zazzander

[zazzander]

I mentioned this on another post but

What I think about is that Mary according to Nora was made to marry Nathan (she confirmed it was an arranged marriage to give the Wesininskis and Moriyamas access to Europe and the Hatfords inroads to the States) [it being arranged isn't necessarily an issue if both partners were ok with it BUT she was married off to a dude named The Butcher and was known as the Moriyamas Torture technician and I somehow doubt she actually was given a lot of choice about it to be honest] and based on her age when she died according to Nora's answer on Twitter(she died at 38, and Neil was 17 when she died) she had to have been married off at least by 20 (she would have been 20 when Neil was born) or younger 18-19 and had Neil 1 or 2 years into her marriage.

Same age or around the same age as Jean and Neil now basically (a kid)

And how is forcing her to marry a man known as the Butcher (with his monsterous reputation) and at such a young age, all that different from being sold off the way Elodie, Jean and Neil were?

Mary isn't perfect by a mile, but It does put perspective on her doing everything she could to keep Neil away from that life.

[zazzander]

The way it's described makes me think mini bus but I don't know anything about buses

i always pictured a minibus cause they're not a big team but i just saw a fanart putting them in a full-sized bus so let's have a vote

pls reblog i desperately want to know what the consensus is

[zazzander]

If I'm being honest this is how I imagined Andrew's armbands until I saw fanart

[zazzander]

The cheese drawer is so much more fucked up than yall are thinking.

Jean is French.

There’s entire courses during regular meals all about cheese in France, like daily routine. This scene displays Jeans disordered eating really well, it’s that the Ravens have strict diets to a problematic degree, it’s also the fact that he’s fucking French and has a thing against CHEESE. His cutoff from his culture went all the way.

He doesn’t have a good relationship with staples in French food. He’s disconnected from his childhood religion. He wasn’t allowed to speak his own language. His full name was taken.

This scene is there to show that Jean has no connection to his first home anymore. That the ravens cut that out as deep as they could.

[zazzander]

I love how the perfect court kind of haunts the narrative in aftg. How it exists in varying capacities as something tangible in numbers inked on skin and as an abstract concept that varies between persons.

Because what is the perfect court?

A childhood dream of sorts between Riko and Kevin. A chance for two lost boys to be something great, an opportunity to not be alone. And besides, what young athlete doesn't grow up wanting to go pro, to be the best? Innocent at first, until it isn't.

It's a calculated experiment by Tetsuji. A way to prove he's worth his family name, to contribute to the Moriyama empire. A way to earn his place, his keep. To be something. The creation of exy isn't enough, he needs to make invaluable assets — and using children seen as threats and throwaways to the family is the perfect use of resources.

And maybe any shred of recognition or basic respect Tetsuji gets for this, Riko yearns for. The Perfect Court becomes an obsession as he spirals deeper into desperation and rage the more he realizes it will never be enough. It becomes a source of power he can hold over people.

The Perfect Court isn't about talent. It’s about potential.

The potential of Kevin that led to the Moriyamas having Kayleigh murdered, the potential of a 10-year-old Nathaniel that was being evaluated, the potential of a 14-year-old Jean Moreau to be worth the debt his parents owed. Even the potential for Riko to be molded by his uncle into something useful to the family.

Four yakuza assets turned into exy stars solely for their potential as children with no rights to their lives or futures.

However, Andrew and Neil are proof that Kevin still believes in the childish dream of the perfect court in some way. That to him, it will always be about the game.

Kevin sought Andrew out because of the goalie's talent, not as part of some backwards deal. And how fitting it is that Andrew denies the Ravens. That whatever autonomy Andrew gained, he keeps with the decision.

Because the perfect court was never about talent, it was about control, power and prestige.

And Kevin also rediscovers Neil by chance based on skill. Neil who spent his childhood on the run obsessing over the perfect court. Neil who was angry at and jealous of Kevin despite everything. Neil who wondered if he would've been good enough if his mother didn't run with him.

