#also the training. god.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

listen I expected literally Nothing from the D&D movie okay, like I can't make it clear enough that I expected the most soulless money grab with a good cgi budget imaginable, I went in having already gone through every stage of grief and landed on acceptance and LISTEN

I fucking CRIED during this dumb RPG movie. it wasn't just "not terrible" it was objectively good with a clever plot and compelling characters and sincere emotional beats. this movie loves D&D so fucking much and it NAILS the "a bunch of goobers try to be cool and accidentally discover The Power Of Friendship And Also Great Violence" classic D&D party vibe. their barbarian's last name is fucking Kilgore and my entire family cried in the theater.

I hope they make twelve of these motherfuckers.

#honor among thieves #dnd #dungeons and dragons: honor among thieves #holga kilgore #she is a BARBARIAN whose name is KILL GORE like who among us has not been in a party with this exact character #some new player who picked whatever they were told was the easiest class and gave them a name that is 98% a joke #and just piggybacked their backstory onto the most experienced player's as like rp training wheels #and then smash cut 60 sessions later and we're all getting choked up over john dingus or whatever #do you motherfuckers know how rarely i cry????? about ANYTHING????? #god it was so good #i am going to watch this an unhealthy amount #i want a separate movie for every red wizard and also one about xenk's backstory #his name is X E N K with an X these writers have played some fucking DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #do i have to buy dead in thay now?????? i think i have to buy dead in thay now #i literally ran dnd on friday and this movie put me in WITHDRAWAL i want to play some dnd Now

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

i have a Scene - a Plot if you will - that backs this as context. y'all are gonna have to trust me on this one <3 or read the tags...

#the song is 'in your eyes' by peter gabriel #boombox serenade lets GO!!! #in my mind immediately after this the others came over to say hi (or in sallys case tell him off) #and at first howdy's like 'oh ofc wallys there that makes sense. sally too? strange but alright' #then eddie appears and ohhhh boy its Jealousy Central Babey and howdy's train just pulled into the station #scribble salad #laughingstock #welcome home #barnaby x howdy #howdy x barnaby #OK CONTEXT I PROMISED CONTEXT #so in my mind howdy is an oblivious dumbass when it comes to his own romantic feelings. #he's so in love with barnaby (its very obvious) but Doesnt Realize It. despite being a god tier flirty fruity motherfucker #so when barnaby - thinking theyre on the same page - confesses #howdy's all like 'ohhh um. gee barn im flattered truly but - i just dont like you like that' #yk breaking barnaby's heart right down the middle #so barnaby shuts himself in his home and wally is hovering. yk Worried #and eddie - who's been helping barnaby come to terms w/ his own feelings & gauge if howdy feels the same - asks sally to check in for him #& sally goes over and Immediately involves herself. she takes personal offense on barnaby's behalf #also she lives for the drama and wants every juice detail Hot Off The Press #so while howdy is having a lil crisis as he slowly realizes Oh My Fucking God I DO Love Barnaby Like That- #barnaby / sally / wally / (eventually) eddie are all having a sleepover where they just play card games and chat #a good ol bitch n' stitch night #and howdy shows up to try and talk to barns (obvs in my head he doesnt have a boombox he just Knocks) #only to get RE-RE-RE-REJECTEDDDDDD!!!! thats how it feels you wormy mf! #bc barnaby is a) having a girls night & b) needs to emotionally prepare for That conversation #aaaaand THATS the context <3

[dragonskulls]

done with the requests, really had fun with the httyd ones specially, thank you all!

tagging the users that requested

@aposterous @avianreptiles @sapphofinch @helsingvania @morp @crypticcrab @bi-pan-whiteout @kratt09 @lynxfrost13 @icecreamsodaaaaa

#wings of fire #wof #httyd #how to train your dragon #moray wof #peril wof #flame wof #freedom wof #typhoomerang #death gripper #terrible terror #bewilderbeast #whispering death #art #GRAH. god drawing httyd after so long was so revitalizing istg #especially since the person who requested the bewilderbeast said to redesign it slightly as a lil challenge i had funnn #like thank god im not the only one bothered by the face :sob: made the deathgripper a biiiit more bug-like #also on peril i think she's described once or twice to have like. really unsettling smile/eyes ?

