#in his adult life he's learned the balance - he knows he can uphold both duties.

[exagides]

greetings, noble knight

Hereditary Knight

You have not earned your title. You were born into it, like your father, and his father before him. Some disdain you for this, those Knights who worked long years to prove themselves to the King and ascend. Perhaps, in another life, you could’ve chosen like them to die bloody on the battlefield. Instead, it is your birthright. At times, you wonder how they could possibly be jealous of you.

[curedigiqueen]

This year I spontaneously watched Appmon nearly 2 times, and I have thoughts about it. And what better way to acknowledge it than on its 5th Anniversary. (Or 4th anniversary of Our Singularity). I'm planning on at least covering my thoughts on the main 5 kids this month, in an order based 100% on who I want to talk about first.

It's Astra.

I think Astra is generally the least liked Appmon character, or perhaps more accurately, is the character I see the most disdain for. And, honestly, I can understand where it comes from. But he’s my favorite Appmon character actually. In a cast with a non-conventional protagonist, a blackbelt idol, and a hacker, Astra’s “Apptube” is well, just kind of there. Like a more modern version of Eri’s idol career. His personality is clearly meant to be representative of the target audience, the group whose number one career aspiration is Youtuber. So, he’s kind of cringy and kind of annoying, especially to an adult audience. I get it. But Astra’s a character I found to have a lot of stuff going on.

I admittedly tend to have a soft spot for the babies of any team, especially if they are assertive enough to keep up with their seniors. And Astra does fit the bill. He’s generally seen to be on equal footing with the others, and his rather aggressive way of talking to the other doesn’t exactly make you think baby of the team. He doesn’t use honorifics, and in general Astra’s referred to in the same terms as Haru and Rei. (As near as I can tell, anyway with my nonexistent Japanese skills, correct me if I’m wrong). The fact he’s in elementary school is a bit more incidental than anything.

We learn the most about Astra’s family and upbringing compared to the other characters, and it is central to his arc. We get a lot of information straightforwardly in the show. He had a lot of pressure on him as the heir to the school, and felt pressured to act the part of the perfect heir. Throughout the show we see him struggle with the pressure of being the heir. As a child he was extremely dedicated to following his father's footsteps. He didn’t seem to see himself as anything other than the heir to his father's school. He seemed set apart from other children, seemingly due to the closed-off way he acted. This dedication to being a good heir was to the detriment of his happiness. Until Musimon came into his life allowing him to loosen up and seek his own happiness. Classic stuff. But Astra is a little more at war with himself than may be obvious by his “annoying” attitude.

While we first learn about Astra suppressing his own eccentricities, in his debut episodes, it’s not until later that we learn about his mother, and learn that this side of his personality didn’t come out of nowhere. His mother is very similar to him, which gives us the question of why he ever became so disciplined in the first place if his behavior isn't out of place in his family, and his mother is a strong advocate for him doing his own thing. In fact, Astra seemed initially a bit embarrassed by his mother when he introduced her to the other Appdrivers. Of course this is almost certainly because his mother calling his friend “pretty” and gushing about her husband and how they met is embarrassing, and even if Astra himself acts just as obnoxious. But even so, he's clearly less respectful towards her. The reasons behind why Astra calls his mother by her first name are unclear, though it doesn't seem to stem from a lack of love for his mother.

But regardless, it helps build the idea that more likely, he was trying to win the approval of people outside his immediate family. After all, as shown in episode 7, it was the assumption that Astra would inherit the school by others that prompted Astra’s response to his father. Even if Astra’s father does have a desire for Astra to inherit his position, he also understands that it's first and foremost Astra’s life to live. Astra however does have a lot of respect for his father and seems to value his opinion immensely, he recognizes that not inheriting the school would be disappointing to his father and does not want to disappoint him. So while I think there is something to be said for Astra’s behavior relating to a desire to impress his father, I don’t personally think it's the origin in its entirety.

Astra over the course of the series is very independent and marches to his own beat, Astra, like Eri, had made the first step to change prior to his introduction, but that doesn’t mean he was already completely different from the boy who acted stiff to prove himself to others. Astra’s second episode deals with him succumbing to peer pressure in his new activity, and his final episode is about not succumbing to his uncle's expectations, the old expectations that kept him down for so long. (But it's also a bit about fulfilling Hinarin’s expectations, expectations he agreed to).

