#Some of the first panels really capture the dynamic between me and my sibling

[missingpants]

#Gut Instincts #Heart and Brain #Awkward Yeti #book cover #online comics #It was fun #Some of the first panels really capture the dynamic between me and my sibling #Not gold but mostly good stuff

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The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

I saw a video recently discussing the merits of Whole Cake Island and Sanji’s character arc within said story arc and there was a word that caught my attention. Intentions. The author asserted that Sanji is willing to forgive Pudding for shooting his sister and he was willing to place himself at BM’s mercy because he felt that their intentions were good. It is a fascinating idea and one I want to explore in more depth in this editorial. Fair warning that this editorial will be somewhat lengthy. It is going to explore a range of seemingly diverse topics but I swear that they are all interrelated. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

What You See Is What You Get?

If you were to ask fans what the central “theme” of Whole Cake Island (insomuch as it has one) you’d probably get answers like: parenting, family, race relations, self-discovery, and acceptance. Fair and true. But it is also an arc about dealing with personal pain and overcoming trauma. After all it’s the main defense that fans use to support Sanji’s actions during this arc. Sanji’s “self-sacrificial nature” is a result of the endless years of abuse at the hands of the people that were supposed to love and support him come hell or high water: his family. And while Sanji may have managed to escape that hellhole and learn the true meaning of love and family he’s never really addressed his conflicted feelings about his “real” family or confronted his abusers. But more on that later.

I’ve said it before in a previous editorial but I understand why Sanji made the decisions he did at the start of this arc. I don’t think any of the other Straw-hat would have behaved any differently when protecting their friends from harm. Especially when that Strawhat, as we have been repeatedly told, is so kind. I even understand why certain key events in this arc played out the way they did.  Especially Pudding and Katakuri’s character arc’s, which really are a central lynchpin around which so many of the events of this arc revolve around. But first please permit me a brief digression.

Most fan expectations for this arc skew towards the idea that the Charlotte Family and the Straw Hats conflict will be resolved by having them end up as allies by the end of the arc (whatever shape that may take). I know some fans are opposed to this because of the belief that one cannot know an author’s intentions before the story is complete and that setting strong expectations can only inevitably lead to disappointment. Fair. That said I land firmly in the camp of The Charlotte’s will be allies for a number of simple reasons:

1)    Oda cannot realistically expect to convince me that half of the SH crew were able to storm an Emperor’s territory and defeat all their forces, no matter how unusual the circumstances. I’m putting aside arguments regarding the expectation of running away from the clash or other related arguments because they are not relevant to the contents of this work. If I feel they are relevant to the arguments I’m making then I may address them later on.

  2)    The way Oda has structured the relationship between the two prominent main characters on both the SH’s and Charlotte sides (Luffy/Sanji, Katakuri/Pudding) leaves me no doubt in my mind that there will be no protracted conflict between the two groups. Again maybe a discussion for further in the editorial.

So many fans whose analysis of WCI I read bring up pretty much the same arguments and defense of the characters. All of them see Pudding/Sanji/Katakuri as sympathetic and relatable characters and it’s not hard to see why. Each of them has had expectations placed on them regarding behavior since the day they were born in spite of the fact that their personalities seem to run counter to said expectations. Sanji was supposed to be an apathetic killer working in the service of his father to restore the glory of a fading nation. Katakuri is…well we ASSUME that he has spent a lifetime striving to achieve a state of perfection so…perfect, so that he can compensate for his relatively minor “flaw” despite it not being perceived as such by his family. Pudding is much the same in she puts on a mask to plays the role of the perfect daughter who is a pawn in her mother’s machinations (much like all her siblings) to gain power/alliances that will allow her mother to achieve her dream of creating a utopia for all races.

We are also shown how tenuous the bonds of blood that bind the Charlotte family together seem frail and frayed in the presence of a family like the SH’s whose bonds have been forged in the fires of love, friendship, conflict, and perhaps most importantly choice. Given that it makes sense then why the crux of this arc relies on us understanding that the reason Katakuri/Pudding are swayed by Luffy/Sanji is because they are genuine people with good intentions who have shown them something they have never gotten from their family: kindness. It’s most likely the reason Sanji so strictly adheres to Zeff’s teachings and code is that he was one of the first people to show Sanji kindness. He was the person that selflessly gave of himself so that Sanji could live. And for a kid who has spent his entire life being told that he was worthless, a mistake, and an embarrassment, that is a powerful action indeed. So let’s talk about that Pudding eye scene.

The single most “powerful” defense of the Pudding scene is the idea that Sanji saw a kindred spirit in Pudding, much like Zeff did in Sanji all those years ago. That the sentiment behind his exclamation of the beauty of her eye was grounded in something deeper, something empathetic, and something…genuine. And given that we know Sanji is doing his best to model himself after the man he admires, maybe Oda’s intentions with that scene were to capture that same feeling. After all Pudding has basically been stuck in a situation similar to Sanji for far longer than he had without the possibility of escape. And given what we what we know of the Charlotte family, it would seem kindness is not a trait they value. So when seemingly confronted with someone that shows her something she has never experienced before what else would Pudding do? Especially when it’s directed at a perceived flaw that seems so trivial when compared to the whole.

It all seems so perfect doesn’t it? Sanji was born into a family that saw his kindness as a weakness until a man showed him that his perceived flaw was not something to be ashamed of but rather should be carried as a mark of pride. Then when he comes across someone in a similar situation to his he emulates the actions of the man he so admires to lift them up much like what was once done for him. All these pieces fit together so well it almost seems like WCI should be one of Oda’s better arcs. So why don’t I feel it? Well that’s probably because that while Totland, may seem like a Utopia from a cursory examination, a closer look would reveal all the hidden cracks and imperfections that mar its flawless façade. And what better place to begin examining its structural flaws then with one of its mightiest pillars: Sanj’s character arc.

You Are The Weakest Link! Goodbye.

Is Sanji shallow? I heard a fan ask once why other fans (mostly women) were bothered by Sanji’s preferences regarding women. Why were they trying to shame him for being physically attracted to a certain “type” of woman? Well…it’s complicated but I’ll do my best to give input.

One reason it’s so problematic is how Oda embraces a problematic cultural trend that has been emblematic of a societal problem that has plagued us for centuries. We have been fed a media diet that has conditioned us to recognize certain body shapes as being the model of attractiveness, and Oda has taken that to an EXTREME with his female characters. Any DESIREABLE WOMAN in the series has a certain body shape and they are almost always meant to be perceived via “The Male Gaze”. Chapter 898 being a perfect example, with all the Vinsmoke brothers being drawn in dynamic action panels and yet when we see Reiju attack it’s with a nice front row seat to her ass. Or even consider the infamous bath scene in Capone’s hideout. It is very telling that Oda only draws Nami/Carrot “naked” in the bath and has Chiffon sitting off to the side fully clothed. Saying “well Chiffon was holding Pez” is an excuse and an example of how good Oda is at illusion, and misdirection. He believes that Chiffon isn’t attractive like the others and so he shunted her off to the side. What does this have to do with Sanji? I wrote an entire editorial about this but to reiterate: What does Sanji love about women? Answer: He loves their looks.

Now I know fans will want to bombard with me all manner of “That’s not true” and “he loves Pudding” and maybe even a “So?” I’ll address the latter but with regards to the former the only question I’ll ask is: Does he really though? What exactly does he love about Pudding? I haven’t been as attentive to the events of this arc due to my lack of emotional investment and so maybe someone will prove me wrong, but off the top of my head I cannot remember Sanji ever stating what exactly he loves about Pudding. And I mean something specific apart from she’s sweet/kind. Mostly because that was a façade she was putting on but also because those are very generic character traits that can be broadly applied.

I am not going to judge someone for taking physical appearances and traits into account when choosing a partner (stones and glass houses as it were) because that’s how we’re programmed and it’s something we have had jammed down our throat for years. There’s a trend starting recently that’s starting to make a move away from that with body positivity but it’s hard to undo centuries of mental conditioning so easily. So I’m not saying Sanji is shallow for being attracted to certain kinds of women but I will totally call him shallow for that being the only DEFINING trait that he claims to LOVE about women. And it plays into one of the biggest problems I have with this arc: The pudding eye scene.

