#mini analysis

[musicalmoritz]

One take I don’t understand is when ppl say romance ruins TBHK or that the manga would be better without it. I think a lot of fans underestimate the importance romance plays in the plot of TBHK, because look at it this way

If Hanako didn’t love Nene, we wouldn’t have gotten the Picture Perfect arc

If Akane didn’t love Aoi, we wouldn’t have gotten the Clock Keepers arc

If Hanako didn’t love Nene, the Severance never would’ve happened, and by extension no Grim Reaper arc, Red House arc, etc.

Every major arc that happens in the story uses romance as a major catalyst. Even many minor arcs like the Misaki Stairs arc, the Mitsuba arc, the Hell of Mirrors arc, and the Nightlife arc have romance as a prominent theme. So without romance, TBHK has no plot. It’s just Nene helping Hanako clean bathrooms while Kou tries to decide if ghosts are good or bad. We wouldn’t even have that much, because without romance Nene never would’ve met Hanako

There are enough mindless action shonens out there, it doesn’t hurt to have one that caters more towards a female audience. Not to mention most shonens don’t write romance well, it’s refreshing to see one that recognizes the importance of those dynamics. Most shonens struggle with romantic and familial relationships and those are the ones TBHK does best, it makes it unique. Many of the platonic dynamics like Teru/Akane and Hanako/Kou are well-written as well, though there are some that need to be fleshed out more (*cough* Aoi and Nene *cough*)

If there were any changes of that nature I’d say it should’ve been a shoujo so that fans wouldn’t be misled about the nature of the series. It’s fine if you like the concept of a haunted high school and wish it had been totally different, but then it wouldn’t be TBHK. Without romance, TBHK has no plot. And I kinda wish more fans would look past their hatred for the ships themselves and acknowledge that

[tadc-and-md-sideblog]

N usually wakes up panicking :(

[ceoandslutler]

in order to truly understand kuro, you need to understand that sebastian and ciel have both affected each other in more ways than one, positively AND negatively. you don't need to ship them to see it but it does help. saying ciel is just food OR sebs is just dad/mom are both valid headcanons but they don't reflect the reality of the story.

ciel becomes corrupted and self-righteous due to the endless power he can wield with sebastian under his control (negative) but sebastian is a positive force who prompts him to be more social, kind and understanding towards others. sebastian through the manga tries to teach ciel lessons about life as if he is preparing the boy for his absence which he is not obligated to do, it obviously has a romantic connotation but some interpret it to be 'parental'. there is also no reason for him to do this as he wishes to consume ciel's soul so he doesn't have any reason to teach him things about how to live his life; it is also not the typical devilish corruption we expect from him.

when it comes to sebastian himself, he is weaker now than he was at the start (negative), he's hungry, stressed, overthinks his battles (lost his noukin-ness and has to ask ciel for advice more) and hesitates more but he is also more empathetic (suffered loss due to agni's death) which is a positive because he is able to enjoy his life more (the main reason the "butler game" is so fascinating to him). sebastian already had certain 'aesthetics' and 'convictions' which is pointed out to be odd but he has gone beyond basic humanity and i believe it is ciel's influence affecting him. there's a noticeable theme of class, nobility and hierarchy in manga kuro, which im writing about and sebastian oddly subscribes to a sense of moralisation particularly towards people who take advantage of their power OR only care about the upper class.

i don't mean to say either of them are good people but i am a firm believer that the manga is trying to imply that sebaciel (demon & demon's contractor) are better than corrupt human beings.

[xblue-knight]

there’s just something about rin being named after his father and looking like his father, but having all the qualities of his mother. the same can be said about yukio looking just like his mother, being named after her love (his adopted father) but having some qualities of his biological father.

[sammylbir]

Why I love Milo Belladonna (A mini analysis)

Monster Prom changed my life and impacted my life just as much, if not more than Danganronpa and made me realise I'm not cis at all. And one of those reasons.

Was Milo Belladonna.

(Abs are slightly edited for my guilty pleasure. Ahem)

For those who don't know anything bout them or the game they originated in, the Monster Prom series is a visual dating series where ya can date monsters and hook up with them. The series is rather colorful and has plenty of black humor and yet still charming and down to earth regardless, with so much love behind the series.

Now Milo Belladonna is a reaper and a non-binary influencer, who is extremely proud and haughty, but also gentle and caring and encouraging too. When I first met em I did dig their design but I grew to love em for a number of reason.

