and how much I appreciate Adachitoka for their depiction of this type of relationship, even though it breaks my heart. This is pretty much just extremely long-winded rambling for myself; my inner-social worker is massively unsettled by this manga.
First of all, may I say that I love this so much? I appreciate your addressing the abuse as a theme, rather than just a background element that adds to Father’s suck-factor, and the thoroughness of your examples is just mind-blowing. I was going to add an example of a portion I thought particularly good, but I legitimately can’t pick just one. This is one of the best analyses I’ve read for any manga, ever. I sincerely think you should submit this to a journal.
Ok, with the creepy amounts of praise done, there are a few things that jumped out at me (bearing in mind that I know next-to-nothing about this subject):
I agree with you, but I have a different theory about Mizuchi (Hiiro/Nora). You don’t have to listen to me rant off to the side of a bigger rant that I shouldn’t be reblogging this to, but I’m just pointing out something peculiar to me about her since you mentioned it. When Yato first made her his shinki, he never saw any life story behind her like a god is supposed to. Father simply walked Mizuchi up to him, made them shinki and god and told them to go off and murder people for fun.
And then Sakura comes along and asks Yato to give her a name, and when he grants her a name, he sees everything she was when she was alive, knows her real name and knows how she died.
I have a strong feeling that Mizuchi was never really a human being to begin with. To support that theory, it is even said by Yato that Hikki has never once blighted him and she’s been bound to him for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. I feel like she’s something else…
Either that or Father, as a conjurer, found a way to suppress her humanity or some odd nature like that. But the not-human theory is my main guess.
What I’m thinking is that she is some kind of water spirit, granted that she is a sword that can turn into water and her name is Mizuchi (mizu means water). Tsuyu, who resides with Tenjin, is the spirit of a plum tree. She is not human. She never was, and because of that, she is void of emotion and never blights her master, much like Mizuchi. (I couldn’t find the panel to support what I said about Tsuyu sorry)
I don’t know what Mizuchi is exactly, but I’m pretty sure that she is not human.
No, I think you’re quite right that Nora isn’t a normal human. In addition to what you mentioned, the line that always sticks with me is when Yato says to her “You never change.” In the context of the series, that’s such an odd thing: of course Yukine changes the most, but even shinki like Kazuma and Kugaha, who are hundreds of years old at this point, learn from their experiences and develop (for better or worse).
When I look at some of her more recent scenes, she does seem to get jealous and angry—this was apparent especially when she went after Yukine. But I’m not sure whether that comes from human emotion, or if it’s just a desire to maintain the status quo, or some sort of base instinct, or something else.
Yes. I agree with you. It is true that she shows indication of jealousy and anger is clearly shown when Yato releases Hikki. Honestly, I feel as though this has something to do with Father though, because he didn’t just bring Mizuchi up for Yato to use for nothing. Maybe Mizuchi was a human but has been taken over by something non-human, or even is something non-human but was put in human form so she doesn’t feel many emotions, but since she is in human form, the emotions come with it like a package deal. Perhaps her true form may not be human, but in her current form, they arethere nonetheless.
So many ideas, my head is gonna explode.
Ahhh you guys!! I love this so much. ❤ ❤
I really, really want to talk about Hiiro too but I have so many thoughts and so little timeeeee.
I’m working on a post about her though, with a lot of musing on the stuff you guys are bringing up here! So I’m in this conversation in spirit for now~ XDD
the scene in men in black where will smith’s character thoroughly explained why he shot little suzie, a cardboard cut out of a small child holding advanced physics textbooks instead of the scary aliens all around her is an excellent allegory to racism. will smith’s character, a black man, has no doubt had to deal with various authority figures assuming he is the threat when context clues could easily explain away his behavior and with that backstory in mind, it is easy to see why his character identified with aliens simply existing in the world and explained away the supposed cause for concern by using the context clues provided. on the other end of the spectrum, the white characters who all elected to shoot the aliens on sight did so for no other reason then ‘they look like a threat’, ignoring the fact that a 7 year old child out in the middle of the street alone with advanced physics textbooks should raise more eyebrows than a tentacled creature with allergies. in this essay i will
i think some of the jokes in the conversations between smoky and sardonyx were intentionally awkward or ill-timed. i mean. smoky laughs about the crowd being easy to please, for a reason.
