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demonslayedher · 3 years

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do you think the village where Uzui was born and raised is not on that kind of map because the location of a ninja village has to be hidden? I know it's a bit silly question but when I saw that in that map there were all the places where the other columns live and not the position of Uzui I thought wtf maybe it's because the position of a ninja village is hidden and unknown to the common people (???) from the last official databook we know that there really is a ninja village

In general, yes, I think it's because the ninja village location was kept totally secret from the general public. The "unknown" almost seems like a joke on the readers, like, "duh, THEY'RE NINJA, they hiiiiide."

But while we're on the ninja topic, hey! Uzui's Dad! What in tarnation were you thinking!!? Not gonna go that in depth, but let's talk about how Tengen's experience is not the ninja norm, and being hidden was probably a huge matter for the Uzui clan.

First off, let me break your heart: THERE WERE NEVER ANY REAL NINJA.

(Yes, go ahead, cry. Just two days ago I learned that the use of short swords with square hilts to set against walls and kick off of to start climbing was only fiction that got accepted as the ninja-loving public’s collective headcanon. I was....... naive............)

Or at least, it’s complicated. There is a sort of fanon image of ninja which took over the public consciousness throughout Edo and Meiji popular culture, long after (as Daki pointed out) there weren’t really any ninja villages left. Besides purely “wouldn’t that be badass” ideas and “hey, let’s make the Kabuki stagehands the ninja, that’d be theatrical” conventions, it’s also a matter of different specialized roles and skills having been spread out across wider groups of people who worked alongside or against the local warlords in the Sengoku/Warring States era, and they all just wound up getting clumped together into the idea we hold so dearly today of the ninja badass.

But, accepting that the super-awesome-special-cool ninja is not quite reality but the standard in most ninja-related lore and culture, let’s think a bit more about the people who most closely lived up to the ninja image.

While not the only ones, the most notable ninja villages were in Iga and Koga (in modern day Mie and Shiga prefectures, close enough to each other that you can wake your friends up early and announce that you’re taking them on a surprise day of ninja training and hit both spots before the museums close). The goal of these villages was to survive as local jerklords like Oda Nobunaga were raising hell and saying, ‘yeah, I want all these Warring States for myself. While they did enact guerilla work tactics that made their territory difficult (but ultimately not impossible) to take over, they also worked with enemies of their enemies by working as spies to collect and pass on information. And sure, yeah, maybe assassinations were helpful sometimes and it helped to have tools ready to defend yourself if you ran into anybody in the dark.

But they didn’t go on these missions all the time. Most of the time, they had to eat. They had to farm. They spend a lot of time farming. And since the whole village needed to eat, they spent a lot of time farming together.

And yeah, the fact that they just looked like normal farmers was their greatest cover, and they did it well because they were farmers.

So then you get Mr. Uzui’s “only the strong eat” ideas and I’m like, “...sir???”

We can very, very easily place the Uzui clan’s ninja background in the realm of OUT AND OUT TOTAL FICTION OF SUPER-AWESOME-SPECIAL-COOL style ninja, the stoic ones who an inspiration to us all when we need to pull off a smooth kill. But, I question, what is their clans’ motivation for continuing to exist? If he’s fine with killing off the majority of his potential heirs, despite the callous culture of having lots of wives for the sake of producing many, many heirs, then pure and simple clan survival is not the goal. If it’s to be the strongest among other potential rival ninja clans, then having a bunch of your strongest members kill each other off is also not a way to do that. Also, if (again) clan survival is the goal, and your clan is doing so poorly that you can only afford to feed a small number of your members, you’re not farming right.

So where did the Uzui clan go so wrong?

Let’s keep roughly the same timeline of close-knit villages trying to survive when harassed and slaughtered by samurai warlords and having to go underground throughout the entirety of the Edo period, but look at a different group: the Christian converts.

The same might had happened in the Uzui clan, warped by centuries of direness to stay hidden, and nursing some regrets of not having been strong enough in the past, or perhaps, for having been too soft and affectionate and humanitarian and everything Mr. Uzui hated and wished to quash in his surviving children.

Although Christianity was gaining popularity in the time (what we now think of as) ninja were active, it was pretty effectively outlawed and squelched in the early Edo period, but pockets of it stayed alive. Often the villages would all make the choice together whether to be martyred or to deny their faith and keep it underground, and those who kept it underground retained it with a remarkable degree of fervency, so much so that when missionaries were later allowed back into Japan they were impressed with how well the Jesuits’ teachings had been retained.

However, the “Hidden Christians” had also grown into their own culture, and gained an identity somewhat warped by the experience of being so hidden, and for carrying the shame of their ancestors for having been cowardly and publicly denying the faith. This unique shame-shaped denomination of sorts is small, but can still be found in practice today.

Tengen grew up in a fanatical cult, albeit one with less straightforward motivations that the cult Obanai was born into. While Obanai had a clear understanding of how physically escaping was his only means of physical survival, Tengen and his wives needed to break free of the mindset. As the women in their clan are not supposed to value themselves over their husband, they are dumbfounded when Tengen tells them their lives are the top priority, because this is so contrary to everything they’ve ever been told. The fact that Tengen would assign value to the lives of people who require assistance to protect themselves is also a major affront to everything they’ve grown up knowing, in which their leader (in this case, Mr. Uzui) tells them to kill, then without a second thought, they kill.

With this perverted system of not valuing lives apart from their leaders, it’s unsurprising that core ninja skills like farming would have been lost.

And hell, if Tengen had to completely turn everything he had ever known upside-down in order to escape it, then HELL YEAH, TIME TO DO ANYTHING BUT BE HIDDEN. Maybe he didn’t have it in him to kill his father and remaining younger brother and eliminate the rotten cultish clan for good, but being HELLA FLAMBOYANT is the second best option he’s got to stick it to him.

----

So anyway. Two more thoughts:

1. I’ll bet Zenitsu reads popular fiction and feels like he’s a know-it-all about ninja. But any time he starts to spout something Tengen’s like, “ugh, no, that’s not real, if ninja used swords with square hilt guards they’d jab themselves in the ribs.” and Zenitsu would be like, “...... >: [ “

2. When Tengen presents himself to be in the Demon Slayer Corp’s service, he probably divulges ninja secrets by offering his wives’ expertise in ninja memorization, encoding, and communication techniques for passing super secret spy info.

And Ubuyashiki smiles and says, “That’s nice, but we have birds. ^_^” and Tengen is like, “......>: [ ”

#Uzui Tengen #KnY fandom theories and meta #Kimetsu no Yaiba #Demon Slayer

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indefinitely-in-fandom-hell · 4 years

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It’s Gaara Week! - just kidding, Gaara Week is in January - this is Gaara Weekly. So I heard the topic this time is:

“what Gaara would do together with Shinki if he had some time off”

now that’s just wholesome, how could I not at least *attempt to* provide some headcanons?

*side note: I have no idea how I ended up with this mess of a post but here you go*

So we know their hobbies: Gaara likes “battling” according to the second databook and by the time the third came around, he added “cultivating cacti” to the mix. Shinki likes both “gardening” and “embroidery” according to character trivia from Boruto. Makes sense that they would bond over tending to plants right? In fact, most would probably assume that Shinki adopted this hobby from his father. And while I do believe they get some rare father-son time tending to Gaara's cacti together - I don't know if that's what they would actually choose to do if they had a significant amount of free time.

