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Crocodile and Luffy make interesting foils of each other in terms of the way they think. Crocodile is a meticulous guy with well-thought-out multi-layered plans, whereas Luffy plans exactly zero steps ahead and just comes up with ideas on the fly. Crocodile spent years planning for his takeover of Alabasta, and he was stopped by Luffy who was only there because he happened to meet Vivi and impulsively decided to help her. They are such polar opposites. Meticulous planning versus impulse decisions. Refined skills versus common-sense-defying creativity.

And it extends beyond themselves to their crews. Baroque Works is an organised group with highly-skilled members, whereas the Straw Hats are just a bunch of ragtag kids still figuring out how piracy works. But what the Straw Hats lack in experience and skills, they make up for in persistence and ingenuity.

I'm talking about all of their respective fights in Alabasta. Except for Sanji who wasn't losing because of a skill issue but rather because of his values, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Chopper were all clearly weaker than their opponents. But they all came up with clever ways to beat their opponents regardless, including Sanji.

And before that as well. How Mr. 3 and Miss Golden Week's attack in Little Garden was so strategically laid out, and yet Usopp and Luffy kept finding creative ways to beat them. And on a bigger scale, their plan was foiled by Sanji who only happened to find Mr. 3's candle room by luck, but took advantage of the situation to turn things in their favour.

Obviously, the Straw Hats were helped by luck sometimes. But it was only because of their quick-thinking that they were able to take advantage of opportunities when they arose. For example, their meeting with Bon Clay could have easily been a disadvantage as the opponents now had the ability to infiltrate them. But they turned it into an advantage by coming up with a strategy to counter it.

On paper, Crocodile and the Baroque Works were so much more prepared than the Straw Hats. Crocodile came up with a foolproof plan ten-steps ahead, while the Straw Hats and Vivi had to keep improvising a counterattack on the spot. But, in a way, Crocodile's strength was also his weakness. Because he made his plan so far in advance, he couldn't predict the Straw Hats' involvement. And who could see that coming? And the surprise element helped the Straw Hats so much.

And it's also so funny. Because Crocodile had to spend so much effort and planning to hide his identity but the Straw Hats escaped notice just by being too small a pirate crew that people didn't know who they were.

And yes, one reason that Crocodile was beaten is because he and Baroque Works continually underestimated the Straw Hats. But in Crocodile's defense, he still had backup plan after backup plan just in case things went wrong. The funny thing is that even though Crocodile planned for all sorts of scenarios, he still couldn't plan for what actually happened because the Straw Hats' methods were so ridiculous sometimes. How could he predict that Water Luffy would be the thing that saved Luffy's life? How could Miss Doublefinger expect Nami's clima tact to be more than a party favour when she herself kept cursing Usopp during their fight? How could the officer agents guess that one of the fake Vivis was actually a fucking camel?

Alabasta is so funny because you have this evil mastermind who is super competent and organised and yet he is beaten by a couple of kids who turned the tides by being so ridiculously weird that the mastermind's plan couldn't predict their counterattacks. And I love how it symbolises the conflict between careful planning and adaptability, and how sometimes it's not enough to plan ahead even if you plan everything perfectly because things can always happen that's outside your wildest imaginations. And how sometimes it's better to just think on your feet and adapt to the situation as it changes.

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Just two gals being pals

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happy pride from the kitauji quartet!

inspired by this post by @incorrecthibikequotes which i've always wanted to draw and finally did :)

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sound! euphonium ended perfectly. i'm going to miss this show sooooooooooooooo much. it's my favorite show ever. it's fundamentally changed me to my core and is the piece of art i think about when i think about wanting to create incredibly deep, moving works. one day i hope i can make something that will make someone feel like i'm feeling right now.

i was pretty anxious about the ending (episode 12 had me inconsolable for the best reasons) but it was perfect, to be honest. it captured exactly what the show was about, and i'm in awe the degree to which they hit it out of the park

i love you kumiko oumae. thank you

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The adaptational change of Kumiko not getting the Soli part actually works really well as a way to bring the themes of the series full circle, since the point of her character arc was never about being “special” or achieving some impossible goal. It was always about learning to admit when she’s upset. She starts the series unable to understand why Reina says she’s so upset she could die, and this whole season has been building up to Kumiko finally realizing she can feel that way.

