Dreaming of a Starry Future

Mirai she/they magical girl more active on twt how does tumblr work

[weeeeps]

droidoll model R-47

[comrade-ashenov]

Best friend activities

[comrade-ashenov]

Well, have you?

[nadianova]

hey you. yeah you. its time. its time to make some toxic yuri. look over here. its TOXIC YURI VN JAM 2

with this, you are invited to take part in the upcoming wonderful adults only evil game jam run and judged by the brilliant minds behind bangers like THERA, FAITHLESS//FLAGELLANT, WISHBLEED, wormgrubber and snowcorpse necromancy.

this time the panel of judges will pick five entries that receive $1000 each, and on top of that we will pick five personal honorable mentions which will receive $200 each.

bring your friends and sisters because this is a beginner friendly jam. join the community chat and ask for advice and plenty vn nerds will help you to the right direction. its easier than you imagine, the only thing you need is time and perversion which is the exact same thing as passion.

TOXIC YURI VN JAM 2

A game jam from 2026-06-01 to 2026-07-14 hosted by nadia nova, deaddeaddeath, KillJill, thursdayrain & Kyou System. 💉🤕VISUAL NOVELS 😈💔 FOR G

click the link for more in-depth details about the game jam and find the link for the community chat in the description.

be there or be decimated into squares 🔪🔪🩸🩸

[nadianova]

everyone glancing at this and being like damn this looks neat i wish i knew how to code so i could make a visual novel. well heres the thing. i dont know how to code either and look how many visual novels ive done. all you need is insanity and perversion thats just how great renpy is. you just slap "how to do x in renpy" in google and you probably have your answer. if its too complicated ask in the jam community chat and the vn nerds will rush in to help

but nadia nova i cant draw?? yes you can. maybe its bad but you can. trace some anime girls and go paw hands mode its good for the soul. and the thing is. you dont even need art for a visual novel. many of mine and many of my favorites dont have a single sprite or a cg. go play slime feet its literally just a text log and that shits making people bust and cry

but nadia nova i cant write?? if you can read you can write. all you need is imagination and decide you wanna go for it. pick your favorite story and make your own version of it. vent about your brain problems and put them on a character you want to throw down and up the staircase. do your own spin of a trope that pissed you off completely out of spite if thats what motivates you. literally just write smut about your favorite kinks. thats what im doing. theres infinite approaches.

but nadia nova. i want to write/draw GOOD if im going to make a thing!! i cant do it otherwise!! kill the perfectionism in your head. the only way to get better at those things is by doing it. its better to try and make something bad than to not do it at all. thats how i started. thats how everyone started. you can too

guhhh but nadia nova please my visual novel HAS TO HAVE amazing art and great writing and awesome cool brilliant custom ui!!!! then bring your friend who can complement your abilities or make something on your own while you get into the dev community and connect with other devs to work together!!! simply hanging out in spaces with other artists passively raises your own experience. even the lurkers grow stronger. thats just how it works.

nnghhhnghhnadiaaa but im so busy and my life is so full of shit to manage and i have depression and adhd and autism and evil brain disorder and have no time to commit!!! okay you got me there. in my humble and perfect always correct princess opinion this is literally the only valid point. but even then. examine it. how long do you spend just watching videos or playing games or doomscrolling?? you can chip some extra time and energy from a lot of places. many people who manage to make these entries are in surprisingly similar situations as you are. just scope small and go for it. your vn can literally be 5 minutes long. its longer than a vn thats 0 minutes long because it doest exist. and then you get better and more confident at it and suddenly you can do so much more.

hop on bitch i genuinely believe anyone passionate enough about creating can make a visual novel. its about the mindset and ive seen it come true countless of times. believe in yourself. i believe in you. even if you have read all of this and come to the conclusion that you dont have it in you be curious and read the rest of my thoughts on how to approach a project like this. its really fun. it really is. believe in the power of visual novels

NADIA NOVA

welcome to nadia nova how to make a visual novel tutorial

[orcboxer]

it's meee I'm your guardian angel hiiiiii 😇 okay🙏 so. in about six months, you're gonna die of starvation. 🥺 and if I don't protect you, I will get: #fired! 🫢 and that is No Good 🙅‍♀️ hahaaa So. 🙏 I looked into causes of starvation, and it turns out: Your death is totally preventable! 😯 Uh oh! 😆 There's more than enough food to sustain you without interfering with anyone else's survival, but you're not allowed to have it! 🤨 Whaaat? 🤷‍♀️ Apparently, your death is premeditated by thousands of things called "shareholders." So. 🙏 I've been killing people,

[obscurevideogames]

"Airy Scarecrow"

Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

(Media Vision - DS - 2008)

[king-k-ripple]

YouTubers Falling for the Exact Same Trap in Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Compilation

[white-wafers-3-cutter-puzzle]

Maybe next time something different will happen. Go on, stand under the platform and cut my rope. You can’t be completely sure the outcome will be the same…

[appleandaria]

There's no way this is a real account.

