#her character growth was her learning that she's respected and an equal and feeling less like a burden and more like a friend and getting

[wizardnuke]

beau....ohhuuugh

[loki-who-remains]

My grumpy ass has seen too much attack on Sylvie after ep4 despite having proper filtering and blocked blogs and decided to write this instead of studying for my exams. I’m sorry to probably disappoint, though: I am not solely a sylki or a lokius shipper. Both exist for me and make sense to me without excluding each other.

I think one thing people kinda forget when they aggressively discard Loki’s factual, canonical relationship with either Mobius or Sylvie is that complex characters tend to have complex relationships. You can be friends with more than one person and/or you can be in love with more than one. Also, the intensity of a connection can be different depending on how long/deep people happen to know each other. It doesn’t automatically mean that one connection is more valuable than the other. Everything matters, everything affects and shapes a person’s growth.

Loki clearly fell in love with Sylvie, or more like with an expectation or an impression of her. It happened too fast, and he had no time to process if he can trust her, or what it is she wants, or is it even mutual. He just decided that he deeply cares for her and hence is devoted to her. She was a bit more perceptive and used it to her advantage. Mortal humans fall in love all the time just like him. It happens earlier or later in life, or never to some.

Sylvie and Loki are variants of the same person. Sylvie feels like a Loki from the first Thor, desperate and lonely and angry. He probably falls for her because he recognises this similarity but he doesn’t take into account that he himself already changed. But well, symbolically he learns to respect and accept himself, his past and present selves, his wrong doings, learns to analyse and grow from there into something new.

And where Sylvie rejects him, Mobius accepts him. With Mobius he learns to respect and care for others. His partnership with Mobius goes from the good old back-stabbing through betrayal and hurting each other to a deeper connection. They share thoughts and learn to understand each other’s motivations. Loki is humbled by the fact that infinity stones are paper weights but even more by the fact that he himself is essentially just a little dude who wants to have friends, to have fun and do something meaningful. His past doesn’t define him or lock him out of any other probable futures.

He learns to be a friend. It is first of all a friendship, and as it deepens they love and care for each other even more. Maybe it’s something that never worked out with Thor, to be equal and to be seen.

In season 2 Loki reevaluates his own priorities. Sylvie still matters to him but he lifts his expectations and just lets her be, tries to understand her and love her as she is. To love this way, without asking anything back, is actually a very powerful thing. It changes you. He probably sees her better now and understands too.

He puts more significance into his reciprocated connections, he learns to combine self-love with the love for others. It might be my specific perception, but I don’t think that platonic love is somehow worse or better than romantic love. They don’t cancel each other. We learn from a small age that love is this and that, and it always ends with kisses, kids and weddings, but in fact it’s not. I’m not saying that dreaming about this kind of love is wrong. I’m saying that it’s not the only possible option. If Mobius and Loki are never engaged in physical intimacy it doesn’t render their unique connection meaningless or less valuable. It is still clearly love, there’s still devotion.

What’s more, both Sylvie and Mobius understand how important it is for Loki to have that connection with the other. They don’t communicate directly that much though, and it’s really a shame.

That’s how Sylvie lashes out on Mobius and he is puzzled and upset by it. Probably she knows about his life, so she points out that protecting the timelines is not personal enough for him. She’s right though; maybe not so much about Mobius but about the TVA on the whole. Btw Loki is being part of it right now and he behaves the same way as Mobius. It’s just that Mobius is the one who is used to light things up. The moment isn’t right though, and he doesn’t read the room.

But the thing is, because it’s not personal, he’s able to stay afloat, be there in the moment and not be distracted by something out there. Mobius is aware that he might be weakened by what he sees and doesn’t want to risk the entire operation because of that. (Maybe he’s wrong and if Sylvie shows him his life he’ll be able to stay put like B-15, but again, he doesn’t want to risk)

I think that both connections being equally meaningful to Loki will make his further choices difficult and the consequences heavy. Mobius’s and Sylvie’s, and Loki’s lives could depend on that. Just imagine if he’s made to choose between them, to sacrifice one for the other. Or to experience all this love, remember all of it and look at them and see they don’t recognise him anymore on any timeline. Or have to choose to never be in their lives to save them both or hide them both from Kang.

[mdhwrites]

I've seen a fair share of posts speculating about what Amphibia would be like if, instead of having strictly Anne as the main character, it made Anne, Sasha and Marcy all main characters. Specifically, the Calamity Trio being given equal screentime.

I've loved pondering over this myself, and I was wondering what you think would change if Amphibia was written this way. I know you said more screentime for Marcy in season one would be pointless, given her lack of a supporting cast or growth as a person, but what if the writers could make it work? e.g. Marcy making actual bonds with the newts in Newtopia and getting over some of her issues (while of course not getting over her biggest issue, that being her fear of losing her friends, until season three)

Do you think Amphibia would be better or worse for being the story of the Calamity Trio rather than the story of Anne? How much of what was set in stone in the original canon would have to be changed to make a more purposeful story? Sorry, this is kind of a handful of questions, I just get carried away thinking about this stuff.

In short, what kind of story would Amphibia be if the Calamity Trio were all main characters? And if it could be just as good or better than canon, how do you think that could work?

So this kind of like anytime someone asks for a major change to TOH's plot and why I assume the S3 we got is at least structurally the same to any sort of S3 we would have gotten for TOH (and why it's BS that a full S3 would have fixed the show). Writers, at least good ones, don't make decisions randomly. Who they decide to focus on, how they focus on them, the roles certain characters take, etc. like that is all important to how a story functions at a basic level. That doesn't mean we can't make unintentional mistakes or have unintended choices by how we frame things but that any truly major shift like this presents a very, VERY real problem.

Is this still recognizably the story that was being told in the first place?

This is why people have asked me how I might rewrite TOH to try and fix its split identity issue but I can't. Not in good faith at least. The split identity is still part of the story's identity and that combination of elements is still part of what people enjoy about the work. It was still a choice that makes the foundation of the work. Deciding to spread the focus is a lot like this for Amphibia.

The story is of a big city girl not just getting teleported to a different world but as different as is potentially possible. Not only are these not humans but they're farm folk. There is no way for Anne to properly have a foothold amongst them to begin with and that's part of why she has so much to learn from them and why it takes so much for her to connect with them properly. The contrast, both in magical and grounded ways, is part of what makes Wartwood work so much better as a setting than Newtopia where it's a little too close to what Anne is used to and you can feel that in the tales being told. Some of the wonder and friction is missing, especially as Anne treats it more as a comfortable place to be.

And comfort is a major driving force behind both Sasha and Marcy's places in the narrative. Marcy is still in the big city and actually gets a level of prestige and respect that she's never had before. She is quite literally friends with the most powerful man in Amphibia. Meanwhile, Sasha spends a while in a cell but she can roll out the red carpet for Anne because the toads ADORE HER. They may be less refined than the plebeians she's used to manipulating but they're still dumb and give into base desires, both traits she can exploit, just like she did with Anne.

These are stories that can be told mind you... But they're also the stories we got already. Marcy's flashbacks still give a good grasp on how easy of a time she had it in Newtopia. Sasha's two episodes in S1 are quite literally all we need to understand who she is, why she was able to take power so effectively and sell us on her being someone who's really good at manipulating others, especially the lazy and hedonistic. They could be expanded but...

With Sasha, anyone giving her friction actually starts harming Anne's character. The more unstoppable we think she is as a manipulator, the more we are allowed to fill in the minor gaps in our knowledge with Anne's beliefs, the more she comes across as a genuinely dangerous antagonist. The more we believe that she can control an army of toads, change things with their regime and be the one who knows how to potentially pull Anne back into her worst habits. That she could take what was earned and with one hard yank make it all come tumbling down. More time with her would very easily become detrimental. As a note: This is why big bads don't often get a lot of episodes where they're doing things, instead of their cronies, because the more they're challenged, the weaker they look.

So that's one character who's story being expanded can very easily damage the very foundation of the MC's character arc while also cheapening that character's skill set, what about Marcy? She is a bit more complicated. See, she is actually far less harmed by more time with her as she has plenty that she can learn and the like as a person... But Newtopia doesn't want a person. They want a mind. And not just the Core. Even Olivia makes it clear that she only treasures Marcy for her mind. The other advisors are friendly with her but not friends. They just... don't care about her.

Worse yet is that from the perspective of Marcy as a main character, Newtopia is a TERRIBLE setting for the sort of stories that Amphibia excels at or tries to tell. She is literally friends with the King. She is smarter than almost anyone else in the city and not pushed to really interact with its populace, just the city itself. She also shouldn't be actively seeking its populace because Marcy is not a people person. She wants Wartwood to like her because they like Anne and she doesn't want to be a weird outside compared to Anne there. She is still liked in Wartwood though so without someone ushering her out the door... What is Marcy doing?

And I can come up with things. I could tell you that the way to make Sasha's story work with more time is show different forms of her manipulation as she gains a band of loyal toads. You can give Marcy a non-royal friend who's interested in the oddity and come on, don't you want to see the non-shiny parts of Newtopia and Amphibia? But that's adding more and more to their stories while taking away from the core.

Because suddenly, you have one girl in their element just flexing on everyone around her while another big city girl is... In another big city. You are now spending much less time on the big city girl coming appreciate different, substantially different viewpoints, realize their way of life is just as valid as her lazy way of life, growing and changing into a better person who genuinely values those around her instead of just wanting someone who lets her have fun and do as little else as possible, etc. like that.

For the sake of the trio... You're losing Amphibia.

That is a big sticking point for me and why I still refuse to call Sasha and Marcy main characters. They're important supporting characters, don't get me wrong, but the story is about Anne and Amphibia. Anne and Wartwood. The choices to spend the VAST majority of our time with her and these settings is not an accident. It's not like Matt chose to just devalue the other two main characters. They were used incredibly effectively, they do a lot to help highlight Anne and her growth and act as milestones for it effectively, and Sasha has a LARGE impact on who Anne is at the beginning of the story.

But it doesn't make them main characters because this isn't their story and there is no way to tell the story of Amphibia with them as the main characters. Focusing purely on the friendship and needing to repair it, or destroy it, is likely going to reinforce different themes, or at least different elements of the themes. After all, you can still talk about change but paradoxically, focusing in on the trio like this, even if it means spending more time in different parts of Amphibia, excludes the community element that is so important to Amphibia. After all, now you're splitting focus between three communities and focusing the story on the arcs of these three human girls. That's going to require a lot less time fleshing out these side characters. Diminishes the impact any of them can have on any character. The Plantars do a lot for Anne after all but we understand that it is WARTWOOD that changes her, not just the Plantars. Would we get that if you now had to split the focus this much?

Also, we lose Reunion in any way it is right now because with Marcy taking a more prevalent role, S1 HAS to end with a confrontation of all three. The first time they meet together. To leave any one out would be to diminish their role. Marcy isn't as important, especially to Anne's character, as Sasha is in the version we got so it's fine for her not to be present for Reunion. But... How do you handle Sasha's arc if all three have to come back together at once?

And to justify having brought up TOH earlier, how likely does all of this start a split personality problem for Amphibia? With Anne as the focus, you only get a handful of episodes that aren't genuinely Amphibia. Capital letter Amphibia. You know know what to expect and you know what sort of story is going to happen and that creates a nice, fun, comfortable status quote you can enjoy from week to week. Now imagine if Marcy's writing is still weaker like it was in the show, or the toads fail to be compelling because in order to keep Sasha as the antagonist of the group, they keep just setting themselves up to be knocked over by her and by the third time, it's getting kind of boring? Suddenly, one third of the show is causing friction with someone, especially since all three, due to DRASTICALLY different settings, would cause inherently very different storytelling just because the sorts of issues are so different. This is part of why the vibe of S3B is so different because finally we are not at peace, we are at war. Even the shifts from a guard tower that exploits people, a big city where the MC is treated as effective royalty, and a small farm town is enough to cause some amount of friction to happen between settings.

I'm not saying that this story is literally impossible to tell well but... Man, it'd be INCREDIBLY hard. And, of course, it still wouldn't be Amphibia. It would look like Amphibia, some of the notes would sound like Amphibia, but it would just be a very, VERY different story.

Because like TOH found out after Yesterday's Lie, you can't just change who your character fundamentally is without MAJOR consequences to your storytelling. Splitting your main character three ways is going to yield similarly discordant results without writing the entire thing from the ground up.

But it's not the same story and as I LOVE the story we got, I would say trying to force Amphibia into this mold would only make it worse, if I could compare it at all.

======+++++======

This is by no means a comprehensive list btw of all that would potentially be lost, need to be changed, etc. like that so as to even make this sort of shift for Amphibia work. Like someone in my Discord when I mentioned this ask brought up how the impact of Sasha coming into Anne's life and the tension of Reunion would kind of be lost if we already know Sasha fairly well. It is... Complicated to put it mildly.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.

I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead.

If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[rei-caldombra]

Don't Mess With Me Nagatoro- One of the Best Romance Manga out there.

Yes, you are reading that right. There will be spoilers and I will be focusing on the manga, just briefly touching on the anime at the end.

My main focus will be their characters and romance. I’ll go into other things at the end. 

I do not have much defense for the very early parts, especially the first chapter. She is genuinely very harsh and that was legit bullying, not just teasing. I completely understand people being uncomfortable with the first few chapters. The beginning is not very indicative of the series as a whole. The tone and pacing drastically change part way in, especially starting in the second volume. For example, they make it explicitly clear that she comes to realize she was being way too harsh. A few chapters in we already see her apologize when she realizes she goes too far. Over time we get clearly shown that he comes to enjoy his interactions with her. Especially when she does get less harsh. 

There is a good amount of character development, especially for Senpai. You see how Nagatoro has done a lot to help him, primarily in making him stand up for himself and others. You could absolutely make the argument that in a relationship like theirs, especially considering the harsh foundation in which you could argue there is abuse, he feels forced to change. But I don’t feel that way. We see from the beginning that Senpai wants to stand up for himself. He wants to be more talkative and direct in communicating with people. Nagatoro helps him to go about those changes, by both being someone he needs to stand up to at times, but also how to best go about it. Their daily art room shenanigans do a lot to build towards Senpai’s growth, as well as be funny and cute. Then the moments outside of the school move away a bit from the routine shenanigans and offer nice dates between the two that generally progresses the characters. While there is a lot of content that can be seen as not dramatically progressing their relationship, I think it's important to stick to the fun casual interactions that are the basis of what makes the manga so good. Without those the very good comedy of the manga would largely be lost. These goofy interactions are core to their relationship and dynamic.

