#salts character analysis

[3000-200-grains-of-salt]

Ladies, gentlemen, and those of us who know better: after a week of work, 4 late or missing homework assignments, one very full basket of laundry and far too many friends who are sick of hearing about this, I present to you:

The Hels To Pay Tango Tek Trauma Flowchart.

Featuring 59 color-coded cards, five asterisks, eight billion arrows, and cited sources. Ive worked on this for far, far too long. Idk guys i just like dissecting characters :D i think i was planning to be more eloquent with this post but here we are. im tired.

Full board here (you can add comments and draw):

@aquaquadrant @lunarcrown thought yall might like to look through this ^_^ i hope i was able to kinda get the gist of what you guys were thinking with tangos character, i really find the way he's written fascinating!

i had the idea a little while ago, about how the core of tango's whole character was a vicious cycle, started by trauma that got forged into central beliefs, and running on fear and guilt. and, VERY out of character for me i KNOW, (sarcasm) i made a chart! it started with just the central cycle with catalysts, but. it. it branched out.

feel free to add on (or call out my mistakes lol) hope ya like it. be prepared for A Lot of reading :]

[qrichas]

btw! from twitter, some context from qforever and qcellbits convo

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

what spop critics say: spop is a show with a lot of potential that, with good writing and decent pacing, could have been a masterpiece. however, the writers fucked up by not giving the villain a good redemption and ultimately turning her arc into "predatory lesbian"

what spop fans hear: catra is EVIL and spop is TRASH and abuse victims DON'T DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE they should all BE TORTURED TO DEATH i'm a heartless monster who has no life and kills puppies for fun

[valravn72]

Disabled Xion Flags!!

For funsies :3

Alright to use without credit, just please reblog if saving/using!!! Thank youuuu 🫶

Reasons for my disabled Xion headcanon below the cut (the summary bc otherwise I will go all day):

Xion is obsessed with “usefulness” and only considers illness in light of how it will affect her productivity or burden others

Xion is also very preoccupied with whether or not she is worthy of existence

Xion experiences chronic episodes of dizziness, migraines, fatigue and fainting. This comes from how her body reacts to her paradoxical existence and how the state of that existence relates to the simultaneous nature of Sora, Roxas and Naminé

The way her body attacks itself because it knows something is wrong is so so real as a disability allegory immune systems be like that

She collects shells!!! And stims with them by rubbing them!!! And gives people them as her love language!!! Autism!!!! And she carries them around in her big dramatic coat pockets! Me frrrrr

Also having Nobodies as a dissociation/low empathy allegory effects her character a lot, including how she and Roxas don’t really understand most phrases and social norms… autisma…!…

She spends a lot of time in bed recovering from fainting episodes and dizzy spells

Roxas’s comas usually have clear causes that correlate with events such as Sora being put to sleep, but for Xion it’s usually just because she’s in burnout. My girl’s a spoonie

Another autism moment is how ???? her gender is. She’s widely considered to be a trans allegory and autistic people are statistically more likely to experience gender in abnormal ways/be nonbinary so wahahaha my headcanons support each other that’s how right I am

The separation from her body that comes with finding out she is a replica is a good parallel with disability mourning (as well as dpdr and gender dysphoria)

She’s also very fixated on whether or not she is “real” and how she could become real and is referred to as an object or a doll/puppet by a lot of other characters, which is a big trope in disabled media

Overall her internalized dehumanization and ableism is a big part of her character

She also parrots back ableist things people have said to her in order to justify not asking for help, especially when Roxas and Axel try to convince her that she comes first

There’s some dialogue from other characters where several of them mention how they think she’s overworking herself and is too invested in seeking approval

Saïx calling her a “waste” is a big part of her character arc. As is losing to Riku, which is stupid because he’s older than her and has more experience

When Roxas gets sick she immediately recognizes him hiding his symptoms, working too hard and refusing help and begs him to be gentle with himself because she understands exactly what he’s going through

Her body and abilities are consistently depicted as being unstable in nature overall. Her magic and abilities are unreliable and can stop working for seemingly no reason

She also has a high sense of justice, starts out nonverbal, displays limited emotions when not having a breakdown and is very rule focused + takes what authority figures say at face value. My little yippee

She’s very quiet overall and also stays in her hood a lot, which is common for Nobodies to disguise her identities but she’s also very inexpressive when hooded and is only verbal with effort. She retreats into her hood when overwhelmed pretty consistently, especially when she doesn’t want to engage emotionally. In the manga she is shown to typically be expressionless when in this state.

She’s doomed by the narrative and she knows it

She was basically made as a backup in case Roxas and Sora couldn’t be useful to the organization, so her body is reacting to how there’s several pieces of herself missing and how they all exist simultaneously and effect each other constantly even though they’re all completely separate people. It’s implied that only absorbing Roxas and Sora would allow her to have a stable body. She opts to have Sora absorb her instead.

Anyway yeah this isn’t really a perfect explanation but this is the most I can do without writing another Jumbled Autism Dump essay. I hope it was legible and thank you for reading it lmao. I’m just excited to spread the gospel of spoonie Xion

[yua-nism]

An analysis of Momochi: from a student interested in psychology

The main thing I’ll be talking about here is the way he treats his s/o and the members of Veronica, though there’s more emphasis on the former. Hope you guys enjoy this wall of text I wrote at school during my free time.

TW: mentions of suicide, abuse, toxic relationships

First up, the way he treats his s/o might be due to how his parents interacted, or how he was treated. In this scenario, the most possible situation at hand is:

Parents’ toxic relationship ---> Momochi ---> (Projection) S/O

+ Research has shown that one’s parents’ relationship will affect the child’s love life. For example, Person A’s parents squabble and fight every day, one blaming the other and the one silently accepting (no retaliation). Communication is non-existent. Growing up, Person A finds themselves in the same situation despite constantly telling themselves not to be like their parents. This has happened quite a lot.

+ I believe that Momochi’s mother was on the receiving end of the abuse, considering she was implied to have committed suicide. If we also take into consideration Awauta and Gurensinjyu, this is the most possible situation.

Now, Momochi’s growth environment caused him to project his mother onto his S/O, regardless of whether he’s aware that his actions are bad. To let everyone understand easier, here’s another example: a mother gets scolded by her superiors at work, and in turn scolds her child at home, while saying it’s “education”. This is a type of unconscious self-defense mechanism. To summarize,

a loop of “Repression” (emotions) + “Rationalize” (thoughts) + “Addiction” (behavior).

Repression: The environment he grew up in caused him to grew up neglected and unloved. He IS angry, and he should be, but he couldn’t find a way to let out those negative emotions, so he repressed them. They are still present, however.

Rationalize: His thoughts and fears, especially matters regarding his girlfriend and Veronica (fear of abandonment). He unconsciously rationalizes those fears and convinces himself that he is in the right, and he is the superior one.

Addiction: Momochi’s behavior towards his S/O. Because of the two factors above, he feels a sense of satisfaction when he sees his girlfriend in pain because of him specifically. This is especially evident whenever he chokes his S/O in his drama tracks.

Summary:

Momochi’s repressed negative emotions from how he was raised, combined with his fears and thoughts, make him the person he is right now. A toxic loop, but to him, it is still love nonetheless. He does truly love his girlfriend (I used up all my strength just to write these 6 words), but because of environmental and psychological factors, his idea of love is twisted and incredibly unusual.

No one taught him how to love someone properly, and nor do I think he loves himself either. He puts on a facade of superiority to hide his insecurities. Here’s his mindset in a nutshell:

“I don’t know how to love, so I’ll show her love in my own way. This is so she’ll never leave my side. I’m scared, but I don’t know any other way to make her stay with me.”

“The members of Veronica are all rich and good-looking. I can only surpass them with my skills. I’m scared of losing my only worth because they all surpass me in terms of background and looks.”

Anyways, that’s all. I hope this Momochi guy goes to superhell. Actually, superhell is too good for him, he should be stuck in between the limbo of heaven and hell so he suffers forever. That’s it. And to everyone who read this till the end, seek help. Thank you.