[wizardemotions]

pinterest showed me some screenshots of posts that gave me the concept for an au where both harry and ron are sorted slytherin & draco is just slightly less rude in the first book. i could go into why i think this makes a lot of sense for ron but i won't. i've affectionately dubbed them the platinum quartet in my head and they will not leave me the fuck alone

#quill to paper #draco malfoy #harry potter #ron weasley #hermione granger #romione #drarry #slytherin harry #slytherin ron #golden trio #platinum quartet #actually i'll go into why it makes sense for ron here in the tags. #imho a major slytherin trait is ambition #and ron *has* ambition he's just never had it actively encouraged and fostered #book fucking one the mirror of erised shows him winning the quidditch cup & being head boy and all #he HAS ambition! and by god does he have something to *prove* #youngest weasley boy who desperately wants to do something different from his family #not get lumped in as 'just another weasley' #he's the anti-sirius in this context tbqh. old pureblood family of gryffindors and he's plastering his room at the burrow w green and silver #in my head draco is also in the train compartment when ron walks in and asks to sit there & harry speaks first so draco shuts up #a little tense but draco also relaxes a little bit. he's ELEVEN he just wants FRIENDS. #ron watches the boys he sat with on the train both get sorted slytherin and has just the biggest burning desire an 11 yr old can have #to get into slytherin instead of gryffindor. to do something different from his other siblings at the gryff table. to Prove Something #the hats like 'ohh. a weasley huh. but so much to prove... there's real ambition #and the potential for cunning... slytherin? alright #good luck! slytherin it is!' #and draco's smug little ass is like 'i suppose there's hope for the weasleys yet if they can turn out a slytherin #and ron is psyched out of his eleven year old gourd bc harry fucking potter is grinning and clapping for him #and also because percy n the twins look SHOCKED AS FUCK as do half the profs #snape is over at the table realizing w complete clarity that he's going to be put thru the ringer as slyth head of house these next 7 yrs

[heartorbit]

a fool and a sinner

#heyy WATCH REVUE STARLIGHT[TRAIN PASSES OVERHEAD] I SAID WATCH REVUE ST [FOGHORN] [SIRENS] #revue starlight #revstar #hikari kagura #kagura hikari #shoujo kageki revue starlight #Girl you're so damn dramatic get your ass up and continue the cycle #STFU AND START ONCE AGAIN BUILDING THE TOWER THAT WILL INEVITABLY FALL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #i'm back in my bimonthly revsta haze. Oh my god starry session revival was SOOOOOOOOOO. #i missed seeing kukugumi performing together. And oh my god mayanana sirius. OH MY GODDDDDDD #PRIDE AND ARROGANCE WAS ONLY SUPPODE FTO BE KAORUKO AND THEY WERE LIKE THATS CRAZY CAN WE MAKE TOXIC YURI OUT OF THIS? IKUTERU GET UP THERE #i screamed. all i can say #semester AMOST OVER assignments MANAGEABLE status: ALIVE #pretend i didnt post a drawing of myself coughing uo blood on twitter 24 hours ago. teehee #i need to rewatch gekijouban. Will be a little treatfor me after my last assignment gets handed in #Also theres this rpgmaker game ive been following that finally came out this year and inknow it will give me brain worms im so excited to #play it. ALSO I HAVE AN EMU TO POST I DID AN AGGIE WITH MY CLASSMATE but i gotta clean her up. maybe tonight after homework. amen #its her n cinnamorolllll so cutessss SOOOO CUTES

[inkskinned]

one of the things about the trends and the body image and all of it is that. you can't unsee it. and it doesn't matter that you know logically it's stupid and that logically any person who has a problem with your body can fuck off and die, but it's almost like gore. you flinch even knowing the blood onscreen is fake. you sense a pain that was invented. your body creates the phantom sensation - this thing should be avoided. so okay.

it's not that you won't wear the skinny jeans or the choker or whatever isn't "in style" anymore. and sometimes the demands are so buckwild that you can just ignore them, plain and simple.

but you do think twice sometimes. you do notice things about yourself you hadn't even considered. you notice the hip dips and the shape of your cheekbone and the skin over your eyes. it's been pointed out to you - so you notice. and sometimes it's like fuck you i look fucking amazing and sometimes it's like nobody even remembers that being a thing probably and sometimes - it's fucking devastating. like someone drew a bright red circle around each insecurity. on those days, you wonder - does anyone else see?

because the blame is on you either way. you have a terrible catch-22. if you want to fit in, it's on you to be sure that you look good, that your makeup isn't the "heinous" 2016 style (even if that's the style that flatters you), that your bodyfat settles in the appropriate landmap. and at the same time: it is also on you to ignore the programming. it is on you to get over your decades of social exposure to a trillion-dollar industry and just not care! about these things.