My question to fans would be: Would Sanji have reacted the same way if Pudding was not a conventionally attractive woman? What if instead of her it had been Chiffon that he was to marry? Would he still be able to convince himself that he would be happy? Would he still have reacted the same way to any potential third eyes she had? Yes? Bullshit. I don’t buy it for a second and none of Sanji’s actions throughout the series have convinced me otherwise or even given me cause for reasonable doubt. The reason that the Pudding eye scene falls so flat for me is that Pudding is GORGEOUS. There is no believable world in which Sanji’s reaction to her eye would be anything BUT positive. Especially given his reputation for being a horn dog and ESPECIALLY when considering the kinds of women he finds attractive. A cynical person might even note that maybe that’s the reason Oda has spent so much time this arc reiterating how Sanji is KIND.

I know some fans will justify it by saying that Sanji could have seen something in Pudding that gave him insight into her inner turmoil. After all we as readers are not privy to every single event that the Straw Hats are involved in because they aren’t relevant to the story. Something could have happened during all the time that Sanji was with Pudding while we readers were preoccupied with one of the other groups on Whole Cake Island. Fair. But it’s not enough. That scene serves as a central crux of this arc and its importance means that reading between the lines and general assumptions aren’t enough. And given everything we know about Sanji that runs counter to what we’re supposed to believe I don’t think it’s unfair to ask for more. Which brings me to the core of this editorial.

The Missing Link

I’ve been privy to a number of conversations recently regarding “villainous” characters and how fans don’t understand how or why someone could like someone so heinous. The prime example of this being Bakugo from My Hero Academia. I’ll provide a quick refresher/primer for those that are unfamiliar with this character. Bakugo was basically the golden child, that was naturally gifted with a powerful superpower and whose arrogance was fanned by the flames of admiration.

He develops a dislike for another child (Midoriyia) whom he perceives as weak (because he lacks a “quirk”) and he relentlessly torments him and bullies him for much of his childhood. Bakugo is seemingly an irredeemable asshole. That said a core part of the story focuses on Bakugo’s development as he comes to terms with his past behavior so that he can set himself on the path to becoming the person he wants to be. He’s a kid that’s some done some horrific shit because that’s what you do when you’re a kid. You’re focused on your wants, your desires, and your pain. It’s basically all what can the world do for me and I deserve this. But the lesson most people learn is that actions have consequences and some of them may unintentionally or ignorantly cause harm to others because you don’t know better. A person’s past should not define their future but neither should it be wholly discounted. And that’s one of the things that kind of bothers me about Luffy.

Fans have questioned before why Luffy never pays attention to the backstories of his crew or the people he befriends and I feel like it’s because he doesn’t care about their past. Luffy only cares about what actions a person takes now because what’s done is done and there really isn’t much you can do to change that. It’s even easier to ignore when you consider that Oda has written someone like Luffy to be able to instinctually tell (much like Sanji this arc) what someone’s intentions/personality are like. And much like Sanji that has NEVER backfired on him. But more than that it also means you either don’t want to consider what terrible things a person has done or you don’t think it’s important. And that is problematic.

I’m not going to go dive into speculation about whether the SH’s are good people or not because that’s a mighty big rabbit hole to fall down. So instead let’s focus solely on the actions of the characters on Whole Cake Island and how it ties into the broader theme of empathy.

Empathy at its core is simply the ability to relate to another person’s perspective. To put yourself in their shoes. It’s the basis for “The Golden Rule” i.e. treat others how you’d like to be treated and phrases like “walk a mile in her shoes”. It is also, as Mihawk so observantly noted during Marineford, one of Luffy’s greatest weapons. It was also brought up more recently when, during a flashback, Luffy told Rayleigh that he felt a person’s personality was important to him in regards to predicting the future and observation haki.

I’ve speculated on this countless times but to summarize: I believe the inherent power of Observation Haki is basically Oda turning empathy into a superpower. Consider all the most powerful observation haki users we’ve seen in the story thus far: Otohime, Asia, Coby, Madame Shyarly (potentially), Sanji, Luffy, Katakuri. When you consider all their personalities it would seem that they are all extraordinarily empathic/sensitive to other people’s emotions/auras. The sole “logical” and “powerful” argument in defense of the Pudding eye scene relies heavily on the reader’s assumption that this was why Pudding reacted so strongly to Sanji’s comment. The same could be said for the end of the Katakuri/Luffy fight when Luffy covered up Katakuri’s fangs with his hat. And I would further argue that we as readers are supposed to assume that since Luffy/Katakuri were both pushing their observation to the max, they gained some sort of insight into each other’s character that led to them developing “mutual respect”.

Empathy is so inherently important to so many of the events of this arc that I’m surprised that so many fans don’t bother mentioning it by name or acknowledging it’s importance. But here’s the thing about empathy. It doesn’t make you omnipotent. It doesn’t let you read someone’s mind. Observation haki may let you read someone’s aura/spirit/chi whatever you want to call it but in the end the observer is essentially making assumptions based on a number of minutiae (body language, tone of voice etc.) to determine how someone is FEELING. And thinking about it so much of this arc rides on the assumptions people are making without realizing how problematic that is. Cause here’s the thing about intentions/assumptions: they are flimsy. They are insubstantial. And we place far more weight on them than they can bear. Yet despite that they’re wielded like shields and swords to deflect or detract from a number of troublesome behaviors. 

An argument I’ve heard repeatedly again and again is that “X character doesn’t need a reason to do Y” or my favorite “X character having a flaw doesn’t make them a bad person” or my favorite “X character’s flaw is part of their personality and you should learn to accept it because it makes them who they are”. And that last one especially is a doozy, but let’s start with the simple stuff first: reasons. Let’s take the example of two people brought in for the crime of stealing medicine. One because they can’t afford to pay for it and their child is very sick and one because they want to get high off the fumes. So does this mean:

a)     Both of them should be charged and receive the same sentence or;

b)    The one stealing medicine for his daughter should face a lenient sentence if any because of the circumstances around their actions?

Would reasons matter in this case? Should they matter? Can we even be sure either one is telling the truth or should we just take them at their word? The road that people pave during the journey of life is a complexly interweaved web of the choices they’ve made and the circumstances/situations they’ve faced that has made them whom they are. And empathy is an ability that allows you to untangle that web to try and understand the how and the why. It’s easy to judge a broad group of people by measuring them against a single standard. It’s much more complicated to judge a group of people individually and tailoring the judgement after considering all the divergent paths they’ve faced and the ones they’ve chosen that led them to where they are. It’s a problem that Sanji has and something I’ve addressed before in that he tends to tailor his actions towards groups of people rather than considering their individual merits. Hence why he treats an entire marginalized group so poorly and why he will not harm a woman regardless of how heinous the acts she has or may have committed. Pudding shot his sister, gloated about how she was involved in a plot to assassinate him and his “family”, mercilessly mocked him, and yet Sanji will not hold that against her. Why? Because he is “kind”.

But the thing about kindness is that it is none at all to turn a blind eye to someone’s heinous actions. There are any number of reasons that Pudding may have done what she did. She was scared of BM. She was made this way because she was bullied. She was “acting”. But none of that excuses the actions she took no matter what her intentions were. A true kindness would be to help someone understand why they act out this way and help them become the kind of people they want to be. And that brings me back to the point I made above regarding flaws. Because it’s one thing to acknowledge that you have flaw. A person may be able to look at an aspect of their personality and say “yeah this is my weakness” and as long as it doesn’t hurt someone that’s fine (for the most part). But what if your flaw is something dangerous that could put the people that you love in danger?

