#risu's post

[risu75]

From Native Funk & Flash, 1974.

[risu75thirdblog]

Venus Salon (built in 1942), 3208 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, HI - 2016, 2022

[thesapphiccrytid]

137,433,666,284 sorcerers dead

[royalarchivist]

Fit: ...Listen, Pac–

Pac: I should take the pills. No, it's been so long, I should–

Fit: No, you don't need to take those. I know you think that you're not strong, but you're incredibly strong. I mean, the fact that... Mike is gone, Richarlyson's gone, Walter Bob is gone, but you're still standing here–

Pac: Everyone is gone...

Fit: –You're still standing here. That makes you tough, that makes you strong, Pac, you have no idea.

Tubbo: You're as hard as nails, boy! You're as hard as nails.

Fit: Yeah! You're tougher than a $2 steak!

Pac: Are you sure...?

Fit: Yeah, 100%.

Tubbo: Yeah! I didn't even know steaks could be that cheap, but, yeah!

[ministarfruit]

more odd little creatures (ID edition!)

[shizukais]

But then I met you, Risu. Having you as a partner was my proof that I was now a magic user. I'm sorry I couldn't save you... Even though you were my one and only... The first friend I've ever had.

[doroinoue]

i think my most favorite risu characteristic is how deceptive he is and how seemingly good he is at keeping people's guard low. like even when en questions if hes really playing hes still not fully sure if thats the case or if hes just stupid lmfao. its why the panel of his eyes is SO important to me and im so mad the anime cut it off. it shows risu is fully aware of whats happening and hes not dumb by any means.

this scene too where hes acting all nice until he snaps, i feel in the anime they made that scene a bit unserious (dont have a screenshot on me but the framing is just rlly goofy imo). its so important to me that hes Angry but hes just so good to at hiding it, until he knows its good enough time to show his true feelings

even when hes ganged up on he still decides to act a bit oblivious before murdering them all LOL

its like he has two faces at all times, one he presents to people hes trying to appeal to, and his real one. it functions like a natural defensive mechanism, when he couldnt rely on his magic to protect him he had to deceive people to take a blow on them, and he cant let go of it even when he knows hes stronger now

tldr

[enderwoah]

im so unwell about q!pac no its not even funny anymore i need to put him in a terrarium up on a shelf and keep him safe up there. he doesn't deserve any bad thing, ever. i don't even care about "having a good story" or "giving your character a conflict" anymore, nah, no, if ONE (1) MORE BAD THING HAPPENS TO HIM IM GONNA LOSE IT!! IM GONNA START BREAKING THINGS!!!

he's so. sad. hes such a sad character. his insecurities about being useless to everyone are so real and so painful because he's not, all of us know that he's not, but we also completely understand why he feels that way because he's had everyone he loves ripped away from him and he hasn't been able to lift a finger to stop any of it. he's just left to sit in the ruins without any help. he's collateral to all the tragedy surrounding him and the favela 5 in general and he's. tired. not in the way that cellbit is tired (though that works, too). he's exhausted of feeling sad all the time. of crying all the time. of feeling that loneliness that gnaws holes into his bones and settles in the marrow and never leaves, not when richas' bed is empty, not when mike's bedroom has started to collect dust, not when he can't see a real, tangible presence in forever's dilated eyes. the only person he has is cellbit, and he could never ask cellbit to give up what he still has when pac has nothing to lose (and god, how selfless, how kind is that?), so when he figures the only way to get an antidote to the drug is to have the drug itself, why wouldn't he offer himself up? and if that wasn't the only reason he tried to get his hands on it, who could blame him?

maybe he took it first to just feel the effects and understand the angle it took in affecting his mind. maybe he just took it for research. do you think he had slipped by the second time? do you think he took it once and, for a short thirty minutes, found that he could forget about all the sorrow lining his lungs and breathe? do you think reality crashed back onto him after that first try? do you think he was scrambling to take it again, to go back to that...maybe it wasn't blissful ignorance, per se, but willful disregard? do you think he couldn't wait to be submerged so deep that he couldn't think one more time? do you think he was hesitant? do you think he kept promising himself, one more, one more, one more...

god he is so. so sad. i was watching phil's pov, so everything was like a neat little movie for me, and just. cellbit and forever arguing while pac was just sobbing in the background was AWFUL. just. awful. it hurt. (cc!pac was damn good at acting, too, and that DID NOT HELP.) the moment he stepped on the trap i felt like i was hit with a brick. like no, of COURSE we should NOT be putting PAC in a CONFINED JAIL CELL. ALONE. and i know it was for his own good but i still felt so so so sick. the way he immediately curled up in the corner. the way he was crying to himself. the way he instantly answered richas' birthday the moment bad asked for it. the way he got visibly more upset and terrified when cellbit started shouting at forever. what the hell. no seriously what the HELL.