in the comments of course there are people who would advise you nothing with nuance. just ignore it! sure. nobody actually cares about these things. absolutely. this isn't how normal people look. of course not, you know that. you weren't born yesterday. you know about the photoshop and the pricetag and the brand manager.

but like. the media still exists. there are videos on how to manage your hip dips (your skeleton. you know it's your skeleton, and it doesn't matter, does it, because it has a name now, doesn't it?) and how to finally correctly wear the clean-girl-trend and how to have enough money to wear the latest "casual outfit". there are videos critiquing your entire generation for how you dress. how "cringe" it is to wear a certain style of necklace. an influencer says - let's be honest! nobody cares if you just have confidence!

but people do care. you've seen it. you know they care. you've been made fun of enough. it's not, like, a horrible sin to just want to fit in. it's not saying anything new to say i just don't want to be made fun of.

somewhere along here, you learn - your body is more like an accessory. not a home, not a sensation. it is an object like mom jeans or opera gloves. something to manipulate, not something to love.

#spilled ink #writeblr #any time ppl are like well the rules are made up so just stop caring! #im like :) god i wish that were me #I WANT TO!!! #i want you all to stop caring too!!! #but also i think... #in our secret hearts #we care #bc we WERE trained for years to care #and pretending it's as easy as ignoring it.... is really unfair

[leavingautumn13]

emmetposting

#pokemon #subway boss emmet #pokemon bw #yeah hi are the funny train guys still popular here? #bc this one lives rent free in my head #customer service smile? check. #resting bitch tone of voice? check. #prefers double battles? check #will fight god on behalf of a sibling? check #he's just like me fr #also I HAVE TO WEAR A TIE TO WORK THIS WEEK #and i'm NOT looking forward to it #autumn.art #autumn.fandom #submas

[weaponizedducks]

the httyd books were the most insanely iconic thing ever. hiccup is a exasperated nerd completely done with everything. he also literally becomes a king at the end. fishlegs is a little sarcastic weirdo with every kind of illness known to man and also buckets of intense Rage. astrid is an absolutely batshit insane twelve year old gremlin called Camicazi who has epic thievery skills and also manic bloodlust. she packbonds with everyone. it goes way deep into the themes of slavery, discrimination, civil wars. it's surprisingly dark for a kids series. snotlout fucking dies. toothless is a bitchy snob dragon who enjoys biting things and eating everything and who talks about himself in the third person. he has no teeth and an ego the size of the fucking moon and is like a centimetre tall. hiccup can fucking talk to dragons. there's lit a whole civil war. they're all like twelve.

#god it was so iconic #toothless was the moment #i forgot how insane these books were #also the time fishlegs/hiccup got poisoned and The Potato was the only thing that could save him #fishlegs hiccup and camicazi were my golden trio #THE DRAGON FURIOUS #my roman empire #httyd #how to train your dragon #httyd books #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #camicazi #fishlegs

[keii]

JJK (Toji & Mahito) x I Saw the Devil (K-Movie) Crossover

#jujutsu kaisen #toji fushiguro #mahito #i randomly rewatched this movie a couple of days ago and i instantly just wanted to make a crossover w toji... can u see it... #i can see it.. #also chose mahito to be the main antagonist bc yea... #remember watching this movie the first time w sushi and oh my god.... it was good but omg so many uncomfortable scenes #so be warned if u decide to check this movie out as well #also wanted to practice more lighting and background stuff #even tho the bg was so hasty LOL thank god csp got a leaf brush #been talking w friends how gege should make a side story that's toji focused about his life before dying LOL please... #i would love to see his ass sleep around and be a deadbeat #just wanna know MORE but gege... hates us LOL #last time i did a crossover was my mystic messenger x train to busan... that was in 2017 and they look terrible LOL #art #jjk #jjk toji #fanart #artists on tumblr #killamonart #i saw the devil

[willosword]

gotta get this out of my system but the fact that nolan's instinct whenever he experiences Big Anger is to use his son as a punching bag and that it's actually become A Pattern at this point makes me wanna start clawing at the walls

#before last episode he's always had the excuse of training mark or teaching him a lesson #even if his anger made him punch harder he was still doing it to further a goal of some kind #but episode 4 was the first time mark literally did nothing but stand in the vicinity #an innocent bystander he could vent his frustrations on #it's so fucked up. also the way he choked mark harder when he started to talk back. GOD !! #nolan is on THIN ICE rn if he so much as gives a nasty LOOK to mark in the future i'm done with him #invincible spoilers #invincible #willow whispers

[sergle]

i was a chihuahua disliker in a past life but have Grown Up since then, but earlier i saw one that made me clench my fists in agony. i wanted her so bad...

