#soilai's labyrinth

[ariadnesweb]

it is canon that:

Noelle would mercilessly grind her Catz to get the right combination, eliminating all Catz that strayed from her path

Noelle has a morbid curiosity, and it gives her the determination to see scary and messed up things, like videogame creepypastas, despite her emotional response to cry and fear

I conclude that:

Noelle could complete an Undertale No Mercy route

Noelle would stream her No Mercy Playthrough and be an instant hit, because everytime someone dies, Noelle spends 5 minutes grieving the person she just killed

[not-ariadnesweb]

Hmmm, Kris and Noelle remind of Link and Zelda.

[ariadnesweb]

Unabashedly love how Deltarune's main cast (Kris, Susie, Noelle, Ralsei) all seem to be based off types of horror monsters, combining very antagonistic/ off-putting personas with the average experience of being an awkward teenager.

There's Kris, the human, who's compared to a shambling corpse, a type of zombie lacking life for itself, bound to the most basic impulses for life, or perhaps a phantom knight, a ghost chasing after a otherwordly, personal liege to die for.

There's Susie, the bully, the gangster, the wild barbaric beast, the 'dark' one in the group, who played her role straight in chapter one, attacking anything in her path for daring to be weaker than her, and even once on the side of good, can't shake her doubts that she stands as a barely contained anti-hero compared to her friends.

Noelle, of course, is the witch & the ghost - both roles brought to the front throughout the course of the Weird Route. The Witch - she is the holder for some of the most destructive magic seen so far, a Knight capable of opening a Dark Fountain. And as the Ghost, Noelle is bound by history's tragedies to repeat them blindly, seeking a sense of closure for her family as it still cannot be found.

Ralsei, as he stands, seems to be some fae-type creature - a darkner that operates on a set of foreign, arbitrary rules - for whom friendship is paid with by acquiescence to said rules. How solid is his friendship? To who is loyalty owed to? We don't know. Neither does Ralsei - he's a shapeshifter, self variable and changing. If there is a price to pay, it will be paid dearly: Ralsei stands as the Prince of Darkners, and his CastleTown is both a hub for our friends, and the prison for our enemies.

There is something sweet about such a ragtag group of weirdoes finding community with each other, a chance to grow-up with friends and allies.

[ariadnesweb]

Chart based off this post, on the juxtaposition of every character in Utena being a variation of the 3 main players: Akio, Utena, & Anthy

Okay SO:

Juri is an Anthy’d Utena – Stoic Prince Lesbian who has marinated WAY too long in how fucked up the world around her is, crushing her emotionally

Shiori is an Utena’d Anthy – Demure Dependent Princess who has no idea what she’s doing and falling for internalized misogyny and comphet

Kozue is an Akio’d Anthy – Adultified Sexualized Younger Sister except this one thinks that No-Basing-Your-Maturity-Off-The-Fact-That-Middle-Schoolers-Don’t-Know-What-Sex-Is is cool, actually

Saionji is an Anthy’d Akio – Controlling & Entitled Swordfighter who is just really desperate to shadow his higher-ranking same-sex counterpart

Miki is an Utena’d Akio – Creepily Childish Older Brother except this one is acting pretty genuinely from his core memories to improve, with the problem that said memories are dramatized for convenience

Touga is an Akio’d Utena – Revolutionary Inspired By Seeing A Person In A Coffin, this one is emulating the more fucked up sexual adult version of the Prince, though

Nanami is smack in the middle of the Utena-Anthy-Akio triangle: She’s a younger abused sister used as a scapegoat, She’s the figurehead manifestation of fucked up gender hierarchies, and she’s the revolutionary protagonist newcomer upsetting the order of the dueling game

There’s some fun triads here – Idiot Boys’ club at the top, girl princes for the left, and rose brides in the right

Characters facing Utena (Miki, Shiori) are deeply insecure in their ability to conform to gender

Characters facing Anthy (Juri, Saionji) are repressed tragic gays

Characters facing Akio (Touga, Kozue) are mean siblings that fail to grasp the ways Ohtori Is Using Them Too

Not getting into side characters like Wakaba, Mikage – These don’t fall neatly into this triad, and have more grey zones

[ariadnesweb]

[ariadnesweb]

Migi works as both the self-care angel and the self-care demon at the conscience department.

