and am now in university studying something completely different.) the instructions were to play therapist and write a case study on one of your hypothetical clients. we were supposed to make up a person and diagnose them with something. naturally, instead of making someone up, I chose a sitcom character to dive into. I somehow got 100%. read if you so desire, it's about 1600 words.

A COUPLE (sad) QUICK (christmas) DISCLAIMERS

I wrote this in literally an hour! it's Very Rough! that's not me being humble! that is an objective fact! please just accept right now that the grammar and syntax are sloppy as hell that's just How It Is

I changed Jeff's name to something stupid, I don’t even know what it was, just so I’d have less chance of being caught lmao

I stretched some canonical truths and made some shit up that doesn't necessarily apply to Jeff. I did this because the paper was due at 11:59 and I needed to make a compelling argument quickly. so I somewhat warped Jeff to be what I needed for the paper. it's still mostly canon compliant but just beware and don't come after me for any inaccuracies okay I did it on purpose

[aingeal98]

Honestly I think whoever your favourite Robin is defines how you view the entire Batman canon and narrative. They don't have to be your favourite character but it's funny how most people who favour a certain Robin will have similar opinions on Bruce and Gotham and DC, which are often completely different to the rest of the Robin stans. At any given time there's around six or seven different groups of fans talking about the same comics but they might as well have read completely different stories.

[vildo]

In this scene, when they’re about to throw spears, together they say Down Eros, Up Mars

which at first glance could simply mean love is nothing, and war everything, indicative of how their friendship is likely to fall apart.

As far as it goes in the book, Messala is quite upfront about his intentions, leaving Judah to choose between a future for their love, or a potential free one for his people

Here in the following scene, things are pretty much the same, on the surface at least. Yet if you pay close attention to the positioning of certain elements, the spears high up there on that cross/crucifix, and the two of them holding hands beneath it, you’ll begin to see the clever choice made to suggest this is a lover’s quarrel, for up there reigns Mars, and Eros is down where they are

[femenemenism]

people on this website have no idea what words as socialisation, bioessentialism and conservative actually mean

[harvestmoth]

they make me. unwell