and, like, oh my god, making him the one to solve the antidote? proving that even though he may have fallen to the drug (the drug which was basically created by GODS, by the way, lets be real, the federation is nawt normal), he's still so useful. he's still such an asset. he's smart and he's kind and he's charismatic and he's trusting and he's so so selfless and so so brave and so strong. tubbo put it perfectly. the fact that he's gone through all the horrible awful stuff he's gone through and he's still standing just proves how capable he is. how tough he is. cellbit calling him "my dear." pointing out the fact that he sacrificed himself without knowing he was going to come back. "i'm only afraid of being sad again." "you will be sad again. but you won't be alone." he's so. he's just. he's. im frothing at the mouth. he gave himself up to save the rest of the island from this plague that took one of his best friends and might've taken the entire island if he didn't do anything. under that stress. experiencing that level of loss.

pac is one of the toughest goddamn people on the island and if anyone on that server even dares try to imply otherwise i will do heinous heinous things, mark my WORDS.

[cellberry]

Insane Duo, 2023

[idiotsonlyevent]

so i've been thinking about risu. "personality defines one's magic" lives in my mind rent free, and i've been trying to pin down how magic reflects the personalities of sorcerers we know. risu's curse magic is especially interesting due to its rarity and the nature of curse itself. so, what can curse tell us about risu, and what role does risu play in dorohedoro? (spoilers through the end of the manga under the cut.)

who is risu?

risu is a low-level sorcerer and a member of the cross-eyes. not much is known about his past, besides for the fact that he used to go to the zagan magic school, he was friends with aikawa, and he had an apartment where he lived alone and grew cacti. but what else do we know about him? what's he like?

i want to start this discussion based on asu's perceptions of risu in extra evil 16, since we, as the readers - and risu himself - get to be explicitly told what asu thinks of him. risu's interactions with asu and nikaido are particularly important because, unlike with the cross-eyes or en's family, risu isn't really putting on a front here. and since asu is genuinely trying to help by offering risu advice, we know this is what he really thinks - even if his devil traits are getting in the way of his delivery.

to summarize: asu characterizes risu as neurotic, high-strung, and repressed. these evaluations seem to be at least partially correct; asu is the catalyst for both moments in the manga where risu grows to better understand his magic - the first in spell 84 and the second in 122 - and he wouldn't have been able to do this if he truly didn't understand risu. and risu agrees with him!

this is interesting when contrasted with what we see of risu in one of the first flashbacks of the series.

we know that risu has a lot of doubts about the boss and the cross-eyes, but what he's saying here is really . . . idealistic? even in spite of any doubts or worries, risu says this to aikawa - and given how earnest risu is with him, i don't think this is a lie. on top of that, risu was pretty loyal to the cross-eyes and to aikawa. this is not to imply that pessimism and loyalty are inherently at odds with one another, but the way risu talks about aikawa and his own death really doesn't scream 'i see the worst in every situation'. i don't think risu's pessimism is the whole story. so, how does curse fit into all of this? why does risu have curse magic?

what is curse?

curse magic is considered rare. it's not well-understood by any characters, and especially early on, only asu and dokuga seem to have any understanding of how it works at all. curse is activated after risu is killed and remains active until the curse is 'complete.' after curse merges with risu after his revival, when someone tries to kill or harm risu, curse will activate, taking over risu's body and reflecting all attacks.

curse is angry and violent, and it is so overwhelming that risu has no control over it at all. faced with this, risu rejects the idea outright; this is all he knows. he's gotten so used to being controlled by his anger for so long that he can't comprehend any other options. he assigns everything to his anger. he's angry at everything, and he only acts because he is angry.

something that really stuck out to me is when risu says he's 'pissed off for making [him] kill.' it's unclear if he's angry at the cross-eyes or at curse, but it's really indicative that he doesn't want to be violent - he's been forced into it due to the circumstances of this world and his place in it. curse is not a representation of some inner desire to hurt or harm others; there's something else going on here.

