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lovelyjasmari · 2 days

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Pomefiore Endnote - Perfectionism, Apathy and the True Tragedy of Book 5

Warning: Long post and pic heavy.

So…this is something of a continuation of my last twst reaction post, where I analyzed the Absolutely Beautiful dance video. I ended the post by saying that the true tragedy was not that NRC Tribe lost but that Vil could be convinced he was an inferior performer compared to Neige. Now I’m going to expand on that…in excruciating detail. XD

In all seriousness, though, I'm not really sure if I'd call this an analysis in the traditional sense. Maybe more like a long-winded rant based on canon observations. But all the same, I’ve been grappling with this for the last year and a half since when Book 6 first dropped in EN. I’ve wanted to share my thoughts for a long time but decided against it because I acknowledge how contentious this topic is in the fandom and I prefer to keep my online space as drama-free as possible. I also didn’t want anyone to get the idea I’m attacking others when at most, I’m just being critical.

But with the new story update imminent and it looking like it will be Pomefiore-centric, I’ve come to the realization that if I don’t share this soon, I never will. My timing is admittedly ass but I think it would be worse if I share this AFTER the update and you’re about to understand why.

So before we dive in, disclaimer. This is going to cover the end of Book 5 and the first few chapters of Book 6 and my in-depth opinions on both. There will be mentions of trauma/mental illness and some very blunt (but honest) Rook criticism. But please keep in mind, that while I have my own interpretation of the twst characters and their respective arcs, I am not Yana and ultimately, my opinions are just that. Opinions. Everything I say is subjective at best but a lot of what’s coming up is based on a blend of canon observations as well as my own specific, personal experiences as someone with very similar life experiences as Vil and has been dancing for most of her life.

Still, these are just opinions and I have no intention to offend anyone. But if you don’t like reading negative things about Rook or take issue with this general way of thinking, I HIGHLY advise you to ignore this and respectfully (or quietly) agree that we disagree.

When I wrote the greater bulk of this, it was around when Book 6 dropped in EN. A year has passed since then and I’ve had time to think more about my opinions here and, to a greater extent, how I feel about Book 5. This may sound strange but I feel that Book 5 is both the best and worst part of twst’s main story to date. I really like how it touched upon something that isn’t really isn’t talked about much; how we as a society both admire beauty but also vilify it. Vil’s primary dilemma is how he is wrongfully villainized for his beauty, wealth, and harsh personality, despite subverting expectations of cruelty at every turn. Ironically, when the fandom mischaracterizes him as vain, cruel, classist, racist and the like, they are falling into that same literary trap. Proving the point of his arc.

And as much as I hated the ending from an emotional point of view, I actually love it as well, ironically for reasons that might not have been intentional. What I hated, mostly, was the fandom’s response. There was a great opportunity here for some deep discussion regarding society’s views on beauty, how constant trauma causes us to internalize false perceptions of ourselves, and the rather fascinating/dangerous dynamic Vil has with his vice dorm leader. Instead, any interesting discourse has been lost in all the misinterpretations of Vil. To the point I wonder if we all actually read the same story. I’m disappointed in the fandom, but somehow not surprised either.

But regardless, Rook’s actions were extremely disquieting but not for the reasons you might think. There was nothing wrong with his decision but the way he went about it and how he (and Vil) tried to justify it really left such a nasty taste in my mouth and I gotta talk about it to get it out.

First I just want to commend Vil for his level of maturity and rationality regarding his overblot. Even when it was happening, not once has he tried to justify his actions and in fact it was his own guilt at his potential wrongdoing that ultimately caused it. His fear that in a brief, desperate attempt to be seen as not a monster, he became exactly that. Throughout Book 5, it is implied that Vil already sees himself as a villainous person and internalizes that image of himself almost with pride. But despite this false perception, his actions have always proven the opposite and it’s clear that Vil has always valued being altruistic, determined and just. And his guilt when he failed to meet his own standards was beyond compare.

I feel that this guilt sets Vil apart from the other overblots thus far. Most importantly, he apologized of his own volition and wasn’t forced to. That alone makes him stand out among the overblot characters and, to my mind, makes him the most compelling of them all. If I’m being completely honest, out of all those who have overblotted thus far, Vil has been the LEAST problematic even before his overblot. And the one instance where Vil displayed any “cruelty” beforehand is EXTREMELY subjective. (his treatment of Epel) But the fact that Vil has been the least problematic overblot student so far also makes him the most tragic. And makes what’s about to happen next all the more disturbing.

Interestingly enough, Jamil is correct about this but for the wrong reason and here comes the first point. There was no indication that the audience was anything but enthralled with NRC Tribe. And if Vil or any of the others made significant mistakes, because of Vil’s fame, I’m certain they would have been pointed out by magicam netizens. With the recent release of the Absolutely Beautiful mv over on twst jp, we now also have a visual to go off from.

I talk about this more in a previous post but basically, yes, NRC Tribe’s performance wasn’t perfect, but based on what I saw, I would have expected A LOT worse considering the circumstances. The fact is all evidence points to the NRC boys giving a wonderful performance made all the more remarkable by the fact they were still able to perform after dealing with Vil’s OB not too long before. And the audience clearly thought so too if they were only one vote away from victory.

To add to this point, when the other characters comment on the NRC Tribe’s performance, they make no mention of any noticeable errors. And when Crowley laments their defeat later, again, there’s no mention of any errors. Considering that Ambrose was pretty pretentious about RSA winning, I'm sure he’d mention that, too.

Even further, one thing you learn from being on stage is that your audience rarely notices mistakes unless they are extremely obvious. You, as the performer, might notice, but you quickly learn not to draw attention to your errors and keep it moving. Now of course, the NRC characters could be biased because they want to defeat RSA. But considering the nature of a lot of them, I doubt they would lie so flagrantly. Especially Jack who is pretty no-nonsense even with the people he likes. And Malleus who seems pretty difficult to impress. So if their commentaries are to be believed, this shows that any errors made by the NRC Tribe were not noticeable.

That Vil would think otherwise speaks to something far deeper and far more insidious. Stick a pin in that; we’ll come back to it soon enough.

Vil then goes on to explain to the boys that Neige and his friends worked just as hard and had their own struggles. That Neige grew up in an improvised environment and had to juggle acting obligations with household chores and helping out the dwarves. Again, it is extremely commendable that Vil is able to acknowledge this about this rival. It shows that his contempt for Neige was never as simple as “boo hoo people think he’s more beautiful than me” and he at least respects Neige’s efforts even if this explanation once again falls flat.

Firstly, narratively speaking it doesn’t make sense that Vil is just finding out about Neige’s backstory now (likely from Rook) because I feel like he should already be aware. In fact, all through Book 5, I thought that he did know but didn’t care. Honestly, Neige’s backstory shouldn’t matter to Vil anyway and surprisingly, it’s Ace of all people who explains why.

Neige’s struggles might matter to his fans but at the end of the day if Neige cannot perform better than Vil, then that’s his own fault. There are many artists out there who have to deal with similar struggles but come out as phenomenal performers and yet Neige’s “best” basically consists of the twst equivalent of this meme. Precious, but cannot compare to all the sweat and tears Vil and his team were put through.

There’s actually an interesting analysis floating around this hellsite about how Neige’s childish performance was actually an incredibly manipulative tactic and could have been intentional if he were a different character. I’m not gonna link it cause I don’t want to bring any heat to the op. But I will say that while I don’t think Neige intended to manipulate the audience with his cuteness, in the end, it did indeed work in his favor. And the fact that Vil thought to train Epel to weaponize his cuteness to defeat Neige indicates that he’s already no stranger to seeing such underhanded tactics in the industry he works in. In his beansday vignette, Vil mentions an actor he initially admired destroying one of his stage outfits. If Neige weren’t presented as so naive and twisted from a traditionally “good” character, his choice regarding his performance could be regarded as deliberate. Which is why Vil lamented that he and his team had been “outplayed”.

Back on topic, what I took away from this was that, once again, Vil’s hard work and determination count for nothing because of things he cannot control. Because he was born to wealth, because he didn’t have the same hardships, he doesn’t deserve the same consideration or sympathy as Neige. And his wealth and beauty once again put him in the position of villain to Neige’s hero. It’s a textbook case very common in media, like Sharpay opposing Gabriella in High School Musical. But what’s worse is that from all that we’ve seen of Vil, he could coast on his wealth, beauty and father's fame if he wanted to.

