#smash satsuma
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Obligatory recipe preamble: I hate cooking. I'll try it out if it has a Kimetsu no Yaiba theme, though, and for this episode of Kimetsu Kitchen, we're making Rengoku-san's favorite. Not just satsuma-imo (sweet potatoes), but specifically, satsuma-imo miso soup! There's also a couple bonus Mugen Train related recipes (no, we're not preparing a meal of over 200 sleepy passengers).
Let me start by saying I'm not a huge fan of satsuma-imo. Among sweet gourds and potatoes and chestnuts, I find them irritatingly sweet without being a satisfying sweet. I can eat them, but I find their flavor overpoweringly like a waxy feeling all over my mouth. Anything for Rengoku-san, though.
That also meant making miso soup. I have never, ever been good at making miso soup, even the kind that comes in instant packets. I rarely buy miso because I live alone, don't have that many recipes I like using it in, and the packages tend to be huge and last so long that I can never trust the "best consumed by" date because I leave the package open so long before I can get remotely close to finishing it. However, that meant I was able to experiment day after day with failed miso soup recipe before hitting upon a method I felt confident using for this recipe.
What most recipes will tell you is you don't boil miso soup. Sounds fake, but ok. The other thing you see in miso soup commercials is that they put some of the hot dashi broth in a ladle held in the left hand over the pot, and then stir it with chopsticks held in the right hand. I am talented with chopsticks but not a ladle. I failed at this many times. I suppose I shall never be a Japanese bride. Shufu fail. The way I Gaijin Smash my way through miso soup is to put the miso paste in an entirely separate bowl and stir it with two spoons which I can use to spread out the clumps. Which it pulverized to my liking, I pour it back in with the hot/warm dashi and other ingredients and give it a stir.
For the rest of my meal, I made an Enbashira Haori Salad (with a bed of daikon, and since daikon are huge I later used the rest of it for second attempts at Giyuu & Muichiro's favorite foods), and had shijimi clams with my rice because they are supposed to be good for your liver, so they're the kind of thing Rengoku-san would had encouraged his father to eat. My Rengoku-san cup is filled with water as opposed to liquid fire, though.
Finally, I had grilled salmon picked up as-is from the grocery store both because I didn't feel like cooking another dish and because this was my dinner the previous night. If you follow Kimetsu Academy, you know. You know.
As for the results of the satsuma-imo miso soup?
It would be an exaggeration to say that I shouted "UMAI" but I did, totally legit, take one bite and make a big,
MM!!!!
sound.
I was very surprised just how good it tasted! I think what really did it for me was that instead of being any old miso soup, it had a brightness to it thanks to the satsuma-imo, but the miso was what really served the potato. It brought out the savory undertones I really appreciate in gourds and root vegetables that lean a bit to the sweet side, like the saltiness smoothed that overpoweringly waxy sweetness so I could appreciate the wider flavor profile of the potato. I would love to repeat this success!!
However, it should be noted that because single-sized portions of miso soup can be a pain, I would up eating two portion sizes and it was a very yomoya-yomoyada night. That, and I still had half a sweet potato...
Anyway, I checked back on that Taisho Secret in the first fanbook where we first learn that sweet potatoes make Rengoku-san shout "WASSHOI," and found a few other culinary details.
"He had a gyunabe bentou (beef hotpot boxed lunch) on the train. His favoite bentou side dish is salted and grilled tai (sea bream), and satsuma-imo gohan for the rice. When he eats satsuma-imo he says wasshoi wasshoi."
Although I don't recall what first it was, that means the beef bentou I had at the winter 2021 collaboration with the Kyoto Railway Museum was perhaps one of the more accurate takes on Rengoku-san's bentou out there. While I didn't feel like dealing with fish, like I said, I still had more sweet potato. So I made satuma-imo gohan! Sweet potato in rice! I don't feel like telling you what English-language food bloggers will do better, go follow a recipe like this.
Thinking back to food on the train, maybe Tanjiro didn't wind up eating any bentou apart from what Rengoku-san stuffed down his throat in the opening theme, but there were a lot of mentions of food with the Kamado family.
Like... making senbei out of old rice cakes! But that would require having a way to grill rice cakes, and like, having rice cakes... so I just bought senbei to snack on instead.
Or... making takuan to steal from your brother! I did still have lots of daikon, after all, why not try pickling it like the Kamado family would? Because I've read this can be a stinky practice, that's why. My kitchen has no window, no thank you. I bought takuan for a side dish instead.
Mountain greens? No thank you, I've already suffered through tara-no-me.
If we turn to some other Taisho Secrets, though, there were a few exclusively printed in the booklet handed out at the first showings of Mugen-Ressha in Japan. To borrow from my translation of them which can be found here...
"What was Tanjirou’s mother most skilled at cooking?
Tanjirou’s mother was very skilled at cooking, she made a wide variety depending on each season. She also really liked trying out regional recipes that other people shared with her. Her children’s favorites were sanma-no-soba dumplings and tofu baked in miso.
(Translation note: Sanma-no-soba dango is a rural dish from the Nagano area, a decent distance northwest from where Tanjirou’s family lived (see my post about canon geography here). It has a piece of mackerel pike wrapped in a dough made of buckwheat flour.)"
Let me say that I appreciate Kie, perhaps even project on her a bit, since I have a mole in the same spot and have feelings toward Tanjiro and Nezuko which can be described as "My Son" and "My Daughter." That, and I've been curious about those sanma soba dumplings ever since learning of them through this Taisho Secret.
...I dislike cooking, so my similarities with Kie end here.
However, the photos of the process of making this rural snack in a traditional irori style hearth do strongly tempt me to travel to Nagano just for the sake of finding some Obaasans to teach (as in, do it for me), because wow, that is aesthetic.
So that left me to make Tofu Dengaku, that is, baked tofu with a miso glaze. After all, I still had have tons of miso. I don't feel like teaching you how to do it badly, go read a foodie blog. I will say that perhaps unlike the majority of my blog readers, I love tofu. I love eating it (but I don't play cello), and I don't mind cooking with it because even if I get it wrong I still find it palatable. That's good, because there were big mouthfuls of tofu here to go with my satsuma-imo gohan and takuan pickles I picked up from the store. I had bought a nice new jar of turmeric with the intention of attempting takuan, but instead I just stir-fried my mushrooms with it. Mushrooms are totally something Kamado children would eat with their mountain greens, right?
Both the satsuma-imo gohan and tofu dengaku were supposed to be decorated in sesame seeds, but I did not have any. I had pure black sesame seed spread though! Like the fun of eating charcoal without the silly (and dangerous) food-fadiness of it! This also tends to have a waxy, over-powering flavor which I find often needs some sweetness to bring out its nice flavors (like pairing it with honey on toast), or perhaps the saltiness of the miso to help bring out the other sides of its flavors. So that's what those big black globs are. Learn from my mistake, maybe don't put big globs of this stuff on anything. Oh, and the decorative little yellow spot is mustard. You know. Because fancy.
I've had... better dengaku, we'll put it that way.
And the rice? Well, there was mirin in the recipe, which seemed to make the sweet satsuma-imo even sweeter, which I just didn't enjoy much in a rice dish. No 'wasshoi' or 'umai' outta me on this one, but hey, I tried.
#Kimetsu Kitchen#Rengoku Kyojuro#Rengoku Kyoujurou#look at the sweet potatoes on the placemat in that first pic#didn't they turn out well!?!? it really looks like Rengoku-san is eating them!#...eating them raw#Rengoku-san no please cook them#set your potatoes ablaze#and also#KnY Closet Play#Kamado Kie
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Remember that one time Noel Fielding smashed a satsuma on Never Mind the Buzzcocks? Well my sister drew that.
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Don’t Forget About Me - Ghost/Bones
"Hey, hey
Without you there's holes in my soul
Hey, hey
Let the water in
Where ever you've gone?
How, how, how?
I just need to know
That you won't forget about me
Where ever you've gone?
How, how, how?
I just need to know
That you won't forget about me
Lost through time and that's all I need
So much love, then one day buried
Hope you're safe, 'cause I lay you leaves
Is there more than we can see?
Answers for me"
Don't Forget About Me - CLOVES
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Cue a Satsuma desperately trying to stay relevant. I dunno man, something about the new Ghost reveal trailer thingy ma jig just got me dusting off the old word processor. As always, I fell into a trap of thinking about Ghost and Lara McCoy, because quite literally a decade on, I’m still writing about these lovesick fools.
I’m not sure what this is, but it was just one of those things where the picture in my head, the song and the words just knitted together and I bashed out 2000 hasty words like a woman possessed. It’s a weird mash up of Modern Warfare 2019 (we’re on the eve of new Ghost dropping), Caught in the System AU where Lara and Riley never stop being a thing and old school Modern Warfare 2. I’m just as confused as you are.
Dedicated as always to my muse and my love @smashinterrupted because she inspires me to write even when she doesn’t know about it. Also because she puts so much into the friendships and communities she cares about, which is just you know, all kinds of beautiful.
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On a painfully average Tuesday, Lara feels her heart beat again.
It's been a dismal February, grey and filled with thick welling clouds that by now seem perpetually hung in a snow white sky. The start of a new decade, although with January all but a memory the world's eagerness for a fresh start has faded. The new decade is more of an afterthought now, just another chance for likes and validation. The magazines might have dropped their “New Year, New You” bullshit for another year, but social media is still filled with ten year challenges and glow ups set amongst its usual materialistic fakery. For most, it's an annoyance, seeing selfie after selfie clog their feed. For the people who are struggling to move forwards, each fresh, light hearted post cuts as deep as the last.
Lara is a creature of habit although in truth she no longer remembers if she has been all along or if the army made her this way. Regardless, almost every afternoon she finds herself here, queuing in her local coffee shop for the biggest, most caffeinated beverage money can buy. It's her daily ritual, a blessed half hour of peace and quiet before she has to return to Sandhurst Military Academy and somehow teach the officers of tomorrow to be better than she ever was.
It's oddly mild for February, but the constant fine drizzle outside chases away any hopes for Spring. Inside the packed coffee shop it's sweltering, a humid, artificial warmth that has her shrugging off her khaki jacket and tying it around her waist. Anywhere else and she'd look quite the sight, dressed fully in her army fatigues, trousers tucked dutifully into her standard issue black boots. But here, she blends in. She prefers it in almost every way, her desire to stand up and be counted long since passed.
The barista doesn't even bother to ask for her order, greeting her with a soft smile that he reserves for polite regulars. Barely minutes later, her to go cup is clasped between her sweaty palms and she turns on her heel, bracing herself for another afternoon teaching at an institution she no longer truly believes in.
It's in that moment when her heart threatens to burst from her chest.
If she'd been alone, she would have been so sure that she was hallucinating, the face that greets her one she's spent the past 4 years so terrified that she'd forget. But they're flesh and blood as they stand in front of her, customers bustling around them in a way that tells her that this can't be anything but real.
Simon Riley, dressed in civvie clothes that still somehow manage to look so alien, even after all this time. His face is weathered, more scarred and a little older than the man she remembers. And yet the look in his eyes takes her back in an instant, brown irises that look at her as though she's all that matters.
He's a ghost in every sense. There hasn't been a moment in 4 years where she hasn't grieved for him.
Right now, it's all she can do to put her coffee down onto something solid before she drops it.
"Bones..." His voice his hoarse and he visibly swallows before her, nervous hands hanging idly by his sides. His dark hair is slicked down with rain, whilst bigger droplets pepper the exposed skin of his neck and arms. Despite the weather, he's only wearing a t shirt and jeans, the fabric betraying a body that is thicker with muscle than she remembers. There are what look to be deliberate scars littering his forearms and what little she can see of his biceps but she's not even sure she wants to know why they are there.
Lara quickly realises that she's been staring dumbfounded and silent. She swallows, her throat drier than it has any reason to be. There's a part of her that just wants to run forward and hold him, but it exposes a vulnerability she doesn't dare show. Instead her brow furrows, her voice stronger than she feels when she finally does speak.
"...How?"
Riley looks at her as though it's the hardest question in the world.
Maybe it is.
"Outside." The word comes out like an order, an echo of the man she met when she first joined the 141. It's unfair how she feels it like a kick to the stomach, memories she's fought to repress suddenly flooding her mind. She's sure that she doesn't let it show and yet somehow, Riley softens, barely. He cocks a head towards the door. "Please?"
Her feet decide for her, her coffee long since abandoned along with some confused teenagers.
