#i don't think that parallel was intended but like . oh boy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

andrewwtca · 1 year

Text

a Soriku Endgame, Actually essay on Light and Darkness

Also available to read on Archive of our Own.

Kingdom Hearts, with Sora and Riku in particular, has been on my mind as of late. It’s always been on my mind, to be honest, ever since I first got into the series. It’s grabbed my hand and hasn’t let go, especially with all the new lore. And yet, I’ve been struggling to make peace with myself.

On one hand, I don't want to get my hopes up, thinking that Sora and Riku would ever become something 'more' or that what I’m seeing is anything other than in-depth speculation. I've had my heart broken before and this series means too much to me for me to foolishly dive in like this.

On the other hand, I can't ignore what the story is telling me, as a literary analysis enthusiast and as a diehard fan. There have been parallels established, setups finally going through, and Nomura has said before that “this series is not intended to be child-focused, and so the complexity of the story is purposely made prominent.” I can’t keep turning a blind eye, knowing everything I know, thinking everything I think. If I did, I feel like I would be doing a disservice to both my experiences with the series and my experiences as a person.

So yeah—Soriku Endgame, Actually. Today, I’m arguing its canonicality because of the balance of Light and Darkness (or lack thereof) throughout the series. Please enjoy my messy and impassioned essay!

a sky of falling stars

The Children of Destiny is a new concept introduced to us in the finale of Dark Road. To summarize, they are people with the ability to feel what others feel, connect, and become one with them—empaths with Light.

It appears that the Children of Destiny are all descendants of Ephemer, characterized by silvery hair. There's Ephemer, there's Baldr, there's Xehanort—and, oh yeah, there's Riku.

Upon the release of the finale, a lot of people—myself included—quickly jumped to the conclusion that Sora is a Child of Destiny, which isn't all that wrong. If we're going by what the games have given us, Sora is very special. What other character has housed five different hearts inside his own? What other character had an entire arc in Birth by Sleep talking about how he felt the pain in someone else’s heart?

But Nomura has insisted since the beginning that Sora is an ordinary boy, that he wasn't born with anything special, explaining that he “had the premise that a heart like Sora’s exists within all the players. Sora is ‘ordinary’, therefore everyone is ‘ordinary.” (Before anyone argues Nomura is just going through a retcon, I doubt he would go through with one to this extent, given how he has had the ending to the Dark Seeker Saga in mind for years.)

Riku, on the other hand, has not been given this kind of treatment at all. He's always been painted as a golden child, better than Sora at everything, being the original bearer of the Keyblade. For crying out loud, he had a light in Birth By Sleep that was seen from space, not Sora. If you factor in bloodlines, it wouldn't be too far off to theorize that Riku is a descendent of Ephemer's line. Riku isn't who most look at first, but all signs lead to him being a Child of Destiny.

But that doesn't explain Sora at all. He may not have been born special like Riku, but he's special somehow. After all, Nomura did finish his ‘Sora isn't special’ line with, “I figure even if you’re ‘ordinary’, for something important, everyone can exhibit a special power just like Sora.” Aqua even calls out that Sora is the one who can set things right, the boy who can touch others’ hearts.

And that is where the necklace theory comes in.

Sora has always been associated with royalty, sitting on a throne in box art or having crowns plastered around him—or on him. From his debut, Sora has had a crown necklace that has never been explained. Despite wearing it in every outfit, it's never been addressed how it came to be.

It’s after Aqua and Terra came, judging by the BBS cutscenes of him and Riku. But it’s before KH1, as that's when his journey began. That’s a huge timeframe, from being a kid to deciding to leave the islands, but it's easy to pinpoint a time when considering something the games still never fully fleshed out: the meteor shower.

In Chain of Memories, Sora and Riku fight over this memory they supposedly both had of Namine one night during a meteor shower. One of them promised they would keep her safe, and it's all cute until we remember that Namine wasn't actually in these memories. And Namine can't make any new memories—she can only rearrange old ones.

Sora and Riku both share this memory. And the way they fought over this memory gave it the utmost importance. It becomes obvious at this point that the both of them witnessed a meteor shower, and given what we know about their dynamic (and that's a lot), it would make sense to assume it was Riku promising Sora to keep him safe—almost like a charm.

The necklace theory has been around for years, but it’s only after the Dark Road finale that it was expanded upon (or perhaps it’s just me and maybe three others who think this, but I don’t mind one bit.) It isn't just Riku promising to keep Sora safe. In giving Sora a necklace, a crown, Riku has metaphorically crowned Sora. He has brought Sora up to his status as a Child of Destiny, putting all his love into a charm that he hopes can keep Sora safe.

There’s a flaw in my logic though, trust me, I know. I just said that this meteor shower didn’t happen until after BBS, and yet it’s during the game that Sora feels the pain of others, it’s during the game that Aqua says that Sora is going to be the one to set things right. But I still stand firm in my belief. Riku has always been painted as the golden child, the Child of Destiny, but his love for Sora runs deeper than his love for anything else.

Riku’s light is the one that brought Terra and Aqua to Destiny Island but Riku’s light shines for Sora; sort of like step one to Sora’s crowning. Riku’s light rubbed off on Sora, ever since they were kids—after all, a Child of Destiny’s power is to connect hearts. Why not connect his own with another? Why not share his light?

Further, in BBS, Sora can feel Ven’s pain and take care of his heart, but he isn’t fully aware of this nor is he able to really do anything about this. It isn’t until KH1 that Sora ever exhibits a power of truly connecting to another’s heart when Sora entered the darkness swallowing Riku and touched Riku’s heart’s light to obtain his Keyblade, explained by Nomura himself. And it isn’t until KH3 that Sora finds the power to wake up Ven’s heart.

Regardless of whether or not I’m right about this, it means Nomura isn't technically wrong about Sora being normal. Sora, no matter what, doesn’t have some divine birthright, but he still has the makings of someone who can bring peace to the world—all thanks to Riku.

This helps set the tone of their relationship, of the depth of Sora and Riku’s bond. It also moves the storyline forward to how they will be the ones to instigate change—but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first talk about who once were and who they could’ve been.

in another life

Kingdom Hearts is pretty on the nose on parallels between Xehanort/Eraqus and Riku/Sora. Besides personality, Xehanort and Riku are both Childs of Destiny who give in to the darkness and Eraqus and Sora are endless sources of light. But the parallels don't exist to make us empathize with Xehanort/Eraqus: they're to tell us a cautionary tale of what our protagonists could've been.

So it begs the question, what actually separated Sora and Riku from becoming like Eraqus and Xehanort? Let’s start with Riku.

To recap, Xehanort was a student in Scala ad Caelum alongside Eraqus, who watched all his classmates die. He learned from Baldr about their roles as Children of Destiny and in his grief, became obsessed with wiping the world clean. He wanted a Keyblade War to create a fresh start, void of Light and Darkness, so that the world could try again.

Riku seemed to have been walking the same road as Xehanort. He stopped fearing Darkness and started dancing on the line between it and Light. Riku was angry at the world and angry at his friends, and perhaps in another life, he may too have wanted to wipe the world clean.

But every time I compare him and Xehanort, I can't help but think that a cautionary tale isn't what Xehanort/Eraqus is. Because I can't help but think that it just could never have happened to Riku, and it's for two main reasons:

1) Hope.

Riku has hope in the world. When we look at all the other Children of Light, they all had a Darkness that took them down (although in Ephemer's case, it was a literal Darkness that killed him). Baldr lost himself in grief. Xehanort lost himself in rage. But not Riku.

When Xehanort saw that the world couldn't be fixed (to how he believed it should be), Riku did not even see a world that needed fixing. Riku saw the world in all of its complicated glory. For instance, Riku is one of the first characters to acknowledge the feelings of Nobodies; their pain, and their love. He doesn't see them as an extension of Darkness or Light. They simply are.

Riku believes in redemption. It's been his entire character arc, after all, to redeem himself and walk the Road to Dawn, a term coined way back in CoM. Ever since then, Riku has been closely associated with the sunrise—night turning into day. Darkness becomes Light. Redemption. This symbolism is shown in box art, said in interviews, even his Keyblade is called the Way to Dawn.

The fact that Riku was even able to think of the Road to Dawn proves that he's nothing like Xehanort. Xehanort believes that there is no redemption because the world needs to be wiped clean. But Riku believes that there is a road he can walk, a road he can take to salvation because the world is not good or bad, but made for people to live and learn. But how? How was he able to walk that road? He has hope, but how was he able to use it? And that's the second reason.

2) Sora. Riku has Sora.

It may feel a bit obvious to say, but it's true: the fact that Riku is Riku; Sora is Sora; and their relationship is the way it is, is the key to why they would never have fallen to the same fate. We don't know the full extent of Xehanort and Eraqus's relationship, but it's safe to assume it wasn't as kind or loving as Riku and Sora's ever were. The two would play as kids, promise to keep each other safe, tell secrets—the two became princes of destiny together, destined to fight their way home.

I can't see Xehanort and Eraqus as anything more than students in a fucked up situation. Because when things got bad for Xehanort, he didn't think of Eraqus as his guiding light. He only thought of what he lost. There’s even a line in Dark Road of Xehanort hearing Eraqus crying in the other room, yet he never comforts him, never approaches him. They suffered alone, too afraid or perhaps too blind to reach for one another.

When things got bad for Riku, he saw Sora. He saw how Sora loved Kairi and sacrificed himself for her, and he saw that Sora was forgiving towards him. The reason why Riku and Sora didn't end up like Xehanort and Eraqus is that they simply aren't them. Their bond is deeper and their love is stronger, and Riku’s hope is simply stronger than Xehanort’s ever was.

It’s important to emphasize that this truly is a feat that only Riku (and Sora, one day) could’ve accomplished. It's natural to us that Riku, one of the series' protagonists, was able to do this. It's easy to shrug off the balance he managed to strike between his Light and Darkness, but for so many actually in the series, it's an incomprehensible thought. Mickey even stated in CoM, that Riku introduced Light and Darkness in a way nobody has ever seen before. To understand how this affects Sora and Riku’s relationship, it’s important to understand the way things currently are.

the light we pass down

Light and Darkness are the very core of this series. Light represents the connections you make with others, while Darkness represents the lack thereof—those with Darkness in their hearts are those who walk alone, while those with Light are those with many friends around them. Darkness is selfishness, and Light is selflessness.

Darkness is usually framed as an inherently evil source in many stories, but it's something that cannot be extinguished. Light needs to be there to balance it.

