#zenki soukoku. i need more of them

[etrevil]

“Is this also fate? It’s a pity.” /// “Chuuya, this is a farewell to you too.” /// “At long last. I’ve been… looking forward to th…” /// “Yes! Don’t yield to yourself!”

[seri-tonin]

I see no difference love is love

[ramen-lord-baku]

@note-boom tysm for your tags!!

For you and anyone wondering, yes! A lot of characters have great themes, though those I showed in the zenki soukoku post are just soundtrack from the anime. They blend in really well so theyre not too noticeable. If you look up the rest of the OSTs, you can find:

Akutagawa's (rashomon's theme) ; Atsushi ( personal fave ) ; Ranpo ; Francis/The Guild ; the WereTiger ; Kyouka ; Kajii Motojiro (personal fave) ; Armed Detective Agency ; Lupin bar ; and many more.

Also, aside from the anime soundtrack, there are ACTUAL character songs ! Sung by a small part of the cast, find them here. Personal faves are Ranpo's, Atsushi's and Kenji's.

I'm very keen on anime soundtrack and especially Japanese Seiyuus, if you're looking for a specific VA, OST, or would like to hear more songs sung by the BSD cast, dont hesitate to shoot me a message/ask if you need me to link anything. I also know a bunch of other animes & content where the same voice actors are featured if you'd like to know about them.

That's it! edit: Also if you get to listen to those, lmk in the tags which were ur faves id love to hear about it :3

[knockyasocksoff2022]

🪻 knockyasocksoff2022's Masterlist 🪻

The updated schedule is when I feel like it. I am sorry about that but my time, energy and motivation are all over the place. Please keep me accountable for updating these, I cannot keep focused on one thing for the life of me. If you want to know about any of these please just ask.

Akikajii / Kajiiko / Motosano / Yosojirou (Thou Shalt not Explode)

COMPLETED:

N/A

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

🦋Butterflies & Lemons🍋 - Chapter One

The Untold Origins if the Port Mafia (long fic) Chapters 1 - 20 / 30

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

N/A

Fukumori / Zenki Soukoku (ZSKK)

COMPLETED:

A Truce, Among Other Things (one-shot) [3,051 Words]

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

The Untold Origins of the Port Mafia (long fic) Chapters 1 - 20 / 30

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

Cherry Blossoms (one-shot + relationship reveal) (includes some implied side-ships)

Fukuzawa-Mori Elise (one-shot + relationship reveal)

The Clever Shadow of Evil (one-shot + relationship reveal)

The Reason Why Kunikida Is So Strict About Meeting Procedure - Part 2 (one-shot + relationship reveal)

Fyolai / Fyogol

COMPLETED:

Dizzy (one-shot)

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

N/A

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

Contortions (one-shot + fluff + slight crack + Nikolai being a weirdo (affectionate) and using his hypermobility to gross Fyo out)

Oh, Nikolai (sick-fic + them being domestic in their own goofy way)

No title, but it’s based extremely loosely on 5ft Apart

Kunikidazai / Kunidazai

COMPLETED:

N/A

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

IDEALS (fic) Chapters 1 - 13

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

N/A

Ranpoe

COMPLETED:

My Dear Ranpo (one-shot + relationship reveal) [1,055 Words]

May I Love You? (one-shot + relationship reveal) [1,468 Words]

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

The Cask of Manhasset (fic) Chapters 1 - 6

The Untold Origins of the Port Mafia (long fic) Chapters 1 - 20 / 30

RANPOE!!! one ICE (YURI!!! on ICE AU fic) Chapter 1

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

Even Authors Need rest (one-shot + relationship reveal)

Lost (one-shot + relationship reveal)

Manhasset Security's Security Measures (one-shot + relationship reveal)

Mission in the Rain (one-shot + sickfic + relationship reveal)

Ranpo Guild AU (fic, includes a relationship reveal, but that’s not the main focus. Mainly it’s Ranpoe getting together)

Surprise!!! (one-shot + choas/crack + relationship reveal)

The ADA's Newest Member (one-shot + relationship reveal)

Shin Soukoku (SSKK)

COMPLETED:

N/A

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

Vampires Beneath the Moonlight (fic) Chapter 1 - 2 [2,638 Words]

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

Horimiya (The Misisng Pieces) AU

AU where they’re both in the orphanage together (and Gin is there too)

Soukoku (SKK)