Kevin somehow ends up on a team with the two unmarked numbers of the perfect court (that is, unmarked until Riko exercises what power he has over Neil). Three acts of defiance against the perfect court that lingers throughout each of their stories.

Because what happens if Andrew said yes to the Ravens? What happens if Mary never ran with Nathaniel? What happens if Kevin stayed?

Everything can be traced back to some variation of the perfect court concept, no matter how you see it. It all leads to Riko's own downfall.

And that's without taking Jean into account.

Jean fully believes in the perfect court as a measure of talent, and it's because it means he has value at least somewhere after being stripped of everything else. His life was used to pay a debt and the number on his face means he has worth.

And as he tries to find his footing to survive in a world without Riko and outside of the Nest's cruelty, the idea of the perfect court grounds him in some twisted way. Because for so long, his value was placed solely on his playing ability.

The Perfect Court is a dream, an experiment, a fallacy, a gilded cage, a ghost lingering in the doorway whispering 'you are worth something'

[zazzander]

They are like a tiny arts college, but yeah, now you point it out I'm a little surprised they don't have a pool.

Ya know what I think is absolutely bonkers?

There's isn't a single pool on the ENTIRE Edgar Allen campus??? Is exy the only sports program at that school???

[zazzander]

top ten worst guys

[zazzander]

This is super interesting! A very valid critique I think. You're right that Nathan was too big of a villain in the way he was set up so Stuart is basically a Deus ex Machina. He's there to save the day so the story gets to keep going, because if he didn't, Neil would probably be dead.

Having a day, mostly because plotting out the back halves of some fics, where I think about my complicated feelings on how AFTG's main trilogy ended. And I don't mean Riko's death and everything surrounding that and the lack of falling action following that (I'm not a fan, I prefer a long period behind the climax but like, it's an author's choice, it doesn't ruin the series, plenty of my faves also do that) or at least, not entirely that. I mean, not so much the details, but the broad strokes, and in some ways going back to my post and some thoughts about how Riko starts as Kevin and Andrew's antagonist and ends as Neil's, how Nathan feels like an antagonist but is actually just a scary man here for torture and then to be killed off by a guy who's been mentioned a handful of times and never appeared before that moment, and how that's reflected in the order of the third books events even though logic would dictate the torture and murder should be the more serious threat and therefore the climax rather than the game with the mafia brat on live TV and that Andrew is basically Neil's antagonist for the first book.

And because, for some reason, I have to do this whenever I engage with this series in a critical way: I do not hate the series or Nora, this is not hate, I love AFTG, have read it at least a dozen of times and I in fact do not waste time engaging critically with series I do not enjoy. I find engaging with media critically and looking at its good and bads to be a good way to connect with it and improve my own work. If there's room for civilised discussion, great, if you're going to tell me "you're wrong" I don't care, one's personal reading of a series cannot be wrong, simply not the same as yours, go away.

So this is going to be a bit messy, so bear with me, but I always find it interesting that the torture and potential murder of Neil, and his reverting to Nathaniel, and the family connection is all treated as a simple stepping stone while Riko and the finals the grand climax. And I think it's sort of a symptom of how the blended reality of mafia and sports has sort of skewed the priorities of the story. Logic dictates that in a mafia (and most stories) the biggest threat to your life should be the biggest plot point and therefore the climax, while the sports drama ofc has the finals as the finale (and I could do a whole other essay on how for all AFTG is gritty and dark, it plays the actual sports drama narrative of underdog beats the champions and wins it all with surprisingly straight and by the book). So yeah, one would think that the life threatening and family drama would come as the real climax, especially since, as I said, Riko starts as Andrew and Kevin's issue while Nathan is Neil's.