Outside, she barely feels the rain, despite her jacket still hanging around her waist. She folds her arms, grasps her biceps in a way that somehow feels like the right thing to do, although not for a moment do her eyes leave Riley. She falls in step beside him as he leads her to the shelter of a nearby bus stop, her fingernails biting into her skin to fight the intense desire to reach out and touch him.
"I thought you were dead." It appears stating the obvious is the place where her mouth chooses to take over and begin.
"It was safer that way." Riley shrugs, although it's by no means as confident a gesture as he intends. "Price wasn't the only one to get his name dragged through the mud that day." There's another name missing from his admission, but Lara knows him well enough to know that he'd never want to give voice to MacTavish and the black mark they put against his name. Not even now, when the world knows the truth of it, a truth their Captain fought and ultimately died for. "I needed to disappear. No better way of doing that than dying."
'You could have told me,' Lara says to herself, though she knows better than to give the words voice. Her heart hates his decision, but her head understands. Would have likely done the same even when she would have had a family to mourn her. For Ghost, she was his only family. Instead, she leans back against the bus shelter, the sole of a boot propped against the shoddy plastic wall. "You still haven't told me how."
"I don't..." She can almost feel the crack in Riley's voice, but he swallows it back expertly. Instead he runs a hand through the wet tangle of dark brown hair atop his head, grimacing as he struggles to find the words. "I was... lucky." The word rolls off his tongue with an air of disgust. "Shepherd slotted Roach... right there in front of me. Shot me too but it didn't put me away the way he expected. I played dead in the dirt like a fucking possum, wondering if any of it was worth it. I don't know what made me finally crawl away. I came back for him, but by then... they'd taken care of him with all the others, Makarov's men, the lot. I threw my mask in the fire and figured it was better if everyone thought I was gone."
It's too much, the grim resignation in his voice, an almost monotone quality that fights to mask the emotion behind the words that leave his mouth. Lara can feel anger stirring in her gut, her heart panging with the same pain that had hit her that morning she'd woken up from surgery, away from the 141 and out of the fight. It's all too easy to picture, her eyes welling up with tears for the little brother she'd found in Roach. It crushed her the moment she found out they were all gone, but it's no easier now hearing it from Riley all over again.
He notices before she can try and look away, practised eyes reading her the exact same way they always have. It's another reminder of everything she's been missing, another stab at her gut that somehow isn't soothed by his presence beside her. Tears slip from her eyes and she swipes at them with frustrated hands, turning from him in a mix of shame and confusion.
His touch is a question. A hand reaches for her shoulder, a gentle squeeze of pressure that is more timid than anything they've ever shared. It feels like an unknown, like they're right back where they started except this time they are both fragments of the people they once were.
There's so much to say; her thoughts a chasing whirlwind that clouds her mind. She hasn't the words to even begin to express them. She wants to feel anger, wants to thrash and scream and punish him for every empty feeling she's had since he's been gone.
But she can't. Maybe one day she will, when the tempest in her mind has finally calmed and she can think clearly again. Now, the only tangible emotions she feels are the pain of losing everything and the complete and utter relief that he's found her again.
Her heart is his. Despite everything, that's the one thing that's never changed.
She spins around before her head can tell her no, arms wrapping around a neck they'd never dreamed to hold again. They're both off balance, stumbling backwards clumsily until Riley's back presses against the plastic wall. His hands fall to her hips, a familiar weight that threatens to choke her as she closes the distance between them.
The kiss is messy, a jumble between two people fighting to take as much of each other in as possible. Teeth and noses clash and they move clumsily against each other, hands gripping fearfully as though they could drift at any second. It's everything she's forgotten and nothing she remembers all at once.
She breaks away breathless, eyes closed as she rests her forehead against his. She can feel his heart hammering against her own, doesn't dare speak in case she ruins everything with the wrong words. Outside the shelter, the rain is falling heavier now, beating off the tarmac in a steady rhythm. She wishes that the white noise would swallow them both.
"I'm sorry." It's barely a whisper, but Riley's apology is there, brushing against her lips. It's enough to shake her from her thoughts, and she takes a cautious step from him, her eyes finally able to meet his. She reaches out, straightens his shirt were it lies crumpled against his skin.
"There's so much more we should say." Her hands move to his arms, tracing the foreign scars her fingertips find there as if to prove a point. He looks at her as though he doesn't even know where to start and she shakes her head, cutting him off before he even begins to try. "Are you staying?"
"... Do you want me to?"
"I never wanted you to leave." Her words are blunt, echoing the only thing she knows for sure right now. Her right hand traces his arm down to his wrist, before her fingers slip clumsily between his. The soft grip of her hand tries to convey everything she doesn't feel able to say. "Stay."
And she means it, wants it more than anything she's ever wanted before. There's so many questions, so many complications that she knows deep down it will never be easy, that they have countless hurdles laid out in front of them. She knows that talking will hurt, that memories and emotions she's buried deep will come back to haunt her as soon as he begins to answer her questions. She's under no illusions that this will be anything like a fairytale.
And yet despite that, she knows he's worth it. Knows that she's never for a second stopped loving him. Living without him was the cruellest of lessons; the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. Now that he's back she can't imagine ever wanting to feel that again. She won’t. She barely made it out alive the first time.
He's the type of ghost she never wants to stop haunting her.
#sass pretends to be a writer#caught in the system#cits#lara mccoy#simon riley#skeleton#ghost/bones#smashinterrupted#smash satsuma#call of duty#call of duty modern warfare 2#call of duty modern warfare 2019
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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 25 - Smash Kurata’s Ambitions! Fly, Yatagaramon!
In this episode, with Mercurimon grievously wounded, the DATS team furiously fights back against Kurata’s artificial Digimon weapon. Ikuto, now knowing who’s really behind all of his suffering, finally reaches a resolution in his feelings about humans.
Narrator: “However, what they learned from him was the shocking truth.”
Are you sure, anonymous recap narrator? Are you sure it was even remotely shocking that Kurata turned out to be super duper evil? I don’t think it was, somehow.
Maybe what they mean by “shocking” was the sheer cruelty of the Digimon massacre, which they just learned about in full. Yeah, let’s go with that.
As we finish the recap, Mercurimon collapses in agony, clutching the wound in his side where he was shot, which has turned into glowing yellow visual noise, some of which is slowly floating out of him. It’s a neat effect; Digimon don’t bleed, of course, but this sure looks like some kind of digital equivalent of him having been severely, horrifically wounded.
Ikuto and Falcomon rush to his side in a panic to try and do something to help, but Kurata tells them it’s pointless.
Kurata: “That wound makes him past the point of saving.”
It sure does. We saw what that same Gizmon: AT laser did to SaberLeomon – it suddenly made it not just possible but easy for him to be taken out by a less-evolved Digimon. And when he died, the egg disintegrated. All of Kurata’s weapons contain some kind of specific property he must’ve created that causes the eggs to disintegrate and the Digimon to die for real. Of course Kurata doesn’t want those “vicious monsters” ever coming back.
Masaru: “You bastard! How dare you attack from behind like a coward!”
Hah, I love that Masaru is furious at how underhanded and cowardly this move of Kurata’s was. There’ll be more on this from Masaru later in this episode.
Kurata spouts some more of his usual spiel about how Digimon are a danger to humans and must be eliminated, which, again, he has utterly convinced himself is the truth of the matter.
Kurata: “Let me put it very simply. My goal is… Digimon genocide!”
Turns out, this is a series about preventing attempted genocide. Now it’s starting to make sense why it’s called Digimon Savers.
…And, okay, Kurata probably shouldn’t actually be calling it genocide here. People who commit genocide do not admit that they’re committing genocide; that’d be like acknowledging that the people they’re mass-murdering are people. But that word was a subbers’ decision that maybe wasn’t the right one. The word he used in Japanese wasn’t specifically “genocide” and literally translates to something more like “complete erasure”. That’s not admitting that Digimon are people or that he’s committing a terrible atrocity at all.
Tohma: “You manipulated us for that purpose?”
Tohma isn’t surprised here at being manipulated, because he and Satsuma could very much tell that Kurata was Up To Something. He just had no idea that Kurata’s real purpose was something this deeply horrific.
Kurata: “From my experiences in the Digital World Exploration Squad ten years ago… I learned first-hand the true savage nature of Digimon. I realised that Digimon will only bring destruction to humanity and that they must be destroyed!”
Yes, Kurata, sure. “Realised”. “Learned”. Like these notions are totally just the objective truth about Digimon that nobody else is intelligent enough to see, and not the paranoid exaggerations of a selfish coward who’s incapable of seeing things from anyone’s perspective but his own.
Kurata is absolutely a thoroughly irredeemable piece of human trash (and, boy, he’s only going to get worse from here), but I really appreciate him as a villain, because you can actually understand what makes him that way. He’s realistically evil, because he’s human. I don’t mean that in the narrow-minded sense that Humans Are Inherently Bad and always being violent and destroying nature or whatever; I mean it in the sense (that could equally apply to a Digimon character) that humans are flawed and irrational and people. Kurata’s evil comes from him being a flawed irrational human person whose human psychology happened to cause him to deal with a traumatic experience in the absolute worst possible way, culminating in him trying to commit genocide.
If you’ll permit me to criticise other Digimon seasons here just briefly, this is remarkably rare for Digimon. Most Digimon villains try to take over the world and kill or oppress Digimon or humans simply Because They’re Evil, and those are just the kinds of things evil people do, right? The evil comes first, out of nowhere, with no explanation; it Just Is, because Evil Just Exists.
But that’s not how real evil actually works. Rather than doing terrible things Because He’s Evil, Kurata is evil because he does terrible things, and he does these terrible things for realistic reasons tied to his experiences and psychology that we can actually understand, even as we’re horrified by it all.
Kurata: “Even my greatest obstacle, Mercurimon, is now knocking on death’s door.”
It’s interesting how Kurata sees Mercurimon as his single greatest obstacle to his goal. Does he think Mercurimon is the only Ultimate-level Digimon left out there since he killed SaberLeomon? I doubt it. This is probably more about how he’s still centring everything around himself – Mercurimon is the biggest threat because he once attacked Kurata personally while Kurata was busy attempting this genocide the first time. Kurata must have been terrified at just how close he came to dying to Mercurimon’s fists that time, though he’d never consciously admit it. Obviously that makes Mercurimon far more important than any other Ultimate-level Digimon out there who would also almost certainly object to the genocide and try to fight Kurata once they heard about it.
Masaru: “Just like me and Agumon… If we’d talked through fists, we could have come to an understanding with Mercurimon!”
Oh, Masaru – he’s still thinking about how his interrupted fight with Mercurimon would have been an attempt to communicate with him and reach an understanding! And he’s explicitly presenting it as the same thing that he did with Agumon when they first met! This talking-through-fists philosophy of his is really starting to come together.
Kurata: “Why are you so angry? I’m just getting rid of one Digimon!”
Look at this slimebag trying to present his actions as not even that bad by arguing that he’s only killing (not even killing, they’re not people, it’s not murder) one measly Digimon – while having literally just stated his intention to kill absolutely all of them. He’ll twist things however he can to present himself as being in the right, with no heed at all to basic logic.
Masaru: “You bastard! Looks like you won’t get it until I punch you out!”
Masaru has had enough of Kurata’s bullshit and runs in to punch him. I don’t blame him, Kurata is the most eminently punchable person we’ve ever met. Yet, I also like the way he presents this as trying to make Kurata get it. He’s still, in a sense, thinking of his punching as communicating, like he’s hoping on some level that beating the crap out of Kurata might snap some sense into him and force him to admit how obviously wrong he is.
Kurata orders his Gizmon: AT to get in the way and then retreats to a greater distance. He doesn’t outright show it here, but I think Kurata is scared of the thought of Masaru getting into a direct fight with him. His cowardice is mostly centred around Digimon, but it can extend to other humans, too – anyone who’s trying to hurt him, really.
Kurata: “This makes for good entertainment! Let me show you Gizmon’s strength!”
Yes, Gizmon versus a human teenager is totally a fair fight and definitely not Kurata letting himself feel powerful and in control by showing off his brilliant creation.
Masaru is initially frustrated that the Gizmon is in the way of his real target, but then he rolls with it, leaping into the air with the power of anime physics to punch it right in the robotic eye.
One evolution later, RiseGreymon’s attack doesn’t leave a scratch on the Gizmon, and it retaliates by morphing its wing/propeller-things into something like foldable polygonal tentacles that reach out and slam RiseGreymon into a wall. Gizmon: AT is an Adult-level, but like we saw before, Kurata’s creations do not care about evolution level power differences.