Instead, he chooses to work hard and have his accomplishments come from his own merit. When anyone else in his situation could easily choose the opposite. And just from a personal standpoint, if I practiced day and night for a dance competition and ended up losing to someone under my level simply because they were cute and disenfranchised, I would feel extremely insulted. At the end of the day, Ace is correct and whatever struggles Neige and his team had, they were still inferior performers.

And to add to this point, I believe that at some point Vil KNEW this even AFTER his OB. Despite his earlier anguish at never being able to perform innocent cuteness like his rival, once his mind was clearer, he was able to see that NRC Tribe’s performance was still technically better. He was able to see how the audience responded to Neige and still believed in himself as a better performer. I say this based on another scene earlier in book 5.

Vil was undoubtedly in a very emotionally vulnerable place right after his overblot. He went to great lengths to conceal the aftereffects before going on stage to the point he collapsed as soon as he was alone. After going so long trying to hide them, his darkest, ugliest emotions were laid bare to his teammates and to himself. Manifesting in the worst way possible. And as a professional performer, if any errors were made, he would have been painfully aware of them.

And yet, despite having just dealt with the darkest moment of his life, Vil was still able to stand upon the stage until the very end and give the best performance he could. Against all odds, before a world that has wrongfully perceived him as evil and hideous for most of his life.

And despite knowing that Neige possesses all that he never can, it is strongly implied that Vil still chooses to vote for his own team. Meaning he saw the appeal in Neige’s performance and STILL knew that he did better. And I’d like to believe that even if Vil was aware of Neige’s backstory, he would have still made the same decision. It’s easy to be beautiful when everything is right and perfect in your world. But being able to smile even when you’re struggling and your heart is breaking is even more beautiful still.

Sadly, Vil isn’t likely to realize this anytime soon and will continue to see his own mental struggles as not as valid or “ugly.” Now back to that original pin of thought, Vil will likely continue to believe that he didn’t deserve to win the VDC despite all evidence to the contrary. He’s likely to continue internalizing the false villainous image of himself as well. And for that we now must get to the crux of this matter.

At first glance, this statement doesn’t seem like much but when you look deeper, and look back at some of Rook’s own actions, this comes off as incredibly hypocritical and cruel. As we have seen from Vil’s backstory, he has dealt with untold hardships as well. But Vil’s anguish is more internalized than Neige’s and it’s very unlikely that he has ever really been open about how dehumanizing and hurtful his treatment has been.

And from an outsider’s perspective, his problems aren’t as dire anyway. It’s just like Vil said, his life has been quite different from Neige’s. But mental trauma doesn’t know demographics and can affect anyone. The fact is what Vil has gone through is extremely traumatizing and comes from nothing beyond people wrongfully vilifying him for his beauty. Projecting their insecurities onto him from a very young age. It’s clear that what Vil has dealt with has fundamentally altered how he sees himself.

But at the same time, what do you think would happen if Vil WAS more open about his frustrations? The dehumanizing effect and the bullying? The typecasting and prejudice thrown his way? And the feeling that nothing he does will ever be enough to break free from his villainous mold? What would happen if Vil were to be open about ANY of that? He would be mocked and shamed and perceived as shallow, petty and crying about nothing. Lowkey how many in the fandom already see Vil anyway. We as a society sadly don’t take mental illness as seriously as we should but when celebrities deal with it? It quickly becomes meme fodder and nowhere is this more obvious than on stan twitter. We are all guilty of feeding into it, whether we’re honest about it or not.

Ironically, Vil’s mental struggles is one of the things that would make him more “relatable.” But the truth is that people would never accept that because society has a long history of trivializing the mental issues of celebrities because they seem so far removed from normal people. And then being surprised pikachu faced when they do something drastic to themselves. So Vil internalizes all of it because he knows he can’t be open about it.

A person like him simply can’t be open about his hardships but HERE is the kicker: neither can Neige. He also has an image of perfection to uphold so it is likely he is also internalizing mental struggles of his own. Living and caring for seven others can’t be easy in addition to trying to grow his career. And if his deeper origins are anything like his Disney counterpart, how he came to live with the dwarves must have been traumatic as well.

But here’s the difference: from Rook’s perspective, he is “better” at internalizing those ugly emotions than Vil is. After all, Neige is able to overcome all his struggles and still smile and not give hints to them, but when Vil finally buckled under all of his own trauma, we see what happened.

There’s also the fact that since Rook and Neige attend different schools, Rook doesn’t have as close a seat to any of Neige’s more personal troubles. So it’s likely easier for Rook to project his own ideas of beauty onto Neige because from his perspective, he is perfect. He is beautiful. He is pure. Like the legendary singing princess Rook so reveres. He isn’t plagued with any of the ugly emotions that caused Vil to overblot. And if Neige DOES have ugly feelings or ugly trauma responses, Rook isn’t privy to them, so they clearly must not exist.

I genuinely believe that THIS is what Rook meant when he stated Vil’s performance wasn’t as beautiful as Neige’s. I know he mentions another reason at the end of book 5 but in my mind, they are both one and the same. Whatever technical difficulties NRC Tribe had, they were still polished enough to garner enough votes that it was only Rook’s flawed ideology that sealed their fate. And throughout book 5, Rook is hinted at being aware of Vil’s internal struggles and yet still chose to stay silent. He frequently saw that Vil was struggling but tried to justify his silence by saying it wasn’t his place to interfere.

But that is also untrue because we’ve seen time and again Rook is more than willing to stick his nose in Vil’s businesses. His labwear vignette is the most obvious example but there are plenty of others. In Book 6 Rook admits that his decision to go to the Isle of Woe was fully a selfish one. Leaving Pomefiore without leadership and potentially falling into chaos (the only dorm to have no clear leadership at all during the crisis) simply because he wanted to give Vil skin products that he really didn’t need. A few days without them wouldn’t do that much harm and Rook essentially placed Epel, Yuu and himself in great danger for a reason far more shallow than anything Vil has done in the name of beauty.

He also admits that he would have been willing to drink the poisoned juice Vil gave to Neige for again, a pretty shallow (and extremely twisted) reason. If he’s willing to do that, he is more than capable of intervening in other matters on Vil’s behalf. And later in book 6, it’s revealed that Rook was originally a Savannaclaw student but made the very unprecedented decision to transfer to Pomefiore in part due to his fascination with Vil and desire to further study beauty under him. So Rook had EVERY opportunity to step in regarding his overblot. Even if Rook couldn’t be his “savior”, the fact that Vil would see that he at least had support could have gone a long way.

But Rook’s silence is rather in keeping with his character and his own ideas about beauty. I find this quote very ironic based on how he and Vil are frequently misconstrued. The Pomefiore dorm leaders' views on beauty appear to be the opposite of each other.

Vil can be extremely strict, harsh and can come off as critical at times, but he is never harder on someone than he is himself. He has shown time and again that he sees beautiful potential in anyone. And Vil is more than willing to share the spotlight with his NRC Tribe; build them up from scratch and give each of them the chance to show off their potential. Likely because he knows all too well what it means to be in the shadow of someone else.

Even further, when we look at the dichotomy of a villain versus a hero, the main difference is how they respond to their personal pain. A villain takes their pain and says “the world hurt me so I’m gonna hurt the world”. While a hero says “the world hurt me and I’m not going to let it hurt others”. Up until his overblot, Vil has been the latter of these examples. He wants the best for those around them and while his methods might be difficult to understand, they always bear results. Vil can honestly see beauty in anything, even if he has to coax it out in his own way.

Rook’s views on beauty however, all seem to be based upon the superficial and the evidence can be found in his Halloween vignette. There, he explains further how he grew to adore Neige and based on what he said, it sounded more like obsession than actual reverence. There’s also hints to this in his most recent birthday vignette as well. His ideas seem to be very fantastical, far removed from reality and so obsessive to the point that it actually affects his ability to be a good person. Such an obsession can sometimes make people oblivious to the world and in Rook’s case, often cause him to act out in ways that border on problematic.