If I was being realistic: They would probably spend their days off training.

_________________________ Yeah I hear you people in the back screaming “booo” - but this seems to be the most realistic scenario - to me at least. So let me explain:

His people and village always seem to be the priority for Gaara and Shinki is the future of Suna, not only as the Kazekage's heir but simply as part of the next generation who will take on leadership positions after the current decision-makers retire. There is not a single doubt in my mind that Gaara views mentoring future generations as one of his top priorities. Shinki wants to make his father proud and properly represent his family and village. He is hugely appreciative of any training time his busy father can spare for him - such an opportunity doesn't come every day. Both of them have very no-nonsense, goal-oriented personalities.

- So if Gaara had a couple of hours to spend however he wanted, he would invest them in the future of his village: Shinki. If Shinki had the chance to get some in-depth one-on-one training with his father, he would jump at the opportunity.

We know that Gaara, unlike Naruto with his son, has at least somewhat regularly been training Shinki in person. He has mentioned how he taught his son 'everything he knows' and Shinki actually training directly with his (very busy) father just makes sense: The two of them are the only people we know of with their kekkei genkai - and Gaara is the only one with abilities almost identical to Shinki's. It’s true that Gaara only knows the basics when it comes to iron sand - or rather, that was confirmed to be the case until at least the early blank period. But he would know next to every use of regular sand and that’s still more than any other jonin in suna. Of course, as the Kazekage, Gaara simply doesn't have the time to do the majority of Shinki's training - but I wouldn’t question that he's the one giving the crucial advice, reviewing his training progress and telling his son what abilities need more work.

So if he has a little bit of time to spare - I have no doubt he would (and does) put most of it into training Shinki. And that includes days off.

_________________________

But y'all didn't come for that - don't lie.

*enter Part 2: “But what if we talk about cats instead?”

We love these two (and the entire Sand-family for that matter) so naturally, we want to see them use their time off for anything BUT work or training. Gaara and Shinki are definitely the worst offenders here, they always seem like those people who would rather work on their duties than cut cake on their birthdays - Gaara more so because he seems very focused on always putting his own pleasure behind doing 'something useful to others' and Shinki because he's just beginning to realize the value of friendship. *Insert mlp meme here*

So for the sake of fun, we will just assume SOMETIMES Gaara decides that his son should do “normal activities” instead of training and ends up going somewhere with him. But where? If for some reason, Shinki were to accompany his father to another village for a diplomatic meeting, I think they would definitely walk around that village a bit and just take in the local culture: food, sights, and the like. Imagine the way Lee and Tenten showed Gaara and Kankuro around Konoha in episode 497 and had them try ramen for the first time - kind of like that. But this example also shows just how rarely Gaara seems to get time off during official visits: it took him being Kazekage for 4 years until he ate his first Ramen - but ok, if the war hadn’t been in the way I guess Naruto would have made him try it sooner. Now, if we are talking about “regular” time off, the place would definitely need to be in Suna - Gaara is important for the protection of his village so he can’t just leave whenever he wants.

I’m also going to assume that Gaara can walk around relatively freely without being bothered by crowds - if simply for the fact that we have seen him do so before, at least in other villages. Gaara strikes me as a character who could very much enjoy new experiences - there was once a time when most things “normal” people did were foreign to him and he had to go through a very steep learning curve after his first encounter with Naruto. I can see him trying new things when he gets the chance and also wanting to encourage Shinki to do the same - so long something falls not too far outside both of their comfort zones.

We established all the little details but no one has gone anywhere yet. So if we are going for something interesting: > how about we bring cats into this?

Gaara and Shinki strike me as having a lot of, for the lack of a better word, “cat-people energy” - were they aware of this before this fateful day? Probably not. Were they aware of it afterward? - you bet!

Gaara felt a bit confused when he heard that Suna would be hosting a big pet show for the first time in a few years *he had to sign the paperwork after all* - what was that again? People bring their cats and dogs to show them to visitors and a jury?

“Must be another unique way humans manage to be vain about their property” - the concept of placing much importance in the things one owns and how they reflect on you was something Gaara understood as a concept but never fancied.

He didn’t understand very well why visitors would want to see such a spectacle until Kankuro said something along the lines of “sometimes people just want to see animals do cute stuff I guess? You know how girls and kids are - show them a dog rolling over and they will go crazy - don’t worry too much about it, I’m also not much of a fan.”

On a second thought: “Oh but maybe Shinki likes that stuff? I mean he’s a kid - ..... although he doesn’t behave like one most of the time.”

- and with that comment, the deal was settled: there would be father-son bonding time scheduled and they would go observe cute animals!!

Shinki wasn’t very thrilled but what can you do - he wanted to train but was too well behaved and respected his father too much to object any of his decisions - no matter how strange some of them sounded.

In the end, none of them had high expectations for this trip but they went anyway because “At worst we have made a valuable experience” - Gaara

*Shinki didn’t dare question what could be “valuable” about this*

As it turned out, the date they picked for their visit was designated for cats of all breeds --

Of course, both Gaara and Shinki had seen cats before - from afar. No one in their family owned any animals - if you didn’t factor in the deer raised on the property of the Nara-clan.

But they had also HEARD about cats before

--------- mostly because Shukaku never seemed to miss an opportunity to insult them: “cats are the most useless creatures, it goes to show how stupid humans are for domesticating them” - “and you are sure you aren’t just saying this because kids always seem to mistake you for one?” -Kankuro would add

*Needless to say: Kankuro still enjoyed provoking people he really shouldn’t.* -------------

Well now the two shinobi were in front of one - their first close encounter with a feline - a big sand-colored persian with her owner, a friendly-looking old lady, standing next to her.

“Well I suppose they are quite endearing with their big eyes” -Gaara noted

Old lady: “Oh dear would you like to come closer? She really enjoys being pet behind her ears - she’s even calm with most strangers”

Gaara was a bit hesitant

When you’ve only ever heard bad things about cats and their temper you might think twice about petting them when you get the chance - at least until you take the courage to hold out your hand and they start purring like you are their best friend and they will love you forever.

Now, if anything gets Gaara - it’s being shown unconditional love and acceptance in unexpected places

yes apparently this does not exclude kitties

*holding out his hand while the cat is purring and meowing* Gaara : O.O Shinki, next to him: O.O Both of them internally: "ohhhh so THAT'S what all the fuss is about"

- Instant non-verbal agreement that cats are awesome

After that encounter, both might or might not have been extremely tempted to adopt a cat.

But since Gaara knew no one in this family had much time to spend at home - *and because he had this lingering sense that the cat might develop a taste for his succulents* - he had to resist.

This however wouldn’t mean that their next “family day” wasn’t already planned to be a trip to the local animal shelter. _________________________ Bonus:

eventually, Shukaku finds out about their trips and is NOT amused that they considered bringing one of “those things” home.

Yes- he’s still fuming from that one time he was carried by Shinki in his more “compact” form and a toddler pointed at them saying “oh your cat is so chubby! can I pet it? Pleeeeese!!” (*needless to say both Shinki and Gaara were mortified back then and hurried to get Shukaku away from the little girl before any casualties were to occur*)

He continues to sulk for at least a full month about this “betrayal”.

