#the platonic bonds feel a lot more uniquely human and so much more in depth. But this is also another thing I liked about this work! :

[merakiui]

thanks to the other anon I’ve been thinking about the same gang bang plot but you’re the octavinelle trio’s sweet, beloved and oh so trusting childhood friend

What if you were their human childhood friend!!!! You were a forbidden entertainment for them, as their parents constantly warned them of the dangers of the surface. But you were so fascinated by the twins and their unique way of doing things. They'd always bring all sorts of treasures from the sea for you and you'd return with human things for them to ogle at. It wasn't long before the two eel-mers managed to convince drag their octo-mer friend to meet you. He was shy and cowered away from you at first, but you'd regarded him so gently and sweetly. The lot of you became close friends, often meeting at a shallow cove whenever you could.

Throughout the years, as you mature and grow, platonic, friendly feelings evolve into something a little more...obsessive. When you lament about that one persistent person from your class who keeps trying to ask you out on a date, Jade and Floyd feel so monstrously territorial, and Azul thinks of all the ways he can poison that person, drag them to their doom in inky depths, transform them into some grotesque terror so that you'll never feel compelled to look their way again.

But they refrain, if only because they're in the sea and that bothersome human is tucked away safely on the shore, just out of reach. It may seem difficult to keep up a friendship with merfolk when the tides are always moving and life ebbs and flows with constant change. But then the surface is much the same; humans come and go just as mers do, only you and the trio never drift apart. If anything, your bond grows stronger throughout time. You trust them with your life, allowing them to guide you out into sea for an afternoon swim. They keep you safe and have never allowed any harm to befall you. And why would they? They love you.

So it scares you when they're pulling you into the water, forceful and direct despite the sweet lilt in their voices. The lower half of your anatomy is so unfamiliar to them, but they've studied plenty of textbooks on humans and they've seen you enough times to know where certain areas are as they appeared in the textbook diagrams. You fight them, confused and terrified, but they're all so strong. Struggling is futile, even more so when it leaves you trapped between the three of them, restricted by tentacles and constricted by the morays...

You want to fool yourself into thinking they're just confused, that this is a mistake and they don't actually intend on mating with you, but your swimsuit is torn to shreds and any delusion you'd been trying to uphold promptly withers away. And your virginity goes with it, leaving you bloody with bites and stuffed full of tentacles and eel cock, so fucked out that you don't object when they coo at you that they'll be yours and you'll be theirs. Forever and always.

You won't need to return to the surface after that. They're going to bring you to their home. It was just a cruel twist of fate that you were always intended to be out of their grasp. But now they finally have you. <3

[rainstormcolors]

@a-white-ravenstag​ asked: “RE: the ships discussion... Prideshipping/Timeshipping, or maybe Scandalshipping since I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about that one!"

The relationship between Atem and Seto Kaiba is genuinely one of the most complex relationships in the original story. It’s layered and has additional layers of interpretation to it.

And it’s my favorite relationship in fiction. Not that I’m arguing it’s the best one, but it’s my favorite.

I’m going to combine the things I’ve said before and smooth them out, and try to tackle a bit of this complexity. This will be like something of a master post I suppose (it’s long).

Lost Names, Lost Selves

There’s a parallel in how Atem and Seto both gave up their names and were then trapped inside prisons. They freed themselves in part but not wholly, and across the series carried the names of others as their own.

Atem searched for his true name, while Seto battled to feel at peace with his own namesake. One returned to his birth name as he remembered who he was; the other wanted harmony with his new name, to not give up what he’s gained but understanding the price and recovering the pieces of himself he’s lost.

They lost and found themselves.

Seto’s Attachment to Atem

Seto is a character so closed off, so cocooned in mistrust, who shoves everybody away. Seto has difficulty connecting and forming attachments to people, but Atem became someone he craved battle with, craved the challenge of.

Seto had been a keg of dynamite waiting for a match; Atem, a shadow himself, threw the match.

Atem became a focal point for Seto once he defeated Seto at cards and lashed out at him with his cruel penalty game, and this encounter would act as the catalyst for so many different things.

