#the actual themes of the arc

[pikahlua]

Pika Rambles about the new OP because why not

If there’s anything I’ve learned from season 6 of MHA, it’s that whatever Twitter’s reaction is to something, I’m likely to have the opposite reaction.

I’m not often one to go into my opinions on things in MHA I feel are “good” or “bad.” Sometimes it happens, but just generally I’ve been trained to read and analyze a lot of things without respect to whether or not I like them or agree with their philosophies. I’m usually trying to understand a story more than anything.

But OPs are a different matter.

I have a weird thing for OPs. I’ve watched many over the years, and in some cases even decided whether or not I would watch an anime based on its OPs. (I’ve also...made a lot of AMVs.) OPs are supplementary material that are opportunities for animators to showcase their creativity and their understanding of the story’s themes. For that reason, I’ll happily ramble about my love for MHA OPs 1-4 and 7 anytime (god, especially 7; I’ll never get over the candy apple sakuga).

This time, OP 11, the ramble isn’t a good one. “What? Really? But everyone agrees it’s the shiniest one yet! Is it just that weird Ochako shit they threw in there?” No, stock anon. It’s so much more than that.

I have opinions.

If you like OP 11...you may not want to read my thoughts under the cut.

I’m just gonna complain in list form from here have fun.

1. First, all the good: I like the song. I realize not everyone’s gonna like the song, but I happen to like it. I also like some of the OP, particularly the first bits of it before the title card drops. I think it’s a good use of some of the cover/non-story artwork Horikoshi drew during this arc. Except already saying that, I can’t help but notice a huge missed opportunity. This cover art would’ve made for an EXCELLENT theme in the OP:

It would’ve made up for the egregious lack of All Might too.

2. That title card is awful. Come on. They used to do fun things with the design or colors or something. This is just...weird effects that maybe will cause someone a seizure. It’s certainly not pleasing to the eye.

3. I don’t have a problem with the split screen bit. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible. Except the animation they give Ochako was basically already used in OP 8 so I don’t know what that’s all about.

4. All the Lady Nagant art is super lame sorry why do they repeat the same angle and pose twice? They could have used other camera angles at least, or even do something more with her younger self and angst? This is about as one-note as her actual role in the story (okay maybe it fits then).

5. I don’t need to complain about the weird ship bait that is the Ochako scene in the way everyone else already has done for me. I have a pressing urge to bring up though that Bones once again shows their lack of creativity here, and it feels like they have a vendetta against Ochako too. Where is her action shot? Her sakuga? There are plenty of moments from this arc that could’ve made a much nicer action shot here. Her smile is so weird because this whole arc she’s getting serious for Izuku’s sake and frowns at him a lot and stands up to him essentially. This feels like heroine-ization and it’s awful. Ochako does much more impactful and moving shit this arc than whatever the hell this is.

6. How dare you cheapen the hand-holding symbol of this series do you even know what the fuck is happening in this manga??? [clings to Iida’s leg]

7. The sakuga of Izuku swinging around is okay, probably the best part of the OP--except then we run into the Lady Nagant issue again

8. What the fuck is the weird white corpse from AoT doing here? What? What is that? Hello?

9. It needs to be said: the sakuga of Iida et. al. looks like absolute ass. I’m sick of fandom just salivating for nothing but sakuga while having absolutely no standards. “Action lines? Cool angles? Speedy animation? Yay it’s perfect!” No, seriously, if everyone’s gonna be so critical of the story and animation and pacing all the time, where’s your criticism of the actual sakuga? This shot looks awful and no one is talking about it. Not only do all the characters involved move awkwardly, you can’t even tell who they are. I wish we could have seen better highlights of the characters themselves, their faces even, including Shigaraki’s. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT. THEY’RE FIGHTING SHIGARAKI IN THAT SHOT. DID YOU EVEN NOTICE? YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT IT WAS IZUKU, RIGHT? SEE HOW DUMB THIS IS? IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR THAT TO BE SHIGARAKI EITHER, BUT IT IS. GO PAUSE A FRAME AND CHECK IT OUT. The special effects of their super attacks at the end also look like ass. This was the worst sakuga we’ve seen since the third movie and I am not impressed and I’m mad other people are.

