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@erokyu
Is the final performance the best one? Why didnât Rook vote for NRC?
Okay, I get that some of you are still angry at Rook because of his decision, but if NRC truly delivered an unbeatable performance, would he still vote for RSA? At the beginning of chapter 5, Vil said that there exists a type of performance so beautiful that you would still vote for it even if it was the opponent teamâs. For a character that appreciates beauty like Rook, would he defy true beauty if he saw it? Definitely not. So what was lacking in NRC performance?
Rook himself said it, it was Vilâs trust in his own beauty.Â
From the beginning of the story, we have always seen Vil asking Mira Mira. That is how he evaluated his own beauty - through the eyes of the audience. He pushed himself to the limit to satisfy the audience, he tried to poison Neige out of despair after seeing the audienceâs reaction to RSAâs performance. In the end, even after his overblot, Vil still hasnât truly believed in himself, which was why his beauty failed to conquered Rookâs heart as he cast the vote. This will give him more space to grow as a character, so Iâm really looking forward to see the new Vil in chapter 6.
Cater: The odd one out.
Some of the ideas are borrowed from a twitter post (link below - in Japanese). The rest are things that I recognized about Cater Diamond.
https://twitter.com/nanana777temp/status/1351449169941000194?s=20
So why is Cater the odd one out?
Well, letâs look at the communities he is in.
1. Heartslabyul dorm
- Riddle, Trey, Ace, Deuce: Hometown is Rose Kingdom.
Cater: Hometown is Land of Pyroxene.
- Riddle, Trey: childhood friends.
Ace, Deuce: classmates.
And then there is Cater.
Riddle, Trey, Ace, Deuce: enjoy sweet food (strawberry tart for Riddle, candied violet for Trey, cherry pie for Ace, Deuce is the only one whose fav food is not sweets, but he doesnât hate them either).
Cater: hates sweets.
2. 3rd-year
Dorm Leader: Leona, Vil, Idia, Malleus.
Vice Dorm Leader: Trey, Rook, Lilia.
And then there is Cater.
3. Land of Pyroxene students
Vil, Jack: childhood friends.
Jack, Epel: classmates.
Vil, Epel: same dorm.
And then there is Cater.
4. Family: sisters who he doesnât get alone with.
5. Classmate: Idia who avoid people like the plague.
6. Club:
This is the only community where Cater is not the odd one out, but the Music Club trio is a very peculiar combination. Lilia is a fairy who has lived for hundred of years, Kalim is the son of an extremely wealthy family and he belongs to the Light Magic trio. They hardly have any similarity with Cater. Those two also have a strong connection with at least one other student in NRC (Jamil to Kalim and the Diasomnia dorm to Lilia). Cater has none.
Chapter 6.
A wip strip I canât finish.
Just a short interaction between 1st-year-Ruggie and Leona.
Warning: chap 5 spoiler.
After Vilâs overblot, we have three characters with the flame on their left eye (Leona, Azul, Jamil) and two on their right (Riddle and Vil). So what does this mean?
I think the position of the flame is based on the charactersâ moral. Those with Left Flame are evil-doers, they know what they are doing is wrong but still do it nonetheless: Leona planned to injure important members of each teams before the tournament, Azul tricked and enslaved other students, Jamil tried to kick Kalim who trusts him unconditionally out of Scarabia. Right Flame is for the ones that didnât intend to do the wrong thing, but ended up doing them because of their circumstances: Riddle just wants the students to follow the dormâs tradition, Vil wanted to beat Neige fair and square, but after realizing that it is impossible for him to do so, he tried to poison him out of despair.
So basically Left = Evil-from-the-start and Right = Good-turn-evil
When Jamil ordered the hypnotized Neige, he used the phrase in Oasis Makerâs chant: ăćăăč¸ăăă(sing and dance!).
Although Jamil always complains that he doesnât want to be Kalimâs friend, his action speaks otherwise.
Underworld!AU with Idia and Azul.
I need tragedy in the next part of chapter 5.
Underworld!AU, where Idia is the ferryman over the Styx and Azul collects the ferry fare.
Wip that Iâm too lazy to finish. IdoAzul, IdiaAzul, etc. I ship them all.
WHY I LOVE THE SCARABIA CM AND YOU SHOULD TOO
Listen, I donât even know why youâd actually need to look for a reason to love and cherish this beautiful piece of animation, but to each their own. Regardless, youâre in the right place, because Iâm about to gush and cry over this CM just to convince you to show it the same level of love that I feel for it. Itâll be difficult, but donât worry, Iâll be there with you the entire time. So, letâs start with the beginning.Â
What makes this CM different from the others? Well, letâs look at the most obvious aspect: itâs narrated by two people, instead of just the Overblot victim like in the case of the Heartslaybyul, Savanaclaw and Octavinelle. There we had only Riddle, Leona and Azul speak because, obviously, as the Prefects and shadows of the villains they would be the most important characters. You could call that antagonist privileges if you want, but thereâs a reason a show with a big cast doesnât go in depth with every single one of their characters. Not only would it be infeasible, but also useless. Narratives need a point of focus, otherwise they end up disjointed and incomprehensible.Â
So why didnât this CM just have Jamil narrate? Heâs the antagonist of chapter 4, after all. Shouldnât he get his own moment in the spotlight, separate from Kalim? Well, yes and no. For you see, the thing about Scarabia is that unlike other dorms the relationship between the Prefect and vice dorm leader is much more complicated. By which I mean that no other vice dorm leader is an indentured servant to the family of their dormâs Prefect. Trey is Riddleâs childhood friend, Ruggie sticks with Leona because it gives him a better chance for survival, the Leech twins stay with Azul out of curiosity, Rook admires Vil, Ortho is Idiaâs little brother (?) and Lilia has served as Malleusâ parental figure.