“i’m so excited i could just shatter!”
we’ve just had a bunch of episodes dedicated to the topic of shattering. how it means gems can never come back, how steven thinks nobody deserves that, how it changed the war, and how pink diamond deeply affected characters like jasper and eyeball.
“she (jasper) lost her mind in a corrupted fusion… i guess you could say she had a short fuse!”
again, making light of a horrible thing that just happened… but i don’t think the writers think anyone found jasper’s corruption funny. heck, even people who dislike her (mostly) agree it wasn’t a pleasant scene. smoky doesn’t look all that comfortable making these jokes either.
but it segways into the real topic of the episode – how people use jokes to cover up very genuine problems.
oftentimes, it’s awkward or flat-out uncomfortable to listen to, but for many people doing it, it’s also a way of coping. they want to acknowledge these bad things, but they don’t wanna… make a big deal out of it. they need to talk about them, but they also kinda really don’t want to.
and that’s smoky.
trying their best to make light of their insecurities, because they don’t want to address them, or they don’t think that’s what their loved ones (sardonyx) wants to hear. it’s kind of like having fun with a friend, while also going through something awful. you might want to talk about it, but you don’t really wanna… bring up how horrible you’re feeling when your friend is having a good time. you just wanna put on a “good show”.
so smoky starts making jokes about themselves. they’re not particularly clever or funny, they’re just “lighthearted” ways of saying they have serious issues.
“i guess zero plus zero equals… zero!”
“they say two wrongs don’t make a right, i guess i’m living proof that’s true!”
these “jokes” aren’t funny, they’re sad. and sardonyx, who is excited for them and loves them, recognizes this and starts getting visibly uncomfortable.
not everything can be a laughing matter.
i think sardonyx recognized fairly early that smoky had self-confidence issues. like many friends and family do, her response was to try to help smoky find their positive traits… but when that doesn’t work, it can make the person you’re trying to comfort feel worse. like they’re a disappointment on top of everything else, for not following the “script” by feeling better already.
it was well-intentioned. it was the only way sardonyx knew how to address it, while also keeping a positive and fun mood. trying to cheer smoky up, without interrupting the “show”.
but sometimes, you gotta interrupt the show and talk about what’s bothering you. even if it means ruining the good mood, disappointing the metaphorical “audience” that exists when you make your behavior performative to please someone else.
steven, amethyst and smoky aren’t totally there yet… but, despite the joking tone, i think they’re closer to telling garnet and pearl about their issues. it’s an important step, and hopefully, they’ll be able to really talk about this soon, without putting on a show.
I wanna talk about this for a minute. Connie has repeatedly shown that she is serious about being there for Steven and holding up her part of their “us.” Now, it’s easy to be all talk and say you’ll be there for someone, but then flake when it’s most important.
When Steven tried to pull a tragic hero and kick her out of his life to protect her, she muscled her way back in and told him she CHOSE to be part of his universe.
Not too long after that, Connie expressed interest in learning to sword-fight because she wanted to be with Steven and fight with him instead of feeling like a burden. She wanted to do her part, and was willing to put herself in harm’s way and spend her time and energy learning a dangerous skill so she can share some of the weight he carries.
Connie’s been envisioning the rest of her life as part of Steven’s life, and that’s hard for her as a human who knows she is not really part of the Gem world. It was disturbing and disappointing for her to find out she isn’t going to “grow up with” Steven the way she would if he were aging typically. But what did she do when things got weird and he turned back into a baby after trying to fake it for her? She took it in stride and made it clear she’d be there for him in an appropriate fashion.
Since then, she’s participated in sword training, fused with Steven to learn combat as Stevonnie, and has faced Jasper in combat–not to mention she’s been willing to help Steven carry some of the psychological burdens that sometimes threaten to overwhelm him.