The thing that annoys me about Sanji’s “flaw” is fans accept it as part of his personality and they’re willing to ignore it because he’s got an exceptional group of friends that will help him. After all it’s like Luffy said: I’ll do what you can’t do and you do what I can’t do. Ah! But the key word there is can’t. As in I literally cannot physically/psychologically or whatever do this thing. Sanji doesn’t want to hit women. It’s not something he cannot do. Usopp does not want to place himself in danger. His cowardice is his weakness. And he could do the same thing and say that he can’t fight. And I don’t think the crew would ever hold it against him. YET whenever Usopp exhibits this cowardice and considers running away, fans are very quick to eviscerate him. Yet when Sanji was selfishly unwilling to fight a woman, when time was a critical factor, it was shrugged off. Fans are more willing to accept that Sanji will never hit a woman and that doing so “would ruin his character” and yet they get infuriated that Usopp is “still a coward”. And that’s likely because it’s been instilled in us that hitting women is not something a moral/noble person would do. But you know what? Refusing to acknowledge or even introspectively consider the actions of your weakness and instead relying on your crew to compensate for you is the most selfish and cowardly thing you can do. You know why Usopp’s moment on Arlong Park was one of the most goddamn powerful moments in the series? It’s because Usopp is brave enough to recognize his weakness and strong enough to overcome it because he wants to support his friends. He wants to become the kind of man that would be proud to stand next to them shoulder to shoulder, KNOWING that he has done everything he possibly could have to help them during their journey.

So let me present a hypothetical. What if all the SH’s were otherwise pre-occupied and Sanji was the only one that could have saved Robin? He can’t just pass it off onto Usopp/Nami saying I WON’T hit a woman. I know that Sanji is probably so attached to Zeff’s teachings because he wants Zeff to be proud of him. He want his mentor that he loves/respects more than anything to be proud of the life he’s lived and he doesn’t want him to think that saving Sanji was a mistake. But here’s the thing. Sanji isn’t living his life for Zeff and I don’t think Zeff saved his life because he wanted Sanji to feel obligated to him. Zeff made choice to take a chance on a kid that might achieve the dream that he never could. I don’t think Zeff is the kind of man that would blame/fault Sanji for not being perfect, or deciding that maybe he doesn’t want to find the All Blue after all. And I’m not saying that if Sanji kicks one woman that all bets are off and he should just go around kicking any potential female enemy they come across. See above where I said I want him to stop tailoring his actions to a broad group of people. If Sanji wants Zeff to be proud of him then maybe he should live his life on his own terms. Because at the end of the day that’s all that matters. Is Sanji proud of who he became? When he dies will he die satisfied that it was a life well lived? If he can stand next to Zeff one day and say yes to all of the former isn’t that all that matters? And if Zeff was ever the kind of person that judged Sanji for hitting a woman to save his friends, then maybe he’s not the kind of person he should give his respect to in the first place.

Bakugo has made some shitty choices as a kid either out of selfishness, ignorance, or arrogance. BUT he’s starting to learn. He’s changing himself and his approach to others. And I hope that eventually he makes amends with Midoriya for all the atrocious shit he puts him through. And Midoriya might not forgive him. And that’s okay too. Because the point of the apology is not to make yourself feel better that your intentions were good because you are defined by the actions you take. All you can do is understand how your actions hurt other people and then going forward work to make sure it doesn’t happen again (at least intentionally but again that’s a complicated issue for another time). But this is the big kicker and one of the storytelling elements that’s been weakest in Whole Cake Island. Like I said it’s one thing to acknowledge a flaw and another thing to overcome it. But can a thing really be called a flaw if never results in consequences?

It Ain’t Over Till The Fat Lady Sings:

I’ve always imagined that having the Grand Line being split into Paradise and the New World was reflective of the process of growing up. The first half is the journey towards adulthood where you make friends, set your sights on a goal/dream you want to reach, and learn what your values are. In the second half your CONVICTION in all those areas is tested. Is your bond with your friends/family based on something real or were the connections so tenuous and superficial that they were never there in the first place? Placed in a desperate situation where your values are tested will you still have the strength to hold onto them? What cost are you willing to pay to achieve your dreams? And how many people are you willing to step on to reach that goal if any?

Avid followers of my Twitter theory posts will note that I’ve stated this before but I want the Strawhats to be tested in ways they’ve never been tested before in the New World. After all they are in the big leagues now. We’ve seen how the New World takes in hopeful, optimistic, ambitious rookies and spit them out again as callous, hardened, broken men and women. One of the reasons I love Sabaoady and Marineford so much is that those arcs are the first time that Luffy has ever really tasted defeat. No amount of luck or skill could have saved him from those situations, even though he did his absolute best, because he was weak. In his case it meant that he wasn’t powerful enough and I don’t expect that to always be the case. But in a series like One Piece, where people’s convictions in their dreams are represented by their ability to overpower their opponents it’s something that can’t be ignored. So how do you push people past their limits? You attack their weaknesses (an idea I’ve explored in my other editorial “The Hero’s Dilemma”). If you want to test the strength of a person’s convictions and push them past their limit then you have to place them in a situation where they are FORCED to grow, change, and adapt. But you can’t just place the character at the precipice of the volcano and then pull them back at the ending and let them go on their merry way. It’ll instill fear in them for a little while but then they’ll forget about it because there was no CONSEQUNCE! And it’s something that is especially important in a series like One Piece.

One of the big problems I’ve had with this arc is Sanji’s general attitude and treatment of women. So you can imagine I was a little bit infuriated in a recent chapter when he so easily made light of all of Pudding’s actions up to that point, even thanking her for “playing the role of his bride”. It was first brought up in Water 7 when Sanji told chopper that “a man forgives a woman’s lies” and it’s been heavily played up this arc with Sanji calling out Pudding’s “acting” and questioning whom was she really fooling. Remember how I mentioned that empathy is a not a mind-reading power? Well Oda has been really heavy handed in treating it like one. We are to ASSUME that Sanji somehow has an intimate understanding of a woman’s true intentions because he is “kind”. And quite frankly that’s something that’s very easy for him to do when he is RIGHT EVERY TIME. And it’s even easier for him to do when there’s been no consequences.

Because that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s easy for Sanji to say that he believes in his captain when he has no real personal stakes in the matter. I hate that Oda made the bomb cuffs a red herring and then used the wedding as plot convenience to ensure that Sanji didn’t have to lose anything. . It’s bugged me throughout this arc that Sanji didn’t have any faith in Luffy or the crew being able to help him out of his hopeless situation but as soon as he’s free then he can start spouting all that nonsense again about how his captain will become the Pirate King. And what makes it worse is that Oda has repeatedly dropped hints about it throughout the series. Luffy wants to be the Pirate King because he wants to be a man with unlimited freedom. But that’s not something he can just have for free because other people will fight him for that same right. So he has to have POWER. It can be interpreted as you like: physical power? Authority? Alliances? Weapons? If he wants to be the Pirate King then he needs to ensure that he doesn’t have any weaknesses that can be exploited. And of Luffy’s greatest strength and his greatest weakness is his crew. He would do anything for them, including invading an underwater prison (his brother now crew but they are the same for this purpose), the HQ of a clandestine government organization, or the territory of an Emperor of the sea. But the thing is he can’t do it alone. And I don’t just mean that he can’t do it without the help of his friends (though there is that) but rather the person he’s saving has want to be saved. Fans like to compare Sanji’s actions to Robin’s during Water 7 and Nami’s during Arlong and that’s fair. Fans may not like the comparison but it stand that in each of these cases the lesson they had to learn was that they needed to trust in their friends. There are some challenges they might face alone that they can’t overcome but that there aren’t any challenges they can’t overcome if they work together and trust in each other’s strengths. And Sanji didn’t do that when he was at his lowest point. He only did that after he was unburdened from having to make the choice to lose something he valued the most. And I don’t want to hear arguments about Sanji’s self-worth and all that because it doesn’t matter. At this point in the series there is no excuse for Sanji to EVER doubt in the strength of his crew or his captain and the things that they can achieve for their love of one another.

One of my favorite panels from Zou is the one where Pekoms tells Luffy that Big Mom could have the heads of a loved one sent to anyone that declines her tea party invitation because that’s true power. And if Luffy ever wants to claim to be the Pirate King then he has to wield a similar level of power. The sight of his flag flying on an island should inspire the same level of respect that pirates had when they saw Whitebeard’s flag on Fishman Island. Luffy’s reputation should be so well know that no-one would dare harm anyone that claims his protection because the consequences would be DIRE. And that’s the thing I didn’t see Sanji acknowledge. Yes he was stuck in a seemingly impossible situation. He had the best of intentions when he did everything that he did because he thought he was protecting everyone. But he was being selfish. He thought he could/should shoulder his burden himself. He didn’t want to ask his friends for help because he didn’t want them to get hurt. But you know what? They did.