COMPLETED:

Chibis makes the best lunches (one-shot) [1,177 Words]

Dancing with My Love (one-shot) [1,472 Words]

Executive Dazai (one-shot) [4,154 Words]

"Mr. Dazai, your son threw up at school." (one-shot) [2,360 Words]

Snowstorm (one-shot) [1,177 Words]

The Disastrous Meeting (one-shot) [3,635 Words]

The Haunted House (one-shot) [1,666 Words]

The One Day Return of Double Black (one-shot) [4,846 Words]

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

Hunger Games AU Chapter 1 - 9

More Than You Know (fic) Chapters 1 - 9

The Untold Origins of the Port Mafia (long fic) Chapters 1 - 20 / 30

Through Glass Walls

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

As Far As The Eye Can See (fic + glasses!zai AU + Age 15)

“Dazai, the love of my life, you’re a damn idiot, you know that?”

Did you ever see a ginger mackerel wearing bandages?

Emergency Contact (Or The Mackerel did WHAT now!?)

How Long Has This Been Going On?

I’m Doggy Paddling For My Sanity Over Here

Karaoke Night

Notes from Me & My Beloved

Soulmates

Stray Dogs: J-Pop Idol AU

The Reason Kunikida Is So Strict About Meeting Procedure - Part One

Suegiku / Saihiro

COMPLETED:

N/A

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

Even Fire is Defeated By The Rain

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

N/A

Tachizaki / Tachitani / Tanihara (Midwinter Snow)

COMPLETED:

What Does the Tripartite Framework Have To Do With Midwinter Snow

#1 New Place - Part One (First part of my 5 + 1 Tachizaki things collection called My 5 times the ADA almost found out about Tachizaki and the 1 time they did. I haven’t posted it on Tumblr yet. I will when it’s finished, but for now, you can find it on Wattpad.)

#3 Nicotine-Scented Love (Second part of the 5 + 1 Tachizaki things)

IN PROGRESS: (fics w/ chapters already posted)

EVERYTHING EVERY THING AU

AU loosely based on Horimiya (idk if I’ll continue it though)

COMING SOON: (one-shots still in drafts)

#2 A New Place - Part Two (Third part of the 5 + 1 Tachizaki things)

#4 Light Snow & Firearms (Fourth part of the 5 + 1 Tachizaki things)

#5 Fight (Fifth part of the 5 + 1 Tachizaki things)

A Window Into The Love Life of Tanizaki Junichirou

Motion Sick

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Red Jacket

(A/N: this took a crazy long time to make! It was mostly my fault because I went through a short phase of not posting chapters on the same post so I had to track down all of them, it was so annoying. Never Again! And I realised I forgot to post a ton of stuff, lol. So this was a great reminder and I hope it helps you all.)

[justanothershippingcan]

After the last chapter, I have read many who think of Fukuzawa&Fukuchi as a more soukoku-y couple than Fukuzawa&Mori and I personally disagree.

Soukoku duos to me are ones where both components of the duo find themselves mostly disliking and not understanding the other at the beginning, just for them to be forced to have a partnership together and fight, becoming then basically unstoppable even with all of their differences in terms of personality and beliefs. In (gay)-anime-tropes terms, they are all - roughly, because their characterization at times goes beyond that - red and blue power couples, tinted with a sort of philosophical theme (the most blatant, Shin Skk and the whole “we want to live but what can we do to deserve this life?” concept) and a “I hate you, but I don’t, and I trust you” vibe. There is just a magnetism that leads and ties them together wheter they want to or not and their powers just either mesh together well or one of them needs the other to work at the max of their capabilities (Soukoku and corruption).

Which, in terms of the two Fukuzawa’s relationships, fits more Fukumori, with Fukuchi and Fukuzawa being instead “childhood friends who understood and loved each other at the beginning but took different choices in life + the one who got away”. We have yet to learn more, but with also how Fukuchi accuses his ex bff and doesn’t apparently seem to know Fukuzawa is (was) an assassin - and has seen some fucked up stuff as well -, I’d say, they sure know each other well, but have drifted apart and don’t seem to understand everything about the other anymore.

All of this just to say that discovering the ties between Fukuzawa and Fukuchi, along with Zenki Soukoku, actually leads to one realization, and that’s how Fukuzawa is very specific regarding what he wants. 

