Mizu's spectacles, and the levels of her disguise
In drafting some more Blue Eye Samurai meta posts, I find myself writing out the comparisons between what Mizu can and cannot hide about herself, and how that affects how she moves through the world.
Like, I get the jokes about Mizu's glasses, if only color contacts had existed back then, etc. etc., and I think (hope) that most viewers don't take the glasses jokes seriously, as in "I don't care about the suspension of disbelief because BES is a cartoon." But I wanted to write these thoughts out anyway without burying them in a text post about something else.
I think the points I'm going to lay out here are viewed very differently by different people, so please feel free to add to this post, reply, or put your thoughts in the tags!
Not only do Mizu's glasses not actually help her that much, there's surely more to Mizu's mixed race appearance than just the color of her eyes.
In my view, this was pointed out in episode 1:
I'm willing to bet most of us were expecting young Taigen to say "blue eyes," not "ROUND eyes."
Obviously this is still about Mizu's eyes, but not even spectacles can hide their shape.
I don't think the show is obligated to point out everything about Mizu's face that isn't quite as Japanese as the people around her expect. Though the creators have said that they specifically designed Mizu - and her clothes - to read both as "white" and as "Japanese," as well as both male and female. I think there's more about Mizu's features that read as "white" than just her eyes.
This is where my own headcanons start entering the picture, but it's my impression that people can just tell that Mizu looks different, whether or not they can put a finger on exactly how.
There's the little girl who looks at Mizu and then hides on the way into Kyoto:
When there's more to your face you'd like to cover up than just your eyes, big hats are a big help!
By the way, most of these examples have to come from the first half of the season, since by the second half, either Mizu is too preoccupied with fighting henchmen, or everyone Mizu is facing knows who she is already, and she therefore has no reason to hide her mixed race identity.
It's worth mentioning that the mere fact that Mizu has to hide multiple aspects of her identity - her mixed race and her sex - results in her having to choose clothes that really, really cover her up, which doesn't win her any favors either:
(Zatoichi reference, anyone?)
If it were as easy as, for example, tying her glasses to her head and wa-lah, nobody would ever know she was half-white - then (1) Mizu would've just done that long ago, and (2) Mizu wouldn't be so on guard and on tenterhooks 100% of the time the way she's depicted in the show, even when her glasses are on.
Her spectacles sure don't help her in the brothel, which is full of observant women who are trying to seduce her, meaning they get good long looks at her:
Mizu never takes her glasses off, but they still send a woman to her who has light eyes, thinking that must be what will interest a blue-eyed man:
No wonder Mizu gets mad after this, lol
So Mizu never takes her spectacles off in the brothel, it's dimly lit inside, and the women can still tell that she has blue eyes. I'm getting the sense that Mizu putting on her spectacles isn't a guarantee that people suddenly can't tell that she looks different.
And yet no one spots that she's female.
Mizu can hide her breasts, can wear her hair in the right style, can hide what's between her legs, can walk and talk and behave like a man - and she's been doing it for almost her entire life, to the point that not only is she very good at it, but the threat of being found out as female is deadly, but isn't presented in the show as omnipresent.
Let me explain.
She threatens Ringo for nearly saying the word "girl" out loud, because while she's constantly ostracized for being mixed race, being a woman traveling without a chaperone, carrying a sword, and disguised as a man will get her killed or flogged or arrested or some combination of these things.
But in addition, it's been drilled into her since she was a child that if she is discovered as female, the combination of her being mixed race and female will identify her as someone extremely specific, someone known to some bad people, and she will be killed:
I think of it as Mizu thinking to herself, "Being found out as mixed race means I'm treated badly. Being found out as mixed race and a woman means I'm dead."
Mizu's hair is cut as a child. But she isn't made to wear a big hat, or cover her eyes somehow, or anything like that. Because hiding her sex is a more successful endeavor than hiding her race.
Ringo finds out she's female by accident, but once Mizu accepts the fact that he won't rat her out, she relaxes pretty early on in the season. Because the threat of being found out as female is mitigated pretty much 99.9%, since Mizu has gotten so good at being a man. And also, because most of the time, people see what they want to see. Even if Mizu's face makes her stand out as "not 100% Japanese," no one in the world of BES looks at Mizu's clothes, her bearing, her sword, hears her voice, and will ever in a million years conclude that she is a woman, because expectations around gender roles in the Edo period were so rigid and so widely enforced.