They invaded the territory of an Emperor and started a fight with her at a time they could ill afford to do so. Luffy was brutally beaten, almost had his hand chopped off, and he lost a tooth. The Sunny took massive damage. And Pedro is dead. Except…none of that matters does it?

Luffy almost got his arm chopped off and yet there’s no scar to show for it and it didn’t hinder him in his fight against Katakuri in the least. He lost a tooth, and while the gag was funny the first time, he grew it back again leaving no trace. And the Sunny? Well this isn’t like the first half of the series is it? The sunny will get repaired because they have Franky. Any “damage” it takes is temporary and there’s no reason to pretend that we’re supposed to care because the Strawhat’s do because we know better. We know that the good guys always win in the end. So how do you still make it FEEL like they achieved something? How do you make it look like they changes? That they learned a lesson? That there was a cost? You have consequences.

Empathy is one of the most powerful tools in a storyteller’s repertoire because the easiest way to get you invested in a story is to have you be invested in the characters. Having a sad backstory in One Piece is not something unique. Sure it may set your starting point on the path of life but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a straight one or that you are confined to its borders. And despite Oda being heavy-handed in his use of it during this arc it really feels like he’s just going through the motions. He’s given us a few panels of backstory for Pudding/Katakuri and used his characterization of Big Mom to justify their actions and make us sympathize with them. It feels like we’re supposed to feel sorry for them because they had a shitty past. But does that mean we just assume their actions are justified? That they’ve never once done a single heinous thing in the service of Big Mom. Or are we supposed to sympathize with them because we ASSUME Luffy/Sanji are good judges of character? How great would it be if they turned out to be wrong? If someone they trusted/admired betrayed them and they never saw it coming? Because that’s the thing about reading a series like One Piece. We know the good guys will beat out the bad guys in the end. But reading a story where they always win is boring. It’s more interesting to see them fail and get knocked down. Because then we get to see them climb back up again over and over and over. And each time they get knocked down they would learn something new about themselves. It’s why some of the most powerful moments in the series are just that: powerful. Whether it’s Zoro being cut down by Mihawk, Usopp confronting his weakness, or Nami/Robin learning to ask for help. All these little moments make us cheer that much harder for these characters because we know they’re going through hell but the moment they get their reward it’ll all have been worth it. And that is something I’ve been advocating for either through my criticism of the series or even via the theories I create. And that’s why I can only see WCI really ending satisfactorily in one way.

Because Whole Cake Island is about more than just Sanji learning that kindness isn’t a weakness (or whatever bullshit it was). It’s about learning what being a Utopia truly means, it’s about confronting your abusers and coming to terms with your past, it’s about shattering illusions, it’s about power and family and kindness. But more importantly it’s the beginning of learning exactly what the Strawhats role in the grand scheme of things is. But that’s a theory for another day. Whole Cake Island could be the start of a trend in the way One Piece approaches stories going forward. But it really depends on what Oda chooses to do going forward. I want to believe that Oda has good intentions but that’s just not enough anymore. Show me that you are the great storyteller I know you can be. One Piece has the potential to be the greatest story ever told and just know that no-one wants that to be more true than me. 

#WholeCakeIsland Intentions Empathy

[comicteaparty]

January 10th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on January 10th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PST.  The chat focused on Chasing Little Lights by Evelyn Shi.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Chasing Little Lights by Evelyn Shi~! (http://www.cllcomic.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

my favorite scene so far is probably...well okay its not really a scene so much as a moment in a scene. but when soren is walking around with valentin and noticing that valentin already has like 1 billion friends. i can just severely relate to soren in that moment. it has some fantastic facial expression and i just love the panel framing too. theres kind of this sense of isolation whenever you see valentin interact. and even though soren is there, you get this sense he is the one out of place. and i just really think the visual aspects alone express that kind of loner thing he has going on

eleviken

haha hi! i'm the creator of Chasing Little Lights and i'll stick around here for a bit!

RebelVampire

glad to have you, @eleviken ~!

eleviken

i'm really glad you took note of that scene! i wanted to capture their different personalities - they are friends and get closer as the comic progresses, but soren is quite shy and valentin is a classic extrovert! i think valentin doesn't intend to single out people sometimes but he can give off that vibe

RebelVampire

actually honestly i really love valentin and soren's interactions. theyre very different people, and usually when you have an extrovert and an introvert they kind of butt heads. but nah, in this case valentin is like "hey buddy lets get bubble tea" and to me thats just super refreshing to see.

another scene i really like was the fencing scene. it played out exactly how i imagined it would: elena got her arrogant butt beaten by someone with infinite more years experience. but what i like more is that she doesnt expect this. instead to retreats further into her belief that she just wasnt on her a-game. cause i feel this is a moment that is true to how a real person would act.

and i also like how it preps for future drama

eleviken

that's great!! yeah i wanted valentin to be a good hearted person inside, even if he gives off an absentmindedly popular vibe! but of course there will be fights between the characters>:)

mhm! for me the fencing scene got quite tedious actually, as i wanted to have the action play out in maybe a few weeks, rather than dragging on for over a month. but i can only make a page per week with school and all, so i'm glad you enjoyed that!

all the characters are good people despite their flaws- elena's is arrogance obviously. we'll see how her character growth plays out in the future!

RebelVampire

yeah theres no doubt in my mind theyre good people. but i love all their flaws because theyre poignant and feel super realistic. not to mention i really enjoy a lot of the elements that stress them out cause to a degree it helps to make them feel their age.

eleviken

mhm, in future chapters - especially chapter 4, which is coming up soon, there will be more dramatic/challenging obstacles in the plot that will test their innocence as kids

i wanted to emphasize the coming of age aspect in the story because some challenges force you to grow up

RebelVampire

exactly what im hoping for. cause these kids are def in a situation where their innocence is gonna be tested. what with all the air pollution.

this is not s etting of happiness

K.E. Karlsen

yeah thats a theme i like seeing in stories and i can definitely see it happening in yours, whatever may happen

can i ask where you got the idea of a setting with air pollution sickness?

mathtans

The little one is in bed for the moment, but I might have to leave unexpectedly. ^.^

Rebel - I kind of liked that scene with Valentin having all the friends, but I think what I liked more was kind of the follow-up, when Kasen sees Soren with Valentin and thinks, geez, that guy's already got a friend. Kind of a perspective shift.

eleviken

i live in Shanghai, China, and air pollution has been a pretty big issue here! it has gotten better over the past few years but it's still very polluted. air pollution is also quite bad in areas like mongolia and india and other parts of asia

mathtans

Nice closer to Chapter 2 also.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. The comic’s setting is one where air pollution can be rampant enough to cause a fatal sickness called contamina. Given Valentin’s blood-filled coughing, do you believe he has contracted contamina? Why do you believe he is so intent on hiding his symptoms, especially from Elena? If Valentin does have contamina, do you believe he’d come to accept it or continue to live in denial? Whether he has contamina or not, how do you believe the others will react to finding out about the coughing? Overall, do you think Valentin’s health problems will change the group’s opinions on how normalized the air pollution is? How might this change their future goals?

mathtans

Characters need flaws, or it's boring.

eleviken

mathtans - to add on i think soren and kasen are more similar in personality than elena and val, defnitely! but they face very different challenges, so i think it makes them different in that way too:))

i am also a high school student! so i think CLL is at least semi-autobiographical in many ways

mathtans

Truth, probably makes sense that the siblings are a bit alike too.

eleviken

on question 2 - i won't give away too much

mathtans

I've been reading most of your little author notes btw eleviken. I think it's very cool that you're using your location as a setting. (Also, your field trip to Mongolia sounds really interesting, possibly more interesting than it was, I dunno.)

eleviken

but of course val will eventually be forced to face the issue

mathtans

I think Valentin is hiding the symptoms for a couple reasons. One, if people start talking about it, that makes it "real" and harder to deny to himself. Second, since his parents died due to pollution, he doesn't want his sister to have to go through the same kind of thing again.

eleviken

what really!!! i love leaving the author notes as a record to what i'm up to that week, but i didn't expect too many people to take note! my trip was a culture/service trip and it was definitely interesting, as it was quite different from the big city life in Shanghai

RebelVampire

you mean val doesnt just gain immortality and thus is rewarded for his denial?