In his fixation, he stalks Leona and Jade, says some weirdly otherist shit to Malleus, harasses and assaults Ruggie, and places ridiculously high standards on both Vil AND Neige that rob them of their humanity. Rook saw firsthand how deeply Vil’s insecurities ran. He heard Vil cry and scream out how ugly he felt. He saw Vil’s anguish and despair firsthand and seeing all that, still chose to punish him because Vil’s lack of confidence made him unable to respond to his trauma in a beautiful way. Or at least in a way he could deem as beautiful based on his vapid description of the word.

Rook will likely never be privy to any ugliness Neige has displayed so for him, the fantasy remains intact. And in chasing that fantasy, he betrays not just Vil, but his other teammates as well. Then has the audacity to try to justify it with bullshit ideology and sadly, because of Vil’s low opinion of himself, Rook succeeds. Vil holds Rook’s opinion so highly that he is able to take advantage of that and compel him (and the others) to see his point of view. And believe it or not, in chasing that fantasy, the NRC Tribe members were not the only ones Rook hurt.

Neige might have been happy to have won but he was essentially rewarded for an inferior performance and robbed of an important lesson. One far more valuable than any “lesson” Vil had to learn. As mentioned before, even with all of his hardships, if what we saw in book 5 was the best Neige could do, that still means he is not as good a performer as Vil. If cuteness, nostalgia and warm fuzzy feels are the only thing Neige can offer, he could easily find himself struggling to remain in the entertainment industry as he ages. Not unlike many other former child stars in real life.

Losing the VDC could have been a major wake-up call to Neige that if he wants to continue acting, he has to do better. People might not take him seriously when he’s still doing the cutesy bullshit ten years from now. But because he won, this will likely never cross his mind. Neige will learn nothing.

Now before anyone begins writing up their comments about how Vil verbally stated that Rook was right, I’d like to bring up one final point: Vil agreeing with Rook was another trauma response. Internalizing Rook’s response because it is so in keeping with all he has been made to believe about himself, about Neige, and how it has all now been “confirmed” by his overblot. From his point of view, Rook has no reason to lie to him.

But just because Vil states that Rook was correct, does not mean that it’s true. Despite being one of the more positive characters in the game and being twisted from a “good” character, Rook is just as morally grey as everyone else in the twst cast and just as capable of dubiousness. And this would not be the first time something like this has occurred between Vil and Rook. Once again, I bring up Vil’s labwear vignette. Particularly this exchange here:

Okay, so beyond the general tactlessness of telling Vil he’s gaining weight in spite of knowing how such a statement would affect him, what Rook is basically suggesting to him is that he cannot trust anyone but him. Not even his own senses. That for all of his perceptiveness, Vil is incapable of seeing himself accurately. Though he initially does not believe it, Vil eventually does accept Rook’s statement despite knowing it was bullshit twenty seconds before.

Later on, Vil mentions to Trey that Rook’s only crime is being too blunt and perceptive. It’s true that having another point of view is important at times, but the level of trust Vil has in Rook’s opinion can also be dangerous if he can convince Vil to doubt himself so easily. Theirs is an interesting dynamic but it also has potential to be extremely toxic and detrimental to Vil. At best, Rook gives him useful insight and pushes him to be the best he can be. But at worst, Rook contributes to Vil’s insecurities, enables his more toxic tendencies and his fawning of Neige feeds into his obsession to be the fairest one of all in the worst way possible. Rook can’t be completely oblivious to this. It would be such an easy thing for him to take advantage of Vil’s doubt in himself and value/dependency on his opinion.

Which is exactly what Rook does. As much flack Vil gets in this fandom for being critical and harsh to others, he never criticizes someone harder than he will criticize himself. This is a person who has grown up in the spotlight and has had to maintain an image of perfection for most of his life. A person who gave up one of his favorite condiments because of the damage it caused to his skin. A person who has so deeply internalized the villainous image people have projected on him that he wears it almost as a badge of honor. And because he holds himself to such a high standard and already internalizes a lot of toxic beliefs about himself, it makes perfect sense that Vil would agree with Rook. In his current way of thinking, Vil has no reason to disagree with Rook because from his point of view, Rook has always been honest to him and his overblot already proved he was unworthy of victory anyway.

Of course Vil must be gaining weight. How could he possibly be objective regarding himself? How vain he must be. And how could Vil possibly be objective regarding his VDC performance and still vote for himself after such an ugly trauma response? He can’t trust his judgment, he can’t even trust his own senses. How arrogant and pathetic Vil must be if he can still vote for himself in good conscience after witnessing the pure wholesomeness of Neige Leblanche. Someone who would never overblot. Thankfully, he has Rook to humble that arrogance and tell him what he needs to know. Even if he’s tactless about it.

I mean, Vil literally ran looking for a scale immediately after Rook’s comments on his weight. He probably added an extra hour to his daily workout routine the morning after eating the cake Trey gave him. I don’t believe that Rook is completely oblivious of Vil’s darker feelings, just as Vil has stated, he keeps too close an eye on him not to be oblivious. And he was astute enough to keep his infatuation with Neige a secret from Vil for nearly two years. This had to have been intentional. It honestly makes me wonder what Rook thinks of Vil on a more personal level.

But regardless, the fact is, Rook was always going to vote for Neige and his explanation at the end of Book 5 was always going to be his reasoning. Vil’s overblot just gave him a more “legitimate” reason to do so. For whatever reverence he holds for Vil, it was never going to trump his reverence for Neige. The fact he brought all of his Neige photos with him to the training camp further implies that he was never going to be objective in this situation. And seeing Vil almost poison Neige probably further convinced him that Vil was undeserving of victory.

That may make Rook seem duplicitous considering how positive and sincere he seems to be, but he’s still human. And truthfully, him voting for his bias is not an inherently bad thing. What makes him inconsiderate in this situation is openly telling Vil he prefers the catalyst for all his insecurities and overblot, while Vil was still grieving and in a very vulnerable place. Then justifying his decision as the correct one based on his own personal preferences, weaponizing that vulnerability to avoid being called out. Knowing that Vil wasn’t likely going to object.

Even if NRC Tribe did win, it’s very likely Rook would have still brought up his vote to Vil and still convinced him it was undeserved. I would even go so far as to argue that Rook’s remarks about Neige early on in book 5 as well as Vil’s labwear vignette foreshadow the ending of book 5/start of book 6 far more than the fact that the huntsman betrayed the evil queen in the original Snow White.

That coupled with a perfectionist like Vil looking back at their less-than-perfect performance is what compelled him to agree with Rook. If we take into account the idea that Vil still chose to vote for his own team afterwards, Rook’s actions and words probably further pushed him into believing in the idea of his inherent villainy and inferiority to Neige. After all, surely Neige Leblanche would never be reduced to such a hideous state. His heart is too pure, the fairest one of all and as different from Vil as night and day.

If left to his own devices without Rook to influence him, Vil might not be so hard on himself in this case and would resent his defeat more. As he has every right to. But instead, Vil agreed with what was easiest and what made most sense based on everything that has happened in his life and all that he has been made to believe about himself. Why should he continue protesting when no one else will?

Nevermind all the evidence we’ve seen of Vil’s tenacity, excellence and kindness. Why should he believe that he is the most beautiful one of all when Mira frequently tells him the opposite? Why should he believe in his own noble spirit when people openly say it’s not enough and that he’s not relatable enough to be a hero? Why shouldn’t he believe he is hideous when the entire world says it’s so? When even a large majority of this very fucking fandom mischaracterize him as such and agree with Rook anyway?

Why should Vil question any of this?

And Vil will sadly continue to be second to Neige and will likely never question it. He will continue to internalize the toxic dichotomy between him and Neige and again, why shouldn’t he? After all, Vil is the evil queen to Neige’s Snow White, the Sharpay to his Gabriella, the Odile to his Odette, the Madonna to his whore. Vil is not supposed to be the hero in this story and not even his trusted vice dorm leader has faith in him.

In discourse regarding the end of book 5, I’ve often heard it said that this was a “lesson” Vil had to learn in order to become a better person. I believe there was indeed a lesson to be learned from this, but not the one that many think. Since Vil knew from the beginning that trying to poison Neige was wrong, he didn’t need to learn how to play fair like Leona.