#Gaara #shinki #naruto #boruto #justgaaraweekly #gaara headcanons

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 245: The Second One

Previously on BnHA: We kicked off day one of New Internships with a fun-filled morning of shenanigans. Highlights included: (1) an old bearded man gallivanting around town telling everyone the world is going to end (and making a surprising amount of sense); (2) Bakugou and Deku attempting to rough up a group of impassioned hobos, only to have their thunder stolen from right underneath their noses; and (3) Hawks, the thunder-stealer himself, who proceeded to be all “what’s up fellas, hey Endeavor did you miss me?” Endeavor, who totally did miss him, pretended like he had not, and meanwhile Hawks introduced himself to Endeavor’s new trainees: Finger-Smashing Kid, Kid Who Used To Work For The Guy You Just Murdered, and Shouto (Just Shouto). Then he pulled out a copy of Re-Destro’s book and was all, “hey Endeavor have you heard of this book which was really important to the plot in the previous arc? I think you should read it, for reasons!!” and Endeavor just kind of stared at him, which wasn’t exactly inspiring. Anyways let’s see if these two idiots can manage to pull this off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks shoves the Liberation Army’s book into Endeavor’s hands while staring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, and then, to avoid suspicion, proceeds to hand out another 500,000 copies of the book without even being asked. He then flies back to the PLF headquarters and is all “good news gentlemen, I gave out copies of the Army’s book to everyone in Japan!” and they’re all “that’s great, Hawks!” because somehow it turns out that this was actually a good plan. Back at the Endeavor Agency HQ, the kids meet Endeavor’s 30+ other sidekicks, who are all “now let’s all stand around and wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do.” Over in his office, Endeavor shrewdly deduces that Hawks was trying to tell him something, and pieces together the hidden code Hawks left in his book, which basically reads “IN FOUR MONTHS WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.” Back at the PLF, the League cheerfully discusses their plot to blow up the entire world come Springtime. Which apparently everyone is on board with. So, uh, does anyone else feel like they accidentally fell asleep during a really important part of the movie, because uh. What.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

okay so two things: (1) as I mentioned in a previous post, Caleb Cook reported that this chapter took him more than 4 times longer than usual to translate. so like, what does that mean?? guess we’re about to find out!

and (2) HAWKS’S REAL NAME. I started typing up this recap early just so I could liveblog my reaction, since it seems that the databook has leaked, and I figure I’m going to stumble across this sooner rather than later. so I’m just going to look it up now here goes!!

AHHHH TAKAMI KEIGO AHHHH

lol. I have no idea what that actually means. let me look up some more stuff about this

oooh thank you reddit!

ooh damn, I love it!? “hawk” + “vision” lolol HORIKOSHI BACK AT IT AGAIN. but “watchman” is a really nice bonus what with how it relates both to the whole spying biz, and in a more general sense toward what he is trying to do as a hero trying to protect society. plus the name “Keigo” just has a really nice sound to it in general. kind of a boyish, youthful sound. not too hard or soft. idk. I like it. that was my favorite character in Bleach too

also apparently both of the kanji used for “Keigo” mean “enlightenment” oooh. my god I could analyze this all day. this being Thursday night, I’ll have some time to ruminate before I read the chapter tomorrow, so if I have any epiphanies I will add them in later!

(ETA: no additional thoughts on this right now, but there is now a ton of other content out from Ultra Analysis, so let’s take a quick look at some of that!

Haagen Dazs’s gender: I now feel vindicated in continuing to refer to him as a “he” even after the face reveal! let this be a lesson to everyone never to judge a shounen character solely by how pretty they are. not that it wouldn’t have been nice to have another female villain! anyways the important thing is that I still don’t have his name memorized and never will!

Thirteen’s gender?!: now this, I don’t really like. Thirteen was already in the previous databook IIRC and their gender was ambiguous. which to be frank was awesome. having a canon nonbinary character was sick. why you gotta do this now Horikoshi smdh.

Reason for Shouji’s mask: nooooo poor Shouji. people in quirk society are jerks! lol I get the arms being scary, but his face?? now I really want to see what he looks like though. it would be cool if he became more accepting of himself as a result of hanging with his chill classmates and decided to ditch the mask. anyways my boy needs a hug.

and there’s a lot of other stuff, including a whole series of cute segments showing the characters’ relationships with each other, but I think I’ll save those for another post because otherwise this would get way too off-track. but man, so far I’m really loving this.)

okay kiddos. it is now Friday, and time to take our horse to the hype town road. I have been waiting all fucking week for this shit so it had better not disappoint!

“Rising to Action” ooh, nice. guess this is not much of a “sit still” gang, here

okay so we’re picking off right where we left off, and guys, I just need to know, does anyone other than me find this kind of hilarious

like, I don’t know why but just. Endeavor’s face. omg. he just looks like he’s trying so hard to figure out what’s wrong. I think what it is is that this is the exact same bemused/perplexed expression that Shouto gets on his face all the freaking time, and it just tickles me to no end that the apple apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree. ahh Shouto I know you don’t want to hear this but damn boy you look like your dad

anyways. I think we can all agree Endeavor should not be looking this adorable and what the hell. let’s move on

LOOOOOOL

why is this so funny ahhhhhhh. they’re so fucking serious please stop. I mean, but of course they’re serious, though. the weird one is me, right? whatever!

so now here’s the handoff. between these two super-serious dudes

Endeavor you had better not do like me and be all “of course I’ll read it!” fully intending to follow through (really!) but then you never do and everyone is super disappointed and you start to read something else instead, all the while feeling incredible guilt! my point is, Endeavor, I hope you don’t have ADHD or we’re all fucking screwed omg

lol though thankfully we have a backup!

“oh boy!” clamors Deku, a gleam of excitement in his eye. “homework!”

OH MY GOD

WHO ARE YOU, OPRAH

ff now he’s just SLAPPING THEM INTO THEIR HANDS omg. this is amazing

love how Katsuki is keeping an extra 1.5 meters of space in between him and the others because cooties. or something

anyways! I really want them all to read it actually so this is awesome! KACCHAN YOU ESPECIALLY. I want you to read it and then give it a disgusted 1 star review on goodreads. show me how much you’ve grown kiddo

lmaooo

Todoroki Shouto. god’s perfect idiot. bless this child. someone explained Occam’s razor to him one day, and he just sat there nodding like “yes that makes perfect sense” and proceeded to apply it to every fucking thing in his life from there on out. “what’s Hawks doing carrying around 10,000 copies of The Book of PLF and just handing them out to strangers like an old lady on Halloween? processing... processing... oh I see, he probably just REALLY LIKES THE BOOK how keen”

this is what Hawks is up against. this squad of certified morons with two whole brain cells shared among them on a good day. boy literally brought three backup secret messages just in case Endeavor was too dense to figure this out, only to watch these kids exclaim, with perfect sincerity, “GOSH, HAWKS MUST REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK, HUH”

and meanwhile the best Endeavor can do is “............something.......... feels.... off.......” fml. we’re all gonna die. Hawks, I’m sorry. you tried!! next time give Momo your secret message instead!