Over time their relationship blossoms into a very well-done romance. They learn to respect each other’s boundaries. They start to learn the finer things that make up each other and do things to make each other happy. They both learn to bring down the walls and move away from the routine. While Nagatoro primarily pushes the relationship in the beginning, later they are roughly on equal footing. Seeing them both pursue their passion and see how those pursuits affect their relationship. It’s very sweet seeing them learn how to support each other. This is seriously one of my favorite romances. You will see as you get further on how wholesome and endearing their relationship becomes. It consistently gets me smiling ear to ear. I am not saying people need to put aside their issues with bullying/teasing or any other content that they take issue with being portrayed in media. But if you can stomach the very beginning, I can tell you this relationship is worth getting through it for. At first their dynamic is just dom/sub but as it goes on their genuinely good chemistry together becomes apparent. And from there as they get more directly romantic, we spend a lot of time seeing how their chemistry develops and changes. At their absolute best Nagatoro and Senpai have an extremely sweet and supportive relationship. 

This will include spoilers for very late in the manga, hitting on stuff going on in the most recent chapters as of writing this. In my opinion people get too hung up over them not “officially” dating. In terms of their actual relationship with each other, they are in a romantic relationship in pretty much every sense. By where the manga is now, they have directly expressed their romantic interest in each other and have done many of the things people in relationships do. I actually really like that the writing does not get hung up on the firm status of dating and embraces them, taking things as they go and letting their relationship happen in whatever way they feel comfortable. They both end up having clear goals that they are using as part of their motivation concerning their relationship. They are waiting until the right moment to move forward, and both of them recognize that that is the state of their relationship. And that’s completely valid. They do not need to have traditional progression as they are not traditional people in a traditional relationship. It makes it more interesting as a story and promotes the idea that there is no exact way a relationship should go. I feel this aspect of their relationship fits their personalities and dynamic while also portraying a uniquely functioning relationship that is just as valid as any other. 

The amazing Nagatoro faces. If you’ve seen anything from Nagatoro without reading/watching it, its people using those faces as reaction images. That’s how I came across it. The author is great at drawing expressive faces. Many people who have never seen or read it know exactly what Nagatoro’s personality is just from seeing her expressions. 

There is quite a bit of fanservicey stuff, and obviously their dynamic is very much a dom sub intense teasing relationship. If you strongly dislike fanservice or don’t have interest in that dynamic, you will likely struggle to enjoy it. But the legit fanservice is not as common as every chapter or even every few chapters. And some scenes I genuinely do think there is some tastefulness to it and shows how their relationship has progressed (such as the nude modeling and their conversation in the hot spring). It sounds like trying to justify horny stuff, but I promise those two scenes are both incredibly important for the points I brought up previously.

I’ll briefly touch on the anime adaptation and say that it's good. Both Nagatoro and Senpai have very good voice acting and for the most part the art does a solid job mimicking the more detailed expressions. These two points are honestly the most important to me. The presentation is not great, with a lot of still shots and lower detail. Some people may also be bothered by how the studio changed for season 2 but I did not think these are major issues. The style of the manga, with how much emphasis it puts on dynamic frames, makes sense to not be adapted to be super fluid. It’s a bit of an excuse, but it kind of works. Personally, I would recommend the manga over the anime due to the art quality. I don’t think the coloring that the anime offers adds a lot in this case. 

I truly love this series. It's one of my favorite romances. I admit I started largely because the dynamic fit my tastes, but I have stayed with it for the wonderful relationship that came out of those initial interactions.

Thank you for reading! I hope reading this has encouraged someone to give the manga or anime a shot. 

[kitkatt0430]

Bangel, Spuffy, and Cordoyle for the ship ask game!!

Bangel

1.) What Made You Ship It?

When I first watched Buffy, I was a teenager and in that target audience range.  I liked Tortall’s Alanna/George and other feminist fantasy ships where the younger woman falls for a more mature guy.  Bangel was the biggest of the age-gaps, but the same appeal was there that the other ships had.  Mainly that I assumed some day I was gonna have romantic feelings of my own and I really did not like the idea of being attracted to guys my own age because the guys that were interested in me seemed to think fart jokes were the epitome of humor, the guys who weren’t interested in me were guys I wasn’t interested in either.  And the guys who were my friends would just be weird to date ‘cause... it just would be.

I... would have really liked to know what aromantic meant at that age, I think.

But anyway, there was kind of a fairy tale, first guy wins feeling for Buffy and Angel and even though I’ve grown to be more critical of their relationship as seen through an adult lens... I still have a fondness for the ship as it seemed when I first saw the show.  Angel discovering his true purpose from his love of Buffy and Buffy having to learn the hard lesson that love does not always win the day.  But in the time they had together, they grew to become better, stronger people.  And not even being apart made their love any less.

2.) What Are Your Favorite Things About the Ship?

Buffy can be the slayer with Angel and he doesn’t think less of her for it.  It’s something that she didn’t have with Riley, who wanted Buffy but as his idea of what a girl should be and not as a Slayer.  Riley wanted Buffy to be strong, but not too strong.  Angel wanted to support her as she found her own strength.  She had a similar dynamic with Spike, which is why I also like Spuffy.

3.) Is There an Unpopular Opinion You Have On Your Ship?

Angel never stopped seeing Buffy as a child in need of guidance.

While Buffy was the slayer and he supported her in that role, as just Buffy he saw her as being in need of someone to direct and protect her.  The first time Angel saw Buffy was when she hadn’t yet learned of her calling, just a pretty blonde cheerleader in the sun... and likely still just fifteen years old.

Angel had a tendency of hiding information from her, following her around when she made it clear it was unwelcome, and making decisions for her without her knowledge or consent.  It’s one thing when he’s hiding the fact that he’s a vampire with a soul.  It’s another thing entirely when he’s randomly showing up from LA and causing her unnecessary trouble by skulking in the shadows instead of telling her what he knows.

I’m really not sure he ever stopped seeing her as that pretty fifteen-year-old bathed in sunlight.  So while I do believe he supported Buffy’s growth as person and slayer... I don’t think he fully recognized that growth when it happened.

Spuffy

1.) What Made You Ship It?

So Spuffy had a lot of the same qualities of Bangel that I liked, but with Spike who was a much more fun character.  And more interesting IMO.  Sorry Angel.

I like ships with belligerent UST - which Spuffy had - and Spike was a gentleman under his rough exterior so he had this vulnerable and sweet side under it all.

I tend to prefer fanon Spuffy to canon Spuffy, however; not least because their relationship in S6 is an object lesson in why safe words are so damn important.

2.) What Are Your Favorite Things About the Ship?

Much like Buffy could be the Slayer with Angel, she could be that with Spike too.  But he respected Buffy as his equal even when she wasn’t being the Slayer.  I think Spike saw Buffy as she was, flaws and all, and loved her all the more for being imperfect.

And in turn, when Buffy wasn’t clinging to the ‘vampires bad, souls good’ paradigm, she could see the core of who Spike was too.  Just a man who loved too well and too much - I think she saw an intensity there that scared her a bit too, though.

3.) Is There An Unpopular Opinion You Have On Your Ship?

Spike didn’t contact Buffy in S5 of Angel in part because of how she treated him during S6 of BtVS.  It was an unhealthy and abusive dynamic for both of them really and he didn’t believe her when she said she loved him in the series finale, so he was probably worried that if he did reunite with her then they might just wind up with a new version of that bad dynamic.  He didn’t want to be responsible for dragging her down again - since in S7 even when they weren’t involved romantically, choosing to have a platonic relationship with Spike still caused her difficulties with her friends. 

With all the baggage they had, he needed the clean break as much for himself as for her.

Cordoyle

1.) Why Don’t You Ship It?

I don’t know actually?  I mean.  I like their friendship and the flirting is hilarious but... I just don’t actually want them to date.  Cordelia was in a really vulnerable place at the time and Doyle was so uncomfortable with himself that he’d already wrecked one marriage... I guess they were just meeting at a time when neither of them were in a good place to be dating anyone, never mind each other.  I think if Doyle hadn’t died and he’d come to terms with being half demon while Cordelia finally really found herself, as she did later that season... maybe then I’d have shipped them.

It’s definitely not a ship I’m avidly against or anything and it wouldn’t be a turn off for reading a fic, but it’s definitely not a ship I actively ship either.

2.) What Would Have Made You Like it?

So if Doyle hadn’t died mid season one, but instead completed his arc in accepting himself as a half-demon with visions then I’d have been more open to shipping him in general.  But Cordelia finding herself on the show was in part because of the visions she inherited from Doyle - seeing the suffering other people went through really forced her to find herself and learn to become a more compassionate and less self-centered person.  She’d have to go through similar character development in order to be in a better place to date, both for her own sake but in terms of what she had to offer as someone else’s significant other. But also S1 Cordelia needed to learn to be her own hero, after being let down by her parents so badly, and having to wrangle with Doyle’s self loathing on top her own struggles with finding her place in the world would have been a bit much.

I think, ultimately, if they’d both made it alive with character growth to S2, then I’d have started shipping them instead of enjoying them solely as friends who flirt.

3.) Despite Not Shipping It, Do You Have Anything Positive to Say About It?

Their friendship was lovely and I really like the impact they had on each other.  Doyle wanted to become more comfortable with himself in part because he wanted to be more honest with her.  And Cordelia felt safe around Doyle to really just be herself, even when Cordelia wasn’t entirely sure who that was anymore.

And I do think that if Doyle knowingly passed on his visions, he meant them as a gift.  Cordelia was, in many ways, in search of a future and purpose for herself in early S1.  The visions gave her a connection to the world that she’d been unable to make on her own and it gave her something of his to remember him by, long after he was gone. A way for her to remember she was loved by a dear friend and that not even his death could take that friendship from her.

[ya-world-challenge]

Book Review - Daughter of the Moon Goddess (🇨🇳 China)

(image source: Sam Lim @ pexels)

YA World Challenge Review for 🇨🇳 China (repost)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Author: Sue Lynn Tan

Review

This is one instance where you should definitely judge a book by its cover. Just like the cover, this book is so pretty! The book is like an elaborate Chinese costume drama where everyone is beautiful (well, they are immortals). The setting is lusciously described with palaces and gardens full of marble and silk and jade, gold and pearls, flowers and incense. This lusciousness extends poetically into the prose bringing an atmosphere of mythical China into every paragraph. “her voice now cooler than a piece of unworn jade”  “the threat that lurked beneath the empress’s tone like a silk cord yanked tight”

The prose is written with a classical feel and never too modern, while still keeping an easy to read flow, so it really does feel mythical.

My father slew the suns. My mother lights the moon.

Xingyin is the daughter of Chang’e the moon goddess and Houyi the archer from the famed Chinese story. She finds herself fleeing her home on the moon and soon fate draws her into the gilded world of the Celestial Palace, while keeping her secrets and searching for a way to save her mother. Oh, and there’s Liwei. He’s a prince. But there’s also a love triangle of sorts.

But what I really like about Xingyin as a heroine is that she’s badass in a quiet sort of way. Oh, she has a sharp tongue at times, but overall she’s compassionate, honorable, and most importantly, respects herself and doesn’t accept less than she knows she deserves. And in love, she analyzes her feelings wisely and maturely, often putting her own goals over matters of the heart.

What I liked

Beautiful world, beautiful prose; Strong, wise, honorable characters; a mature and respectful approach to love

Dramatic mythical adventure

A gender-equal world, yay!

What I didn’t like

Nothing..?

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. While there is a current of romance flowing through the book at all times, I thought the main theme was personal growth, as Xingyin learns from all she experiences, and loyalty and dedication - to her family, friends, and her goal - with adventure and just a little intrigue.

Though this is a duology, the ending wraps up nicely, with just a few unanswered questions that might come up in a sequel.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  5 stars

Buy at Bookshop.org || Kindle link

Genres: #mythology #fantasy world #romance #family #adventure #royalty

Content warnings at Storygraph

[yaworldchallenge]

Review - Daughter of the Moon Goddess

🇨🇳 China

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Author: Sue Lynn Tan

Review

This is one instance where you should definitely judge a book by its cover. Just like the cover, this book is so pretty! The book is like an elaborate Chinese costume drama where everyone is beautiful (well, they are immortals). The setting is lusciously described with palaces and gardens full of marble and silk and jade, gold and pearls, flowers and incense. This lusciousness extends poetically into the prose bringing an atmosphere of mythical China into every paragraph. “her voice now cooler than a piece of unworn jade”  “the threat that lurked beneath the empress’s tone like a silk cord yanked tight”

The prose is written with a classical feel and never too modern, while still keeping an easy to read flow, so it really does feel mythical.

My father slew the suns. My mother lights the moon.

Xingyin is the daughter of Chang’e the moon goddess and Houyi the archer from the famed Chinese story. She finds herself fleeing her home on the moon and soon fate draws her into the gilded world of the Celestial Palace, while keeping her secrets and searching for a way to save her mother. Oh, and there’s Liwei. He’s a prince. But there’s also a love triangle of sorts.

But what I really like about Xingyin as a heroine is that she’s badass in a quiet sort of way. Oh, she has a sharp tongue at times, but overall she’s compassionate, honorable, and most importantly, respects herself and doesn’t accept less than she knows she deserves. And in love, she analyzes her feelings wisely and maturely, often putting her own goals over matters of the heart.

What I liked

Beautiful world, beautiful prose; Strong, wise, honorable characters; a mature and respectful approach to love

Dramatic mythical adventure

A gender-equal world, yay!

What I didn’t like

Nothing..?

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. While there is a current of romance flowing through the book at all times, I thought the main theme was personal growth, as Xingyin learns from all she experiences, and loyalty and dedication - to her family, friends, and her goal - with adventure and just a little intrigue.

Though this is a duology, the ending wraps up nicely, with just a few unanswered questions that might come up in a sequel.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  5 stars

Buy at Bookshop.org || Kindle link

Genres: #mythology #fantasy world #romance #family #adventure #royalty

Content warnings at Storygraph

[sacredbeans]

Our Life as a Multiverse

It felt essential to have a first contribution sharing my philosophy on the multitude of narratives out there in the big wide world, which in itself shapes my worldview, and positions me in matters that present themselves.

The title, multiverse, is an objection to the word 'universe', which to me implies generalisation. As if the way all of Earth's inhabitants experience life is, or should be, identical. I believe in something rather the opposite, meaning there is no one way to live (well) in this world, and feel a strong aversion to any one-size-fits-all approach. Our western beliefs are based on science, that which the eye can perceive or our instruments can measure, and the more we learn, the less magical this place seems to become. We try to organise the mystery that is life, and create polar opposites that can be placed along the x and y-axis.

I recently started a master programme in sustainable development, for which I moved to Sweden in my trusty home on wheels. We began the course by discussing how to define the terms ‘sustainable’ and ‘development’, and whether they are essentially concepts created through practice and discourse. Personally, I do not believe most of the popular future pathways (green economy; renewable energy; technology based solutions; generally continuing growth while not looking into changing our lifestyles) are sufficient to solve our planetary troubles in a truly sustainable way. Other posts will be dedicated to what my wild imaginings might then be, but I would like to point you to a specific book that offers me consolation and inspiration. It is called ‘Pluriverse - A Post-Development Dictionary’ (Kothari et al., 2019) and starts out in a similar way to how I started this writing, which is what caused me to dig up the old draft that was the foetus of this post. Authors of the bundled essays offer brief introductions of alternative paths into a future that embraces ecological wisdom, social justice, and challenges the western standard of living that is used synonymously with the quality of life.

