● She/Her ●+18 (Dark themes may be discussed, I try to avoid graphic descriptions) ●Anime, Manga, Manhwa, Games, Webtoons... all that stuff! ●NOT SPOILER FREE ●Character Analysis ●Writing
I like to talk about all sorts of things, my interests are all over the place. They mostly align with anime, comics (manga and webtoons/manhwa), games, and writing.
Keep in mind this is not a blog suitable for people under the age of 18. I read and watch a little bit of everything. Both funny stuff and more serious stories with darker themes. Don't follow me if you are under 18. I am not responsible for what you see here. It's on the blog description as well, so I trust you can read.
I don't always interact with others, this is mostly a blog to dump my thoughts and live react to things I'm reading. So don't be disappointed if I don't respond. It's not you, it's me. (Literaly)
If you want to share your thoughts anyway however, the ask box is open. Just avoid anything that may start conflict. I'll probably just ignore it.
Since I finished the main video series yesterday I have to say I really love Whitepine.
I appreciate the long pauses, the shots that last, the dialogue that feels natural but intentional, everything about it seems very genuine to me and has a sense of care towards its characters.
I know that the scenes with the detective were scary to some, but I couldn't help but relate to Ivory too much in order to be scared. Especially the scenes where she's being questioned and thought to be "rude" when all she's being doing is replying with short, precise answers, trying to make herself as small as possible.
But that's not how people work, those who are dead set on accusing someome won't care how the accused behaves, especially if they work differently and take most things literaly.
It's got the type of representation that feels natural and genuine. And I can appreciate that. Well, that and the wonderful music.
A detail I love in both sfawtde and dawtde is how the KIY "tests" his players and how its connected to minecraft itself as a game.
Long yapping session and spoilers below!
As much as I may have laughed at the "unfortunately for you, we are in minecraft!" Arguement, both videos take their plot seriously, thus I am inclined to take it seriously as well, mostly because the story itself respects the arguement by encompassing it in the KIY.
A being of infinite knowledge and no real form finding home in a sandbox game is so terribly fitting that you could argue there's no better place for it, especially with just how free yet controlled minecraft is as a media—I mean hell you can do just about anything in it, people have made movies with it, running caculators in it, they have hosted death games and more.
It works as a medium to transfer a message. And the KIY, a being of infinite knowledge would probably not be as restricted as he would be in a human mind (hence the emphasis on the vessel having a lack of identity, being mindless).
Minecraft at its core though is a sandbox game that allows its players to create almost anything. Thus, the game itself becomes an extension of the player's mind, the player's creativity, the player's heart.
The player shapes the world, the player decides if they'll blow up a village or befriend animals or write books or search or destroy a world that doesn't exist... because at its very core, minecraft is already a world that doesn't exist. It's not a world in the first place, minecraft IS the PLAYER.
So the KIY creating these elaborate yet empty dimensions, where not much can be created because hell, its all already been built and the blocks are oncredibly limited, can also be intepreted as him serving a mental block both to d3rlord3 and avery. He doesn't want them to create, thats why he's intrigued at first but then pissed whenever either of them break on through his puzzles instead of solving them. They are making their own way and establishing that this is the game where the player is the one in power and not the one who set it up.
D3rlord3 goes along with it. But he's already self assured. He doesn't stop to marvel at things the way Avery does even when he is intrigued. But in the first video, I believe that's what intrigues the KIY as well. This is a player that will bring Avery to him, but it's also someone that is entertaining his rules and playing by them (at least for a while) so, like the eldritch being of knowledge that he is, the KIY keeps testing him over and over. The puzzle works, d3rlord3 keeps solving them even if he breaks on through with a pickaxe, so the KIY keeps giving him things to solve, more difficult, less hints, pushing him further and further just to see where this little human will draw the line and say "I can't". But d3rlord3 DOESN'T draw a line. He searches and searches and searches for this world that doesn't exist until he finds something he shouldn't have. Far too interesting in KIY's eyes, but also too much trouble, so the test must end there.