so now he says that he’s actually recommending this book to all of his acquaintances omg. don’t tell me this handsome canary is actually going around handing out books to every single person he knows?? all to cover up this one action of giving Endeavor the book with the secret message highlighted in it?? okay guys help me decide: is this brilliance or stupidity? like, what is even going on inside Hawks’s head. “I’ll just fly around handing out copies of Atlas Fucking Shrugged to everyone I meet. that’ll seem really natural”

I s2g Endeavor if you don’t follow up on this...! THE WORLD IS COUNTING ON YOU YOU BIG MEATHEAD. GET TO READIN’. MAKE LEVAR PROUD

and now Hawks is flying away with his hands in his pockets

godspeed you dramatically casual bastard

now Deku is all “you know, he’s not much older than us, but he really seems like he’s got his shit together!” which, yeah. don’t you hate that? the truth is though it’s all an act, and he’s actually just as screwed up as the rest of you! the moral is: never trust any 22-year-old who seems like they’ve got their shit together. because, no. he sits on a throne of lies

Endeavor are you actually being thoughtful??!

oh my god. we may actually have a chance here. praise be

now we are cutting to the Endeavor agency! guys, fucking look at this fucking ‘E’, though

ngl that shit is dope. I’m mad. I would buy his merch just for the logo and I hate that about myself

holy shit

the... flaming hot... oh my god

holy shit there’s so many of them

(ETA: hold up -- “Bakugou” and “Shouto”? this is a crucial detail here; they’re using Bakugou’s last name, but Shouto’s given name. so either they’re calling him Shouto because they know his pop, or -- more likely -- they’re calling him “Shouto” because that’s his hero name. in which case, “Bakugou” most likely also refers to “Bakugou” as in the hero name, not his actual name. meaning that still is his hero name. meaning he is still undecided. fucking... Katsuki. honey. why.

ffff and the new databook seems to support this too. instead of a hero name, Horikoshi just wrote “XXX” indicating he still hasn’t made up his mind. welp. looks like it’s back on that slow burn character development train, folks. maybe by the end of this arc, though? please? Horikoshi? Horikoshi damn it look at me.)

so this is how the number one operates, huh. meanwhile All Might only ever had one sidekick, and reluctantly at that. he really was so far out ahead of everyone else that he was basically untouchable. crazy

anyways, yes! they don’t know anything about anything so please teach them!

good grief this girl says Endeavor has over thirty sidekicks?? lmao and her name is “Burnin’.” please tell me the missing g is an actual part of her name please I need this

wow, Burnin’ really went and tried to pick a fight with my famously hot-tempered son knowing full well what his personality is like. and just look at him keeping his cool and firing back though

oh, Katsuki. [hair ruffle] he will thrive here

damn these guys are passionate

Endeavor seriously picked these people as his sidekicks? that Endeavor? they didn’t annoy the shit out of him?? that man is an enigma

btw can we all just stop here for a moment and give a shoutout to this horse-looking dude because. look at him. amazing. new fave

anyway so now the mummy-looking guy is explaining how they organize their shift schedule

so professional. this really is the big leagues

yoooooo my boy is FIRED UP. READY TO SAVE SOME BITCHES! YESSSSS WIN AND RESCUE LET’S DO THIS

LET’S FUCKING GOOOO omg I love him so much. Kacchan you need to cool it or I’m going to spend this whole fucking chapter ruffling your hair

(ETA: incidentally, here’s something I neglected to point out earlier: in spite of being a belligerent asshole in general, Katsuki for the most part is actually surprisingly respectful to most adults, especially heroes. so it’s interesting then that so far, this doesn’t seem to apply to Hawks. he almost seems to consider him another rival rather than another mentor/teacher-type figure to learn from. I wonder if this is because -- as Deku pointed out earlier this chapter -- Hawks is much closer to them in age than the other heroes. it’s interesting that that was pointed out -- and that in the very next panel Katsuki was grumbling about how Hawks pisses him off, at that.

anyway. this BakuHawks rivalry seems to be an established thing now, so I’m very curious to see how this develops.)

lol now Mummy Guy is all “that’s great! now we just need to wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do!” and Kacchan is like “WHAT”

I mean, he’s got a point lol. “we’re so busy!” “great let’s get to work!” “actually we don’t have any work yet!” like, what a fucking tease. don’t worry Kacchan, they’re just waiting to make sure they assign you boys a job that’s plot-related so we don’t waste any time

ahhh, and now we finally come to the moment we’ve all been waiting for! the part that apparently took four hours to translate! ENDEAVOR READING A BOOK

yeah he was acting like he had a freaking gun to his head. why don’t heroes have secret code phrases they can use to let each other know some weird fucking shit is up? or maybe they do, but since he’s being recorded and since PLF has some heroes on roster who probably know those same codes (looking at you, Slidin’), Hawks didn’t want to risk one of them figuring it out. that makes sense

ahhh, here we go

don’t tell me Caleb tried to translate this whole thing. though I gotta admit I am hella curious

anyway. so the rest of this page is Endeavor metaing about Hawks, and it’s some good stuff, ngl

he really is fond of him, huh. look at all those pictures. how many mental snapshots did you take of this kid smiling?? he’s so adopted it hurts

and look at the concern in that last panel! “why is he acting so weird, that’s not like him, I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” damn, Hawks really did put his trust in the exact right person and it’s paying off

ENDEAVOR STOP MAKING THESE SOFT WORRIED FACES ABOUT HAWKS RIGHT THIS INSTANT I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THESE FEELS

god damn!! I don’t know why, but I continue to be surprised and impressed at how the character development of Endeavor is actually a subscribe and save deal and not just a one-time purchase. fucking look at Todoroki Enji, proud annual recipient of a different “world’s worst dad” mug every Father’s Day, actually caring enough about another human being to notice the subtle changes in his behavior and realize something is wrong. bruh. good for you!! human compassion is a damn good look for you, negl. fucking growth right here and I’m here for it

anyways, on to the hidden code!

and here are all of the highlighted portions for your code-breaking pleasure

fucking feel like I’m reading Detective Conan right now. yeesh

oooh!

BINGPOT LOOOOOL WHY DID I GET SO EXCITED OKAY LET ME GO BACK AND READ!

“the” “enemy” “liberation” “army” ahhhhhh! HAWKS YOU SNEAKY SON OF A BITCH. GOOD JOB ENDEAVOR!

and now we’re cutting back to Hawks, nooooo I wanted to see Endeavor’s reaction! come on!

lmao although it’s worth it to see Hawks mentally roasting Endeavor exactly like I was mere pages ago omg

his fucking face omg. that’s right Hawks, he’s not the brightest crayon in the box. not the sharpest tack in the bulletin board. he’s a few fries short of a happy meal. the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor

but give him some credit, though! because he did figure it out! not necessarily because he was clever, but because he knows you!

oh shit lol

OH SO YOU PLANNED THAT PART TOO. WELL OKAY THEN

goddamn. he really is a clever bastard. and okay but in all seriousness, I fucking love that he has enough faith in this weird connection between them that out of all the ploys he could have gone with, this is what he chose. he seriously put all his eggs in the “Endeavor will figure it out from my face” basket. and it fucking paid off. this is awesome

AHHHHHHHHHHHH HERE WE GO

LOOK AT HIS EYE OH MY GOD. YOU CAN SEE THE EXACT MOMENT WHEN HE REALIZES HOW SCREWED THEY ALL ARE, YES, FUCK, THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR OH GOD

and we’re cutting back to Hawks again! I’ll just assume the rest of his message went something like “we” “are” “boned” and Endeavor’s face was like :o

BACK AT THE OL’ VILLAIN HOTEL!!!