Atem became a target for all the boiling rage that had built up inside of Seto like a pressure cooker. But from there, with each encounter, their relationship evolved into something far more complex and meaningful. The obsession with domination and the human connection in the challenge were a duality. It was detrimental and provoking and exhilarating and rewarding all at once.

Something these two share, and only these two share, is a dependence on games to communicate, as both have a stunted relationship with the world around them. It’s something only they can understand.

Atem was invigorated by his duels with Seto as well. They felt alive.

I feel like this duel is emblematic of Atem and Seto’s entire relationship; how enthralled they are by each other, how they push each another to their limits of both their best and worst, and also their capacity to wound one another. Neither one set out to have this duel in these circumstances. They were blackmailed, with the souls of their loved ones on the line, and yet for so much of the duel they were enjoying themselves. They were enjoying dueling each other. But things became desperate as Seto found himself backed into a corner and suddenly it wasn’t fun anymore.

I’m curious how other people take Seto’s taunts here. I have the impression that in his own way he’s giving Atem permission to strike the final blow, telling him it’s the correct thing to do. Seto really has reduced his life to the value of a bargaining chip. I don’t think the narrative could’ve possibly made it any clearer that Seto was 100% committed to fulfilling his threat if Atem’s attack went through. At the same time, I don’t think Seto felt it would be a tragedy were he to die after losing. (The tragedy instead was in failing Mokuba.)

Don’t be mistaken: Seto is the one who raised the stake of this duel to be the price of a life and it was cruel to put Atem in that place. Of course, Atem chose to pay this price in his own hunger and desperation to win. Both of them agreed to the price of a life to win.

Atem’s choice was reckless and cruel. I think he may have had the idea of it being about “duelist pride” on both sides; that cheating can’t be rewarded and that he’d won fair-and-square, and that Kaiba knew this as well. Thankfully Yugi interfered with this disturbing arrangement.

But Seto and Atem do grow from that dark place, and move forward to become better.

The notion that defeating Atem would quench Seto’s obsession with dominating everything like some wave of a magic wand is absurd. Only long introspection can do that, and long introspection may only be the start. But there was so much more to their rivalry than the obsession. It wasn’t cold at all. The line between obsession, admiration, and connection is blurred.

And then there’s this.

If Seto is a person who believes in relying on one’s own strength, who sees depending on others as weakness, why did he help Atem here? Surely if Atem had lost, he was never truly worthy of Seto’s attention to begin with and Malik should have become the new focal point. Instead, Seto wants it to be Atem. Seto breaking his own code and dropping hints to Atem during his duel against the mime was pivotal. But I don’t think Seto understood the significance of this gesture. Not consciously; not yet.

Seto very clearly asks Atem to challenge his worldview. He wants Atem to challenge him. I’ve said before that Battle City was Seto’s attempt at self-therapy, and him provoking Atem here is part of that.

That Seto listens to Atem is significant. Because Seto, so impossibly stubborn, is supposed to see comradery as weakness and yet…

In the end, Atem’s words do reach Seto’s heart. And at the end of BC, Seto understands that Atem was right all along. And he’s happy to realize it. And for that moment Seto didn’t feel so lonely.

I quite like this scene in YGO R as well, a series overseen by Kazuki Takahashi. The softness in Seto’s reaction is something we’ve never seen before. He’s vulnerable, he knows he’s vulnerable, but he doesn’t try to cover it up or lash out:

The question becomes, when did the attachment form? When did it become about more than just winning? And when did Seto consciously realize it?

Seto is a person who refused to acknowledge sentiment and seemed lacking in self-awareness about his own loneliness. But across canon he was chasing Atem, chasing these moments of connection through dueling.

Atem ignited Seto from his dark numbness, pulling him out of his isolation. By defeating him, Seto’s eyes were forced onto Atem and his own vulnerabilities were exposed in a way he couldn’t ignore. As Seto struggled to save himself, Atem—for as self-righteous as he could be—turned Seto towards something brighter and in the end Seto actually listened to him. In turn, Seto validated Atem’s existence. Out of everyone, Seto was the one who valued Atem over Yugi, and he valued Atem for all the ways he was unique from Yugi as Atem struggled to find his own identity. Both Atem and Seto begin their stories as damaged wrathful children lashing out from their dark voids and it’s an absolute mess, but together they’re able to grow from that place. Their rivalry was passionate and exhilarating. And they left imprints on each other.