[ariadnesweb]

"Miki and Kozue's storyline, which is about the madonna-whore complex-" it is not! It is not about the arbitrary value-making of women's sex lives! It's terrible about doing that, with the simplistic pure twin impure twin dichotomy! What it is, it's about control! About how moralistic aesthetization (Miki) and direct intimidation (Kozue) are tricks society uses to enforce sexual norms and (muddle) consent! The madonna-whore complex is only important as an extension of these themes!

Now Juri and Shiori's storyline, which are about two women who want to fuck each other without admitting they want to get dirty, on the other hand-

[ariadnesweb]

An aspect of Utena that seperates it from its contemporaries (Eva series, GWitch) - it doesn't have 'adults' who are clearly more responsible for the problems in the series.

Most of the series deals between peer-to-peer conflict, among the duels in the student council. While there are power imbalances due to age (middle schoolers versus high schoolers) and class status (the black duelists versus the student council), neither of which are insurmountable factors - kids try to GrowUp/StayPure - the black rose duelists do succeed in humbling the hearts of their 'princes' in preparation for the next cycle.

The only time adults are drawn in comparison to children is during Miki's last duel - but that is also very much an action done By Miki, to frame his own actions and motivations as an extension of his family.

Akio, of course, is the exception, being the sole adult involved in the dueling arena, and is thus the main aggravator of the students' problems. But even then, the line between adult and child is blurred: when anthy saved him; akio was also a child - when utena met him as a child, there was no understanding of his actual age (& motivations) - he just led her to anthy; during the series, Akio deliberately blurs the line to groom and abuse the students, to 'stay in his coffin', so to speak, by refusing to grow.

It also serves to highlight the naivette and foolishness of all the students in ohtori, as none of them quite comprehend akio's deliberate abuse in maintaining ohtori.

(But Akio is not the main source of the student council's problems - instead, as the series progresses, they all spiral off into their own corners of Ohtori)

Relatedly, this why there is so much sibling incest in the show - as the entire cast is made of younger students, there are no true 'marriages' to speak of, which means there are no 'Eternal' non-incest relationships to discuss - in their stead arise the sibling marriages, the corruption of intimate long-term peer-to-peer relationships.

(well, there are two true 'marriages' in the series: Kanae & Akio, in which Kanae is used as the dead canary to warn about Akio's depravity; and Utena & Anthy, an imperfect doomed relationships which both characters struggle & fight to make healthy and good).

[ariadnesweb]

Kris is a funny person closer to how frisk is a funny person, usually with them acting out ridiculous performances to please people.

It's an important motif throughout the games, and whenever the protags stop being funny, it's extremely noticeable and a sign of bad news, tied to being unpersonned.

(Neutral vs No Mercy Save Points. Frisk shows a bit of unambiguous personality here.)

(Noelle and Kris don't goof off with weird route exclusive items - normally they love to.)

[ariadnesweb]

In contrast to the first movie, The second spiderverse movie places a lot of emphasis on Miles's Puerto Rican Heritage:

We are introduced to his universe while Miles is protecting a bodega, eating refried empanadas

The background music during this introduction seems to be inspired by the Bomba genre of music, in which dancers keep the beat to the drum.

The main victim of Miles's double-life as Spider-man seems to be his grade in Spanish, as he presumably skipped out on the language he was already familiar with. This is Very Much to his mom's dismay, as Miles's spanish is littered with spanglish.

(It's not that big of a deal, Rio's spanish is also mixed with spanglish, though it's very much a cultural pride thing.)

Rio's main conflict with Miles is that he's growing up away from her, moving away from Brooklyn, very much living a life she doesn't totally understand.

Rio herself lives in a world defined by familial relationships, in which she's brought to talk preemptively at Aaron's funeral by her family (though she would rather wait for Miles's to be there beforehand). She expects Miles to continue the family heritage and pride, and is confused at the idea that he would have to play up the American Dream Myth to get accepted into his chosen university, despite his own middle-class background.

Miles himself is gathering up the courage to break it to his mom that he is his own person, defined by his double-life as Spiderman, and not necessarily in line with her expectations of him.