One detail that proved this to me is after the Four Fangs fight:
Ringo takes off Mizu's clothes so he can stitch her up, then leaves her clothes off even after he's done. He doesn't even throw her cloak over her as a blanket or anything. There's a little a straw (pallet?) as a divider there on the left, but anyone could just peek around it and see Mizu and her chest bindings. (I think it's mostly there as a windbreaker.)
And Taigen is right there, but he doesn't give a shit:
Opinions probably vary hugely on this, but my impression is that because the show doesn't make any kind of deal about Taigen being in the room with Mizu here, my guess is that Mizu isn't in any danger of Taigen thinking she's female. Even when I watched the show for the first time, I assumed that Taigen had seen Mizu out of her clothes here, and that he thought nothing of it.
Eat your heart out, Li Shang (Mulan 1998). I actually do think that this scene is a direct and purposeful side-eye to that movie, lol
There's obviously some nuance to how "severe" being mixed race is compared to how "severe" being a woman is for Mizu:
After all, Swordfather can't bear to listen to Mizu confess to being a woman.
So a Japanese man can go wherever he wants, whenever he wants in BES. A Japanese woman has limited options: marriage, religion, or a brothel. A mixed-race man is an eyesore in this story. A mixed-race woman is a death sentence.
May as well eliminate the female aspect, and do what you can about the mixed-race aspect. Because that's just realistic.
Meaning Mizu can avoid the strictures Edo society places on women. But she can't avoid the repercussions that come with being mixed race. And I truly don't think that it's just because "there's no brown contacts yet."
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Digital Circus AMA Notes
Digital Circus is getting a season 1 at some point!!!!
#webcore aesthetic board for the series design
Pomni was going to be a frog originally. 🐸
90s toys Zooble inspo
Caine is an antagonist, but not by active choice, he doesn't know he's not helping. He doesn't feel a whole spectrum of human emotions (he's an AI).
"Caine canonically just lets things happen if he thinks it's funny."
Characters eat like Chao in Chao garden in Sonic. The characters can eat the food, but they can't digest it.
Jax's favorite food is spaghetti.
Pomni likes salmon.
Q "Was the ending a 'Last Supper' reference?" A "in a very superficial kinda way yeah." Religious stuff is sometimes just used for the funny.
Gooseworx tumblr sketches MAY or MAY NOT be canon to the series, so it's up in the air for every single one.
People can abstract from feeling too much pain if it breaks their mind from it being too much. Characters feel pain from things, but not as intensely as they would in real life.
Zooble is gonna swap parts every episode (implying they have spare parts) except their body & head.
Jax chose his own name & gooseworx likes to think he chose Gangle's name.
Ragatha was named "Emmy" originally.
They (the cast of characters trapped in the circus) can't change their clothes but Caine can. It's part of their skin sorta kinda.
There's empty space under Pomni's hat because video game model physics.
Spamton was partially inspo for Caine, Caine's VA did Spamton dubs.
Gangle only has 2 masks. Why's it (her hapiness mask) break all the time? Mental state, but the "real her" is "harder to break."
Kaumfo was gonna be part of the main cast originally before Jax.
Kaufmo's model has nothing below the waist at this time, but was made for that promotional image on twitter.
Q "What kinda person was Kaufmo?" A "He was the same as Ragatha in a sense, goofy & cheery, sometimes toxic levels of positivity."
I'm paraphrasing for the sake of note taking in real time, go watch the stream playback for more context & details if you want.
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Kinktober Day 7 <3
Noya x overstimulation
Warnings: NSFW, fem reader
Words: ~ 1,1 k
Kinktober Masterlist II -> Next day
"Just a bit more?"
His voice sounds excited and cheerful while he stuffs another finger inside- three of them now pumping continuously in and out of your pussy. You nod, your whole body tensing as you clench involuntarily around his digits.
The first two orgasms have left your body overly sensitive- yet so pleasurably exhausted. Noya is relentless as he keeps on licking and sucking on your pussy, making sure to lap up every drop off your folds that you spill. "You taste so good," he groans, his lips still attached to your clit, his fingers curling eagerly when he feels you clenching around him.
"Slow down-" you whine, your legs caging his head and trying to stop his movements, a futile attempt though. "I know you can give me one more. Just one more, baby." He doesn't even take breaks to breathe, his need for oxygen basically forgotten as he keeps on eating you out, your whines seemingly only spurring him on. Noya expertly moves his tongue along your slit, slowing down a bit occasionally when he feels you tensing up too much and speeding up when he hears you gasping for air. The sensation turns more pleasurable and intense as he keeps on feasting on you, the tip of his tongue flicking your nub just enough to send wave after wave of pleasure through your body, and you soon find yourself grinding against his face, your legs now trying to prevent him from moving back.
"You like that?" he rasps against you, the movements of his lips vibrating though your body as his fingers pump in and out of you, his middle finger grazing your sensitive spot every now and then. "Hmm, 'm too sensitive- but, yes, keep going, please-" your hands grasp his brown strands desperately, torn between wanting more and feeling so sensitive to every single of his touches. He complies when he hears you begging, his saliva and your arousal coating his chin while he licks you, his groans and moans vibrating deeply against your body. The tip of his tongue flicks your clit, the sensation almost bordering pain after you came so many times already, but it feels so good.
He picks up his pace, his fingers pumping faster inside of you, filling you up so, so good, making your eyes roll back and your head fall back into the pillow. "That's it, baby, let go for me, give me everything-" he barely parts from your body, making sure to keep on giving you more and more of his tongue and his fingers, and you find yourself giving in again, your body arching into his face as you reach your high. The sensitivity makes you feel like your body is overflowing with pleasure, all your mind can focus on is how good he makes you feel. He groans when he feels you clenching around his fingers, eagerly doing his best to extend your orgasm and keeping his ministrations just right to have you screaming his name.
You writhe underneath his tongue, barely able to form coherent words, and when you stop shaking, only then does he slow down his movements, slowly pulling his fingers out of your pulsing cunt and giving your folds one long last lick before he pulls away. His smile never leaves his face as he presses a kiss against your lips, and you slowly realize what his intentions are.
"You said one more- I don't think I can cum again," you protest weakly, your walls still clenching in the aftershocks of the orgasm.
"Shh, let me take care of you, okay?" his lips find yours again, and you find yourself giving in, allowing him to lay your body back to the bed and to cover your body with his. He always knows how to make you feel good, how to draw orgasm after orgasm out of your sensitive body, a skill that he has perfected ever since you both started dating, easily adapting to all of your needs. Your hands roam along his back, feeling the muscles and soft skin under your fingers while you deeply inhale his fresh and ocean-like smell. A gasp leaves your lips when he lines his cock up at your entrance, pushing it in without further warning. You're so sensitive, you whine at the stretch, at the sudden feeling of having his cock inside. His lips quickly find yours and swallow your whimpers while you cling onto his shoulders and wiggle your hips underneath him.
His cock hits just the right spots, your body feeling so overly sensitive that you don't think you can come anymore, yet it still feels so good, feels so good to have him inside of you, to have him fuck you like you need it. He's rock hard, hard ever since he started to eat you out, you're sure that he's sensitive too at this point. "Feels so good, love you so much," he moans, his gaze hazy while he feverishly kisses you, and a shiver runs down your spine while he keeps on kissing you messily, your own taste now on your tongue when he pushes it inside your mouth. You return the kiss just as eagerly, your nails raking along his back, and you whine when you feel how the pleasure slowly builds up. "Gonna cum, baby, want you to cum for me too, just one more time," he groans the words between the messy kisses you share, your body feeling like you're on fire while he slowly fucks you to another orgasm, his cock just hitting all the right spots and making you see stars, and the second he feels you cum, he's following you suit. You barely notice the way he bites into your shoulder, your body almost feeling like you'll pass out from the pleasure.
"Oh, baby-" he whispers against your skin, kissing the bruise on your shoulder softly and making you feel lightheaded. Your walls clench around him, miking everything out of his cock until he collapses on top of you his breath now deep and erratic.
You bring your hand to the back of his head, slowly massaging his scalp and he hums contently as response at the sweet gesture. His cock is slowly softening inside of you, almost slipping out of you, but you're still feeling so full of him with all his cum inside. A few moments pass like this, while you still try to calm down your body after having felt so so much, until his voice suddenly breaks the silence.
"Y/n?"
"Hmm?" you weakly hum, your hand still buried in his hair and massaging his scalp while he turns his head to kiss your neck.
"Another one?" Your jaw drops and you try to wiggle away from him when you feel his cock harden slowly inside of you.
"NO-"
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