#I admittedly only read the first few books in some of these series' but still
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Just some things I think deserve a super accurate movie/show adaption in a beautiful 2D animation style:
The How to Train Your Dragon series
Gregor the Overlander
Artemis Fowl
The Adventure Zone
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (fr so much was left out of the 1939 film!)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
The actual Little Mermaid story (there are a ton of adaptations I haven't seen yet so maybe it exists somewhere but we all know Disney’s didn’t even come close)
#the entire series for those that have one if that wasn't clear#some of these need to be done#some just need to be done RIGHT#like fr why is it so hard for adaptations to just be faithful to the source material? It's not rocket science#also why did hunger games get so much love but no one read Gregor the Overlander?#the original little mermaid may be sad as heck but it is also beautiful#I admittedly only read the first few books in some of these series' but still#like did you know there's 14 oz books?#okay imma tag everything now#how to train your dragon#httyd books#gregor the overlander#the underland chronicles#artemis fowl#the adventure zone#taz#the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy#hgttg#frankenstein#frankenstein the modern prometheus#the wizard of oz#alice's adventures in wonderland#the little mermaid#old niche fandoms#adaptation#animation#hans christian andersen#lewis carroll#suzanne collins#cressida cowell
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And so, the stars aligned.
Azriel x Archeron!Sister reader.
Summary: After the Cauldron had transformed you and your sisters into High Fae, it takes some adjusting. But as life settles down, your left with searing normalcy and dealing with your sisters being grossly in love.
Warnings: None!
This is going to be part of a ongoing series! Feel free to send over any other ideas!
Requests are open!!
part two part three part four
Masterlist
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You were happy for your sisters. Truly. Feyre had found Rhysand and made her life here better than anything you could have imagined back home in the rundown cabin you had grown up in. Nesta, well she was still Nesta. But now she had Cassian. And they were annoyingly in love.
But here you were. Sitting in the gardens with your only other single sister, book perched in your lap as you get distracted watching how Elain floats gracefully through the gardens. She had a few smears of dirt across her cheek, and a light sweat sheen made it look like she was glowing as the sunlight hit her. The sound of footsteps echoed as someone approached the gardens. Looking over you saw Azriel standing there- noting how he purposefully made himself known before entering. He doesn't bother to look in your direction at first, his eyes trained on where Elain was kneeling.
"Az!" Elain chirps, quickly standing and smoothing out her dress. Smiling up at the Shadowsinger. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Azriel had the faintest smile as he looked at Elain. "I wanted to make sure you were doing well." Finally he looks over in your direction. His hazel eyes meeting yours as he seemed to share the same sentiment towards you as well. Elain seemed to remember that you were there as well. Looking over at you, she gives an easy smile.
"I think we're doing well. What about you? y/n?" She asks overly sweet. And you knew your sister well enough to know she was telling you to answer and find a way out so she can be alone with Az.
Smiling as well, though admittedly tighter due to her sisters look. You understood her hesitance with her mate. But did she really not even respect the man enough to just flat out reject him? He clearly wasn't accepting her indifference as rejection. "I'm well." You nod, standing and stretching with a slight yawn. "I think I'm going to take a nap."
Elain winks at you, taking Azriel's arm as she tugs him further into the gardens. Rolling your eyes and shaking your head, you head upstairs toward the room Feyre had crafted just for you. And you couldn't lie. It was so nice to have your own room, your own space. A luxury you couldn't have ever imagined the nights you laid on the floor of the old cabin.
You were young when your mother passed. You had barely known what life was like before poverty. Just two years younger than Feyre, it had been enough to ensure that you couldn't read- but like Feyre you knew the Alphabet…at least somewhat. You wondered if you could teach yourself to read now? You look at the book you had in your hands and sighs. Tossing it aside, you just occasionally flipped through the pages to make it look like you were doing anything else but getting lost into your head. Letting yourself fall back onto your bed, looking up at the ceiling. Boredom was going to kill you. Not wanting to wither away just yet. You got up with a heavy sigh and decided to go find Nyx. If there had been nothing good about becoming a High Fae, he would be your shining light. He was the Archeron's pride and joy. You and your sisters argue over being the favorite Aunt. Nesta claims that since she saved his, and Feyre's life, she is automatically the favorite. You and Elain told her that Nyx doesn't know her yet so it's not a fair assumption. Secretly, deep down you know that you're the favorite.
Making your toward Rhys's office- where you knew Feyre tended to be around this time. Gently knocking on the door, "It's open!" Rhys answers and looks toward the door expectantly. Stepping in you give a small smile.
"I have come to steal your son." You joke, walking in and seeing the baby in Feyre's arms. Her and Rhys laugh as Nyx perks up at you reaching his little arms out. You can't help the smile growing on your face as you take him. "Well hello there, Nxyie!" You coo as you brush the hair out of his face. He babbles to you, and you nod along to it. As if it isn't just gibberish.
"Nothing exciting going on y/n?" Rhys asks, standing from his desk as he wraps an arm around Feyre and presses a kiss to her temple. You shake your head.
"You're welcome to join us, we were just about to go out to lunch." Feyre offers, her smile is soft and sweet. She was practically glowing here. Gently you shook your head.
"Nah, when's the last time you guys had some alone time? I've got Nyx go enjoy." You give your sister and her mate a gentle smile. They look at each other- eyes glossing over as they talk to each other. You try and keep the ache in your heart out. Watching your sisters fall in love was the best thing that ever happened to you, to them. You were so insanely happy for them it was sometimes hard to remind yourself that mates take time. And yours would be out there, and you'd find them one day.
Feyre turns to you, "If you're okay with watching him then we'd be happy to take you up on the offer. "
"I can compen-" Rhys begins but you cut him off before he can continue.
"He is my nephew, Rhysand." You hardly used his full name. Giving a playful glare as you turn away with Nyx, who giggles at the movement. "You don't have to pay me to watch him."
Feyre laughs and shrugs, looking up at him. "I told you she wouldn't accept." Rhys hands his hands up defensively.
"Don't say I didn't try." He gives an easy smile to you and Feyre. In a few quick steps he presses a kiss to Nyx's head. "Behave for your Aunt." He tells him gently, then presses a kiss to the top of your head. "And you, call me if you need anything." You nod and smile as Feyre also quickly kisses Nyx's cheek and tells him that she loves him. Hugging you as they leave.
You look back at the infant in your arms. It was strange to how much this little guy looked like your sister, but there was so much more Rhys in him. He blinks his big blue eyes up at you. "Well Nyx. It's just me and you." You sigh and give an exaggerated shrug to jostle him- earning a giggle.
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Laying on the floor, you continue to play with Nyx. His attention currently on a crinkly kids book. And you try to read the book with him- able to make out a few words.
"Pretending to read that one too?"
You jump as you whip around to see Azriel there. HIs face remains stoic, but his eyes have a glint of amusement in them. You wrinkle your nose at the Illyrian in front of you. "Spying on us?"
He raises any eyebrow and crosses the room, sitting next to you and picking up Nyx. Holding him up above him, "Hello Nyx." Nyx babbles in return and Azriel nods along as well. He looks back toward you as he lowers Nyx and passes him back the book. "He says that you were reading to him."
You smile, leaning back on your hands as you look at him. Raising an eyebrow while Azriel continues to look at you- you'd normally shy away under the Shadowsingers gaze. But for some reason today you can't seem to do that right now. "Is that so?"
Azriel simply nods. "But if you ask me, I think you were just fake reading to him."
If there was one person who had picked up on your inability to read. It would have been the Spy master himself. "What makes you think that?"
Not expecting the challenging tone from you, you could swear that Azriel looked shocked for a second. But he leans forward, equally as challenging. "What is your book about?"
Shit. You blink, what would make it so he wouldn't question you? "…romance. Pure. Filthy romance. I got it from Nesta." You lie quickly and pray to the Mother that he believed you.
Azriel nods, seeming satisfied with that answer. "You ran out of the garden quickly." He notes. You could have sworn that as you looked at him leaning back there was a…sadness to his voice. But that would be ridiculous. He was in love with Elain.
"I wanted to give you and Elain time." You shrug, looking back at Nyx who is now smashing two trucks together. You take one of the rubber ducks on the floor, setting it on your nephew's head.
"I went out there to talk to both of you."
You don't dare to look at him. "Is something wrong?"
"…No." He says after some contemplation. Taking another duck and setting it on the babes shoulder. Nyx seemed unbothered by it. Continuing to smash the trucks.
"Then, no harm no foul. Right?" You smile as you look back over at Azriel. And the spy master didn't flinch at your words, but something told you that he didn't agree.
"I suppose." He nods. Getting up and bowing to you. "Goodbye Nyx, Goodbye y/n."
You scoop up Nyx and make him wave, trying to ease the tension. "Say bye-bye Uncle Az!"
And there was a hint of a smile from Azriel before he turned and walked out.
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a/n: This was a lot of exposition, but I swear that there is more drama coming up!!
#azriel x reader#acotar#acotar fanfiction#azriel shadowsinger#azriel acotar#azriel spymaster#nesta archeron#nesta x cassian#feyre archeron#feyre x rhysand#elain archeron#elain x lucien
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⋆ ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚ My Brother's Best Friend Is The Guy For Me
content: leo valdez x daughter of jupiter! grace! reader
warning: language (you startin to see a pattern yet?), mentions of a bra, kissing ig,
author's note: another day another fanfic idea that haunted me until I wrote it. I'm really just a victim of my own mind😣😣 Also, deepest apologies i could drop three fics rn but i don't wanna like flood the tags or other people's feeds. but, if you guys want me to, just say the word🫡🫡🫡 I'm a people pleaser to my bones. Oh, and this is very non-canon compliant, i know. I'm re-reading the percy jackson series first bc i like things to be in order, even tho my fav was the lost hero. my copy of the lost hero just sits on my bedside table, staring at me until i finish the other books. IM SORRY-
after arriving in new rome, piper and leo figured it would be best to drag jason around the city and see if they could jumpstart his memory with familiar sights. they got lost a few times and clearly news of jason being back had yet to spread, as every few feet there were shocked looks and questions thrown at the trio. jason answered them, always, but people were quick to move on. almost like he wasn’t even missed. piper and leo could both sense jason coming to this conclusion and were unsure how to rectify the issue. jason sighed as he desperately looked at some statue, hoping against hope that it would mean something to him and just allow him to remember. like percy had the second he’d seen annabeth. jason barely knew percy and he was already growing bitter towards the boy, seeing it unfair that he got all of his memories back while jason was still just working with just flashes of smudged faces and warm feelings.
“anything?” piper whispered and jason just shook his head. he sighed before nodding towards where the ship should still be.
“We should be getting back,” he murmured, already walking away from the pair. leo and piper shared a glance, frowns deep set on their faces.
then, the clatter of metal on brick was heard, causing all three of them to jolt their heads towards the source of the noise. there stood a girl, probably their age, swords and spears scattered around her feet as she just stared at them. her hair was the color of golden straw, maybe a shade or two darker than jason’s. leo could tell tears were pooling in her eyes, her…shockingly blue eyes. leo’s eyes widened as he connected the dots before glancing at jason, who stilled and his eyes glazed over like he was lost in thought. she was dressed in the typical roman demigod attire, a purple shirt just peeking out from under a toga of sorts. she, admittedly, looked a little worse for wear; her hair was tangled and desperately pulled back into a ponytail, her eyes had bags under them, and she had clearly spent many recent nights awake.
“jason?” she asked in a broken sob, her chest heaving and the tears beginning to leak out of her eyes. jason’s eyes stayed on her before he jolted forwards, like he’d been struck by lightning. something snapped inside him, sending the boy rushing towards the girl, years and years of memories flashing before his eyes as he pulled her into a strong and loving embrace. memories of growing up together, training together, laughing and crying together. memories of his twin sister; no, memories of his baby sister. yes, yes, he was older. he remembers now. he knew he was still missing large chunks of his life, but getting his sister back was the only thing that mattered in the moment.
“y/n,” he gasped out as the girl cried against his chest, her hands desperately grasping at his shoulders. jason cried too, curling around her like she was the only thing that mattered, that protective older brother feeling coming back and filling his chest once more, slowly chipping away at the hole that juno left there.
“i- i looked for you. i didn’t give up, even after reyna put me on camp arrest. i knew you wouldn’t just leave, i knew it. they gave up too quickly, they just gave up,” the girl cried against his chest, pulling back to look at her brother, who had been gone for far too long. jason nodded at her, giving her shoulders a squeeze and offering her a comforting smile.
“it’s okay, y/n, i’m here now. and i remember you, which is more than enough for me,” he told her and her matching smile slowly slipped off her face.
“…you forgot me?” she whispered out, new tears brimming in her eyes. jason opened his mouth to reply but only sounds came out, his panic to comfort his little sister becoming overwhelming.
“it’s a long story. i’m piper and you must be jason’s sister?” piper cut in, saving the poor roman boy as she stepped forwards, her hand held out. some of her hair was standing up on its own, the moment the siblings collided sending a minor shockwave through the area causing both leo and piper’s hair to fly upwards from the static. y/n pulled her eyes from her brother, turning to the beautiful girl before her, bashfully acknowledging the flyaway hair. she let go of jason, promptly straightening her back out and shaking piper’s hand with both of hers.
“yes, yes. sorry, where are my manners?! i’m y/n grace, jason’s twin sister. lovely to meet you, piper,” she stated, a composed and diplomatic look taking over her face, which still had tear-stains but it didn’t make her appear any less regal.
piper smiled sweetly at the girl, the roman-ness of her basically radiating off like static electricity. though…she had a feeling the girl before her had a rebellious streak, based on the nike blazers on her feet instead of the standard sandals. y/n then turned her attention to leo, who quickly pulled himself out of his daydreams and took her hand into his, promptly flipping it over and pressing his lips to the back of her hand with a dazzling smile. the girl flared with a blush, looking away and slowly pulling her hand back, resting it flat against her stomach.
“leo valdez, at your service, princesa,” he mused as jason shot a glare at leo, who just smiled cheekily and pretended not to see it. he couldn’t help himself; it really wasn’t in his nature to ignore pretty girls, even if they were his best friend’s sister.
“come on, y/n, we’ve got a lot to talk about,” stated jason, nodding his head towards the streets of new rome. y/n’s eyes seemed to brighten at the prospects of getting updates on her brother and she quickly scooped up the swords and spears, leaning them against a bench before scampering off after her brother.
“i’ll meet you two at the boat later,” jason called, smiling widely at the pair, who waved him off. they shared a look, their smiles matching jason’s in size. they were just happy he was happy, assumably finally gaining back some memories.
piper shoved leo before turning around and heading in the opposite direction of the grace siblings and towards the argo ii. leo followed for a moment before looking over his shoulder, being met by the sight of the youngest grace doing the same. their eyes locked for a moment, the girl offering him the softest and sweetest smile he’d ever seen. leo beamed back at her, hoping she couldn’t see the steam rolling off him from so far away. they held each other's gaze for as long as they could before the daughter of jupiter disappeared behind the block. leo stopped, feeling the pounding of his chest and hearing the roar of his heartbeat in his ears before piper tugged him down the block with a glare.
“you cannot,” she hissed at him and leo gave her an innocent look as they started to walk towards the boat.
“i don’t know what you're talking about,” he lied, easily, averting his eyes from hers and pretending to take in the views new rome had to offer.
“i know when you lie, repair boy. you can’t date jason’s sister that he just got his memories back of. that’s, like, totally against bro code,” she huffed at him and leo rolled his eyes.
“you don’t even know bro code.”
“i know enough. she’s off limits, valdez.”
and leo just smirked, wanting her more now that she was forbidden fruit. and based on how she looked at him, he had a feeling this thing wasn’t one sided.
over the next few days, while they were conversing over what to do and how to proceed as a group, leo went out of his way to immerse himself in the grace family. originally, he will admit, leo simply got close with y/n because he thought she was super hot, apparently forbidden, and totally out of his league. but, as he grew closer with the daughter of jupiter, he grew more attached. instead of focusing on her shiny hair, he found himself looking forward to her dumb jokes and they way she threw her head back when she laughed, desperately trying to cover her mouth with her hands. he quickly forgot - not entirely, of course, with a girl that attractive it’s kinda hard to miss - her dazzling figure, instead finding comfort in the soft looks she gave him when they spent too long planning the quest and boredom was starting to set in. his yearning for her was rapidly turning into something more solid, something more love-adjacent. he was certain that the princess of the gods was going to be the death of him…that being that jason didn’t get to him first.
it was one late evening when it happened, the breaking point between the two. most everyone had turned in for the night after a long day of arguing and training, the teens just wanted to sleep. save for y/n, who was sitting on the railing of the ship, her legs dangling over the edge and swinging through the sky. her eyes were trained on the setting sun, vibrant oranges and yellows shooting out from behind some mountain, turning to deep blues and lavenders as time continued to pass. jason told the girl good night, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before walking away. her eyes followed him for a moment before turning back to the sunset.
“careful, wouldn’t want you to fall,” leo joked as he walked up, resting his forearms against the railing next to her and keeping his eyes on the sun too. y/n laughed lightly, glancing at the curly-haired boy next to her.
“yes, you're soooo right, i'd have no way to save myself at all,” the girl mused, swishing her hand purposefully and causing a breeze to rush through leo’s hair, just teasing the beginning of her powers. he laughed lightly, looking over at her. she held his eyes for a moment before flirting them back to the sun.
“it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she questioned.
“yeah. gorgeous,” leo murmured back but his eyes weren’t on the sun at all but rather locked on her, enjoying the way she looked drenched in golden light.
y/n turned at his distracted tone and caught that his eyes were locked on her. she blushed and had the urge to look away but refused to do so, even pulling the courage from somewhere to move closer to the boy. leo shifted slightly, pushing himself closer and higher up so she wouldn’t have to bend so much to meet his gaze. his eyes flirted down to her lips before returning to her eyes, tilting his head the slightest bit in question at her. y/n swallowed nervously but she still reached her hand out, allowing her fingers to dance along the junction between his shoulder and neck.
“i wasn’t talking about the sunset,” admitted leo, his eyes staying trained on her as she leaned closer, mere centimeters between their lips.
“i know,” she whispered and he felt the puffs of breath against his lips.
they weren’t sure who jolted forwards first, all they knew was that their lips were finally meeting. leo’s hand slid up her legs to her waist, his fingers desperate to feel her, to hold her close. her hand moved from his neck to his cheek, pulling his lips impossibly closer. leo was sure he felt sparks, but he just wasn’t sure how much of them were imagination or the daughter of lightning. leo pulled back first but her lips chased after his without much control. he chuckled at her, causing the girl to flush once again. she was easily embarrassed, leo found out. he also discovered that he loved the red hue on her face more than most things.
“jason’s gonna kill me,” she gulped, her brows furrowing and a panic flashing across her eyes as she looked at leo. leo reached up, cupping her face in his hands and he watched the fear slowly melt off her features.
“oh, to hades with jason. i like you…like, really like you. he can just get over it…saying that you like me, too,” replied leo, glancing down as he finished his sentence.
“hey, it’s not every boy that’s got me sparking, you know,” cut in y/n, causing leo to notice the sparks that flew off from her hands and hair every now and then, “i like you, too, leo. i thought that was obvious.”
“just checking,” leo stated with a dopey smile, which y/n managed to match with her own.
“no, but really, we’ve got to talk to jason,” she told leo firmly, who went to shrug her off again.
“talk to jason about what?” the man of the hour questioned as he walked back out onto the deck. y/n instantly paled, sputtering out vowels and constants but unable to form any words. leo subtly moved away from y/n, trying to remember what distance is acceptable for friends that totally didn’t just kiss and confess that they might love each other.
“What- what are you doing out here, jase?? i thought- you said you were going to bed,” the girl managed to spit out, finally. jason glanced between the two before reaching forwards and grabbing his jacket from the back of a chair, presenting it to the pair.
“piper accidentally left this up here…what’s going on? What did you have to tell me?” jason pushed, crossing his arms and glaring at the both of them. y/n shared a glance with leo, who’s eyes told her not to say anything before she turned back to her brother.
“jason, i- i really like leo. and i know you’ve got this whole protective streak thing but he-”
“it’s cool,” jason cut in, shrugging his shoulders. y/n halted to a stop, frowning before cutting her eyes back up to her brother. leo nearly fell on his face with how quickly he turned to look at the son of jupiter.
“What?” they questioned in sync.
“like, we’re good. leo, you’re my best friend. honestly, you’re probably the best guy to date my sister. though, if you even so much as think about hurting her, i'll deep fry you, got it?” jason added, turning and giving leo a cutting glare. leo’s back straightened out and he faked a salute at his friend.
“i have no plans of doing that, sir,” leo joked, using a largely fake sargent-like voice. y/n cracked a smile, hiding it behind her hand with a shake of her head. she then turned her attention to jason, who glanced between the two with a warm look.
“great! i’m actually off to bed now. sleep well, the both of you,” stated jason, waving a hand over his shoulder as he walked away. y/n turned back to leo, waiting a few seconds before promptly shooting forwards and pressing her lips against his. leo smiled into the kiss, knowing jason had nothing to worry about; he didn’t have plans on letting her go any time soon. as they pulled apart, y/n’s eyes trailed upwards and they widened near the top of his head.
“um, leo?”
“yeah?” he questioned in a nearly dreamy voice.
“your hair is on fire.”
“oh, gods, not again,” he groaned, reaching and rapidly patting at the tiny flames with a roll of his eyes. y/n chuckled into her hand once more, watching all this with an amusing glint in her eyes.
“oh, yeah? you find this funny, princesa?” he bit out, jokingly glaring at her. she rolled her eyes at him as he leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers.
then he did something unexpected, allowing his fingers to toy with the hem of her shirt. there was a moment of pause, just enough for her to push him away. When nothing happened, he slid his hand under, allowing his fingers to dance over her skin, slowly but surely climbing upwards and upwards the tip of his middle finger just barely brushing the bottom of her lace bra-
“that’s it! both of you, separate! i was cool and now i'm very much not cool,” jason shouted, causing the two to jump apart as jason stormed up to them, grabbing a hold of y/n and steering her towards the stairs to go below deck. he spun around, pointing at leo as they went.
“and keep your nasty paws off my sister!”
“jason!” y/n cut in with an exasperated groan.
“don’t talk to your brother-in-law that way!” leo called back with a smirk before a gust of wind knocked him on his ass. he shouted greek and spanish curses at jason, who couldn’t understand them but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was saying. With a final battle of middle fingers, jason once more began to pull y/n below deck.
leo stood back up, rolling his eyes at the older twins' antics as y/n shot a look over her shoulder, just like the first day they met. her eyes glimmered at leo and she smiled a megavolt smile that only she could master, causing leo to return with a smile of his own. and as he watched her disappear from view, he couldn’t help but smirk, knowing that he’d do anything in his power to keep the daughter of jupiter by his side. he’d do anything for that smile, for that laugh, for that girl. even kissing ass to her brother for a few weeks.
author's note cont. : i feel like this was such a cute concept but my sleep depraved brain could not produce at the level i wanted smh 😭😭😭 but i also needed it to be done. but, c'est la vie! i think it's cute and sweet, but also rushed and held together with blood sweat and tears. anyways, good vibes and juju to everyone all over the world. kisses from covey😘😘😘
#postcards from covey ౨ৎ#all my love ౨ৎ#leo valdez x reader#heroes of olympus x reader#hoo#percy jackson#pjo#jason grace#pjo fandom#leo valdez#heroes of olympus
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A Deep Dive of the Claudine-Maya Revue in the Movie, or why you really ought to read the fine print before signing a contract in tomato juice
So the Revues in Revue Starlight are a lot.
There is just so much packed into a few minutes. The sets! The fighting! The music! There’s just so much going on that you can’t completely process everything going on at once. And it’s absolutely awesome. The Revues look so amazing and feel so epic.
And sure it’s a lot, but we still get what’s happening. We saw the build up to each Revue, and we mostly know what’s going on in each of their heads. After all, it’s not just the stage that matters in the revues, but also the emotions going into it. For some, they’re worried about their future as a stage girl, whether or not they’ll be good enough to one day achieve their dreams. And for others, they’re worried about what graduation will mean for their relationships with each other as they each go on their separate paths. And as much as they try to hide it, these anxieties boil over in their Revues, forcing them to confront their deepest insecurities in front of the very person they tried so hard to hide it from.
But they’re never alone in these cases, they have their partner. Admittedly this usually doesn’t help at first since the only thing worse than one person catastrophizing over their future is two people catastrophizing over their futures. But still, they all manage to figure it out in the end together.
But Maya and Claudine aren’t insecure about the future. Both of them know that they’ll get into their dream troupe and neither of them seem too bothered about the fact that the two of them will be going their separate ways after High School.
So unlike every other Revue so far, which has been desperate and came from a place of hurt, the Revue of Soul starts off so much more lighthearted. The vibes are completely different from everything that came before in the movie. It feels like Maya and Claudine have nothing left to say to each other, that they are doing this Revue just for fun, it’s like a game to them.
But obviously it’s not just that, the two of them mean so much to each other! They’re just acting otherwise because of their pride, and once the two of them decide to drop all pretenses, they can finally have a proper Revue, where they put everything on the line just to understand each other.
And to see how we got here, I’m going to try to lay out everything going on with Claudine and Maya in the Movie that got us here. This is a part of a series of Deep Dives I’m doing for each of the Movie’s Revues, and while you can read this one without reading the others, I may make some references to themes and ideas that I brought up in the earlier Deep Dives, but I’ll do my best to give context if that ever happens.
So first I wanna talk about Maya at the start of the Movie.
She’s applying to the New National Theater Troupe, regarded as the world’s greatest theater company. She wants to use it to face even greater challenges there and go to the greatest stage.
And unlike Mahiru or Futaba who doubt their chances of getting in, Maya has no such concerns.
Her teacher even warns Maya that the lessons will be strict at New National because even she is already assuming that Maya will be accepted.
It should be noted though, that when her teacher sees her plans, she mentions that this troupe was what she expected from Maya, which leads into Maya’s self image thing we see later in the actual Revue.
Of course, that’s not to say that Maya is only applying to New National because that’s what people expect her to do. She’s genuinely excited. She’s constantly bragging about how cool and awesome New National is in the common room and on the train ride to New National. Seriously, in the scene in Common Room, she’s reading a book about them because she’s so excited to be going there and wants to share what she learned with all her friends!
Honestly she’s such a dork.
Speaking of friends, Maya has them now! She isn’t nearly as isolated as she was at the start of the series, back when Claudine was the only one to reach out to her. Before there would usually be shots with some line or other kind of separation between her and the rest of her classmates in the frame, but Nana’s taken that role now, so Maya gets to be smack dab in the middle of conversation now instead of lurking at the edge. And later at the kick off party, you can even see Maya talking to some people who weren’t in the Starlight cast! I guess after losing the Top Star position to Hikari, she seemed less untouchable and more approachable? Though I’m only saying that because Maya isn’t really trying to make more friends by being nicer. In fact, Maya isn’t really acting any different from how she did in the show.
Like sure, she lost the audition because Hikari and Karen Starlighted more than her and Claudine, but it’s not like they really shook her worldview. She even says to Claudine that she hasn’t lost. She had absolutely no reason to change in the time between the show and the movie. The only thing that changed is that people don’t see her as the untouchable top star anymore, just their friend who’s a little more skilled than they are.
Actually that might be because of Karen and Hikari beating her now that I think about it. I mean in the Revue of Pride, Maya was almost insulted by Karen’s idea that she could shine together with Hikari. After all, Maya talked about how the top star had to stand alone and what she had to give up to be the top star, and it everytime it would cut to a shot of Claudine.
But after losing to them, maybe Maya softened up on this position. She realized she doesn’t need to stand apart from everyone else in order to shine, and that maybe she should reach out to others more, just like Karen and Hikari did to shine together. So that’s why she comforts Claudine after their loss, and that’s why she decides to get closer to everyone else after the auditions.
But while she’s not nearly as distant as before, there’s still a gulf separating her and her classmates. She’s still on a last name basis with most of them, and there are some visuals separating her from Futaba and Mahiru, like the metal bar separating them on the train, or how Mahiru and Futaba mimic the poster on their left while Maya mimics the poster to her right.
But for a more distinct moment of separation, take a look at when Kaoruko brought up the anniversary of the auditions. No one else knows what she’s talking about when she mentions the date, except for Maya, who coolly answers her. And while everyone is kinda shocked that Kaoruko would actually want to go through that again because last year's auditions are kinda a terrible system and everyone moved on, it’s important to note that they all did forget the date and are way more surprised than Maya that Kaoruko would even consider wanting to be the top star of those auditions.
Kaoruko claims that everyone’s indifference to the anniversary is actually because they all gave up on becoming the top star. And like obviously Kaoruko is just lashing out here, she admits it to Claudine later, but there’s a grain of truth in how no one was seriously thinking about being the top star anymore, or about their next stage before the Revue of Annihilation.
Except for Maya.
So now let’s take a look at Claudine.
Because of her performance in the 100th Starlight, Claudine was scouted by a Theatre du Flamme, a prestigious troupe in France that could rival New National in fame. It’s an honor and it’s her passion and she wants to put herself up to the challenge, all that stuff is that’s important, yes, but what I want to point out is that she isn’t going to New National with Maya! It’s not even her second choice! She has no plans to compete on the same stage as Maya after they graduate!
Earlier I said Maya didn’t change much from the show, but Claudine definitely has.
Claudine has this thing in the show where she’s cool, calm, and collected most of the time. She’s very wise, easy to get along with, and supportive of all her friends. Basically the perfect stage girl. However all of that goes out the window the moment Tendo Maya comes into the room. Literally the moment Maya enters her line of sight, she goes completely feral and will devote 100% of her energy on trying to beat Maya. And since she’s always in the same scenes as Maya, we see this mode like 90% of the time.
It’s hilarious and wonderful.
But this stops after their mutual loss to Karen and Hikari, when Maya takes a moment to let Claudine know that she respects her, that Maya also needs Claudine, and that Claudine doesn’t need to try so hard to get Maya to acknowledge her.
So basically during the first part of the movie, Claudine knows that she doesn’t need to work so hard to prove herself to Maya, so she can be her usual cool and collected self around Maya.
But despite that, the two of them don’t really talk. Even though the two of them affirmed that they need each other and they make each other soar higher, their only interaction before the Revue of Annihilation is on the Train to New National, when Claudine teases Maya because she overheard Claudine say her name while talking to Junna. This would never happen in the show when Claudine was always desperate for Maya’s attention, but now Maya is the one hanging onto Claudine’s words.
Instead, Claudine focuses her attention on everyone else, which is necessary since they have a lot of baggage.
Mahiru confides in Claudine about her uneasiness about her chances of getting into New National. Kaoruko admits that she’s the most useless of them all only when Claudine confronts her. Claudine is the one who pushes Junna to aim higher in her future plans. And Claudine is the one who recommended Futaba to try and audition for New National.
Anyways you may notice that Claudine doesn’t have a moment with Karen, Hikari, Maya, or Nana. That is for various valid reasons, like Hikari being in London, but from a meta perspective it’s because Claudine has lost to all of them in a Revue at some point. So basically, Claudine is giving advice to everyone as a top star, and she’d be unqualified if she tried to advise the other four.
Anyways I want to take a moment to talk about the differences between Claudine and Maya’s philosophy on the Top Star’s duty to her costars. Maya uses herself as an example of what a top star should be, and expects others to emulate her. Meanwhile, Claudine takes a much more direct approach with helping her friends become the top star.
We saw this in the show with how Claudine helped Futaba practice, while Maya instead advised Kaoruko on how the leader has a duty to be a goal to the follower. Or how when Maya beats Karen, she leaves Karen at the bottom and shines alone at the top. And this is juxtaposed with Claudine beating Futaba simultaneously, but Claudine actually holds out a hand to help Futaba up.
Actually Claudine really only helps Futaba in the show, now that I think about it…
Whatever, we can assume that this attitude would extend to any of her friends had they reached out and asked for help like Futaba.
And now I want to talk about the purpose of Maya and Claudine in the show.
So basically Maya is the perfect top star. She can dance, sing, and act better than everyone else there. Her first scene in the show literally had her claiming position zero uncontested. She is the person they all aspire to be in their pursuit to be a star. It sounds a bit dramatic, but that was her role in Revue Starlight. If Karen and Hikari wanted to topple the top star system, they’d have to defeat Maya, who represented everything both great and wrong about it.
Claudine meanwhile, is representative of the other part of the top star system, the ones who aren’t the top star. She competes with the Top Star, in hopes of taking the spotlight for herself. But despite that, only one person stands alone at the top, so when Claudine is passed over, she needs to take a supportive role and kill her ego in the actual play. And while this is some impressive compartmentalization on her end, Claudine still insists that she hasn’t lost, and continues to challenge Maya despite her many losses. Claudine is what Karen or Hikari would have to be if the other managed to be the top star. But despite that, Karen and Hikari don’t want to fight each other in the show. Hikari goes out of her way multiple times to keep Karen out of the Revues, and Karen wants to shine together with Hikari.
So Maya and Claudine are what Karen and Hikari need to overcome to make their own Starlight. Actually, Maya and Claudine are representative of the 99th Starlight too, the past that Nana tried to protect.
But for everyone else, Maya is the goal that they’re all striving for. She has that je ne sais quoi a star needs, but just seeing the end goal isn’t enough for the rest of them. They don’t get to see how she got there, so they themselves don’t know how to get there. It’s like looking at the answer for a physics question without knowing the formula. And that’s where Claudine comes in. She’s constantly competing with Maya, never letting setbacks keep her down for long. She’s constantly practicing and never satisfied, she doesn’t rest on her past glory. She’s the person closest to becoming like Tendo Maya, to becoming the Top Star.
If a stage girl wants to be like Tendo Maya, first they have to be like Saijo Claudine.
Anyways, that’s what it was like in the show. But if you take a look at Claudine’s advice in the movie, she tends to have a recurring piece of wisdom: That Maya ain’t shit actually.
It sounds a bit rude when I say it like that, but it’s actually supposed to be inspiring.
In the laundry room with Mahiru, Claudine tells her that everyone’s like freshmen, and that if she gets into New National, Mahiru will be too. But following that logic, Maya will also be a freshman, and in the same position as Mahiru, so Mahiru really shouldn’t be that worried, since she’ll be on the same level as Maya. And on the train, when Junna says that she doesn’t think she could measure up to Claudine or Maya right now, Claudine tells Junna that she can be just as good as Maya. And consider what Claudine told Futaba, “If it’s you, you’ll get in.” That’s basically what people said about Maya applying to New National.
And that means a lot considering not too long ago, Claudine thought Maya was just so good that she couldn’t lose to anyone! And when she did lose, Claudine blamed herself instead, because Tendo Maya can’t lose.
But now she’s helping her classmates who are feeling that same insecurity she felt last year, that she couldn’t compare to Maya, and she’s telling them that it’s actually just in their head. That they can be just as good as Maya so long as they don’t think of her as anything special, because otherwise they’d be limiting themselves to Maya’s shadow.
So unlike everyone else, Claudine and Maya are doing fine, more or less. Like yeah it’s a stressful period of transition for all of them as they plan for their futures after High School, but Claudine and Maya seem to have it mostly figured out. If anything, they’re the reliable ones who everyone else goes to for guidance.
So maybe that’s why the two of them take the lead in the Revue of Annihilation against Nana.
When everyone gets put in a surprise Revue with Nana, Claudine and Maya do not get blinded by the stage lights and are the first ones to get their bearings and attack her as she makes her way across the train. And it’s worth noting that they’re the only pair who’s in sync, but that doesn’t really mean much considering the only other pair on the same side is Futaba and Kaoruko, and they’re going through a rough patch. But then again everyone else is also going through a rough patch at this point, so my point stands.
That’s kinda why they’re doing this Revue.
This Revue is supposed to be a wake up call for all of them. Nana knows that they’ll all die as stage girls with their current half hearted conviction, but none of them can see it. They’ve all stagnated and got comfortable, and as a result are dying. So when they fight a stage girl who is actually motivated, they crumple. They’re no match for Nana as they are now.
In the show, Nana always wanted to protect them, and she still is trying to guide them during the Revue of Annihilation. She still has that same brilliance, but no one else has the same motivation they had during the show. Mahiru, Junna, and Futaba don’t even think they can get into New National, which is a far cry from the stage girls who once attempted to beat Tendo Maya and become the Top Star. They’re all scared of the future and gave up on becoming the top star, like Kaoruko accused earlier. And just like Kaoruko said before, she’s the most useless of them all when it comes to that.
And with every clasp she cuts, Nana makes them come to terms with that ugly truth they were ignoring.
But Claudine and Maya aren’t scared of the future. They’re confident they’ll make their dream troupes. Unlike Junna or Mahiru or Futaba, they were in the world of Theater even before High School, and they’re confident they’ll continue for the future too.
So that clarity is why the train leaves the darkened tunnel that Nana defeated everyone else in. And while the train goes through the city, Nana repeats her line from the start of the Revue, that the train will go to the next station without fail. But what about the stage? What about us?
In a literal sense, the next station for the Train is New National, but I’m pretty sure it’s a metaphor for the unstoppable marching on of time. After all, New National is going to be the next stage for a good chunk of them. So Nana’s essentially asking them whether they are prepared to move onto the future. And along with that, will the stage be in their future? Will they decide to live on stage?
But that took me a while to figure out. Like I had to sit down and think about what Nana was saying, and then pick up seemingly inconsequential lines by Mahiru and Claudine much later in the movie. Do you really think I understood that the first time I saw this movie? It’s way too cryptic. Literally how the fuck is anyone supposed to understand that in the middle of a Revue.
But Claudine gets me. She has no clue what’s going on either. She’s just like me for real.
But Maya isn’t a plebeian like me and Claudine. She’s the top star. Obviously she understands exactly what Nana means. This is Tendo Maya, after all. She has never not taken the stage seriously. From the moment she entered Seisho, she already knew what her future was going to be and unlike everyone else, she never had a big shock to shake that resolve.
She’s constantly giving 100% to be the ideal top star and won’t ever stop, so as long as the stage and audience will have her, she is already on stage. Both the stage and herself will be at the next station. She decided long ago to live on stage.
Despite Nana’s worries, Maya will never die as a stage girl.
And that’s the difference between Maya and the rest of her classmates. That’s why Maya is illuminated by moonlight, but everyone else gets cast in the shadows by the tunnel. Because Maya has no doubts that she wants to be a stage girl, she is the only one shining.
Anyways, Claudine continues to be the audience surrogate since she still has literally no clue what Maya and Nana are talking about, which is fair. In what world does any of this exchange make sense? I guess I explained it a little earlier, but literally how is someone supposed to understand this on their first watch? They are speaking complete nonsense. This sounds like a code that a spy agency would make their undercover agents in enemy territory say before handing them classified documents.
This feeling of alienation continues for Claudine as Maya and Nana approach each other in sync, while Claudine is still stuck in place. And despite her calling their names, the two of them continue in their little world without Claudine.
And this infuriates Claudine. After all, the only reason she’s been on her best behavior recently is because she reached an understanding with Maya that they were rivals who respected each other’s skills. And now Nana and Maya, but mostly Maya, are leaving her behind? That’s completely unacceptable.
So it reignites that competitive anger that Claudine had in the show, and she charges at Nana with that same drive to win that she had during the auditions. This is the energy that Claudine had when she was constantly chasing Maya in the show, when she gave it her all. But this means that Claudine hasn’t been giving it her all since the show ended. She’s stagnated as well, since she’s no longer forcing herself to improve, and instead resting on her laurels after getting Maya to acknowledge her. And that’s not enough to stay alive as a stage girl.
Plus, if the only reason she could reawaken her previous radiance was because she wanted to prove herself to Maya and Nana, but mostly Maya, and they’ll all be going their separate ways after High School, can you she really say she’s prepared for the future where she’ll be on her own? It’s not like the two of them will be able to compete like they did at Seisho when they’re halfway across the world from each other.
So while Nana has nothing to say to Maya, who doesn’t actually need her wake up call, she can tell Claudine that she’s being a bit too talkative. And that’s also why Nana can easily slice off Claudine’s button and move on to lock swords with Maya.
But as I said, Maya is already resolved to stand on stage, so Nana can’t actually beat her, so she doesn’t. So by defeating Claudine, Nana achieved everything she needed, so that’s why the cloak falling matches time with Nana reaching Position Zero.
And that’s it. Nana tries to act out a scene with Junna, but they’re all so dead as stage girls that none of them can continue the scene. Blood Tomato Juice rains down on them to add insult to injury, and they’re all so consumed in their own problems they don’t even realize it’s fake.
Except Maya of course, who is the only one with a complete view of the stage currently and can clearly see it’s just stage equipment. And she takes charge, telling them this fact.
But even though Nana has forced them to confront their own failings during this Revue, it will be up to them to work past it.
Which is where Seisho’s 101st Starlight Kick Off Party comes in!
The scene starts off with shots of all their other classmates having fun and it’s brightly lit, but then we cycle through the losers of the Revue, and they’re all alone and in the dark. It’s a visual metaphor.
We then get to Tendo Maya and unlike everyone else she’s not alone, since she’s talking with some other students, and she's actually in a well lit area! Nana didn’t give Maya anything to think about, she can just enjoy this party all carefree like the rest of their classmates.
Unlike Claudine, who is malding and watching Maya through the window and wondering why only Maya managed to not lose. At least, I’m guessing that’s what Claudine means since she never actually finished her question of “why is only she…”. But I’m probably not too far off since Claudine takes a look at her phone which has Nana’s question from earlier that only Maya could answer.
Anyways, I think it's interesting that Claudine gravitated towards the practice room, because that’s the same place she went after she first lost to Maya in the auditions.
Claudine took that loss pretty hard. She missed her morning classes and she kind of just lost all her confidence. And then after class, she tries to practice there, but keeps messing up. It’s only after aggressively dancing there with Futaba, who came to check up on her, that Claudine breaks out of that funk and regains her usual spark.
But the practice room is also where Claudine managed to understand Maya. In episode 4, when Maya and Claudine are practicing there, Claudine asks her why Maya’s participating in the auditions to become the top star when she’s already the top star anyways. That’s like a millionaire entering the lottery, it feels kinda pointless. But then Maya tells Claudine that she’s in the auditions because she wants to be the only top star and doesn’t want to see anyone else take what’s hers, which fits into my millionaire analogy pretty well. And at this moment, Claudine understands that Maya’s just really greedy, which does come into play later in their Revue.
So I’m wondering if Claudine is in this darkened room because it’s where she regained her confidence last time, or because it is where she managed to understand Maya, and wants to again.
Either that or she just spends a lot of time in the practice room, so a bunch of important moments happen here all the time since where else would they occur? She’s always there!
Anyways, back to the kick off party, the script is unfinished, just like their futures. So the director gets on stage and after rupturing everyone’s eardrums by screaming into a megaphone, she tells everyone that she’s scared. That this is going to be their final performance at Seisho and she doesn’t know what their next play will be like, if it will be better than everything they’ve done before. Just like the anxieties about the future that everyone has. But she doesn’t want to stop. She wants to do one last show with everyone.
And the scriptwriter apologizes for not being able to finish, but instead she gets an outpouring of support from her classmates, who love what she did so far and are willing to help her out.
This is just like the stage girls who are also scared of their future, but just like everyone else here, also have each other.
This moment is a turning point for the losers after the Revue of Annihilation.
Once they erect the Starlight Tower prop for the next Starlight play, Maya repeats her line from the train, that she is already on stage, only this time instead of saying I, she says we. None of them would lose to Nana on the train again at this point. They’ve learned their lesson. They’re got renewed determination to live on as stage girls, and even if they’re not there yet, there is someone out there who can help them on their journey.
Nana tells them that the time for snacks is over, and the stage girls need to hunger for a new stage, because that’s what a stage girl is, and asks if that’s true for all of them. She’s putting into words the implicit question she had on the train.
Do they want to continue being stage girls in the future? Well, stage women I guess after they reach a certain age, but then again stage girl is a state of mind so whatever.
And Claudine answers that she’s already on the stage, the same answer Maya gave before, so yeah, she does.
She also finds the answer to her question earlier in the practice room for “why only she…” since Claudine says “So that’s why only she...” while watching Maya perform.
Wish she’d share the answer with the rest of the class though. Or even the question. Seriously.
Anyways, they get back on the train and face their dead stage girl selves. We can tell they’re dead because they have no cloak and are lying motionless on the floor, but also because we quite literally see a dead stage girl later, when Karen refuses to act because she has nothing after Starlight and ends up in a similar state.
These are stage girls with no next stage, no future. And judging by the fact they aren’t wearing shoes, which is characteristic of suicide in Japan, this means these stage girls who chose to die. They didn’t decide to continue to live on stage.
While looking at her dead body, Claudine decides that she’ll get back on stage again. Despite her loss, she choosing to continue acting, just like when she first lost to Maya in the auditions. She’ll have to work hard to become her own ideal top star, but she’s going to do it, so she can’t give up here.
This isn't what Maya does. Unlike Claudine and everyone else, Maya doesn’t even consider looking at her self as a dead stage girl. Because Maya has known her entire life what she’s going to do, she has never considered stepping off of the stage. That’s why she doesn’t even bother to look at it, instead looking at the giraffe, the stand in for the audience, the stage, or whatever other concept it symbolizes that day.
Also it’s interesting that when Junna asks what they need to put an end to, Maya answers “to greed.” She also says “to brutality”, but the greed thing feels more impactful considering Claudine understood that Maya was just a greedy person back in episode 4. Anyways, Maya says they need to do that to continue acting on stage and to get to the next stage, which shows that even she isn’t ready to move onto the next stage, as she thinks she has to strip away some of her uglier emotions to get to her next stage.
Anyways, from the giraffe rolls a tomato that Maya picks up. Because he’s made of vegetables and other fruits now. And no one questions it.
Please someone question this.
They questioned the talking giraffe so much in the show, but literally no one has anything to say about this.
As the giraffe says, he is their food, their fuel. This ties into the original auditions from the show, but there the fuel was each other and it was used to get the top star to their stage of destiny. But in the upcoming Revues, they aren’t fighting to be the top star. They are fighting because as stage girls, they need to hunger for a new stage, like Nana said.
So by eating the tomato that comes from the giraffe, they are choosing to continue being a stage girl. And by repeating Maya’s answer, that they are already on stage, they have grown past the versions of themselves that lost to Nana.
And then we get three whole Revues plus scenes of Karen’s past and Hikari’s journey before getting to the actual topic of this essay. I wouldn’t blame you for forgetting what’s going on with Maya and Claudine before we check back on them.
Although We see Claudine for a little bit, since she has a little cameo in the Revue of Resentment, which was nice. But like, why? Literally no one else ever takes part in anyone else’s Revue. What is she doing here?
I mean I guess it fits into her philosophy with her classmates, where she gets involved in everyone else’s business whether they like it or not. Although we never really got to see that in the show because Maya was on her mind like 95% of the time. Maya’s probably not on her mind right now though, since she’s smug once more, so clearly she got over whatever happened on the train and is confident again, just like at the start of the movie.
Also would you look at that? Some unattended, extra Star Buttons. I wonder if those will ever be used in the future?
But before we get to the Revue of Soul, I want to take a moment to reflect on how all the other ones started. Futaba burst into the scene while Kaoruko was challenging Claudine. Hikari ran into the stage looking for Karen but instead got Mahiru. And Junna was blindsided by Nana forcing her to commit seppuku. What I’m trying to say is that none of the Revues have started with both participants on the same page. And once they do meet up, they immediately start performing because they can’t contain themselves any longer.
Which is why it’s a shock when we get to Maya and Claudine, who are backstage and playing a kids game of Shoji before their revue. They’ve quite literally hung their cloaks up and are just vibing before the show.
And in a reversal of their usual positions, Claudine beats Maya. Maya hasn’t even won once, but she insists that next time she will, just like what Claudine usually says.
Anyways, the lighthearted conversation they have about Maya sucking at Shoji segues into Claudine monologuing about her own failings as a stage girl. Like Maya, Claudine also decided the stage was going to be her way of life long ago. But if that were true, then Claudine shouldn’t have lost to Nana, she should have stayed undefeated like Maya.
But she was so focused on her stage with Maya that she didn’t consider the next stage. And once Maya acknowledged her, Claudine got satisfied with just that, and as a result lost that drive that made her an amazing stage girl in the show, and started decaying because of that. After all, if Claudine was so easily satisfied, she would never be able to grow as a stage girl in the future.
So that’s why Claudine wants to put an end to it with Maya here.
Claudine will be reborn. She will no longer chase Maya. She will find her next stage on her own.
And Maya’s shocked by this. She likes it when Claudine chases her. But Maya knows that she needs to get rid of her own greed if she wants to continue to the next stage, and Claudine needs to do this to get to her own next stage, as unfortunate for Maya that may be.
So despite her probably mixed feelings, she welcomes Claudine to the stage, seeing as they’ve both resolved to continue being stage girls, and that’s what the top star ought to do, right? Inspire everyone else so that they too can one day make it to her level, and Claudine did exactly that.
But that kind of leaves the issue of what Maya and Claudine are doing here.
After all, Claudine just got to the conclusion that it took most of them a Revue to get to. Kaoruko and Futaba, Hikari and Mahiru, Junna and Nana, each of them ended their Revues by cheering each other on as they went their separate ways. And Maya and Claudine just went through that emotional rollercoaster entirely backstage and off screen.
When they perform, the stage girls put everything out on stage. It’s a moment of complete honesty where they reveal all their insecurities and hidden feelings that they avoid in their daily lives. Sure the movie complicates this by adding portions where the stage girls play different characters, but in the end there's nothing but them left.
And it's because of this that they can help each other get ready for the future. Only by laying out their issues could they even begin to ask for help. Kaoruko’s pain over Futaba leaving her, Futaba’s insecurities about her own ability compared to Kaoruko, Mahiru’s fear that she won’t act well, Hikari’s constant escaping from her costars, Junna’s lack of self confidence, and Nana’s longing for a Junna that no longer exists.
But it was because of the Revues that the other person could help support them. Kaoruko understood that Futaba would eventually come back, Futaba got to be the selfish one for once and ignore Kaoruko’s feelings, Mahiru received validation as Hikari’s rival and as an actress, Hikari stopped running away and could properly face Karen, Junna found a new resolve, and Nana got to see Junna shine again.
So what’s the point of this upcoming Revue? Everyone else needed their revues so they could come to some conclusion about their future as a stage girl, but Claudine and Maya are good now. Like sure, Claudine lost in the Revue of Annihilation, yeah, but she figured out what she was doing wrong and corrected herself. And Maya never needed any help with her future as a stage girl in the first place.
Just like the animal shoji, this upcoming Revue is just a game for them. A way to pass time rather than anything personal. There’s no need for the vulnerability we saw before. And it’s all just so antithetical to every Revue we’ve seen so far.
Obviously that’s not going to be true for very long. It’s these two overdramatic losers we’re talking about after all.
So yeah, let’s get to the actual Revue now.
I know the Revues are all about acting, but this one is literally a play. Like when we hear the buzzer that starts the auditions, the curtain rises and it literally says Act I.
Not to mention, there’s an audience too! Everyone who finished their Revues is watching what’s going on.
And then we see our players, Maya and Claudine, or rather the stage person and the devil, because they are playing characters. Specifically characters from Faust, with Maya playing the eponymous Faust and Claudine playing Mephistopheles.
In the previous Revues, you could tell when a character is performing because they are wearing a costume instead of their Revue Outfit, and that’s true even here. Although they are wearing buttons that tie up their cloaks, their weapons are different from usual, and Claudine is speaking in a much lower register.
But while a good chunk of the current scene is superficial, it doesn’t mean it’s meaningless.
The frame next to Maya displays the golden bird from the Revue of Pride, the symbol of her dominance as a top star. In the Revue of Pride, Maya showed the difference between her and Karen, as no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reach Maya’s level. Everything she did was futile as both the stage and Maya stopped Karen from getting any closer to the bird and the top.
Karen may have managed to win her previous Revues, but she still had a far way to go if she ever wanted to be the top star. And as Karen watched from the bottom of the stairs, you can hear Maya singing about how this is her pride.
That bird is the symbol of all her work to become a top star that no one else could reach.
Meanwhile the frame near Claudine contains the contract that will become very important later on, not that the first time viewer will notice that. But basically, that contract is Claudine’s promise to show Maya a brilliance that she’s never seen before, essentially that Claudine will beat Maya. Which if you think about it, is the exact same as her always saying that she hasn’t lost. She’ll win next time.
Essentially, that contract is the materialization of everything that kept her going as a stage girl despite her many, many losses to Maya.
And it’s no accident that these two meaningful props are framed similarly. Claudine and Maya act like this is just a game to them, but it’s really not. The two of them are too important to each other to let their final goodbye be so meaningless.
Plus, Picture frames will become an important motif as the Revue goes on, and actually you can see a ton of frames at the top of the stage before the light turns on for this Revue.
Anyways, similarly to her role in the gambling house from the Revue of Resentment, Claudine makes a bet with Maya: That if Claudine can show Maya a brilliance she has never seen before, Claudine can win Maya’s soul. And to show this, she steals the bird from Maya’s painting, which is basically a declaration of war when you consider what it meant in the Revue of Pride. But I guess here it’s Maya’s soul?
Undaunted, Maya accepts her offer and signs the contract in blood tomato juice with a T for Tendo, establishing the bet.
And I mentioned that whatever is in the frames is important to them, so I just think it’s a neat visual detail of how much the two of them affected each other by physically changing these symbols.
With the bet established, the stage responds to the two of them, changing the set and starting Act II of the play. It’s titled the Black Tragedy, or the Colorless Desire of the Stage Person. Black refers to Claudine, since her nickname Kuro means black in Japanese, and she’s gonna suffer a pretty big loss in a bit, or that she’s going to be the tragedy that awaits Maya later, I guess. And the Colorless Desire of the Stage Person hints at Maya’s ideal of a top star, as in one that’s empty.
Anyways, the two of them spar for a bit, but it’s not an actual Revue Fight. They are using different weapons from usual, since neither of them have the gem that shines with a stage girl’s passion. And if you listen to the song, you can hear Claudine and Maya refer to each other as Devil and Stage Person, meaning these are just lines in the play for their characters. Plus we see Claudine hide in the shadows using a bunch of demon cut outs as a distraction, which isn’t exactly how Saijo “How dare you look away from me in the Middle of a Revue” Claudine would usually fight.
But then again, seeing the misdirection she pulls off later in the Revue, maybe she has recently adopted a bit of trickery into her arsenal.
Again though, I want to stress that this is like a game to them. They’re saying cheers in French and talking about making a wager. They’re playing. They’re having fun in this Revue. They like competing against each other. Earlier I asked what’s the purpose of this Revue, and the reason is because they want to do a Revue with each other. And you know what? I’m enjoying it too.
Fuck it, I ship them, I’ve even written fanfiction of them. I like it when they’re happy together. Plus it’s a nice change of pace to not have to deal with any heavy emotions for a bit considering we just went through three very emotionally charged Revues and snippets of Karen’s really lonely backstory.
But neither Maya nor Claudine are content to let their final goodbye just be a play that anyone could perform.
As the battle draws to an end, three artworks in those recurring frames descend from the ceiling, and they depict the stage person Maya triumphant, the devil Claudine defeated, and a discarded star clasp.
And while Claudine and Maya ignore it, it might seem familiar to the viewer because the poses and the position of the paintings match the scene at the end of episode 2, where Maya beat Claudine in an audition.
This is because Maya, as the artist we see later, is asserting their history through the play. Despite the two acknowledging each other as equals, Claudine has still never beaten Maya, and they both know that. Maya has always been one step ahead of Claudine.
Back in the play, Claudine shouts at Maya to give her the soul and thrusts her sword forward, but only ends up skewering her hat with Maya nowhere to be seen. And the framing of the scene makes the hat cover the painting behind it with the button, as though Claudine had stabbed the button.
That’s because Claudine should have won here.
In the story of Faust, Mephistopheles does end up taking his soul. It’s a tragedy, so the main character loses. If they were properly acting this play out, Claudine would have won here. So had she been fighting anyone other than Tendo Maya, she would have cut her opponent’s clasp off here.
The show should have ended. You can hear canned applause from the audience, but Maya has disappeared, so something’s up.
We eventually find Maya in the audience, who is clapping along with the empty audience for a show well done.
And then Maya brings up Rivals.
Now, Faust and Mephistopheles are not rivals. Mephistopheles is so much more powerful than a mere human, he’s just lending Faust his powers so he can eventually drag him to hell. They are not equals. Meaning Maya isn’t acting anymore, she’s talking about herself and Claudine now. She’s finished with her performance.
Anyways that little laugh Maya did before saying rivals pissed Claudine off because she thinks Maya is mocking her, so she asks what’s so funny about that. Again, showing Claudine’s insecurity about actually being equal to Maya. We saw this on the train when she was out of the loop with Maya and Nana, and we see this again here, showing that maybe Claudine still craves Maya’s approval.
But the one hole in that theory is that Claudine is still acting here.
Although, there is a moment of genuine surprise in her own voice when she sees Maya, that doesn’t last for very long.
But even though they’re talking about themselves now, Claudine’s voice is still much lower than usual. Plus she’ll continue using the masculine pronoun for I (ore) that the devil uses instead of her usual feminine I (watashi).
By the way, don’t expect any more analysis of the actual Japanese wordings from me ever again. I don’t know the language at all and the very little I do know comes from Anime, so that’s like net negative knowledge actually.
Anyways, back from my tangent, Maya elaborates that Claudine has been doing a very good job at playing the role of a rival who chases after her, which pisses off Claudine even more because what the fuck does Maya mean role? It’s not a role, she is Maya’s rival.
And Maya doesn’t disagree. As we see later, she sees role and one's self as the same. She’s always performing, doing what’s expected of her as a top star. So in a weird way, Maya simultaneously thinks that Claudine is her rival and that Claudine did a very good job at playing the role of her rival. It’s confusing. And Maya tries to explain this, talking about the real role she must perform, the ultimate stage person.
Earlier I mentioned that Maya going to New National was expected of her, and here we hear the other expectations she’s been given, as a thoroughbred, because both of her parents are in theater, but also as a genius. But instead of feeling pressured, Maya embraced these titles.
That’s why her advice to Kaoruko back in episode 6 was that she ought to meet the lofty ideal that Futaba set for her. The sense of duty to always be the very best you can be. In fact, Maya wants to go beyond the expectation that everyone else set for her, aiming for an even more impossible goal that only she could achieve.
But that’s just Maya’s perspective. I’m sure it sounds very grand to her and us at this point, but I doubt Claudine would be very impressed by this goal. And this is all speculation on my end, but I want to rewind to what Maya’s said earlier, when Maya talks about how people called her a thoroughbred and a genius.
And like, Claudine knows that. That was the whole reason she approached Maya when they first met at the entrance exam, because Maya was called those exact same words. But Claudine was pretty famous too. She was called “genius child actor” and “future top star”. And she got ahead of herself because of that. And as Claudine says in episode 10, she was so lame because of that overinflated ego. But when Maya kept beating her, that brought her back down to earth and forced her to be reborn as someone humbler and harder working.
So basically, what I’m trying to say is that Claudine thinks what Maya is saying here is super cringy. It’s like seeing someone do something embarrassing, but then you remember when you did that exact same thing years ago.
It’s the worst.
So in order to end this living nightmare, Maya needs someone to bring her down to earth like she did for Claudine so long ago.
But not yet. Right now is a moment of triumph for Maya as she reveals the cool new bird that is her soul. It’s way cooler than the golden one that Claudine took before because it’s bigger and moves. Plus it’s a vessel for god, since it has no emotions or instincts and is thus completely empty, and therefore can portray every single lead and stage.
Except for tragedies apparently, since Maya refused to play Faust properly and let Claudine steal her soul, so I wouldn’t say she’s perfect yet.
And with this reveal, Maya changes out of her stage person outfit and puts on a white, feathered dress which resembles the large, feathery dress the Top Star Otokoyaku would wear at the curtain call of the Takarazuka Revue. Also the giant staircase is a reference to the Takarazuka Revue, but then again it’s Revue Starlight, so there are staircases everywhere and everything is a reference to the Takarazuka Revue.
If any of those terms were confusing to you, then you really ought to look it up on your own. I’ll do my best here, but literally everything here is second hand information, so take what I say with a grain of salt. So for starters, the Takarazuka Revue is the all-female Japanese Theater troupe that Revue Starlight both glorifies and critiques. Specifically their top star system. But if you’re a fan of this show, you’ll probably like the Takarazuka Revue as well, considering the similar themes and concepts. The franchise was literally inspired by it, after all. And while unfortunately I am completely unqualified to talk about it, there are some good youtube videos and blog posts about it if you’re interested.
Anyways, just understand that by dressing up as the Top Star here, Maya is playing the role of the ideal top star she will be in the future. And I do mean role, since this whole thing is just an act. Maya still doesn’t have her usual sword with the gem that reacts to the passion of a stage girl. Although in her current mindset, Maya really doesn’t see the difference between herself and the role, so I guess it’s fine?
Also I want to talk about how the scene with the staircase elevating Maya is eerily similar to that one shot from the Revue of Pride, showing how this widens the distance between Maya and Claudine, despite them being equally matched moments before. This is the difference between a stage girl at the next stage and a stage girl stuck in the past.
And at the top of the stage, Maya also says the lines that will become recurring in this Revue: “For Heroes, there are trials. For Saints, there are temptations. For me, there is a devil.”
So basically Maya is acknowledging that Claudine hasn’t stopped acting yet, and so she continues the play as well. But Maya has completely changed the play. It’s no longer a tragedy where a devil steals the protagonist’s soul, but a victory for the stage person by tricking the devil. And just like how heroes and saints overcome trials and temptations to achieve their fame, Maya will overcome Claudine to ascend to becoming the ultimate stage person, because Maya isn’t there yet. She knows that. Her giant bird is rough and unfinished, nothing like the smooth and golden soul Claudine stole at the beginning of the Revue.
The ultimate stage person is the next stage for Tendo Maya. Although it’s incomplete, it's where she wants to go, and beating Claudine so absolutely here might let her do it.
Act III is titled “Like an Awry Arrow Revealing the Imitation of God,” which feels fitting considering that whole god complex thing Maya has going on and Claudine using some Junna trademarked tactics in this fight to misdirect Maya by hiding in the dark.
Anyways, they fight for a bit, and the bird projects a light down onto them with the frame in the background, and you can still see the shadow of the bird looming in the background. Eventually we see what’s going on through the frame and its various plays where Maya plays the Hero and Claudine plays the villain.
And while Claudine manages to keep up with Maya, it still ends with Claudine losing.
It doesn’t really mean much considering Claudine is just playing along with Maya though. You can hear it in the song, when Claudine agrees that “For you, a Devil”, even though we know she’d actually want to sing “For you, a Rival,” like she does later in the Revue.
But right now, she’s playing her part as the designated loser, the second fiddle to the main character. Because in this version of the play, the ultimate stage person overcomes the devil by tricking him. Although she offered her soul, the stage person was empty, so the devil gets nothing. The Devil just couldn’t comprehend the Vessel of God.
And Claudine’s playing along with it. She’s even doing the exact same pose as the devil in Maya’s sketch from earlier, which is a little different from her pose in episode 2 in that Claudine is unarmed in the sketch and here, unlike in her earlier Revue where she never let go of her sword.
And that’s why the Devil loses when the Vessel of God shows the infinite multitudes of herself, and wow it is such a good looking scene. It’s just so smooth and don’t forget the character designs! They did not have to go this hard on a ten second clip, but they did, and I appreciate that.
So yeah, the Devil realizes he’s outmatched, a series of frames come at him from the empty vessel, and Maya cuts off the button as Claudine goes falling to the ground, along with the other empty works that Maya had discarded in the dark.
And Maya is disappointed.
She’s like, that’s it? And sure she’s never really celebrated winning before, but she was having so much fun just a few moments ago and now it’s over.
The reason Maya showed Claudine this vision of her future self was because she wanted Claudine to match her. Claudine has always been able to keep up with Maya, and Maya hoped that she could continue to do so as Maya went to her next stage, but it just didn’t work out.
But Maya will learn to live with it. After all, this Revue was supposed to be an end to them, so she’d have to go her separate ways with Claudine anyways, and who knows. Maybe Claudine will use this experience to grow on her own, and be even better the next time Maya sees her. A parting gift, basically.
But for now, it’s the end, and she’s on her own at the very top. So Maya claims position zero as she has so many times before.
But she can’t. The stage rejects her victory.
In a reversal of the scene where Maya was in the audience, now we have Maya confused and Claudine laughing, once again in the spotlight.
And it’s only at this point that Claudine stops acting. Her voice is back in her regular register and she talks like normal again.
Maya wonders what’s going on since she’s sure that she beat Claudine, and Claudine reveals she had a second button on her anyways, so the win didn’t matter.
She also reveals that the button was in her mouth the entire time, making me wonder how she managed to sing with that there.
And Maya gets mad at this. Actually mad.
As the top star, we rarely see Maya have an over the top reaction to anything, so this is kind of a first. She’s usually calm and collected and just goes along with everything. She didn’t even seem that down when she lost to Hikari and Karen.
But all despite that, we do actually see Maya getting angry exactly three times in Revue Starlight, and each time it’s kinda subtle.
The first time is in her Revue with Karen, when Karen thought she could challenge Maya for her position as Top Star without the proper resolve, and Maya beats Karen even harder than she was before for that insulting thought.
The second time is when Nana refuses to go all out in the auditions because she wants to be the Banana that everyone loves, and Maya is barely controlling herself when she tells Nana that she wouldn’t forgive her for that.
And the third time is in the Revue Starlight specials when Hikari plays Claire differently from how Maya would have done it, and instead of facing her frustrations with losing the top role, she criticizes Hikari’s performance. Although she isn’t very subtle about her by the end, and basically starts screaming once she realizes what she’s feeling and comes to terms with it. Plus she makes up with Hikari afterwards. But it’s really not great that Maya implies that it’s been so long since she was properly frustrated that she didn’t even recognize the emotion. In fact, Junna mentions she has never seen Maya that frustrated before, and gets genuinely surprised when Maya laughs. Although that may be because it seemed like Maya was laughing at Junna’s newest original quote. Maya has a really bad habit of laughing at the worst times, now that I think about it. Remember the thing from earlier with Claudine?
And while one of these is a lot pettier than the others, it is worth noting that everytime Maya got mad, it was because she thought her opponent wasn’t taking the stage seriously enough.
And right now Claudine just broke the laws of the stage.
And like sure, these Revues aren’t exactly following the same rules as the show. Mahiru cut Hikari’s button but continued Revue and Junna managed to go past Position Zero. Actually, now that I think about it, even in the show we had Karen getting up again after Hikari cut her clasp in the Revue of Astral Sins, so the laws of the stage are more suggestions at this point.
But Claudine and Maya aren’t them.
These two are the establishment. They are the embodiment of everything amazing and painful in the top star system. They are what Karen and Hikari needed to overcome in order to shine together in the show.
The two of them aren’t meant to subvert the Revues like this.
And technically Claudine didn't. After all, it’s not like Claudine’s a sore loser who won’t accept a loss. I mean she can be a sore loser who won’t accept a loss, but you know what I’m saying.
As Nana said, these aren’t auditions. They aren’t fighting over a single role that someone else can bestow upon them. This is for their own self satisfaction, and clearly Claudine isn’t satisfied with this ending.
Anyways, Claudine brings up the contract they signed where Claudine promised a brilliance that no one has ever seen in exchange for her soul, but the contract is discarded and in the dark, so you’d be forgiven for forgetting it. After all, it was just flavor text, right? That was part of the play, not this Revue between the two of them.
But without Maya’s knowledge, the two of them apparently agreed to change the final goal to the T on the contract instead of the normal position zero, so that’s the ending that this Revue has to honor.
It’s rather devilish of Claudine though, making a contract that tricks the signatory. There’s a reason you shouldn’t make a deal with the Devil, you won’t know the true cost until it’s too late.
And maybe Maya did forget it, but still, she showed her Vessel of God, the ultimate actress who could perform any lead. If anything, that should have been the never before seen brilliance. The Revue should be over. Maya should be satisfied.
But Maya isn’t an Empty Vessel of God. She’s human. That’s the advice that Claudine kept trying to tell everyone at the start of the movie. “Maya is just like them, don’t get intimidated.” And she’s not empty either. She’s full of Pride and Arrogance and Envy and Longing.
Pride and Arrogance is the name of the song that was performed in the Revue of Pride. Technically it’s a duet between her and Karen, but even then Maya completely dominated both the Revue and song, with Karen only getting like a couple lines in the beginning before getting drowned out and utterly defeated. It was the song where Maya sang about the difference between her and Karen, the difference that makes Maya a top star. Pride, the deadly sin, is the reason Maya is the top star. It’s how she got to where she was.
As for envy and longing, that was literally her motivation for the auditions. When Claudine asked Maya why she was in the auditions to become a top star when she was already a top star, her only reason for joining was because she didn’t want to see someone else become the top star. She is a jealous person and just the thought of that would make her go mad with envy. Again, one of the seven deadly sin pushed her to constantly compete to stay the Top Star and never rest on her laurels.
And like I said earlier, it was that conversation that got Claudine to realize that Maya was just super greedy. Another deadly sin. Can you really call someone like that an Empty Vessel of God?
So like Claudine says, Maya is just a greedy human.
Okay, so I know I sound a little pretentious by talking about sin and what it means, but that’s not my fault. Revue Starlight did it first. When Hikari traps herself in the eternal stage, she says it’s her punishment for her sin of trying to steal everyone’s brilliance. And then Karen responds that all of the stage girls sinned by aiming to be the top star as well. So by definition, it’s impossible to even be a stage girl without sinning.
Anyways I just thought that was a neat little aside, now let’s get back to watching Maya’s entire future fall apart right in front of her.
The Empty Vessel of God was just a goal for her, and Maya isn’t there yet. It’s the role she thinks she must perform. So Maya knows that Claudine is right when she says that Maya’s acting isn’t up to par for this role. Claudine is the one who’s been watching Maya the closest. She knows who Maya is, and Maya herself told Claudine half of these facts.
Before this Revue, backstage in the dressing room, Claudine said that she would to put an end to it with Maya and be reborn so she could stand on the next stage. But she’s taking that back now. Now she’ll be reborn to beat her rival into submission.
Claudine played along with whatever Maya was doing earlier, because that was part of the Revue. She wanted to act and perform on stage with Maya. But now that Claudine sees this warped worldview that Maya has for her future, she can’t just ignore that. She’d never forgive herself if she just let Maya ruin herself like this. And Claudine is nosy and always gives her opinion on what someone ought to do, like with Junna and Futaba at the start of the movie, even when it’s not asked for. Especially when it’s not asked for, in Kaoruko’s case.
She knows she has to get Maya down the right path to be a top star, and unlike Maya, Claudine doesn’t just expect others to be inspired by her and try to match her. She reaches out her hand and pulls them up along with her.
So Claudine chooses to be reborn just to beat Maya so thoroughly that it will bring her down to earth the same way Maya did for her back in the entrance exam. It’s what Maya needs.
And who cares about the next stage? It doesn’t matter right now. For Claudine, it’s only the two of them.
So Claudine kills herself and is reborn.
She reappears at the top of the stairs, out of the costume and in her usual Revue outfit, so we know for sure that she’s no longer acting. She also manages to make a mockery of Maya’s ideals by parodying Maya’s Revue Introduction for her own Revue Introduction. Actually, with the elevated starting position and the bird imagery in the background, even her entrance is a parody of Maya.
But despite that, she is unabashedly herself right now. She still states her ideals and goals for this upcoming Revue, to have her brilliance show Maya something she has never seen before. She made that introduction into her own. She has her regular weapon again and she stopped acting entirely. She physically destroys the Vessel of God, which is kind of unnecessary when you consider how thoroughly she disproved its existence earlier.
And if we take Claudine’s lyrics as fact, that right now, the stage belongs to her, then that means Claudine being herself managed to shine brighter than Maya being the perfect lead, proving Maya’s whole plan for her next stage to be completely and utterly useless.
So after such a thorough rebuttal, Maya has no reason to play the role of the perfect top star anymore, and as such also disappears, letting her costume and her button fall, just like Claudine from earlier, so she too can be reborn.
Maya accepts Claudine’s challenge to beat her into submission, not that she thinks it’s going to happen, and reappears rising from the stage where they held their play, which is opposite to the stage with the giant staircase. And before she rises, the painting of the button from before falls, essentially balancing out Maya’s win from before by getting Claudine to drop one of Maya’s buttons. Well, sort of. Plus the pictures of her history of victories over Claudine disappear as well, so basically the two of them are restarting this Revue with a clean slate.
Now in the Revue of Pride, Maya descends on a swan during her Revue Introduction. In the Revue of Fate, Maya and Claudine appeared on top of Tokyo Tower before doing their Revue Introductions. This is because Maya has always been the favorite to win, the closest to reaching the top, but for the first time, she’s the underdog who has to rise to get to the stage. She has to meet Claudine’s challenge for once.
So just like Claudine, Maya also parodies Claudine’s usual introduction and ideals, while making it her own. She plans to show Claudine the difference between them once and for all, just like before, but now she’s not going to act as if she’s been enlightened. It’s pure arrogance at this point. And I guess to mirror Claudine stealing Maya’s imagery, Maya has those sun rays coming from her head which bring to mind King Louis IV, the Sun King of France. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I think it works. There’s also the Cold Sparklers on the stage since Claudine is kinda associated with fire, like the burning passion Claudine mentions in her Revue introduction. It feels like a stretch though.
But it’s kinda important that their Revue Introductions, the thing that is supposed to be all about the performer, is being used to mock each other. That Revue introduction is supposed to be everything they stand for, everything they want from this Revue, and like sure they still do that, but now their introductions are literally barbs and personal attacks on each other. They’re already fighting before the Revue even properly begins. Their only goal here is to fight each other, anything else is an afterthought.
And that includes their positions too! Neither Maya nor Claudine introduce themselves with their head or as 2nd rank here like they usually do. They’ve thrown all that out as well. Their past doesn't matter here. It’s just Maya and Claudine of the 99th class.
Honestly I love this berserker mindset that the two of them have going on for each other right now. Literally the only thing on their mind is beating each other. It’s so unhinged and I am loving it.
Anyways, once Maya appears from the ground, you can hear orchestral notes from Pride and Arrogance with each of her arm movements, signaling that Maya has given up on being that ideal empty vessel and is now performing like her usual self again. And now that Claudine and Maya have gotten rid of all pretenses, the title of the Revue shows up.
Their Revue has finally started.
The stage is reconstructed and merged, with the roses and crosses from the play mixing with the obelisks and the stairs from Maya’s Vessel of God set. It also marks the start of Act IV, “We, together.” And wow is that title fitting.
The music slows for a bit, with the only movement being the wind that blows through their clothes and hair. If that imagery sounds familiar, that’s because this is a callback to the Revue of Annihilation. Only instead of Maya and Claudine being out of sync again, now they charge at each other in time with the music.
Also I like the little detail of how they have to fall down from their platform and rise up again to meet each other in the middle. It feels symbolic.
Anyways, while locking swords, Claudine brings up how Maya dropped her facade and is her usual self again, and Maya takes offense to her glee because she kind of hates this usual self since it doesn’t fall in line with her image of the ideal top star, calling it emotional and ugly. But Claudine is kinda into it. She wants to see more. The audience wants to see more. After all, we don’t like Tendo Maya because she’s the perfect top star, I mean we do, but we also like her because she’s an overdramatic dork.
Although I’m guessing the audience Claudine is actually referring to is their friends who have been watching this entire thing, if you recall from earlier. And yeah, they like Maya too. They don’t want Maya to force herself to be someone she’s not. They want her to be herself around them.
Then again, Revue Starlight operates on Schrödinger's Fourth Wall, so who knows which one Claudine is actually talking about. Maybe she’s talking about the faceless masses that Maya has always been trying to impress. I literally could not tell you.
But you know what, Claudine especially likes this Maya, saying the desperate and emotional Maya is the cutest she’s ever been, since Maya usually represses these feelings.
The cute thing is a callback to when they lost against Karen and Hikari in the Revue of Fate, when Maya told Claudine that she was cute when she cried. Claudine was so invested in the stage and in their victory that she was overcome with emotion when they couldn’t make it, and Maya likes that. She likes Claudine when she gives her all to the stage. And now Maya sees that Claudine likes Maya when she does the same.
Either that or Maya meant that Claudine is cute no matter what she does, even if she isn’t measuring up to the unreasonable high expectations that Claudine set for herself to match Maya, which is why she doesn’t have to keep proving herself to Maya. But in that case, Maya also doesn’t need to try and be some unreachable lead for Claudine, she just needs to be Maya.
So Maya responds in the most Tendo Maya way ever by stating that she’s always cute, because she’s always given her all to the stage, but it’s still good to see her proudly reclaim that with pride and arrogance. And she’s no longer mad at getting exposed, just thrilled again to be able to perform with Claudine.
Anyways, while fighting, the two of them literally do nothing but sing about each other. They use their opponent’s name as puns in the song, they talk about how they only need to look at each other forever, you get the gist. But what’s interesting about this fight is that the stage isn’t responding to them. They maneuver around by swinging on ropes they cut off. The momentum of landing causes Maya to get thrown off her platform, and the smoke cloud that ensues when it falls blinds Claudine from one of Maya’s attacks. Their attacks kick up the ornately placed rose petals and send them everywhere, and the stage rising literally tosses them flying in the air.
The stage is literally breaking apart as they fight, which has never been an issue for them before. Only minutes before, Claudine got the stage to make devil cutouts that she could hide in and Maya got the frames to fall and attack Claudine. The stage responds to the passion of a stage girl, but right now it’s getting in the way because they don’t need the stage. They’ve gone past it even. They just need each other, they are their own stage at this point.
Anyways, while falling, Maya grabs onto Claudine’s cloak and complains about how if it wasn’t for her, Maya wouldn’t be exposed as a fraud. Remember, Maya’s philosophy as a top star is to be someone who inspires others to try and be like her. But that really doesn’t hold up if we see that Maya herself doesn’t even act like that, so there’s really no reason for anyone to try to emulate that in the first place. But if you look at her face, you can tell Maya doesn’t really mind. If anyone was going to expose her, she’s glad it was Claudine.
And Claudine grabs her cloak in return and agrees that only she could do this. After all, the two of them are special to each other.
They said as much in their Revue against Karen and Hikari, when the two of them took a break from fighting so they could stare longingly in each other's eyes and confess that they understand each other instinctually and only they can keep up with each other.
While falling, Maya resolves to expose her everything on stage, a complete 180 from her position only a few minutes ago, and Claudine tells her that she has a partner who she can expose everything to on the stage, namely herself. This is mirrored in the song, where Maya says basically the same thing and Claudine promises to accept it, be it ugly or beautiful. Oftentimes the song has the singer's true feelings, which can sometimes contradict the words that the person says on stage, but not this time. The two of them have resolved to be completely true to each other, and aren’t hiding their real thoughts out of shame or insecurities anymore.
And what are their true thoughts?
They want to cross swords forever. They love the stage and they can’t part from it. It makes them pathetic clowns in Maya’s eyes, but it’s fine for Claudine since they’ll have each other as Rivals as long as they stand on stage together.
And that’s great for both of them. Their competition makes each other better. They’ve always known that. Back in their dressing room, Claudine was worried she stagnated because she was satisfied with just being Maya’s equal. But now she sees that as long as she continues to compete with Maya, she can still grow as a stage girl without decaying or dying.
Actually, the only reason she was dying as a stage girl was because she thought she didn’t have anything to prove, but here’s someone who will constantly ask her to put her best self forward over and over again as they push each other higher and higher.
Actually, going back to when Maya comforted Claudine after their loss, Maya says the same thing she said in this Revue, that she can only go higher if Claudine is there. Meanwhile Claudine says that Maya makes her more beautiful, a direct contrast to how Maya claimed her emotional self was ugly before. In the song, when Maya talks about exposing herself, Claudine says it could be ugly or beautiful, but clearly she thinks that it will be beautiful in the end.
Also, you see that orange glow that’s starting to get brighter in that little window at the stage? That’s the start of the fire that will consume the set by the end of the Revue, and it only grows when Claudine mentions her beauty.
The two of them take a moment to call each other by their first names instead of their full names like they always do because they’re extra. This is probably a reference to “Ma Maya” and “Ma Claudine”, but I guess they thought the tenderness would feel a little out of place in this climactic showdown. Personally I think they’re wrong, but I’ll give them a pass because everything else has just been so perfect.
The two of them repeat the refrain from earlier, about how heroes have trials, saints have temptations, but they change the last line to “For me, there is you!” They’ve divorced the line from any roles, now it’s just them.
Although in the song, Claudine sings that “For each of us two, a rival”, not exactly cutting out the roles from before, but keep in mind Claudine always saw herself as a rival to Maya, it wasn’t just a role to her. But it also has a greater meaning in the larger scope of the movie, since Hikari and Karen eventually also become rivals and have this relationship, so it’s a bit more universal when Claudine says rivals instead of you. Then again the next line of the song is the two of them agreeing that their rival is each other, so it doesn’t really matter too much.
So basically, Claudine got Maya to admit that she should expose everything on stage and give up on being an empty vessel, as well as getting Maya to admit that Claudine was her rival. I mean we already knew that second thing, but still.
So by showing Maya a brilliance she had never seen before, that being the two of them pushing each other by being themselves, Claudine has completely outshone Maya’s ideal top star that could play any lead. She fulfilled the promise she made for Maya’s soul, so she can claim the Position Zero that the two of them set on that contract from before instead of bothering with the Position Zero given to them by the stage.
And Maya agrees. Once Claudine strikes the finishing blow, we see a frame around Claudine. Now earlier, when Maya had the frames, it displayed one of the infinite multitudes of herself that she could play in a production. But Claudine isn’t playing anyone. She is unashamedly herself, and Maya thinks she’s beautiful. Claudine is far more compelling that that empty top star that Maya tried to be.
Also, I want to bring up what the frames mean. The frames showcase the works they have made as stage girls, be it their plays, hard work, or promises. And Claudine couldn’t get here on her own. Her radiance is a direct result of their rivalry. So Claudine herself is one of Maya’s works, just like how Maya is a product of Claudine. They molded each other that deeply.
And immediately after saying that Claudine is beautiful, the stage gets set on fire, which is fine since it kept getting in their way anyways. The fire also melts away any traces of the giant mechanical bird.
✨Symbolism✨
Okay but actually the fire is a reference to what the giraffe told Hikari right before this Revue, of how he was the fuel to be set alight by the passion of stage girls. As he said, stage girls are dangerous, but it’s because of that danger that they are so beautiful, just like what Maya sees in Claudine. And that beauty/danger was so much that it burned down the stage, I guess. I don’t think that’ll hold up if you go to court for arson, but what do I know?
But actually, this burning down of the stage may have been foreshadowed long ago.
Back in episode 3, after beating Karen in the Revue of Pride, Maya tells her that there is only one star that shines at the top. But then it cuts to the aftermath of Claudine and Futaba’s revue, where Claudine helps her opponent up, and Maya trails off in the voice over, saying “However, the flames of her passion…”
Maya had firm ideals about what a top star should be, namely alone, but even at the start of the series, Maya knew that the flames of Claudine’s passion could overwhelm that. Admittedly it was Karen and Hikari who actually proved her wrong in episode 10, but Claudine is the one who actually changes Maya’s perspective on how she should be a star here.
And change she did. After her loss, you can actually see a couple tears in Maya’s eyes! Maya didn’t even do that when she and Claudine lost! And she clearly had strong feelings about losing, even if it was hard for her to understand at the time, at least that's what she said in the specials.
And even though she isn’t full on bawling Claudine did for her, she’s letting herself be more open, and that’s a start. She’s letting herself go through the emotions that the stage brings out in her.
Although there’s really not much of a stage left, considering everything got burnt down and destroyed.
Anyways, Claudine takes this as a moment to gloat about winning the bet, because yeah, she did. She’s been waiting for this moment for years now. That has to feel good.
But Maya pulls a page out of Claudine’s book and says she hasn’t lost yet, this was one of the rounds. That the two of them will continue to challenge each other over and over again for the rest of their days until their contest is over.
And that contest isn’t ending anytime soon, since as Claudine says, the Revue of Rivals doesn’t end for all eternity. Which is a big departure from what the two of them decided backstage, that they would put an end to it.
Although neither of them mind, considering they look pretty self satisfied laying on the ground.
Anyways, we get a shot of the two of them holding hands over the Position Zero on the contract they made, which is probably a call back to when Karen and Hikari were in basically the same position after their final Revue in the Show.
In that scene, there was nothing but the stage, their promise, and each other. And they made it work, despite all the bumps along the way. And just like them, Maya and Claudine also make a promise, to keep performing their Revue of Rivals that never ends. Sure they might be able to stand on the same stage anymore, considering their different troupes, but they’re still connected, just like Karen and Hikari were for all those years when Hikari was in London.
Funnily enough that’s not the only thing they steal from Karen and Hikari. Even the way they hold hands over their Position Zero is a reference! Normally, in the play Starlight, Claire holds out her hand, but grasps nothing but air because Flora was blinded and fell off the tower. But in Karen and Hikari’s rewritten Starlight, their promise is kept and Claire and Flora can hold onto each other (and the stars they were longing for) using the same odd grip that Maya and Claudine use to hold onto each other.
After seeing so many pairs of stage girls agree to meet again after they part, we are finally seeing a pair who agreed to part but still got to keep their promise to reach the stars together, a pair who will still be connected no matter the distance.
It’s kind of hopeful in a way for all the other pairs who separated actually. Maya and Claudine are at the final step of the journey each of them will be taking in the future, and we can see that they’ll be connected in spirit as rivals. So that means Futaba will eventually make her way back to Kaoruko after proving herself. Mahiru will continue loving the stage and her brilliant self, as well as be Hikari’s rival. Junna and Nana will meet each other on the same stage in due time. And neither Karen nor Hikari will lose themselves in the other in the end.
Anyways, they also say we are the flames that fall together while burning, which is probably a reference to the giraffe from earlier, since he was also falling and on fire. But when he did that, he talked about his role, which was to light the stage, which I guess could corroborate what I said earlier on how Maya and Claudine are a hopeful future for everyone else.
And yeah, that’s where we leave them. Sure, we get the shot of everyone tossing their capes off at the end, but this is where the two of them end their story together. Well, not actually, but you know what I mean. From here on we’re going to see them as individuals.
We see that Maya got into New National, along with Futaba and Mahiru. It’s also nice that Maya isn’t alone in her next stage, a reversal from all her talk about how a top star needs to stand alone from before, but then again she hasn’t been peddling that nonsense much in this movie. But all of them seem excited to invite Hikari to their next performance, so hopefully it’s all going well with them there.
And then we see Claudine, who it looks like is working at a coffee shop in Paris alongside acting at Theatre du Flamme, the troupe that scouted her. Anyways, she promises to visit Hikari next time, which I guess she can do by just crossing the English Channel. Plus she also has that little chick in her window, probably to remind her of Maya.
Honestly this one probably was my favorite Revue when I first watched the movie. I mean it actually had a kinda happy ending instead of a bittersweet one, so that definitely scored some points in my book.
But even now I just think it’s so good. Like I didn’t even realize that Maya had been repressing herself throughout the show. Like Maya literally said she would go mad with jealousy if she saw someone else be the top star, but she took that loss way better than Claudine. Obviously she wasn’t ok with that. And sure we see her actually lose her temper about it in one of the specials, but I’m going to guess a good chunk of viewers didn’t even know they exist. Seriously, watch the specials. We actually get to see Hikari bonding with her classmates, it’s beautiful. But this Revue feels it completed a character arc I didn’t even know was going on but makes total sense in hindsight! Plus seeing Claudine in non feral mode actually helped me understand her character in the show a lot more beyond her relationship with Maya. Somehow, everything in this movie feels like it was handcrafted just to make me appreciate the show more!
And it just feels like everything a Revue should be about. Like they always called it performing, but this is the first time we actually see a Revue as a play with actors. But then their personalities and struggles slowly start to bleed through the role until they’re showing their true selves on stage and are desperately trying to one up each other.
Don’t get me wrong, every single Revue did that in the movie. You can see everyone get more desperate and unhinged as the Revues get closer to the end, but it just feels the most drastic with these two since they go from 0 to 100 real fast, unlike everyone else who you can clearly tell are worrying about something from the very start.
So yeah, good Revue. Honestly I think I should get a rival myself now. I feel like I’m missing out here.
And now here’s some more thoughts I either didn’t think of earlier or just didn’t want to completely derail the deep dive for:
Maya on the train mirrors the man in the poster that talks about how to act.
This feels kind of on the nose since Maya is the only one who isn’t defeated by Nana, so the rest of the stage girls need to learn how to act from Maya, since she’s the only good example at that point. It’s also her philosophy as a Top Star, that she shows others how to act as a top star and hopes they try and act like she herself did, by giving their all on stage.
I also think it’s funny how perturbed Maya is here when Mahiru would rather take a look at Futaba’s phone about the play they’re gonna see rather than her very interesting infodump about how cool New National is. Like despite acting all cool and detached, Maya can not stand not having the attention be on her, just like Claudine.
So I was recently told that when Nana is fighting each of the stage girls, the lyrics actually reflect a failing of each of the specific stage girls. I kind of missed that last time, my bad, but I do know now so I can talk about it a little.
Anyways, while the train goes back into the tunnel, Nana addresses the beautiful mademoiselle, and asks if there is wildness inside of her. Now by context, it sounds like she’s addressing Maya, because Maya tries to hide all those kinds of feelings and wildness. But the word beautiful will only be used to describe Claudine in their upcoming Revue, and mademoiselle also feels like it’s referring to the French Claudine.
And in a way, Claudine was hiding her wildness as well. I’ve been referring to her drive to beat Maya as feral, and apparently Nana agrees. She hasn’t been going all out recently because she’s been satisfied, and she’s been keeping that wildness dormant.
Although then in the next line, Nana says that the ones who will survive to the end will be:, and Maya is the only one who does survive to the end. After all, Maya is the only one ready for Wi(l)d-Screen Baroque, which basically means the next stage, so maybe she was referring to both of them in that middle line?
Nana was kinda on the backfoot when Claudine and Maya worked together. Like don’t get me wrong, she was clearly dancing around them easily, but it’s still worth noticing that she would block their blades when they attacked her individually, just like everyone else, but had to dodge when they attacked together. And in the end, Nana defeated Claudine because she attacked her without Maya.
Okay so at the Seisho Kick Off Party, usually there is a line from the script that someone else says while one of the major characters in frame, and it’s usually thematically relevant to their upcoming Revue. Only for Claudine, she is the one reading it, and Maya does not have a line for herself. But technically, the line Claudine says is for Maya. After reading it, Claudine looks elsewhere from her script, and while it seems like Claudine is taking a look at the Starlight Tower that Class B just put up, we later see her watching Maya perform.
So yeah, this is Claudine subconsciously realizing that she needs to get Maya down from the tower, she needs to bring her to earth, make her no longer the top star, but just Tendo Maya.
Okay so in their game of animal shoji when Claudine checks Maya, Maya is more concerned about the chick. And then Claudine teases her for not actually playing the game properly, and Maya makes an excuse that she feels sorry for the chick, which is why she noticed that first. It’s dumb, but it’s actually true.
So when actually Claudine beats Maya, it’s using only chicks because Maya can’t bring herself to take any of them. Maya really does have a soft spot for the birds she’s associated with.
Anyways, I’m going to take this funny little scene and use it to gush about how this is a microcosm of their upcoming Revue.
So basically, Claudine is constantly adapting in her pursuit to surpass Maya. She’s taking in new information all the time, and using that specifically so she can beat Maya in the game. This ties into the whole being reborn thing as many times as she needs to to beat Maya. Funnily enough, Maya repeats that she’ll win both the next game and the next Revue after Claudine beats her at both.
But it also kinda shows that Claudine is a much better strategist than Maya, which leads me to the question, was all this planned?
Like we’ve established that Claudine probably knows Maya better than Maya herself at this point, so Claudine might have known what she had to do coming into this Revue, which was to beat Maya so badly she had to completely reconsider her philosophy as a stage girl. I know I made her decision to be reborn to beat Maya sound kind of spontaneous in the main essay, and I stand by that because we do see her genuinely surprised a couple of times, but there’s an argument to be made that Claudine planned this super far ahead.
Like, she got the second button during that gambling scene with Kaoruko, but what was she initially planning to do with that? She tricked Maya into signing a contract so that the Revue wouldn’t end even if Maya beat her once. She continues to play along and act as the devil even after Maya breaks character. So was what she said backstage, about being reborn by ending it here, also just misdirection to lull Maya into a false sense of security? A ploy to create a sense of urgency and get Maya to finally reveal her hand, the Empty Vessel of God, just so Claudine could utterly demolish the idea?
But like none of that is very Claudine behavior. She’s always been direct and straightforward, so it doesn’t really make sense. So maybe they were just contingency plans? I mean sure she wants to win, but she’s never been underhanded about it before.
So maybe? Maybe not? Who knows?
She’s a really good actress, and it doesn’t really change the end result.
I think it’s funny that Maya is displaying her amazing stage talent with a bunch of framed paintings when canonically she just sucks so much at art. She absolutely hates it. The Revue Starlight 4-koma has 3 jokes that it keeps repeating about Maya, and one of them is how terrible of an artist she is. Painting is on her dislike profile. But here she is acting like that weakness doesn’t exist, another sign that she’s forcing herself to be someone she’s not.
Junna had to fight for her life to avoid dying as a stage girl, and here we have Claudine doing the exact same thing Nana was trying to get Junna to do and being reborn instantaneously.
Junna is fuming in the audience for sure right now.
I am obsessed with their Revue introductions in this movie. I really wanted to go more in depth in the actual essay, but in order to not completely kill the pacing I’m moving it here so I can scream about it and no one can stop me.
Okay, so first off we get Claudine calling out Maya’s usual introduction with the shine of the moon and love of the star, because literally what the fuck does that mean. Like is Maya actually comparing her own brilliance to actual celestial bodies? They don’t actually mean anything. The thought is just as empty as that lead Maya was trying to portray. Anyways, she throws all that out in favor of her own light, the burning passion from her original intro, and promises to bash it into Maya’s heart, which is much more violent that Maya’s promise to send it. And then she takes Maya’s usual thing of showing her brilliance, but changes it to my brilliance will show you, because that’s the goal she set for this Revue.
Meanwhile, Maya kind of completely got rid of her earlier philosophy and is no longer trying to act like an otherworldly being. That’s why almost none of her new intro is like her old one, because none of that would fly with Claudine anymore. Instead she makes fun of Claudine’s bravado and pretentiousness. I mean seriously, talking about freedom and equality and love, who does she think she is, the French Revolution? She’s just as savage and pathetic as the rest of them. Instead, Maya details her own accomplishments, as the best and brightest, but in a much more narcissistic way than before. And while Claudine would have confidently stated that she was the star (in French), Maya makes it her own not only claiming to be the star, but mentioning the distance between them as no matter how high Claudine soars, it’s basically the abyss for Maya.
The disrespect! The incisiveness! The rage! They want to punch each other in the face soooo bad, I love it.
Okay but what the fuck is up with the roses? Was that supposed to be a Rose of Versailles reference? I legitimately have no idea, but it feels important considering there were roses in the background of Claudine being beautiful? I mean the only other things in that scene when Claudine beat Maya were themselves and the frames, so it feels important that the roses were there too. Is it really just for the aesthetic? I feel like I’m missing something here.
Also, can I just say we were robbed of never seeing Maya and Claudine have an actual Revue in the show. Like these were the two best performers in their class! I wanted to see what happened! It was probably amazing! Don’t get me wrong, them working together was awesome too, but I wanted more.
Although it is funny that apparently the two of them destroyed the stage even back then. Like this was not a one time thing. Literally every time they fight they cause complete and absolute destruction, and that’s amazing. Also probably a metaphor, but I don’t feel like thinking about that too hard right now.
And I know I’ve never really been that objective in these Deep Dives, but can I just say how happy I am that Claudine got her win against Maya here? Like she never really got her chance to shine in any Revues in the show, but you could see just how hard she worked and how badly she wanted to win, and she finally did it. And it was glorious. It was everything I ever wanted for the two of them.
This movie is just so good.
#revue starlight#claudine saijou#maya tendou#kuromaya#mayakuro#revstar#gekijouban shoujo kageki revue starlight#analyzing starlight
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The Professor
summary: you and harry are perfect strangers
words: 3.5k
tw: none
PART III, PART V, PART IV, PART II, PART I
Series Masterlist
June 2021
This summer, were trying something new.
Since school was out, you decided you needed to get out more. You’d seen less of Edward because he was getting busier and busier with his super secret project. He still texted and called, and since you were busy with school, helping the police department from time to time, filming your educational videos, and writing papers along with grading them, you didn’t mind not seeing him as much. You liked that you could go a few weeks without seeing each other and still remain close friends…or whatever you were. That was something both of you were okay with not discussing for the time being.
In the past, you spent a lot of your summers indoors or around Cambridge, but this summer, you decided to branch out and explore. You read books and case files in cafes, you biked around town more, you even wanted to plan a road trip with Edward. Before, your summers, while enjoyable, were pretty monotonous. Maybe it was because the world was finally opening back up again, but you just had this itch to get out of your townhouse more. And take the Emperor with you, of course.
It was a sunny afternoon in Cambridge, and you were sitting on a patio table of a cafe you started frequenting. They had all sorts of tea flavors and fun summery drinks you wanted to try. Something in you was pushing you to try new things, and instead of shying away from it, you embraced it. The sun was shining brightly, your paper was coming along splendidly, and the Emperor was basking in the sunlight inside the pram you bought for him. This summer was off to a beautiful start.
“Do my eyes deceive me, or is Dr. Y/l/n outside and actually enjoying the sun?”
You immediately perked up at the sound of Edward’s voice, your lips curving up into a smile involuntarily. “What are you doing here?”
“To see you, of course,” he said from behind his mask.
Edward was still standing, so you could see all of him. He, like you, was dressed for summer in corduroy shorts and an opened, button-down shirt made of a colorful patchwork of different fabrics.
“Sit down!” you said, gesturing for the open seat across from you beside the Emperor.
He did, petting your cat as he did so, who leaned into Edward’s touch. Seems you weren’t the only one who missed your friend.
“You’re in a particularly sunny mood today,” he said.