XD

eleviken

Maybe val /is/ an immortal!

RebelVampire

see

confirmed

no problems here

O_O;;;;;

mathtans

I wonder if on some level, like subconsciously, Valentin is hoping for a breakthrough that helps out his own health. And Elena's dismissal of his attempts at research may not be helping with that (though I get why she does it).

Valentin - There can be only one.

eleviken: Yup, I'm one of those readers who tends to check out Q&As and Author Notes and stuff. In particular I was interested because I've never been to China or anywhere in the far East. Cool!

(I'm also a high school teacher, so there's that side of me, pleased to see students doing creative things. )

RebelVampire

i honestly feel the denial is more for valentin's sake than elena's sake. because hes what, 14? 14 is not the age where youre ready to accept mortality. 14 is the age where you believe youre super invincible and nothing ever bad will happen to you ever. can do whatever you want for you are the immortal one. and to accept he has contamina is to accept that whatever he had planned in his future is now kaput. and i just dont think hes ready for that, thus the hiding.

not to mention denial is the first stage of the 5 stages of grief

eleviken

valentin is definitely an optimist, and as the creator it even makes /me/ sad to see (or make lol) him suffer. he's definitely holding out hope for a miracle about his health, whether it turns out to be contamina or not. he is definitely at a point of denial, by filling his life with fun and his new friends to forget about the problem!

mathtans

Oh, the denial is probably more for his sake, you're right. The not telling might be for Elena's sake a bit though.

eleviken

mathtans - no way, that's amazing! Thank you for teaching, it's definitely hard work!

mathtans

Valentin is kind of the type to throw caution to the wind too, like I don't know the specifics of the disease, but he wanders around without a mask like that won't make the problem get worse faster or something.

Oh, thank you eleviken.

RebelVampire

eh i feel that the hiding it from others goes along with hiding it from himself. cause i get more the impression hes hiding it from the others to protect himself more than to protect the others. cause if he told elena, shes going to make a fuss and treat him like hes dying. and he cant very well live in denial about dying if everyone treats him like hes dying.

mathtans

That's a good point too, Rebel. (Who knows what's going on in his head!)

RebelVampire

although im sure there isnt no element about protecting elena cause of what happened to their parents. i just think self preservation is the overriding factor

eleviken

val and elena definitely have the petty sibling dynamic, but with their parents gone they are also looking out for each other. elena isn't good at expressing her emotions, though, so it's not directly stated that she's protective! i think part of his not-wearing-a-mask-stupidity is denial as well. as someone who's inclined to be happy, Val really wants to hold on to that happiness!

mathtans

Maybe Soren will come up with the cure. Can't kick him out of school if he does that.

eleviken

Ah soren's grade issue is quite important too! i think the pressure to achieve perfect grades is a reality for many students, and i especially see it at my school.

RebelVampire

although tbh i get the hint of a stigma? like at least that guy in the bathroom was kind of...apprehensive when he thought valentin might have contamina. even tho its established contamina is not contagious, its kind of got the cancer affect it seems. where everyone is like eww gross stay away from me sick person. and for an extrovert like valentin, that would probably be devastating. to be avoided because of something like being sick.

mathtans

Speaking as a teacher, I feel like society (well, North American society at least) is starting to put way too much emphasis on grades, and not enough emphasis on, y'know, actually learning stuff. Students tend to ask me "how can I get an 80%" not "how can I understand this unit better".

Rebel: Good point. It's said to not be contagious, but if people think that only poorer types who can't afford to replace their masks get the disease, that might be part of it.

eleviken

that's definitely very true at my school - as an asian school with an american system, the pressure to get 4.0s, have extracurriculars, and get into ivies is supersupersuper high. i'm under that pressure myself!

RebelVampire

haha that emphasis on grades over learning has been in the us for a looooong time. but now you have helicopter parents so a good portion of teachers in the us are just giving the grades anyway. because administration wont back the teachers up in the face of angry parents.

but i digress.

eleviken

mathtans - i'm going to admit i never thought about the "poorer people" part, that's very smart!

mathtans

You never know what will be read into things, feel free to run with it.

Yeah, it's not as bad here in Canada, but we still have some standardized testing. Anyway.

Hope you're able to weather the pressure, eleviken. The fact that you can keep up with a comic shows pretty good time management skills.

RebelVampire

i definitely feel that valentin's dilemma will make all the kids confront the air pollution. especially elena cause seeing another person she loves get contamina has to make her confront the idea that air pollution is bad and they shouldnt just go "nah its fine and normal were kids"

eleviken

thanks mathtans! i'm managing to keep up :))

i think high school can definitely be a bubble from real-world issues, and val's problem is forcing him to face the real world. that's a big coming of age part!

RebelVampire

yeah and i definitely love that about this story. that theres this whole conflict and theme of the child bubble world vs the actual world with all its huge problems that are overwhelming to deal with

mathtans

It's one of those things too where, if you see it every day, it just becomes normal. Why confront something that's normal? Whereas for the transfer students, it's not a normal thing, so maybe they can help with that.

Superjustinbros

peeks in

eleviken

hi!

mathtans

Good point, eleviken.

Superjustinbros

Hello there~

Just thought I'd drop in till the end

and this comic of yours is pretty interesting, @eleviken

eleviken

speaking of that, i am heading to class! i will still be here for the most part, though. :))

thanks!

Superjustinbros

You're welcome! Kudos too for representing all these different countries

(And shoutouts to Soren's hair)

RebelVampire

hey super~!

Superjustinbros

Hi Rebel!

RebelVampire

good luck in class, eleviken!

Superjustinbros

Secodned!

RebelVampire

and thats also true math. i definitely get that impression from val and elena

mathtans

All the best with classes!

RebelVampire

that theyre just so used to it they cant even fathom what clean air is like even

too normal

just everyday life

mathtans

Yeah, the choice to have a bunch of countries was cool. I like the little flags in the dialogue bubbles.

RebelVampire

although speaking of normalization though, i really loved that dialogue piece where kasen was saying "did you hear about that celebrity who died of contamina" to elena and elena just said what a shame i liked their music.

like man

mathtans

I'm also impressed that Valentin can already speak 5 languages.

RebelVampire

thats great characterization on how they view the world

yeah

valentin dying is a tragedy

dawgofdawgness

Is this still going? For CLL

mathtans

Rebel - Great point there.

RebelVampire

cause he seems super smart

yes it is~!

we still have another hour left

eleviken

DAWG!!! HEY!!!

dawgofdawgness

HALLO

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Kasen and Soren are both characters who have to deal with academic and parental pressure for various reasons. Do you believe Soren will be able to maintain a 3.5 grade average? Or, do you think even with the help of the others he’ll continue to struggle and fall behind? Whether he fails or succeeds, do you believe the school will continue to honor their scholarship agreement? In the long run, do you believe Soren will be able to help pull his family out of poverty with his potential academic success? Kasen, being the headmaster’s daughter, has to deal with similar pressures. Do you believe that Kasen will be able to convince her father to let her go to art school? How might she accomplish this? Alternatively, do you believe she’ll give into her father’s reasoning? Lastly, how might these similar struggles help or hurt the groups’ relationships with each other?

dawgofdawgness

I saw your wall post lmao

eleviken

rebel - ngl i added that dialogue in later, probably about a year into the comic. i really wanted to emphasize the air pollution part!

dawgofdawgness

I thiiiiink that Soren is gonna have to make some sort of sacrifice to maintain his GPA

eleviken

ok i love these questions! i won't spoil but it's great to see this discussion

dawgofdawgness

I think what's keeping Sore n back is his self confidence lol, that's one of the things about his character - he's always putting himself down and getting really anxious about everything

Superjustinbros

That's pretty much what happens at all these CTP's

dawgofdawgness

and Kasen , she's a bright student but needs to be pushed - what's holding her back, I think, is inexperience

mathtans

Just want to add, I think all the characters have parental issues, even the other two mains because of how their parents passed on. It's an interesting theme.

