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viria-virtual · 3 days
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Thinking about how, when Scar turns red in Third Life, his first actions are collecting flowers to beg to stay with Grian.
That, when faced with being a red life—the first and only red life—his first actions aren’t bloodthirst and anger but desperation to keep the relationship he’s made.
That, in a game where alliances are kept through deeds, debts, and doubt—he offered flowers. He didn’t sell the idea of staying teammates, he didn’t even try. He offered the flowers and begged to stay by Grians side, but was fully prepared to walk away without another word. Was prepared to forget his scamming nature, to lay down flowers and nothing more.
Also, in the image of the flowers being a bouquet, imagine him being gone for hours after his death.
Grian is waiting and Scar is holed up in the forest somewhere meticulously crafting this arrangement despite having no idea what he’s doing. He could only find two flowers, and the mess he puts together isn’t anything anyone would ever sell, but he made it from scratch. He put in the effort, spent hours on it until he deemed it perfect and only then did he bring it to Grian.
It’s ugly, and there is no twine holding it together nor a sheet, but the flowers aren’t wilted. All of them are the most vibrant, healthy flowers he could find and not one is missing a petal due to his hands.
His hands—used to scam, maim, and betray—made gentle for the effort of making something worthy of someone like Grian.
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comradekatara · 2 days
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i’ve seen a lot of people point out lately that aang not learning to heal from yagoda (or katara!) is bullshit and i just want to affirm that i agree and have been saying this for years. the only reason i can possibly think of for aang not learning to heal is because it’s such an important skill for katara to have, and represents her unique narrative role so beautifully, that they didn’t want to detract from its significance to her by having aang learn it too, in the same way that toph never teaches aang metalbending, for example. but i do still think that it would have been important for aang to learn considering his narrative role, as someone who is equally responsible for healing the world and refusing to submit to the logic of imperialist violence (even more so than katara!), as well as someone who resists these patriarchal paradigms passively (through simply existing and operating outside of them) rather than actively (by fighting to tear them down). aang could have, at the very least, gestured to learning healing, even if katara was still the central healer figure of the narrative for good reason. because it’s just downright illogical that someone as gentle, giving, and kind as aang wouldn’t want to learn what i see as being the coolest, most powerful skill of any bending discipline period. because, through this glaring oversight, it makes the narrative feel as if it is somehow submitting to the sexist logic it actively critiques, and that’s weird.
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candy-heart-brew · 3 days
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I know i've harped on this before but I don't think we talk enough about how Sally quite literally becomes Eddie's guiding light here. Both because it indicates that she genuinely does care about him as well as the symbolism present here. So Homewarming is a holiday that's clearly meant to mirror Christmas, only instead of being about Jesus it's about home (Home?). With that in mind, Sally's insistence on being the Homewarming star is quite interesting. The star that decorates Christmas trees IRL is representative of the Star of Bethelhem- that which guided the three wise men to the birthplace of Jesus. During the Homewarming story Sally places herself at the top of the town's communal tree where she can see everything that's happening, including Eddie's spiraling loneliness. She put herself in a position where she'd know everything that's happening and could guide lost ones back to the light. Of course, that might've not been what Eddie really needed then...
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Or maybe it was? Maybe Eddie's moment of derealization would've happened regardless of if he were at the Homewarming party or back at the post office. Maybe bringing him to the party was a way of ensuring he wouldn't be alone when the disassociation set in...
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But that's just a guess!
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lilislegacy · 16 hours
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have you ever thought about how out of all the men in PJO and HOO, percy is the least like annabeth? they complement each other so beautifully, like 2 puzzle pieces that are a perfect fit, but they’re SO different. like imagine…
piper: annabeth is dating one of these 4 men
hazel: *gestures to percy, jason, frank, and leo*
piper: guess which one
random person: hmm… i’d say frank. he’s the son of the god of war and she’s the daughter of the goddess of battle strategy. they’re both incredible fighters and stategists. i bet they are amazing together
percy: 😐
hazel: *nervously laughs*
piper: um, nope! try again!
random person: oh? really? ok well then defintily jason. son of zeus? well mannered, always in control of the situation, very humble and honorable. as a daughter of athena, he’s totally her type. they are both very calm and level-headed. they both are leaders and know how to weigh the options and outcomes quickly in a tough situation. plus, they are both blonde with light eyes, so they would have beautiful babies!
percy: 😒
piper: *nervously laughs*
hazel: um… still no! one more try!
random person: oh wait… i’m so stupid! it’s obvious!