But then Riko's attention shifts almost entirely to Neil. Now, there's an argument that Riko becomes the trio's issue, and in some ways that's true, but thinking about the last match, the climax where it all comes to ahead, Riko and Kevin are doing totally their own things, Kevin has already broken free of Riko via changing his tattoo. In many ways, this should be Andrew's real moment. As a sports drama, this is where Andrew gets control of the defence line and takes Riko down striker vs goalie, especially after the set up of the first match in TRK. But, instead he gets Neil in and Neil leashes Riko.

And now, I do sorta get this, it's not like I'm saying this is awful why did Nora do this, it's just a curiosity to me that I'm trying to think about and figure out my real thoughts and feelings on. Because by shifting Nathan to an overarching background "ooooh but my dad" threat, Riko is Neil's actual antagonist, and while this can work as a "he's our antagonist" and "Riko created his own weakness by training Neil", it doesn't so much for me because it's still Neil who takes him down. It's Neil who's there when he's shot. It's all Neil. (And loosely, I think this is related to how some parts of fandom, especially in fics, especially raven!Neil fics, make Neil either uwu so soft and sad and useless, or op as fuck to the point where he's the best boy at everything ever where even Riko and Kevin aren't, or both, but that's a different ramble.)

And here's the thing, Kevin and Neil should be up the other end of the court. Kevin is proving himself amazing, as he should, and Neil should be with him. This should be the moment Andrew and Riko finally face off, and that Kevin and Neil finally see Andrew do what Andrew does and trust him entirely to just shut Riko out (or yk, enough to win the match) because he's been practicing serious with Kevin (amazing striker and Raven) and Neil (fucking fast) and have him protect them from Riko, as he promise, by protecting that goal while they're busy. Neil has faced Nathan and come out on top, Kevin has faced his mental block and declared himself queen and is ruling the court. Riko is now nothing to them, they should focus on their goal ahead. It's Andrew's turn to face down Riko. But it's Neil. Now, there's an argument this is Andrew finally accepting help and teamwork, and that the narrative constantly undermining Andrew's ability to protect his people is actually about him letting go and trusting them, that his protection is more mental stability for them to stand up for themselves, and Andrew does protect Neil from Riko in the end, and I do get all that. But it's not a great example of team vs person, especially from a sports drama perspective, because exy isn't quite built for team vs person more line vs person and even then the combo plays aren't really there, and if you want to sport drama to be the central narrative, then maybe let them prove themselves in the sport?

I told you I have complicated feelings about this.

Which brings us to Nathan. While Riko is the sports drama villain who has fascinating depth and layers if you want to look for them, Nathan is a puddle of a character, only mildly deeper than Drake and only because he has more screen time (do not make me talk about Drake and Nathan as villains as how this fandom seems to criminally underthink them in favour of mwhahaha evilz, because evil for evil sake is not nearly as scary, do not because I will start talking about BSD!Mori and why he's terrifying) although with some interesting quirks to his personality one could dig into and draw parallels with if one wanted him to be more than scary evil torture guy. But the problem with Nathan is that he's such a big, looming terrifying presence, set up as Neil's antagonist but also not. Nathan is so big and terrifying, but he and his people aren't in Neil's life until they're one scene. He's a ticking clock until death. But the problem is, how does Neil deal with him? See, even putting the whole "isn't Nathan the bigger threat so why isn't he the climax" thing aside, Neil doesn't really defeat Nathan. Nathan is too big, too scary, too much, and AFTG too dark on the mafia side. So Nathan is defeated by a guy who's been mentioned a handful of times, turns up just time then, then disappears again until the finale where he mostly just stands there. And people can argue "it's a plot twist" or "it's realistic" but this is a narrative, not real life. Things mean things. And Nathan was set up as just too much and too strong, and too looming. Neil couldn't stop him. Neil didn't let anyone help him (something, I've talked about being and we see in TSC, Neil thinks Neil is always right and his way is best and doesn't tend to consider other options, again, not "omg so wrong" but Neil is a flawed character, here's how I perceive one of his flaws), and he didn't even tell anyone, so of course he had to be saved without warning by a guy we've never even met before.