Source(s):

How Psychology Works: Applied Psychology Visually Explained——Penguin Random House

你背负了谁的伤：从家庭的原生三角关系，疗愈代际伤害——冯以量

心里防卫——洪培芸

爱情创伤来自童年创伤——黄惠萱

[falsecardigan]

Chloe Bourgeouis's Pride and Her Ultimate Downfall

Chloe, while not being a character I particularly like, is a character that I have a deep love for. What I mean by this is that the person who she is is not someone who is a good person in any sense of the word but on the other hand I care very deeply about her and am very invested in her character. I think one of the most interesting parts of her character arc is just how easily it would have been for her to be redeemed. What I mean by this is that we know Chloe, although she might have been at some point, is not interested in growing as a person and becoming a better person. However, had she made a few decisions differently by season five the Chloe we have could have been a completely different character. If she had decided to swallow her pride and actually reflect on the things she was hearing from both Adrien and Ladybug she could have become a better person. The problem lies in that she was both too stubborn and unwilling to listen to either of them that she ended up going a completely different route. In doing so she had made her own bed and now we’re seeing her lie in it. She lost both of the people that no matter how much of a twisted version of friendships she had with them were still people she considered friends. If she had just stopped being so prideful and actually did some self reflection it is entirely likely that she wouldn’t have lost either Adrien or Sabrina in season five. However, she couldn’t let go of her pride and that caused her to lose both of them. The thing is she was so close yet so far from doing just that in season two and three but she wouldn’t and that was her downfall. I think another thing that is just so exponentially tragic about her character arc is that in wanting her mother’s validation she became just like her. She was so desperate to please her that she became the very person she feared. In a sense I would even add this to my list of reasons why Chloe is Adrien’s foil. Because while Chloe became like Audrey Adrien managed to despite still seeking Gabriel’s validation not become like him at all. And there are people who will say that this is because Adrien had people who were there for him and I completely disagree with that statement. Because Chloe could have had that but she refused it. I’ve been wondering for so long why seasons 1-3 Chloe and seasons 4 and 5 Chloe seemed so different; because while she was never a good person she clearly had a conscious and I wanted to know what happened to that because I have always been interested in the psychology behind character’s actions and this morning I realized why this happened. It’s because she was so stubborn and prideful that she started pushing away people who were trying to help her become better. Adrien and Ladybug were good influences in her life and while I’ve seen so many people place the blame on the two of them Chloe is the one who took them for granted and distanced herself from them. So of course when she distanced herself from the two best influences in her life and refused their help she plunged into the deep end and became the worst version of herself. 

[little-meowyao]

SALT SALT SALT (long post)

EXHAUSTED SIGH, what is this doing in my dash again.

The first betrayal of his trust, in the novel, was not something that concerned NMJ in the slightest!!! JGY killed a Jin commander! And I think he was right to do so! Even putting the abuse aside, what other chance would he have of getting recognised (that he knows of), if the man kept taking credit for his work? We as a fandom put too much blame on JGY for killing that dude. I think it was 100% warranted

Of course JGY would force NMJ to show deference to WRH! That's his job! Firstly, literally everyone but JGY has to crawl around WRH, so, while very personally targeted at NMJ (which I'm sure JGY did on purpose to appease WRH), it's just Something That Happens.

Of course JGY had to kill NMJ's men! What else could he do? He couldn't save them all, and WRH 1. Is capricious AS FUCK, and 2. would not take kindly either to insults to the Wen or to JGY himself (bc he likes JGY). Additionally, that was not a ruse!!! Not at all! While I do believe JGY holds some regret at killing WRH, it was his plan! So that LXC would like him more??? That is just fucking stupid!

Being gaslit??? Where??? If someone was gaslighting NMJ, it was LXC (FYI I don't think he was, not intentionally at least, but I would see where someone that does is coming from), not JGY! They just do not speak the same language! You know the excuses vs explanations?? Yeah! That's what was happening! JGY trying to explain himself and NMJ thinking he was making excuses!

Never does JGY deny doing anything, or try to make NMJ doubt himself, or shift blame, or literally anything that could be considered gaslighting!

"Doubting his judgement" did he? Did NMJ ever doubt his judgement? Even when he had reasons to? Or is he just so goddamn obstinate that when he sets his mind to something he will not change? HM?

NHS pulled away from NMJ because NMJ was being, you know. A fucking ass! He burned NHS's stuff! We have no reason at all to believe they were drifting away before that! It's not because JGY understands him better! Is because NMJ does not understand him at all, doesn't care to, and punishes him for doing what he likes! I'm not going into how NMJ was trying to force NHS to follow a path that would get him killed, violently, but that!!! That!!! Yeah!

He threathened to beat him and JGY together! And we have no reason to believe it was an empty threath! Burning the fans was just a threath before, too! And if you read that scene carefully, you'll see that NHS is genuinely terrified. He locks himself away for days after. I don't blame NMJ for it entirely, but at the end of his life he was getting legitimately abusive towards NHS.

NMJ can't explain JGY is evil because he is not. Because everything that JGY ever does to wrong NMJ is either necessary (the fire palace exchange), not related to him at all (the Jin commander), or completely out of his hands (the XY situation).

For every action there is a reaction. Though they do retraumatize eachother, NMJ does it more and more severely, with less justification. I can't even call them mutually abusive because NMJ is doing all the abuse, and JGY's actions are reactionary. These two should have gone separate ways after sunshot.

And sure, JGY killed him in a horrible way, but it was NMJ that made their relationship kill or get killed. NOT JGY. JGY went ahead with turmnoil after three separate murder attemps.

After the staircase scene showed him that their relationship was beyond salvation and that NMJ would never care to understand his previlege, or to ackowledge their inherent power imbalance, or to stop and listen (actually listen), or to stop and think that his authority as JGY's da-ge doesn't and won't ever override JGS's power as his father. (Especially with someone as filial as JGY is)

I love NMJ. I genuinely do. But this take is so toxic I need to pick it up with a damn hazmat suit.

And what pisses me off the most is that this post doesn't show a fundamental lack of understanding of NMJ's character! This is the way NMJ thinks! But he's an extremely biased narrator and his thoughts should not be taken at face value!

I've never interacted with this person before, but if I had to make a guess, I'd say they're very caugh up in analysing NMJ (which is valid, I love him too), but in their love for NMJ, they started taking his thought process and conclusions as fundamentally factual, which they are not. I could be wrong, but it is how this comes off.

Anyway. I'm done

[imthepunchlord]

Adrien's Elemental and Miraculous Matches (Wu Xing)

Bagua

Adrien I've come to conclude is a Fire and Earth, with Fire as his primary and Earth as his secondary. The most curious aspect with Adrien is you see both elemental personalities in him almost equally, but they seem... divided instead of existing in unity, and they can conflict with each other, which works off how jarring Adrien can be in his behavior as a civilian vs as a hero.

Fire largely is seen with his Adrien as Chat Noir, but does work off how he is as a civilian too, seen in him being flashy, dramatic, expressive, energetic, and playful. As Chat is Adrien's means to let loose everything he keeps inside, this is literally letting his inner fire out to flare with life when Gabriel tried to keep it down and muffled. Fire works off him being reckless and active, this is an element that thrives off freedom and being alive, and is smothered when it is kept isolated and contained. Fire also works off Adrien's keen interest and investment in romance, as this is the most romantic element, one that desires having a romantic partner the most. Fire also plays into Adrien's destructive/temper and pettiness, with him using Cataclysm to destroy and get his anger out, to him being spiteful when Ladybug irks him. It also plays into the deep depression Adrien can fall into, as when Fire goes out, they go to cold ash and it's a bad episode they sit through until they get reignited.

