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nanami-says · 3 years

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Part V (2/3): chapters 58~60

Chapter 58

[About Sukuna’s fingers resonating with one another]

"The ones that possess an immense presence. The ones that are hiding. The ones that are already taken in by cursed spirits."

⇒ "1) The ones with too big presences. 2) The ones holding their breath. 3) The ones already absorbed by cursed spirits."

I added the numbers for explanation purposes, see below.

"One of Sukuna's fingers was hidden by a cursed spirit. When Itadori consumed the finger in June, it released its cursed energy"

⇒ "The Sukuna fingers that had been absorbed were holding back their power [while] inside cursed spirits. Then they unleashed their cursed energy with Itadori's incarnation [of Sukuna] in June serving as a trigger."

Whelp. On top of extremely simplifying the explanation, they mixed up the kind of Sukuna finger involved here - it was very explicitly stated in the text that it was number 3) "absorbed" (assimilated) fingers, and not 2) "hiding" fingers.

I guess saying that Itadori consumed the finger isn't wrong plot wise but it's actually referred to (here and many times more in the manga) as "incarnation"! The same word also gets used for the death painting brothers.

[Megumi remembering a conversation with Gojou]

"I was surprised you asked me to train you"

⇒ "It's rare for you to ask me for a practice, Megumi"

"To train you" wasn't wrong but Gojou saying "it's rare" here points to it either happening occasionally or having happened in the past and I'm not sure "I was surprised" quite conveys that.

"Are you feeling pressure because of Yuji's growth?"

⇒ "Did you get impatient after getting surpassed by Yuuji?"

Gojou actually says that Yuuji has surpassed Megumi here! Quite a different nuance from just "Yuji's growth".

"Megumi, your skill and potential are probably higher than Yuji's. All that’s left is the mental aspect"

⇒ “You know, Megumi, I think that both your real ability and potential are in no way inferior to Yuuji's. (...)"

Emphasis mine because pray tell, how does one reach the conclusion that "don't lose out to"/"aren't inferior to" equals to "are probably higher". “Skill” was fine btw but I’d probably go with “mindset” for the last line, personally.

[Gojou explaining why he thinks Megumi doesn’t know how to make a serious effort giving the baseball game as an example]

“Why did you bunt? You sacrificed yourself so that Nobara could advance. Well, good for you"

⇒ "Why did you make a sacrifice bunt? Did you want to advance Nobara to the next base even if it meant you'd be out yourself? That's commendable"

The nuance for the last line was just different - the word used there usually is just used as praise, either genuine or ironic but imo “good for you” has a different meaning. Also he says “out” but it’s written as “death” (although that is sometimes the case in baseball as well.)

“But no matter how many allies you have around you, you'll always die alone"

⇒ “(...) when you die, you’re alone”

I tried to phrase it a bit closer to the original because I feel like the nuance may just be different for this line but can’t quite put a finger on the how.

[Gojou to Megumi]

"To die and then win, and dying victoriously are two completely different things, Megumi"

⇒ "To win by dying and to win even if you die are completely different, Megumi"

Emphasis by Gege. Ngl, I had no clue what the English was trying to say here… This is most likely what the line actually meant.

[Megumi regaining his consciousness after he blacked out from getting hit]

"How long was I out? Was my divine dog destroyed? No, my technique's finished"

Actually "my technique got undone". Putting it as "has finished" is imo both unclear and misleading. Similar situation as in ch. 1 (refer to part I).

[Lead-up to Megumi using a domain expansion for the first time]

"A jujutsu sorcerer's growth never comes easy"

⇒ "The growth curve of a sorcerer isn’t always gentle"

Mostly, the line was more intricate in the original but also the grammatical construction used here that they mistranslated as "never" actually means "not always [necessarily]” instead.

"Here we go!!"

Not really incorrect but it's kinda generic and I guess something like "I'm gonna do it!" is closer nuance wise.

"With a firm base, skill and imagination, a person can change thanks to the slightest of events"

⇒ "A firm foundation, a handful of sense, and imagination. Then, [even] with a most insignificant opportunity, a person will change"

A pity they simplified "a handful of sense" into just "skill" here. Overall not really incorrect but I wanted to propose something that imo better conveys the original wording and vibe.

“Area expansion”

…”area”? What? Obviously this is actually “domain expansion”. I just don’t have words.

“Think bigger! My technique’s interpretation!”

First sentence actually referred to the second one, so it’s actually something like “Expand it!! The technique’s interpretation!!”

[Megumi to the cursed spirit after his shikigami deals it a finishing blow]

"Divine dog's claws even hurt it...You were no match!"

"(...) So something like piercing through you when you're not even paying attention was easy"

Less excitement, more dismissiveness, I’d say? Also, for the divine dog it’s actually specified that it’s “divine dog (totality)” and not just simply “divine dog”. The term appeared before in ch. 47.

Chapter 59

[Megumi talking about what he considers the basic rule for human interactions in a flashback to his middle school years]

"Basically, you shouldn't cross any line that violates another person's dignity. You should acknowledge each other's mutual existence. That's the rule. You ignored it and fed your stupid ego"

⇒ "In short, it's drawing a line in order not to jeopardise one another's dignity; [it’s] a process through which both parties can coexist. That's what the "rule" is”. You broke it, throwing your weight around and forcing everyone to walk on eggshells around you”

For the first sentence, Megumi says “it’s drawing a line”, so the nuance here was probably closer to “creating boundaries” rather than “crossing boundaries” like in the official English release. For the second sentence, the original literally says “the process through which one another’s existence is achieved”, so rather than acknowledging each other’s existence the sentiment is probably closer to live and let live? For the last sentence, they once again simplified it to the barest bones.

"I'll definitely tell Ikezawa and everyone today that we're not their lapdogs"

“You got this, Aida!”

"But we might be the next punching bags, so don't go overboard!"

Should be “Ikezawa and others'' and definitely “that I’m not their errand boy” for the smallest boy’s first line. If all of them were already being treated as errand boys like the way using the plural form here implies, the other student’s reply wouldn’t make sense.

[After Tsumiki sees Megumi has beaten up delinquents once again]

“You said you wouldn’t pick fights anymore”

“You’re not my mom”

⇒ (...) “Don’t act like you’re my guardian”

Imo the distinction is significant because there’s a possibility that Tsumiki as the older of the two probably did feel responsible for Megumi to an extent and acted accordingly, as if she was his guardian.

Also, he doesn’t actually say “mom” - this is not the first time where the official English release opts for a gendered phrase where the original uses a neutral form. (Like making Yuuji say his grandpa was like a dad to him when he actually said parent all the way back in ch. 2.)

[Megumi’s thoughts from back in the middle school]

"I hate bad guys with no brains and zero emotional capability. Walking around feeling proud. Disgusting."

⇒ "I hate bad people. The way they act like they’re superior, with their complete lack of imagination or sensitivity. Disgusting”

I guess I really dislike the way they worded it here, especially the “no brains” part since Megumi wasn’t really talking about intellect or smarts here but about imagination (and sensitivity), which he literally describes as being akin to "vacant lot", "empty lot", "raw land”, which is much more evocative.

"I hate goody-goodies forgiving bad people, justifying mercy. Makes me wanna puke"

⇒ "I hate good people. The way they forgive such bad people and perceive that act of forgiveness as something noble. They make me sick"

Mhm, way to just simplify the heck out of the whole line. I’m extra bothered by their use of “goody-goodies” here since this is yet another appearance of a rather formal word for “good person” (善人/zennin) in the original and which I’ve observed to be a very important part of the world-building in jjk. I discuss it at length in various previous installments, with notable examples including: ch. 9 (Megumi about Yuuji and about the kind of people he wants to save - part I), ch. 31 (Nanami and Yuuji’s conversation in the aftermath of the Junpei incident - part III 2/2), ch. 36 (Panda about Yuuji - part IV 2/5).

“Tsumiki, you’re a perfect example of a good person.”

See, the word he uses here to describe Tsumiki is the same as in the line above (善人) but because back then it got translated as “goody-goodies”, you’d never guess it since the vibes are just that different.

[Megumi reminiscing about meeting Gojou for the first time]

"In the first grade, my dad and Tsumiki's mom got married and separated just as quickly"

⇒ "When I was in the first grade of elementary school my father and Tsumiki’s mother, our respective single parents, got together and disappeared into thin air"

The original doesn’t mention marriage OR separation. Heck, especially for the second one, it doesn’t even come close to mentioning it?? I have no clue where they got this from.

What I put as “got together” can also be translated as “to have a liaison with (a man or a woman)” (among others). Since Tsumiki’s surname is also “Fushiguro” in middle school, it’s possible that they were actually married and many Japanese fans seem to think that as well but it’s not explicitly stated, at least not here, so those are most likely speculations.

As for mysterious “separation”, the word used here actually means "disappearance (of people intentionally concealing their whereabouts); unexplained disappearance", so imo the whole section means their parents got together and at some point both disappeared. As we learn at one point in the manga Touji first and Tsumiki’s mum sometime later.