He is criminalsexual. He likes (war) criminals and (war) criminals exclusively. If a man hasn’t committed illegal atrocities, he doesn’t want him. If the criminal has some knowledge about blades, be it a sword or surgeon scapel, and is the leader of a squad or organization, that’s even better. Even if he might have to file up some divorce papers later on (he draws the line at hurting his children and cats), he is committed to his tastes in men.

And I think that’s beautiful actually. 

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

a thought on soukoku duos

You know what's interesting? How markedly different shin soukoku is from both of its predecessors, at least from a tactical standpoint.

(From a character standpoint, Atsushi and Akutagawa's unfortunate tendency of threatening to kill each other while also trusting the other person to have their back is perfectly in line with both Dazai and Chuuya's dynamic as well as Mori and Fukuzawa's.)

Let me explain what I mean. Chuuya and Dazai were the first pair to be called soukoku, at least in-universe. Tactically, they're a duo made up of a frontliner who's physically strong but more straightforward in their thinking, and a behind-the-scenes strategist with a mind like a steel trap but less survivability in open battle.

While both of them can fight and both of them are smart, they cover for each others' weaknesses and capitalize on each others' strengths. What made soukoku so deadly was the particular combination of Chuuya's absolute nuke of an ability and Dazai's brain. (No Longer Human as a spectacular cheat code certainly didn't hurt.)

But it's also important to note that soukoku was very deliberately engineered by Mori, almost in the image of his own soukoku duo--what's usually dubbed "zenki soukoku" by the fandom and "boomer soukoku" if you're cool.

Zenki soukoku follows the format pretty well--in fact, I'm of the opinion that soukoku improved on the formula that Mori and Fukuzawa established.

You've got Fukuzawa, a powerful fighter with tactical skill but a reputation for being too straight forward, despite being a government assassin in his youth. He's paired with Mori, a fighter whose style relies almost entirely on misdirection and guile because he doesn't have the explosive skill and strength of his partner, but he's smart enough that he doesn't need it.

Mori's not the type of guy you put on the front lines, just like Dazai. He's better suited to planning and strategy. Fukuzawa doesn't have the predisposition toward strategy and trickery, just like Chuuya, who openly despises the way Dazai thinks.

Which brings me to shin soukoku, the newest duo formed by Dazai himself. Except I don't think he tried to improve on the soukoku formula. Rather, he took it in a new direction by doing away with the strategist-nuke pair and changing it to a...midrange-melee pair?

Listen, while I love Akutagawa and Atsushi as much as the next person, they're both...they're both kinda dumb. Seriously. Akutagawa's response to a minor inconvenience threat is kill it kill it kill it and Atsushi's tendency to run headfirst into danger is well-documented. While Akutagawa possesses at least an inkling of tactical know-how from training and experience, he's not Dazai or Mori.

Not that I think he should be. Yokohama's got enough crazy geniuses running around.

But regardless, shin soukoku's a little bit different from its predecessors. They have the same unconscious ability to predict the other's moves, the same begrudging trust, and the same stupid levels of combat talent that the other soukoku duos have, but they don't have...god, this is so mean. They don't have a Dazai. Or a Mori.

Shin soukoku, for better or worse, doesn't play the long game. While they have moments of trickery and cleverness, often mid-battle, neither Atsushi or Akutagawa are playing 4D chess with their enemies.

Honestly, it's not a bad thing. I just found it interesting.

[pixelatedtaken]

This has been on my mind for a bit but... and I have no idea if people have pointed it out. Colors play a role here. This is not a shipping post.

Mori and Fukuzawa

Dazai and Chuuya

Atsushi and Akutagawa

These three pairs parallel each other. No?

Okay, wait, let me ?briefly? explain.

Mori and Fukuzawa

They're the first, they became partners, or kind of I guess, because of Natsume. He saw potential on the pair being together and he was not wrong since, from a flashback, they were a good pair.

Their colors are red and blue. Mori is red, Fukuzawa is blue.

Dazai and Chuuya

Second pair which goes by the name Soukoku or Double Black. They were paired because of Mori thinking that they can make something good together.

Their colors are also red and blue. Dazai is blue, Chuuya is red.

Atsushi and Akutagawa

Third pair, most likely the last except if we see either Akutagawa or Atsushi pick their next generation kind of thing. They got paired by Dazai because of plans that needed them both.

If you can't guess, their colors are red and blue. Akutagawa is red, Atsushi is blue.