Earth is largely seen with Adrien as a civilian. He is one for harmony and dislikes conflict, preferring majority happy if not everyone, and will intervene to secure that sense of peace he desires (like him telling Marinette to let things go as Lila's lies aren't "hurting anyone"). He balances on that line of sociable but also being a loner, enjoying being around people but also not exactly going out of his way to be around people. Earth also plays off Adrien's need to be needed, as he picks up on someone in need and is vulnerable then actually steps up to console and support them. Earth can also play into him being slow to change things, working off how Gabriel has molded Adrien to his ideal son and Adrien is incredibly slow to rebel against that (like, I hear it took s5 for him to finally start standing up to his dad? Better late than never I guess).

Fire and earth both play off Adrien's natural charm and him pulling people in, having Fire's warmth and Earth's gentle patience and support. The two elements can also play into Adrien's potential as a leader, but him not aiming for it, as Fire likes to be the leader, but Earth is more a team player and mediator that doesn't aim for leadership.

With how Adrien currently is, his two elements aren't existing in harmony, which is how he can be so polarizing between himself and Chat, these are two different elements with Fire being very high energy and flashy where Earth is more stationary and still, and it can work off the two extremes of his personality. Ideally, it should open up him growing and the two extremes becoming one, for him to be a mixture of Adrien and Chat and that's who he truly is. If he was allowed to grow and exist as a character, this could've been very satisfying to watch.

Of the Wu Xing, this makes Ladybug and Fox Adrien's best matches, and Tikki and Trixx are the most ideal kwamis to work off of him.

Given Ladybug's long history of going to warriors and red often being an aggressive color, and this Miraculous is now expanded to be more versatile, Ladybug is now far more up Adrien's alley. Generating items are now not exclusive to making complex plans with it being a key feature, but can now be a means to curse a target with bad luck, working off Adrien's offense desire and his enjoyment of pranking others. Adrien's creations probably would largely come out straight forward, but would be effective in their purpose, and I can see him learning to get more creative and complex as he keeps going. And the ability to utilize and manipulate light in any way he can think of can easily work off Adrien thinking he's the light of everyone's life, wanting to be a guiding light, and source of comfort. Ladybug also offers a chance for Adrien to develop an eye for detail and to be more aware of others and his surroundings.

Fox works more off Adrien's mischievousness, his interest in acting, and his capability to lie/withhold information. While Fox doesn't have Ladybug's ability to directly be involved in the fight, it does still provide him the means to be in the front lines and secure his safety. It can work off him dabbling into lying and misdirecting attention away from him, and given his involvement an acting, he has something to work off when he disguises himself, and it's a plus to change up the potential powers he can have, even if they are weaker than the original.

Kwami wise, Tikki and Trixx both have the immediate appeal of being kwamis who do get involved with their humans right away. Canon wise, I think as Plagg set himself up as someone uninvolved and nonchalant, this sets up Adrien with the idea that Plagg is a kwami he doesn't really have to listen to, which backfired for Plagg the few times he does call Adrien out or point out an issue. Tikki and Trixx will not have that issue.

Tikki is a kwami that is set up to cover his needs and wants right away. Adrien is seeking someone to fill the void his mother left (which he projected onto Ladybug), Tikki can fill that by being an eager supporter and affectionate, and given Adrien has more emotional needs and lacks warmth in his life, she will step up in the affectionate role. But it's not all fluff and comfort with Tikki as she is someone who prioritizes duty and seeks to direct and improve her humans. For Adrien, this will be trying to improve him as a hero, take things more seriously, and try to shape him up to be a leader. Given Tikki pays attention to others outside her human, she will open Adrien's eyes to others, their feelings, and potential situation, and urge him to step up and help others. To not be reactive but to be active. Involve himself, engage, take initiative. And if he's bogged down by his home life, Tikki will urge him to do what he can to change it instead of just endure it quietly and sulkily. Talk with his father, try to form a compromise, try to ease up that schedule, allow him freedom and independence, and if Gabriel is unreasonable, make use of Chloe and her political connections to pressure him. Remind Adrien that he has connections and he can use them. Given his very strict situation, Tikki won't be as demanding or insistent on duties and helping as she is with Marinette who has far more freedom and independence, though she will still work to try and get Adrien to be more active and helpful. And one of the biggest plus, and potentially biggest struggle for Adrien, is that nosy, observant Tikki will pick up on Gabriel's odd behavior, will look into him, and she will force Adrien to be apart of his own plot, and he will have to face who and what his father is, and what his stance in this is.

Trixx has that appeal of being an in between Tikki and Plagg. She does have a sense of responsibility and duty, but she can also be chaotic and unpredictable. And being a sharp kwami who can get a sense of what sort of human she's dealing with, she can quickly get an idea of how to work with Adrien and what he needs. For this, she will be engaging and direct, but she will also be vague, try to get Adrien to think and make his own choices, easing him up to do to counter Tikki who'd be more direct, and Plagg who's waiting for Adrien to do his own thing. Similar to Tikki, Trixx would work on broadening Adrien's perception, develop an eye for detail, awareness of others, and getting a sense of their mindset and feelings. She'd play into Adrien's dabbling and enjoyment of acting, and help him realize that acting may be a path he'd want to do. She'd work at gently brightening that inner flame, let his inner self come out more, have him joke and play around even as a civilian. And for his want of freedom and independence, if his father won't talk with him or ease up, Trixx will help Adrien rebel, to achieve what he desires, how to outsmart his father and how to combat his unreasonable rules.

By elemental placement, Adrien is viable with Butterfly and Cat, though they aren't the best matches either by powers or kwamis. It's not impossible for Adrien to wind up good with them, but there will either be a learning curve or something needs to be adjusted with the kwamis.

Butterfly has more issues power wise. The potential is there, Adrien is shown he's good talking with people one on one, he can lift them up when they need him to; the big issue though is Adrien has a mentality of how he wants things to go, and he will shut down another's feelings to achieve that, and it's not a good trait for a Butterfly to have when they need to make a champion. He'd have to work on his empathy and awareness. Astral projection I can see him enjoying as it does give absolute freedom, traveling freely as a spirit, and I can see him making use of all the abilities; with the ability to possess, it can also be his means to be on the front lines like he desires. And making minor changes to the world around I can see being doable, he would use it to change moods and to break free of any locks his father puts around him. Butterfly over all though does clash against how Adrien likes to be as he likes to be in the front lines, and this Miraculous is designed to be a more long range support. He'd have to learn to roll with the long range or deal with being in tight spots.

Nooroo would be a kwami Adrien would listen to as he'd immediately involve himself and do what he can to help Adrien grow, and Adrien would get along with the sweet and gentle kwami. Nooroo would toe the line between Tikki and Trixx, giving a direction for Adrien to possible go but leaving it up to him to decide, try to help Adrien make his own choices and learn some leadership qualities and how to help others. Nooroo would also work on trying to build up that empathy and awareness of others, help Adrien be more of a social butterfly. In spite of Adrien largely listening to Nooroo, given his more fiery temper that does come up, there will be times Nooroo's words will be ignored as Adrien gets caught up with himself, which Nooroo will understand and know that this feeling Adrien will need to burn through before the kwami can truly work with him.

Cat power wise is more up Adrien's alley between the two viable, being doable as a front lines fighter, though it is meant to be a more stealthy combative (playing off that cats prefer to be ambush predators). The power of destruction is something Adrien, over all, has used well, and has known how to utilize it, the biggest issue is he can be reckless or emotional in it's use (destroying things out of anger, recklessly killing Aeon or attempting to murder Scarabella), so its a power that should've been cautiously shared with him. Traveling through shadows is something Adrien would have a lot of fun and intrigue with, and would help develop Adrien as an ambush fighter, catching enemies by surprise. And summoning shades could be a mix bag as Adrien does need to be a leader and give direction to those shades, otherwise they'll take things into their own claws, but depending on the shades, they can offer some good mentorship and guidance that he does need.