(Btw, one fan scanlation used “evaporation” here instead and while this is another possible translation of the word in question, imo from the context it’s clear that the intended meaning was the “unexplained disappearance” instead.)

Lastly, Megumi uses kind of formal expressions when referring to both his own dad and Tsumiki’s mum, which imo is indicative of the emotional distance.

[Tiny Megumi about teenager Gojou]

"A weirdo with white hair said"

⇒ "A suspicious man with white hair"

Needless to say, he doesn't actually call Gojou a weirdo.

[Gojou about Touji]

"But he's a loser that just works for me. He left the family and had you."

⇒ "He's enough of a good-for-nothing to take aback even me. Basically, he left home and then had you."

Emphasis mine. Again, I literally have no clue where they got the translation they went with for this. “Works for me” - just what?? (Btw, one of the fan scans available for this had the latter part of this line mistakenly imply that Gojou had Megumi leave his house. The bit definitely referred to Touji leaving the Zen’in family.)

"You're something your dad used against the Zen'in family. His trump card"

⇒ “You’re something your father kept as his strongest card against the Zen’in family”

A bit of a different nuance than “your dad used” suggests.

"The divorce money makes sense now. I was sold to this Zen'in family"

⇒ "The mystery behind the funds for their disappearance got solved. Apparently, I was sold to this Zen’in family or something"

Again, the word for “divorce” doesn’t make an appearance ANYWHERE in this chapter, least of all this page. ...How.

Once again - fan scans had this as money that also evaporated but neither it nor the official English release make sense, considering the line is followed up by “I was sold” as the explanation. So yeah, imo the first sentence definitely referred to the money Megumi considered necessary for Touji (and co’s) disappearance.

[Gojou referring to Touji basically selling Megumi off]

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. Especially your attitude."

⇒ “It pisses you off, doesn’t it”

“Yeah, it does piss me off. Especially that lack of delicacy of yours”

I mentioned it multiple times but imo repetition in the original text tends to be done on purpose and as a device and imo this was another example where this was the case. Megumi borrows Gojou’s words here. (Which mean “to be irritated, “to be angry” and not “it sucks”.)

[Megumi continuing about Gojou]

"But that annoying guy wrote off the situation with the Zen'in family. He made a promise that we would work as sorcerers in the future. We would be collateral and receive financial support from Jujutsu High in exchange."

⇒"This man pisses me off, but it was him who cancelled the deal with the Zen'in family, and made it so we would receive financial support from the technical college with me working as a sorcerer in the future [serving] as collateral for it”

I don’t know why they’d translate it as “we would work” here since who the “we” would be supposed to even entail other than Megumi himself? Surely not Tsumiki. Or Gojou. Also, putting the next bit as “we would be collateral” makes it sound kind of dehumanising to me, ngl, whereas Megumi was talking about his labour here.

Also, the same phrase for “pisses off” as above got used once again, which makes it three times in a row, so imo that was definitely a deliberate stylistic choice on Gege’s part.

“Jujutsu sorcerers. How stupid.

⇒ "Sorcerers, what even. How nonsensical"

Just proposing an alternate wording.

[Megumi about the curse Tsumiki got hit by]

"All we knew was that we didn't know anything. Tsumiki still sleeps."

The word used to describe Tsumiki’s state literally means “became bedridden”, which imo heavily implies she fell into a coma. “Still sleeps” is most likely a misunderstanding on the translator’s part since the word sounds like it’d mean that (but it doesn’t.)

[Megumi about Tsumiki]

"Always smiling and saying nice things"

⇒ “Always smiling and spouting lip service”

Another case where the translator seems to have translated the word based on the way it’s written as opposed to checking the actual meaning. (The “nice things” phrase.)

"It's not a bad thing to not forgive people. Megumi, that's your way of showing kindness."

⇒ “Not being able to forgive people isn’t a bad thing. That’s your kindness, Megumi”

It wasn’t just “not to forgive” but “not being able to forgive”! Which imo would imply the next line’s nuance was something similar to Tsumiki considering Megumi’s inability to forgive people to be something that stems from his kindness (e.g. because he can’t stand seeing injustice).

"Even spinning my short-comings in a positive light."

⇒ “She would affirm even my nature"

Imo this line was more of Tsumiki accepting Megumi as he is or at least that’s what the line says - makes sense with what I proposed for the line above too. Translating it the way they did in the official release kind of feels like overinterpreting.

"But even she would get upset when I hurt somebody. I was annoyed by the hypocrisy"

⇒ "But even such Tsumiki would get genuinely angry (...). I would get annoyed thinking she was a stickler to the rules and a hypocrite"

Emphasis mine. The phrase that the translators seem to have skipped here and I translated as "stickler to the rules" literally means "to play it safe", "to avoid trouble at all cost".

"Yeah, I know. I was immature. I'm sorry so please wake up already"

“I’m sorry, I was a brat. I’ll apologise so just wake up already, stupid older sister”

Just a different nuance and tone for the whole line.

"All I did was get rid of the Yasohachi bridge curse. My sister's sleeping curse is a separate matter."

⇒ "This Yasohachi bridge curse was probably only overlapping with it, and the curse that caused Tsumiki to fall into a coma probably hasn't been lifted"

The official English release makes it sound like sleeping (or more correctly, the coma) was the nature of the curse that Tsumiki was put under, whereas imo the original indicates it just as its effect, which is an important distinction.

“As for the finger and Itadori…”

⇒ “What should I tell Itadori about the finger...”

The “tell”, “say” is only implied here but it’s pretty clear from the context that was the meaning. Also, he explicitly says “to Itadori” here.

[After the Yasohachi bridge curse got defeated by Megumi who then retrieved the Sukuna finger from it]

"All of sudden I feel a presence. Did the finger get out of the barrier? Whoever took out the finger bearer is quite formidable."

⇒ “The huge presence that appeared all of sudden... Did Sukuna's finger get out of the barrier? If it was a sorcerer that exorcised the finger's host, they must be quite good......."

Emphasis mine on bits that got cut out in the official release. Because Esou was facing off Nobara, he probably assumed it’s likely there may be other sorcerers present and imo that’s what this line also suggests.

"Even so... The finger... Even if they fought against a special-grade and won, They more than likely didn't come out of it unscathed. I hope they're okay."

Just to clarify that the word used for “they” in the original indicates the speaker knows the people in question, so those were Nobara’s thoughts here.

Chapter 60

[Esou to Yuuji and Nobara after he activates his wing king technique]

“Start running and turn your backs to me”

“Run. With your backs turned to me” would fit better nuance and mood wise. (Esou didn’t want to show his back to anyone so now he’s’ forcing them to show theirs.)

[Nobara to Yuuji after he scooped her up because she couldn’t run as fast as he could]

“I got your back”

“Okay”

“Okay” isn’t incorrect per se but the word has the nuance of “I’m counting on you”.

[Nobara to Yuuji after he speeded through the forest while carrying her, allowing them to escape from Esou's technique]

"Well done, you deserve some praise"

“Yeah, yeah”

“Just kidding. Thanks!”

⇒ "You have my praise." (...)

Actually a set phrase! Spoken from a rather elevated/superior POV, which is why Nobara later reiterates that she’s genuinely thankful. Also, I probably would just go with a period for “Thanks”, imo nuance wise it didn’t require an exclamation mark and it’s not there in the original either.

[Esou after Yuuji gets splashed with Kechizu’s blood]

"There's no need to worry. My younger brother's blood isn't the same quality as mine"

Actually "doesn't have the same properties like mine”.

"You wouldn't even die from mine unless you were drowned in it."

Much closer to something like "unless you were to bathe your whole body in it".

"But it does hurt like hell"

⇒ "But it does hurt to death"

Not really wrong meaning wise but in the original it was “to death” instead of “like hell”, which combined with a previous line was probably a wordplay. "You won't die but it does hurt to death"

[Esou explaining how his and Kechizu’s shared technique works]

"If you take in one of our brother's blood and if one brother activates a technique"

Idk if it's clear here but it most likely doesn't matter which brother does which (could even be the same one). Also, definitely should’ve been “the” or “this” for technique, since Esou has just stated on the same page he’s now going to start laying out how a specific technique of he and his brother’s functions.

[Esou replying to Yuuji]

"Yes, the result is essentially poison. Our technique is 'decomposition'"

Should be “but what our technique is, is actually ‘decomposition’” nuance wise.

"It's activated now. In reality they'll be dead faster than that”

⇒ “Done with technique disclosure, so in reality (...)”

Emphasis mine. You know, the rule in jujutsu where if you explain your technique to your opponent, it gets a buff? “Activation” is just wrong here.

While it’s not phrased as such, the phenomenon is first explained in ch. 20 during Nanami’s explanation to Yuuji (refer to part II 2/2). It also gets mentioned by name later in the manga but oftentimes the official release would either skip it or word it completely differently so it’s hard to tell, like in ch. 51, when Hanami realises Toudou has lied to him (part IV 5/5).