Living amongst people who share similar beliefs and values has been a nurturing experience for me - bodily, mentally and spiritually. And by no means have we steered away from challenging each other. On the contrary, safe and respectful spaces offer room for challenging conversation! I have gradually come to exist in what feels like a different dimension compared to a few years back. The "status quo" is something I have ventured from. It was ill-fitting, yet now I struggle to put into words why and how this has happened, and is happening. Because it is not simply a matter of adjusting a few habits: it is uprooting whatever currently gives you structure, then sprouting anew from the seed. Which might just be what our species needs.

I am still learning to dance the line between respecting the existence of different worldviews, and challenging any bias that comes with it. Both within myself and in others. Though I find it difficult, challenging is perhaps equally important as respecting different visions, because our values are constantly transforming. We are many souls sharing a single planet. The ability to understand, or at least respect, someone else’s core values is more likely to result in mutualistic symbiosis. If we would spend more time perceiving the world around us through engaging our senses, stripping away judgement and character roles as the old, well-worn clothes they are, we may find that the realities we experience aren't so different after all.

Perspective is an attitude. Calm acceptance follows when you learn to see life as it presents itself: a multiverse, perceived differently by every individual. You can continuously be amazed by everything life on Earth is capable of. Because the moment you think you understand her, she has shifted shape.

by NJ

[bigassheart]

I’ve seen a couple posts about how everyone was wildly out of character and totally inconsistent this season and I’m just like... were you guys paying attention? 

1. Luther

Arguably the biggest shift in character between the two seasons, but it makes sense. Luther spent a year fending for himself and thinking his entire family was dead. 

This is the first time in his life that he had to hold down a job and actually live on his own. It was literally his first time living out in the world among anyone other than his family, and you can see in his reactions with the other characters from that life (the boss, his landlord, those kids that idolize him, and the waitress) that it has really mellowed him out. It has allowed him to be more normal, despite being very much not normal. You can see the way he’s so much more comfortable in his skin. Literally the only times he looks uncomfortable is when he’s fighting people, shirt off and body on full display. He’s still not comfortable with that, but he’s not trying to hide under huge overcoats anymore. He has people in his life who accept him for being a little weird, but really do treat him normal. 

So is he a little less uptight and mission focused? Yeah. Because he can finally see another life, and it’s the life that he honestly did want in season 1 but felt like he couldn’t have because he was number 1 and he had a responsibility to his dad, his family, and the academy to be the leader. Having a year on his own frees him of all that. 

But he also spent all that time thinking his family was dead and feeling so guilty about it. You can see in his very first interaction with Vanya, where he suddenly feels that responsibility again. He brings a gun, not knowing what’s going to happen and, despite what he told Five, he absolutely does still have that lingering feeling of responsibility. But then he sees Vanya and she’s not a threat and everything he has been holding in for the last year comes out. Because he does feel guilty as hell for what he did to Vanya, but also for the fact that his actions pushed her into causing the apocalypse. He spent a year with the knowledge that he did that and thinking that his family was dead because of his actions. 

He’s willing to listen now because he spent a year living in a world where his actions killed his whole family. And now he finds out that that didn’t happen and he has a second chance. Of course he’s going to take it! 

2. Diego

In the first season, Diego finally admitted that he wanted to be close to his family and that he cared about them and wouldn’t leave them again. He confronted the guilt about leaving, which he had previously denied. He realized the difference between revenge and honoring someone’s memory. But despite all that, he never confronted the reason why he, a grown-ass-man, wandered around the city as a leather clad, mask wearing vigilante. 

So when we see Diego show up in 1963, that’s still who he is. He wants to be that hero and he finds an answer for how to be that hero in the first several minutes that he’s there. So he takes it. I mean, what else is he going to do? His family is gone. Maybe they’ll show up again. Maybe this is it. Either way, he’s on his own like he was before, so he’s got a duty to be the hero he has chosen to be. 

And then he meets his dad again. Everyone keeps telling him he has daddy issues, and they’re right. He absolutely has daddy issues. He’s still trying to simultaneously prove that he’s good enough for his dad, but also doesn’t need Daddy’s approval. Except he does need it. He still desperately craves it and he feels gutted when his dad denies him that approval, even falling back into the stutter he had as a kid. 

Now, despite the way we joke, Diego is not dumb. He is so observant and he makes some of the most poignant statements about his siblings and the way they see the world. He sees the people around them and he understands them, but he has never been able to completely turn that gift inwards and see those same things in himself. In this season, Lila breaks through all that and he finally sees himself in her at the end. 

“Do you know how hard it is to trust people when your whole childhood was bullshit manipulation? Then why would you do that to me?”  

Diego sees himself in Lila, in her failure to break away from her mother despite the fact that he knows she wants to. In the final episode, he sees that she is just like the rest of the siblings, but she doesn’t have to be. None of them have to be stuck with their daddy issues, because they have each other. They can support and care for each other. It’s the last step of the growth he started in season 1, moving beyond his tendency to define his life and his family through their father. 

3. Allison

Throughout season 1, Allison struggled with whether or not to use her powers, but it was all centered around getting back to her daughter. When she appears in 1961, that motivation is effectively removed. She thinks everyone else is dead. She thinks that she is stranded in the past and that she will never get back. She finds a group of people to support her and before long... she finds her voice again. 

It’s no coincidence that Allison’s first spoken words in the series come right after she gives Ray that pamphlet with a bunch of added notes. She finds her voice in the civil rights movement. She finds her power there. She finds a way to help change the world, to change reality, and she does it without her powers. 

This is something she struggled with through the entirety of season 1, feeling inadequate for using her powers to get what she wanted, not knowing if anything was real or earned. Now she has the chance to earn everything without those powers and she is thriving. 

And then she is forced to use her powers again. It all turns out fine, but now she’s showing off and experiencing all over again how good it feels to have power. She spent two years in a world where she was denied equal treatment, where she could be arrested and assaulted for any reason those with more power came up with. And now she feels that power... She doesn’t have to wait for people to give her respect. She can demand it. But the pain is still there, and it’s not enough to just be respected, because these people have hurt her. They almost killed her husband. They have used their power to cause pain to her and all those who look like her time and time again and now it’s time to understand what it’s like to be powerless, to be hurt and to be unable to stop it and... 

And it’s scary. It’s scary to have that much power, to see how you could become the kind of person who uses your power to hurt others. And she knows that her power has hurt people she loves and suddenly she’s right back where she started. 

Only not entirely. 

She doesn’t shy away from her powers in the final fight. She is obviously still finding that balance and I would expect this struggle to continue for her in future seasons. Power can be addicting and Allison’s power is so strong. She knows the danger there, but she also knows that sometimes it’s needed despite the danger. 

4. Klaus

Klaus is an addict. He finds obsessions to bury himself in to avoid dealing with reality. In season 1, he buried himself in drugs and booze. When he shows up in the 60′s, he finds a new drug to bury himself in: adoration. 

Klaus is so impulsive and it’s not difficult to connect the dots of how one thing leads to another until suddenly everything is out of his control. Honestly, that’s the story of Klaus’s life, no matter where he goes. And then something changes. He gets tired of his cult and leaves. Except... that’s not really the reason. 

After all this time, Dave is still the love of his life, and he knows he has an opportunity. He knows where Dave will be at this one time and he knows exactly what he has to change to keep Dave alive. 

He also knows that Ben is going to have thoughts about this. 

I know some people were disappointed that there wasn’t more Klaus and Ben bonding this season, but it makes sense that there is tension there. I think a lot of that tension comes from Ben’s circumstances, which I’ll discuss later, but Klaus is also not responding to that tension well. 

They are fighting more than ever (not that they ever didn’t fight in season 1, where they spent much of their time being snarky to each other and Ben literally punching Klaus in the face for being an asshole), but the fighting is about something new this season. Ben wants his own life and Klaus is not in a position to give Ben what he really wants. We also learn that he has been carrying around this guilt for the last 17 years about forcing Ben to stick around as a ghost. He forced this half-life on his brother and now that it’s not enough for Ben, Klaus doesn’t want to deal with it. So he avoids and deflects and snarks and we see the toll on their relationship. We see it in the way he tries to deal with his plans around Dave entirely on his own. He focuses so much into that last ditch effort. He’s already in such a low place before this, so when that fails, we see him snap. We see him give up and crumble. And Ben falls back to his old role, trying to save Klaus from himself. 

But the tension isn’t gone and Klaus’s guilt isn’t gone. We see it again when Klaus finally agrees to let Ben possess him. Klaus has always been afraid of his powers and being possessed is just as terrifying a thought as being surrounded by the dead. And yet he gives Ben that chance. It’s the last good thing he can do at that point. 

I do wish we had gotten more closure for Klaus and Ben’s story. I think Vanya’s reveal could have been given a little more time, but that’s not really a problem with inconsistent characterization, so we’ll save that for another post. 

5. Five

OK, who would argue that Five was out of character or inconsistent? He’s obsessed with stopping the apocalypse, is willing to cross a lot of lines to save his family, and constantly frustrated by his family’s failure to go along with his plans. This is textbook Five. 

What I loved about this season was that we got to see Five finally meeting his father again. They interact as two adults, not as a child trying to find away to become his own person, frustrated by a lack of trust from his father. It allows Reggie to see Five in a different light and to actually provide advice in a constructive way, something he has almost never been able to do when viewing them as his children. But despite outward appearances and despite the fact that Five is a grown man, he still sees his father the same way he always has. He doesn’t register Reggie’s advice as advice. He hears that he’s striving beyond his abilities and that maybe he can only travel in seconds. He hears his father telling him he can’t handle time travel. That’s why he doesn’t try to actually take the very good advice until the very end.  

An old dog can still occasionally learn a new trick and Five proves that true. 

6. Ben

As I mentioned earlier, Ben is chaffing at his ghosthood. Maybe it’s because Klaus has been sober enough to keep Ben around solidly for 3 years. Maybe it’s because Ben is no longer spending all his time trying to keep Klaus alive and sober. Or maybe it’s the fact that he has finally found someone that he actually wants to spend time with. Whatever the reason, Ben wants to be alive this season. 

Again, as I mentioned, that’s causing some tension. Ben doesn’t want to be tied to Klaus, but Klaus is ignoring that because he feels so guilty about it. Ben doesn’t want to admit that he was too scared to go into the light on his own, so they’re at a bit of a standstill. 

And then Ben gets the opportunity to be alive again, if only for a while. And in a lot of ways, it’s wonderful! But it’s not the same as being truly alive. 

So when the time comes, when he’s faced with that light again... he’s not afraid. He knows that it’s time to move on. He knows this isn’t where he should be, but he also got the chance to be there for his family. He misses them, but he got to talk to Diego and Vanya. He got to save Vanya. He got to save Allison and Diego and Klaus and Luther and Five and the whole world! So while he would have stayed, he’s not sad about leaving anymore, and he’s not afraid. 

7. Vanya

OK, she was a little out of character because... you know. She had amnesia. 

But aside from erasing her past, the amnesia allowed us to see Vanya without the anger and resentment that plagued her for all of season one. Vanya was always someone who was kind and loving, someone who cares enough to leave peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches out for a missing brother for years. Someone who knows the pain of not being seen and who will always take the time to truly see other people. She’s someone who wants to love and to be loved and to protect those she loves. 

That was all here, with or without the memories. And as soon as the memories came back, so did the guilt and fear about what she had done, what she had become, terrified of what was inside her in a way that she was not when her powers first surfaced. But Ben is used to being afraid of what’s inside of him. He knows she’s not a monster and is the perfect person to explain that to her. And this time around, she has experienced the love and care and attention of her siblings (and Sissy) to back up those words. That’s how she finally accepts them as truth, how she finally accepts her power as a part of her. 

Overall, there are things that I wish this season spent more time with, but there was nothing that I felt was out of character or wildly inconsistent. The characters still struggled with all the baggage from their shitty childhood, their fear of their powers, and the guilt in their past. Some struggled in new ways this season and some continued old struggles that had never fully been resolved. The season felt very different than the first, but it still felt like the Umbrella Academy. It was a good mix of new and old and a good mix of feel-good moments we have all been waiting for and frustrating and sad moments that just come with having a complicated family. I loved this season. And now, I’m going to go re-watch every episode. 

[the-phantom-ender]

okay serious entity assignments time now because i said i might yesterday and i am better rested now.

first off, ill say that like... i dont know everything about every empire, i might be a little off base with some of the members i know less about.

second, the thing about aligning characters with entities is that it doesnt tend to be as easy as just something they fear. they also have to thrive in it. if all it took was fear, there would be lots of people marked directly by the web, if all it took was the ability to thrive, most introverts would be marked by the lonely. it takes a careful balance of both (unless the characters hand is forced, which we do technically see in t.ma canon at least once) for someone to be effectively marked by a fear, much less be an avatar (which is... a loose term at best but i digress because the explanatory bit is getting long dfjkhdf)

stuffs under the cut because it got. long. and feel free to share your own thoughts about them!!

shelby: an interesting case where my gut said corruption but upon reflection i think aligning her with the eye makes more sense? she definitely is shaped by corruption, but her arc thus far has mostly revolved around her desire to learn and her fear of what that knowledge might reveal. after her encounters with xornoth, she also seems very nervous about the idea of being watched.

lizzie: the vast is obvious for her, but it does make sense. its the fear of heights and deep waters and human insignificance, infinity. lizzie absolutely thrives in the depths and holds no fear for the waters but she does show hesitance when it comes to leaving. the danger comes from the outside, the other. which seems more like the lonely, sure, but the vast and lonely link greatly.

joel: im a little biased with the desolation alignment for joel because of 3l. i still think it could work for empires, but... the stranger might work better. i dont think theres anything quite as 'stranger' as filling your home with statues of yourself, giving workers your face, but everything is just slightly... wrong. be it that they dont fit quite right or that their limbs are leather and wood. Unfamiliarity, the uncanny.

gem: so id originally said eye for gem but @loganprobably (i hope the tags cool sjgkhdfh) mentioned the lonely and... both work i think. gem has an appreciation for knowledge, for awareness and learning. but shes also in a position where she both isolates herself and gets overly involved. being one of the people to try to ally with everyone but having a clear side picked. the welcome and the shunning. whats a girl gotta do for some peace and quiet?

scott: scott is... hard. itd be so easy to just throw lonely or eye at him because he stays to himself and knows a lot. id wager the web might work better, though. he keeps his distance, keeps an eye on all that goes on, and... makes no moves. he waits, plans ahead. if war brews he needs to be able to side with the winners. he shows a distain for the idea of being controlled and avoids situations where he could be. hes careful with his choices when theyre made.

jimmy: jimmy. lonely, but for a different reason than gem would be. he is friendly and kind and cares deeply for others, yet hes so clearly... the outcast, even within his own circles. hes the picked on, the betrayed. a friend to all but loved, respected, by none. in his times of need he is forgotten, silenced. yet he doesnt seem to hate the loneliness, just the fact that no one came.

joey: oh god here we go. joeys hard to pin down. the hunt might work? he could fall into the lonely but being lost doesnt inherently mean lonely (it actually ties more in with the vast). i say the hunt, though, because he refuses to back down from his stances, even if theyre objectively wrong, and will do so by whatever means necessary. hell instigate the death of others for the sake of getting what he wants.

fwhip: the slaughter. sacrifice and destruction follow him in everything and he thrives in it. his violence isnt entirely mindless but he has a penchant for war and the things that go into it. heres where my stuff starts getting less cohesive as i watch these members much less ;^^

sausage: the corruption and the desolation lay equal claim on sausage. in everything he plays tricks and feigns niceties and makes himself out to be the one in the right. all the way he makes it seem as if hes kind and just in his actions even if his motives are chaos and destruction. he still holds a fear for things going wrong and holds tight to his alliances.

pixl: the end. his vigil is very very 'end' to me. death, to him, is inevitable, a fact of life, and he choses to honor it and give it respect. in all things he does he knows death to be a cause and an end to the means. even if his trickery may just be a signal of the spiral... whos to say?

katherine: okay. bear with me for this one, yeah? the flesh. no im not only saying this because of the bone garden. the fear that we are just meat and bones, the realization that animals go to the slaughter. i believe its a fact that many involved with the flesh become vegetarian after encounters and her whole thing is plants. she shows a distaste for killing animals but a desire to use them in projects.

pearl: the dark. yes, this is the obvious choice, but i do have reason beyond it. pearls character in empires is directly contrary to her name. she revels in the light and lives around sunflowers and growth. despite this she will let herself work into the night, she will let herself turn a blind eye to damage being done. what she cant see cant hurt her.

bonus:

xornoth: the extinction. i know there are no actual avatars of the extinction in the source, however: it makes sense, right? more than this creature is corruption or the end it wants mortals gone. it wants mortals gone and to be released and freed to do this deed.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “The Final Word”

Well, we made it to the finale, everyone, and if you're reading this it seems you've survived the watching of it too. Barely. To say that some questionable choices were made across these 20 minutes is... an understatement.