Plagg is really the biggest issue with Adrien having Cat, as Adrien is someone who needs a kwami who's going to be at least a little direct and involved with him, setting themselves up as someone he can listen to and take seriously when there's an issue. Plagg though is a kwami who doesn't like to be a teacher, he likes consequences of your own actions to be a good teacher. It's to a point that when Plagg feels, "ok, I need to say something", it falls on deaf ears. Plagg is also a kwami who will not work on social skills or empathy growth, nor will he work on developing that sense of duty and responsibility, if anything he's supposed to counter that (as most Metal personalities are over diligent and dutiful), and Plagg will urge being more self-prioritizing, which Adrien does need on some level, but Adrien is also already self-prioritizing, so Plagg can feed into to the point of selfishness and entitlement. The biggest appeal Plagg brings is Adrien's want for independence and freedom, and bringing some chaos to his mundane life, but this is something Adrien already does on his own and doesn't exactly need Plagg for it (Origins Part 1 and Gorizilla for example). Adrien and Plagg are not an impossible pair, but Plagg will need to realize he needs to step up and adjust for Adrien to improve and grow.

By elemental placement, Peafowl is the subpar match for Adrien, both in powers and in kwami. It would take a lot of work on Adrien's part to actually use the power well, and effort and adjustment between him and Duusu to become a good pair.

Peafowl with all it's time powers requires strategy, opportunity, maturity, patience, timing, intuition, high perception, and being smart and calculative with it. It's doesn't have a power to use recklessly. And a lot of the requirements that Adrien lacks or clashes with. In spite of canon's insistence of giving Adrien time related Miraculous, it's just not a good match. It's not impossible as there are a few examples of him being doable with time powers, but we also have 2000+ times of him being selfish and reckless with the power of resetting time. Selectively rewinding power could be doable, but you do have to be smart about what you're rewinding, and it has to be perfectly timed, Adrien though is not known to really have that patience, and playing into him being more reactive than active, this power would be used more in response to what's in front of him than used more cleverly and diversely. Pausing time would give Adrien the most flexibility in doing what he needs to, but this also requires having faith that he will get done what needs to get done, as it's a once per transformation power. Given Adrien typically doesn't take powers as seriously as he should, chances are good those five minutes wind up wasted more often than not. The other big factor that will make this hard for Adrien is that, despite the ironically flashy animal, this power does not get as much attention in fights, and Kuro Neko proves Adrien is someone who does require and need attention, and struggles to share it. Nor is this Miraculous entirely suited to be a front lines fighter, it can toe the battlefield, but can't be too directly involved. That will be another thing Adrien will struggle against.

Duusu is unideal as, like Plagg, she can set herself up as a kwami Adrien doesn't have listen to/take seriously whenever she calls something out, as Duusu can be incredibly animated and emotional, even if she's very engaging, it doesn't set herself up as someone Adrien should listen to, but can set her up as a friend. A friend Adrien will selectively listen to and hear what he wants to hear. Which he will hear a lot of from Duusu. As Duusu is meant to work off Water personalities that are withdrawn and put limits on themselves and can over think and stress themselves, she likes to encourage vibrancy, to let their colors show, go for what they want, don't be afraid of what may happen. And that will be applied to Adrien, which on some level he does need, especially with his father; but Duusu's advise and urging can make his bad behaviors worse, feeding into his wants to a point he can get more selfish. And being a big romantic who thinks, yes, impress the one you desire and woo them, this can also make Adrien's means of pursuing his crush even worse. And while peafowls are sociable, they do aim to stand out and have high standards, so Duusu also wouldn't work on Adrien's social skills and try to improve his relations with others. Duusu would need a lot more self control if she was to help Adrien grow.

[trash-can-sam]

What if they were birds. Did anyone ever think of that.

Reasons I made them the birds I did (any discussion on symbolism is done with very surface level research, if I got something wrong I apologize):

Daniil: Fish Crow- I knew I wanted him to be some type of Corvid (because smart and cunning yk) but I settled specifically on fish crow because they’re smaller than the American crow and a lot smaller than a Raven. They also look really funny when upset.

Crows also tend to symbolize death and misfortune while at the same time symbolizing intelligence and loyalty, being good and bad omens, and I feel like that describes Daniils place pretty well yk. I did give him a bag just because I thought it would be funny and suitably pretentious like of course he’d do something no other bird is doing by carrying around a small bag everywhere like ofc he’d do that. Im not sure if any birds will use separate carrying containers but to my knowledge they don’t.

Artemy: Broad Winged Hawk- I’m going to be completely honest and say I just wanted artemy to be a big bird who’s also pretty threatening and cool, so I looked at a bunch of hawks and the broad winged hawk just fit his vibe the best. From what I gather, Hawks also have strong spiritual significance in multiple cultures and often symbolize determination, fitting for artemy. Also there is nothing cooler than seeing a hawk just sitting somewhere, always kind of like they’re looking over the land if you get what I mean, to which Artemy has a similar sort of purpose.

Clara- Black billed Magpie- Magpies have pretty positive connotations in many cultures, representing luck and fortune as well as mischief. In Ancient Rome, they represented magic and fortune telling. However, because of Christianity, it also became a bad omen, associated with thievery and death, and referring to someone as a magpie typically carries a negative connotation. This sort of strong meaning in both positive and negative as well as the association with magic is very Clara I feel. As juveniles, (which I drew Clara as for obvious reasons) their feathers don’t have the blue-green type sheen of an adult and their eyes are less dark, showing up as blue, grey, or violet, I also thought this would be a pretty cool, kind of mystical type of thing. I wanted to give her a beanie so bad but there was 0 way I could rationalize it because it would definetly just fall off so I just stuck to a scarf type thing.

[frost-felon]

The timeskips issue has never been a recent one. The pitfalls of the numerous timeskips in the beginning of the story (Yuji being enrolled in JJH and picking up Nobara in June -> July's suicide mission + meeting the upperclassmen & Kyoto Kids -> August seemingly being skipped outright -> Junpei Arc in September¹, and pretty much everything before Shibuya needing to happen in September or October) have affected the character and relationship growth since the get-go.

I love the tenderness and consoling conviction from Yuji in this scene, but at this point, he's only known Nanami for a few days, and been 'dead' for somewhere between a month and a month and a week or two. So he'd really only known Megumi for like, a month, tops. He'd known Nobara for maybe a couple of weeks. It's unclear how long he'd known Ijichi for, but on-and-off through July, probably...most of these times are guesses, and due to the timeskips, I can't be sure how well or how little Yuji got to known all of these people during the times he could have. Gojo, his longest relationship out of the five he was thinking of, tends to get infrequent and small references to what he did or didn't teach Yuji at various times. There's another moment shortly before this page where Yuji thinks back to a scene we never saw², wherein Gojo apparently taught Yuji how to fight Shikigami users ("When fighting Shikigami Users...go for the User themselves.") But ultimately, the audience hasn't been able to spend more than a few moments' times to get an understanding of Yuji's attachments and his faith in the people he relies on. Nanami gets the most here (Junpei Arc, Chapter 26) since this was the arc he was introduced in, and has been closely mentoring Yuji, but as mentioned, this entire arc takes place in a small timeframe. As a result, the believability of these relationships can easily be called into question, and this scene didn't hit me as hard as it should have.

Culling Games has a similar issue with believability in character dynamics and pacing, largely caused by the frequent timeskips forcing arcs immediately after Shibuya to cram as much as they can into short timeframes. Junpei Arc can get away with this more due to its early placement in the story, but the cracks had been visible well into this arc and even beforehand.

In a very twisted way, the post-unsealing timeskip, from mid-November (somewhere around/after November 16th; EDIT, it's November 19th³) to December 24th, is not particularly unique, though it is one of the largest timeskips (that I can positively identify through information in the manga's pages), possibly only behind the mid-July (?) to September skip. I've mentioned it before, though, that JJK simply could not handle another timeskip of a similar magnitude (or one exceeding, perhaps, a week). This mainly comes down to the bloating of the cast and status quo changes in the Perfect Preparation Arc, the Culling Games Arc, and the aftermath of 212 through 221.

I really wish I could have appreciated his scene more, since it's lovely and well-executed in-of-itself. But since it relies on the preceding groundwork, the shaky foundation undermines an otherwise knockout scene.