Despite being a harsh leader, Vil was generally always fair with his teammates and again, as a former dancer, the way Vil instructed the NRC Tribe members seemed tame compared to some of the dance teachers I’ve had in the past. So learning to be less tyrannical wasn’t the lesson to learn either, like with Riddle. And part of what led to his overblot was realizing that NRC Tribe had been “outplayed” by Neige’s cuteness. But he still had enough faith in his ability to vote for his own team, so learning not to be manipulative wasn’t really needed either, like with Azul.

No, the lesson for Vil here is that hard work is rarely ever rewarded fairly. And that his trauma is not valid because he was blessed in a way that Neige was not. He must always take second place to him because of his blessings while simultaneously ALWAYS being perfect. And because of his blessings, he can never express ugly emotions, he can never express anguish, and he must always, ALWAYS, take his mistreatment in stride. And God forbid if Vil DOES respond to his trauma in an ugly manner, he WILL be punished for it. He will ALWAYS be punished for it and by those closest to him no less.

If Vil doesn’t like how they’ve treated him in his darkest hour, tough titties. It’s all his fault for not hiding his trauma to begin with. And he doesn’t even have the right to a moment to himself to cry.

But that is where my analysis ends. Honestly this was kind of painful to write because it has made me fully realize just how much I’ve grown to disdain Rook after adoring him for so long. You all have no idea how hard I was hoping he would have some scrap of redemption in book 6. It’s really upsetting that so many people in this fandom look down on Vil or mischaracterize him but somehow don’t notice the glaring red flags in his dynamic with his vice dorm leader.

Honestly, when I think about it, the ending of Book 5 is actually kind of brilliant, even if it’s also emotionally sadistic and lacking in other aspects. I'm not sure if that was Yana’s intention, but the fact that so many in the fandom tend to see Rook as the kinder one compared to Vil is very telling.

Now I’m not saying that Vil is absolutely without flaws, Heaven knows he has many. As does every person in the twst cast. Vil is impulsive, domineering, harsh, difficult to please, overwhelming at times and extremely complex. But he is also helpful, perceptive, intelligent, genuinely kind and wants the best for those around him. Not for his own glory but for their own happiness and well-being. He is also clearly a deeply misunderstood and insecure young man, so I guess because of Vil’s faults, it’s “easier” to mischaracterize him.

As for me, I find Vil’s character all the more compelling in spite of his harshness because I can see in him a true understanding of beauty that is both profound and attainable by anyone. If we are brave enough to behold it.

#twisted wonderland #jas reads twst #long post #twst book 5 #twst book 6 #twst vil #vil schoenheit #pomefiore #shut up jas

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actuallyjustabiscuit · 2 days

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I’ve been dissecting Ragatha’s character with surgical tools because I am not the least bit normal about this damn doll, and something that I’ve gathered upon rewatch is how much responsibility Ragatha has been taking for Pomni’s first day. Prepare for another character analysis about everyone’s favorite confirmed girl failure

Useless Lesbian jokes aside, it’s so interesting to me how much Ragatha cares about Pomni liking her. To the point where she believes Pomni’s terrible awful no good very bad first day has some relevance to how she thinks Pomni thinks of her.

At first I thought this was just the result of her people pleasing tendencies that needs everyone to like her for her to have any degree of self worth (no I’m not projecting, shut up), but she doesn’t seem to be this pushy about getting along with anyone else.

Another possible reason for this behavior was that she just wants to make the newcomer feel as comfortable and welcomed as possible to lessen the blow of being trapped, and she’s doing such a bad job of it that it’s making her think less of herself for failing. But here she’s specifically talking about the “horrible experience” of having to deal with Kaufmo’s abstraction.

Here Ragatha is literally writhing in pain from glitching after getting her ass handed to her by Kaufmo and she briefly stops Pomni from leaving to get the help she needs to apologize to her about having a bad first day.

Honestly, Pomni’s awkward response to this was hella fitting.

Like, Jesus Christ, Ragatha. Priorities girl.

When I first watched this, I thought her little apology fell under the same category as someone apologizing for hearing bad news, (y’know like a “I’m sorry your dog died” kinda thing) said in a way to express sympathy over a bad situation. But in episode 2, it really feels like she actually blames herself for what happened.

and I think I know why.

It was Ragatha’s idea to go see Kaufmo in the first place and introduce Pomni to him. We know that she honestly believes that participating in the adventures are essential to persevering a person’s sanity. And yet she didn’t suggest to play along with the game Caine left for them. Instead, she thought it would be nice to check up on a friend who was suspiciously absent. And was, according to what Kinger told them before they left, slipping off the deep end.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but these should have been major red flags for her that Kaufmo may not have been alright and they should’ve all probably stayed away. And I think she realized that too late, which is what might’ve led to that awkward apology to Pomni in the hallway.

Kinger is right to reassure her that Pomni doesn’t blame Ragatha for what happened (which is why she thought Ragatha was being weird for apologizing in the first place), but I imagine Ragatha is the type of person who can’t help but dwell on the “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve”s of life. So it makes sense that she would continue to take things personally. And I bet it got even worse after

…yeah. That.

Of course, I don’t think Ragatha could’ve known that was gonna be the outcome. But she was very wary when Pomni suggested it, loudly wondering if that was even “allowed”. But she went along with it cuz it made Pomni happy.

Whelp.

Yeah this woman’s self esteem so about to go into the negatives. Which is why I’m really hoping for a good heart-to-heart between these two. Cuz they both really need it. Ragatha especially.

I think it would really help her to know Pomni wouldn’t want her to feel like less than nothing.

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc ragatha #ragatha #character analysis #Wet dog coded Ragatha has all my love #She tries so hard and fails so miserably #Literally had this in the back of my mind all day at work and now I’m finally released until the demons drag me back

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crazylittlejester · 2 days

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I started typing and it got out of control...

I don't know if you've watched Ever After High or not, but I've been re-watching the entire show on account of not having much to do and I've come to the conclusion that an LU crossover with EAH would be absolutely awesome. The general idea is that characters from fairytales grow up and have kids that re-enact their parents' stories and this happens over and over again to the point that their entire society is built around this. Since they have a magic book that kind of seals your fate if you sign it, this is where the conflict of the show comes from.

Obviously there are a few different ways a person could go about setting this up but I'm just going to pick out fairy tale parents and backstories for them because I think that's the most fun.

Warriors: I'm thinking that he'd be best as Helen of Troy. Greek mythology is canon in EAH because of Cupid, so it works. The same themes of lust and infatuation are present. Also war.

Wild: He fits Sleeping Beauty's story the most, but that's already taken so the next best thing is Rip Van Winkle. It's only 20 years compared to 100, but I think it's the closest I'm getting for now, and the point is that he wakes up as an old man.

Sky: I think he should be the guy from the jabberwocky poem that uses the vorpal sword to defeat it. The jabberwocky is supposed to be the most powerful monster in EAH last I checked, so it would be the closest equivalent to Demise other than the Evil Queen.

Legend: Given that wizards are supposed to live a long time, Merlin would be a good fit for Legend because he'd have a few centuries to finish growing up into a mature wizard. He could still be a veteran of adventures this way without sacrificing his magical abilities.

Twilight: Unfortunately there aren't really any stories about wolves that aren't villains so he's tragically stuck being a non-descript farmer. I'm so sorry. Under other circumstances he'd get to be one the guy from "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" except that guy is a bear and not a wolf.

Wind: I'm torn between picking an infamous pirate or a story from mythology. Either one would probably work, to be honest, but it would probably work better if Tetra was a pirate's daughter and he's related to a deity in charge of ocean storms.

Hyrule: Ended up picking Jack the Giant Killer for him because that story's about surviving because you're clever, and Hyrule's games are supposed to be ridiculously hard. Also there's a magic sword involved.

Four: With the Minish he could totally fit into the story about the little elves that help the tailor/cobbler. But there's a story called "The Four Skillful Brothers" and I can't say no because it literally ends with them rescuing the princess via teamwork and splitting the reward.

Time: I feel like he'd fit in best as some kind of forest spirit or changeling, but as the Hero's Shade he could also be Godfather Death. I've been thinking about it and I really can't come up with a good placement for him.

Spirit Tracks Link gets an honorary mention because he is canon in my heart. Since New Hyrule is in the middle of the industrial revolution he's probably more of an urban legend. Either the ghost of a train conductor's kid or a guy cursed to see ghosts like his Zelda.