[The history of how cursed wombs came to be]

"[In the beginning of the Meiji era] there was a girl with special genetic makeup who bore a cursed-spirit child"

Actually “with an idiosyncrasy that allowed her to get pregnant with the child of a cursed spirit”! Imo an important distinction since it’s not certain whether her first child that gets discussed here was born prematurely or not and the following pregnancies were all aborted.

"A child born of mixed blood - both cursed spirit and human.”

Skipped “grotesque child” at the end.

“It was a mysterious pregnancy. She would be ostracized by family and friends.”

⇒ "Starting from a pregnancy she had no recollection of, [followed by] the oppression from her kith and kin, it made her go insane"

This latter part of this section is filled to the brim with complicated language so I’m not entirely sure but I think this might’ve been the intended meaning of the line. The official translators were probably struggling with the vocabulary too, so they cut out some stuff entirely, to be precise - the go insane part. It’s the bit I’m not certain about myself but I scoured Japanese dictionaries and that’s the meaning that seemed to be the best fit among the options.

Anyway, to reiterate - the bit about the pregnancy actually says that the girl herself didn’t even know (couldn’t remember) how it came to be. The part about the relatives doesn’t mention friends, it’s actually a set phrase that means “one's relatives by blood and marriage (in blood and law); one's kith and kin” - I went here with the latter since it’s shorter and fits the overall vibe of the line.

“She would hold the corpse of the child and flee to a temple in the mountains. The temple was run by jujutsu sorcerers. However, her luck had run out."

⇒ “(...) However, this was when her luck run out”

Other than the nuance in the last line, this isn’t mistranslated but the whole section just flowed differently in the original and felt less disjointed.

Also! One of the scanlations I’ve seen had it misspelled as “Noshitori” but the evil sorcerer’s name is actually “Kamo Noritoshi” (and yes, it’s the same as the young Kamo but the “toshi” is written with different characters).

"The child born from a cursed spirit and human would become a prisoner of intellectual curiosity"

⇒ "His [Kamo Noritoshi's] intellectual curiosity would be taken captive by children born between a cursed spirit and a human"

Very much the other way around. It's very clear in the original that the subject of the sentence was Kamo's intellectual curiosity and not the child.

"Death painting wombs: numbers 1-3. Cursed objects worthy of special grade."

Closer to "cursed objects powerful enough to be classified as special grade"

"Did cursed energy originate from a mother's hatred? No..."

It's specified here as "did their cursed energy" instead (emphasis mine), and the question is actually left unanswered......................................................... So yeah, congrats on getting rid of this very intended ambiguity. It's something like "or was it maybe--"

[About cursed wombs]

"For 150 years, with only the notion of one another's existence, they would survive, sealed away"

⇒ "For 150 years, they endured the seal, relying only on one another's existence"

"The notion" just doesn't capture the sentiment of the line at all, which imo is most likely the follow-up to the narrator's musings about the origin of the death painting's immense cursed energy. (See above.)

"We're siding with that cursed spirit."

Actually "siding with them", read as "them" but written as "the cursed spirits" - probably plural as the original literally says "the side of the cursed spirits", so it possibly means cursed spirits as a whole as well, aside of Mahito and co specifically. Remember, the brothers are actually half-humans too. I explain in depth the “written as but read as” device in part IV 4/5 (ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” phenomenon).

"The future that the cursed spirits have painted is more suited for us. But that's it. Forget about what we owe for our freedom"

Not incorrect per se but Chousou actually says “forget the debt we owe them of our incarnation”, which would make it yet another instance where the official English release has cut out the term entirely. (Emphasis mine.)

[Nobara after stating that a technique that assures a win as long as it hits an opponent is indeed powerful]

"I'm a bad match for you!!"

Actually “the worst match [possible]” - more confidence in the line!

[Nobara to the death painting brothers after using Resonance on herself thus redirecting their attack back at them]

"Let's play a game of chicken, shall we?"

The actual wording is “contest of endurance”, I’m not entirely sure if the two have the same connotation.

[part v (3/3)]

#JujutsuKaisen #jjk #Jujutsu Kaisen #jjk translation #jjktranslation

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bookworm-2692 · 3 years

Note

For the ZE Ask Game: 1b, 1e, 2a, 3d, 5e, 5f and 5n!

Thank you for sending the asks! I love talking about Zero Escape so thank you for enabling me :D

Questions from here

1b: Favourite character design?

Okay, you know how hard it is for me to pick favourite characters because they’re all wonderful and that’s why you went with this question haha. Hmm. There are so many good designs (especially with the colour coding!!!). I prefer the designs in the first two games, since they’re really bright and colourful, and the third game is darker and dingier. I like that each character has a main colour that stands out and doesn’t really belong to anyone else (except for Dio and K who both have the red and gold aesthetics, but that’s valid because red and gold is a brilliant aesthetic). I think in 999, my favourite is actually Junpei’s - I love the blue colour of his vest, and the blue vest and red shirt just. Work super well together. It’s a fashion disaster but it’s also an aesthetic I vibe with so. (also love the red blue colour coding with Junpei specifically so). In VLR, much as I loathe him, I really like Dio’s design. The top hat and the braids and the red and gold work really well together and it’s fun. Dio is super frustrating though, but his design slaps!

1e: Favourite scene?

Oooo tricky. There’s so many good moments. I think I have to go with the classic though - the moment in 999 True End where Junpei gets the safe end code, and the narration goes “How did Junpei know? He knew because I knew”. It’s so chilling and also so satisfying to see everything suddenly click. I love it, and I love watching people experiencing that for the first time. It’s like. The best part of the game, I reckon.

2a: Least favourite character?

Okay I’m trying to not immediately say Delta but like.... Delta. I think he had a super interesting concept, but the way it was executed made it so much worse. I hated that they just.... hid him from view so then the twist was that this character you didn’t even know existed was Zero? It just felt cheap. Also ~complex motives~ got really annoying - I would have much preferred it if he had said “yeah I’m only doing this to ensure my birth (and the birth of my sister). soz lmao”. Because that motive feels more real? Rather than just adding a whole random “religious fanatic” in a vague sort of way. I do like the concept of him and Phi being twins and being separated in such a way that they’re very different ages now, but again the execution of Sigma and Diana’s romance was like. Not done well.

So yeah, Delta is my least favourite because he doesn’t significantly effect the plot, barely exists, and when he is present his motives don’t make sense and his abilities are not foreshadowed at all (morphogenetic fields in 999 were good, the entire game was spent explaining the concept. Mind Hack? Right outta left field and also if we’re trying to make it work based on how morphogenetic field theory was explained in 999, the “reading minds” part of it is “extremely strong receiver”, and the “forcing people to do actions” part of it is “extremely strong transmitter”, so he should have one of the abilities but not both. And if he is a really strong transmitter.... he’s gotta mime out the action in order to write it into the fields to encourage others to follow! And I reckon natural transmitters, who are worse at receiving, are naturally slightly resistant to this, natural receivers are more vulnerable to this, and normal people somewhere in between. But yes, if Delta is gonna Mind Hacc Eric, then we should see him in the corner miming holding a gun, pointing, and firing!! Bleugh!

Wow that turned into a bit of a rant. Whoops?

3d: Rank the endings

I have been given the choice to either rank the true ends across the three games, or all the endings within a particular game. I am so bad at choices ugh.

Anyway, the true ends:

999 - it really tied everything together and explained everything. The sequence in the incinerator, seeing 12 year old Akane and 21 year old Junpei talking to each other, Junpei saving young Akane, Clover’s absolute joy at finding out Light is alive, the “he knew because I knew” thing that I mentioned above, just everything. It was a self contained story, so everything was addressed and it was good.

VLR - this is more second by default, since I love 999′s true end and hate ZTD’s true end. But overall, this is fairly solid, and I like the concept of them doing this in 2074 to change an outcome in 2028, but it loses points because it relies on ZTD to “complete” it

ZTD - I hate this true end. The game has very enjoyable moments, but unfortunately the true end amounts to “oh let’s just... SHIFT to a timeline where we all survive” and that’s it? Which just feels sort of pointless tbh. And is so unsatisfactory

Within 999, I feel all six five endings are extremely solid, and all have a part to play an a story to tell. Knife End may be the most unsatisfactory, but it’s still okay. True, Safe, and Sub Ends are the ends with credits, and they’re all full of great dialogue and story. Axe End is also great, and I love the way you get to see the other side of Clover (and I really like the art of Clover holding an axe, I actually drew it on Saturday (when I started writing these answers, but it’s Wednesday now because I’ve been busy) for a friend’s birthday, which is technically my first ZE fanart and I’ll post it here at. Some point. Knife end is a bit quick, but honestly that’s okay? Especially when considering how many bad ends the other two games have that aren’t even named. Coffin End was my first end, and I wasn’t expecting the “to be continued” so I basically just collapsed and lay face down on the ground for a fair bit, but again given how many plot locks the other games have, coffin end is chill. So 999 has the most solid endings overall.