hazel: there you go! i also think it’s obv-
random person: it’s leo! why didn’t i see it? he’s a mechanic. she’s an architect. they are perfect together! she’s a creator and he’s a fixer. their brains work so much like each other. they’re basically meant to be! oh and they are both from the south!! and i bet-
piper: IT’S PERCY! she is dating percy. perseus jackson. you know, the one on the left? tall, tan, lean, black hair, green eyes? him and only ever him.
random person: oh
percy: 🤨
random person: the… the son of poseidon?? the hot sarcastic bad boy? with that troublemaker look about him? the one with severe mood swings, and who gets expelled from every single school he goes to?
percy: *awkwardly looks down at his hands*
random person: HE’S annabeth chase’s boyfriend??
annabeth: damn right he is 🥰
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saionjeans · 2 days
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i feel like i don’t really see people talk about the christianity in utena, but like. utena’s central questioning of eternity and what it means to die takes place in a coffin in a church. marriage is seen as a way to achieving that eternity, and then deconstructed and in turn established as a form of patriarchal stasis that requires the maintained violence against women to function.
the name dios. the allusions to satan. anthy’s martyrdom seen as necessary suffering to maintain the transcendent spiritual good of the savior prince. the show is directly in conversation with how religious (and specifically christian) hegemony facilitates patriarchy through its logic being taken as a given, implicitly recognizable rather than deliberately constructed and operating through violence.
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ihatehomework · 3 days
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yall i miss jily😭😭😭 not like its gone but like the marauders used to be so happy sunshine gryffindor vibes. but also i feel like we collectively all forget how much james potter HATED slytherin. idk i also think that yes death eaters were humans BUT they also killed so many people like are we forgetting that barty crouch jr literally tortured alice and frank longbottom he is at fault for neville growing up without his parents😭 i genuinely think that people forget that evan, barty etc. actually killed people and killed people who were probably friends with the marauders. ik that everyone deserves a second chance but seriously???? do you actually think that the rosiers were good people and didn't hate and discriminate against muggleborns??? NOT EVERYONE HAS A TRAGIC BACKSTORY IDK SOME OF THEM ARE JUST EVIL. the way everyone defends evan rosier (love his character but i have beef with the way he gets away with being a death eater later on) but snape, who i absolutely detest, hate and think should have died earlier, who also actually did something that was not evil in his lifetime, is the most hated marauders character like????? and the black sisters???? yes love a complex female character but are we seriously trying to redeem bellatrix? do we not remember WHAT SHE SCARED ON HERMIONE LIKE WHAT. and love the newer marauders fandom but everyones so emo and depressed this is supposed to be FUN. also the characters feel so ooc. everytime i see casanova remus lupin im like 'huh thats supposed to be sirius and james???' love remus but my boy aint rizzing anyone up hes a shy af introvert. and jegulus is so cute but remember that james is #no.1slytherinhater and he was absolutely smitten with lily evans FROM THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. REMEMBER WHEN JILY WAS THE BACKBONE OF THE MARAUDERS? like they ate fr. this became a whole ass paragraph damn i did not know i had so much to say about this. i can lowkey already sniff the comments or thoughts saying 'oh let us have our fun its just a story' im not stopping you this is just my opinion. 'oh none of this is actually proven' please give me a break😭🙏 like most of the source material goes against the fandoms perception of the marauders. 'fuck jkr we'll do what we want' youve basically just made 10 million ocs and give them names of characters like im eating up all the marauders content but genuinely can we go back to the happier times??
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givehimthemedicine · 23 hours
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say your prayers boy
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barrenclan · 2 days
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So I sort of have this observation/thought that Deepdark relishes in the idea of his own Defiance members attempting to kill him, actively encouraging it and feeding into bloodthirsty desires with his speeches and teachings.
Maybe this has something to do with him possibly feeling a sense of rush, adrenaline, feeling alive. Deer are the world's food fodder, being seen as nothing but running dinner to animals that eat them. Deepdark horribly twists up the fates of his species, deers can kill too, he's going to be living proof. I wonder, if this is the case, if Deepdark hopes and prays that another one of the members attempts to assassinate him and take power, just so he can feel that horribly sweet rush of life. Each of his kills only demonstrates the pure power that he and deers can hold.
Something something, "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it, and I was really. I was alive"
I can't really describe what I'm trying to say hopefully this suffices lol
I love this insight into Deepdark! He definitely uses any assassination attempts he gets as chances to flex his own power, as he says in Issue 28:
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"Come to challenge me" is his way of saying "tried to fucking murder me."
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trojanteapot · 3 days
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Why the Northern Fremen don't believe in the Prophecy
The reason is just an incredibly simple, sociological reason. What do they keep pointing out about Arrakis? That the south is harsh and uninhabitable... to outworlders. We know this harsh environment increases religious fervour to bolster survival, but what does this mean for the north? Why did they lose their faith?