Except of their colors, something just feels parallel with them. Okay, let's say this.

In season 3, episode 11 (idk manga chapter), Mori's fight with Fukuzawa, although it felt like it's own thing that has nothing to do with the other pairs, it somehow reminded me of them, mostly Dazai and Chuuya because they were/are closer than Atsushi and Akutagawa are.

Imagine this, Dazai was Mori, Chuuya was Fukuzawa. Does this go against their colors? Yes. But, imagine that placing because reality is, just like Mori, Dazai knows he wouldn't win against Chuuya. Chuuya doesn't need to use an ability, he knows how to fight and that was proven in the dungeon. And since I said dungeon, take that scene. Chuuya could have killed Dazai, but didn't because Dazai backed him up into a corner. That same method of talking before you die, distracting or manipulating your enemy and then gaining the upper hand is what Mori used too. Do you see it? (I also didn't do a mistake with the colors, it's to show the role change.)

But the thing about the pairs is that they differ from each other.

Let me list them:

Fukuzawa's and Mori's abilities don't compliment each other. Mori was most likely to use a scalpel to kill his enemies than his ability. While Dazai/Chuuya's and Atsushi/Akutagawa's abilities do.

Atsushi and Akutagawa don't trust each other at the beginning, even as we continue with the story, they don't trust each other quickly. Of course, they show they trust each other at a certain chapter later on. While Dazai/Chuuya and Mori/Fukuzawa show to trust each other from the start, maybe Fukuzawa had doubts but all of them did.

Dazai and Chuuya started from the same path. Of course Chuuya was with the Sheep when he met Dazai but he very quickly becomes part of the Port Mafia. While Atsushi/Akutagawa and Mori/Fukuzawa were/are never in the same organization.

Mori would never risk or die for Fukuzawa, rather he would kill him if that's what was needed. Chuuya would risk his life for Dazai. Akutagawa died for Atsushi.

This one is stupid but... Fukuzawa and Mori are not called a particular way. While Dazai/Chuuya have Soukoku (double black) and Akutagawa/Atsushi have Shin Soukoku (new double black). -learned that Fukuzawa/Mori do have a name which is Zenki Soukoku but I will not edit this out bc it's 5 on 5 and I'm a weirdo.-

What about similar things? Let's list those:

Created by a third party. Natsume made Fukuzawa/Mori. Mori created Dazai/Chuuya. Dazai created Akutagawa/Atsushi.

The colors. Red and Blue.

Yin and Yang. More apparent with Akutagawa and Atsushi, even in the hair. While Chuuya and Dazai have a more soulmate feel to them. Still Ying and Yang.

Their love/hate relationship. More apparent with Dazai and Chuuya.

This attacks point number 3 in the previous list but, different paths, at least in the present.

This was not a BRIEF explanation. Oh well. I didn't expect to play so much with color either but here I am. Will anyone read this? No. It's too long but it might grab someone's attention. Has anyone pointed this out? Probably. But I promise I didn't see it from somewhere, it was shower thoughts. 😂 My thoughts about this are a bit all over the place but whatever.

Whoever read this. Legend. I thank you for reading my rambling.

Goodbye!

[knockyasocksoff2022]

My Works In Progress Even Though Nobody asked:

1) A yet to be titled fic about Dazai getting Kunikida drunk for blackmail. Haven’t started writing, just planning.

2) A soukoku relationship reveal fic (yes, I know i already have so many. BUT WE NEED MORE!) Almost finished writing

3) Some soukoku sickfics. I think I’ve got like one scentence for each of them.

4) A few realtionship reveals I’ve started an abandoned (all for Soukoku.)

5) A Fukumori/Zenki Soukoku relatioonship reveal, set in the same time frame as Dancing With My Love.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

re: thoughts on soukoku duos

So, because you all are lovely and amazing and weighed in on this in your tags, I may actually have an idea for why this is a thing! Shout out to @everyonesfavoritebastard because your tags made me laugh out loud. @leonawriter it was your tags that made me actually start thinking in particular, though. (My brain is slow. Sometimes it needs someone to jumpstart the engine a bit, so to speak.)

Why is shin soukoku so different from its predecessors? You can chalk this up to the people who made them.

Natsume, imo, wasn't really trying to create a duo. His whole thing was the Tripartite System and zenki soukoku was a byproduct of that goal, because it just so happened that Mori and Fukuzawa really worked well together. I can't speculate that much on his motives considering the black hole of information that a lot of pre-canon stuff is, but that's how I see it.