Within VLR, there are nine named endings, one for each character, and 13 ish unnamed bad ends. The unnamed bad ends are all like.... basically as soon as you make the decision you die or whatever, they don’t continue onwards like they do for Axe End etc in 999. I like that the named endings are designed for you to learn about each character, even though some of them are kinda weak. Like Quark’s ending, we didn’t really learn about him, and most of what we learnt about him was from Tenmyouji’s ending. I agree with what you said, Finch, about how it would have been nice to get some more Quark content/bonding/something, after he wakes up. Clover’s ending was also pretty disappointing, since she vaguely alluded to 999 and then everyone killed themselves. But there were some really good ones, like Luna’s and K’s and Dio’s (very fun that Phi was about to smash his head with a rock even if betraying Luna to get to that point is painful). Actually I really like the whole murder mystery aspect of everything behind the Magenta door.

Within ZTD, I do appreciate that the endings all served their purposes, but I disliked the way there were sometimes multiple endings in the same timeline, while other timelines... had none. It just was a bit all over the shop. Most of the endings were informative for the characters, but the true end sucks.

5e: Rant about something you liked from the games

I adore all the red/blue symbolism in the games, especially in 999. The way every time the morphogenetic field is described, the transmitters are red people and the receivers are blue people. And then when you learn who the espers are, you can see how the colours align. Clover is a transmitter, and her colour scheme is a lot of dark pink, close to red, while Light, a receiver, has lots of blue in his design. Junpei and Akane can both transmit and receive (with each other), and this is shown by Junpei wearing both red and blue, and Akane wearing purple, a mix of red and blue. It’s really neat. Also, Junpei is new to the morphogenetic fields, so his blue and red is still separate, but Akane is so entwined within them, and uses them so easily, that her blue and red have mixed to become purple.

In VLR, Clover is still pink, and Junpei still has blue (even though he’s lost the red, but that could show he’s lost connection to Akane and now has no one to transmit to, although I think it’s hilarious if he was still unintentionally transmitting to Akane over the years, and that’s how she kept tabs on him and found him again for VLR.

In ZTD, Diana is red and Sigma is blue. I actually headcanon Diana as a receiver and Sigma as a transmitter (as in, he transmitted his memories to himself across timelines rather than a natural receiver ability), so I like that in ZTD they have opposite colours/each other’s colours. Phi is blue in both games and still a receiver imo.

So the colour symbolism is obviously strongest in 999, but I really like it.

5f: Rant about something you disliked from the games

In VLR, Clover says that stronger espers absorb the powers of weaker espers, and that’s why she can’t contact her brother. I hate this “fact” actually, because it directly contradicts the way the morphogenetic fields work in 999 and ZTD, and also in VLR itself. In 999, we have nine sets of esper siblings during the First Nonary Game, and since they all survived, we know that their esper powers must have worked correctly.... which means we can’t have had one Super Esper absorbing all the powers. The true end of ZTD has the powers of all the espers working together to create a resonant effect so that even Eric and Mira, non espers, can SHIFT. I also dislike SHIFTing (a rant for another day), but the idea of multiple espers in a vicinity resonating/boosting everyone’s powers makes way more sense than.... one person absorbing everyone else’s powers.

And even within VLR.... Tenmyouji does the ally/betray swapsies thing with Sigma and Phi, which means he is also remembering another timeline.... which means his powers are still working and not being absorbed by Phi and Sigma. Also.... both Phi and Sigma are using their powers and SHIFTing everywhere. Why doesn’t one of them absorb the other’s powers? Also also, we learn in the True End that Akane was in K’s armour the entire time during the timeline where Sigma and Phi most use their powers for all the bomb passwords and locations etc. You cannot try to tell me that Akane isn’t the strongest esper, ever. She simply is. If absorbing was true, then we would literally never see anyone else use their powers, because Akane is always there (FNG, 999, VLR, ZTD) and would have to be doing all the absorbing. Gah.

So I reckon, even though Clover said that, that she was simply wrong. That was the current theory SOIS had, but.... they don’t have to be right.

In any case, there are other reasons why Clover might not have been able to contact Light in VLR. The first is simply that he is dead. Another is the idea that minds linked by the morphogenetic fields have a sort of... shape. That fits perfectly with those they are esper partners with. And as the espers grow, so do their mind shapes. Clover was frozen on the 22nd of December 2028, and awoke on the 25th of January 2074. Her mind shape was not able to evolve and grow, so it is preserved. Light however has been living those 45 years, which means that’s been a lot of time for his mind shape to grow and change. Clover can’t find Light’s mind in the morphogenetic field, since it no longer looks the same, and their shapes no longer fit together. This is my personal headcanon, and it means that when Clover finds him, their minds can get used to each other again and their shapes can align, and they can be linked again.

5n: Do you have any fanart/fanfic/fangame recommendations?

Boy, do I ever? The First Nonary Game by @airdeari . What it says on the tin, folks! Airdeari has named all nine pairs of siblings, and created unique sibling relationships and unique experiences with the morphogenetic field for all of them, and woven a beautiful story together, and it’s just wonderful. It’s my favourite fic ever, to the point where I literally bound it and it now exists as a physical book in my life. Like, I cannot recommend this fic enough, it is the best.

AO3 Summary: A tale of nine children aboard a sinking ship, and the unbelievable story of how they survived.

#zero escape #999 spoilers #vlr spoilers #ztd spoilers

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goatsandgangsters · 3 years

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so what is grishaverse? i could just google it, but i kind of want to hear it from a fan

hello yes! happy to help! I also love to be categorized as a fan here because the reality is that these books have been loitering on my to-read list for several years until netflix forced my hand and I was like “o fuk, o shit, I gotta read those now” and then tore through binge-reading/absolutely devouring them over the past couple months (and I’m not normally a media-binger, but man, these books go FAST and they hook ya) and now Am Love It Very Much

Non-spoilery lore summary of where things start out: Set in a fantasy world based on tsarist/19th-century Russia. Some people—called Grisha—have powers. Everywhere else in the world, Grisha are oppressed, but In Fantasy Russia they’re now warily tolerated as a useful military branch. There are three broad categories of Grisha types, which are basically “medical school but make it magic” (people whose power is either to Fuck Shit Up in your body or to heal it), “long ago the four three nations lived together in harmony” (airbenders, waterbenders, firebenders), and “extreme DIY crafting” (they make/invent stuff real good). However, Our Protagonist discovers she has the rare Grisha power of being able to summon sunlight. Which is particularly useful when your war-torn country is cut off from its only coastline by A Giant Enormous Area Of Total and Absolute Darkness That Monsters Live In. /CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC

You’ve got POWERS! You’ve got HISTORICALLY-INSPIRED-YET-DISTINCTLY-FANTASY AESTHETICS! You’ve got POLITICAL INTRIGUE and WAR! You’ve got HEISTS and CRIMES! You’ve got FANTASY ANALOGIES FOR REAL-WORLD OPPRESSION! You’ve got some really great CHARACTERS! It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s absorbing.

Book series structure: There are a couple different sets of books set within the Grishaverse. The first is a trilogy (“the grisha trilogy”)—the first book of which is called Shadow and Bone, from which the Netflix adaptation draws its name. That’s a three-book series focused on the aforementioned sunlight protagonist. THEN there is another duology of books (which are six of crows and crooked kingdom), which is set in the same universe, but focuses on an entirely different set of characters, with an entirely different storyline, in a different/neighboring country from Fantasy Russia, and also it’s set slightly after the first trilogy. Book-wise, they’re very much separate entities. While the trilogy has sort of a “you’re the chosen one, save your country” vibe with big political players, the duology has more of a “be gay, do crime” vibe that’s more gritty with gang of found family do a heist. (Tho if you’re looking at content that’s on my blog, I’ve only reblogged trilogy-focused posts because I am Not Yet Done With The Duology Books.) I have to respect an author who creates a sandbox and then doesn’t want to stop playing in it, because that’s probably exactly what I would do too.

TV adaptation structure: the SHOW, which is called Shadow and Bone and which drops on Netflix in a couple weeks, is combining both of those sets of books into one plotline, even though they are very much separate in the books. It seems like they’re planning to follow the plot of the first (trilogy) book pretty closely, while weaving in the characters from the duology as more of a prequel to their own books. So it’ll be interesting to see how they do that, because they’re fusing together these different stories into one.

So that’s why the use of “grishaverse” is useful because you have these multiple sets of stories that take place within the same world but that focus on different things and different people in different places—but that will be woven together more fully in the upcoming adaptation—so it’s a useful catch-all term for The World This Is Set In

If you’re intrigued by the show but reasonably can’t commit to binge-reading an entire book series in the span of the next two weeks, it DOES seem like it’s designed to be enjoyable to both book fans and to people who are totally brand new to the world. That said, even though I just dumped a lot of info on you about trilogies and duologies (and those five aren’t even the entirety of books published within this world but I wanted to stick to the Key Info), the books and the world are actually super accessible. The pacing is fast, so I found them to be quick reads. The world-building is presented in a way that’s really clear and digestible; I never felt thrown into something huge that I didn’t understand, which can happen with some fantasy series. While the world itself is broad and sweeping, the way these stories are told and the way they unfold felt like something that I could jump immediately into without any foreknowledge and immediately feel like I understood what was going on. I literally osmosis’d ZERO THINGS about the series(es?) when I started reading—and I didn’t even read the blurb on the back!—but it was a really accessible and easy world to enter into.