[white-wafers-3-cutter-puzzle]

Cut my rope

[vocalsynthtextposts]

i got excited after seeing a picture of rei with her wires out, so i drew a scene from my imagination...

[3amsoda]

etna

[3amsoda]

Your art isn't good, learn proper anatomy and stop drawing with your dick.

[transgamerthoughts]

I Hope You Get To Live Your Entire Life As A Human Being

I thought this was going to be a review of my time with Santa Ragione's Horses, the controversial art game recently banned from Steam and the Epic Store. To some extent, this will be that but after playing the game I think the game itself is maybe not too interesting when compared to the situation surrounding it. which is to say that a game about pressures of authoritarianism is fine but watching forces outside of the right align with captial and champion the decision to ban it from storefronts is perhaps even more telling than anything in the game. nominally lefitist gamers or vaguely progressive academics have found ways to decide that this game is simply something that should be dismissed. in doing so they align with the forces of mass capital and censorship, painting a picture of How This So Of Thing Is Allowed To Happen. Horses is a violent game. it is a game about participating in torture and slavery. it is a game that deploys sexual violence with mixed clarity. but I think it deserves to exist and so watching as certain voices have emerged to contend that worthiness has been frustrating. so I played it and we're gonna talk about it. but we're also gonna talk about how we talk about games...

In Horses, players control Anselmo. He is a young man working on a farm for two weeks who discovers early on that the horses on the farm are actually person who have been captured and forced to wear horse masks. They are, according to the farmer, mostly people caught having sex in the woods of his property and throughout the game Anselmo (and therefore the player) will not only tend to regular farm tasks but also the discipline of these horses. This involves a variety of situations. In some cases, the farmer flogs the horses and asks you to clean their wounds. After one horses is found fornicating with another, in what's perhaps the game's mode defining scene of violence, Anselmo must hold the offending horse's legs open while the farmer castrates him. Afterwards, the player must quickly stitch the wound. Later, this horse refuses to work in the field and while you can try offering carrots to help them move, you are eventually forced to strike them with a club. this is not every day. some days you wake up, set wood on a stump and chop some logs for the fire. maybe you prepare some food for the dog. functionally, which is to say in the act of play, Horses is a sort of first-person adventure game mixed with a farm sim. click item, click on thing to use itself with. sometimes this is normal, in other moments this mundane user experience is used to enact violence on the horses. Beyond these acts that the player participates in, there's a variety of sexual violences that are implied. A sick female horse is tended to by a doctor who eventually takes her into a shed where he seems to rape her to death. this is not a kind game but the violence is at lest deployed with some kind of purpose. as players gain familiarity with the routine on the farm, learning the layout and how to do tasks, they similarly acclimate to the presence of extreme violence. some critics, like megan farokhmanesh at Wired, have questioned if this violence (particularly the gendered sexual violence) is worth having. others have adopted a different approach; this is a game that invites comparison to a work like Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom and so the comparison goes "Well, there was worse in that movie" or perhaps even "there's worse stuff in many films" and so this violence, while not glossed over, is placed into a wider art context. many mediums have works more gratuitous that Horses! and the presentation of the violence, while gross, is not as explicit. where you fall on the spectrum here is a personal decision. farokhmanesh is correct to say that much of Horses violence is deployed casually and perhaps without care. on the other hand, that casual nature is arguably the point. this is a story about slavery and sex and denigration. it is about the ways in which powerful people turn their enemies into something other than human beings. does it all work? I'm unsure. the violence is neither explicit enough to truly shock and the content so broadly metaphorical that Horses message about authoritarian powers and how they cow us into accepting their grosses decisions is perhaps so wide reaching that it lacks a certain bite. regardless, this is a game which has been banned from many store fronts that contain games which often render up scenes of violence that are more detailed, more graphically raw than anything that exists in Horses. is it good? bad? that might not matter considering what else you can find on Steam with a cursory glance. and yet, the conversation about the game is revealing. many people who are not of the right wing have found ways to decide that yes this game is somehow EXCEPTIONAL to all the other violent stories our medium has and contrived many ways to justify aligning with storefronts in their decision making. and this, I think is maybe more interesting that Horses itself as the game is a rather flat work.