Is Atem dueling Seto enabling of his mental illness? Can a relationship be both beneficial and detrimental at the same time? These are valid points. But Atem himself seems compelled to duel Seto. And Atem is someone who sincerely wishes the best for Seto.

Atem Was Connected to Seto as Well

Atem felt the pull of friendship with Kaiba, and he recognized he needed Kaiba to grow into who he had become, to stand where he stood. They followed each other. They’ve seen each other at their worst, but they’ve followed each other to their bests. The line was blurry for Atem too, but Seto was important to him. He needed that challenge and he needed validation himself, through battle with Seto.

There’s an argument for how well Atem handled Seto during this duel but Atem wanted to help him, and Atem had been asked by Seto to challenge him.

I really love that confrontation in the tower between Seto and Isis, because it’s the culmination of everything that’s been pulling Seto forwards. It’s not any one thing that causes him to return to the arena, but rather it’s everything. It’s about understanding the value of living, it’s about listening to Mokuba, it’s about his bond with Atem, it’s about the miracle of human connections that Seto has both fought so hard against and fought so hard to understand. That’s why he goes back to give Atem The Devil’s Sanctuary card.

Seto gives him The Devil’s Sanctuary card as a test of their bond. And Atem in turn shows a gesture of pure trust in Seto as he accepts this card. And these moments confirmed his trust and bond towards Seto. It was the pulse of their bond he felt.

Atem, like Seto, is a struggling teenager as well, and in the end they reached each other. In the end, they reached each other’s hearts.

Seto Always Knew Yugi and Atem were Separate

Seto himself specifically differentiates between the two Yugis across the story.

He references “The Other Yugi” at the end of the pier duel in anime canon as well.

Most damning is that he knows Atem’s existence was granted by the Millennium Puzzle, well before the events of DSoD.

Let’s put this bad argument to rest.

Seto Loves Atem

That he’d only realize the full depth of his feelings for Atem after Atem’s departure falls in line with everything else we’ve seen of Seto Kaiba, whether those feelings are platonic in nature or something else. We watch Seto become more and more aware of his emotions over the course of the series, and it makes sense that his resistance to just how much he cares only crumbles once it’s too late. He’s a character who generally feels so little for people, almost as a survival mechanism, so the bond he built with Atem is striking and haunts him. It’s overwhelming to him to realize this significance of another person. In truth, I would argue that Seto himself doesn’t know how he feels for Atem. He doesn’t know if it’s passion for their rivalry or if it’s platonic love or if it’s romantic love. These kinds of emotions are so new and alien to him. It’s not just that he’s been sexually repressed. He’s repressed so much of every emotion and in the tragedy of losing Atem the dam finally bursts. Confusion, loneliness, doubt, outrage, feelings of betrayal, denial, and love. It’s an aching mess.

Seto is like a sort of wounded animal in the subbed movie, morose and impatient and desperate. He lashes out at Yugi, who he in passing acknowledges as having beaten Atem, but only in passing as he enters the sacred grounds of the Millennium Items. He doesn’t care about that victory. He does know Atem lost a game and then “died.” (Is Atem dead? Is Atem a god?)

Kaiba has always been a character exploring the interplay of cruelty and vulnerability, and how cruelty can be an expression of vulnerability.

His speech in the sub is an introspection, reflective of his place in the series, initially a person who functioned by violence, but now carrying a new understanding of how futile and hopeless violence is. Even winning is futile and meaningless.

Seto has been betrayed so many times in his life, and he’s now been deeply wounded by Atem’s departure, yet another betrayal in the chain. He feels abandoned. He calls flesh a prison of the soul, and later proclaims Atem will be a prisoner of the Millennium Puzzle. These lines of dialogue are an expression of mourning for Atem and an expression of rage. It is also Seto acknowledging that what he’s attempting to do is also a betrayal.

The duel with Yugi is a conversation of grief, where he lets these emotions spill.

Of course in the end, Seto is still the one who proposes the team-up to Yugi. He’s still the one who sacrifices himself. He’s still the one who believed in Atem. He had faith in Atem in the end, and Atem returned to save them.

The trust Atem had given to him, Seto returns to Atem.