Superjustinbros

That's sad.

eleviken

yeah! kasen is quite smart, but she doesn't want to ~try~ at school because she wants to do art. as a creator i think she still should to an extent, but the pressure from her father is quite high

Superjustinbros

I can relate to that so much

dawgofdawgness

oooh that's relatable

mathtans

Dawg: Yeah, I'm reminded of the "reading difficulties" thing that was alluded to, and how the book he was reading at one point said "you're going to fail" or words to that effect. So definite self confidence issues. I wonder if Soren does have some kind of learning disability though, like dyslexia or something? Or maybe just has trouble with English, is better with German.

eleviken

me too! i don't have plans to go to art school, but the pressure to do well is quite high

dawgofdawgness

ohhh right yeah

Superjustinbros

I was good in school but lots of times I would just zone out and think of making art/games because it gets really tedious.

RebelVampire

i definitely think soren has self confidence issues, but i dont think thats the only thing holding him back persay. i think hes probably suffering a bit from actually being educationally behind. because private schools have way more intense curriculum and generally better educational programs than public schools. so its like someone whose only taken algebra that now they have to do calculus.

dawgofdawgness

Soren maybe has a language barrier as well? Since he's going to a prestigious college out of the country

eleviken

mathtans - nope! english is just not soren's native language

yeah, and ASI is a very competitive school

Superjustinbros

But yeah just saying I can relate to that feeling of wanting freedom

mathtans

I also don't feel like Soren will be able to pull off the 3.5, but that maybe there will be extenuating circumstances (from his friends advocating for him to Soren discovering a cure for the disease) that might prevent him from being kicked out.

Superjustinbros

Perhaps

dawgofdawgness

wait what's soren's gpa at right now?

or is it unknown

mathtans

Rebel: That's also a good point, about private schooling.

RebelVampire

he mentioned it

its under 3.5

close but under

eleviken

under!

dawgofdawgness

oh ok

he'll be fine pfpfttt

RebelVampire

3.2

dawgofdawgness

I have a feeling that he's going to reach that GPA through hard academic studies, and then get kicked out for smoking weed or something

RebelVampire

http://www.cllcomic.com/comic/83/

Superjustinbros

These feels

eleviken

HAHAHA SOREN SMOKING WEED!!

it seems like the most unlikely thing he'd do but at the same time i can see him doing it

RebelVampire

i think he can do it cause hes super close to a 3.5. so he only has to do a smidgen better in a few classes and just not do worse in others

Superjustinbros

Meanwhile I'm looking at these pages and just feeling sorry for Soren

RebelVampire

this is what soren will do in college when he find out high school was worthless and basically a cruise ship

Superjustinbros

I second that

RebelVampire

buuuuuut

i also feel if he hits 3.5 theyre gonna raise the bar on him

and say "good job soren. now get a 4.0 or we kick you out"

cause i feel like that counselor would not care at all about the struggles and triumphs he went through to even get a 3.5

Superjustinbros

D:

That's harsh.

RebelVampire

i mean not that im hoping thats the direction

but that counselor gives me bad vibes man

like theyre just waiting and hoping to kick soren out

Superjustinbros

Yeah.

RebelVampire

i feel bad for soren that its being put on him to pull his family out of poverty

especially cause his academic success doesnt even gurantee that

getting a job is a whole other ballpark

dawgofdawgness

With Kasen, wasn't it also implied that she has social problems on top of academic problems?

I remember there beeing a scene where she looks out the window and is sad i think

RebelVampire

idk if she has social problems? she seems better adjusted than soren socially speaking. although shes definitely less outgoing than elena and val

although i do get the impression shes maybe not the best at expressing herself?

like i kind of feel she holds back some

dawgofdawgness

oh right

ShaRose49

Hi!! I really wanted to make it to this chat cause I read all of the comic. I think poor Valentin is misguidedly thinking he’s being selfless in that he doesn’t tell anyone. And he probably doesn’t think it’s contamina

Superjustinbros

Oh hello there. ^^

ShaRose49

Hullo!

mathtans

Back. Little one was fussing in her crib.

Superjustinbros

Welcoem back!

dawgofdawgness

Yupp, Val's gonna have to accept his sickness or else he will have consequencesss

Superjustinbros

Hope the little one's doing alright @mathtans

RebelVampire

tbf val's acceptance is irrelevant to the consequences

dawgofdawgness

I gotta go, I have to do AP bio (which is a course that Soren takes) no wonder he has a 3.2 GPA the homework is ass

mathtans

I was wondering about that counselor, if she had hearing problems or something. Because the first time we meet her, we see Soren knock at the door, he comes in, and then she says "knock next time". I was thinking, like... he did? Where were you?

dawgofdawgness

goodluck @eleviken !! goodbyee

mathtans

SJB: Oh yeah, she's fine, just not much of a sleeper.

Superjustinbros

Bye!

mathtans

Dawg: Best with it!

(I was never into bio.)

RebelVampire

good luck dawg!

i dont think the counselor has a hearing problem

she was probably just focused

which i get

when im focused i legit cancel out all sound

Superjustinbros

aah I see, Math.

mathtans

ShaRose: Interesting point, about the being selfless thing.

RebelVampire

i think the counselor has a being a bitch problem cough cough

ShaRose49

@mathtans yeah I guess

mathtans

Prejudiced against Germans.

ShaRose49

Yeah that counsellor sucked

RebelVampire

but im sure she has reasons and stuff

Superjustinbros

I'd believe it if she did have a bitch problem

RebelVampire

but admittedly as someone who was as socially anxious as soren at that age

i wouldve been in tears if i had knocked and someone's reply to me was "knock first"

so that moment specifically angered me to no end

in the good way

mathtans

Yeah, character feels.

ShaRose49

Yeah I felt sorry for Soren. My Dad is German so I guess that makes me half

Superjustinbros

Soren is nothing but feels

ShaRose49

And nice hair

Superjustinbros

yes the hair too

I just want to hug him.

mathtans

I want to see Soren do some of his music stuff.

ShaRose49

Same

Superjustinbros

Secodning the music stuff

ShaRose49

Also the hug

eleviken

i love drawing soren's hair!

it's my favorite

RebelVampire

im personally more interested in seeing kasen and art stuff. cause just cause she wants to go to art school doesnt necessarily mean shes good enough to get in.

which actually would be an ironic twist

Superjustinbros

That would be interesting

Also great to hear Eleviken!

I love drawing characters with fun/wild hair myself, it can be pretty fun sometimes, is a biiiit hard.(edited)

mathtans

That's true. Kasen's possibly my fave character, just because she's in a tight spot by virtue of her father, which she can't do anything about.

ShaRose49

But the pollution aspect was really intriguing to me. It’s a real problem in China. But I can relate a little because here in Canada there have been so many fires in the summer especially BC that the air is all smoky all the time and some people have respiratory issues. I could be wrong but I think some people died because of it or at least got sick. I wasn’t bothered by the air when I visited bc

mathtans

Oooh, I should be shipping Kasen and Elena.

ShaRose49

@eleviken Hi there, author!! I was hoping you’d be here

Superjustinbros

That sounds scary, ShaRose

ShaRose49

But I was surprised that the air in BC didn’t really bother me at all

It was a little. I hope next summer isn’t bad. I’m sure it was very scary and awful for the people in BC @Superjustinbros

Superjustinbros

yeah...

Hopefully it's not so bad next year

mathtans

Roommate ships are best ships. ^.^

ShaRose49

Yeah. The news said the pollution because of the smoke was as bad as the air quality in China this summer

Superjustinbros

...Jesus christ.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. Despite her generally good nature, Elena has her own sorts of troubles to deal with. Do you think Elena should have been captain of the fencing team as she believes she should have? Why or why not? Do you think Fenya views Elena with the same disdain Elena has for her, or might Fenya feel differently? Regardless, how might their rivalry affect their teamwork? Overall, do you think that Fenya and Elena might be able to patch things up and become friends? As shown recently, Elena also has to deal with her parents having died from contamina. Assuming she finds out, how might Valentin’s situation change her opinion about her parents’ work (if at all)? In general, how might Elena’s experiences at school change her as a person?