The settler's cities, Arrakeen and Carthag, are situated in the north. The Harkonnens don't believe the south is habitable so they only mine spice in the north. Their brutal suppression of the Fremen are only in the north.
So imagine you are one of the Northern Fremen. You know there's a prophecy about the Lisan al-Gaib, the Voice from the Outer World that would save your people. But here are these outworlders, who rampage your planet, who enslave and brutalize your people, who only see Arrakis as a resource, and its inhabitants as a means to an end, or "rats" that are in the way of their bottom line. Rats to be exterminated. Seeing all of this, of course you would start to doubt the prophecy. If this is how real outworlders are, why would the Lisan al-Gaib be any different from them?
And this is why Chani and the other Northern Fremen stop believing. They see through its manipulation of the Fremen. But they also understand that if the Fremen band together and fight back, they can win battles on their own. The Southern Fremen don't see any of this, because they're essentially protected from the violence of the colonizers by the dust storms near the equator. They might hear stories about the Harkonnens, but that wouldn't shake their faith in the Lisan al-Gaib. They are willing to simply wait for the "right" kind of outworlder, which does come along in the form of Paul and Jessica.
I think this is a really clever explanation of this divide in the thinking of the Northern and Southern Fremen, which is also related to the idea of how the environment that people grow up in shape their beliefs and their culture. Even though this is a departure from the first novel, this change is still true to the spirit of Frank Herbert's Dune.
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crepes-suzette-373 · 2 days
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I never tried to look, so I don't know if anyone else ever mentioned this, but ASL's "Brotherhood cups" (兄弟盃) is reminiscent of the "Peach Garden Oath" from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel (the fiction, not the actual history).
The vibes of it is even stronger in the side story sensei made, where there's a scene of the ASL trio having the sake as grown ups under some kind of flowering trees. From what I can see those trees are sakura, but peach blossoms and sakura look very similar.
(you can read the side story here BTW)
In the Three Kingdoms, three men gathered in a garden of peach trees, offered some offerings, and then made this oath of brotherhood:
When saying the names Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, although the surnames are different, yet we have come together as brothers. From this day forward, we shall join forces for a common purpose: to save the troubled and to aid the endangered. We shall avenge the nation above, and pacify the citizenry below. We seek not to be born on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. We merely hope to die on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. May the Gods of Heaven and Earth attest to what is in our hearts. If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may heaven and the people of the earth both strike us dead.
Kyoudai Sakazuki in general is something that the yakuza do, but the feeling of brotherhood oath that ASL swore is more similar to the Three Kingdoms one, especially because there's literally 3 of them.
In the actual text of the Three Kingdoms novel, there's no mention of wine being drunk while the oath was made, but it's a pretty common depiction in adaptations that they do drink some kind of wine (see the pictures above).
I think this is just a one time reference too, and not anything theory-worthy, but who knows.
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alkalische · 18 hours
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so for the past 4 months i've been brainrotting about theresis on twitter priv because nobody fucking gets him as a character actually.
anyone who says that he isn't very interesting is WRONG. he's actually very fascinating but in a way that's low key and easy to write off
to start off, something that's very important to theresis's characterisation is the fact that he's implied to be apparently very adherent to sarkaz tradition. to 'not fuck around with the dead'- this can be seen in manfred's conversation with the cluster.
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it's explicitly expressed here:
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except from Ch 11:
"Just one Sarkaz, no army, no servants. He rose from his throne, laid down the authority that he had never truly cared for, and walked here."
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i LOVE the description of him here- when he appears in the story for the first time, NOBODY realises until it's too late.
His ONE goal was to PERSONALLY kill amiya and just eliminate the threat- no fanfare, no monologung, straight down to business.
He's not even particularly sneaky it's just that he's just such a regular ass dude that people just don't realise he's there
"laid down the authority he never truly cared for."
In the lore book, it's actually stated that theresis never bothered to declare himself king after the death of theresa, and made no effort in searching for the new sarkaz king.
for power isn't what he was after. his goal wasn't to be king, it was for a way to execute his plans, because the one thing he ACTUALLY cares about is the future of the sarkaz.
also:
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i love how the text explicitly says that even his sword is rather unremarkable. he got to this point with his sheer tactical acumen and his pure skill with his sword
something that's really interesting is actually how he's described as a 'sword wielding guard', and theresa a 'royal dressmaker', before theresa was king- and he's even DRESSED like a guard.
He's very specifically still dressed like a sarkaz General, (uniform + red cape, shares this with Manfred) and an utterly unremarkable one.