And, like I said, I'm not saying "oh book bad" or "this better", just that I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, and that just because I adore the books as they are doesn't mean I can't also think about things that I might change (that's what fanfic's kinda for? you know, let Seth live, let Janie be a character, all those little things you might like to see but don't detract from your love of the books).

[zazzander]

the cheese goes wherever it will fit

Things I’m learning about All For the Game fans: a lot of y’all didn’t grow up with a cheese drawer in your fridge and it shows

[zazzander]

It's wild how the first read of aftg is so chaotic and absurd, and the second read is like, "OMG look how smitten Andrew is from the very beginning. He's so impressed with how fast Neil runs that he tells everyone about it. 🥺"

Like either these characters are so vividly well written, or the books themselves are laced with *cracker dust* and I'm just an adict. Could be both. Probably.

[zazzander]

I know there's a whole joke that Kevin day is a swiftie, but I stand firm in my assessment that he's actually MARINA coded.

[zazzander]

I don't think this was Riko, which is why Jean doesn't even question it. This was 100% Tetsuji, and by extension every coach Tetsuji ever hired.

What Riko did and how he tricked Jean into believing he deserves this - it's terrifying. But his absolute submission to abuse from coaches? It's anguishing to even think about it. He's not trying to fight, flight, he's not repeating his mantra, he's acting like this is natural. Whole team is watching as he's called in and yet there's no doubt in his mind that he's going to get hurt.

[zazzander]

Hi Emry <3 just pointing out since you were wondering in the tags that it’s Edgar Allan, not Allen, even though the latter is the way more used in the fandom :’) anyway love your art and writing!!

Oh maybe that's why I was confused lol. At any rate

[zazzander]

So... Did Kevin and Riko not play on a proper team until they were in college?

Am I reading this right? Like none of the perfect court went to high school? Like at least Jean played games back in France but the other two...

Like game experience is super important. You play thousands of matches, over and over, because games aren't practice. Real matches are emotional rollercoasters, adrenaline is pumping, spectators are in the stands!! All that stuff conspires together in your head to make you play horribly (lol)

If Riko and Kevin didn't play for any teams growing up, they would not be mentally prepared for real games!! Especially when people are expecting them to be The Best.

Not to mention if they never had a team of their own, merely being the "babies" of the Ravens, then they'd struggle to adapt to playing with people their own age.

And then they're suddenly playing on three teams, with the nation cheering them on? Like, I don't care how strict Tetsuji was with their training, they'd have crumpled game one. Hell, no one but the Ravens would have given them a shot. Like come on! There ain't no way.

#aftg #edgar allan ravens #kevin day #riko moriyama

[zazzander]

tw: opinion

am i the only one who doesn’t particularly think Dan Wilds is a good captain? she lead the foxes to their first championship, but did she? sure she was assertive and tried to get everyone in line. but for 3 years she failed to do what neil did in 1? (unite the foxes) neil obviously had an in with the monsters and an advantage but i feel like if Dan really wanted to, she could’ve (got an in, even if it was small, with them, i mean). and she could’ve asked renee for help. but she basically hated them since what they did to matt in columbia and i feel like she let her emotions/feelings towards that whole situation get in the way of actually trying to bring the team together and stuff?

(and, contrary to popular belief, i think neil’s gonna go on to be a much better captain than her sorry 🤷‍♀️)

[zazzander]

i truly think the hardest thing for me to believe in aftg is the ravens 16 hour day thing

like that just seems so wildly impractical and insane, i can suspend my disbelief about the mafia and all the murder and whatnot but that practice schedule is where i draw the line 😭

[zazzander]

people, do we have a aftg!ballet ff? because i can see it all in front of me (one interaction and i'll share my idea /hj) but I doubt i can write it out both for time as literally full on planning capabilities