Mori was, as I previously speculated, probably trying to improve on his dynamic with Fukuzawa. As a fighting duo, they were somewhat crippled by Fukuzawa's more support-type ability. Mori ensured that his soukoku didn't have a firepower problem.

And it's Mori. His key character trait is his utilitarian mindset--everything for his personal greater good. I don't think he cared much about how Dazai and Chuuya developed as people or their emotional mindsets past how to keep them at peak fighting/tactical efficiency. If he had, the whole Oda thing wouldn't have happened and Dazai wouldn't have left the Port Mafia.

(I have inarticulate opinions on how Dazai is probably the greatest example of Mori being fallible, actually, and where his mindset and steel trap of a brain failed. But that's for another post.)

Dazai was planning shin soukoku when he first met Akutagawa, right? Or at least that seems to be the common theory. It's been a while since I read the manga, so I can't say for sure if it's explicitly stated.

But I don't think it's entirely out of the question. Dazai would have seen how he and Chuuya were manipulated into falling into each others' orbits and henceforth put on missions together. It's not a stretch to say he was planning on doing something similar.

So when he first recruited Akutagawa, my thinking is that he was going to try to turn shin soukoku into something after himself and Chuuya. A tactics-nuke duo with Akutagawa as the nuke. Maybe that's why Dazai pushed him so hard when he was in the mafia. Who knows. Speculating on Dazai's motives is a slippery slope of trying to figure out where the line is between "he's not that smart" and "he is that smart," and even Asagiri-sensei might not know.

Regardless, things changed when he left the mafia.

I don't think Dazai, at that point, really cared about anyone except his own grief. If shin soukoku was that important to him, I'd think he would have at least contacted Akutagawa in the years he was gone. But he didn't, and I doubt he was planning on shin soukoku at all. But what changed his mind?

Russia. Russia changed his mind.

We know that Fyodor and Dazai met sometime while Dazai was laying low, in the years between leaving the PM and joining the Agency. And it's at this point that Dazai realizes oh shit, this guy's bad news, and when he returns to Yokohama, he starts planning on restarting his old shin soukoku project.

So here's what I'm thinking. Dazai knows that a new soukoku is necessary. He and Chuuya's days as the movers and shakers of Yokohama are past and there needs to be someone new. But I doubt that Dazai wanted to do what Mori did--because there's no one who hates Mori as much as Dazai does. Except maybe Yosano. So Dazai wants to form a shin soukoku that doesn't spiral in on itself in a destructive sort of neutron star system like him and Chuuya (hehe, see that galaxy metaphor?) but a duo that drives personal growth and character development.

Enter Atsushi, the boy who doesn't know if it's alright for him to live but nevertheless doesn't want to hurt people, and Dazai suddenly has the perfect partner for Akutagawa, a guy who has fought to live tooth and nail but is far too blase about murdering innocents.

It's great! Atsushi gets a sense of self-worth and Akutagawa learns that maybe other humans are worth protecting. On top of that, Yokohama has a new duo to protect it. A win-win for Dazai, who gets to spite the shit out of Mori with a soukoku that doesn't self-destruct.

Though I wonder what'll happen now, with the vampires and everything.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

I posted 2,526 times in 2021

1580 posts created (63%)

946 posts reblogged (37%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.6 posts.

I added 838 tags in 2021

#adepti holy water - 151 posts

#genshin impact - 110 posts

#aurie liveblogs - 95 posts

#misc - 82 posts

#bungou stray dogs - 79 posts

#raven raven raven - 76 posts

#bsd - 68 posts

#bsd manga spoilers - 65 posts

#the wind rises snippets - 59 posts

#bungo stray dogs - 53 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#prose: yeah no you can fuck around mostly and drop a really raw line every so often to keep the reader on their toes but other than that eh

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Legitimately can't stop thinking about the Kazuha scene from the Inazuma Archon Quest finale. I just. The look in his eyes. It was the sort of look that says no, not again, I can't watch her cut my friend down in front of my eyes. It's the sort of look that says damn it, I won't let her. The resolve!! The desperation!! The sheer unthinking reflex!! Kazuha hearing the voice of the friend he was just too late to save!! Kazuha blocking the very same strike that killed him because he won't let it happen again!! You can see him go from surprise to panic to determination and it puts me right back in my feelings every time.