I’ve said before The Darkside of Dimensions confirms to me Seto loves Atem. I stand by that. The desperation and longing, sheer longing. When Seto’s cornered in his duel against Diva, his thoughts of Atem are what inspire him to make such an improbable move. His expression when Yugi completes the Millennium Puzzle is heartbreaking. Denial, mania, and bargaining are the well-documented marks of grief. All the while, Seto has no interest in Yugi as a player and no interest in Yugi’s title. Their duel isn’t given a proper conclusion but Seto has no interest in a rematch, because it was never about the card game.

It’s fair to say Seto clinging to Atem like this isn’t healthy. It’s completely unfair to dismiss those emotions as meaningless.

In DSoD, there’s so much desperation and such deep wounds; Atem has hurt Seto, and Seto attempts to betray Atem, but in the end they’re quietly smiling at each other. They’ve fought so hard to be here, with so much struggle and pain, and they haven’t even bandaged their wounds, but just seeing each other has made everything worthwhile. And it’s just this gorgeous moment of complete forgiveness and understanding and connection.

I’ve found you.

[valkyrieelysia18]

RWBY Rewrite: Raven Branwen

Hey there everybody! You know, I was debating Raven and Adam for quite a bit until inspiration hit on the former teammate of Team STRQ and candidate for worst mother in the show. And you know how writers get when they’ve stumbled across something.

Still, Raven is definitely one of the more disappointing characters, having made a strong first impression for further appearances to take away the coolness. Most of the disappointment comes from her being set up as a third party to Oz vs Salem conflict, which could offer a unique perspective on both sides of the conflict. Unfortunately, she came off as selfish manipulate bitch that the main reason we cheered her on during the end of Volume 5 was because Cinder was much MUCH worse.

Now with these rewrites, I don’t intend to change fighting styles and weapons (mainly because I have no idea how to do that, unlike certain people I am fully capable of admitting when I am out of my depth and leave that to someone who knows what they’re talking about). As for personalities, I don’t think I’m massively rewriting them given how little some of these characters had been given, but you can correct me if I’m wrong. Raven will still be a strong bandit leader with a survival of the fittest mentality.

Now the first thing I would change is in regards to her semblance, albeit more along the lines of refining what was already established. Her portals lead to people she has bonded tp, but bonding is not so simple as it seems. The type of bonding needed for this would be someone she trusts wholeheartedly, someone she would willingly die for. These bonds of hers are both her strength and her weakness. When a bond is established, Raven is then attuned emotionally to them, always having a sense of them in the back of her mind and feeling their general mental state. Much like Qrow’s semblance, she can never truly turn it off. As such, she is fully aware of what Yang feels about her as well as being the first person to know about Summer’s death due to feeling it. Naturally, this a very emotional side effect and plays quite the role in her relationships with Yang and Summer.

The big changes would relate to her main relationships of the story: the Branwen Tribe, Team STRQ, Ozpin, and Yang.

Branwen Tribe

In the show, the Branwen Tribe was the Disposable Mook Group Number Thirteen with no real depth to them. Under this tag, I was originally going give an overview the Tribe’s history and culture, but it became too lengthy. I’ll have that as an additional separate post. Long story short, they are going to be much more dangerous and a lot more connected to the history and culture of Anima.

As to Raven’s relationship to the Tribe in general, it’s a lot more complex. Unlike Qrow who was always kind of an outcast, Raven was actually well regarded by the Tribe and was seen as a potential successor to the Chieftain of the time. While Raven knows the Tribe was brutal and unforgiving, it was her home and there were people she did care about there (though not as much Qrow). In fact, Vernal was the daughter of a late friend of hers that she took under her wing, basically her goddaughter. In addition, Raven never truly felt comfortable in the Kingdoms. Even as grew to care for her teammates and fell in to the lifestyle of a huntress, she could never conform completely to the system. At least part of the reason she did leave her teammates and Yang was because the Tribe was where she felt she belonged. Still selfish, but selfish for an understandable reason.