#WHAT IS THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT #WHY DOES SHE LOOK LIKE THAT OH MY GOD #she looks like a bug that got sunbleached... and she has permanent Sad Eyes. tell me she does not look very sweet #i'd call her chicory and we'd be soul bonded. #also the chihuahua disliking thing. i feel like that's one of those dumb things like not liking rap/country. like unfounded dislike i mean. #the chihuahua dislikery went away as soon as i realized that a lot of people grossly mishandle their small dogs #and don't attempt to do ANYTHING resembling training. and those two things together. create a very reactive dog. #anyway i don't need a second dog. goodbye everybody #i think though that if i had a dog for 20 years of my life. the day they leave is the day i jump in front of a truck. THAT'S TOO LONG. #that's my HUMAN CHILD. what do you mean #sergle.txt

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

#jrwi fanart #jrwi show #jrwi riptide #gillion tidestrider #GONNA START FORMATTING MY COMICS BETTER. W THE PROPER 'PREV' 'NEXT' LINKS #REALLY DIDNT EXPECT TO CONTINUE THIS SERIES BUT AAAUUUHH MY BRRAAAIN MY BRAIN IS SO IDEASSS. I HAVE 3 OTHER PAGES SKETCHED OUT #NO PROMISES ILL FINISH EM ANY TIME SOON OR EVER. MY WHIMS ARE THEIR OWN BEAST AND I ONLY DRAW ON MY WHIMS #THAT BEING SAID IF U COMMISSIONED ME ILL GEEETT TO YOUUU IM SORRYYYY. ART IS AN EMOTIONAL RELEASE FOR ME N BABY I HAVE EMOTIONS. #ESPECIALLY ABOUT GILLION TIDESTRIDER CHAMPION OF THE UNDERSEA HERO OF THE DEEP.for the desc here i put smth that i typed up in the tags of #another thing i made. i gotta make a proper Baby Gillion tag or smth. eventually.. eventually...I LOVE DRAWIN THIS LIL BABY GUY.. #i also LOVE depicting the teachers as just being so fuckin mean. ofc theres variation in that. just like in all things.like the teacher her #idk if itll be mentioned but the octo lady is named Ms Octburn.an octopus pun based off the name of an actual councilor i had #when i was in elementary school i got bullied alot but teachers never did anything. i hated adults and didnt trust them. #but this councilor o mine was so genuinely sweet. i remember spending alot of time w her. she doesnt work there anymore. #but that one school adult that actually earns ur trust and is there for you when they can be.its SO important for a child i think #i hope she knows how much she helped me.youll see in the next page that ms octburn isnt perfect either.but she tries. they all try.somehow. #ALL these comics are gonna be inspired by somesorta experience o mine in the school system. school is so fucked up u ever thing abt that #AND GILLIOOOOONNN IN THE MOST FUCKED UP LITTLE SCHOOL OF ALL. MAINTAINED BY A CULT. CENTERED AROUND HIM. OUR CHOSEN ONE #I IMAGINE ALOT BANKS ON HIS SUCCESS. THIS IS THE WORLD. THE WHOLE WORLD. THE PROPHECY IS GOING TO COME TRUE N UR TELLIN ME #THAT ITS THIS LITTLE IDIOT THATS GONNA BE SAVING US? WHAT IF HE FAILS. IF HE CANT GET THIS RIGHT THEN HE WILL FAIL AND WE WILL DIE #WE NEED TO TRAIN HIM. WE NEED HIM TO LEARN. AND TO SUCCEED. OR ELSE WE'RE DEAD. WE'RE ALL FUCKING DEAD. I IMAGINE THAT MUST BE STRESSFUL #in other news i hope ppl actually giggle when they read these. they ARE intended to be comical. dark humor or whatever. like its also sad #this is intended to be a sad comic series. but a funny one too. does that make sense? god i hope so.saw some1 say they had flashbacks- #-reading this. like YES!! THE INTENDED EFFECT!! YOU GET ME!! i love seeing ppl get upset on this lil baby boys behalf. i LOVE seeing ppl- #-wail n weep n cry in the comments. i LOOOVE seeing ppl RELATE to baby gillion. and i love letting u all know that this wont be a happycomi #gillion gets his happiness arc in the actual show. this series is one of unfortunate events. teehehehe. do u guys remember that show #i keep listening to the lil songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events for inspiration. GOOD STUFF!! #anyway uuhh uhh thats all i got in my brain. for now. feed me ur comments give me ur input i NNEEEEEDD THHEEEMMMM