The first, was their voice. Being voiced by NB VA Casey Mongillo is certainly a plus for any character, especially for a queer one. It's just so charming and soft spoken, while still being firm and strong to boot.

The second reason is....how Milo defies gender entirely.

How Milo defies gender entirely and deconstructs it

When you look at Milo, you see both a blend of masculine and feminine qualities. Masculine wise their body is lean and sturdy, along with their short hair and usually masculine attire. Feminine wise though they have painted nails, cute clothing and pose suggestively. (Note: I'm not saying that those qualities are exclusive to their most common forms, it's just an example.)

When looking at Milos other outfits, they range from firm clothing to beautiful dresses. They defy gender and I love them for that. They show us, just how unique and individual we can truly be, if we let go off those norms. Not that it's bad to follow them, if they suit you. Nothing wrong with being cis or straight, whatever makes ya happy. Its about how you live your life in the end and ya should never live it in fear. But that's not the only reason I love them. I also do, because..

... they represent true freedom,

something we all aspire to be. Not bound by any rules or norms, but to be your own true self. And Milo being a reaper encapsulates that especially, because we only do live once (or not, depending on your religious beliefs).

If we do not make the best of our lives then what's the point?

Milo already realised that and thanks to that, they are so confident and free, dancing like leaves in the wind and following the flow of life itself. To go with the current yet to remain firm.

I love that about them. Whenever I see em I blush...I love them. To think that fiction can have such an effect on me, shows how powerful fictional characters can be, even if they are not sentient.

But I digress. Thanks to Milo I begin to realise what living truly means and for that I'm grateful for it.

Thank you Milo. And thank you Casey for doing wonderful work ^^ (Not that you'll read this but still)

Thanks ^^

[babygurlaura]

CHUNIN EXAMS

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THE WRITTEN EXAM • Team 7

Real talk did team seven actually pass the exam? Some would argue well sakura got all the questions correct and she knew the information. Or the fact both sasuke and sakura saw the truth behind the exam. But in my opinion Team seven as a whole failed but let me explain my reasoning.

The written exam is essentially testing ninjas on their ability to gather and relay information. A vital skill that a ninja needs, out of everyone only Sasuke was able to successfully execute this skill. Sasuke has always shown to be the most observant of the group and his ability to skillfully cheat aka gather information shows how he’s somewhat the perfect ninja.

Whereas with naruto and sakura they weren’t able to execute this portion of the test. While yes sakura was able to answer these difficulty questions but its not what she was being tested on, and with naruto he didn’t have the proper education nor knowledge to truly understand what was the exams purpose.

Naruto unlike sasuke is the complete opposite of what a ninja should be like, naruto is way to honest for his own good but its due to the isolation he endured leading him to cling to honesty, guts and loud perseverance which counterintuitive to what a ninja is meant to be

Now if the exam was strictly based on gathering information sasuke would pass with flying colors but we also should keep in mind how sharing this information with your teammates is also vital. This is where sasuke fail but also sakura. Both of them realizing the main purpose of the exam is to cheat and not get caught but don’t realize they’re supposed to relay this information onto their teammates.

We see team guy who masterfully is able to not only gather information but also share with each other. While yes team guy has been working together for a year now we can look at team 10, if i’m not mistaken ino was the one gathering and sharing information to her teammates. Now team seven isn’t the only team that fails this part but we’re primarily focusing on them since they’re our main characters.

What I do think the exam showed was that sakura would make a skilled leader, her ability to deduce the solution with the information she already has is commendable. she’s intelligent and would make a skill strategist.

When I mentioned the whole naruto not having proper education I say this because it’s clear alot of what they learn is taught through their clan rather than the schools. The school mainly focuses on the basics but then again we don’t go much in detail about what they truly learn other than history, the girls learning about undercover work and so on.

Sasuke is a great example of this while he had his family for a short while he learnt a lot from them which is what makes him the most skilled out of team seven. Sakura we don’t know much about her there’s a possibility she’s from a civilian clan a less known or simply a civilian family, most of what she’s taught she gathers from school so it makes sense why she’s more book smart.

Naruto had neither, naruto didn’t have much of the support that either of them got. Sakura had ino who helped her develop and understand things she did not which helped build her confidence over time (she’d also have the resources from teachers and so on seeing how she’s not hated unlike naruto). Sasuke had his family who taught him and trained him.

Sasuke was indeed the most prepared for the chunin but he was still in over his head. Team seven as a whole was not prepared nor ready for the exam especially given how little kakashi trained them or took them on missions that actually challenged them. Also their team work just sucked overall. Team seven doesn’t work as a unit they work on individual basis and it’s something I feel like doesn’t improve as the series goes on.