Tohma: “You should have tested how strong it was before you jumped in!”
Masaru: “Shut up!”
Come on, Tohma. How do you test how strong something is other than try to fight it? And even if he did know how strong it was, what was he gonna do? Not fight it because of that? Hell no, not Masaru.
MachGaogamon and Lilamon get in on the action too (sadly no offscreen evolutions for us today). MachGaogamon’s attempt is equally fruitless – and I note that Tohma also just rushed in without testing anything first. Then Lilamon attempts her Un Deux Pollen, which is apparently an attack that paralyses the foe on a mental level by captivating its “heart”, rather than a more physical effect. This fails, too.
Kurata: “Bewitching attacks won’t work! After all, Gizmon has no heart!”
This has kind of been apparent already from just looking at the Gizmon; though they’re technically Digimon, they’ve behaved every bit like soulless machines, mechanically following orders and showing no hint of initiative of personhood.
Kurata: “I created this new Digimon from the Digimon that I’d captured and modified.”
Masaru: “You *modified* Digimon?!”
Yoshino: “No way… How could you do that to them?”
Tohma: “He erased its emotions to turn it into a doll that’ll simply obey his orders.”
Everyone – especially the Digimon, though they don’t say anything here – stares in horror at learning even more of how despicable Kurata is. It might have seemed like the Gizmon were simply something like powerful robots he created, but I guess, in order for them to be Digimon and have the incredible power that Digimon have that far surpasses any human weapons, there needed to be some essence of actual existing Digimon in there too. So Kurata just captured a bunch of poor unsuspecting Digimon on one of his many secret trips to the Digital World, then blended them up and mashed their essences together until all of their soul and personality was completely gone. Eurgh. Those poor Digimon. That’s an even worse way to go than having your egg disintegrated.
Kurata: “What do you think? Such strength at only the Adult-level!”
Tohma: “Adult-level?!”
I like how Tohma knows his evolution levels enough to react to how unprecedented this is.
Kurata: “Gizmon will fight exactly how I tell it to. Digimon are only useful when you use them as tools.”
It may seem hypocritical that Kurata, who hates Digimon so fervently, is using Digimon himself to complete his goals. And while it’s not like Kurata isn’t a huge hypocrite in many ways, this bit actually does make consistent sense in his mind and is very telling of his approach to all this.
The physical body of a Digimon itself isn’t the problem for him; he hates and fears Digimon because they have free will and he can’t control them, and therefore at any point they could totally come and viciously murder him and all of humanity like the beasts they are. But a Digimon that has no soul, that’s engineered to only obey his orders and is completely under his control? That’s no problem. That’s just a useful weapon that shows how clever he is and gives him power over the rest of the Digimon who are such a threat to him.
Kurata: “Oh, yes. If you agree to co-operate with me in annihilating the Digimon, I’m willing to let your Digimon live.”
This also goes along with that same principle. If Masaru, Tohma and Yoshino’s Digimon partners are working for him and helping him with his genocide, then they’re under his control, and so he has no need to fear them. Thus, he can in theory leave them alive, if they agree to this. He’s willing to offer this as a potential bribe to get the DATS trio to help him instead of stand in his way.
It also goes to show how utterly short-circuited Kurata’s sense of empathy is that he has any conception that this offer might actually tempt them. Surely they also only see their Digimon as useful tools, not people, and would be quite happy to help him eliminate the rest of the totally-not-people Digimon so long as they get to keep their tools around?
Kurata: “Are you going to act against me? I’m part of the Ministry of Confidentiality. If you oppose, you’ll be convicted of treason.”
When that previous offer is clearly not about to sway them, Kurata tries a different tack to convince them not to fight him. He mentioned last episode that he was planning to have Mercurimon and DATS kill each other, and he seemed a little frustrated that that didn’t come to pass. Apparently he would really like these three to not be getting in his way one way or another, forcing him to expend the extra effort he’d need to get rid of them. Despite all his gloating about his Gizmon creation, he does not appear to be truly 100% confident that it’ll manage to kill them all without them escaping somehow.
This also says a lot about the influence Kurata knows he has over Governor Hashiba. He’s confident he can go back to Hashiba and spin a story about how he was the good guy heroically taking down that monstrous Mercurimon who refused to listen to his negotiations, and then DATS betrayed humanity and turned against him rather than help. That does just about track with how Hashiba appeared to be viewing this whole conflict.
Tohma: “I’ll *never* support you of my own free will!”
Masaru, Tohma and Yoshino are, of course, having absolutely none of it (I enjoy Tohma’s line here in particular, for Reasons), so they jump back into fighting. This shifts into the background as we move over to Ikuto and Mercurimon, the latter of whom is still slowly dying on the other side of the throne room.
Mercurimon: “Ikuto, listen to me. I’ve always been in doubt. The human world or the Digital World… I wondered which one would be most suitable for you to live in happiness. Since you didn’t know of anything beyond the Digital World, I wondered what you would think upon meeting humans. Will your human heart be reawakened? Or will you continue to hate them? I wanted to know the answer to that.”
I suppose this is what Mercurimon meant when he mumbled vaguely about wanting Ikuto to fight humans so he could “awaken as a true Digimon warrior” back in episode 18. But it seems like he was thinking of this in a very all-or-nothing way, much like Agumon’s question of “who will you side with?”. Like Ikuto’s “human heart being reawakened” means he’ll just become completely human in his mindset and stop caring about Digimon at all. Obviously he was never going to do that, Mercurimon!
Mercurimon: “But… now I realise that the doubt I felt… was wrong. What will bring you happiness isn’t choosing one from the other. It’s creating a world where both humans and Digimon can live together.”
Ikuto can choose to side with both! Ikuto figured that out all by himself in the end – Sayuri prodded him into realising that he had the right to choose, but the actual decision he made to try and stop the fighting was entirely his own. And now Ikuto’s helping Mercurimon see that, too! It really is like Suguru said: sometimes your kids are the ones who end up teaching you things.
Mercurimon: “That man… Daimon Suguru was aware of that.”
Though I suppose Mercurimon also partly picked up this mindset from Suguru in the first place. He’s reawakened to it lately after Masaru’s punch and all of his reminiscing last episode caused him to remember that Suguru really was a good man who meant everything he said and didn’t actually betray him.
We see a flashback of Suguru giving Mercurimon a Digivice, explaining what it’s for and telling him that Ikuto will need one someday. This is how Ikuto had a Digivice! Mercurimon must have passed it onto Ikuto at some point after Yukidarumon’s death, to help him with the whole “warrior” deal. That actually must have been a rather conflicted moment for Mercurimon, given that he was gifting Ikuto this device that had been given to him by the man he, at the time, felt utterly betrayed by.
This flashback then ends with the fist-bump and the “Let’s do it!” exchange between Suguru and Mercurimon, the one that I mentioned last episode actually happened a lot later than the rest of the stuff we saw Mercurimon flash back to then. This here is the reason I knew that bit came later: because it happened after Suguru had given Mercurimon a Digivice for Ikuto. It’d have taken Suguru a while to do enough experiments in the Digital World to be able to create Digivices (DATS was probably beginning to be formed around this time, too). And also, flashbacks in a later episode will imply that all of these Digivice experiments of Suguru’s must have happened while he was on his journey to find Yggdrasil, so he must have popped back into Infinity Ice Ridge to check in on Mercurimon now and again.
Hearing this, Falcomon realises and points out for Ikuto that Yukidarumon must also have known he was a human all along. He reminds Ikuto of her dying words, and Ikuto finally, finally realises what she really meant to say to him: “You must never hate the humans, because you are…”
This is something Ikuto and/or Falcomon could have figured out a while ago, from the moment they realised Ikuto was human. But, they’re just kids. And they’re kids who grew up with the general Digimon population harbouring a very fierce hatred for humans, so it’d make sense in their heads that, surely, for Ikuto’s parent figures to have ever loved him, that’d have to mean they didn’t know, right?
Mercurimon: “Forgive me, Ikuto! For my hesitation… and for being unable to keep my promises with Suguru and Yukidarumon!”
It’s sweet that he apologises for having the wrong idea about Ikuto needing to pick a side. And I assume what he’s getting at regarding Suguru and Yukidarumon is that he became convinced Suguru had betrayed him and was overcome with hatred towards humans for the past several years such that he wasn’t able to work towards harmony between the two species until just now, and it’s too late for him now.
(It also feels slightly like he’s apologising for dying. Are you apologising for dying, Mercurimon? Don’t apologise for dying, that part is not your fault.)
Ikuto: “Mercurimon! Don’t die! Don’t you leave me behind, too!”
At this anguished scream of a desperate kid not wanting to lose his second parent figure to the hands of the same murderer who took the first one from him… we cut to the inappropriately upbeat opening!!!
…Not exactly the best choice of where to put it, here, though to be fair I don’t think there are many points in this episode that would be much better. Things are getting dark enough that the upbeat-ness of the first opening song doesn’t always fit so well.
There is a second opening song that we’re going to shift to. However, though we’re now in the second half of the series numbers-wise, we won’t be seeing the new opening for a few more episodes’ time, for reasons I’ll talk about then.
I’ll open up tomorrow boundlessly
with these hands!
More opening chorus lyrics! This bit about “opening up tomorrow” makes me think of Suguru’s desire to create a future where humans and Digimon can live in harmony, even if he has to choose to stay behind in the Digital World and do it all himself. And now Masaru and co. are trying to do the same thing, too! Or, they would be, if they didn’t have to deal with Kurata first.
Back in the midst of the fighting, the DATS trio’s partners are continuing to have their asses handed to them by this single Adult-level Gizmon. (MachGaogamon’s Winning Knuckle attack continues its trend of not remotely winning anything.)
RiseGreymon manages to catch the Gizmon off-guard and slam it into the ground from behind. At this, Masaru rushes in to help with a punch – I love how he still sometimes directly takes part in fights even once Agumon’s evolved and he really ought to stay back – except the Gizmon spins its blades to become a huge propeller. The gust sends Masaru flying backwards before he can connect, and the blades slam into RiseGreymon moments later.
(They are trying to keep things somewhat reasonable with Masaru’s involvement in these fights, in that it was only the gust that blew him back. If he’d been hit by the actual blades, he’d be very much a goner.)
Kurata: “Isn’t it obvious by now? Our side is stronger and faster! Why don’t you just give up?”
Kurata is still having a good gloat about all this. I suspect that the reason he’s allowed the fight to drag on for this long without just finishing them off is that he’s enjoying playing with them and relishing in how much power and control his genius invention gives him. This is very Kurata of him.
Masaru: “Yeah, right! I won’t give up until I’ve kicked your ass!”
Kurata: “Really… I’m getting quite annoyed by that persistent obstinacy of yours. You’re just like your father, Daimon Suguru.”
Hee, of course Suguru was just as determinedly stubborn about things as Masaru is. And Kurata is very deeply irritated by Masaru’s behaviour reminding him of Suguru.
Masaru: “What?!”
Kurata: “Ten years ago, after learning of the potential menace the Digimon could bring, I advised Daimon Suguru, who was my superior back then, to eliminate them before things got worse. He wouldn’t listen.”
This is accompanied by a silent flashback to the expedition group at camp, Kurata and Suguru facing each other as Kurata talks and waves a gun around in agitation, obviously advocating for using it. Suguru calmly pushes the gun down and says a few words that we don’t hear just yet.
Kurata scowls in indignation upon hearing these words. Whatever Suguru said, it really, really got to him.
Kurata: “And now look at the results.”
Just as Kurata does with everything, he’s convinced himself that he was obviously in the right back then, that Digimon really were dangerous and needed to be destroyed, and Suguru was being stubborn and idiotic to ever suggest they should just treat them like people (gasp) and leave them in peace. Poor Kurata, so unfairly victimised by these vicious Digimon and now also these stupid, stubborn humans like Suguru and his son who won’t let him do the obviously right thing and murder them all.
Kurata: “Not only have they kept their vicious ways, but even ten years later, the atrocious rampage of Digimon in our world has increased!”
This is accompanied by some flashbacks to rampaging Digimon from earlier episodes – specifically Elecmon and Aquilamon, who I guess were picked because they happened to be some of the most destructive. Clearly nobody gave Kurata the memo about the emotions thing: that Digimon who rampage in the human world are not in their right minds and are actually being influenced by humans, albeit not deliberately. Though, even if Kurata did know about that, I’m sure he’d still find a way to twist it around in his head and blame the Digimon. That still just basically makes Digimon dangerous forces of nature and definitely not people who are actually victims in all this, right.