I know nothing about ever after high but im obsessed with what you’ve just said to me oh my god

first of all anytime someone draws the connection between Wars and Helen of Troy I loose my mind a bit, one day when I have the proper brain capacity and time I’m going to write a whole ass analysis paper on the comparison between the two of them because its so important to me

ALSO JABBERWOCKY MENTION??? I’M OBSESSED. AND JACK THE GIANT KILLER FOR HYRULE?? dude I can see you spent sooo much time thinking about this and oh my god I am so obsessed this is really cool, you ate

#jes talks #jes ask #linked universe #lu warriors #lu time #lu twilight #lu sky #lu four #lu wild #lu wind #lu legend #lu hyrule

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the-somwthing · 1 day

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Welcome to my little meta analysis essay called

Why do we misremember Flower Husbands as being “nicer” than it was?

Disclaimer: I’m not here to talk about whether or not FH is “toxic” or anything like that. It’s just a fact that many old fans rewatching FH POV and new fans who are watching it for the first time after seeing fan content tend to be surprised at how they actually behaved in the series compared to how everyone remembered them being back in the day. This will NOT go over whether or not I think FH is unhealthy or whatever and instead just discuss why I believe this phenomenon has happened.

So, if I try to make this a fancy well written essay, I’ll be here all day, so I’ll just get to the point. 3rd Life came out during the DSMP era of mcyt. MCRP has been around for ages, but the DSMP style of RP (which I’ll be calling “smp rp”) was pretty much popularized by DSMP, mostly towards the end of 2020. For reference, 3rd Life started early 2021, so there’s about a half a year between these two events, and DSMP kept going for years so 3rd Life was absolutely happening during the golden era of DSMP.

But what does DSMP have to do with this? Well, it sort of created this idea of “lore” and only specific things being “canon”. You can make fun of me for the way I worded that, but you know what I mean, DSMP was weird about that stuff. I don’t really blame them as it was kind of a new style of RP they accidentally spawned, but still, it was a confusing time for SMPs.

3rd Life was actually less like DSMP and more like the modern SMP RPs, where there’s no (known, lol) scripted events and the fandom itself deciphers what is or isn’t “canon” rather than it being told to them, with mostly everything being considered canon. HOWEVER, I do believe that DSMP’s style did still affect the fandom, specifically with the topic of this essay, Flower Husbands.

But why would it only really affect Flower Husbands? Now we get into a rough topic: shipping discourse. Back in those days, shipping in the mcyt fandom was heavily frowned upon. Moreso than it is today (I know it’s still around, but it was a lot worse the earlier we go lol). I’ve even seen old relics of ppl saying flower husbands should only be portrayed as platonic cuz it’s wrong to ship them, despite their team name literally being husbands. But more importantly, for A LOT of people, flower husbands was the One Ship people felt “allowed” to ship, BECAUSE it was canon. So they would allow FH and shun every other ship.

My point isn’t actually that, with it being the only “acceptable” ship everyone tried to make it more wholesome, though I suppose that could be a contributor. But my ACTUAL point is where all the things I laid out finally close in on each other:

Ships were a Dangerous territory in mcyt fandom, and ships being “canon” was something a lot of people weren’t prepared to deal with. People don’t want to get too close to RPF territory, but back in the day their ideas of c! vs cc! wasn’t as great, so they default to the DSMP Rule of “if it’s stated to be roleplay, then it’s canon to the characters, if not, it’s noncanon and just the CCs hanging out”.

You see where I’m going with this? When trying to follow this rule for a character relationship where they don’t explicitly state what is or isn’t RP, they hear “we’re married” and instantly mark that as canon to the characters since it clearly isn’t true to the CCs, and tend to block out anything else, otherwise you’re risking it not actually being true to the characters. Especially when it’s things like Scott saying something mean about Jimmy; that directly contradicts the “these characters are in love” thing, so it must not be canon, right?

But wouldn’t people still remember that these things happened, or did they actually straight up not process any of it? My answer to that is: of course everyone was paying attention, but with the context that it’s the CCs playing a video game, all of the teasing and other behavior seems WAY less serious. It just looks like average friends playing a hunger games smp together. And as I explained earlier, the fandom was ONLY processing this as a CC thing, so Scott’s treatment of Jimmy never stood out because that’s just how it is playing games.

Back to DSMP, I’m not active in that fandom anymore but I’ll see snippets sometimes, and I’ve seen the claim that beeduo was actually boring in canon and the fandom was the one that made it interesting. I feel like this is exactly what happened with FH. Nobody was actually expecting anyone to go hard into romantic roleplay, so the fans just take whichever pair says they’re getting married and fill in the blanks themselves. And that was normal back then, it wasn’t fans making stuff up for no reason, it was kind of expected of us.

So yeah, I personally believe that this whole confusion about FH is a result of its time. Whether you want to finally look at the actual substance of the relationship rather than following weird rules about what is or isn’t “canon”, or you believe that since FH was from a time where romantic RP was confusing and weird it would make the most sense to take into account the time period it came from and ignore the less appealing bits in favor of the fanon, I don’t really care honestly. But man isn’t this an interesting situation.

#trafficblr #life series #flower husbands #again this is NOT about whether or not FH is healthy. it’s only about the meta.#if you want to ask me my honest opinions on if FH is toxic you can ask but not on this post lol.#I do stand by my last paragraph that I honestly couldn’t care less if some fans choose to ignore canon due to the time period #tho I personally lean more towards ‘maybe now we should ACTUALLY look at what happened’#I still think ppl have a right to focus more on the fanon. cuz that’s just how weird FH was. but I wanna focus on the canon personally.#this all sort of just comes back around to that ‘what is or isn’t canon is entirely different depending on who you ask’#it’s usually pretty decently consistent what ppl consider canon or noncanon but FH was stuck in a weird situation so it’s the exception #like I said in an old post that still gets notes. regardless of ur opinion on FH it had to break thru so many walls for us and we should #thank it. the fandom would’ve PROBABLY made it to this point EVENTUALLY but without FH it would’ve been harder. thank u FH ur so weird.

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42starsintheuniverse · 20 hours

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Buck and Eddie- What Matters Most

(A Character Analysis)

Thinking about Evan Buckley 'Rolls under a ladder truck with murder in his eyes after he was crushed by one of these to save Eddie'. Thinking about Eddie Diaz 'Usually level headed at work but abandons all rational thought to run up a ladder that just got struck by lightening because Buck was at the end of it'. Thinking about Buck and Eddie 'Goes up in a helicopter during a hurricane, when Eddie was in a helicopter that crashed traumatically, and Buck died last time he was up in a storm' -Literally their traumas combined.

Thinking about 'Do you know how much Christopher misses you?!' 'Maybe I could come and see Christopher'. Thinking about 'Hey Buck? Can I spend Christmas with you?' '-I'm sorry buddy, but uh- I'm gonna be working on Christmas, with your dad'. Thinking about how Buck and Eddie slip themselves into the spaces of each other's lives, how they've entangled themselves so much that they literally cannot be unwound.

Thinking about Buck outright saying "Eddie, I've been Ana." Which is pretty on the nose. And Eddie "I'm a nester, I nest" when he literally has not succeeded at a stable relationship with a woman, not once in his life. Shannon- things were consistently rocky, they kept abandoning each other. Ana was a relationship because Eddie thought Chris needed a mother figure. Marisol is because she's pretty and there's pressure from family/friends/society for Eddie to get back into dating.

Thinking about Eddie trusting Buck with his most vulnerable self, the version of him that's barely out of youth, with war PTSD, who hears echoes of gunshots, and the pain of people dying around him. Thinking about Eddie sobbing at the pain of all his trauma- and Buck being the guy there to patch him up; literally (Eddie's room) and figuratively (Eddie's psyche). And how Eddie describes Buck as 'the guy who wants to fix things' on multiple occasions, but Eddie hasn't pushed Buck away from him. In fact Eddie implicitly requires someone who's going to push and fight to fix things. Thinking about Eddie relying on Buck- and that's why he's furious in the lawsuit arc "I couldn't call you to bail me out of jail! ....If, that was something that happened." -Notice the shame Eddie experiences in that moment, not just that everyone knows he was bailed out of jail, but because everyone just heard how much he needed Buck. Everyone heard that he assumed Buck would be the person he could always count on. -How the lawsuit didn't damage Eddie's faith Buck would be there, but instead revealed it to the 118, and that wasn't something Eddie was prepared to expose- because it's too vulnerable.

