#is this meta??? idek

[chawarin-panich]

Disclaimer: I'm not Thai and this contains a lot of conjectures that needs to be fact checked by someone who is either Thai/ knows enough about Thai folk culture to comment. So the tits out nagini played by Babe joke (that I'm really enjoying this isn't to knock us having a laugh down) really made me think about how demonizing female tits is a relatively post christian missionary disseminating puritanism as a extra religious extra cultural inherent to human civilization idea. So then, are the naginis meant to have their tits out and is using babe to portray the authentic nagini style of dress just a clever way of circumventing modern laws about censorship? Bottom line is - I don't know and I have no way of knowing on account of having zero access to Thai people but I do have some evidence:

Babe is wearing a 'female' style of dress

I don't think I really needed to start here because the deliberate use of female pronouns makes it fairly clear that Babe is supposed to be a woman here but there's also the chain, the scarf, the long hair, gaudier accessories etc 2. Babe and Freen are supposed to be the same person and look very very similar, more similar than they do in real life but maybe even identical for narrative purposes

The show has pushed the audience towards suspension of disbelief when it comes to how similar Freen and Babe look. The portrait of Freen as the Nagini looks like Freen and NOT Babe and yet all the characters in the show are convinced it looks like Tharn (played by Babe). This told me that no matter what I think for the show to make sense to me Babe and Freen look like they could be twins for all that reality matters. They have the same name and modern day Wansarut, played by Babe, shows up as a reflection of the past Wansarut, played by Freen, BEFORE the transformation at the end of ep 5

In fact, the transformation is never shown and modern!Wansarut appears fully formed in front of Phaya as though once Phaya has allowed himself to open his eyes, he can see the truth - that they're the same. Their gender is never shown to 'transform' on screen and I think what this show is pushing for is that gender is just NOT an inherent part of their identity. IMO, that's taking it a step further than simply saying Wansarut was a girl in past life and Wansarut is a boy in this life. It's like saying Wansarut is Wansarut, whether Wansarut is a a boy or girl is just as relevant as whether Wansarut is wearing modern day clothing or traditional clothing. 3. The women have their tits out too????

look at freen's hand, that's not a shirt, that's her skin and it's the same color as Babe's clothing is when Babe plays Wansarut

same with Songjet she doesn't have the scarf or chains and her shirt is textured to the scales of a serpent. I think this is a tits out look too.

All their tits on principle appear to be out 4. Are tits out nagini the tradition? This is the part I have no idea. It's not like googling a hundred nagini statues from thailand will tell me when they were made easily or accurately. All I can say is that all the anthropomorphized nagini statues that were wearing clothes were very obviously wearing clothes and not scale textured clothing. There's also these tits proudly out variations

#the sign the series #the sign #the sign meta #the sign the series meta #is this meta??? idek #the sign something #everyone i spent a lot of time on this please reblog and or discuss if you found interesting #i dont know how to tag this lol #billybabe #phayatharn

[meteortrails]

law and luffy are so fun bc the fundamental basis of their relationship is that they were both there for each other in one of their most isolated, life changing moments of grief, and they’re the only reason the other survived it. they may not necessarily know all that much about each other, but they do know parts of each other that not even the closest members of their crew (their family) know now. like obviously by the end of dressrosa law sees and understands the reason luffy’s crew follows him, but I think a less obvious truth is that when law saves him luffy sees and understands the reason law’s crew follows him. I just think about luffy’s instinctive faith and trust in law on punk hazard; he looks at law and understands that as much as he pretends not to be law is fundamentally the person who saved him before he is anything else. and I think they both kinda struggle to categorize the specific and unique way in which they are important to each other (although admittedly luffy stops caring to much much sooner LOL), bc it IS different than their relationships with their crew or their family. not necessarily any more or less meaningful, just different. and idk i guess i just think it’s all very sweet, in the end, that they managed to find each other like this.

#the parallels between how law befriended shachi+penguin and how he befriended luffy haunt me a little. you have one(1) trick gayboy #but they’re both there for these moments of apotheosis that nobody else gets to see and it’s. I wonder sometimes how their crews see it. #your captain disappears and returns fundamentally changed and the only person who saw it was this random dude? just some fucking guy. #idek. their entire dynamic just makes me feel so out of my mind. relationships built on an understanding of grief go CRAZY #trafalgar law #monkey d. luffy #one piece #op meta #lawlu

[extraaa-30]

Honestly, even if Aziraphale wasn't being coerced (or at least not 100%) is it such a bad thing to believe there is still something in heaven worth saving?

Remember, this is the same angel who saw a demon in Eden and was benevolent and kind and open-minded enough to believe (against conditioning!) that there was good in him too.

You don't get one without the other. Having that intrinsic kindness (which as we know is an Aziraphale trait, not an angelic one) means being kind to all. Not just the ones who "deserve" it.

That's a trait that's often exploited by abusers, and I don't think Aziraphale is in for a great time rn. But it's just not fair to be mad at him for seeing good where others don't. That's how he met Crowley. It's one of the reasons Crowley loves him.

The wing in the rain thing? That's not something you turn off. It's why he gave Jimbriel hot cocoa, even after Gabriel harmed and belittled him for 6,000 years. Because yes, he'd made bad choices, but now he needed help. (Here's something to think about: would heaven do the same?)

If the angel who fell in love with a demon (against conditioning) happens to be vulnerable to the idea of giving a system that harmed him another shot, I won't be mad about it. Where do you draw the line on what is too imperfect to be saved?

Of course, kindness without discretion risks letting harmful behavior continue unchecked. You need knowledge of good and evil to understand what is worth protecting. You need to constantly interrogate even your most firmly held beliefs about right and wrong.

You also can't just interrogate without forgiveness. ("You're testing them... You shouldn’t test them to destruction.")

Luckily, Aziraphale is just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing. And Crowley is, at heart, a good person. They need and complete each other. And they'll be okay.

#just some thoughts idek #in my feelings about aziraphale ig #go #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #good omens meta #aziraphale defense squad #aziraphale x crowley #extraaa

[siriusly-the-best-bi]

wow so I have like 3 analysis in progress that touch on this topic but I really need to just talk about it rn with its own spotlight.

Aziraphale has this entire life that he's built for himself on earth, after armageddon he's thriving. When we catch up with him in Season 2 his first scene is literally him going to check in with one of his tenants, and throughout the season we see that he has a decent relationship with nearly Everyone on the block. He has an entire life for himself all hashed out and pretty.

Crowley... does not. His cold open in Season 2 is back in St. James park, checking in with Shax, finding out the gossip on Hell. He doesn't have his apartment, he only has his Bentley and the few plants he could fit in it. He doesn't have any other human friendships. His entire life and everything he loves to do is built entirely around Aziraphale.

This is something that I just find so fucking thrilling because when it comes to their characters and where exactly they are in their arcs right now, it's essentially like looking into a mirror.

Aziraphale knows exactly who he is when he's on his own. He nurtures his own relationships with humans he sees often, he's a nice landlord, he loves books and classical music, and hot cocoa. But, Aziraphale still holds onto the ideals of heaven. He still cares about doing good and being forgiving. He still cowers and jumps at the opportunity to help heaven, not because he wants to but because he's supposed to because he's still an angel.

Crowley has nothing. He has his car, which he drives to a secluded location to park every night, only to drive it right back in the morning. He's only even vaguely recognizable because people associate him with Aziraphale and this is fine for him, he could care less. He doesn't really need to know who he is or process his traumas, why would he when he can put all his attention and focus and love and care directly into Aziraphale? His friend, who has always been his friend, the one person who has always stood by him. Who cares about heaven and hell, he has Aziraphale.

When we finally see them on their own and without the influences of their head offices, we see the opposite of what we'd expect, and nearly the opposite of the outcome we see in episode 6. Crowley is the one constantly checking in with Hell (wether he likes it or not), and Aziraphale is the one who's living care free without even thinking about heaven. When he does something good that he wants to report, he just calls Crowley.

this whole dance of Crowley not knowing who he is without Aziraphale and Aziraphale knowing who he is fundamentally but not knowing how to break free from the confines of Heaven that stop him from truly embracing Crowley in the end, it's just so delicious.

#like does this make sense #they themselves are almost foils for eachother #you would expect Aziraphale to be the one struggling without Heaven but he's actually doing fine? #he doesn't even think about rejoining Heaven until Crowley's mentioned but him wanting to help Gabriel at all out of this vague obligation #its just like man he's still in there #and Crowley being completely done with heavan and hell but never truly finding out what that means for him #i hope this makes sense to people #idek if at this rate anyone will see this #my recent posts have been swallowed by the void it would seem but alas ill keep writing them #bi.f.shit #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #gos2 spoilers #ineffable divorcées #aziraphale #crowley #good omens meta #good omens analysis #ineffable husbands

[oswinsdolma]

the bbc merlin writers actually went so hard when they decided "actually no, magic isn't some grotesque perversion of the natural order, it is nature itself" because like. it would have been so easy to write merlin's internal conflict as one between the inherent evil of magic and the good of humanity, to put arthur in the right for his persecution and to turn merlin into some kind of doomed hero within himself, but no. because in the end, magic had very little to do with anything, it was just something that was there. morgana didn't turn evil because she was magic, she did because she was scared and angry and manipulated. merlin doesn't wait for arthur because of the promise of a golden age, at least not really; he does it because he loves arthur and wants him back. in the disiir episode, if it had only ever been about restoring magic to camelot, merlin should have sacrificed arthur in a heartbeat for the promise of magic's legalisation. hell, even mordred didn't kill arthur because of his views on magic, he did so because arthur took away the person he loved. like yeah it's a fantasy show and magic is a massive part of that world, but in the end it was a story about people, and all the hopes and dreams within it are deeply and tragically human, and that's what makes it a good story, what keeps us going apeshit over it even ten years after it ended. in a way, there are two shows in the same way there are two merlins: one about magic, "emrys" and the other about friendship, and like merlin, the audience has to choose which one we should care about most. and every time, we make the same choice as he did: we, however foolishly, choose humanity. we sob at the tragic trajectory and scream as we see destiny gathering traction, but isn't that the point of tragedy?? if we followed logic over emotion, tragedy would never take place, but equally, if we followed logic over emotion, the idea of tragedy itself would become lost to obselescebce. the whole point of the show is to tell us that "no, we can't define things as one or the other, because anything with meaning exists as something more complex, because to give something meaning is to perceive it with a human gaze". magic may be a force of nature, but good and evil are ideas perpetuated by our innate, incurable humanity, and it is here we have a choice. we can't choose our destinies but we can choose from which direction to embrace it, and that's a surprisingly radical, beautiful thing.

#i really am mass posting shit these days huh #terrible midnight analysis #← time to resurrect this iconic tag #bbc merlin #merlin #merlin meta #idek how much of this makes sense but whatever

[isitdonproof]

TMNT 2003 | The Ancient One

[Splinter to Leonardo] For months now, you have been brooding, surly, and stubborn.

#tmnt #tmntedit #tmnt 2003 #tmnt2003edit #raphael #donatello #emma gifs #mein #dont mind me i was just reminded of this moment and wanted to gif it #also dont @ me about the quality idek this ep is awful apparently #someone meta about don and raph and their non verbal communication for me

[mysterycitrus]

so the body is a haunted house, right? ur haunted by past pain, ur experiences and regrets, the people you’ve known and lost. ur a living structure inhabited by countless others, and that kind of grief never stops. on a biological scale, we know that trauma rewrites dna and brain matter. we see how monumental loss affects the human mind through generations, how it shapes the way we think. u can track that down family lines to the present. even unseen, u r carrying the ghosts of everyone who came before.

the central thesis of persephone is how grief can be the proponent of so much change, both good and bad. part of that is bruce’s visible, living state of mourning in the manor, in the mantle of batman, in the pearls and the portrait. he is literally haunted by the alley, by the gunshot, by the darkness. but robin is haunted by mary grayson, by dick as a child and as a teenager and an adult, by jason in the dirt, by tim and steph and damian, and on and on it goes. how do u conceptualise that kind of loss?

both jason and dick’s grief is faceless. dick’s parents are remembered in colour and name, through dick’s embodiment of joy. they are transient. they are worn by children who do not know their names. they are honoured in that way, something that jason, despite not knowing robin’s origin, is conscious of —

in persephone, i knew jason would have an altar of some kind. his grief is action, but it’s also his heavy anchor to gotham. he could leave, but he doesn’t. he despises bruce for the same reason they’re similar. originally, it was a memorial to the people at his funeral, but that changed to commemorating the life he had before his death, and the people he left behind. he lies to himself and says the elephant represents robin as a whole, but it doesn’t. it obviously doesn’t.

it is a literal symbol of jason’s inability to fully abandon his life before. the body is being haunted, after all. we get to see his perspective in wolf-king, his anger at his disconnection, his isolation from others, his paranoid, neurotic interactions with dick. he has changed so completely that he cannot trust anyones intentions. he’s hurt people, and he doesn’t regret it. he thinks people see him as something he was, versus something he is. it’s dehumanising and hard. like he is memorialising something lost at the altar, so to is everyone else when they look at him. his presence in their lives is a haunting.

when a seventeen year old dick grayson sees the elephant there, he assumes he’s died and that jason is honouring him. how can jason explain that it’s to represent a past that jason himself can’t return to? after all, the only way out is through.

and then, at the end, he is given a gift — dick leaves behind a bird on the altar. not a robin, but something meant for jason the person, not the body in the box. he is remembered for what he was. and that connection to what he was is horrifying. the idea that someone recognises that grief and honours him hurts. after all, a heart is a heavy burden.

#idek how to tag this #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #batman #nightwing #red hood #dc comics #fic meta #ig? #persephone tag #don’t take this too seriously but if u have qs cause this makes no sense plz feel free

[avelera]

Hob definitely teaches a course called, “A Normal Bloke Through the Ages” which is objectively a dumb idea for him to teach since it’s basically an autobiography, but in his defense, he never pretended to be a particular wise man and he’d kinda sort procrastinated on ideas for lesson plans until the last minute.

(It ended up being his most popular course.)

#hob gadling #the sandman #sandman meta #idek this is silly

[housepilled]

sorry for the horrible screenshot but this line (said by house, directed at wilson, from 5x17) got me thinking about their dynamics psychologically!! (i mean, when am i not. they’re a psych student’s wet dream. but specifically in the context of carl jung’s archetypes because i had to do a presentation on this and i think it’s really interesting)

house is right — wilson’s all persona. he doesn’t have a developed sense of self; he’s built his entire life on being what other people need and now he can’t differentiate between his persona and his real personality. (high masking autistic <33) house is the only time he reveals his shadow, the side of himself he hides from the world. he’s snarky and honest and he drops the façade of a perfect kind person to tell the truth in all its ugliness to house. (he still performs a bit for house because like i said no concrete sense of self but i digress.) house is the one time he allows himself to better realize his self and indulge in his shadow.

but house is being a little hypocritical. he’s all persona too! on the surface, he seems like he’s the archetype of the shadow. he’s abrasive, rude, pushes people away. he’s animalistic, like a snarling dog snapping out at anyone who gets too close. but that in itself is a persona!! he puts up a front of rudeness to keep people at arms length because in his childhood, when our core personality traits are developed, he learned that he got hurt less that way. in reality, his shadow is most people’s persona; he is capable of empathy and kindness but he’s scared of vulnerability so he hides it. it’s easier if he can control how people leave him. but wilson’s the only time he consistently presents this kindness, and this episode (the social contract) is such a good example of it! he takes care of wilson and he’s sweet by all accounts and he doesn’t fear that wilson will hurt him for it. (just like wilson, he still performs his persona somewhat for his friend because just like wilson he is like 31 different kinds of fucked up and his persona, just like wilson’s, is a defense mechanism to make sure people don’t hurt him. wilson makes sure no one can hurt him by being exactly what they want. house makes sure no one can hurt him by pushing them away before he gets “close enough to care”. this is in quotations because it’s not an effective defense for either — again, 31 kinds of fucked up — but it’s their defenses nonetheless)

they’re each other’s inverse; wilson’s shadow is house’s persona, house’s persona is wilson’s shadow. (this isn’t to imply there isn’t some kernel of truth to each of their personas. house is not always a very nice person and he’s not always empathetic. wilson’s a kind and caring person. they have just exaggerated these traits to their extremes.) together, they can truly achieve unification of their persona and shadow and be the fully realized self but they are the only people that can do this for each other. they are like next level toxic yaoi dude

#sorry for the incoherence i have like one brain cell left rattling around in my head so idek what i’m saying #house md #hilson #greg house #james wilson #analysis #meta #carl jung

[biennatodd]

holy fck it just truly sunk in how fucking STUPID jin guangshan was. how insidious the classism in mdzs was always at work.

it is INSANE to me that he refused to value meng yao more beyond recognizing him as a jin when he just won the war.

He became sworn brothers with TWO sect leaders, guaranteeing a favorable position for their sect and all but ensuring that JGS would be Chief Cultivator after the war.

he couldve (SHOULD HAVE) used JGY as a line to both NMJ and LXC's ear--pressuring him to leverage their brotherhood in the Jin's favor, and also to monitor the movements of the other sects (assessing the political landscape as it were).

and JGY was ready to do it! he wasnt particularly happy about it but that's just how badly he wanted JGS's recognition! and he would've done GREAT at it, better than he already did.

and yet none of that was able to outweigh the circumstances of his birth

#idek where im going with this man im just baffled and frustrated #not baffled as in confused but as in astounded. as in flummoxed. #jin guangyao #jin guangshan #i guess this is meta? #mdzs

[stardustshimmer]

Breaking News: King Dedede chased down by several children and a knight in demand of a piggy back ride.

More at 5.

#kirby #king dedede #meta knight #metadede #dededad #help im so confused on what to tag this post idek

[godhasforsnakenme]

I want a whole series with Fourteen & Donna. Like that episode was just so great.

We have the Doctor showing how caring this version of them is by saying it out loud, by holding her hand, reassuring her thar everything will be alright, calming Donna down with acts of physical contact (the stark difference not only between ten, but also thirteen oh boy)

Then the breakdown – gave me waters of mars vibes, David's acting is just so amazing in that entire scene – showing us how the events with the Flux has left them, and how he wishes Donna could understand him without having to explain it. To share the pain of learning the beginning of his life, how they came to be, is a complete lie.

"A million years."

To unpack everything from the events of the timelord victorious, to the Ponds, learning gallefrey did not fall, events as Twelve, and then finally, you get to the newests of torments having learned of the timeless child.

For fucks sake I need them both to sit down and talk about it.

We also got to see how Donna is traumatized of being left behind again by the Doctor. That he somehow couldn't tell the difference between her and the no thing. Plays into the whole self-worth bit. And can I say, Catherine Tate, that acting was *chef kiss* because for a second I was convinced the damn thing had copied Donna 100% and I would've brokedown crying with her being left behind omfg

Also loved that whole parallel thing with their conversations when the no things are first shown, it was a quite nice way to prelude the horrors.

#dania rambles about shit #doctor who spoilers #doctor who #fourteenth doctor #donna noble #wild blue yonder #does this count as meta? idek at this rate #killed me with that small “is it you?” and “all those years. I missed you” #absolutely brilliant this pair is and I'm afraid of saying goodbye so soon #we just got them back and now nothing will ever compare again #you know what? back to ao3 and the drawing board of wips #also anyone else get Midnight vibes? like somehow the no thing are related to the shadows? #give me more horror episodes please and thanks

[normal-thoughts-official]

The interesting thing though is the Empress' deliberate choice to not make Valax look like the rest of the Ashen. Like you'd expect that it'd be easier in every way if she looked like any other Ashen, and designing a whole new way for her to look is a lot of work, but she went through the trouble

I wonder what that's about. Apparently it's not so she can be easily identifiable by the rest of the Ashen, since the Ironbreach people didn't recognize her. Is it to set her apart, to make them fear her? Or is it to set her apart in her own mind? To remind her that she's not real, not a person, doesn't have needs or feelings, doesn't matter as much, exists only for a purpose and not herself? Did the Empress always fear that Valax would eventually grow to be her own person, and so made sure that she'd always be an outsider, so her condition as made would precede any interaction, be marked on her body? So she couldn't look at herself in the mirror and not remember? So she would never dare confuse herself with a real Ashen?

I am so fascinated by everything about her creation and existence, how she manages to be so real despite it all

#playchoices #blades of light and shadow #bolas #bolas2 spoilers #meta #i guess? #idek anymore #the brainrot is so real in this chili's tonigjt #valax #choices book club

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

i recently finished rewatching psycho pass season 1 and, as always, the thoughts about makishima shogo are flowing. i think, on my first watch of the show, i didn't quite understand makishima's character or the messages that it was presenting, but i think i've got a better grasp on it now, so. here are my two cents that no one asked for.

there are two words i predominantly associate with makishima: isolation and boredom, though my main focus is on the former as i feel the latter is not true apathy but rather a byproduct of isolation. makishima is isolated because of his criminally asymptomatic nature, meaning that sibyl, the system presiding over all of japan's society in the setting of psycho pass, has no power over him. no matter what he does, no matter what kind of person he is or how many heinous deeds he commits, makishima will always be an upstanding citizen in the eyes of sibyl. in a manner of speaking, sibyl, the ultimate authority of the world he lives in, cannot "see" him, and he himself is unable to change this fact. and because makishima is isolated, cut off from the rest of the world and the people around him, in such an extreme manner, he's bored.

the rest is under the cut for length. and fair warning, this entire post is pretty much me going:

so. in kogami's assessment of makishima, he basically likens makishima and all his actions - his manipulations of the people around him, his murders, both direct and indirect, his attempted bioterrorism - to a kid throwing a tantrum about being left out. kogami here, i believe, is in some ways projecting a part of himself onto makishima, but that's not a topic for this post. suffice to say that despite his projecting, kogami isn't entirely inaccurate. makishima is a lonely person who wants to destroy a society and a system that rejects and denies his existence and personhood. once again, in sibyl's eyes, no matter who makishima really is, it doesn't matter. all that sibyl cares about is that his crime coefficient has never exceeded regulation level, and therefore he's a model citizen. ironically, makishima is subjected to sibyl's dehumanization just as much as any other individual in psycho pass' setting. people don't matter to sibyl, who they are inside and who they are to other people don't matter to sibyl. only their crime coefficient and their psycho pass do. while, in the enforcers like kogami, the issue of sibyl's dehumanization is highlighted through the fact that many of them are not bad people at all and yet they're treated like disposable assets, in makishima's case, it's the opposite. he's a murderer and a terrorist who can kill people without blinking an eye, but sibyl doesn't care about that. sibyl doesn't care that he's not a good person, his numbers are perfect and that's all that matters. who he is doesn't matter. (though i will note that i think makishima's status as a villain is muddled by the dystopian nature of sibyl and psycho pass' setting, but we can all at least agree that he's not a good person.) it's dehumanization; it's just that for makishima, it's the opposite of the typical trajectory with which that dehumanization is applied. arguably, and as kogami states, this could be taken by some people to be a blessing - after all, yippee, i can do whatever i want since my numbers will never exceed the accepted norm - but makishima takes it as an indication of how alienated he is.