The one other thing to clarify in relation to the Branwen Tribe is the former Spring Maiden. For someone trying to keep a low profile, taking in one of the biggest targets on Salem’s list seems counterproductive. In this rewrite, Raven would take her in due to a sense of empathy, with the girl having discovered Leo’s treachery and was desperate to get as far away as she could. Her death by Raven’s hands would genuinely be an act of mercy, having been fatally injured during a raid and the only thing that could be done is make her death quick and less painful. As to inheriting the Maiden powers, Raven would not have known about the cutoff date for being Maiden and kind of assumed she was too old by that point (would have turned thirty in a week). This was because Ozpin wouldn’t have told her and the others every little detail about magic and his situation, though this time it was more to him viewing it as a trivial detail rather than actively trying to hide it.

Team STRQ

Her relationships with her teammates are equal parts love and care with anger and frustration. Before Beacon, Qrow was the only bondmate she had. Summer and Tai she took a while to warm up to, but grew close to them despite trying not to do so because she felt nothing could ever truly come of it. And in this Rewrite, she’s not the sole reason Team STRQ falls apart; none of them are completely blameless. 

Qrow was the first bond she ever forged and is arguably the strongest bond she has. Part of the reason she wanted the position of Chieftain was so that she could make things better for her brother in the Tribe. While heading to Beacon led them to new experiences and new bonds, it also led to a distance growing between as Qrow took to the Kingdoms and everything in them. This would lead to Raven feeling somewhat lonely and jealous, in how her brother was so much happier then when it had just been them. This distance only grows as they get involved with Ozpin and the bigger conflict. The more Raven sees, the more concerned she gets and brings up her doubts about Ozpin to Qrow as well as mentioning that they should probably return to the Tribe soon. Qrow at first brushes her off, getting more irritated as she continues with it. This would culminate in an argument in which Qrow tells his sister off for being so distrusting of the man who’s trying to save humanity and that the Tribe should rot for all the things they’ve done; he’d rather die than go back. It’s at this point Raven realizes that her brother won’t listen to her anymore. These bittersweet feelings influence her relationship with her brother to this day; as much as she cares about him, she can’t save him. This will also play a part in her relationship with Ozpin.

Her relationship with Tai didn’t start off with the best first impressions (she definitely had to restrain from strangling him during the Initiation and almost did during the first week of classes), but eventual grew very strong. Unfortunately, the relationship while passionate, was between two people who are not suited for long term romantic relationships. Raven has her obvious issues and I’ll get Tai’s in his post(believe me, there will quite a bit to discuss). Not to mention they’re two people with vastly different goals and expectations out of a relationship. Tai was happy in teaching and in Vale, there was no way she could have convinced him to throw it all away for the bandit life style. Raven does still have some fond feelings for him, but she does get even more frustrated with Tai than Qrow as she feels he could have tried to talk the girls out of becoming huntresses or at least told them the whole truth of things before they went off to Beacon.

Last but not least we have Summer. Raven didn’t really like Summer at first because she really didn’t seem like leadership material, much like Weiss and Ruby at the beginning. It isn’t until Raven gets a demonstration of “Good is Not Nice” from her leader that she really began to respect her. The relationship grew and by the time Raven was leaving for the Tribe, Summer was the only positive relationship she had at that point. In fact, she actually tried to convince Summer to come with her, but Summer declined as she had reasons of her own for fighting for Ozpin along with their other teammates to watch over. Summer also shared quite a bit with Raven, including the price behind the Silver Eye powers which is a lot more costly than in the canon. Raven’s respect was so great that she asked Summer to be the mother Yang needed and explain things to the girl when she was old enough to understand. This plan is naturally torn apart by Summer’s death. Due to their bondmate connection, Raven fully felt Summer’s death and to this day, it is something she has not gotten over(whether these feelings are platonic, sisterly, or romantic, I leave that to fan speculation). Half of her blames herself for not going to her side, at the time she was helping her people in the midst of a natural disaster. The other half blames Ozpin. 

Ozpin

Oh boy, Ozpin may not be her strongest relationship, but it is perhaps the one that had the most impact on her life. Raven’s first impressions of Ozpin was someone to respect, but not trust as it seemed he was keeping a close eye on her and Qrow. It would take a while for her to realize he was keeping a close eye on Team STRQ as a whole and wouldn’t fully get the answers to that until Ozpin filled them in on the greater conflict. Long story short, Tai decides not to get in any further but the other three are brought into the inner circle. Raven is driven by the need to know more, but ultimately finding the truth to be more horrible than she imagined.