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the lore book also describes Theresis also being eligible to be chosen for the crown, but he willingly gave it up to continue his role as theresa's sword- and it describes him 'severing the horns of the sarkaz that refused to follow the orders of a dressmaker.'
i think that to him, he did care about theresa, but she was his king first and his sister second. what she meant to him wasn't just 'family', it was what she represented, her role.
Which was why despite his adherence to Sarkaz tradition, he was reluctantly willing to to let the confessarius bring her back, if it serves to advance his goals.
The biggest point is that he literally doenst give a FUCK about anything that isn't important to the future of the sarkaz. He's the scale of 'for the greater good' cranked up to the max.
His plan is deeply fucked up, but the core premise of it is that it must be done- and the craziest part of his plan, compared to theresa's, is that it might actually work to remove the shackles of the sarkaz from their oppressors.
genuinely so sick and tired of people reducing him down to 'villan who is hot' or 'generic fantasy bad guy' THATS THE MOST BORING INTERPRETATION you could POSSIBLY have for him.
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greenbetula · 1 day
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i keep thinking about how the neck portion of amane's uniform looks like a pet cone.
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the white portion of her collar looks like it's made of a harder material than the rest of her uniform, due to the lack of "looser" folds and the slightly hexagonal shape it has on her T2 sprite (i think it's cloth hardened by a fabric stiffener or there is something like cardboard inside her collar). and it's quite large for her neck just like a pet cone.
there's also a strap going around it that resembles the usual pet's collar. her prisoner tag is also attached right on the middle of the strap, which makes it look like a pet ID tag. but with the length of her prisoner tag, it can also be interpreted as a leash...
girlie is being treated as an animal ahdhsjhgdhjsajs crying sobbing
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comradekatara · 3 days
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there was a tweet that went viral that said “Aang was lowkey non-binary” and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. It makes perfect sense and I’m ready to write a whole essay on it honestly 😭
yeah i’ve talked a lot about how aang subverts or even transcends patriarchal expectations of how gender should function and be performed (especially within an imperialist paradigm) just by virtue of belonging to a different culture that was raised outside of the trauma and logic of wartime. which isn’t to say that he isn’t gender-conforming for an air nomad boy. i mean, for one thing, he’s completely bald, unlike the women air nomads who have hair (for some reason). and he pretty blatantly likes girls, and is liked by (straight) girls. he’s definitely a “boy” within his own paradigm, but is considered feminine or subversive as he performs his gender within a larger culture that has very rigidly defined patriarchal expectations that he completely bucks, not out of an explicit desire to counter those norms, but merely because he already adheres to his own cultural practices. so aang does confuse the binary of masculinity and femininity under an imperialist patriarchal hegemony, but he’s not intentionally gender-nonconforming. he’s just a simple monk.
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kikokus · 1 day
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Lucci and Kaku: An Analysis
I haven’t done long analysis/meta/essay-style posts in a while, but after seeing a comment that amounted to “every time Lucci’s shown an interest in something that doesn’t have to do with killing, Kaku’s involved” it made me think about whether or not that's true and, more specifically, whether or not there’s been sufficient build-up to justify what happens in Chapter 1111.
So let’s explore, shall we?
First of all, basic disclaimer that I’ve been heavily into One Piece since 2008 and Water 7 has been my favorite arc since the first time I read it that summer. Kaku, in turn, has always been one of my top characters in the entire series for various reasons…but this isn’t about him (at least, not entirely), so all of that is just to say that I’ve thought about these characters a lot over the years.
And I think what always struck me about them is that not only are they so fundamentally different, but that realistically Lucci should not tolerate Kaku at all. He’s pretty much everything Lucci’s not, and they’re more-or-less a perfect example of the ‘someone will die…of fun!’ meme in a lot of ways (and honestly it’s what I think of every time I see this card, but I digress):
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At the same time, what happened in the latest chapter didn’t surprise me, because there’s been hints all along, and I’ve personally been waiting years for it to pay off…even though part of me thought it never would, or at least not in the way it did!
Still, how did we get here?
But First, A Bit About 相棒
So. Why is the fact that Lucci calls Kaku his “相棒” (aibou) so significant? Mostly because of the…individualistic meaning of the word. It literally translates to ‘partner’, but not in a romantic/life-partner way (not to say that it has never been used like that, but it’s not the inherent meaning of the word).
Unlike words such as 友人 (yuujin), 友達 (tomodachi), and of course, with Luffy, 仲間 (nakama), aibou generally only refers to one person. You can have many friends, teammates, crew members…but only one aibou. So by calling Kaku that, Lucci’s already placing him on a different level to anyone else in CP9 or CP0 and acknowledging openly that Kaku’s important enough to him to have earned that distinction.