But Kingdom Hearts seems to be going down the path less taken—yes, Darkness isn't 'good', and it isn't desirable to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. But the series is asking the question many like to ignore: when does Light become Darkness?

In nearly every game, you can trace one character fed into the illusion that Light is good, everything else is bad, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. MoM to his pupils in Union X; Odin to Baldr in Dark Road; Eraqus to his children in BBS; Yen Sid to Mickey in forbidding him to speak of Aqua; Donald and Goofy to Sora in telling him that their ship runs on happy smiles. It is generational trauma.

A cycle of hypocrisy has been forced on not only the 'defenders of Light' but 'agents of Darkness.' Xehanort doesn't care who he hurts as long as he can get his own idea of balance in the world, believing his judgment to be supreme to others—despite his initial thoughts in Dark Road, that unless someone's heart is pure Light, how can one know for sure what is right and wrong? To which Eraqus responded that they as Keyblade Wielders held the supreme judgment towards morality.

Again and again, this cycle of defending what they believe is good and Light repeats, hurting themselves and hurting others, and even Sora is not free of this hypocrisy. While he doesn't go out of his way to hurt others the way Xehanort has, he is capable of hurting others: Riku was hurt by Sora in KH1 when he was silent when Kairi suggested leaving him behind or when he shrugged off Riku going missing in Traverse Town. In CoM, when the idea of him ‘abandoning’ people was presented, he acted out harshly and completely rejected the idea (this is all another parallel to Eraqus!)

He even denies the idea that Riku has hurt others. Despite Riku acting out of his own free will, the reason he feels the need to atone and walk the path to redemption, Sora believes that the Darkness was forced on Riku by others.

Sora has been carved into the same mindset as so many others, the idea heavily tackled in Dark Road, that Darkness is only brought upon by others, and that it needs to be expunged. Sora is a firm believer that the Darkness is something to be eradicated, such as with his encounter with Vanitas in KH3. When Vanitas states that he is simply Darkness, Ven is quick to understand and even accept. Sora, on the other hand, rejects this and insists that it isn’t okay.

Even our series’ protagonist is unable to shake himself from this self-righteous, black-or-white thinking. Riku is the only character in the series who has formed an actual balance in himself, with all other characters having to pick one side. Lea, Xion, and Roxas leave the Darkness of Organization XIII and become Keyblade Wielders. Terra embraces his Light, Aqua leaves the Realm of Darkness, and Ven is literally separated into a being of Light and Darkness (although not out of his own volition).

The series is not framing any of these things as negative—there’s nothing wrong with embracing Light. However, these characters are falling into the same cycle that the generations before have; they will once again be faced with a Darkness too deep to defeat and ignore. It must be talked to, reckoned with, and faced with open arms. Riku has been the only one able to return the hug and walk away.

We’ve explored what makes Riku’s character arc so significant and what Sora’s flaws are, and it’s time to dive into the murky waters of the future.

when does the sun become the night?

Sora. Oh, Sora. I love you, Sora. Now let me tear you and your smile apart.

The parallels between Xehanort and Riku are very on the nose and easy to distinguish; meanwhile, Eraqus and Sora are a bit more challenging.

In BBS, Eraqus is the Master of Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. He forms a bond between them, as one would expect, mentoring and looking out for their well-being. The Light in his heart is strong due to his connections with them, alongside being a Keyblade wielder. Although not perfect (feeding into Terra's insecurities about his Darkness, cough), he does care for them. But when the world falls to Darkness, Eraqus doesn't hesitate to be selfless, to give up his connections, the Light in his heart, to kill them to save a greater good. As long as someone somewhere can benefit from his actions, he isn't harming.

But is that selfless? Is sacrificing for a 'greater good' truly selfless? Is there a line between the needs of the many and the needs of the few? Or is there a certain ‘darkness’ that comes with these acts? Disregarding yourself, disregarding others, selfless yet selfish; it's not the right thing to do, and the series doesn't hesitate to frame it as that. What Eraqus did was wrong. He hurt others, even if he refused to acknowledge it.

And yet, no one seems to make any noise toward Sora.

Sora is a Guardian of Light. He is the cheerful protagonist who makes everyone smile and feel better. Ever since the first game, when Donald and Goofy (although not with ill intent) told him that the Gummi Ship runs on happy faces, he's been under the precedent that his emotions do not matter in the greater scheme of things. In the long run, what matters is that others are safe, the people he cares about.

Once again, like how Xehanort and Riku deviated in terms of having hope, this is where Eraqus and Sora begin to deviate from their parallels. While both are selfless to the point of ‘darkness,’ they show it in dramatically different ways. Eraqus is willing to hurt the people he cares about (and by extension, himself) to serve this 'greater good', but Sora is only willing to actively hurt himself.

I feel the need to remind everyone that this is a teenager we're talking about. If we weren't in a franchise partially owned by Disney, I feel like more people would be willing to call this what it is: suicidal. This is not Light.

We've already seen ways that this harms Sora outside the narrative and the whole getting sent to Quadratum thing in his Rage form. Sora transforms into a drive form that’s oddly reminiscent of his time as a Heartless and can unleash powerful attacks that lower his HP (hmm). Furthermore, this form only appears when his HP is low (double hmm) and stated by Nomura, “based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger (triple hmm).”

Back inside the narrative, the climax of KH3 was Sora believing that he's worthless without his friends, genuinely worthless, and unable to fight at all. This is the very definition of a Light gone too far when remembering that Light is the connections you form with others. With too much Light, Sora lost himself. He couldn't find himself past who he was for others.

In the section prior that broke down generational trauma as it appears in Kingdom Hearts, I mentioned that Sora does not only end up hurting himself but passively hurting others around him, most notably Riku. Sora is unable to understand that Darkness is not the absence of all good but rather the shadow that simply follows you around. Sora cannot understand that Darkness is not something to be shunned, to never talk about. (This could also be tied back to his Rage form—while he does not actively channel his anger to hurt, that is what happens; only to never be acknowledged by him.)

(Off-topic, but I find it funny that Sora, who is so keen on the idea that Darkness is Not Good, was only ever to have a proper conversation with Riku in the Realm of Darkness. It’s very telling to their characters.)

Kingdom Hearts is setting up a narrative that Light and Darkness cannot exist in excess. That Light doesn't exist to balance out the Darkness, to stop it from becoming too strong—you need Darkness to exist as well.

Sora has gotten this far along the story and still hasn't managed to learn this, because it’s just not something you can learn (or unlearn, rather) on your own. Because this kind of thinking isn’t undone with hours of contemplation; in a fitting Kingdom Hearts fashion, it’s connections that lead to the revelation.

the roads we walk

Xehanort and Eraqus fall out with each other. They stop talking and sever the connection with each other. That was a core reason things got as out of hand as they did for each other; they weren't keeping each other in check. Xehanort's Darkness left him blind and unable to see that there was Light after all, and Eraqus's Light blinded him and left him stumbling with a Keyblade for a 'greater purpose.' Their hearts fell too far to one end of the balance, leaving the scales unbalanced.

Riku and Sora do not have that. They have a connection like nothing seen in this series before—Riku had literally raised Sora to become a Child of Destiny alongside him. The Light of their hearts is just so awe-strikingly bright.

Sora, however, has lost himself in all his light. He is stuck in the same bright room that Eraqus was, stumbling around with his Keyblade. But where Eraqus was forever lost, Sora can be found: because where Riku had Sora to guide him to the Light, Sora will have Riku to guide him through the Darkness.

Riku spends the majority of his character simply proving that he is capable of redemption. It takes him the ending of a game to realize the errors in his ways and another game to figure out the solution he must fight for, and these weren't revelations he finds on his own—he found the first with Sora and the second (in CoM) with Mickey and Namine.

For Sora to even have the revelation that he cannot keep shutting out the Darkness in him unless he wants more pain for himself and others, he needs someone to help show him that is an option. And who else but Riku, who is living proof that existence isn’t just black-or-white, Light or Darkness?

Riku is Sora's foil. A foil is a character who either has pronounced differences between themselves and the protagonist or is so alike that a contrast appears. Riku is the ladder, similar enough to Sora that one can begin to make assumptions about where the story is heading. Their similarities aren't hard to find: they both hail from Destiny Islands, they both have a love for adventure, they both were assumed to walk a path of Light for the rest of their lives, and they both care deeply for each other. The contrast begins in KH1 when Riku begins his fall to Darkness while Sora remains firm in his standing.

Riku’s arc ended with acceptance; he needed to accept the Darkness and the Light inside him to find peace. It’s only natural that his foil, struggling with the same imbalance, would go through a similar arc but still different enough to be his own.

It isn't just the story telling us this. Riku has always been associated with imagery of dawn, the breaking of Darkness into Light, and Kairi is always associated with imagery of dusk, the breaking of Light into Darkness (which is a conversation all on its own). Sora, on the other hand, is associated with a large blue sky (his name, after all, does mean sky.) It's not hinting towards a journey of any kind—not a redemption like for Riku.

He is the daylight. He is the Light in everyone's lives. But ‘Sora’ doesn't mean the day sky. It simply means sky. Sky, at day or night—and I don't mind if you call me reaching at this point, but it feels like it's calling out to the fact that Sora needs to accept that he is both Light and Darkness, the way the sky is both day and night.

Nomura has even stated in an interview before when asked about the two different versions of the Dream Drop Distance illustrations that he “wanted its composition and look to remind [the player] of the title’s catch copy, ‘Darkness becomes light, light falls into darkness.’” The parallel structure of the tagline serves to mirror the parallel structure of Sora and Riku’s paths, Sora’s road to night and Riku’s road to dawn.

But I digress. Exhaustively, it’s very apparent that Sora is heading toward a climax, a Darkness he cannot ignore. His breakdown in KH3 was left unspoken, unresolved, and his disappearance only contributes to the fact that he’s heading toward another breaking point, where the cheerful protagonist can no longer remain cheerful. But like in KH3, something is going to be the same: Riku.

At his lowest point, it was Riku who was next to him, telling Sora that he believed in him. It was Riku who carried on when Sora couldn’t. Riku is going to be key in Sora's journey to night. Riku was able to find his Road to Dawn by remembering Sora. He was able to walk by remembering his love, his passion, his everything, and it was because of Sora that Riku found balance. He found the Light within himself, and he learned to accept that the Darkness would always be a part of him, the way it is for others.

Sora's arc will be spun into motion because of Riku. The next installments of Kingdom Hearts are setting up that Riku's dreams are the key to finding Sora, implying perhaps that it may be Sora and Riku all alone in a world. Whatever the case, Riku is going to be by Sora's side, as that is where they are at their best, to face Sora’s worst.