Despite Apptubing being the career choice where Astra does as he pleases, his final episode isn’t about him Apptubing because he wants to but as a way to help someone else. Particularly his cousin. While it isn’t explicitly clear if Astra knows it’s his cousin the fact of the matter is that he’s helping his family through his Apptubing, even if it is something he picked up for himself. (A reasoning perhaps parallels Eri’s reasons for being an idol, wanting to bring smiles to her mom, despite it clearly being something she herself enjoys). His care for his family is exactly the reason he continues to train to be the heir, but that doesn’t mean even if he doesn’t uphold expectations that he can’t be a help to his family.

Astra’s arc deals with expectations vs. a desire to help. Astra in large part is assertive about not having to help other people out and doing his own thing, recognizing he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. But his actions consistently betray his care for others. I think this is most evident in the way Astra acted as if he wasn’t going to help Eri out with her elections, but did so anyway, even if he antagonized her a bit in the process, but ended up being the proudest of her accomplishments. Not to mention the way he continues to train as the heir, albeit on his own terms. Over the course of the series, he becomes more open with his care towards others, culminating in the jailbreak episode, but he’s always been shown to care. He’s finding that balance between living his own life and helping others.

It’s clear that Astra doesn’t hate being heir at least. He’s extremely determined to do both. And personally, I think it’s very possible that he sees Apptubing as a hobby. He after all proposed the half-hour limit himself. Even at the beginning with his most abrasive. He dutifully kept it to a relatively small impact on his life. For all that it’s brought up as an important element in his life, and he is shown breaking his own rule on occasion without consequence. One of the longest times we see him Apptubing is when he’s helping Eri out. Of course on the flip side of that, we have episode 8 where he breaks the rule because his videos aren't doing as well as he likes, but that's definitely tying back to his desire for people's approval. While he is for lack of a better word, tempted into giving up training to be an iemoto to dedicate himself to Apptubing, it isn’t something he seems to seriously consider at all.

The biggest thing Musimon gave him was not the courage to be an Apptuber, but the courage to be himself. Indulging in Apptubing for fun is merely a small part of that. Astra is still the good heir, but he is no longer letting that define his entire life, sometimes forgoing certain parts of training. But that doesn’t mean that tea ceremony is a bad part of his life. There’s also a certain balance in his personality between the abrasive “annoying” boy at the start of the series and the passive boy prior to the show's beginning. I don’t feel that the polite Astra is completely disingenuous. Astra is capable of acting calm and grounded, and this side of himself becomes more apparent as the series goes on, particularly with Eri who, in contrast to him, throws herself into her idol career with more and more genuine passion. When he supports Eri with his videos but asks her to take a break, which tracks with what we know about his fathers working habits. It’s his final focus episode where he is shown to be acting, more in someone else's interest, and even shown to be a bit embarrassed by it. In contrast to an Astra who even in episode 19, was not taking much seriously. I think it’s only fair to say Astra did genuinely inherit some of his father's more grounded and dutiful nature.

And while earlier I did say Astra’s age feels incidental, I don’t think that is to say it has no bearing on his role in the story. It's part of the reason Eri is so dismissive of him at first, Sure, the other’s treat him as equal, and are in no way particularly protective of him, nor do they expect him to be any less capable than him. But this isn’t to say Astra’s relative youthfulness isn’t apparent when with the others at least in the beginning. Astra is definitely on the more immature side of things, he after all is the one who started the rivalry with Eri because his ego was bruised (not that Eri's initial dismissal of him was helping matters any). As I said earlier, Astra mellowed as the show progressed and I think it’s a fair assumption to say he’d continue to do so. Not that he’ll lose his energy, but that he’ll be able to act with more maturity and consideration for others. The most common complaint about him I’ve heard is “annoying”, which is understandable. But that’s not accidental, even in-universe (hah), others seem to find him to be a bit much at first at the beginning of the series. His “annoying” personality is him testing the waters beyond the role of dutiful heir he’s always played. He’s annoying because he’s an 11-year-old boy who does not always know how to act in ways appropriate to his situation. He’s the kid of the group. I do understand if that still makes watching irritating. Watching should be fun after all, but it’s more of a matter of opinion than an objective flaw.