Miles's own antagonist throughout the film is the alternate universe spiderman, Miguel O'Hara, a mexican and irish man who created and leads the Spider Society.

Miles slots Miguel in as another 'uncle/dad/older brother' parental figure in his life, ala his dad, uncle Aaron, Hobbie, and Peter B., calling him 'tio'.

Your Mileage May Vary on how Miguel connects to Miles culturally, since his main beef with Miles is tied to what 'Spiderman' represents, but I personally find him reminiscent to my own Cuban stepfather, as an older educated man who found his own place in the world at the cost of a lot of harsh life experience. Both his strength and tragedy is shaped by the loss of his 'old world' upon a new one, as well as personal experience with armed violence. These experiences have shaped Miguel to believe himself the 'lone atlas' holding up society, and whose principles as 'The Man' are to be imposed on the younger generations following him (ie, Miles).

(Miles's victory over Miguel is very much to Not Follow His Example, to carve out his own personality and family for himself.)

The movie ends with Miles-1616 being confronted with his world 42 self - a version of himself that didn't become Spiderman, and instead, followed his uncle's footsteps to become the Prowler. Coincidentally, this version of himself has a 'cleaner' spanish pronunciation of his own last name, with shorter vowels and softer sounds.

(Not to downplay Miles's Black Heritage - his relationship with fellow black teen Hobbie Brown is vital, as well as the smaller relationships like Miles & Spider-Byte.) (Or Miles's Brooklyn connections that connect him to New York specifically.)

(Or to stop anyone from relating to Miles and his difficulties becoming his own Spider-Man.)

[ariadnesweb]

Outer Wilds is a good game.

To be reductive, the skill of the level design is part of what makes it so effective.

Each planet is modeled after a philosophical quandary of the universe.

Hourglass Twins - The weight (and shortness) of time

Lumber Heart - The importance (and insignificance) of connections

Brittle Hollow - The delicateness precision (and frailty) of structure

Giant’s Deep - The logic (and confusion) of planetary systems

Dark Bramble - The life (and terror) of other creatures

The Interloper - The sudden cruelty (and beauty) of entropy

The Quantum Moon - The mystery (and wonder) of our universe

[ariadnesweb]

Mystery of the Eyes

AKA What's up with this reoccurring image, of two eyes, one yellow and one pink?

This face appears as an easter egg in the background of the Basement during the Spamton sidequest - notice it in the dark, in the lower left corner, before the teacup elevator activates.

A similar image reappears in the Spamton Sweepstakes, in this page. If the chair image is saved, or occasionally clicked too many times, the second image of 'Eyes' is seen - similar but different to the first image.

An interesting, but not too important detail, is that the tab header for these 'Eyes' asks: "What if it could get... Darker than Dark?"

It's possible that these images are in reference to Spamton...

But it doesn't seem likely.

This type of 'projection' isn't an ability Spamton has - if he could 'project' his eyes and follow Kris like that, Kris wouldn't need to get the Empty Disk from the basement, which Spamton uses to accompany Kris. This image appears to activate the Teacups, before Kris ever gets the Disk.

There aren't a lot of other characters that could fit the bill for this 'Pink & Yellow Eyes Face'.

Especially because this 'face' seems to be present in all sorts of ways - it was included in cut content.

And this face probably has some connection to Gaster and the introduction - the asset name for the image is 'DEVICE_FRIEND' - fitting the naming scheme for the introduction assets.

Y'know, this place:

Where we create a vessel,

Which gets interrupted by...

This voice.

It's been theorized before that this voice is 'Chara', due to similar ways of speaking, though this theory runs into the bigger question of 'What's Chara doing in Deltarune?', which runs into all sorts of issues.

More likely is that this 'voice' is its own character withing this world - an interrupting force in Deltarune's status quo - someone we haven't met yet -

We are left with a huge mystery regarding who or what this voice even is - 'Chara' or Gaster or some other mysterious force. What we DO know is that this force is related to the meta plot of Deltarune - it acts upon the space between 'Us' and the 'Light World'.

There is a high likelihood this force is the same as 'DEVICE_FRIEND' - someone else closely tied to Gaster and the meta plot.