Thinking about Buck loving with everything he has -to the point of clinging onto relationships that are damaging him. And Eddie insisting he's let go & isn't lingering in the past: 'You have to move on Buck- I have.' When that's a complete lie, and he's been repressing things as a coping mechanism for as long as possible. "I've got a reservoir of Catholic guilt just lying dormant, waiting to be activated."

Thinking about how they match each other and compliment each other in all the right ways. They both died, and saw each other die. They've both howled each other's names- and the other has no idea. They've both been searching blindly for the relationship that will 'fix them' and make them normal.

Eddie trusts Buck enough to rely on him, and here's the kicker- it's not just with Christopher. Buck does help Eddie with Christopher- the number 1 priority in Eddie's life. But Buck is basically the only person who has also helped Eddie with purely Eddie focused problems. Which is something Eddie would never consciously seek in a partner for himself- all of his girlfriends revolve around how good of a mother figure they are to Chris. But Buck is the one who does both: helping Chris, and helping Eddie.

On the flip side, Buck finds a sense of family in Eddie and Christopher- a sense that he's wanted, dreamed, and needed all of his life. Buck has been abandoned over and over, and it's wrecked his sense of self. He felt for a while that -if all he could be was a good fuck- then that's what he'd have to be. Because at least people could use him if they didn't want or like him. But Eddie and Christopher changed that for him. "My therapist says everyone needs a safe space- that was my apartment..." Buck says, and by S5 he's comfortable hiding out in Eddie's place, walks in, puts his feet up, and promptly falls straight asleep. Chris and Eddie love Buck as he is- they love him when he cooks, they love him when he tells them random facts, they love him when he memorizes the LA zoo lay out. Buck found a place outside of work (Hen "We all had lives before and outside the 118- what does Buck have?) where he isn't used, and he isn't just needed, he's fully and completely wanted.

Chris teases Buck "Buck, you don't even have a couch!" "Buck snores... Loud." The same way Chris teases Eddie "You were a bad cook." And Chris sure hasn't teased any of Eddie's girlfriends like that! Buck doodles a stupid heart "Misunderstanding the assignment" while Chris is doing his homework- And Eddie visibly finds it funny and sweet. Eddie folds his arms and gives Buck a pointed look when Chris asks to "Play video games at [Buck's] apartment" And as a result of Eddie's look, Buck denies Chris carefully. Buck and Eddie chime in "No." at Chim saying "Can't you both be good cop?" To random parents. No pre-thought, no discussion needed, just straight up agreement perfectly in sync with each other - because Buck and Eddie have experience with situations like this...

The fact is- Buck and Eddie have a relationship that truly goes beyond most labels. And regardless of what relationship/s they end up in, it's clear they'll never leave each other. They're in life together, in all the ways that matter most.

#911 abc #911 fox #buck/eddie #buck x eddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #christopher diaz #character analysis #deep dive #ship analysis #quoted as best I could

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sillyyuserr · 2 days

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Despite all i post about being terukane, i actually fucking love nene.

hence, 4 reasons why you should love nene too (+mini analysis at the end?)

Reason 1: shes cares so much

For one, when aoi was trapped in the far shore, not only did she cry, but so much so that even mentioning her name made her cry, like full on cry not even tear up. She let herself cry in a public infront of someone she deems ‘hottest guy in the school’ not really gaf cus she misses her bsf

And when she got aoi back, she didnt need aoi’s apology she just missed her, going in for an immediate hug, letting aoi tear up in her arms

At the end of the ‘picture perfect’ arc she thanked shijima mei for the painting, something no one else did

She asked what sumire saw in No. 6 to make her like him sm, again something only she did which caught hanako and sumire off guard

Reason 2: shes adorable.

idk how shes not as popular as aoi she’s actually so pretty. A moment of silence for our queen nene

Literally so gorgeous in anything she wears

Reason 3: She’s the mc, what are you doing NOT loving her??

shes the narrator, the character we’ve known the longest and are going to stick with until the end. How dare thee betray her and say she sucks? ‘She has a big forehead’ its called a hairstyle

‘she has big ankles’ yah and theyre cute. Its called having originality

‘copy and paste personality’ shes actually one of the more original mc’s ive seen in awhile. She isnt one of those girls who’re obsessed with just boys and makes that her whole personality, yes she does get crushes easily, but she’d rather die and lose the boy she actually has a chance with than let her bestfriend die. She has standards

Reason 4: shes cool as fuck?

she has a skull brooch, skull on her phone, horns ON HER PHONE, wears yin and yang hair pins, loves opera songs about forbidden love, loves scary stories, interested in supernaturals and the dead/ghosts and to top it all off, in the pilot she CURSED her ex to DEATH

FYM SHES MID??

tired and can’t think of anything else 😭 kinda starting to think chapter 113 IS the last chapter. I mean you’d think AidaIro would say something considering they’ve been making this manga for almost a decade now but the ‘sinister’ ending along with there being no ‘next chapter up on the 18th!’ Makes me kinda nervous 😭 as i said they’ve been doing this almost 10yrs no way they’d forget to put it there

AidaIro have publicly stated they both dislike/hate happy endings. And this i feel, is a perfect way to end it horribly. I absolutely hate the idea of this being an ending, but it would work out pretty smoothly in pissing off their entire fanbase. I mean theres so many unanswered questions and so many things left unsaid.

are teru and aoi really getting married? which yugi sibling is alive? will any of my previous ‘suspicions’ be definitively confirmed? what happened to hanako? what changed? whats happening with the clock keepers? what did natsuhiko do? what is sakuras role in this story?

this seems such a perfect way to end is so horribly😭 REALLY hope this isnt the case doh we’ll just have to wait and see. The topic strayed very far off from why you should love nene 😭 sorry lmao

#real #aidairo #tbhk #chapter 113 #yashiro nene #cryinf

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typellblog · 3 days

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Mayoi Jiangshi - An Analysis

The commonly recurring scenario of a human becoming an oddity in Monogatari is inextricably linked with the theme of death. Just as oddities, when afflicting someone, tend to be symbolic of some mental ill, an oddity, when one becomes one, represent depersoning, the suffering of a stress or trauma so powerful that it can literally end your life. There’s not much risk of actual death in Monogatari, just the dehumanization entailed by a life ending and yet continuing on regardless.

Ononoki is the one that brings this up to begin with, drawing comparison between herself, Hachikuji, and Shinobu as undead oddities. Their deaths all have their unique quirks. For Ononoki, it seems to have left her somewhat rudderless, as she doesn’t have the memories of the corpse she was before becoming a tsukumogami. Effectively being ‘reborn’, she lacks the sense of purpose that should attend any oddity. On the other hand, Hachikuji’s purpose is quite strictly enforced, as the curse attached to her nature has her get people lost regardless of her own will.

Or at least it was. Hachikuji’s oddity can’t be so easily diagnosed & compared to a real issue as some other characters’ problems. However, it’s easy to see that being brought home by Koyomi essentially gave her a new lease in life, her prior existence preventing her from forming bonds with others while in her current state she can meet friends whenever she wants. Still, it’s not exactly an enviable position, as she lacks a fixed existence or place to stay. If her connections with others allow her to live then we might say she only lives in the company of others.

Ononoki draws a sharp distinction between these cases and that of the vampire. Vampires don’t truly die, she claims. After being turned, they live on, undying. Shinobu echoes this later, pointing out the zombies they encounter are simply dead, while vampires transcend the concept entirely.

I’d argue this rings a little hollow, after Kizumonogatari. After seeing the state this other world’s Kiss-Shot is reduced to. Vampires live alongside death, constantly fighting the boredom and loneliness that so regularly drives them to suicide. The start of a vampire’s life is death, for Koyomi, and the end of his vampirism would be death too, for Shinobu.

Kiss-shot is truly mighty, renowned as the Oddity Slayer. The little deaths of a cat or snake or snail are just snacks to her. But she can’t manage her own, and in this alternate timeline she certainly can’t handle that of her master, Koyomi.

This arc title is a little odd, given that it calls out Mayoi instead of Shinobu, the arc’s main focus character. But it’s not hard to see Shinobu in the other half, the oddity afflicting the Mayoi of the alternate timeline.