ShaRose49

I think Fenya might be just ignorant but I could be reme,Bering her wrong

RebelVampire

i really love kasen and the dad's dynamics as far as the future goes. cause as a child i def was kasen, wanting to pursue that creative dream. but as an older adult i actually get a lot more with the dad is coming from cause creative pursuits are a hard path. which is why im curious how talented kasen is in the first place. cause she might come to realize that even if she wants to art, she may just not have the talent for it

K.E. Karlsen

no i dont think she should have been captain of the fencing team.

ShaRose49

I liked fenya she was big and strong and had green hair

Superjustinbros

Green Hair is always good

K.E. Karlsen

the girl who won (apologies its been awhile since i read, i have been reading since its updates and havent had time for a reread and forgot her name ;;;) i think it was best she won, she clearly knew more what she was doing

mathtans

Oh yeah! I wanted to mention that was real clever, having Fenya and Elena meet early on, then have them become rivals later. Though I don't think Fenya really sees Elena as a rival or with disdain or anything, like just, there's this other girl who fences decently but doesn't watch where she's going, whatever.

ShaRose49

@K.E. Karlsen @Superjustinbros yup yup

K.E. Karlsen

oh is her name fenya?

RebelVampire

yeah i agree. elena did not deserve to be captain. especially cause she was a sore loser.

yes her name is fenya

ShaRose49

Yup

K.E. Karlsen

ok thats who im talking about sorry!! im bad at remembering names

RebelVampire

thats okay

no shame in getting help with names

mathtans

I'm also bad. It's why I have the cast page up in another window. (For a teacher, I'm soooo bad at names.)

Superjustinbros

I'm bad at names in general

ShaRose49

I forgot too the question helped me remember

RebelVampire

fenya is a passable offense anyway cause shes more a side chara than main cast. so her name isnt mentioned a whole ton compared to others

i kind of agree that i actually dont think fenya views elena as a rival at all. i kind of feel fenya is just like "oh yeah its that teammate i wonder why shes glaring at me how weird."

Superjustinbros

Perhaps

RebelVampire

and that any rivalry elena has just created in her own mind

cause the world revolves around her

Superjustinbros

Plot twist: it does

ShaRose49

Just what I was thinking

mathtans

She's also an immortal.

ShaRose49

I really want the story to show more of the streets on China, like I’d love for them to have a downtown scene, and I want to see more of the relationship between the brother and sister characters

I want to visit China someday

mathtans

Actually it's funny, when I first went to the comic I saw the latest update, with Elena talking about how they were going to get Soren's grades up, and I thought, huh, is she their mother or TA or something but why are they all laughing. Made more sense in context. All that to say, Elena does have leadership skills in terms of motivating people, but I'm not sure about delegation and such.

eleviken

hey yeah!

mathtans

It would be interesting to see more China.

eleviken

rebel - kasen's artsy side has yet to eb elaborated on

Superjustinbros

Yeah, do some more worldbuilding and more excuses for epic landscape shots (edited)

RebelVampire

id be interested in seeing more of china as well. though more to see how the world in general deals with the pollution. like i feel thered be other world things goes on besides the masks.

math- i do feel like elena has potential as a leader, but i also think she lacks the humility to do so. i think as she is right now shed be a self absorbed leader. so concerned with her own skills and showing off than helping anyone else on the team to get better

ShaRose49

Like Leonardo ughhh

Superjustinbros

And I just realized that's why everyone wears the masks on the main visual(edited)

ShaRose49

But she’s not all bad

Hooboy ya just noticed now?! Lol it’s alright

mathtans

Good point, humility's a problem.

RebelVampire

nah i dont think elena is all bad at all

i just dont think shes ready to be captain

mathtans

SJB: It's because it's Halloween.

RebelVampire

cause arrogance is a big thing to work through and elena isnt confronting her own flaw as of yet

ShaRose49

@RebelVampire wow you seem wise

I’m not being sarcastic sorry if that’s weird

Superjustinbros

lol

Guess I'll wear a "sick" mask on Halloween

ShaRose49

XD

RebelVampire

thank you i think XD idk if id label myself as wise, but i appreciate the sentiment

Superjustinbros

That'll scare the trick-or-treaters real good

RebelVampire

ya know the comic did give me halloween vibes from teh banner. so before i read it i thought it was gonna be some spooky halloween thing

ShaRose49

Yeah me too!

Superjustinbros

I did not think that at all, I jsut thought "why is everyone wearing masks"

ShaRose49

But I was pleasantly surprised. No offence but the other comics I tried were all too dark for me

mathtans

Huh. I didn't think about it at all tbh.

Just figured there'd be an explanation and there was.

RebelVampire

i was also guessing post apocalyptic so i was pleasantly surprised it wasnt that either

did not expect a coming of age story

ShaRose49

We got another wise person here

Haha I was kidding mostly I meant that @mathtans knew and we didn’t

Or well he guessed better

mathtans

Incidentally, any thoughts on the title? "Chasing Little Lights"? Like, I wonder if it's sort of metaphorical, like you need to chase after the people or subjects who bring light into your life... or if it's more about the idea of chasing grades and things, thinking they'll bring enlightenment or something.

ShaRose49

I think it’s a compelling drama I just hope it doesn’t get so sad it’s depressing

Maybe there are actually little lights that help stop pollution or something and that’s why they’re chasing them! CRAZY THEORY TIME

RebelVampire

i assumed it was metaphorical about chasing dreams or something

thats what val was talking about that elena didnt want to listen to

they separated the lights form the pollution

ShaRose49

I can’t remember that very well. What Lights?

Superjustinbros

All these wise people

mathtans

Oooh, didn't think of the pollution analogy.

ShaRose49

@Superjustinbros We a buncha sages we are

Superjustinbros

\o/

ShaRose49

I’m too into science fiction so my theory is probably too fun for this kind of story

Superjustinbros

Nothing like a tea party for all the Sages to gather

ShaRose49

Not that it sin’t fun

Superjustinbros

also Science Fiction is good

mathtans

Oh yeah, we haven't had enough crazy theories yet. So, Kasen is going to practice her art by drawing nude models of Elena, which is how the two of them end up dating.

ShaRose49

@Superjustinbros amen

mathtans

The modelling also helps with the fencing, in terms of seeing how Elena's weight is balanced.

ShaRose49

@mathtans I was thinking more about crazy theories about the pollution aspect I guess

RebelVampire

tbh i ship elena and fenya more

gotta have that slow burn rivalry turned to romance

Superjustinbros

we setting ships on sail already?

mathtans

Rebel: I am okay with that.

I still find Kasen precious though. Hope there's more of her. That was a cool image of her to start off Chapter 3.

Superjustinbros

Also before the comic tea party ends, I'd like to wish you luck with developing the story further, @eleviken. It's really developing well so far.

RebelVampire

they can bond when elena needs fencing help and asks for some private lessons

mathtans

Agreed.

About the developing that is, not the fencing. Though that'd be fun too.

RebelVampire

kasen is adorable though. i really like her hair in particular for some reason. its so fluffy and bouncy seeming

mathtans

"Don't fence me in."

ShaRose49

I don’t think this story is super romantic I’m not a huge romance person

@mathtans great pun

RebelVampire

oh its not. i will be surprised if theres romance at all. but shipping can be part of fun theory time

mathtans

True, I don't see the comic veering heavy into romance. (I just like adding yuri romance wherever I can.)

I also wonder if we'll see Soren's sister again. Like maybe one of the others will end up talking to her.

ShaRose49

I guess I like adding cartoony scifi wherever I can

Superjustinbros

No probs with that

ShaRose49

I loooove stories about siblings

mathtans

In fact maybe Soren and his sister is a parellel to the relationships between the Lins? Hmm.

ShaRose49

@Superjustinbros thanks I think you and I would get along fine XD scifi in me bloood

@mathtans oooh, I like this theory

eleviken

i am currently in class but i want to say thanks you all for coming!

Superjustinbros

You're welcome!

Glad to be here. ^^

ShaRose49

@eleviken thank you for coming and giving us something to talk about!