Kazuha blocks a god's strike for Traveler but he also does it for his friend, and he does it for himself, and I will never not feel things about it.

172 notes • Posted 2021-09-21 22:40:56 GMT

#4

a thought on soukoku duos

You know what's interesting? How markedly different shin soukoku is from both of its predecessors, at least from a tactical standpoint.

(From a character standpoint, Atsushi and Akutagawa's unfortunate tendency of threatening to kill each other while also trusting the other person to have their back is perfectly in line with both Dazai and Chuuya's dynamic as well as Mori and Fukuzawa's.)

Let me explain what I mean. Chuuya and Dazai were the first pair to be called soukoku, at least in-universe. Tactically, they're a duo made up of a frontliner who's physically strong but more straightforward in their thinking, and a behind-the-scenes strategist with a mind like a steel trap but less survivability in open battle.

While both of them can fight and both of them are smart, they cover for each others' weaknesses and capitalize on each others' strengths. What made soukoku so deadly was the particular combination of Chuuya's absolute nuke of an ability and Dazai's brain. (No Longer Human as a spectacular cheat code certainly didn't hurt.)

But it's also important to note that soukoku was very deliberately engineered by Mori, almost in the image of his own soukoku duo--what's usually dubbed "zenki soukoku" by the fandom and "boomer soukoku" if you're cool.

Zenki soukoku follows the format pretty well--in fact, I'm of the opinion that soukoku improved on the formula that Mori and Fukuzawa established.

You've got Fukuzawa, a powerful fighter with tactical skill but a reputation for being too straight forward, despite being a government assassin in his youth. He's paired with Mori, a fighter whose style relies almost entirely on misdirection and guile because he doesn't have the explosive skill and strength of his partner, but he's smart enough that he doesn't need it.

Mori's not the type of guy you put on the front lines, just like Dazai. He's better suited to planning and strategy. Fukuzawa doesn't have the predisposition toward strategy and trickery, just like Chuuya, who openly despises the way Dazai thinks.

Which brings me to shin soukoku, the newest duo formed by Dazai himself. Except I don't think he tried to improve on the soukoku formula. Rather, he took it in a new direction by doing away with the strategist-nuke pair and changing it to a...midrange-melee pair?

Listen, while I love Akutagawa and Atsushi as much as the next person, they're both...they're both kinda dumb. Seriously. Akutagawa's response to a minor inconvenience threat is kill it kill it kill it and Atsushi's tendency to run headfirst into danger is well-documented. While Akutagawa possesses at least an inkling of tactical know-how from training and experience, he's not Dazai or Mori.

Not that I think he should be. Yokohama's got enough crazy geniuses running around.

But regardless, shin soukoku's a little bit different from its predecessors. They have the same unconscious ability to predict the other's moves, the same begrudging trust, and the same stupid levels of combat talent that the other soukoku duos have, but they don't have...god, this is so mean. They don't have a Dazai. Or a Mori.

Shin soukoku, for better or worse, doesn't play the long game. While they have moments of trickery and cleverness, often mid-battle, neither Atsushi or Akutagawa are playing 4D chess with their enemies.

Honestly, it's not a bad thing. I just found it interesting.

349 notes • Posted 2021-07-27 17:31:17 GMT

#3

The Tsaritsa

You know, since writing a fair bit about La Signora, I was thinking a lot about the Cryo Archon and her subordinates. They're not what I expected.

We're told that the Fatui are an organization answering only to Snezhnaya's leader. They use diplomacy, but their reputation for vicious sadism and brute force precedes them--they're ruthless, leveraging any scrap of political favor thrown their way and exploiting what conflicts they can.

We know this from the Ursa the Drake incident, when Dottore's "defeat" of the beast gave them favorable diplomatic conditions in Mondstadt. We know this from the Vision Hunt Decree, promoted and maintained by Fatui intervention in order to destabilize the country from the inside.

And the Fatui value strength above anything else. Signora's death is not their tragedy and she was not a woman they mourned, because to fall in battle is a sign of weakness.

In Snezhnaya, there is no honor for the dead.

Like so many others the Traveler meets on their journey, they're also deeply devoted to their archon. To join the Fatui is to forsake one's name and one's face in the pursuit of the Tsaritsa's beautiful and terrible dream of a world without Celestia. That so many of her people have taken up her cause is no mean feat, and that she had eleven people so feverishly devoted to her that they would willingly sacrifice everything is intriguing.