¹I am here in my reread, so I'm a little fuzzy on any timeskips after this point.

²Using flashbacks to show the audience new scenes can be effective, but this method gets overused in JJK to fill in gaps caused by not devoting enough time to character-building and cast downtime.

³GUESS WHO FORGOT ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT PANELS IN 221 EXPLICITLY CLARIFYING THE DATE? Blegh, I'll have to be more careful when I eventually fully reread--I have only gone through most 146+ chapters once. Anyways, the panels:

This also means that the full extent of the timeskip ran between 34 and 35 days, depending on if you're counting December 24th or not (this is not counting November 19th itself).

[sisterdivinium]

It might appear somewhat essentialist at first if used to examine real, breathing human beings, but Carol Gilligan's "Images of relationship" can provide an interesting framework with which to understand certain facets of Warrior Nun. More so when coupled with David Hayter's comment on how the show's "women are always right and the men are always kind of screwing things up," for her article, dealing in systems of moral understanding, might point us towards the reasons behind this openly admitted narrative "bias".

In a nutshell, Gilligan observes the different strategies by which boys and girls seem to resolve moral dilemmas, deviating from traditional interpretation. This is because, Rosemarie Tong reminds us, "Gilligan challenged the Freudian notion that men have a well-developed sense of justice — a sense of morality — whereas women do not". By looking beyond these hurried and prejudiced conclusions of (male) researchers before her, she "argued instead that men and women have different conceptions of morality, each equally coherent and developed and equally valid". She bases this idea, then, on those resolution strategies that were found to consist of, for boys, a tendency to see the moral dilemma as "sort of like a math problem with humans", while the girls were more inclined to view it as "a narrative of relationships that extends over time" — so if boys seemed "logical" through their impersonal abstraction of a situation, invoking concepts similar to those of law and justice, the girls were more likely to follow a different, "personal" logic, through "an awareness of the connections between people", identifying "a web of relationships that is sustained by a process of communication".

Where this all intersects with Warrior Nun is that the male and female characters seemingly display these same propensities of moral judgment.

If we start with the men, we will quickly see that they are all caught up in their own abstract systems, prone to grand ideas and concepts while detached from the world and the valuable human bonds that make it up, just as Vincent sees the quest for a hypothetical "better world" as more important than the life of a very real, concrete woman he claims to love. Mr. Hayter himself, in the same interview conceded during the OCS Conclave of June 3rd, mentions how father Vincent and cardinal William are irresistibly attracted to the notion of power: "here's this guy who can do godlike things, so why wouldn't I follow him, you know? ... We gotta have some power ... that we bow down to or whatever". This is how he transmits a glimpse into these characters' psyches and we could safely argue that this behaviour and thought pattern extends to the rest of the men in the show, including Duretti, Kristian, Adriel and even Michael Salvius.

Whether these men mask their fascination with power through other words or not, theirs is a cause which easily calls for violence and a willingness to kill or die for it.

Earthly power inspires Francesco Duretti to have the current halo bearer killed if need be as he attempts to consolidate his bid on the Holy See; Kristian Schaefer would sacrifice the world as readily as he does his old acquaintance Duretti in the name of this power that lay entombed for a thousand years but communicated through the voice of a sick little boy; cardinal William Foster is inebriated with the idea of being a new god's right-hand man, so he brutally slaughters his colleagues to buy himself a place at Adriel's table, even if that means getting no more than his master's crumbs; father Vincent is so eager to find someone or something powerful enough to take the burden of "his darkness" from atop his shoulders that he convinces himself of there being divinity in the parlour tricks of a manipulator, killing a symbolic daughter in this trickster's name; Adriel would bleed humanity dry without a second thought all the while claiming to save it in draining its belief for the benefit of his own megalomania; finally, Michael subjects himself to the will and authority of Reya, whom he claims to be "unimaginably powerful".

Of course the women of Warrior Nun are mostly all ready to lay down their lives for their own cause as well, or else we wouldn't have their iconic motto of "in this life or the next", but the motivation behind it is what sets the men and the women wholly apart here. If the former are intoxicated by the concept of power, the latter are embedded in a family of sorts, in a dense network of relationships that they can identify with some ease, and which informs their decisions and actions more than just dogma or theory.

Most if not all of the female characters struggle between two different stances: one is an offshoot of the males' abstract organisation of the world, while the other is a more "hands-on", "organic" order; between "duty", or what is said to be their duty, and that which their own perception reveals, their "personal" logic by which the "self [is] delineated through connection", seeing one another as actual sisters instead of mere pieces upon the church's chess board. We see the dilemma take place within Beatrice, Camila, Lilith and Mother Superion, who are all faced with a choice of sticking to their place in a well-defined (artificial, abstract) structure or valuing instead the human connections all around them and that stand in opposition to this man-made categorisation of life.

And, one by one, they take the side of that one character who seems to have kept her lucidity and fidelity to her own understanding through it all: Mary.

Mary never lost sight of her priorities. Her focus on friends and sisters illustrates Gilligan's point rather well when she is the only one who insists on understanding what happened to Shannon all the while the OCS is made to concentrate its energies on the halo instead. Of course it blinds her to Vincent's betrayal, but that is his fault more than it is hers; her moral compass points at the right direction for the most part.

And, each at their turn, the nuns adopt (rediscover?) this same mode of thought. Beatrice's efficient, obedient soldier façade crumbles beneath the urgency of siding with Mary rather than following the arbitrary decision of some man invested with the power of an institution; Camila outright admits wanting to be kicked out of the church just so she can stay near to the people who represent her allegiance more than liturgy itself ever could; Lilith literally travels to hell and back to rejoin her sisters, regardless of how her subsequent mutations upset her loyalty later on; Mother Superion sheds her prominence within hierarchy, risking it all, by standing with "her girls". Even Ava, an outsider with no ties to the church but who so desperately wanted to "live", trades a vague, abstract notion of what "life" and "freedom" entail for the very definite, tangible reality of the family this group of women becomes for her.

Another outsider equally stuck between "bodiless" logic and the reality of human connection around her, Jillian Salvius, too, falters before choosing her side when faced with these two points of view: that of "pure" reasoning and that informed by the consciousness of surrounding relationships. Her quest for "knowledge" is not sufficiently strong so as to potentially sacrifice someone in her inner circle. Season one has her holding young Michael back from stepping into the machine she herself had created for this purpose when concern overrides calculation; season two gives us a powerful scene where she is tempted by Kristian into joining Adriel's ranks as he claims she is already a part of it all and dangles before her the forbidden fruit of the world's hidden laws, the elusive answers the scientist in her has always searched for. He tries to hook her in by simultaneously appealing to her intellectual interests as well as her understanding of the web of relationships when he claims she is another link in the chain that leads to Adriel...

And Jillian refuses him.

Kristian would never convince her of already being within this specific network of relationships because he was the one to rupture it first.

To these women, unlike the men, it's not about ideas — or, rather, about rationalisations, given how their interpretation of what is logical or reasonable is more than open to inquiry. To these women, it's not about loud, large but empty words vulnerable to tampering and shifting meanings; it's not about power.

It's about people.

Rosemarie Tong says "Gilligan believed that women's moral development takes her from an egocentric, or selfish position to an overly altruistic, or self-sacrificing position and, finally, to a self-with-others position in which her interests count as much as anyone else's" — and this seems to describe perfectly well the inner trajectory that these characters follow. We see traces of the selfish in Ava, Jillian and Lilith, as well as of the self-sacrificial in Beatrice or Suzanne, but they all appear to converge on this path towards constructing a "self-with-others" whereby they are all individuals inextricably tied to one another — and aware of it, acting accordingly. A sisterhood, a direct sisterhood that supersedes the very church structure which facilitated it to begin with.

Of course Warrior Nun is too intricately built to allow itself to be so smoothly explained; if Carol Gilligan provides a framework that helps us to identify what is so positive and deserving of attention in the female characters' attitudes as championed by one of the show's own writers, it also falls short on other points and her propositions can then be questioned by the show in turn.

We need but a few examples.