But before we delve into the episode, I want you to cast your mind back to November 7th, 2020. A horrible year that heralded a horrible RWBY volume. There, coming off the shaky writing of Volume 7, I posed a number of questions and concerns that the show needed to tackle, with the promise that we would return to these expectations in four months time. Now, here we are! Let's refresh everyone's memory, yeah?

Taken directly from that recap, what RWBY promised us, through various teasers and Q&As, included:

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

And you know what? They did all this. In the spirit of being fair and honest to this show, RWBY succeeded in delivering on everything they promised... it was just our foolishness that expected that these ideas would be delivered well. Ruby's leadership took center stage in the form of her hiding for multiple episodes and then others telling her she's still The Best before the plot dropped a solution into her lap... one she could have used at any point prior to this. Summer's death certainly has an impact, though it's an impact born of a crazy reveal that Summer likely isn't dead, but turned into a horrifying grimm monster. Ren and Nora both delve into their flaws, but heaven forbid either grow from that reflection. Ren learns that if he pushes past his primary flaw of keeping his emotions buried and actually expresses his doubts for once, he'll be yelled at and ignored until he admits how wrong he was. The "real" flaw is being a bad friend, with "bad friend" equaling "Not agreeing with Ruby 100%." Meanwhile, Nora considers that maybe she shouldn't rush in recklessly and hit things with her hammer... which is why she rushes in recklessly, hits something with her hammer, gets grievously injured, and is told that this is just who she truly is. No growth there, not unless we count her sudden desire to figure out who she is without Ren... but that exploration hasn't started yet. Too bad she wasn't the teammate separated at the end of the volume!

Meanwhile, May did indeed have a larger role to play, one I quite liked, it's just that this role — like all the others — inevitably circled back to realizing how wonderful Ruby is. May challenges Ruby to make a decision, but instead of being the catalyst for Ruby's growth, May becomes another forgotten side character who does a sudden about-turn regarding her perspective, leaving the group with the contradictory message that Ruby is actually doing her best, she's just a kid, no need to try any harder... everyone who claimed otherwise up until now was mistaken. May is another Cordovin. She's another Qrow. She's another Maria.

Fun fact: we don't even know if Maria is alive right now. That's how little she means to the show!

Actually, wait... anyone remember this nonsense from Volume 7? 

I was too lazy to change the date.

Moving on, Ozpin's cane turned out to be a stakes obliterating bomb that came out of nowhere, makes no sense logistically — how do battles store energy that only hurts grimm? — yet nevertheless seems to have killed Hazel? It's a disaster of unanswered questions. Similar to the disaster of our two day timeline when, I'm fairly sure, we've had an unnatural number of sunrises and sunsets. I'll have to take a look back at the volume as a whole now that it's complete to be sure of that though. As for our themes... did we really explore the idea of respecting someone even if you disagree with them? Because Ironwood wasn't shown any respect. Ren wasn't shown respect. I think the closest we got was Oscar calmly validating Yang's worry about getting buddy-buddy with Emerald, but the whole point there was that Yang was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but that's what the text would have you believe. She is indeed "very suspicious and distrustful," but that's hardly unjustified in these circumstances. I'm still boggling at the fact that it took the group three volumes for forgive Ozpin, even while he was actively working to assist them, yet I-helped-destroy-Beacon-and-tried-to-kill-everyone-you-love Emerald is the group's new BFF after she... ran away with Oscar? She didn't save him, she just went along for the ride. At the very least we might have gotten a scene where Penny was like, "Hey, why are you all laughing with the woman who just tried to kill my dad?"

But oh yeah, the story doesn't remember Pietro exists either. His daughter is DEAD and he hasn't been on screen since Episode Five, let alone there when she passes.

I had my own list going in, including such expectations as "Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this" and "Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake." Obviously these needs were not met.

So what, given this mess of expectations, did we end up with?

Our finale — for some reason — breaks the one word title trend with "The Final Word." It's an expression that refers to the final word in an argument or a discussion, the idea of winning by making a last, devastating point. It can also refer to making the final decision on something, which is the best way I'm able to apply the title to this episode (outside of any “final” comparisons). Penny's death is certainly all about choice and making some kind of decision... but on the whole, this title doesn't feel like it fits well. Not like "Worthy" or "Creation" or "Risk." The two latter titles had obvious connections to the episode in question through dialogue and plot, while the former was a deliberate callback to Watts' speech. "The Final Word" feels... less obvious in what it’s trying to say.

That's a minor nitpick though. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

We open on the grimm whale still disappearing, which is weird. I get that it's massively bigger than any other grimm we've seen, but they all turned to dust near instantaneously and it's been, what? At least an hour since Oscar blew it up? Likely longer when we factor in their walk back to the manor, the fight with Ironwood, fixing Penny, and this entire evacuation. It certainly makes for a nice visual, but like so many details in RWBY, it raises unnecessary questions along the way.

The important bit though is that amidst the whale carcass a blob of evil is swirling about. Salem, obviously. 

She’s not reforming in time to actually do anything though, don't worry.

Instead, we cut to the Ironwood vs. Winter fight and there's at least some dialogue this time. Ironwood yells that he's sacrificed everything to keep Remnant safe. Winter yells back that he actually sacrificed everyone else. Obviously, Ironwood should be called out for things like, you know, his unprompted murders, but instead they have Winter listing stuff that she was never shown to have a problem with before. The embargo? "Squeezed Mantle until it broke?" She, as Ironwood's second hand, understood and supported both the decision to close the border and the need to collect resources for a plan designed to take out Salem. I hate that no only did she turn without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but now they're having her act as if Ironwood forced these decisions on everyone, rather than everyone supporting him through them. We all remember Volume 7 when Ruby pressured him to finish Amity, right? And in trust RWBY fashion, most of these words are meaningless. Mantle "broke"? What does that mean? The class disparity did not come about through Ironwood: that's been in the works for generations. The lack of resources made things harder, yes, but when they were reclaimed by Robyn nothing improved. Watts is the one who turned off the heat and Salem attacked Atlas, leaving Mantle alone. Now, all the citizens have escaped through magical portals. So how is Mantle "broken" exactly? More importantly, why is Winter upset over this vague, nonsensical dilemma when she could be yelling about Ironwood wanting to bomb Mantle?

Again: this woman watched Ironwood shoot the councilman, shrugged, and continued to believe in him up until she realized his bomb threat was real. That was one of the main reasons why I thought the councilman might be alive, with Ironwood only shooting a warning shot past him. Because this is how you react to a good person unexpectedly killing someone else

whereas this is what we got from Winter and Harriet.

Hell, Weiss has more of a reaction to Yang telling Ruby things aren't super great right now.

So either Ironwood didn't do something that bad, thereby justifying these tame reactions (unlikely, given where his character ended up), or we should believe based on the animation that everyone was super chill with him killing an unarmed civilian. Which is then directly contradicted when they're like, "You're going to shoot Marrow? Bomb a city?? How could you do such horrible things??? 😲" Friends, buddies, fictional pals... you already watched him murder a dude.

The point is, there's a lot for Winter to be upset about, but she's not upset about that. There's a lot that Winter herself believed in, but the writing has forgotten that. This entire arc went off the rails a volume ago.

Also, why is Ironwood fighting with that giant gun? This is his final battle, presumably ever, and he's wielding this awkward, sluggish weapon we saw him randomly pick up two episodes ago? Let him use his regular guns! Give us a fantastic battle like he had with Watts! Instead, RWBY's final showdown consists of him using this no-name weapon as a unwieldy club in some of the most boring choreography we've seen to date. It doesn't help that this fight needs to share time with three others. Instead of an epic showdown, we're given glimpses of the battle before continually cutting away from it. 

During that first cut we return to the Team RWBY battle where Penny, doing her best to stay out of Cinder's reach, is whisked away on Weiss' wasp.

Too bad she didn't do that for Yang...

Jaune and Nora watch this horror unfold until Jaune says, "Priority one!" and they split. Except... what is priority one exactly? Helping the civilians? I guess, because they don't enter the fight until the very end of it, when everyone else seems to have made it to Vacuo. And you know what, I like that. For once it feels like the group — or at least the B Team — is acting like huntsmen, putting the needs of the people over their own, personal desires. I'm sure Nora wants to help the group after Yang's (presumed) demise and that Jaune would like nothing more than to get his hands on Cinder, but they put those grievances aside to do the work they signed up for. Good job!

My only real gripe is that we don't really see this struggling in the animation, I'm just assuming it's there. In particular, there's a moment when Jaune sends Nora through the portal for reinforcements — not knowing they can't return — and they seem a little too jovial when, by this point, three friends have died.

There's letting your cast be supportive, and then there's having them ignore that three teammates have perished in an abyss. It really doesn't help to sell the idea that Yang, Ruby, and Blake are in any danger here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder is really just after the Maiden powers, she can buy the rest of the group time to escape. Weiss, obviously, isn't fond of this idea... and then the both of them are blasted off the wasp by Cinder's fire. Which they deserve, frankly. They're just having this casual conversation about sacrifice while in the middle of a battle. Did they somehow forget that Cinder can fly too?

Note that multiple attacks from Cinder, another blast, and a hard landing on the pathway gives their auras a knock, but doesn't break them. The primary defense for Yang's aura shattering in a single, simple hit was that everyone is exhausted and running on little to no power... yet here the rest of the cast is, tanking multiple hits as we've come to expect. There is no explanation for Yang's defeat except that the writers chose to ignore the rules of their world for a dramatic death scene... even though that drama was erased a week later as half our team falls into the void too.

We'll get to that though. For now, Cinder corrects Penny's belief with "I want it all" and proceeds to try to finish them off, only for Blake to arrive, having made her choice from last episode about who to help. It's a legitimately nice attack, but I happened to pause at the bEST MOMENT

Anyway.

We leave that fight to return to Qrow and Harriet who have, off screen, started an entirely different battle. What I mean is, last we saw Qrow had broken through the windshield of the airship, roughly pinned Harriet, and was taunting her about getting the fight she wanted. Now, suddenly, he's going “You’re making a mistake, Harriet, what happened to Clover—” as if he's been trying to talk her down this whole time. It's jarring, especially when we consider that Qrow had a volume long "kill Ironwood" arc that was dropped because... Robyn reminded him that murder is bad? RWBY feels like a storytelling pinball machine. Characters bounce from one personality to the next, one perspective and another, round and round until you don't know where they'll end up.

Harriet screams for Qrow to just shut up already and honestly? Same. I love Qrow, he's one of my favorites, but I can't deny that he's been done dirty like so many others since Volume 6. I love who Qrow was, not the mess RWBY has created the last few years.

Time to delve back into fic after recapping!

Sadly though, this strange dialogue wasn't the only "wtf" moment. Harriet is still trying to drop the bomb — which is its own mess of confusing motivations — when Vine and Elm show up on Harriet's ship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this "because you’re our friend!”

Am I glad that they finally acknowledged that the Ace Ops have always been friends? Sure, but why did we spend two volumes claiming otherwise? They were friends, a fantastic team, then Harriet announces that's a lie and we get a bunch of "Team RWBY is superior because they're actually friends" messages. Except this entire time we're still watching the Ace Ops be kind and playful with one another. But they're not friends, the story says. Not friends as they fight these battles. Not friends as they grieve for Clover. Definitely not friends as they react in horror at Ironwood nearly shooting Marrow. No, there's nothing there... until Elm claims there is! Then Harriet reacts in shock. I have friends?

Except Elm was labeled the one "just following orders" by Yang. Elm is the one who shook off Vine after the whale exploded. This isn't the story of one character, Harriet, thinking she was alone and then realizing that people do care for her, this is a story that, seemingly at random, had this group being BFFs or acting like they hated each other — and at each point the visuals are contradicted by the story's message. When they act like friends, we're told they're not friends. When they don't act like friends, we're told they really have been this whole time. I mean, do any of them even care that Marrow teamed up with Qrow and Robyn to take them out five minutes ago? All three were going along with Ironwood's scheme until they were physically stopped, but now Elm is convinced this is a bad decision she needs to talk Harriet down from with the power of friendship?

None of these characters are characters, they're just slapped together reactions based on whatever the plot needs. Who is Elm? I've got no clue. Her personality changes every episode.

Also, love that Qrow moves to stop the bomb from dropping and Harriet screams at him to "Get out of the way!" rather than just... attacking him? She even throws her hands out like she's having a temper tantrum. This feels like schoolyard bickering, not a life or death struggle.

Even though, you know, the audience is aware that the people of Mantle have already been evacuated and Qrow's group is aware that Atlas is falling on top of Mantle as they speak, so... why does the bomb matter? It's going to, what? Destroy the city thirty seconds before Atlas does? Oh no, the horror.