And then when Homeworld came for them, Connie remained with him throughout the battle, tried to talk him into staying strong and suggested fusing so they could beat Topaz and escape the ship, but Steven was too in his own head and trying to carry his mother’s crimes without her help. He gave himself up to Homeworld and ignored the bond they’d built, the promises they’d made. And when he returned, Steven appeared to have no idea what he’d done.
Connie REALLY MEANT IT. She wasn’t kidding when she told Steven she would fight by his side, and she was incredibly hurt that he tried to do it without her. Connie had already shown him complete willingness to work together, to stand with him and for him, only to find that he thought he needed to stand ahead of her and bear the brunt. She’d promised him and meant it, while he’d promised her and in the heat of the moment, he proved he didn’t mean it.
Some people thought the arc dealing with Steven and Connie’s estrangement went on too long, but for something this deep, I think it was necessary. And after they reconcile and establish that Connie will always be included in these situations, something happens that must’ve rattled them both to the core. They embarked on a space adventure and got marooned on an alien moon.
This could have been a disaster. Stevonnie stayed fused throughout the Jungle Moon situation and even through the weirdness of a disturbing Diamond dream–and it would have been understandable if Connie got spooked after this experience. It’s all fine and good to say you’ll always be with someone and never abandon them, but then something like THIS happens where you could die light years away from your family and never see home again, and, you know, well … maybe you get cold feet. Maybe you start to rethink the immense gravity of this situation and wonder if you really ought to have promised yourself to something so much bigger than yourself, something you have so little control over, something that paints a target right on your face.
Not Connie.
She meant it. 100%.
She went after BLUE DIAMOND in battle, without backup.
And then she packed her bags and went into space AGAIN with Steven, having no idea if she’d be able to return, having personally seen how hopeless and scary it can get out there. She hugged her parents and went with Steven. TO HOMEWORLD.
Connie has bravery, conviction, commitment, and loyalty far beyond what someone could normally expect from a friend. She blows me away so hard and I can’t wait to see her relationship with Steven continue to blossom. I hope Steven can truly appreciate what he has in her.
I’ve been thinking about this for some time, well really ever since the Voltron fandom blew up again a week or so ago. With the new Voltron discourse, Klance retaining it’s number 1 spot on the trending ship lists, and a lot of my dashboard being occupied with Voltron art, opinions, disclaimers, and meta over the past few days, it’s left a large proportion of the internet asking themselves:
“How does Voltron: Legendary Defender, which is a show that is just above average, have such a dominating and voracious fanbase? How does something so generic prompt so many people to scream and create content for it?”
And I think I have the answer… or at least… an answer from my own personal experience.
When people ask me “Is Voltron a good show?” I always end up umming and ahhing for a while, because it’s not bad, but I know it’s definitely not good enough for me to have wasted so many hours of my life engaging with it. The worst thing I want to have happen is my friend watches the show, then calls me and goes “THIS? This is the thing you’re so passionate about?”
And I have to dejectedly sigh out “….yeah.”
So when I’m inevitably asked this question, I always defend myself by going “The world and the characters are really charming. Everyone is very likeable. The show has a lot of potential!”
And I think that’s it. That’s the secret of it all. Potential.
You see… I think it’s actually the lack of perfection that prompts so many people to go “hang on…. I think I can improve on this.”
You see, in between Voltron seasons, I was really engaged with Yuri on Ice! I waited every week for a new episode, reblogged the new gif sets that would come out after every episode, read all the new theories about where the plot might go, watch the previews for the next episode over and over and over….
I was, and am, SUPER into YOI…. but I’ve never generated any content for it. none. I’ll talk about it of course! But when the show finished, I had several people ask me:
“Hey! Are you planning on writing any fan fiction for Yuri on Ice?”
And honestly…. no. I had absolutely no motivation, no drive, to write anything for the show. For the series that I loved so dearly, I have never written NOR READ a single piece of fan fiction. And when people asked me why I would always say:
“The show gave me everything I ever wanted. There’s nothing more I can add to it.”
