✨A cozy nest✨(April's fool post)
Hello friemds, I really can’t believe I’m doing this sdfsdfsf *implodes*
This is a pretty secret project of mine I’ve been working on for quite a while. To be honest I’m not even 100% sure it works AHAH but I guess you’ll find out by yourself
It’s nothing much I swear so don’t expect crazy things 👉👈
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💕 PLOT 💕
The premise here is that you’re a newly recruited agent with the goal of reaching the top of Targent where you’ll get to choose your romantic route (yes it’s only three for now I wasn’t able to manage more but don’t worry I didn’t spare on spicy scenes 👀)
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⚠️LITTLE WARNINGS ⚠️
despite the shortness of this it includes some spoilers for the prequel trilogy so think wisely before playing! ~
as I said there could be little issues here and there, if you notice something’s off let me know so I can fix it (or at leasy try eheh)!
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Alrighty I think I rambled enough so enjoy!! Click here to play
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Bloom into You Analysis: Chapter 2
As many people know, chapter one of Bloom into You ends with Nanami confessing that she is falling in love with Yuu. This is obviously a shock to Yuu, who had the misconception that Nanami was like her -- unable to feel love. Through the use of symbolism and foreshadowing, chapter two pushes this moment from a simple proclamation of love to a situation neither of the main characters, and a few of the side characters, can ignore.
Here's my favorite panel from this chapter (it was an easy pick), followed by the analysis below the cut:
Chapter two starts quietly, with Yuu sitting in the tub wondering what the heck just happened:
This is, for her, a totally natural thing to do given the circumstances of the day. As she reflects on her conversation with Nanami, the audience sees of flashback that shows how the conversation ended: with Nanami realizing that she had done something weird and backtracking it. At first, this seems like an odd choice from a narrative perspective. At the end of the last chapter, the audience sees the inciting incident; Nanami confessing her love to Yuu. Then, at the beginning of this chapter, the narrative seems to be walking that inciting incident back, returning the story to the status quo (somewhat) from before the confession. This is not entirely the case. But, to understand what the narrative is doing, we first have to take a step back and give it a moment to establish what this new pseudo-normal looks like.
So, the next day (or maybe a couple days later, the manga is not really clear on the timeline), Yuu and the rest of the student council meet at the student council room to celebrate a successful year, and the upcoming departure of their president and the current officers of the student council. Then, through dialogue, the soon-to-be former president asks Nanami if she is planning to run for student council president, proclaiming that she will win by a landslide. Nanami confirms that she is running. Then, another member of the student council asks Sayaka if she is running, a question she answers with a resounding no, before saying, "Like always... I'm just happy to stay by [Nanami's] side and support her" (v.1, ch.2, pg 8; emphasis original). Long term yuri fans will immediately flag this comment as suspicious for reasons we will get into a moment. While all this is going down, Nanami has pulled Yuu aside to ask her to be her campaign manager, leading to this moment:
This page is incredibly interesting because it is foreshadowing on several different levels. It is setting up the first major arc of the story, which the next few chapters will on. It is also creating a pretense for Nanami to spend time with Yuu, signaling to the audience that their relationship is likely going to develop. And notice who beside the two leads is on this page: Sayaka. Look at the disappointment on her face. It is incredibly clear that Sayaka expected that she would be Nanami's campaign manager over anyone else. And now, this freshman who Nanami has only known for a few days is getting the job? This is goes beyond foreshadowing, because there is a bit of a twist involved. From the outside, it appears that Sayaka is getting jealous because she is getting ousted as Nanami's best friend. In fact, they even have a brief argument about this later:
But, Sayaka herself, as well as people who have already read the manga, knows the truth. She is in love with Nanami and is afraid Nanami is falling in love with Yuu. It has been long established, in Sayaka's mind, that Nanami cannot fall in love and she therefore has no chance to be with her. So, she has accepted her fate, and has decided to be as close to her as friends as she can, and that will be enough. But now, she is reading between the lines and is starting to worry that Nanami has fallen in love, but with someone else. In the scene prior to this one, Yuu is contemplating why Nanami would pick her over Sayaka, and she comes to a similar conclusion. Regardless, Sayaka acquiesces, telling Nanami that she better not lose and asking Yuu to take care of Nanami. And, with that, Yuu and Nanami walk home together, presumably to strategize, which leads us to the conclusion of this arc.
