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#he even got his own episode but perhaps if the anime is gonna have more then 12 episodes then other characters are gonna get their spotlight
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puppy love
Chuuya Nakahara x Reader
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fandom: bungo stray dogs
My latest fixation, Chuuya with puppies! My precious boy deserves to be happy with a doggy of his own, so I decided to play into this little fantasy of mine (and his, probably). I'm planning on writing more parts to this lil series, I think it's helping me get out of my writing slump. Also parts of this fic are inspired by Shiloh, one of my all-time favorite books (so much nostalgia...) and a bit of a reference to that one puppy episode from Wan. And the panel I used for the banner is from the BSD manga (I think it's ch. 24) I hope you enjoy!
warnings: mentions of stray animals, Reader cries but it's in relief, mostly fluff, pet names (mostly "doll" but used only once in this part), the start of a slow burn perhaps? || words: 2k
Part I | Part II
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He’s halfway through his usual trek home, muscles burning and head pounding from another successful night’s mission, when he realizes he has a shadow.
Chuuya doesn’t let up his pace; stay calm, don’t give anything away—but he has to wonder, who could be this stupid to try to follow a mafia executive? And they’re not being subtle about it either. Making no effort to conceal their breaths or their footsteps—
Wait a minute…that sounds too light to be footsteps…
He sucks in a breath and turns around to face the culprit. Hands clenched into fists at his sides, preparing for a fight—
“Woof!”
Staring up at him is perhaps one of the cutest fucking dogs he’s ever laid eyes on. (Not that he’s seen many dogs, but the point still stands.) Pointy ears, fuzzy orange fur, white paws and a belly that definitely looks too plump for a street dog.
He stares at it. The dog stares back, pink tongue lolling out the side of its mouth.
“…Woof!”
It takes every ounce of strength he can muster not to melt right then and there on the sidewalk. A thousand squeals on the tip of his tongue, gloved hands itching to scratch under that fuzzy little chin of his.
Never mind any dog hair, fuck that. Who’s gonna try to turn their nose up at this little cutie?
Chuuya briefly scans the area—not a soul in sight, just him and his companion beneath the lamplights—before dropping to his knees. The dog paws at the ground, his curly tail swishing madly in the air.
“C’mere boy,” he keeps his voice soft, holding out a hand. But the dog doesn’t budge. He just stares at him with that big dumb smile of his.
That really adorable dumb smile.
He tries again. The dog tilts his head and refuses to move. So Chuuya tries another tactic: “C’mere, girl?”
Still doesn’t move a muscle. Although now the dog looks amused as he paces from side to side, just out of Chuuya’s reach.
Yeah, gotta be a boy with that kind of attitude.
Chuuya sighs before pushing himself off the ground. Ah well, guess he’s too nervous to approach humans. Can’t really blame him for that; this city’s got its fair share of unpleasant people. He deals with them all the time, so he can kinda relate.
He shoves his hands back into his pockets (try not to think about how soft the dog’s fur must be) and turns on his heel to head home. It’s getting late anyway, and he’s got to get an early start tomorrow morning. He can’t be spending all night moping around some stray puppy following him around.
Even if he is the cutest thing he’s ever laid eyes on.
But he only gets a few steps in before hearing the unmistakable click-click of the dog’s nails against the pavement. He stops, the dog stops too. He glances over his shoulder, biting back a smile at the dog’s happy face.
“What do you want, huh? I don’t have any food, so if that’s what you’re looking for…”
Not that he looks like he needs any treats to begin with. He’s seen a few of the dogs roaming around Yokohama, all skin and bones as they pick through tipped-over trash cans. And the stray cats are no better, ears flat against their skulls as they hiss and claw at everything in sight.
So why does this dog look so fucking proud of himself?
Chuuya sighs and whistles to himself—and suddenly the dog comes running.
Two dirty paws plant themselves on his dress pants, that’ll surely be hard to get out, but how can he get angry when the dog’s trying so hard to reach his face? He chuckles under his breath as he kneels down to his level, as the dog plants kiss after kiss on his face with his slobbery tongue.
“Who knew all it took was a whistle?” he says more to himself than to the pup. The dog’s tail is wagging so hard he thinks it’ll fall off, the tiny little thing that it is.
He slides one of his gloves off, letting the dog sniff his hand before scratching him behind the ears. He was right, his fur is so soft… And his smile only gets bigger when the dog licks him again, not even minding all the drool.
But then he stiffens, slipping his fingers through the dog’s fur, noticing a red band of leather fastened around his neck. A collar? No way he’s someone’s pet. Then again, he does look a little too spoiled to be wandering the streets for food.
He curls his finger around the golden tag dangling from the buckle. No name, only an address he thinks he recognizes. Right on the edge of Yokohama, where the scent of sea salt is the strongest. Is it someone’s house? Apartment? Maybe a  shelter of some kind?
Chuuya steals another look at the dog, at those sweet brown eyes and twitching wet nose, trying his best to ignore the icy clench of his stomach. Maybe it’s for the best, just to bring him back. What’s he gonna do with a dog, anyway? Not like his job allows for much time raising a puppy, anyway.
Even one so cute as this little guy.
“Alright,” he sighs, scooping the pup in his arms, “let’s get you home.” He tries not to dwell on how warm the puppy is, or how softly he nestles his face in the crook of his shoulder.
And definitely not the way he can feel the pup drifting off to sleep as he starts down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. Gentle puffs against his skin, his curly tail twitching against his wrist.
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“Kotaro! There you are!”
The engraving on the pup’s collar has led him to a tiny little shop a few minutes from the port. A bit shabby with a torn sign on the top and windows that have definitely seen better days, and he’s about to turn tail (no pun intended) until he sees someone nearly fly out through the set of double doors.
“Kotaro!” Your voice is strained, tears streaming down your cheeks as you sweep the puppy into your arms. Clutching him as tight as you can, smoothing down the fur on his head as he stirs awake from his little nap. “I was worried sick… How did you escape again?! I could’ve sworn I locked the doors… You’re just lucky I came back downstairs when I did—or else you would’ve been out there all night long!”
The puppy only wags his tail, staring up at you with those silly eyes and sweet little “smile.” He knows it’s your weakness, how could you be angry at a face like that?
Oh, well. As long as he’s safe, you can’t really hold a grudge against him. Not when he’s back in your arms, safe and sound, and it’s just the two of you, just as it always should be.
It’s only when you hear someone clear their throat that you realize you’re actually not alone. You hastily wipe your eyes with the back of your hand—it’s a little difficult with a nearly-twenty-pound dog in your arms—and stare up at the man before you. Kotaro’s savior, your savior. And suddenly you feel a fresh wave of tears surge forth.
“Thank you for bringing him back! I’m so sorry if he’s caused you any trouble, I know he has a habit of bothering people when he sneaks out—I thought I’d kept him inside this time! He just has a thing for running away like the little troublemaker he is. He’s still young, hopefully he’ll grow out of it when he’s older, maybe he’ll mellow out and settle down, and then…”
You bite your tongue and avert your eyes. No need to scare off the stranger with your incessant rambling, especially after he was so nice to bring Kotaro back to you. But he only shakes his head, a soft smile on his lips as he tips his hat over his eyes.
“Don’t worry about it, he didn’t cause too much trouble.” He lifts a hand, allowing Kotaro to sniff him before scratching the fur beneath his chin. “Keep an eye on him, though. You don’t want him getting lost out there, especially this time of night.”
“I know… I swear, he’s gonna give me gray hairs before the end of the year. The other dogs aren’t even this mischievous, I don’t know where he got it from!”
Wait, other dogs?
He glances over your shoulder, towards the dingy windows of the shop. Pet supplies and part-time shelter, the sign plastered on the glass says. And sure enough, the closer he looks at your outfit, he can see little bits of dog fur clinging to the fabric—some gray, some brown, some white, and then a hint of orange thanks to Kotaro.
Just how many dogs do you have in there?
“Anyway, I just wanna say I really appreciate you bringing him back here. You didn’t have to, I know you’re probably busy. Let me just run inside and get my wallet, I think I have some left over if you want—”
But he’s quick to shut you down with a shake of his head, even a wave of his hands for emphasis. No money, he’s already got plenty of that to spare. And besides, it doesn’t sit right with him, paying him for something that should come naturally to any decent person.
And he doesn’t want to sound mean, but judging from the shape of that little shop of yours, you look like you can use every last cent you have.
“Oh, if you say so… But still, why don’t I make it up to you sometime?”
An uneasy silence settles in the air between you; Chuuya blinks as he watches you shift your weight, partially hiding your face in Kotaro’s fur.
“…I mean, you don’t have to—I just wanna pay you back some way! Maybe I can treat you to lunch one of these days? I don’t have many days off, but I can make it work! Or maybe…do you have a dog of your own? I can give you a discount on anything in the shop!” You throw an arm out to the double doors behind you, still holding Kotaro to your chest. “Name it and it’s yours! I really don’t mind, it’s just me here anyway. Well, me and the dogs, all nine of us.”
Wait, nine, including yourself…
“You have eight of them?!”
A laugh bubbles up in your throat at the look on Chuuya’s face. He reminds you of a child on Christmas morning, staring at the presents strewn around the glowing tree. He doesn’t seem one to enjoy the company of dogs, given his fancy attire and confident aura.
And yet, he still brought Kotaro back home, when he could’ve easily turned and walked the other way. You’ve learned not to judge a book by its cover, after all.
“Eight dogs, and hopefully more by the end of the year.” Your cheeks grow warm beneath his startling blue gaze. (His eyes are really pretty up close, aren’t they?) “…I can tell you all about them on our lunch date, if you’re interested.”
He blinks, eyes flitting back and forth between you and the dog in your arms. You’ve got guts, he’ll give you that; he can see it in the way you talk to him, the way you hold the puppy in your arms. Gentle as ever, but a fire brimming in your eyes. You love this dog, no doubt about it.
And you’ve got seven more inside? Do you love them all the same amount?
What breeds are they? How did you come to adopt so many dogs at once? Or did you adopt them at once, or sporadically over the years?
So many questions, and yet the night is crawling by. He shakes his head again, giving Kotaro one last scratch behind the ears, before meeting your gaze once more.
“Lunch sounds perfect, doll.”
Your lips pull up in a smile, and he can’t help but notice how it nearly matches the one on Kotaro’s face. Bright and eager, melting under the attention of the ones around you.
And yet your smile is infinitely prettier, and he finds himself thinking about it as he starts the familiar journey back home, as the night hours slowly tick by.
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crithaus · 1 year
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I wanna make some things like very clear to the new Vox Machina fans coming from the animated show to our humble home. Really I wanna settle some of the score about my best girl Vex'ahlia.
Now I know, I know that with so incredibly much source material to try and condense into just 36 22 minute episodes naturally some stuff is gonna be cut out or missed or edited, and TLOVM is it's own canon true, but what with it being Vox Machina but abridged it makes sense to me that it can be directly compared and perhaps found a bit lacking in regards to its source material, and so here I go.
They're not treating Vex with total fairness to be honest. A lot of her best early moments in VM are taken out or given to other people in TLOVM, like her first brush with death with Delilah in the Briarwood arc (it was her that got attacked by Delilah and almost died, not Keyleth, but like this one I get ig. The Twins and Percy held like the campaign record for being down and hurt the most like Sam had to deliberately change that so this wasn't hours of the twins just being near death like I'm not happy but I get it), or season two changing how she found Trinket (Vax was nowhere near her when she ran into those poachers) and mainly the portrayal of Vex as this snippy, mean, jealous, callous, unfeeling bitch without any of the uncertainty inherent in her or the tender moments to flesh her out.
Like in VM proper she's rude and a little snippy sure but that's borne of an established backstory of emotional neglect and the crushing trauma of poverty and Vax literally being the only other person who genuinely loved and cared for her after the mother who's arms she was ripped from was burned alive, (y'know after Syldor the worst dad god ever created literally abandoned them with their mother for 10 years while they were dirt poor (but happy, Elaina is the best mom to live ever), dragged them away from her for 5 in which time he destroyed her and Vax's self esteem, let the whole racist ass town he was ambassador of harass them along with harassing them himself and forced them to be the perfect quiet little doll heirs he only decided he wanted after 10 years of no 'true blooded' kids of his own) and then when they ran away, saw their mother had been murdered in her home by a fucking dragon had to spend the next several years at only like 15ish stealing (in Vex's case haggling and hunting) to survive! Like Vex's hangups around money are from the period in her life where she as controller of her and Vax's meager finances was in charge of making sure they didn't starve to death in the woods somewhere, at 15 she and Vax had to keep themselves alive with no help from anyone but each other, her haggling any and everyone down is a direct response to that.
And oh boy Syldor? Syldor? And his bullshit expectations and neglect are the reason she's so chronically unsure of herself and so desperate to keep being Vax's favorite. You think Keyleth is unsure of herself? Buddy you have seen nothing. Vex's confidence in herself is a facade and literally the longer you know her the more obvious that becomes. She's so slow to let other people in and equally slow to trust cuz she's been hurt so brutally and the few times she relaxes enough to do something for herself (side eyeing the broom incident), she gets narratively punished for it! Bro, the night before meeting with Syldor Percy finds her in tears obsessively polishing her armor cuz she's so desperate even after all this time to prove to Syldor that she is someone, that she isn't the diluted little half-breed Syldor always looked down his nose at (and then Percy, who never again was fooled by her false airs and stepped up to do The Sweetest thing god ever created), like...she's fucked up! And lonely! And wants nothing more than a stable home and people who genuinely like her.
Them leaving their home in when the conclave first attacked Emon drove her to tears because it was the first home she'd had in so long and now they had to leave it. She's got so much depth and she is so endlessly kind too. Every time she sees someone whose circumstances mirror her own she doesn't hesitate to open her purse for it. (her freeing those kids??? Anyone???) She's no Keyleth or even Pike to be sure but she's so sweet. Keyleth goes tearing off up the Sun Tree, Vex follows. Grog gets swindled by some punkass merchant? Vex goes tearing off after him, all her interactions with Vax to be honest she might have Little Sister disease but still, she is so endlessly kind and good and it's not as overt as Pike's genuine goodness or Keyleth's earnestness, it's slightly more subtle but always present. She's the beating heart of Vox Machina, she encourages them all, (just look at what they tell Pelor I mean.... And and I could go on and on about how the fact that she's the champion of the god of Life, Light and the Sun means so much narratively but I mean I doubt I need to I mean it's Pelor), They all look to her and Vax for guidance, look at what they do to fucking Saundor for him merely taunting her, (yes it's more deep than that I know), they literally get stuck in hell and wait there, in the middle of HELL for her cuz they can't/won't move on without her.
She's brilliant, and clever, and broken and 'greedy' and a bitch yes true, but she's so much more than that, and I'm not even gonna tell you to watch the podcast cuz fuck Orion tbh and y'know I am a hater and a gatekeeper both and am totally fine being in the little niche of of vox machina likers, but if you want substance, if you want all of her because god is she compelling, then take your cues from the podcast and not the show.
The show is new, and still ongoing, and I hope they start letting her shine as she was always meant too in later episodes, but she is the heart and soul of Vox Machina and y'all better put some respect on the name of Lady Vex'ahlia De Rolo, Champion of Pelor, Baroness of the First House of Whitestone and Grandmistress of the Grey Hunt, Coinmistress and Treasurer of the Tal'dorei Council.
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suffarustuffaru · 6 months
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hey so not too long ago, i saw a post from rz twitter that said that during the first loop where subaru meets otto, when subaru met the witch cultists and were chanting something to subaru before they left, that these cultists left because some outsider (who's therefore an enemy to their witch and its prophecy) was nearby. And the tweet said how that "nearby outsider" was actually otto who stayed behind because he was worried that subaru, (whom he met only as a customer in that loop and otto had already fulfilled his job) would succumb to danger. And despite frufoo's warnings, it's heavily implied that otto had in fact died in that loop waiting for subaru to come back. And the replies were saying that it's common knowledge?
First of all, is that true? I can see how one would come to the conclusion that the cultists left because otto, an outsider, was nearby. But i haven't seen proof of the implication that otto died from that loop. Secondly, with this perhaps being true, does that confirm that any loop in which otto was nearby and subaru is in danger, that otto risked his life for him? Some ppl say "but the whale incident!" But like you said way earlier, otto came back to him after pushing him off, and it's implied that he died trying to save subaru. There's no loop i can recall otto leaving him to the dust, even when he doesn't know who subaru is. And thirdly, Otto get some self-preservation skills, you barely knew the guy and already risk your life for him. What the fuck.
HAH anon your ask intrigued me so much i immediately went to the anime to try and confirm this. and bc the anime is the closest bit of info i got wjdndn i dont have arc 3 ln or access to arc 3 wn (i do not understand japanese either, sadly) but!! while the anime doesnt explicitly confirm otto died in that first loop his character debuted in, i think its definitely a possibility that he died to the witch cult there. (if anyone knows the lore on this for sure though feel free to add?? yeah)
also regarding about whether this is common knowledge or not—id argue its kind of not, at least in certain circles, bc im gonna be completely real i had to double check the anime to see how well i remembered it bc its 1. been a while since i’ve watched season 1 in full and 2. when i was looking at it on my first watch i was focused more so on what the hell was happening to subaru, rem, emilia camp rather than otto, who at the time seems like just some random guy who wont appear ever again. but also maybe im a little too used to people misinterpreting rezero over on reddit ajfbdnd bc some people STILL completely forget that otto went back after pushing subaru off the wagon. and some people still forget ottos died for subaru even though its super obvious in arc 4?? so i dont think ottos involvement with subaru across loops is really common knowledge? or at the very least its not common for Certain portions of the rezero fandom bc i see ottos whole fixation on subaru gets glossed over at times. but i do genuinely think moments like the first loop with otto are probably easy to sort of miss if youre not paying attention. but also again i might be a little bit brainwashed by rezero redditors misreading things bc the amount of people that forget otto went back for subaru in the white whale loop made me doubt my own memory of that scene to the point where i rewatched it in the anime just to be sure wkdndnd. i dont really see any english rezero people talk about this loop in particular too unless theyre referring to you know, rem arlam and emilia camp dying. but anyway moving on for now…
alright!! lets go over this scene i suppose. the anime doesnt go into like. Specifics, like how the tweets you mention do anon, but it does have some interesting stuff.
in the anime, the first loop with otto happens in episode 14 to about the beginning of 15, but the focus is of course more so on subaru, rem, arlam, etc, bc rem left for the mansion and subarus trying to get there quickly so he pays otto to do that. otto takes the time to warn him before they even set off, not only for his own sake but also for subarus:
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but you know, bc ottos desperate for money bc hes in debt, he takes up the job. but once otto and subaru actually get to the road leading up to arlam and the mansion, otto stops bc frufoo’s frightened and shes warning them of danger—
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but subaru being subaru jumps off anyway and leaves. he says this quickly before he goes:
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otto replies by trying to call out to him desperately as he runs away:
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your point about ottos self preservation is super interesting anon because otto DOES have self preservation skills. he almost kind of prides himself on it, sometimes—as a merchant, especially from a merchant family, hes been raised to treasure it. to go for things that work in his favor. especially with his bad luck fucking him over too. and he can be slightly morally ambiguous at times, so he is Very aware of self preservation and staying out of trouble. but at the same time, leaving behind innocents does kind of weigh on him bc. well hes still human. that and the further into rezero you get, the more clear it is that ottos self preservation skills just get thrown out the window the moment he sees subaru. like otto takes a significant amount of time on screen to complain about danger or trouble hes found himself in, or go on and on about how the moment he sees danger, hes just gonna turn around and run—but its just COMPLETE AND TOTAL BULLSHIT SOMETIMES. he has plenty of chances Every Time to turn around and run and the moment subaru enters the picture, he doesnt take it. the only exception to this was him leaving subaru in greed if, but thats because he saw that subaru didnt give a shit about him and even then. he made that choice FOR subaru’s sake too, bc he recognizes that greed if subaru is just gonna micromanage everything and deal with it on his own. otto knows he’d just be another burden to subaru, so he leaves to lessen the load.
main route otto though? yeah youre absolutely right his self preservation is way beyond dead at this point. his self preservation is absolutely gone when it comes to subaru. this first loop is an example of it—while of course ottos you know treating subaru like a stranger bc thats what they are, he goes out of his way to warn subaru repeatedly. at first it looks like its mostly just for his own benefit bc hes Also in danger here, but then he says that he cant just accept taking subarus money and items. he talked about how hed accept subarus payment just a few minutes before this?? and we know in retrospect that he desperately NEEDS money bc hes in debt??? and subarus giving him an out right now to just leave and not look back but he still hesitates and frantically tries calling after subaru??? he has EVERYTHING to gain from just taking the money and subarus things and just leaving, but we dont actually see him leave on screen.
and then right after this, we cut to subaru running to arlam. of course, the witch cult stops him, and in the anime, all they do is circle him, then bow (to foreshadow how the witch cult + petelgeuse think that hes one of them, im assuming), and then they disappear without saying a single word.
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its interesting to note though that when they leave, they run towards the direction subaru just came from. which is where otto was.
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and then subaru keeps continuing on to arlam and the mansion where he finds out that the witch cult Basically wiped everyone out there. episode 15 continues this loop and then quickly ends it bc subaru is having a mental breakdown finding everyones corpses and then he promptly proceeds to die to puck (iirc?) inside the mansion. and thats all the details the anime gives about the ending of this loop. so no clear hint like the white whale loop that otto Died from this, but i think the implication is definitely there if you choose to read into it. (again, im not sure if the ln adds more details to this or not, but iirc the anime doesnt touch on this much.)
its strange that the witch cultists that find subaru just. up and leave in the direction where we Know otto likely is, bc 1. the cultists move Fast and 2. only a couple minutes passed at most, so its likely that otto is Still There, even if he did start trying to leave. even then though, i think its in character for him to still be there and try to wait for subaru. or, at the very least, otto waited there debating with himself on whether he should just leave or not. waiting there satisfies both his self preservation and the guilt he’d feel if he just abandoned subaru—he doesnt go any further to minimize the danger to himself and frufoo, but he doesnt completely leave just in case subaru comes back or if otto decides to move forward and check on subaru or something. but then we see subaru find everyone at arlam and the mansion dead, and we the audience know the surviving witch cultists left in the opposite direction (where otto is) after killing everyone at arlam, so—i think theres a connection there. as in: yeah. if otto was still there, hes probably dead.
additionally, of course later in arc 3 we see that otto gets captured by the witch cult. this time he was captured bc the witch cult caught him hurrying to get to another location for its job offer, so the witch cult captured him to interrogate him on what exactly he was doing iirc?? so in that sense yeah he was caught by the witch cult for being an outsider getting into witch cult territory while they were in the middle of doing shit (and he likely wouldve been killed if ricardo and the others hadnt rescued him) o.O
but yeah thats all the animes got regarding the first loop (aka ottos official debut into the main story as well)!!!
“There's no loop i can recall otto leaving him to the dust, even when he doesn't know who subaru is." also anon youre so right for saying this bc. yeah i cant recall any loops either bc every time otto is there near subaru. hes risking his life for subaru. hes so incredibly ride or die that its concerning. it kind of boggles my mind that some people overfixate on how he pushed subaru out of the wagon in the white whale loop and YEAH that was fucked up, but not only does he feel bad and die trying to go back for subaru later, but when you watch that scene in the anime and think about it from ottos perspective. yeah some guy you just fucking met is yelling at you about how you apparently forgot about some person youve never heard of in your life, hes yelling at you to go back and TOWARDS THE WHITE WHALE when all youre trying to do is save both of your asses, he starts trying to wrestle with you while youre both being hunted down by the whale, and then he starts rambling to himself about how maybe its his fault the white whale is chasing after both of you while you keep hearing the white whales deranged thoughts in your head the whole time bc of your dp??? its a miracle otto didnt push subaru out of that damn wagon sooner and its a miracle otto even decided to go back for subaru after all that T^TT any person in ottos shoes would be RUSHING to push subaru out of that wagon.
but like. once you think about it - yeah Every Time in the main route that ottos been near subaru and theyve gotten into danger? otto actively puts himself at risk for subarus sake. and he doesnt always die or get hurt for it, but we know that he ALWAYS goes out of his way to help subaru. hes been like this since his debut in arc 3, practically, regardless of whether or not he actually died there. bc he still Lingered around and tried to warn subaru not to leave.
so what im saying is that so much of ottos screentime is spent helping subaru in some way.
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Hi I got more questions about the starburst duo!
1: what’s their favorite video games?
2: what is their favorite anime and/or cartoons?
3: Chris has a brotherly/uncle relationship with Kon-El/Conner, what’s Jake’s relationship like with Kon-el?
4: you know how in some movies and tv shows a pair of best friends would get into a fight and act like: “your not my best friend anymore!” And towards the end they get back together, has that happen before between the two of them?
5: what’s the rouge galley for the both of them?
Silly question :p
6: on a scale of 1-10, how likely are they gonna aim for the crotch against a dude villain/goon? Speaking of that what’s their reaction seeing that stuff in movies like how in the first kung fu panda movie Po got hit in the tenders?
(Cracks Fingers while grinning wildly)
Back for more I see, my friend? Very well then…
1) In no particular order, they’d like (in spite of Dick and Lois having some second thoughts in allowing them for playing M Rated titles)
Mortal Kombat
Blitz The League
Cuphead
Dark Souls
Asura’s Wrath,
and perhaps their all time favorite,
The Rockband series (out of them, The Beatles Rockband being their top one. Chris can do both Vocals and Bass while Jake does Drums and Harmonies)
2) Dragon Ball…basically all of Dragon Ball. Whether it’s The OG, Kai, GT, or the upcoming Daima, they’ll be lined up in their best shirts that are either patterned after Piccolo’s outfit or have the Z Fighters on it with their snacks by their side on the couch and engage with an all night marathon of episodes and films. Their favorite character is unanimously Son Gohan
3) Those two get along as good friends though from Jake hears about Conner courtesy of his Uncle Tim and ‘Aunite’ Cassie, whenever Conner inevitably screws up with trying to win a girlfriend off the streets with his egotistical charms and attitude, Jake gleefully takes the chance for snarking about that screw up, much to Conner’s conniption.
Aside from that though, the two make it a sworn oath on working together for making sure Chris is safe and secure from the threats even he’s too great to handle, whether externally or especially his own internal ones including tendencies of low self esteem and fears of abandonment. Conner and Jake are there for him no matter what
4) Much to even their own surprise, not exactly. Yes, there have been moments the two have gone separately from each other before reuniting in full but the thing is, they never had said to each other that they’re no longer friends. They’re never actively taking pot shots or any sort of bad mouth each other even during their lowest points in their friendship.
In fact, it’s because of their close friendship, it’s how they’re able to communicate the message of “Hey Man, I really like to hang out with you but I don’t if it’s the right time right now. Maybe a little later? Still love ya as a friend btw” with little to no words whether it’s face to face or via phone texts. They have mutual respect and understanding of those moments and take their time.
Once they have a chance though, like say in the middle of a crisis or few, they’ll rush to each other’s aid and make up for it once it’s all said and done. Even in a hypothetical Civil War between all the superheroes which has the two in opposite sides would have a similar pattern between them.
5) I once answered this in a earlier ask but I feel like it’s the perfect time for a sort of expansion to that list. Some names here would be old classics while maybe one or two would be OCs of mine for villains.
General Dru Zod (Chris’ birth father and somewhat arch nemesis due to his….very tough love approach to put it very very mildly think of their relationship akin to say Omni Man and Invincible)
Mr Victor Zsasz (Jake’s own Gotham based arch enemy due to a particular case involving street orphans and urchins forcibly fighting a gladiator style tournament to the death and Jake facing Zsasz face to face at the climax of said case, a duel involving a rather brutal beat down since Jake’s powers were shut down briefly that includes a sharp blade and that old damned crowbar)
The Gordanians (Since Jake’s mother is Kory aka Starfire, it should be pretty self explanatory and easy to understand his dislike for these particular aliens)
Deathstroke the Terminator (Similar enough reason to the Gordanians only in this case it’s via what he done to Dick throughout the years as a Titan, whether it includes the forced apprenticeship or other misdeeds)
The Court of Owls (not only due to both Mar’i and Jake being offsprings of the ‘Gray Son’ but they also can sense Chris somehow being a unique sort that distinguishes him from the other Kryptonians (I.e. his unique physiology courtesy of his birth in the Phantom Zone and being a host for the Nightwing entity) that they can claim for themselves, an evolutionary step in their arsenal of Talons)
Cinderblock (The big dumb concrete lug frequently challenges Chris and Jake for a challenge in Bludhaven’s streets which they’re all too happy to take. He’s fun for them to take on)
Xa Du, The Phantom King (As the main ruler of the Phantom Zone himself, he naturally sees Chris as an obstacle to his own path of universal domination)
(And time for some OCs I have in mind)
NKVDemon (an ex-Spetznaz and apprentice of the KGBeast though his goals and methods are far more grand and widespread in comparison than his mercenary teacher’s. While not a cyborg like KGBeast or enhanced like Deathstroke, he’s dangerously intelligent, at peak human condition and utterly ruthless to the core)
Lion Master (a constantly bullied street orphan who ran to join a traveling circus where became the apprentice of an old kindly lion tamer, it all truly went downhill during one performance at Ivy Town when due to a simple mistake on his part, the kid ended up causing the old tamer’s unfortunate demise in front of the crowds, leading to him being kicked out of the circus he called home and the lions ordered in being out down. Not willing to see the felines he can call his friends meet their ends, the orphan frees the four big cats. Now with nothing left to lose and returning to the streets once more, the old tanner’s apprentice turns to a life of petty crime with his four kings of the jungle by his side and at his beckon command; competing his transformation into the Lion Master. Has a beef yet also somewhat a bond with Skybird due to their own connections to the circus yet Skybird and Nightwing ‘Phantom’ always foil his crimes)
La Llorona (‘The Weeping Woman’ herself; the Duo once encountered her during a vacation their families were taking in Mexico. A one time antagonist who they actually were able to communicate with in order to help her find peace with them but certainly a memorable one)
The monkeys and undead guardians of El Dorado (Ling story incredibly short, Time Travel shenanigans had Chris and Jake land in the a time lopping ancient city of gold with these monkeys and zombified warriors attacking the intruders almost every step of their way within their adventure to escape)
Vla-Bol (A Kryptonian juvenile delinquent who led an equivalent of a street gang doing all sorts of petty crimes and ruled their city streets/Hallways with an iron fist. At first, The Kryptonian High Coucil had Vla drafted into basically boot camp under the command of an ancestor of a certain Kryptonian General, Grand Admiral Gro-Zod. Unfortunately for Vla, despite or maybe because of taking the Admiral’s teachings and philosophy to heart, he went on committing plenty of bad conduct and failed to hold back his fury during war time as a Private. For this misconduct, Vla-Bol was banished to the Phantom Zone at the age of only 14 years, swearing vengeance on the House of Zod for this indignity. It just centuries later and once he finally is able to leave the Zone and find planet Earth, there happens on being a descendent of the old Admiral, Lor Zod aka Chris. Vla-Bol is an utter show off and Grade A jerk who flaunts his powers without any hesitation or second thought. Powers that are surprisingly deviant from standard Kryptonian ones as while yes he can fly, lift extremely heavy objects and exhibit super human speeds, for one he relies on Moonlight to fuel them. Also, in place of heat vision and x ray vision, Vla-Bol instead can make copies of himself composed of shadows and summon dark energy from the Zone itself, capable of leveling entire city blocks at the palm of his hands)
(*Phew* I think that should do it lol)
6) Chris: 3, Clark taught him well enough to not resort to dirty tricks in fighting his opponents
Jake: 10, Being raised in Bludhaven by Nightwing and having Red Hood as an Uncle….it’s pretty obvious he would fight dirty like they can lol
As for their reactions, both of them would giggling at those moments.
Okey Dokey, I’m pretty sure that’s a plenty for my answers, Anon
If there’s any suggestions to add or constructive criticisms, please Reblog/Reply. It’ll be very appreciated ;-)
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zanyzensblog · 9 months
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Suletta Sunday omg holy crap!
My reactions More or less in order. But probably a jumbled mess. Spoilers ahead. 
Ahem...
Oh wow we’re really just getting right into it.
Damn, Suletta really loves her mom and sis and doesn’t want them to become even bigger war criminals.
Damn it Laudna, you’re emitting peak incel women hating energy right here. Stop it.
Suletta is officially the best damn pilot of the show, maybe Eri was holding back a bit but still the fact she’s flying through all of Aerial’s bits is something I don’t think even Guel in a gundam could really do.
Somebody else is in the data storm? Oooo our elusive Notrette perhaps?
Oh crap, the Assembly league has a death star. A big one. Annnnd of course those bene gesserit looking bitches are not only saving their own skins but making a play to be the top dogs. Ugh.
Elan 5 a little bit of a badass. 
*Gives gun to Belmira “I could never” (oh come you know you’ve basically killed scores) “I’m not giving a gun to a student.” (Damn it I almost like this guy even though he killed Nadim and basically started this whole mess)
“where did you get a gun?” “Who cares?” LOL
I always knew Haro’s were evil. Always knew it!
Damn Propera hitting them with the “You didn’t think I would change the password?” good villainess shit there.
Damn it Laudna, why do you suck sooo damn bad? Guel just kill his ass, the additional ptsd will be worth it.
Oh damn Guel is gonna die nooooooo not our boy!
*Sees flashback of when Guel met Laudna and Guel was immediately an accepting big brother happy to have a little bro.* Sniff, I’m not crying. Damn bro.
Felsi you goddamn miracle. MVP. Would have bet money one of the brothers was gonna die but nope, not if Felsi had any say in it. Attagirl!
Miorine calling out Prospera’s clear favoritism of Eri over Suletta.
Miorine remembering what I assume is a whole ass genome sequence she learned of yesterday that translates to an I love you from her mother to override Quiet Zero was absolutely baller and she’s got a galaxy brain if there ever was one. 
Damn Bel, way to step up a bit.
Damn Elan5, nice shot.
Miorine basically telling Prospera “I’m marrying your daughter no matter what, we’re gonna be a family. So deal.” Happy Pride month indeed! Love to see it!
Oh crap, here comes the double cross from the bigwigs, they’re a firing the laser!
Eri noo!
Prospera’s mark? What’s going on there?
ERI NOOOOOO!!
Holy crap most of Aerial actually survived that? That Gundam really is built different. But did Eri still die? Is there anything left of her? If not, Prospera’s gonna utterly freaking lose it on somebody. 
Closing thoughts Next episode is called the Final Episode? Huh, feels a little weird to title something that. I doubt this series is gonna get another season (Really wish it would, it’s done pretty damn solid storytelling for the amount going on and the small amount of episodes it has. Though still it definitely could have benefited from more episodes and a little more time to breathe and develop certain plots) 
I mean hopefully maybe it’ll at least get a movie (Gundam 00 did it) or a spinoff at worst (freaking Gundam Seed had like 3 right?) So here’s hoping we get to see more of this Gundam timeline cause damn, they made a solid and fun anime with this one. Last episode I’m almost positive we’re gonna get Delling talking about what exactly happened to Notrette and why he made Quiet Zero (I’m still positive it’s a Gendo Ikari thing, I’ll eat a hat if I’m wrong.) and also, hopefully we’ll finally get to hear wedding bells!! Get the best dresses! Chuchu should be Miorine’s maid of honor and Guel should Suletta’s best man! Don’t @ me.
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colorcodedbeanies · 1 year
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S1E3-"And the Bag's in the River"
The last 12 hours have been a fever dream so I feel I really understand what its like to be Domingo
TW: Racism, description of gore, Nazi mention, discussion of strangulation.
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Credit to their props team or whoever that wet meat is the wettest and the meatiest.
The first time through this episode I assumed the Gretchen flashback was Walt attempting to disassociate from his actions via chemistry (in parallel to Jesse's "its just a bunch of meat!" last episode). With the context of the closing flashback though I think this entire episode is about Walt really confronting the spectre of his own mortality. This is something that influences his conversation with Krazy-8 and his confession to Skyler at the end of this episode
Notably this is probably the only time Walt thinks of Emilio as "human" even if by proxy. I find it interesting that the visual language is suggesting the gun as functionally a part of Emilio's body. When Walt thinks about calcium, he picks up a fragment of his jawbone. When he thinks about iron, he picks up the remains of the gun. Whether its the worldview of Walt or the show, the violence is so much a part of Emilio that it may as well be a part of his chemical composition
"Please don't say yo. You can't know how much I hate that." That theme of language policing is back. Sure, Skyler on a literal level is associating it with a specific bad interpersonal interaction she had. But its also a mom clamping down on how her son talks because she doesn't want him to sound like a criminal. Gonna be a bit of a theme with Junior in this episode.
This episode simultaneously establishes that everyone in the Schrader-White cluster has both used pot and is also a massive freak about it. To be clear, there might be a lens through which SOME of Marie's concern is merited. As I understand it pot is probably not good for a 17 year old. But there's a certain ritualization to the denial of using pot. Skyler used it, and yet asks Marie about it like she was the known pothead in the family. Marie sputters about MAYBE having sampled it, reflects almost nostalgically on its effects, and then immediately freaks out about Junior's proximity to it. Hank admits to indulging to deal with some unspecified childhood baggage, but still considers taking his nephew out to ogle addicts in order to scare him straight a justified tactic. Its perhaps best summed up in Marie and Hank's phonecall. "Autopsy of a pot overdose? C'mon." Deep down all of them know it doesn't have to be a big deal. But we return to that inherent suspicion and distrust. Everyone's a junkie except for me. I'm a sensible, reasonable adult who can be trusted with what substances I indulge in. After all, "I'm extremely clean". Everyone else though, might be subject to an unbecoming dependence.
We have two cases of "everyone else" humanizing themselves. The first is Domingo, who startles Walt with both his ability to reason and to connect. Krazy-8 shatters his image as benevolent by pointing out that keeping him chained up in a basement while they debate was to do with him is frankly a lot more cruel and unusual. He's also able to read Walt extremely easily, picking up his discomfort, teasing out his motivations, and even connecting with him on an interpersonal level.
The other example of this is poor Wendy. Everything about that scene is skin-crawling. Hank dehumanizes her in every way a person can be dehumanized, sexualizing her in a way that doesn't read even slightly as a joke and functionally treating her like an animal. He barks at her to come, to stay, to speak, and then has Junior ogle her teeth before battering her with questions. She's not a passive recipient of his abuse (though who could blame her if she was). While she's clearly used to a fair amount of rough treatment, she still reacts when something crosses a line ("hey I'm not doing him, he's a kid!") and even gets a little of her own back ("why, you got some?"). Wendy isn't doing anything remotely criminal that Hank can see. She's not soliciting, not holding drugs on her, not anything. She's just going about her day. However, for people in her class crime is no longer something you do, its what you are. Hank clearly feels entitled to harass her and threaten her even off the clock. But Wendy lets them know she can see them as much as they can see her, calling out both the inappropriateness of Junior's presence and Hank's fishing. Hank doesn't get the neat horror story about a fall from grace that he wants ("Tell my friend here how you got started. Probably used to be, what? Like a Girl Scout, or sang in the church choir?"). Instead he gets an interaction that not only exposes what a dickbag he is, but that will come back to bite him later.
After a looney tunes ass chase through the house we get the first connection of Walt with Nazis with Jesse's heil Hitler bitch. Primarily I bring it up only because its going to get freakishly poignant in a few seasons but I do think it's worth noting: Jesse's not a good arguer even when he's in the right. He's too inexperienced to understand what's actually wrong with Walt and it enables Walt to perpetually paint him as just an immature child throwing tantrums.
One last note about the Wendy scene before I dive into Domingo's last moments. Hank jumps in to "defend" Junior from the accusation of being disabled. The smile he gives him feels like its meant to be inclusive. Don't worry buddy I won't let this lesser than try to pull you out of the in-group. Have to wonder how much of Junior's childhood he spent with polite euphemisms about his condition.
The pro/con list functionally is its own analysis. The con side is all phrased in absolutes. "Murder is wrong", and more specifically, "YOU are not a murderer". This is factually inaccurate (by this point Walt has killed Emilio and attempted to kill Domingo), but it returns to that idea of criminal as a class rather than an action that I talked about. The Schrader-Whites aren't junkies, they're nice normal people who have once or twice indulged. Walt isn't a murderer, he's a man who's only ever done what he has to for his family! There's a resistance to seeing actions as a reflection of identity, because to do so is to admit the separation between Walt, Jesse, and Domingo is a matter of degrees, not some fundamental aspect of their character.
Domingo plays into this as well, reassuring Walt that he's not cut out for this. HE'S not a cold blooded murderer...he's just a good man, a family man caught way over his head. Its fitting his name means Sunday, because in essence he offers as Walt's confessional priest. He hears his sins, his fears, his secrets, and then offers him the path to redemption.
Walt's mistake here is underestimating how little reason Krazy-8 has to sincerely believe this of him. The plate that give Domingo his weapon is broken over Emilio's bloodstain. He's been held hostage, sick and in pain from the toxic gasses, stuck shitting in a bucket for days on end while Walt quibbles about his mortal soul. I don't want to posture Krazy-8 as some innocent. But the lie works because it feeds Walt's self-perception as the good normal man caught up in all this, and because Walt is very bad at imagining the inner worlds of the people he works with. Whether as a cashier at his father's furniture store or as the gunwielding drug lord or the captive in the basement, to Walt Domingo is a background element to be ignored and puzzled over, not a thinking person with intentions.
He majored in Business Administration at UNM. This surprises Walt, another challenge to his equivocating between education and moral character.
I like that its left a little ambiguous as to whether Domingo was still planning to stab Walter when he came down, or if he reached for it after noticing Walt's strange behavior. The man with lung cancer chokes his first hands on victim.
Final somewhat anti-climactic note: "Its a culture in decline...you people used to be conquistadores" NO HANK THEY DIDN'T.
Fascinating that I can do all this analysis and then it just spells itself out with "It looks like meth but its too damn white."
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girlwholovesturtles · 3 months
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Opening with Nikola immediately, I see. Why do this? Oh god.
"Needs to be near us." Breekon and Hope need the coffin near? That's interesting. Also worrying that the coffin is there at all.
Nikola makes me uncomfortable. I kinda love them... They've said "Can I call you Elias?" twice now. I'm not convinced they entirely know what's going on.
Did Jon just try to say "Fuck you?" I'm smiling way too much from this episode already.
Oh god, are they gonna- oh god, they are gonna skin him.
"Can I call you Elias?" Number three.
"Do you have a preferred brand of lotion." Oh my god. This should not be making me laugh so much.
Wait, is this the episode? It is! This where the animatic came from that got me into the show to begin with! Yes!
This one!
Jon, why do you sound more annoyed then you do afraid of this man saying he's gonna kill you? I guess when so many people are saying the exact same threat, it stops being scary after a while.
Okay, Michael or I suppose the Spiral is lies and deception. He has nothing to do with the Unknowing but he wants it to fail. Jon, fuck why he's here, ask what the Unknowing is. He doesn't want the Circus or the Archive to win?
Okay, I think I get it.
Theory before it's all said: Michael was Gertrude's assistant, he some how got taken by the Spiral, and the part of him that is still Michael resents the Archive he what happened to him. The Spiral doesn't want to be Michael anymore because it has made it's nature complicated but I suspect it can't get rid of him, for whatever reason. Okay, starting the video again.
Sure, Michael, give up a statement. I'm sure this will be very coherent and not at all filled with me going "WTF?!" constantly.
Michael Shelly... Oh, Michael here implying Gertrude is deceptive, that's interesting... what? She FEED him to the Spiral? Oh... Michael really cared about Gertrude and she used him for this.
"Is a thing evil when it simply obeys it's own nature?" That is an interesting question. A polar bear isn't evil just because it willing to hunt humans, it's just hungry. And near as I can tell, the Spiral and all these other entities, they also are just hungry in their own ways. So, maybe they aren't evil. Though that certainly doesn't make them good.
"He believed everything she told him..." Alright, me and Gertrude aren't friends anymore. But what is the Becoming, exactly?
"Okay." Jon is just giving up? I mean, I know he lives because there's like 200 episodes but...
What do you mean "It's loc-
Uh... is Michael dead? Oh, hi Helen... Yeah, I guess Michael is dead? If it could kill Michael whenever it wanted, why didn't it before? Or did it need someone to replace him? Which I guess it what Helen is for?
You're options are the door or being skinned, my guy. Make good choices.
Wait, is the Spiral cool? It's just... taking Jon home? That's pretty chill of it, given the Archive's history with it but alright.
Okay, hold up. It's entirely possibly I'm reading this all wrong but were these entities at some point just kinda vibing and Gertrude decided they all needed to be destroyed? Because that's what it sounds like to me. Like, I don't know what the Becoming is yet but it sounds like the Spiral was attempting to transition from being a thing that could never be into something that was and perhaps could even be defined. At it's very core, it sounds like these things simply wish to exist but they're so volatile that it's difficult to do so. Gertrude even wanted to destroy the Archive, the focal point of the Eye. Even though, as far as I can tell, it's only interest is to collect knowledge.
So did she just decide to go rogue and destroy all these monsters and that's why they're mobilizing like they are?
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Alright gamers I offically am obsessed with Steven Boxleitner bc i just rewatched the only 2 shorts he's in for the sake of picking apart every single canon piece of information i could possibly parse from them. Here's my findings:
-does not eat the crusts on sandwiches.
-huge dorky grin when he gets caught doing something he shouldn't. bordering on creepy.
-loves grilled cheese, pork chops, bbq ribs, coffee cake and pastrami sandwiches.
-the mere mention of food will get him to go on a tangent describing the perfect meal in his mind.
-has a recipe for ribs in the book he penned, and knows exactly what he'd want on a pork chop at the exact moment he thinks of it, you can't tell me he doesn't cook on the reg.
-will get sad if people eat food that was his but not outright hostile (ergo defensive, protective, or aggressive tendencies around food are primarily squeaky's direct control and/or steven suffering from squeaky's conditioning)
-will talk to animals even if he can't really understand what they're saying back, specifically talks to squeaky in the creepy sinister voice even though he wasn't really doing anything wrong. my personal interpretation is that he only slunk away with the creepy grin on because that's the voice he uses to talk to all animals ever in much the same way one would use a baby voice on a very friendly dog, and he was simply embarassed anyone caught him talking like that.
-uses the same sinister voice in the very beginning making the grilled cheese with wordgirl and huggy so perhaps he just slips into that persona when around kids or animals because he likes to be dramatic and it makes him fun to interact with. i mean, he was a theater kid canonically so it checks out.
-can interact with the narrator. unfortunately the narrator cannot fully interact back. calls the narrator buddy. also friendly with him in later episodes as dtb so likely does not hold what happened against him.
-acknowledges Squeaky is a little rat bastard who will bite everyone he possibly can, still holds him completely unrestrained and talks him through the experiment in a fairly cordial manner. interestingly, squeaky doesn't try anything to hurt him til the button.
-surprised twice by being informed the audience is watching him (initial "oh! hi." and the creepy grin when he gets caught talking to squeaky) and unaware that the narrator cannot physically interact with the world (at least not on screen). whenever he breaks the fourth wall it's kind of clumsy compared to how the other characters do it with full awareness of the rules of this world.
-i cannot get over the tone of his voice when he tells exposition guy he's in the science lab and not the police station. like what was that. like slightly annoyed that he got interrupted? irked that someone mistook his lab for something else because he takes that much pride in science? genuinely can't figure it out but i kind of hope it's the pride thing because that would explain some of twobrains' tendencies if steven had a bit of an arrogant streak.
-given he made the helmets out of a colander and thimble he is not exactly running on a high budget. broke bitch rights.
-owns a baby elephant specifically for the purpose of training superheroes and i think we all forget this too often. there's an elephant scared of a mouse joke in here and i'm like 80% sure in another timeline squeaky scaring said elephant into crashing into the machine would have been the original cause of the fusion but that likely 1. would've taken a lot more work to animate than just pressing a button and 2. these are just quick 2 minute shorts so i doubt they had time to work that in. and possibly 3. would've been a little too violent?
-amazo guy is the only hero ever present in his book.
-Huggy likes him because of their shared love of food. kinda sad that they do even less with this than his past friendship with wg because they both acted as her mentor and they seemed to get along pretty well. i know we're never gonna get a prequel series but if we could then i would kill to see them being friends and bonding over being slightly jaded and underpowered adults in a world of child superheros.
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commentaryvorg · 2 years
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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 48 - The Perfect Conclusion! Goodbye, Street Fighter
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In this final episode of the series, Yggdrasil finally gets the message about humanity with the help of a very big punch, family reunions are had, and heartbreaking farewells are made as the two worlds are separated for now.
No recap here – this episode’s so jam-packed that there’s absolutely no time for one. Instead, we open on the last handful of lines from the previous episode, but animated freshly in this episode’s much better art style. (Episode 47 was one of those with that annoyingly noticeably-weaker art style, but at least the final episode’s art style is a good one!)
Anyway, Masaru and Agumon have got their second wind and are rushing straight at Yggdrasil to prove just how strong humans and Digimon can be when they work together. Provocation Infinity kicks in as BGM as soon as they do so! Love the sense that evokes of the early days of the series, just these fighty dorks being fighty dorks, even as both worlds hang in the balance.
Masaru and Agumon dodge some crystal missiles and keep running. The other three partners leap into the fray to help out, and destroy some more – still at Child-level, mind you. I guess those crystals aren’t actually very strong? Yggdrasil lashes out with vines as Masaru and Agumon get close, but they leap over the intended strikes and climb onto them. Given that the vines are significantly thicker than Masaru’s entire body, they make workable platforms; good job giving them a way to get close to you, Yggdrasil!
Agumon gets knocked into the air by another vine, but Masaru (somehow) manages to reach out and swing his own vine around to grab his partner’s hand before he can fall. Friends helping each other out and working together!
Yggdrasil goes for dirty tactics and fires more crystals at the defenceless Tohma, Yoshino and Ikuto. Their partners desperately leap in there to protect them – and they emerge from the ensuing smoke cloud in their Adult forms, carrying their humans.
Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute. Unable to compute.”
Yggdrasil’s still very much in computer-mode, and it does not understand how they could possibly have evolved like this when this isn’t how things are meant to work. I’m not sure either, to be entirely fair, but I appreciate that it annoys Yggdrasil.
Tohma:  “We didn’t even charge our Digisouls! How…?”
Gaogamon:  “I don’t know either.”
Peckmon:  “I just wanted to protect Ikuto.”
Sunflowmon:  “I wished for the strength to protect everyone.”
Apparently Digimon can evolve on their own, without Digisoul, if they’re desperate enough to protect their partners! It’s still a little questionable that this is only an eleventh-hour superpower they’re getting right now and they were never able to do this any of the other times their partners were in severe danger throughout the series. That does seem to have been firmly established as not how it works in this Digimon canon, even though it works that way in most. (Though I suppose Piyomon did kinda do this in episode 43?)
But still, it's neat to see them doing something new in the final battle as the two worlds are at stake. Maybe it’s the direness of the entire situation, or perhaps the sheer amount of human emotion that’s powering all of the Digimon right now, as seen last episode. Or maybe it’s just that, hey, screw rules and expectations and calculations, they’re gonna do it anyway. How Masaru of them.
And if nothing else, I appreciate having this send-off for each of the partners’ (except Agumon’s) other forms! I like their designs the most at these lower levels, so it’s nice to see them again, if briefly.
Yggdrasil: “You couldn’t defeat me with your Burst Modes, so why do you still fight against me? The probability of you winning is exceedingly close to 0%.”
Yggdrasil is being me whenever I see a Digimon fighting something at a higher evolution level than itself and acting like it stands a remote chance of winning. Which, thankfully, is not a thing that’s happened very often in Savers. Usually when it has it’s been Masaru’s doing, of course, because Masaru’s never given a damn about calculations and logic.
Masaru and Agumon keep climbing the vines, while the other three partners fire attacks at Yggdrasil’s body to distract it, spontaneously evolving into their Perfect forms as they do. The pair make it onto Yggdrasil’s body itself, which is slanted enough that they can keep running up it, dodging crystal lasers along the way.
Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute. Unable to compute.”
It’s a small thing, but there’s something I really like about the way Yggdrasil keeps insistently repeating this among the action and fighting. It cannot comprehend why these stubborn humans are even still trying. Clearly it has not been properly introduced to Masaru yet.
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The other three partners evolve again into their Ultimate-levels to protect themselves as they’re hit by attacks. There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it neat shot as Rosemon and Ravemon slice apart Yggdrasil’s vines, in which you can see the insides of them – they’re some kind of fancy optical cables, just like the vines at its tree.
Some more attacks give Masaru and Agumon a smoke cloud as cover, and just as Provocation Infinity reaches its climax, the pair leap in towards Yggdrasil’s face, ready to pu—
…Only it’s not time for that just yet. Yggdrasil catches them in its vines before they can get close enough, inflicting horrible pain on them with red lightning. As far as Yggdrasil saw all this, it really was a pointless endeavour. Masaru was never going to stand a chance.
Masaru’s teammates call out in worry at seeing him and Agumon helplessly in pain. So does Chika, who’s holding Kudamon in her arms. Further out from the fight, the Norsteins and Yushima, Miki and Megumi, and Sayuri, all watch on, not even able to see anything that’s going on except for the huge shape of Yggdrasil hanging over Mount Fuji and the columns of light from the Digimon who are still trying to hold the worlds apart. All of them can’t do anything but hope.
Masaru:  “Damn it!”
I appreciate this little outburst from Masaru as he and Agumon endure the red lightning; he must hate that the pain he’s in is making him so powerless to do anything right now.
Chika calls out again to her brothers, and then flares up in Digisoul from the sheer force of her desperation to see everything turn out all right.
Relena:  “The Digimon are protecting us. They’re fighting for us. […] You can do it, Digimon!”
Then, among the Norsteins’ group, Relena’s Digisoul activates, even though she doesn’t have a Digimon partner, as her emotions will the Digimon on. With the Noguchis and Satsuma, baby Yuka’s Digisoul makes an appearance, too. I like that it’s the children who manifest their Digisouls first here, since children do tend to be a lot more openly in touch with their emotions than adults. (Though Yuka is a bit much, because she ought to be too young to understand what’s happening, but shush.)
Also, a neat thing we can see here is that Digisoul colours run in families! We already saw that for the Daimons, but it’s true for everyone else; Relena’s is her brother’s cool blue, and Yuka’s is her brother’s purple.
After Miki and Megumi, Sayuri flares up with her Digisoul for the first time ever. It’s orange too, like that of Suguru and his kids, so evidently Digisouls run in families in a non-genetic way, because she’s not blood-related to Suguru. That makes sense, since it’s about emotion, not biology.
All over the world, every human is beginning to glow with Digisoul from the sheer strength of their will to not die. This emotion was already powering the Digimon last episode, but now it’s become strong enough and desperate enough to be visible, tangible Digisoul. We see the Hayase family from episode 9, the Shiratori family from episode 11, Neon from episode 8, to give us some characters we have vague reason to care about instead of random nobodies.
There’s Ivan too, with all of his siblings, and Nanami, who despite her nature has become desperate enough to be praying along with a group of other people. (This is how I knew the Bio-Hybrids weren’t actually dead when they were ambiguously defeated in their episodes.)
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…Apparently the default Digisoul colour for unimportant characters is a sickly yellow, because there’s no variety in the hues for anybody else. Shame; I guess the animation budget only stretched so far.
From their place atop Mount Fuji, the DATS group can see the columns of Digisoul shooting up from all over the world, and the Digimon partners can feel it.
Yggdrasil: “Why do you interfere with me? The probability of your survival is equal to 0%.”
Are you still sure about that, Yggdrasil? There’s an awful lot of Digisoul floating around right now. It doesn’t seem like it’s factoring that into its calculations.
But hey, Masaru’s here – and since when did he ever care about something like calculations?
Ikuto:  “That’s wrong! The power of each person on its own might be small…”
Tohma:  “But the power of cherishing our friends and comrades… is infinite!”
Yoshino:  “We want to stay with each other… Forever!”
The DATS crew aren’t even making it about the Digisoul of every single human on Earth, but instead about the sheer power of even a few people’s Digisoul. Because friends! Of course they want to stay with their Digimon partners forever! Digimon and humans deserve a world where they can live together!
Piyomon:  “I want to live with Chika… and the humans, too!”
Gotsumon:  “So do… So do I!”
Even the Digimon who’ve only recently met and got to know humans think so too, when they haven’t had their views affected by Kurata’s atrocities! It’s neat that even Gotsumon’s saying this – look how much a reboot to remove all that bigotry has done for him.
The Royal Knights are still there too, fighting to physically hold the worlds apart. Rather than have their own bodies give out under the strain, the ground beneath them crumbles from the sheer weight they’re holding up, because Ultimate-levels are just that strong I guess.
Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute! Unable to compute!”
Though it’s still acting like a computer, Yggdrasil’s voice is beginning to sound a lot more emotional and insistent. No, this doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be possible, Yggdrasil’s not supposed to be wrong about anything. What do you mean this many humans and Digimon actually want to live together, and they might actually have the power to make that a reality. That’s not how Yggdrasil’s neat and tidy little Digimon experiment was supposed to go.
Masaru:  “You’ll… never understand!”
Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute!”
Masaru:  “It’s true that we fight a lot over stupid things, and sometimes we even hate each other. From your point of view, we might have evolved in the wrong direction. But…!”
Not sure if Masaru’s talking about only humans, or both humans and Digimon here. It’d work either way, since at this point Yggdrasil’s trying to reboot both worlds.
Freed from the red lightning by now, Masaru and Agumon manage to reach out to each other and join hands as they give the climax of their speech. Friends doing this together!
Agumon:  “Human emotions… make us Digimon stronger!”
Masaru:  “And the Digimon… give us both dreams and courage!”
Masaru & Agumon: “There’s no limit to how far we can evolve!”
Masaru’s side of this is… frankly a bit generic; I wish he’d said something more distinctly Masaru than just talking about dreams and courage. But Agumon’s got the real point here, and it’s something Yggdrasil can’t possibly deny. Digimon and humans are intrinsically connected. They have a symbiotic relationship where they can make each other stronger. Given that inherent law of the universe, how can there be anything wrong with them wanting to create a world where both species can live together, even if it might take some fighting and strife to get there?
As the lyrics of Believer kick in, a huge column of Digisoul erupts from their linked hands, vaporising the vines they’re trapped in, and Agumon evolves into…
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…Agumon Burst Mode! Which might seem a bit silly, but I actually love this. Digimon series like to end on the main protagonist gaining some kind of eleventh-hour final super ultra strong extra special evolution, which tends to be your usual armoured humanoid dude – so I really like that, in this case, it’s still Agumon. He’s grown big enough for Masaru to suddenly be able to ride him, but it still very much seems like that character we know and love as Masaru’s dork of a best friend and partner. It makes their triumph hit harder when it still feels like him.
Masaru:  “Learn your lesson, Yggdrasil! This is the humans’…”
Agumon:  “And the Digimon’s…”
Masaru & Agumon: “Power!”
They mean this, too, because I don’t think this is just Masaru’s power manifesting here. This isn’t Masaru turning out to be extra super sparkly-special in the final moments for no particular reason. This is the power of every single human on Earth’s desire to not freaking die, and all of that Digisoul latching onto and happening to use Agumon as an avatar for it, simply because he and Masaru are at the centre of things and happen to be the most personally determined to prove this point to Yggdrasil right now.
This might be the most justified eleventh-hour superpower in any Digimon series, because of just how great a length this whole series has gone to establish Digisoul and the power of human emotion as a tangible force that can influence Digimon and make them stronger. Of course that much Digisoul would have one hell of an effect.
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Agumon and Masaru fly at Yggdrasil, who erects a shield of energy in front of itself. They keep pushing, shattering not only the shield but also blowing a huge gaping hole through Yggdrasil’s body.
Yggdrasil: “This is inconceivable! The probability of you defeating me is…”
Yggdrasil doesn’t finish that sentence. Maybe it’s beginning to realise that the probability isn’t as low as it’d previously thought and doesn’t want to admit that. Or maybe it’s just that the “eye” in its body here explodes before it can finish saying that.
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Out of the explosion flies a crystalline humanoid figure – apparently, Yggdrasil’s real true physical form, which it was keeping hidden safely inside its much larger body. It’s not actually as strong as it was trying to make itself look with all that godly posturing.
Masaru:  “YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!”
Masaru clearly realises this is Yggdrasil trying to bail out of here before it can be forced to admit defeat, and he refuses to let that happen. He swerves Agumon’s path back around – Agumon’s claw-strap thingies have grown long enough that Masaru’s holding onto them like reins – and then leaps off Agumon’s back to punch the god right in the face.
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…Or, perhaps, he’s punching the computer’s relatively fragile interface. And hasn’t Masaru always been one for, uh, “fixing” computer problems by hitting them as hard as he can?
That’s one way you could sum up the climax of Savers. Masaru fixes a very serious computer problem by hitting it really hard.
They’re still really good at timing these climactic fight scenes with Believer, by the way. The final line of the chorus plays over the punch and Yggdrasil’s face shattering, and it hits just right.
Yggdrasil’s body erupts into a blinding explosion, Agumon urgently swoops in there to try and catch his aniki, and everything turns white.
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And with that, it’s the opening! There’s something really neat, and really final, about how the opening in this last episode happens right after the climax of the big world-saving fight.
Something else I also like about the finality of this opening is that the fansubbers I’ve been watching, for the only episode in the series, added subs crediting themselves during the opening. Again, it helps drive home that it really is the end, and, hey, they deserve it. Shout-outs to the fansub group who called themselves Ryuu-Rogue way back when for allowing me and many other non-Japanese-speakers to experience Digimon Savers in its original intended form.
Anyway, the opening itself has this shot at the end where the main and supporting cast line up (except Yushima apparently? Sorry, dude), so that seems like a perfect shot to highlight in this final episode as we give a send-off to everyone.
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Also, the final final shot of the opening has Masaru and Agumon leap towards the screen like the dorky friends they are, which is adorable.
After the opening, Masaru and Agumon wake up floating in a white void.
Agumon:  “What is this place?”
Masaru:  “Heaven? No, of course not…”
Apparently it briefly crosses Masaru’s mind that they might have died, but then he brushes it off. No, of course not, there’s no way Masaru would have just lost like that.
Yggdrasil’s there, not even in its humanoid form that we just saw, but simply as a floating crystal. Perhaps in some ways, it doesn’t really have a true form, because its essence is simply a computer consciousness.
It’s not dead, of course. No matter how hard Masaru punched its fragile physical form, that wasn’t ever going to happen. I think Yggdrasil literally meant it last episode when it said that death doesn’t exist for a God. It’s the overarching consciousness that runs the entire Digital World; I doubt it’s even possible to destroy that.
Yggdrasil could never have been defeated or destroyed. What Masaru and his friends always needed to do was change its mind – and here it is, talking to Masaru and Agumon, because they’ve managed to achieve that.
Yggdrasil: “You two have shown me your abilities. It was indeed an enormous power, far beyond what I anticipated.”
Just like Masaru did when he managed to break Craniummon’s shield and prove humanity’s potential to him – he’s managed to prove it to Yggdrasil now, too! By punching it! Masaru always has been about communicating his feelings with his fists, hasn’t he? That’s why it took Masaru of all people to do this: not because he’s the strongest, but because of his very distinctive way of getting through to people. He’s so good at that that he’s even managed to get through to a god that was hellbent on rebooting two entire worlds.
(And it needed to be someone like Masaru, rather than someone like Tohma, to pierce through Yggdrasil’s hyper-logical worldview and teach it that things don’t always go according to calculations.)
An interesting thing to note here is that Yggdrasil’s no longer speaking like a computer and is back to using its more human-sounding androgynous voice. It dropped any pretence of not being a computer last episode when it stopped even bothering to try and sound like it cared about anybody’s interests but its own. But now that it’s accepted Masaru’s point of view and is willing to hear him out, it seems it wants to go back to pretending to be something more of a person than it really is, perhaps for the sake of making him see it in a better light. Yggdrasil’s definitely a benevolent god and not a tantrum-throwing computer, right, everyone can just forget that whole episode happened.
Yggdrasil:  “But I still don’t understand. Why do you wish to live together in one world? If the two worlds between humans and Digimon combine, more conflict may arise.”
Hyper-logical as it is, Yggdrasil still can’t quite grasp why they’re not going for the simplest, most minimally dangerous option. At its core, to begin with, it wanted to wipe out humans because they caused conflict and problems with its nice neat isolated Digital World. Even though it hypocritically allowed the conflict to escalate in order to serve its own end goal, it still can’t see why anybody would want that in and of itself.
Agumon:  “We can’t learn to appreciate each other if we’re scared of getting hurt.”
Masaru:  “Agumon…” [to Yggdrasil] “You know, ever since I met this guy, I realised that by talking with these fists of mine, I could come to understand the other person no matter who they were.”
Good old Masaru! This is getting nicely into some of the overall themes of the series, about Digimon and humans learning to get along and live in harmony despite all the strife and pain that can come from their interactions. And it fits neatly with Masaru’s philosophy of communication through fighting in general. He really did only develop that philosophy throughout this series, thanks to how he befriended Agumon at the beginning! It’s that which we have to thank for him being able to get through to Yggdrasil and solve all this in the end.
Agumon’s line also reminds me of what Masaru said to Kurata in episode 25 when decrying his cowardice – that when you fight someone, you acknowledge that doing so is going to cause pain both for them and for yourself, and you need to accept that pain instead of running away from it. Being too afraid to even get at all hurt in the first place when interacting with others is only going to lead down Kurata’s path.
It’s like Masaru was saying to Yggdrasil before punching it out, too – sometimes people hate each other and fight over stupid things, but that’s just an unavoidable part of how people work! That doesn’t mean you go erasing them all; it just means you have to learn to work with it and find a way to get along anyway.
Yggdrasil:  “I see. Then I shall lay myself to rest once more and watch over you. Whether or not a world shared among humans and Digimon becomes a reality… will depend on your abilities.”
Having been convinced that humans have enough potential to deserve a chance for harmony between them and Digimon, Yggdrasil… promptly decides it’s going to have nothing to do with actually creating that harmony itself and retreats back to its original position of noninterfering observer. Thanks, Yggdrasil. Very helpful. After all the effort Suguru went to get its help on forging this harmony between the species, it turns out Yggdrasil’s best possible stance on the subject is, “eh, don’t look at me, do it yourselves?”
Maybe it just realises that figuring out the complexities of how to resolve interpersonal conflicts is really not its wheelhouse and it wouldn’t have the first clue how to help. But of course it doesn’t want to admit that.
As to whether or not Masaru and co. actually will create that world themselves? …Well, it’s literally the final episode of the series, so it’s not like they’ve got time to do it now. It’s almost like there ought to have been a sequel series following up on this or something. If only.
Masaru:  “Hey! Wait a second!”
I like how Masaru seems indignant as Yggdrasil just up and leaves. Looks like he also feels like Yggdrasil ought to be taking more responsibility onto itself in actually helping them create this harmony and not just peacing out and leaving them to it. Of course he would.
As Yggdrasil floats away, Masaru hears Yoshino’s voice calling for him to wake up, and then suddenly he’s regaining consciousness, lying on the ground at Mount Fuji’s summit. Seems like he and Agumon were unconscious in reality while Yggdrasil was communicating with them, because it can just do that, I guess.
Tohma:  “Geez, you’re such a character.”
Yoshino:  “Don’t worry us any more, okay?”
Aww, it’s cute that they were worried. Seeing Masaru and Agumon be so close to the blinding explosion from Yggdrasil and then take longer than the rest of them to wake up certainly must have given them a fright for a minute. It doesn’t seem like they had any idea he was talking to Yggdrasil, so we can assume they weren’t doing so themselves.
Masaru:  “What happened to Yggdrasil? And the Digital World?”
Ikuto:  “It’s alright now! […] The dimensional barrier is restored!”
Falcomon:  “It looks like they were able to safely isolate it from the human world!”
Indeed, as they look up into the sky – which is now a usual Earth sunset or sunrise – they see nothing but an ordinary-sized Digital Gate, slowly closing. The barrier’s been fixed. Because Yggdrasil can just do that. It could always have done that, right from the start. This conflict was always about finding a way to change Yggdrasil’s mind so that it actually wanted to.
(No, the barrier has not been fixed due to the efforts of Ikuto’s parents; if that were the case, it would have been mentioned. Falcomon says “they”, but the Japanese sentence does not actually have a subject there. It has to be Yggdrasil who fixed it. That’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense.)
Dukemon:  “This is thanks to all of you. […] Your Digisouls… have awoken a miracle!”
I’m going to assume that by “miracle”, Dukemon means changing Yggdrasil’s mind, which does indeed seem pretty miraculous to me. It makes less sense that the power of humanity’s Digisouls would just somehow magically have fixed the barrier on its own.
Craniummon: “You were magnificent, Daimon Masaru. You are without a doubt our true saviour!”
That’s a little bit overplaying it, Craniummon. Yeah, it all centred on Masaru in the end, but it was really just him happening to be the right kind of guy in the right place at the right time to communicate all of humanity’s emotions and power to Yggdrasil.
The Royal Knights zoom away into the Digital Gate before it closes, back to their own world. Hopefully they’re going to start thinking for themselves more when it comes to protecting it, now that their god’s gone back into a dormant state.
A helicopter arrives at the top of Mount Fuji. Satsuma, Miki and Megumi have gone and rounded up the loved ones of everyone who was just here fighting, so that they can all have a big reunion now that everything’s over.
Ikuto’s parents are the first to leave the helicopter. Ikuto stares at them with tears in his eyes – this is the first time he’s seen them since he left for the Digital World to fight Kurata, back in episode 27. He rushes into his dad’s arms (because his mom’s got her hands full with his baby sister).
Ikuto:  “Dad… Mom… I’m home!”
Kenji:  “Welcome home, Ikuto.”
These are those Japanese family phrases that Kenji taught him just before he left in episode 27! Ikuto’s finally getting to use them! Aww.
Relena’s the next out; she manages a few steps out of her wheelchair to hug her big brother.
Tohma:  “Relena…”
Relena:  “Thank goodness, Brother… I’m so glad you’re all right!”
Tohma:  “I’m sorry for worrying you, Relena.”
Aww, Relena must have been so worried about her brother, out there fighting to save the world, especially because she hasn’t even met all of the friends he has to fight alongside, other than Gaomon.
Also, this is the first time there’s been a Norstein family moment with any of the rest of the DATS crew around. Though it’s not focused on, Masaru must be watching this and seeing for the first time that Tohma has a little sister, just like him! It’s almost a shame that we never got to have any of Masaru’s thoughts on Tohma’s family situation, given how delightfully parallel their families are. But then, I suppose that might be because the Norsteins are probably all actually speaking to each other in German, so Masaru wouldn’t be able to interact with that. Still, even if he doesn’t understand their words, I’m sure he can see that this is Tohma’s little sister all right.
Tohma:  “Father…”
Franz:  “Thank you, Tohma.”
Tohma:  “Yes, Dad.”
This is Tohma calling his father Dad for the first time! Or, the first time since he tried to as a little kid the day they left Japan and his father brushed him off. After their reconciliation in episode 42, and then this dangerous situation in which they must both have been afraid they’d never see each other again, it seems that was just enough to break down the barrier between them and make Tohma finally feel comfortable calling him that.
Yushima, Miki and Megumi also reunite with their Digimon partners, who were up here trying to help hold the worlds apart.
Gotsumon:  “It sure is great that everything worked out!”
Yoshino:  “What are you doing here?”
Gotsumon:  “Hey! Hey, don’t say that! I did my best, too!”
Yes, Gotsumon, you definitely helped out loads. To be fair to him, he did contribute as much as any of the non-main Digimon, but it is very him to flail in indignation when he’s treated like he wasn’t actually that important. I do kinda get the sense that this reborn Gotsumon awkwardly wishes he was more of a part of this group’s camaraderie than he knows he actually is. Which, hey, progress? I think?
Chika’s had Kudamon in her arms since Dukemon brought him up here, and now she hands him back to Satsuma so that he can take his rightful place around his partner’s neck. Satsuma has his weaselscarf back!
Sayuri’s the last person to leave the helicopter. Chika rushes to hug her.
Chika:  “I’m sorry for making you worry!”
Sayuri:  “It’s all right. I believed that Masaru and Agu-chan would protect you.”
Aww, at least Chika knows how much her mom worries about her being in danger and knew that going off to fight with Piyomon would definitely make her do that. And of course Sayuri coped by holding onto the belief that Masaru and Agumon would be able to keep them safe. She’s so good and brave.
Masaru doesn’t approach his mom, looking hesitant. There’s some bad news he needs to give her, and it’s not easy for him to bring it up.
Masaru:  “Mom… I…”
Sayuri:  “Masaru?”
Masaru:  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep my promise. I couldn’t bring Dad back with me.”
Aaa, Masaruuu. It’s heartbreaking how he can only bring himself to phrase this as not keeping his promise and not bringing his dad back. That way it’s more like that same old status quo of his dad simply Not Being There, and he doesn’t have to think about the fact that his dad died protecting both worlds (let alone the fact that it was Masaru himself who killed him).
Sayuri:  “I was prepared for that. That man… Suguru-san has become the wind blowing through the Digital World. Even if we can’t see him, I’m sure he’ll always be watching over us from the other world.”
Even without Masaru saying it, Sayuri knows what he means – that her husband didn’t make it. Despite what she’d said in previous episodes that she believed Masaru would bring Suguru back, it seems she also remained realistic about his chances of doing so and prepared herself for the worst as well. She’s able to frame it in this lovely way immediately, as a comfort to herself but even more importantly as a comfort to her kids, because she knows they must need it. Man, she’s so good, I love her.
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Sayuri and Chika step forward and hug Masaru. He stands there and accepts it, but doesn’t hug back, not admitting that he needs it. Come on, Masaru, you stubborn idiot, hug your mom, it’s okay, you’ve been through so much.
Except, never mind all that, as a voice suddenly calls out to them – and it’s Suguru, alive and well and back in his own body, striding towards them. Masaru’s eyes widen in amazed disbelief as he realises who it is.
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I love the desperate, stumbling way Masaru rushes towards him here, like he’s so overcome with relief he can barely contain himself.
Masaru:  “You’re really… You’re really my dad, right?”
Aaaaa, after having been wrong about it before and had to suffer the horrible pain that brought, Masaru wants to make absolutely sure he’s not getting it wrong again and this really isn’t too good to be true.
Suguru:  “Yeah. The one and only yours truly.”
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Man, look at Suguru’s big dorky smile and over-the-top phrasing about simply being himself. Again, can you see where Masaru gets it from.
Masaru:  “But… how…?”
Suguru:  “Yggdrasil restored me to life.”
Because Yggdrasil’s a god, so it can just do that! But really, though. I’m sure some people might find Suguru’s sudden revival to be cheap, but I personally don’t mind it at all. Aside from anything else, I think it makes decent sense in-universe as something Yggdrasil might do. Now that it’s become less up itself and has acknowledged humanity’s worth, it’s probably done some reflection and realised that it really, really screwed over Suguru in particular throughout all of this. Suguru wouldn’t have died if not for all of Yggdrasil’s actions – and also, Suguru’s one of the best people to keep around if we want to try and forge that world of harmony between humans and Digimon. Yggdrasil must have figured that the least it can do is make up for one of its biggest mistakes and give Suguru his life back.
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Anyway, Chika also approaches her dad and stares up at him in utter wonder. This is the first time in her life that she’s ever seen him, as himself, here and real and alive rather than as some legendary fantasy in her head.
Suguru:  “Chika! You’ve sure grown big.”
Suguru kneels down and ruffles her hair while saying this, the same thing he also said to Masaru two episodes ago when he was still a lion. He hasn’t seen his kids in ten years; he must be bursting with pride and emotion to get to see them having grown so much bigger and stronger without him.
Chika:  “Dad… Dad! Dad!”
Chika breaks into happy tears at this simple gesture alone. She finally has a dad now, like she’s been missing and desperately waiting for all this time. Aaaa.
Suguru:  “Sayuri… I’ve caused you to worry.”
Sayuri:  “Don’t leave us any more, okay?”
Suguru:  “Yeah, I promise.”
Sayuriii. It’s so understated, but she’s on the verge of tears here, too, finally letting herself express how she feels about her husband’s disappearance – and she just doesn’t want him to disappear on her ever again.
I love the Daimon family so much and it warms my heart to get to see them happy and reunited like this. They deserve it, dammit, sanctity of narrative consequences be damned.
But, see, I also don’t personally feel that Suguru coming back here particularly cheapens the moment of his death in any way. Back when that happened in episode 46, both Suguru and Masaru absolutely believed it would be permanent, so all of the emotions they felt at the time were still just as raw and real. That doesn’t change just because he comes back here. I still enjoy that part of episode 46 just as much, even knowing Suguru’s not actually going to stay dead.
And while this might seem a little unnecessary in that it’s not like the writers had to bring Suguru back because there’s hardly any series left for him to do anything in anyway (alas, that hypothetical sequel, of which we can only dream), I do think there is actually a very specific reason why they needed to have Suguru back in the Daimon family in order for the rest of this episode to work as they’d intended it. More on that later on.
Suguru:  “We’ll always be together from now on.”
Well, I say they’re happily reunited, but, uhhhh, about that.
As the Digital Gate in the sky closes up, we cut to some time later. Probably quite a while later, based on the fact that the DATS HQ is in the process of being rebuilt and is functioning again on the lower levels, including the main control room. Everything seems to be gradually getting back to normal, with all the destruction slowly being repaired. (I gather that Japan in particular is good at rebuilding things quickly, thanks to all the earthquakes they get.)
Masaru:  “What? You’re closing the Digital Gate?”
Specifically, everyone’s gathered for this announcement. It’s a bit of a weird way for Masaru to phrase it, since it’s not like there’s any Digital Gates open right now that need to be closed, but what it really means is that very soon they’re not going to be opening any more Digital Gates for travel between the two worlds at all.
Satsuma:  “The dimensional barrier has been restored, and all of the people who had disappeared have returned.”
Remember those missing people other than Ikuto who were part of the reason the expedition happened ten years ago? Because I would not remotely blame you if you didn’t. Apparently they… somehow…? came back home??? It’s honestly rather silly that the writers felt the need to clean up that loose end that never mattered and that nobody would even remember or care about if not reminded of it here, in a way that’s just never explained. It’d be better to just not mention it and have us passively assume that all the other missing people must have died in the Digital World.
Satsuma:  “But that does not change the fact that its condition is still unstable. That’s why we’ve decided to close the Gate for some time.”
This seems fair as a reason to not have any inter-world contact for a while. The barrier needs time to heal itself, and while the Digital Dive machine is a cleaner way to open Gates than the space-time bombs, it’s probably still not a great idea to go opening Gates everywhere while the barrier’s still fragile. Don’t want another repeat of the dimensional collision that we nearly had.
Tohma:  “For how long?”
Yushima:  “We don’t know. Maybe for a year or ten years… Perhaps it’ll stay closed forever.”
NO, it will not!!! There are plenty of people here who will make absolutely sure that it does not stay this way forever and gets opened again sometime in the future, thank you very much!!!!! Yushima, why are you being so chill about maybe never seeing your turtle friend ever again, come on.
Masaru:  “Then, what’s gonna happen? What about our promise to create a world that humans and Digimon can share together?”
Exactly! It’s such unfortunate timing that, right after this fight with Yggdrasil in which Masaru and friends fervently insisted that Digimon and humans can and should live together, they now have to go and separate the two worlds for a long while for the sake of dimensional safety.
As this discussion has been going on, the camera’s been panning out to show us that the humans and the Digimon partners are standing in two separate groups on either side of the room.
Agumon:  “Um… Actually, there’s something we’d like to discuss with you about that.”
It seems like the Digimon must have been told about this earlier by themselves, if they’ve already come to a decision on what to do about it. They’re here, awkwardly separate from their partners, to break the news to them - the news that they want to return to the Digital World.
Gotsumon:  “For us, we’ve just lost our God. Everyone’s upset and confused.”
Falcomon:  “That’s why we’d like to help rebuild the Digital World!”
Gotsumon’s statement that this is about them having lost their God is a bit silly, because most Digimon didn’t even seem to know that Yggdrasil existed, and it’s not like Yggdrasil ever actually did anything helpful for Digimon-kind in general, did it. But it’s true that all of the Digimon must be upset and confused right now, not because of Yggdrasil, but because of having recently endured a genocide followed by an apocalypse, the reasons for which most of them wouldn’t even understand.
The Digimon partners need to go to the Digital World to explain what happened and act as spokespeople on behalf of humanity. There’s probably still an awful lot of hatred and prejudice about humans floating around in the Digital World right now, thanks to Kurata’s awfulness, so someone needs to spread the word among Digimon that that was only one human and most humans are much better than that.
…Much like the human members of DATS are also going to need to be doing in their world on behalf of the Digimon, since most humans probably still think Digimon are horrible vicious invaders like Kurata insisted they were.
Lalamon:  “We believe that in the near future, there will truly be a time when humans and Digimon can live together. That’s why…”
That’s why Savers deserved to have a sequel! Everyone keeps stressing their desire to create this world where the two species can live in harmony, but it’s not happening yet! Everything’s still a mess of confusion and pain and prejudice after all that’s happened, and it’d be so good to be able to actually see all of our friends here try and rebuild things from the ashes and eventually reach a point where the worlds can be together again. All of this talk is quite possibly the biggest most obvious sequel hook any end to a Digimon series has given, and it makes me so sad that we’ll never have that.
Masaru:  “That’s why what?!”
Agumon:  “A-Aniki…”
Masaru in particular is not happy to hear that his best friend and partner’s planning to just up and leave like that. Never mind that he’s got a good reason for it; Masaru doesn’t want this!
We cut straight to Harbour View Park, where Masaru punches Agumon to the ground. He brought him right to this special place where they first met each other, and he’s going to communicate to Agumon exactly how much pain he’s feeling about this decision, through his fists!
Masaru:  “What’s this crap about leaving? You traitor!”
Aaaaa, Masaruuu, it’s heartbreaking that he feels that Agumon leaving like this is a betrayal. Wasn’t Agumon supposed to be his follower, who’d go anywhere with him and always fight by his side?
Agumon:  “You can punch me all you want… But I’ve already made up my mind!”
Masaru:  “And I’m saying that’s too selfish of you! I thought of you as if you were my little brother… So why…?!”
Masaru! He really is Agumon’s aniki – which, remember, can mean big brother – and that means Agumon really has always been like a little brother to him! Masaru’s assuming here that Agumon must not have any particular feelings about leaving him for the Digital World – but, still, he feels it’s selfish of Agumon to not be considering how he feels about having to say goodbye to his best friend and brother possibly forever! Aaaaaa.
Agumon:  “Even I…!”
[he gets to his feet and punches Masaru in the face]
Agumon:  “Even I want to stay with you forever, Aniki!”
But of course Agumon has painful feelings about this, too! Of course he doesn’t want to have to leave his aniki any more than Masaru wants him to leave! Masaru must have not realised this until now due to the way Agumon was trying to hide it, because he’s made up his mind anyway and so it’s hard to think about that part – but of course he’s hurting just as much. He delivers a punch of his own to Masaru here to communicate that pain of his right back. They’re both hurting, equally, over this.
Masaru:  “Then…! Then why don’t you just stay here?!”
Agumon:  “I *can’t*!”
Masaru stares at Agumon in surprise at that, having not realised this could be a matter of Agumon not feeling like he really has a choice in this.
Agumon:  “The Gate is going to close. There won’t be any more Digimon incidents. So what’ll that make me? I’ll just be one big *nuisance* who spends his entire time sleeping and getting fat on Sayuri’s fried eggs!”
AGUMON. Aaaaaa. You were never a nuisance in the Daimon family! It’s so heartbreaking that he feels like he doesn’t properly belong in the human world, and in a human family, if there aren’t any more Digimon for him to fight.
But as heartbreaking as that is, it is understandable. This whole time he’s been here, there has kind of been this DATS-centric framing of “he’s here to help Masaru fight Digimon”, so Agumon may have internalised that more than he should have. And even if he looks beyond that… it’s still going to feel really weird and alienating for him, being stuck as the only Digimon in a human world that he doesn’t understand that well. He must have given it a lot of thought and realised that… he really couldn’t do that. Even if it means having to say goodbye to Aniki.
Masaru:  “Agumon…”
Masaru seems taken aback. I don’t think he ever realised that his follower had been feeling that way about this, either. Aaaa.
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Agumon:  “I can’t forget the days I fought together with you. I…! I want to keep having adventures with you, Aniki!”
Look at poor Agumon in tears over this. Of course he wants to be able to keep having fun fighty times together with his aniki! But… you just can’t get those in a human world where no more Digimon are going to show up.
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Masaru:  “Well…! Even I…! Even I want to be with you! I want to keep running wild with you everywhere until I die!!!”
Masaruuu! He lurches forward with desperate emotion as he says this, a glint of tears visible in his eyes too, just for a split-second. Of course both of these fighty dorks just want to keep fighting things and having adventures together forever. It’s not fair on them that they seem to be getting forced into a situation where that’s not going to be possible any more.
The sky, which has been gloomily overcast all day to match the mood, breaks out into some Anime Sads Rain for the last time, to punctuate the moment. Something about that seems to make Masaru stop protesting and miserably accept it, as much as he hates it.
Masaru:  “Go to the Digital World. This world is too small for you. Go back to the world you belong in.”
Masaru’s voice sounds bitter and angry here – and it is, because he’s in so much pain over this and he doesn’t know how to express that properly – but this is also said out of kindness and consideration to Agumon. He must realise that Agumon would be better off in the Digital World, where there’s fights and adventures, and then at least one of them will be happier. Part of that bitterness in his tone must be out of jealousy at the fact that Agumon has this world he belongs in, while Masaru doesn’t.
(And yet, as he says this, perhaps it’s starting to cross his mind that… maybe the human world’s too small for him, too.)
Agumon:  “Aniki…”
Agumon must be upset that his aniki can’t bring himself to accept this and say any kind of goodbye in a less painful and bitter way than this. After a long pause, he turns and walks away, sobbing quietly to himself, leaving Masaru there alone on his hands and knees in anguish.
Aaaaaaa, these friends, this scene breaks my heart every time, I love it.
Elsewhere, Tohma’s watching the Anime Sads Rain outside his mansion window, also sharing that same mood, when Gaomon brings him a cup of tea. He takes a sip, and…
Tohma:  “This is…”
Gaomon:  “It’s an original blend. I call it ‘Our Vow to Meet Again’.”
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GAOMON, what an absolute sweetheart, I love him. Look at his shy little blush and tail wag as he says it, too! I assume he also left the recipe for this new blend with Tohma so that his master can keep drinking it in his absence and thinking of the day they’ll meet again, aww.
Gaomon:  “My Master…! Is no-one else but you.”
Gaaah, the way Gaomon blurts that out, out of nowhere, and then just stands there staring up at him for a long moment. He’s such a good loyal dog. He says he’s not a dog, but he is. Best dog.
In an arcade out in town, Yoshino and Lalamon are having one last night out, like the regular friends and sisters they are. Lalamon fiercely bashes one of those arcade machines that test your punching strength. Now that Digimon are a known thing, she can actually be out of her Digivice and joining in! There’s a bunch of other people there watching, but none of them are batting an eye at the presence of a Digimon here. Good signs for the future!
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Lalamon then insists Yoshino has a go too, and she punches her palm as she prepares. She’s clearly taking a leaf out of Masaru’s book; embrace your inner banchou, Yoshino!
…In fact, she gets so into it that she accidentally summons her Digisoul, and we know how much that can power up a punch. She ends up breaking the machine. Oops. The furious arcade owner kicks her and Lalamon out into the Anime Sads Rain that’s still going on.
Yoshino:  “That sure surprised me! I’ll have to apologise to them later.”
Lalamon:  “But… it made me feel a bit relieved. Because you’ve become stronger.”
Yoshino:  “That’s not true, Lalamon.”
Aww, come on, Yoshino, of course it is. Though it hurts that Yoshino’s still being too hard on herself, I love that Lalamon can see this, and that she’s thinking about Yoshino’s growth, on this final day before they have to part ways. (Guhhh, they’ve known each other and been together every day for over a decade.)
Lalamon:  “You’re not the Yoshino who couldn’t play piano by herself any more. Even if I go back to the Digital World, I can keep singing the song you gave me.”
Lalamon still really cares about that song that brought them together, and is thinking of what it means for Yoshino that she’s so much stronger now than she was on that day they met! Lalamon really has been the catalyst for all of Yoshino’s growth. Aww.
Out of nowhere, upon hearing this, Yoshino pulls Lalamon into a big hug, to her yelp of surprise. Aaa, they are FRIENDS.
Miki and Megumi are still at the DATS HQ, polishing their PawnChessmon’s armour and thanking them for everything.
Miki:  “I wish we had more time to hang out… Then we could’ve gone to the hot springs, or karaoke…”
Megumi:  “How about we do that now?”
Miki:  “Seriously?”
Megumi:  “Yeah! The night is young!”
Aww, they’re also gonna go have one last night out with their partners, now that they can actually hang out of their Digivices and join in! I’d sure love to see the PawnChessmon do karaoke. (…The joke is that they’re mute.)
Satsuma crosses paths with Miki and Megumi as they leave the control room and he enters. He sits down in his command seat, perhaps just for old times’ sake, and Kudamon settles around his neck.
Satsuma:  “You’re here.”
Kudamon:  “This place relaxes me the most.”
Satsuma:  “Me too.”
Aww, Kudamon. He likes being a scarf! Satsuma likes him being a scarf! They are good scarf friends.
[Satsuma chuckles]
Kudamon:  “So even you can laugh.”
Also look at Kudamon affectionately ribbing Satsuma for being so serious all the time. The same could be said for you, too, Kudamon, you super-serious Royal Knight, you.
Somewhere outside, the full moon overhead, Yushima’s sharing some kind of alcohol with Kamemon, and also Gotsumon. I guess nobody else wanted to awkwardly include Gotsumon in their heartfelt goodbye moments, but Yushima’s got him covered. He’s chill enough for that.
Yushima:  “What a beautiful moon.”
Kamemon:  “It is. But tonight is the last time we can see the moon like this.”
Kamemon’s being more talkative than usual! Perhaps it’s because he’s (almost) alone with Yushima – or perhaps it’s just that Yushima’s getting him drunk, which might make him a bit less shy.
Yushima:  “Kamemon. Sometimes the moon looks as if it’s changed shape, but it really stays circular all the time. Come back any time. I’ll always be waiting.”
In true Yushima fashion, he gets across his feelings in a metaphor. Something something things may seem different on the surface but they actually don’t fundamentally change underneath, so their bond will always be the same even if they’re far apart? Something like that.
Out on a pylon overlooking the city, Ikuto and Falcomon are sitting up there like the birds they are. (Most of the city is covered in scaffolding, as one would expect; there’s a lot of rebuilding to be done.)
Falcomon:  “A lot of things have happened to us.”
Ikuto:  “Too many things.”
They sure have, for these two in particular. It’s nice that they’ve finally got this quiet moment together to reflect and process it all.
Ikuto:  “Falcomon. I’ll go back to the Digital World, too. I’ll make a new Digital World together with everyone else!”
Oh, Ikuto. Of course he’d want to do that and go and help with the restoration over there; it’s his home, much more than the human world is. But even as he says this, he’s kind of subdued about it – I think he realises on some level that, as much as he wants to, he can’t actually do this.
Falcomon:  “You can’t, Ikuto. What about your mom and dad? Your family was finally able to welcome you back home.”
Falcomon gets it, even though it’s not his family. Poor Misuzu would not be able to deal with Ikuto disappearing on her again, and none of them want to put her through that. It’s heartbreaking that Falcomon has to be the one to voice it, even though Ikuto knows that just as well and has much more of an actual connection to the Noguchis than Falcomon does.
Ikuto:  “But I… I’m family with Falcomon, too! I don’t want to say goodbye!”
But of course he is, and of course he doesn’t, and aaaa. Ikuto breaks into tears as he says this, which sets Falcomon off too, and the two of them just lean against each other and sob. Gahhhh, they’re just kids, and they’ve been together their whole lives, and now they have no choice but to say goodbye for who knows how long and this is heartbreaking.
The next morning, it’s time for the final Digital Dive for the Digimon, and (almost) everyone has gathered in the DATS control room. Chika is hugging Piyomon with one last tearful goodbye. (Piyomon seems kind of low-key about returning the gesture, which makes me suspect that he still didn’t consciously remember everything and is only going off his affection for her in this one most recent life.) Even Sayuri and Suguru came to see the Digimon off. But Masaru’s not there.
Tohma:  “He must not want to say goodbye.”
Oh, Masaru. That would indeed be a very plausible reason as to why he’s not here. He is not good at big displays of heartfelt emotion, at least not when those emotions are painful and negative, and it would be very him to not want to do that in front of everyone else. Even while alone with Agumon, he could still only manage to express those emotions through punching him.
Agumon:  “Stupid Aniki.”
Poor Agumon, knowing that his aniki’s stubbornness and difficulty with this sort of thing means they won’t even get a proper goodbye, aaa. He’s acting bitter and annoyed about it on the surface, but you know he must really be hurting a lot.
Megumi:  “Co-ordinate axes are set!”
Miki:  “Cooling of transmission equipment on! Bionic Condenser functioning!”
Megumi:  “Digital Harmoniser aligning! Security open!”
Miki and Megumi have given this whole Digital Gate opening spiel a bunch of times in the earlier episodes. But this time, it hits different, because you can hear the pain in their voices as they’re doing this, knowing that they’re sending their friends away for who knows how long.
But just as the swirling energy begins to descend through the Dive chamber, before it can warp anyone away—
Masaru:  “WAIT JUST A MINUTE!”
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Masaru shows up at the door with a massive backpack on his back. I love how this instantly makes it clear exactly what he is planning to do. This is why he was missing, not because he didn’t want to say goodbye. Or, well, effectively yes – precisely because he didn’t want to have to say goodbye, so he’s not going to!
Agumon:  “Aniki!”
Agumon sounds thrilled to see him; he must also have immediately realised exactly what this means, as Masaru excitedly bounds right up to him in the Dive chamber.
Masaru:  “Like hell I’ll ever say goodbye! I’m going to the Digital World with you!”
Oh, Masaru. He must have spent a horrible sleepless night last night agonising over the fact he’ll have to say goodbye to Agumon for an unknown amount of time. Of course he eventually found himself landing on the simplest, most straightforward, most Masaru solution to that problem. No, actually. Screw that goodbye. Screw the normal thing that’s expected of him in this situation. He doesn’t have to do that at all.
This human world is too small for Agumon, with his boisterous fighty ways – and hey, doesn’t that also mean it’s too small for Masaru, too? Way back in episode 2, Yushima cryptically told Masaru pretty much exactly that, and that in “the Digimon’s world” he’d find plenty of opponents to fight to his heart’s content. At the time, by “the Digimon’s world”, he meant DATS, but that was also very definitely foreshadowing this outcome in the ending!
The BGM that kicks in around here is also one I like a lot for this moment; it’s upbeat and kinda gives this sense of “yeah, we’re going on an adventure!”
Tohma:  “Hold it!”
Yoshino:  “Who knows when you can come back if you go now!”
Masaru:  “Who cares! I’m gonna enjoy travelling through the Digital World no matter how long it takes!”
Of course Masaru refuses to let himself care about a little thing like never seeing the human world (or his family) again for who knows how long if he does this. He’s focusing on the good things about this – that he gets to stay with Agumon, and keep having fun fighty adventures! No need to worry about any of the downsides when there’s that!
Suguru:  “Masaru! Go!”
Sayuri:  “Dear!”
Suguru:  “Go there and polish up your manliness!”
Of course Suguru – also known as the man who willingly chose to stay in the Digital World indefinitely when he could have gone home, because he knew that going home meant he might never be allowed back there – would be on board with this choice. This is pretty much exactly the same kind of thing that he did; in some ways he must be thrilled to see Masaru making a similar choice and following in his footsteps. And of course he’d see it as a way for Masaru to hone his manliness, what a dork.
(And yet, Masaru’s not even really doing this for dad-complex reasons at all – if this were more about his dad, he’d be wanting to stay at home with him and actually get to be a family again! But never having to say goodbye to Agumon is even more important to him than that, aaa. Or maybe it’s not quite that Agumon is even more important to him than his dad, but just that he’s used to his dad not being there, and so continuing to not be around him doesn’t feel like a bad thing, whereas not being with Agumon is.)
(And consider that Masaru’s going to the Digital World, where his dad’s built up this impossibly-awesome legacy of great feats, so in a way Masaru’s just going to keep on chasing after his dad’s unreachable, eternally-absent back. That’s not why he did this, but that sure is a position he’s put himself in again, hee.)
But, ouch, looks like the Daimon family is not going to be properly reunited for a while after all, despite what they said in that earlier scene. Masaru clearly did not take any time to inform his family of this choice of his and has just suddenly dropped this bombshell on them right now. Still, his dad’s back at home, so they’ll be fine without him, right? They don’t need Masaru to be the replacement father figure any more.
…This is why I think Suguru needed to come back to life. The writers were obviously planning this ending with Masaru leaving for the Digital World right from the beginning of the series – see it being foreshadowed in episode 2 – so they needed it to be possible for Masaru to choose this. And if his dad had actually remained dead, and the family had been left fatherless for good, I don’t think Masaru would have been able to cause his mom and sister the additional heartbreak of losing him on top of that. Not when he feels like he needs to be the protector of the family in his dad’s absence.
But this? It’s still going to hurt them to lose Masaru, but at least with Suguru back, it won’t be quite so unbearable, and so Masaru’s just about able to make that sacrifice, for Agumon’s sake. It’s not that he doesn’t realise this is going to make his mom and sister sad – of course he does. But… Agumon.
Of course, it’s not like it’s not going to hurt Masaru to be apart from his family for ages, either! But in true eternally-optimistic Masaru fashion, he’s not gonna let himself think about that, now that he’s made up his mind to make that sacrifice anyway. He absolutely didn’t gloss over that when making his decision; I’m sure he must have known and thought about exactly what he was giving up. I drew a post-ending comic exploring this idea once.
And really… just like Agumon, Masaru also doesn’t belong in an ordinary human world with no Digimon incidents. He never truly did. He’s found his calling in life, and like hell he’s gonna let that go and go back to a boring normal human life just because the main adventure’s over and everything’s telling him he’s supposed to. Since when did Masaru ever listen to what the world tells him he’s supposed to do?
I love Masaru. He’s always so gloriously himself at all times, and this final choice of his exemplifies that wonderfully.
Masaru:  “Let’s go, Agumon! You and I will always be together!”
Agumon:  “Aniki!”
Agumon is so thrilled. The happiest Agumon ever! He’s never ever going to have to say goodbye to his Aniki!!! They are FRIENDS I love them so much.
Because it’ll take me far away!
And then, instead of the usual uninteresting ending song, we get an actual epilogue of content over a different insert song, which is in fact the first opening! Isn’t this first lyric just perfect? Masaru’s being taken away by his fighting spirit, all the way into the Digital World. That’s always what the first opening song was foreshadowing, too. I love it.
The song’s upbeat gung-ho mood also just gives a great uplifting feeling throughout the whole epilogue, which I enjoy.
It's several years later, and Ikuto, in middle school uniform, is meeting Chika at her door in the morning to go to school with her. They’re the same age, so they’d be in the same school year! Seems like the Noguchis moved to someplace in the city, so that Ikuto could be around Chika and get used to human life and school stuff in the presence of somebody he knows. That must have been helpful for him; I can’t imagine a wild, feisty kid like him would have adjusted well to being at school without at least someone there on his side.
Inside the house, Suguru’s just there on the sofa, reading a newspaper and watching the news, being a normal dad! I’m sure he must have still been working as a Digimon scientist all this time, though, publishing his research and generally spreading the word among humans as to what Digimon are really like, to prepare for whenever the Gate will be opened again. The Daimons are definitely not going to let it stay closed forever, not when that means they’d never see Masaru ever again, never mind the Digimon.
Tohma is on the news, having just won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The text on the news screen mentions that he’s nineteen years old – oh my god it’s been five years, Masaru’s been off in the Digital World for that long. (Hah, he skipped the rest of school. Sneaky of him.)
Tohma:  “May it restore hope to many people who shared the same illness as my sister.”
Based on this, we can assume that Tohma did manage to cure his sister’s illness! Look at him go! An older Relena is there at the awards ceremony next to him, looking much healthier, beaming with pride at her brother’s achievements.
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Also Tohma wears glasses now, which only serves to make him look like even more of a dork.
At a police station, Yoshino’s working there as an officer along with Miki and Megumi, discussing the news about Tohma with them. Satsuma, their boss, coughs pointedly at their distraction, so Yoshino heads out on patrol. Satsuma’s gone back to his old job! And it seems like he put in a good word for Miki, Megumi and Yoshino, so that they could get themselves a job in this Digimon-free world. Yoshino was always pretty good at all the logistical investigation stuff that DATS required; she’d make a good police officer.
She drives past Ikuto and Chika on their way to school, and then finds herself chasing after Kouki – the only one of the Bio-Hybrids we didn’t see praying for the world’s survival earlier in the episode – for his crime of not wearing a helmet on a motorbike. Hey, if Kouki wants to go and recklessly endanger his own life like that, I say let him, no big loss.
Chika and Ikuto pass by Yushima, doing some fishing on a bridge. I guess he’s old enough that he simply retired, and has become a mysterious fisherman full time? Perhaps.
And then. And then.
As the music dies down, we cut to the Digital World, to a gang fight between two different groups of Digimon, squabbling over turf. Just as the fight’s about to break out…
Masaru:  “Wait wait wait! Those who disturb the peace in the Digital World… this street fighter, Daimon Masaru-sama, won’t forgive you!”
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…the music kicks back in, and we see Masaru and Agumon up on a cliff, ready to step in and keep the peace – by fighting, of course! These two dorks have clearly settled firmly into their role as protectors and peacekeepers of the Digital World, fighting anyone who’s looking for trouble and getting through to them with their fists.
(Also, a neat detail – Masaru’s still in the same clothes he came here in, but they’re all ragged around the edges, as you’d expect when he’s been wearing them out in the wilderness for five years now.)
Masaru:  “Let’s go, Agumon!”
Agumon:  “Yeah!”
With this declaration, and with one last line of Because it’ll take me far away! from the song, the two best fighty dorks leap into the fray, and the series ends right there. I love them. I love it. Best, most uplifting ending. Look at them go.
Overall thoughts
Have you noticed how in these summary bits, as positive as I’ve usually been, I’ve never called any episode my absolute favourite one? That’s because this episode is my absolute favourite single episode in Savers! A lot of others have individual scenes I like more, but this is my favourite episode overall, because all of it is just so good. There’s barely a dull moment, Feelings abound everywhere, and I always come out of it feeling just so delightfully happy. I love Savers.
While the fighting in the previous episode I was kind of eh about, I really enjoy this as a final fight scene! It’s fun and upbeat and gives a neat send-off to most of the lower evolution stages and really exemplifies Masaru’s Masaru-ness one last time. It actually makes sense that all of humanity’s Digisoul would spur an eleventh-hour superpower, I love that said power is still Agumon, and it’s so fitting that it takes all of those emotions and Masaru’s very distinct brand of communication-through-fists to finally get through to Yggdrasil and change its mind.
Then we can spend the bulk of this episode on giving a send-off to the characters and their relationships with each other, and all of it is lovely. Seeing everyone be so happy to see each other safe again after the danger is so sweet, especially the Daimons, god they deserve to finally have Suguru back and get to be a family again, I love the Daimons so much.
And then the goodbyes tug at my heartstrings in the most wonderful way. All of them (Gaomon’s tea!!!), but of course especially Masaru and Agumon’s – the heartbreaking fact that Agumon feels he’s a nuisance in the Daimon family, and the extremely Masaru way that they can’t express their pain at saying goodbye through anything other than punching each other, aaaaa.
The epilogue is great, too! Tohma curing his sister, Suguru being a dad, Chika and Ikuto being schoolmates, Yoshino being a police officer. There’s all sorts of stuff that could be done with them from these new lives they’re leading after the five-year gap, if only there’d been a sequel like the writers were obviously trying to hook us into. Gahhh, there needs to be a sequel. Savers deserved a sequel. Literally the only thing wrong with this ending is that there will never be one.
But the absolute best thing is MASARU GOING WITH AGUMON TO THE DIGITAL WORLD, I love him so much. It’s the best subversion of all the usual obligatory heartbreaking Digimon endings where the humans and Digimon have to part ways Just Because and nobody gets to say otherwise. It’s so delightfully Masaru for him to just decide, screw that. He never really belonged in the human world either, and he doesn’t have to stay there. And I love that the narrative lets him! It lets him go off and live the life of fighty adventures he’s most suited for, instead of forcing him to go back to his normal boring human life and learn to be the Normal Person that he never was in the first place. It really epitomises the great way in which Savers has handled Masaru’s entire character.
See, I think a lot of fictional narratives – especially shows aimed at children – would take a boisterous, fighty kid like Masaru and put him through a character arc that pushes him to be less like that and more like a normal person, presenting that change as if it were a good thing. But Savers does none of that. It never once tries to tell Masaru that he’s wrong for being the way he is, just because it happens to not fit the world he lives in. All his arc does is refine that nature of his to make it less aimless and more focused on communication and emotions and having a meaningful impact on people. Maybe it’s my neurodivergence speaking, but I really really love the way that Savers’ narrative allows Masaru to keep being unabashedly himself, no matter what, right up until the very end.
---
[Dub comparison]
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baku-fessionals · 2 years
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Q: Is there a specific moment in the series regarding Bakugo Katsuki that sticks out in your mind for any reason?
A: “ Two in particular stand out in my mind. I knew even before the moment he stomped away from Izuku in a huff at the end of the first anime episode that he was going to be my favorite, but the moment that always haunts me is, during final examination fight where Izuku is tailing along behind Katsuki and babbling out dissuasion for their fighting All Might, Katsuki turns around and strikes him to make him stop talking. It's not played for laughs.
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It's probably an odd moment to choose considering it so clearly portrays my favorite character as a violent bully with a fragile ego (and he is! I loved him as a bully and I still love him as a "reformed delinquent"!) but what sticks out to me is how clearly his face said to me, "Something is deeply wrong and has been for years! I CANNOT FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE!" and how clearly he seemed to mean it on every level. I felt it viscerally. I felt the conflicted regret and overwhelming disgust when he looked back over his shoulder to see Izuku cradling his own face while lying on the ground, and I immediately understood that the awful things Katsuki does and says to others are things he wants to do to himself or thinks about himself outside of his confidence in his basic capabilities such as, "I am skilled with my quirk" or "I am smart enough to be at the top of the class or figure out this situation" or "I do have the ability to beat this person into submission because I am that good." His internal monologue throughout the fight exhibits it, particularly the repetition of the line (which, frankly, I can't even remember which translation this is from but the sentiment is the same for all of them), "Who would want to work with a useless piece of shit like you?". Initially, he's thinking about quirkless Izuku, but when the final panel where the line appears shows Katsuki's own (pathetically crying, scrunched-up, sniveling) face, it's very clear Katsuki is talking about himself!
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Descriptions of the character highlight Katsuki's confidence, and it is true that he is confident, but I think it is very difficult to encompass the depths of his self-loathing simultaneous to his absolutely founded and self-assured faith in his skills. "Inferiority-superiority complex" implies (to me, anyway) a superficiality to his perceptions of his strengths simultaneous to an overindulged self-pity regarding his feelings over perceptions of his own weakness. Neither ring true to me. Why? Because Bakugo is that good and that powerful and that secure in his strengths, and yet he still hates himself and his general powerlessness over his much, much larger social situation. On a surface read, the applicable moral to ascribe to Katsuki during this fight might be something like, "strength isn't everything." Sure. There's truth to that. But Katsuki is interesting to me because he knows that already. He counters, usually through his actions, with, "Yeah, but it's not nothing, either!" and "Things might be different if everyone in the world did a little more to prove that stupid cliche true, but they aren't and they won't and therefore I will win even if I have to break myself because it's the only surefire way forward!" or perhaps, "I know that strength isn't everything, but by god it's gonna have to be BECAUSE IT'S ALL I'VE GOT!" Or, of course, the thing he actually shouts at All Might as he's biting his hand.
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There is a rare ugliness and honesty in Katsuki understanding he is a product of his own upbringing and reflects it to the greatest degree even while knowing, in real time, that this is what he is and what he's doing. For me, the appeal is really in the knowing, and boy, does Katsuki know.
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It's in his face for those that care to watch him, his actions, and his real intent rather than take whatever words he says at face value with no context.
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 Horikoshi takes care to portray Katsuki's on-page acting as a careful thing in the moments it isn't cartoonishly exaggerated. This instance I've outlined where Katuski strikes Izuku is a good example. The moment is meant to be taken completely seriously and stands as a stark contrast to later instances where the physicality of their pseudo-tsukkomi-boke routine is played for laughs (when Katsuki throws his headpiece at Izuku and it stabs him in the head, when Katsuki hits him with the hard-frozen snowball in one of the extra page gags, etc).
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Also, Katsuki was in a situation where, no matter what else he may feel, he was still trying to get rid of Izuku from his life completely just as he had been well before the first episode even began. It may seem like a shallow thing for Katsuki to "get over himself" and "accept Izuku's help" for the duration of their exercise with All Might,vbut I think the more appropriate message to take from Katsuki accepting Izuku's help (and continued presence in his life) isn't just one of humility. It's one of resignation. He must accept Izuku's help - specifically Izuku's help - and he must accept Izuku's presence in his life - again, specifically Izuku's presence in his life - if he plans to walk down this path. Unless Katsuki chooses to quit at being a Hero and give up on his dreams, transfers schools (which would be a downgrade in educational standing, which is a very big deal in Japan and by extrapolation the BNHA world), or move to another country, Katsuki has no other choice. The agency over who he surrounds himself with is taken away from him and not for the first time in his and Izuku's collective lives. He's stuck with him. The general Japanese zeitgeist emphasizes harmony amongst existing communities and families as well as a preservation of them with the goal of supporting the existing collective. Maybe it's because I'm a westerner or maybe it's because of my own lived experiences, but seeing Katsuki actively chafe (and having it be acknowledged that this is a major part of what is causing him grief) under this specific obligation to "play nice" and "work as a team" with his childhood friend is gratifying. Aizawa's assertion that Katsuki and Izuku must learn to work together if they want to make it in their chosen profession is true, but there's also a lacing of irreverent cruelty to this fact as it applies to both boys. In that same confrontation with All Might, Katsuki actively takes a body blow for Izuku to shield him even though he did not have to.
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There's something subtle and horrible in the constant small acknowledgements (and they are constant. They lurk in Katsuki's early-series need to actively keep Izuku from even applying to UA;
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in how Izuku is always learning from Katsuki's moves and mistakes
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 and the most Katsuki gets out of it is, ultimately, a willingness to die for Izuku;
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in the way Toshinori acknowledges that Katsuki's assistance in Izuku's training benefits Katsuki in no real way;
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in how even when Katsuki actively tried to help Izuku in the early War arc he was constantly pushed away;
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in exactly how Bakugo's self-sacrifice happened in the manner that it did)
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that, even should Katsuki have a change of heart and do everything he can to support Izuku, it is Katsuki that will take the fall in order to allow Izuku succeed. This isn't to say Katsuki is a wholly tragic figure or some poor sniveling woobie (he's not, thank god. I wouldn't like him if he was), but that his entire story is told two-facedly with the initial assumptive gloss of "mean bully gets redeemed and learns to be a not-shit person" covering over "boy accepts his limits, learns about himself, learns the true meaning of love and altruism, and understands that the evils of this world come not only from within but from sources out of individual control including mundane ones. But even so, this is not a reason to shuck personal responsibility and agency over one's success and happiness. Also, there is no good and there is no evil, actually, only selfishness and selflessness, but at the same time good and evil are very real." It's a paradox. 
Given that interpretation, Katsuki's snotty outburst after the vs All Might exercise in the filler chapter (where he criticizes Izuku for not ditching Katsuki after he was knocked out to make a break for the victory gate)
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has a completely different cast to it beyond "you risked our victory which means you increased your chances of screwing me over and making me fail, too" (though that definitely is the primary and most important thing to consider about his words in this moment. Despite Katsuki honestly having more than one motive in context for just about everything he does in the series, he is often selfish first and foremost. His selfishness is also something that I deeply appreciate about him because he does me the great service of owning that quality rather than downplaying it). This isn't even getting into how this moment reads differently with the understanding that Katsuki fears Izuku's self-destructive nature simultaneous to feeling utter guilt at being a damsel who might put their rescuer at a disadvantage (which is why he blames himself for All Might's retirement.)
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The second moment that sticks out in my mind is during the Sports Festival when Katsuki shakes an unconscious Todoroki Shoto by the collar and screams, "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
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Katsuki has multiple motives for doing what he does during the Sports Festival. The final fight concluding in the way that it did broke his heart for reasons both selfish and more ambiguously categorized. The look on his face before he falls unconscious and the spasming of his hands as he panics over what to do next are something I think about often.
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loveoversense · 1 year
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So I'm reliving my middle school obsession with Vampire Academy with the show and am, honestly, loving it. The more diverse cast? All the queer shit? Absolutely up my alley! More thoughts under the cut because spoilers for both the books and the series so far~ (beware! really long rambly post filled with some oversharing on my part coming up! But if you want to dump your erratic thoughts on the show somewhere, my messages are available! Would love to talk about it and share thoughts with someone lol)
Okay, so mainly gonna be going off about episode 7, might come back later for thoughts on the earlier eps and some are sprinkled throughout this post as well. I saw a post somewhere before about how someone couldn't see how the Victor we'd been introduced to in the first 6 eps could be the one to pull a Natalie so to say and do that to one of his own daughters. And I don't think they necessarily will pull out Natalie, or even if they do, they have now set it up perfectly. Victor will be going through the trials, ostensibly, and now, he's lost so much in pursuit of being King, he's lost his daughter, perhaps his husband too, depending on how this all unfolds. If he feels he will lose his shot at being King, after having lost everything else, I could see it make perfect sense that he gets desperate enough to put Lissa through what happens in the books in order to get her to heal him so he can become King. After all, giving up this? After losing everything else dear to him? Victor is convinced of his cause, and passionate and determined as we've seen so far. He totally would.
Typing this and immediately also felt like adding a disclaimer that I think it is a slightly off colour allegory to real world politics to have the whole 'yes elementalist aka rightwinger extremism is bad BUT ALSO LEFTISTS/UNIONISTS (is that what the queen called them?) CAN BE OVERZEALOUS AND BAD YEAH?' trope like i' m kinda annoyed by the forced centrism we see in media every time they touch on a political issue anywhere, especially because like, Victor/the unionists' 'radical' philosophy is that maybe don't send actual children out to die? And also maybe people shouldn't made to breed like animals against their will? And, and here's the wild part, maybe minorities - I mean dhampirs- are people too who have rights and we've been treating them badly? Right like what part of that philosophy/the current political climate suggests that there are actual people in power who stand for minority rights who are like, torturing people to get the point across? What situation in our society makes you believe that that is somehow a warning of equal footing with the actual, physical, tangible threat from right wing governments-I mean elementalists- that POC, disabled, queer and otherwise disenfranchised communities - I mean dhampirs- experience daily?
Okay I realise I just went on a tangent, but I promise I do really enjoy the show! I just have... Notes.
Adrian! What a guy, loved seeing him pop-up this early. Immaculate vibes. I never got round to reading Bloodlines so I only know the generic lines, but I love how it's a more subtle drunkenness that's being played. Like he's woozy and off kilter but he's not stumbling into every corner. Which kinda fits? Adrian is self-medicating, has been doing so for a while, it's a skill he developed. Drunk enough to take the edge off, not too far gone in moments he needs some clarity, especially on a mission this important. Also, this man's facial expressions are A+. I live expressive faces, I have have it too. Can't way to see him rile up Dimitri as he continues flirting with Rose.
And then, the OTP that got me into fanfiction. No really. I discovered fanfic through Vampire Academy on fanfiction.net (my first ever fic that I wrote was indeed my own rendition of Last Sacrifice when the book hadn't come out yet and true to form, I never finished it and it is terrible, which, it was written by a 13-year-old, so fair enough) , and through there I got to Tumblr, and here we are more than 10 years later. Time really flies.
I also just remembered, and omg what a wild ride this post is turning out to be, that it was a VA fanfic that made me first realise I wasn't straight. I didn't have the correct terminology yet, but it must have been at 14 or so that I read a fic that wasn't centered on Rose and Dimitri, but Rose and Lissa. And I distinctly remember lying in bed, reading this fic, and just going "Oh. I am not straight." mind you this was during puberty which is hard enough as is and I didn't exactly have great queer rep in my life, I believe this was even before we had Glee to watch, so I wasn't as thrilled with this revelation at the time, but none the less, it happened. And the good news, these days I'm absolutely thrilled to be a raging bisexual. Which actually makes for a lovely little bridge back to the actual subject at hand!
The absolutely gorgeous couple that is Rose and Dimitri. All the props to Sisi Stringer and Kieron Moore for their excellent faces and the acting they do with them! You're both very hot and I hope you know it and also you do the acting good! Love the chemistry, the playfulness they gave the couple, the tenderness they introduced and the way they set up the dynamic. Live how they out to words why Dimitri clings to a system that is actually really fucked up. He's coping, in the only way he knows how. He doesn't trust himself, and this system has such clear rules that no matter how fucked up those rules are, he knows where every line is, and thus he can stay far far away from them and beevr even risk crossing them. Until of course he meets Rose, and suddenly he wants something more than not to cross the line, he sees that crossing those lines might actually give him good things as well. Ugh.
Also saw another post, not that I don't love when my fave characters are happy but also, as any storyteller, I like it better when they suffer. They can be happy later! For now gimme all the juicy drama~ makes the tender apologies and getting back together all the more sweet afterwards.
Also Daniela, love your take on Lissa, just trying to do the best she can for her friend whom she lives more than anyone, so she's pushing her away because she thinks that's the only way to protect her. Ouch. Calling me out there but so beautifully portrayed.
Also am I just terminally pessimistic or was there anyone else that saw the kid with the football and went "Ahh look! Cannon fodder!" (is this a generally known term? I use it to refer to characters, purely created to be killed of at a certain point. Probably not an official literary term, but I've always lived it for its evocative ability).
Also just a lot of love for the political intrigue. Setting this up as a major plot line from the start was smart I believe. I am curious to see whether the idea for the storylines will be that we get the first trials and Tatiana wins, and then she follows her fate in the books, and we get a new round in what would be like 3 or so seasons where Lissa competes in the trials, or if they plan to enter the Lissa/lost dragomir storyline this early on. I don't think so honestly.
Also im betting that season 1 ends with Rose and Lissa making their grand escape which, with Rose and Dimitri being ~entangled~ already would make that reunion even juicier. I really hope they get at least a few seasons to tell this story, I think some really cool things could be done with it!
Also! They curse! Lots! I love it!
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amplesalty · 1 year
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Halloween 2022 - Day 14 - Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)
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Shrieker Island is actually a peninsula...
Well, here it is, we’ve most recent and perhaps final Tremors movie but we’ll get on to that. Michael Gross is back once more as Burt Gummer but, as mentioned during last year’s ‘A Cold Day in Hell’ viewing, his once long lost son is not here with him as Jamie Kennedy is sitting this one out. My quick research on the matter is coming up as inconclusive on exactly why that is, he did address this in a tweet at the time and even show off a draft script he had so that would suggest they had him in mind to reprise his role so maybe he jumped rather than being pushed. They don’t recast him but they do bring in what is a pretty much like for like replacement in Jon Heder who become’s Burt’s sidekick and even Travis’ mother is involved in this movie so it definitely seems like the character was meant to be here.  He doesn’t seem the type to be worried about artistic vision or that Travis has already achieved a character arc so there’s no point in playing him a third time. And I can’t imagine he’s got much else on that he’s going to turn down a pay cheque so presumably he priced himself out of the job?
They quickly hand wave away Travis’ absence by explaining that he’s in jail after trying to smuggle drugs over the Mexican border. Thinking about it, that would have been a much more interesting movie if it was about Burt trying to bust him out. Maybe involve the Graboids by having Burt use one to tunnel into the prison and then he and Travis have to team up to take it out after it escapes.
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Travis’ replacement in Heder’s Jimmy feels like a regression to Travis when we were first introduced to him, needing to really step up, mature and find himself as the movie goes on. If anything, he’s a bit of an irritating character that I was expecting Kennedy to play when I first found out he was 5. He almost has this wide eyed amazement at the whole thing and keeps comparing the situation to every action movie under the sun with the likes of Rambo, Predator and Evil Dead name dropped.
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At least they gave credit to Predator where it was due whilst they were mimicking it so much. A group of people in a jungle setting being hunted by something using infared vision? Hmmmm... There even seems to be a shout out to Jurrasic Park (or whichever sequel it was in) when someone gets jumped by a Shrieker that leaps in from off screen stage left ‘clever girl’ style.
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All of this action takes place on someone’s private island, Bill who is played by Richard Brake. He seems to be one of Rob Zombie’s regular contributors after starring in Halloween II, 31, 3 From Hell and the recent Munsters remake. He doesn’t seem the type to be adapting a 1950’s TV sitcom to the big screen, unless he’s reimagining it so the Munsters are much closer to their movie monster inspirations and they just go on a killing spree. Expect that one day, it’s gonna be easier to jump in on that than try and get through 70 episodes of the TV show.
Anyway, Bill has the brilliant idea of profiting on all those trophy hunt type holidays you see talked about where city slicker types pay thousands to go hunt wild animals out on the plains. Only, this is some super next level apex predator shit as they’re hunting Graboids. And not just any Graboids, he’s genetically modified them to make them even smarter and harder to kill. As much as it does seem to be a reoccurring plot for people to want to capture a Graboid for some unexplained monetary gain, at least he actually has an end goal in mind even if his own hubris means there’s no way of containing it. He’s so supremely confident t hat they’ll be able to kill them all that there doesn’t seem to be any killswitch in place should things get out of control.
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All this leads to a rescue call being sent out to Burt who’s living it up off the grid in Papa New Guinea, somewhere Jimmy is wary of going lest he get eaten by cannibals. Hey mister, Prince Phillip could get away with that sort of crack because he was royalty and he was of a different generation. You should know better. Burt does look like he’d be more suited to talking to a volleyball with a bloody handprint for a face than killing giant worms but one quick shave later and he’s ready to get to work.
Bill’s hubris does lead to him getting killed halfway through which leads us without a bad guy as such but I suppose the Graboids are pretty much meant to be the defacto heels of the piece anyway.
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So much so that, SPOILER ALERT, in the big finale where Burt and Jimmy are trying to lead the last Graboid off a cliff where it will fall to it’s demise, Burt heroically shoves Jimmy out of harms way and gets gobbled up. In one last act of defiance, he gives the Graboid the finger, the middle finger...only, the way it’s shot makes it looks like he’s giving Jimmy the middle finger. Now, Burt has been eaten by a Graboid before so he might be okay...
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Well, no. Probably not now...
And if this is the end, well I honestly can’t think of a more noble way for Burt to go than being beaten by the ultimate predator.
At least, we can only assume this is the end because Burt Gummer was the only thing keeping this whole series ticking along and this has all the hallmarks of it being his one last ride, from being effectively dragged out of retirement to having a warriors death on the field of battle. Michael Gross has hinted at another outing but one would imagine they’ve sort of written themselves into a corner here unless it turns out Burt is somehow miraculously alive despite being in the belly of a Graboid as it plummeted onto huge spikes and got blown to kingdom come. Plus, the dude is 75 at this point and isn’t going to be keeping up this pace forever.  Perhaps the most logical step for the series is for it to spend some time in hibernation before going the reboot route because there’s not really anywhere you can go in the core series at this point. Your most logical replacement for Burt was Travis but he’s seemingly on the outs now. Whilst Jimmy did show some more guts by the end of the movie, he doesn’t really seem like lead character material. But there’s no one else really left at this point, we had the passing of Fred Ward earlier this year so Earl’s out (though he was even older than Michael Gross anyway) so you’re either going entirely new character or the long awaited return of Kevin Bacon?
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Still, the poignant ending of the surviving cast of characters leaving mementos at Burt’s grave does give a sense of closure to the whole series, even if it is a tragic one, rather than it just being left in limbo for an 8th movie that might never happen. And as the movie closes out to a montage of Burt’s greatest hits, that does feel a little bit like a more positive spin one could apply to this whole movie. But perhaps the more realistic summary would be that it’s yet another by the book Tremors sequel that does little to change the biology of it’s trademark monsters the way it’s earlier sequels did and hits the same story beats as it’s predecessors. That really is becoming a recurring point in this years marathon, perhaps aptly so given the overarching theme of nostalgia in this anniversary year.
But before we truly bring the curtain down on the Tremors franchise, we do have the unfinished business of looking at that early 2000’s TV series. After all, it is customary for me to tease it. Perhaps 2023 will finally see it come to this blog to act as Burt Gummer’s last hurrah...
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tsuki-sennin · 2 years
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Awoooooooooooooooo! Dog fightin'! Doggo focus! And Toradragonjin, finally? Gonna be a good one.
Spoilers, I guess...
-Haha, Sixth Ranger ain't even got his own robot yet, let's make fun of him >:)
-Miho-chan and Tsuyoshi-san :D
-Awwwwwwww... :(
-Poor kid.
-And of course, Natsumi-san, being epic.
-Tsubasa do a doggy paddle.
-SHE WAS RIGHT THERE AAAAAAGH
-I know what the Hitotsuki of this episode is, it's the Juken-ki!
-I haven't really seen Gekiranger, but I was a Jungle Fury fan as a kid. My grandfather got me one of those small plastic-y balls with the series logo on it as a present, and I played with it a lot and it inspired me to take up soccer for about a year.
-Yeah my athletic career kinda peaked in elementary school... in 2008 lmao
-Constitution, constitution...
-Yeah, overstimulation be like that, I feel you.
-Dog time.
-Shouty-shoooout! ...as the subs say. That's a Jan thing, right?
-Violence
-"Shut the fuck up, I'm in agony!"
-Donbrothers-Assigned Furry.
-"Dogggggyyyyyy!"
-...so wait, do the Donbrothers just appear as their animal counterparts?
-"Ewwwwwww, talking dog!"
-Wow, these highschool girls are so mean.
-Menkai wa wata.
-Haunted by dog.
-Born to bork, forced to wan.
-"Fuck, I'm honger."
-Food thievin' dog!
-Jirou's home :)
-Hmmm... I see the analogues to Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, Sanzang... who'd Jirou's girlfriend be? Guanyin? Or would she be perhaps be Bai Long Ma, who once turned himself into a sexy lady with huge tits to try and fail to kill a demon? ...and before you ask, yeah, that really happened.
-Oh come now Jirou, you can flex! As a treat.
-Oh hey, you wanted to be a soccer player too, huh?
-Well, at least they're supportive :)
-...in a weird way.
-Ayyyyyyyyy!
-Achooooo!
-"Natsumi!"
-...dog only?
-Marketable dog plushie.
-Natsumi-san!
-...I wonder, will InuBrother's weird shuriken ever be given a name?
-This is
-A lot scarier than I expected it to be.
-OHHHHH SHIT HE'S GOING TO TSUYOSHI
-He's out.
-...Momoi Tarou.
-Aaaand, off he goes!
-...Oooooooh, she's waking up.
-Seyama.
-Literally the only Juto who's been a threat so far.
-Doggy?
-Ohhhhhhhhh, shit, Miho!
-Holy shit, she's cool.
-Ohhhhh, rain fight.
-HOLY SHIT
-Damn, girl!
-Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, shit, memory loss.
-OHHHHHH DOG
-Oh hey guys!
-Hey, Tsuyoshi! Uh... yeah, you all got this, the dog guy's fine!
-"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUP"
-Jirou's here!
-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the Tiger Guy too!
-"I need you, and you need me!"
-Oh, okay, they just have those gears now, that's fine.
-Avatar Change!
-I'm mad we never got a proper team-up battle with Live and Evil's base forms in Revice, so seeing this makes me very happy.
-I swear, it's like they're giving me literally everything I could ever want. Ironic.
-Don Robogoku!
-Robobolt!
-Yeah, this is great.
-Thank you, Tame Jirou and Feral Jirou, very cool.
-DAAAAAAAAI GATTAI!
-Thank you Romi Park, very cool.
-Oh my god, he's in a cage.
-God, it'll never not astound me how these suit actors can get so much mileage out of these bulky costumes.
-Yeah, this form is awesome.
-...don't know if I like the floppy sword though.
-"Ore wa zettai!"
-Doggy.
-:(
-Matching mugs :)
-Miho-san... Natsumi-san... what exactly is your deal, Cool Juto Lady? And will I get to see you fight more, because that'd make me very happy.
-Pochi-san...
-This is cute, but like... too immensely horrifying for me to appreciate?
-Oh
-HKJ:LHGLKLH:J WHAAT
-Oh my god, we're becoming a Son next episode.
-I think we've reached peak "what" this episode, so I think next week I'll be thinking "Oh, what a standard joke, you're slipping Inoue!" ...that is, unless we see Shinichi and Haruka come back in full force. So uhhhh, yeah!
-Avataro Sentai Donbrothers! Very good show, would recommend. But you knew that, right?
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a-stars-art-blog · 3 years
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This is a Misumi appreciation post! He’s underrated AS FUCK 
The newest episode did him so dirty I got so mad lolol
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nat-20s · 3 years
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Wonderful! Au Part 7! (also on ao3 here) another episode only installment, and obnoxiously fluffy! Have fun!
~*~
Martin, tired: Hello everybody! Welcome, or welcome back, to a very low energy episode. We have had, as the kids say, A Week Tm.
Jon, equally tired, but fond: Is that as the kids say?
Martin: I don't know, and perhaps worse, I don't really care. I guess I could ask Jeremiah next time he's over, but I'm not sure if that would actually help.
Jon: Shockingly, I don't think two year olds have their finger on the beating pulse of youth culture.
Martin: Hmm, maybe not. Speaking of Jeremiah, he's part of why the format of this episode is gonna be a bit different than our regular. On top of me dealing with a frankly obscene amount of inventory management, and Jon being swamped with grant writing-
Jon: I never want to look at proposal guidelines again-
Martin: we were on babysitting duty for our favourite neighborhood hellion-
Jon: Hey, Jeremiah is a very sweet kid! I know he's a toddler, but we shouldn't be slandering him anyway.
Martin: One, we're not even using his real name, I don't think that counts as slander, and two, exactly, he's a toddler, he's by default a hellion.
Jon, teasing: This coming from the person that actually wants one?
Martin: I..look, if anything, the last few days have shown we should not be permanent parents.
Jon: But?
Martin:...There's no but.
Jon: I don't believe you! Are you lying for my benefit or the audience's? Because someone spent the last five days wearing one of the largest grins I've ever seen, exhausted as it may have been.
Martin: Okay! Fine, I admit, I liked having a kid around. I still think it would be a bad idea to do it full time, but I dunno. I wish we weren't both only children or something. We would make such good uncles.
Jon: Should I should have taken that teaching job after all?
Martin: Perhaps. After all,
Martin, singsong: An English teacher, is really someone!
Jon and Martin, singing together: If only you, had be-come one!
Jon: Honestly, though, I was considerably underqualified. I'm much more suited to my current job, even if it doesn't have quite the same impact on the "shaping of the next generation" or whatnot.
Martin: Wait, you actually care about qualifications now? When did that change?
Jon: This coming from Mister "master's degree in parapsychology"? And it was probably around the time that the world ended from taking on a workload I was ill-suited for.
Jon:...
Jon: Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Martin: Oh, of course. Definitely nothing literally apocalyptic in our pasts, no siree, nothing to see or speculate about or make weirdly involved forums for here. Uh, anyway, long introduction not so short: Both of us have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep, so any sort of actual research was not on the table.
Jon: If any of you are wondering why we didn't just say that we're both very much worn out and thus we'll be taking a week off, it's because we're both deeply, deeply stubborn.
Martin: It's one of our best shared qualities that has never caused any conflict between us, ever.
Jon: In fairness, sheer stubbornness does account for, what, 75% of the reason that either of us are still alive? And it hasn't caused a major conflict between us in a good three years.
Martin: That's true. We've become a deeply boring, relatively conflict free couple. Which fucking rules, by the way. To all the couples out there: I highly recommend being boring. It is so nice. We've gotten to go to the farmer's market so many times.
Jon: You do love the farmer's market. I would say that it's the access to fresh produce, but I think you just like the attention that one yarn seller gives you. Can't believe you would take advantage of a crush to get discounts on wool. How did I marry such an opportunist?
Martin: Ollie does not have a crush on me. They're just friendly to everyone.
Jon: Bullshit. I certainly never get an extra skein or stitch markers or delicate fabric cleaner tossed in my bag. Actually, I think I've been charged more for committing the crime of having married you before they could.
Martin: I'm..70% sure that's not true, but every sentence we speak, we stray further from even pretending to be on topic. So, to everybody listening, this is the itty bitty episode! Basically, we're only doing small wonders and user submissions. If you want details or backstory for things we like, too bad, come back next week. Jon, I believe you're first this week?
Jon: Oh, right. My first small wonder is cat names.
Martin: Delightful, but unsurprising. Though, I would've expected either more or less specificity. Why cat names as opposed to pet's names in general, or, like, military title names?
Jon: Well that's simple enough. I've simply never met a misnamed cat, even if the name itself wasn't to my personal tastes, and I think that speaks to the wonderful universality of cats.
Martin: This, of course, implies that you have met animals that were misnamed.
Jon: Oh, I have. I once met a papillion dog named Meatball.
Martin: Now I know you don't like food names in general for pets, but are you sure that Meatball didn't suit the dogs personality? I've known some "Meatballs" in my lifetime.
Jon, only half-mock offended: Of course it didn't fit, Martin. She was a lady. A nervous, jittery lady, but a lady nonetheless.
Martin, laughing: And what, you've never met a dignified cat with an undignified name, or vice versa? Would you be okay with our cat being named Meatball?
Jon: I would be upset if our cat was named Meatball, because we named her and we're above that sort of thing, but, technically speaking, she could have been Meatball in another lifetime and it wouldn't have been wrong. You see, all cats are a mix of both extremely austere and little baby idiot.
Martin: Oh, is that the scientific terminology?
Jon: It is. Now, while there's probably some amount of, er, normative determinism or confirmation bias or something that results in a cat with a more dignified name seeming to possess more of that austerity, as all cats have both, any name can, potentially, fit. Hence why it's wonderful.
Martin: I..accept your proposal for now, but I think more research needs to be done. Maybe we should visit the shelter this weekend and test your hypothesis.
Jon: Hmm. I think we may need to visit multiple shelters, actually. A large sample size is necessary for any sort of veracity, obviously.
Martin, imitating Jon tone: Obviously.
Jon: Glad you agree. What's your first small wonder?
Martin: Tofu!
Jon: I..didn't realize you liked that much?
Martin: Well, I don't get it very often since I know you can't stand the texture, even though it is not like 'worse scrambled eggs', and you're a horrible food thief-
Jon: Lies and slander. We readily share. If I'm a horrible food thief, you have committed the exact same, if not worse, crime as myself.
Martin: Well, we are thick as thieves.
Jon, groaning: You're thick as something alright
Martin: Rude! My beloved husband-
Jon: -uh huh-
Martin: whom I love and trust with my most tender of hearts-
Jon: -an oddly cannibalistic turn of phrase-
Martin, badly suppressing laughter: Oh, my god. I want a divorce, then I can put tofu in as many dishes as I like. I'll triple my protein intake.
Jon: It'd never go through. I'll burn the papers. No, wait, I'll burn down the legal offices where the papers are kept.
Martin: Hmm. While my experiences with it have been, uh, varied to say the least, I do have to admit that arson is one of the more attractive crimes of passion. I suppose I'll take you back.
Jon, flat: I'm so very grateful.
Jon, genuine: You do have yet to actually tell me why you think tofu is wonderful, love.
Martin: It's just a good food! It's neutral enough that you can toss it in pretty much anything with a sauce, you can bake it, you can fry it, whatever. Plus it's what? two? Three quid? I spent many years of my life living off the cheapest, saltiest approximation of noodles you could imagine, and half a pack of tofu, a little bit of sesame oil, and some green onions went a long way to both making it more filling and less sad. 
Martin: Plus, I feel like it often gets decried for being something it's not? It's so often viewed as a meat substitute or the vegan alternative option, and so when people try it, they often go in with a false preconceived notion of what it's going to be like, and then end up disappointed. They're all like, 'ugh, this doesn't taste like turkey!' and yeah, of course it doesn't. It's the oatmeal raisin cookie of the protein world, a perfectly good and tasty treat on its own, but if you want chocolate chip, it's not gonna work.
Jon: Martin you don't even like oatmeal raisin. I'm the only one that ever eats them out of the multipacks.
Martin: Well, yeah, but I don't like oatmeal raisin because of its flavor, not because I think it should be chocolate chip and fails. It illustrates my point. Also, just for balance, is your next small wonder oatmeal raisin cookies?
Jon: No, though, maybe one of these weeks. They are good. But no, um, my next small wonder is being married.
Martin, let out a high bark of a laugh: Being married is a small wonder?!
Jon: Small wonders doesn't mean a lack of importance! Or even significance in our lives. Half the time we even end up spending just as much time chattering on about them as the things we actually research. But, yes, I didn't feel like researching the concept of being married. For one, a lot of the history of it is depressing and patriarchal, and for two, it's not something I really feel any need to elaborate on. Being married. I very much enjoy it. I recommend it for anybody that's found someone that they want to marry, and who wants to marry them. I really recommend being married to Martin Blackwood, I think I would enjoy it significantly less if it was to anybody else, but one: we typically try to make the wonderful things in this show  applicable to more than just ourselves, and two: I got there first, so I believe the appropriate thing to say here would be; neener neener and/or everyone else can go suck it, Ollie.
Martin: Well...
Jon: Well, what?
Martin: Saying you got there first is technically not true-
Jon: What?!
Martin, laughing like a bastard: Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist! Jon, you already know that you're my first real realationship, how would be married before fit that?
Jon: Hence my surprise at the notion! I cannot believe you! I give you my trust, my earnestness, and belief-
Martin [only laughs harder]
Jon: and you throw it in my face for a bit. I take back everything, being married is a nightmare, because sometimes your partner thinks he a fucking comedian and you just have to put up with him because you love him and want to live the rest of your life with him or some such nonsense. Not worth it, if you ask me. My turn to ask for the divorce.
Martin: Babe, hate to break it to you, but both of us are guilty of doing bits that the other doesn't like, it's an integral part of  a healthy marriage, and secondly, you knew who I was long before I proposed. You should've said no when you had the chance.
Jon: Hang on, you proposed?
Martin: Yeah? This isn't part of a bit, of course I proposed. I'm even pretty sure you were there. The whole visit back to Scotland trip? I finally made you a sweater and said it was because we would now be immune to the boyfriend curse?
Jon: No, no, I remember all that, but it wasn't the proposal. It was a reaffirmation of the proposal. We had already decided to get married.
Martin: Well, yeah,, I wasn't just gonna spring that on you, we had had conversations beforehand-
Jon:  No, I mean, I had already proposed. I asked you to marry me a good three years earlier, and you said yes, which is a proposal by any definition that I know.
Martin: Jon, love, darling, apple of my eye, fire of my soul, I mean this in the nicest way possible, what the everloving fuck are you talking about?
Jon: In the ambulance ride when we, uh, moved here. It was the thing I said to you the second I saw your eyes were open.
[An audible pause is left in the recording.]
Martin: That does not count.
Jon: How does it not count?! I asked you to marry me, you very emphatically said yes, that's the de facto definition of an accepted marriage proposal!
Martin: It doesn't count because you were half-delirious with blood-loss, and I had a traumatic brain injury that the hospital was very surprised I made a full recovery from. No court in the world would consider anything we said then more than pain driven ramblings, let alone, I dunno, contractually binding.
Jon: Well, I knew what I was saying well and clear. Just because it was desperate doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. I didn't realize that you weren't as cognizant when you accepted.
Martin, snorting: Yeah, didn't really need to be cognizant to say yes. I've wanted to marry you since the train ride to Scotland.
Jon: Wait, really? Martin, we hadn't even been on a date.
Martin: And yet we were on the lamb together, which I honestly think is more romantic than sitting in some restaurant somewhere trying to get through icebreakers. Also, back up, from your perspective we've been engaged since 2019? What did you think we were doing in the interim?
Jon: Uhh..
Martin: Yes?
Jon: There are people that have long engagement periods, and it's not exactly like we were in any sort of position to get married for awhile. Especially not that first year.
Martin: Okay? And?
Jon: And..I sort of thought you had changed your mind. For awhile. Was rather surprised that you kept living with me, considering that, on the worst nights, I was convinced you were going to storm off and leave me forever any minute now. Hence why your proposal was rather relieving.
Martin: Oh, Jon, love. That is so very ridiculous, and so very you, and so very close to many of my own fears and doubts. Do you have any idea how terrified I was to float the idea of marriage to you? Half the time I was convinced I was just meant to keep you company until you found someone better. And, Christ, we'd, from your perspective, been engaged the whole damn time. Fuck.
[Jon, after a beat, starts laughing. It has a slightly hysterical edge to it. Martin joins in. It takes a minute for the laughter to subside enough for them to speak again.]
Jon: I'm rapidly realizing that our entire romantic relationship would've been, if not more successful, a hell of a lot faster if we weren't both complete fools.
Martin: You're realizing that now? I think I've known that since the CV incident. I've definitely known it since the Lonely.
Jon, with a slightly tired chuckle:Yes, yes, something probably should've tipped me off earlier. Shockingly, observation of our own personal romantic trends is not always a strong suit of mine.
Jon: Anyway, please tell me you have another small wonder, this has gotten wildly of track.
Martin: Since we're talking about marriage anyway, I think my next small wonder is having a shared reference in your wedding vows. Our friends had "I have been, and always shall be, your friend" in theirs, and I made Jon cry with a slightly altered Lord of the Rings quote in ours.
Jon: First off, we were both openly weeping long before that point, secondly, I defy anybody to have been through half of what we have and then have the love of their life look them in the eyes and tell them "Leave you? I never intend to. I am going with you, if you climb to the moon" without at least tearing up.
Martin: There wasn't a dry eye in the audience, either. Granted, the audience was only 20 people, but that was also literally the only time I've seen Eloise show a strong emotion, so I'm pretty smug about it.
Martin, soft: I still feel exactly the same, you know. If you're climbing to the moon, I'll make sure the rope is strong enough for two.
Jon, soft: I know, love.
Jon: Though, to be fair, the moon is also significantly more pleasant than many places we've been.
Martin: God, I hate how much that's true. Look at this barren, oxygenless rock, at least it's not actively trying to kill us. Practically a honeymoon location.
[Martin sighs]
Martin: I am so tired. Let's do the user submissions then take a very long nap.
Jon: Please.
Martin: So, first submission is from Josie; They find it wonderful getting cards from their friends. They say they're lucky to have so much love in their life and have friends that care enough to send them things. That is wonderful Josie! We have a drawer in our house dedicated to every loving card we've ever received since the move, and they're always such a nice reminder of the people in our lives.
Jon: We should really organize that drawer, but, yes, agree with the sentiment. Even the cards from people that are no longer in our lives are lovely, I think. Those connections are very much meaningful for both of us, whether they're active or not.
Martin: That's very true.  Next submission is from Lys, who submits the sound of leaves crunching under your feet in the fall. Ah, that's a classic.
Jon: I just felt myself relax imagining it. I wish it was autumn.
Martin: Don't we all? Alright, for the last submissions, I'm grouping them together as they follow a similar theme. Jadwiga submits the feeling of waking up well into the morning with the sun shining through the window and your cat laying next to you, and Oran submits when a dog falls asleep with its head in your lap.
Jon: I can heartily recommend at least one of those, considering that's how we try to wake up most mornings. The Duchess is a dutiful darling girl who spends every night with us, and she's usually still there when us humans rise.
Martin: I bet you'll agree with the other when I finally convince you to get me a dog for my birthday.
Jon: It hasn't happened yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.
Martin: But you don't even dislike dogs! You're just as happy to pet them when they pass by as I am.
Jon: Being fine with an animal isn't the same thing as wanting to adopt one for yourself! We don't even know if The Duchess would put up with a dog.
Martin: I bet she would. I bet we could get a big senior dog who's the calmest animal you've ever met with those soft eyes and a little grey on the muzzle and she would cuddle up in an instant. And we did say we should visit a shelter or three this weekend..
Jon: I think you're rather callously taking advantage of my exhausted state, but I suppose we can look. 
Martin: Hell fuckin yeah. So, I think that'll close out the episode, and as we always say at the end, uh, go take a nap and get a dog. Not necessarily in that order.
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Text
Dream SMP Recap (January 18/2021) - Founding of the Syndicate
Technoblade decides to start a new organization of anarchists in the Arctic and makes plans to find new recruits. He’s not the only one seeking recruits, though, as both Snowchester and the Eggpire attempt to gain Foolish’s favor, with varying degrees of success.
Puffy’s Hero Arc continues as the server also welcomes its second new member: HannahxxRose! 
---
- Techno wants to speak with Phil alone, without Ranboo. He wants more people to join him in the fight for anarchy, and wishes to create a collective of like-minded individuals to help him. He feels that there are other people who hold his beliefs, but they aren’t aware of possible alternatives to the governments that exist. 
He wants to form an association of anarchists to unite all the anarchists on the server.
He says he doesn’t think L’manburg was the only government. He’s heard rumors of other factions...
Techno doesn’t feel like they can trust Ranboo yet. They aren’t sure if he shares their beliefs, and he just hasn’t been there long enough to gain that sort of trust.
- Ranboo is nervous about being kicked out if he tells the truth, but decides to tell Techno and Phil about his memory issues, of him blowing up the Community House, and the fact that he’d had one of the discs
Techno says he doesn’t care about the Community House or the discs. He just thinks Ranboo’s a little weird, but they wouldn’t kick Ranboo out over it. 
- Techno leaves and shows Phil the stronghold and End Portal. They call it a summoning circle and decide to make it into a cool table for their headquarters.
- DreamXD comes on for the first time since the Dreamon Hunters streams and destroys the End Portal, but is convinced to place it back after Techno and Phil reassure him that they have no plans to ignite it. 
He calls himself “the protector” and says that he’s a separate entity from Dream.
- Techno and Phil continue to develop their plans, aiming to form a syndicate. The Syndicate is to remain secret. Techno wants to do some recruiting for more members. 
He doesn’t see Ranboo as a reliable-enough possible recruit. 
- Foolish logs on and wants a lot of gold.
- The Dream SMP has another new member! HannahxxRose on Twitch!
- She gets a welcome from Purpled and Karl. Antfrost and HBomb say hi as well.
- Purpled tours her around.
- Meanwhile, Tubbo wants to work on the nuclear weapons.
- Purpled explains that Hannah can build her house wherever, but Purpled’s the guy she’s got to go to to pay for the land plot. He also shows her his real estate office.
- Foolish wants 292 blocks of gold. Tubbo tells him to come to Snowchester. 
- Tubbo says that he’s welcome to come hang out in Snowchester any time if he wants to be a part of something.
- Hannah plants “Hannah’s Rose” on the boardwalk.
- She then goes off and explores on her own.
- Foolish decides to join Snowchester!
- Puffy gives Hannah a Netherite axe and shovel as a gift. In return, Hannah gives her one of her roses.
- Puffy tells her how to cleanse in Prime water after touching the Blood Vines.
- Then, Puffy and Hannah go into Ponk’s Maze out of curiosity and get trapped in it. Hannah wanders through and wonders whether she should pull the lever to sacrifice the animals. She decides not to and escapes up the staircase.
Puffy has some extra difficulty getting out.
Puffy: “It looked like I was in Heaven. There was no god there.”
- Puffy explains the routes through the Nether and shows her the path to the Guardian Farm and Tubbo’s Jungle Base, then later Sam’s base.
- Finally, Puffy shows her the L’manburg Crater before taking her to see the Egg.
- Later, Puffy checks on the L’manburg Flag and the vines that have spread at the bedrock. She wants to create a hidden refuge somewhere.
She creates a bunker underneath Eret’s Castle.
- Puffy ponders to herself about her loyalties again. Everyone around her seems to have gone off the rails. She no longer has a duckling. The Eggpire’s plans are concerning.
Perhaps it’s time she talks to Techno?
- Puffy also reflects on how Hannah’s only just joined and is thus innocent. But who knows how long that will last? 
She takes the rose Hannah gave her and goes to the bunker to write in the Captain’s Log.
“I’m forgetting what it means to be a knight, but maybe it’s more important to learn to be a hero first.”
- Puffy heads back to the Crater. For all that Tommy’s been through, he’s come back from all of it. 
“We have an empty table with what feels like...empty knights. And honestly, even though I wasn’t part of L’manburg...I feel something more when I come here than when I go to the Castle."
“I’m not just a knight to Eret or the kingdom. I’m gonna try to be a knight to everybody.”
- She feels like Eret hasn’t done much as king to actually protect anybody.
- Bad logs on to check the Egg. He says his disguise needs to be updated or else it might fade. He also needs to be careful with people like Technoblade around...he has a plan to put up propaganda everywhere.
- He observes that the Vines in the Crater aren’t spreading as fast as he thought they would be, and theorizes that without the Egg’s direct presence there, their growth has been slower. He wonders if there’s a way to remedy that.
- Bad speaks with Foolish with the intentions of converting him to the Eggpire.
- Foolish tells Bad he’s already joined up with Tubbo in Snowchester. Bad asks which faction it is, and Foolish skirts around an answer. Bad is confident that the Egg might be able to convince him otherwise and leads Foolish to the Egg Room. 
- Foolish asks what the Egg hatches? Bad says he doesn’t know, but it probably doesn’t matter. Isn’t it nice and red? Foolish says he’s “more of a green guy.”
- Foolish says he wants to sleep on it. Bad suggests he literally sleeps on the Egg. 
- They run into Antfrost on the boardwalk as Bad leads Foolish to the green flower in the Casino. Bad says he doesn’t actually like the green flower, now that he thinks about it...something about it feels off to him. Foolish says he likes this one better.
- Bad tries to convince Foolish by pointing out that Puffy is in the Eggpire, but Foolish says that he wants to have his own space away from his father and not be in the same faction.
- Bad shows Ant the possible Eggpire flag design. Foolish points out that his eyes are bright green, which is why he’s more favorable to the color. It’s a fashion thing! Gotta stick to the color scheme.
- Foolish lets slip that he thinks the Egg is stupid. There’s an awkward recover and he then leaves the Eggpire members to continue with their propaganda.
- After working with Antfrost on the propaganda, Bad decides that he’s comfortable enough that he can reveal his true form to Antfrost. He takes off his disguise. Antfrost observes that the Egg has transformed him, but doesn’t seem disturbed by it.
- The Eggpire is merely a stepping stone for Bad. This isn’t about the Eggpire. It isn’t about Bad or Antfrost or any person in particular.
It’s only about the Egg.
---
Upcoming Events:
- Tommy and Tubbo confront Dream (Wednesday)
- Futuristic Tales From the SMP Episode (Saturday)
- Nuclear Weapons Test (January 26th)
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