#or sour rather

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[tubapun]

Thinking about Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost and how it kinda has a message about how a lot of pilgrim type nostalgia and Americana is such an idealized view of the past that refuses to actually acknowledge the pain and oppression inherent to the era.

This little town in Massachusetts literally builds a "puritan village" and uses the story of a witch who supposedly used to live there to bring in tourists, claiming the village being built disturbed her spirit.

And none of the folks in charge know she was actually a witch!! As far as they know, she really was just a Wiccan who was persecuted by Christians for her faith and who was murdered despite doing nothing but helping others with her healing herbs!! And like!! I feel like that's a political statement, especially for the 90s, that feels very large!!

It's essentially saying: Americans will mythologize their own history and in doing so obscure the harm it caused!!

There's no acknowledgement of the natives in the film at all. No thought spared to the slaves or indentured servants. And that makes some sense given it's a kids movie. But given the context of the story itself, it almost feels intentional. Of course this pioneer town would fail to acknowledge the fact that its built on stolen land and by unpaid slave labor. That doesn't sell tickets!!

In the same vein, the leaders of the town make the witch's ghost "real" by having folks dress up as her to scare people, secretly. That way they're able to tell the story of the witch they killed and not have tourists grapple with the truth of the witch trials. No instead they go "oh well its good she was killed" and continue to come because it's the real supernatural!!

And then yes immediately after it turns out she was a witch, but it doesn't absolve the townsfolk of what they did. They didn't actually think she was an evil witch. All the sightings of Sarah Ravencroft are fake. With all they do they're able to escape the truth of what they're celebrating. They market themselves on nostalgia and this "pure" unsullied past full of whimsy.

The past wasn't a time of pain and suffering for the exploited!! It was a silly time, look at the stocks and throw tomatoes and giggle cause it's all in good fun!! Don't think about who would actually have been in them. Don't think about who taught the pilgrims about the crops we show being grown. Don't think about how white the town is. And was. Or who used to be here. Or who was considered "a witch".

I don't know man!! Scooby-Doo does this a lot!! It makes statements but it's never clear how intentional they are cause it's Scooby Freaking Doo!! I love it!! AAAA!!

[artist-issues]

I’m so enjoying the whole “Harry Potter is good but whenever the Marauders pop in I feel like I could be reading an even better story” vibe, that I go into the tags to search and see Marauders fan stuff, and what are you guys doing?

…I mean I know I’m like 28 years late to the party, but what? Was Harry Potter like…the first fandom that ever just went insane and completely ignored what the characters in the canon material were actually like, so that they could make self-satisfying headcanons and slap the names “Lupin, James, Sirius,” on top?

Is this where the “yeah I really love this carefully-created, artfully-portrayed teenage boy character, so I’m naturally going to prove that love by oh completely re-writing his personality and interpersonal relationships in my own headcanon.” came from? From the Marauders and Harry Potter?

I mean jeez, where are you getting some of this stuff? I’m no expert. I know I just started reading these. But Rowling’s characterizations seem pretty straightforward, so when I look at the most prominent fan-accepted headcanons, it’s hard not to be like…Did you read these? Are we reading about the same characters, because this character in this book does not match with your webcomic. Is this the same character? Do you even like them?

[danwhobrowses]

Well another week of Tal and Ashley putting Callowmoore through the emotional ringer. I'm kinda okay with where it's at right now (okay less kinda but I can still see an end goal for them), of course it wasn't the most ideal direction I thought up in my head but it rarely ever is. There's time, there's room, and maybe in 2 3 (again guys? mental torment for 3 again?) weeks time - because no show on Thanksgiving and then Candela Obscura - Tal and Ashley will pull the trigger and not leave me an anxious mess like they have the last month and a half every Friday Morning when I have to work XD

[firelise]

i just also want to commend 4 minutes for not just having amazing cinematography and acting and writing, but probably the best showing and not telling of any QL i've seen. this is all i've wanted for so long just give me the puzzle pieces and trust me to put them together please. its so simple and well done.

[luridparty]

a little nelle and dobbs? as a treat 😸

[redysetdare]

Genuinely why do people think that Wagstaff created WX-78 when it looks like, from WX's own video, that they created themselves? Like their human form looks to have been the one who made the robot body and came up with the technology to transfer their conscious into the robot. the most Wagstaff did was probably wake them up or oversee the transfer? Why do people act like Wagstaff is some creator/father figure to WX when it seems like he barely played a role in their creation and was at most a business partner with them when they were human???