Which is why a lot of us were very excited about it, since this is not a common occurrence where Lucci’s concerned.
That aside, let’s get to the actual canon content.
Water 7
Obviously at the beginning we find out they both work at the shipyard, but that in and of itself isn’t entirely significant…until you consider that, since Kalifa is pretty much with Iceburg all the time and Blueno’s running the bar, the two of them are working in much closer proximity to each other than to the other CP9 members in the city. 
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The first real indication we get regarding their comfort level with each other comes in chapter 327 when Kaku gets back from examining the Merry and goes to sit down to explain what he’s discovered. Paulie’s the closest to him, but he actually ends up stepping past both him and Lucci in order to sit directly beside Lucci on the same level.
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It’s quite a while before we see the two of them alone again, and it doesn’t happen until chapter 339 when they’re speaking with Robin. Of course at the time we’re not supposed to know it’s them, but there’s really nobody else it can be since this is happening at the exact same time that Blueno’s talking with Franky and Kokoro at the bar. So, as will become fairly common, the two of them are again acting as a unit of their own within the larger group.
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And then, of course, we get the infiltration of the mansion prior to The Big Reveal (which I’ve spoken about before because for me it’s still the single greatest reveal in the entire manga because of how carefully crafted it is, right down to Kaku’s limited dialogue in this section being completely devoid of his usual speech quirks in the original Japanese text). Once again, Blueno and Kalifa are doing their own things while these two are working together.
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This panel has always been interesting to me because immediately prior to this Lucci says he can’t let Paulie live, and then he decides to just restrain him instead. In Luffy’s case it makes sense because they gave their word to Robin not to harm the Strawhats, but he has absolutely no reason to spare Paulie, and the little lines of shock/surprise beside Kaku imply that he hadn’t expected Lucci to do that, either. The ‘why’ is still unclear, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and it’s also…noteworthy that it’s the only thing Lucci asks Kaku to do. All of the actual damage Paulie takes comes from Lucci and he never asks for or expects Kaku to harm him.
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I never connected these two panels before but it’s obviously very deliberate to have Lucci telling Iceburg that feeling emotions is a sign of humanity followed immediately by Kaku…demonstrating exactly that and thanking Iceburg. It’s important to establish that part of Kaku’s character, but keep in mind Lucci’s lack of a reaction here because it’ll come back later.
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Again, very tiny moment, but there’s a lot of examples of Lucci deferring to Kaku or letting him take the lead without any hesitation, and I like this because Kaku’s noticed something that Lucci hasn’t and Lucci just goes with it immediately.
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I’d forgotten about this but Kaku’s also the one that decides to take Usopp with them, first by recognizing him as one of the Strawhats and then going through with it even after finding out he doesn’t consider himself a part of them anymore. And Lucci just…stands back and lets him give out orders to the others while doing so.
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Okay so this is what I was referencing earlier. Kaku shows actual emotions with Iceburg and Lucci’s silent, but the moment Kalifa gets even slightly happy about completing the mission he’s berating her instantly. Kaku’s expression here is interesting too because he looks absolutely haunted and it’s very telling.
And also another visual representation of Lucci and Kaku being equal to/on the same level as each other.
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I didn’t include the panel but Kaku was ‘sleeping’ when Corgi was giving them all of the information about Nero while Lucci was (seemingly) wide awake, and yet Lucci has no idea who he is and relies on Kaku to have all the information. Which he does.
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Kaku being the one to take charge again and direct the others even though Lucci’s standing right there. They do this more than I’d realized at first, especially since Lucci always seems to be looked at as the unofficial ‘leader’ of CP9.
Enies Lobby
We’ve made it to Enies Lobby, which is the first glimpse we get of these two interacting with the full CP9 group outside of any sort of ‘mission’ environment.
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Mostly it entails Lucci being more combative (especially with Jabra) and Kaku being more annoyed, but again I can’t really imagine anyone else taking this tone with Lucci and getting away with it while Kaku does it fairly often and Lucci never retorts or gets angry with him.
And while Kaku’s not immune to taking Jabra’s bait in the right circumstances, his typical tendency is to de-escalate situations if he can and here he’s refusing to engage despite being deliberately called out…and Lucci, without being asked, immediately takes his side and defends his choice.
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This is practically the next panel and while both Lucci and Jabra are kind of equally at fault for this little display, Kaku only berates Jabra for it while Kalifa’s directing her comments at both of them.
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Now that I’m actually looking for these sorts of things it’s becoming more obvious, but again we have Lucci and Kaku in an equal position to each other at the front of CP9.