10. Epilepsy colors Izuku is also terrible sakuga he’s so off-model it hurts I can’t stand watching this bit.

11. The Izuku+Tenko sequence is nice and a good show of creativity, and yet Izuku also looks off-model and I can’t stand how this is NOT the right season for this imagery. So that makes this a spoiler, basically? It doesn’t belong here. I like the subtle hint at the OFA star with the sun glare behind Izuku’s offered hand, but still this feels like they have no idea what this arc is about.

12. Exhibit #999999 that it feels like the animators have no idea what’s up with this arc: the ending image of Izuku doing the All Might fist in the air pose. Like, maybe it works if you read it as “he’s able to represent All Might because everyone else is there with him,” but it just doesn’t...feel right. It’s not earned based on the rest of the OP. Why couldn’t we just have them all be around the All Might statue? I don’t know what are you all even thinking when you draw this shit

[notmoreflippingelves]

Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.

Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.

But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.

And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "

He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."

He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."

He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."

He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."

[lovegrowsart]

it's pretty wild to me that people don't see that aang running off to save katara in CoD is his luke in empire strikes back moment, where he runs headlong into his want and attachment and he's narratively punished for doing so and not learning his lesson - aang runs after katara despite guru pathik's warning, like luke runs after leia and han from yoda on dagobah despite yoda's warning; similarly, as a result, things go to hell in ba sing se like they do on bespin - aang enters the avatar state before he's ready and gets killed, and ba sing se falls to the fire nation, luke fights vader before he's ready, loses a hand, and symbolically commits suicide after vader tells him he's luke's father.

the difference between their character arcs is that george lucas and co. actually went thru with luke's hero's journey and understood the fundamental difference between attachment and love, whereas I don't think bryke understood this difference and then dropped this from aang's arc pretty much completely and replaced it with aang digging in his heels into his want and attachment and he gets rewarded with energy bending from a lion turtle, the avatar state from a random pointy rock, and his forever girl from the self-indulgent white men that couldn't bring themselves to give their hero a compelling character arc that meant he might not have gotten everything he wanted at the end.

[aroaceleovaldez]

The himbo, malewife, goofball -fication of percy jackson is such a crime by both the fans and riordan. It has made Mr not like percabeth as a couple because in all posts and in later books annabeth is such a girlboss, while Percy's dumb and can't fight his way out of a paperbag without her. All the posts are about how annabeth will be an architect and percy would love to be a trophy husband.

Even the humor in the books went from Percy's sharp wit and snark to 'my pancakes can't drown because I'm a son of poseidon.'

And now this recommendation letter bullshit.

Honestly now I'd wish percy just separated from annabeth (but they remain best friends.) He stays home with his family, becomes a camp counselor, helps young demigods, holds God's accountable and eventually becomes a social activist. (I also dislike him doing something marine biology related. It's clear he hates academics but he always wants to help people. Him helping demigods and mortals is such a wholesome profession for him.)

I fully agree with the first half of this, though I slightly disagree with part of the latter.

The later-series and fanon mischaracterization of Percy is at least a solid 50% ableism minimum, full stop. He's being warped into a very stereotyped ADHD character and the exact reason why he's being characterized as "dumb" is because of ableism. Percy is a very intelligent character! That's exactly why he's so in sync with Annabeth and they're such a strong duo! It's just generally Annabeth is more book/academically smart.

I disagree with where you say he hates academics - because that's one of the common misconceptions about his character. Percy doesn't hate learning or academic subjects! He's not even bad at them! We know explicitly that when he is in an accommodating environment he is interested in learning and gets significantly better grades! Percy only dislikes school because it is generally an environment that systematically he struggles with. It's literally just he has a learning disability (two, actually)! That's it! When his learning disability is accommodated for he does well! It's almost like that's what accommodations are all about! We know this from the first series! It's discussed pretty in-depth! Percy isn't a dumb character and he doesn't hate learning, he's just been let down by school systems so much that he's inherently distrustful of them. If they actually accommodate him though then he does just fine!