There is another interesting piece of text to analyze regarding this 'voice' - at the end of the Spamton Sweepstakes, on the blurb for 'Spamton's Fate', it says this:

It is HIGHLY likely the speaker for this blurb is the same as the interrupter during the introduction sequence - these two sequences have a number of similarities: a solemn attitude, a malicious undertone, a tendency to philosophize in the middle of speech...

The most obvious detail about the speaker of this blurb is their open envy of Spamton:

"Why should he be so special?", "He wasn't any better than any of us.", "Don't you think it's about time someone else got the spotlight!?"

As if it was a competition, and Spamton's 'Sweepstakes' (& existence) was the sudden reveal at the end - after the Speaker already put in their share amount into 'winning'.

(...Mayhaps the Speaker doesn't enjoy someone with a similar fashion sense getting so much attention...)

And the speaker compares themselves directly to Spamton - "After all, are we really any better...?"

As if the speaker shares some qualities with Spamton... It's not a happy comparison they make.

Here's an interesting tidbit regarding Spamton - he was deliberately erased from public consciousness by Queen.

Ensuring that the average citizen would not encounter or hear about him.

Other interesting detail:

And he was obsessed with a 'machine' for a bit... said machine has roots from places 'more heavenly' than the Dark World.

(What was the purpose of Gaster's Inventions anyways? There's the CORE and the machine he fell into...)

Seems our Mystery Character's encounter with Gaster didn't end up going well...

[ariadnesweb]

Occasionally see deltarune fans get jealous of deltarune fans for whoever has more content of their blorbo, except sometimes the 'luckier' blorbo doesn't actually have that much more content, they just exist closer to a fan favorite.

Like, I've seen ralsei stans get jealous of susie stans, and I've seen darkner stans get jealous of lightner stans, but susie doesn't have that much content than ralsei, she's just featured in krusie and suselle fanart more, and has a lot less reach in the theory community - likewise for lightners, it's silly to say that catti & jockington have more content than, say, jevil or queen, because most of the content featuring lightners revolves around either undertale favorites or the holiday-dreemurr divorce saga, which has both kris & noelle, & asgore, toriel, & asriel.

generally, the deltarune fandom revolves around these three characters: gaster, Kris, and Spamton, aka easy fan theories, easy projection, and easy angst. And content involving these 3 overshadows everything else by far, with like, exception to noelle.

(noelle is a fan favorite as well, but, like, partially because she has the most written on her (all of chapter 2, weird route, spamton sweepstakes), partially because she's tied in with the gaster-kris-spamton fan triangle (it's really easy to connect her to these 3).)

[ariadnesweb]

Kanae, Anthy's Black Rose

[ariadnesweb]

Subplot of Utena episode 2

(aka, Utena's flaws spelled right in front of you in the beginning.)

Let's start with ChuChu, Anthy's weird monkey thing.

It's a tiny useless monkey, sometimes useful to Anthy, but mostly it just eats a lot. (Like, alot.)

It's representative of an aspect of Anthy's relationship with her brother, Akio - it's a lilac-colored thing wearing an earring and a red business suit (or tie). It's introduced with the 'Prince' framing that follows the other duelists, or other romance fairytale moments.

It's also absolutely ridiculous, because this thing is just a monkey with an emplaced sense of importance. (Just like Akio is just a egotistical human being using his sister/children to make himself important.)

With background on ChuChu out of the way, let's talk about Anthy.

Anthy's trying her best to form a connection with Utena.

(Anthy cleaned up Utena's dorm room, which was completely trashed. Possible magic aside, that's not a light thing to do. That's... a very heavy act of care.)

This makes sense - Anthy is the Rose Bride, she's gonna spend a lot of time with her Engaged - better get on their good side first, and ensure a good relationship between the two.

And there are ALSO SO MANY duelists who would treat Anthy terribly, so better pay for Utena's loyalty while she can.

In Utena's defense, being suddenly tasked with the protection of a weird, slightly obsessive girl with loyalty issues is a Big Deal, and not something to take lightheartedly.

On the other, losing a duel where said girl's abusive ex will own her back is fundamentally a Jerk Move.