Avery on the other hand, draws the line far too soon. The KIY, like a machine, (at least from my POV) started out by trying the same tests he did with d3rlord3. Difficult puzzles that need you to sit down in order to solve them. But Avery doesn't think the way d3rlord3 does. (I'm certain most people don't, after all, not many noticed the things he did, even before he got the infinite knowledge). Avery doesn't want to play the type of game the KIY has planned. He gives up almost immediately, and demands seriousness, that these games stop, that the world the KIY has created is just a joke, that he needs to reveal himself, that he just needs to look at him. But the KIY doesn't quite like that Avery is self assured in a way different than his previous subject. So he switches up the plan once again. He tries to force him through the same puzzles, but Avery gives up over and over. He says he can't do it. No matter what the KIY does, this vessel has decided that its hardly a player. So he once again, changes. He cannot appeal to the PLAYER so he appeals to the one behind the screen. Not the one who can shape this world nor the one who will play the game, but the fragile soul behind it, that he has discouraged time and time again. And he does it by creating a disgustingly comforting scenery to Avery's worn mind. A place of worship and repetitive tasks—exactly what a human might seek comfort in outside of this game after experiencing trauma. He breaks the one behind the screen, before building him up again.
And the reason the KIY loses?
Well, amongst all else, is because he was comfortably settled in a game meant for human creativity, and he could only run the same script until he met a dead end the same way a machine would.
And his players? THE players? A soul that sees through him, and a soul that refuses to play his game until the end.
There's something I like a lot about the same book getting different reactions from d3rlord3 and avery. Whilst one gets manipulated into an endless cycle of repeated actions, the other instantly calls it "gross". I know that it's probably implied that the blocked out text is most likely a passage of the books the series is based on—but I still like to wonder about the possibilities.
If we take into account that the previous pages would repeat that avery is safe, then my guess is that something incredibly manipulative was written there, something that (as the book mentions right before the text gets censored) can convince avery that he is nothing, and that the only way to be safe in this place is to be nothing. Because being someone hurts. Putting in the effort to be someone, hurts. Because being an individual will just get him in more danger, it will get him to think and reconsider all he knows and that hurts especially if he's wrong about everything.
In a way it's the same thing that caused d3rlord3's mind to be marred with all the eldritch knowledge and whatnot, being flooded with different types of information to the point you feel less like a person and more like an entity that simply holds a position in the universe.
Identity is a huge thing in both parts of this story, and I find it really cool that d3rlord3 calls out those censored pages as bs, ofc it could be the whole eldritch knowledge and broken mental state defending his mind, but I don't like to think that's all there is to it. Both characters are smart and self assured, just in different ways. Avery is able to be discouraged so easily because the KIY constantly attacks what makes him "him" in this adventure. My bet is he knew this sort of tactic wouldn't work on d3rlord3.
But yeah, it's one of my favourite moments in the whole two part series. A moment where a self assured character (d3rlord3) looks at a pile of empty affirmations of safety and bs excuses about being nothing so you can be safe, and he gives no other word for it other than "gross".
It's also partially why the signs he puts up make me feel rather emotional. He doesn't need a god to figure out that a good person (who he knows better than anyone, really) might be swayed from these words.
And it doesn't make avery any less human or important. D3rlord3 knows that. He just needs to remind him who, and what he is.
Something I appreciate in Ares (as I reread The Abandoned City arc of Lessa) is that as an antagonist he's not particularly showy, at least in earlier chapters.
He is classy, yes, he always makes sure that appearance wise he is neat yet he doesn't stay humble both appearance and behavior wise (I always found it interesting that his hair is much longer compared to his old self, both signifying a change in status and perhaps it being a nod to Dark Lessa).
After all he is playing the role of a savior, a leader, and considering his backstory the closest model he has to that is those who abused him or... well... Lessa. A god. And for whatever its worth he's bassicaly convinved himself that he is just that, only better, smarter. Not like Lessa who was blind to what was happening around him, no. Yet he still adopts Lessa's manner of speaking calmly, never really addressing people as they are but rather as what they seem to him—inferior beings.
He doesn't threaten Raynold immediately with a speech full of vengeance, he sits down to explain to him what Lessa is to him, after all he is a higher being than Raynold even if he is seated below him. Because to Ares, Raynold is misguided, like all the other ants. He doesn't only treat power like something to be drunk of, he wields it the way he thinks a god would.
Yet another underrated duo I love seeing 🥰 the more I reread the more I realize that Mienna's curious nature works quite well with Lessa who tends to be polite to humans.
I think something I enjoy about this webtoon's writing is that he really acts like an old man who knows everything™️ but gets humbled easily.
Maybe I'll make a post compiling at their moments because truthfully even up to S3 they have a lot of content together!! Because if I have to revive this fandom THEN I WILL!!!
Was anyone gonna tell me that (Bloom - Outro) has similar patterns to Bulbel and thus makes Ulv and Fretia a parallel even further than what I thought before or was I supposed to just hear the former randomly yesterday and completely pause as the realization washed over me.
I WILL write a post about Ulv and Fretia as a duo and how their relationship changed one another or so help me GOD.
So since i finished Komi can't communicate, there's a lot to think about it, so I decided to write down what I thought!
I feel like it started off as really strong but, just like every dragged out manga, eventually fell short trying to overcompensate, most of its themes falling apart thanks to the plot wanting to one up itself for its simple content.
Admittedly, I didn't find it simple at all, at least not in a bad way. I quite enjoyed Komi's struggles with communicating all the way through. The issue was that the manga kept trying to add more and more side characters and as a result... ignored everything else that made it special in the first place.
Then again I don't know how someone could take the concept of "making 100 friends" and not making it feel dragged out. For a manga like this though, it's not unexpected, as it never took itself too seriously.
Regardless I wouldn't call it a waste of time. The humor got a bit old, and eventually the work itself felt like it was scrambling to make new content, even though it had an insanely varying cast, but despite all that it was somewhat fun.
I wouldn't condemn it, but I also wouldn't praise it too much either.
But I guess sometimes we do need something simple to read as well. Kinda how Komi ended up feeling safe with a simple person like Tadano, both of which I really enjoyed as characters. Their relationship felt the most genuine to me.
But there's that! These are my two cents ^_^ I wonder if the anime did any better.
Hope I'm not late to the party, but I can't be the only one who after finishing Chapter 4 of Deltarune came to the conclusion that the reason Susie overrides Kris' options isn't purely because our choices don't matter but also because she's got the soul trait of Perseverance.
Same way Ralsei's expertise in healing magic might come from his soul trait being Kindness, Noelle's being Bravery due to facing her fears and Kris' being Patience, allowing them to withstand longer periods without the Soul.
I know that technicaly these traits are meant for human souls, but I've yet to see anything disprove it in Deltarune, so who knows?
Their colors in the dark world fit too, so I'm curious to see if this is proven right or not. Especially if it ties in with Asgore's flowers being empty too in Deltarune then... yeah.
Saw your ender lilies art, fell in love IMMEDIATELY with it, ran to your blog to see if ur okay with drawing requests so please correct me if I'm wrong!! If I'm not can we please see Fretia 💔💔💔
I don't think enough people talk about just how Ares as a character is incredibly complicated.
When he talks about "inheritance" to the children he just found the double meaning is the material inheritance humans are most used to (which also makes sense, since Ares was a human once too) and the inheritance in the sense of the power he got from Lessa.
The double meaning falls on him too. He can't comprehend that the power he got from Lessa was out of love (and selfishness on Lessa's part) because as someone who was born human, surely what matters most to him is what "remains", whilst Lessa doesn't comprehend that as well. As a god, to him, everything eventually returns to ashes.
Ares and Lessa as a duo (doomed family dynamics my beloved) are so complicated, I really would love to talk about them more as I reread. ^_^
Although from now on I'll keep the spoilery stuff under a read more line probably... in case you wanna read it though don't worry, this is early chapters still. And I highly recommend this webtoon!