If Jillian Salvius values the significance of association with others more than she does a cold, distant overview of things (the latter being the stereotypical scientist attitude), then how is it that she seems so prepared to immolate Lilith at the altar of curiosity? One relationship takes precedence over the other, yes, and we cannot compare the love for a son to whatever affection or respect there is for anyone else, but the nature of Jillian's experimentation with Lilith, had it gone forward, is quite brutal even for the sake of a debilitated child. Jillian's stance is understandable, but this "self-with-others" thing isn't as clear-cut as we might think.

Lilith herself oscillates between those three positions of moral development described by Gilligan, going from selfish to "connected" by the end of season one, but ending season two in almost complete isolation, with only a hint towards her previous place in a web of sisters as she aids Beatrice in getting Ava to the ark... Shortly after having dug her claws into the warrior nun's flesh.

But perhaps Lilith is a more special case than we realise at first. Our early childhood experiences define much of our character, after all, and the words we use have a bearing on how we view and reconstruct the world in our discourse; Lilith's understanding of the relationships between people, of "family", probably doesn't reflect that of her sisters given the ill-treatment she must have received from her relatives. If one's primary web of relationships is so tainted, what model can it ultimately provide for later connections? Just as Ava's mistrust for nuns is justified by her previous, negative experiences at their hands, Lilith's experience with intimate or familial bonds surely affects her maturing sense of being linked to other people. If family is a positive value for Ava and Mary, for example, it cannot boast of the same meaning for Lilith, whose family is a source of stress and misunderstanding rather than a harbour of love.

The treatment she has received might have corrupted her grounds for moral judgment by communal lenses in a way Beatrice's rejection by her own parents did not, leaving Lilith adrift as long as she does not somehow attempt to re-signify what human connection ultimately means. To Lilith, as of yet, the web of relationships she necessarily belongs to mirrors the initial disposition she was brought up in, as a hierarchical structure where every link is tainted by the stench of power and domination — the OCS is a family much like her own... Where orders are given and meant to be obeyed.

We cannot know for certain what it is that she sees or feels after Adriel "unlocks" her wraith-vision, but there is something peculiar in how, reflecting this idea of abstract versus material views of the world we've been discussing, Lilith claims to see reality when she casts her eyes upon the nebulous demonic figures only few others can see. In her opposing traits are mixed, delivering a strange synthesis we cannot quite make out yet and making Lilith a hybrid both in body and in thought.

And while this fact alone seems to interrogate David Hayter's comment about how the women in the show tend to be correct, we can further complicate the statement by glancing at Reya.

There is frightfully little we know of her, but a lot of the information we do have is conflicting: Reya is unimaginably powerful, yet needs to manipulate two young people to do her bidding for her in fighting Adriel; her predictions are "meant to be" yet do not manifest in the way they were said to; she is described as some sort of benefactor by taking Michael in, but she sticks a bomb into his chest and the very sight of her sends him reeling; she is, as far as we know, a woman, yet she might very well be at odds with the other women we see in the show. How, then, are the women always right?

Perhaps they are so when following their conscience as guided by their understanding of community and sisterhood, when belonging to a network of relationships and acknowledging it. That would exclude a murderous sister Frances, a confused Lilith and a mysterious, distant Reya from the definition.

In this sense, then, even if the characters are not static or simple, even if they waver between the moral positions suggested by Gilligan and which do not seem all that definite to begin with, her text is still enlightening as relates to why the women are, "word of God", the moral touchstone of Warrior Nun.

Having been robbed of further development of the story and universe for the time being, however, precisely because of an abstracting, impersonal corporate logic that sees only numbers where there should be people and the wonderful effect this show has had on them, there is only so much we can conjecture on this subject...

[casamatsu]

Ok now that I’m thinking about this - emotional intelligence of ososan brothers greatest to least:

Ichimatsu - As seen in the movie, 18ichi is very socially adept and capable but drains super quickly from intense social activity. Possible social anxiety as consequence of/part of inability to regulate affective empathy and sensory input. But because he’s attuned to what people want, he is also attuned to what they DO NOT desire. Thus, to prevent others from coming close and spurring on his anxiety, he crafts a persona of someone disgusting and evil - the “unburnable trash”. In reality, however, this persona crumbles quickly at the slightest pushback due to his emotional depth. (This also ties in to a pet theory that he isn’t ACTUALLY sadosexual and only performs faux-sadism on those he isn’t attracted to, because an actual intimate encounter would probably paralyze him)

Todomatsu - Nicknamed a “dry monster” for his ability to perform self-service with a smile, Totty is matched with Ichi on cognitive and affective empathy, but I think he’s pretty low on self concept and introspection. Not as low as karamatsu but he seems to have no clear idea of what he truly wants; he has just been able to craft a public-pleasing persona with far more success. I believe personally Totty is the most intelligent of the brothers and everything he does is 4D chess for an ultimate end goal (the episode Todomatsu’s Line really solidified that for me). But, I think he subconsciously sets up the pieces for his own downfall too. While he wants to move past cherry-NEET-dom, he still wants to be part of the family and wants to be the little, cute brother. Like in The Letter, he knew he couldn’t win against Oso (I think at some point he says “I only fight battles I can win”) but he still hit him anyway, so they would fight, and he would have a reason to be kicked out of the nest. He wants to do life on his own terms, but is terminally afraid of the control he will gain, even if he isn’t aware of it consciously. He simultaneously has the other side’s king in check yet will back out at the last moment and provide an out just to avoid the fear of being alone with power. Also, if he figured out he wasn’t cishet I think a lot of his problems would be solved.

Jyushimatsu - Jyushi is used interchangeably as a force of nature and an actual human character, so he’s hard to place. But, based on his relationship with homura and his apprentice, I’d say he’s able to tap into what people want with natural talent. However, it’s hard to gauge how much of it is true intent and how much is instinctual and luck, so I’d put him square in the middle. Probably closer to Totty than Oso.

Osomatsu - Probably the most nuanced of them all, yet also the one with the least introspection. I think he has an inkling of expectations, but doesn’t desire to fulfill them. We already know from the episodes centered on him he fears lack of identity. He’s totty’s foil - he relinquishes control from the onset because he knows actively leading the pack will turn them back into who they were as grade schoolers: the Matsuno amalgam whose only bit was unified chaos. He wants a sense of self and purpose, and crafts that by falling into hedonism. The prototypical social leech. But he isn’t. We see him when he stands up to Totoko in The Cutie Next Door. We see it in how his boisterous and crude ways win over the girls at the mixer. We even see it in The Letter when he has a break down over his abandonment. He is not just an empty vessel to be filled: he’s a guy with deep wants and desires past the immediate, but he’s afraid to confront them and take charge of his life as it’s all he’s known. It’s all he’s been expected to do. In this way he is Choro’s foil: he’s perfectly aware of society’s expectations of him, but he doesn’t know enough about himself to try to be something more ACTIVELY. We just get a drip feed of the Oso under the curtain.

Choromatsu - He tries to fit the social role that has been idealized for him, and in some ways he succeeds. Very much the tsukkomi dreaming to be a white collar worker. However, he very much wears the NEET side of him loud and proud to an oblivious degree. He’s very open about his desires and seedy interests. Chronic masterbation too. Like for as much as he wants to be seen as a well adjusted adult, he has no qualms about smashing that into the dirt over idol pics or panties. I think how Choromatsu Rising ended summed it up best: he’s playing the facade of an adjusted individual like a child would play office worker with cardboard. He’s too emotionally thick to get that he’s seen as a weirdo and refuses to accept it. He also wasn’t aware enough to tell his hair was poopie brown until he was berated about it by his crush so … 🤨

Karamatsu - The emotional sack of rocks! Absolutely no idea of any personalities inside or out. 0 empathy forever. Probably has some form of CEN that developed into a personality disorder BUT ITS OK!!! YOU ARE LOVED!! He is the definition of a people pleaser to martyrdom because he has no idea what else will drive people’s attention to him. But at the same time, he doesn’t feel deeply hurt and doesn’t ruminate on getting left behind - heh, he’s the second oldest after all! No time for that! He needs to take care of everyone all the time because that’s the only way he’ll truly understand others are happy around him, even to his detriment. He constantly tries to imitate the cool characters he sees on TV and comics, tries to walk, talk, and act like others do, but without a sense of why or internal purpose, it’s all hollow and forced. His heart is all at once too big and too small for his own good and I don’t know how to fix him!!! You’re everyone’s favorite idiot tho so there’s also no need :•)

[the-badger-mole]

I recently saw a post that paired a quote from The Hunger Games: “That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.” With a Zutara vs. Kataang comparison, Zuko being the Gale in this quote and Aang being the Peeta. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this take.