[idkwhatthisisbutheresdcandstuff]

Ive never been more upset 😭

[shaolin-spin-doctor]

not sure if this is a hot take but. imo. Fire God Liu Kang kinda sucks and it's the worst direction NRS could've taken his character in tbh

[theblisterdoesntexist]

who said i can't base my personality on these

[perspicaciouslynameless]

one thing i really like about picking up new hobbies is how they change the way you view the world

when i picked up pottery, i started noticing more acutely what in my house was ceramic vs not, what it was used for, and how cleanly it was constructed

when i was learning dance, i started breaking down other dances i saw into groups of steps, rather than just seeing the single fluid motions i had before

now that i'm learning to sew, i pay more attention to how everyone's clothes are constructed to see how i can apply that myself - where are the seams and are they visible or not, how has the fabric been cut to fit the shape of a human body

like, i love trying out new things just for the novelty of it, oftentimes, but this fun little side-effect of completely altering my perception of the world around me is also so so great

[astro-b-o-y-d]

I don't think I'd do anything with this but I had the idea anyway and just wanted to toss it out there so uhhhh transfem Dipper Pines

[glitchlight]

Hades 2 innovates with new sequel ideas like "what if everything was the same but worse"

[nice-bright-colors]

Tonight’s question: How many bottles of The Sixth Glass quadrupel ale can I drink before I fall asleep on the loveseat?

Here’s a hint: it’s 10.2% abv, and actual food is currently optional.

I just dropped a Hondo on Dad’s 80th birthday gift of various cured meats and cheeses. Charcuterie board stuff, because I can’t be there to take him out for a nice steak dinner.

Meanwhile, I can’t get the people I need to call me back to do so. I’m starting to feel like something is afoot. I’ve got a funny feeling about this mess. Plus it always happens in an election year.

Every time there was a presidential election, this construction/ finance/ lending/ building/ development/ design industry has taken a massive shit.

I don’t have time for any of it. Can we just fast forward to November 6th already. Or just hurry up to the point where I die alone in a hotel room with a constant loop of Forensic Files or some other show about serial killers.

———

In other news, I got a haircut today, and now can officially say the hair on top of my head is shorter than my actual chest hair.

[orphyd]

Made it through another week…

[villain-in-love]

Honestly? I support Katarina's decision to stay out of the whole resurrection business. Good on her for noping out of all of that 😂

I hope you don't mind me sending in some questions, your post made me curious about some things !! 👀

While Undertaker was going through the whole trial and error of resurrecting R!Ciel, did she ever need to help him out? Was there any problems they both ran into? Also... I'm curious about Katarina's opinions on R!Ciel in general, since I imagine she had to be around him in the parlor a lot of the time. Did she get along with him at all, or were there any conflicts between them? Did she also have to keep him a secret from O!Ciel and Sebastian whenever they visited the parlor, and how did she deal with that?

When she took over Undertaker's parlor after he fled, did O!Ciel and Sebastian ever pay her a visit to try and get his whereabouts from her?

Okay, I'm not sure if I can give satisfactory answers, because of how little we know about Real!Ciel in this timeline – by that I mean both what he's thinking about, and how the whole resurrection process went through the years.

But anyways, all in order:

"While Undertaker was going through the whole trial and error of resurrecting R!Ciel, did she ever need to help him out? Was there any problems they both ran into?"

Of course from time to time she was dragged into assisting Undertaker with bizarre dolls, including Ciel, often in a “since you have time to watch, then you could as well help me” way. Technically, he could do it all by himself, but additional pair of hands was quite welcome.

Well, Katarina mostly helped taking care of Real!Ciel’s body, perhaps assisting with possible surgeries? It’s not that different from what she does with usual “clients” as a mortician. And sometimes she might have provided some ideas to Undertaker – it’s possible that she helped in some way to come to the conclusion that the blood might help to keep bizarre dolls functioning.

“Was there any problems” – honestly, that kind of question you should ask Yana Toboso, as readers of the manga currently don’t know much about how it all went, and I don’t like speculating over those kinds of things…

Hmmm, I think Katarina definitely argued with Undertaker about Real!Ciel trying to eat her while he was still in a state of a mindless doll. She proposed sewing his mouth shut. In fact, she wanted to do the same with all bizarre dolls. Undertaker insisted that them biting is half of the fun and that sewing a “person’s” mouth shut is “inhumane”.

Figuring out how to bring back Real!Ciel’s personality to his corpse surely must have been quite a puzzle. What exactly does one need to put in the cinematic record for it to work? Restoring the motor skills was probably not an easy feat as well…

But the biggest challenge for Katarina was dealing with Real!Ciel personally.

"Also... I'm curious about Katarina's opinions on R!Ciel in general, since I imagine she had to be around him in the parlor a lot of the time. Did she get along with him at all, or were there any conflicts between them?"

My s/i have always been… wary of R!Ciel. He unnerves her, and not because of the fact that he’s a reanimated corpse. But because he remind her of the modern-day AI, and she doesn’t know what to expect from him. Plus she overall has a hard time understanding him as a person. And then there’s a bitter feeling because she knows how important he is to Undertaker, but she doesn’t think that any of this is a good idea in a context of Undertaker’s motivation. Our Ciel is not the fake one here, this thing is.

However, she doesn’t express her true thoughts and feelings. She talks to Real!Ciel a lot, trying to understand how the mind of a bizarre doll works. How the mind of this specific bizarre doll works. Definitely tried to psychoanalyze him.