[el-is-green]

Stepfather and son of all time I think

#used the teaser bc Fabian is just…hitting different #also the matching picture kept getting destroyed quality wise so I gave up on it #no bc they are so interesting to me #I am a dad cole person but there’s also is the element of #this is your bosses kid you have to train #at the same time yk? #like yeah I personally believe he loves Alicent and her boys #but at the same times he’s like jfs this child istts #(replaced god with seven bc I thought I was funny) #(I’m drafting this at 1am can you tell) #criston cole #aegon ii targaryen #hotd meme #since y’all love these

[july-19th-club]

love neal and el they're both sexy young brunette things with charm and adventuresomeness to spare and what they've chosen to do with it is be obsessed to death with the world's most regular man

#they said oh my god his exciting home cooked pot roast. his medium hair color. his cheap beer. i cant not fuck him and love him forever #this dude lucked into BOTH plump heart-faced prettygirl who will do all of the flirting for you AND lanky hotman art thief at the same time #god knows he did not do that on purpose . he has a type and it's Visibly Out Of His League but luckily #they also have a type and it's PTA Father In Training Loves Dogs Loves To Cook Like A 1950s Housewife #white collar #q

[kal-culator]

Caretakers

#prince does art #fnaf sb #fnaf security breach #fnaf sb x reader #fnaf x reader #sundrop x reader #x reader #dauntless daybreak #they bond #also bonking head is the new kiss #close enough yk #their job is to take care of others your honor #why not have them take care of each other in the end #also we dont talk about the height inconsistency #i drew this on the god damn train #choo choo

[stylographic-blue-rhapsody]

I was deep in my drunk feelings when I made a joke post threatening to write about episode 5 symbolism and mizu, but then enough people said "where is the essay" so I am here to ramble as requested 

in ep 5, the tale told in the puppet show spliced with the flashback sequence of mizu’s marriage identifies mizu as not only the ronin, but also the bride and, with tragedy, the onryō. I would argue that mizu is also depicted (in a less linear fashion) as the phoenix itself, and will circle back to this thought later

mizu is first presented as the ronin, the warrior with a singular purpose. as the ronin’s lord is assassinated by the rival clan, mizu’s mother is killed in the house fire. the ronin swears his revenge, and dedicates his life to this cause. through his childhood and into his young adult life when he departs from swordfather, mizu is exclusively the ronin. he is not the onryō yet, demonstrated in his honorable unwillingness to harm the men who stab him and throw him out of the shop even after he insists that he wasn't looking for a fight in the first place

the ronin is only able to rest and put away his mission when he meets the bride, the lover. however, mizu’s bride is not literally another person she meets. the bride is not mama, or mikio, but the lover mizu discovers in herself, the one allowed to bloom in place of mizu-as-ronin. mizu’s growth into the bride from the ronin occurs over time, but solidifies in the moment when kai is gifted to her by mikio, paralleling the taming of her own distrust and expectations of being hurt. (side note, giving a nod to effective use of color: the bride puppet, dressed in reds and oranges, has matching coloring to the gifting scene, as it takes place in autumn)

mizu’s transformation into the onryō happens in two parts, beginning with the slaying of the bride and completing with the slaying of the ronin. the betrayal by mikio and mama kills the softness in mizu, kills the lover she has allowed herself to become. mizu-as-onryō retaliates by killing the ronin: the part of himself that hesitates before striking, that part that cares for honor. in not intervening in mama’s death and then murdering mikio in turn, mizu kills the ronin in himself, slaughtering it in retribution for the dead bride

mizu is both the bride and the ronin, peaceful lover and noble warrior, until he is not—he is the onryō, only the onryō. episode 5 opens with the narrator saying, “no one man can defeat an army, but one creature can.” only as the onryō, and not as the ronin or the bride, does mizu have the force of will and capacity for violence it takes to singlehandedly overcome boss hamata’s thousand claw army and protect the brothel

mizu’s identity and place in the world is a constant dialogue. he is too white to have a respectable place in japanese society, but is also seen by abijah (our stand-in for white british society) as filthy and corrupted. he is not perceived as enough of a man to walk through life wholly as one (madame kaji’s comments about his apparent lack of sexual desires, his bones breaking “like a woman’s” under fowler’s hands, his disregard for honor and recognition as a samurai). she is also not enough of a woman to exist peacefully as one with mikio (she is a swordsman, an accomplished rider, bad at domesticity; “what woman doesn’t want a husband?” mama chastises)