makishima tells akane that he believes the only time people's actions have worth is when they commit them of their own free will, and that he wants to see the splendor of the human soul and judge for himself whether that's a good or bad thing. i think makishima feels that he has never truly been able to interact with others due to the overarching, restricting influence of sibyl. people can't let their true desires and wishes out because it would stigmatize them in sibyl's eyes. therefore, they are not acting of their own free will, and what they do does not represent the human soul that makishima claims he wants to see. therefore he wants people to break out of those restraints and be more "honest" about who they are. however, it's also that sense of isolation that makishima feels that hinders him from truly interacting with others on the same level. this is significant because, as shown by the series, interaction between people is one of the major factors that help individuals solidify and develop their own sense of self. kogami rediscovers his idealism and his sense of right and wrong by working under akane, which is something he tells her in the second(?) episode: that he feels that, under her, he might be able to be a detective, not just a hunting dog. akane, too, in interacting with kogami and to a lesser extent, ginoza, and the other enforcers, develops a strong grasp on what she believes to be just. by the end of season 1, she has a firm understanding of her own ideals which she lacked at the beginning, in part thanks to her experiences with those around that have helped her flourish.

as i said, though, makishima is unable to really, meaningfully interact with others - at least outside of a handful of people - and so his introspection and self-understanding have been considerably hampered. makishima is a very outwardly-knowledgable person and makes no secret of it, but i don't think he knows himself very well. he receives mixed messages from the dissonance between his own actions and sibyl's assessment of him, and the confusion, for lack of a better word, is only exacerbated because he feels that he can't have relationships with others that are actually worth anything. not only does he feel alienated by the world because he's criminally asymptomatic, but he also feels alientated by everyone around him. therefore, he seeks companionship (and utility, of course, but that's not the focus of this post) in seemingly like-minded people, who also appear to, in one way or another, reject and be rejected by the society that they live in. it's to foster meaningful connection that can actually teach him something - though i don't think he's consciously aware that this is part of his motivations - because he wants to know himself. essentially, he looks for himself in other people. But these other people, his accomplices - like masatake and rikako - disappoint him and fail to give him that companionship he seeks because they are ultimately also lacking their own sense of self.

in masatake's case, he is able to flawlessly play the role of multiple avatars because he relies on them - made-up, virtual constructs - to give him his identity. it's precisely because he has no well-defined "self" to speak of that he can, not only emulate the original owner of the avatar, but surpass them in his ability to embody and become their avatar. due to lacking his own unique identity, he serves no purpose to makishima, so makishima kills him. when it comes to rikako, while makishima is initially interested in her because of her resentment towards sibyl, said resentment and her resulting murders are very directly tied to her father, his beliefs, and his works. as kogami puts it, she lacks originality, because what she's doing is ultimately lashing out at the world for what was done to her father, not because she has some dissatisfaction with sibyl on her own independent principles. though, an aside: i actually think rikako does have some genuine frustrations with society less related to her father's situation, but they don't hold particularly significant sway over her. maybe if they had, makishima might have at least kept her alive longer.

as for senguji, i have less of an understanding of what makishima thought of him in comparison to masatake and rikako, probably because it's a little more ambiguous about whether makishima truly and totally cut him off like he did those other two, or if he was just going for a coin toss to see of senguji could survive his games. but i digress. my approximation is that senguji, despite his platitudes about the wonders of his near-complete cyborgification(? is that a word?), is actually deeply bored and dissatisfied, in part because so much of him is mechanical. being a cyborg means that most of the prey he hunts essentially poses little threat to him, and this gap is further widened by the fact that the "hunts" take place in senguji's own territory, so to speak. they aren't actual challenges. they don't truly stimulate him, but much like makishima who knows so little about his own self, senguji doesn't realize that. makishima, of course, who is ever-attuned to the people around him, picks up on this, which is why he tampers senguji's "game" with kogami to introduce unexpected variables that enable kogami to pose a legitimate threat to senguji. and, as senguji notes, only then does it sink in that he hasn't felt truly alive in a long time. the last time he did was when he was in a war zone, in mortal danger with his friend shot dead right next to him. in the present game with kogami - someone skilled and dangerous and as much of a threat to senguji as senguji is to him, unlike all of senguji's other hunts - senguji is once again in extreme peril, and for the first time in so long, he experiences that sensation of being alive. also, note the obvious parallel of makishima, at the top of the NONA tower, thanking kogami for doing away with his boredom for a little while. i'm pretty sure this is intentional; senguji's whole deal with boredom and dissatisfaction is, just like with all of makishima's accomplices, meant as a narrative reflection of makishima.