Kumiko has always been like a euphonium: never standing out, always supporting the composition as a whole. She’s not anything special. But now she’s able to admit that she doesn’t have to be content with that.

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It doesn’t matter what Kumiko wants.

(Minor Eupho finale spoilers ahead)

That’s the painful reality of Hibike! Euphonium’s third season, especially for the viewer who (presumably) aligns with our hero’s desires.

The third season does an excellent job in rehashing what we all loved about the first, but its biggest success is in twisting our expectations from the familiar to the uncharted. Kumiko becomes president, which means she can exercise greater control in getting what she wants right? Wrong.

As I’ve argued before, this (in part) is what makes Kumiko an excellent president. She realizes her place within the band is as a mediator, a punching bag, a soundboard, and—most importantly—a selfless decision-maker. It doesn’t come without pain, but it’s in learning to live with the disappointment that our hero grows to become the most effective (and successful) leader the Kitauji band has ever seen.

Kumiko isn’t the only one with unfulfilled desires, of course. Asuka doesn’t win gold, Nozomi can’t live out her dream, Shun doesn’t win Kumiko’s heart (yes i know what happens in the source material but let me have this one), Kanade doesn’t play at Nationals, Reina can’t…well…you know. And Kumiko doesn’t get the soli, even when getting the soli would be the most obvious thing in the world to happen for someone who deserves it.

But the thing is, someone else deserves it, too. Someone else will always deserve the thing that you want, and sometimes that means you won’t get it. It happens all the time! But in a medium filled with so much wish-fulfillment, it’s important to get these occasional reminders that disappointment is natural…and that it will all be okay in the end.

There are a lot of reasons why I think Hibike! Euphonium is the greatest televised anime ever made, many of which are technical and aesthetic and lean heavily towards personal taste. But perhaps the biggest reason is how a show about a high school band on the other side of the world—the most innocuous premise conceivable—manages to bring out some of the most important life lessons anyone of any age could possibly learn. Yes, I want what Kumiko wants, and it upset me so much that she doesn’t get it—just as much as it uplifts me to see the results of her growth born from that pain and frustration.

Hibike’s final act is the show’s greatest movement—a soaring testament to KyoAni’s storytelling power and the emotional height of what televised fiction can attain. Perhaps that’s a recency bias showing, but then again—how could I expect less from the greatest anime ever made?

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And so, the next piece begins...

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reblog if you made it this far somehow

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me when i have a nice meal

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Well I was going to sleep, but Dana decided to upload some new ToH art, so…

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superhero fans how's it feel to be winning

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K-On walked so that Bocchi could...

...so that Bocchi could do whatever the hell all this is

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spiderman and cops. okay. intrinsically tied since the beginning. hobie mother FUCKIN brown the anarchist. gwen's dad pointing the gun at her. being the threat— not fully letting go of the goddamn gun even after she took off the mask. he, in the end, recognizing he cannot be good to her and be a cop at the same time, choosing gwen, and her, in the argument, saying "you're a good cop", saying she understands why he can't be her father instead, saying that being a good cop is not a good thing at all. he gives up his badge and saves himself by it. the narrative saves him and saves gwen too.

miguel and the centralized spider government. okay. how the scale of it and the organization around a single person take the spider people from the heroes of their own worlds to the threat in miles'. lost in the utilitarianism. and HOBIE MOTHER FUCKIN BROWN! THE ANARCHIST! not letting miguel unilaterally decide what the greater good looks like, deciding not to act in its name, deciding to act on his own perception of goodness. every spider person in the facility is indeed a spider person, but only hobie and miles act like Spider-Man. when worse comes to worse.

friendly neighborhood spiderman. spiderman as somebody supposed to exist in the small scale, in community, defiant of the complex social structures of the world. your friend. your hero. thread the needle. defy canon. listen to your gut. be there for those who matter to you. and try and try and try and try against everything against all odds because you're SPIDER-MAN YOU'RE SPIDER-MAN it's YOU and you can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT