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everythingsinred · 3 years

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Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: The Anime (pt. 1)

I could go on and on about these two and I think I will, just because I don’t often see people talk about the analysis behind them. The meta I have seen about them has included a perspective that equaled the anime and the manga and I don’t think that’s an accurate way of viewing their relationship.

The anime is a different species than the manga, something that frequently happens during the adaptation from page to screen. Since they’re so different, I’ll analyze them separately.

There's going to be many parts to this so I'll keep a table of contents right here so people can more easily navigate (though you can also read through the "let's talk about natsumikan: the anime" tag on my blog):

Anime Analysis

Part 1: Exposition & Episode 7

Part 2: Episodes 8, 9, 10, & 11

Part 3: Episodes 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17

Part 4: Episodes 18 & 19

Part 5: Episodes 20, 21, & 22

Part 6: Episodes 23, 24, 25, & 26 & Conclusion

The anime makes changes, as anime adaptations often do. The most outstanding changes are appearance related, as Natsume now has brown eyes instead of red, in addition to other characters who have hue-shifted eyes and hair. But there are also story changes, and I’ll be focusing on the changes that occur, specifically in regards to Natsume and Mikan and their relationship.

For one, their relationship starts evolving much earlier in the anime. I think it’s pretty undeniable that in the anime, Natsume started liking Mikan at the end of the dodgeball game. That scene never happened in the manga, but in the anime, it’s a crucial step in making sure nothing seems too sudden or forced.

The anime is 26 episodes long. If Natsume only starts liking Mikan after she saves him during the Reo Arc, then we’re already halfway through the show when positive feelings between the two appear. On the other hand, the feelings develop more slowly in the manga because there’s more time to properly develop the relationship in a more drawn out way.

My analysis will start with the anime, because it’s shorter and easier to discuss.

Exposition

It’s impossible to say that the anime was completely loyal to the manga. It very frequently couldn’t be, because it needed to fill in time in episodes or give closure early before the manga even addressed it (Natsume’s backstory in the anime, for instance, is vaguely referred to and implies deviation from the manga).

The most obvious difference between the manga and the anime from the get-go is visual. Not only do they have differing art styles (I don’t dislike the anime style but Higuchi Tachibana’s art style is so distinct and unmistakable while the anime’s isn’t so unique), but the setting is also different.

While the manga started in the depth of winter, the anime starts off in summer/fall. It always struck me as odd that while the first page of the manga has Mikan running after Hotaru in full winter-wear, the anime starts off warm and idyllic. You could almost think of that as a general warning for the difference between the anime and the manga. After all, while the anime has a reputation for being a cutesy and upbeat story about friendship and magical powers, the manga is much darker and discusses many morbid and depressing themes that can and WILL fuck you up. Warm vs. cold seems like an accurate difference, though I don’t think that was intentional.

We see way more of the village life in the anime, including Mikan’s efforts to keep the school from closing. This is a welcome change because Mikan’s passion to keep the school open is nothing compared to her friendship with Hotaru, and even after the school is saved, she runs away to see her friend, even if it means she goes to another school. The manga doesn’t imply that Mikan knew already about the school’s fate, and since she is always so preoccupied with Hotaru anyway, we don’t really get the impression that she cares very much. To Anime!Mikan, Hotaru is more important than saving the school, something she was so passionate about she rallied to get signatures. It’s an extra scene to prove just how much Hotaru matters to Mikan, and to show even more how selfless Hotaru was to go to Alice Academy, since she knew how much the school mattered to Mikan.

“Sign my petition to get a Gakuen Alice anime reboot!!!”

My boy Natsume is only introduced properly in the second episode, when we actually see his face and he speaks. His appearance is different from the manga’s too. I’m not sure if this was to appeal to a younger audience or what, but Natsume’s eyes are changed to brown instead of their iconic red, something that was always my biggest peeve about the anime adaptation. His hair is also somewhat purplish instead of entirely grey/black and, although this does bother me a lot less than the eyes, I wonder why they made this change when other characters have black hair. It might have been to differentiate him from Hotaru, another main character with black hair, though I’ve never had issue in the manga telling them apart.

His first interaction with Mikan is a lot more pleasant in the anime than in the manga, although that’s not really saying anything. Mikan’s skirt simply falls off and Natsume draws attention to it, rather than the unpleasant events that took place in the manga. This different event makes it a lot easier to support a relationship between the two of them right off the bat. They are still antagonistic but it’s not as terrible as it is in the manga. This makes it easier to establish romantic feelings earlier on, and might have been changed in order to achieve just that, or possibly also to appeal to a younger audience. Maybe both? Who knows.

“You can’t sit with us!”

With Natsume presented the way he is in the anime, it’s easier to make the claim that he’s simply a good guy who acts the way he does to protect people. And it’s true! He is! But he is also so much more. In the manga, he’s a more complicated character. Although he is a good person, he still requires character development, which is something he does go through, and something I’ll talk about more in his meta analysis later.

Most of the events at the beginning of the anime parallel the events of the manga. Mikan goes to Alice Academy at the same time of year, Natsume shows up with an explosion, Mikan has to go through the Northern Woods, she discovers her powers in her fight with Natsume, etc. Some of the continuation from episode to episode is different than the transitions between chapter to chapter, there’s extra scenes inserted to fill up time, and some of the exposition seems strangely presented (in the anime, Mikan finds out more about the school when she finds Narumi and Iinchou waiting for her at a tea party, which is…. Super weird…), but all in all the information and events are mainly the same. The big differences start with the dodgeball episode.

“Look how happy she is. Makes me wanna barf.”

Episode 7 vs. Chapter 9

I love the dodgeball episode. I feel like for the most part, the anime does deviation from the manga pretty well. With the last arc as an exception, I generally enjoy their changes and additions to the plot. The anime has to be different, has to progress at a different pace, has to introduce topics at different times. They have an episode to fill, and less time to build relationships. Natsume and Mikan are both different characters in the anime but it’s very subtle and has to happen due to the fact that the anime is shorter and seems more designed for younger audiences, in addition to wrapping up before the manga could explore more of the story.

Anyway, let’s talk about the dodgeball episode. AGAIN THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE MANGA THE SAME WAY so when discussing NatsuMikan as a concept, the anime events cannot be treated the same as the manga events. A lot of people maybe forget that the manga is very different than the anime when it comes to this episode. I see the two media conflated in plenty of fanfics, where seventeen year old NatsuMikan reflect on the dodgeball game from their youth that changed everything, and I get it because the anime version of the dodgeball game is cute! It's shippy! It's fun! But it doesn't happen in the manga the same way.

There's a similar trope with the sakura tree, which I can only remember from the anime, and yet it's such a fundamental aspect of NM fanfic it might as well have played a vital role in both anime and manga. Nothing wrong with any of this, of course. I'm just making it clear that my analysis will cover the two media as separate for the sake of a cohesive essay. Separating them in fanfic is far less important.

This look could probably kill someone. I’m surprised Mikan is still alive, TBH.

The chapter’s focus is Mikan starting to feel more at home in Class B, making friends with her once-hostile classmates, but the episode is more preoccupied with Natsume and Mikan’s perspectives on each other. While in the manga, the game ends with a tie and Mikan accidentally hits Hotaru in the face with the ball, the anime draws out the game to fill an episode and to introduce an evolution in the way Natsume sees Mikan. The first part of the anime episode is Mikan introducing her friends to her new senpai, Tsubasa. After she invites her friends, we see Natsume glowering at her and promptly ditching the next class, saying to Ruka that he can’t stand being in the same class as her. This addition to the plot already foreshadows that their relationship will change in some way by the end of the episode.

Tsubasa tells a frustrated Mikan that if she wants Natsume to be less unpleasant, he’d need to release some of his toxic energy. Thus, the sporty Mikan introduces the concept of dodgeball to the unwelcoming class. When they finally agree, Natsume gives one condition: that they play with the notorious Alice Ball, which is powered by the thrower’s alice (a detail absent from the manga). This Alice Ball is particularly terrifying with the threat of Natsume’s dangerous fire alice. Mikan also needs to get more people on her team, another aspect absent from the manga. While in the manga, Mikan only had her few friends on her team (including a wandering Ruka) and this ended up playing to her advantage, the anime has a humorous plot of Mikan tracking players down for her team, including a fake mustache she makes with her pigtails (she’s so cute, I love her), paying Hotaru to be on her team, and blackmailing Ruka to participate. This was mainly to fill time, but it makes the dodgeball game more important as well.

In the manga, we don’t see how the game ends, just that the teams tied and that everyone in class is having fun and bonding. In the anime, more emphasis is put on the “Mikan vs. Natsume” aspect, so a tie like the manga’s would be anticlimactic. Thus, the anime concludes the dodgeball game with Mikan and Natsume being the only kids left on the court, and Natsume not using his alice when he throws the Alice Ball. Even Hotaru leaving the game is something she does out of boredom instead of injury, further separating the other characters from the plot. It’s about Natsume and Mikan, and everyone else is mostly a side character. (Though Ruka also plays a vital role to this episode AND chapter, and it’s at this point that I think he started developing real feelings for Mikan as well. So when it comes to the anime, he and Natsume fall for Mikan around the same time, but in the manga, Ruka likes her first and the “he liked her first” argument for Natsume vanishes, though he never had that “advantage” to begin with.)

“Thank you!”

Natsume wins (something that shocked me at twelve years old) and is ready to walk away with his handy “tch” and all but Mikan thanks him for not using his alice and he goes off on her, demanding to know why she’s still smiling despite her loss. She says she’s happy that he had fun and was involved with the rest of class for once, and that in a way that means she wins. For Anime!Natsumikan, this is it. This is the turning point. “I just wanted you to be happy and have fun,” is what Mikan might as well be saying. “Really, this was all for you!” It’s sweet and it’s thoughtful and I don’t think Natsume ever imagined he’d be on the receiving end of her kindness, especially after all their beef. Manga!Mikan would probably not say these things to him, even if she meant them, for the sole reason that Mikan is stubborn and holds onto her pride, especially when it comes to her early relationship with Natsume, but Anime!Mikan is much more forgiving and much more willing to extend an olive branch, like in the dance episode. In any case, Natsume starts falling right then, and it’s obvious too, because he is pissed, and even more angry because he’s not even mad at her. He’s angry with himself for his change of opinion. This is the girl he was fully content to hate forever and yet here he was, starting to like her. Not ideal.

This scene, something so crucial to the development of Anime!Natsumikan, is completely absent from the manga. In the manga, Natsume still dislikes her by the end of the game although he does have fun.

He's not angry, just disappointed. In himself.

I’m not going to say one is better when it comes to starting up NatsuMikan because they’re very different creatures and I actually thoroughly enjoy both.

Anyway, the NatsuMikan after episode 7 is almost the same as in the manga, but the events carry a different weight since we know Natsume likes Mikan now (even if he would never admit it).

Summary

I hope this first part was interesting, and that it introduced the idea of Anime!NatsuMikan as being a little different from the manga's version. Yes, it is more or less the same story, but with so many thematic and plot changes, they take a different form as well, in a perhaps more subtle way, kind of like a slightly canon divergent fanfic. Fanfic where Natsume starts liking Mikan a bit earlier on in the story.

Next Part ->

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botwstoriesandsuch · 3 years

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hey Kip! I’m sending asks into different writer’s askboxes, inquiring about cool themes/development facts/stuff the author wants to share about their personal favorite work of their own. What’s yours? :)

Ok so this ask is old and when I first got it I was like “dang I don’t really have a lot to talk about, what should I talk about I could those revalink headcanons the Kip Cut that turned into a working fic uhh hmm maybe I’ll just make something new to talk about real quick” and then I did and now there is a 12+ chapter Revalink fic in my drafts and I’m gonna talk about that now, whoopsie doopsie [click "j" to skip]

aHEM, OK so allow me to break out the primary school white board because yeah, I have a lot of thoughts and the oxford comma has not yet made it’s home into my brain. oh and spoilers for paraphrase. for both all of Chapter one and future events in later chapters, but it’s really nothing you couldn’t surmise from the AO3 tags

so I really wanted to tell the story of Revali and Link learning and struggling to love again after the less-than-fortunate events of Botw, but I wanted a...how you say...fresher, approach on the subject? Like I know we always say that fanfic writers writing the same tropes and stories time and time again is good because we eat that shit up--but at the same time I had asian parenting as was told never to half ass anything ever, no matter what. So now I'm gay and extra and have depression maybe and oh would you look at that @motherhyrule has dropped a beautiful revalink prompt right into my lap

Great so now that we have, that, I shall take you on the step by step process on how to make a :sparkles: story. So step one is to spend at least five to eleven business days for your white board to dismantle your genre and themes and work them around your character arcs. Luckily I have prepared one ahead of time

s*breaks out those laser pointers that uni professors use* So let's start with defining genre. As define because I HATE you, fuck you. I want you to suffer and writhe on the ground, motherfucker. How dare you think that I would give you nothing but pure predictable fluff, fuck you and yours

is the set of expectations that your audience has when consuming a piece of media

And the great thing about fanfiction is that unlike movies or book where the genres are more vague like, "oh it's a noir mystery genre. so there's a crime, maybe a murder, and a detective and a criminal." or "oh it's a teen romance. so there's some white people and a morally questionable six-pack 18 year old love interest that will be painted as desirable for some reason" BUT with fanfiction HALF of the work out the window, because as soon as you see those #revalink #aro sidon #zelpha #revali is an idiot and #found family tags you already know what's up.

Now what's so great about genre and expectation? Well the fun thing about it is that

I will use it to fucking break you.

... ... ...

<3 For example! <3

In Chapter 1: Holes, you already expect there to be revalink, you already expect them to be soulmates with the soulmarks and there's angst and yadayada ya. Revali and Link have to match because thatttss what this is all about, this is about them! This is about cute, little soulmarks and romantic words!

But whoooopsie doopsie [disney channel laugh track plays] they DON'T match anymore! Link's got a different mark! The number one rule of this entire genre has been broken whoooooooooooooooops. *ba dum tiss*

You might notice with a lot of my writing that I do this a lot, this whole..."oop but there's one little thing that's different." TebaSaki sick fic? Ok cool, but what if Teba burns an irreplaceable relic of the Rito champion to fight a wizzrobe first to characterize why his dumbass clicks with Saki. Mipha deciding to persue Link? Ok what if she chases after a dragon to externalize this conflict as she pierces it's flesh for a scale. Link fighting a Lynel? Ok but what if it's actually a sidlink angst fic in disguise and it's also world building on how Link deals with the bloodmoon that erases all of his efforts which is sort of similar to how his existence was erased from Hyrule 100 years ago mwaahahaha! Ok now that I say this outloud I think I just have a pattern of using fight scenes to externalize character growth. I like fight scenes...anyways.

I think another great thing about the realm of fanfiction is that with the tagging system, I can basically use a chekhov's gun sort of deal, without doing any writing. You know I'm gonna use that gun marked "soulmates" but you don't know when I'm gonna shoot it, and you SURE as hell don't know how.

And huzzah! One of the main points of conflict both drives the tension between Revali and Link, solidifies the unique genre and setting of this world, while also creating a new mystery that will carry over for the next few chapters.

Is Revali right in that Link's rebirth makes him destined for someone new now? What will Link do with the information that his soulmark has changed? Why did it change? Did Revali's change as well? How does anything fucking work right now?

And sure, you might be able to tell where things will end with them, but you sure as fuck will not know how because I HATE you. Fuck you. I want you to suffer and writhe on the ground, motherfucker. How dare you think that I would give you nothing but pure predictable fluff. I am not your goddamn fairy godmother, I will do as I fucking please. You will suffer as you fucking deserve, fuck you and your little tiny--

Oh! But you might have noticed on my little planning whiteboard thing that there was a little T-Chart! For Revali and Link! That's because the next important thing besides plot (and in a lot of cases, including this one, it's argued to be even MORE important than plot) is

~CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT~

[to the tune of that history of the world video on youtube]

So yes, it's a little T-Chart outlining their character views in relation to the themes. And the great thing about themes is that they're not something you can necessarily predict in the same way you can with the genre and plot.

But now see, I'm very lazy so I'm just gonna plagiarize @hyrule-kingdom-updates thingy [that you should read btw] because they said my point quite clear enough

Now I don't really need to care about those points about bond and relationships and being understood, because I'm dealing with already established canon characters. I'm not some NERD who dabbles with entire casts of ocs who even cares about ocs not me that's for sure ahaahahaahahahahahaahahahahahAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH *cries in my orphaned WTTU fic* AHAHAHA*sobs*DONT FUCKING LOOK AT ME THAT WAY I SWEAR--

/j I love ocs

But the points I do wanna focus on is the idea that characters provide new perspectives on the theme, and that characters growth can be tracked based on their wants, lies, and needs.

So see, themes can be predicted the same as genre/plot because while you can have the same fanfic plots and tropes, theme will always vary!

Sometimes it's a journey of selfworth with Revali! Sometimes it's an exploration of trauma with Link. Sometimes it's about how you deal with the vulnerabilities of love with Mipha. Sometimes there's straight up NOOOO theme, and people just be fucking, and kissing, and baking, and having a good time. And that is totally fine too!

But I'm not a fucking coward.

I'm gonna weave in themes with my plot, because I fucking can.

I'm not a weakling like you.

Do you hear me, 2019 Kip? Do you hear me Demmers? Do you hear me Quill? I'm coming for your ass. You think you're so great, but I'm coming for you. Rest assured that your graves will be as deep as your sculptured pride--

Heeeere is that T-Chart again, plus more!

yyyyyYou might notice that Revali and Link are quite parallel, to paraphrase. Ayoooo, see what I did there? *dabs* I'm a genius. Anywho

They both start off the same way: 100 years ago they were in love and happy. Basically the equivalent of childish naivety. For the first time in their lives, life is whimsical and charming, and they make each other happy. In fact, it's almost a flaw with how they perceive this happiness. But don't worry! It doesn't last long!

You know what happens.

I think the chart is pretty self explanatory. Revali builds walls fast enough to give a republican a wet dream. Meanwhile Link makes every aromantic in the chat groan with his doubled down sentiments in the idea that his chances of being truly happy again are gone.

Now, I can't exactly describe the full on process of the inbetweens, and where Revali and Link are gonna go from here, because...you have to read it for yourself! Heehee...but something I did think was fun was how these character views on the themes are revealed. Because you'll notice that, I never give exposition. Ever.

Ok well, let me rephrase that. I never give exposition scenes. I will never give you a big LOTR fancy wizard scene explaining the ins and outs of a character's question or the world's magic or whatever. I'm a very impatient Kip, and I value efficiency. Nonono, it's all about multi tasking, baby!

Chapter 1: Holes is divided into three parts.

Post 100 Years - Medoh (Establishes Ghost Rev/Bonk Head Link's view)

100 Years Ago - Flight Range (Establishes old Revalink views)

Post 100 years - Mark (Develops Ghost Rev/Bonk Head Link's view in contrast to who they once were)

I think the way that you structure flashbacks is incredible vital, as it's a very quick way to characterize people without having them say stuff like "I used to be like you, until I took an arrow to the knee" or whatever.

And with the main structure of the chapters and the fic as a whole is focus on their characters, that means I can hide whatever other stuff I want in those scenes, becuase you're too busy absorbing the fun character stuff to realizing I'm giving you boring exposition. Like for example:

Post 100 Years - Medoh and Mark

Foreshadowing for the end of the fic

Set up connection to Medoh with Revali

Link has defeated Windblight

Link has been visiting Revali every night for the past few days

Link has already met Kass and presumably Teba

Link doesn't have the Mastersword

Revali's Gale is still an ability that needs master and practice on Link's end

And that's just some of the stuff.

And see, the only reason I can efficiently give all of this information regarding character, and even exposition, is because of the theme. The themes make everything relevant, and everything circles and encompasses one another, so there's absolutely no wasted space. I mean don't even get me started on how it's gonna be to characterize the other characters around this

I don't wanna talk about the other characters too much either because that's spoilers, but you can probably take a gandar based on my notes.

And oh my god this is just on the theme of the faults that come with "soulmates" and "true love" and all that, and how even magical destined relationships still require work and effort, and that no one thing or person solves all your problems. And that's not even TOUCHING the shit on trauma and scars. I didn't think it was even possible for me to talk about botw without touching on that, ha. Ah well, I've been talking for too long.

Revalink has a lot o' writing potential so das pretty cool yeah, I am excite

#revalink #paraphrase revalink #writing

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electricshoebox · 3 years

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writing tag

Tagged by the lovely @adventuresofmeghatron, thank you!

Tagging: @junemermaid, @molliehaswords, @desynchimminent, @valkyriejack, and @mercurymiscellany, if you’d like to do it!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

39. Holy shit.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

533,274 words. Holy shit.

3. What are you top 5 fics by kudos?

How to Share a Bed Without Killing Each Other: a Love Story (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, 5 Chapters, Complete) The trials and tribulations of literally sleeping together.

Rivers in the Sand (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) The Hissing Wastes unsettles Bull’s memories, and when he and Dorian are trapped together by a fallen pillar, Dorian helps him deal.

a soft place to land (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) When a letter from his father sets him off, Dorian turns to Bull for a distraction.

Always Good at Bad Ideas (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) Bull gets injured fighting a dragon, which leaves Dorian frantic enough to blurt out the one thing he was trying to keep to himself.

Flashpoint (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dorian/Iron Bull, Oneshot, Complete) “One time he got so excited he set the curtains on fire.”

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, always! I’ve seen various opinions on whether authors should, but to me, engaging with and getting excited with readers is half the fun and half the point. I also just really want people to know how much it means to me not only that they read, but that they take the time to leave a comment. Comments are hard to write. I completely sympathize with that, sometimes you just don’t know what to say or how to say it, and I absolutely don’t begrudge anyone that doesn’t. It just means a lot to me when people do, even when it’s literally just “This was cool!” or something, and I want them to know that it’s appreciated!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm. I guess that sort of depends on your definition of angsty. None of them have directly tragic endings, it’s just not in me to write that way, but I have one or two with open or less definitely, obviously happy endings. The rarepair DA2 oneshot I wrote for Merrill/Orana, Counting the Cost, has the most open ending, left completely up to interpretation. The Inception AU DAI fic I wrote for Dorian/Bull, In the Shadow of Dreams, has what I think of as an optimistic ending, and less a happy one. I tried to end that one with more romance, but it just didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the fic, so a quiet ending that signals a road to recovery was what I chose instead.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most all of my oneshots have pretty happy endings. I guess I’m tempted say A Line in the Sand, my Deacon/MacCready start-from-scratch slow burn novel, just because it goes from antagonists to lovers and has the longest road with the most earned happy ending. I feel like the long struggle to get there makes it feel happier.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really. Instead I’m sometimes tempted into AUs based on other media, but not full blown crossovers with actual different characters meeting. Even then, I’m really picky in what I enjoy. I’ve only written one, the Inception AU for Dragon Age that I mentioned above. Honestly, it requires no knowledge of Inception at all. I really just stole a bunch of concepts from it and then made my own modernized Thedas around them.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Thankfully no! I’ve received one or two kind of odd comments, but otherwise I’ve been very lucky and everyone’s been really nice.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hell yeah! I’ve written many kinds, really, whatever I feel like or whatever fits the fic. I’ve done plenty of your typical smut. I branched out into light BDSM with several of my Dorian/Bull fics, as well as waxplay and praise kink. I’ve also done some roleplay in the vein of “established relationship pretending to be strangers meeting at a bar” for Deacon/MacCready with By Any Other Name.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! Two of my Dorian/Bull fics, Wishing Stars and No Patron Saint of Silent Restraint, both by the same lovely person: landanding on AO3. I don’t think I stopped flailing for a solid day when I got the request for permission either time.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not since pre-AO3 days, beyond collaborating in a tabletop setting. I’m not completely opposed to the idea but it would have to be someone I felt really, really comfortable with and with whom I have really good communication. I’m really particular about my writing, and I’d need to know someone’s emotional comfort level with trading and changing and even eliminating ideas.

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh god that’s honestly really hard. I’ve written the most for Dorian/Bull and that ship will always have a special place in my heart. But I did write my first full-length novel for Deacon/MacCready, and they’ve already got me in the middle of my second. So they’re the ship that taught me I could do that, and they’re my beloved rarepair. There are a few more I absolutely love, but I think those are my top two right now.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Definitely Uprising. It was the first time I tried longform fic, and it was meant to be an entire retelling of DA2 with Velanna as the Justice-bearing character, rather than Anders, because after learning the developers almost took DA2 in that direction, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had a lot of plans for it, for how Justice might develop differently, for what it might have looked like if elves had been more of the battleground issue instead of mages vs. templars, for some angsty bittersweet long distance Nathaniel/Velanna and some complicated Fenris/Hawke and Merrill/Orana. But I drifted away from Dragon Age fandom in interest a long time ago, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get the steam back for it. I’m proud of how far I did get, though.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I feel pretty confident with dialogue, I can usually make a scene flow with it pretty well and I spend a lot of time trying to be meticulous about character voice. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on my descriptions, which I appreciate and wouldn’t have considered a strength, but my readers have been kind. I think I’m pretty good at including body language, too, though maybe to a fault.

16. What are you writing weaknesses?

Much as people have been kind on the feedback, I really feel like action scenes are a weakness for me. I don’t enjoy writing them and I struggle a lot to make them feel like they’re flowing over just bulletpointing. I also feel like I struggle to make them exciting. I feel like I struggle with exposition scenes as well, and keeping them interesting over info-dumping.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’m generally in favor of including them, but with the caution of doing thorough research if it’s not a language I speak. I shy away from it if I can’t be completely sure it’s accurate, because I don’t want to risk putting off a native speaker reader, or saying/doing something offensive. I’d expand that to include anything about another culture, really. For example, I’ve been slowly picking away at writing a Fallout fic for my Sole Survivor Anthony and Preston, and part of what has been slow going is just making sure I’m getting Anthony’s culture right. His parents immigrated from Vietnam, and I want his experiences with them and with his culture to be as accurate and respectful as possible, not falling into any stereotypes but also being allowed to be complicated.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Depends on what we’re measuring. The first fandom I ever wrote fic for of any kind was Sailor Moon. The first fandom I actually put fic on the internet for was Lord of the Rings, on good old fanfiction.net. The first fandom I published on AO3 for was Dragon Age.

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

God this is such a hard question to answer, my feelings on my writing change so often. I think it’s hard for A Line in the Sand not to be my favorite for the reasons I’ve already mentioned, it’s my first successful novel-length fic, I accomplished a lot with it and learned a lot from it, and it’s a rarepair I got to kind of develop from scratch in my own way.

But if I look back at my whole repertoire so far, just to branch out from the usual answer, I’d say I’m also really fond of To Have and to Hold, which was the first time I ever participated in a minibang, or really any kind of writing challenge. It’s a Dorian/Bull established relationship fic set during Trespasser, and it’s kind of a meditation on Dorian’s past and present and how they’ve shaped his feelings on love and commitment and marriage, all while he’s trying to decide his future. I’m proud of how it came out, and I think my Dorian voice still holds up okay. Plus I had two incredible artists working with me who put together stunning work for it, and how could I not be super grateful for that?

It’s funny, most of the top ones up there for kudos are ones that I don’t personally think are my best, it’s a lot of my very early offerings for Dorian/Bull that I think I could improve on a lot of if I tackled them now. I’m grateful people like them but I feel like they’re more an accident of timing, being published early in the ship’s popularity.

#writing tag #writing memes #my writing

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philosophicalparadox · 3 years

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Dark Headcannons for the Demon Bois, part 2.a : Physiological Adaptations and Defense Mechanisms (physical)

I continue this ideology with more horror HC's (kind of) detailing some of the physiology and physical defenses of our boys - HOWEVER there is quite a bit of science invested in this particular post, so there's a little explaining to do first.

Note: I have removed Iblis from the list for the next few rounds because we really dont know anything about her, and I've also removed Egyn because I have zero idea what kind of adaptations he has since no one's ever seen his body. Azazel is floating in kind of the same boat. We seen his clones, but not him, and we have only really seen two of his kin - from that alone its hard to tell. We haven't even seen Beelzebub except in Gehenna, and for all we know they are stuck there. Im basing all this off hypothetical and mythological sources as well as my knowledge of animal and human anatomy.

Onward!

But first! (Yep, scientific Exposition Time Baby! I promise it won't be long) Something that strikes me odd is that all demons seem to be stronger physically than their non possessed counterparts, and so for the sake of not repeating myself where unessessary, we will assume this is due to increased muscular density, as a default which is the same thing that allows much smaller primates to be much stronger than ourselves.

However, be aware that there are MANY factors that influence physical strength alone - efficiency of respiration, bodily waste management (aka, kidney and liver function) and efficiency of metabolic processes (digestive system, pancreas, and again liver). I'll touch on all these things in their own right, but just to let you know, everything is interconnected.

Onward!

Samael

Is, in everyday scenarios, about 7x stronger than the average human. In times of high adrenaline that can shoot up to 10, due to possessing a unique respiratory system, detailed below.

Samael has a physique designed to be an ambush predator, with a body that puts nothing to waste, but he is also built for bursts of speed and agility, both skills vital for his hunting strategy type, detailed in part one, to be effective. Standing out in a crowd may lull prey into a false sense of security, but it also draws a lot of attention from competitors, as well as parasitic predators like Chuchi and Coltars.

Samael is a demon often depicted with avian wings, and for his body to put out the strength it does and be able to at least glide requires an avian-modeled respiratory system. In other words he breathes with lungs, but has additional air sacs in his chest and abdomen to draw as much oxygen from the air as possible. For a demon optimized for bursts of speed and high agility, being able to metabolize large amounts of oxygen very quickly is vital.

More vital still though is having the kidneys and liver to be able to handle it. I suspect he would have a lobed liver akin to a rabbit, and kidneys much like a cat. Technically speaking, if he eats right, he never actually has to drink any water. His kidneys are that efficient.

Now onto the fun one: bones. High density muscles put out huge forces on the bones they are attached to. There are two ways to fix that: make the bone harder and denser, or make the bone softer and flexible with cartilage. Samael does the former. The most efficient way to have denser bones without adding weight is to make them hollow, at the sacrifice of not having much bone marrow. This works out perfectly though, since to metabolize high rates of oxygen you need specialized red blood cells with lots and lots of hemoglobin, and hollow bones allow for the production of just enough of these cells.

Now that the basics are out of the way, Samael has some other unique adaptations, including a ratcheted tendon system in his forearms, like those found in raptors. This gives him a virtually unbreakable, iron-strong grip from which escape is virtually impossible. Combine that with talon-like claws and long fingers that can really dig in, and you're screwed from the word "go".

Making that escape even more impossible is his highly flexible joints, which make twisting out of his grasp before he has a chance to bite damn near unheard of. Remember, it only takes one bite to kill. If he catches you, you're dead already.

As far as defensive abilities go, Samael hasn't got any besides evasion. So much of his body is devoted to being a specialist that there isnt any room for special physical defenses - in fact his hollow bones, while very good at handling internal stresses, are no less brittle than a birds when it comes to some external forces. A sledgehammer to the side of his thigh (impact) would absolutely shatter his femur bone, though he can land on his feet from a great height (compression) and barely bruise.

Lucifer

Is maybe 5x stronger than the average human, on a really good day. He has a bit of muscle, but he is a magic user, not a berserker. On his bad days he can dip below a 1.

Physically he isn't too different from a human mostly, other than having an ultra efficient heart and lungs that are 20% larger to compensate for his increased muscle density.

Except that he has very strange cells. To all appearance his body is mostly human, but one look under the microscope would tell you instantly that something is odd about this duck, because his cells have tiny crystals in them. These crystals are of unknown composition, but they are thought to assist with fluorescence, or the production of the stuff mentioned below.

Also odd about his cells is that they're filled with an almost cellulose like substance instead of normal cytoplasm. Its a bit denser and is THE most heat resistant organic substance on earth. It also makes his cells completely immune to all forms of radiation - this boy could literally survive a nuclear explosion as long as he was in a shelter where he couldn't be impacted by debris or the shockwave. Heat and radiation from it would be like a sunburn at worst.

However, he is not fireproof. While this substance is resistant to heat, it is not resistant to oxidation, so it WILL burn. Not well, and not fast, but it will burn.

Which leads me to the fact that he has some very unique organelles. Multiple types of mitochondria, Golgi bodies and ribosomes help manufacture the weirdness.

Part of that weirdness is of unknown deadliness though. When fully charged up, the light he emits contains dangerous wavelengths, and further study has yet to be done on whether and what types of radiation he may emit. It is known that his dense cytoplasmic substance can hold onto nuclear radiation, but does so very briefly.

As far as defenses go, he does actually have a pretty interesting, but accidental one, for the dense cytoplasmic substance of his cells naturally permeates into his blood plasma. This substance is extremely bitter and even potentially toxic at high enough doses. A mouthful of Lucifer's blood is enough to induce severe nausea, vomiting, cramping of the intestines (colic), and if swallowed, diarrhoea.

The strange substance of his cells also mediates the use of Elixir that is specific to himself. Elixir used for other purposes are rejects of the ones formulated just for him, and are effective at treating a wide variety of things.

On a related but unrelated note, though, the elixir has nasty side effects on humans and demons alike, often triggering the onset of various cancers and cysts, though it's not clear why this happens to some and not others. It is not known why Lucifer is seemingly immune to these side effects, but he could, potentially, be immune to cancer altogether.

Amaimon

Amaimon is a fucking draft horse, with a baseline strength of 9x that of a human. That's somewhere slightly above a pissed off gorilla and/or an attacking tiger, for reference. In high adrenalized mode, that number shoots up to a 12, which is about as high as biology will let anything go, courtesy square cube law.

His muscles are SO dense and heavy, in fact, that he is incapable of floating in water. He also isn't very fast for long distances. He has high stamina at low energy output, and low stamina at high energy output. He can walk for days on end, but in a dead sprint he can't go more than a kilometer at best before his muscles start to rip him apart.

Which leads to : bones. Amaimon takes a very reptilian approach to the issue of having super powerful muscles, and has fibrin and cartilage reinforced bones that bow rather than break. However, these bones have many sharp angles for muscular attachments, and as a result are very poor at resisting torsion (twisting) and high rates of compression. The last thing he wants to do is land on his feet from a great height, for he is likely to fracture his long bones.

But those are not the only bones he has - much like monitor lizards, including komodo dragons, he has ossicones embedded in his skin, forming a chain-mail mesh of steely bone just below the dermis that makes his skin very resistant to slashes and cuts, but very weak to stabbing and thrusting. Cleaving into him wont do much damage, but impaling him on a pike works great.

His organs are strange, made stranger by his blood, which has a pH value of 7.8, far more alkaline than most viruses or bacteria can survive, making him virtually immune to disease. Unfortunately that also impacts the bacteria in his gut, which as a consequence can exist nowhere else on earth.

On the flip side, his stomach secretes acid that is so caustic it dissolves bone in hours, and also destroys even the worst of pathogens. As touched upon before, he can regurgitate this acid onto attackers in self defense, even going so far as to spit it at them from a distance of two meters. It has a patently unpleasant odor too, adding to its defensive quality.

Amaimons claws are semi retractable and grizzly-like, making them excellent tools for digging and prying things apart. They're also really good at ripping people apart, and there is no armor that can really do effective justice except for one: spiky. His skin isn't super resistant to impalement, remember, so the pricklier the better. That is assuming he cant chip away at it. Good luck with that.

Another organ to mention is his tail. It's not exactly prehensile, but it is flexible and very, very powerful. One whack across the midsection could kill a man. In fact his tail is often his first line of defense against attackers; it's so robust and armored that it's almost impossible to injure, and it hits like a truck. Good for offense or defense, or even just lazing around.

Astaroth

Fungi boy has an average strength of just twice that of a human. But when pushed to his limits, he can use hydraulic musculature to increase his strength to 9x that of the average human.

Speaking of which, Astaroth has some weird musculature- or lack thereof. Rather than having ordinary, dense tissue, he instead has a hydraulic system of movement akin to that of a worm or slug. Not only that, but his muscles are not his own - rather they are controlled by slime molds, with which he has a symbiotic relationship. The muscles are very little muscle tissue and a whole lot of mycellial fibers. His body is literally made of fungus, controlled by fungi and microorganisms, and is fed and defended by these things.

He is, in light of this, able to turn his body temperature on or off in any area he needs to at-will, giving his slimy friends the home they need.

He has a perfect mastery over the simple organisms he controls, and can exchange them at will. This combined with the ability to live without body heat means he is completely immune to all but the most severe of environments. As long as he has access to moisture, he can survive and thrive at sub zero temperatures and well into the triple digits. However he can not live without his slimy friends, and so can not endure drought very well. Deserts are the bane of his existence.

When it comes to defenses, Astaroth is nothing but. Toxic spores, all colours of miasma, foul smells, and even sharp needles and thorns when necessary. Nothing with a lick of sense would dare try to eat him, with the exception of microorganisms and parasites thereof - but it's not him they consume, but his symbiotes, which again he can simply discard or exchange as need be.

He is however very slow moving, typically, and doesn't really have a 'flee' or 'fight' response. Instead he freezes, exuding and oozing his more unfriendly companions to deter attack. If this should fail though, however unlikely, he is remarkably fragile and slow to heal, though virtually impossible to kill.

His only real weakness is well established: fire. It is the great sterilizer, though light is also not something he can easily defend against either. Neither are vacuums and immense air pressure. Basically if it's not within the realms of ordinary natural phenomena he has no ability to escape or defend. This gives him an edge against the younger of the Kings, but makes him powerless against the older half.

Whew! That was a lot. This post took FOREVER to make!

Questions and comments are welcome, reading with a grain of salt in mind is recommended.

#ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #demon kings #headcannons #this is just the a.#theres a b. coming

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natsspammityspamspamham · 5 years

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Dino Rambles about their original story that’s kind of an Avatar ripoff

I decided to make this post just to get it out there to anyone who’s interested. This is a complex (I think) story so this might take more than one post to summarize.

It’s a running joke (with myself) that this is an Avatar ripoff because of the four elements, but this changes later on anyway. I created this story out of spite for Masashi Kishimoto who wrote Naruto with its main heroine Sakura Haruno. He confessed that he’s unable to draw good heroine characters and fashioned Sakura as a girl who could not understand men, the best example of a heroine he could come up with. [source] I still respect the guy, but I couldn’t understand how he couldn’t come up with a good female character and how Sakura was the best that he could do. That’s why this story has a female lead.

Where can I read the partially completed story?

https://betabooks.co/books/5772

I write for the sake of getting my ideas down on paper. Quality isn’t guaranteed.

What is this story about?

The name I have for it right now is: “The Manipulators”

It’s about a girl named Seraphina Konan who lives in a universe where children (at age 12) receive elemental (fire, water, air, and earth for now) powers based on a test that is instructed to them. Due to current events and crime rates rising amongst people with those powers, the classes (that were as large as thirty or so) before now dwindled down to eight. Seraphina has seven fellow classmates:

Characters:

Seraphina Konan: Element: Fire Sera is a caring person who is dependable and reliable when it comes down to it. She’s a hard worker, but she doesn’t overexert. She’s a bit quick to snap sometimes, and when she has her mindset on something, she won’t stop until she gets it.

Ayden Hakuryuu: Element: Water Ayden is a guy whose flaws sometimes overshadow his good sides. He’s not very open with his emotions and hates showing affection.

Hikari Chiba: Element: Fire Hikari is a very level-headed intelligent girl who is hardworking and tenacious, but despite what people think when they look at her stoic expression, she is sympathetic and does care about people she’s close to.

Celio Zaveri: Element: Earth Celio is laid-back and relaxed. He’s not easily angered besides the occasional annoyance. He sometimes feels inferior because of his blindness. He feels self-conscious towards the idea of holding back others because of his disability.

Eve Val: Element: Water Eve is very level-headed and relaxed unless peanut butter or sleep are in the mix. She is quite crafty when it comes to getting out of work, but she doesn’t like interacting with people when she’s tired.

Jayden Alphonse: Element: Air She’s extremely laid-back to the point where it might even be a fault. Unlike many of her classmates, she is very open emotionally. She is emotionally and sensibly smarter than the rest of the cast. She’s a bit transparent and ditzy though. She wears sunglasses all the time to the point where only Eve (her best friend) knows what she looks like without them (although it’s a faint memory).

Koa Danzer: Element: Earth Koa is a walking ball of anxiety that eventually opens up to his classmates. He always wants to help those he cares about even if he stutters when talking and trips over himself.

Matthias Xander: Element: Air Matthias is lively and energetic. He is often described as a bouncy ball that never stops, and he is always there to put a smile on people’s faces.

She also has two... eccentric teachers that teach her and her seven classmates.

Hiyoshi Kamiya: Hiyoshi is an apathetic sadistic trickster who loves playing jokes on people. He’s intelligent in terms of nature, environment, and spatial cognitive functioning, but he is just above average academically (but never tries). But he is very apathetic and almost ruthless. This is caused by his upbringing, but he can kill in cold blood without a second thought. He likes blueberry milk, but he’s scared of his cousin and his parents.

Edward Uchiyama: He’s a little similar to Hiyoshi except he prefers to laze around and is generally a lot more caring and sympathetic. He is rarely seen without a blue blanket which is “part of his person”. This character has a lot probably the most connections to one of the major antagonists to the story.

There are other side characters as well, but I think you can skip over this if you’re new:

Serene Kamiya (Hiyoshi’s cousin): She’s the one who keeps him in check as the school’s headmaster. She’s far more diligent than her cousin despite being younger by two years. She was raised by a single mother who is Hiyoshi’s father’s sister.

Amanda Franz (Hiyoshi’s girlfriend) She’s a very kind-hearted girl with a sense of justice. She is able to put on a charismatic front, and she possesses beauty unlike any other. In the past, she used to be quiet, shy, and withdrawn student until she met her best friend.

(Name is up to change) Antagonist: Edward’s former neighbour. He met him after always hitting his ball into the open window of his house on the outskirts of town. They eventually became very close friends. He is jaded by his past and believes that the destruction and rebirth of society are for the best. He knows societal secrets that no one else knows, but he lost his family at age sixteen.

General Overview (probably could’ve done a better job at this):

Chapter One:

Mind: People who are smart and value intelligence can manipulate the element of fire. Soul: People who are laid-back and relaxed can manipulate the element of water. Body: People who are ambitious and determined can manipulate the element of earth. Heart: People who are caring and compassionate can manipulate the element of air.

These are the faculties that you can fit in after taking your assessment.

Sera does the assessment and eventually finds out that she is an unconventional candidate of some sort since her results are undeterminable due to the fact that she fit into all the categories. You can get two or three, but it is strange to get all four.

Her backstory is revealed. She reveals that to her knowledge, her family was killed by a rogue manipulator (which is what you call a person with elemental powers). This includes her mother, father, and older brother. After, she is adopted by an ungrateful family who lost their daughter due to illness and takes their grief out on her.

The government requires you to live with a family (biological or adopted) until age twelve (which is when you are allowed to leave).

Chapter Two:

Sera meets some of the cast for the second time including Ayden who is a bit of a standoffish asshole who’s too tall for his age. She meets her teachers.

There are some demons that exist inside Sera since her power doesn’t fully resonate with her because of the fact that she didn’t officially fit into any faculty/group of any kind. They go home for the day and come back the next day to find out that they have to go through excruciating training. If you give up, your power will leave you unaccepted. This results in only eight students being left: Seraphina, Ayden, Matthias, Koa, Jayden, Eve, Hikari, and Celio.

Cue ice cream bonding trip, training montage, exposition, and Sera abandoning her abusive family.

Sera takes the paper test where they are supposed to use their power/element to affect a piece of paper. Sera fails and falls unconscious because what a loser.

Sera finds out she is neighbours with Ayden who is apprehensive about telling her the conditions of why he lives in such a rundown building (which will be explained much later). Hikari also lives a floor below.

Ayden and Sera do the paper test again. Repeat what happened with the demons coming back in denying her capabilities even though she’s a protagonist (so her success goes without saying).

Chapter Three:

School years start in January and end at the end of October (the 30th to be exact). The kids are two months away (more like three because they always forget that October is a full month) so exam season is coming up. A lot of the students (Ayden, Eve, and Jayden) worry because they’re stupid.

More exposition occurs where characters get more dialogue.

Students try to study last minute.

Exams occur, and some are successful while others aren’t exactly. The teachers finally mention (amongst themselves and just to the reader) that they have not graded any of their students’ assignments throughout the entire year. Jayden has never received a double-digit (meaning more than 10%) on anything. They realize that they need to call the headmaster to make arrangements. She threatens to tell Hiyoshi’s dad (who is named Rintarou).

Chapter Four:

The students now have to do some extra credit since quite a few of them didn’t pass their classes. All of them are roped in though. This is pretty much community service. They have to find a cat named Basura and a bunny named Annabelle. More development happens as they eventually do return the two animals (Basura is a raccoon and not a cat by the way).

Chapter Five:

They end up going on a short trip for the rest of the spare day they have. No teachers end up saying what’s the trip about, but once they arrive, they find a crime scene that shouldn’t have been seen. It turns out that their job was to protect those in that town, and since it wasn’t seen as a major threat, they figured they were safe. They ended up being ambushed where the kids now had to use their powers to do something.

Wow, it took five chapters for this and was an inserted fight because they eventually had to wait longer. They’re still quite weak though.

After arriving back home, nobody exactly wanted to talk about the fact that they had just seen places where people died and actually watched some people die. Sera ends up eventually snapping and asking why they were sent there in the first place and why they weren’t sent earlier to do their jobs and protect the people. It’s explained that it was originally a low-grade threat, but since they were there and saw those crime scenes that weren’t touched since it was generally towards the outskirts, the students were told that they would’ve been killed if they’d been there at that moment in time.

Their teachers explain further saying that it isn’t uncommon for things like that to happen, but it is rare for information of these attacks to surface since the government officials do their best to keep it under the carpet. Sera officially says (informing her classmates) that she could’ve been killed alongside her family. Her classmates comfort her because welp, how are you supposed to support a classmate whose family was a victim of mass murder?

Chapter Six:

Sera and the rest of the students may be approaching the end of the year, but that’s used for an excuse so that they can renovate the school before getting into the colder months. They are given a week off school.

Celio, Hikari, Sera, and Ayden hang out. They end up listening to someone trash Sera over the rumours of her test results from the assessment surfacing. They are quickly put down by her friends as they go to Celio’s house and end up meeting his dad Carter. The friends do stuff.

This chapter is about Celio’s story surfacing.

“His birth mother dropped him at the steps of a house that belonged to Carter Zaveri. He took the child in even after discovering that the child would never see. His wife at the time (Johanna May) insisted on abandoning the child at an orphanage, but Carter refused resulting in their split. He now works as a doctor. Celio did not discover his history with Johanna until Chapter Six where Ayden read a letter to him that Hikari may or may not have exposed while reading books on his shelf.”

Chapter Seven:

They have a year-end tournament with the threat of expulsion if they do not win their match. Spoiler Alert: Nobody gets expelled. Why would they? They have fights that go along like this (the first person in the bracket won): Koa vs Matthias Jayden vs Eve Hikari vs Celio Ayden vs Sera However, due to the overuse of her power, Sera falls unconscious during the battle resulting in her losing from that cause. She is rushed to the infirmary and wakes up a week later to find out that none of their classmates got expelled. They all go out to eat afterwards then vacation starts.

Chapter Eight:

October 31st is not Halloween but is instead a day to honour the dead. Sera and Ayden meet there coincidentally. Ayden opens up that his parents didn’t take care of him for the majority of his life because his mother murdered his father in a fit of rage caused by his infidelity. His aunt on his mother’s side raised him until the age of eleven because she died of leukemia. They end up walking home (partially because Ayden was temporarily banned from public transit until further notice), and they briefly complain about none of their classmates or them being able to get jobs.

Finally, on the last day of the year, they meet, and exchange presents.

Chapter Nine:

Elemental weapons are weapons that can be brought out by a manipulator by using their energy and the mastery of their given element. This is explained to them.

But first, the teachers inform the students that they’re going to be celebrating Ayden’s birthday. Unfortunately, they didn’t get around to any birthdays the previous year because it was their first year as teachers and any mistake (which leads to their firing) would result in them not getting around to all their birthdays. This seemed to be a large concern because they are both highly irresponsible and are both walking liabilities.

Ayden didn’t seem to celebrate his birthday which was seen as odd since he was the type of person to make things about himself in those kinds of circumstances. But it is later revealed that he hates his birthday because it’s the exact day that his aunt (the person he looked up to) died. He blames himself for her death because she had to support him with the little amount of money she had while trying to pay for healthcare. She ultimately pushed herself too hard making herself sicker than she was originally resulting in her early departure. His classmates try to reason with him saying that it isn’t his fault, and Sera ends up kicking him across the face to snap out of it. She says that friends don’t bottle their anguish internally and that being strong isn’t shown by keeping it under wraps. She tells him to hit her with all he’s got. The other students go outside to call their teachers about the cancelled occasion (and to keep other students out of the classroom due to the amount of noise they were creating from the fight). Sera doesn’t fight Ayden back and instead accepts his blows. Once the teachers return, they find that many things in the classroom were broken. Upset, they soon realize the circumstances since the students informed them about Ayden’s aunt’s death. They ask whether Ayden is okay and feeling better to which, he says yes and asks whether they can resume the pizza plans the following day. They ask whether Sera is okay as well, but she lies and says that she’s fine (even though she’s in a lot of pain). Her teachers sense this and decide to drive her home even though it’s an “equally deadly experience”.

They go out for pizza, and Ayden gets a new mattress to replace his old one. He finally happily celebrates being thirteen as he begins to realize that he might actually like his birthday now.

Chapter Ten:

The kids go to the blacksmith house for a weapon orientation (despite not needing physical weapons) with their teachers along with weapon expertise from two side characters that I don’t know will have much of a role later on. Their names are Zahra and Ramiro. Don’t ask. I used a random name generator. They each receive a weapon. There is some fluff written in, but it’s not necessary to the story.

The students’ weapons:

Sera: Sword with flames Ayden: Double-ended naginata with poison Jayden: Kunai fans (two) Eve: Wires (which are used in combination with water) Koa: Staff with a hammerhead on each side. Matthias: A giant shuriken Celio: Two dual axes that can fuse together Hikari: Bow and arrow (arrows are produced by the archer)

Chapter Eleven:

Sera celebrates her birthday.

The kids go back to the blacksmith house for a checkup. It has only been a few weeks, so they find that they are not good with their weapons at all. They stay at the blacksmith for a three-day trip with a two-day training camp. During the final morning of their stay, they are awoken by a man screaming for help at their doorstep. Sera, being the only one who’s awakened by the noise, goes and opens the door. The man bursts in despite her trying to close the door after seeing who it is (since he has a similar appearance to the rogues mentioned in another chapter). Half-asleep Sera has no logic. I relate. Chaos ensues. The man states that he would take the “future rogue of four colours” (regarding Sera’s test) the antagonist. Edward seems very angry about it and ends up killing the rogue before getting any information out of him. Can they get away with murder? Yes, because once you are proven a rogue, your life is worth no more than an ant’s. They ask Sera why she opened the door in the first place. She says that she has the instinct to help those in need which is met with great criticism.

Chapter Twelve:

Rumours of the four colours starts to deepen. With Sera’s results almost being public knowledge, individuals start approaching and harassing her about the details which she doesn’t want to disclose. She gets the crap beaten out of her, and she isn’t allowed to fight back due to manipulators being frowned upon by the public. It’s a manipulator’s job is to protect the citizens, and with the rogue population on the rise, there is more mistrust in the manipulators than ever. Any action taken against citizens can result in automatic expulsion.

She has to prove (with the eventual help of her classmates after they found out in bad circumstances) that she is defending herself when she finally decides to fight back. She succeeds.

Chapter Thirteen:

Eve’s backstory is revealed when Matthias brings in a cat. Basically, Eve meets Jayden after having her cat killed by a bunch of little kid assholes.

Chapter Fourteen:

Ship stuff happens. I don’t know. I wrote it until 5am because I couldn’t sleep.

The old lady from chapter one (not really important but she’s still old) is dying and needs a plant for her treatment. They’re subjected to go to the outskirts and get it. There’s a thunderstorm going on. Hiyoshi and Edward are stupid and split everyone up. The rain causes the ground to give in while Hikari is looking, so while Celio is having some guilt about being literally a waste of space in their search, he almost fails to realize this. He jumps into action and shields Hikari’s fall at the expense of his physical well-being. He’ll survive. He eventually falls unconscious, and when Hikari gets up, she realizes what had just happened. She carries him as far as she can until they reach a higher point of ground at which point she signals for help. They’re eventually found and carried back by Matthias and Koa who find the plant but end up giving some of it to Hikari and Celio so that they would get a lot of the credit for all they’ve gone through. There are other points of view here, but they’re not “crucial to the plot”.

Chapter Fifteen:

We needed a vacation arc sometime, and I thought that it would be good to see how the kids reacted to going to a lake. That’s right. I’m not going to do a bathhouse or a beach. You kind of learn a bit more about the characters I guess, but this arc has not too much relevance to the overarching plot.

Chapter Sixteen (not yet written):

They go in for partnership testing. If that sounds like forced shipping, you aren’t completely wrong.

I’m not sure what the whole process is (I’ve changed it about five times).

The final pairings are as followed: Sera & Ayden Hikari & Celio Eve & Jayden Koa & Matthias

Future Plans and Developments?

The truth behind Sera’s backstory is revealed

Edward’s connection to the antagonist is revealed

Other backstories are revealed

Sera eventually does get captured (kind of like Kacchan) because she is seen as a “loose link that can defect and join the opposing side”

Ayden meets Sera’s brother Yuki who was supposed to be dead but isn’t

“Test of Courage” arc because I always wanted to have one of those other classic anime filler arcs

The origins of the powers and where they come from eventually get revealed far later

New powers are introduced

#dino rambles #I worked hard on this #someone please read it #it's embarrassing though #*sigh*

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Prom: Ranking Every Song in the Movie Musical Soundtrack From Worst to Best

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The 2018 Broadway musical The Prom has always had a somewhat shaky premise, combining a quartet of narcissistic Broadway stars (Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, and Andrew Rannells) looking for a way to be relevant again with a lesbian couple’s (Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose) simple wish to attend their prom in Edgewater, Indiana. The two threads collide when the prom gets blown up into a civil rights issue. However, the stage show reconciled these seemingly disparate elements into a heartwarming tale of self-acceptance for all involved: straight or gay, closeted or out, aging star or varsity cheerleader.

Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation for Netflix, by contrast, is less successful. The awkward space between these two stories is more pronounced, with the Broadway portions plagued by puzzling lighting and editing choices. Combine that with some truly head-scratching casting among three of the four adults, and it distracts from the intent of basically half the soundtrack.

However, when it comes to all things prom-related, the adaptation is nearly as strong as its Broadway predecessor, and in some places utilizes cinematic elements to surpass the original versions of key musical numbers. With that in mind, we’re ranking all 19 songs from worst to best, keeping in mind that the rankings would likely have turned out differently had we been considering the musical itself.

19. Barry is Going to Prom

James Corden was disastrously miscast as gay actor Barry, who removed himself from his parents’ lives as a teenager before they could cast him out, yet is still clearly in need of closure. One can never shake the feeling of watching this straight actor put on queer identity as an ill-fitting suit; there’s more than one “did I just hear that right?” moment of him lisping his way through a scene.

He brings that disingenuously effeminate energy to Barry’s big number, “Barry is Going to Prom,” and tarnishes what should be a triumphant showstopper. Not surprisingly, Corden in a silver-and-aqua tux mincing through a fantasy sequence is so much less compelling than original star Brooks Ashmanskas belting in his pajamas.

18. Simply Love

The second of the two end credits songs seems to be a rejected number for Barry’s reunion with his estranged mother while also advocating for Emma. Despite the feeling Corden tries to infuse into it, emotionally it’s empty. The only thing saving it from rock bottom on this list is that there are no accompanying visuals.

17. The Acceptance Song

The first sign that the Broadway crew have overestimated their star power is when their big “rally” in Emma’s honor gets booked… at the halftime show of the local monster truck rally. They try to sing a song about acceptance, but neither they nor the monster truck enthusiasts are equipped to give or receive the message. It’s a forgettable song, but that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

16. Wear Your Crown

The first end credits song is so overproduced that I had to look up who sang it—turns out it’s the entire cast, their voices blended into one unnatural warble. The only thing that saves it is that they do the musical credits thing where they match the names with the performances (here, it’s them posing at the prom with superlatives), so you can remember who you did or didn’t like all over again.

15. Zazz

As solo numbers go, this is not Nicole Kidman’s best; but then again, can anything really top Moulin Rouge!? Perennial chorus girl Angie’s ode to making yourself a star is meant to evoke Bob Fosse and Chicago, but winds up resembling a mere shadow of that brilliance. And, unlike how Kidman breaks our hearts with “Come What May,” this ditty could have been sung by anyone.

14. Changing Lives

As opening numbers go, this one doesn’t rank very high, in part because it has to do so much heavy lifting for the less obvious half of The Prom’s premise: Dee Dee (Meryl Streep, unconvincing at the start) and Barry watch their Eleanor Roosevelt musical close on opening night because they are too self-involved to authentically inhabit these historical figures.

Scrolling Twitter’s trending topics for a “cause” that will reverse their PR disaster, they find Emma and automatically decide that they can and will change her small-town baby gay life. With all that exposition, the song’s actual message—that actors and art can change people’s lives—gets lost. What is fun is intercutting the post-show glow with footage of Dee Dee and Barry in costume as Eleanor and FDR on-stage in what feels like a parody of Hamilton.

13. It’s Not About Me

This is a peppier, more on-the-nose version of “Changing Lives,” yet it strikes a bunch of discordant notes, like Dee Dee and co. sweeping into the PTA meeting to rally for Emma but really turn the spotlight on themselves. It’s too much cringe, too early in the story; and worst of all, Streep simply doesn’t seem to be having fun. Instead she looks like she has to force this number out to get on to the more compelling stuff.

12. Changing Lives (Reprise)

The reprise ranks higher than its predecessor because there’s just enough of an ironic twist to signal to the audience that we’re immediately poking fun at these self-obsessed Broadway stars. The line “We’re gonna help that little lesbian / Whether she likes it or not” is unexpectedly hilarious, though the CGI Times Square backdrop is tough to swallow.

11. We Look to You

Perhaps it’s not surprising that all of the songs about the saving power of art are clumped in the same section of the ranking. Perhaps that element of the show translated better to the literal stage, but in the movie these sequences are garish and don’t fit alongside the sweet, straightforward conflict that Emma and Alyssa face.

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This number does try to bridge that divide, however, with Keegan-Michael Key’s straight ally Principal Hawkins tenderly serenading Dee Dee with memories of her performing. Yet through no fault of his own, they still seem an oddly matched pair, which dampens the romantic effect of the song.

10. Unruly Heart

As Emma’s big number, delivered via humble strumming on YouTube that goes viral by tugging the heartstrings of LGBTQ teens everywhere, “Unruly Heart” felt as if it should have ranked higher. There’s a fun effect of Emma’s bed spinning, making the confines of her room seem bigger as her message spreads to millions of people; it also looks like something out of a Broadway show. But one is left with the feeling that this should be a tearjerker for where it exists in the story. This is likely the biggest casualty of the stage-to-screen adaptation.

9. The Lady’s Improving

This is Streep in her musical element, bringing to mind a mix of the whimsy of “Money, Money, Money” and the yearning of “Mamma Mia.” It’s also got that sharp cleverness that’s all too rare in the Broadway portion of this story, with Dee Dee resurrecting her starring role for a one-afternoon-only, private performance for Hawkins. Wouldn’t you know it, this unapologetic preying on his nostalgic fandom for a fictional character is what actually sells their oddball relationship.

8. Alyssa Greene

DeBose’s bitter defense of staying in the closet starts out as the seemingly low-stakes complaints of a straight-A student afraid to step out of line. But as Alyssa’s refrains keep returning to her mother (Kerry Washington)—complete with flashbacks of earnest Washington playing the helicopter-mom to a tee—it becomes achingly clear just how committed Mrs. Greene is to making her daughter’s life not be “difficult,” at least by her metrics. It’s also clear how much Alyssa feels she owes her.

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The best part is that this impassioned “I wish” song is not enough to win back Emma’s trust, and actually leads to their breakup instead. Emotional vulnerability, met with stakes-raising conflict! We love to see it.

7. It’s Time to Dance

Sure, it’s the triumphant final number, but it’s also so much spectacle (mostly with the ensemble’s too-cool-for-school dancing) that it’s difficult to focus on the emotional underpinnings. Reprisals of motifs like “Dance with You” (look ahead) and “Unruly Heart” buoy it up, and of course so does Emma and Alyssa’s big kiss. But this feels like the big shiny denouement as opposed to the less polished but more poignant songs that will stick with you longer.

6. Tonight Belongs to You (Reprise)

Just as “Changing Lives (Reprise)” recontextualizes its predecessor, the reprise of “Tonight Belongs to You” twists the knife: After being humiliated by the school-wide prank of the fake prom, Emma tortures herself with one last reminder that tonight was always about the “normal” kids. It’s the heartbreaking complement to her stalwart sense of self in “Just Breathe” (see below), with Emma confronting the truth that even if she loves herself, her peers and their parents don’t.

5. Love Thy Neighbor

Without a doubt, Rannells makes this song more charming than it has any right to be. You couldn’t have found a better choice than the Book of Mormon alum to point out the hypocrisy in cherry-picking which religious rules to follow. And unlike a lot of The Prom’s other attempts to shoehorn Broadway culture into this small town, the Godspell vibe of “Love Thy Neighbor” expertly gets through to these closed-minded classmates. If Rannells were teaching drama and the Bible to teens like this, it’d go a long way toward bridging that empathy gap.

4. Just Breathe

Pellman is earnestly wonderful even in songs that are duds, but this is the perfect introduction. “Note to self: Don’t be gay in Indiana” tells you everything you need to know about how lovely Emma is: wry and self-assured, secure in both her own identity and in who she loves, even if she has to protect that secret for Alyssa.

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Yet this inner monologue of a song is relatable to all adolescents who don’t quite fit into high school’s damning constraints, a keen reminder to just breathe and move past the moment, looking ahead to a place or hopefully someday a world in which they won’t be the odd person out.

3. You Happened

This bubbly number seemingly shouldn’t rank so high in the list, yet it’s the most authentic aspect of the story it’s depicting: Teenagers acting out the epic love stories they’ve seen in film and yes, on the stage, playacting at adult declarations of devotion.

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It’s the classic promposal that teens have swooned over from Laguna Beach to TikTok, but one-upped through boy-band choreography and a built-in chorus of high schoolers crooning “Youuuu happened!” like it’s the big love confession from When Harry Met Sally. Yet these over-the-top promposals don’t hold a candle to…

2. Dance with You

Emma and Alyssa’s sweet anthem has the sweeping strains of a classic love song—old-Hollywood romance that reflects their simple wish to not be symbols of a movement, but to get the same quintessential high school experience as their straight classmates. It’s also one that benefits from the movie expanding the scope of a song, with the young lovers walking hand-in-hand through their empty school and waltzing under ethereally lit pink trees. Every time the motif recurs in later songs (hitting different notes each time), it conjures that same swell of emotion.

1. Tonight Belongs to You

The fact that this song attained number-one despite Corden’s bad performance overshadowing the first verses is a testament to its infectious joy, and to the frankly incredible layers of emotion contained within.

Beneath the giddy veneer of getting ready for prom, there are so many darker aspects: Barry strong-arming poor Emma into a femme makeover in an attempt to live vicariously through the prom he never had. Cheerleaders Shelby and Kaylee singing “One thing’s universal / Life’s no dress rehearsal” as they step into identical limos in their cookie-cutter cul de sac, as if they could ever fathom an experience outside of their own. This entire song claims that the night is about Emma, but it’s about everyone but her, and that is so uncomfortably truthful.

And then… the moment Emma steps into the gym to find that the entire school played a cruel trick on her. Her peers singing as if they’re in the same boat as her, as they sail on to their real prom, leaving her the humiliation of entering the empty school gym, encapsulates the brutality of high school in a single song. They’ve turned the supposedly empowering Act I finale into the ultimate villain song. The Prom is uneven overall, but as enduring musical songs go, “Tonight Belongs to You” takes the crown.

But as with all things prom, every vote counts. How would you rank the songs from Netflix’s The Prom?

The Prom is now streaming on Netflix.

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jira-chii · 5 years

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Thoughts on the Shoumetsu Toshi anime after it aired

This post is probably overdue because the anime finished...a while ago.

*Warning for long post and spoilers for the Shoumetsu Toshi anime*

Also, I didn’t rewatch the anime for this; I read the scripts.

So, before the Shoumetsu Toshi anime aired in April, I had written some initial speculations, mainly outlining three key challenges of adaptation the anime would have to face. Now that I've finished the anime, I would like to revisit that post and elaborate on how they handled those challenges.

Tldr on my og post: the anime had to find a way to not include too many of the (very loveable) characters from the game, had to be able to tell a complex story in a clear way within a 12 episode limit, and they had to do it in an interesting way without too much exposition. I definitely feel like the anime staff had these goals in mind, as there is evidence in the anime that they put in a lot of effort to solve them. But they may have fallen just short of that goal.

Before I continue further though, I would like to say that I maintain my belief that making an anime adaptation from a source material as complex as Shoumetsu Toshi is incredibly difficult, and I admire the anime production team for tackling the challenge head on (putting in actual effort to make the anime a standalone-product, as opposed to shoehorning in an exact copy of the game’s storyline as so many other adaptations do for some quick marketing).

That said, the final product did not quite match my expectations (my bad for having my hopes up that high in the first place), and while I would love to chalk most of it up to episode constraints, time restrictions, budget limitations, and other factors outside the production team’s control, the truth is my issue is probably at a much more fundamental level.

Let's go through the order identified in my original post.

Too many characters

After watching the anime I am sure the producers were acutely aware of this challenge, and knew they had to be selective in who to choose to include in the production: characters who could not only propel the plot forward, but had interesting stories of their own to tell.

Fan favourites like Tsubasa and Yoshiaki were an obvious choice, and including a mix of both frightening tamashii like Suzumebachi, and less violent ones such as SPR5, I can understand. The only real tamashii choice I can’t justify is Rou. Apart from looking slightly menacing, he does nothing, says nothing (maybe just one word. He gets a mention in the credits), and even worse he appears in episode one.

My primary issue with Rou is that his character's design has too much...character. He’s a friggin’ monk. Flying around in a highway tunnel. It’s bound to raise questions. Which are never answered. If you introduce a character that flashy you've got to give him a backstory (he has one btw, but it's too complex to fit into this already packed anime).

One could argue Rou's only purpose was to act as a weapon for the enemy, but I would think sticking with Suzumebachi would have been better? They serve the same role, and I feel having Takuya and Yuki resolve the conflict with Suzumebachi over the span of two episodes instead of just the one would make him seem like more of a threat and upped the tension.

On the other end of the spectrum I have complaints about characters they didn't include, namely Lisa. How could you have Kouta without Lisa, that is just such a foreign concept to me? This could be due to the availability of the seiyuu themselves but, honestly, I would have rather they removed Kouta altogether. Don’t get me wrong. I love Kouta to bits, but for the purposes of the anime, it feels like he doesn't do anything at all.

In fact, if you think about it, Kikyou, Yumiko, Eiji, Kouta, and Geek to an extent, basically all serve the exact same purpose. Which means having all of them at once is a waste of space. I know they made an effort to make it seem like Eiji and Kikyou are from a different organisation to Yumiko and Kouta. But really, what's the point? So what if Yumiko and Kouta used to work for the enemy? The impact of that to the main thrust of the story is minor; there are probably less convoluted ways to get to the same result. We could have had just Yumiko and Eiji and I’m pretty sure the story could be the same. Introducing just two of these characters instead of like, five, in episode one alone no less, also relieves the cognitive load on the audience (we can only take in so much information in those 20 minutes).

The actual problem though, is not so much there being too many characters, but that they were not used to their maximum potential.

For instance, if we broke down the explanatory purpose of just the tamashii that appeared in the anime, we would get something like this:

SPR5 explains that tamashii can materialise alternate possibilities;

Tsubasa shows AFs can be used to enhance the powers of the orphans who awakened powers as a result of human experimentation;

Orphans reinforce what we learned from SPR5, including that the way to escape the alternate dimension is to fulfil their wish;

Rou and Suzumebachi do nothing but seem threatening...;

Akira protects Yuki and gets guilt tripped by Souma...

One way of judging whether a character was “used” well, is to look at the narrative purpose they serve, and its correlation with the ending. You can probably see that, by themselves, with the exception of maybe SPR5 and orphans, these don't contribute much to understanding the ending of the anime. But that’s not to say they are useless filler. Some serve a functional purpose (for example, Yuki needs Akira to fight). Others contribute to the overall "core message" in their own way. Which seems to be: even though life is tough you have to move on. You can't change the past because then you would be denying the futures of those living in the present (More on this message later. Also, this exact theme appears in Souma's arc in Shoumetsu Toshi 0, but it’s done better).

However, even if a character’s or concept’s narrative purpose is not “useless”, that is not to say they couldn’t be made more “useful”. For example, AFs are basically never mentioned again after Souma dies. I only realised looking back retrospectively, but what was the real point of all that? Did we really need AFs in this story at all? Was there a way we could get to the same conclusion without the AFs? Alternatively, could we alter the ending to make the AFs more relevant?

Part of this involves altering the structure and flow of the story. Another part of this would be giving more strategic time for the important characters to make clear their narrative purpose. It is not easy to do that with a cast as big as Shoumetsu Toshi’s, but as a rule of thumb, the more important a character, the more screen time they should get.

I’ll use SPR5 as an example. In my original post, I was concerned they would get too much screen time, and in a sense they did. But it wasn't useful extra screen time, and this is a problem because the plot point that the anime uses SPR5 to explain is incredibly complex for just one episode. For that same reason, it seems reasonable to give them that extra screen time; but it could have been utilised better. For example, we could use their early cameos to make it clear they were victims of Lost. Before we formally meet Geek, why not show him mourning over SPR5 like everyone else did for the victims on the third anniversary of Lost, then show him binging their old videos. While you’re at it, why not throw in a comment lamenting that the idols will never have another live performance again?

The advantage of this is that it is a much more clear and direct method of conveying information (compared to just the ambiguous montage we had at the very start of the anime). Additionally, having the audience know this stuff in advance, means it is more likely they will make an instant connection when they formally see Yua’s tamashii. Which means less time needs to be spent clarifying things we should already know (that SPR5 should be dead), and more time can be used productively on progressing the story (or apportioning more screen time to other important characters later in the show, like poor Ryouko).

Of course, this relies heavily on these pieces of knowledge being displayed in a clear enough way, or leaving a large enough impact, that we are able to link them in our minds almost instantaneously, even after several episodes.

Complex storyline

This was definitely where I thought the anime failed the hardest but was admittedly also the most difficult to pull off.

First of all, the pacing was awful. The anime went for a 4-4-4 split for their twelve episodes, involving four episodes to set up the main plot, followed by four episodes focusing on stories of tamashii, and then a final four episodes resolving the main conflict. The problem with this is that major events are not given the time they need to make an impact. Like I mentioned, just introducing Ryouko earlier and keeping her around for more than one episode is a simple solution that would do wonders to fix the pacing. Therefore, I would suggest a better ratio for the split would have been 2-6-4.

It was clear that the anime was focusing on a linear story, and tried to link plot points to tamashii where possible (some with more success than others). It is very much plot-driven (as opposed to character-driven), and I honestly don’t have a problem with that. Except that using character-focussed side stories as a vessel to connect to a larger plot is undeniably one of the game’s greatest strengths, and it really shows. The anime’s best episodes were arguably the middle four, which focused on tamashii’s side stories. After the orphanage arc wrapped up, the anime honestly just went downhill from there.

But even then, some very deliberate decisions regarding the overall feel of the show seriously limited the potential of even those four episodes.

For instance, did anyone else feel something was missing with the Kaitodan? And I don't just mean the omission of some very important members, but the overall feel of the team. They were lacking charisma, and, while this is mainly due to not having enough time to develop, it is also a result of purposefully making them behave in a way that fit the story.

Essentially, the anime tried fitting all their characters into a very similar narrative pattern. Everyone needed a tragic character arc, whether it was losing someone dear to them, or losing their dreams and futures. The aim was to depict a truly horrible reality, to contrast against the ideal in an alternate reality, a parallel world.

But the result of this was losing a lot of the core characteristics that made these characters beloved in the first place. Characters aren't given the full scope to showcase their personalities. Rui definitely felt a lot less playful, Sumire seemed to use a gun more than her signature chainsaw, and I fear this was also part of the reason Yayoi, Kouji and Saori got cut out. Their natural state was just too...positive, for the atmosphere the anime was going for. And I think this is a missed opportunity.

What I am saying is essentially, this anime needed a better balance of positive and negative. While watching the show, there were times where I really thought it would have been better if the anime didn’t try so hard to be dark and dramatic and gloomy. One could argue that the core message of the anime relied on Yuki feeling miserable almost the whole time, but that doesn't mean you have to subject your audience to never-ending despair as well. Especially when another core message is that this world is worth living in.

The key scenes in particular that I think could be leveraged are the "parallel world" scenes within Lost. These moments are so important as a reference point to understand the implication of Yuki's final decision. We need to know there is an alternative, and see how good life "could" have been. Yet these pivotal scenes are only given a brief couple of minutes. And that's such a waste, because I really think Lost was the most interesting setting in the whole anime. That's, like, literally where the tamashii are supposed to be. It's also where most of the surreal Observer symbolism happens, which is what 90% of the game's fans were looking forward to. And yet we're only in it for (not even) two episodes! What's the point of calling this anime Shoumetsu Toshi if they're not even in said Shoumetsu Toshi for half the time??

Anyway, my point is, Yuki makes a very big decision at the end of her journey, with huge implications. But, up until then, there was very little to actually guide her (and us) in that direction. Why, after everything she has been through, would she choose to reject resetting the world? We could probably come up with some answers if we tried (meeting Takuya being one of them), but these answers are never made obvious enough. And while this could have been done on purpose to put the “correctness” of Yuki’s final decision into question, it also risks jeopardising the message of the entire anime. Because there’s not enough evidence to convince us that her decision was the right one, and too much evidence making us believe it was the wrong one. And there’s no pay-off to either.

As a result, despite the very strong core message, I could not help but feel that not much was resolved in the end. It was quite unsatisfying in that there wasn't enough closure for our main characters, but at the same time the ending felt surprisingly closed and final - there's no real hint that they want to make a sequel? Which is disappointing.

The biggest disappointment though was that there was no plot twist. There were so many interesting concepts they could have explored more. The source material by itself gives a heap of options around parallel worlds alone. What if inside Lost we actually dropped Takuya and Yuki into one of those ideal alternate parallel worlds? And had them live it out more fully? And gave Yuki more time to explore it, and give her some concrete reason to believe that keeping her world as it is, despite its flaws, is actually the best decision?

You might accuse me of trying to fit more into an already packed anime but I am strongly of the opinion that a story's conceptual potential should be explored to its fullest wherever possible, even if it means not wrapping up everything perfectly by the end of twelve episodes. I would argue the anime could have, and should have, spaced out its events more to end on a cliffhanger, with a potential for a sequel (regardless of whether or not a sequel would even be feasible). Because saying this is the end, is just sad.

Exposition

This was the one thing the Shoumetsu Toshi anime probably spent the most effort addressing. The anime attempts to follow, for the most part, a show, don't tell approach. This is especially evident in the first few episodes, which are full of action. And well done on them for trying that. Key word being trying, because I don't think they actually successfully pulled off the show, don't tell. Because there is still a heap of exposition (sometimes they try to dress it up by having a news crew exposit instead of Eiji, or Yumiko. But don't be fooled). And even worse, a heap of missing exposition, which becomes apparent when you realise they needed an entire episode of just flashback to explain some key concepts (episode 9), because they couldn't do it in the eight whole episodes prior. Even worse, we were still left with so many questions about what happened in episode 11.

I guess what they needed was more strategic exposition, which should have been tied into the way the story was told and its pacing (see what I mentioned about the narrative purpose of the tamashii earlier). Sadly, the character who needed to utilise strategic exposition the most, but epically failed to do so, was Yuki herself.

Yuki’s poor character development was one of the things I definitely did not expect. She's the main character! But her personality is so...flat. Or rather, it doesn't make much sense.

Yuki’s perspective is the one we primarily view the anime from. She is shown to us at the very start of the show. Yuki is meant to be relatable to us. In the first half at least, we actually know more about her than Takuya does. We get to see flashbacks of her past that she doesn’t reveal to anyone else. We experience the same confusion she does when Takuya busts her out. We are meant to feel as betrayed as she does when Takuya calls her a “package”. If the anime continued on this trajectory, we are actually supposed to fully understand why Yuki makes the decision she does at the end. Except they completely broke our suspension of disbelief when Yuki basically develops complete trust in Takuya by the end of episode 2, and is even confident enough to enable someone else to move forward in episode 3. Something happened to Yuki that we weren’t a part of. And now she is no longer relatable because for some reason we weren’t on that journey with her.

Even worse, Yuki’s biggest character development happens off-screen, when Takuya is off at the orphanage doing an entire investigation without her. Isn’t it kind of sad, that Yuki gets more character development out of talking about Takuya to Yumiko, rather than actually interacting with him. This is also part of the reason the events of episode 11 are just baffling. Because the fact of the matter is, for the entire first half of the anime (possibly even the first three-quarters), Yuki and Takuya just don't seem to trust each other enough to make their relationship believable.

When even your main characters lose credibility, it becomes difficult to feel invested in the rest of the show. This feeling is exacerbated in Shoumetsu Toshi because the anime relied so much on drama. How many times did we see/hear the gunshot cliche? Gunshots serve as an effective way to transition between scenes, while creating a cliffhanger effect. The problem with this, though, is doing it too much, especially within a short span of time, results in high-tension scenes losing impact. Even worse, when you’re not even invested in the characters enough to care whether or not they die, the whole scene just feels cheap and ridiculous.

Basically, there were milestones we needed to see to make Yuki’s development seem natural and credible. Specifically, her development involved her gradually trusting in Takuya, and growing more confident in herself. These require at least one of two things happening: Takuya does something to make him worth trusting, or something happens to make Yuki come to the decision that she wants to go to Lost. I think the anime tried to go for the former in episode 1 (by having Takuya persist on taking Yuki to Lost despite his injuries), and the latter in episode 2 (symbolically through Yuki jumping onto the scooter with Takuya). But I'm not sure this is the best way to depict such a relationship convincingly to the audience.

Wouldn't it make more sense to do it the other way? To have the two cooperating because they each have different motives to go to Lost (Yuki to find her father, Takuya to fulfil his contract), and then have Takuya do something outside his contract to finally get Yuki to trust him?

Yuki probably did have a glimmer of hope when Takuya rescued her, but those hopes were dashed when he called her a literal package. I don't see why she should continue to trust him. Is it because he decided to look for her, and convince her to go to Lost? But that's not a particularly satisfying reason. Because the implication right now is, regardless of whether or not Yuki trusts Takuya, he is going to take her to Lost, even by force. Because of his dedication to his contract.

Likewise, Yuki doesn't even get to the point of telling Takuya what traumatised her, even though she was ready to tell Ryouko everything after she brings up her father. Ryouko makes Yuki realise she really does want to find her father and is the first person she opens up to about the experimentation she was subjected to. This could have been a great opportunity to let Yuki decide for herself that she wants to go to Lost, regardless of whether or not she trusts Takuya.

My point is basically: have Ryouko be Yuki's emotional crutch, while Yuki decides whether or not Takuya is trustworthy. Keep Ryouko around for a while longer to get us emotionally invested, and lull Yuki (and us) into a false sense of security. Eventually, it should get to the point where, if Ryouko died and Takuya comforted Yuki, we would know it was not just out of sympathy. Capitalise on Ryouko’s death. Show how bad Takuya is at comforting, but also that he's willing to try. Then, contrast this to what he does after Souma's death. He goes through all the rubble (basically Souma's corpse) to find the choker. Because he understood how important that was to Yuki. The two didn't need to say a word to each other to understand how the other was feeling. Takuya didn't even need to see Yuki. Just silently hands over Souma's choker, as he keeps his eyes on the road ahead, never looking back.

If one could naturally see the progression in their relationship until this moment, almost everything that follows in the anime starts to make a lot more sense: especially the seaside scene and the Lost scene.

The frustrating thing is, I could see signs of this in the anime, but they weren’t explicit enough. It is absolutely crucial to just nail that transition in their relationship: from cooperation, to dependence, to actual trust. It needs to happen in that order, and it needs to be incredibly obvious. Going for subtlety for something as important as this, is definitely not a good idea.

Anyway, this post has become very long and messy so I’ll stop now, but I am definitely not going to stop talking about this topic. I think the key to theoretically fixing this anime is a stronger integration of plot and character. I've already given a bit of an idea into how this could be done, but it's probably a little hard to visualise from just what I’ve written here. In the future I do plan to go the whole way and actually write up a pseudo episode-by-episode potential outline of an alternate way to do the anime. So look forward to that.

In the meantime, you can see the prequel to this post here.

Or my thoughts on just episodes 5 and 6 (the Kaitodan-Tsubasa-Yoshiaki arc) here (including another way I would have done it)

#shoumetsu toshi #anime #afterlost #analysis #long post

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turtle-paced · 7 years

Text

GoT Re-Watch: Fine-Toothed Comb Edition

Moving right along, this is where most of the plots for season six actually start...

...so to speak.

6.02 - Home

This episode has a previously on. It concludes at 1:45, and includes a reminder of Balon, Yara, Bran, and the Karstarks.

(3:55) Our first look at Max von Sydow as Bloodraven, not that he’s easy to see given how badly this set is lit. It’s almost as bad as the House of Black and White. But it is quite atmospheric.

(4:10) But no time to process, we’re promptly launched into flashbackville.

(4:28) And Bran’s first line in a season is an incredibly clunky bit of exposition. “That’s my father.” Yes, thank you, Bran, we got that from the guy who just said “Give him another go, Ned,” and we understand that a flashback is a possibility here because of the blatant magic and general atmosphere.

(4:34) Oh, look, they’re drawing parallels between Ned and Jon.

(4:59) Poor, poor, Bran. “Stop showing off!” and “Lyanna!” are followed by “my aunt Lyanna.” Don’t repeat yourself, show, go to “my father never talked about her,” because that is the most important bit of information we get here. We can see the sibling dynamics.

(5:46) Thus begins the “whodunnit” mystery of Hodor’s disability, which cannot exist in the story without justification. There must a reason given on screen for why Hodor differs from ‘the norm;’ his very disability must justify its existence.

(6:10) And in “please, a little longer,” we see some of the best characterisation of Bran the show has ever done, which is followed up on in the scene. At last we get the sense that one of the Stark kids has positive feelings about Winterfell and their family. That’s the thing about the hyperfocus on vengeance; we don’t get a sense that something good was lost. Yes, I’m aware that it’s crumbs of characterisation, but it’s more than Bran gets at pretty much any other point.

(7:58) Hodor wasn’t always Hodor! He could talk, and fight - if this was presented as in-verse ableism this would be fine, but instead it reads to me as the writers forgetting that Hodor has been a valuable member of Team Bran as he is.

(8:50) Buck up, Meera! Bran needs you to be cheerful! Stop staring out over the snowy expanse where you were forced to mercy kill your brother, put up uncomplainingly with the cold and the boredom and the feeling of uselessness, a male character needs your emotional support.

(9:17) Cut to the Wall here, where Ser Alliser takes thirty seconds to reiterate the basic ultimatum we heard in the previously-on.

(10:16) It takes just shy of a full minute of screen time for the mutineers to start beating down the door. Go go go, they said. A shock a minute, they said.

(11:01) Deaths: 1. Tormund kills a Watchman.

(11:17) Deaths: 2. Wun Wun kills a Watchman.

(11:28) And after an episode of buildup, the mutineers throw down their weapons after thirty seconds of actual conflict. Yep. That’s a few scenes totally wasted.

(11:56) Gosh I feel sorry for the kid playing Olly. Only line he gets all season is “AAAAAAAAAAA” as he makes a screaming charge at Tormund.

(12:52) Tormund’s immediate “we gotta burn this body” makes sense.

(13:08) More evidence to show that the writers just didn’t get the body-shaming involved in the walk of shame. The point was to make Cersei unattractive.

(13:27) This also shows that the smallfolk of King’s Landing consider the incest charges definite and…don’t really care, inasmuch as it can be rolled uncontroversially into a standup comedy routine?

(14:09) Deaths: 3. Frankengregor kills a man with a terrible act.

(14:19) Cersei pulling at loose threads in her outfit is part of the directors and costumers trying to show her loss of status. But here’s the thing, even if it’s a good idea to focus on this for a second, once again we’re killing time. We don’t have the shot of Cersei pulling out the thread and then Frankengregor comes in, Cersei pulls out the thread, she fiddles with it for five seconds, and then Frankengregor comes in. The writers feel they have so little material, they are forced to show characters standing around adjusting their clothes!

(14:56) Ditto this. We don’t start with Cersei pulling out the thread and setting off to the funeral with Frankengregor in tow, we need to see her crossing the floor, and walking down the stairs, and then getting accosted. This is reaching Birdemic levels of padding.

We’re fifteen minutes into the episode and we have evidence of padding both macro (the unnecessarily drawn-out “conflict” at Castle Black that adds nothing except an episode’s worth of scenes) and micro (shots of Cersei walking that are a few seconds too long each).

(15:09) We see Lannister guards (note the lions on the lead guard’s shoulders) and hear that the order for Cersei to remain in the Red Keep comes from Tommen, interestingly enough. At this point, Tommen I don’t think is supposed to be totally under the High Sparrow’s sway. If this order did ultimately originate from the High Sparrow (who tends to send his own men to do things, but then again, getting Tommen to do it also fits with the manipulative aspect of his modus operandi) there’s no arc to what happens with politics in King’s Landing. The High Sparrow starts in such control of Tommen that he can get him to bar his own mother from her daughter’s funeral, and continues on in a similar vein.

(16:05) Wait, what? Tommen thinks Cersei killed Trystane? That would be a murder totally out of character for show!Cersei, who seriously only uses violence when she feels she needs to in order to defend herself and her children. (Not kidding, go back through her actions all series - all of book!Cersei’s utterly gratuitous violence has been edited out.) Even the septsplosion was framed as Cersei being backed into a corner, as we’ll see later. She’s got careless with collateral and the sanctioning of violence since Joffrey’s death (arming the Faith, her dead-or-alive hunt for Tyrion), but nevertheless, her direct and specific employment of violence has always been for her defence or that of her children. Not even revenge for her children.

(16:25) Here we learn that the High Sparrow told Tommen that Cersei would not be allowed in the sept. So we see the High Sparrow is issuing veiled ultimatums to the king, which he is heeding. That is the starting point of his influence this season.

We also see that the writers don’t know jack about atonement rituals and can’t agree on the High Sparrow’s rationale. As we see from a later episode, one of the things the High Sparrow supposedly wants is Cersei back in her patriarchy-approved box of sexless widow- and motherhood. This would logically include Cersei taking part in official religious ceremonies to farewell her late daughter. He should want her in that sept. But the High Sparrow does not act consistently in and of himself; he acts consistently only to make other characters suffer. He’s the diabolus ex machina of the King’s Landing storyline.

(17:11) Tommen is very sad that he’s a weak king, unable to defend his womenfolk.

(17:40) They’re being very vague about what Margaery’s actually being imprisoned for. They’re talking about “crimes” but it’s crime, singular, that of perjury. The only possible holdup here is Loras; obviously, if he’s not lying about not being gay, Margaery couldn’t be lying when she said he wasn’t gay. If this was the train of thought made apparent in the episode, that Margaery’s conviction rests on Loras’ conviction, and so the High Sparrow feels a confession from Loras would make the whole thing much safer politically, I’d be a lot more forgiving. It is not. Instead the High Sparrow is on a fishing expedition for more of Margaery’s “crimes.” With the queen of Westeros and the heir to Highgarden in his cells.

(17:51) That said, I think Tommen’s actor is doing a great job in this scene. Just look at his chin wobble when Jaime dismisses him, and the way he obviously doesn’t know what to do. Again. After a discussion about how ineffectual he is.

(18:10) And sometimes, aided in no small measure by Jonathan Pryce, the scripting for the High Sparrow is actually good. “I fear a great many things. The Father, the Mother, the Warrior…” Conspicuously not on the list - the Stranger, the king, Jaime. The High Sparrow fears judgment in the next life more than anything temporal, so keep on trying to intimidate him, Kingslayer, knock yourself out. And it continues the pattern of clever conversational tricks to assert and maintain dominance that he used so effectively with Cersei. Jaime, being Jaime, doesn’t get this, and the High Sparrow actually has to bring out the mooks before he does.

(18:45) If Cersei atoned for her sin (how convenient that the High Sparrow didn’t tell Jaime that the sin she atoned for was adultery with Lancel!), why is she not allowed in the sept?

(18:57) Oh, Jaime. Are you sure this is the guy to be confessing sins to? Looks to me like Mr “I’m Definitely Scared Of Stuff And Things” just gave you enough rope to hang yourself with. Metaphorically, of course, since they’d use a sword to execute Jaime.

Jaime here refers to his murder of Alton Lannister back in season two, so it’s not like the writers are incapable of going back and checking their own work to maintain internal consistency…they just don’t do it if it’s inconvenient. Note also that Jaime confessed to kinslaying. I think there’s some sort of taboo against that...

(19:36) Then we go careering into a plothole. Again, Jaime just confessed to kinslaying, as well as to helping Tyrion escape. A whole bunch of Sparrows just came out of the woodwork on conversational cue, obviously able to hear this entire conversation. They’ve been there for a while, too, since they’ve surrounded the entrances to this space. Multiple witnesses just heard Jaime confess to a pair of very serious crimes, but the writers haven’t noticed in their rush to scream HYPOCRITE! at the High Sparrow. The High Sparrow ordering Jaime’s immediate arrest would not be unreasonable or out of character. Indeed, failing to do so is not consistent with the zealous true believer determined to cleanse King’s Landing of corruption (and he arrested Margaery for the non-gendered, non-sexual crime of perjury, so viewers should note that those non-sexual crimes are just less of a priority for him, rather than a non-priority). But the High Sparrow arresting Jaime throws a massive spanner in the works, so, uh, I guess there’s a religious holiday from arresting people in this scene.

Alternatively, we can count this failure to follow through as foreshadowing for the non-reaction to Cersei’s choosing violence.

(20:33) Good shot of Cersei looking over the city to the Sept of Baelor.

(21:08) Cersei drinks: 1.

(21:50) “I should have executed them. I should have torn down the sept onto the High Sparrow’s head before I let them do that to you.” So. This is what Tommen should have done. The constant discussions of Tommen as a weak king, plus the treatment of Doran Martell, back this up. The appropriate response here is violence…but what’s appropriate for Tommen to do in defence of Cersei is somehow not appropriate for Cersei to do in defence of Tommen.

(22:10) The emotional music playing as Tommen states his desire to be strong, I.e. To be able to solve his political problems with violence, is another thing on the pile of “strength = ability to kill.” We’ll be seeing that again and again this season, more than we have in previous seasons. It’s played as a mother-son bonding moment, about Tommen’s desire for strength via mass murder.

(22:30) Cut to Meereen here.

(22:46) Varys shakes his head at Tyrion, indicating that he shouldn’t drink.

(22:48) And what do you know! Varys is a eunuch: 1. Under thirty seconds between the cut to Meereen and a joke about Varys being mutilated as a boy. Yes, he said this in front of Grey Worm.

(23:00) Ugh, this makes me uncomfortable. Tyrion says, to Grey Worm, that Tyrion makes eunuch jokes and Varys makes dwarf jokes. Varys denies (accurately) that he makes dwarf jokes. Tyrion says that Varys thinks them. And that makes it all okay to continue making eunuch jokes in front of Grey Worm. Varys himself, it must be noted, doesn’t look very happy about this exchange, as he sighs and changes the subject. If this sort of obviously inappropriate behaviour was called out or tied into Tyrion’s ongoing alcoholism (which is depicted much less well than it was last season), I could deal with it. As it is, this makes me cringe.

(23:19) Tyrion drinks: 1.

(23:21) Magical resetting plotline! Everything accomplished offscreen last season has been rolled back so Tyrion can re-accomplish it this season.

(23:54) “I drink and I know things.” Tyrion Lannister’s character stagnation in six words. Jaime did it faster.

(24:43) This scene could have gone perfectly legitimate dramatic directions. Peter Dinklage is playing Tyrion as slightly drunk, the decision to go unchain the dragons is clearly not supposed to be a very sensible one - when I first saw this, I honestly thought this scene was supposed to be telling us that Tyrion’s drinking was impairing his ability to make political decisions. Oh how disappointed I was.

(24:46) Tyrion drinks: 2.

(26:19) I’m reserving judgment on a chunk of Tyrion-the-dragontamer scene, as his not getting immediately roasted and eaten by the dragons might serve as foreshadowing for Tyrion the dragonrider. And Peter Dinklage is getting across some of Tyrion’s childhood quite effectively.

(28:54) Yet again, Arya’s been hit in the face with a stick.

(29:08) And yet again, nobody but nobody even bats an eyelid at this vicious beating.

(29:28) For some mysterious reason, being beaten repeatedly isn’t helping Arya improve with her staff skills. It’s like being deprived of a sense, deprived of food, and beaten repeatedly is more like a torture technique than an educational technique. It’s also the same bloody scene as last episode.

(29:39) Only with more Jaqen at the end. And again, I like that we hear Jaqen before we see him. Still, this episode’s scene and last episode’s scene should have been one scene.

(30:54) Oooh, a Karstark! Now they’re trying to adapt the Northern storyline, right? Right?

(31:27) I wouldn’t be all that surprised if this is an extremely condensed, out-of-place version of things that will happen in TWoW. The basic sequence of “Ramsay wants to attack Castle Black to kill Jon, Roose says no, Ramsay murders him” seems plausible enough.

(31:36) “The Umbers, the Manderlys, and the Karstarks command more forces than all the other houses combined.” Ow, the book knowledge, it hurts. Ditto the knowledge of how the Manderlys and Umbers will subsequently be depicted. It’s also more of GoT’s “biggest army wins” approach to tactics, which has become super noticeable since they went off-book. What also goes unmentioned is that “yay! We might be able to get a slight majority in Northern support!” isn’t a great strategic position. What happens if you lose the Manderlys, huh?

(32:12) Oh, hey. Roose has an alternative heir. He’s toast. Doesn’t matter which “he.”

(32:50) Deaths: 4. Ramsay murders Roose. More kinslaying! Right in front of a peer! I think there’s some sort of taboo about this, but darn it, I can’t be sure.

(33:39) Yes. Show!Roose has been “poisoned by our enemies.” All two of them. Four if you count Brienne and Pod as well. Anyway, going back to the idea that this might be the basic sequence of events in TWoW. If it is, I am absolutely certain that Ramsay will pin the blame on the many enemies of the Boltons hanging out in Winterfell itself.

(33:51) Confirmation that Karstark gives no fucks about the kinslaying and treachery that just happened in front of him. Remember, as Roose said just seconds before he died, nobody likes a mad dog. If you act like a mad dog, you’ll be treated like a mad dog. Right you are, Roose!

(34:25) We cut to Lady Walda here. She’s doing well to be up and about, given she just gave birth what, half an hour ago max? It is already blatantly apparent that Ramsay means to kill her.

(35:18) This is the point where Ramsay has led Walda into the kennels. Timer on, because this is incredibly drawn out. For shocks.

(36:26) “I am Lord Bolton.” Guys, I dunno, do you think Ramsay might be about to set his dogs on his stepmother and brother? This is also the point where Walda gets it and starts begging.

(37:15) And cut! Timer off. Almost three minutes to kill off Walda, which is three times as much as it took to kill off Roose. Because having a woman and child eaten alive by dogs is good TV! Setting dogs on people - it’s bad when Ramsay does it. Deaths: 5, 6. Walda and unnamed baby Bolton, killed by Ramsay.

(37:33) I do like that Brienne told Sansa that Arya was alive, and last Brienne saw, well. It’s very late in the game to be showing us that the Stark kids care about each other.

(38:09) “I should have gone with you while I had the chance.” “It was a difficult choice, my lady.” Oh, fuck off, writers, even at that point Sansa had little to no agency. That conversation took place in an inn surrounded by Littlefinger and his people. (In the Vale it would have been a different story. Literally.) I hate that Sansa had no agency, and I hate the writers pretending that she did when she didn’t.

(38:40) You shouldn’t be lighting fires, it’s not safe? Hey Theon, you know what’s also not safe? Hanging around in the snow overnight in insufficient clothing. It carries a risk of freezing to death.

(38:53) Just like I was happy over scraps of characterisastion given to Bran, I’m happy about the scraps of characterisation Sansa gets here. She’s keeping it together, she’s planning to use her words to change someone’s mind, she’s trying to comfort Theon, she’s got a plan he can use. Yay!

(39:20) “I can’t ever make amends to your family for the things I’ve done,” says Theon.

(39:36) “I would have taken you all the way to the Wall,” says Theon, because he knows that Sansa’s got to take the Ring to the Wall and he’s too vulnerable to its corruption - wait.

So to recap, Theon can’t possibly make amends to the Starks, and because of this he nicks off to go help Yara before he’s even gotten Sansa to her intended destination. Well, if it’s futile trying to make amends, I guess there’s no point even trying. Good luck in the snow without either winter gear or the inclination to start fires for warmth, Theon! On the upside, Alfie Allen is doing his thing and doing it very well. It’s nice that they gave him material that wasn’t repetitive torture scenes with Ramsay!

(40:12) Cut to…*squints* Pyke? It sounds like Pyke.

(40:20) The Glovers have retaken Deepwood Motte. Oh man. Didn’t some guy, uh, whatshisname, help with that in the books? Whatshisname’s book accomplishments didn’t even get rolled back for other characters to re-accomplish them, he never got to accomplish them at all.

(40:46) Damn skippy they’d want to hang on to their invaded territory for more pinecones and rocks. Here’s where we start seeing that Yara’s based on Victarion far more than Asha. Asha appreciates the value of pinecones and rocks vis a vis the current Ironborn economic situation.

(41:10) That said, I do like Yara calling out Balon for what’s got to be the silliest military plan of the series.

(41:41) Balon just confirms twice in quick succession that he considers Yara his heir.

(41:59) Balon’s crossing a rickety wooden bridge in a massive storm. He’s toast. Even before Euron shows up I don’t fancy Balon’s chances.

(42:34) As a rule, someone dramatically pulling back their hood works best when you can actually see their face better afterwards. This has not happened in this case. But, thanks to the dialogue, I at least know that this man is Balon’s brother! Thank you, better-sounding exposition!

(43:10) This is…not that bad, I think? At least the book line comes in the context of Euron’s irreligiosity. That said, if they cut back on some of the padding earlier in the episode, they would easily have had enough time to write this dialogue so it doesn’t rush to hit the very dramatic book line.

(43:44) Wait, what? If Euron cut out the tongues of all the witnesses, how did Balon hear about this incident? It’s not like there are many literate Ironborn out there, as we see with Wex.

(44:04) This bit is worse in hindsight, though. These are trippy villain lines for a villain who works with trippy magic. Show!Euron has shown no signs of supernatural powers, but he’s kept the lines more or less the same.

(44:08) Deaths: 7. Balon, killed by Euron.

(45:27) The law is clear, I guess. So clear that Yara, treated as the heir apparent for years, did not know the law. Kingsmoot it is! Rather than arising out of Aeron’s characterisation and consistently developed culture, now the Kingsmoot gets its turn as a diabolus ex machina.

(46:34) And here’s where under-explanation kicks in! Why on earth does Davos think that Melisandre could possibly revive Jon Snow? He’s got zero connection to Beric Dondarrion, the only show example of resurrection thus far. Hell, Davos could broach this topic by referring to Mel’s warp to the Riverlands to establish that he at least got a full report afterwards. As it is, this comes out of a clear blue sky. Also unexplained in this scene is why Davos is so eager to resurrect Jon. It’s not like there aren’t reasons. Just say “he’s the best person born this side of the Wall to manage the wildlings, without him it’s going to fall apart.” There we go. Explained. Doesn’t happen. It’s just sort of evident that of course they’d want Jon back ‘cause he’s a main character.

(47:11) Instead, Davos’ dialogue establishes that he has no clue about Beric and Thoros, and walked in with zero clue whatsoever. The train of thought appears to have been “well, Melisandre can do magic, why not ask if she can bring someone back from the dead?”

(47:49) You’d think Melisandre’s confession of undergoing messiah crisis might lead Davos to ask a few questions, about her previous messiah Whatshisname, and also maybe his daughter, Can’tquiteremember.

(48:02) Didn’t mention it last time this topic came up, but no, book!Davos is moderately faithful at least. He’s got comfort from religion in the books. I wouldn’t necessarily call him devout or pious, but he does seem to believe. And it is part of the pattern where the show turns “good” religious characters into nonbelievers. We’re going to see a fair bit of “religion is stupid and/or evil” this season too.

(48:17) Again, why is Davos asking Melisandre for a miracle? In show continuity they’ve been nothing but hostile to each other.

(48:46) Abs & pecs: 1. Given that Jon’s currently a corpse with mincemeat for a stomach, I feel safe in saying this was not meant to be sexy, and the focus on his torso is more to show the blood and wounds.

(49:00) Corpse-washing a la the House of Black and White. Just as inefficient as they are, too.

(51:55) The music builds up dramatically, but we all know Jon’s only going to come back to life once everyone’s turned away. That’s just how it works.

(53:26) Davos is the last one left in the room, and I’m still wondering why Jon’s resurrection means so much to him. Underexplained, especially since Davos is a practical soul who’s always distrusted magic.

(53:59) Oh, hey, Jon! Did you enjoy your nap?

Game of Numbers S06E02

Deaths: 7. Tormund, Wun Wun, and Gregor Clegane kill one extra each. Ramsay kills Roose, Walda and his unnamed brother. Euron kills Balon.

Boobs: 0.

Abs & pecs: 1.

Too cold for nudity this episode, not cold enough to light a fire.

Tyrion drinks: 2.

Cersei drinks: 1.

Varys is a eunuch: 1.

#anti got #fine toothed comb edition #cw: violence #haircuts and the murder of relatives are still the themes #season six

56 notes · View notes

iamthechocobabe · 7 years

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We All Have Battle Scars

The drama starts! I went with this because I felt like it was a lot more tame than other AU’s were being and you know what? I think we need some light shit once in awhile, get rid of the dark stuff, man, y’all motherfuckers are too intense.

AU inspired by: We Intertwined

We All Have Battle Scars ~Chapter 12~ SFW Word Count: 2,079

"It wasn't that bad,"

The next morning, Alaea had gone over to give Prompto and the others their breakfast provided by the Outpost. It was toast with a poached egg on top, but Prompto couldn't help but notice how his toast was soggy and his egg was under cooked-clearly, Wiz made breakfast this morning.

Prompto shook his head at the sight and poked at it with his fork. "Your dad banned me from ever setting foot in his house again,"

Alaea paused and thought it out, then bit her lip. "Well, I explained to him you weren't trying anything, but I did try to warn you,"

"I wasn't even on you last night-you were the one who was all over me, with your googly eyes and your gently leaning in to give me a kissy,"

Gladio gave a cat call whistle at hearing that while Noctis and Ignis tried to cover up their laughter by coughing or looking away. Blushing intensely, Alaea straightened her shoulders to cover her embarrassment. "Was not," she said, but the other boys clearly didn't believe her.

"Fine, no breakfast for you," Alaea began to gather the plates and tried to take the piece of toast out of Gladio's mouth and the others started laughing, apologizing and promising Alaea that they would be good.

"Ali!" Libby called over to Alaea and Alaea said goodbye to the boys and walked over to Libby behind the gift shop. Prompto noticed that morning Alaea talking and being more open with Libby and he was glad-life was too short to go without friends out of the fear of being rejected and Prompto was glad he made Alaea see this last night.

Prompto sat back in his seat and sighed, content with the way things were working out. As the days went by, Alaea seemed more comfortable around Prompto and while they hadn't kissed or anything (well, besides on the cheek), Prompto still felt the connection with Alaea and something told him that connection wasn't going to go away any time soon.

He was up late last night, wondering about the future, after everything with the Empire was over...he even wondered if he and Alaea would get married someday. Was it crazy to think that kind of stuff too soon?

Maybe.

Prompto took another bite of his toast, but the serenity of the quiet morning at the Outpost was interrupted by shouting and arguing coming from the driveway. Looking over, Prompto saw a tall, thin, blonde woman with short, cropped hair wearing jeans, a leather jacket and fingerless beige gloves. She was yelling at Wiz, who stood there looking so purple in the face, Prompto was worried he was going to have a stroke, so he quickly got up and went over to help Wiz.

"You have some fucking nerve, showing your face here after all this time," Wiz yelled at the woman; Wiz rarely swore and it was probably only the third time Prompto had heard him swear in the short time he'd known the family.

"I know, Wiz, but I'm telling you, I've changed," the woman's voice was light and sweet, like a bird. The closer Prompto got, the more he realized her face was very similar to Alaea's and he suddenly began to realize who this woman was. "I'm here to make good with you and Alaea before she leaves-why else would I be here if I didn't want to help you guys out?"

"Probably to trick us again-that's what you do best, right? Well, I'm not giving you the chance this time, so get the fuck off my property before Alaea sees you,"

"Wiz, she has a right to know!"

"Dad?"

Alaea stood on the porch with a small box of toys for the Chocobo babies. She looked confused at the mentioning of her name and the blonde woman who stood there, but when the woman turned around and faced Alaea, Alaea's mouth dropped along with the box, toys scattering around in the dirt.

"...Mom?"

"No, no-I'm not your mom,"

The woman said those words so fast that they tumbled together in one straight line. Confusion was making it hard for Alaea to think; the woman looked just like the woman from Alaea's memory and the woman from the pictures before she left.

Alaea looked at her dad, hoping he would have some answers and he nodded. "She's not your mom, she's your Aunt Gina, your mom's twin sister,"

Alaea looked back at the stranger, then at her dad. "You never told me mom had a sister,"

"Because she's just as wicked as your mom, if not more so,"

The woman-Gina-glanced at Wiz while biting her lip and focused her attention back on Alaea. "I know this is probably very confusing for you-"

"Yeah, no shit," Alaea snapped and focused on Wiz. "Why the fuck is she here, then?"

"I'm here to make peace," Gina said. "I know what my sister and I did to you two was horrible. I realize that now, I'm sorry it took me 18 years to figure it out, but I realize it now,"

"What are you talking about? What did you do to me?" Alaea looked between the two and felt her confusion turn into anger-this wasn't the kind of anger she felt when some brat pointed at her face, this was new. Like a pot of water slowly beginning to boil. "Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

Wiz didn't respond, noticing the small crowd that was gathering around to watch the show, people who were interested in the brewing drama. "Not here," he gestured to the two to go inside the house and Alaea followed, not even noticing Prompto standing there, looking confused and like he wanted to help, but knowing he couldn't.

After Wiz shut the door, Wiz and Alaea sat on the couch while Gina sat in the chair to the side of them. Alaea ignored the fact that Gina looked like she'd rather be anywhere than there because she was so angry-angry at this woman Gina, at her mom for leaving, but mostly at her dad because he had told Alaea that her mom had no family.

"I'm going to forget the fact that you forgot to mention that I have an aunt-" she hissed at Wiz and turned to Gina. "-Because I want to know who the hell you are,"

Gina sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Look, this isn't easy for me-"

"What, you think it's easy for me?" Alaea yelled.

Gina stopped and nodded. "Okay, fair point. I'll tell you what happened if you'll listen-will you listen to what I have to say?"

Alaea made a noise that sounded similar to a 'guffaw' and sat back, crossing her arms. "Fine,"

"Your mom and I are...I guess you'd call us con-artists. Gods, that sounds cheesy," Gina shook her head and continued. "Anyway, we'd con people out of their money through any means necessary, though it was mostly out of internet scams. Stuff that wouldn't go as noticed by the police forces and that,"

"Which I didn't find out until after your mom left," Wiz pointed this out to Alaea, but she ignored him, too focused on what Gina was saying.

"So, what are you saying? She married my dad so she could trick him out of his money? Was she even his soulmate?"

Gina twiddled her fingers, looking down at the floor and it pissed Alaea off.

"If you're gonna talk to me, at least have the fucking dignity to look me in the eye," Alaea's hands were shaking, she was so angry. Gina jerked her head up while Wiz looked at Alaea in shock, surprised by her tone, but choosing not to say anything.

Gina held Alaea's gaze and nodded slowly. "In a way, she did marry your dad for a multitude of reasons and I wish I could say one of them was love. Your mom found out about your dad being her soulmate, but she didn't act happy or disappointed-she decided to play the con of her life,"

"She was with my dad for almost six years," Alaea said. "Why was she with him for so long if it was just a con?"

Gina put her hand to her temple and looked at Wiz with hesitation before continuing. "Your dad didn't find out until after Gayle left that she was wanted in three different cities, including Lastallum, for a con against some rich ass who lived in the mountains by the Titan. They were expecting a single woman on the run, they weren't expecting a happily married couple on a Chocobo farm. Your dad was her hideout, trying to buy some time and money before she could jump ship to Altissia...she didn't think she'd get pregnant with you,"

"So...that's all we were to her? To you?" Alaea couldn't stop the shrill shrieking of her voice. She got up and began pacing the floor, not sure where to direct the anger that was leaking from her fingertips. "Just a...a check? An alibi?"

"I'm sorry...I felt like you have a right to know about your mom,"

"How do we know you're not trying to con us?" Wiz leaned forward when he asked his question, his stern face still angry and dark, but not near as dark as Alaea's.

"I'm not asking for anything, Wiz, I'm only giving you information. I told you, I'm not into that kind of work anymore, though I won't blame you if you don't believe me. I've done some pretty fucked up shit in my time and I won't blame you two if you never want to see me again, but I felt Alaea had a right to know about her mom,"

"So, that's all your here for, just some shitty exposition?" Alaea scoffed and went over to open the door for her. "Well, thanks for the lovely information that I was nothing more than a fucking paycheck for my mom, now I must kindly ask that you fuck off,"

"That's not the only reason I'm here, Alaea," Gina stood up and pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket. After smoothing it out, she handed it to Alaea, who took it and studied it for a second.

"Coordinates?"

Gina sighed, running her hand through her hair. "That night when your mom left, there was supposed to be a boat that took her and I to Altissia. It never arrived-she and I have been bouncing around Duscae and Cleigne for the past 18 years, trying to get enough money to get there, but the permits to get into Altissia are crazy. Your mom's decided to go to Tenebrae instead and is waiting in an old shack near Old Lastallum for a car to take her to the train station tomorrow night. I figured that you deserve to see her before she left, make her face what she's done to you,"

"Why are you telling us this?" Wiz stood up, folding his arms and if Alaea didn't know him as the biggest softie, she would have swore Wiz was intimidating. "I thought you said you two worked together,"

"We did-long story short, she stabbed me in the back and I've realized that I don't want to be in this kind of work if it makes family turn on each other. Find her, confront her, kill her, it doesn't really matter to me what you choose to do...I just felt you had the right to know where your mom was before she left,"

Gina started to leave, but paused right before she opened the front door. Turning back, Alaea saw what looked like true remorse, though she didn't know Gina well enough to know if it was really remorse or just an act. "I'm not going to ask you to forgive me or your mom because we don't deserve it. What we did was horrible, but I promise I'm going to try and do right by you two, even if it takes the rest of my life-I hope that next time I come by, you won't be kicking me off the property,"

Alaea watched in stunned silence as her Aunt Gina, a woman she didn't even know existed until ten minutes ago, walked out the front door. Was she really there to just be an informant? Was she trying to scam the two?

Alaea looked at the piece of paper with the coordinates in her hand.

Was her mom really out there?

#ffxv #ffxv fanfiction #prompto #prompto argentum #prompto argentum soulmate #prompto argentum soulmate au #soulmate au #someone's got mommy problems #and it ain't mr clean #i'm very tired right now

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