And I think that’s really it. Whilst Yuri on Ice is definitely not a perfect show, it definitely succeeds in giving its target audience everything they wanted. It’s potential is perfectly fulfilled. Sure you could write like a wedding scene, or a honeymoon scene between Yuuri and Viktor, and that would be lovely…. but I don’t need it. I have my closure.
This scene is the perfect ending to an emotional arc. As a viewer, I am perfectly fulfilled.
Similarly, I think of other series that I adore, but have never really had the desire to create content for, or play with AUs or anything like that. In my opinion, the closest thing to a perfect series I’ve ever consumed is Fullmetal Alchemist (brotherhood or ‘03. They’re both really good, but for the sake of this post I’m gonna focus more on brotherhood.)
When I finished Brotherhood every question I possibly had was answered. Every emotional arc came to a close. Again, there’s no where further I could take it. That story is over. Personally, the only thing that left me longing a little bit was the potential relationship between Hawkeye and Mustang… but again I don’t need that. They are side characters, the story does not focus on them, so their ending is allowed to be left open.
What’s up, I’m crying in the club.
Shows like Gurren lagann, Princess Jellyfish, Deathnote, Kill la Kill, Baccano, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, etc. are all varying degrees of excellent, but what they have in common is there never seems to be any unfulfilled potential. They explore every ounce of their worlds and characters, so that by the end, I just kind of dusted off my hands and said “Yeah… you know what, I’m good.”
Things like Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender (and Korra) are interesting anomalies to me, because while they absolutely fulfilled the potential of their characters, these series’ created such interesting worlds that fans continued wanting to explore. I don’t see that much fan content created using these series’ characters anymore, but BOY OH BOY do I see both of these used as AUs when generating works for other series. Any fandom worth its salt will have a well established Harry Potter and ATLA au. People adore sorting characters into houses and into bender types. I love it. I live for that shit.
So with ATLA and Harry Potter we’re starting to see how the potential of the world they are set in can drive fans to actively participate and engage with these series.
But you wanna know what I think really gets people mobilised? What really gets that fan content flowing?
It’s character and plot potential. Primarily character, but plot also plays a part (again, I’m looking at you Voltron.)
You guys wanna know the first series I ever actively engaged with? the first series I ever followed dedicated blogs and wrote fan fiction for? The series that I still declare my undying love for even though it’s just a silly simple show?
Honestly, Centipeetle, aka Nephrite Facet 413 Cabochon 12, is so incredibly tragic it hurts.
I mean, she knows what happened to her. She knows that the Diamonds unleashed an attack on gems still on Earth. So what is her first response after she’s healed?
She. Blames. Herself. She immediately apologizes. “I’m sorry for my failure to heed my Hessonite’s evacuation orders.” She doesn’t seem to realize that what happened to her was wrong. It wasn’t the Diamonds’ fault. It was hers. She was too slow. Never mind that both her and Lapis’ backstory showed that the Diamonds gave gems very little time to evacuate.
The Diamonds had to make “Rose Quartz” pay. And, if a Nephrite got caught up in a bit of “friendly fire”, then who was she to complain? What really mattered was avenging Pink Diamond. Honestly, my stomach drops whenever I rewatch the scene as she says, “you avenged Pink Diamond!” because of how incredibly happy she sounds. Pink Diamond mattered more than Nephrite. What happened to her was unimportant, at least compared to a Diamond.
I want Nephrite (and all gems) to realize how much she matters. To realize that she is in no way less important than a Diamond, and that what happened to her was wrong. Period. She deserves so much more.
Tyrion sees that Sandor has a wound on his scarred side that causes blood to run down his face.
Sandor Clegane wrenched off his helm with both hands and let it fall to the ground. The steel was scorched and dented, the left ear of the snarling hound sheared off. A gash above one eye had sent a wash of blood down across the Hound’s old burn scars, masking half his face. – Tyrion XIII, ACOK.
So his face may be pretty dirty and bloody anyway, the scarred side is just caked in blood, which Sansa notes:
The burnt half of his face was a mask of dried blood.