And that's exactly what CHB was all about and why New Rome University was supposed to be such a big thing for him! CHB is a learning environment geared for demigods. NRU is a demigod college. Both inherently imply an environment meant to cater to and accommodate students with ADHD and dyslexia! They are both systematically structured to be able to accommodate him! Heck, CHB and CJ even both address in the wider themes of the series a metaphor about how ADHD and dyslexia are commonly seen as childhood disabilities, and how it can be more difficult to find accommodations into adulthood because of that attitude but those disabilities don't just go away - that's why CHB is a summer camp but they talk about how demigods outside of CHB don't often fare well. The metaphor there is those who are not getting help or accommodations are struggling. Because that's how that works! This is a fully intentional metaphor from the first series! CHB is never framed as being perfect for demigods, because one of the entire central conflicts of the series is Percy and Luke going back and forth about this flawed system meant to help and support them but still letting people fall through the cracks. The "claim your kids by 13" thing is a metaphor about how acknowledging a child's disabilities (and possibly getting a diagnosis) earlier/as early as possible means they will have more time to learn and build up resources and support for themselves to be able to use later in life. One of CHB's major flaws is that it can accommodate demigods to a certain point, but it can only do so much before those demigods have to leave (the metaphor being accommodating school systems when those disabled students do not have any other forms of accommodations in their lives.)

And that's why Camp Jupiter was framed as being so revolutionary for Percy because it had an environment acknowledging that this is not just a childhood disability, adults with ADHD/dyslexia exist too and still need and deserve accommodations, AND is a place where those accommodations are available. That's why Camp Jupiter and NRU are treated as such special and important things to Percy, because it's essentially Percy being shown this type of thing can and does exist and it is available to him. It is an option he never thought was possible. Percy never thought he'd be able to go to college because he would not be able to go through school without accommodations, but NRU proves otherwise.

The part that's absolutely stupid is Rick then proceeded to retcon NRU so that apparently it's not a full college and Percy still has to take classes at normal mortal college which DEFEATS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF NRU EXISTING. Rick has fully retconned that demigods struggle past the ages of 16-18 when they're on their own (see above elaborated metaphors) and in doing so we have fully killed all symbolism in literally all of that. It's so stupid. And by having the plot of the CoTG trilogy entirely be that Percy is not actually allowed access to NRU in the first place because he is a son of Poseidon and has to do extra to even be accepted is stupid!

All that to say, I agree the marine biology feels like a huge cop-out and a disservice to his character by reducing him to just a son of Poseidon. The literal only reason why it's the default option people take for him is because oh, fish thing, fish guy. But I feel like everyone ignores the really obvious answer for what Percy would want to do which is - writing. Both his parents are writers/authors and he clearly admires that about them. Percy likes telling stories! He canonically is already a published author in-universe! That's what the books ARE in-universe! The first series fully exists in their universe and Percy is the author! This is explicit canonical information! Percy canonically has help physically writing it down (accommodations) but he is still the credited author! Percy is a writer! Already! Canonically! Why are we making him a marine biologist he already has a profession that ties into his character significantly more. Like you said, Percy likes helping people. That's what the books in-universe are supposed to be for! It's point blank at the beginning of the series! Book one! The thing everybody quotes all the time! The books exist because it is Percy trying to give advice to other demigods who don't know what's going on yet! It's Percy's writing down his experiences to help new demigods understand and contextualize their experiences so they can understand themselves better and figure out what's going on - WHICH IN ITSELF IS ALSO A METAPHOR ABOUT ADHD/DYSLEXIA! Because the core of the series has and always will be built around ADHD/dyslexia! Percy as a protagonist EXPLICITLY was created so that ADHD/dyslexic kids could see themselves as a hero!

Sorry that all was a very tangential rant but my point being: Absolutely. Percy in newer stuff in the franchise and in fanon is horrifically mischaracterized in ways that are functionally either fully ableist (shoutout TSATS for just outright claiming Percy is intentionally lazy and skips school out of disinterest, which is like the number one ableist attitude towards kids with learning disabilities) or a complete erasure of Percy's disabilities. Also I think he should be a writing major not a marine biologist.

[apollos-boyfriend]

man fuck everyone who was saying this manga was a disappointment/bait-and-switch and makoto isn’t actually trans. must a non-binary/genderqueer character turn to the camera and go “actually, i’m transgender” for their identity to be valid

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

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[beaulesbian]

⚔️ ONE PIECE || Zoro smiling & being silly - Fishman Island Arc ⚔️

[angel-hole]

SUPTOBER DAY 01 - liminal in the beginning

4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance;

— Ezekiel 1:4—5

[bonebabbles]

Uh.... wh?