But how?

The Tsaritsa is no simple tyrant. She's not Baal. And that's evident from the way she speaks to her subordinates and their opinion of her. Kujou Sara speaks of her archon with reverence and respect, and she devotes herself to Baal's eternity without a second thought--but there's nothing personal about why. It makes Sara, and by extension Baal, seem...more two-dimensional.

But the Tsaritsa, despite being the Cryo Archon, is one hell of a firebrand.

Think about it. She's advocating revolution, full on revolution against the powers that be. The Tsaritsa wants to bring the gods down from the sky and to burn the old world to the ground. And she acknowledges the enormous burden this puts upon her subordinates. She acknowledges that she is demanding their fullest loyalty, devotion beyond reason or ability.

"Sorry...to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world. Since you could endure my bitter cold, you must have the desire to burn? Then, burn away the old world for me."

What sort of archon apologizes to her subjects?

One that understands, on a visceral level, the sacrifices she asks they make.

Of all the archons, is it such a surprise that she sounds the most human? Because what could be more human than to wish to defeat the divine?

I have many thoughts on visions being a manifestation of human ambition, responding to their will, being tied inextricably to their dreams...and how gods don't simply grant humans power, but help their ambitions become realized. The Tsaritsa is not Venti, with little ambition other than to see his people happy; she is not Zhongli, tired of shouldering that responsibility; she is not Ei, forging ahead while deaf to the cries of her subjects.

The Tsaritsa tells them that the world is brutal, and so is she, but that they can tear it down if they so wished.

And this inspires such fanatic loyalty that it's astonishing to witness.

Cleverer still is how she gathered her Harbingers. They are all, in some form or another, as cruel as their leader. And from what we know, they were all outcasts.

La Signora is the first Harbinger we meet. She wandered Teyvat for centuries, burning away the corruption she saw until she was, perhaps, no longer fit to be called human. The Tsaritsa gives her a path forward--bring down the gods, destroy the Abyss.

Then we meet Childe. He's brash, arrogant, and fundamentally wrong in some way. The lore blames the Abyss for what he's become--a little too bloodthirsty, a little too ambitious, and a little too reckless for other people to tolerate--but the Tsaritsa gives him a place where he can grow in strength as much as he desires.

Scaramouche is next. What was Scaramouche if not a person without a destiny? Does a puppet even have a constellation? Before he was found, he drifted aimlessly. The Tsaritsa gave him a cause to fight for.

And though we have not met Il Dottore in game, we know enough about him to see that he was cast out of the Academia for unauthorized experimentation. The Tsaritsa recruited him with the promise that he would not be accused of heresy.

Though perhaps I give her too much credit. Scaramouche, Signora, and Dottore were recruited directly by Pierro, the first of the Harbingers. And he, too, is intriguing, and his words sum up the general attitude of the Fatui.

Then I shall become instead a fool, a Fatuus, and devote myself to Her Majesty, who understands my pain...

My name is Pierro, The Jester. Please listen to the words I have to say:

Proud Fatui comrades, I know your hearts harbor both the fires of rage and the cold of eternal winter.

Each one of us has borne witness to the absurd callousness of the foundational principles of this world.

So, let us don our masks in mockery of the world as we go forth and rewrite the rules of destiny.

What sets the Tsaritsa apart, I think, is that she understands the rage of her subjects. She seeks out Harbingers who feel the same and tells them that they are not alone, and that there is a better world--they must only build it from the ground.

And what could be more dangerous, more clever than a passionate revolutionary with a talent for recruiting bitter extremists?

Perhaps it is fair to say that only those who possess an obsession close to or even exceeding the level of delusion might be willing to join this group that so rebels against the Heavenly Principles, binding their remaining days to their Delusions and burning as brightly as stars.

Bitter, obsessive extremists. Clever indeed.

387 notes • Posted 2021-09-08 05:06:15 GMT

#2

on the one hand, chiluc enemies to lovers superiority. on the other hand, the aesthetic of chilumi. balanced on my head, the inherent sexiness of chaeya. wedged between my cheek and shoulder, the universal appeal of chili. perilously perched on my raised knee, the crackery of scarachilde.

392 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 06:25:31 GMT

#1

ah yes, three generations of soukoku tiring out their mentors

789 notes • Posted 2021-04-09 02:06:42 GMT

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