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This isn’t just to Kaku since Kalifa’s there as well, but Lucci’s still encouraging them to eat the fruits and I have to believe it’s coming from a place of good faith because he’d know whether or not being able to swim is that big an issue in their profession. I also want to note that Kaku echoes Lucci’s ‘it’ll be fun’ line when he actually does eat his fruit, so obviously that resonated with him.
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I’ve put these two together because they both highlight the same thing, that being in both of these sequences we get almost all of CP9 giving out their individual thoughts/comments on what’s happening but Kaku’s statement both times is a direct reply to what Lucci says, so again the two of them are paired off in a way that doesn’t include anyone else there. 
The only other thing of note in this section is that while Robin’s talking about what happened during the Buster Call on Ohara, Kaku and Lucci are the only CP9 members to kind of…break formation and actually look at her while she’s speaking, which is interesting.
And for the rest of Enies Lobby they aren’t together so there’s not too much more to say here other than Kaku of course being the one to have the actual key to Robin’s cuffs, but it’s never made explicit who came up with that plan or handed out the keys so…if I ever actually do the thing and write a full analysis of Kaku’s character we can talk about it then Lark you’ve been saying you’ll do this for years IF I EVER--
Interlude - CP9’s Independent Report
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Besides the fact that this is still one of my favorite cover stories, there’s a couple of noteworthy things here, the first of which is that Kaku again is taking the lead. Even though he’s the only other CP9 member other than Lucci to be injured badly enough that he can’t walk on his own, he’s still the one directing them where to go.
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Other than that, I love seeing all of them just…interacting like friends and being very relaxed and casual, and pretty much every panel where Kaku and Lucci are together they’re directly beside each other so I’ve included a bunch of those here.
Dressrosa & Egghead
The next time we see Lucci and Kaku is at the end of Dressrosa, where they’ve been promoted to CP0 Oda can we please get some explanation of how this happened and let me tell you, I remember this vividly because the spoilers at the time just said that Lucci was talking to ‘someone’ and when the raws came out you can bet I went right to the dialogue to see if it was Kaku because his way of speaking is so telling.
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But even in this little scene, we can see they’re having an equal conversation and there’s a major difference between how Lucci’s speaking with Kaku and how he addresses Spandam mere seconds later.
After this we have the Reverie/Levely/what-even-is-this-thing-called arc where they get all of a single panel together and while it’s the first time we actually ‘see’ Kaku after the time-skip, nothing really interesting regarding their relationship happens, so let’s move on to…
The end of the colored manga! And Egghead.
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We start with a very familiar situation: Lucci asking Kaku what’s going on, and while Kaku this entire arc seems more outwardly annoyed with Lucci than he ever was in the past (which is never really explained but then again, Lucci spends a lot of the arc doing things he’s specifically been told not to do, so maybe it’s understandable…), he still has all the information and relays it.
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Though Kaku’s also much more comfortable letting his real personality show despite them being on a mission while before he was always completely serious after the Water 7 reveal, especially around Lucci. It came through with Zoro and Jabra but during the cover story he’s smiling and laughing a lot with Lucci right there so it makes sense he’d be more willing to let his guard down even ‘on the job’ by now.
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So here’s the first real instance of Lucci showing concern for Kaku, something which escalates pretty quickly throughout the arc. It’s subtle, and though he’s framing it as a suggestion to Stussy, if he didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have said anything. 
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At this point it’s fairly obvious that Lucci and Kaku don’t really have any authority difference between them and Kaku spends a lot of time in this chapter especially telling Lucci to Not Do The Thing. Anyone that’s ever lived with a cat knows how well this works.
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I’ve always found this bit of dialogue particularly interesting because Kaku’s very openly…praising Sentomaru for choosing his loyalty to Vegapunk over assisting the government, and there’s no way Lucci doesn’t hear him say this but he doesn’t say anything in return. There’s no real evidence that Lucci knows about Kaku willingly giving up the key to Zoro or how conflicted he was about Paulie and everyone else, but this seems to imply that at the very least, even if he doesn’t share those sentiments, he wouldn’t think less of Kaku because of it.
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Putting these two together since they’re in the same scene but at this point it’s not even subtle concern anymore, Lucci’s genuinely worried for Kaku and you can tell this caught him off-guard.
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Kaku’s the first one to suggest working together but Lucci immediately backs him up and goes with the idea. It’s logical in the sense that it’ll give them the biggest chance to survive, but willingly working with pirates isn’t exactly the sort of thing that Lucci, especially in the past, would have so easily done regardless of the situation.
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So at this point it’s becoming clear that this whole 4-v-2 section is supposed to be the most…light-hearted thing going on right now and a lot of it is played to be comedic, including Lucci’s inability to lie, but yet again there’s almost nobody else that could get away with scolding him the way Kaku’s doing here.