i would also feel remiss if i didn't talk about choe gu-sung. (who i'm pretty sure is korean btw. i don't believe his nationality is ever stated, other than that he is a foreigner, but the way his name is pronounced by the other characters - "chwae goo-seong" - lends itself perfectly to korean syllables. anyway.) gu-sung is interesting because, aside from kogami, he is the only person to pretty much sustain and live through the, shall we say, conundrum of makishima's interest. makishima does not kill gu-sung; they're in league until the very end, and in fact it's during their shared plan which they conducted together that gu-sung is killed by sibyl, and makishima actually has a faint but noticeable reaction to this. it's easy to see that gu-sung is more up his alley than masatake, rikako, and senguji. notably their dynamic is also different from that of makishima and his other accomplices, because they actually have normal (semi-normal...) discussions and makishima discusses and debates literature with him in the same way that he does with kogami. makishima is maybe not totally honest or open with gu-sung, but he is genuine with him. i think this is because, from what i can tell, gu-sung is someone who does have a true, defined sense of identify, and legitimate awareness about his own self. he doesn't get much expansion and we never know anything significant about him other than that he is a foreigner, a latent criminal, and a genius hacker, but what sticks out to me is that he's open about and aware of the fact that makishima has a certain engaging effect on him. in gu-sung's words, when "i'm with him, i feel like i've gone back to my childhood". additionally, during his conversation with kagari as the latter is trying to find and arrest him, gu-sung explains his dislike for the sibyl system and the fact that it forced him to live like a hunted rat, running from corner to corner. this antipathy comes from a sincere place, and doesn't seem to be tied to anyone's opinion other than gu-sung's own. i think makishima liked that about him: his self-awareness, his understanding of his own personal resentment and dissatisfactions, and his willingness to acknowledge those things as a part of himself. gu-sung is the opposite of makishima in some ways, imo. they're both geniuses, but while makishima is more oriented toward planning and widespread manipulation, gu-sung is a specialist who is unparalleled in his particular niche. their inverse duality is even partially highlighted by their dialogue, right before they commence with their plan to plunge the town into chaos using the cymatic scan-fooling helmets. gu-sung says he is a foreigner, and i believe he also says he's grateful just to be able to live in this country, while makishima states that he was born and raised in this town. despite their differences, they share a grievance with the system, and they have united to address that grievance. it definitely says something that makishima has someone like gu-sung in his life; someone who you could look at and call his friend, regardless of what those two considered themselves to be.

...all that word vomit to say that the people makishima abandoned and killed - masatake, rikako, and probably senguji - are mirrors to his own lack of self-understanding and lack of a fixed sense of identity. meanwhile his one lasting relationship aside from kogami is with gu-sung, who stands in narrative opposition to him in the ways i described. what i'm trying to get at is that masatake and rikako definitely, and senguji maybe, don't give makishima a true look at the human soul he wants to witness - at least in his view they don't. therefore makishima, still isolated and without companionship even while in their presence, grows bored and ultimately kills them. that's where kogami comes in. kogami, i believe, satisfies makishima's desire for companionship, or at least makishima grows less isolated in his presence. unlike masatake and rikako, kogami knows himself, and i'd argue has a better grasp of himself than ever by the time he meets makishima face-to-face thanks to coming to know akane. i'm reminded especially of his conversation with masaoka right before he (kogami) leaves the public safety bureau to hunt down makishima, when he explains that his actions aren't out a sense of ideals or an intolerance for evil, but rather that this is what he wants to do, and if he doesn't end things with makishima now, he will grow to resent himself. his self-awareness and defined identity means that with kogami, makishima is not left feeling bored and dissatisfied.

but it goes further! kogami, like makishima, is someone who both rejects and is rejected by the sibyl system, the dominant power governing the society they live in. sibyl rejects kogami as a latent criminal, but kogami also proves that he denounces it right back when he chooses to go off and try to kill makishima on his own, even though sibyl wants makishima alive. in other words, makishima's solitude as a pariah is understood on a fundamental level by kogami. not only that, but kogami, like makishima, is in some ways like a kid lashing out at being excluded, which makishima comments on at the end of episode 21 in response to kogami calling him out as such. according to makishima, kogami is angry that his own suspicions regarding sasayama's death were rejected by sibyl, that his own anger about letting sasayama die was simply ignored and swept under the rug, and he was left to process it by himself. and it was an outburst of that anger that provoked him to leave everything he had at the bureau behind and truly put a target on his back, perhaps for the rest of his life, in order to confront and put an end to makishima. this mirrors kogami's judgement that makishima's actions are essentially a temper tantrum that his feelings of solitude are not even seen, much less acknowledged, by the world around him. and just like how i stated at the beginning of this now-obscenely long post that kogami was projecting a bit in his assessment of makishima, i also believe makishima is projecting a bit right back. but, again, like kogami's assessment, makishima's assessment isn't necessarily invalid or incorrect just because he has personal biases mixed up in it. his words to kogami have a degree of truth to them. in this way - both of them acting a little like kids, both of them projecting in their evaluation of the other as someone acting like a kid - they are also similar.