RebelVampire

i would like to see soren's sister again. cause theres gotta be a degree of tension there since soren can come off as the favorite since hes the one who gets to go to the prestigious academy

mathtans

Thanks for putting it out there, eleviken! (Also, maybe you shouldn't be messaging in class while the teacher is talking, the way Valentin got called out. )

I tease.

RebelVampire

thank you as well, eleviken~!

eleviken

i wil catch up later, sorry i couldnt participate!

mathtans

Rebel: Good point about that.

Superjustinbros

Have a good rest of the day/evening, Eleviken!

mathtans

I also wonder a bit why the headmaster's from Sweden, if they're in China. I wonder if that will be addressed.

Anyway, best with the comic!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Evelyn Shi, as well, for making Chasing Little Lights. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Evelyn Shi’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read the Comic: http://www.cllcomic.com/

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #chasing little lights #evelyn shi

[hydrus]

Version 367

windows

zip

exe

os x

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had a good week getting more of the tag migration working and adding some audio and ratings ui features.

sibling and parent migration

Last week's tag migration dialog now supports sibling and parent migration! Just like with tag mappings, you can copy between any combination of tag services and an external file type called a Hydrus Tag Pair Archive. There are tag filters for the left and right side of the pairs being migrated, so you can easily capture all the character->series parents or unnamespaced->creator siblings, for instance.

I am happy we finally have a way to import and export siblings and parents en masse. This should make it much easier to move tag pairs between local tag services and tag repositories, and, say, for an enterprising user to pull all the tag aliases and implications from a booru and get them into hydrus.

the rest

I fixed the bad 'do you want to do shutdown maintenance, auto-no in 15 seconds' yes/no dialog, which was throwing errors. It was a stupid typo that I accidentally didn't catch in testing. If you turned this dialog off in the options, please do turn it back on now. I apologise for the inconvenience.

Thumbnails now display the 'has audio' label in the top-left! You can also sort by 'has audio'.

Tag filters (as used in 'tag import options' and the new tag migration ui) now have a little 'test' area on their edit panel where you can type a tag and see if it is passes or is blocked by the current filter as is. I hope this clears up some more complicated filter situations.

The advanced OR search now supports wildcard tags, including the 'namespace:*' optimisation.

I added shortcut actions to increment/decrement numerical ratings! If a file has no rating yet, it will either initialise the file on minimum/x stars on an increment call or x/x on a decrement. It will work on multiple thumbnails correctly, incrementing or decrementing each file by one star based on its current rating. Please check it out under file->shortcuts->media, but also please forgive the increasingly cluttered UI in the actual edit shortcut action panel--I will rewrite this to be more compact and dynamic once some other preparatory UI work is done.

To shrink the redesigned thumbnail and media viewer right-click menus even further, they now collapse the multiple info lines at the top (and in some situations there can 5+ of these) to their own submenu. Also, the 'remove' submenu's 'selected' and 'all' choices now have separators to reduce mis-clicks. Some users have reported they would like the menu in a different order (for instance, the 'manage' menus at the top), and I know there is no perfect arrangement to please everyone, so I expect to revisit this in future as I continue to clean the underlying menu code and make options to have it present in whatever order you like.

The client now keeps track of whether it is 'caught up' to its repositories. You can see this status line on services->review services. It is a simple thing, and basically tests whether you are processed up to at least two weeks from the latest update. If you are not caught up, the client will stop you from uploading new pending content with a note explaining why and to please wait for a little more processing. This helps reduce wasted time, bandwidth, and CPU for all involved (since most common booru-pends on an unprocessed client are redundant and will be cleared out anyway once the client is caught up).

PTR is moving to new management

I will no longer be running the PTR on the 16th September. At least one user has offered to keep running it on their own server that has more bandwidth than I can provide, and I will be providing a sanitized version of the PTR db on a Mega account so any other user will also be able to do the same with their own hardware. My PTR will go down on the 16th and the new one should be back by the 18th, for v368. If everything goes ok, v368 will to provide you an option on update to automatically redirect your client to keep using it at the new location if you wish. Please check this post for more details:

https://hydrus.tumblr.com/post/187561442294/the-ptr-will-undergo-a-change-of-management-in-two

full list

tag migration:

added htpa and tag service sources for parents/siblings migration that support filtering for the left and right tag of each pair

added htpa and tag service destinations for parents/siblings migration

added unit tests for all parent/siblings migration scenarios

misc improvements to mappings migration code

reworded some of the tooltip/tag filter message text to more clearly explain how the filter applies to migrations

the tag filter edit panel now has a 'test' area where you can put in an example tag to see if it passes or is blocked by the current filter

.

the rest:

fixed an issue with auto-no-ing yes/no dialogs throwing errors on exit. I am sorry for the inconvenience!

thumbnails now show the 'has audio' string on their thumbnails

'sort by file: has audio' added!

icons drawn on thumbnails are now adjusted to sit inside the border

added increment/decrement numerical ratings actions for media shortcuts! if a file hit by this action has no rating, it will initialise with 0/1 stars or max stars. please forgive the ugly expanding ui in the shortcuts panel here--I'll rewrite this to layout more dynamically in future

client repository services now track whether they are 'caught up' to their repos, which for now means processed up until at least two weeks ago, and will prohibit uploading new content until the client is caught up

repository review services panels will now display the 'caught up' status below the 'processed' progress gauge

repository review services panels will no longer duplicate 'account' status problems in the 'this client's network use' status line--both lines now refer to service/account functionality separately

repositories will now put in 'unknown error' when an empty error reason slips through the 'no requests until x time' reporting process

the new thumbnail and media viewer right-click menus now collapse the selection info lines at the top to just the top line and places all the rest (and in complicated file domain situations, this can be a long list) in a submenu off that line

the new thumbnail 'remove' submenu has separators after 'selected' and 'all' to reduce misclicks

reworded a couple of things in the manage shortcuts panel to be more clear

added wildcard support ('eva*lion') and namespace wildcards (like 'character:*') to the advanced OR text input parsing

fixed a rare issue with the duplicate filter being unable to go back or retreat from an interstitial confirm/forget/cancel dialog when every pair in the current batch cannot be displayed (such as if at least one of the pair has been physically deleted). the filter now catches this situation, informs the user, and closes itself gracefully

added two extremely advanced and dangerous launch parameters for database access testing

couple of misc fixes and cleanup

upcoming heavy work

After discussing it with me, a user has been working for a long time on a conversion for hydrus to a different UI library, Qt. Although I have some fondness for wx (which hydrus is currently on), the stability, feature support, user customisation, and active development for Qt is significantly better. If it is possible to switch over and keep all existing functionality without inconveniencing users, I would like to do it.

His work is now coming together. The Qt build boots and important things like video rendering are ok, but there are still many small bugs to iron out. I have roughly estimated up to four weeks of my time to crash-learn Qt's differences and finish it off, and it looks like mid-October will be the time this happens, about five weeks from now. I will keep working as normal until then, approx v372, and then focus on the wx->Qt conversion exclusively until it is ready. Assuming it all goes well, the next release will be a few weeks later, likely in mid-November. It may need a 'clean' install as previous big changes like the py2->py3 needed, in which case the usual explainers will come with that release post, or it may be just a normal release with some slightly different UI. I will make the usual weekly status report posts so you know how it is going.

next week

With the first version of tag migration done, I am now ready to add multiple local tag services. This will let you have different types of tags (e.g. booru tags vs your personal tags) in different local containers. I will likely add semi-hidden default services that pull all downloader tags, thread watcher tags, and hard drive import filenames, so this data can be 'mined' after the fact using the new migration tech. The db is ready to support this, but most references to the lone current 'local tags' service are hardcoded, so I simply need to rewrite every instance to allow for multiple services and likely add a 'all local tags' as an umbrella service to reference them all. This will take several weeks to finish, so I'll just get started.

Otherwise, next week is a 'medium-size' job week. I would like to add 'file modified' date metadata for files, including searching and sorting, and improve the new file maintenance pipeline to work faster and more intelligently so it can retroactively discover the modified dates for all your files in reasonable time (and do the same on the retroactive 'has audio' queue from that recent work).

Things have been stressful and busy just recently, and it looks like we will have some more fun for another couple of months. I just hope to keep putting out code. Thank you for your continuing support--it really makes a difference.

#release