It's also some irony that he’s complaining about the way the Digimon rampages have increased in number over the years like that’s the Digimon’s fault. To be fair, I don’t think he’s aware of whose fault it really is, but.
Kurata: “This is all because of Daimon Suguru’s thick-headed obstinacy!”
All of it? Sure, Kurata, all of it. You just go and blame literally everything on this guy that you hate for being more right and open-minded and understanding than you, forcing you to briefly confront the idea that maybe you’re actually in the wrong here.
(As Kurata says this, Masaru scowls at him having the gall to blame all of this on his dad for such a stupid reason.)
Kurata: “*I* was right! There’s no choice but to obliterate the Digimon threat!”
Yes, Kurata, you have definitely totally proven this with facts and logic and definitely aren’t just twisting the truth to avoid acknowledging that you ever made any kind of moral mistake about anything ever. It sure is convenient that Suguru isn’t around right now to continue explaining to you why you’re actually still extremely wrong, now vastly more so than you ever were to begin with.
This is all still very, very human of Kurata. It’s not easy to admit you’re in the wrong about something. Sometimes people deal with that by doubling down and insisting even more fervently that they’re definitely in the right, which can snowball and end up making them so much worse than they ever were in the first place.
Masaru: “Cut the crap! I’d rather have Dad be as stubborn as a mule than to be a coward like you!”
Kurata: [his eyes narrow] “What do you mean by that?”
Masaru: “Listen up! When you exchange fists with someone, you’re not just delivering pain! Your heart hurts much more than the pain they receive!”
Masaru’s fighting philosophy is so good! This is why I’ve sometimes stressed that Masaru would never beat up random bystanders just to feel strong and only ever fights people who want to fight him. He fully acknowledges that inflicting physical pain on another sapient being takes a psychological toll on you yourself, never mind the physical pain you’ll also be receiving if you’re fairly evenly matched. A true, honourable fight can only happen between people who are mutually accepting of this pain they’re in for and willing to go for it anyway for whatever reason that might be important to them, be it to defend something, to prove a point, or even just for sport.
Masaru: “The way you’re punching them one-sidedly just shows that you’re a coward who’s afraid of pain!”
And Kurata’s nothing like that. Not only is he constantly hiding behind more powerful subordinates of his to avoid putting himself at physical risk on the front line, he is also constantly running and hiding from any of the psychological pain that’d come from acknowledging that he’s hurting and killing sapient people and doing something bad. That’s why he’s twisted his mindset and worldview so fervently to insist to himself that Digimon are just vicious monsters and he’s in the right: because he’s a coward.
I highly doubt Masaru has been following every single nuance of Kurata’s psychology, but I love that he thoroughly gets this one core part of it, thanks to his own fighting principles and this being the exact opposite of them. Masaru is such a good and fascinating character.
Suguru: “You are a coward.”
These are the words that Suguru said to Kurata when he was pushing the gun down in that flashback we just saw. And now here’s his son telling Kurata the exact same thing, not even in a deliberate attempt to mimic his father (because he couldn’t have known), but just because he also feels it’s true.
Kurata’s scowl deepens.
Kurata: “You’re exactly like him. I wanted to play around with you a little more, but now I’ve changed my mind!”
Kurata doesn’t even try to deny or argue against the notion that he’s a coward. He can’t, because he must know deep down that it’s true. So instead, confronted with this core undeniable reason why he really is in the wrong about everything, he continues to utterly refuse to acknowledge it and basically throws a tantrum.
Kurata: “I’ll have you disappear along with the Digimon in a freak “accident” in this foreign world!”
Which is to say, he quits the gloaty showing-off he was doing with his Gizmon: AT and shifts to using every bit of the power he has to just try and shut Masaru up by killing him. He doesn’t have to think about whether Masaru (or his father) might have a point about him if they’re dead.
(This is also very likely why he was so eager to suggest that Suguru was probably lying dead somewhere in the Digital World last episode. He just wants the man who might actually be able to prove him to be in the wrong gone and out of his way.)
Kurata: “Gizmon: AT, evolve!”
Kurata pulls out a modified Digivice, the same kind as we saw in the flashbacks, to evolve his Gizmon. Note the utter lack of him doing any kind of Digisoul Charge. Digisoul spills out of the device itself at his command, but absolutely none of it came from Kurata.
There’s this neat trippy visual effect as the Gizmon smoothly morphs into its evolved form. This is such a departure from the usual fancy evolution animation or even the shorter versions we get for less important Digimon. It feels like the evolution we’re seeing here is deeply wrong and unnatural in some way.
Kurata: “What do you think? It used artificial Digisoul to undergo a pseudo-evolution!”
Kurata does not appear to have a Digisoul, and even if he did, there’s no way he has the emotional connection with his soulless Gizmon necessary to use it to evolve them. So, in lieu of that, he figured out a way to cheat the evolution process artificially, somehow. Even Kurata is admitting that this isn’t at all a proper evolution by usual Digimon standards, given how he calls it “pseudo-evolution”.
(Honestly, knowing what Digisoul is, it’s rather interesting that Kurata managed to create an artificial version of it. Kind of a shame that’s never expanded upon beyond this mention of it.)
This is Gizmon’s Perfect-level, Gizmon: XT. It advances on the group and shoots out a wide beam that leaves a huge curved gouge in the stone floor, while RiseGreymon only just manages to carry the humans out of the way in time. (Kurata was very much aiming for the humans there.)
Masaru refuses to be discouraged and calls for the all-three-attack-as-one thing again. I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t try this earlier while they were fighting the AT form, but hey, rules of shounen drama escalation mean we’re getting it now. The animators this time apparently didn’t bother to animate their attacks actually combining like they did last time they tried this – they all just kind of hit the Gizmon’s defensive barrier at separate points – but I suppose, narratively, we’re supposed to think that this really was the strongest thing they could have pulled off.
All this results in is yet another instance of that shounen trope: We got ‘im! – *smoke clears* – No, we really didn’t. I guess, in defence of the team’s efforts, the Gizmon looks a little bit scuffed now? Just a little.
As Masaru and the trio of Perfect-levels rush back into the fray, the focus moves back over to Mercurimon. Mercurimon recognises that Masaru and co. stand no hope of winning as things currently are, so he forces himself to his feet amidst groans of agony. He wishes Ikuto and Falcomon farewell, knowing that this is the last thing he’ll do.
Ikuto: “No! Mercurimon! The thing Yukidarumon told me, I… I finally understand! But I still don’t like this! I really do hate humans after all! They do something so horrible to you, Mercurimon… I’ll never forgive them for this!”
Oh, Ikuto. He’s so nearly there, but he’s still just a little stuck on conflating the actions of certain humans with all of humanity, just like he’s been doing his whole life. It’s hard to shake free of that, now of all times, as he’s watching his father figure die in horrible pain from a human’s actions.
Mercurimon: “Look upon him, Ikuto. He’s a simple-minded fellow who speaks crudely, and his actions are preposterous.”
Bahaha. Guess who he’s talking about. As he says this, we watch Masaru leap at the Gizmon: XT, get painfully smacked to the ground, and then stubbornly force himself back to his feet and stagger forwards again. He’s so determined, no matter the odds.
Mercurimon: “But is he a bad guy? Do you hate him so much that you wish he didn’t exist?”
At this, Ikuto remembers the conversation he and Masaru had back at Masaru’s place. “Is it really okay for me to… be here?” “Of course it is.” Of course Ikuto couldn’t hate someone who finally let him feel like he might belong somewhere.
Ikuto: “Masaru let me meet my real parents.”
Technically that wasn’t really about Masaru, because that was a DATS order and it’d have happened anyway even if Masaru hadn’t been there. But it seems like Ikuto picked up, despite how furiously he was dragging his heels about the whole human-parents thing at the time, that Masaru was the one who was the most personally invested in helping him meet them. It turns out he’s really touched by that! Aww.
Ikuto: “Not just him. Tohma, Yoshino, Chika, and Masaru’s mother… Everyone treated me nicely.”
Mercurimon: “Do you hate them?”
Ikuto winces and shakes his head fervently. He already knew this; Mercurimon’s just helping him realise it and put the pieces together.
An explosion from the battle catches his attention; he looks up in a panic to see all three humans and all three Digimon lying on the ground in pain and exhaustion as the Gizmon advances on them. Ikuto doesn’t want to see any of them getting hurt, let alone killed.
Through the smoke, Ikuto sees Kurata, the one responsible for his friends’ pain, still smirking cruelly about this whole thing.
Mercurimon: “By now, you should know who you are really supposed to hate.”
I like how Mercurimon still isn’t outright telling Ikuto the answer here. He’s just giving Ikuto the right prompting to let him figure it out for himself, because all the pieces are already there.
Mercurimon: “Ikuto… Live… as a human with a Digimon’s heart.”
With these words, Mercurimon musters the last of his strength and charges forwards to punch the Gizmon in its equivalent of a face. The Gizmon starts to fire another huge beam from its “eye”, but it barely begins the attack before Mercurimon’s fist barrels right through it, knocking the giant machine to the ground.
As Mercurimon stands over his foe, his entire right arm flares up with the same glowing yellow digital-wound effect as the one on his torso. Punching right into the attack the Gizmon fired is probably what did that. Not that Mercurimon cares; he’s dying anyway. It must be further agony on top of everything else, but he doesn’t even flinch.
Masaru: “Mercurimon! Why did you help us?!”
It seems Masaru hadn’t properly picked up on the fact that Mercurimon had re-warmed up to most (non-Kurata) humans by now? I guess any signs of Mercurimon having felt that way during all of the flashbacking in the previous episode probably got drowned out by his sheer hatred of Kurata in particular, such that especially someone like Masaru probably couldn’t be expected to have noticed. Masaru did lament at the beginning of this episode that he didn’t get the chance to come to an understanding (through fists) with Mercurimon. Perhaps, having not done that, he’s still assuming Mercurimon was basically on the warpath with all of humanity, like DATS has believed for many episodes now.
Mercurimon: “I wanted to try believing once more… in what your father, Daimon Suguru, said… That a time will come when Digimon and humans can live together in harmony.”
But at least Masaru can understand it now. Mercurimon’s going to die not as an erstwhile enemy who could have become an ally given more time, but as an actual genuine ally who wants the same thing that Masaru’s father did.
Kurata scowls upon hearing this notion, and as if in response, the Gizmon manages to stir enough to fire its striped laser right through Mercurimon’s body again.
Kurata: “Harmony between humans and Digimon? That day will never come!”
Kurata laughs uproariously as Mercurimon gasps in agony (what an absolute asshole), decrying the ridiculousness of the idea… which is kind of a contrast to his scowl about it just moments before. It’s like he has to show off his power and remind himself how good he is at murdering Digimon in order to be able to reassure himself that, yes, anyone who thinks harmony is a possibility is obviously just stupid and wrong and has no power to get their way anyway; he’s totally in the right, as always.
Mercurimon: “I-Ikuto…! Be strong…!”
These are the last words Mercurimon manages to gasp out to his surrogate son as his entire body fades into that glowing yellow noise. He knows this is going to be agony for Ikuto yet again, and that’s all he can think about as he feels himself about to die. What a good dad. He wasn’t always perfect at it, but he cares so much.
As Ikuto screams Mercurimon’s name and rushes forwards with tears in his eyes, Mercurimon’s form disintegrates into an egg, and the egg shatters. He’s gone. Ikuto’s run stumbles to a halt, and he falls to his knees in grief.
Over on the other side of the battlefield, the Gizmon: XT is looking rather worse for wear, sparking and collapsing – not completely destroyed, but seriously damaged. Mercurimon didn’t die for nothing. He did everything he could with his last stand.
Kurata: “How dare he make a mess of my masterpiece! Really, he just refused to die, and he was a hindrance to me to the very end. Digimon like him are known as fools the second they even *think* about defying humans!”
Kurata is busy justifying and writing off Mercurimon’s heroic final effort to defend his species as some insignificant pest being annoying and foolish and getting ideas above its station. Yes, definitely not a respected ruler, and father, and living, thinking person that you just cruelly murdered or anything, Kurata. Not at all.
Kurata: “A time of co-existence between humans and Digimon? He threw away his life for an empty fantasy like that? I’m speechless by the sheer absurdity of it!”