Things then, if you can believe it, get even worse. The bomb is still about to drop, so instead of doing anything to stop it — I mean seriously, we know it takes four people to shoulder the bomb's weight, but you're telling me Qrow and a reformed Harriet can't snag it in a pinch? — Qrow sits there, looks at Clover's pin... and the bomb careens towards the side of the airship instead, stopping.

Because I guess Qrow has good luck now? Or always did and somehow never noticed it? Or his semblance evolved?? Again, we don't know, but it's a bad moment any way you slice it, imo. Qrow has always been defined as the guy with a bad luck semblance and, much like Penny's android struggles, the allure was in watching him overcome those challenges, not having the show erase the challenge entirely. Especially when we don't even understand how it was erased. Qrow just... stops drinking, stops caring for Ironwood, stops wanting to kill Ironwood, stops causing bad luck, I guess. RWBY takes major character traits and flips them off like a light switch, leaving the audience with no emotional tether. We didn't watch Qrow overcome his drinking, or realize he can't bear to kill Ironwood, or discover a way to live life with the horrible hand he was dealt, he just blinks one day and those things are gone. Why? No one is sure. Not even the writers, I'd wager, because otherwise they would have written explanations into the text.

Many in the fandom insist that any basic information provided by the story amounts to "hand holding" when in fact there is a massive difference between the sort of unnecessary exposition that bogs down a tale, and having facts enough for the audience in its entirety to be on the same page about what is actually happening. For example, recently someone argued strongly that the "Penny is human" take is incorrect because Penny isn't human, she has an inhuman body made entirely of aura... yet where in the world does this exist in the story? Ambrosius may have been unsure about what Penny would be prior to removing her robotic parts, but that ambiguity is gone once her body forms, the equivalent of worrying about that gun only for a flag with 'BANG' to appear instead of a bullet. Worrying about something doesn't mean that something actually occurred. Penny appears human, expresses human sentiments, and then, this episode, dies as a human. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and succumbs to the mortal peril that all ducks face... it's probably a duck. As I said in a recent ask, I implore the fandom to stop writing RWBY's scripts for them. Or rather, do so in some amazing fanfics. Don't do it on critical posts as a means of insisting that your revision is canon.

So Qrow has good luck now, maybe, but this character change doesn't amount to anything because Watts remotely starts the bomb's countdown.

At least he’s entertaining and competent. We had that for a time. 

Back to the main battle, Neo is kicking Ruby's ass. Why? Because there's no consistency in power levels in this show. The ancient woman who hasn't fought in decades dances circles around Neo, highlighting how weak she supposedly is, yet now Neo dances circles around our main character. None of us should expect fights to follow the logic of the world, only what drama the plot wants to stir up. Ruby is eventually knocked down from a hard hit — yet her aura's intact! — and is saved at the last second by Weiss tossing Neo into one of the portals. 

Far more of a problem than the power leveling is that Ruby gives no indication here that Neo just murdered her sister. Again, that's what the characters are meant to believe, yet Ruby is as stoic as she would be fighting a bunch of White Fang grunts. If you showed this scene to a RWBY fan on its own and asked, "What do you think happened prior to this?" the answer would be, "Uh... nothing? Ruby is just fighting Neo like she did on the airship in Volume 3." Nothing about this scene — from dialogue to animation — sells the idea that Ruby just lost the person most important to her in the world.

When we do finally mention Yang, it's Weiss who goes, “Come on, we have to do this for Yang” and the delivery is... meh. Honestly, I normally don't pay much attention to the voice acting, but I had a problem with most of Weiss' lines this episode. The "Leave her alone!" during this fight and later a "Get back!" as she attacks Cinder both fell really flat for me. Given the devastation and charged emotion that's supposed to be here, we can't give her anything better than generic cries that, again, she’d throw at any grunt? In that later scene the animation absolutely helps sell Weiss' distress, but the dialogue is common and the delivery has no emotional punch, leaving it feeling like Yang is just hanging out in Vacuo and they promised they'd beat the baddies before catching up with her. No one but Blake is acting like Yang died.

In fact, we see more emotion from Ruby when Weiss shoves her back, taking the brunt of Cinder's blast.

Weiss' aura breaks, not that that's a danger or anything. Everyone falls before they're injured, Winter gets the Maiden powers, Ren barely has to fight. Losing aura in this show used to be a moment of peril, where just last volume Winter was bruised, bleeding, and now needs an assistive device because she had to continue a battle with no aura. Now it's a joke. Aura breaks left and right across the volume with no repercussions attached to that.

We see a bit of the Blake and Penny vs. Cinder fight where Cinder blasts Blake off the edge. Penny rushes after her because at least one character remembered that they can fly.

Ruby, meanwhile, remembers that she can fly when it benefits her. After getting hit down onto a lower level and watching Crescent Rose plummet, she taunts Neo into an attack with a move that's actually quite good. I like the confidence with which Ruby riles her up and I like the strategy of darting behind Neo to knock her off the path instead. “Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it."

The only thing I don't like is that this speed and ingenuity had to disappear to justify Yang falling.

Cinder breaks Ruby's aura from behind though, sending her over too and grabbing onto Neo's leg. In an obvious moment born of the trope, it looks as if Cinder is reaching to help Neo, only for her to snag the Relic instead. “You should have never threatened me," she tells Neo and to Ruby: "you should have never been born.” 

Love that they erased all that cool growth from last episode! And by "love" I mean "hate." As I said last recap, I'm not going to pretend that Cinder's character isn't riddled with problems, but realizing she was stronger by teaming up with Neo and Watts was one of the best things they've ever done for her. It made Cinder dangerous again and showed Watts' speech having a clear impact. It also made her more entertaining, creating a new dynamic among the three villains. Now though, Cinder is just... Cinder. The same boring, stupid Cinder we've had since Volume 4. She betrays Neo and then later betrays Watts.

So Cinder kicks Neo and Ruby both over the edge because why would we want to make her interesting? Neo falls, but Ruby has friends there to catch her! Unlike Yang. Jk. Weiss’ aura is gone and Blake actually tried both times, so major kudos for her. Using momentum supplied by Penny, she snags Ruby and hooks her weapon into one of the pathways... only for Cinder to cut the ribbon. Both plummet and once again Penny has a more believable reaction to all this, just like she did last week

Speaking of reactions, does anyone else find it weird that Cinder finally succeeded in killing Ruby and... doesn’t seem to care? 

No? Just me? 

At least we get that good animation with Weiss I was talking about before, even if the dialogue is lacking. I love that she snagged Blake's weapon and uses it to try and take out Cinder, shaking the whole time. Those are some great details. 

Back to the bomb, Qrow is trying to escape, but Harriet says there isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. "I've killed us all." Vine has the solution though, using his semblance to wrap up the airship, thus containing the blast when it goes off. His final words are to reassure Elm that he can give his life, "if it means saving all of my friends." Just in case you missed the part about the Ace Ops being super close this whole time. Even though they also weren’t. Trying to eat your cake too, RWBY? 

Frankly, I didn't feel much of anything during this scene, not when Vine made the sacrifice, nor when Elm and Harriet look on sadly while Robyn pilots them away (that's her contribution this episode). 

All I can say is, good on RWBY for not killing one of the three dark skinned characters, or just murdering the Ace Ops as a whole. What the story is going to do with them though, who knows.

Jaune and Nora have that ‘You can do it!’ moment after three of their friends have presumably been killed. I swear, about 80% of Jaune's scenes do not work tonally and oh boy, things only get worse from here.

First though, I like his entrance. He slams into the fight against Cinder and lines up with Penny and Weiss, who is still dual-wielding her and Blake's weapons. That's an epic shot.  

It looks as if they stand a decent chance against Cinder — Weiss' lost aura notwithstanding — except then Cinder's arm starts going crazy and she gleefully announces that Salem has returned.

Working on a time limit now, Cinder unleashes a volley of attacks that Penny steps in to protect the other two from. It's here that Cinder grabs hold with her grimm arm.

It's here that Penny dies. Again.

For the third time.

Friends, I am tired. This moment honestly deserves the most epic of rants, but that, in turn, requires energy. Energy? In this economy? Ha! That's hilarious. Taking this seriously though, the problem here can — as usual — be boiled down to a single question: What was the point?

Penny died in a horrible attack that shook the cast and audience both to their core.

That emotional impact was erased through her resurrection.

The resurrection did not create a new emotional impact for our heroes to grapple with.

Penny is given the Maiden powers, solidifying the fact that she's always been a "real girl."

That lesson was erased when the story decided to make her human for unexplained reasons (because no, she never needed to be human to survive the virus).

Penny then dies, passing the power to Winter... who was set to get the power in the first place.

We have, once again, come full circle. You can take Penny out of the story and nothing changes. Does Ruby lose any lessons or emotional growth? No. Does anyone survive who would have otherwise died? No. Does her getting the powers lead to someone unexpected snagging them upon her death? No. Penny's existence was filler. She was put in the story to take up time and, that done, was removed from the story once again. It's a choice that wouldn't be half as horrible if that filler hadn't done so much damage along the way.

First is the obvious: that Penny didn't deserve this. As a character, she didn't deserve to be brought back just to be killed off again, seemingly without narrative purpose, serving only to draw in viewers who RT knew loved the character. Second, keeping her in the story led to her entire arc unraveling. Initially, Penny died as an android in the world's eyes, but those who actually knew her — Ruby and Pietro — mourned the girl she really was. Now we have this horrible message that being a machine isn't real enough, so she has to die as a human being. It's a disservice to her character and, as an allegory for many minorities, downright insulting to the audience. Third, this offensive 'better to die as a human than live as a robot' message is wrapped up in the claim that Penny finally gets to choose something — “Let me choose this one thing. Trust me” — but she already did that when she chose to take the Maiden powers. We already had the better written version of this last volume!

And the fourth issue...well.  

Fourth and fifth are the real kickers. Fourth is that Penny's death was an assisted suicide. She explicitly asks Jaune to kill her so she can ensure she's thinking of the right person when she passes (never mind that her thoughts would probably be on Jaune while this is happening) and that's... pretty horrible. Look, I'm no purist. I like a great deal of dark, gritty stories whose plot exists to make us uncomfortable. That's a valuable emotion that fiction can generate. The problem is not that RWBY is tackling a sensitive topic, but that they aren’t tackling it well. Yes, they put in a content warning and (from what I've heard) a suicide helpline as well, but providing the already necessary resources is not the same thing as writing that kind of scene with respect and care. All of the above tells us that, no matter what RT may have intended, that respect and care weren't communicated to the audience. Like Yang, they didn't even bother to keep Penny's death within the rules of their world. Jaune is right there ready to heal her and Penny says no, there's supposedly not time.

Um... since when?

Jaune's aura boost is instantaneous. The second he amplifies aura is the same second the healing starts and their talk could have been spent saving Penny. There was certainly time to save Weiss in Volume 5. To have a character go, 'Nah, it's too late' when the solution is right there is the ultimate cop-out. Suddenly announcing that the solution will no longer work For Reasons is not a legitimate limitation and it's made doubly insulting that RT didn't simply use the limitations already available to them. Jaune has been running low on aura since the whale. He then expended a great deal of aura boosting Penny to keep the virus in check. Every other ally has had their aura broken in this fight so, there. That's your solution. Have Jaune take a few hard hits from Cinder, his aura breaks, and then when Penny is mortally wounded he no longer has a semblance to heal her. It's that easy! Yet instead they had Penny reject help so that she could ask to die. That's what's offensive here.

Finally, reason number five... why is this moment given to Jaune? That's another easy solution: Jaune has gone through the portal and can't get back to heal Penny. There. Done. But logistics aside, this scene should have gone to any other character. Who is Jaune to Penny? Or Penny to Jaune? No one! They don't have a relationship. I get that the writers didn't want any of the girls at her side because then it would be hard to justify Penny not passing the power to them (which I get: making one team member a Maiden changes the show drastically), but you know who should be there instead of Jaune?

Pietro.

Pietro, who built Penny as a weapon and who was never given the chance to apologize for that. Pietro, who told Ruby he could only rebuild her once more, setting up an expectation that he'd sacrifice himself for his daughter (despite the complicated racial issues that would bring up). Pietro, who watched Penny plummet and has no idea what happened to her, let alone that she's been made into a human girl. Pietro should have been at her side, saying goodbye to his child and helping her complete her last wish.

And it would be so very easy to pull off. All it takes is a single line where Penny remembers that her father exists, asking Ruby to ensure a portal opens up in Amity. There's a quick reunion along the pathways before Cinder attacks. We hear a cry of despair as Penny falls and she looks, seeing her father racing towards her, though she thought he'd already made it out. There, you’re done. We open ourselves up to a lot of attacks whenever we say, "Why didn't RWBY just do ____?" because those who vehemently defend the writing like to go, "Oh, you think you could write RWBY better?" and no, I don't. I struggle with long-form storytelling and massive casts. I don't think I could do justice to the sort of show RWBY wants to be, but I do think I'm a decent enough writer to spot when there are major problems like this. The question of "Why doesn't Penny remember that her beloved dad exists?" and "Why, out of that massive cast, is Jaune the one to do this deed?" are both things that a newbie writer can spot, and a sometimes okay writer can figure out how to fix them both simultaneously. A good writer will start thinking about themes — what might it mean for Pietro to kill the creation he made? — and a great writer will find a way to pull that off without having that insulting, discomforting feeling pop up. At this point, our RWBY crew feels less like new writers making mistakes (because they're not new, not at all), but rather just writers who haven't bothered to learn from their mistakes after eight years. That's a lot harder to watch.

Because putting Jaune here doesn't just mess with RWBY's internal rules (not using his semblance) and it's not just useless in terms of Penny's development (she doesn't know him outside of "dude who boosted my aura for an hour"), but it also falls back into a pattern I thought RWBY had finally broken from: making Jaune the story's emotional center. This is not the JAUNE show. It's the RWBY show. Yet here, once again, we have Jaune in the spotlight. Why, after a whole volume of Ruby avoiding making decisions, does Jaune finally make the hard call? Why, after a scene where Penny asked Ruby to kill her, does Jaune do that deed? Why, after a divisive arc where all the grief for Pyrrha went to Jaune, is Jaune now set to shoulder the grief of Penny? At least Jaune had a relationship with Pyrrha, even if Nora and Ren did too. Yet with Penny he seems to be there solely because the writers can't bear to keep him out of that center spot for long. All of Team JNOR make it through to Vacuo... except Jaune. Jaune falls into the abyss too because, if the show goes this route, we apparently can’t have a volume just about Team RWBY, the main characters. The main characters are separated from the rest of the team and it's Jaune, not Oscar and Ozpin with a connection to the lore, not Nora or Ren whose development now hinges on them learning who they are without the other, it's Jaune who follows the title characters into a new dimension. 

The issue is not whether Jaune deserves to grieve over the truly traumatic thing he just did now that he’s done it. He obviously does. The issue is the writers setting up a scenario where Jaune is situated to do that emotional work in the first place. 