What the series needed is an arc before the chunin exams which truly shows that team seven has grown an actual bond and can work as a team. Showing they’ve grown but still childish cause they’re still kids they don’t need to grow up fast. Which then leads to the chunin exams where they are a bit more prepared and can finally take on more.

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• { this is only my opinion feel free to disagree but just be cool about it } •

I honestly wanna try and expand more on my thoughts but english is such a hard language….

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[keets-writing-corner]

can you all IMAGINE being Vaggie???

you're an exorcist. You're supposed to kill demons. You're an angel. All you're life you've followed the first man, and heard tales about the dangers of questioning heaven. Tales about Lucifer. You know he's not to be messed with and that he's the king of hell. That heaven FEARS him to a degree.

then you show compassion to ONE demon once, against Adam's orders, and boom. Now you're cast out. You're stuck in hell. Oops this cute girl shows up??? She's taking care of you?? Clearly your intuition that maybe the sinners didn't all deserve to be killed were correct. She's nicer than a lot of people in heaven-WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS PRECIOUS BEAN IS LUCIFER'S DAUGHTER???

clearly heaven was wrong about a lot of things, so if the big bad lucifer has a daughter this sweet, maybe something is up with him???

And then you meet him, and like, meeting your partner's parents is already nerve wracking and this is supposed to be THE king of hell, THE fallen angel, THE GUY THAT HEAVEN FEARS and the first thing he does is completely flub his words out of excitement, mispronounces your name, hugs you and calls you pretty???

like how weird is that to process????

[thegaybyler]

Something about the fact that Will loves Mike so much to the point where he's willing to sacrifice his own happiness for Mike's happiness and wants Mike and El to have happy lives together because he believes that's what they want. The fact that he loves Mike so deeply and unconditionally and the fact that he'd rather be completely miserable than think that Mike isn't happy.

I know this is like a literal fact that even the most casual viewer can pick up on but like you don't understand how much this hurts to think about for me, like can you imagine feeling such deep love for someone to that point? My god..

[chosetherose]

Despite tonight’s mirrorball x clara bow mash up, Swifties will probably never understand they are part of the heartbreak..

To sum it up, Taylor can show you lies (bearding) and change everything about herself to fit in. But living a lie is painful. It breaks Taylor, absolutely shatters her, into a million pieces.

The regular people in the crowd are drunk on this fictional narrative that has caused Taylor so much pain. When they look at her, they are too caught up in their own reflection (in the mirrorball pieces) to see that Taylor is hurting (shattered edges). And there’s no break because they’re constantly hungry for the story to continue.

Taylor has mixed feelings; she loves her fans but they are the beast that’s on all fours, a primal stance, ferally demanding the next chapter of the fictional story.

So, despite the pain, she is helped into her costume and pushed out to perform.

I Can Do It With to A Broken Heart:

Breaking down, I hit the floor / All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, "more"

Clara Bow:

Beauty is a beast that roars/ Down on all fours/ Demanding "more"

Mirrorball:

I want you to know/ I'm a mirrorball/ I can change everything about me to fit in/ You are not like the regulars/ The masquerade revelers/ Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten

[weldedskeletons]

About the Bucket in TSP:

To me, the bucket exists as a trap. In a darker sense of the game, the bucket only exists to lure Stanley (and the Player) into a false sense of security and reality within the Parable.

It disguises the horror of it. The Narrator made it only so that the game would feel less uncomfortable, not even bothering to do that himself. When you pick it up, you and Stanley don’t notice how bad things are around you, being filled with a wave of comfort and reassurance (canonically at least). It’s used as a tool to lure you into a sense that everything is truly alright, when it’s not. I see it as another way the Narrator is determined to keep you ensnared in his trap where you can’t (or don’t want to) fight back.

Even some endings with the bucket are more obvious like this too, like both of them with the mind control facility (“freedom” and silly birds) both exist to keep you trapped and not even question that you’re trapped, just accepting it because it’s silly or it’s the bucket.

The Narrator uses it to belittle or antagonize Stanley too in certain dialogues. To make an example of toxic relationships and still expect him to love it like a friend. The way he overemphasizes literally all the time how amazing Stanley feels with the bucket in his arms only further proves that he wants Stanley to really fall for this delusion that the Parable isn’t as bad as it seems when he has the bucket. And it works; to us most of the time, it’s just a silly bucket we carry around for fun and we love.