LOL WHAT IS THIS

THEY HAVE A FUCKING COUNCIL NOW

whose seat is that over on the left? Hawks’s? is Gigantomachia actually wearing a shirt?? AND SHOW US TOMURA’S FACE HORIKOSHI YOU COWARD

lmao oh my god are they really buying this shit

look at him. so trustworthy. nothing to suspect over here! just a 100% sincere born-again villain committed to the cause!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

NOOOOOO MY BABIES ARE EXPOSED. HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER PROTECT THEM I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

wow is the whole conversation just shifting over to the topic of Deku now, seriously?

oh my god oh my god oh my god. like. it’s been so long since the forest lodge and Kamino that I almost forgot that the League already knows these kids. they did fight Deku and Shouto briefly in the woods, and then they had an extended fight against Katsuki later on, although Dabi was unconscious for that part. anyways, shit. just like that they’re on their radar again I’m getting chills omgggg

(ETA: at least they’re underestimating them, though. “looks like he hasn’t gotten much stronger.” boy have you not heard about his bloop? that bloop will fuck you up just you wait!)

so now have some weird panels of Hawks walking through a door

(ETA: ohhhh you can see the door closing on the tip of his wing close-up! sneaky!)

ooh! wtf are you serious he can use his feathers to eavesdrop?!

(ETA: it only just clicked on my second read-through that Spinner of all people appears to be the mastermind behind this plan? like, am I reading this right? is he Tomura’s second-in-command now or what? damn, boy, good for you.)

okay, question. if he could do this the entire time, why did they even need him to pretend to join the League at all? I guess you never know when having a man on the inside who can possibly influence their decision-making will come in handy. but still, it seems to me like he could have easily done the spying bit without ever having to join up. ehhh but I guess there’s probably a range limit, and too much risk of the feathers getting caught and destroyed... eh, fine. I’ll allow it

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT EXCUSE ME WHAT?????

AND OF COURSE THAT’S THE END OF THE CHAPTER, LOL, FUCK. EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO STAND IN A CORNER AND SCREAM

lol “danger lurks” fucking you think?? what the hell! so they have an actual plan already, with the details outlined to the extent that they actually have a freaking timetable and everything? and the Liberation Army is on board with this whole thing too? the “destroying everything” part and all? this is too much to process all at once fuck me I can’t

okay! so four months from now is also when the kids will enter their second year! so that means Shinsou can get in on this action too. I’m trying to think of other significant plot things this could potentially imply, but none are coming to mind right now, other than it’ll be the anniversary of USJ. but that’s basically it. -- oh, wait, this also means that there’ll be a new first-year class of students at U.A. too! so that could be interesting. some potential new characters, and a chance for Deku and the others to be senpais. incidentally, to the best of my knowledge the kids will all stay in the same class and Aizawa will continue to be their homeroom teacher in year two. so nothing will change really aside from them becoming 2-A rather than 1-A. and Shinsou joining them, as mentioned. omg

anyway! let me see, any other stray thoughts before I wrap this up? I guess it’s worth noting that Toga’s eye is fine. the League has healed up pretty nicely in general actually. like, that’s seriously impressive for a group that doesn’t have Recovery Girl on staff. how long has it even been since Deika? a few weeks? this is almost ridiculous

and the “boom” -- is that literal? like they’re actually planning to blow everything up? or is that a metaphorical boom. fucking what kind of plan did they come up with where they actually think they can destroy THE ENTIRETY OF JAPAN all at once? is there a doomsday device?? what exactly is this “power” they’re talking about? HAWKS WHY DIDN’T YOU PUT THAT IN YOUR STUPID MESSAGE YOU BOOB

hahaha. anyways. it came down to the last two pages, but that certainly was a reveal worthy of all the hype. to sum: yikes

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha 245 #hawks #endeavor #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I honestly can't even think of anything to put in the tags you guys #four months from now!!#BOOM #well all right then!#I'm sure deku can master the rest of ofa in four months #this is fine #anyways #everyone running from the plot now as it barrels toward them like the giant rock in indiana jones #god help us

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mymelancholiesblues · 5 years

Text

RE2R and Aeon “core” themes: a sort-of long ramble

So, it’s finally released! Thankfully, I was able to play RE2R since its première, and over this last weekend I was getting familiar with the entirety of the story of Leon and Claire’s new scenarios, and well, there’s a lot to be said, right?!

I’ll start with what I didn’t like so much about this game overall (and the changes in Aeon), and then proceed to what I actually enjoyed and thought were good decisions.

The most serious shortcoming of this game that prevents me from giving it an immaculate 10 out of 10 is in the issue of lack of coherence and cohesion between Leon and Claire stories. Annette and William became paradoxes in the plot when you play both scenarios and it’s visible that Leon’s storyline barely intertwines with Claire’s one. Barely.

The 2nd Run, which should serve as a complement to prevent this issue on the plot does absolutely nothing about it. Both Claire and Leon face William under identical circumstances in the Machinery Room and the Bioreactors Room, which is quite inconsistent and clearly lazy from the scriptwriting point of view.

Annette reveals to Leon what happened to William to be turned into the monster he turned into and the entire city being contaminated in the exact same manner she reveals it to Claire, with few changes here and there.

In addition to all of this – and to make it even worse, if we stop to think about it – Annette shoots Ada and then dies right afterwards in Leon’s scenario, while in Claire’s she dies helping Claire save Sherry by giving her daughter the vaccine to the G-Virus in a scene where we see the self-destruct alarm being triggered precisely because Leon just removed a G-Virus sample. How was Annette in two places at the same time? Where, exactly, does she die?

This lack of care with the Birkin couple makes room to huge plotholes, holes that were easy to avoid had they bothered to put more effort in being thoughtful over the scriptwriting of the 2nd Run, only slightly changing who is responsible for hurting Ada, which consequently makes her unable to hold onto something when the bridge starts crumbling – it could’ve been a Mr. X’s hit, for example –, amongst other things. Not to mention that in Claire’s scenario, Mr. X is brutally ripped apart by G-William, thus putting an end to his hunt. Yet, in Leon’s scenario, we see him persistent in his pursuit until the end of the game.

I didn’t like the fact that now Leon doesn’t get to be aware that it was Ada the one who threw him the Rocket Launcher. Ada helping him in this specific matter – and him being well aware of this – was a consolidated “tradition” in this franchise, it reverberates through their RE4 and RE6 cameos. They could’ve made Ada leave a lipstick kiss on the box with the Rocket Launcher if it was the case that they didn’t want the “Here! Use this!” and “Ada? Is that you? Ada!” exchange in the remake. But to completely remove the crucial element which ultimately warranted Leon’s doubt regarding her survival from Raccoon was something I didn’t like at all. On the contrary, actually.