It couldn’t possibly be that such a thing is actually quite reasonable and would be perfectly achievable if not for Kurata single-handedly getting in the way of it, no, it’s definitely an empty fantasy that’s completely absurd, has Kurata stressed enough yet that he is very definitely totally in the right here
Ikuto listens to the bullshit Kurata is spouting, his fists clenching in anger and hatred at this one specific human, his tears halting for now. He gets to his feet, as a familiar BGM intro we haven’t heard in quite a few episodes now begins to start up.
Ikuto: “Kurata! This is revenge for Mercurimon!”
As he and Falcomon rush forward, Ikuto pulls out his Digivice and does a Digisoul Full Charge for the first time. He’s finally figured everything out, and so he’s more than earned that next evolution.
(Note how he actually calls out “Digisoul Full Charge!” despite having never used any actual words for his regular Digisoul Charge. He’s spent enough time around his DATS friends by now that he knows what it’s called and what words to say.)
That BGM? Yeah, that’s Believer, again, for the first time in ages! The last time we heard it was literally when Yoshino got her Perfect-level back in episode 17. They like to save Believer for the triumphant moments where it’s really appropriate, and there haven’t really been any of those in a while until now, at least not during fights. Again, I really like that Savers does this with its evolution song. Instead of just “oh, here we go again” with the thing that happens literally every episode, it makes the times Believer is used really feel like they matter.
Yatagaramon is a huge crow who incidentally has three legs, because the mythological Yatagarasu he’s based on was a three-legged crow. It’s a neat little detail that I like.
Ikuto: “Mercurimon. I get it now! It’s not Masaru and the others I should hate! It’s humans with evil hearts!”
Ikuto says this as if he’s trying to reassure Mercurimon that he’s figured it all out now, even though Mercurimon’s gone. And though this conclusion seems obvious from our perspective, it’s really such a big deal that Ikuto’s managed to reach it, given how much of a prejudiced black-and-white worldview he was clinging to in the beginning that he’s slowly had to unlearn, piece by piece. I’m sure Mercurimon would be proud of him. And Yukidarumon, too.
Yatagaramon flies at the Gizmon and grabs its laser-eye with one of his feet just before the laser fires, causing it to explode from the recoil. He throws it into the wall, and with one big attack, it’s over. Rather quick considering that the other three Perfect-levels were going at it for the whole episode without getting anywhere, but we can thank Mercurimon for weakening it. …And maybe Yatagaramon’s also powered a bit by a New Evolution Buff, which is very much not an actual concrete concept but is my term for the way Digimon’s evolved forms tend to appear the most amazing and powerful in the first episode they show up in, for the sake of drama.
(Though, such a thing being an actual phenomenon in-universe wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, considering Yatagaramon’s being powered by the Digisoul of an Ikuto who’s riding the high of having just figured this out, and the grief of having just lost Mercurimon. That won’t be quite as powerful later on once he’s kinda got used to it all.)
It makes sense that things work this way, but it still feels really unfair that Kurata gets to keep his Gizmon’s egg.
Kurata doesn’t even comment on having lost this fight. He just tuts, has one of his men throw a space-time bomb to open up a Digital Gate, and leaves. It doesn’t seem like he brought any other Gizmon with him, and he probably doesn’t want to stick around to find out what Ikuto and the rest of them would do to him while he’s effectively defenceless. Definitely not him being a coward, or anything, right, just a, uh… tactical retreat.
Ikuto: “Mercurimon… I… will live as a human. A human with a Digimon’s heart.”
There’s only a very short little scene at the end here to fully underline Ikuto’s resolution to follow Mercurimon’s near-final words to him, which seems appropriate.
Masaru nods to Ikuto with an unspoken understanding that the kid is now 100% fully on their side. Their new goal, official DATS mission or not, is to stop Kurata however they can.
…Not entirely sure how they’re planning on achieving that right now, considering that Kurata just fled back to the human world while they’re currently stuck in the Digital World with no way back, but we’ll see how that goes next episode.
There’s a brief stinger with Kurata at the end, showing him in some kind of eerily-lit secret lab of his.
Kurata: “One of my masterpieces was defeated, but I still have much more in store. Much, much more.”
He’s not referring to the fact that he has plenty more Gizmon where that one came from (although he really does; we’ll be seeing a lot more Gizmon in episodes to come). Rather, he’s looking at something else entirely floating in a huge tank of green liquid.
And while this line of his is of course for the sake of stinger-exposition for the audience, it does make some kind of in-character sense for Kurata to gloat to himself about this. He needs to reassure himself that, so what if DATS and their buddies exceeded his expectations and defeated his one Gizmon: XT, he definitely still has all the power and is completely in control here.
Huh, I never actually talked about the first ending song, did I? Well, you didn’t miss much; all it has is literally just Masaru and Agumon running across a beach, and the song’s lyrics aren’t particularly interesting. Anyway, this episode debuts the second ending song for the series, now that we’re in the second half.
It’s almost as uninteresting as the first one, but we do see all three of the DATS trio with their partners (featuring their new outfits that we’ll be seeing them in for the rest of the series starting next episode), running across a field to meet Ikuto and Falcomon. It’ll become routine soon, but seeing it here for the first time does help solidify that, yep, Ikuto and Falcomon are very much part of the main group now.
Overall thoughts
This one’s also a pretty big episode, in terms of its impact on the plot and direction of the story going forward. It feels fitting how this big momentous 24-25 “two-parter”, so to speak, comes right slap bang in the exact middle of the series, numbers-wise. Functionally the episode itself is mostly a big fight scene, admittedly, but there’s still lots of fun character stuff going on in it too.
I still really enjoy Kurata as an interesting realistic villain, with all his ridiculous layers of justifications to shield himself from any notion that he’s in the wrong. All the gloating and showing off he does a lot in this episode will be very relevant in future. That line about Digimon only being useful as tools is very telling: he hates Digimon because he can’t control them.
Masaru continues to be good; I love his philosophy about how real fights involve you acknowledging the risk of physical and emotional pain for yourself. And it’s delightful how that happens to put him in the perfect position to call out Kurata’s cowardice, which really is the core of why he’s doing all this.
The fight itself is nothing too special, but it’s got a fair bit of fun Masaru determination and tenacity, and things do feel like DATS is pretty screwed and outmatched until Mercurimon steps in.
Ikuto’s finally figured out who he really needs to hate! Look at how far he’s come through his arc. Very deserving time for a new evolution for him. I really enjoy how Mercurimon guides him towards the answer but doesn’t ever tell him outright, leaving Ikuto to piece it all together on his own. What a good teacher.
For that matter, I enjoy Mercurimon also finally figuring stuff out, realising he was wrong to feel betrayed by Suguru and hate all of humanity after the massacre. It’s a nice ending to his arc, too. He was introduced to us as a “villain” and was conflicted and antagonistic for a lot of the time we knew him, but he dies as the hero he always really was, and I like that. Mercurimon was Good.
---
[Dub comparison]
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「Puu」”My type is...” | .2.
The author of these headcanons is Puu (ぷーさん), I simply translated their work from JP to ENG with their kind permission. Please make sure to comment/use the ask button so as to give them the lovely praise they deserve! (Click here to view their twitter.)
❝❝ If you, reader, were to say: “My type is someone just like you. ♡ ”
Otonoshin, Koito
(If he isn’t interested - X) “Ha-ha, of course. It can’t be helped you fell for me.” “However, give up. I have not even the slightest interest in you.” Even though all you said was ‘you’re my type,’ he makes a big deal out of it. “If you insist, I’ll let you become a drinking buddy of mine.” (Tea-drinking buddy, that is.) Be grateful, ha! He would take up an incredibly arrogant attitude.
(If he’s into you - O) He screams. Nothing but that. He grips your hands, goes “&Q#”$#%!!!” in Satsuma while pulling you close, and accidentally smashes your nose against his chest.
Tokushirou, Tsurumi
(X) “Well now—to be told so by a lovely lady such as yourself is an honor.” He smiles, smoothly rolling out a prepared response.
(O) “…meaning?” He asks with a smile, even though his eyes are anything but. “What, exactly, is so charming about me?” “If someone had those same qualities, would you find them just as attractive?” He thoroughly questions you, wanting for more precise words.
Tokishige, Usami
(X) “Oh~. Why thank you.” While he answers in monotone, and only the corners of his mouth lift, these thoughts ring in his mind: ‘Even if you tell me that, what am I supposed to do about it? Whatever. It would be a pain in the ass to even ask.’
(O) “Really!?” He immediately bites onto what you said. “How many times have you masturbated about me? I’ve done it twice thinking of you!” “Ah, but today was a busy day. Yesterday I did it five times!” The way he measures affection is odd.
Nikaidou
(X) “Hmm… Ah, a bird!” He starts screaming and pointing at a sparrow just outside a window.
(O) “You are my type!” You both have the same thinking, no? How great! But then—. “And that’s why I like that one nurse! She is the one who looks most like you, so that’s why she’s the best nurse here!” Your ‘type’ and his seem to have a slight difference in nature.
#golden kamuy x reader#golden kamuy#reader#koito#tsurumi#usami#nikaidou#otonoshin#tokushirou#tokishige#puu#headcanons#writing#notmine#translation
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Smashed on satsuma rum liqueur and watching pirates again
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End of March - Alex Learns a Couple of Truths
ALEX
No lights are on when I open the door to my condo. I should’ve swung by here yesterday. Except that a major project for Hoodoo Mobile kept failing to render. I had to spend all day calming the client (and nagging Bridget about finding decent tech support, since that falls under her ever-expanding domain). I stumble over a stack of flat boxes. I’m about to blow a gasket. Chris isn’t close to moving out. I’ve been beyond patient with her. I’m tempted to start packing her stuff myself.
My rage defuses at the sight of her. She’s asleep on the cream leather sofa, hugging a ratty beige teddy bear like a sweet, neglected child (she was). Moonlight streams in from the side window. The pale silver light illuminates her face. I stand still, watching her. God, she’s beautiful. With her long lashes and turned-up nose, she resembles an old-fashioned doll. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I had to.
My eyes fall to a sheet of paper on the coffee table. I pick it up, curious. My heart lurches in my chest. A grayish blob floating in a sea of black, a tiny dark smudge on one side. I can hardly believe it.
Our child.
Christine really is pregnant. She wasn’t lying.
I am going to be a dad.
I perch next to her, gently shake her shoulder. “Hey, Chris.”
Her eyes flutter open. Her mouth splits into a grin of perfect little teeth.
“Alex!” Her face is radiant. She looks ecstatic to see me. No one else looks at me the way she does. Not even Marissa. Her eyes gleam bright. Her smile has no artifice. There is nothing controlled about her. She’s wild and free, which I absolutely loved about her, but hated, too. She could never rein herself in. Right now, I don’t care. I cut my own reins loose.
I throw my arms around her. She smells like strawberries and her Satsuma shampoo. I missed her smell. I feel as if I’ve come home again after a decade-long absence. “I hope you’re okay. I’ve been such a jerk to you and I’m sorry. It didn’t even hit me until now.”
She doesn’t say a word. Just clings to me like a barnacle on rock. I wonder what’s going through her mind, search my own for what I should say. The strap of her silk nightdress slides off her shoulder. My eyes fall to her engorged breasts. I hate how I convinced myself she was lying (because it was easier).
Our lips meet and we begin kissing. God, how I miss her sometimes, the old her, when we first got together. I’m kissing that person now. I run my hand along her shoulder and down her arm. Her skin is as soft and silky as her negligee. I reach up underneath and slip it off over her head. I run my hand along her bare tummy. I plant a kiss.
Inside, a brand new life is forming.
Made from my life, and hers.
A miracle.
* * * * *
CHRISTINE – 5:30 am
Alex snoozes on the couch while I lie on my back in bed wide awake. Fooling around felt like old times, but I know him. He’ll wake up hung over with guilt, and convince himself it was no big deal because we stopped short of going all the way. We didn’t fuck. A midnight text from his new girlfriend interrupted us. When it comes to relationship boundaries he has the precision of a lawyer. I roll onto my side and hear the pipes in the bathroom shudder, then the shower hissing. He is so predictable. Up and at ‘em way earlier than he needs to be. As soon as he’s finished, I go to confront him in the bathroom.
“I’m almost done.” He keeps his towel around his waist while he steps into his boxer briefs. I can feel his guilt from where I’m standing. “They scheduled this stupid power breakfast at the Ramada and I just got the call for it. Harvey’s going to be there so I have to go.”