This is focusing more on an evil Narrator, soft Narrator who uses the bucket as projection of his own loving feelings is very sweet and I love too. Or it can just be a silly random object we carry around because it’s fun :) either way works

[thatsnotfriendship]

yeah, I count the Last Roundup as an AppleDash episode because the subtext IS there.

"wydm Applejack's not coming back, she loves me Ponyville!"

OKAY IMMA CRY TOO - NOT AGAIN. I love the Apples sooo much. Best characters fr.

And while it's not out of her character to do so, she seems to take a LOT of the action (to getting AJ back) first. Like, 75% of it. Not to discredit everypony else, RD is just loud about it and action-driven.

Here's another thing: Rainbow Dash never stops trying to get back AJ. And when she does, it's during sleep and she's worried when she's not watching her.

She's the only skeptical one. Knows her gf best!

But also, people tend to act this way when they think something's too good to be true. RD knows something's up.

Again, never she stops trying.

BUT SHE WAS GONNA RUN OVER A BUNNY?!

"Rainbow! Go back!"

"No time!"

(Don't understand why they didn't go back after, probably for comedic effect lol).

The Element of LoyaltyTM, everypony. (Also, AJ did lie, saying she would come to breakfast and tell. She didn't, but she could've said "I didn't specify which breakfast,").

Twi's face going from :) in pic one to :0 in pic 2.

Got her. Rainbow looks so satisfied with herself.

ADHD, which Dash may have (see Testing, Testing 1 2 3 for e.g), is often shown through impulsivity and heightened anxiety. I wouldn't call it straight up anxiety when Rainbow's being all skeptical, but it's definitely something similar. She's worried. Not all that AppleDash-y, just a little thing I liked.

Unrelated note: Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops is at all the group scenes, like the party and train station twice. Everyone else is a Mane6 character or an Apple - so I do wonder about the Bon Bon lore🤔...

Bonus: And this is what happens when you abandon your destiny. Your CM really does disappear :(

[musicalmoritz]

I’m going to elaborate on a recent reblog of mine here and say that the “hot take” that Kou is Nene’s best friend instead of Aoi is merely a headcanon, it has no grounding in canon. It holds about as much weight as saying that Teru is Aoi’s best friend instead of Akane, or that Hanako is Kou’s best friend instead of Yokoo and Satou

It’s perfectly fine to have headcanons, I have a ton of them. But it becomes a reading comprehension issue when fanon begins to distort your interpretation of canon. Nene and Kou’s friendship is very beloved in fanon, which leads many fans to overlook any flaws they have in canon (which used to happen with Aoinene a lot). There is also an issue of fans failing to understand that multiple things can be true at once. They recognize that Aoi and Nene’s friendship has faults, and so they characterize their entire dynamic as bad rather than looking at the full scope of things and seeing that their friendship has a lot of good factors too. From what I’ve seen, most fandom analysts seem to be capable of seeing all sides of Aoinene’s dynamic, but the fans who don’t do a lot of analyzing take those points out of context and end up misinterpreting the manga

Let me point out some canon things about both of these dynamics to better explain my point:

• Aoi and Nene have known each other since junior high, Kou and Nene have known each other a couple months at most

• Kou and Nene have been through a lot together because they’re both main characters, and so we see them paired up often. They hang out together after school and team up when a threat appears

• Nene and Aoi also hang out after school for gardening club

• Many of Nene’s character motivations are driven by wanting to protect Aoi. Chasing after her during the Misaki Stairs arc and during the Grim Reaper arc, trying to get her back during the Severance arc, etc. Aoi’s motives are also largely driven by her fear of losing Nene

• Kou’s motives center largely around protecting Nene, but we don’t really see her express that same concern for him. Whereas Aoi and Nene are both somewhat driven by each other, Kou’s desire to protect Nene is largely one-sided (keep in mind that for all three of these characters, their main goals are driven by their love interests so the friendship stuff will take somewhat of a backseat)

• Nene consistently refers to Aoi as her best friend, but never Kou

• Nene overlooks things about both Aoi and Kou. From Nene’s pov, Aoi is this perfect popular girl. Also from Nene’s pov, Kou is her awkward friend. Neither Aoi nor Kou are given much depth until we see things from their pov rather than Nene’s (note- this happens much sooner for Kou since he’s our tritagonist)

• Nene and Aoi are mentioned to hang out together outside of school. They go to the beach every summer and in the karaoke chapter it was mentioned that they’ve done karaoke together. We don’t really see Kou and Nene hang out on their own much unless they’re pushed together by the plot, Hanako is almost always with them (aside from the donut chapter where they hanging out together was still done for Hanako’s benefit)