Also: I found Sherry suggesting that Leon and Claire should adopt her at the secret ending both unnecessary and misplaced. She’s a twelve-year-old girl who’s now left as an orphan by both of her parents, having just witnessed horrible things happen – I mean, that entire sequence with Irons, for fuck’s sake... She’s in shock, and have to process a lot of stuff as well. That whole “We can have a puppy or a parrot!” thing was very out of character and implausible under those circumstances. If they wanted so much to force something between Claire and Leon there, they could’ve settled with Sherry asking them if they were boy and girlfriend and being fondly refuted by Leon’s response and then Claire’s adding that the night would’ve provided one crazy date for them if it were the case.

But oh well. Now, to the parts that I genuinely liked.

This game is goddamn awesome! Its inventory management, maps, combat system, layout expansion, enemies... oh my god. It’s a beautiful and super fun game – if not for the crap they pulled with the lack of consistency on the scriptwriting of the main characters scenarios, RE2R would have stolen RE4′s rank as my absolute favourite in this franchise.

Claire and Sherry: my two beautiful baby girls! Everything’s thoroughly built and developed in Claire’s scenario – which is why is frankly a shame that Leon’s one wasn’t written to be coherent with hers on important plot points (William and Annette, Mr. X, etc.).

I thought the changes in Claire’s personality made her more consistent to what we see of her character later in the franchise, and I’m not bothered in the least by her flirting with Leon in the occasions she does it. She is a young college girl and, according to her bios in databooks, was famously known to have had several boyfriends by then and to be a player in this department (source), and, oh well, the guy is handsome, can’t blame her for hitting on him. It’s comprehensible and plausible. Oh, and Claire being more than a bit reckless and doing things like telling Annette that actually she’s the one who’s gonna take care of monster-William: loved it. I adore my imprudent Redfield children.

I wasn’t convinced that in the secret ending – when questioned by Sherry if he and Claire were a couple – Leon was flirting, he looks more confused and embarrassed as to how he’ll answer this little girl he just met than anything. When he reunites briefly with Claire outside of the police station just after the helicopter fell down, I did saw a sparkle of flirting, though – which, for me, also makes sense with the subsequent Leon’s characterization in later instalments.

I mean, the guy made a pass on every girl he interacted with. Manuela and Helena, who are both much younger than him: actually Manuela has the same age as Sherry – both from 1986 –, and Helena is even younger than her – born in 1989 –; although later in RE6 it’s possible to argue that Leon develops some sort of paternal affection towards Helena, he unashamedly flirts with her in that scene following their escape from the university when they decide they should continue their path through the sewers, just when he helps her recover her balance after she jumps in behind him. Let’s not forget about Hunnigan, three years younger than him, and Angela, a year older. We all know that he only rejected Ashley’s pass it’s because the girl is the president-of-the-United-States fuckin’ daughter, and he wouldn’t want to mess with that.

To put it simply, the only RE girls he never hit on were the ones he never interacted on-screen or got to see as a little kid (Sherry), because, let’s be honest, the guy is a real whore. At the end of the day, however, we all know who’s the one who owns his heart and is “the part of him he can’t let go of” so I really don’t care if he flirted with someone else in this game. This still means nothing.

Even for Claire, all that flirting means nothing, who later on in this franchise gets involved with the guy she works with and doesn’t have any kind of romantic relationship confirmed with anyone else. Still can’t convince me as a better ship than the canon one for Leon. Leon is a player, and by college time, Claire was also one according to canon – plus, they were young, very pretty, both single, and were experiencing the terror of entering that hell city together, which provides solid ground for a connection – all of which doesn’t change the fact that in the years to come for the rest of this franchise they still have not interacted much after Raccoon’s incident. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, Aeon (of course)! Buckle up because I will overanalyse the shit out of them in this.

I suspect that by now, the hate for Ada must be overflowing all over on Tumblr, discussion forums, YouTube’s video’s comments pages, everything. But I loved LOVED that RE2R made it rather difficult for those haters to just call her a cold-hearted bitch who only uses Leon. She warns Leon to just LEAVE Raccoon City as soon as he can SIX (yes, I counted) times. Six.

Do yourself a favour and get the hell out of here. (1) I told you to get out of here. (2) Find a way out. Before it’s too late (3) [...] We may not make it out. (4) It’s not too late to turn back, Leon. (5) Get yourself out of here. While you still can. (6)

Leon followed her trail around because he wanted to and not because she leads him to. Even though this is clear in RE2 OG, RE2R made it crystal. Leon’s agency on this is bluntly verbalized by him at least four times: “You’re stuck with me to the end.” (after escaping from the giant crocodile), “I'm not just going to leave you. Not like this.”, “You’re not getting rid of me that easy.” (when he finds her with a wounded leg) and “I'm not just gonna leave you here. What if you’re attacked, what if you need help—...” (right before she kisses him).

Remember what I said here? About Leon being an adult, capable of decision making and not a baby who falls victim to Ada’s shenanigans? Well, RE2R just made a statement on that. Though I doubt this will prevent the misogynist attacks Ada receives but, well, Capcom can only do so much, am I right?

you keep me up at night to my messages, you do not reply you know I still like you the most the best of the best and the worst of the worst well, you can never know the places that I go I still like you the most you'll always be my favorite ghost

(Big God – Florence + the Machine)

I was always bothered somehow by the fact that Darkside Chronicles added Claire meeting Ada as well in that night in Raccoon City. I’ll explain: I enjoy the concept, the imagery, of only Leon being able to connect a person to a name when it comes to Ada Wong – aside from, hum, Ashley, who barely gets to see her face (“so... who’s that woman, anyway?”), and Helena, who serves to Leon’s narrative as some sort of “heir” (just like RE6 wanted to do this with Chris and Piers, it implies it with Leon and Helena’s bond, after all Leon is also getting too old to star in more games in this franchise without it getting ridiculous). Chris doesn’t count here because, y’know, that whole Carla crap, not the real Ada.

Anyway, RE2R retcons Darkside Chronicles, thank god, and goes even further: putting Annette as well in the dark over Ada’s identity. She suspects Ada is a mercenary, like all the others who were attempting to steal the G-Virus up till then. Leon remains the one who connects “Ada Wong” to a character, to a face. She’s not only his guardian angel but his own personal ghost.

I love this because, in Ada’s RE3 epilogue, she mentions saying goodbye to that name... but if we stop to think about it, the only important person to her that crossed her path and knows her by this identity is Leon. This is super meaningful and beautiful, I really love it. That whole thing of Ada appearing in the shadows twice to save and alert him in RE2R that prompts him to repeat the line “Who is that?” and the “Somebody’s watching me...” one after Leon faces William in the Machinery Room contributes as well to this thematic imagery.

It gives me the feeling that, if nothing else, Capcom knows what they’re doing with this ship. They know the recurring themes, the essence of their dynamics, visual references and all. And, speaking of visual references: did you know that that whole Ada’s trench coat and sunglasses look is a direct reference to Chungking Express? A movie in which a police officer falls in love with a mysterious woman involved with the underworld crime? Yeah. There’s that.