Also, I did NOT expect to get as totally hooked as I did. But the timing has been really fun for me actually, because I get to absolutely devour this fun, engaging book series and then immediately I’ll get to revisit it in a different way when the show drops!

#I am deeply sorry that I’m incapable of being succinct #but I hope that was helpful!#the structure of the different sets of books is less confusing than it initially sounds?#also probably better to ask than google anyway!#because there’s a Lot out there and it’s hard to wade through New Lore in a non-spoilery way #especially if you decide you wanna start with the show and go into it fresh #grishaverse #anon tag

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michalwu · 3 years

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Top 10 - best in TV of 2020

A lot less happened for me in 2020 in television than other years. Many series didn’t air or were not finished. Also I had a lot less time and patience to sit through as many shows as I did in the past. My top 10 vary bethween entertainment tv and emotional bomshell (number one). And it looks like this:

10. BoJack Horseman - finale. The show is over and it will be forever my favorite adult animated series.

9. What We Do in Shadows season 2 - The only comedy in this short rank that made me laught so much that my stomach ached.

8. Haunting of Bly Manor- Beautiful love story with a little bit of scary stuff attached.

7. The Crown season 4 - It became a little bit like soap opera but still...Carol and Diana plot are true dynamite this season.

6. Mrs America - What an amazing show full of spectacular females. Plus I love when story is taking place in this period. Cate Blanchette and Rose Byrne are so captivating in those roles.

5. Devs - The way creators lead this story got me really involved. I very like the stylistic of this story.

4. The Boys season 2 - The entertainment I needed this year.Baming, smashing, cursing and hiting the nazi in the end. Thank you.

3. The Mandalorian - Another entertainment but with a lot of love and heart. It was such a joy to come back every week to this series. Baby Yoda is the cutest but isn’t also Mando every time when he let himself to be vulnerable. And the original score is sooo good!

2. The Queen’s Gambit - Old school story of becoming an absolute champion by overcoming our demons and difficulties.The only show on the list I absorbed in one day. Main character was very charismatic and so well played by Anya.Overall it made me play chess first time in 15 years.

1. Normal people - Emotional bomb. Can’t remember the last time when lovestory got me so much like this one...maybe never? The two main actors are absolutely excellent and definately mine two favorite roles in 2020.The story is both subtle and very strong. And those two chatacters - so complex and well written.

Other good shows that didn’t made the cut to top 10:

The Outsider, Last Dance, His Dark Materials, Lucifer, Raised by the Wolves.

Most disappointing in 2020:

Locke and Key - someone could not decide if this is supposed to be for children in Disney vibe or maybe a little bit more mature so grown ups canalso get into it, It fails in both ways,

Ryan Murphy and Netflix - The Politican (season 2) and Ratched. Both shows so messy and overloaded with beautiful looks and interior...for no reason. Those are pretty shows but so what if the writing is so terrible you just can’t watch anymore. Zero consequence with leading those characters so we end up with pretty actors just saying thing in different locations to different people because that’s all we got if those characters have no personalities or those personalities changes every second just so Mr. Murphy could pretend that this is actually smart twist in the plot.... We all know he can do better but mostly if there is some material to base his stories on ( ACS, Feud - both series amazing).

Space Force - so many great comedians and they all felt more bored that I was watching it.

#normalpeople #the queen's gambit #the mandolarian #devs #mrs america #the crown #what we do in the shadows #haunting of bly manor #bojack horseman #the boys #top ten #2020 summary

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unwiltingblossom · 4 years

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15x19 is just....just hilariously bad. It’s a hot mess of garbage and lost potential.

Let’s just say there’s one and only one way to salvage this story, and it’s that the entire story is just another Swan Song, and this haphazard ending was written by Chuck to give the boys a sense of closure and freedom that’s impossible for them to ever have from the moment they realized who Chuck was.

It’s literally that bad. it can only be excused by Chuck being a lazy hack in-universe to pander to Dean and Sam. Rushing the end of Castiel’s arc in like two minutes, with zero emotional payoff unless you’re deeply, deeply invested in Destiel and desperate for any crumb of it. Luci reappearing for five minutes and acting totally out of character before dying basically instantly right in front of Jack to conveniently charge him up, then Chuck killing Michael for literally no reason whatsoever (Michael did exactly what he wrote him to do) right in front of Jack, Chuck deciding just not to kill Jack because...........................................because, and also deciding to beat, but not kill, the Winchesters, and the most anticlimactic defeat of Chuck possible.

What was the point of him combining with Amara? Nothing, there’s no payoff, it’s just a way to write her out. For no reason in particular she vibes with Jack even though Jack betrayed and tried to murder her while Chuck did nothing against her. She has an entire arc about being an inseparable pair with Chuck, brother and sister from the dawn of time that no one else can understand, a bond that even the imprisonment couldn’t break, and then she’s like ‘ah yes, the ally of the person who betrayed and tried to kill me - who tried to do the same - the son of the angel who betrayed me and tried to seal me away, I like this guy and will go be with him and “harmonize” instead of staying with the brother that I love, or protecting him from this.’

What has changed between pre-season 11 (or really pre-season 14) and now? Has their god figure changed tactics at all? Literally no. Not even a little. Every part of Jack’s limp wristed speech just added up to ‘absentee dad who doesn’t come and help people because he doesn’t want to be a helicopter dad’. The current writers just balled up their fists and shook them at the sky angry about a Chuck who literally just didn’t exist, and hurled insults at him for doing things that their new replacement is also planning on doing.

Dean and Sam aren’t even off the hamster wheel, they’re just now on Jack’s! Which is better, because they’re on the good side of their world’s god--wait, they were that already before season 15, oops. Chuck was literally personally indebted to them! Amara was in love with Dean! Nothing has changed!

But even if that’s the ending they wanted for some demented reason, the execution is awful, possibly the worst! Not only did Chuck and Amara’s abilities and personality become inconsistent with previous seasons, they became inconsistent with a few episodes before.

In the end what was Chuck’s personality?

Whatever you were about to think was wrong unless your answer was “Nothing, he didn’t have a personality, he reacted only as the plot required him to at the time with no rhyme, reason, or internal consistency.”

One moment Chuck is railing at the Winchesters for ‘not obeying’, the next he’s punishing someone for obeying him or saying that the only thing that interests him is how the Winchesters surprise him. One moment he refuses the white flag for literally no reason, the next one he’s demanding they give up. One moment he needs Amara to Great Reset and has completely lost interest in the Winchesters, the next he’s given up on the hard reset and only cares about the Winchesters again. One moment he revives his most rebellious son because he knows that son is obsessively devoted to him, the next he’s killing his most loyal son for reluctantly rebelling (exactly according to a previous plan). One moment he says ‘now Jack dies’ the next he goes out of his way to just not kill Jack for no reason. Does he want a fitting death for the Winchesters or not? He sure doesn’t know the answer to that!

Chuck was not a person, not even an entity. He was a formless, personality-devoid plot object pushed around the map to give the Winchesters something to react to and try to ‘defeat’. Billy was far more the arc villain - even Empty - than Chuck, and her ending was utterly anticlimactic and unsatisfying.

He acted exactly as necessary to get the very specific ending they picked, and nothing more. Every time up until the final conflict whenever he saw Jack he’d immediately kill Jack unless Jack was literally just dying in front of him. Every time he was irritated with someone and wanted them gone through the season, he would wave his hand and they’d vanish to ‘somewhere else’, implied to be very far away. Suddenly this one time, he instead sent Jack a very short distance away, so as to ensure he’d be close enough to absorb Michael’s power when Chuck SMITED him, not killed him in some normal way.

Shall we look at the very specific chain of insane events that had to happen to make this result?

- Chuck erases all of living existence except Michael, the Winchesters, Castiel, and Jack - the last of which he has zero interest in and very much wants dead.

- Chuck, instead of going to the bunker himself because he knows full well there’s literally nothing, nothing, that can kill him with Amara’s power (and also instead of just instantly resetting like he wanted to do with Amara), revives Satan and sends him to the bunker to make a new Death so that she can read Death’s book.

- The combined cleverness of him and the longest lived villain in the series due to his tenacity and cleverness don’t decide to peacefully take the new Death away for ‘security’ and kill her where the Winchesters (and Michael) can’t see, and instead instantly murder her in front of everyone before she can say how the end happens

- Chuck, despite making a point TWO EPISODES AGO about how he’s literally omniscient, and so though he can’t read the book that doesn’t mean it can actually be used against him, suddenly forgets that only Death can read the book. All of the time in the universe and he’s never learned this???? Even the Winchesters knew!

- Chuck evidently infused him with the power to insta-kill Death....somehow, but this power is not on display at any other point, especially not the crucial next moment:

- The most tenacious and sneaky villain on the show then slowly makes his way around the bunker with a fellow archangel who wants to kill him present, then lingers and offers to let a son he hates (and Chuck dislikes) that he believes is currently powerless to come with him. He then is unprepared for the very same trick that Gabriel tried to use on him 10 season before and failed back then with the phrase ‘I taught you all the tricks you know’, and gets immediately ganked by Michael with no fight at all

- Chuck LITERALLY WAS THE ONE TO GIVE THE WINCHESTERS THAT ARCHANGEL BLADE AND WROTE IT SO THAT THEY WERE THE ONES WHO KILLED HIM WITH IT THE LAST TIME. HE COULD NOT HAVE NOT KNOWN THEY HAD IT!!!!

- Dean and Sam then discuss their plan to trick the omniscient Chuck between each other and Jack. Chuck somehow doesn’t know this, even though it was established in the past that the warding doesn’t actually work against Chuck and Amara and he has literally nowhere else to be looking in the multiverse except at them

- Jack absorbs the power of an archangel, making him the third most powerful being in the universe currently, as all other archangels other than Michael are dead and Death is dead, and there is NO OTHER POWER ANYWHERE WHATSOEVER to hide him in, yet is undetected by Michael or Chuckmara

- Chuck appears when they attempt to do some BS to kill him, even though he would know full well that just wouldn’t work, and decides in that one specific moment, even though he doesn’t care one whit about Jack, not to go ahead and just delete Jack since he’s gonna do that in a minute anyway, he also doesn’t send Jack ‘away’ like he has with literally everyone else, nor does he control Jack and turn Jack on the boys. Nope. Just slap him vaguely to the side

- Rather than deal with Michael after the Winchesters, Chuck decides he hates his most loving and loyal son who has never once done anything wrong against him, and sought to do his will even when he was gone, even when Michael was stuck in the cage unjustly. He goes ahead and murders Michael for something he wrote as a trap for the Winchesters and doesn’t even wait to deal with Jack and the Winchesters first to do it

- CHUCK. SHURLEY. UNDERESTIMATED THE WINCHESTERS. THE ONE WHO WROTE THEM TO BE THE WAY THEY ARE. THE ONE WHO WROTE “AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN’T UNDERESTIMATE THE WINCHESTERS?!” FOR CROWLEY TO SAY.

- Chuck didn’t notice Jack absorbing the power of Michael LITERALLY RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, making Jack nearly Chuck’s power by absorbing the two most powerful archangels and literally leaving him THE ONLY FLAME OF POWER IN ALL OF EXISTENCE BESIDES CHUCK. STANDING RIGHT. NEXT. TO. HIM.

- Seriously, the energy of Michael didn’t dissipate, it sucked right into Jack, still in his peripheral vision. Chuck the omniscient!

- Chuck then decides, unlike every other time he faced the Winchesters or anything he wanted dead, no he won’t smite or erase the Winchesters or make them face some poetic fate, he’ll punch them down. But not once and obliterate them, oh no. Over and over so he can “leak god power” that he then doesn’t notice is being drained into Jack

- He literally does not notice a being as powerful or more powerful than him standing behind him. OMNISCIENT CHUCK.

- Rather than take the power back, flee, or do anything with his power or eons of experience (like transfer his consciousness to Jack along with the power), he stands there and immediately is drained

THIS is the path that had to happen, with no deviations, for the Winchesters not to just die.

And on top of that garbage plotline of perfect coincidences we’re expected to believe wasn’t written to happen in-universe, the execution is the saddest and most pathetic wet fart of a finale ever.

There’s been 15 seasons, and conveniently we can compare three different ‘true’ endings in the process. Let’s do that, shall we?

Ending 1 - Swan Song. Build up: 5 seasons

The other endings didn’t get the benefit of five seasons of build up, so we won’t factor in the first 2 or 3 seasons just to be fair, and only count the beginning of the apocalypse arc.

Primary villain: Satan, with the backdrop of demons and the corrupted faction of angels. Their personalities are well defined and compelling. Their behavior makes sense and are consistent, and draw you in to be invested in what happens, especially the eventual heelface turn of Castiel.

Stakes: Humanity, but far more importantly, the supporting cast whom you grew to know and love over the years, even including Castiel.

Over the apocalypse arc, we see the boys struggle against impossible odds and what appears to be fate, raging against the dying of the light because they cannot accept that the future can really hold the end of everything. They despair, they grow, Dean - a staunch atheist - prays to god for the first time ever. Slowly but surely they lose ground, with every attempted victory only resulting in more failure. Ellen and Jo who survived an early season fake out and became beloved characters end up fighting and dying in a long, drawn out sacrifice scene that matters, leaving the people behind shattered. Bobby is crippled. Sam and Dean both give up and almost give in.

In the end, the final confrontation still happens, Castiel finally makes a stand for the sake of humanity and free will and he dies for it. Only the love that Dean and Sam have for each other, the lifetime as brothers and their fierce bond of family, finally saves the day. And it only happens at the cost of sacrificing Sam and Adam’s lives, forcing Dean to live for them.

The final battle takes all episode, it’s dramatic and it’s emotional both good and bad.

Ending 2 - Alpha and Omega. Build up: 3 seasons

The arc with Amara once again was a long build up of the Winchesters constantly trying to make things better and only making things worse, but where Sam was the vessel and thus had the personal connection to the villain in the first arc, Dean was the vessel exploring the darkness and thus had the personal connection to Amara in this arc.

Primary villain - Amara, the bitter and angry sister of Chuck who doesn’t understand human morality but has a personal connection to Dean.

Stakes: Existence itself, but also far more importantly, the supporting cast built up from the last checkpoint.

The crushing hopelessness of fighting a being with ultimate power filled the arc, and Dean’s attempt to reason with Amara failed not because she was insane, but because her understanding of existence was simply different and incompatible. Donatello their prophet has his soul devoured by Amara and Metatron is killed in a diversion, but overall there’s not as much sacrifice because it wouldn’t have done any good anyway. However, it has its Ellen and Jo moment in the form of the hopelessness of the Croatoan episode. The city converted, the Winchesters helpless, Sam infected and slowly turning, while Chuck has given up and plans to die with the world.

And honestly, that moment when Chuck begins to sing, when the amulet after so many years finally begins to glow and the clouds part, everything isn’t fixed yet but somehow it’s all alright because “Dad is finally here” is such a beautiful moment.

Many before have commented on it, but Chuck’s song and the moment he heals everyone is iconic and beautiful, as is the moment when the play sings ‘Wayward Son’ while Chuck watches in the bleachers with a smile. Things also get desperate, as Chuck nearly dies even after they get everything together as allies - even including the last arc villain - they put together something that will only maybe work so that at the very least, existence can continue.

Once again, the boys and everyone get together to fight the inevitable and impossible simply because they believe humanity deserves to continue to exist, and it’s the love of family - this time between Chuck and Amara, who truly, no matter the eons of rivalry and resentment and bitterness, don’t want to see each other hurt - that puts aside the end. The inevitable fade is prevented because of love and family (and isn’t that the point?) and even Chuck as a father redeems himself, taking the anger from Dean, Sam, and his own son and finally makes peace with them as well.

In the same way Chuck brought back Castiel stronger as a gift, Amara brings back Mary younger as a gift, and just as in season 5, they leave with the promise that Dean and Sam can handle things from here. Chuck even says "The Earth will be fine without me. It’s got you and Sam.” before he leaves.

The final episode isn’t a battle, but the solution takes all episode, and the ending is somewhat bittersweet, though more positive emotional than negative.

‘Ending’ 3 - Inherit the Earth. Build up: one season

They didn’t have much choice about this, because Jensen sprang ‘I quit’ on them, and they evidently didn’t want Jack to be the final villain, so the arc they were in the middle of had to be terminated (and the Michael arc ended at an awkward place so they couldn’t have just ended it at the end of s14 instead)

Still, the season of buildup....just isn’t. Most episodes have nothing to do with the inevitable impending doom, and rather than hopelessness, the Winchesters mostly live in a delusion that despite utterly failing to defeat Amara, somehow they can beat Chuck with less power. This conflict is fueled by sheer rage on both sides, as Dean has up and decided he hates that someone is controlling his life and thinks he gets a say, and is willing to endanger the entire world for his grudge against Chuck - even though this was something resolved back in s11 (the resolution with Satan was also completely undone by these writers instantly but that’s another matter)

Primary villain: Chuck, with an aside of Billie and The Empty - unfortunately this Chuck has no connection to the previous Chuck (or even himself episode to episode), Billie has always been extremely bland and doesn’t really accomplish anything through the season, and the Empty is totally unexplored and wholly exists to say “BE QUIET” and provide fanservice because it’s using Meg’s actress to do so. It has no personality beyond wanting to be left alone and getting vindictive if it’s not. It also can’t impact anything because it’s barred from Earth and nothing significant in the plot happens elsewhere this season.

Stakes: Humanity, and also some side characters you don’t really know or care about

Let’s talk about those, because it’s the biggest failing in the execution of this whole plot and why the ending has no oomph and doesn’t matter even if Chuck had a coherent personality and the ending had made sense.

Bobby is not Our Bobby, and despite bringing him back, the writers utterly failed to explore him or bring him into things, even in this final arc. There’s been no chance to bond with this Bobby. Even his ‘romance’ with Mary was offscreen and he had little more than grunting to say about her death. We’ve also had our chains thoroughly jerked around by Bobby since season 6. Emotionally we’re dead to Bobby, and the writers seem to have assumed this by token returning him and then shipping him on a bus immediately (or maybe the writers suck, because they do this to Mary most of the time too and there’s no reason for people to be bored of her)

Charlie is not Our Charlie, and we’ve already seen her die (pointlessly). Once again, the writers utterly failed to explore her, even more than Bobby, and no one can point out anything that makes her any different from the original except that she has no connection to the boys. She’s also been shipped off and removed multiple times, so viewers are well acquainted with her being gone. She does nothing in the final plot to make people remember her or be invested.

Does Garth even die on screen??? Have we even seen him since the antiMichael arc? Oh right, he’s in the joke episode where he gives Dean fillings. You know who doesn’t even die on screen? Jody. She also has no role in the season. She doesn’t even appear in reality, only alternate versions of reality! Instead, Donna appears! Just long enough so she can die on screen painlessly in a plot twist about Billie. Presumably Donatello dies, but, y’know, it’s offscreen.

More importantly, none of these people who die are involved in actually helping to fight Chuck. They help the Winchesters a little in their cameos, but they’re not involved in a desperate fight for survival, putting it all on the line even though they know it’s hopeless, because humanity deserves to exist and no matter how impossible, they have to fight.

Three people of importance die or ‘die’.

Amara, who as mentioned is just written out of the show for no conceivable reason

Rowena, is the only person with an impactful sacrifice done to fight Chuck, no matter how hopeless it is. Unfortunately, it’s somewhat rushed, and Sam is over it pretty quick....because Rowena becomes Queen of Hell, completely undermining her death and really just giving the Winchesters an upgrade, because she’s even more reliable than Crowley in there (they proceed to never call on her)

And then there’s Castiel.

His death is rushed and hot garbage, as mentioned. He’s not dying to fight Chuck, or for something he believes in. It’s not a long and emotional or heartbreaking scene. It’s a useless and stupid one that only happens because Dean is an idiot, with the fakest suspense of Billie just open palm smacking on a door for a stupidly extended amount of time, just so they could fulfill an ‘oopsie’ plot hook they’d planned for far in the future with the Empty.

And the worst part? After undermining Castiel being one of the brothers and everything he’s ever done with ‘it’s not that I loved humanity and did what I believed was right, even in the face of adversity and those around me telling me it was wrong, it’s that I loved you and confessing this even though it’s 100% unrequited and we’re surrounded by doom and I know things are hopeless I’m completely happy, at peace, and have forgotten Empty’s promise (oops, forgot about that qualification, didn’t you?)’

After all that, Dean, Sam, and Jack aren’t even really broken up about it. Dean is sad for like five seconds and then they move on back to angry at chuck mode. Jack lost his actual dad, Sam and Dean lost their brother - forever this time - and they’re like ‘eh, we moved on from losing mom again and losing dad again, this is nothing’.

There’s no impact to this sacrifice whatsoever. Especially because in the very next episode we see that if you have Chuck’s power you can just yoink out someone from the Empty, and that very episode they already said that the Empty can’t go where Chuck doesn’t want him. That is to say: Jack can just rescue him now and there’s nothing the Empty can do about it.

And as for the conclusion?

What saves the day? Is it love? Does Amara’s appeal to Chuck as his sister work? Do the Winchesters swallow their pride and go to Chuck to plead with him to see reason and remember his love for his creation? Does the love Michael have for his father reach him? Do the love Dean, Sam, or Jack have for each other matter, overcoming the impossible to choose love, freedom, and family like always?

Nope.

They win because Chuck is angry and hateful and full of hubris, so he makes a billion mistakes in a row, allowing himself to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And is there a lesson about love in the end, something about freedom or family or forgiveness?

Nope.

They leave Chuck groveling as a human (like that’s different from how he’s been for eons, happily so), Jack fixed everything (except Castiel and all the angels and heaven and all the monsters and serial killers and cannibals) and then gives a speech about how he is everything and is in everything but not Dean and Sam’s car because the only way to be good at his job is to go do the thing Chuck was doing and Dean raged at him about.

And it happens in a few seconds.

Completely anticlimactic. There’s no climax. There’s no build up. There’s no satisfaction or emotional payoff. There’s no closure that makes you say ‘yes, this could be the end and I would be completely satisfied’ except that they didn’t include the last second sequel hooks that were in s5 and 11 because they knew there’d be more seasons.

Also looping back to the logistical side of things again

There is no ‘godforce’, there’s no ‘grace but it’s divine’

Chuck and Amara are power

You can’t just ‘drain’ them of it, you can’t steal their power and leave a husk, because there’s no husk. They’re not inhabiting someone like angels or demons do. They are that power. Why do they have that power? Because they do, Because they are, they have that power in their world.

If you could somehow ‘steal’ the power you’d be stealing the ‘essence’. Just like with Amara moving to Jack, Chuck would move to Jack, and suddenly it wouldn’t be Jack anymore, because a human mind and soul can’t overcome him (see: he writes them)

Also, consider the sheer staggering amount of NERF!!!!!!!

Chuck + Amara, that’s Chuck doubled in power

is now canonically the power of “One human soul + two powerful archangels + a few punches worth of power”. That means by their reckoning, Chuck alone is only a punch or two stronger than Michael.

think about that compared to what Death said to Castiel with all of purgatory in him.

And this

This is why I say

The only way to correct this episode is to reveal in the end of this next wrap up episode that it was all written by Chuck, for Dean and Sam. The only fix to this is to make it so the bad writing is just typical Chuck being a ham-fisted writer who is ultimately just doing what’s best for humanity and especially his two favorites: giving them closure, someone to let out their rage and hatred on, and true ‘free will’, by once again removing himself from the equation and letting them live their lives without him.

#supernatural #spn #supernatural 15x19 #spn 15x19 #chuck shurley #ooc #it's spoilered but trust me #it's very in depth #the plot holes are wide enough to drive every stunt impala through at once #spoilers #rant #long post #meta

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edge-lorde · 7 years

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I want to content create but I won’t have much time tomorrow probably so I think I’ll rate every Neanderthal based piece of popular media I remember consuming.

Parameters ARE: 1) believability. writers love to give Neanderthals special abilities that no real animals have ever ever had. These once-living creatures absolutely would not have had the ability being ascribed.

2) characterization. The Neanderthals are written as real characters and not like a monolith or like a one-dimensional movie monster.

3) hybrids. Neanderthal/modern human hybridization plays an important role in the story.

4) interspecies sex. Almost always linked to #3. a higher score in this category or #3 does not necessarily indicate a greater quality piece of media. in fact, i personally dont prefer a lot of sexual content in the media i consume. however, these concepts show up so often in neanderthal stuff, its basically part of the genre.

5) accuracy. The attempt to accurately portray how Neanderthals and modern humans are different, and the quality of it’s execution.

1st up: clan of the cave bear by Jean M. Auel.

Brief summary: a modern human girl is found and raised by neanderthals.

Believability: 5. Book was obviously well researched, but was published in the 60’s and a lot has changed since then. Also they can remember the their ancestors memories. they also have limited ability to learn new things and life in strictly hierarchical societies based around biological sex, and have a universal language they are all born knowing.

Characterization: 9. 99% of characters are Neanderthals.

Hybrids: 8. Birth of hybrid baby very important to story.

Interspecies sex: 2. warning, non-graphic description of rape. Modern human/modern human Sex plays huge role in second book in series, hybrids/ interspecies sex was discussed also but never happened. Did not read past second book because of the sheer quantity of porn, but very little of that was in the first book.

Accuracy: 6. Does good job of differentiating Neanderthals from modern humans but once again, the science has changed since the book was published.

Neanderthal by John darton

Brief summary: scientists find secret location where neanderthals have survived to the modern day, journey to the center of the earth style.

Believability: 2. They are psychic and can see through each other’s eyes. Characterization: 3. The Neanderthal characters don’t speak/ are more allegories for the progression of man or some shit.

Hybrids: 0. No mention or implication of hybrids.

Interspecies sex: 1. One iffy scene.

Accuracy: 4. Good differentiation between modern humans and Neanderthals. Good criptid vibe. But is it accurate? Hard to say.

Neanderthal parallax series by Robert j. Sawyer

Brief summary: neanderthal quantum physicist from an alternate universe where neanderthals survived and we did not falls through a portal to our world.

Believability: 4. They all supposedly see the most logical solution to a problem and just do it without making mistakes, because they just do. Also they're immune to the Pavlov’s dog learning test thing in psychology so they can all be atheists and it effects them in no other way. Come on now.

Characterization: 9. Many Neanderthal characters written as individual people.

Hybrids: 7. the conceiving of a hybrid child very important to last book.

Interspecies sex: 6. One sex scene in the second book, because there had to be one apparently. 4-6 more that are fade to black.

Accuracy: 4. You can tell the author did a lot of cursory googling, but large swaths of plot are based on incorrect assumptions. The author comes up with cool mechanics based on googleable theories, but the full implications of them are always half-baked.