And it's fitting. Riku had to go from Darkness, defined as a lack of connections, to a balance with Light, having connections. He went from his isolation, wearing a blindfold and not being able to face anyone, to being the charming Riku we all love, fighting alongside the Keyblade wielders. His journey would have him open up, so he would be joined by memories, ghosts, not by people until he began to embrace others.

Sora will be going from Light to a balance with Darkness. He'd be going from connections to a lack (though not in the same extremes that Riku did), in a sense. Understandably, he can’t do it alone, make such a drastic change; he'd need someone.

This change, this balance, this emphasis on connections, it’s guiding us to what the narrative has been trying to tell us all along.

we can be the darkness, and the light, and the sunsets and sunrises too

When asked about the theme of KH3 and the entire series, Nomura answered, “It’s in the title: hearts. The consistent theme across the whole series is ‘What is a heart?’”

Kingdom Hearts is going to be doing something unprecedented in not only a lot of media but in its world itself. While the idea of Light and Darkness existing within characters is not new, the characters aren't exactly behind that idea. Most of the Keyblade Wielders and Guardians of Light cherish the Light above all else—while all the primary villains worship the Darkness. They fight for a balance but don't fully grasp that within (nearly) all of them lies both entities.

Riku seems to be more accepted in the world, as he did join the Light in the end. But what Sora would do is... just absolutely bonkers. He will be embracing a Darkness in him, the same kind that Terra and so many others were taught to push out. Sora will be... well, a teenager. Happy and angsty and all the things teens are.

This is where Kingdom Hearts has the chance to seal the deal, to fully welcome this balance of Light and Darkness: a relationship between Riku and Sora.

For all Guardians of Light, there is a generational trauma hanging over their heads and haunting them, and Sora will need to accept his Darkness to combat it, but the story can't end there. The games have been building up the idea that Sora will be the one to bring change to the world, that Sora will be the one to end this cycle. He won’t just accept his Darkness but lead a new age. He will be the one to show that there's a different way (or really, only one other way) to move forward:

Love.

Unconditional love. Not love depending on whether they fit the wielders' definitions of Light and Darkness, not love depending on the amount of Light in someone's heart, not love clouded by hypocrisy. Just pure love, forever forgiving and growing.

So who better for Sora’s love than Riku?

Let’s get all the arguments for Kairi out of the way first. Some may say that Kairi could still fulfill this role of spreading love in the next games, but that’s only if her role in the story is completely revamped. She represents friends growing apart as they grow older yet remaining close. While Sora and Riku represent a balance between Light and Darkness, Kairi represents holding a Light close to your heart, even when it's so far away; fitting for her story of being ripped apart from her home.

The games keep pushing the friends' growing apart narrative rather than pulling from it, having Kairi remain with Aqua to train while Riku goes after Sora. There is little space for Kairi to suddenly walk a road to dusk that leads to romance. Especially because it’s Sora and Riku who are the Children of Destiny, they are the ones who will connect to other hearts and bring change, not Kairi. Her lesson would be for herself, not for the world to see.

A relationship between Kairi and Sora would just be backtracking on this message. Sora needs to accept his Darkness, but joining forces with a Princess of Light does not challenge any norms, it does not provide a new answer. It makes sense because the core of Kingdom Hearts isn’t a Prince and Princess of Light—it’s two boys who saw the night sky fall one day, two boys who grew up together, two boys destined for something greater who write their own paths anyway. It’s Sora and Riku. Nomura himself has stated that “Sora and Riku represent the theme of the Kingdom Hearts series, which is the ‘light and dark sides of the heart,’” the essence of this essay.

Carrying on, some may stop me here and say that their love doesn't need to be romantic for a point to be made. But I argue that there is no other way.

Romantic love in stories often serves as the culmination of the story’s themes. In Leigh Bardugo's books, her romances serve to show the importance of love and healing. In the Shadow & Bone trilogy, Alina has the options between the Darkling, representing power, Nikolai, representing nationalism, and Mal, representing love. Just love. Not one befitting of a Saint, someone to change the world, but that’s not who Alina wanted to be; she just wanted a happy ending. Shockingly, she picks Mal. In Six of Crows, Kaz and Inej's romance, both traumatized teenagers, serves to show that you can heal and you can love. They're both scared of people, scared of intimacy and yet they still love with all their scars on display.

In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the romance between Utena and Anthy reaches its climax at the end of the show, displaying the vulnerability of both girls and the rawness of their feelings. But most importantly, it drives home the message: that the power to bring revolution is not the power of a prince or a witch. The power to change the world is love. The only way to change the world to be suitable to live in is through love. The power, a revolution, brought by love.

Romance is a revolution. It’s often saved for the last act of stories because of how it acts as a thread between all of the themes. In Kingdom Hearts, the theme needing weaving is balance: balance between yourself and others, balance between selflessness and selfishness, balance between Light and Darkness. Sora and Riku getting together would be Yin and Yang—a boy who had to accept his Darkness and a boy who had to fight for his Light. They complement each other and fill where the other lacks.

Likewise, a relationship between them stresses the importance of connections. Tai Yasue, co-director of the series, has stated that “the theme of the KH series is ‘connections of the heart,’” and the narrative will take advantage of any opportunity to let that theme shine. Previously, many defenders of Light would sacrifice their connections with others for a greater good. But Sora and Riku choosing to love each other, choosing to love the Light and Darkness in each other instead of trying to chase away their Darkness, is showing that love is their other option.

Sora getting with Kairi challenges nothing. It tells the others that Light must be with Light, that good must be with good. Even their grand attack in Re:Mind is two giant angel wings where they proclaim, “Light!” Sora and Riku, however, show that Light does not mean good. It shows that people can do bad things, and it doesn't make them bad, because people are not black and white. Like two kingdoms forever at war with each other, finally coming together and realizing that the other side is human and that you can't simply demonize them.

Sora and Kairi say there is nothing wrong with the world. To carry on. Sora and Riku say that there isn’t anything wrong with the world; it’s the people looking the wrong way. There is nothing wrong with what’s around us. Nothing wrong, nothing right. “Nothing is whole, and nothing is broken.” It’s simply being: being Darkness, being Light, being both, being neither.

It has to be Sora and Riku. It's always had to be them. Riku brought Sora up to the status of a Child of Destiny, and their journeys were led by each other, their character development taught by one another, and their acceptance will come from (an eventual) conversation between the two about their pain and hurt and Darkness, it’s all always been leading here. To this moment in time where they show the world all the hurt they hold and how they carry on with.

All of that, and loving each other?

They are crossing the line, as Hikaru Utada sings in Don't Think Twice. They are going to be crossing every line established in Kingdom Hearts, and this is their power. Their revolution. Their predetermined yet self-made destiny. The payoff for years and years of searching and yearning and pining and chasing is a love that brings revolution, and oh...isn't that just romantic?

That is the answer to “What is a heart?” The heart is the love you have, despite it all. The heart is the connections you make, despite it all. The heart is your Darkness and your Light and your experiences and your fights, despite it all. The heart is Sora and Riku, despite it all.

grant us the power to bring the world revolution

A lot of this analysis really depends on whether or not you believe Sora and Riku are in love with one another, I realize. You may agree with me that it seems fitting that their coming together as a pair would catalyze all the themes in Kingdom Hearts, but you disagree that it means they'd ever be a pairing. Which, I'd like to thank you for at least hearing me out.

The queerness of their relationship means there will always be naysayers to them getting together, there will always be people claiming that I'm reaching. I do not care if you see them as brothers or ‘just’ really good friends. I see a love story. I see a love story and a love story saying to love, above all else. Do not judge others for you don't know what is wrong or right, for you are biased, for you are flawed, for you are human. Love others for that is the heart's will. Love.

I see that their getting together would be a testament to that love. To that forgiveness, to those flaws we have. It would be an acceptance of Riku's pain and Darkness that he mysteriously doesn't want to acknowledge, it would be an acceptance of Sora's pain that he's been bottling up ever since the beginning of his journey, and it would be an acceptance to the Light they both share. It would be the balance that so many generations have looked for and couldn't find because they did not practice acceptance, only judgment.

Sora and Riku getting together is acceptance and it's proof that love is the answer to a generational trauma that has been around ever since the beginning of time. So yeah: Soriku Endgame, Actually.

Thank you so much for reading! I’m a really big fan of stories about light and darkness and the balance between them, stories about love, and just Kingdom Hearts in general. I didn’t want to keep these thoughts in the back of my head and I’m glad I wrote them all out, even if it’s messy (and a shocking 6k words long...) Kingdom Hearts is a bit messy, after all.

If you're interested in more about Sora and Riku's relationship or just literary analysis of KH in general, please check out Constructing Kingdoms on YouTube, as it helped give me the words to write a lot of this essay. Further, if you're in total denial that there is any queer text in Kingdom Hearts, please check out this amazing video essay on Riku being gay.

That's all I have. Please feel free to share if you have any disagreements or if any parts really spoke to you, or if you have anything to add, or anything really. These two live rent-free in my mind, and I don't mind talking about them or about how they're just so perfect to change the world.

Thank you. Spread love (and the Soriku agenda.)

#kingdom hearts #sora #riku #sora and riku #soriku #soriku endgame actually #media analysis #literary analysis is my special interest #andrew's essays #meta essay #kh meta

261 notes · View notes

bleeding-star-heart · 6 months

Text

I'm not sure if we're supposed to agree with Gale's assessment of his backstory, but I sure as hell don't regardless

I mean, the way he frames it, we're supposed to think of him as on par with a world-destroying egomaniac bent on becoming a god. Except...Gale never intended to become a god. He just wanted more magic power-something he's been trained to do all his life. And when he found that there was magic that should belong to Mystra but didn't...his goal was to RETURN it to her. Which, in most logical minds, means he's actually pretty trustworthy with that power. The fact that Gale was wrong about the orb doesn't change that. And, oh, boy, Mystra's reaction does NOT make it better. Her response to her boyfriend trying to get her a present but failing is...order him to die "for the greater good". Essentially telling him to kill himself. Essentially, Gale's story reads less like an ego trip and more like someone in a REALLY toxic relationship. Like, in modern terms he's basically an autistic guy (because he gives off some autistic vibes to me a bit) whose boss happens to be his girlfriend. And he wants a promotion, but she won't give it to him. So, one day, he finds this beautiful diamond necklace on Craigslist and decides to give it to her, thinking this might get him a promotion. So then he goes to pick up the necklace from the Craigslist guy...only, it's Craiglist. So, there is no necklace, and the guy is a drug dealer, who ends up shooting Gale several times and dumping some bags of cocaine on him. And instead of being sympathetic, or caring, or moved at all, Gale's boss/girlfriend decides to fire him. And leave him to deal with the bullet wounds and bag of cocaine on his own. And later...well, you know. Yeah, I HOPE Larian isn't trying to make Gale out to be the bad guy. That's one parallel with Anders we do NOT need.