The steamy air stifles me. I flip on the exhaust fan and block the door. “I know you don’t want to be with me. All I ask is for you to have a relationship with him or her once they’re born.”
He hangs his head, resumes getting dressed. He can’t even look at me. “Of course I will! What do you take me for? I don’t understand why you always assume that––”
“I’ll be honest,” I say, praying that whoever this new chick is, she kicks him to the curb. If she doesn’t, she has zero pride. Knowing him, he hasn’t told her yet. “I wish we were still together. I know what it’s like to grow up without a father around and––”
“I’m sorry, Chris.” He holds his arms around me. His skin is sticky. The smell of his aftershave stings my nostrils. “We’ll talk about this later tonight. Let me know how your doctor appointment goes.”
He is so fucking cold sometimes. Goddammit! “You cheated on her last night!” I shove him square in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards, his arms flailing. Why else would he have stopped kissing me the second his phone beeped? He’s trying to have his cake and eat it too and he damned well knows it. I saw his phone. Her page-long text about all the things she was wanting to do in bed with him.
“We were never serious.” He purses his lips, bundles his clothes in his arms, and barges past me.
“Does she know that?” When he doesn’t answer, I snatch his arm, digging my nails in. He tears out of my grip, glances at the blood oozing out of a scratch on his bicep, and puts on his shirt and jacket. “Better watch your balls because you’re juggling a few too many, hm?”
“Quit taking everything the wrong way! I need to think about how we should go about telling my parents and it’s not so easy to break the news to a—”
I let out an exasperated shriek, storm back into the bedroom, fling myself down on the mattress and curl up. I’m about to explode. He always does this!
“I’ll talk to you later!” Alex calls through the door. Then I hear the one to the hallway slam shut. Rage boils in me; I’m freaking out. If Alex were any kind of man, he’d be here for me. He’s a fucking pathetic coward, a lying, cheating shit, and probably stringing how many new chicks along right now.
I stomp into the living room, desperate to blow off steam. I grab a side of the nearest bookshelf and slam it to the floor. God, that feels good. High on endorphins, I pitch Alex’s favorite vase against the wall, feeling an amazing rush as I watch it shatter into a million glittering pieces that catch the rays of the morning sun. The gift from his bitch of a mother couldn’t have met a more deserving fate. I wish it was her skull. Would serve her right for calling me trash right to my face.
Next, his precious stereo. I pick up the amp and raise it high over my head like a WWE wrestler about to smash a chair over the head of his opponent.
“What are you doing?” Alex gawks at me from the hallway.
Shit. “I thought you left.”
“I forgot my ...” His eyes land on the splinters of crystal spilled across the floorboards. He shakes his head and I’m on the verge of collapsing in tears. He’ll never understand why I get like this. I have this monster inside of me. No matter how much I try to keep it chained, it always breaks loose.
“Hormones,” I whimper, but he’s too furious to care. While I stand frozen like a marble statue, he takes the amp out of my hands and tucks it under his arm.
“I can’t deal with you like this––get help. Mental help. This is why we aren’t together anymore! Thanks for reminding me!” He leaves again, slamming the door behind him. I’m so numb I feel my whole sense of self slipping away, disappearing into thin air. I don’t need help, I just need him to be more understanding, to stop being so goddamned cold. Just once.
Fuck it. I call his direct line at work. If I word it the right way, he’ll have to hear what I say before he realizes it’s me and hangs up. At the beep I say, “You tell her, or I will. Bye.”
#Destination Wedding#Novel#suspense novel#Love triangle#stalker#stalking#psycho ex#crazy ex girlfriend#crazy ex gf#crazy ex#fiction
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Super Duper Supermen
This will be a long one,
so pour yourself a cuppa
and settle down.
We may seem to meander,
but we’ve got a destination.
. . .
I’m tired of superheroes.
I’m tired of a lot of genre fiction.
Part of the reason is that too much of the current material is ugly and loud, but the real reason is it isn’t fresh, it isn’t fun.
I tried watching The Boys. I got to the end of the second scene of episode one and realize, “This ain’t for me” and turned it off and went over to YouTube and watched guys build model airplanes.
At least they look like they’re having fun.
. . .
Look, superheroes are a power fantasy and they’re okay for little kids who want to believe there’s always going to be a mommy or daddy who will protect them, but they’re an absurd genre at best and when you start taking them seriously -- and recently even the funny parodies and spoofs take themselves Too Damn Seriously -- they become horrific.
What prompted me to realize this is an article posted on The Vulcan by Abraham Riseman “The Boys Is the End of the Superhero As We Know It.”
Highly recommended,
by the way.
. . .
It’s not like Riseman was the first to make this observation.
30+ years ago Gary Groth observed:
“Superman is one version of the hero with a thousand faces -- to employ the title of Joseph Cambell's excellent book on the subject -- and his appeal should therefore not surprise us. But Superman is a crude version of the hero; if you will, an elementary one. Unlike his more developed analogues in all the world's great religions, Superman does not offer love or goodwill, self-knowledge or contemplation as keys to man's salvation. He offers his own physical powers.”
And he ain’t the only one.
Alan Moore recently chimed in:
“They have blighted cinema and also blighted culture to a degree. Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous; it was infantilizing the population.
“This may be entirely coincidence, but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest-grossing films were superhero movies. Not to say that one causes the other, but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing — a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.”
. . .
I don’t like cruelty.
I used to enjoy old weird horror films back in the day -- movies like The Reanimator -- because I appreciated their absurdity and never took them seriously.
When the torture porn sub-genre came along, I lost interest in horror films.
The Babadook is the only modern one I’ve seen in the last 5 years and I enjoy it because like earlier horror films (and here I include both classic Universal / RKO movies and the artistry of Mario Bava and Dario Argento) it’s essentially a very dark fairy tale, not an exercise in cruelty for the sake of cruelty.
Violence doesn’t turn me off.
Sadism does.
And sadism is all about power and fascism is all about power, so when I remark on modern superhero and thriller and horror stories as being fascist, I know whereof I speak.
. . .
Superhero stories may not necessarily be tales told by idiots, but they are full of sound and fury, and signify nothing.
Ultimately superheroes fail because:
they can’t lose
they can’t win
There is no finality in the superhero genre. The damn Joker keeps crawling back, Les Luthor constantly schemes, Dr. Doom and Galactus pop up whenever things lag in the sales department.
Superheroes as a genre are failures insofar as they can’t permanently deal with these existentialist threats, nor can they step out of the way to let others deal with them.
Superheroes promise salvation but deliver bupkis, slapping a band-aid on a cancer and telling us it’s all better.
They can’t permanently defeat their greatest threats, yet neither can they be truly harmed by them.
I’ll grant you the occasional Captain Mar-Vel but they are very minor exceptions to the rule. Gwen Stacy was bumped off in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 in June 1973, first reappeared as a clone in May 1975 then several times thereafter, and most recently shows up as Spider-Gwen in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (September 2014).
As Roy Thomas aptly observed: “In comics they’re only dead if you have a body and even then only maybe.”
(In fairness, there’s no finality in most formula / genre fiction either, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)
. . .
Before we delve deeper, let’s be clear as to what we’re discussing when we say “superheroes”.
They don’t need to possess “powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men”.
As noted above, they just have to be:
always victorious
never in real danger
You can bash ‘em / trash ‘em / slash ‘em / smash ‘em and they still bounce back -- heroically -- to save the day.
Break both legs, riddle them with machine gun bullets, hit them with a car, cave in their skulls with sledgehammers, and yet somehow they summon up the super-human reserves needed to keep in the fight.
Mind you, in the real world there are people who display super-human endurance in horrific situations and not merely survive but go on to achieve incredible success. They don’t do such things every year (as do heroes in movies), much less every month (comics) or every week (television).
They sure as hell don’t make a career out of it.
Let’s veer away from brightly colored naked people flying & fighting to superheroes in a different genre than costumed crime fighters.
Mike Hammer is a superhero.
Sherlock Holmes is a superhero.
Philip Marlow might actually be a literary character.
Look at the criteria: Can they lose?
Never in Hammer’s case.
Rarely for Holmes (and when he does, it’s always with bittersweet irony).
Frequently enough with Marlowe that one can’t anticipate if any of his stories will end with him victorious (yeah, he solves mysteries, but always at profound personal cost, and in more than one novel he ends up realizing he’s been a sucker all along).
Here’s another example that snaps the dichotomy into ever sharper relief:
Samuel L. Jackson’s Shaft is a superhero.
Richard Roundtree’s Shaft is just a hero.
Roundtree’s Shaft is aware he can fail.
No “macho bullshit irony” as they say over at the Church of the Sub-Genius.
. . .
Superheroes don’t grow -- they decay.
They never truly use their power for good (because that would involve changing the world) nor do they adequately protect the innocent.
They serve no true function except to entertain and to be exploited.
Series novels and television shows can feature character growth, but the concept has to be baked in from the beginning (Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City books are two examples that spring immediately to mind).*
More typically, in series fiction the character/s show little actual growth; they are more or less the same at the end of their adventures as they were at the beginning, maybe a little greyer, maybe a little creakier, but essentially the same person.
Sometimes, particularly in military or nautical or police series, they may start out as a callow cadet but soon wise up to the stalwart hero we want to see.
As perfect an example of superhero decay can be found in the Die Hard movies.
The original’s superhero character, Detective John McClane, implausibly goes through a night of hell yet actually shows some character growth: By the end of the film he’s able to swallow his pride and admit to his wife he was wrong.
A very farfetched movie but an emotionally satisfying one. We’ll overlook a multitude of injuries that would have rendered him hors de combat in reality in exchange for the movie actually being about something.
All that gets chucked out in the first sequel, Die Hard 2, where the characters are thrown into a contrived situation to mirror the first film without the satisfying emotional growth but with far more ridiculous action; Die Hard With A Vengeance jettisons McClane’s marital relationship except as an afterthought and ups the absurdity of the story (indeed, it’s best viewed as an action comedy); Live Free Or Die Hard totally trashes all the character growth before it; and A Good Day To Die Hard not only trashed previous character growth but went so badly over the top that it and the star’s aging out hopefully are the one-two punch needed to end the series once and for all.
. . .
Look at non-superpowered / non-comic book superheroes and see how they fare.
D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers are superheroes (conversely, Cyrano de Bergerac is not because the focus of his story is on who he is and not the what but the why of his actions; all the cool sword fighting is just bonus material).
Natty Bumpo is a superhero; anybody who can jump into a birchbark canoe from a tree branch 30 feet overhead without crashing through is a superhero because that character simple Can Not Lose.
For that matter, most 1950s TV cowboys and virtually all Italian Western protagonists are superheroes.
Tarzan is a superhero.
James Bond is a superhero (the SPECTRE / Blofeld arc in the novels and short stories actually do end up with him going through significant growth and personal change, ending with Smersh brainwashing him and sending him back to assassinate M…but then the British Secret Service intercepts him and a couple of paragraphs later he’s all better and off after The Man With The Golden Gun).
Modesty Blaise is a superhero.
Claire Starling is not a superhero, but Hannibal Lecter is (don’t give me that; even if you’re evil, when you’re the central character of a series of books / movies / TV shows you’re a damn superhero).
They’re all superheroes because they can’t lose and they can’t change their world and more importantly they can’t change themselves.
. . .
There is one exception to the above re superheroes, and that’s in the realm of sci- fi and fantasy stories.
Occasionally we find a character who becomes a king (viz Howard’s Kull) or a demi-god (viz Herbert’s Paul Atreides) and does alter their world for good or ill.
That, of course, is the ultimate power fantasy.
. . .
Fascism focuses on the Will and the Act.
It is a philosophy of movement.
It’s a philosophy that attracts the weak and the sadistic, because it promises protection from and power over others.
It’s a philosophy that actively seeks conflict, not necessarily overt violence, but the promise of same is always there.
. . .
A brief sidebar to the other side of the comic book spinner rack.
Funny animals are essentially anti-authoritarian.
From Aesop forward to Carl Barks, their characters, filled with all too human foibles, can and do fail.
And when they win?
Ah, then it’s almost never by force or action, but by cleverness.
Funny animals are tricksters, accurately sussing out a situation and maneuvering to gain the best outcome for themselves without obtaining dominance over their opponent.
Bre’r Rabbit and Bugs Bunny.
Ducks Donald, Daffy, and Howard.
Superhero stories seems obsessed with keeping everything orderly and in continuity.
Without continuity, anything goes, and that’s fatal to the superhero trope as it annihilates authority.
