ok. migi & dali opening. i am going to talk about it now.
throughout the opening we see so many Things. the entire series up until the second to last episode, i hadn't paid that close attention to it because god that song is a banger and honestly i was more focused on the music than the animation, despite being captivated by it every episode. but that episode for some reason. i paid more attention that time and had some Realizations.
one question i've had every single time the opening has played has been "why does one of them take the cherry pie and the other does not?" throughout the opening the two of them are seen doing the same things, effectively mirroring each other, which makes sense considering it was most of the plot for the first few episodes, so i really didn't think about it too much. but with that pattern established, it's extremely strange when, at the end, one of them strays from the shared course of action to take one of the slices of cherry pie that's sitting on the chairs.
another thing i noticed when i actually paid attention was that the one in the shadows in all their activities is always dali.
and if that's not enough, we have this shot of migi and dali as sun and moon respectively, and i think we all have enough media literacy to understand the implications of that.
then we have this shot of them, showing migi floating higher and dali sinking lower.
all of these screenshots to say that the opening animation tells us exactly what the series, or at least the part that the anime currently covers, is about at its core. we see it in the series time and time again as these two try to make their way through the world.
migi is portrayed in the series as somewhat childish, frequently to a fault - generally more hopeful in what he believes, which shows in his actions and the way he interacts with others in a genuine way. dali is severe and bitter, much more driven by the idea of getting revenge for their mother, seemingly just for the sake of it at this point, and being willing to do it at any cost because he doesn't value anything other than his brother.
migi sees the good in things and, while still helping dali with their shared goal, is genuinely enjoying his life with this family and in this town. dali, on the other hand, is dedicating everything he has to their goal, not caring or bothering to invest any part of himself into anything else. (this is portrayed also by migi being in the light, enjoying the activities he's doing, and dali being in the shadows, spending all his time trying to solve their mystery.)
this conflict of priority between them results in the fight they have in episode 9. a showdown between hope and despair, over a bike in a river, all as a result of migi's off-comment about wanting to eat cherry pie again.
and now the bike. they state this explicitly in the dialogue, but it's the first gift migi has ever gotten. so when dali throws it in, he does not hesitate even a little bit to jump in and get it. the bike is meaningless to dali - just another thing to toss and discard for the sake of moving forward. he gives up on everything so easily because he never bothered getting attached in the first place. he's so quickly ready to abandon anything and everything aside from migi. there's no way that he can be happy like that and migi knows that. migi is all he has and they both know that.
the jealousy he expresses is just jealousy that migi is able to find happiness and value in things other than him while he's unable to do the same, as a result of his bitterness and his fixation on finding their mother's killer. he's jealous that migi is growing closer to other people and making connections that are important enough to him that he's not willing to just throw them away with the toss of a bike.
so he takes his brother down. he forces his head underwater, and asks if he's still thinking about that cherry pie (THIS LINE IS SO FUCKING GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!). he tries to drag migi down with him into his own despair, tries to convince migi that his beloved cherry pie isn't really all that important. that it's not worth as much as migi's acting like it is.
he tries to literally beat the hope out of migi. he is so desperate to be hopeless that he beats the shit out of his brother over and over about it.
but, of course, that would never be enough to stop him.
and we're back to the cherry pie. dali finally caves and agrees to go back and try to sort things out, not because it's what he thinks is best for their safety, but because it's what migi wants for his happiness. he realizes that he'll only continue to hurt migi if he pushes his own cynicism on him and forces him to leave everything behind, since he had the guts to get attached. even though dali doesn't really understand the value of the cherry pie, he sees how much it matters to his brother. he sees his resolve to experience those small moments of happiness again.
the cherry pie is taken from migi's side of the shot.
throughout the entire story, migi has been the one to see the value in the simple things, like taking walks with the dog, having friends to hang out with and do wacky bird shit with, riding a bike, and eating cherry pie together. he is not afraid to experience joy and is willing to fight for it, for both him and his brother, even if his brother doesn't see the value in it quite yet.
migi will see the good in things. he will have hope for the future. and he will take the cherry pie.
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You know what one of the skills of a good baker is? Being able to follow a recipe.
You know what's NOT a good recipe? 'make a lemon meringue pie'.
Even if you've made a lemon meringue pie hundreds of times before, even if you know how to do it, there are things you have to consider, like ingredient amounts, bake time, accounting for baking with a different oven and possibly different temperatures, using tools you may not typically be used to using to make your pie, a TIME CONSTRAINT that may not match what you usually use.
A decent recipe would provide that information. A paired down recipe should at least give you more than 'make the fucking pie'. It should at LEAST give you amounts to work with. Or an oven temperature. Or both.
It should, at the VERY FUCKING LEAST. GIVE YOU AN INGREDIENT LIST.
Every time I think the technical challenges might be improving or might be something that actually represents technical skills a baker should know even if the recipe itself is unfamiliar, they do something like this. Or like having tacos bring your technical for a baking show. Or tossing in maid of honor tarts that nobody has literally ever heard of. Or expecting a bagel to be crunchy and being surprised when a babka is on the heavy side. Or. You know. Most of the technical challenges in the last few seasons.
Prue and Paul are awful people for doing this. The showrunners should have put a leash on them to stop them from making the technical a nightmare ages ago. Especially when, half the time, it doesn't seem to factor into the judging (remember Helena winning technical on the week she left?).
I understand the showstoppers being intricate and insane (to a degree, the portrait cakes were a mistake), because they're showstoppers. They're supposed to be special and elaborate and not something you make every day. I understand the signature parameters. They might not always be simple but they're things people know how to do.
The technical? I have NO IDEA what the technical means anymore, beyond pain and making the bakers suffer and turning their work into a big joke.
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“Who goes there?!”
“Leave this place at once!”
Behold! My first ever Cookie Run AU:
!Reunited Alternate Universe
Eclair and Blueberry Pie, two of the most studious cookies in the Parfaedian Academy have known each other since their primary school days. Known to be inseparable by their peers, and well respected by their teachers. After graduation they had promised to stay in touch while pursuing their own dreams and to reunite once they felt the time was right. However, one day Blueberry Pie seemed to…disappear. She stopped responding to Eclair’s letters and no amount of searching or asking he did ever amounted to anything. Eventually he gave up the search and, with a heart filled with grief for his dear friend, accepted the fact that he would never see her again.
It was 20 years later when Eclair had heard about the Wizard’s Archive in the City Of Wizards and the historical value its possessions held. Though his friends warned him not to go, speaking of rumors of a cursed monster who roamed inside the archives, destroying any cookie who’d dare enter, Eclair’s passion and curiosity greatly outweighed his fear. He was confident that he could handle any threat with the blessed tome that he’d been gifted, whose protective spell has kept him safe time and time again on his past expectations.
But what Eclair discovered in those archives would be far beyond anything he ever expected.
“I’m sorry, d-do I know you…?”
(reblogs are greatly appreciated!)
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pie review
Okay so believe it or not but i havent actually even eaten my oen pie yet lmao, but so far all my taste testers (which are all drunk for some reason but thats irrelevant) said that i ate when making this one.
probably gonna see how it tastes tmorrow cuz if i eat any more sweets today still i will perish on the spot lmao
My pie making experience was definitely something and I'll probably do this again cuz it was the best way to spend my afternoon ever i actually had so much fun 💖💖
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