As the leads girls walk away from the school Yuu gets the courage to ask Nanami about the awkward moment from the other day, leading to my favorite panel, and two incredibly significant pages of the story:
And this moment is why the narrative seems to backtrack away from the confession at the beginning of the chapter, and it is full of symbolism. But, to fully explain the significance of this moment, we have to look at what happens right before the kiss, starting below:
As Yuu and Nanami are walking, they approach some train tracks, which they cross. But, right after they cross, the bars of the train crossing drop. Here:
And here:
Now, this story does not fit the archetype of the hero's journey, but I am going to borrow some terminology from that literary device. In this moment, Yuu and Nanami are crossing a symbolic threshold. Think of the train tracks as a door. Yuu and Nanami are walking through that door, and the train track barriers dropping for an oncoming train signifies that the door is about to close. In the moments that the train arrives, Nanami turns, and as it passes she kisses Yuu, before confessing love to her again.
This moment has a weight to it that Nanami's first confession did not have. Before, they were both standing in one world, where Nanami's confession could disappear and they could both pretend it never happened. Now, they have stepped through a door into another world, one where Nanami's feelings are tangible in a way they weren't before. And, the door to their prior world has shut. There is no going back. From here, the story starts in earnest, and we are left in a very different place than we were in the first chapter. Now, instead of Yuu figuring this out alone, Yuu and Nanami are standing in the aftermath of what happened, together, as they wonder what they should do.
See you on Friday, January 10th, for Chapter 3! ^-^
Here's the bonus image for this chapter, which is about the pre-written speech Sayaka gave Yuu to read:
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[Image id, screenshots of the transcript from the penumbra podcast of the following conversation;
LORD ARUM:
And finally, this:
I granted two of the most beautiful blooms in the world their freedom — the freedom to do what they most wished, no matter the pain or consequences to me. It is not even half-forgiveness for what I’ve done, but... I did what good deeds I could when I saw the opportunity. That is all.
JUDGE:
Two blooms?! You had... Did you have two Moonlit Hermits, Lord Arum?!
LORD ARUM:
No. It was just a metaphor.
JUDGE:
Well, what did it mean?
LORD ARUM:
I choose not to say, takatakataka.
In the bottom right corner theres the "live slug reaction" meme which depicts a big slug looking at the conversation with no specific expression on its face]
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fell asleep for a bit and woke up and am FERAL about binx actually and the revelations about her and like, the implications of her, right? surena was like ‘what if there’s someone who wants to break it’ about the game the rest of the archfey are playing and YEAH WHAT IF THO
like!! binx as an archfey with relatively little power!! ‘court of craft’ and i thought oh, craftiness sneakiness disguise whatever, but no she is MAKING things, and they are wondrous but she makes them with her hands bcos she’s used to having (maybe still has) very limited magical power
(the magic that other fey throw around like it’s nothing, and how it fucking galls, but how she has made it work, how she has managed to disguise what she does and make it look like she’s totally capable of throwing just as much magic around, bcos she’s so fucking good at her craft)
but she’s a warlock patron, which yes is work which the idle rich do not have to do, but that’s also a sharing of power? she gives magic to a mortal, to a being ignored and despised by other fey, which she herself has so little magic to give! mika asks for more spell slots and binx can’t, she has not more spell slots to give her, but she asks her to thank some wood and pull string from her clothes and binx helps her make an unseen servant to help her out, i am so 🥺🥺🥺
(i am wondering so much abt next episode and her saying she’ll look out for someone and brennan w/ the ‘are you a mortal’ bit, is binx helping out a mortal in the fey realm hhhhhhhhhhh)
but thennnnnn is warlock patroning like. an investment. u give a mortal some magic and that mortal grows stronger and then u can siphon off some power so u can give them more magic...... is that what that is, as a job, is that how fey like binx survive when their courts aren’t strong enough to be like the court of wonder.
is that what any of the rest of the courts have to look forward to if they lose their status? the lords of the wing have a threat of their own house weakening, is this the future their marriages would prevent?
as fun as the romance and drama of regency stuff is, all of that romance and drama and reputation and society is all a big delicate fancy rich-people game around... power. resources. after all, at the core of pride and prejudice is the inescapable fact that if they do not marry, the bennet girls will be destitute and homeless. they are lucky, to make love matches, but there is a fear beneath that. there are choices made.
and, under all the games and the wealth and the romance and the drama, we’re told at the top of episode one: the bloom is a manifestation of the feywild’s natural magical resources. the resources all of the characters, all of the courts rely on. the natural ebb and flow of magic, the bloom is the center of magic being high. being so very available for use (or overuse, or misuse) (and of course, mainly by those in power).
and rumor has it, this could be the last bloom............ ever.
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