Funny animal stories rarely feature continuity and when they do, it’s rarely rigorous. If Porky Pig needs to be a businessman or a farmer or a studio executive or a traveling salesman, so be it.
He’ll be something else in the next story.
As tricksters, funny animals are bounded by one rule:
They may save themselves and seek justice, but they will pay a penalty if they try to use trickery for selfish gain.
Howard the Duck -- “trapped alone and afraid / in a world he never made” -- is just trying to stay survive.
Daffy Duck -- greedy little miser that he is -- inevitably gets it in the neck when he tries to cheat someone.
Donald Duck -- floating somewhere between Howard and Daffy in his motivations -- finds no guarantee of success and reward, yet achieves success often enough to keep striving.
He may battle mummies or a reluctant coke machine, his stories may take him around the world on an adventure or no further than his kitchen to fix dinner.
It doesn’t matter.
Who he is makes his stories compelling far more than what he does.
He’s not on a power trip.
He doesn’t feel he has to win every time.
And as a result, he has a much richer life than Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark.
. . .
“So whaddya sayin’, Buzz? ‘Superheroes is bad’?”
No.
I deny no one their pleasure.
But I also think there are times when we have to demand not just more of creators but of ourselves as an audience with the media we consume.
I only saw the first two scenes of the first episode of The Boys.
That was all it took to convince me not to watch it anymore.
For similar reasons, I have no desire to watch Mad Men or Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul or Game Of Thrones.
I’ve picked up a strong enough vibe from each to know I’m not going to connect with them.
I’m certainly not saying you can’t enjoy them if you like.
Bu I am saying we’re cheating ourselves by not demanding more.
And until we start demanding more, the studios and streamers are only going to offer us less and less variety.
C’mon, people, we deserve more than that.
© Buzz Dixon
* I’m sparing you a whole long analysis of The Mary Tyler Moore Show because frankly it goes too far afield of this essay’s central thesis and besides I can use it for another blog post in the future.
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I'd smash it if I went on antiques roadtrip. Satsuma vases and fucking Wedgewood oh aye they call me The Knowledge
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Other excellent Michael moments feature lightly stabbing Jon but in like a fun way, laughing at Jon and calling him stupid when he smashed up the web table and literally laughing himself breathless at the fact that Jon had been kidnapped and was about to be peeled like a satsuma by Nikola
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Geisha and cat shirt
I need to be at one of those Geisha and cat shirt. Meet Geisha girl. It would be wonderful to come. There are many things to see BBC. Of course we like Kyoto since we’re here. Time is such an odd concept, right now when I post what I am saying, it is 7;15 P.M. in Utah State U.S.A. For us, it is Sunday evening right now! I love to wear my cat shirt too. We bet you look just as smashing! It’s good to wear kimono sometimes. Satsuma-san is worthy of Saturday and Sunday LOL Nah spread the wealth. The kagan is full of twinkling stars. A picture is worth a thousand words. sometimes many, much more especially on Mondays and Tuesdays. On a positive note, I heard the Kyoto and Kansai area’s Wuhan Virus State of Emergency has been lifted.
Buy this shirt: Geisha and cat shirt
Home: https://outfitshirt.com
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My old af crappy art lmao
So my one kaiju oc is Shezilla, a female of Godzilla’s species. She exists to me in the Heisei era, if anyone is curious. She is distinguishable from Godzilla by her lighter granite gray coloring (as opposed to Godzilla being charcoal gray), her longer claws and her smaller dorsal plates.
Shezilla has been around since I was 17 and now I’m almost 39. Godzilla totally loves her. 😇
So anyway...touching noses is how they kiss. So here’s them smooching in front of sunset colors.
Godzilla ‘flirts’ with her by rearing up. They’re on a beach before dawn and Venus, the morning star, is in the sky.
And Shezilla takes a walk. The pink 80s zigzag bg is because Shezilla is a girly girl who would wear pink nail polish and use cute flowers and hearts frames for her Instagram pics if she used that.
Shezilla is supposed to have an agile build, like Final Wars Goji, but I sucked at drawing that properly, lolz. She can run and jump because she is less bulky than Godzilla. Her footsteps are also less concussive because she doesn’t announce her presence by stomping. At night she can get quite far into a city before the alarms sound. There is another reason she can move in ways Godzilla can’t, but I’ll get to that later on in this post. Her long claws allow her to dig and it’s not uncommon to see her save some nuclear reactor cooling rods for later by burying them.
Shezilla’s main personality difference from Godzilla is she can be driven away by the military because the noise and artillery impacts are confusing and scary to her. She will turn around and fight back if she gets hit in the face, though, cuz that pisses her right off and then it becomes total decimation same as it would with Godzilla. But she is a bit of a 'fraidy cat on land, less so in the water. Another thing is she doesn’t like to get dirty, though she will if she has to. You’ll find her grooming herself clean as soon as she’s able to do so.
She’s not one who likes to charge into fights without a good reason. Trespassing on the island she and Godzilla like to hang around on is one good way to get on her bad side. She will fiercely defend her territory. You’ll get a couple of warning roars, a warning blast of the death breath, and then she charges after the invader looking for a fight.
Most of her fighting moves are similar to Godzilla’s, but she has a couple that are all her own. Like she will run and pounce her opponents to knock them down. Sometimes, if the terrain allows, she will jump off a higher point and smash her opponent underneath her. Her long claws allow her to dig them into an opponent and cause some serious bloodshed. If she hooks them into you and starts thrashing you into the ground, you’re screwed. XD Her fave water move is to come after her opponent from below, and she will come up with such force that she’ll jump almost totally out of the water with the poor loser caught in her teeth or claws. (And it’s a hell of a wave when gravity takes over.)
But her coolest move is she will pick up something big (like a boulder), hurl it at her foe and nuke it with her death breath, which makes the thrown object explode and shower the other guy with superheated shrapnel. Sometimes she sends another shot through the blast while they’re blinded, or she charges through the blast as it’s hitting and pummels the hell out of whoever made her mad. It can be quite devastating.
Btw, Godzilla gets mean over a lot of things, but if he sees somebody hurt Shezilla he goes into smash mode and nothing is safe. He’ll decimate whoever hurt her, go off to smash whatever city is nearby to calm down and come back to tend to her if she needs it. The same is true in reverse-- even if Shezilla is retreating, if she sees or hears Godzilla scream / fall down, all bets are off and she will destroy whoever knocked him over. The only difference is she won’t go off to smash a city after, she’ll get Godzilla up and tend to him as soon as the threat is gone.
Her temper isn’t quiiiiite as bad as his, though she’s got her rage buttons and I already covered those.
And finally, here’s the other reason Shezilla moves a bit more gracefully than her dudebro counterpart. I incorporated the stiffness of the Heisei era Godzilla suit into Godzilla’s character-- Godzilla was the runt of his pod when he was a Godzillasaur because he has a heart defect that affected how his brain developed.
He’s got some neurological issues due to chronic hypoxia in early life, and they carried over when he mutated into Godzilla. If he was human he’d be diagnosed with spastic CP and use a cane when he walks. Since he’s a kaiju his tail is his “cane” and acts as a counterweight that stops him from falling forward all the time. He can go short distances with his tail off the ground, but he won’t feel as secure. His muscles resist him a bit when he moves and his range of motion is limited. He doesn’t run because he can’t run without falling forward on his face. That’s why he stomps when he walks and his footfalls are so heavy, he has to stomp to feel stable on his feet.
He turns his tight muscles into brute force and he’s so dang buff because his muscles get a lot of work holding him upright and beating the hell out of other kaiju. Sometimes he’ll be really, really, really stiff and tight when he wakes up after a long sleep, but he swims into warmer water because it feels good to his sore muscles. He’ll stretch and loosen up to his version of normal, sort of a kaiju version of occupational therapy. It’s a painful process, but for the big G moving is a matter of survival.
He’s got a few cognitive issues too, mainly a lack of a fear response to things most animals would be terrified of. The only things that really incite fear in him are being thrust into pitch blackness unexpectedly (as opposed to going somewhere dark by choice) and an uncontrollable fall like the time he plunged into Mt. Mihara. That was a scared Goji scream. On the other side of that, he’s got a memory like Kim Peek and can remember all the way back to when he was a hatchling. If he sees a human up close, he will remember their face forever and may recognize them decades later, even when age alters their appearance-- Shindo brought back some very bad memories.
He still has the hole between the ventricles of his heart, but he’s so massive and his resting heart rate is so slow that he doesn’t feel the effects of it unless his heart rate climbs up past 50 bpm and stays there for long periods of time. Then he gets woozy and loopy / confused, but the rapid regenerative healing caused by his mutation prevents this from doing more damage to his brain and body. He shouldn’t be alive at all, yet he is and he persists. If you magically “turned off” Godzilla’s regenerative healing abilities, he would probably die of heart failure in a few weeks. He’s a big, scary force of nature on the outside and fragile on the inside with organs and cells constantly working to maintain a delicate balance.
(This headcanon is 20+ years old, y’all, just so you know.)
Basically, Godzilla is a big ol’ dorky klutz most of the time, sometimes he’s a bit slow to catch up on a situation, and Shezilla sees those as part of his charm.
Oh, and his silly smile helps, too. That always gets her. ;)
Anybody that’s got a problem with the idea of disabled!Godzilla can go ride a cactus.
Shezilla is a clone in my imaginary Heisei era version of her. She was created by a kaijuologist named Kenpachiro Satsuma...yes, I named a character after the dude who wore the Godzilla suit for the Heisei era. When I was 17 I wrote him to be eccentric, but today I’ll shamelessly say he’s an adult diagnosed autistic whose special interest (and expertise) is Godzilla. He figured Godzilla was lonely and that a companion might keep him out of cities...and it does. Sort of. LOL
#Godzilla#Gojira#kaiju#daikaiju#disability headcanon#OC#my art#Shezilla#fandom#swearing#long post#infodump
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Send me 👀 and I'll post writing I never finished in 2019
Lívstræðrir
The sky is bleeding.
There's a heavy silence that weighs on the air, a breath not yet taken. Clouds gather overhead, shadowed underbellies highlighted by the fiery red of a setting sun. The light shines out across the water, a blood red spear that reflects its way out across the fjord and away from the shore.
It's a bad omen for the fight to come. If she even believed in such a thing.
The whetstone scrapes against her axe with an icy hiss, the blade edge shining in the dying light. She pushes the whetstone across the metal again before dropping it idly to her side, her tattooed hands lifting the axe so that it is level with her eyes. It's a fine thing, serpentine patterns etched into the steel by a craftsman whose name she's long since forgotten. The edge has never dulled and it's solid oak haft has never splintered.
#sass pretends to be a writer#my writing#smash satsuma#thank you my love got forcing me to go back and read this sorry attempt
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You might be having a bad day because of one (or more) things listed below:
1. Having a runny nose
2. Call from unknown numbers
3. Being left on hold when calling a company
4. Receiving a ‘we missed you’ card for a failed parcel delivery
5. People who ignore queuing etiquette
6. Having no WiFi
7. Having to pay 5p to carry your own shopping home
8. Door-to-door salespeople
9. Having a bad phone signal
10. Not being able to find the end of the sellotape
11. Having to stand on public transport
12. Wanting to log into an account but being unable to remember the password
13. Not finding anything you like when clothes shopping
14. Having to use a tin opener when the tin doesn’t have a ring pull
15. No-one replaced the toilet roll
16. Running out of milk
17. Online deliveries arriving late
18. Unexpected items in the bagging area at self-checkouts
19. Dunking a biscuit and losing half of it in the cup of tea
20. Satsumas that have loads of pips in
21. Blisters from new shoes
22. Not being able to fast forward live TV
23. Your neighbour parking outside your house when they already have more parking space than you
24. When public transport doesn’t turn up on time
25. A Sky+ recording clash
26. Tea going cold
27. A wardrobe full of clothes but nothing to wear
28. Hotels with plug sockets too far from the mirror / bed
29. Not having 4G signal, merely 3G
30. Sitting in front of or near children on a plane
31. Forgetting your gloves on a cold day
32. Crème eggs not being on sale all year round
33. Takeaway takes too long to be delivered
34. Important emails go into the junk folder
35. Having so much ice in a drink you can’t get to the actual drink
36. When there is a power cut and you can’t watch TV or make a cup of tea
37. Deliveries or meter reading visits at awkward times
38. It’s freezing outside but boiling in the office
39. Having to package up and return clothes you bought online and don’t want
40. Chipped nail polish
41. Running out of hot water
42. Ladders in tights
43. Leaving the phone charger at home
44. Shop assistant giving you coins instead of a note as change
45. Wine / tea / coffee staining your teeth
46. Tea that is over-brewed and has scum at the top
47. Long queue in the coffee shop
48. Not having matching bed linen and towels
49. The taxi driver arrives late
50. A pulled muscle after exercise
You might be having a bad day because your hair got ruined in the wind. Or maybe you picked and outfit that you don't feel good in. Perhaps you couldn't get that top you wanted so badly or maybe you missed the train and you're running late.