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…And then we skip ahead a day and things happen that I really hope get explained at some point because they seem important, but while Lucci’s never going to have impeccable bedside manner, he’s very concerned with getting Kaku to rest and while Kaku’s trying to justify what happened Lucci really doesn’t seem to care about that. It’s a big departure from him being willing to write off anyone he deems ‘too weak’ and it’s a nice character moment.
I’d mentioned on my liveblog that some of the things Lucci was doing after this point were confusing, but if you look at them through the lens of him wanting to protect Kaku, it makes a lot more sense. Yes, he’s deliberately keeping him out of the loop, but Lucci I think has decided that he’s going to throw caution to the wind and act alone since if Kaku can’t prove he knew about the plan, he’s probably safer being left with the Strawhats, and if the Marines show up he should be safe anyway or so Lucci thinks…
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When this chapter came out, I’d said something about Lucci being a hypocrite considering what the rest of CP9 did for him when they could have easily just left him at Enies Lobby, but given what happens almost directly after and likely what he’s trying to do with this entire fight, these words feel even less genuine…
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And that brings us to this. The moment that I’ve been thinking about for almost an entire week now. The moment that, looking back at…oh, wow…almost 3000 words of analysis maybe shouldn’t be as surprising as it was for most of us, but it does feel like the payoff for a long, long buildup that’s taken nearly twenty years to reach. Because really, there’s no other way to describe them other than ‘partners’, and probably hasn’t been for a long time…and I’m so glad that Lucci acknowledged it.
To summarize, I think what surprised me most about re-visiting all of this is how much the manga has framed them as equals since the beginning even though it was never explicitly stated between the characters themselves. Lucci’s always been far more lenient with Kaku than with anyone else, and Kaku in turn has never had any fear of Lucci even if he wasn’t really expressing his true self with him for a long time.
The cover story being the turning point makes perfect sense, and the progression throughout Egghead of Lucci being more outwardly willing to show his concern and Kaku not hiding his emotions at all seems like a natural progression of their relationship and their level of comfort around each other.
And the fact that Oda is never really…hitting us over the head with any of it until that final moment when Lucci says everything so plainly because Kaku’s life is the most important thing to him even when faced with a literal monster… It’s so effective. 
I don’t know where we go from here. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of where we go from here. But regardless of the outcome, I hope this little essay has been at the very least interesting and perhaps allowed you to look at these two in a different light.
Thanks for reading.
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hopeyarts · 3 days
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Here’s a little opinion I have about why Star came down from the sky to help out Asha. Or maybe this is just a little interpretation from late night thoughts.
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So we all know that Asha sang to the sky about wanting more for the people of Rosas, such as getting their dreams and wishes back (even tho they live rent free and everything). Nevertheless, her wish is selfless and is focused on everyone else, not herself.
The scene where she meets Star and she says “I just want their wishes to have a chance”, in my opinion, proves that selflessness.
Asha knows what it’s like to have a wish/dream crushed. When she was younger, all she wished for was for her father Tomás (yes that’s his real name. It’s in the art book of Wish), to get better from an illness. He never did and died when Asha was 12. So we can speculate or obviously consider the fact that Asha’s primary goal is to make sure no one (in the safest way possible, because she knows there are bad wishes- she’s not dumb) experiences that loss and pain. That’s why she signs up to be King Magnifico’s apprentice, not because she wants Sabino’s wish granted. She even says “that’s why I want to work for you” to Magnifico after his speech to her during the interview.
Yes, I will admit that her asking Magnifico to consider granting her grandfather’s wish was a little out of line but in all honesty we’d all do that (unless you have hella anxiety about asking for things then ayy same). But in truth she never demanded it, she simply asked him to consider granting his wish. She was open to the possibility of him not granting her grandfather’s wish because the key word is ‘consider’, but didn’t expect the whole keeping most of the wishes thing forever- which is why the argument occurred. They both got valid arguments ngl.
By the way, before anyone attacks me- I love both characters deeply and I think they’re both right and wrong and that the conflict could’ve been solved if the wish system was reformed and more clear. Not everyone is just good or just evil (no one is a villain in this movie, man, really it’s just the damn book. They’re all humans who think like humans and act like humans). Again, I adore them both. Anyways- I think I’m losing track.
So we know that Asha’s goal is to give the people of Rosas a chance to pursue their dreams themselves. Imo, that’s entirely selfless. And as for those bad wishes, Asha is aware there should be a regulation for those and should be stopped- so of course, she’s advocating for the good wishes. I know some are vague but- okay that is for a different possible post. I’m going to get on with the deal between Star and Asha.