Honey and Shell are right.

Nightheart was allowed to act out MUCH more strongly and harshly than any other warrior

Squilf herself as deputy was trying her best to help him reconnect to their family, when he was angrily pushing them all away

He interrupted his own name ceremony and was given a new one, no consequence

Was given a huge opportunity to go on a mission to get lifesaving medicine, BECAUSE of Jayfeather, Alderheart, and Squilf, his family. Didn't appreciate this.

Ran away to ShadowClan, and then came back, no consequence again because his family missed him.

Left AGAIN with a StarClan Permission Slip to help Frostpaw, came back, no consequence for vanishing. Even Sunbeam doesn't resent this.

He does get away with shit because he's a descendant of Firestar, he's part of the family that leads ThunderClan. This all would have been treated much more harshly, and he wouldn't have gotten so many opportunities, if these people WEREN'T his family.

And now he's gotten an apprentice before Shell and Honey for it!

This ISN'T "building his own legacy." It IS nepotism.

Even the next handful of cats who get apprentices-- Bayshine, his best friend who he was basically raised with and aids him constantly, just this morning lying to cover Sunbeam, AND Finchlight, sister. Molewhisker is a random senior mentor so they're not ALL completely brand new.

TERRIBLE conclusion to Nightheart's character arc, this execution has earned a fierce, flaming F + See Me After Class

[erros429]

i love how this week’s rwby beyond episode talks about not just finding the positives in a bad situation, but also about remembering what makes all that suffering worth it. jaune is urged to recall the good times, and the people he’s fighting for, and the love he feels for them.

and this is the EXACT ideology that makes a silver-eyed warrior so powerful. that love and desire to protect and auauhhhhhghhhhh my god the jaune and ruby foils never cease

[detectivenyx]

i hate cinemasins so much you would not believe

[mummer]

i think it’s really cute that rogue is just some dorky guy from the future who still plays old earth dungeons and dragons and listens to ancient kylie records and has a themed ring and he became a bounty hunter and named himself rogue to be edgy and cool but purely because of dweeb reasons. like if anyone’s a cosplayer it’s him lol. he’s so clearly a soft nerd pretending to be han solo. like yeah he “”has no moral compass”” but he’s basically doing that as longform actual play. this guy definitely saw a wanted poster of jack harkness when he was a teenager and was like “…. i gotta be that guy…..”. 10/10 character concept

[theminecraftbee]

some smallishsona social links i've thought up:

XIII (DEATH): zombiecleo. i know this is the obvious choice but also i'm not immune to obvious choices. cleo is a "florist" that joe knows. florist is in the world's biggest scare quotes; between the fact they're the one who's willing to give the team weapons and fence stuff they got from the other world, and also the conspicuous full-body burn scars, joel is VERY willing to bet that cleo is not, in fact, a florist. he's not stupid though. he's not about to like, ask if she's in the yakuza or something. because then they would kill him. he is ALREADY unwillingly at constant risk of death by shadow monster, he doesn't need yakuza coming after him, thanks.

cleo's social link starts out about their begrudging willingness to do joe a favor by handing high-schoolers various weaponry, but also their continued attempts to explain that they're making a mistake. (joel KNOWS okay it's not HIS fault there's a demon in his head and his life is full of tarot cards now, give him a break.) however, as the social link continues, it reveals details of cleo's life, the story of how they ended up with those burn scars, and how they can move past the tragedies of their past.

V (HIEROPHANT) xisuma. this one feels a little obvious, went back and forth on whether this should be tfc instead but landed on xisuma. a man joel meets in a tea shop who is very concerned about joel's mental state, considering how joel came to town in the first place. joel thinks this is extremely rude, thanks, especially since if it hadn't been for the fact it was tea, not alcohol, joel would be half-convinced xisuma had been trying to drink his problems away.

the social link focuses on xisuma trying to mentor joel very badly, and also the reveal that part of why xisuma is so concerned for joel is that he wants to make up for his failures to take care of his younger brother. at the end of the social link, xisuma starts to reconcile with his brother and family, and joel maybe reluctantly admits it's nice to have an adult with nothing supernatural going on with them that's somewhat concerned for him. not that he needs supervision or anything, but...