The goblin reservation by Clifford d. Simak.

Brief summary: future college professor must solve mystery surrounding a dying alien planet in a sci-fi + fantasy setting. involves time travel.

Believability: 10. No fantastical powers ascribed.

Characterization: 10. There is one Neanderthal character in the book and he’s the best character in the book. Love him. Hybrids: 0. No mention or implication of hybrids.

Interspecies sex: 0. No mention or implication.

Accuracy: 5. The one Neanderthal character is treated as a character first and well written. However, it’s doubtful that the author put much effort into accuracy because the only differences between the Neanderthal and the other characters seem to be cultural. But the book was also published in the 60’s and he still holds up as a character, so maybe that’s a good thing. Could be accurate.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!! The secrets of the immortal Nicolas flamel series by Michael Scott

Brief summary: a set of teen twins get caught up in saving the world from ancient mythological gods and shit. there are immortal humans too. sorry i remember very little of the overarching plot, but damn that twist ending.

Believability: 10. There’s magic in this series but Neanderthals don’t have it by virtue of being Neanderthals.

Characterization: 10. It is revealed in the end of the last book that the main teen boy in the series was a Neanderthal the entire time. There was zero indication of this before hand, so he is written as well as any main character in a teen fantasy novel.

Hybrids: 1?. It’s implied that Neanderthals are as much human/were absorbed into the modern human population eventually, but it’s pretty irrelevant to the story.

Interspecies sex: 1. Implied the way hybrids are implied. I don’t think the kid ever even had a girlfriend throughout the series either.

Accuracy: 2. no indication the author even knew Neanderthals are supposed to look a little different. The kid ends up being immortal and legendary, all kinds of crazy time powers and shit, all of it having more to do with being human than homo neanderthalensis. Being a Neanderthal is inconsequential to his being a normal angsty teen, legendary hero, and literal god. i doubt any neanderthal research was done, or at least it was not taken into account when writing the character.

Hominids by Jordan kotzebue (webcomic).

Brief summary: all species of hominids live in a jungle together. maybe the doing of sci-fi stuff? :o

Believability: 9. Neanderthals don't seem to have any special abilities. We will see what the sci-fi genre has to offer once the comic is finished..

Characterization: 8. Many Neanderthal characters, but writing isn't as strong as it could be in general.

Hybrids: 8. Hybrid pregnancy. We will see how it pans out, once again the comic is ongoing.

Interspecies sex: 5. Definitely happens at least once, but not an explicit comic (no porn). we will see if its important to the plot later on.

Accuracy: 8. Major differences between Neanderthals and modern humans are cultural. Also Neanderthals are drawn with waists. Experts agree that they were shaped like little barrels. does go out of its way to include other types of hominids though, so its a little educational.

and last but not least Neander-chan by Lemniskate on deviantart

Brief summary: neanderthal girl falls in love with modern human boy and attempts to stop their clans from killing each other. looks like the whole thing stemmed from a simple pun.

Believability: 8. they arent ascribed any wild abilities that couldnt also be ascribed to modern humans in the story. i dont think a ton of research was done though.

Characterization: 9. many neanderthal characters with differing personalities.

Hybrids: 2. definitely implied/foreshadowed as a thing that COULD happen should the story continue, however the comic might be complete as-is.

Interspecies sex: 7. definitely happens and is important to the story, but the comic is never explicit.

Accuracy: 5. has a bit of modern humans killing off neanderthals narrative, but the story is not designed to educate. the neanderthals could be replaced with a rival group of modern humans and the story wouldnt change.

neanderthal media i am aware of but have yet to consume:

the kroods (film): gotta get in on that nic cage action.

The Ugly Little Boy: originally a short story by Isaac Asimov, later expanded with collaborator Robert Silverberg. time travellers take a neanderthal boy away from his family to the present but he has to stay in a specialized room by himself all the time i think. gotta get in on that shit but could not find at library.

if you are aware of any other neanderthal-based media not listed anywhere in the above text please contact me at http://edge-lorde.tumblr.com/ask

thank you

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nighttimefjaeril · 7 years

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Hey~! Saiyuki ask meme~!]] 1) Favourite member of the Sanzo Ikkou | 2) A character that grew on you | 5) if you ship characters, what is your favourite pairing | 11) Most adorable character in the series | 22) Which character do you think is most like you? | 29) An alternate universe you'd like to see annnd...I think Jyoan is one of your faves, right? So, 48) if Jyoan had a tumblr, what would he reblog? [[that's all~! I hope you have fun answering these~. Also hope you had a great day~!]]

Heeeeyyy thank you so much for sending these questions, what a great selection! :3 Let’s see...

5) if you ship characters, what is your favourite pairing?

I’ve replied to this one previously, but to save you some time, here’s the condensed version: two twinks in a temple, one is totally NOT obsessed with his (aesthetically perfect) rival who’s better at him at everything with zero effort; said rival trolls the other twink relentelessely because he’s a prickly, but deep-down lovable, asshole. They’re both weirdos. And fabulous ones at that.

2)A character that grew on you

Ok, that’s gonna sound pretty strange but... I will have to go with Gyokumen. xD Basically, there isn’t a Saiyuki character I dislike. but back when I was younger hating the big baddies seemed to be the thing, right? And everyone and their mother, me included, constantly hated on Gyokumen for being, well, a complete bitch. Actually, I still think she is. But god, what a fabulous one at that! She’s such a fun character: unapoloegitically ruthless, vain, self-absorbed, lustful, has no regards for human decency and only cares about her own agenda...so, goals? x’D Kidding aside, characters like that are just so enjoyable to me, she’s like a beautiful, sexy evil queen, and what’s not to love about that?

11) Most adorable character in the series

Hmm that’s pretty tough, ‘cause there are so many characters that I find adorable, for many different reasons...as somebody else pointed out, even someone like Sanzo can be classified as “adorable” really :D But going for the most obvious definition, I think I have to go for both Genkai and Taruchie, I mean, just look at them! They have this “cute but creepy” vibe which totally resonates with me :3 But baby Goku of Gaiden too tho... so precious, so pure! :’)

29) An alternate universe you'd like to see

Oh man, I’m a sucker for AUs, I have so many in my head (where probably are goin to stay ) and love hearing other people’s too! Can I go with two? One it’s “general Saiyuki-based”, the other one is completely Ibun...

The first one may sound a tad trite but... school kids AU with the ikkou, Kou-tachi, Kami-sama and Hazel as middle-schoolers :’); Kanaan is in there too. Kanzeon is the school principal, she’s a transgender woman and is married to Jiroushin, is Kouryuu’s aunt and Goku’s guardian (Goku is still in elementary, along with his bff Nataku and Lirin). Ukoku is the creepy science teacher who’s also married to Hwang, also a teacher, but they’re both cheating on each other (Hwang with Kou’s step mother Gyokumen, Ukoku with Kouryuu’s single dad Koumyou x°), who also is the music teacher ).They’ve adopted Kami. Gojyo has also spent much of his childhood in an orphanage, but now lives with his college-age half-brother Jien, who also works part-time at the school as the basket coach (Kou’s the captain of the team). Hakkai and Kanaan (who know Gojyo from their orphanage days) live with their uncle Tenpou, whose partner best friend is the leader of the punk-rock band “Black Ants” Kenren, which is Gojyo’s favorite group (also because everybody tells him that there is a resemblance between them ;) ). Because he plays guitar, and Hakkai plays the keyboard, he wants to start a band. They recruit (not without struggle) Kouryuu as the singer and bass player, and Goku as the drummer, who despite his age is a terrific player. From there, all sorts of high-school-band-AU shenanigans ensue. x’D

About the Ibun one... that one has a much more complex plot, so since I don’t wanna bore people to death I’m gonna try and keep it short; it’s basically a 70′s hard-boiled/thriller set in Japan, with mysteries, investigators, police, yakuza, unsavory nightlife, gay bars, sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll :’D I just want to point out that I was inspired by some Ibun pictures, specifically the “Born to be wild” one (where Gichou looks so much like a private eye it’s hilarious), and the one with Houmei, Doutaku, Sho’un and Jyoan where they look like four yakuzas...actually, scratch that: three yakuzas and a male hustler. xD

48) if Jyoan had a tumblr, what would he reblog?

AHAHHAAHHAH oh man, my bias is so obvious already, I’ve been clocked once again :’) Well, let me tell you, if Jyoan had tumblr he’d be the posterchild for ~*edgy tumblr tween aesthetic*~ x°) His blog would be an aesthetic dream (or nightmare, depending on how you see it): lots of pastels (especially purples) and black, pretentious and angsty quotes, probably a lot of Lana del Rey, but also a lot of underground cinema and book stuff that he probably doesn’t even like, but they sound refined and cool. Also, artistic selfies overload and, from time to time, Rupaul’s drag race gifsets (but he tries to refrain himself to do it because they don’t really fit in well with the rest, so he had to start a side-blog just dedicated to that).

Again, thank you so much for these questions, I’ve had a great time replying! ^^

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