“I’m embracing life, Edward,” you said, slipping your straw beneath your face mask to take a sip of your coffee—some kind of rose latte that you didn’t love but felt like you needed to finish to be polite. “And I consulted on a case in New York, which was very fun. Well, not fun. Satisfying. You know, because I got to be a part of saving a life and stop someone from doing horrible things.”
Smiling, he said, “That’s great, Y/n. I’m really happy for you.”
He said it, but he didn’t sound happy. Admittedly, it was somber stuff, but you hadn’t gone into the explicit details, ones that you would never forget, you literally weren’t able to.
“Are you okay? You seem a little off.”
“Me? Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, but again, he wasn’t very convincing. “Listen, there’s something I wanted to—”
“So, I had this idea, but I wanted to run it by—Oh, sorry. Go ahead.”
“No, no. You first.”
Now that his eyes were on you, even if they were covered by dark sunglasses, you flushed with nerves. You’d never done something like this, and you thought you had more time to prepare and find the right words, but this summer was all about taking chances for you, so you swallowed your fear and just blurted it out.
“I think we should go on a date.”
Edward’s eyebrows rose, but you couldn’t tell what it meant. “A date?”
“Yeah, you know, since things have been opening up more, and we’ve never actually seen the bottom of each other’s faces, I just thought now would be as good a time as any, right?”
When he didn’t answer right away, you started to panic. Did you read the last three months wrong? Edward told you he liked you, you held hands when you sat and talked in your townhouse, he was showing interest, right? You couldn’t be that oblivious, and you didn’t think you read the signs wrong. You checked. Your evidence backed up your inferences. This should’ve been seamless.
You were almost never wrong, but now you were worried you got everything completely wrong. “Unless…you don’t want to?”
Edward was quick to reassure you. “I do, you have no idea how much I do. I’m just…shocked by how forward you’re being.”
Leaning forward, you stage whispered, “It’s not too much, is it?”
Edward leaned forward too, and this time you could tell he was grinning. “No, not at all. I think it suits you.”
He couldn’t see it, but you were smiling beneath your mask. “Great. So? What do you say?”
You’d never been this forward before, but Edward made you feel confident. In your mind, you had nothing to lose.
“I’d love to,” he said, holding your hand across the table. “Now, what do you say to heading back to your place? I missed looking at constellations with you.”
Butterflies Edward had called them. They were going crazy in your stomach, but they didn’t freak you out. They just made you excited. You thought this new you suited you too.
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It was late, way past midnight, and he was still in your house. You weren’t quite sure where the time went, or how you managed to talk for that long, but there both of you were, sitting on your couch, neither of you making any kinds of moves to leave.
“If you weren’t a professor, what would you be doing?”
It took you a moment to think about that, to give him an answer that wouldn’t end in Edward lecturing you about taking care of yourself and putting yourself first.
“I don’t know, I think I was made for teaching and helping people. It’s what I’m good at.”
“But do you teach because you love it or because you’re good at it. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, Y/n.”
Edward worried about you a lot. Something you thought you would find irritating, but actually found endearing.
“I know, but for me it is,” you said, squeezing the hand that was holding yours. You realized he liked that. Small affectionate touches. You weren’t the affectionate type but you liked being that way for him. “I love helping people. For the first half of my life, I was stuck doing things for other people, and I hated it. I was good at math, I am good at math, but being forced to do it all day made me never want to look at or solve complicated theories ever again.
“This is the life I chose for myself. Sometimes I think that with this…gift, asset, whatever you want to call it, that I should be doing more, so I help the police department and I share my knowledge with others and hope that’s enough.”
You let out a breath, surprised you said so much. You knew it wasn’t physically possible, but you felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders, like in that moment, you weren’t just talking to Edward, but to everyone who ever criticized your decision to leave solving unsolvable math and science problems behind to take up teaching.
“That felt good, didn’t it?” Edward said, like your answer was exactly what he wanted you to say.
You narrowed your eyes at him. “You’re very smart, Edward. Not as smart as me of course, but—”
“But who is?” he finished for you.
You sat with him in comfortable silence, neither of you knowing what to say next, but not ready to say goodbye, either. This was the latest Edward had ever stayed over, and that fluttering was stirring in you. You’d never had anyone spend the night before, but you thought he would make a good first.
“I should probably go,” he said suddenly, as if he just realized it was nearing three in the morning.
Reminding yourself that this was the summer of embracing change and trying new things, you took a deep breath and said, “You don’t have to.”
“No?”
“It’s late, and you must be tired. You can stay. If—If you want to, that is.”
You wondered if his heart was beating as fast as yours, or if his palms were starting to sweat. Maybe you’d read these last three months entirely wrong, maybe asking him to stay was a terrible idea, one you clearly didn’t think through. Your invitation for him to stay the night was exactly that: a place for him to sleep. But did Edward know that? What if he took your invitation as more? And neither of you obviously slept with a face covering, there was a chance you would see his face tonight.
You’d insisted on the face masks because you didn’t want to get yourself or Edward sick, but part of you also liked that you had to wear them. It was social distance as well as emotional distance, like keeping what you completely looked like a secret was the one thing that prevented you from fully opening up to him. Were you really ready for that?
“Y/n?”
So in your thoughts about Edward possibly staying the night, you forgot he hadn’t said yes or no yet. Blushing, you looked back over to him. “Yes?”
“I can see the gears turning in that beautiful brain of yours. You don’t have to be so stressed. If you don’t want me to stay, I won’t. It’s not a big deal.”
“I do!” you blurted, your face turning red at how quickly you corrected him. “I, um, I think it will be fun. But…I just don’t want you to think that it means that we’re having sex.”
The blunt delivery of your statement had him laughing, so much so that it calmed your nerves a bit. “I didn’t think that at all,” he said. Inching closer to you, he reached for your hand again, rubbing his thumb across the back. “So, got an extra toothbrush?”
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You were at home, laying on your floor and watching constellations, only it wasn’t with Edward. Your phone was clutched in your hands, your leg crossed over the other revealing colorful patterned socks peeking out beneath your ankle-length jeans. You needed to make a phone call, but you didn’t know what you were going to say.
How were you going to tell him?
Thankfully, you got a phone call before you had to make that decision. It was the former student you employed to help edit your videos. “Hello?”
“When were you going to tell me you knew Harry Styles?”
The name sounded familiar, and you recalled one of your students mentioning it in one of their questions at the end of class once, but you didn’t know him. “I…I don’t?”
“Y/n, are you pulling my leg right now? It’s all over the Internet,” they said.
“What is?” you asked, more confused than ever.
“The pictures! You’re at a cafe and casually sitting with one of the most popular men in music. How the hell did you not know?”
Your mind was going into overdrive with all the new information you’d just received. “I—I need to—to go,” you said, hanging up without another word.
The only time you really used the Internet was to look up scholarly journals or to search for a new recipe, but now you typed in the words, “Harry Styles,” when the search finished loading, your eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
You rarely cursed, but this instance was worthy of using expletives. Edward…Harry…whoever he said he was…was not who he claimed to be. He was famous, like really, really famous. He’d just won a Grammy, he had two albums, he was on the cover of Vogue, and he had a larger than life following. The man online was not the man you knew in person. He was charismatic and outgoing, he sang songs about sex, he was a more vibrant version of the person you’d come to know. Edward was soft spoken, but Harry was…some kind of rockstar.
You consumed everything you possibly could, your eyes scanning his Wikipedia page—he had a Wikipedia page!—in a minute. Singing contest shows, albums, awards, band breakups, world tours, you read everything. You knew more about him than you wanted to know.
And you were there too. In a recent article by some tacky looking publication with obnoxious colors and loud titles that made your head hurt, there was a picture of you and Edward—Harry—sitting at the cafe last week. The pictures looked innocent enough, but the headlines claimed you were a secret lover, a possible affair.
An affair? You clicked on one of the linked articles on the website, hating yourself for reading something like this. Another picture popped up. He looked like he was at some wedding, holding hands with another woman.
You turned your phone off after that, not wanting anymore pictures or words forever ingrained in your mind. He was seeing someone. He had a…a person. Someone that meant something to him. Someone that wasn’t you.
It hurt, especially because you really thought he’d shown interest the last few months, but that was probably a lie too. He spent the night just last week! Sure, you didn’t do anything but sleep, but that was a big step. Apparently not. Just before you clicked out of the website, you saw that she was a director. Maybe he was only interested in people who led similar lives, and you certainly did not.
You felt silly all of a sudden. You tricked yourself into believing that someone actually cared for you. No one had ever shown interest in you outside of the knowledge you held, all the remarkable things you could remember. When you visited her for Spring Break, your mom went around telling people you were a human computer, getting people to ask you questions and see how quick you could respond. Like your students in class but not at all the same. You weren’t a person to be valued or cherished, you were an object of fascination. A circus freak that could do tricks on command.
You laid on the floor with your head pressed against the wood panels, heart pounding and mind spinning. Words flew around so fast they were unintelligible. Nothing made sense, and as someone who could make sense of everything, it was frustrating you. A headache quickly developed into a migraine, and you didn’t know what to do. Shutting your eyes wouldn’t change anything, would probably only make things worse. You read too much too fast, and now it was overwhelming you.
A knock on your front door temporarily distracted you. You stood up from your position on the ground, but every step towards your door was a painful one. Peeking through your peephole, your heart clenched, your stomach filled with dread. It was him.
You were in no way ready to face him, so you didn’t. “I—I’m not feeling well.”
“Aw, really?” he asked, sounding disappointed. “Well, let me in and I’ll take care of you.”
He sounded so sweet and so sincere that you almost let him in, but you stopped yourself. “I haven’t gotten tested yet. I’ll—I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Let me in, Y/n. If you’re not feeling well, I want to help.”
His kindness made you angry all of a sudden. With everything swirling around and your migraine, you blurted, “I don’t want to see you right now, Harry.”
It was his name, but it didn’t sound right on your tongue. He seemed to recognize it, though. With both of you so close to the door, you heard the soft thud of his forehead leaning against it as he quietly muttered, “Fuck.”
“You lied to me,” you said, trying to hide the quiver in your voice. “Why would you lie to me?”
“I—I didn’t lie, I—”
“Don’t give me that omission bullshit! You didn’t even tell me your real name!”
You remembered the first time he’d come over to your house. The two of you were so engrossed in your conversation that you didn’t even realize you hadn’t shared each other’s names until he was about to leave. He told you his name was Edward, and you didn’t question it. Why would you?
“I can’t believe this,” you said. “I—We talked about you being a murderer, and I laughed it off when you could’ve actually been one. I’m such an idiot! I actually—I actually trusted you!”
“You can trust me. Please just—Please let me in, and I can explain everything. Just please let me in.”
He sounded desperate, but he wasn’t getting it. You did let him in. He knew you more than any other person you knew, but you clearly didn’t know him. You had a hard time trusting people, it was why you didn’t have many friends or colleagues or a long romantic history. Trust was something you had a hard time handing to people, but somehow he managed it, and he took it and stomped on it, crushed it in his hands like a piece of paper. You couldn’t trust him. He lied to you about who he was for months and didn’t try to tell you the truth. Not once.
“I know about the woman you’re seeing. The director,” you said suddenly You had never spoken so venomously before, and you hated it. You hated how all of this was making you feel. “I asked you out because I liked you and you managed to convince me that you liked me too, but—but you ruined it. I learned so much about you in minutes, and I can’t forget it. I wish I could forget meeting you, but I will never be able to.
“I can win a chess game in two moves, I could solve some of the most complex physics equations before you probably even knew what algebra was, I know four current languages and two dead languages, I’ve read the Bible cover to cover multiple times, I came close to solving the three body problem. I bet you don’t even know what that is!
“I’m an expert in multiple fields of psychology, so imagine my surprise when I found out you weren’t who you said you were. Not once did I suspect anything,” you said, surprised that all of that came bursting out of you.
“I am. Y/n, please open the door,” he pleaded. He sounded like he was crying, which made a couple tears slip down your cheeks.
You steeled your nerves, feeling like each one of those butterflies he made you feel died and floated to the bottom of your stomach. “I’m glad I found out now and not while I was still teaching, I can’t imagine how badly my students would make fun of me for being so clueless.”
Hearing the calmness in your voice, you heard him grow frantic on the other side of the door. “It’s not your fault, Y/n, I was just trying to—”
“You’re right. It’s not my fault,” you said. “I don’t like to believe in coincidences or chance, but maybe there’s a hint of it here.” You paused, finding the strength to get the words out. You hadn’t thought it through, and perhaps you were being too rash or emotional, but you said it anyway. “I was offered a job today. In New York. I was going to call you and tell you about it, maybe celebrate even if I was planning on turning it down, but then I got a different phone call first, and I found out about you, and…
“I’m going to take the job, and I—I don’t want to see you before I leave.”
“Okay, I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be, but I am begging you not to go anywhere before I can explain. There’s so much that I want—that I need to say. Y/n please.”
You were done fighting. Mostly because your migraine was becoming too much and you were still processing the overload of information, but also because you couldn’t handle talking to the person on the other side of your door anymore.
“Just go,” you said, more tired than you’d ever felt before. “I can’t—I can’t let you do this to me.”
Your mind, which was normally sharp and organized, was currently in shambles. You'd never felt this lost before. You could always rely on your instinct and your knowledge, but it was failing you, and that was something you couldn't handle.
“Please. Please. Open the door, Y/n. Please let me in. Please, I’ll explain everything. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry—”
Taking your cat, you left him at the front door, still knocking and begging you to let him explain, but you didn’t want an explanation. None of it would change the fact that he lied for months, with no plans to stop.
You don’t know when he left, or how long he knocked on the door. If he left of his own volition or if your neighbors grew tired of the noise. You just didn’t care to know. As you rested on your bed and hid from everything you learned the best you could, you just…didn’t care anymore.
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tags: @remuslupinwifee @majasophieanna @michellekstyles @wolwolsighs @harrystylesrecs @cwiphswmwasohmm @his-only-angel-1989
#harry styles#harry styles x professor yn#harry styles imagine#harry styles x reader#harry styles oneshot#harry styles fanfic#harry styles blurb#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles fluff#harry styles x you#harry styles writing#harry styles one shot
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I finally finished Light Bringer. Here's my thoughts (obviously, spoilers incoming):
-First and formost, RIP to the king of my heart, Cassius Bellona. The worst part about his death is that you know it's coming the whole book. You don't take a character like him, a former enemy, give him a solid redemption arc, make him the most ABSURDLY likeable character and source of all humor in the book, and then not kill him off. But still, I held out a tiny bit of hope. I really dreaded getting to the end of this book just because I knew it would be coming. But, you had to respect the way he went out at least. Dude's gonna be legend if that counts for anything.
-So, The Abomination was WORRYINGLY absent from this book, aside from a couple of mentions and that (maybe) he's Virginia's mysterious source of intel? Like, everyone is worried about how Atalantia is sitting around building up her power while everyone else is duking it out, but what about the Abomination? I know he's not anybody's most immediate threat in this book, but is anybody else extremely worried about what he's going to get up to in Red God?
-I was happy with the Virginia chapters we did get, but I hope she gets more time in Red God. Also, same to Victra. She was awesome in this book, as always, but like, I want to see you do even more destroying, girl. We love you. I also missed Electra.
-The Bromance in this book was next level, even by the standards previously set in this series. I loved having a little break from the relentless battles and death in Dark Age, to just get the dudes (and Lyria) hanging out and trying to work out their differences. This also helped get back some of the old humor I missed from earlier in the series.
-This was Lyria at her best in my opinion. She was great. I only wish we got to see more Lyria and Cassius because they were just so heart warming.
-Sevro is back! I loved getting to see the old Sevro make his triumphant return for the last third of the book or so. Sevro walking up to Gaia au Raa and just going, "shut up, crone," really made my day.
-Lysander has killed my favorite character of the book two books in a row now. And both times with a gun. I love how this dude talks about how he's secretly really good with a razor, but every time he's confronted with someone who's actually good at using one he just shoots them point blank. I know I've said this before, but seriously guys, fuck Lysander. I mean, even Atalantia is becoming more likeable than him. She may be an evil, power hungry tyrant, but at least she's pretty much honest about it. Everyone knows she's the worst and she barely bothers to pretend otherwise.
-Admittedly, it's been a few years since I've read the other books in the series, but this might be my favorite of the bunch. Pierce Brown really hit every emotional note and character perfectly in this one, and it felt a lot more balanced compared to the (necessary) bleakness of Dark Age.
#light bringer#light bringer spoilers#lysander au lune#cassius bellona#sevro barca#virginia augustus#darrow of lykos#lyria of lagalos#pierce brown#red rising series#red rising series spoilers#red rising#red rising spoilers
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hi 💓 your ouabh posts were actually the reason why i finally started reading this series, so thank you! i just finished reading acftl for true love a few days ago and absolutely loved it. i was actually surprised when i found out that some people were disappointed with acftl because i thought it was a perfect conclusion to the series. i love it so so much. however, i think stephanie garber just struggles with concluding her series in general because i read the caraval series a few years ago and thought finale was sort of a weak conclusion? i do think acftl was definitely an improvement from finale but i think stephanie just doesn’t know how to wrap up her series. nevertheless, acftl was still so amazing.
another thing that i was so surprised to see with this fandom is that there are people who actually ship tellajacks. i remember reading caraval and thinking that their relationship felt so forced and toxic. jacks clearly does not care for tella and throughout the whole caraval series, all he does is care about himself. it is a bit strange to see that people thought he actually loved tella when all he did was simply love the idea of finally breaking his curse.
ALSO i saw people were disappointed that jacks didn’t give a huge love confession in acftl. to be honest, he does not seem like the person to give a long speech like that so i wasn’t expecting that from him. however, i was so shocked that he said “i love you” to eva. saying i love you to someone is a such a huge thing to say someone, and i think some readers do not understand how important that phrase is, especially when it’s coming from jacks. i thought his love confession was perfect and so romantic.
their first kiss was also so perfect, and it makes me kind of sad to see that some people were disappointed with that scene as well. the way jacks was so careful and gentle during that scene is a stark contrast to the scenes we got of him in the caraval series. in caraval, he was reckless and wild. but with eva, he was sooo careful, and i think that really reflects how he has changed through the five books. also, when he dropped his heart because he couldn’t help kissing her back 🥹 i swooned.
i think what makes evajacks so special and sets them apart from stephanie’s other ships in the caraval universe is that we got to see their relationship develop. it wasn’t insta-love or forced. we actually got to see how both eva and jacks started to truly care for each other and fall in love. it felt so natural. eva and jacks would simply do anything for each other, and i think their love is so beautiful.
that's so sweet, i'm so glad to hear it. 🥰 thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
i very much agree. in one of my analyzes i talked about how evajacks were privileged in a certain way, as they had a very conclusive ending. they are together, they love each other, they are living together and stupidly in love. i mean, it's more than the other sg couples have had so far. i don't think caraval's ending is bad, but it's so abrupt that it feels like there's really a lack of content there. it doesn't really feel like an ending.
it's very surprising to me to even look back and see that people actually liked tellajacks. 😅 i believe this is largely due to jacks' charm and humor, but there is no romance, much less a love triangle, since tella only thinks about the legend throughout the two books in which she is admittedly the protagonist.
i almost didn't expect an ''i love you'' either. i really like this confession of his, i think it suits the character a lot. you know, coming from jacks, especially, this is huge and really shows how he was just madly in love with eva, from my perspective.
