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~ I tag triggers with "[trigger]" and "tw [trigger]" or, if it's flashing/eyestrain content, "cw [content]". If I ever forget to tag anything/mistag it, let me know !
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- My tags:
#my art → art. shitposts are also tagged as art because what they lack in effort they make up for in love. #my oc is the specific tag for the rare times i start ocposting.
#my thoughts → analysis adjacent posts. they may be more or less coherent but the idea is still analysing something
#my rambles → just me talking! memes that aren't drawn and asks (tagged #asks) also go here.
- first's op was deactivated, second by @lgbtq-userboxes, third by @pillowspace, fourth by @en8y, fifth by @postsintoblinkies
Don't forget to drink your water, stay safe and remain silly !
Disclaimer: This post is specifically about Krusie as a platonic relationship and why that's an important reading. If you ship Krusie romantically, it might not be for you, or even be upsetting. But you could also read it and learn some stuff tho!
So, Krusie. I warmed up to the idea of the ship during the chapter 3-4 era, and I still appreciate fancontent of romantic Krusie... But playing chapter 5 made me realise something about what I liked about them, what mattered to me so much.
It's that their relationship is so important for being platonic.
(Do note this isn't gonna be a proper analysis with screenshots and sources: maybe i'll make one later, but right now I want to talk about my impressions)
With Suselle as a romantic relationship becoming way more concrete in chapter 5, a clear contrast was established between them and the other ships of the fandom. Clearly Toby intended for one of these pairings to be romantic, and the others much less. It's never been subtle since chapter 1, after all.
But even then, what struck me is that Kris and Susie's relationship is treated as just as important as Noelle and Susie's by the story and by the characters. In fact, sometimes, also because they're main characters, Kris and Susie's friendship seems to take more importance than Suselle's romance.
Now, a little lesson in amatonormativity. Amatonormativity is the assumption that everyone should eventually get into a romantic, monoamorous relationship, and prioritise it over everything else. It is VERY prevalent in our society, usually coming in pair with heteronormativity, but unfortunately also seeping through the queer community.
In a society that follows amatonormativity, your romantic partner should be above all your other relationships. Friends, even family, they all should be secondary. They're not as important. It's something you do see a lot irl. When you stop being able to hang out with someone because they spend all their time with their partner. The toxic mindset that having close friends of the opposite gender means you might cheat on them.
Still today, that mindset goes largely unchallenged, so it is also very visible in fiction (even ones made by queer people!). The person who's the most important to a character is their partner or future partner. Your player character will start a romance with whoever they're closest to. It gets to a point where friendships are a background element, one that doesn't deserve story focus - and if it does, it has romantic subtext.
So can you imagine the breath of fresh air when deltarune presents Kris and Susie's friendship as equally important to her budding romance with Noelle? Even throughout chapter 5, where Susie spends A LOT of time thinking about Noelle, their relationship still shines. One could argue Kris is the most important person to her! (but well, it's not a competition).
(Other characters do seem to find it strange how close they are (Noelle usually, but I guess it's bcs she's trying to flirt), but Susie never acts like it's odd that she's so close to them. With chapter 5, we know that heteronormativity does exist (in the weird route, Susie even says it sucks that it's a King and Queen vote), so we can assume amatonormativity does too and affects the characters. So basically Susie is gonna defeat amatonormativity AND heteronormativity single handedly.)
And that's why the portrayal of Krusie as platonic matters so much to me as an aromantic person. I'm not saying interpreting them as romantic isn't valid, but I do think it takes away from that dynamic, that Krusie is so important even though they're "just friends". Especially when pre-chapter 5, I saw a significant amount of people on Reddit considering them obviously endgame over Suselle, as if their closeness made them an obvious couple over that very explicitly gay shit.
And yes, some Krusie scenes lean more on romantic subtext (thinking about the end of the sword route when Kris pulls Susie aside), but the vast majority of their interactions are generally platonic. By all means, they're besties! And it's great! Doesn't need to be romantic!
(I'm not talking about their relationship to Ralsei here, but that's mostly because as he can't get out of the dark world, his friendship to them both does get a bit less importance, especially when the light world parts of the story are getting longer with the new chapters)
So yeah, I'm not sure how to conclude this. I didn't discuss the possibility of Kris being aromantic here, and it's not my point (but I do love aro Kris): they could be alloromantic, and it wouldn't change my analysis. In fact, reminding everyone that all of this doesn't only apply to aromantic people is pretty important. Challenging amatonormativity isn't just for aro people, it's for everyone!
And I'm not saying all this to hate on romantic Krusie. I do enjoy romantic Krusie as well! But it is really nice to see a platonic relationship be so important to characters, even when they also are in a romantic relationship. And it's pretty damn rare.
(all this coming from the person who made a meme abt kralsuselle as poly is kinda ironic. it's not exactly accurate to how i view them nowadays, but it's also very important to me.)
everytime i post an attack on artfight i can't think anything but "i sure hope they don't hate it and then kill me and blow me up". which isn't quite realistic i guess.
[Video description: An animation of two original characters. Ayame is in her civilian form, in the dark, looking at nothing with a grief seed in her hand. A small Kimiko in her magical girl form is rotating around her head with bright colors.]
Ok so the thing that strikes me the most about Sua compared to her Alien Stage design is that... It's very similar. The core elements stay: a blueish white dress, a big center bow, puffy sleeves that become gloves, a white head accessory to keep her bangs in place and contrast her hair. The main element that changed is the puffy skirt ; basically, the outfit is pushed on the cute idol side, but it's essentially the same.
There's also how the infection affects her: it invades her face much less than Mizi, allowing her to keep nearly her full range of expression (and seemingly part of her mental capacities). However it seems to go deeper in her body (her leg's good as gone), diminishing her perfect idol image.
(also one could mention Sua's long hair is typically associated with her restrictive childhood in alnst)
Now yknow when I said Sua's outfits were very similar to one another? Well Mizi's the exact opposite. She goes from a black dress, high boots, a generally mature look and a really good color balancing (the blue hair tips that she asked for herself!!) to a design so PINK it hurts. there's nothing but pink - not even black or white accents. Every part of her design that wasn't pink was removed (such as her eyes). It's a very childish looking outfit (the pigtails, the big puffy skirt, THE VERY PINK VERY MONOTONE LOOK), yet it's also very sexualised.
It's a denial of Mizi's identity. It's the naive front she put up during alien stage, with her image as an attractive girl who can use her charms to get by (like in the witch comic). It's also seen with her infection: it doesn't cover her body, which is desirable, but it nearly entirely covers her face, notably her eyes. If in Alien Stage she was turning a blind eye to the reality of the competition, in Zombie Stage her sight has literally been removed, and she's barely aware of what's going on around her.
And I think the fact Sua and Mizi's designs communicate such different impressions is also an indication of their dynamic. Sua changed a lot, and is subjected to the idol industry, but she still retained parts of her identity. She's still herself, as much as she can be. Meanwhile, Mizi's a husk of herself, who can't even react to her surroundings anymore. And Sua has no problems with this situation: her love for Mizi became such an obsession in the end, she stopped caring about who Mizi actually is (was?), if it meant they were technically together.