Still on the recurring themes point, though, I can’t forget to add that Ada’s line “This is getting old... Saving your ass— that’s twice.” and Leon’s “Hey, you can't keep walking away from me!”, “Y’know. We make a good team [...]” and “I can't believe I actually miss her...” were fantastic touches, because, as I said here, they have their status quo, don’t they? Again: She keeps helping him. They team up and make a good team whey they do it. They part ways. Normal her, normal them. One and a half decade later they’re still on that. That’s why Ada’s “Watch out for yourself.” (answering Leon’s warn on Deborah “Watch out, you two! She's strong!”) and “Hm. The more things change, the more they stay the same.” (when Leon asks for help) lines in RE6 couldn’t be more adequate.

Oh, what about Leon’s “You protected me. Now it's my turn.” and Ada’s “We’ll call it even.” in the RE2R? Hahaha, oh poor sweet summer-children. I love, LOVE this sort-of hybrid between call-back (because we, as an audience already know what will happen to them later in the plot) and foreshadowing (but they don’t, so those lines serves as this too).

And Leon wasn’t being cold when he threw away Umbrella’s wristlet. That gift connects to a part of Ada that hurts him. This actually resonates with their exchange in RE6, when she throws him a mysterious ring (“Here.” “A ring?” “Don't get the wrong idea. It'll make sense later.” “Ok.”). He doesn’t know the nature of her true intentions, her true goals. He’s always kept in the dark over this matter, so it makes sense for him to throw the wristlet away, but say that he misses her. The subtext here is clear: despite having mixed-feelings over Ada’s true alliance and role in all that’s been happening in his life, he still misses her the most. His “recurring element of personal need” that, at the same time, he “distrusts because it goes against everything he believes and stands for”, as Matthew Mercer has put it.

siempre que te pregunto que, cuándo, cómo y dónde tú siempre me respondes quizás, quizás, quizás y así pasan los días y yo desesperando y tú, tú contestando quizás, quizás, quizás

(Quizás, Quizás, Quizás – Gaby Moreno)

Let’s talk about the flirting text, sexual innuendo subtext and overall romantic dynamics RE2R presents for them. From Ada’s pulling her arm away from his touch, to her whimpering “Where's Leon when I need him...?” when she’s hurt. The change in which Ada goes through in this game concerning precisely her relationship with the rookie police officer she just met feels more organic and believable than in RE2 OG – despite my love for the original instalment, Ada rarely flashes personality there, so I’ll have to concede that it’s really harder for the broader audience to empathize with her.

This RE2R Ada, however, starts melting when Leon blurts out his motives for joining the force after seeing Kendo having to deal with his little daughter clearly going through the zombifying process. Even though Kendo just pointed a gun to his head, Leon sympathizes with the guy “[…] Helping people like them… that’s why I joined the force.”

When Ada answers him in this scene, she’s not lying. We have solid proof given by the development of the entirety of this franchise’s plot to believe that she really is in fact, as Project Umbrella puts it in her profile, “acting secretly in the background of many biohazard incidents and collecting information which becomes useful to several organizations, while at the same time operating to undermine them”.

Sure, Ada does hides more than a few of her cards and makes use of half-truths a lot, but by this point, we know that her moral alignment is closer to that of the good guys than to the villains. Capcom chose Ada to be a Chinese character, and reciprocity is very important in Chinese culture. Check it out:

[...] Hence, the Confucian view of relationships is highly reciprocal. There is a Chinese concept that highlights this notion of reciprocity: bao. According to Yang (1957), bao (or pao in the original text) has a wide range of meanings, including “to report”, “to respond”, “to repay”, and “to retaliate”. Yang explains: “The center of this area of meanings is response or return which has served as a basis for social relations in China. The Chinese believe that reciprocity of actions (favor and hatred, reward and punishment) between man and man, and indeed between men and supernatural things, should be as certain as a cause-and-effect relationship, and, therefore, when a Chinese acts, he normally anticipates a response or return. Favors done for others are often considered to what may be termed “social investments”, for which handsome returns are expected.” There are many Chinese sayings that concern the meaning of reciprocity - for example, Ni jing wo yi chi, wo jing ni yi zhang (“If you honor me a foot, I shall honor you 10 feet in return”). Another - li shang wang lai - translate as (a) “courtesy demands reciprocity” and (b) “deal with a man as he deals with you” or “pay a man back in his own coin” (A Modern Chinese-English Dictionary, 1994, p. 543). (Chinese Business Negotiating Style, Tony Fang, 1997, p. 116-117)

So, the “We’ll call it even.” line carries more layers than one to its meaning.

By the way, Capcom choosing to change how she reacts to him being shot by Annette was lovable! She patches up the injury in his shoulder and leaves her trench coat over him. She's already so in love, haha.

Leon, on the other end, starts falling in love when she saves him again – this time from Mr. X –, in the parking garage; the “I didn't realize you were keeping score.” (that’ll be later echoed by Ada’s own “Didn't realize we were keeping score...”, thrown back at him when he categorically tells her that it’s his turn to help her because she protected him) line, accompanied by his little smirk, exposes him to us, the audience. And the way his face lightens up with a huge smile in reaction to seeing her only pressing a button to explode an entire police truck in Mr. X's face seals the deal.

The “No chance. You’re stuck with me to the end.” line, that’ll come soon later, in the sewers, is just symptomatic. The guy’s hooked and don’t even bother to hide it, almost begging to touch her or be closer to her in any way he can: like it wasn’t enough grabbing her thigh to help with her injury, he also immediately suggests being nearer her trying the “Grab my shoulder!” offer (to which Ada’s reply “Don't push it, rookie.” and Leon’s coy “Yes ma’am.” only further clarifies to us that their physical intimacy is escalating quickly but she’s still a bit reluctant to it).

Leon soothes a bit his flirting advances when Ada complains about her injured leg (“Urgh... this damn leg...”), his “Let me carry you—” is gentler, and more sincerely concerned. No second intentions there, and that’s why Ada refuses softly by saying “No. That'd only make me feel worse.” just right before asking him “How's the shoulder?” The guy took a bullet for her! And now’s offering to carry her. In addition to feeling vulnerable, she feels horrible about herself. I also liked how Leon chooses to be sincere with his “Worse than it looks.” answer, getting the “What a pair. Both got one foot in the grave.” response line from her. It gets me emotional somehow. These two idiots, offering to help each other even while sustaining grave injuries themselves.

I never felt that the kiss in the RE2 OG was forced. But RE2R surely reconstructs the scene to be more organic and satisfying to their blossoming relationship. The fact that the kiss takes place in the same sequence that these lines: Ada’s “Once we get the G-Virus, I'm back on my own.” (again, symbolising the recurring themes between Leon and Ada, after all, her job creates an unbearable divisive line between them). And she inquiring him with the “Hey, Leon... Trust me?” to which he retorts with a “You trust me?” and is answered back with the most sincere I’ve seen from Ada in all of this franchise: “Honestly... If I didn’t, you’d probably be dead.” She's being so candid here. Her walls are down.

After she kisses him and puts a hand on his knee, the “I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. I gotta see this through... and I want to see you again. I got plenty to live for. Trust me.” line is also a result of her defrosting process for and because of him. She has to fulfil her mission but she did fell in love with him. So, when she says “Leon... I’m counting on you.”, it IS supposed to hurt us. Leon’s “I know.” too. Because we know that what is waiting for them isn’t a happy and peaceful resolution. Not there and then, at least, in that 1998’s September rainy night in Raccoon City. Maybe in a distant future, but not now.