XVI (TOWER): doc. was going through the suggestions people gave me and was surprised to realize just how UBIQUITOUS this was as a suggestion. however, yeah, this fits his character archetype to a t. doc is a disgraced scientist who is willing to give joel his inventions to test; joel's courage social stat needs to be like a 4 before he can even initiate this social link, and joel first finds out about doc from rumors in town about a madman scientist who got someone killed in a lab accident. the inventions provide various perks in battle, though, and frankly by the point in the story joel has high enough courage to start this one his attitude is starting to become "fuck it we ball", so.

doc's social link starts with doc leaning into his terrifying reputation. however, as the social link continues, it becomes clear doc is actually trying to make a working version of his clean fuel generator that couldn't possibly ever cause an explosion like the one he faced again. in the end, it's revealed the original design was sabotaged, and there was nothing doc could have done to prevent the tragedy--except, maybe, be willing to share his plans with others to catch the sabotage, because joel helps doc figure that out.

this social link MAYBE has some thematic relevance. don't worry about it.

I (MAGICIAN): scar. one of joel's earliest social links and teammates, i'm debating if he was one of the people who was teamed with grian before joel arrived. scar himself has a largely magic-based garu persona. he's also the party's early healer, although he later gets supplanted in this role when impulse joins as the actual party healer, and his build is actually more focused on heavy-hitting magic and status effects. (think ann, or reload mitsuru). i think if i go with my current theme for the team's personas (mythological lovers/mythological figures related to love or bonds), i might make his persona majnun?

anyway, he's very VERY scar, a fast-talking, smooth-playing, optimistic kind of guy, who DEFINITELY won't end up having a mid-story breakdown about whether or not he's wanted or needed on the team, absolutely not, no way, it's not like that's the magician's role in a persona game or anything. as a social link i think scar's social link is about him dragging joel into his school black market schemes and the two of them hitting it off during this, but also, a bit, about scar confiding his loneliness and feelings of inadequacy as something more than the comic relief. he's one of the earliest available social links, second only to skizz, and ends up being one of joel's closest links, magical tarot powers be damned.

VII (CHARIOT): skizzleman. joel's earliest social link, who develops a persona thanks to joel having to rescue him from the other world. a cheerful, friendly guy with a slight sense of distance under the surface, skizz works to keep himself strong and the people around him happy, sometimes to the point of excluding his own emotions. he's an agi user, although his persona is largely focused on physical skills rather than magic (he's the team's physical heavy-hitter), and i might make his persona patrolcus? (all of these personas are things you can argue with me, btw.)

skizz's social link is about him trying to find ways to lighten the moods of the other people in joel and skizz's apartment building who were moved in there because they didn't have elsewhere to stay, and his ability to remain cheerful despite often being rejected in this. it's also a social link about digging more into the history that lead to skizz feeling alone enough to be Vanished and in need of rescue. because he's so plot-central in that way, though, his actual SOCIAL LINK is more lighthearted shenanigans about the various schemes skizz comes up with to try to get other people to cheer up, and eventually ends with joel and the others turning it around to give skizz that same cheerful stuff.

anyway these are the guys i've definitively assigned to what social link now i am having SO MUCH FUN with this au,

[shadystranger]

this moment so fucked up💀

[the-far-bright-center]

It's baffling to me that a certain subset of the SW fandom is willing to accept some of TCW’s most ridiculous story arcs and blatantly OOC characterisations as literal canon, but then pretend that they 'can't believe' that Padme could possibly fall for Anakin in the actual Prequels films.

Really? You can believe that space-godzilla goes on a rampage and destroys a sector of Coruscant, that several of the main characters are kept as slaves by an evil cat-queen, that Obi-Wan fakes his own death (complete with a pretend funeral) and callously traumatises everyone who cares about him in the process, and that Maul somehow survives TPM and is at one point a ROBOTIC SPIDER ...

... but you can't believe that two child prodigies who formed a bond while mutually aiding one another can meet again years later under intensely emotional circumstances during the outbreak of a galactic war and legitimately fall in love with each other and get married?

Really???

[blackhholes]

teen wolf meme: (1/1) season -> 5a

If she wasn't born, and she wasn't bitten, she had to have been made. Made? Someone is trying to make supernatural creatures with non-supernatural means. And, whoever they are, they're somehow managing to blur the lines between science and the supernatural.