one more thing that i'd like to say regarding kogami and makishima is that it is stressed many times throughout the season how well kogami can put himself in makishima's shoes and replicate his thinking. while akane gains some understanding of makishima's thought processes over time and interaction, by her own admission, kogami is even better than her at gauging makishima, and this is because the two of them think alike naturally. it's why kogami has such a good nose for what's really going on behind the scenes throughout the season; because his thought processes are similar to makishima's, he can easily parse out what's up. i don't think this requires much further explanation since it's very cut and dry as another way that the two men are alike.

the final point about kogami's significance to makishima, specifically how he relates to makishima's solitude and boredom, is that makishima at his core is someone who wishes to be seen and judged. the sibyl system, and by extension society, has refused to give this to him. the person he is is not seen, much less judged, because, once again, all that matters to sibyl are his numbers. it's precisely because of this that he feels isolated and wishes to be acknowledged and judged as everyone else is; but in a vicious cycle, makishima's inability to receive that acknowledgement and judgement feeds right back into his deep sense of isolation. it's like a positive feedback loop, wherein the cause contributes to the effect and the effect contributes to the cause. however - kogami does see makishima. kogami does judge him, and he judges makishima just the same as sibyl would other murderers in the series: as someone who deserves to die. in other words, makishima is finally getting equal treatment from someone. the isolation that he experiences as a result of his perpetually clear psycho pass and his stable crime coefficient is stripped away when it comes to kogami, because kogami doesn't care about those things - he cares about who makishima is. and to him makishima is a murderer and a criminal who painfully killed one of his friends, and just like any other murderer and criminal under sibyl, is to be killed. plus, notice how makishima is typically very calm and serene when interacting with others, but grows markedly more animated and excited when interacting with kogami, be that through talking or fighting. that's the isolation and boredom that he's stewed in his entire life, evaporating in kogami's presence. ultimately, makishima's solitude is alleviated, and his desire to be seen and judged is fulfilled... because of kogami.

it's just as akane says.

#this thing spiraled so far out of my control idek if i can call it my post anymore #psycho pass #psycho pass meta #psycho pass tag #makishima shogo #shogo makishima #kogami shinya #shinya kogami #makishima shougo #shougo makishima #kougami shinya #shinya kougami #(so many tags for their names istg) #tsunemori akane #akane tsunemori #ginoza nobuchika #nobuchika ginoza #choe gu sung #oryo rikako #mido masatake #sibyl system

[bugskid]

Guys i have a theory

People keep talking about how much they mention memory wiping this series and I definitely think that’s important - i just dont think people are applying it to the right character.

Because Gabriels one downfall that led him to be demoted was that he didn’t want another armageddon. and what was the entire plot of the first series/book? Crowley and Aziraphale Stopping Armageddon.

Obviously heaven doesn’t want that to happen again with the second coming - that would make it seem like theres some sort of institutional problem. So even if they don’t fully wipe his memory, they might remove little bits and pieces.

#im not saying i dont believe the crowley having his memory wiped theory #cause i think that ones really good #good omens meta #is that how you use that tag #idek #aziraphale #crowley #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens s2 #good omens s2 spoilers

[sparring-spirals]

Bells hells actually managing to get everyone to talk it out really put into perspective for me how different they are from the m9

im really fucking loving it. as someone who adored the m9, who loved every inch of those suspicious chucklefucks accusing each other and themselves and people in tents and holding every secret close and literally sprinting in the opposite direction anytime authority figures tried to approach them. it is inherent to their story, and the way it grew, and the way they grew into each other over the course of the campaign.

i am really enjoying seeing these characters make massively different decisions because they are fundamentally different. there is no universe where the M9 would have solved the Yu situation like this, because they wouldn't have even gotten to this point! They probably would have a completely DIFFERENT set of issues and solutions from the moment they overheard Dusk needing help. Its not just about the "parties conduct themselves like ____ and ____" (although sometimes they DO).

its about each of the characters, and their pasts, and its also about how they push and pull each other. fearne keeps asking, why, why, why. And Orym is so, deeply angry and Chetney keeps asking "okay but what if they have a point?" and F.C.G keeps pleading everyone to "please stop fighting, please talk it out" and Laudna looks at Yu and sees Delilah. And all of them, and Ashton and Imogen, pushing and pulling and somehow they end up with two liars, immobilized and telling their stories (and the Bells are listening) and none of them know who to trust (but the trust is still an option. its still on the table).

i just. i think its a REALLY NEAT display of storytelling! there have been 3 distinct campaigns from these people and there are thoroughlines to the characters and things we will recognize and they are also so, so fucking different each time and isnt that cool. isnt that rad.

#idek if this is a meta sorry. my meta braincell hasnt been super cooperative recently #critical role #cr spoilers #c3e29 #meta #? #my meta #bell's hells #the mighty nein #party comparison post #theres definitely a proper meta that can be written about this but my brain Doesnt Have It. this is just multiple paragraphs of gushing. #sorry. #spar speaks #ask away! #narrative meta