I never got into the Hunger Games series, so comparing Aang and Zuko to Peeta and Gale is not something I'm prepared to do. I will, however, say that anyone who thought Zuko was full of rage and hatred missed the point of his character. Way back in season 1, it was made clear that he was naturally compassionate and caring, but abuse left him scared, confused, and yes, angry, but his entire arc was learning that he didn't need to rely on negativity to be strong, and in the end his passion, compassion and empathy made him stronger than he'd ever been before.

Aang, on the other hand, was less hopeful and more just completely oblivious. He never really had a moment of acknowledging the weight of the war, how it affected people around him, and what it would take to end it (actual planning and consideration, and not just hoping everything would turn out okay in the end). I assume Peeta was at least aware of the messed up-ness of what was happening around them. Aang can't even properly empathize with Katara's loss of both of her parents to the war. He was only a symbol of hope as the Avatar, not the source of it. Katara was the real source of hope. She didn't need Aang to teach her how to hope because hope and a strong desire for justice is what fueled her through the entire series. She carried the banner of hope for all of her friends, even Aang.

So I guess, having only a glancing knowledge of Hunger Games and the personalities of the main characters and the dynamics of those ships, I'd say that Zutara is Katniss and Peeta, but Zuko is Katniss and Katara is Peeta. Mostly, though, any comparisons are pretty arbitrary to me. I love Zuko and Katara because they are Zuko and Katara. Those are the characters that drew me into the story and left a deep impression on me.

[eerna]

the worst part of TFOTA is how much overlap it has with the SJM fandom

[miraculous-pyxie]

spoilers for the newest episode but i think i finally figured out my issue with the Adrien being a senti thing and maybe why other people dislike it as well. (this is not slander i promise i love adrien and i want the best for him.) (ps this is also unedited so read at your own risk)

Adrien presents himself in public as someone who is incapable of flaw and that’s the point of his civilization appearance and duality of his hero identity. I take no issue with Chat Noir being a senti yet i take issue with Adrien. But why? they are the same person! i’m going to explain why this is and i think many others feel this way too.

1. Adrien’s civilian identity of perfection makes it harder to see him as a person and not just a character. He feels flat this late into the series. (THIS IS NOT SLANDER LET ME EXPLAIN)

This may be intentional for the future for the other characters perception of Adrien in later seasons but for the audience it should not be this hard. He is technically a main character and i think we don’t hear enough from him internally. We never hear his thoughts. We hear Chat noir having his own dialogue about himself but never Adrien (i’ll get to that next). We had that heartbreaking scene in wishmaker where Adrien only wanted what his parents wanted for him but i feel that we didn’t get elaborate enough point of view from him. i wanted him to explain more of what that meant for him!! was he sad about that? happy? angry? we never hear his opinions of himself and just because he’s a senti doesn’t mean he can’t think critically of himself. (if the writers say otherwise that just feels like bad writing)

2. the gap between Adrien and Chat Noir feels too wide.

As the show progressed i hoped that we would begin to see how Adrien and Chat Noir and Marinette and Ladybug’s personas would blend together. My favorite scene was in risk was Adrien FINALLY speaking his mind (in front of someone he cares about!!) that’s huge!! i loved that!! i wish they kept this up in season 5 more and we had more scenes where adrien tries to wrestle for control. i feel that would have greatly benefitted his character. I wish we had more personality overlap. and example of this is as him and marinette started getting closer in season 5 he’d start letting his guard down around her and letting more of the chat noir side of his personality through. i’ve talked about Adrien being the embodiment of perfection and that is intentional from a writing perspective. his counterbalance is being chat noir and chat noir feels very human, real and tangible. He feels like a teenage boy who is in love, and that’s why the chat noir persona is a fan favorite. he feels very real and that’s why I’m ok with Chat being a senti.  if I had learned, Adrien was senti in season one i would have been a lot more on board.

moving away from the story and on to some technical gripes starting with my biggest and most polarizing opinion… 

3. I think that Adrien being a senti was added retroactively and it was intended to be a plot twist.

now this is just a theory but listen to where I’m coming from. this isn’t a bad thing necessarily I just feel like when they executed this idea, season one was already being aired on tv. if you take a look at Adrien’s character in s1 vs s4, you can see that Adrien‘s general demeanor is looser and more fluid between both of his identities compared to when we get in the later seasons. Adrien with other people, Chat Noir, and Adrien alone, fit pretty cohesively in my opinion in s1. in s5, Adrien very much feels like a husk of the person we knew before. The fear of fighting back has now fully taken over him, but where did it come from? You can push all you want that it was Gabriel taking more control over Adrien in later seasons and sure, but why didn’t we see that as an audience sooner?

Now let’s play devils advocate and suggest that Adrien being a senti was not a retroactive decision: if it was, I wish we saw Adrien pushing Gabriel more. somewhere in the season 3-4 timeframe, Adrien begin to get scared of fighting back. and in season five you can see this fully as he is now completely scared to fight back when, in the very first episode, the idea of fighting back against his father seemed more of an annoyance than a full-blown fear. I wish we saw what made Adrien so scared because it feels like it appeared out of nowhere.  we don’t get much room to work with him as a character and see his perspective.

And now the plot twist point. we’ve definitely been getting clues because this theory is not a new one by far however, in the fandom a couple years ago, it was definitely a far-fetched theory at the time. for a characterization point for the main character, such a crucial piece of information about his very existence, should not have been held for that long.  That should’ve been something maybe revealed to the audience in season three. and revealed to the characters at the end of season five or something like that. 

Adrien losing that fluid dynamic essence from season one really made it feel like we lost him as a character  somewhere along the way and that is what I don’t like about it. I don’t like that Adrien‘s whole personality has been reduced to him being senti. all of his character arcs and progression is only expressed through chat noir, and none of it through Adrien himself.  

One last thing I wanted to add was Mayra didn’t sense that Chat Noir was a senti when she was active. That’s been a little thing that’s been bugging me because Felix clearly picked up on the fact that Kagami’s a senti. and you could counter that by saying oh, it’s because the miraculous was broken! and sure we could say that but from a writing standpoint, I don’t like it. it doesn’t fit cleanly with everything else we have.

I say all this out of love for the show I’ve been a fan for 7 years. I also say this out of love for Adrien because I want the best for all these kids, even Lila and Chloe.  these are mostly things I just wanted to get out there and please do correct me if I’m wrong, I love hearing other peoples opinions! i’m due for a rewatch of the show anyway so I wrote this all from memory .

[temporalbystander]

Okay I know I said I took a break but this popped into my head and now I'm irrationally grumpy and you lot have to deal with it. We are going to talk about why I hate Alya. Not in the "why her and Faybon don't get along" way like I did in the bio or that one story, or why I was personally angry in the ways my Miraculous senpai sorted out. No, we are going to go over why I hate Alya as a plot device. Full description and salt under the cut.

Now what do I mean by Alya as a plot device? Well, as any writer will tell you a character is there to move the plot forward. Most things in the story are there to move the story forward. It might be the characters personal story that we find more about, it might be part of a side or overarching plot, or if might just be little details that end up making you realise "wait it's been sunny for how long? No wonder they're always sweating it's a heatwave." Or something else like that.

Alya has the role of "Main character best friend." In most shows this would mark her as the sidekick or the emotional support or something like that and while she does do that, and do it well don't get me wrong, she also has other roles in the story that run counterintuitive to her best friend role.