Recall her original hypothesis? That she died, and after Kiss-Shot’s death, the vampires were reduced to mere zombies. Because, unlike Shinobu and Koyomi’s equal partnership, the uneven relationship between master and servant would result in all of her kin being reduced to purposeless thralls upon her death.

That turned out to be untrue, but it might as well apply to Kiss-shot herself, who, as a result of her uneven relationship with Koyomi went mad after he died, destroyed the world, and with her purpose completely spent, could do nothing but live on.

Ononoki asks what the point even is of the doll ghost vampire trio continuing to live. What desire raised them from the dead? What desire keeps Hachikuji around, instead of passing on? For Koyomi, at least, there’s a proper answer. He has Shinobu. The scars they gave each other will never heal, but that in itself is a form of comfort, something that the alternate timeline Kiss-shot doesn’t have.

We know whose desire keeps Hachikuji around in the alternate timeline, at least. Koyomi thinks specifically about a world in which she can be saved, and - it doesn’t seem that great. Even at first, in the past, Koyomi and Shinobu feel alienated. They have no cash, nowhere to sleep, they’re essentially wandering ghosts themselves. In the future they’re again isolated, but this time by the utter lack of people.

I really like the moment when they land in the ruined future, at least in the novel. Koyomi comments on his idea of the apocalypse. To him, the relevant factors aren’t widespread destruction or natural disasters. The world is humanity itself, and a world without people is most certainly an apocalypse. He uses their names, in the novel. Hitagi. Hanekawa. Kanbaru, Nadeko, Oshino. His parents. His little sisters. Monogatari as portrayed in the anime is so frequently an empty world, missing all but the named characters, that I almost forget what it means for there to be nobody else in the Araragi house, when Koyomi and Shinobu sit and talk there. Nobody else ever again.

But the missing person that caused this in the first place is, of course, Hachikuji Mayoi. Life saved by their meddling, she never became a ghost and never met Koyomi Araragi. There are no merits in this plan for him. He throws away one of his few human connections in an attempt to make her happier.

It really costs him, too. Calling for Shinobu against Black Hanekawa was a turning point, it’s the overarching message of Bakemonogatari itself, and as it turns out losing even one of the preceding arcs is enough to have him messing up at the end.

People change one another. In unexpected or unnoticeable ways. The actions of others impact you just as yours impact them. The Koyomi Araragi who became friends with Hachikuji Mayoi, and the one that didn’t - they’re different enough, at least, to make a different decision.

It’s something that always bugs me a little. Time travel sucks as a plot device. It can erase almost any problem, so stories where it’s possible, even in theory, often end up justifying the ‘value of tragedy’. We can’t go and stop Timmy’s mother from dying, because it’s cosmically important in some way! It’s a theme that can come off pretty badly if not approached well.

In Monogatari, though, it’s very simple. It’s a parallel world. You can’t actually change your past. The future you create and the future you come from are just different. This doesn’t just work as a plot explanation, I like it thematically as well. Of course changing the past would create a different world. That’s the whole point! The parallel worlds device just spells it out more clearly. There is no point in trying to change the world through time travel if as soon as you change the world it becomes alien to you, the reason for which you altered it now meaningless.

We can quibble. Koyomi’s changed world is an exaggerated example. Surely if we made a more well-planned trip, more subtle and effective changes, we could improve things a little without literally destroying the world. No doubt we could. But Koyomi doesn’t just want to make minor, non-disruptive changes. Who does? Our desire to go back to the past is borne of our desire to avert significant tragedy. To stop Hitagi’s parents from falling into a cult. To prevent Tsubasa from having to grow up in such an awful household. To save Hachikuji from being hit by a car.

This inevitably results in significant changes to these peoples’ lives. Results in, as Koyomi accepts, him no longer knowing Hachikuji Mayoi. He loses not just her but part of himself as well. If he changed all of his friends’ lives with time travel there would almost be no point in him returning to the future afterwards.

We don’t have to evaluate it from a purely selfish angle, either. The Koyomi who doesn’t become friends with Hachikuji is a different person, but what about the Hachikuji who never met Koyomi? Doesn’t she also lose something that might be important to her? Maybe not so important as being alive and having a good relationship with her parents, but there’s no real point in comparing, because to create a happier Hachikuji you would have to erase the current one. As much as the situation itself might suck, so long as Hachikuji wants to stick around as a ghost, there’s no point in trying to make it have never happened.

The situation of Koyomi choosing not to have his vampirism cured is actually comparable, despite it not involving changing the past. The past, after all, still lives in his shadow, in the scars they dealt each other. If not for Shinobu he could return to humanity without worry and if not for Shinobu he would not need to. Between the two of them they somehow manage to bear the enormity of Kiss-Shot’s death and it’s fine.

Think about his rant at the end of Nekomonogatari Kuro. We are going to be seeing nightmares for the rest of our lives, he tells Tsubasa. You’re going to be that person for the rest of your life! But, even so, we’re in no way pitiful, are we?

So, there we go. Tragedy justified. A pair of idiots fuck shit up and return home empty-handed, but having Learnt A Lesson about how you can never change the past. Kind of depressing but not unexpected.

Except there’s a twist to this tale.

Well, this whole tale is a twist, really. The titular ‘tilt’ could easily be referring to Shinobu and Koyomi changing the fate of this timeline with the small act of saving Hachikuji. But that in itself is what enables the final twist: a letter from Oshino Meme.

Just like the absence of Hachikuji in Koyomi’s life has more wide-reaching consequences than you might think, the presence of Koyomi and Shinobu in the past had a greater effect on people than he expected. Far from being alien, isolated time travelers, their actions were noticed by plenty of people, to the point of forming an urban legend.

Their timeline-hopping was reckless, it was impossible, but it wasn’t pointless.

They may have created a different world, one where they no longer belong, but it doesn’t mean they can’t leave their own mark on it. Koyomi can still do something out of fondness for a person he knows, even if they don’t know him. He can still pat Kiss-shot on the head, despite everything. If the apocalypse is defined as the absence of humans, then this world isn’t entirely dead, entirely hostile.

After all, it would kind of suck if the only world where Hachikuji survives is one where the world is destroyed. A reductive view of this arc is that it concludes by saying Hachikuji’s death is good because it lets her meet Koyomi. Really, though, Koyomi’s desire to save the other Hachikuji’s world shows he doesn’t want the world to be destroyed because of her. He doesn’t want her death to be necessary. He doesn’t want her life to be pointless. If the world is people, then her life is important to this world. Just as much as ghost Hachikuji is important to his.

It’s an age-old problem. Which to pick? You can’t have both. Koyomi chooses both the world and the girl.

Really, he gets neither. The world is still in pretty rough shape, even without the zombies. They still can’t do anything besides end Kiss-shot’s life. And they have to return without really getting to know living Hachikuji.

The cruelty of fate reasserts itself. There are no completely happy endings, regardless of what you do. The worst thing that ever happened to you still happened, has always happened, will never not have happened.

At the same time, Koyomi does get both the world and the girl. He always had them, from the start.

I’ll end by talking about the first chapter. It’s Ougi! Hi, Ougi. She’s here to give us some fun trivia that’s secretly about the themes of the book.

For Ougi, green ‘go’ lights and red ‘stop’ lights invert their ordinary meanings. You’re more safe when cars are stopped than when they’re moving. When you get a green light to cross the road as a pedestrian, you’re only half-safe. After all, the red light stops the cars, but the green light urges you onto the road, into the path of potential danger still. You’re better off with both of them red while you’re left standing on the footpath.

Ougi styles herself as someone who is necessary, the lone person putting up a warning sign, becoming her own sort of red light to keep people safe. (For example, two idiots who think it’s a good idea to do a spot of time travel). It’s better not to achieve your dreams, she says. They’ll inevitably be worse than you imagined them as. (For example, a world where Hachikuji Mayoi lives that is full of zombies for some reason).

Becoming famous or successful leaves you with even more responsibilities and obligations to other people, and becoming someone who can ignore those people just makes you an asshole that nobody likes. (Do I even need to point out how this feels laser-targeted at Koyomi’s original philosophy of not making friends?)

At the end she somehow ties it back into the traffic lights. You shouldn’t try and act nice in order to be respected by other people, you should instead respect them. Them being. The traffic lights. I can’t help but think that Ougi herself is the traffic light here. “Mind the lights, because they won’t mind you.” i.e. Don’t get in my way, because I’m not pulling my punches.