We know that RE4 intensifies the sexual tension surrounding the two of them because they never did get a chance to resolve it in the following six years after 1998. Leon obsesses with trying to find out if she’s indeed alive and Ada doesn’t try to reach out, probably making an effort herself to move on while giving him his space to do it as well. So, the innuendo in RE4 is also amplified. We get lines such as “Need a ride, handsome?!” and Leon getting a full close look at her thigh and ass when she abruptly stops the boat they’re in because he’s fidgeting too much while staring at her face. Ada even seems convinced that Leon is going to kiss her at one point (when he’s being controlled by Las Plagas), raising her hand softly to touch his face and leaning her head in.

The promise of resolution and “settling” – if only in the circumstances they are in, choosing to accept and adapt to them, comes with RE:Damnation and RE6. “Only” 15 years later.

all your lies are spinning round my head and all, all this line of sorrow, ooh, yeah ooooh, yeah all your lies are spinning round my head and all, all this line of sorrow, ooh, yeah ooooh and I will, I I ohh, ohh and I will, oh, only for you and I just don't know what to do, my head has such a cloudy view I'm so tired, of trying, ooh ooh ooh

(Only For You – Heartless Bastards)

Lastly, I’d like to share my two cents on their confrontation in RE2R and the first of their many separations. Remember I said those last lines in the turntable tram hurt? We can see Leon’s heart shrinking when Annette cynically points out her thoughts on Ada.

Again, like in RE6, their facial expressions in this sequence are key. When Ada shows up at the Main Shaft, she looks worried, anxious. Everything’s falling apart, her time is running out, she still hasn’t got her hands at the G sample, her leg hurts like hell and Leon is taking forever (did something happen with him?). When Leon breaks the silence in this chaotic setting with his “I was just thinking about you.”, Ada isn’t lying when answering “That makes two of us. I was getting worried.” It’s written all over her face, imprinted in her body-language. She’s verging on despair.

After zigzaing around the matter for a bit, Leon finally sums up the nerve to directly touch the subject that is truly bothering him: his conversation with Annette and Ada’s lie about being a FBI agent. Upon Leon’s refusal to hand her the sample, Ada reveals this little “facial tic”, in which she ‘squeezes’ her left eye when pressed to say/do something she seems uncomfortable or doesn’t completely agree with – like exposing herself, emotionally. It’s subtle, but it’s there. She’ll do it again when challenged to shoot him later. The following exchange, with hers “Oh, Leon... Why couldn't you just hand over the sample?” delivered like a lament, is retorted with Leon’s “Because I realized, as much as I wanted to trust you... I didn't.” Shit son, developers KNOW what they’re doing. Isn’t this Leon’s entire issue with his love for her in a nutshell?

Ada’s tone still resonates with a lot of grief when she confesses that she “[…] really hoped it wouldn't end up like this.”, it kinda evokes the “I really wanted to escape with you... escape from everything.” line in RE2 OG but without being so mushy (Jake Peralta’s voice: I love it). Leon maintains his urgency for an explanation, however, and when he asks “So that’s all this was... I was just some pawn to you?”, it’s a plea. Was Annette right then? Tagging along with her was a terrible mistake on his end? Saving her was a mistake? What about falling in love with her – what now? All he wanted in this goddamn night was to do his job and help someone. Save someone. And he fell in love in the middle of the way. With a possible moral antagonist to all he stands for in his line of duty – oh, the tragic irony.

Let us not forget that now CANONICALLY they just spent hours together – in the launch trailer, Capcom suggest that they’re walking together out of the RPD parking garage by 21:03 pm and it’s 4:51 am when Leon uses the herbicide to kill Plant 43 (as seen in the ‘Byron Cartwright's Inbox’ file); considering that to take the G-sample and the confrontation with Annette (and then William) took at least another hour, Leon’s been with Ada for almost eight hours, just like I deduced by RE2 OG info.

Capcom absolutely kills me with the next part in Leon and Ada’s final scene: “Look, I am just doing my job.” and “And I'm doing mine, so drop that damn gun! I'm taking you in.” OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEEEEEEE

THIS IS LEON AND ADA’S RELATIONSHIP BACKBONE

THE DIVISIVE, BITTERSWEET LINE SEPARATING THEM: THEIR JOBS. GOD, I LOVE THIS. AMEN

(Sorry… they’re my babies, I love them so much).

Ada pushes back, recollecting herself and demands: “Hand over the sample, Leon.” just to melt again while adding “I don't wanna hurt you.” to complete her line. And well, Leon goes and kill all of us, doesn’t he? Ada, us fans, everyone, defying her to pull the trigger: “Then you shoot me, but I don't think you can.”

Well, he’s right. Six years later, in RE4, there’s a lot of unresolved resentment for him to toss that one again when she points a gun to the back of his head (it makes sense – great job, Capcom! – it’s been a long time, he can’t know for sure if her feelings for him remain, if she’ll be compassionate this time). But there, in Raccoon, she didn’t disappear for six years with him having everything to believe that she died all the while hoping that she didn’t… yet. So he does it, he defies her to shoot.

And of course, she doesn’t. He looks so, so happy for this tiny, tiny sec before Annette shoots Ada. Oh, Annette. For a moment there, Leon looked quite hopeful this wouldn’t end in a heartbreak. But everything starts falling. Ada too. The way she exhales his name and how Leon is the desperate one now. Like he’s finally aware that even though he might have suspended time for a while (ignoring it), stolen a few minutes, it’s over now.

It’s all so… visceral? Heart-wrenching? I don’t know. His “Hold on... I think I can... Agh! Shit!” while doing his hardest to not let go of her, and when she says “Forget it.” how he immediately responds with “Shut up— I've got you.” I got you. When I first watched this cutscene I teared up when Leon said this. He’s so in love. Failing to save her here is going to leave him traumatized, scarring him forever. It goes on: Ada’s “It's not worth it.” and Leon’s plea “Don't do this...”.

All of those lines are essentially them throughout this franchise. Ada thinking that he should move on, forget her because “it’s not worth it” – they can’t be together, not in the conventional style, so why should he bother with her? But Leon never did, did he? He’s always pleading for her to come back, to not leave, to not let go.

Her final wish, “Take care of yourself, Leon.” before Leon loses strength to hold her any longer, and Leon’s loud “NO!” together with his expression, the way he lingers, the music. It’s all so, so well done, so beautiful.

RE2R follows RE2 OG, RE4, RE:Damnation and RE6 example: making us spoiled Aeon shippers. Thanks Capcom, in 17 years of shipping them, you guys never disappointed me. Whatever RE8 holds for us in the future, this was a satisfying ride: I’m happy with Leon and Ada’s resolution in RE6 as I previously said in another meta. I sure as hell won’t complain if we get more, but damn, this ship – together with Cloud and Tifa from FFVII – shaped my views on love, devotion, attraction – and for that I’m more than grateful.

#Aeon #Leon x Ada #Ada x Leon #Ada Wong #Leon Kennedy #Leon S Kennedy #Leon Scott Kennedy #OTP: like a part of me I can't let go #[meta]#[mine]#//#long post #Aeon fandom #Aeon metas

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