From Real!Ciel’s perspective, Katarina was always slightly distant, but still showed at least minimum care. That is to say, she always treated him nicely. Real!Ciel can see that she’s doubtful and seems to view him more as a scientific phenomenon, but he doesn’t really hold it against her. She still helped Undertaker to bring him back and never meant any harm to him. He almost considers Katarina to be an older sister figure of sorts. R!Ciel is set on proving to her that he is as good as when he was alive.

I don’t really see them having any conflicts. The main conflict here is between Katarina and Undertaker, concerning R!Ciel.

She wishes Undertaker would acknowledge that what he does is only selfish – he’s not giving the ones who died a second chance. He’s not bringing anyone back, he’s making soulless copies of those people and indulging in a delusion that they are still with him. It’s basically the same thing Sebastian tried to offer Our!Ciel when they were negotiating their contract during their first meeting.

What I’m trying to explain is that my s/i doesn’t have morals that would go against raising the dead. She loves unethical scientific experiments, especially if it involves supernatural. But. In the context of the situation, she doesn’t think that this is what Undertaker truly wants or needs. As far as she can see, without bringing back the soul, the results could never be satisfactory.

*sigh*

What I can say for sure is that out of the twins she prefers Our!Ciel. He’s not the easiest person to deal with, that’s true, but she still likes him and is capable of understanding him much better.

"Did she also have to keep him a secret from O!Ciel and Sebastian whenever they visited the parlor, and how did she deal with that?"

Obviously she kept this all in secret. But it’s not like keeping secrets is hard. (Now she knows so many creative ways you can hide a body...) Thankfully, Our!Ciel and Sebastian are well-mannered guests and they wouldn’t go rummaging in the parlour, so hiding Real!Ciel’s body from them wasn’t that hard. Additionally, she’s a great actress and is totally okay with lying.

"When she took over Undertaker's parlor after he fled, did O!Ciel and Sebastian ever pay her a visit to try and get his whereabouts from her?"

Oh, they 100% did. It’s kind of a big thing and a certain turning point in the story.

Listen. When it comes to parenting, Undertaker is basically winging it. But if there’s anything he treats very seriously it’s his apprentice’s safety.

Ciel and Sebastian are a threat, to put it mildly. So the question was, how to ensure that they won’t hurt her in pursuit of their goals? And the solution is…

“According to my teacher’s wishes, I am going to switch sides… and play against him from now on.”

After the events of Campania, they both knew that Ciel and Sebastian will appear on the front door of the funeral house to question her. But if there’s something Undertaker and Katarina have in common, it’s being quick thinkers and knowing how to manipulate information. So the decision was this: Katarina teams up with Sebastian and Ciel and starts working with them against Undertaker, providing Phantomhives with the information she has. Not to mention, as Undertaker pointed out, she already has a motive – wasn’t she the one who was constantly complaining and trying to convince him that he's doing everything the wrong way?

Of course, there’s… a careful game of how much information she can tell and how much she will have to withhold, as well as how she can explain why she knows some things, but doesn’t know others. She can’t tell Ciel and Sebastian absolutely everything.

For instance, she didn’t tell them anything about the real Ciel. She didn't provide Undertaker's whereabouts because she genuinely had no idea where he went. Also, I imagine, at the moment when Undertaker left, sustaining bizarre dolls with blood was only one of the suggestions. She’s still one foot on Undertaker’s side and another on Phantomhive’s. She has to make things fair.

But she definitely was helping the main duo a lot during the Sphere Music Hall arc.

As a matter of fact, she hasn’t been in contact with Undertaker ever since he fled London after the Campania arc. It was done because from this point, the less she knows – the better. (Obviously, Undertaker didn’t abandon her completely. He kept checking on her from time to time in secret and sometimes helping her out from the shadows with some problems she might have run into while doing her job as the new holder of the funeral parlour)

However, after Our!Ciel gets arrested and Real!Ciel takes over the Phantomhive manor, she will come to them. Our!Ciel and Sebastian are not a threat to her anymore, at least for now – instead of hunting down Undertaker, they are now the hunted. Though she will be displeased by the whole deal with Real!Ciel and Undertaker framing Our!Ciel. Did they really have to go that far? Actually, she has many questions. What they’ve been up to this whole time?..

So during the current arc, she got back in contact with Undertaker and Real!Ciel, even though she still spends most of the time at the funeral parlour and doesn't help the Aurora organisation in the slightest. To be honest, she finds herself more inclined to take Our!Ciel's side in this whole story, but for now she doesn't say anything about. She's waiting for what will happen next.

(Additionally: Ciel and Sebastian probably suspected that she might be withholding some information, so I think that Sebastian attempted to seduce her for the sake of information at some point, like he did with Beast and that nun in the anime. It didn’t work. He’s not her type at all (even Ciel would have had more chances seducing her than Sebastian). But his ego was hurt, which was funny. Later she will definitely tell Undertaker about the hilarious face rejected Sebastian made.)