• Nene notices things about Aoi that no one else does, like that she doesn’t talk about herself much and that she puts a lot of effort into gardening

• Aoi buys snacks to share with Nene at school

So like, if we look at the canon material, it is very obvious that Aoi and Nene are meant to be “best” friends, whereas Kou and Nene are just good friends. Ofc those labels are a bit silly, I feel kinda dumb having to argue this, but for some reason a lot of fans are very insistent on Kou being Nene’s BFF instead of Aoi. I get why fans are more attached to Kou and Nene’s dynamic, as I said they get wayyyy more screen time than Nene and Aoi. But it’s still weird to me that fans use them to downplay Aoinene’s friendship. Both those duos have good and bad sides to their relationships, and it does them both a disservice to portray one as 100% good and the other as 100% bad or less than

And also why are some of ya’ll so pressed that Nene’s best friend is a woman instead of a man. What do ya’ll have against female friendship

[unweavinglies]

This isn't meant to be a full analysis or anything, but there is something interesting about V3 that I don't think anyone's ever really talked about--and that is how strange the First Blood Perk is.

While I personally don't subscribe to the "it's all fiction!" interpretation of V3, if this interpretation was the truth and Tsumugi wasn't just saying nonsense at the end... then why does this motive exist at all?

Fandoms like Danganronpa are all about the tropes and thrilling murders, class trials, and executions. To deny a class trial is to also deny an execution, which are two of the three main components that fans of the franchise adore so much. Why rob them of one case's worth of content? It would just leave fans disappointed.

If you are like me and don't subscribe to the theory that it's all fiction, then this motive is still strange. Why allow someone to escape after killing someone? What is the point of that? You could argue that if the Secret of the Outside World is real that the motive just leads the culprit to their doom anyway, but... I always found it strange, considering that in the previous games, it was always imperative that a murder be punctuated by a class trial and then an execution. It was basically essential to DR1, as it not only showed the world that their final bits of "hope" were killing each other, but to also show the mastermind torturing them to death.

In V3, however, they just casually offer to throw it away--of course alternatively they don't actually do that for the sake of the actual franchise, but the question remains:

Why does it feel like V3 just wanted the killing game to start? It's almost as if the game is meant to kill these particular students.

[1nconcievable]

Hot Rocks of Rio Caper - Tigress Quote

“Oooh snap! Good one bossa nova” - Tigress to Shadowsan

Not only does it show how hilariously oblivious the V.I.L.E Operatives are, but I looked up what bossa nova means.

Turns out it is a type of Brazilian music derived from samba but it has more emphasis on melody and less on percussion. The most well known song is “The Girl from Ipanema”

Funnily enough it means “new trend” or “new wave” in Portuguese.

Now, not to read into it too much but…

[Analysis mode activated]

It’s kind of funny that Tigress is using a type of Brazilian music as a nickname for Shadowsan - who she thinks is on V.I.L.E’s side at that time- while they are in Brazil. Would that mean that if she’s in Spain for example, she would call someone “Flamenco” or “Fandango” because it’s the music of Spain?

Also, the irony of “bossa nova” meaning “new wave/trend” - is Tigress unintentionally highlighting Shadowsan’s “new trend/wave” of betraying V.I.L.E and joining Carmen right after this 🤔🤔🤔?

But hey, that’s just some slight over analysis.

[yumedoca]

..And here we are, this chapter is probably my favorite Lum focused chapter in the series, with this moment being my favorite Lum moment. So far, Lum was just someone who tried convincing everyone (including herself) that she truly loved Ataru, but this moment.. This was when Lum understood her act was no longer just some act because she truly does love him.. It's a moment that hits hard because till now the readers were shown Lum's more negative traits, but all of a sudden we see that she's actually in fact a good person, she's just somewhat selfish (her character development takes care of that one as time goes on). This moment leads to her helping Ataru out as Otoko Kumino, which leads him to realize that she's actually pretty cute (and not so bad) since this is the first time he's seen her genuinely kind and caring side.. and thus, is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.. ♥

[sammylbir]

The Difference between Non-Despair Tsumugi and Canon Tsumugi

ND Tsumugi: Kind, gentle, but she also has a tendency to be enamored with fiction to hide her depression and the fact that she is unhappy with her life.

Canon Tsumugi: Has been completely overtaken to fiction, is addicted to it as a concept and is so consumed by her addiction with no point to return. A commentary about how an addiction can ruin you