I like Jaune as a character. I don't like how the writing uses him as a character. RWBY is built on the idea that these four girls are the heroes of this tale, not the expected blond, blue-eyed, sword wielding guy we’ve seen in so many other stories. So why does that guy get the most important scene of the finale? Yes, Jaune had much less screen time this volume than he did in the past, that’s a good thing given the number of important characters RWBY has to balance, but that hasn't erased the problem of him being given significant moments that should be going to title characters. Does Ruby’s team rescue Oscar and take on Salem? No, Jaune's team does. Does Ruby's team save Penny? No, Jaune's semblance keeps her grounded and then holds the virus off. Not everything is a problem — we've also got good choices like having Ruby defeat the Hound and Ruby's team take on Cinder for the majority of the fight — but that doesn't erase that Penny’s death wasn’t something Jaune should have been a part of. Not unless he was going to heal her. Doing better than they have in the past doesn't mean that RT isn't still slipping when it comes to giving him undeserved focus.

They took one of the most controversial characters, controversial because of how much emotional focus he's gotten in the past, and had him help a fan favorite commit suicide while he cried about it, showing more emotion for a near stranger than our title character showed for her sister. This is a character who, up until two or three episodes ago, had no connection to the victim and still has no reason to thematically be the one committing this act. That is why the fandom goes, “The crew loves Jaune and does everything they can to put him in the center of the action.” Ruby, as main character and Penny’s first friend, is the obvious choice here. Pietro, as Penny's father, would be a good choice too. Hell, Nora is a better option given their moment in the Schnee manor this volume. Or Winter given their moments in Volume 7! Have her escape Ironwood, find Penny, receive the powers, and then finish him off. Literally anyone would be better than Jaune, not because Jaune is a bad character, but because Jaune has no emotional stakes here and putting him in a position where he could heal Penny but doesn’t is massively stupid. No one should be surprised that a lot of the fandom is upset about this. It was one hell of a reach to give him this moment and, since Jaune's problem has always been getting too much screen time and emotional nuance compared to our main cast, it's no wonder this act brought up a lot of bad memories. RT fell back into an old pattern after two volumes of improvement and they did so at the worst possible time. 

The tl;dr is that Penny's third death is a writing travesty, just like her second. I shouldn't be surprised, given that this is the same volume that tortured a kid and the only thing they did with it was have him blindly trust his torturer... yet I find myself surprised nonetheless. Because Penny had such potential as an android Maiden and, as much as I personally hated it, potential as a former android learning to be human too. But why explore any of that when you can kill her off instead? Again.

As a final, far smaller note about this scene, we have the continuing problem of what purpose Cinder's arm is serving. If everyone recalls, its threat comes primarily from the fact that she can "siphon off" power from other Maidens.

She did it to Penny during the Amity battle and now she does it again, a great deal of green energy absorbed into Cinder. So what's left to give to Winter? Why doesn't Cinder become noticeably stronger with each successful theft? Like so much else in RWBY, we're told it exists without actually seeing the impact of that. Winter isn't a weaker Maiden for having lost power and Cinder isn't a stronger Maiden for having snagged it. It's just.. there, hanging out and looking vaguely menacing, I guess.

Outside of this unnatural not-transfer, we get to see how the power normally passes as Penny meets with Winter in some in-between place. It's a soft, heartfelt scene... with the exception that Winter says, “You were always the real Maiden at heart. I was just the machine. Just following orders."

I don't know how any viewer can doubt that RT now believes machinery = evil. Penny's machine body is magicked away so she can be a real-real girl. Yang announces that the arm she worked hard to make a part of herself is just "extra." The man with half a metal body is made this volume's villain and losing his second arm is, by the authors' own admission, a symbol of his lost humanity. Mercury with two metal legs remains a bad guy while Emerald and Hazel are hastily redeemed. Tyrian with his cybernetic tail is the most devoted crazy of the bunch. Maria, blind and in need of assistive lenses, is so forgotten by the story she was left in the tundra nine episode ago and won't be mentioned again until next volume (if then). Pietro, the guy in the wheelchair, is forgotten too, despite it being his daughter who dies on screen.

Now Winter, also bearing an assistive device, says that she's the real "machine" here and tells Penny, now human, that she was always the "real Maiden." I don't know what happened to make RT do a 180 lately, but the disability rep is no longer what it was.

Penny reassures Winter that she'll always be a part of her and then passes on, for good this time.

The rest of the episode feels lackluster, if I'm being honest. Images of Cinder beating Weiss are intercut with Ironwood beating Winter, getting her to a point where her aura breaks. 

But then the powers appear and, as we'd expect, she easily turns the tide. 

Gorgeous animation there. 

But RT once again rewrites earlier scenes by having Ironwood claim that the "destiny" he chose for Winter has finally arrived — isn't that Cinder's MO? — and Winter shoots back that he chose nothing, this was a "gift." Except, it was never about destiny or orders? This was why Weiss' anger in Volume 7 was ridiculous. She acted like Ironwood forced Winter to accept the powers and Winter told her point blank she chose this. Ironwood didn't decide anything, he offered and Winter chose... kind of like how Penny is choosing now. I hate how nearly all of Ironwood's character has been ignored or, during times like this, outright lied about to make him seem super duper evil. He tried to bomb a city! You don't need to make him seem evil anymore, that job is done! Like their sudden change regarding disability, RT now seems to be allergic to nuance. Heaven forbid Ironwood be allowed to have valid points like he did in Volume 3. No, if you've got an antagonist every single thing they've ever said must be twisted into a display of their evilness.

Unless you're Hazel, who Oscar trusts for #reasons. Unless you're Emerald, who the group immediately embraces. Unless you're Cinder, who gets to cry on a rooftop and secures the trust of her allies long enough to betray them again.

But Ironwood? Nah, screw that guy.

Salt aside, the fight is pretty boring. Winter literally just throws up a wall of ice and Ironwood's blast rebounds, taking him out.

Winter flies through the portal and we return to Jaune. His sword is broken by Cinder, so weapons should be quite the problem in Volume 9. 

There's a bit of sword vs. sword Maiden battling — this episode really pulled heavily from both Volume 3 and 5's finales — before Cinder gets smart again and attacks Weiss, currently trying to escape with Jaune. Weiss goes right off the edge and Winter isn't able to reach her in time. That's the entirety of Team RWBY, lost to the magical void.

Kudos to Winter's VA and the writing here though. This feels like an appropriate reaction to losing a sister. Screaming, sobbing, falling to her knees and beating the floor... Ruby, take notes.

A roar sounds through all the portals though, the sort of roar a pissed off witch might give. Jaune convinces Winter they need to leave Cinder behind, but before they can escape Cinder... makes a new wish?

Look, it works on all the major fronts. Cinder has the staff, check. We've basically established that Ambrosius can make an unlimited number of things per era, check. We know the previous thing disappears when a new wish is made, check. My only question is the timing. In all honesty, I'll have to re-watch the scene to be sure, but at the time it felt like the portals began disappearing almost the second Cinder left. Did she really have time to summon Ambrosius, deal with his explanatory nonsense, and get him to make a new wish without any fiddly concerns? Sure, fire is just fire, but it still felt like way too much happening too fast off screen.

Either way, the portals are gone and Winter makes it through in time, but Jaune does not. He falls through the void along with Team RWBY. And Neo.

Neo is the only addition I'm looking forward to here.

We get a few shots of our other characters as Winter arrives, saving the day by taking her grief out on the grimm. So glad something came of Ren breaking his aura again! Maybe they'll be more fighting at the beginning of Volume 9? If we see any of this group outside of 9's finale. My worst fear right now is that we'll spend an entire season away from the main action — remember how I said it would be stupid for Team RWBY to go on a side adventure while Salem is attacking the world? — and when they return there will have been some major time skip. Salem has destroyed most of Remnant, only pockets of survivors remain, it's all dark and dystopian... and oh look, every bit of character development happened off screen. How did Nora discover who she is without Ren? She did it while Team RWBY was gone. That merge we've been teasing for five years? That happened while you were gone too and, btw, Ozpin has ceased to exist. So sad, right? Not that anyone will actually mourn. Just take comfort in the fact that his last line was an "Oh no" about Ambrosius and his last major scene was apologizing for how the group treated him. Emerald's redemption? Off screen. Winter's grief? Off screen. Any and every one of these challenging beats to tackle can be waved away with, "We went through that arc while you were lost in the magical realm. Just get to know our new, improved selves now!"

Please, oh writing gods, don't let that happen.

Though I do worry because my last prediction came true.

But we all knew we’d end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He’ll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it’s some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city. 

Ironwood didn't make a break for the portal — too busy being unconscious — but we got everything else. Winter left him, he falls with Atlas, and this is some poetic justice, I guess. Really, it's just an undignified death. I'd hoped for a sympathetic kill, something that showed the characters still cared about him even if they knew Ironwood had to be stopped. Baring that, I'd hoped for an epic battle that took him out with style. Instead, no one even bothers to kill him. Ironwood is now beneath the entire cast, not even worth finishing off. Winter casually tosses his blast back at him and leaves. Cinder throws out a "that's checkmate" and leaves. I don't think Salem even looks at him. Ironwood (presumably) dies with no one and nothing, just a casualty of the city Team RWBY made fall. And I say "presumably" because the audience isn't even given the satisfaction of being sure he's passed on. Like Hazel, Ironwood's death is this weird, ambiguous moment that, based on the other character reactions, isn’t meant to be ambiguous. Is he dead? Most likely. Is it possible, based on what we've seen, that he'll pop up two volumes later like

Yes and, memes aside, that sucks. I don't want to be wondering for the next couple years if Ironwood survived and if they'll bring him back just to drag his character through the mud again. Move on.

But no, we don't even get that.

I've spoken at great deal about Ironwood both in these recaps and on my blog more generally. Last week, I said I'd covered it all and there was no need to rehash it all again. I stand by that, so let me just conclude this travesty with a final note: if your bad guy's final moment is using the last of his strength to point a gun at the actual villain of this story, and you don't realize the problem of how this image contrasts everything else the story has insisted about his character? … I just don't know what to do with that.

Oh, actually, final-final note: Ironwood’s semblance is officially a Schrodinger's semblance. It is both canonical and noncanonical simultaneously. Wooo. 

Cinder tells Salem she used her wish to "add more flames to the first of Atlas" and we cut to Watts, trapped in a roaring fire, unsuccessfully trying to break his way out. Wow, I hate that too! Next to Tyrian, Watts was our last remaining, entertaining villain. He carried a lot of the last two volumes and, I had hoped, was going to add some bright spots to the coming volumes as well. Apparently not.

Just another waste.

In addition to this casual, second murder of her ally, Cinder successfully convinces Salem that Neo killed Ruby and Ruby used the Lamp's last question, but she's back in her good graces since she snagged the Relics anyway. “You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done" and they leave, blasting off like a less cool Team Rocket as Atlas plummets into Mantle.

Let's spend a second to tally things up then, shall we? What happens if Ruby, instead of throwing a moral fit, says, "You're right and we never should have lied to you, or betrayed you. But we want to help now. You get the Relics and the Maiden to safety in Atlas, if you can, we'll defend the people of Mantle"?

Well, they can still tell the world about Salem and call for help, much more easily now since Ironwood would likely just give them the code rather than them needing to spend an episode stealing it.

The Staff at least may not have ended up in Salem's hands and the group could have actually focused on getting the Lamp back (also solved if they'd been smart and just put it in the vault to begin with).

Mantle would still have been safe because Salem was never interested in Mantle to begin with.

Atlas wouldn't have fallen.

Ironwood wouldn't have died.

Penny wouldn't have died.

Even Vine wouldn't have died!

Our heroes unambiguously made the situation worse. Rather than banding together with their allies to fight the real enemy, Salem, they pushed until they made enemies of Ironwood and the Ace Ops both. Then they asked for help — which a pinch of logic said would never arrive — and twiddled their thumbs waiting for it. When it was clear none would come they...did nothing. They sat around, upset that the people were in danger, but not willing to do anything about it. It's only when one of their own, Penny, is threatened that they kick into high gear, hitting on a solution that they could have posed to Ironwood from the very start if no one liked the fly away plan. Yet instead of taking a few minutes to brainstorm other ideas — doing anything other than denouncing Ironwood to the rest of the group and attacking the Ace Ops — they spent two days sitting around, fixing minor messes they’d helped to create, then rushed through the portal plan, messing up the wish and stranding an entire kingdom in a sandstorm, with only Winter now to protect them from grimm.

Fantastically done, team. 

The villains won, yes, but not because the villains were smart and compelling. Watts' hack on Penny and the heat petered out to nothing and Salem... well, she sat around for the whole volume, expending energy only to torture Oscar and try to (unsuccessfully) stop some escapees. Neo and, miraculously, Cinder did the most damage, but only in the final hour, with this "damage" being that our characters fall into a void that we now know looks remarkably like a paradise! Everything bad that happened was a result of our heroes being stupid and stubborn. That's a compelling story to tell... but RT isn't trying to tell it. Our heroes caused so much damage, yet that damage goes unacknowledged — or worse, ignored into silence like with Ren — and everything else is waved away with the magic wand the series claims isn't there. The cold doesn't kill anyone. Oscar has no problems walking off the torture. Nora hops back out of bed. Ruby one-shots the Hound. The civilians lost to the void must have survived too. The entire kingdom successfully makes it to Vacuo... unless you count the massive army we never saw making use of the portals, but who cares about them, right?

The villains won, there was indeed something resembling consequences, but none of it was emotionally satisfying. Not even when the series tries so hard to insist that emotion is there.

Qrow watches Atlas fall, mouthing Ruby and Yang's names, but it's too little, too late. Where was this care for his nieces when he was obsessed with killing Ironwood? When did they care about him? Was it when Ruby shrugged at his arrest, when neither cared that he was missing, or when they were designing an escape plan that didn't include putting a portal where Qrow could reach? RWBY markets itself around the found family-ness of its cast, but they're done a poor job in recent volumes (not others) of convincing me that most of these characters care for one another. We went from Ruby denouncing all adults, to Ruby pulling an Ozpin with Ironwood, to Ruby watching blandly as her sister falls to her presumed death. This is my hero? This is the simple soul we're supposed to rally behind? Ruby doesn't feel like a character who cares about other people anymore and, given that she leads the charge, neither do most of her friends. Or, when that emotion appears, it's jarring and undeserved. Jaune cries over Penny's death? That's tonally and characteristically backwards.

This volume was the culmination of so many mistakes over the past two years. No, Covid couldn't have made things any easier for the crew — the fact that they got a volume out at all is amazing — but the pandemic isn't to blame for the problems in the story. These seeds have existed since Volume 5, with some (like Jaune) going back even farther. I don't think we're ever going to get that flawed, but emotionally fulfilling RWBY back. The show has dug too deep and unless it somehow manages to create a clean slate — those time travel ideas get more and more alluring! — there's nothing they can do but keep on digging. At this point, I can only hope that the series does wrap up within the next two volumes, rather than dragging RWBY to a Supernatural-esque length.