It starts with the bird magic. Unlike the canon, the bird transformation does have significant issues with it. On the minor side, the two will behave a bit more like birds such as having cravings for seeds, being drawn to shiny objects, etc. On the major side though, the magic also amplifies their fight/flight instincts and it gets stronger the longer they stay in bird form to the point where if they stay transformed long enough they will slowly forget their humanity (which is why they will transform for an hour at most). Now, to Ozpin’s defense, this was not something he deliberately kept from them, these were unintended side effects. Raven, however, is pissed that he didn’t consider how the magic might have affected them and could have warned them after Qrow and her stay transform for a little too long with Summer snapping them back to themselves. And that’s not the only problem she has with Ozpin.

As mentioned earlier, she did grow concerned with what she had learned and getting the whole truth about Salem and Ozpin as well as the lengths Ozpin has gone to defeat her, Raven’s doubts come to a head and she tries to get her brother to understand her point of view and get out. By this point, Qrow is fully committed to Ozpin’s brotherhood and views her actions and mindset as being unreasonable and selfish. While their relationship wasn’t as close as they were before, this confrontation was an utter shock to Raven. From there on, she blames Ozpin for “stealing” her brother and “blinding” him to the reality of the conflict.

But what really cements her hatred of Ozpin and giving up the fight with Salem is Summer’s death. Summer died at Salem’s hands, on a mission for Ozpin, and Raven was emotionally connected to her when she died. In response, Raven would make her way to Ozpin to confront him, which is also how he and others get the news. While Ozpin is genuinely grieved by Summer’s death, his first reaction to Raven’s words is frustration and despair that not even Summer using her eyes could stop Salem. THIS is Raven’s breaking point, the realization that Ozpin will use anything and anyone for his war Salem, even people he does significantly care about. After everything that Summer had done for him.... She actually attacks him for this, only to beaten down by Ozpin. He lets her go, but warns her to never return to Beacon and he won’t be so lenient if she tries this again.

In other words, this is where Sacrifice comes from.

Yang 

Out of all her relationships, Raven’s feelings for her daughter are the most complicated. For starters, I don’t think Yang was a planned pregnancy (neither was Ruby in my opinion). Tai was the over moon about it, but Raven wasn’t as thrilled. Partly because her doubt with Ozpin had had her seriously consider returning to the Tribe and the pregnancy was a delay in that, but also because Raven had absolutely no idea how to be a mom and didn’t have much in terms of maternal instinct. Contrary to popular belief, not all women have a natural inclination and understanding of children and babies (myself included). Ultimately, it wasn’t Yang’s fault she left, she had planned on going back to the Tribe from the beginning and she will tell Yang all this when she asks for answers.

She did consider taking Yang with her back to the Tribe, but realized that she couldn’t take care of a baby like that and Yang would be better off growing up inside one of the kingdoms. Like I said, she did entrust Summer to be the mother she couldn’t be and to tell Yang the truth when she was old enough. After Summer died, she really wasn’t in a state to come back even if she wanted to return. After sometime, she did resolve to pop back and check up on Yang from time to time. It does hurt her a bit that Yang has such obviously negative feelings towards her, but she accepts it and is fully okay with her daughter viewing Summer as her mother figure. She, in no way, regrets her choice.

And if there is one thing she is impressed by it’s how protective Yang is of Ruby because it reminds her how protective she got with Qrow when they were younger. Raven’s feelings on Ruby are complicated (she’s perfectly okay with Tai moving on, but the timing is rather questionable), but her respect for Summer and love for Yang does make Ruby fall under her one save rule as well as something else. On the journey to Mistral, Team RNJR and Qrow come close to perishing and are saved by Raven’s timely intervention. Tense atmosphere aside, she points them in the right direction and gives Ruby a warning both about the conflict she was walking straight into and not to use her Silver Eye powers unless she wants to follow her mother and grandfather’s path into an early grave.

Her role in the story would still be that of a third party and she will be both enemy and ally to the group during different points in the story. I do plan on her dying to help them as well as Qrow and Tai get away to safety, after finding out that there is a way to bring the conflict to an end and realizing that Summer fought not because she wanted to save the world, but because she wanted to protect those she cared about. In the end, she would die with her mind at peace and her last thoughts would be of either Yang or Ruby, passing on the Spring Maiden powers.