the moment when mikio rejects her completely following their spar is a particularly poignant narrative beat about tolerance of “the other” in gender presentation: mikio can accept her as a woman only until she bests him at manhood, at the sword, at violence. she is Other in that she is physically strong, a poor cook, able to wield a sword. these traits are all tolerable to mikio, also an outcast, so long as she is not so Other as to be a man. but her swordsmanship bests his, and bests his in the way the sun outshines a candle. it is too Other, and therefore she is not a woman. she is a monster to him, the onryō, even before she kills the bride and the ronin in herself

(( as an aside, this series does a very good job at discussing the oft-challenging relationship between race and gender (e.g. that it is difficult for mizu to live as a biracial man, but would be deadly for her to live as a biracial woman), and demonstrating how queerness of identity complicates that relationship even further—but that’s a topic for a different post ))

as the narrative has been building on this idea that mizu is both the ronin and the bride, the man and the woman, japanese and white, episode 5 concludes with the heartbreaking reveal that, although mizu is all of these things simultaneously, he has had these identities beaten out of him by tragedy and cruelty and his own self-loathing hand

but mizu does not stagnate as the monster. we return to the metaphor of steel: too pure and it becomes brittle, breaking under pressure. mizu is a sword, a weapon that he has forged for the sole purpose of revenge and blood, but he has excised too much of himself to successfully deliver on his goals—he is not the ronin or the bride, he is the onryō; she is not a woman or a man, she is the onryō; the onryō is nothing but pain and vengeance—and so it breaks

“perhaps a demon cannot make steel,” mizu says. “I am a bad artist” 

swordfather replies, “an artist gives all they have to the art, the whole. your strengths and deficiencies, your loves and shames. perhaps the people you collected… if you do not invite the whole, the demon takes two chairs, and your art will suffer”

to be reforged, mizu must not only acknowledge the impurities she has beaten out of her blade, out of herself, but lovingly, radically accept them and reincorporate them into the blade, into herself. he adds impure steel—the people he has collected, with their own dualities—to the sheared meteorite sword: the broken blade that fit so perfectly in taigen’s hand (the archetypal ronin, but a man seeking happiness over glory), the knife akemi tried to murder mizu with (the archetypal bride, but with ambition for greatness), the bell given to ringo and returned to mizu in broken trust (the man unable to hold a sword, but upholding samurai principles of honor and wisdom), the tongs that honed mizu’s smithcraft under swordfather’s guidance (the artisan, a blind man who sees more than most). to make of herself a blade strong enough to see her promises through, she must hold her monstrosity and honor and compassion and artistry in equal import

she is the onryō, and the ronin, and the bride, and all the people she has collected.

with this we finally come to mizu as the phoenix. mizu undergoes many cycles of death and rebirth, both in the main storyline and the flashbacks into her life leading up to the present. often, mizu is juxtaposed against literal flames—the burning of his childhood home, swordfather’s forge, the fire as he battles the giant in the infiltrated castle, the heart sutra forge of her own making, the climactic second confrontation with fowler. not every death/rebirth mizu undergoes is thematic to flame, of course. the fight with the four fangs, spliced with the rebirth ceremony of the town, for example, or the deaths of her ronin-self and bride-self, giving rise to the onryō

he is the phoenix, unable to truly die: every fatal combat he pulls back from the brink, reborn over and over in the wake of failure and setback. in episode 1, mizu prays for the gods to “let [him] die.” not to help him to face death unafraid, not to die with honor or victory, but to die at all. mizu has experienced death a thousand times over, but not once has it stuck

(( as a parting aside: the ronin’s rage at the phoenix clan for killing his lord parallels mizu’s self hatred of his mixed heritage (which he believes to be the thing that killed his mother), and so the ronin’s quest for revenge against the phoenix clan is mirrored in mizu’s quest to kill the white part of himself as best he can, by killing the white men who could be his father ))

mizu, the ronin. mizu, the bride. mizu, the onryō. mizu, the phoenix.

#blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #hopefully this is mostly coherent #I have more things to say but this was getting lengthy #there's also a lot of gender and racial nuance I've glossed over here for an attempt at brevity and structure #god also the COLOR. do you know how much I have to say about the use of color and shadow as a reflection of the narrative #maybe I'll write another damn essay who knows #this show really scratches the part of my brain that was academically trained in film analysis #blue speaks