Our final shot of the episode proper feels fitting for what this volume has been. Atlas and Mantle flood rather than exploding, something that makes a certain amount of sense, sure, but definitely wasn't what I was expecting. And after all these shocking images — Penny dying, the grimm attacking, our main characters disappearing in a puff of gold dust — we end it all with bits of random debris. It's strange and underwhelming. Out of everything you could have done with the options you had, you choose to do this?

Of course, RWBY always has an after-credits scene (RIP Raven's, still amounting to nothing). Here, the sounds of water return to show us a beach. Crescent Rose imbedded in the sand, mirroring its classic pose in the snow.  

There's a tree. It's a very different kind of tree from what we saw in Volume 6, but the height and shape is nevertheless reminiscent of Light's domain.

A tree of life, anyone? After all, the group has fallen into a dimension created by a Relic, the gift of Light himself. It certainly seems as if RWBY is heading towards another encounter with the Gods, though what that will look like and how narratively satisfying it will be remains to be seen.

As for our bingo board, RWBY certainly pulled its weight! Only three squares got gold stars: Watts and Jacques didn't manage another team up because both are dead, Oscar didn't apologize for getting shot because he was too busy being tortured, and Qrow didn't drink likely because he didn't have access to any alcohol across the whole volume. Can't say that's a stellar result. The final image is something to behold though lol.

What a mess.

And on that less than exciting note... we’re done. This has been the volume of desertion, with a large number of fans telling me that they will no longer watch RWBY, but baring something entirely unexpected in my future, I'll be back next volume, for whatever that's worth. It never ceases to amaze me that even one person would give these nonsense recaps the time of day, so in all seriousness: thank you for reading. You rock.

Now go forth and fill the hiatus with great RWBY content!

✌️

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

My Experience with Jane Austen Part 1

Books I've Read:

Pride and Prejudice (read in 2016)

Sense and Sensibility (read in 2017)

Northanger Abbey (read around 2017)

Emma (read in 2017)

Persuasion (read in March 2021)

***I tried reading Mansfield Park before Emma but I couldn't get past the first few pages.

Favorite books: Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. The relationships are the most well-developed in these two novels, plus Persuasion is probably Austen's most romantic novel as the protagonist learns to follow her heart.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites (duh!) because it has all the elements of Austen's novels (love/marriage, strong female heroines, social criticism, comic relief). Darcy/Elizabeth are clearly equals and have a revolutionary (for the time) belief that marriages need to be based on love and respect. Plus they do grow and change and I like the emphasis on personal growth as necessary for their marriage to thrive. The unfortunate thing is that this book is so popular that it has become a cliche (the "I hate you" then "I love you" oversimplification). Plus because it has lots of adaptations done for it sometimes I don't know if my perception of the story is really based on the actual book or the adaptations.

Persuasion is very underrated (heck, it might even beat Pride and Prejudice in terms of romance). It was quite easy to read compared with Austen's other novels and I love how Anne starts to stand up for herself while supporting everyone even when they treat her like a doormat. She's an interesting character because she has to live with the regret of her choice not to marry Wentworth. What moves me is that this woman who according to the marriage market would be "past her prime" becomes more beautiful as she gets a second chance at following her heart. Plus Wentworth's love letter is the best: "You pierce my soul. I am half-agony, half-hope."

Least favorite books: Sense and Sensibility and Emma. Perhaps they'll do better on a reread but they're still not my favorites.

Elinor is my favorite character because she's strong and puts others before herself, but the book isn't my favorite because I don't believe in the Marianne/Colonel Brandon relationship. I remember being disturbed when reading the part where Colonel Brandon first notices Marianne; specifically that Marianne reminded him of his ward’s daughter. The two aren't together very often and unlike Darcy/Elizabeth don't have lots of conversations, so it was unconvincing that they would fall in love. Plus the age difference where he is "middle-aged" at 35 years old and she's 17 didn't help (yes I know Jane/Rochester from Jane Eyre have a similar wide age difference but that relationship is well developed and Bronte takes pains to emphasize that they are equals). Finally, the book isn't very easy to like if you don't know about the historical/literary context: it's basically a lot of waiting and desperation and uneventful trips back and forth from London. It really brings home how depressing Regency life could be for women.

Not much happens in Emma apart from "spoiled rich girl learns to be nice to less fortunate (compared to herself) people." When Emma does realize she loves Knightley, it's only because she'll lose him (and she's pretty much been taking him for granted throughout the book as she concocts her schemes), not very romantic. Knightley seems to be rather paternal in a way because until he declares his feelings for her (which started at 13, way to go!) he's always trying to teach her a lesson. He's like Emma's second father (because her father is a bit of a neglectful parent) and it seems patronizing because even though it's hard to like her, she has a lot of self-confidence and knows her own mind. While she does need to be humbled at times, as a modern reader it's hard to reconcile this with 21st century values.

Adaptations I've seen:

Pride and Prejudice: 1940 movie, 1980 miniseries, 1995 miniseries (my favorite), 2005 movie, Bride and Prejudice (2004)

Sense and Sensibility: 1995 movie (love that one), 2008 miniseries

Northanger Abbey 2007

Emma: 1996 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, 2020 movie

Persuasion 1995

[edelegs]

so I have a very specific interpretation of the Edelgard/Hubert dynamic that I don’t think is particularly common, but I feel is worth sharing. This is largely because some people end up diminishing the importance of this relationship when pairing each of them with other people. It’s disappointing because I personally prefer these external ships (namely Edeleth and Ferdibert, for reasons I will make clear) but often see either Edelgard or Hubert reduced to some jealous, cuckoled cockblock in them. Honestly, that’s just . . . boring. 

(Long post under the cut)

TLDR: Edelbert is fascinating because it can be argued that Hubert’s feelings are born from guilt and shame rather than romantic love. This dynamic is unhealthy but deeply interesting, and it deserves to not be diminished in fan interpretations of these characters. 

Something that makes Edelgard so compelling is the fact that she’s full of contradictions. She can’t stand people/creatures with more power than humanly possible, yet she must use her own superhuman power and cooperate with what she despises to achieve her end goal. More specific to Edelbert, this end goal is equality, yet Edelgard is not allowed to be equal to anyone. She is a detached, untouchable princess who needs to learn how to meet her friends where they stand. It is through her connection to Byleth and to the other Black Eagles where she learns how to adapt her ideals to work in reality - and to be human. 

Unintentionally, Hubert does the opposite of this. His devotion to Edelgard began as an inherited role and evolved into something he does out of personal conviction. Either way, he is putting her on a pedestal and addressing her as a vassal rather than as a friend. Many of his supports with others involve him comparing them to Edelgard and telling them they’ll never reach her level. He takes it as his personal mission to protect her from those “unworthy” of talking to her. I don’t think this is intended to be selfish or malicious. I think that because of his role as her vassal and his failure to protect her from the Hresvelg experiments, he takes on this absolute devotion and prescribes it upon everyone else. 

Their relationship is unbalanced as a result. Edelgard makes constant reference to “fighting alone” and being prepared to end up isolated and maligned. The line “the solitary reign of Edelgard has come to an end” in her S-support is particularly telling. While she clearly views Hubert as someone important to her, she does not seem to view him as someone she can be fully open with. Hubert’s constant addressing of her as “Lady Edelgard” implies that he would not take the opportunity to call her “El” if it was presented to him. Edelgard and Hubert are both so caught up in the weight and scope of their revolution that they begin to enable each other’s bad tendencies. Hubert doesn’t dare challenge her, because he thinks of her as untouchable, and this devotion allows Edelgard to take him for granted. It is not a healthy relationship. I don’t think this is a particularly hot take. Their external supports are crucial for shifting these patterns of thought and allowing these characters to grow. 

What I think may be unpopular is this: I don’t think Hubert’s feelings for Edelgard are actually romantic. 

(For context, I am aro and just really hate m/f friends getting shoved together romantically. It may be easy to dismiss my thoughts as just me being bitter that we can’t have a m/f friend pair without one of them catching feelings but allow me to argue my point.) 

Hubert was assigned to Edelgard at a young age and told it was his house’s sacred duty to serve the Hresvelg family. He loathes his father for his involvement in the Insurrection of the Seven, which happened when he was ten. It goes without saying that this largely shapes his devotion to Edelgard. I would even say these events traumatized him to some degree. He mentions this in their A support, where he declares that his loyalty has been to her alone since she returned from the Kingdom. The path that these two share is informed and shaped by trauma - what Edelgard went through and Hubert’s powerlessness to stop it. More critically, these events radicalized them both and created the “shared vision” mentioned in his B support with Dorothea. 

That particular support jumps out to me. When I first played the game, I felt unbelievably validated by it. Hubert denies accusations of unrequited love in an edgily self-aware way (the line ”do I really look like the kind of drooling simpleton to have that kind of motivation?” made me literally cheer) and goes on to describe their relationship as walking the same path. He then highlights the qualities he feels towards Edelgard (gratitude, respect, awe, empathy, trust, and hope). None of these require romantic attraction. Dorothea then goes on to say that “loving another is really about wanting to be loved . . . I’m pretty sure that’s different from how things are with you and Edie”. This scene spoke a lot to my own experiences - my feelings for my best friend largely echo Hubert’s (though way less dramatic, of course) and I found the form of deep platonic love I feel for her reflected in that conversation. The acknowledgement on Dorothea’s part that it was different from romantic love (whether or not she truly believes it) is what blew me away. This is honestly one of the few times where a piece of media made me feel seen which makes me forever mad about the Edelbert A support.Though it could be argued that he’s just closed-off and could easily pull off lying about it, I know those feelings well. Others might see this as definitive proof of Hubert’s unrequited love for Edelgard, but I just can’t and I wanted to articulate this perspective because it means so much to me. Close, all-consuming, and important relationships can be platonic. 

I know better than to claim that the confession scene never happened. It is interesting to evaluate because it shows Edelgard finally calling attention to Hubert’s unknowing perpetuation of the gap between them. When Hubert states his feelings plainly, he is as composed as ever. Edelgard blushes and states that “you never cease to surprise me”. Hubert laughs this off, and that’s the end of that. It clearly is supposed to be a genuine love confession, but I think it’s more interesting to consider a man with only one real close friend misinterpreting his blind devotion towards her as love because he doesn’t really know what it is. I think it adds to the kind of fucked-up nature of their relationship (is it love or obsession? How is he supposed to know if a connection borne from trauma stems from love or guilt?). It also speaks to how difficult it is to identify romantic feelings when you’ve never truly felt them. 

That being said, I actually do ship Hubert with other people. I love Ferdibert because their personality clashes create a sense of mutual growth that helps Hubert learn to openly challenge Edelgard rather than subvert orders he disagrees with and it’s honestly just really funny. I also love Hubernie because the idea of a terrifying man and a girl who’s scared of everything learning to meet each other halfway shows similar character growth. I just think that for many years, Hubert’s devotion to Edelgard gave him a really fucked up understanding of human relationships, both romantic and platonic. There’s a tendency to erase the weight and importance of the Edelbert dynamic when both are shipped with other people as well as a great opportunity to show that strong platonic relationships can and should be perceived as equal to romantic ones. I have read so many Ferdibert things that suggest that their love is all-encompassing and Makes Them Whole. Wouldn’t it be more in-character to explore how they navigate the web of relationships in their lives? I love the Black Eagles’ interpersonal relationships so much and each one shapes the characters more and more. I’d love to see that reflected in ways that center platonic relationships! 

[starry-sky-stuff]

Since I kept seeing all this stuff about the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas and how those books defined the genre, I decided to give them a read. Now that I've read all four I'm going to rank them:

1) It Happened One Autumn (Book 2) - Lord Westcliffe is the classic stuffy, overly proper British aristocrat and Lillian Bowman is an American heiress who gives absolutely no shit for proper decorum. Naturally, the two start off on the wrong foot. They were both introduced in the first book (Westcliffe is best friends with Simon Hunt), and I was immediately behind their relationship. I love when couples start off with an antagonistic relationship. The reason that this book is at the top is how much I enjoyed the relationship. I found their chemistry and attraction believable, and more importantly they promoted positive character growth in each other. Westcliffe was more affected by Lillian than vice versa, but male leads often tend to have more character growth in historical romance novels thought it's always instigated by the female lead. By the end, I really bought into their relationship and could genuinely believe they're in love and would be happily married (it sounds like a low bar but unfortunately romance novels rarely make me believe that). Westcliffe's also my favourite male lead in the series. He may not be the most charismatic, that would be Sebastian, but he's just a genuinely good, upstanding guy. He's also very emotionally reserved, but totally overcome by his attraction to and love for Lillian, which I love. Lillian's also so much fun, very brash and no-nonsense but not without her own flaws. The relationship between them is very much one of equals and its clear that they respect each other but also aren't afraid to call the other on their bullshit.

2) Devil in Winter (Book 3) - Sebastian St Vincent was the villain of Book 2. And not a minor villain either, he literally kidnapped Lillian, who was also his best friend's fiancee, because he needed to marry an heiress to save himself from financial ruin. Evie needs to escape her abusive family, who are trying to force her into a marriage, and so she proposes a marriage of convenience to Sebastian. I went into to this novel thinking I would despise him because he did an objectively awful thing (and to give the author credit she doesn't deny that it was awful and Lillian does not forgive him for it). I also didn't expect to enjoy Evie as much as I did, she was a bit bland in the previous two books, overshadowed by the stronger personalities. But both of their characters really shone through. Evie had such positive character growth, learning to stand her ground and growing in confidence. Sebastian is the classic charming rake, an archetype which is a personal favourite of mine and I can definitely see how much he influenced the male leads that followed. Evie and Sebastian had great chemistry and wonderful banter, which is a must for me. Sebastian being madly in love with Evie but totally in denial about it was hilarious. Boy literally took a bullet for her and even as he's bleeding out he still claims it doesn't mean anything. The 3 month celibacy promise Evie extracts from him, however, is an under-utilised plot, imo, considering Evie throws it out the window in less than a month. But, I suppose he did get shot for her and he is fully dedicated to proving he's capable of being faithful to her.

3) Secrets of a Summer Night (Book 1) - Annabelle is very beautiful but has no dowry and her gentry family is on the verge of financial ruin. Simon Hunt is a self-made man, the son of a butcher who's risen to become incredibly wealthy. Basically, Simon's wanted Annabelle for years but she has no interest in him at first, especially after he makes it clear he wants her as his mistress, although she can't deny that she finds him super hot. Obviously, he changes his mind and after they get caught in a compromising position they marry. Annabelle's probably the weakest of the female leads for me. She does have an arc of addressing her prejudices. She starts off determined to marry a titled man and she later realises that she only really wanted that life because it was what she'd been told to want. The arc was good, I just think it could've been executed a bit better. Simon was very charming and I loved his dry humour. Also emotionally constipated and very overcome by the extent of his love for his wife. All of these books have a bit of an anti-aristocratic bent to them, but this one's perhaps the most obvious and I do enjoy that class commentary. Simon is barely tolerated by the aristocracy, and a far few of the aristocratic men reject Annabelle as a bride but are chomping at the bits to take advantage of her family's financial circumstances to make her their mistress.