So when we get to:
Some instinct made her lift her hand and cup his cheek with her fingers. The room was too dark for her to see him, but she could feel the stickiness of the blood, and a wetness that was not blood. “Little bird,” he said once more, his voice raw and harsh as steel on stone. Then he rose from the bed. Sansa heard cloth ripping, followed by the softer sound of retreating footsteps.
It’s got to be Sansa touching his scarred side with her left hand, because the dried blood would be wet again from his tears. We don’t know what hand is Sansa’s dominant one, but if it’s her right, it means she had to make more of a conscious choice to move the left one. The left side is associated closely with the heart and it is feminine power that is being invoked with the Mother’s hymn to overpower the toxically masculine. I have no idea if that was an intentional decision on the author’s part, but it works. It is poetic enough to touch the side that represents rage, violence, and pain. It’s dealing a mortal wound to the Hound and his journey through the Riverlands with Arya almost reads like a slow bleed out, giving him enough time to go through a spiritual cleansing through confession of his sins.
See, there’s a difference between “sympathetic” and “good”. That’s what some people don’t get about the Diamonds: they are simultaneously real, three-dimensional characters with thoughts, feelings, desires, flaws and virtues, and awful, evil tyrants. It’s important to understand that; thinking that people who do bad things are inhuman or “other” not only contributes to the purity culture that metastasized in Tumblr’s heart over the last decade or so but drives the fallacy where people think that because they’re not-evil/unproblematic/good-christians/etc they must be doing the right thing. I’ve mentioned before the video floating around of Adolf Hitler flirting with his wife. It’s terrifying, more so than any of his speeches or commands, because it’s a reminder that he was human, just like us.
We must be on guard against othering evil people, because it leads to declaring the other evil. Sound like anything that’s going on right now?
Yellow and Blue Diamond, because they’re real, three-dimensional characters, aren’t spending every waking moment crushing gems, torturing puppies, and ordering the eradication of inhabited planets. Yellow and Blue really did grieve Pink Diamond, really have been coming from the consistent position of “YOU ASSHOLES KILLED THIS PERSON I GENUINELY LOVED”, and that makes them sympathetic. What it does not make them is good people. They’re still tyrants, still oppressive dictators who murder dissidents and discourage individuality.
It never made much sense as anything but a cartoonishly evil revenge tactic to drive every Gem on the surface of the Earth insane instead of destroying them like the Diamonds were apparently trying to do, so after pondering it I’m okay with them “just” have been trying to dust everyone, but I guess I didn’t think too hard about why they did that thing in particular. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes.
i don’t think SU is wrapping up, and i don’t think s6 will be the last one, either.
there’s one important reason, and it’s one i feel don’t get talked about all that much: steven does not yet truly challenge the homeworld system.
right now, his real focus is to get white to help him heal the corrupted gems.
even blue and yellow – who he’s in the process of befriending – still own pearls. they still rule absolutely. they’re still only friends with him because he’s pink diamond. they don’t understand rose’s reasons for leaving them, even if they’re more willing to listen than white is.
this is not all that odd – most gems in the crystal gem rebellion started for personal, even self-centered reasons, only later learning to have compassion for the wider causes of earth, justice, equality, and gemkind’s freedom.
the more i think about it, the more i think the crew were very clever in not bringing blue & yellow pearl along for this particular adventure.
if gems like jasper and nephrite are to have arcs of their own – which seems likely, considering how much orange there is on the timeline, how the crew loves to tease jasper’s arc, and how steven promised to heal centi first – then corrupted gems benefits from being addressed before the homeworld system.
the diamonds are not necessarily the “final boss”. gems like jasper, nephrite, eyeball, and to an extent pearl, shows that the internalized hierarchies and roles of homeworld gems are perfectly capable of reproducing themselves without their diamond present to support it.
pink diamond, too, could not change the system – not just because she was young and didn’t truly grasp the depth of it, but because telling her gems to be free as a diamond would only perpetuate it.