(a brief aside, but this is the only time we're shown anything from risu's life before the cross-eyes, the magic school, and aikawa. he's younger - he looks about shin's age from his backstory ten years ago? so, let's tentatively call risu 18-ish here, placing this about 6 years ago, which should comply with canon. he's injured and alone - there's no mention of parents or any other caretakers. with how vague this information is, it's difficult to draw any definitive conclusions. one possibility is that risu was abandoned by his parents. i say this because a flashback of risu alone is paired with the the thought that others, specifically powerful sorcerers like the en family, look down on him, and there are multiple severed heads in the same shot, who are clearly not en family members or other cross-eyes. it could be that his family were powerful sorcerers who left him alone due to his 'weak' magic, and perhaps he himself killed them, which is why their heads are floating and detached. but i digress.)

asu says it best: curse is only part of risu. curse protects risu. it is not just risu's anger, but also what that anger is hiding - perhaps feelings of hopelessness, isolation, betrayal, etc. curse is a literal and physical obfuscation and reflection of risu's identity and feelings. risu needs to learn to control curse not because anger - or any of his other negative feelings - are bad. it's because he doesn't understand where they come from or why, and as a result they consume him. this is why risu's realization has him literally being freed from a physical trap, because risu is now the one in control, even if he lacks mastery. risu is angry, but that is not all he is; risu is angry, and that is okay.

so, what does risu do? why is he important?

risu actually has strong thematic ties with both caiman (the protagonist) and nikaido (the deuteragonist):

risu and curse's relationship parallels aikawa and hole's: a magic user with low/no smoke output possessed by a violent entity that is controlled by strong negative feelings and obfuscates their past.

curse foils nikaido's time magic: risu is controlled by dangerous magic that he has no control over while nikaido refuses to use time magic because she perceives it as dangerous and uncontrollable; both have realizations about their relationships with magic (with asu's help), and learn how to use their magic as part of their character arcs.

curse is a physically painful, like aikawa's headaches and nikaido's devil transformation.

risu, nikaido, and caiman all struggle with their identity: both how society perceives them and how the see themselves. all of them have complicated relationships with their magic, and they feel like they do not 'truly exist,' at least in part due to this.

also, risu is a big player early on in the story, if not arguably the most important one, especially when it comes to the mystery of derohedoro. risu's curse is the means through which caiman and nikaido can hunt sorcerers and is also the en family's first major lead in their investigation. risu is what brings caiman and the cross-eyes together. risu goes back in time with nikaido to learn the truth of caiman's past. risu is the one that kills aikawa. risu offers to restore caiman's original face at the end of the series. (i could go on!)

risu isn't rich or extremely powerful or a genius, but he feels important because he was aikawa's partner; their partnership is what gave aikawa's existence as a sorcerer legitimacy, and their bond persists through the entire series. risu may be a 'nobody' when compared to characters like en and nikaido, but he was somebody to aikawa, and that identity is consistently given the weight it deserves.

[micuko]

[risu75]

Late 1980s Soviet-era cassette label - front and back.

[risu75thirdblog]

Queen Theater (built in 1936), 3588 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, HI - 2021

Source: http://wavees.naluisland.com/wp/2021/05/14/queen-theater/

[tetsuskei]

would anyone read this childe bday fic even though it’ll be posted super late ahaha

[royalarchivist]

Fit: Pac– this isn't you, you're just– I know you're all happy and stuff, and this medicine is making you feel good, but it's not reality. It's not reality.

Pac: [Shouting] And what is reality, Fit?! What is reality?! The reality that we have is like, just wait until the Eggs show up, or just wait for something to happen! I'm cool with my medicine, you know? I'm cool with Cucurucho helping me! It's making me feel way more better! So that's the reality for me, you know. Reality is the thing that you accept, so I'm accepting this as my reality. [He sighs, then says in a quieter voice] Sorry, Fit. Sorry, I just– sorry. I didn't mean to scream at you, sorry.

Fit: No, listen Pac– you need help. I know you– do you even remember why you took this medicine in the first place?

Pac: [In a quiet voice] 'Cuz I didn't have any other choice, you know. I was hopeless. It was my only choice, to use the medicine. That's all. [In a quieter voice, starting to mumble] That's why I'm gonna- I'm gonna still- gonna use it.

Fit: Look Pac–

Pac: –until I forget what happened, and that's it! That's what I'm going to do.

Fit: I know you're still in there somewhere, Pac. I know you still remember everything. I need you to remember.

Pac: [Mumbled] ...I will remember– I won't– I don't want to, I don't want to. I just want to- to build my home alone, ok Fit? I'm- I'm sorry.

[recallback-art]

That one text screenshot going around has been living in my mind rent free and I had to do something about it. Anyway, gay people! Risu is fun to draw even if it's just shitty doodles.