I did not moan this morning whilst I waited in the long que in the coffee shop - I still got my coffee in under five minutes. I did not moan this morning when I realised my nails were chipped - I made arrangements to get them re-done. I did not moan this morning when my train was late and I received a call from an unknown number - I waited on the next train and ignored the call.
But I did however, wish with everything I had that my mother was cured of her terminal cancer. I wished and prayed that she was fixable, and broke my heart trying to hold back floods of tears, knowing fine well that no amount of wishes or prayers could stop my mother from dying.
You can get another cup of tea if it has went cold. You can get another hair appointment if you miss it. You can get another phone if you smash it. But I won't get another Mother. I won't get another hug or another smile. I won't get another phone call or text message. I won't get another row or another argument.
It is not until you are faced with the unimaginable that you realise how the world is blissfuly ignorant and innocently deranged. We happily complain unnecessarily about relatively trivial matters and refuse to take blame for our brainwashed personalities. It is the norm to be angered, stressed or upset over a minor, fixable issue. It is not until you are faced with the unimaginable that you realise how frustrating it is to be alive in this disgustingly shameful world we have created (and become accustomed to) today.
Please, I plead you not to stress over the smaller, trivial problems in life. Instead count your blessings and be thankful that ALL of these things are fixable. I can guarantee that NONE of these things really matter when it's time to say goodbye.
My mother, despite her ongoing (mental and physical) battle aims to live the rest of her short life that she has left by ' The Desiderata' - a very fitting poem by max Hermann that I would like to share with you:
"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."
Hug your mother tight tonight and thank God that your hair can be restyled and your outfit can be changed. Thank God that there will be more tops you probably like better.
Thank God that you were lucky enough to have only missed your train this morning. Thank God that your problems are fixable.
#cancer#terminal#illness#disease#mother#mum#love#heartbreak#misha collins#jensen ackles#jared padalecki#spn#join the hunt#supernatural#tom hiddleston#macmillan cancer support#sherlock#benedict cumberbatch#criminal minds#gublernation#mathew gray gubler
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“Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan” (1972) or Godzilla vs Gigan
AKA: “Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs. Gigan” [literal Japanese translation]; or “Godzilla on Monster Island,” which is daft, as it’s all about what Godzilla does after he gets away from Monster Island; or «Frankensteins Höllenbrut» (German for “Frankenstein’s hell brood”), which says a fair bit about how the German distributors didn’t understand how to name monsters and may have had a bit to learn about reproduction.
Now THIS is more like what I signed up for! Technology and enforced peace instead of good old cunning and freedom of will, plus stuff blowing up. Yup! This is the good stuff!
New cover illustration by Becky Cloonan
— — — —
The story… uh… story? Do we care? There’s tonnes of smashing of model… oh, all right…
I had to re-watch this, frankly, as things really do blend together quickly at this end of the history.
We meet a would-be comic artist. He gets a ‘look in’ for a job with the World Children’s Land Committee building Godzilla Tower using footage of earth movers from earlier films to clear the ground.
World Children’s Land; a place of peace, harmony, and a 14-story radiation beast [left, with scaffolding].
— — — —
The children will learn about Absolute Peace in a library and classrooms surrounding a park-like setting.
Why the inclusion of Godzilla? Kids love monsters, but Monster Island will be destroyed once the project is completed. Absolute Peace cannot include the reality of monsters who might wreak havoc, I suppose.
It seems that the WCLC is not what it seems to be, however. A small reel of magnetic tape holding the details of their ‘Action 2’ has found its way into the hands of our young artist. The next stage in bringing Absolute Peace to the entire world is no longer in the WCLC’s control!
When the tape is played, the sound (which is similar to what audio cassettes with machine language programmes like Missile Attack and Asteroids clones were like when listened to instead of being plugged into a TRS-80) is picked-up both by the brains behind the WCLC as well as Godzilla and Angilas on Monster Island, who then communicate with each other by way of speech balloons.
In the English dub, in which the monsters infamously talk, Godzilla mispronounces Angilas’ name as “Angila.”
Dude! How long have you two been hanging out on that island together, and you can’t even get the guy’s name right?
Anyway, Angilas is sent to find out what’s going on in Japan, from whence cometh the strange signals. After Angilas is repelled by the Japanese Defence Forces, Godzilla and Angilas are reported heading toward the Children’s Land construction area, while King Ghodorah and Gigan approach from the depths of space. It seems that the WCLC is a front for aliens who have been seeking a planet to rule over, replacing their current one, which has been destroyed by water and air pollution, radioactivity, and complete depletion of basic resources. Earth is on the same path, mostly due to industrialization, so is perfect for them, as human life will no longer be supported, leaving the aliens (who in reality are big cockroaches) free to do what they wish.
Gigan [on right, played by Kenpachirô Satsuma], proof of beaks being more useful than considered before this.
— — — —
The design of the monster Gigan is insane. He’s got a double beak, in which one is not set inside the other, but at right angles to the other, so when he bites something, he can do it from four directions. Additionally, he’s got some sort of circular saw down the front of his abdomen, which he can turn off and on so when he’s close enough to something he can then carve his way through it; a building, say. He also has one gigantic, glowing red eye ball which takes-up the entire width of his, admittedly narrow, head, but he doesn’t shoot a laser beam out of it in the way one would expect given its looks as that was seen to be not fitting with its character. Over-all, he resembles a massive chicken or perhaps a rooster on the plain side (barring the eyeball). He’s from Space, naturally, so he’s bound to be a little odd in the fashion department.
King Gidorah in this one is more restrained than his last outing, owing to labour restrictions at the studio. To make him look ‘good and proper,’ they needed one person in the suit and at least one person controlling the wires for each head, plus some people on wings, then there’s the feet and tails; all together there are 22 wires involved and that count changes to 24 when it’s in flight. It’s super-complicated, so the end result is that when you’re not seeing some footage recycled from an earlier film, he’s like as not standing there laughing at Godzilla falling down at the hands of Gigan. This is a shame as it’s a fantastic character. He could have used a fresh coat of paint, too.
The over all message here is one that ‘peace is not easily achieved, and is entirely subjective.’ After all, one person’s ‘peace’ is another person’s idea of ‘social repression.’ One of the most frustrating things about humanity is our habit of making choices, both good and bad, and our insistence that we must be left free to make those choices, for it is only by choosing poorly that we learn to make better decisions in the future. To have the options we can select be restricted, or even to not be permitted to choose at all, is anathema to humanity’s continued evolution into a higher being.
Sometimes, you simply choose to watch a 100 or so metre tall monster smash the heck out of Tokyo’s harbour!
★★★★☆
#Godzilla#Gojira#Gojira tai Gaigan#Godzilla vs Gigan#King Ghidorah#Angilas#World Children’s Land Committee#Gigan#Criterion Collection#Dear God What Have I Done to Myself?
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Creating Daring Decor With Contrasting Colour Schemes
Forget faded colour schemes, come revel in hot red and orange accented decor that’s smashed up against lime green, turquoise, yellow, powder blue and pink hero furniture pieces. Each of these four modern home interiors have raucous colour running between expanses of neutral tones, to air out the playful notes. A spray of natural greenery grows here and there, to add a homey feel and texture. There is also texture at play in material choices, with ribbed glass elements, raw brickwork walls, terrazzo and perforated metal. Get ready to feast your eyes on a joyous journey around spaces jam-packed with daring stand out details.
Visualizer: Diego Drews
The first riot of colour comes to us from Estoril, Portugal. A satsuma modern coffee table demands to be noticed in the centre of a cosy living room. A lime green accent chair and pink lounge chair kick up the contrast around the furniture centrepiece. A pebble grey sectional sofa cools down the lounge arrangement, and creates breathing space between it and a colourful dining area behind.
Powder blue scatter cushions pep up the look of the plain grey sofa upholstery, and tie it with the blue element of the nearby dining set.
Low slung Scandinavian furniture creates a laid-back look. A narrow cylindrical wood burner makes the room look and feel toasty. A smooth white wall has been floated in front of a raw brickwork feature that brings depth to the brightly decorated room. The swing arm wall lamp there is the Flos Mod 265 style lamp.
Scandinavian style chairs in blue, green, and white finishes encircle a round dining table with a copper support leg, which echoes the orange accent tone that started in the lounge.
The green dining chair matches with mint green base cabinets across the kitchen wall.
A blue fruit bowl throws down another pop of colour on the table.
Green and copper coloured dining room pendant lights dangle above. The orange tone carries through into a wine storage unit in the kitchen.
Coloured cabinet fronts create a big impact in the small kitchen.
Visualizer: Zieg Si
The second colourful creation we’re looking at is a red and green feast of accent pieces. This living room causes the eye to track around every furniture piece and soft furnishing choice in the room, from green accent chair to red side table to multicoloured cushions and throws. A chrome floor lamp pulls in with the cooling grey elements in the room.
In the games room, a nifty coffee table design pops up out of the floor.
A modern wall sconce duo scale the wall beside two gaming chairs that are upholstered in contrasting colours. Large poster art adds a playful and creative element. A daybed is tucked within a bank a storage units and a turquoise window seat offers another spot to lounge.
Back out in the open plan living room, a classy marbled hearth and a textured tv wall counteract the louder elements in the space.
Red and monochrome kitchen bar stools sit at a stone peninsula, whilst a more conventional dining table is set by the window.
The red and green colour story continues in the master. An eye catching bedroom pendant light competes for attention.
The second bedroom scheme in the home is just as loud.
A unique rug dots colour through the study.
Home layout.
Designer: Palina Karniyenka Visualizer: Palina Karniyenka
Red and green revellers dwell in home number three, where colourful panels peer through textured glass to brighten the living room. A round coffee table, scatter cushion and rug bring in golden yellow accents.
Bam! A red kitchen wakes up the senses, with a solid green kitchen island to amp up its effect.
A cactus is placed to match the green theme of the central island and bar stools.
Yellow tiles flash through the home entryway like a bolt of lighting out of the blue. Pegboard panels texturise tall white cabinet doors.
A bushy indoor plant visually separates the home entryway from the cosy lounge. A mysterious deep blue portiere fills an arched doorway.
Inside a green bedroom, the shining effect of two beautiful copper bedroom pendant lights is doubled by a pair of elliptical wall mirrors.
The bathroom is white with a squeeze of zest. A juicy orange vessel basin tops a modern bathroom vanity, and orange wall hooks cross the white tile wall.
An orange accent stripe is painted where the walls meet the ceiling, and a matching trim defines glass doors.
Floor plan.
Designer: Form'8 studio
In Minsk, Belarus, a sophisticated colourful living room is home to a tangerine sectional sofa.
Red panelling trims the room.
Smart black light tracks keep the colours in the room looking their brightest. Shelf lights feed a healthy collection of indoor plants.
Red and blue rugs overlay cool grey terrazzo floor tiles.
A blue kitchen peeps around the corner.
Dark curtains exaggerate the arched architecture.
There is a sudden visual temperature change between the orange & red living room, and a solid blue hallway.
Orange dining stools throw colour around a black dining table.
The orange dining furniture fizzes against the blue kitchen cabinets.
Rolled sheet metal and concrete blocks make an original seat in the blue hallway.
In the bedroom, red perforated metal builds a run of unique wardrobes.
The red bedroom is cooled by grey terrazzo flooring and heavy blue window drapes.
The drapes pull around the head of the bed to create added drama.
Black hardware finishes off the red powder coated closets.
Recommended Reading: 2 Quirky Interiors With Punchy Colourful Decor
Related Posts:
How To Use Terrazzo In Interior Design: 4 Examples
Wall Texture Designs For The Living Room: Ideas & Inspiration
Interior Design Using Orange & Blue: Tips To Help You Decorate Using Complementary Colors
Beautiful Interiors That Combine An Old Warsaw Mood With Contemporary Style
Lovely Bedrooms With Fabulous Furniture And Layouts
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