Koyomi has something of a retort, although typical of him he only comes up with it well after the actual interaction.

Ougi isn’t a red light. She isn’t saying to stop. She’s merely advising caution, advising that you should beware the red lights. We have a word for that, already. It’s an orange light. (Perhaps she’s pulling her punches a little after all).

Araragi Koyomi, expert line-straddler, once again sneaks in between the red and green to find an outcome that does put him in danger, that doesn’t really achieve his dreams, but nonetheless lets him continue down the road he’s currently on.

A bit of a rough one, this time, but I feel like once I get used to this schedule it’ll be manageable.

#monogatariposting #monogatari #hachikuji mayoi #araragi koyomi #oshino shinobu

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howlsmovinglibrary · 3 days

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Hello! I saw your response to the "5 things you could talk about for an hour" tag game, and I just wanted to say that I am in fact very interested in your perspective on how fandom/fanfic has impacted media literacy and the publishing industry, if you'd ever like to yap on Tumblr about it!

hmmm... other people have said it better than me in various different tumblr posts but I'm a yapper why not?

(under the cut to save a long post)

fandom/fanfic impacts on media literacy:

media is viewed through shipping goggles first and a critical lens second (both of them are allowed! i love my shipping goggles! but i also like having multiple tools of analysis in my arsenal!)

this also sometimes means that media devolves into relationships and 'fan service' moments, above plot or delivery of a good and satisfactory story (I'm not saying OFMD but I kind of am. I'm not saying BG3 additional content that has focused on popular characters and ships above incomplete and underwritten narratives... but I kind of am)

because fandom now also has a big purity culture kick back, and fandom has become mainstream, that means mainstream media also has a purity culture kick back (for instance, everyone performing scandalised and 'disgusted' reactions to Saltburn, when actually all that is is a... psychological thriller)

fandom/fanfic impacts on the publishing industry:

the Locked Tomb's popularisation of fic-ish writing, alongside the reylo fanfic boom (Ali Hazelwood serial numbers filed off -> romance pipeline) kind of coincided perfectly with the pandemic. as did the success of Travis Baldree's coffeeshop AU, Legends and Lattes. people wanted comfort media, but at the other end, publishing industry professionals were working from home and likely spread thin. I think this created a perfect storm for 'fast fiction' (like 'fast fashion') where basically a fanfic can be quickly changed into a book with minimal editing that doesn't matter anyway bc it provides a dopamine hit. None of this is inherently bad. I don't dislike fanfic-to-published-novel on principle. What I *hate*, is bad editing. Extremely high quality editing is what trad publishing has, in a way fic doesn't. Bc fic can be as long as you want it to be, and can linger, and can have fun - it's not designed for efficiency or quality control bc that's not the point. that being said... quality control can, in fact, improve a work's quality. but trad publishing doesn't have good editing anymore, bc the pandemic proved it didn't necessarily need it, and publishing companies love to not spend money on things, especially if it will make them a profit without that care or attention.

what i will also say, is there is a reason it's easy to file the serial numbers off. reylo fics are very far from canon, for a number of reasons. Legends and Lattes is a coffeeshop AU, without any character work. This doesn't mean they are bad. It just means they feed into a general trend of 'fic as tropes' - rather than 'fic as character study', for instance - which in turn means that romance in particular has also become 'romance as tropes' (or even 'romance as smut' which is another thing I have feelings about, bc bad editing + fiction as smut = really, really bad smut actually lads)

in general 'fiction as tropes' has then obviously been aided by tiktok as the primary marketing platform. rather than provide an explanation of your story, providing an explanation of its tropes encourages your book being read this way

another thing that has happened as a result of fic is 'queer rep' as being 'there is queer people in it' or 'there is queer romance in it'. again, not inherently a bad thing. i love a gay book. but gay and queer experiences exist on a spectrum. a book with queer MCs for the sake of having queer MCs may end up feeling tokenistic, if the writer has included queer rep for the sake of queer rep, or (and we need to admit this happens!) to be trendy!! to hit on the 'queer rep' zeitgeist!!! similarly, a queer book without any romance in it can still be queer, but gods forbid we have *that* conversation.

As I said, all of these things have been discussed in tumblr posts far better than mine. In terms of my personal experience - teaching undergraduate literature classes, this is what I've noticed:

because of fandom or social media with fandom lite edges, a lot of my students are very up-to-date on things such as intersectional feminism, gender performativity, compulsory heterosexuality, queer coding, etc. I don't need to define these terms, whereas they were defined when I was an undergrad.

however, the flipside of this is they often approach the texts I teach only with a contemporary mindset. The biggest example I have of this is Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre actually benefits from a contemporary mindset - after being heralded as feminist in the 1960s, intersectional criticisms in the 1980s/90s by postcolonial critics called out its racist treatment of Bertha Mason. BUT if I have to read another essay about Jane Eyre's relationship with Rochester being 'problematic', I will scream. Not bc I don't agree, but because criticisms of this novel need to also acknowledge that in the victorian era, such a blatant discussion of female sexual desire was radical for its time. That class and sexism was a big enough issue in the 19th century that for Jane to get to marry a man from the landed gentry on equal footing was a big deal at the time. It's fine if you decide Jane Eyre isn't feminist! but you need to prove that through multiple critical lenses and not just a jezebel-article style treatise. (for instance, one essay critiqued the male gaze in Jane Eyre... Jane Eyre was written by a woman looking very disrespectfully actually, and also... film hadn't been invented yet. while the male gaze existed in art, the normalising of female objectification, sexually, required film. also... the male gaze is a term that requires a man with eyes to be making that piece of art.)

the other biggest problem I have when teaching, is the 'queer character as queer representation' thing, and ESPECIALLY "good queer representation means morally good queer characters'. I teach Giovanni's Room. Anyone who has read Giovanni's Room, knows that the main character is both gay... and a bad person. That book isn't just talking about being gay, but about being closeted, trapped in compulsory heteronormativity, and also... 1950s racism. One of the biggest challenges for me as a teacher is to ask students "don't just tell me there's gay people in it, look at what those gay people are doing. is queerness portrayed positively or negatively? what aspects of the experience are being represented? do these aspects have value, especially when it is a queer artist making the art?"

(people also feel like they can't call a gay character mean or bad, because of the whole 'gay is inherently virtuous' part of fandom's mindset. spoilers: gay people can suck too. and are allowed to be portrayed as such in fiction, once you have a tool in your toolkit known as nuance).

anyway, aside from the fact it means i occasionally struggle to find good romance books bc I want not just well written sex but character development - which fanfic has! I'm not saying fanfic doesn't have it! but the fanfic that gets published sometimes doesn't, and certainly very rarely has both! - my teaching is absolutely where I see fandom's impact most clearly.

#asks #hope this was vaguely interesting lmfao

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toffeebeantable · 2 years

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Ok but can we all appreciate Willow's character? Her goals were to be "wise and strong to protect everyone she loved" when she stated it in front of the palisman in Hunting Palisman.

And throughout the episodes, you can really see the acceleration in her growth. She's sorta like an older sibling to everyone now.

Mediating fights and arguments, (though in this example it was more of a joke)

Making soup,

She even started working out to improve her physical strength to better protect everyone she loves! (She even changes the way she uses her magic to better suit her new physical strength she's been building) Even though she's always had the immense amount of power, she's still seeking to improve herself in terms of strength and character.

And in the last episode, when everyone else was arguing with each other, she was the only one quiet and calm on the side. She of course was probably also going through things in her mind but didn't let it affect her and she managed to calm everyone else down too. She gave some advice to King about looking for opportunities to help others too.

"There's always a way to help, you just have to look for the right opportunity"

#and then that quote ended up being foreshadowing to King's sacrifice i cant #also her voice and overall demeanor i feel has changed too #like the last two eps shes so much more calm and mature and cool #not too much of the old peppy excitable Willow from any sport in a storm tho its probably just the serious and dire situation #toffee should shut up #toh spoilers #willow #willow toh #the owl house #the owl house spoilers #i spent way too long on this post wtf #character analysis #willow park

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possamble · 25 days

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do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling.#the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc.#otherwise it just..#literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right.#a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that.#edit: cleaned it up a little

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