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #baldur's gate spoilers #gale dekarios defense squad

72 notes · View notes

vashtijoy · 1 year

Note

thank you for such a comprehensive answer! does make me wonder though — the game clearly has no qualms with saying that akechi did kill people directly and did cause deaths indirectly (e.g. the bus incident explicitly stated to have caused fatalities). so why on earth does p5 say the subway train derailment caused no deaths?? this is probably a very weird detail to zero in, but i feel like a heavier train in an enclosed space carrying more people than a bus is much more dangerous. ngl it broke my immersion on my first playthrough a little lol

I know what you mean, lol. Tbh, Akechi is obviously intended to be sympathetic—to be the worst case example of what happens when a kid is exploited by rotten adults and has nobody to help them.

This is why there are so many parallels between his tragic backstory and the stories of a lot of the PTs—he has Futaba's abusive family background, Ryuji's single mom, Yusuke's orphanhood and exploitative father figure, Haru's terrible father, and I'm sure there's something there for Makoto as well.

This is why, at the end of the engine room, he's met not with condemnation but with grace and understanding. This is why, though he does feel sorry for himself at the end and mourn what he's lost, he doesn't squirm and beg and justify himself like the earlier palace bosses—with the exception of Sae. This is why he gets a dramatic self-sacrifice and gets to come back as an antihero, who goes all-out to save the world at the cost of his life in passing, because it's in his personal interests to do so. Akechi is intended to have been sinned against as much, or more, than he has sinned.

At the end of the day, Akechi is a Phantom Thief, even though he's not really on the team, doesn't align with their motives, and almost nobody really likes him—just like them, he's a kid who was placed in an impossible situation, and they all get that. Even while they understand the reality of who he is and what he's done.

This raises the complicated "is he a victim" question again, of course, and the reality is that he's both a victim and perpetrator—like, of course, most criminals. Akechi isn't special. His backstory lets us understand what he's done; it doesn't undo it—and he knows that.

So what's going on, if I can go all Doylian for a second, is that there's an attempt to soft-soap the reality of what Akechi does—to keep him sympathetic. He doesn't shoot people in real life, for instance (with two notable attempted exceptions)—he gives them "mental shutdowns", giving him a layer of insulation from not only the physical reality of murder, but the moral reality of it.

Like the moment he sees Futaba unexpectedly in Leblanc, and ends up chattering oh shit, you're Wakaba Isshiki's— Like the moment on 10/11 that he walks up to Sae to see what she has on her laptop, and it's the Okumura death video, and he nearly vomits; he claps a hand over his eyes, and only then moves it to cover his mouth.

This is the reason he's so visibly unsettled a lot of the time in the interrogation room, why he stares at that dead guard wide-eyed for so long, and stares at dead "Joker" for so long during that cutaway to Sojiro that the gun stops smoking. He is—and we are—almost always insulated from the reality of his acts. tl;dr: you aren't meant to have to think too much about what it means that the pretty boy is a murderer and terrorist, if you don't want to. And that's fine! There is no wrong way to understand the game, no wrong way to play. A huge part of interpreting a work of fiction is what we bring to it ourselves.

But if you want to dig into that reality, it is there to be found. The fact that psychotic breakdowns obviously can be fatal, that Akechi performs them for Shido from the start, from two years before canon. That he performs so many of them that he becomes a detective, to make sure they're properly "cleaned up" himself. The fact that he makes two of the Phantom Thieves orphans. That Shido considers "proper use of the Metaverse" to be eliminating those in his way. That he sells Akechi's services to anyone suitably wealthy and controllable he can find. That, at the start of the game, all of Tokyo is terrified of this plague of accidents, of psychotic breakdowns, and that, per Sae, the incidents have been going on at least since Wakaba Isshiki died—two years before canon.

You also have things like the fact that he clearly negotiates what he does, as you can see in the post-interrogation room conversations with Shido—he can talk his way out of kill orders, or postpone them, as long as he doesn't push it, and he does this. There's no reason to think this isn't part of their dynamic all along. Shido manipulates Akechi with praise, sure, but Akechi also manipulates Shido as much as he can get away with.

There's also the SIU Director, on 7/10, complaining about how "he" (Akechi) is insufficiently brutal and doesn't come up with usably brutal plans. On the other hand, Akechi will, later, come up with the vicious detail of the plan to murder Joker in the interrogation room; that's his plan. He's told what to do (we join that incriminating phone call conveniently halfway), but he comes up with the details himself. He's on an arc, albeit one that isn't always obvious, and a large part of it is that Joker is slowly driving him out of his mind.

I just think Akechi is way more interesting, and that his manner and behaviour make far more sense, if he has done a lot of these things. The main thing that draws my eye is the visible lack of response he has to the atrocities he causes. Going back to that nice conversation you both have on 7/11, you know what he's almost certainly just done there? He's triggered the Goodness Foods car crash, which the evening news will report takes place at 8am on 7/11.

(and writing about this clarified so many things that it, again, became its own post oops.)

The crash kills four people. By the time you're on the train to school, the news is reporting this. Akechi seems completely fine with it all, better than fine—except there are tiny suggestions of something else, if you squint, something far below the numbness to what he does and what he's become; far below the bright surface. Something that will later be riveted in disbelief to the dead guard on the floor of the interrogation room.

That's interesting.

#asks #persona 5 #p5 meta #goro akechi #interrogation room

169 notes · View notes

one-and-a-half-yikes · 7 months

Text

This thought had been in my head before, and I didn't think about making a post about it till I saw a really dumb post I disagreed with.

Once again talking about Izuku having a crush on Ochako, while acting as if Izuku is an average shounen protag like all the others. Except for one thing...

While it can be stated that Izuku did at one point have a crush on Uraraka, and I'm not gonna dispute that, many have already pointed out how Izuku very quickly gets over it the more time he spends at U.A. And all of this is true, but there's one thing I haven't seen anyone point out yet and that's that all of Izuku's moments where we see him crushing on Ochako I treated like a gag.

There's a lot of moments from the earlier parts of the series so I didn't grab them all. But I'm gonna use some to make my case here.

this is literally the first panel where we see this happen, and right off it comes across less like a crush and more like...actually I don't know how to even describe that face...

But the point is that it doesn't really seem like the face of someone who's flustered (especially because we see Izuku get flustered at multiple other points and it looks nothing like this-), and he's barely blushing at all in this. The way that this scene is made, makes it seem like you're meant to treat this in jest. "Oh a teen boy having a crush on a girl, just a boy being a boy!" Yes. A boy being a boy. A teen boy who was previously bullied and ostracized by all his peers and who's only interaction with the opposite sex would have been his mom. I can't imagine why he's having this reaction. Anyways.

Okay now Izuku is flustered...but it's because of personal space? Not the girl in front of you? Huh. Okay. This happens again btw, during the first OVA (I think), where Uraraka in her excitement at being paired up with Izuku ends up in his personal space without consideration for his boundaries.

This continues on sparsely throughout random points in the story, until they just...stop. Completely. And this interesting, because every other time regarding IzuOcha specifically focuses on Uraraka and her feelings about Izuku. And it's never treated as a joke. Whereas with Izuku, you're meant to find it funny, but never highly important, or warranting you're full attention. It's just something that I find interesting, especially when you take into consideration how this parallels KiriMina and KamiJirou, and how for both boys and their feelings toward their respective love interests their feelings are treated again, with weight.

And like I said, Uraraka's emotions are treated seriously. We're given multiple moments to see her contemplate on this stuff. But never Izuku. Why? Because he's not important, it was always gonna be one-sided thing between them, imo I don't think, even if bkdk was never meant to be a thing, that Hori ever intended for this to be a deep, meaningful relationship between these two. That it was always never gonna happen. That's my two cents tho.

Not sure how to end this off, so yeah...if anyone wants to add anything or ask if I didn't explain something well enough lemme know cause I have no idea if I did 😅

#bkdk #bakudeku #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #idk if this counts as a meta or not...

57 notes · View notes

buckevantommy · 16 days

Text

alright i finally managed to get a copy of the ep and i'm watching it on my smallass iphone screen which isn't ideal but i can't wait 3 days to get access to a bigger screen so here we go:

i need to know if that rainbow flare on buck was intentional

i might be looking too hard but that hand grabbing buck's throat and then eddie's junk could be foreshadowing for you know what, i mean who's to say?

oliver deserves a fucking oscar for his nervous smitten buck performance

tommy shaved for their date which is so old school i love it but i also miss the scruff and need to see its return asap

hints of Tommy Backstory, my beloved

the convo about renting out a home with marisol and eddie but including buck is making me think of how buck is possibly being 'rented out' to tommy in the narrative for now but later eddie will be the one to buy

i understand tommy ending their date early but WHAT HAPPENED to him picking up buck from his loft?? and don't tell me he ubered for a first date when we know he drives. although i get not wanting to drink and drive ig

also: tommy was meant to pick up buck at 8pm and now they've finished dinner so wtf is eddie and marisol doing starting their dinner at like 930pm is that an LA thing bc that's insane

'oldest italian restaurant' sign just makes me think of tommy and buck's age gap and i giggle and gasp

buck's reaction to being rejected is breaking my hearrrrt. tommy opened him up to his sexuality and buck was So Excited and now this guy is just dumping him?? who is he supposed to bounce his restless bisexual energy off now??

we're not even 10mins in so i have no idea what the bulk of this ep is gonna be about

oH YEAH THE GAY MOMS pls let them be happy

BUCK COMES OUT TO MADDIE ACCIDENTALLY like a true bisexual disaster

The Guy Thing is very much The Point buck, you sweet thick cinnamom scroll

buck is doubly an ally. he's a bially.

keep talking buck i am cackling you adorable baby bi

insane thing to have eddie post-sex with his nun gf after buck was gushing about tommy

it's okay buck, false starts with difficult convos happen, you'll get there

something something buck intending to come out to eddie and eddie explaining his sex problems all while eddie gets sweaty and swole

LIKE SEAMONKEYS! buck i adore you

buck wishes he could lend eddie a hand but he can't bc he's no homewrecker and bc eddie is quote unquote straight. not bc he himself is taken, bc the hot pilot dumped him and oh now i'm sad again :(

there's some buck+guilt [re:self worth] meta glanced over here that makes me wanna delve into some introspective reads

buck giving good advice is something that can be so personal

hen saving a rescue dog after it attacked the firefighter trying to save it as a parallel to their current foster child situation. it's just good storytelling. the dark stuff is getting hopeful

HANG OUT WITH THE BOYS eddie you don't know how perfect your words are

i really love the way they chose for buck to come out to eddie. trying to do it at a certain time didn't work for him, it was too daunting. but as soon as eddie mistook buck's date with tommy for something platonic? buck doesn't want to hide anymore. it really speaks to the human and especially the queer experience - that need to correct someone's misinterpretation (someone important to buck) of who you are.