YES, HE BEING CAREFUL! it's really a wonderful contrast to when he kissed tella to manipulate and kill her, again showing us how much he, above all, cares for evangeline, how much he loves her. he was so insecure, so scared of losing her and almost went crazy when he thought he had killed her. it's such a cute detail that stephanie added, i even think it was one of the reasons why she chose not to make evajacks' kiss so urgent at first. (although they both get excited in the middle of the kiss and things get hotter! 🤭)
it was so beautiful to see the evajacks falling in love, despite all the odds. they are the greatest couple we have! 😭❤️
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So, I usually read acotar on the bus and during class and then I come home and write these posts but I had a Certified Mental Health Moment and couldnt go for the entirety of last week and I didnt feel like reading during that time, so yeah
Anyway, Ive made it through chapter 30 I think (sry i forgor and i dont feel like taking the book out of my bag rn to check) so Ive just gotten to the point where Feyre arrived UTM through that weird interdimensional (?) shortcut and then a hand grabs her and then the chapter ends. That means Ive finally had my proper introduction to my literary mortal enemy, the man, the myth, the legend, Rhysand Nolastname, and also Feyre's sisters as actual characters instead of the weird caricatures they were previously
The stuff with Nesta and Elain is honestly baffling to me, like was there not an editor to suggest maybe adjusting those first few chapters when she decided to flesh them out more? One of the acotar critiques I watched before reading was this one by a podcast called Unresolved Textual Tension and one of the hosts kept remarking that sjm "couldnt go back to change things" in reference to her constant retconning of characters with very little elaboration, but like, why? First of all, I dont think thats literally true; to my knowledge (which is admittedly limited so feel free to correct me here) sjm had her start on fiction press with the first throne of glass book, posted serially chapter by chapter, which got really popular and was then traditionally published in 2012, but every book after that was always intended to be published as a whole work went through the whole traditional publishing pipeline with editors and whatnot. So the issues with ACOTAR cant come from it being a serialized story that wasnt properly planned out and then wasnt fixed up in editing, right? And the only other thing I can think of is that she just didnt have an editor (or atleast not a very thorough one) which, people say that a lot of her more recent work (CC series, ACOSF) feel unedited because of how they drag and how often the prose seems to repeat itself and by this point shes popular and influential enough that Im pretty willing to believe that, but was she that popular back in 2015 from TOG alone? Idk if anyone can tell me anything about this I would appreciate it
I already have a lot of thoughts about Rhysand (spoiler alert: none of them are positive) but I think I'll save those for when we get to Those Scenes UTM. For now, I just wanted to ask all the Feylin girlies who read this book before ACOMAF came out or who went into the series without spoilers: didnt it feel incredibly weird that Rhysands beautifulness was so emphasized when, as far as you were aware, Feyre and Tamlin were meant to be endgame? Like, I think Feylin is cute and all but Im not really too invested in it because I dont find either of them on their own or their dynamic together that interesting, but it still felt a little disrespectful if thats the right word. Like, I know love triangles are a Thing in YA and I know they tend to be incredibly clear-cut and its usually very obvious whos gonna get the girl from the getgo, but in those cases the protagonist generally has some kind of actual relationship with The Bad Boy to justify a weird attraction to an obviously dangerous guy, in ACOTAR Rhysand has talked to Feyre exactly one time and then he sent over a head on a spike and here she is, talking about how indescribably beautiful he is while hes making her friend and the man she will claim to love in the next chapter go down on their knees to beg for her safety. Idk man it just feels so weird
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morality in the world of good omens
so i wrote another (admittedly very messy) essay on good omens not long ago right after watching season 2 but after finishing that, rewatching all of both seasons multiple times, and reading through the book, i have a couple more distinct ideas to get out...somewhere...if only for my own sanity. this is me throwing my thoughts into the internet before i pop, if you will. just 3 sections, below the cut.
1. environment, characters, & transformative fandom creations
to start this post off a bit more broadly, i've been thinking a lot recently about transformative fandom and the reasons why we write fanfiction/create semi-original works in the first place, as well as why certain aspects of fandom (writing, art, analysis, etc.) will be more appealing to me for certain shows/series than others. correct me if you have a totally different view of this, but in my experience i've found that i tend to naturally gravitate towards different parts of fandom depending on what the original medium of the story was- podcasts tend to lead to some of the most interesting art trends, for example, since there's more room for interpretation and character design tends to be more of an ongoing community project than something set in stone like for a tv show with live human actors.
in my own observation, i've noticed that a lot of the really big & excitable fandoms, the ones that generate tons & tons of fanworks more naturally (a.k.a. just because of the story itself & not other factors like a pre-existing franchise or hype about new great gay representation, etc.) tend to surround stories that fall into a kind of "sweet spot" that makes the creation of fanworks really appealing. if you've ever wondered why there are so many ravenous artists bending over backwards to draw gorgeous fanart for stuff like homestuck or south park or even minecraft youtubers, it's likely because those stories all fall into a sweet spot for drawing, with character designs that are recognizable at a glance and yet still simple enough that there is plenty of room for personal creative touches. (think also, if you're familiar with such kinds of homestuck terms: hyperflexible mythologies, A4:1524, and/or this archive link cause the official thing is down now for some reason)
the conclusion i've come to is thus that even something as basic as the original medium of a story can dictate a lot about what kinds of fan activities are more common or popular within said story's fandom.
so, back to good omens- for me, this all relates back because of a question i've been messing with in my head recently, about why i've been less interested in fanfiction for good omens than i have been for the last few fandoms i've been, almost all of which have basically broken my ao3 bookmarks.
this question has been fucking with me for a while now, largely because i'm not entirely sure what's motivating it. a lot of times i can figure out pretty easily why i might personally not be interested in some parts of fandom, but that's not really the case here. from what i've seen this fandom seems to be pretty mixed in terms of age, & the writing that i have read is certainly no worse than i've seen elsewhere, perhaps even better in some places- and yet, i can't seem to get entirely into it, even getting frustrated as i can't find something to my tastes for an ao3 bedtime story as i've grown so accustomed. what caught me off guard is that this was an issue that i ran into while watching season 1 as well, back when the series was still quite popular but not blowing up like it is right now.
a lot of this may seem like (and likely is, at least in part) basic overthinking, but i mentioned it all here because the answer i eventually came to is reminiscent of my previous reflections above on the nature of fandom & how/why fanworks are created.
a couple paragraphs above, i used the example of art as an example of how fandoms that generate a lot of original artwork will often do the most when the original story falls into a sweet spot of character design, but notably i think that this sentiment applies to a lot more than just art. if you've ever seen the copious amounts of kpop & hockey rpf fanfiction that lives on ao3, it should be clear that this applies to writing too.
i wrote this essay a while back responding to an observation about the lack of a more extensive symbolic language in fanfiction & i've toyed around with the idea more since, particularly in considering the question of why a lot of what we see as the staples of fanfiction exist in the first place. in that post, my response largely revolved around an argument of why we create fanfiction- namely, that fanfiction is created as in tandem with deeper analysis of the original story/series, as a way of trying to practically apply character analysis to a new context.
the key part of that last sentence to me is how a lot of this revolves around character analysis (and shipping, but really it's the characters that motivate the shipping in most cases so. same difference).
i tend to instinctively separate fanfiction into two separate categories: fanfiction that is based out of the original world/canon of the story (including but not limited to fix-its, deeper analysis fics that take a scene & extrapolate from it, continuations, etc.) and fanfiction that takes the characters from the original story & plops them in an alternate universe/AU. while i separate these out as two distinct categories of fanfiction, i should also clarify that i don't think these two groups are necessarily equal in terms of number of fics- rather, the vast majority of fanfiction tends to be AUs, keeping the original characters & changing any & all aspects of the world around them. again, this may vary depending on the story & Vibe of the fandom at the time, stories like game of thrones or harry potter or homestuck might have a lot more in the canon category by nature of any major dissatisfactions the fandom has with how the original story was told, but in most cases AUs are more popular. this was a lot of the basis behind my argument that fanfiction is created as character analysis in fact, since the characters are the most important part that carries over from original story to fanwork, as well as can end up being one of the most debated/scorned parts when it comes to fandom drift (i.e. "that's out of character"/"he wouldn't do that"/and all other such arguments about fanon vs. canon characterization).
basically, my conclusion in this case was that i was a lot less interested in gomens fic largely because i have a really hard time separating the characters from the world in the case of this particular story. aziraphale & crowley being an angel & a demon and dealing with all of the bullshit of their world when it comes to heaven & hell are such integral parts of their characters in my mind that i have a much harder time getting behind AU fanfiction that plops them in a totally different context. it's just a much harder sell for keeping the characters in character for me. (i also tend to not like s2 fix-its just cause, idk they're just not my style, which is where a lot of the recent blast of energy has led us.) to clarify, this is not a judgement, just a matter of personal preference and a reflection of why, even if a lot of fandoms will look the same from the outside/involve the same things like art, fic, etc., an individual's mileage can vary wildly when it comes to how they interact with different things online.
*additional note, also for clarification: i do want to acknowledge that a lot of this depends on pure popularity as well, popular fandoms will often end up with basically everything in terms of fanworks just by nature of how many people are interacting with & thinking deeply about the story. my point here is more along the lines of the fact that even within the more well-populated fandoms, certain types of fanwork will often Stick Out more to me than others, or even be visibly much more common than in other fandoms, due largely to the original medium/structure of how the story.
so, speaking of aziraphale & crowley in more depth now- why does the world of good omens feel like such an integral part of their personalities when it comes to characterization? up next, let's talk about morality within the context of good omens' perhaps surprisingly secular take on heaven & hell.
2. the amorality of heaven & hell (ft. the crowley quote apples you know the one)
(warning in advance that this section may be a bit limited since i'm not going to get super far (or very far at all, really) into the whole religious-analysis aspect of good omens.)
i've been binge-reading the original pterry & gaiman book for good omens over the last few days and it's been very fun seeing all the slight changes between the tv show & the original. you can really see the hand of the original creators in how the tv show was translated, even just by looking at which parts made it and which parts were deemed worth cutting out. i suppose having one of the original creators right there helping build everything really helps make a book -> show translation work, since the ASOUE tv series was also pretty well received- something about knowing what's the core of the series & truly important to keep in, and having more time to tell the story itself?
anyways, i have a short list of notes that i've been taking as i read, conversations that stand out to me or footnotes that particularly amused me, but i keep coming back to one line that stood out to me quite early on. in context, this line comes from crowley during the conversation where he is first attempting to fully convince aziraphale about stopping armageddon, specifically when they're talking about exerting equal forces on warlock to make him normal:
"You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?" [Aziraphale] said slowly.
"Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped," said Crowley. He shrugged. "Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that."
(pg. 67)
"They're just names for sides." if i had to pick one line to sum up the view on religious morality of this series, this would likely be it.
on the one hand, i tend to interpret a lot gomens' take on heaven & hell within the context of its political stance, something that is particularly obvious through a line from gabriel in s2e2 where he tries to clarify to aziraphale that heaven isn't trying to hurt job directly, but instead is just not stopping hell from doing horrible things to him. while there may be some additional nuance to add to this take within the context of british politics that i don't really know well enough to add about, i'm inclined to see this from the side of my own familiar american politics, which might hold some weight considering how long mr. gaiman's lived around here. point is, my current interpretation of that line is that it helps in more clearly establishing the analogy of heaven & hell as the story moves forward into newer seasons and thus more contemporary politics, equating heaven with mainstream liberal politics & politicians and hell with conservatives.
this stance seems to be emphasized even more in the tv show than the book which makes sense considering its been coming out more recently, and especially in season 2 which is still quite caught up in a lot of quarantine-based reflection. (the tv show puts a lot more emphasis on heaven & hell in general, actually, perhaps initially a byproduct of actually being able to see those environments in their entirety and all the angels & demons that populate them- but we'll get to that.)
the book takes a slightly different stance that, fittingly, seems more reflective of the time it came out. in particular, i was struck a lot more when reading the book by adam's rise (fall?) to power, and how much of it was motivated by a burgeoning nervousness/pessimism about climate change and the anxieties of younger generations that comes with inheriting an earth that feels so fucked up. honestly if anything it's only gotten more relevant in that respect, what with the current vibe on the internet & the hopelessness of the doomer gen z gang, but it also has a distinctly different flavor to me from the tv show, which i think is largely because it's less connected to Formal politics since again we see a whole lot less of heaven & hell as such distinct, bureaucratic entities.
instead, there is a very distinctly amoral aspect to heaven & hell that we get through lines like the one above and especially from characters like crowley. this is why i argue that good omens, despite having so many religious elements, is such a deeply secular take, especially when it comes to its ethics & morality- Good and Evil, notably with the capital letters in this case, has very little to do with actual actions and much more to do with the name that you stamp on top of said actions. heaven & hell and the angels & demons that we see directing and watching and generally fucking with aziraphale & crowley throughout the story are distinctly separate from humanity, and as we see even more as the story progresses, distinctly unaware about what it even means to be a human, in both a deeper philosophical & very basic and literal sense. Good and Evil is simply another name for the sides- and thus the true ethics is something separate, and based in a deeply human experience.
in my opinion this is also why aziraphale & crowley, lovers of humanity and also to some degree spokespersons of it from how much they've "gone native," tend to be so deeply at odds with both heaven & hell and always end up agreeing with each other over their own supposed sides. what makes aziraphale & crowley so distinctly different is that they ascribe to the same ethics & morality that humanity does, or at the very least are trying to figure out ethics & morality & How to Be a Good Person in the same horribly messy way that humans do, separating them from the black & white "this side Good & this side Bad," logic that the rest of heaven & hell instinctively ascribe to.
there's a lot of nuance here, which is also why i think there is such an emphasis on moral ambiguity (and love, but we'll get to that) throughout season 2. the story of job, grave robbing, & questionable attempts at matchmaking- aziraphale is working through a lot of Shit right now when it comes to trying to figure out what the Good thing actually fucking is, and i think it's key that a lot of that is motivated by crowley himself. crowley might'e been cast out of heaven for asking too many questions, but aziraphale is there & listening to them & giving them the serious thought they deserve, and that can't be overlooked.
sidenote: i couldn't figure out a place to shove this in, but i also wanna point out that a lot of this is tied to the idea of growing over time too. on the same page as the quote transcribed above is another line from crowley leading up to aziraphale's question that puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that warlock is going to be a product of nurture, not nature. again, this is an argument against basic black & white assigned-at-birth morality for the ability of humans to grow & change over time and be influenced by the people around them.
it's notable that despite adam's supposed origin as a Son of Satan, what really gets him to stop the apocalypse in the end is the fact that he doesn't really give a shit about all this big plans but instead just wants to hang around his friends. there's a lot of emphasis in the book placed on how beautiful & nice tadfield is as a place for a young kid to grow up, how well loved & fiercely protected it as as something beloved to adam. while he might be overwhelmed when faced with the full picture of how horrible the world can be, ultimately what he cares about is loving & taking care of the people & places that he grew up learning were precious, and the only way to do that is to keep growing & changing yourself within that world and trying to help it also grow into something better, not throw it all away just for the slightest chance that you could restart. a message worth taking the time to think about, at the absolute very least.
3. finding morality w/in humanity: crowley & aziraphale and speculation for s3
i have complicated feelings about both aziraphale & crowley throughout a lot of the show and especially in season 2. i think a lot of people, myself included, are inclined to see crowley as the voice of reason in this season, and for good reason- as i mentioned before, a lot of aziraphale's deeper questioning of the status quo and goodness (Goodness) as a whole is motivated by questions from crowley.
i kiiind of mentioned this in my previous essay, but to state it more clearly, my take on crowley is that he's arriving at the right answer for the wrong reasons, and, conversely, aziraphale is arriving at the wrong answer for... kind of also the wrong reasons but also slightly for the right reasons. let me explain.
crowley is clearly much more aware of the flaws in both heaven & hell than aziraphale is, which seems to be the basis behind a lot of his motivation in asking aziraphale so many questions in the first place. he's also, as maggie & nina point out in s2e6, deeply lonely, often running away or getting ready to fight literally anyone that isn't aziraphale (or humans, but that's a little more complicated). from his reaction to beelz & gabriel getting together, i think it's pretty clear that he still hasn't entirely given up on the whole alpha centauri idea, and it makes sense- as i said in that last essay, crowley basically won the argument at the end of the previous season when it comes to aziraphale & crowley, "making [their] own side," so he doesn't have much reason to face any of his personal fears until maggie & nina basically point out that they exist directly to his face. once they do point it out, however, he's very motivated to act & does so almost immediately, even after hearing what aziraphale has to tell him and being pretty thoroughly devastated by it.
my point here is that crowley is correct in seeing the toxicity of both heaven & hell, he's just flawed and largely motivated by fear (up for debate if that's all it is, but i certainly think it's a big part of it) in his desire to run away from it all. it's not quite armageddon, again he's going more flight > fight here, but he's still ultimately giving up and that's not a great conclusion.
on the other hand, as some others on this site have pointed out, aziraphale is certainly showing a lot of strength in his willingness to keep fighting & try to change things for the better, but it's not hard to see how that belief has been twisted. one of aziraphale's biggest flaw in motivation at this point imo is that he doesn't just believe in goodness but Goodness, the kind that's tied to heaven always being right & all actions being morally Good so long as they're done under the name of heaven, and that clearly also isn't great.
thus what i think the both of these two really need ultimately is that deeper connection to humanity, and the ethics born from humans interacting with humans. we can already see how strong these two are when they collaborate, even when they're doing their absolute best to be as subtle as possible, but what i think they need is to once again be grounded by humanity, not to get so caught up in the bullshittery of heaven & hell and Good & Evil, but once again find a goodness defined by the world that they mutually love so much and stick with it.
i keep tossing a question around in my head about whether or not aziraphale & crowley are going to end up human by the end of this series. it feels natural that they would, they're already so at home and in love with earth & around humanity, but i'm also not entirely sure if that would be a happy ending for them considering how long they've watched & loved the world as it's changed. perhaps taking this post into account is another push towards humanity as a happy ending, not running away to a cottage to get away from the world (i just can't see running away to a cottage to be together as as happy ending, sorry- it might work for beelz & gabriel but not for aziraphale & crowley), but choosing to settle down within that world that is so dear.
#'just three sections' LAFFS. YEAH#astronaut rambles#good omens#gomens#no but i like this one a lot better than the last attempt at a gomens essay#this one feels a lot cleaner. more focused?#got a bit sappy at the end but i don't mind humanity is always worth loving#also off topic but i read this really interesting paper at work the other day#about pratchett’s writing in discworld & zizek & religion#forget what it’s called now but it was an interesting take on how fiction/fantasy can allow for deeper insights/reflection of reality#got some discworld books today so looking forward to reading those once i slurp up the last hundred or so pages of good omens#also thanks to my dad for having some interesting commentary on the job interpretation in s2e2 today#i all but literally slept through sunday school so i think a lot of the more noteworthy religion takes in this show go over my head =3=‘’#man i am so very much looking forward to how season 3 continues this story#i feel like a lot of the big conclusions there are really gonna be important for the direction of the story’s main message#season 2 is just. such a transition season it’s hard to get super distinct conclusions sometimes#like it’s still going somewhere there’s shit developing#it’s not like sherlock where it just teases deeper meaning forever but gives you nothing#but. it’s just so obviously Not Over Yet and I Need More#anyways much love i need to go to bed now arghfjdkd lots of shit to do in the future but all i wanna do is keep writing gomens essays. sigh#brainrot central#oh yay my phone’s at 69% now ☺️ wheeee#good omens meta
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I’ve noticed that a lot of your recent posts seem to be heading the direction of “Joey Batey is our queer savior from the anti queer writers” and I feel like that’s kind of ignoring all of the other queer representation that happened this season outside of Jaskier. He was just talking specifically about Jaskier’s character. And I’m really happy that he got so much input on the character that he is very passionate about.
But the line of thinking that Joey Batey is the cause of queerness on the continent just feels… well it does a disservice to the writers who have clearly been trying to craft this inclusive version of the continent where things such as queerness and diversity feel natural. I am pretty sure Cassie Clare even gave an interview to Radiotimes in June saying that she felt so comfortable playing Philippa as queer because of how the writers had written the world. It’s also ignoring all the other queer characters this season. Whether it’s Philippa getting laid, Ciri dancing with another woman, a woman flirting with Yennefer, or the mages flirting in general, and having been implied to sleep with each other there is queerness outside of Jaskier in many different forms. Like the Continent is just gay af.