Oh boy, this post got long. And the next one’s going to be on Branwen Tribe history and culture. Maybe after that, I’ll get to Adam or Pyrrha. Hope you guys are up for that!

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: CAPSULE REVIEWS: The 2020 Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Short

(Image: weliveentertainment.com)

They may not get much attention when they’re not made by Disney and not appearing in front of their animated tentpoles, but the artistry and creativity is alive and well in the field of animated short films.  This year’s five nominees for the 92nd Academy Award are some of the most stark and unique entries I’ve seen in the years I’ve been able to cover the annual best. Below are my capsule reviews of this year’s final five for Best Animated Short.  Naturally, my niche of life lessons are included. Like the documentaries and live-action shorts in other Oscar categories, the animated films are presently collected in a single program to watch on the big screen at Landmark Theatre locations nationwide, including the three venues here in Chicago. 

HAIR LOVE

The most modern one, per se, of the field is this computer-animated chestnut from director (and Chicago native) Matthew A. Cherry.  This gem has climbed from a 2017 Kickstarter campaign to receiving its big screen chance in front of The Angry Birds Movie 2 last year and now an Oscar nomination.  It playfully and poignantly shines love on the entanglement and empowerment that comes from hairstyling black hair.

A precocious young girl with voluminous hair is scrolling through YouTube and watching instructional videos of a stylist (voiced by recent Oscar nominations reader Issa Rae of the upcoming film The Photograph) specializing in taming the untamed.  With the nodding consultations of her trusted pet cat, she lands on a look she wants.  When she tries it herself, it’s a disaster, much to the chagrin of her outmatched father.  Hair may be a woman’s specialty, but this dad become determined to pull off the look himself for his daughter and win the battle.

BEST LESSON: “MAKE THE JOURNEY WITH A LITTLE BIT OF WORK AND A WHOLE LOT OF LOVE”— This lesson is the send-off mantra of the featured YouTuber and it channels perfectly the adversity and attachment in the hair-styling and bonding process of Hair Love.  Connect the work to patience and connect the love to shared quality time with family.  The woman is wise and means more than we know to this father and daughter. Be ready for a crescendo.  

Hair Love elevates from a shared father-daughter experience to even bigger family swells.  It also celebrates a unique black essence that not only brings people together, but lifts self-esteem.  It’s skill. It’s status. It’s self-efficacy. Matthew A. Cherry nails all that with a beautiful and vibrant presentation. 

DAUGHTER

So often with even the best clay work from the likes of Aardman and Laika, we feel as though we’re watching a really nice diorama being shot.  Settings stay more static and fixed at wide shots to allow us audiences to soak in all the artistry. With that in mind, it impressive when something perceived as rudimentary can marvel our senses with underlying sophistication.  That is the effect of Daughter which takes intentionally smeared and crude sculpted claymation and lets the camera and audio foley swoop with incredible dexterity and detail.

A rescued bird from a window becomes a visual metaphor for a complicated and strained father-daughter relationship in this short film.  The father lies ill in the hospital while heart monitors break the silence between him and his daughter shuffling around the periphery of the room.  Memories manifest within the girl of other times where she tried to show affection and distant dreams where she imagined a different life, mask and all.

BEST LESSON: SAY SOMETHING— Plenty of animated shorts employ the dialogue-free style to let the visuals do the talking.  While that is indeed the case with Daughter, it’s also a bigger intentional meaning between the family members and their difficulties.  The silence between them is unhealthy and cannot be sustained. There is a rightful longing to say something and speak your feelings before the chances end and the people that need to hear them are gone.

All of these elements are masterfully created in this medium by Daria Kashcheeva, who wears the hats of writer, director, art director, DP, piano player, and more for this film.  The camera depth of these scenes is remarkable. The characters are commonly shot in close-up showing the literal and figurative imperfections within a sensory soundscape that is encapsulating.  Of the nominees, Daughter is the heaviest hitter for story and most challenging in design.  Bravo here!