GAY TOMMY CONFIRMED

supportive eddie and 'this doesn't change a thing between us'

buck finally getting to talk to his friend about getting dumped by a guy he was really hoping for more with

eddie's turn to give good advice to buck re:his dating life and we come full circle

buck's relief at eddie knowing and accepting him. the double-back for the hug. the comfort is all there.

i want to shower the wardrobe department in love for putting buck in that slutty blue 70s polo for his date within tommy and then the sky blue sweater and now this tight stripey number i am digging the vibes

buck hearing that he didn't screw things up with tommy, tommy just didn't want to pressure him bc the feels are mutual! and buck taking responsibility for his behaviour bc he's mature like that he's a good dude

i love lou but oliver literally glows - and i don't mean from the sunshine - he lights up every scene

the way buck gushed about tommy's confidence to maddie and now he's the confident one reassuring tommy that he wants this and that it won't be weird for tommy i am so proud of him

HOUSTON WE HAVE HAND HOLDING

sad my buddy chim was barely in this ep :(

WEDDING TEASER and we've got a Hangover situation and a missing groom omg

the writers are working their magic and we are reaping the rewards.

#911 spoilers #evantommy #.txt #watchnotes #bucktommy #buck is bi #buddie #911 abc 7x05 #bisexual disaster #bisexual characters #summary

18 notes · View notes

heycoyotegirl · 11 months

Text

wait actually quasi-rewrite of paxton's s4 arc:

starting this off by saying that I do genuinely enjoy the "people don't like me? oh shit i have to leave immediately" plot point (slaps the top of paxton's head: this boy can fit so much adhd coding in him), though I think it should've been longer than two weeks (and maybe not Just social problems)

also I liked miss thompson and thought she and paxton were fine together, but daxton owns my heart and soul, so she's just living her best life being a sub at the school, completely unaware of paxton's existence

with that out of the way, alt paxton arc:

I think it would've been fun and sexy for there to have been some sort of swim team tryouts/meeting at ASU, where paxton could blow everyone's times out of the water (pun intended) and then have some of the people on the team dislike him specifically for the thing that made him super popular in high school, in addition to his roommate's total apathy, but that's an optional change

first major change is don't have him go straight to working at the school. I'd either have him get a job at a community pool or maybe work out some sort of deal with the coach to sometimes get access to the school pool (the latter is logistically harder, so I'll be going the community pool route for the rest of this)

as in canon, devi needs something athletic for her applications. she reaches out to paxton to ask, and he suggests the girls swim team (does their school even have a girls swim team? who knows, but I'm going to say that it exists and has openings) ((I also think it would be good for devi to do something she’s BAD at. we got a bit of that from the relay race, but it was overshadowed by her scheming re: aneesa. and that was a one-time event, compared to training to join an actual team and participate in competitions))

devi is obviously leery of the prospect but paxton reassures her that he'll be right there and wont let anything happen to her

insert fun reference to him pulling her out of the pool at ben's party and probably a joke about the role reversal from when devi tutored him

also a deeper discussion about how she became paralyzed in a pool and could've drowned (this is a show about processing and healing from trauma, so let them Talk About The Trauma. the emotional and narrative through-line of "devi loses feeling in her legs" -> "devi regains feeling in her legs because of paxton" -> "paxton rescues devi from a pool" -> "paxton helps her feel safe to swim again" do you see the Vision?)

paxton teaches her to swim again. there is a pool kiss, obviously.

and at this point we can bring eric in (preferably with less fatphobia). he's noticed that paxton has been giving devi private lessons and also wants private lessons. paxton isn't sure because, yes, he really liked helping devi, but well, he lov really likes devi. also eric is annoying

devi encourages him to give it a shot, since he's a really good teacher (aka fun parallel of them both encouraging each other and pushing each other to be their best)

like canon, paxton teaches eric and realizes, oh shit, he might actually like teaching. like, in general and not just teaching devi specifically

the coach sees how he successfully trained eric and then tells paxton about the job opening, which segues into Daxton Drama (do they breakup so he can take this job? do they try to hide their relationship while paxton works at the school, and does that bring up old insecurities for devi, or has she gotten past those? does he turn down the job and go back to school right away? and in that case do they try long distance?)

#if paxton does end up working at the school I'd probably cut the partying subplot because it felt kind of ooc to me #tho idk that could just be because i havent watched the earlier seasons in a while #he could still have beef with a high schooler because that's always funny #daxton #paxton hall yoshida #nhie #nhie s4 #nhie s4 spoilers #nhie spoilers #never have i ever #devi vishwakumar #paxton h y #my post #my writing #my fic #not really but im throwing it in that tag anyway

42 notes · View notes

videogamelover99 · 2 years

Note

I'm really intrigued to hear your thoughts on Shirase. For all of his very apparent faults, he's one of my favorites and I find him very interesting so I'm always intrigued to know what other people's thoughts on him are (especially those who have read Stormbringer).

Ah, well anon I hope you don't take offence but I think he's the wrost XD. But in, like, an interesting way? He's the type of toxic person that's very typical to find in our day to day lives; unlike all the villains and whatever Dazai's got going on, Shirase is just. Someone who responds to growing up powerless in the worst way possible.

On the other hand, it's so facinating to read into his and Chuuya's interactions cause...man, if the fandom wants a codependent relationship, there's one right there. The "how many times am I gonna have to save you" line from Chuuya is so indicative of what Chuuya was to Shirase, and by extension, the rest of the Sheep. I'm gonna do a post on this dynamic specifically later, but the bottom line is. Shirase needs Chuuya, for power and protection, and Chuuya, at least in the past, was desperate to be needed by someone because if he gives enough, that means he's worth something, right?

I also have a small theory. While the anime portrays the Sheep getting kidnapped in Fifteen as just dumb kids being dumb and Chuuya being the only one with some common sense, the Light Novel's conversation with Shirase on the matter is a little different:

“Hang on. You went to the factory road?” Chuuya asked sharply. “Did you go to steal booze again? This is war, ya know! And you got that close to the Mafia’s base?! That’s like begging to be kidnapped!”

“Quit yelling.” The boy frowned. “It’s not like we went to kill anyone. We’re only acting in self-defense just like the rules say. Besides, isn’t this our chance? The Sheep always get their revenge. You lay a finger on us—we pay you back double. Right?”

A) Shirase immediately dismisses Chuuya's fruatration as an overreaction (it's not) and B) tries to justify invading mafia territory by saying that they didn't intend to kill anyone, and whatever skirmish that happened was just self-defense. Like, to me, it seems that Shirase had pushed against those rules before, for him to need to justify himself to Chuuya. Also, he was the only one of that group not captured. Sounds kinda sus XD.

Also, he's so bloodthirsty??

Shirase: "Kick his ass and tie him up! Then we can exchange him for— Wait. Actually, just kill him.”

Dazai: "Oh my. That took a dark turn."

Combined with the stuff in Stormbringer and how Shirase claims he was the one running the Sheep the whole time and laments the resources and power he lost when the gang was broken up, I think he deliberately entered mafia territory to provoke them into capturing the other Sheep, giving Chuuya no choice but to retaliate and, in the process, gain more Sheep territory. Simply put, Shirase was using his position as Chuuya's (probably closest?) friend to gain power for himself and the gang. Gaslight gatekeep girlboss?

In his defence, Stormbringer also showed his capacity for kindness. If Shirase hadn't given Chuuya that bread, I think Chuuya would have turned out a very different person. Like all BSD characters, he's complex and very grey.

I am happy with how Stormbringer ended, that the little codependent dynamic the two had going on was finally broken up, that Chuuya could freely state how much Shirase owes him, and that Shirase could take it fine. Them not looking back at each other is also them putting that relationship behind them.

So, in conclusion, Shirase is a little shit but he's an enjoyable little shit? Dazai immediately spots his brand of manipulation, and it's great, because he is a parallel to Dazai, in a way. He's there to point out how differently Double Black functions from the relationship he and Chuuya had. How Dazai, while capable of being even more manipulative than Shirase, still regards Chuuya on equal footing, not as a tool to be used, but as a person with his own desires. There's a reason why, as soon as Chuuya turns his back on Shirase one last time, Dazai's the one waiting for him.

"'He can’t. All you can do is trust him,' Dazai interjected once more. 'Isn’t that enough? You’re friends, right?'"

#oops I made it about skk anyway sorry #but yes Shirase is a v interesting character but he's Soo #gaslighty #and not competent enough for me to respect #bsd stormbringer #bsd light novel #bsd #bsd shirase #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs #nakahara chuuya #dazai osamu #shirase #the sheep #fifteen light novel #soukoku #don't get me wrong anon he kind of delights me #gaslight gatekeep girlboss

221 notes · View notes

alena-reblobs · 8 months

Text

Trigun Bookclub Trimax Vol13 Part2

Vol01: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Vol02: Part 1 | Part 2

Review for chapters 4-6 under the cut!

Chapter 4:

Oooh Elendira is removing her under gear! (is that the term? the restraints, as she said)

djsfas their height and body differences. If they weren't trying to kill each other they could be so cute together (they still are, just in a very deadly way)

It was long overdue that we really got to see how good Elendira really fights when she's giving it her all! Very cool pose.

I might just have not read so thoroughly, but I wonder where they got their information about the planet's state? Like, knowing about Luida...

...but also about Vash? Is this information they got from the hivemind look into Knives' plant amalgamation, or have did they have other resources I forgot, like listening to radio frequencies, or stuff? I'll be waiting to see if any of you guys have any better idea about this.

Oooh and he can feel Vash's aura. Really cool that you are first only shown Legato's reaction and the fog...