It’s confusing how people seem to think queerness wouldn’t exist in the Witcher without Joey Batey, as if there are many other forms of queerness in the show outside of Jaskier. It’s almost like people forget gay women are here too 😂 but hey that’s not unusual is it?
Hi anon. While I do agree that the focus on Jaskier as queer representation is disproportionate in the fandom in comparison to Philippa (<3) and other queer rep. I do want to. Y'know. Clear the air about my own blog.
I'm not trying to ignore other rep in the show; I focus a lot on jaskier because he's been my favorite in the series for the longest since 2020, and his characterization was/is especially relatable to me for a lot of other reasons besides his sexuality. He's been my favorite for the longest, so I do tend to focus on him more than others. It's true.
On the other hand, for example, I've only properly known Philippa since season 3 came out (we only got a brief introduction at the end of s2 & I haven't played/read enough of the games/books (respectively) to really see a lot of her). That's not to put her down to elevate jaskier/pit one against the other, though. On the contrary, she's probably my favorite character of the season so far (or at least one of them) outside the destiny family & jaskier.
And the discourse on my blog when it comes to what could've happened during production/behind the scenes mostly comes from, quite frankly, a lot of the bitter taste in my mouth in relation to some of the poorer writing choices from s2 (it was there a bit after s1 once I'd read the books but it wasn't as bad), because I still regard it with. Mixed Feelings to be honest.
(While I'm enjoying s3 much more, I'm still worried in regards to the second volume bc things feel Too Good.)
That being said, I am really happy (if not pleasantly surprised) to see that the show treats queerness really well! I'm happy that a franchise that's meant so much to me for the past few years is giving good rep. It's just that when I hear things like "oh the actor did revise it with the writers" in regards to jaskier in s3 (when iirc that's not the first time one of the actors has had to work with production to revise smth), my, admittedly, Nosy And Speculative Self will naturally go "...okay so how bad was it before? 😟👀" (bc this is still. y'know. the show that pulled the entire Eskel Thing)
...and there you have it!
#tldr: I love the queer rep besides jaskier!!! I just focus lots on him bc he's been my fav for the longest-#-and admittedly i'm skeptical abt what's going on behind the scenes bc s2 made me. very much like '':/''#discourse#kinda#answered#the witcher
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Books I have read so far this year:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (competently written but I have complicated feelings about its premise. I'd be interested to see what autistic readers have said about the story)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant (dense in a good way, but it meant that it wasn't a relaxing read. Fantastically written. Not before bed reading because you will sit up with your mind racing with oh so many thoughts. Baru is such a compelling character. I root for her even as I am horrified at some of what she does. Perhaps I am horrified by how much I understand why she is doing what she does. I knew the twist going in but it still hit me like a sack of bricks.)
Dungeon Meshi (10/10 loved this manga. Knew the story it wanted to tell and executed it so well. Never overstayed its welcome. If you like the anime you will love the manga even more)
The Raven Tower (This was a re-read. Love this book, such a unique approach to the written word as a medium and a fun exploration of the mere concept of stories. I enjoyed it even more during this re-read than I did when I first read it a few years back)
Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1-5 (Withholding my full thoughts till I finish the series. I liked the execution of some of the early story better in the 2003 anime. It is still an admittedly fun little action story with likable characters.)
Mexican Gothic (Good gothic horror story. Nice creepy atmosphere. The only sticking point for me was when it transitioned full on into the real, I didn't initially believe what was actually happening because I thought it was another dream sequence. But then again, maybe that was the intended effect. I did read this one in one sitting while waiting for my car to finish getting worked on so maybe I'll have a better evaluation if I re-read it. I did enjoy it and found myself on the edge of my waiting room seat, however.)
The Girl From the Other Side Vol. 1-3 (Saving my full thoughts for when I finish the series but I am really enjoying it so far. I am enchanted by the relationship between this creature and this little girl as much as I am intrigued by the mystery that surrounds both of them. Looking forward to finding out what happens next.)
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Book Review 8 - Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
So I loved Discworld growing up, just like absolutely everyone else on tumblr. But the last book in the series I’d read was Making Money (vaguely appropriate tbh, since the first book I read in the series was Going Postal, grabbed at random off a library shelf when I was eleven or so). I was always vaguely aware there was more recent stuff I’d never gotten around to reading published before Pratchett passed, but nothing really beyond that.
Anyway cut to me seeing Raising Steam on a display at the library when picking up some holds and figuring hey, why not.
The answer to that being well, I’m sorry it feels mean to say because obviously there were pretty clear and obvious extenuating circumstances here, but it’s just not very good? Now admittedly a big part of that is probably just the inevitability of it failing to live up to my childhood nostalgia, but still. There were fun bits but still – the humour was mostly broad and unpolished, the politics were blunter and less subtle than some electoral manifestos, it was more stuffed full of pacing-killing cameos and fanservice than a later-day MCU flick, and just generally totally devoid of real conflict or drama, or even compellingly scenery-chewing two-dimensional villains to vanquish. It generally just felt like, I don’t know, something in the shape of a Discworld book but without the detail work and polish. Which again, seems very unkind to say, given the circumstances.
Honestly the blatancy and bluntness of the politics was the most striking thing about the whole book, and really cried out as something that would have been smoothed over and nuanced a bit in earlier works. But, well, Discworld’s always had a thick vein of whiggishness running through it, especially the Ankh-Morpok stories. But this one – a reader can only take so many paens to the glorious tolerance of the modern city, where you’re only oppressed on the basis of the class, you know?
The central thematic conflict of the book being ‘Progress, Prosperity and the Railroad, backed by the full weight of capital and high finance, and every crowned head worth mentioning, against a bunch of reactionary religious extremists who everyone hates without a single virtue the author seems to hold in the slightest bit of regard’ is also just fundamentally not very compelling reading, I’m afraid. If the Grags had some, like, saturday-morning-cartoon-villain charisma they might have been more enjoyable, but no such luck.
This might actually be the first story I’ve ever read where the railroad tycoon is a benevolent, good-hearted fellow who really does care about and look after his workers, though. ‘19th century robber baron’ isn’t usually a historical archtype that gets lionized in most fiction.
All that said – honestly, analyzing this as a novel is probably kind of missing the point. The actual plot and story sometimes feel like they’re kind of besides the point, and the real purpose of the book is a love letter and send off to just about every previous Discworld protagonist. There are so, so many cameos and references and call-backs in this book, which I probably would have found rather more charming if I’d read the rest of the series more recently and had everyone being talked about more firmly in my mind. As it was, a lot of them were just kind of annoying cut-away gags.
The book wasn’t, like, the worst thing I ever read or anything. It was always perfectly readable and got a few smiles. But yeah, safe to say it really didn’t work for me.
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Do you have any tf book recs outside of animorphs? 👀
Hmmmm, tough question! Admittedly, I haven't read that many physical books that are explicitly or at least featuring TF stuff myself, usually I get my TF engagement through other mediums. Though I have read a few! Just a heads up on spoilers for them as I talk about them a bit, though. If any folks have TF book recommendations themselves, feel free to reblog or reply and take it away!
One I read back in junior high that Absolutely helped shape my brain was Clete Barrett Smith's book Magic Delivery, that featured a LOT of costume-triggered transformations, that really honed in on the sensory experience of like becoming the subject of the costume on the parts that the POV character TFs, like- it had a robot TF in it that I can still picture in my head to this day. This definitely was part of the reason why costume trigger TFs are a HUGE appeal for me nowadays, they were probably some of my first experience getting a taste of TF in general and this book really helped my young mind sort of get a real good solid sense of what it could be like, what it could mean, how it could feel. The book was written for younger readers, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying something even as an adult. (Mild warning for ableism in the case of one of the villains here, which. Magic costumes that TF you, you can probably guess where it goes from there.)
Another more recent example is a series I'd been following, the Lazy Scales series by DM Gilmore (it's got dragon tfs in it :D), is one I'd read for a while and enjoyed but unfortunately can't give a full picture of- I'd stopped reading after around book 4 (due to emotional devastation and the time it took me to hear about books 5 and 6), and the series and its sequel series have since been completed, 6 books each and 12 books in total. While I can't speak for the direction the Lazy Scales series takes in its latter half, or for the sequel series in its entirety, I did really like the way Gilmore took the sort of the struggles and frustrations the main character had from being fundamentally inhuman and relating it to experiences in queerness and neurodivergence and autism. There being fundamental misunderstandings and incomprehension of certain concepts between characters of different species, but not like detracting from the overall sapience and understanding of the characters themselves, for example. The barriers of communication are rather worked around or reframed in ways that, while aren't perfect, are at least serviceable to the characters and the goals they're trying to reach together. Canon queer romances, turning into dragons as an illustration of queerness and autism and things that had worked before just suddenly feeling too off and wrong to look to for security again, sillier times early on in the series that have ramifications and grow more serious as the series goes on.... as I gather. The will be moving into direct spoiler territory, but around the end of the book I stopped following the series after was a pretty brutal depiction of identity death, that even moreso was at the hands of the character's abuser that had been harming them throughout the books before. I do think I have more faith in the series now that both this series and the sequel series have been completed, but for the entire next book afterward (as far as I gather) that character remains in and is explored in that state.... which might have scared me off, at the time. I think I'd be willing to consider returning to the series sometime later, though, when I'm feeling up to it. We'll see!
DM Gilmore has written and published more TF related books, including a LitRPG miniseries and a solo featuring toony TFs, the former I haven't seen and the latter I've only given a cursory glance- but they do seem fun! I would be willing to recommend Gilmore as a TF book author to give a look to if you're interested.
#asks#not the most well read myself sad to say#thank you for the question though :3#although on second thought i Am realizing that my taste in reading (and media in general) growing up WAS a bit biased towards TF......#who knew!
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I've only read the first book admittedly and while I did enjoy it I'm not gonna lie, the one thing that does put me off is that it seems to to fall into the same trap as nearly every other thing based off or inspired by Greek Myth which is;
Hades bad, and over all idk feels like they don't understand the myths/ depictions.
Yes there are a lot of myths, a lot of versions of myths, retelling ecetera however some details still tend to stick, the things that make them who they are.
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Like out of all the gods how and why on EARTH would he have a demigod child??? Any/every other God fine but like besides the fact my man rarely leaves his place, to busy doing his job. Hades is one of the very few with little to no interest in hooking up with anyone else but Persephone.
How? Why? If you want to give him a blood relation idk instead of directly Hades have them be the kid of *new made up god* who is the kid of Hades/Persephone
I'm not saying I expect total accuracy or anything but just the idea of even implying Hades would do that feels very off and like the farthest departure from any depiction of him you could get.
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Actually further research is just showing most of the series and it's problems are because of Hades of all gods??, Wouldn't it make more sense if it had been because of Zeus or even Posiodens illegitimate demi god kids running around and thus causing issues
With big bro Hades being the sensible one to point out why they gotta stop having kids with humans- espcially if taking place in WWII as lord of the dead he'd witness first hand the amount dead because of potential involvement.
Okay I can believe Zeus, Poseidon and Hades not always getting along and having their issues for whatever reason- if only just cause siblings you know. But Damm why is it need to go as far as to say everyone even them feared him... just for doing his job?? Like it's not like he himself is killing people man just watches over the souls (including ensuring the titans they put away stay sealed up )
Also idk feels a bit cliche/overdone in general to go "guy who deals with death is considered creepy and feared, no one likes him" or whatevee
Look I'm sure it's a fine series, not here to bash and if you like it great, but part of me is glad I didn't continue as from every new thing I read it feels like they just done did Hades dirty
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I don't mind Hades being mean, someone rough around the edges and not always easy to talk to , he's a busy guy so he'd rather not be bothered. Being surrounded by the dead would probably get depressing , Persephone offering that light and cheer in his life
But he is responsible, he may not grant your request but seems like the type to at least hear someone out if they come to him with a problem. Maybe even being on the compassionate side knowing abd heating the woes of the world, pain and suffering. God of the dead he may be but that doesn't mean he enjoys or wants to see one suffer.
Obviously if you're rude or disrespectful that'll piss him off but generally he's probably one of the more reasonable gods to talk to.
So sure a slight antagonistic role fits him, a block in the road but not like a full villain purposefully doing things or wanting bad things to happen.
#but really him having demi god kids???#of all the gods#Zeus is right there well known for hooking up with any woman and having so many kids#like may maybe i could believe that early before he met Persephone maybe he thought try finding love with a human as his brothera have#demi god kids happen and that was itbefore eventually take Persephone for his bride#and then in modern time like having a kid who is distantly technically related to Hades nut not his actual direct kid#but beyond that nah#like for all the interpretations ive seen eve all the ines tgat make him salty and bitter about the underworld#he's never depicted as ever having any interest in humans#yes i realize there's obviously a lit more with the actual plits of the books and other gods more then just hades#but I like hades and just knowing he was written in such a negative light rubs me the wrong way
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Riku's Random Life: Books
Long overdue, but I finally started cataloging all the books we own... because truly, what's more blissful than leafing through books to check the page count? Or the translator's name? The publisher? (I stopped recording copyright years and edition information at some point because the list got too messy)
To be honest, I decided it was about time after I realized I bought a book I already owned... Still, I'm quite enjoying the process. Leafing through books and recording the information is quite blissful.
And now, after hours of work... I've finally finished listing down all the books... of the first bookcase... A whopping total of 251 books! Oh, and I also cataloged the 7 books floating around my living room! So, that's a list of 258 books in total!
Just 3 more bookcases to go. They admittedly aren't full as the one I started with, but I'm suspecting I'll end up with more than 500 books in total! That's a pretty decent number I suppose. xD
FYI, when I say books, I mean... novels.I have a separate list for all the manga we own. Children's picture books have also not been included in this list (yet). However, there are a few guide bookish books included in the list.
Some notable observations:
We own books in three different languages: Dutch, English & Japanese. (The single French picture book I own is not included on the list yet.)
We do not own a full set of Harry Potter books in any language. In Dutch we miss book 1 & 2. In English we miss book 3 & 4. And in Japanese we miss book 5 to 7. (I'm absolutely sure I owned book 1 & 2 in Dutch, but it seems they went missing at some point. Maybe one of my siblings has them?)
We do have full sets of Lord of the Rings in multiple languages. A full Dutch set and a full English set. We also have doubles of some books.
We own 4 copies of the Hobbit. Two in English, one in Dutch and one in Japanese. (And we also have a graphic novel version!)
I realized I still haven't bought all Narnia books! Even though I said I would... nearly 15 years ago! (I have read all books however, I borrowed them from our public library at some point)
There are roughly 50 books in this bookcase I have not read, but still want to read. About half of them are Agatha Christie books.
The list of books I want to buy has only grown longer! (You evil publisher's, don't add recommendations at the end of a book! You'll make me want to buy more books! I don't have the money for that!)
BONUS: I'm currently reading "The Man who Died Twice" by Richard Osman, which is the second book in the "The Thursday Murder Club" series. I'm only a 100 pages in, but... I absolutely love it! Gotta get the other books of the series too! Seems the fourth book will be released soon.
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I loved the scenes in To Sing a New Song with Charlie and Izzy, they are so cute and heartwarming, but so far we've only seen Charlie's POV, (if it's not a spoiler for future chapters) was wondering how Izzy feels about it?
(oooh yes yes okay so I thought instead of glossing an existent scene, I’d fill in Izzy and Chuck’s goodbye which Eddy only witnesses from afar)
The pack was somehow fuller than when he left and Izzy had a feeling that Lucius had been sneaking things in that he didn’t feel like towing around anymore. He was a reverse thief like that. With a last tug, he got the pack strapped down. It would hold. He only had two more overnights left and he was admittedly ready for a hotel or two.
“Mr. Hands?”
Izzy turned to face the boy. When he’d first been briefly introduced, he’d thought Chuck was Stede’s spitting image, but now it was much easier to see Mary in him. He tilted his head the same way she did and had her finer features.
“What is it?”
“I wanted to say um. Thanks. For letting me come with you. It was really fun.” Chuck looked at a point just over Izzy’s shoulder. “So. You know.”
Izzy stared at the kid. He hadn’t actually been in any trouble despite all of Izzy’s many concerns. He’d been a better listener than anyone else Izzy had ever worked with (including Jim. Especially Jim. Jim mostly just listened in very tight spots. The rest of the time they assumed anything he said was a mild suggestion). All the nature facts were a bit overwhelming, but Chuck didn’t seem to care if he retained anything as long as he mimed listening effectively.
“You’re welcome,” he settled on.
“And I wanted to give you this,” Chuck reached behind him and produced a book. “I found it in the used book shop Dad let me poke around in the other day. It’s the first one in the series I was reading!”
“I Am Not A Serial Killer,” Izzy read then huffed a laugh.
“Yeah, I thought you might want to give it a try. It’s kind of like a mystery. I mean there is one, basically.”
Gifts were still an unusual thing. Lucius gave them pretty regularly in fairness, and Jim had actually given him a birthday gift this year. Though arguably since the lemon tree that sat in their office, it was partially a gift to themselves too. But for the most part, Izzy hadn’t quite figured out what to do with them.
“Thanks. I’ll give it a shot.” That sounded fine. And Chuck seemed pleased. Damnit, now Izzy would probably have to actually read the damn thing and tell the kid he’d done it.
“Should I read something you like? I do that with Mom sometimes. We trade.”
“Huh. You know what, hold on a second.” Normally Izzy didn’t bother much with paper books, but he hadn’t been as certain about charging the ereader out here and he’d tossed in two or three. Including an old favorite.
The copy wasn’t in good shape. Izzy had read it a few times in less than desirable places over the years. The cover was mostly gone, pages dog-eared and he was reasonably sure the small rusty stain on the second page was coffee. Probably.
“Here.” He handed it off to Chuck. “Keep it.”
“I can mail it back,” Chuck reverently took it. Such a fucking Bonnet. “Really.”
“And I’m telling you to keep it,” Izzy said firmly. “If you don’t like it, it’s probably ready for the recycling bin.”
Chuck’s eyes went wide, “I don’t throw out books!”
“They’re just paper. Just things. What’s in them, no one can toss out, so you might as well shuffle them along,” Izzy advised. “Otherwise, you wind up dead under a sky high pile of newspapers.”
“Uh, you do?” Chuck frowned.
“It can happen. Anyway, I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I always did.”
“I bet I will then,” Chuck clutched the book a little closer.
What the absolute fuck was Izzy supposed to do with that?
“Won’t think any differently about you if you don’t. Your mother is doing some workshop at the end of the month. I’ll see you then and you can tell me either way.”
“But you’ll be hanging out with everyone in the studio.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but your mom likes me enough to let me in the house once and a while,” he said dryly.
“Oh! I mean yeah, I know, but-”
“But nothing. I’ll see you then. You tell me about the book. I’ll...read your thing and tell you what I thought of it.”
“You think you’re going to hate it, don’t you?” Chuck accused, but he was smiling. Apparently the promise of a book club was enough to keep him happy. They were all weirdos, the whole goddamn family.
“Probably,” he admitted. He put a hand on Chuck’s shoulder. “But that hasn’t stopped me from doing things before. Go on now. Eddy is trying to bore a hole in my head.”
Chuck glanced over quickly then back to him, “She’s not even looking at us.”
“Uh huh,” Izzy resisted the urge to flip Eddy off. “Buzz off, kid. I’ll see you in a few weeks.”
“Bye, Mr. Hands.”
And the whole Mr. Hands thing had been kind of okay for awhile, but he wasn’t this kid’s teacher or whatever. It was getting weird. And he knew Mary was going to find it absolutely hilarious. He didn't need to give her ammo.
“It’s just Izzy, Chuck.” With a gentle shove, he pushed him back to the RVs.
“Bye, Izzy!” He chimed with a definite bounce to his step.
The drive was long and he was tired when he got to the first hotel. He tried to go right to sleep, but there was a lot of unfamiliar noise after so long sleeping outside. There were other things he could’ve done, but instead, Izzy drew out Chuck’s book and leaned against the headboard to read. He’d made a promise and he tried his best to keep those.
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