KITBULL

Kitbull is the requisite Pixar entry for the Academy Award.  This cutie pie comes from their new SparkShorts division.  Written and directed by Rosana Sullivan, Kitball boasts, and pleasantly so, traditional 2D animated brilliance, which counts as a nice stylistic change of pace from the CGI juggernaut.

In platonic “Bennifer” name-combination fashion, this short features a little stray black kitten befriending a muscular white pitbull in their shared urban landscape of San Francisco’s Mission District.  The kitten makes its home inside a cardboard box behind a barbed-wire-strewn trash heap next to a garage. The big pooch is chained to a doghouse right outside the door. Both have their fears. Both have their flaws.  Both have their scars when it comes to trusting outside sources, even generosity given to them.

BEST LESSON: HELP A NEIGHBOR— This lesson could be called help a stranger, but it’s bigger than that when the stranger lives in proximity to you.  The cat witnesses the hardships of the pitbull and vice versa for the gruff dog watching the alleycat. They have their differences and their fears, but they show kindness and care to help someone in need.  It’s basic, beautiful, and effective for an animated short, which is par for the Pixar course.

This is Sullivan’s first directorial effort after years as a Pixar character designer for the likes of Piper, Incredibles 2, and The Good Dinosaur.  Without dialogue, the characters speak volumes with their body language and acts from every purr and pant to twitch and trot.  Animal lovers will find great joy. Likewise, there is much to be impressed by when it comes to the nearly abstract designs that lessen the tendency to hyper-detail in favor of letting the themes paint the picture.  Short or not, that is true to the fabled Pixar Punch.

SISTER

It’s a natural wish for a young child to want a companion at home.  Desiring a brother or sister brings the equally natural result of future sibling rivalry.  Ask any big brother or big sister and they’ll tell you how the ups outnumber the downs of that relationship.  Throw in some cultural notes and you have the lovely Annie Award nominee Sister from Chinese animator Siqi Song.

Save for a few items of colorful adornment, Sister is shot in black and white with animated stop-motion fabric dolls.  In dated chapter markers spanning the early 1990s, the narrator is the big brother observing the growth of his little sister.  Spanning the first five years of this little one’s life, the brother simultaneously celebrates and laments the turbulent life of getting along with a petulant little one.

BEST LESSON: WHAT SIBLINGS ADD TO LIFE— Those savvy in their international history will see those timestamps and know of the dreaded One-Child Policy that operated in China during that time.  Siblings were rare, frowned upon, and often, through sad and unfortunate measures, prevented. There are millions within multiple generations in China who never got to experience the closeness, both jovial and contentious, of having a sibling and the lift they bring to growing up.  That societal factor looms large over the truth and setting of Sister.      

With that gravity in mind, the woulda-coulda-shoulda moments in Sister teeter gracefully between funny and touching.  Existence becomes the most powerful emotion of Song’s lovely and crushing short.  Dedicated to the siblings “we” never had, the animation is a strong testament of remembrance to a time of lost experiences.  

MEMORABLE

(Image: dia.org)

Texture is such a trait of all of these nominated animated shorts.  Most use it within their art to stand out or define purpose. Memorable incorporates its unique physical texture into its act as a thematic tool of questioning the clues and differences between dreams and memories.  This may start as a head-scratcher for many, but will soon hit with poignancy. 

Elaborate opening credits creep over the grooves, ruts, and cracks of what will be the painted clay that makes these French environments and characters. In surreal ways, common objects around Louis (voiced by Andre Wilms of Le Havre) and his wife Michelle (voiced by Dominique Reymond) begin to defy their shapes and normal states. Time too seems to hop in these moments. Is the forgetful man seeing things or is it the whole world that has started to bend? 

BEST LESSON: WHAT YOU RECOGNIZE AND WHAT YOU DON’T— If what Louis is experiencing in Memorable are the hazy flashes of a neuro-degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s, then recognition is the challenge. The spirit and humor of a person may not change, but memorized matches and connections will fail, making that personality out of touch and out of place from where it used to be. 

The animation shifts are stunning in Memorable. With each passing action written and directed by Bruno Collet in his sixth short, the main character’s perception of both himself and his surroundings become subtly more dilapidated with the mounting cognitive loss. It’s a striking way of presenting the human and mental effects of such ailments.  Get your tissues ready.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#851-855)

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