But it doesn't matter, because Utena decided in the end, to continue fighting for Anthy, against the other duelists who would take advantage of her.

Or did she?

Ow.

Utena openly stated she cared more about the annoying representation of your Prince brother than she did about your own autonomy.

How selfish. She cares more about her own pride as a 'Prince' than actual kindness.

Anthy can play that game too.

#rgu#no thoughts head empty - i want to answer this but it's been a bit#want to clarify though - chuchu isn't akio#chuchu is a prince#and all princes in ohtori are modeled after akio - including utena#and yeah#i think anthy thinks princes are cute/lazy/innocent#regarding saionji stepping on chuchu - that signifies an attack to utena's pride/ sense of honor#interesting to note that chuchu tends to suffer whenever a 'prince' approaches anthy - saionji specifically#or when anthy is talking about akio - chuchu expresses fear in those sitatuations

-keeping this amendment

[ariadnesweb]

Okay, so the thing with the members of the student council (except Nanami) are protags of a failed stock romance plot. Each is associated with an ideal: Saionji - Sense of Belonging (Friendship), buddy cop adventure Miki - Memory (Shining Things), fairytales Juri - Momentary Intimacy (Miracles), teen drama Touga - Success & Resolution (Power to Revolutionize), shoujo

These ideals are magnetic - characters & their associated pluses are hypnotized to stand & fight for them. (Not equivalent to their projections on Anthy. Owning the Rose Bride is a pretty direct symbol of power. These ideals are established through the duelist's methodology, and often are a key part in the duelist's defeat.) Saionji & direct relationships, Miki & Nobility, Juri & love, Touga & the ability to change.

Throughout the course of the three dueling rounds, we see these ideals/obsessions twisted to their natural conclusions. Saionji: Vain Arrogance, Insecurity, Blindness - Relationships as power games. Miki & Kozue: Self-centeredness, Territoriality, impulsive vanity - relationships as an aesthetic. Juri: Despair, mutual self-destruction, grief - an ideal as a limiting force. Touga: Frailty, Cycles of Violence, Dishonesty - an ideal as a misunderstanding.

Nanami finishes the main trio of herself-Utena-Anthy. (Akio exists as the shadow of these three characters.) Respectively, they represent the ideas of Cruelty, Identity, and social customs.

Nanami's tied to the idea of cruelty since her actions towards their cat. To justify it, she must prove the world was too cruel to do otherwise. So she engages in acts of cruelty and pettiness, often interrupted by her own innocence in the matter (her childish schemes, her short-sighted relationship with Tsuwabuki, her awareness of her relationship with Touga). Nanami's last duel ends with her confronted by the entirety of her idea of cruelty - and thus abandoning it, quietly and stoically. (Her stock plot is Gothic Horror, btw)

Utena's tied to the ideal of Identity in much the same way the other duelists - Her ideal of her own Pure Self is taken to its natural conclusion. It is short-sighted, and easily flattered, and easily erased by smarter & more powerful forces. Mikage represents this ideal to its logical extreme, being a hypocritical tool that is blind to basic facts about the family he involved himself with. Akio almost erases Utena's own spirit. For the better, Anthy wakes Utena to the reality of their relationship with Akio, and Utena quickly redefines herself against Akio's lies. Her ideal of 'Identity, even when the world tries to crush it out of you' forms the rock of Anthy's own ideals as she walks out of Ohtori.

Anthy's ideals on social customs are the bedrock every person in Ohtori plays hot potatoe with. She is the Rose Bride, so every 'Prince' must seek for her. She is the Rose Bride, so every 'Princess' must envy her. She is the promiscuous witch, so every action she takes must be to seduce and betray. Except she is Akio's bride, and a complete extension of his authority. Anthy wears the dress that signifies her role, that signals the extravegant theatrics from which the story is to be told. She manipulates the Duelists to act to their cues, accordingly encroaching on what they assume is their due. Love letters, snails & pianos, roses & kisses - Anthy hands the appropriate props for the stage. Everything has an order and a place - the winning Prince & Bride, and everyone else idolizing the pairing.

It's not something that can serve Himemiya Anthy, outside the gates of Ohtori.