Unlike Gatchmon, Offmon, and Dokamon whose personalities seem to clash a bit with their buddies, Musimon and Astra are consistently on the same page, after episode 8. This is exemplified in episode 29, where Musimon runs away for fun rather than because he wants something from Astra, and Astra is the only partner who seems to have not been worried, recognizing what Musimon was doing. Of course, their fight in episode 8 was about Astra not being true to himself, thus naturally conflicting with the one who is on the same page as his true self. Musimon shares Astra’s high energy but caring nature. I’m not an expert on the Japanese language by any means, but there is something notable about the fact Musimon uses “Boku” to Astra’s usual “Ore”. Musimon and Astra are without a doubt very similar, the only difference in their demeanors being Musimon is perhaps a bit less confrontational. If Musimon being Astra’s buddy says anything about Astra, it’s probably that Astra is by his nature not quite as aggressive as he seems. Which for someone who clearly used to takes people's opinions of him to heart, seems about right.

Astra’s arc is all about expectations, expectations as an Apptuber, and as the heir. Astra living up to, or disregarding expectations based on what he believes is best. Living the life he wants to live.

Some final observations from me in regards to Astra, is that he’s paired with Fakemon for God Grade. While it’s probably in part just how things worked out logistically, it also makes a bit of sense as a foil. Fakemon is constantly being disingenuous, while a huge part of Astra’s arc is being true to himself, while also fulfilling other people's expectations of him. Also of note, Entermon is described as a Digimon who exists wherever you can find culture something that is particularly relevant to Astra.

While being biracial is not directly important to the story, it’s not incidental and clearly is thematically related to him being trapped between the traditional and the modern Japan. While in story Astra’s story is simply about outside expectations of inheritance, It’s possible to read Astra prior to the series as trying to overcompensate for his foreign mother in the eyes of the people at his father’s school. This is something I find notable considering that Appmon’s assistant producer, Akari Yanagawa, went on to become the producer of 2019’s Star Twinkle Precure, a season of Precure notable for the franchise's 2nd biracial cure, whose personal arc more obviously alluded to racism than Astra's, though still very indirectly.

[thebooki3h]

I can't stop thinking about a Lukadamianette fic that starts with

“She looked at the carnage around her, and knew one thing, she will NEVER let herself be that weak EVER again”

This is after years of fighting Hawkmoth and getting no where. Hawkmoth progressively got to be as bad as Joker or Scarecrow. The lasting psychological damage that he left on Paris’s citizens would be a permanent scar in France’s history. Marinette has been isolated from her class for years. Lila’s reign of terror completely destroyed her self worth as Marinette and all of the pressure she has been under from all aspects of her life have taken a SERIOUS toll on her.

Her parents don’t trust her anymore after Lila’s lies got to them. At first they didn’t believe them, but Marinette lied to them because of her ladybug duties and they couldn’t trust her anymore. They basically don’t let Marinette do anything outside of school activities and working at home (somehow , thank Kwami, she convinced them to let her keep her online boutique as MDC). Jagged has been dn always will be a major supporter of her MDC brand. He truly becomes uncle jagged and he and penny are the only adults that Marinette trusts completely. They are always there to support her even if they are not always physically there. Uncle J has introduced her to many other big names so she can design for them for big events. She has even designed for the avengers. (it started out as designing for Tony and Pepper for a red carpet event and Tony liked it so much he had her design the avengers suits especially Peter’s because Peter is a huge fan of hers.) She now talks to Tony about once a month, because she and Peter grew to be close friends and talk regularly. She even thought about giving him he spider miraculous, but she deduced that he was Spiderman from his measurements and knew he didn’t need it.

Luka, Kagami and Chloe are Marinette's only friends in Paris . They all have their corresponding miraculous. They all know their identities as part of team miraculous. Marinette is known to them as the user of the mouse miraculous, because after Chat Noir’s advances and eventual defection to Hawkmoth’s side she can’t trust anyone with Ladybug’s identity. Team miraculous have all become apart of the Order and are Guardians in training. Ladybug being Grand Guardian ofc. Any other miraculous users are no longer a part of the team because if Marinette can’t trust them as a civilian she can’t trust them as heroes.