4) Scandal in Spring (Book 4) - Daisy Bowman, Lillian's younger sister, has been unable to find a titled husband so her father demands she marry his protege, Matthew Swift who, it turns out, has been in love with her for years. Least problematic but also the most boring. The chemistry between the leads was lacking and I couldn't figure out a reason why they worked. I was not at all convinced that they were in love by the end. The pacing was also off. The complication came really late and was resolved very easily, and that really undercut any tension. I was expecting Daisy to be at least annoyed that Matthew proposed without confessing his secret, but she literally had no problem with it. Matthew is the blandest of the male leads, and there isn't any real reason for why Daisy starts off hating him, unlike with Westcliffe and Lillian who we saw have genuine antagonistic interactions. Also, I can't figure out why Matthew was so in love with Daisy when she barely interacted with him and actively avoided him. I just can't buy into love like that when it's partly based on a fantasy version of a person.

All of these books were quite enjoyable, although perhaps a bit dated considering they were written in the mid 2000s. The writing was really good and Kleypas created very distinctive heroes and heroines with largely distinctive plots (she does reuse the couple encountering a life-threatening situation that one saves the other from). The friendship between the four heroines was strong, well-executed, and incorporated very well into the series. I can definitely see how this series was a seminal series for the romance genre, considering how many series centred on a group of female friends followed.

I also really liked how Kleypas veered on the showing side instead of the telling side when it came to the characters emotional states, particularly regarding their past traumas. Often, romance novels feel the need to lay out the characters trauma and pinpoint its affect on their actions, such that I feel like I'm reading a psychological profile written by their therapist. Kleypas trusts her audience to make the connection. For example, Westcliffe had emotionally abusive parents who punished him for showing emotions, and he's emotionally reserved and struggles to express his emotions and just deal with them in general. The connection is never explicitly made between the two but it's obvious that his actions are affected by his past trauma.

[leonawriter]

Second half of what was going to be just one post but I wanted to make each point stand out on its own-

I think that the Port Mafia is going through a character development arc throughout the manga, just the same as the ADA is, and by the time the series ends will be almost unrecognisable from the mafia we started out with.

Funnily enough, the first person who springs to my mind when I think of this is actually Kouyou. Though I will touch on others later on.

Kouyou is certainly not the first PM member we meet. Strictly speaking, that’d be Dazai, or Higuchi, or Akutagawa. But I feel like her change is the most indicative of the route the mafia is taking, and the difference between the pre-manga PM, and the PM after the manga started, and after several arcs. In fact, this is also something I tend to try and think about when writing her in fics, because it is highly relevant.

Chronologically, we know that her timeline is thus; she was part of the mafia in the time before Mori took over, and under the old boss she wanted to run away, likely encouraged by an older man who she may have had feelings for, romantic or not. That man died, and left her feeling that no matter what, she would be unable to escape the darkness. At some time after that, Mori took over the mafia. A year later, she was one of his trusted subordinates, and she is tasked with taking a young Chuuya - previously an enemy of the mafia, and someone who had no idea how to talk to the mafia’s business partners - under her wing. She would go on to become an executive, and at some time before the manga began, found and took in Kyouka. She would then go on to be murderously protective of her young ward, much like a mother or older sister, and encourage her to believe as she had - that she would never be able to live in the light.

So what we see from this is that Kouyou up until this point is a woman with a dark past and a dark heart who is full of grief, and I think that a lot of people overlook this because she’s beautiful and because the way she is later is more popular, but... she is just as guilty of perpetuating the cycle of abuse as Mori, Dazai, and Akutagawa. She was imparting to Kyouka the same “life lessons” that she had learned herself, in much the same way that Atsushi’s headmaster had. Both of those people had suffered, and so both of them taught their charge in a way that they saw as somewhat more forgiving than what they had gone through, in a way that to them would ready the child for the outside world and their future, but was ultimately doing more harm than good.

So, what changes?

I’d say that to answer “Dazai” is to over-simplify things.

The situation had become such that it was no longer viable. Kyouka refused to go back to the mafia. Kouyou was afraid for her, that she would lose herself in some way, and despite her previous words to Atsushi, she did want Kyouka to succeed; or at the very least, saw how a failure would break her, as we see it does while she’s in the jail plane, chained up in midair. Their organisations are not just at odds, but as an executive she’d have to be seeing that neither of them are in a safe position.

Kouyou was already in the perfect place to accept Dazai’s suggestions before he came to her with them (and, admittedly, he may have predicted that things would get to this point, may have used the situation to his advantage).

So, what changes the way that she sees things?

Dazai is one aspect. A rather large one, considering how he himself puts that he managed to get out of the mafia, and is someone with his sort of past (and personality) who not only made it out, but has been staying out, and succeeding. He also points out that with him present in the ADA, he’s able to ensure that Kyouka can flourish in the way that she deserves to.

Atsushi is another aspect, I’d say, because he was the one who was willing to suggest that their organisations work together.

Even just staying with the ADA and not being treated with anything other than respect (and yes, that includes “respect for how dangerous she can be”) would work towards this.

In summary, Kouyou before the Three Company Conflict arc is a grief-ridden woman filled with despair, who sees herself as someone only capable of showing her true potential in the darkness. She comes out of said arc as someone who appears happy with where she is, and who chooses to be where she is, yet who is also happy to help Kyouka from the shadows.

This is just focusing on the one I feel is the best representation of this phenomenon of PM members coming out better. 

Another would have to be Chuuya, which is something that many people have written about, myself included, on how before the manga starts he’s bitter over Dazai’s defection, seeing that trust in his partner as having been shattered. Yet over the course of their first reunion, he is forced to see that his partnership with Dazai need not be over simply because Dazai is now a traitor to the mafia, and that Dazai, well, missed him. As a person. That the connection is still there. And later, during the Lovecraft battle, they work together fluidly again, just like old times and reminding them that just because they’re older, doesn’t mean they’re too much different to still be partners. You can really see it in Dead Apple, where his acceptance of Dazai is less in how willingly he trusts in him and activates Corruption, and more in how comfortable he is after he’s woken up again both in the movie when he sees Akutagawa, and in the promo images where he’s still next to Dazai, and they’re smiling.

Akutagawa needs almost no explanation, given how his arc is still ongoing, and he’s already gone from being the rabid dog of the mafia who kills before he thinks to someone who goes out of his way to leave people alive, and who because of that, is learning to see things from another point of view, just as Dazai wanted of him.

Yet, it’s not just these obvious ones; Higuchi has to work with the ADA on several occasions, tempering down on her novice’s pride in her organisation that she had on her introduction, and is also coming into her own as well. Kajii may well have taken something from his encounter with Yosano, and we see how he’s more than just a mad lemon scientist when he says how much he respects Mori (and I wonder if anything else is going to happen with that). Hirotsu is now able to talk with Dazai again and it isn’t something that he would have to worry about being seen as treasonous. 

And last but not least, Mori himself - when it’s said during his match against Fukuzawa that they’ve both got more to protect now, that’s not just cheap words; Mori protects his people. He shows grief when his people die and it was out of his control. He accepts that an alliance with the ADA is the best and most optimal course when it’s put on the table, even with the understanding that it’ll put them at a disadvantage in the short term. He is forced to begin to come to terms with things about his past that he had been trying to rationalise, and ignore, such as how his actions led to Dazai’s defection, and I sincerely believe that although he does not regret what he did, he does regret how it ended, and what it cost him. 

Mori, the leader of the mafia, is being forced in the current arc  to come face to face with the realisation that the mafia can’t live as an island, merely taking from the ADA what they need and giving nothing in return. It is Mori’s lack of action that led to things becoming as bad as they are now, and because of that, his own people are suffering. I’ve said this before to personal friends, but I do think that this is indicative of the mafia’s growth as a group - Mori needs to learn that the alliance with the ADA has to be an equal one.

What’s more, the ADA is learning through their own growth in general that they have to be able to trust the PM in return.

What does this say to me? 

Other than that the characters of the mafia have been influenced positively by the plot, into becoming better versions of themselves, and the development is still in progress because the series isn’t over? That you can’t write them the way they are now, into a fic set years before the series starts?

That the themes of BSD are such that the PM represent the underside of society, a cruel and callous way of thinking that we often don’t wish people to see, or that we cover up. That even the ADA, on the twilight of the law, is still more often than not too proud to accept the help of criminals who are less ashamed and more forward about the way that they do things being criminal. That both sides are slowly moving down the path of being able to accept one another better, and in doing so, they’ll better be able to accept themselves.

We already see this with Kouyou and Akutagawa and Chuuya especially. We see this with Dazai, and to a degree with Kyouka. I believe that the longer the series goes in this direction, the more other ADA characters will accept themselves; such as Tanizaki, with his ability to use his ability in ways that Hirotsu notes are “perfect for assassination,” and with Ranpo, who hides the fact that he has insecurities and is also fully willing to make a demon of himself in order to protect his own - which is far more of a mafia attitude than an ADA one, even if, just like with Chuuya, I’m not sure I can imagine him in the other organisation.

The ADA will always be the ADA, and the PM will always be the PM, but together they can be better than they were before on their own. Currently they seem to be on a tentative truce of sorts, uncertain about doing things together and constantly in a state of tension. If they can get to a point where they trust each other more implicitly, that’s where the real strength is going to come from - something that Mori saw himself, when sending Chuuya out to help Dazai - and yet it won’t just be in the sense of power and how well they perform in their casework and missions, but strength of character, in who they are as people.

[ieatmorecrispsthanyou]

Half-hearted criticism: a series

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee

This book is not intended to be a serious foray into the socio-political world of 18th-century Europe, nor does it intend to encapsulate the experience of being queer, black and/or disabled in an unforgiving world. It would be much less enjoyable (and perhaps more problematic) if it had, as gritty realism is quite clearly not the point of the story. Tired of seeing the queer experience under-represented in Young Adult fiction, and hardly ever in historical fiction except as a tragic backstory, Mackenzie sought to create a fun, romantic romp through Georgian Europe with a sprinkling of fantasy and social commentary. She found a niche and made it her own, and this definitely warms the hearts of its target audience, if not the critics. This work is significant because it does not come with the usual tropes associated with its subject matter - its characters do have a happy ending despite the world they live in, and the main struggle they overcome is not to do with their differences but something completely unrelated, which is sorely missing from fiction with the marginalised experience at its heart. I think Mackenzie tried hard to include diverse characters, and mostly succeeded in making them realistic, although she was limited by not being from the minorities she was attempting to write about and could definitely have done with some proper advice.

Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a bisexual upper-class nobleman, with all the privileges and challenges that entails. His self-destructive drinking and partying is a way to cope with the fact that after his Grand Tour is over, he will be forced to manage his estate without his crush and under the eye of his abusive father. His sister, Felicity, is unimpressed with Monty’s behaviour and would rather be studying medicine than etiquette at ladies’ college, while Percy (who is biracial, intellectual and sardonic) is nominally off to be a lawyer but in reality off to a lunatic asylum due to his epileptic fits. This tour, beginning in France, is a last hurrah before they are sent to their respective dooms, and it is not long before Monty manages to land them all in serious trouble after he insults a valuable contact, gets caught in a tryst and steals a mysterious box which some equally murderous men will stop at nothing to reclaim.

The narrative voice is one of the book’s strong points: Monty’s voice is as authentic as it is witty, and while you may get frustrated at his actions you will never be in any doubt as to whether or not they are believable or justified. As a whole, Monty is an absolute bastard, although a likeable one - and his character growth is supremely enjoyable as he learns to realise that his coping mechanisms are causing real harm to the people around him, and that the only one standing in the way of his happiness is himself. In contrast, while Percy and Felicity are given rounded backstories and non-stereotypical character traits, they do not get much in the way of narrative attention save to further Monty’s story, and Percy is not perhaps portrayed with due sensitivity although it is not my place to comment on that. The relationship dynamic between the three is one of the novel’s finest elements - it is a novel about learning to appreciate the collection of parts which go into the whole person, and to re-examine your perceptions of behaviours you find challenging. I feel like the relationship between Percy and Monty never quite crossed the line into fanfiction territory, but it came dangerously close at times.  I enjoyed the setting, and the author cleverly weaves in period details alongside modern dialogue, which, although jarring, does ground the story in a realistic world while making it relatable.  I also like how Monty’s height is portrayed, as you don’t often get short male protagonists. Mackenzie also found the perfect balance for light-hearted treatment of dark subject matter, and one of the book’s most shocking elements was the way you come to realise that Monty’s bravado is the result of his trauma and the real person underneath is much more layered. Felicity’s misunderstanding of this was another clever detail which gave the book an interesting layer.

The first half of the book was in danger of becoming too painful to read, but was vital in terms of setting up the rest of the plot. The pacing was frustrating at times but also necessary. However, one of the book’s weak points is the way in which Mackenzie works extremely hard to create a believable period setting, and then asks you to suspend your disbelief with the arrival of something that can cure everything and even bring someone back from the dead. After grounding the first half of the story in such a realistic period setting, it is jarring and while admirable in terms of fantasy, could be equally as good if treated more realistically. That is another of the book’s weak points - it becomes rather melodramatic and some background characters descend into stock villains and troubled heroes, and there are rather too many of them. It is the fact that the book does not take itself seriously that allows it to get away with this, and after all, you knew what you were in for when you started reading it, so largely it serves to enhance the story rather than hinder it.

The second half of the book becomes rather saccharine, but Mackenzie’s gift for fast-paced action prevents this from becoming dull. I found the ending rather pleasing, and it could have worked as a standalone novel rather than a trilogy. Sometimes you need a story with a simple resolution, where you can pretend that everything will work well for everyone and character growth is a trajectory with an end-point (even if Percy’s own character growth is largely ignored).

However, there are some issues with the way Monty and Percy are portrayed. Monty is bisexual and his attraction to women is not really explored properly - it may come as a surprise to readers when he gets off with a lady, after spending the first half and subsequent chapters not giving them a thought. This could be forgiven as a realistic portrayal of the bisexual experience, except Monty’s habit of using sex as a coping mechanism falls into the stereotype of bisexuals being promiscuous. I didn’t like when after his ‘break-up’ with Percy he immediately gets off with someone else, even if it is a distraction. Monty also fails to view Percy as a complete human being but rather a fantasy at times, and by failing to completely acknowledge the racist times in which they live and Percy’s experiences as a person of colour, he opens up a character fault which is not really addressed or resolved properly. Percy’s illness is interestingly and sympathetically depicted, to give Mackenzie credit.

All in all, this book does what it set out to do, and very few readers will be disappointed. As a part of the Young Adult genre, it is stand-out and does not attempt to patronise its readers, but simply to entertain them. If it is lacking in certain elements, this can be forgiven - after all, this is a book about learning to accept the whole as a sum of its parts and in the context of its time.