the system itself may be the “final boss”. not blue, not yellow, and not white diamond. this includes the hierarchy, colonization of other life forms, parasitic kindergarten reproduction, and the unquestioning belief in a type of “society first” collectivism that strips gems of any personal freedoms outside their designated roles.
this is also why it’s so poignant that peridot isn’t there – she has great concern for the homeworld hierarchy, her old home’s dwindling resources, and budding plans for alternative means of creating resources. things that will be important for homeworld’s future, but may be distracting now.
the absence of these elements gives steven focus. he’s healing gems, not overthrowing the government he just kinda-sorta understands. yes, he’s been thrown down a rabbit hole where he will most likely confront some of these issues, but i highly doubt they will all be resolved right away.
SU loves to plant and payoff slowly – and that’s a good thing. we need to truly experience homeworld to explore satisfactory ways of untangling its problems. we need to address long-suffering characters, such as the corrupted gems we’ve grown to care for, to truly understand the depth of their devotion to their diamonds. moreover, they bring home how even perfectly loyal gems are – ultimately – disposable, for the greater society, when push comes to shove.
all of this helps us understand why rose came to hate her home planet and leave her family behind. seeing what she rebelled against, and why the system exists from the point-of-view of its rulers, helps us understand what steven can do. how he – as bismuth said – can become someone even better than rose. how the next generation can learn from the past to create a better future.
there’s ten years of abuse and bullying from Bakugou to Izuku, and i can’t see it ever becoming a healthy relationship in the long run, even if they do resolve their issues. that’s a lot of history, over half of their lives, and a lot of bad blood.
i can see them maybe becoming tentative friends in the future, only after they’ve resolved their issues with each other and Bakugou has sincerely apologized for everything he did to Izuku. but most of their personal issues stem from a misunderstanding of each other.
Izuku’s self confidence was was severely beaten down by Bakugou, and Bakugou’s inferiority complex has been fueled for 10 years by his misunderstanding and fear of Izuku’s intentions.
i just can’t see those lingering feelings ever fully disappearing, and i imagine being in a relationship would only bring those feelings back to the surface.
they’ve never been very good at communicating with each other (it took 10 years before they tried talking, and only because Bakugou was going through an emotional breakdown from his guilt over All Might retiring), and were barely friends as kids, when their relationship was arguably at it’s best. (and even back then, most of what Bakugou did was insult Izuku and show him up for fun. tho it only turned hostile after the incident where Izuku tried to help him)
they can push each other into becoming better heroes and people. Izuku admires Bakugou’s determination and that inspires him, and Bakugou refuses to lose or be left behind by Izuku. Izuku can learn more about winning from Bakugou, and Bakugou can learn more about saving people from Izuku. they’ve finally talked and resolved some of their issues, and have become proper rivals.
but that doesn’t mean their relationship is completely fine now.
plus, neither character has ever particularly liked the other very much. Izuku does admire Bakugou, but he feels a deep sense of antipathy towards him for everything Bakugou’s done to him (which, considering everything, is a very understandable response). Izuku is willing to put aside differences and work with him for the greater good, however. Izuku likes to avoid conflict unless he feels it’s necessary.
Izuku might have some lingering feelings of friendship from back when they were very, very young, but i think they’d be nostalgic, fleeting, and confusing at best. Bakugou never told Izuku why he started bullying him until 10 years later, after all, and that must’ve really confused Izuku.
most of the time tho he actively tries to avoid Bakugou unless the situation forces otherwise.
Bakugou, on the other hand, has never once shown anything but disdain for Izuku. the nicest he ever was was when they were kids, when Bakugou thoughtlessly and harshly mocked Izuku. (which is something that kids who aren’t taught better often tend to do. as in, they tend to say mean and thoughtless things without thinking about how their words affect others. Bakugou never learned how his actions affect others until UA.)
their relationship is getting better, slowly but surely, but i just can’t see them ever having a healthy romantic relationship. i can see them barely having a healthy friendship, and only after certain conditions are made (talking out their issues more and a heartfelt apology from Bakugou).
you can’t just erase 10 years of emotional and physical abuse and conditioning.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 