Chat Noir defected to Hawkbitches side because he was suffering from an imbalance in the miraculous. Ladybug is a true holder for her miraculous, but Chat Noir was not a true holder. He was in fact supposed to be a temporary solution, but Fu didn’t think that Hawkmoth’s reign of terror would last as long as it did. (he also lost his memory pretty early on). The imbalance lead to increasing madness which fueled the delusion that Ladybug and Chat are soulmates because of the balance of their miraculous. 

Hawkmoth gets defeated the summer before Marinette's senior year of high school. The battle lasts for days and most of Paris is rubble by the time the battle is over. Marinette has suffered years of mental abuse at the hands of her classmates, and with everything she has had to deal with she forced herself to stay positive. Once hawkmoth and Mayura(who has been largely inactive bc of the damage to the peacock miraculous) and Chat were defeated she allowed herself to feel the betrayal, anger and hurt that she kept locked away. This is where she makes herself a promise to never let herself be weak again. Vulnerable, sure, but never weak. 

She then casts the cure, which revives dead Parisians and fixes Paris. Unfortunately bc Adrien’s mom had been in the coma for so long Ladybug can’t heal her with magic alone. Amelile goes to a hospital and ladybug visits her regularly to heal her slowly. Adrien runs off without the cat miraculous (he will be seen again) because Mari took it away using her guardian powers.

Without all of the pressure of fighting Hawkmoth Marinette final tells Luka how she feels and how she kept that inside for years and why. They both need healing from the whole ordeal, but they agree to take it REALLY slow and see where things go. (Marinette confirms that Luka means that they will be exclusive, and he says he has also loved her for years and he could never do that to her)

Without the looming presence of Hawkmoth Marinette can final be the person she has become since becoming ladybug. She spends the rest of the summer getting thearpy outside of Paris and working on herself. She remakes herself to be the person that ladybug and the toxic class have made her be. She still believes in being kind and helping others, but her outlook on life is much darker than it was before Lila destroyed her reputation. No one sees her except for Luka Kagami and Chloe and sometimes penny and Uncle J over Ft. Not even her parents.

She adopts a darker, more punk rock look (thanks to Luka and uncle jagged). Her once bright a bubbly personality is no longer reflected in her clothing. With help from Luka and UJ she designed a leather jacket that replaces her siginiture cherry blossom blazer. It is reinforced with all of the protective spells she has learned over the years. (she even learned how to sew dimensional pockets and now she has magic pocket that function like her yoyo. She also made gear for the rest of her team bc she wants to protect them) she starts riding the bike her Nona got her because it matches the aesthetic and she can’t just walk to school like she could in middle school. 

Marinette now takes no BS and is fully prepared to put people in their place. When her senior year starts people are shocked to see bubbly Marinette turned to quiet, bully Marinette has become (visually) the bad influence that they all thought she was. Busiter’s class has been together since the Hawkmoth Sitch started because they were known as the Akuma class and it was just easier to keep track of them. Kagami was allowed to transfer to this class. (her mother thought it would help strengthen her emotional resolve after she got Akumatized) Thus toxic habits from bustier were enforced. Marinette was forced to remain class president bc bustier thought it would help Lila mature (which obviously didn’t happen). Marinette now has more time so she apples to the Wayne scholarship program to see if they can get a sponsored trip. (they do bc Marinette is awesome. she really applies to have a class trip to Gotham because she wants to uphold that promise to herself and training under the bats would do that and she wants to check Gotham out before she commits)

By the time they go on the trip Luka and Marinette are official but have discovered that they feel like something is missing in their relationship. (they have tried different forms of polyamory, but haven't found anything that fit them yet) Luka has been working with Jagged for almost a year at that point bc Jagged is his dad and its a good way to reconnect. So he flies to Gotham before the class bc he can take that time off so he can spend time with his girlfriend uninterrupted by jagged or her parents. He also planned a bunch of dates bc most everywhere in Paris holds a dramatic memory.

I am going to make a part 2 bc this is long and they haven’t even met Damian yet