(Also, yes, Iâm counting Ruggie and Ortho as vice dorm leaders since thatâs basically their role anyways.)
None of them are bound to their Prefect. Trey has a life outside of Riddle, Ruggie will drop Leona like a sack of potatoes if the latter gets too much to deal with, the Leech twins EXPLICITLY say that they will turn on Azul if they get bored, Rook actually points out Vilâs flaws to his face, Ortho doesnât let his brother get away with everything and Liliaâs position is more of a trusted family friend, than an actual guard/babysitter. The point Iâm trying to make is that all these people have choices when it comes to their relationships with their respective Prefects. They stay by their side out of their own will and not because someone is forcing them to be there.Â
The same doesnât apply to Jamil. He canât just decide to leave Kalimâs side one day, because he was getting sick of looking after him. And thatâs because he didnât have a choice in being by his side in the first place. That decision was made for him by his parents. Because thatâs how indentured servitude works: when youâre in the service of a lord, especially if youâre a poor peasant, your period of time decided upon entering the contract tends to extend to future generations as well since youâre not given any money to save. Most peasants that found themselves in such positions often would marry and start a family while still in the service of their lord and should they die, their family, unable to provide for themselves because their whole life was spent doing unpaid labour, will also enter the same contract. This process would go on until either slavery, which this most certainly is, was banned or the lord decided to set you free. The former was much preferable to the latter, because in a feudal system to be set free by your lord often marked you as an undesirable servant. You would be hard pressed to find a lord that would âhireâ you after finding out your former âemployeeâ decided to âfireâ you. So it would be very rare for indentured servants to actually manage to free themselves from that position.Â
This is precisely where Jamilâs frustration arises from as well. As a capable individual, heâs acutely aware of the limitations his status imposes on him. Heâs a servant of the Asim family from birth, much like his parents and grandparents were before him. This is not something he chose for himself, but rather something that was imposed upon him. Herein lies the central issue that defines Jamilâs character: lack of choice. Much more than any character, Jamilâs life is governed by the limitations that arise due to his social position. We see that ever since his childhood he was forced to always take into consideration Kalimâs abilities and model his performance as not to eclipse him in any way. If Kalim placed second place in a dancing competition, Jamil must not be among the top three. If Kalimâs grades slipped, his own grades must as well. If Kalim lost two times in a row at mancala, Jamil must make sure he loses the next three games. Yet, paradoxically enough he mustnât fall behind too much either, for that would make him a useless servant. And as I pointed out before, inept servants are not considered desirable by those in power.Â
It is in essence a balancing act that Jamil must make sure he adheres to strictly, as not to bring shame to the Asim family to whom he is, in theory, loyal. In relation to Kalim, Jamil must make sure he performs poorly, but in relation to others he must make sure he performs well. Itâs that precise position between exceptional and ordinary that he must achieve, and according to Azul, Jamil is excelling at that.
Azul: You usually never make yourself stand outâA wallflower, so to speak.
You make sure not to stand out academically, too. Whether itâs with class standing, or with practical training. But, at the same timeâŚ
You never get failing scores. (4-37)
Yet the question we must ask is why? Why must Jamil follow these demands?Â
Well, for one itâs the issue of the indentured servant that we have discussed before. Jamil is bound to the Asims and going against them will bring repercussions not only on himself, but on his family as well. In the modern age in which Twisted Wonderland seems to be set in, this would not be much of an issue, we would guess. However, while that might be true, we must consider it not only from a logical perspective, but a psychological one as well. The human brain is fascinating in the sense in which it is able to transform information into patterns. And nowhere is this most apparent than in the impregnation of cultural norms into the mind. We tend to think of some things as innately ânormalâ and âordinaryâ and everything that goes against those beliefs as âperverseâ and âimmoralâ. For example, up until a few decades ago, the idea of women as second-class citizens was seen as a perfectly reasonable notion. Those that did not agree with it were considered troublemakers and agitators, and if thereâs anything the human individual loves more conformity, itâs ensuring that itâs enacted upon the population at large. The nail that sticks out gets the hammer, as the saying goes.Â
But what does this have to do with Jamil? Well, the fact is that his role, as Kalimâs servant, comes with certain social expectations.Â
Jamil: Kalimâs parents were always better than my parents. Thatâs why⌠Kalim should be better than me, too. Thatâs why, I could never surpass Kalim when it comes to studying, exercise, and even playingâ (4-36)
The role of a servant is that of support. The Master leads while they provide the conditions and the means to do that. That is precisely the position that the Viper family is supposed to take in relation to the Asim family. For a servant to surpass his master, it leads to a deeply problematic realization: that oneâs status is divorced from oneâs capacity. Medieval rule was often characterized by monarchs assigning themselves as Godâs anointed on Earth. Their right to the throne was not ensured by their capacity or disposition or ideals, but simply by their nature. They were meant to rule, because of the social class and family they were born into. Nothing less, nothing more. It was instinctively understood that there was a great differentiation between them and the common people and that was translated in their position as those to be considered âelevatedâ. They did not mingle with the common folk, because that was beneath them.Â
And unfortunately, that is a cultural inheritance that is not easily done away with. For though we might claim we left behind the days of feudalism and vassals, there is still a great divide between social classes. It merely took a different form. Lords of the castle turned into politicians, celebrities and glamorous multimillionaires. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, as Shakespeare would put it. Call it what you will, but the end result is that social divide still exists. And we can see that is the case in Twisted Wonderland as well.
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