See Alya has two other roles in the story, the journalist always trying to get the scoop and what I like to call the big sister role. Now this role is a little less of a hard stereotype/cliche but I think once I start describing it you'll understand what I mean and how it fits Alya.

The big sister role (as I call it) is somebody close to the main character (check) cares deeply for the main character (check again) is always pushing the main character to do more and be better (check) but is so busy with her own life they doesn't really know what the main character likes or does during their spare time. Or does and just sees it as a simple little hobby that's not a big deal and that they should be doing something more important.

Now that last one might confuse some of you. Alya knows what a big deal being Ladybug is, she knows how stressed Marinette gets over being the guardian and looking after the kwamis but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking specifically about Darkblade and being the class president where Alya says she's too busy running the ladyblog to do it but that all Marinette does is sleep. Now normally this would just be seen as a joke regarding why Marinette is always late to class and that would be it. But that's not what we've seen. Keep in mind that by this point both Mr Pigeon and Timebreaker have aired. In Mr Pigeon we see that Marinette spends a lot of time designing, her sketchbook is filled with with hats in multiple styles, and the effort she takes to make the hat is time consuming as well, considering Alya was Marinette's partner on this project, not that I can recall what she did? She should know this. Then we have Timebreaker. An episode that shows us that, not only did Marinette work on a banner for her friend but that she has responsibilities in the bakery that may prevent her from hanging out with her friends in general.

And if you say Timebreaker comes after Darkblade in production order and shouldn't count? (Please say it, it makes this next part so satisfying) Then here's my counterpoint. Darkblade is 114 in production order, Timebreaker is 116. Now while you could argue these are close enough that Marinette should either be working on the banner or is at least aware of the order she needs to be in the bakery for? That's not my point. You want to know what episode 113 is? Animan. Alya has the perfect excuse to bring up her new relationship with Nino as a reasoning for why she can't be class president, but she doesn't. Worse still, want to know what other episodes take place before Darkblade in the production order? Pixelator and Gamer. So, going by that order not only is Marinette working on her designs (and potentially making them I can't remember if we've been shown her chest of gifts for Adrien by this point) but there's also the potential work of Jagged Stone and all the times she spends playing enough videogames with her family that she's a blooming master at it. Pick your poison, either way there's a lot more on Marinette's plate then Alya's... Speaking of which.

Alya as a journalist. Now the journalist character typically falls into one of two types. Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen. They are either the hardworking reporter who will do anything for a scoop, is determined to crack open any secret, and often finds themselves in danger or... They're the bumbling but means well reporter who is willing to do anything for the scoop of a century, wants the juiciest secret no matter the cost and often finds themselves in danger. Alya falls into both of these depending on what the story needs but I'd say she ends up more as Jimmy Olsen.

Alya has one main focus as a journalist for all of season 1. Figuring out Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identity, something we know for a fact she doesn't really give up on finding out until she has to keep her own secret as Rena Rouge in season 2. It's why Marinette drags her to the museum in Pharaoh, its why she gets akumatised into lady wifi (now I'm not going to call out the stupidity of thinking Chloe is Ladybug here, everyone gets hit with the stupid stick at some point in this show, it's just more obvious when it's the investigator that gets hit by it.) and as I mentioned she says that if she knows she'll be able to help Ladybug out. Now this does eventually become true however it's not until much later, by the time Alya says this she's been kidnapped twice, gotten akumatised, been used as a puppet and mind controlled however many times. By this point in the show it's been well established that even if you're not akumatised that doesn't mean your safe from exposing your secrets. Anyone knowing their identities without protection is a liability. But Alya doesn't get that... Yet. Which, yeah great character development but is not the point of my ramble.

Alya as a best friend. Now I'm not going to sit here and say Alya is a bad friend. I've done that, I've grown up. I could probably write a dozen ways to twist Alya into a terrible person by framing things in a certain way. I won't. Alya makes a good sidekick to Marinette and is great emotional support when Tikki isn't enough to snap the poor girl out of her spiral. She makes a good best friend character.... Until it conflicts with her other two roles.

Now the problem with a show like Miraculous is that there are so many characters the show could focus on however, aside from their time just before getting akumatised we mainly stick with Marinette. This means we only see how characters interact with her and don't know if the way they are is just how they are or if they are different with other people. Now Alya, as the best friend, is the character we see interact most with Marinette aside from Tikki and Chat Noir. As such we have to assume the way Alya acts with her is the way she acts with all her friends which, thanks to the conflicts I've mentioned, would come off as dismissive. And pretty nosy too but that's not what Im focusing on.

Marinette and Alya have three main talking points before she gets let in on the secret. Adrien, the ladyblog, and school. Of those three the only topic Alya has a right to doubt Marinette over is Adrien due to her constant catastrophising and inability to act normally. However, whenever Marinette brings up that it's a bad idea to try and look into Ladybugs identity what does Alya do? She ignores her, even going so far as to say "what you think Hawk Moth reads my blog?" Now ignoring the fact that if someone collated all the information about your enemy in one place it would definitely be something you'd be interested, this is also ignoring the fact that her blog gets an insane amount of views and she was even featured on tv. If HawkMoth is in Paris yes it's safe to say he knows about the Ladyblog and if he doesn't? He's guaranteed to akumatise someone who does sooner or later. Heck she even if it's ladybug herself telling her to knock it off so it's clearly an ego thing. (Unsure if ego is the right word but selfish seemed to harsh).

Then we have school and Marinette's relationship to others. The amount of times Alya brings up Adrien whenever Marinette forms an opinion? Chloe "I know she's close to Adrien" ignoring the fact that she saw on her first day that Chloe was a total pain before Adrien even arrived. Lila is the same thing, then you have all the times Marinette does something good she goes "and this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact Adrien will be there would it?" Now yes most (all) of the times she's right but can we just look at that for a moment and see what being a plot device has done to Alya? What type of person does she see Marinette as if the girl cant do anything, good or bad, without it needing to be tied to Adrien in some way? Honestly it's like just because Alya only has the one obsession she works towards at all times (being a journalist not the ladyblog) she thinks nobody else as.

One last thing that has to be brought up whenever someone talks about the stupid stick and characters. Volpina. Now I'm not going to say Alya should have believed Marinette that Lila was lying. Do I believe that if Alya believes Marinette is jealous because of Adrien that there should be at least the possibility of someone being jealous of Marinette for the same reason? Yes. Do I believe that Lila's Akumas being all about illusion and disguise should have raised a flag? Yes. Do I believe that someone should have brought up Lila saying she's not in Paris yet Volpina was during scarlet moth? Yes. Is any of that my problem with Alya in this episode? No.

My problem with Volpina is that Alya, best friend to Marinette, you know the girl she constantly says is always late and has no idea what's going on, the girl she knows is obsessed with Adrien, that Marinette. My problem is that when that Marinette walks into class late, sees an empty spot next to Adrien and that Nino has taken her seat and assumes that Alya, being her best friend, has somehow convinced Miss Bustier to swap their seats? Alya looks at her like she's an idiot, says she didn't do anything, that there's a new person in class and that Marinette is now stuck in the back of the class.

Two things bug me about this. One, the immediate dismissal that this is something she'd do when it sounds like the plot of an episode where Miss Bustier gets reakumatised because Marinette is such a mess next to Adrien that everything goes wrong and Adrien is all depressed because he really though this would be a good opportunity for her to not hate him. Set it after Gorrizilla and you have the perfect recipe for confusion.

The second problem? Why does Marinette need to move? Aside from the plot what logical explanation does it make to kick Marinette out of her seat? The only outcome I can see making sense in universe that doesn't make Alya look like a bad person? Is that Miss Bustier has no idea Alya and Nino are dating.... Or she's trying to set Marinette up with Nathaniel and didn't expect her to take the empty desk. We know she didn't want Nino to sit up the back like he did the year before so that would explain moving him back a spot but that would give him Alya's seat. So then why?