...and THEN the destroyed Legato-gadget (Legadget) which even makes him flinch.

AND BAM banger of a page. It's Vash with his black coat. I love love the idea to also turn the coat black, to change that design for this moment, to really show he's that much closer to death. And the pose oh my. Still...well not really standing. But head bowed low. Holding onto himself like in pain. Gun cast downwards like his power has lost him. And the myriad of bullets lying around him to depict how much he just used... I really just love black coat Vash. It's giving me emotions because it's the embodyment of his lowest point in life. It's so tragic... (and it also looks so cool)

RAZLOOOOO YESSSS ♥♥♥♥

Chapter 5:

Trimax is making me sometimes think my reading comprehension is bad but is...Razlo owing the debt to Livio? Is it not Livio who is alive thanks to Razlo?

Don't mind me, just putting these into my Crimsonfang collection.

My boy is having fun!!! <3

I really hope that they'll have Elendira grown up in season 2 of stampede (looks like that going by drawings we have seen!) and be her just as intimidating an opponent as here in Trimax.

Only high quality pages here, damn.

Chapter 6:

With how good of a fighter Razlo is, this must be one of the very few, if not the first occassion he's feeling something like fear for his life...

The vial!! The vial from Wolfwood! The vial given by Vash to save Livio! Wolfwood's vial!

Anytime Wolfwood appears after vol10 it deals -20 instant damage.

On the next pages Elendira states that they switched personalities again, so I tried to pinpoint the moment, as this looks like it! Razlo's eye is fading out, but in the next panel we have the eye on the reader's left, Livio's metaphorical half, being shown! Nicely done artistically!

Little emote Raz <:3

Aaah it's so cool that with vol10 the Razlo thing isn't just over, but we get more and it's being addressed again!

Aw I'd like to think that Razlo is crying because he's moved...like this is a big and important conversation for him too, and it probably means a lot to him that Livio apologizes again. And Razlo saying he's not good at this feeling stuff! Daww.

Not necessarily an intended parallel, but a nice one still: Both times judgement being cast from above. Wolfwood was struck by Chapel's gun fire afterwards but Livio can evade Elendira's nails! Not that I'm drawing a connection between Elendira and Chapel, I just think it's neat how we have these similiar pages for Wolfwood and Livio.

What I also really enjoy is that Livio manages to get back into the fight and keep up against Elendira not by miraculously getting stronger, but by teaming up with Razlo! It feels important to his character arc that this is what helps him in this most important battle. Before they'd done everything seperately, but now..!

Whoopsie. Elendira seems to have something up her sleeve that even Razlo isn't sure he'll be able to help. Now all he can do is trust Livio that he'll be the one to finish this for once!

Next and last chapters for this volume in the next post!

#trigun #trigunbookclub

15 notes · View notes

xrosegorex · 1 year

Text

Here's an excerpt from a comfort fic I'm writing for myself 💀

In short, escape from shitty parents to bat dad 💀💀💀

Please I'm ignoring chapter 7 it doesn't exist I can't handle that

"Silver."

The boy turned at the mention of his name. Lilia approached, looking almost sick to his stomach. "Father?"

"Over here." He grabbed the boy and ushered him into a quiet room.

Silver blinked, the most awake Lilia had seen him. "Father, what's wrong?"

"I have to tell you something." He took a deep breath. "Just before I found you as a baby, I had read a book explaining the probabilities of there being parallel universes. I found this to be interesting, so I began dabbling in my teleportation skills, intending to teleport myself to another world. And, as silly as it sounds, it worked. I was in a curious little world with no magic whatsoever. And while I was exploring, I… I met a lady. She and I, well… and then I returned to Twisted Wonderland. Of course I never planned on having a life in that universe. I belong here. I never thought she'd…"

Silver frowned slightly. "Father, what are you saying?"

"Silver, she had a baby. You have a sibling, they're out there in the common room right now."

The boy's eyes widened. "I have a sibling? Do they know? Do they even want to-"

"They don't know."

"If their world has no magic, how are they here?"

Lilia buried his face in his hands. "I'm not sure."

Confusion and worry built up in Silver's chest. How was he supposed to feel about this revelation, and how could he help his father? He'd never seen Lilia this distraught before.

"Father-"

"I should have known! I abandoned that woman and her child!" He paused. "Silver…"

Silver closed his eyes. "Why don't you talk to them? Explain the situation? …Do you want them to know?"

"I do. I want to know them, to know the child I left. They're all alone in this world with no one but that ditzy girl to guide them, and I don't think she's doing such a good job. But, Silver, I'm asking you if you want them as your sibling. It wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't. You will always be my boy, so please don't think I'm trying to replace you."

Silver's eyes pricked with tears. "Old man. Of course. Should we go tell them now?"

"No! That would only complicate things. I think it'd be better to wait, get to know them, and then tell them. It would be too much too fast."

Silver nodded in understanding.

"Now, let's return to the common room." Lilia turned, headed to the door, and looked back at his son. Silver trailed after him, excitement and nervousness churning in his stomach.

"Oh, Sebek!" Lilia exclaimed upon seeing the green-haired boy in the common room. "I see you've got your bags. Who's your roommate?"

Sebek made a face and fished a crumpled paper from a small zipper on his bag. "Um… Alexandria Thatcher, a- a half-fae. Like me." He'd never met another half-fae before, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited.

There was a brief pause before Lilia broke into loud laughter. "Oh, what are the chances?" He sighed, attempting to calm himself from the sudden fit of laughter. "Oh, dear me! Just keep an eye on your roommate for me, alright?"

#tell me if yall want the full thing #i'm on chapter three #it would be cross posted on my ao3 #twst #twisted wonderland #platonic #twst lilia #lilia vanrouge #twst silver #my writing #comfort fic 😍

42 notes · View notes

misty-wisp · 8 months

Note

hey hey I've recently jumped back into the omori fandom after a year and its been a fun romp through your tsumi to batsu fics! Sunny and omori are my two favorites here :)

I especially love how you portray omori as a character when a good number of fanfics (+fandom) just deem the guy as "evil version of sunny who doesn't feel anything except for hatred for sunny and there isn't an nuance with him even though he's an manifestation of sunny's coping and a reflection of sunny's thoughts" or "12 year old brat with a knife"

like??? I know that during the omori boss fight he pulls out the most vile shit a 12 year old manifestation of your self hatred can pull out and in the bad ending theres an interpretation that omori took over sunnys body and jumps but did you not see what happens after the bossfight??

Omori hugs sunny after his fight boss no matter the ending and its really powerful in the good ending especially since it's sunny beginning to forgive himself and let go

And yet the people focus in the bossfight dialogue instead of the hug that happens after

Of course, there's the entirety of blackspace to consider and numerous basil deaths which is something to add for the evil knife kid.

On the more positive side of things

Omori leaving notes for sunny to take care of himself, telling him to be nice to his mom, and taking control of the body so sunny won't starve like he most likely did for 4 years-

*clenches hand, clenches hands clenches hand clench-* Yes Yes YES YES THAT'S MY BOY

Sunny realizing that omori isn't someone who runs away but instead hides and starts to look for him....I smell a Thing (TM) between sunny who runs away from his trauma and omori locking away bad memories, hiding it in the backstage (blackspace) as the mainshow (headspace) plays

Honestly, I don't think you really intended that to be taken this way but still

Omori going "good morning" when sunny asks an uncomfortable question, man has impeccable timing

Then-! Then-! The flower tending scenes!

Omori taking good care of his friends flowers while the white tulips being neglected.

It turns the tables around the usual sunny being unable to forgive himself to omori unable to forgive himself (or rather believing he doesn't deserve forgiveness in this case)

"The lilies looked especially perfect, he noticed" ouhgough goughgough big sister mari

"The tulips. They’re all withering away. While the rest of the flowers were full of color, glistening in the sunlight (moonlight?) the tulips remained a dead brown, practically twigs.

'Don't mind those,' Omori said, stopping in his tracks. 'They don't need any tending to.'" OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH MY HEART

White tulips signalifying forgiveness, Sunny taking care of them which silently conveys that he forgives Omori which is verbally confirmed, the both of them being represented by white tulips--!

Omori suddenly breaking the photo of mari without knowing why he did so- I feel like this guy has to slowly work on not erasing the 'truth' during this fic ey?

I know that photo of Mari was most likely headspace Mari but I like to think that it was an irl Mari picture

In my heart, they're friends your honor

OH MY GOSH THANK YOU THIS IS SO SWEET???? genuinely i never thought my au would bring someone this much joy omg 😭 tysm

i love how you caught all those little details too--funnily enough i don't think anyone's fully caught that the tulips weren't tended to because omori doesn't forgive himself(+thinks he doesn't deserve forgiveness) hehehehehe

also anon i am literally in love with how you found a parallel regarding how sunny used to run away from his problems and how omori does that now 😭 i don't remember if i was intentionally implying that??? but i most certainly am now omg

recently i haven't been into omori as much as before but wow i feel so much more motivated to get back to writing my fic...genuinely tysm this means a lot to hear!!!

#ask #Anonymous #omori au #tsumi to batsu au #yurushite fic #omori spoilers

9 notes · View notes

mischief-lies-and-stories · 3 months

Text

Reacting to Contemporaty Comics (Without Context) 10/?

Returning to completely no context. Pre-old Loki's death, pre-everything good about my boi, pre-MCU (technically. I think it's concurrent with The-Hulk-Movie-That-Will-Not-Be-Acknowledged)

Spoilers for The Mighty Thor: Lord of Asgard #64 (2003). Also quite a lot of religious (mainly Catholic) commentary. (Actually commentary is putting it lightly. I go on a couple rants about Catholicism as an institution and the hypocrisy of the Vatican. It relates to aspects of the comic, but I'm drawing a lot on real world history and my own upbringing in the Catholic Church when I react to it. So if that triggers you or even if you feel like that will bother you, you might want to skip this one.)

This is a long one.

Who in the shit are these people?

Just call yourselves pagans and have done with it, you pretentious idiots

Thor stop being Odin. I'm about to be rooting for Loki for more than just principle

Oh I do not like this art I'm sorry

Mmkay, Imma need JP 2 to sit the fuck down and chill

"The church is quite tolerant." I'm sorry, it's what, now? Y'all drove me out for being gay and trans 16 years after this comic came out, you dumb shit

Sorry my Catholic trauma is showing

Shut UP my dude. You don't own the world. Stop

Okay I'm back to rooting for Thor if it's gonna be Thor Tells the Vatican to Fuck Off

Like (sorry I'm not done) where the FUCK does the goddamn Catholic Church get off trying to tell Thor not to go all Imperialist on Midgard's ass??? The Catholic Church! How fucking unself-aware do you gotta be to still reap the benefits of your centuries' old terror fest on the entirety of the goddamn world and turn around and be like "But he can't do the colonizing, boo hoo, it's not allowed if he's not being Catholic about it. :((( " Fucking SHUT UP

Okay rant over for now. I'm sorry, the Vatican's real world hypocrisy pisses me off too much to not address it in a comic book

NORSE. PAGANS! VIKINGS!!! What the fuck is this dumb man

this dipshit really just used the "my son" shit on THOR. You condescending son of a bitch, that man is older than you by several centuries!

(Commercial break I guess lol) The ads in this comic remind me that unlike the comics from like 2013 or 2019, or the vintage 80s comics, I was in elementary school in 2003. I remember this flavor of Kool-Aid. I don't remember what this ad is actually for, the mad voice twister (with Kool-Aid points? whatever those were), because I didn't read comics as a kid, but the flavor it's promoting I sure as fuck do.

Guys! People training to be warriors don't use real, sharpened blades, you dumbasses!

Okay, I was gonna say I was leaning slightly toward the priest's opinion after two pages of the Thor cult, but then I remembered all Catholic everything was conducted in Latin prior to like 1960 for basically the same reason these guys think they're talking like Shakespeare and actually no, you're all fanatics.

I did not expect this comic to be Religious Commentary: the Comic, with Lord in the title referring not to a medieval/Asgardian title but drawing parallels to Lord Jesus/ The (Christian) Lord

I guess I should've seen it coming. I've picked up on a lot of Judeo-Christian (I know that phrasing is contentious and for good reason, bear with me) imagery in Thor comics. Hell (no pun intended), they've been drawing parallels to the Norse gods and Christianity since Snorri (and I've commented on his Holier than Thou bullshit before)

Is there no other religion in this comic world but Thorism and Catholicism? I feel like I'm gonna look up this author and he's either gonna be an ex-Catholic or a current Catholic

You know I looked it up right after I wrote that, and wouldn't you know it, I both maybe spoiled myself and couldn't find out his religion or lack thereof. It's an interesting angle, and at the moment it feels like either a) he's specifically going after just the Catholic Church on purpose because he's got personal beef (or reverence, if the Catholics come out on top), or b) he knows Catholicism from a personal perspective (either as a current or ex-Catholic) with a lot more confidence than any other religion, and rather than risk grossly misrepresenting other religions out of ignorance or laziness or possibly more sinister reasons like an upsetting number of other white people, he has chosen to focus on what he knows (a religion which has coincidentally done quite a lot of harm to people who practice or historically would have practiced those religions he is not as well-versed in). But we're very early in the book and I also didn't read anything before or after this, so maybe Jurgens explores how other religious people respond to Thor in later pages or issues, or maybe he already did.

Oh. Oh no. When WASPs pull the religious persecution card, you know they're doing this shit for the wrong fucking reasons. (I mean, using WASP loosely here, since at least one of them isn't ex-Protestant but ex-Catholic, but the other three criteria fit these men. The demographic becomes slightly more racially diverse later in the text, but the three guys talking right now are all white.)

I'm getting flashbacks to when the Knights of Columbus came to talk to my Sunday School class in eighth grade and the guy got progressively more irritated with my classmate because he kept asking questions about the sword that came with the uniform, which supposedly was not the point of the order. I mean, c'mon, Mr. B_____, look me in the eye and tell me with confidence that the majority of those old suburban white men in your order did not join exclusively to get a sword. For the record, my (unknowingly) transmasc genderfluid ass was also extremely interested in the sword, but I was already aware I was barred entry into the order, and also already pissed that I'd officially been confirmed and then told I was not allowed to be gay, trans, ordained, or a knight by Catholic standards, two of which I already was but as yet unaware, one I wanted to be now out of spite, and one I'd always wanted to be. (But that's a story for a different blog. The point being, half of these Thorists joined to get a sword and that's it.)

The least believable thing about this comic is these kids go to Catholic school and don't have to wear uniforms. I'm sure those schools exist, but even if they don't have to, there is absolutely nothing on Ginny's body that would meet a dress code aside from maybe that turtleneck that covers everything.

Trent, a lot of non-Catholics enroll in Catholic school. Though the Pope is real pissed with Thor at the moment, so maybe not going to Catholic school is a good idea

They absolutely would not delay Mass for two teenagers unless they were getting married (which usually isn't a thing the church necessarily condones I don't think) or one of them was the Virgin Mary herself

that portrait of Jesus has the longest hair I've ever seen someone give him

LOL oh my god this priest is still arguing with Thor

"You are on the cusp of destroying the Catholic Church, Thor." PROMISE?!

"Your church is part of the ruling class and has been for centuries." PREACH, THOR!!! Also, Jurgens is ex- Catholic, I'm calling it now

"What good have you done?" THOR ODINSON, GOING FOR THE FUCKING KILL! We STAN

Loki continues to be nowhere in sight, but you know what, this is cathartic, a balm on my ex-Catholic soul, I don't even feel the loss

"...while befriending some of the world's most heinous dictators." hahaha, Thor knows what you did in World War II, Pius. He wasn't even fucking here and he knows. I'll bet Steve told him.

...did...did you just admit that the Catholic Church still uses tithes?! I don't think you're supposed to mention it!

Baby, being a nun doesn't make one a steadfast believer. Having a sister who's a nun but not you means even less

Oh we're comparing our plight to Native Americans now, huh? You do remember you live in a (non-religious) Protestant nation, right? The Catholics have limited legal sway aside from being white, but guess what? Most of you are white, too. They're not gonna go Trail of Tears or Cholera epidemic on your asses. I'm begging y'all from the distant future of 2024 to learn your motherfucking privilege before it's too late.

I'm gonna need your source for your second religious persecution claim, guys. This smells an awful lot like "Christians are so oppressed because someone told me once how bad missionaries are, boo hoo, my rights are being infringed upon" bullshit

"You really think we'll be arrested?" No. No, dude, I really doubt it. I think you could walk down the street with your sword sharpened and unsheathed and you wouldn't get arrested. You know why? Because you're a white man and ACAB, that's why. You might run into an issue if you try to take it on a plane, because it's 2003 and if I remember correctly it still takes like 3 hours to get past TSA, but other than that, I think you're good, man. This is just good old-fashioned fear-mongering.

THE PRIEST JUST DREW A FUCKING GUN WHAT THE FUCK

Oh now Loki shows up

I cannot believe Loki just restarted the fucking Crusades. I mean, the Pope lit the match, but Loki stoked the flames into inferno.

Wait. Did both kids die? That's what these panels mean right?

Fuck that's the end. What an insane concept for a comic issue holy shit

Well enjoy my residual Catholic issues and cynicism about white men getting away with whatever they want, I guess. This is what you come to this blog to see, right?

#loki #loki comics #thor comics #thor comics spoilers #marvel comics spoilers #marvel comics #the mighty thor issue 64 #the mighty thor lord of asgard #the mighty thor lord of asgard spoilers #i hope you liked learning more about my ex-catholic views on the institution than you ever wanted to #i want to emphasize the institution and the vatican piss me off #not individual catholics #yall are fine as long as you arent homophobic or misogynist #but the same goes for anyone regardless of religion or lack of one #this issue was just so heavy on the catholic and religious intolerance i had to address it #and since i left the catholic church as a result of institutional intolerance i'm pretty sensitive to it

3 notes · View notes

mamaito · 1 year

Text

[Live A Hero] Prologue

-- Boys and girls, and surely anyone out there must've at least dreamed of a promising future.

One where they get to go to have a job that they loved--, One where they get to be with someone together in blissful happiness--, One where they get to obtain the desired look that they've been dreaming of--

Right there, the self indulging moon was ever beautiful.. Spreading it to the world so that their bright futures could be reached.

You were betting your dreams towards it, not even the rain could tear it away from them, and it was only then did that person was given the priveledge to be recognized by it.

And so, never would that person ever let anyone take that dream from them ever again not even any tall hurdle, decided that they would henceforth confront anything in their way.

Society then decided-- This existence and desire that were surrounding humans as they gaze out-- And possibly, their entire lives.

If a wall was established ahead of it, one has to go over even if it meant biting down, otherwise you'd have to give up and turn your heel at the thought of branching out on your own.

If it is your own desire to arrive at the future you've been dreaming of-- Even if meant coming out not entirely human..

However, even if you did arrive at where this future of yours, what do think about in having a glimpse of it?

After this, you'll be able to reach that future. By nightfall, something will illuminate to grant your dream, and then you'll be able to help out and give it onto others too.

There are no [if]'s in this world-- You'll be able to borrow a parallel world through your own efforts alone, and now is the time to fight off the enemies that threatens it.

The people of that cosmos then--

Will call you a [Hero].

[Fat Cameraman?] "Come on, The Milky Way Galaxy is going to air [LIVE @ HERO], let's all watch it together, everyone! Sorry for the wait!"

"We've arrived just in time, according to the parallel flight's hero company, the live battle will--"

"Here, the planet earth's hero is ranked the third in the entire solar system, hailing from the country, Japan. That has one of the biggest oriental cities out there to be escorted on!"

["Fweh!?"] ["Where is this place!?] ["What- What!?"]

[Fat Cameraman?] "The arrival of the hero obliterator, they're getting ready for battle!"

"The companies are expecting a fresh batch of new heroes. There's been a sudden boom in the city due to the oppressive atrocities happening, and now there are two monsters spotted that are going to battle it out!"

"Monsters have been causing havoc on this town's harmony and I don't intend to miss them go out beautifully in order to regain back what was lost!"

[Monster] "GRAAAHHH!!"

["WAAH!?"] ["A monster..!?"]

[Beast-Eared Company President?] "Wow, it came back. The companies expecting great things from you, Newcomer Ito."

"-- Hm? What's with the puzzled look on your face. It's like it's your first time meeting with another human being…"

"It'd be bad if you've forgotten what your company president's face looks like. -- Just kidding, I won't do that."

[Sport-Oriented College Student?] "Yo, Ito! I'm tired of waiting, I'm gonna go and transform now!"

[Straight-Laced Girl?] "Now. I'm the only one that can save this town… That's why.. Ito, please, honor this request."

[Tiger Hero?] "Yo, Ito! Today's the day!! Justice!!! We get to serve justice!!!!"

[Beast-Eared Company President?] "Now that's settled, without further ado, it's time to initiate our operations at the spot."

"There's nothing to be worried about. You're a veteran, after all, so you should come and support us. You could call this your off-the-job training."

["Hero…?"] ["Operation…?"] ["Um, where am I suppose to…"]

[Beast-Eared Company President?] "….? For some reason there's something off about you. Don't tell me, you--"

[Fat Cameraman?] "Director, Ito! The monster's beginning to act violent! For the first time we gotta hurry, hurry!"

[Beast-Eared Company President?] "-- Oh. It can't be helped. It must be from all the confusion, It's time to battle."

"Rather than just Mokdai over there. You're a hero now, you can fight, can't you..?"

[Fat Cameraman?] "UAAAAAAHH, He's right! Suit up, suit up!"

[Battle Commences]

[Monster] "Grraaahh.. Raaahh..!!"

[Fat Cameraman?] "A successful delivery, the monster has disappeared and the oriental city's peace has been restored!"

"Everyone, let's give our round of applause and encouragement for the companies new star that has been meeting it's expectations!"

"As you can see, our companies heroes play an active role, so please follow our channel!"

"-- Thank god the internships over! Aah~ I'm so tired…"

["It's over..?"] ["Wh- The hell was that…"] ["Just now, I wasn't the only one who saw that, right…?"]

[Beast-Eared Company President?] "Ito, thank you for your hard work. That was a wonderful battle."

"You really are an exception, Ito. For your first time in being in charge of a battle, you've shown some pretty good skills there."

"Just as I thought, you're--"

"Our--"

[Bar Keeper?] "-- Yo, welcome, welcome, to the [Action Heroes Guild]."

[".. Huh?"] ["After all that, am I still me.."] ["This is..?"]

[Bar Keeper?] "Aah, don't go all emotional now. You realize by now that it's too late to be saying those things."

"You did beg the company director to be in it, remember? You were boasting about finally being employed in such a wonderful partnership."

"-- Hm? What? What's up with you, it's like you're meeting me for the first time or something from how hard you're staring at me."

"Don't tell me you forgot!? We're superheroes and this here is a hero pub, it's written right here on my breast pocket that I'm the pub owner of this joint, Procy!"

"… Phew, can't believe all of that just came out of my own mouth, how embarrassing. C'mon, I'm taking you somewhere."

[Bar Keeper?] "Ooh, are those glint in your eyes that I'm seeing? Don't go breaking the telecom searcher now."

"I've been managing this one.. So you gotta understand. Good grief, we've come here so I can explain it."

"Right, from the top. This here's an ether crystal. Go and concentrate your mind on it--"

"This is for detecting a hero's very being, of course, the panels here manage that so you can summon them, simple, right?"

["Can detect a hero's being…?"] ["For.. What purpose..?"] ["Ah, I think I'm getting it now."]

[Bar Keeper?] "… Is it too strange for you? If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm willing to listen."

"Well, it's fine if you somehow slipped up every now and then, you know."

"Here, I'll let you hold some amount of ether crystals, hmph.. Now then, let's see which one you find."

"C'mon, do it. It's unfortunate that you have to deal with that guy so I'm going to lend some to you."

"Whatever comes out of it, don't go regretting it now, alright?"

[Summoning Gacha Commences]

[Bar Keeper?]

"Oh, how'd that make you feel? Were you satisfied with your contract with that person?"

"Well, still, the more you consider it, the more strange of a habit it is."

"You--"

"-- Can-- Do it--"

-- You took it out hastily, breaking away from the memory fragments of someone else's experience as it fades, ending with you waking up in this place.

In this vacant and empty room, the ceiling was flooded by the starry skies.

The planetarium-like ceiling forms a circular shape and the numerous wishes that are clinging onto it were shimmering brightly.

You walk towards the metallic bed, it swings from the stirring of something larger above and you let your body lie on it.

["Something--"] ["I wonder what that was.."] ["Where is this place..?"]

In addition to those stars below, the great blue could be seen shining around the globe.

It is-- Without a doubt, earth.

[???] "-- Welcome back, how was it? From your first task in being an observer?"

A voice calls out to you in the opposite direction, someone with a larger physique and fur as white as snow, it was a male.

He stares at you for a long moment then bends down respectfully.

[Mysterious Man] "I have been waiting. In this cramped room here. -- Our new [Observer]."

["Is that body of yours..?"] ["Who are you!?"] ["Observer…?"]

Ito lets out a faint voice in response and pointed at herself and the male in question answers back again.

[Mysterious Man] "This is the home that was granted to you by the faculty. It's for the sake of you having a better experience--"

"You've sent out a message that your consciousness be sent ahead, and arrangements were planned…"

"Hence the title, Observer. I wonder.. Was the ability to simulate an experience somewhat enjoyable for you?"

["Explain this to me!"] ["Answer me!"] ["… Wh!?"]

[Mysterious Man] "… Oh dear, how rude of me. But I am expected to be forward and report back only the facts, I have already given as many explanations that I could possibly give."

"But do not fret. You will have the answers to those questions in time."

"I-- That's right. Please call for absence."

"Me and you, are what's commonly called as extraterrestrial beings."

"The original objective of the observer is to meet- Pardon, is to avoid unless there is an exception from revealing your existence… That is what was directly told to me."

"And in this rare occasion, I was relayed in letting you know that you've been given a request, a request to invite a ship into ours."

["An extraterrestrial being..!?"] ["In what way is my body a joke to you..?"]

[Mysterious Man] "Oh my, what has gotten you all flustered. You're able to breathe on earth. Of course, it would've been better to move to another star."

"Ah, how rude. Master has yet to come into contact with the aliens on earth."

[Mysterious Man] "It has been approximately 180 years since. This earth has confronted crisis that are unprecedented at most."

"There were times when they were on the verge of destruction but something in the universe appeared, a visit from another lifeform lended them a hand for the time being so that they can escape this destruction they've set themselves on--"

"-- As one would call it, a [Hero] emerged."

["Hero..?"]

[Mysterious Man] "That's right, a hero. Might've been from your world but, the films seem to be intimate with it."

[Mysterious Man] "These threats-- were called monsters by everyone."

"Monsters were large menaces who were often antagonistic in every way. That was when it happened, a hero."

"The world's dream and desires became a reality, in order to keep up with the cosmos, they built equipment to serve as weapons, and perhaps to be able to have the ability to borrow--"

"The same abilities as those monsters in order to keep up with them, put them at bay and monitor their actions. Eventually everyone managed to assault them back and free the others."

"You have already experienced what it'd be like to battle what those heroes have been fighting with."

[Mysterious Man] "They are often times fighting for control alongside an observer. -- One who has the perception to assess the battle field."

"Assessing information through one's line of sight, that person's perception has the dreams of others on their shoulders be made possible."

"They tend to invite many onlookers to the scene, so they devised a way for the whole universe to broadcast their fights within safe distance as the people listen and watch."

[Mysterious Man] "Just like that, they've garnered themselves an audience through watching it in interest. It has been a reoccurring thing in the entire universe, that those outsiders watching is what gives those gang of heroes the power."

"The observer has the power to survey and assess-- Those who have the strongest perception out of many… And, well, that would be you, Observer."

"Yes… it is without a doubt, that this would the reason for master to have been selected due to those abilities."

The broker has his gaze fixed elsewhere. His jet black eyes narrowed-- And a ominous smile peeked through.

[Mysterious Man] "Also.. You have made something rather extraordinary. We have joined up to turn you into something special, drawing the line between what makes one an observer."

["Turn me in what way…?"] ["Joined up…!?"]

[Mysterious Man] "In what way, you asked? Don't you want to be respected by others? There is nothing for you to worry about too much. You're very existence has always been the same."

"I am referring to that parallel world self of yours, however, that is all there is to it. There is hardly any pain to it, right?"

[Mysterious Man] "Rather than let yourself announce your success on your own. Instead of being just a spectator from the outside, how about becoming an observer on the inside also by combining together those two sides of yours--"

"Being the universe's strongest.. Not even the cosmos itself would be able to grab hold of your abilities."

"Well then-- That is all there is to my exposition. I am certain there is no one out there smart enough to do it like you, nor could anyone out perform you."

"This is a request that I would like you to reconsider, and as it were, I would like this be kept a secret that you've received this kind of suggestion."

["A request..?"] ["What if I refuse?"]

[Mysterious Man] "Yes, yes, a reasonable one at that. If you've come to the conclusion to refuse then that's that.. If you've come to the resolution to do it, that is."

"It is brimmed with ether, and the air's atmosphere is not quite bad. There is no reason for the universe to kick you out from resigning… Yet."

"-- Well, that was just a joke. I apologize for such a difficult conversation to be discussing. At the very least, do lend me your ear."

"Master.. From now on, this earth is your home. I'm returning you back."

"And so, as always, you will be living here for the rest of your life."

"Yes, that's right-- The you that you'll be wearing will be the same one that you've been using, forever."

["Forever?"] ["… That's it?"]

[Mysterious Man] "Yes.. I didn't want it to come to this. Please, as you would, please respect this one heartful action."

"Just like that, I would like you to continue working just as hard as you would as before, and support those genuine heroes of that town forward--"

"-- Before long, remember those bitter days in that world as it turns into a eventual ruin of a world it once was."

He chuckles, bending down towards you with a sense of eeriness to his professional smile.

[Mysterious Man] "-- Right, do you want any advice for your concerns?"

"You'll always be an observer so take my advice and never reveal it to anyone."

"If you ever exposed yourself that you're an observer to any of those popular heroes out there, even a slight bit of it… Well."

"From the way I see it, it is more of a [curse] to even be able to talk about it so lightly really… I'm more relieved to be living this long."

"I believe it is more fun to meet and live together with those heroes forever, right?"

"Again… if you get eaten or die from the monsters out there, why, that would be the most boring way to conclude this."

He makes a fake noise as if he was in low spirits, Broker then approaches. Just from under his breath, he murmured.

[Mysterious Man] "You… Are the last key to opening one's nature if it weren't for this."

At that moment, Broker pulled something--

Your own vision becoming white as you are then thrusted into it. A dazzling light flashes momentarily before disappearing off completely.

The figure of the one who you knew as the Broker was beginning to get distant, and your own mind becoming blurry.

["W-wait…!"] ["AAAAAHHH!!"]

[Mysterious Man] "-- Well, it's been nice knowing you. You've held a good life as an observer."

[Mysterious Man] "-- Ito."

#translation #live a hero

15 notes · View notes