Asha is selfless, period. She never wants something solely for herself and she barely even thinks about what she wants for herself only. She even got a magic wand twice and tried to reject it the second time she got it. Yayay selfless heroine. I’m sorry it’s late at night right now.
The moment Star comes down from the sky is seemingly the first appearance of a wishing star ever. At least to the kingdom of Rosas that is. I like to think that there are multiple stars out there and this one seemed to hear Asha’s pleas. My belief is that the more selfless, kind-hearted, and passionate a wish is… the more likely a star will actually come down to help you out.
LIKE WITH HOW FAIRIES ARE BORN IN THE TINKERBELLE MOVIES WHERE A CHILD’S FIRST LAUGH BLOWS AWAY A DANDELION SEED AND A FAIRY IS BORN- oh my god that’s genius. Now I like the idea of these wishing stars being born from selfless wishes 😭 I need to sleep.
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(some disney concept art from idk where i just thought it was pretty. Not even sure this is wish bruh)
Also the fact that Asha’s father was a philosopher who talked about stars all the time, and taught Asha about the stars. We know all about that ya’ll I don’t gotta explain. She wished to the sky for a while now that I think about it.
Yeah that’s all I gotta say for that. Gonna also clarify that I recognize that Asha is a little naive in the movie, but she’s not purely dumb- maybe another post for another day idk. I love her anyways (don’t worry I love Magnifico, I choose both of their sides but this isn’t about him. If you think i don’t like him istg I love magnifico i think about him 24/7 on the dot every hour help me).
My thoughts are a little jumbled, but I’d like to put out more posts on my interpretations despite my worries. I’ll try my best to get my words out, but at the end of the day, this is all fictional and all in good fun. Good night ✨
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(would the plants be sad that they can only sit in one spot now that they’re conscious or something?)
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saionjeans · 3 days
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thinking again about the touga wrapping saionji’s hand flashback framed as this moment of romantic tenderness but also I find it very difficult to read touga so charitably, especially when he then thanks saionji in a way that implies that he likes being able to hurt him??? which isn’t to say that I think touga utterly lacks all genuine feeling, but he obviously conceives of love through a logic of power and domination (due to his own formative abuse), and thus enjoys the ability to not only hurt saionji but also then tenderly patch up the wounds he caused as a way of making saionji vulnerable and thus dependent on him.
to help or care for another can be a genuine, tender moment of affection, but based on what we know of touga and the framework through which he has learned to view the world, even saionji’s cherished shining memory is permeated with this logic of power and control. touga appreciates saionji because saionji doesn’t seem to mind being made vulnerable to soothe touga’s highly fragile ego.
and what makes that scene so fascinating is the way it’s directly contrasted with touga actively manipulating saionji into hurting him in the present. touga admits that the wound is in fact minimal, but he makes a great show of being in tremendous pain, exaggerating the force with which saionji struck him. even when touga is ostensibly making himself vulnerable, a reversal of their formative kendo injury moment (sparring practice versus a “real” duel), he is still the one in control of saionji, playing up his pain to exacerbate saionji’s guilt, without revealing any real pain, certainly no pain true enough to render him actually vulnerable.
touga fosters a dependency complex with saionji and nanami just as akio does with anthy and utena by positioning himself as the ultimate victim even as he hurts and manipulates others to hold power over them. when nanami spends all day trying to catch a stray kitten to give to her brother who she knows loves cats, she is admonished for getting her dress dirty, at which point touga swoops in an comforts her, so that all nanami can remember is the comfort he provided her instead of the sacrifices she made for his love. when touga hurts saionji during kendo practice, he then tenderly wraps his hand so that all saionji can later recall is the intimacy of the act instead of who hurt him in the first place. when wild animals stampede across the school, tsuwabuki swoops in to recuse her until all she can remember is the boy who saved her from peril.
except, not really. tsuwabuki exists to emphasize the problematics of this logic, to signal to the viewer the exact mechanisms of manipulation touga is employing, and how creepy it seems even to nanami herself when these tactics are not employed with care and subtlety. even touga is nowhere near as subtle as akio, who fosters an environment of stifling conformity and then presents himself as a subversive rebel who is both powerful enough to excite but grounded enough to be a comforting presence.
and that is the entire function of the prince, is it not? to save princesses from the violence of a system they themselves have an active role in maintaining. to foster a dependency complex wherein they cannot envision a world beyond your imposed limits, and then scoff and dismiss and deride them when they struggle to escape. to blame the victim for being victimized by a victim who was, once, victimized in turn. to sit back to back on a stationary bicycle — cycling in place as the sun goes down.
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