One scene at the center of the discussion is one that Santa Ragione themselves calls attention to in explaining why they think Steam initially turned down the game. A few days into the story, after we've had time to be around the horses and understand the situation, a businessman and his daughter arrive at the farm. the horses are stood before the pair, auction-like, and the daugther chooses one to ride. the player guides the horse (holding it by the reins) around a corral as the daughter rides upon its back. in the original version of the game, the daughter was supposedly a child. this has been changed in the final release where she is an adult. but (i think correctly) Santa Ragione identified this scene as one that drew the ire of Valve. even now, as a scene that doesn't exist it seems to be used by some folks to justify Horses removal from the store. through a game of telephone, the story has spread that this is a game of pornography and perhaps even one with an underage character in a scene. this is not the truth but it has led some folks, even some who previously rallied to defend "problematic" games during their struggles with payment processors like Visa, which led to a decision at the time to delist NSFW content. in that case, itchio was out of line but here? well, maybe Valve's in the right! Or so the thinking goes. and yet, I think this scene is perhaps the most important in the entire game insofar as what is happening in the text. The daughter terlls Anselmo that she KNOWS these horses are people. this is not merely some avant-garde absurdist twist; it is textual that the horses are human beings. they are slaves. she knows this. her father knows it. the priest that visits the farm knows. but it's okay. you see, these people are degenerates! and maybe even if they don't don't deserve this treatment, they have dangerous ideas. we're never told why those ideas are but it doesn't matter. they are different, they are "others" and because of that... because of the implied deviancy... it is okay for them to be mistreated. likewise, those games are art... because Horses has become to some folks an example of some kind of degenerate art... we shouldn't worry about the storefront bans. "I hope you get to live your entire live as a human being!" the daughter says. It is chilling, a threat without even meaning it to be one. For the moment, Anselmo is a "human being" in the eyes of the farmer but there is a suggestion that this could change. For whatever reason, he could become something else. Not a human being. And therefore subject to the same violence as all the other horses. for many of us, this is threat we live with. to be trans in america is to constantly skirt the line between "human being" and something else, for instance. many people in my life still see my humanity but there's always the threat that could stop. that the propaganda will take hold and I will not get to live my life as a human being. so it goes to people of color, people with mental health issues. and more. you are not always assured of your status as a human being. and in a less drastic example of this arbitrariness... you are not always assured that the thing you create, the art you make will be seen as art. for many people, Horses is not art. and the discussions about its worthiness have, in some ways, the same tone as the discussions about the worthiness of someone's status as "human being." and it is in this that I think Horses has proved interesting. more so than anything that happens inside the game.

A curious blip in this conversation was the re-emergence of a voice whose weight in game's related discussions had certainly waned over the last decade: Ian Bogost. Known best for making Cow Clicker and embodying the kind of presence one might expect from someone wrapped in the warm cloak of academia, Bogost popped his head up first to debate market factors surrounding Horses ban before falling back to one of his tried and true lines of inquiry. that the game was, unlike games he made and he liked, not a serious work. "Q-Up and Candy Crush, say, are more serious works of game than Horses (which seems fine and even innocuous!) or whatever embarrassing anime RPG trash is on Steam or Nintendo EShop," he said, referencing the clever competitive coin-flipping game Many of us rolled our eyes but I am going to talk about it briefly because in relation to Horses I do think Bogost's bait is worth taking for what it reveals about the situation surrounding the game. First, I'm gonna do a very briefly history lesson. In the 2010s, there was a growing emergence of alt games and particularly queer games that heralded the growth of alternate critics.

I was one of them so I feel qualified to talk about this but we're talking writers like Lana Polanksy, Stephen Beirne, and in more mainstreams spaces this is where someone like Austin Walker emerges as well. It was a varied coalition of writers who had a holistic and emotionally-driven approach to their criticism. games as experiences synthesized by players living in a context similarly made by people living in their own circumstances. In response to this, Bogost and some other tenured sorts start to write op-ed pieces extolling the power of games systems. Games, to people like Bogost and New York University Game Center's Frank Lantz, are only valuable for the systems they contain and the results of those systems. They embark in their writings to dismiss "childish make-believe, imaginary dragons, badly written dialogue." They stress games as *processes* and the only valuable narratives that emerge come from the collision of these processes. you don't need characters, you need mechanisms. note that in the context of the 2010s what Bogost was doing and to some extent Lantz was doing was slipping briefly out of comfortable tenured spaces to essentially deride games made by marginalized creators and criticism made by women, blacks, and queers. we pushed back because why the hell wouldn't we? This leads to what some people call "The Debate That Never Took Place" wherein many of those young alt-writers formulate writing in opposition to what's being written ultimately by comfortable white men with good jobs. Not all this writing exists but it is where terms like "ludocentrism" and "ludofundamentalism" are coined. Ways of describing a mode of thinking, born primarily from academia, which the opposition bloc finds too narrow to describe what games are doing and, importantly, why audiences enjoy them. All this fades away as a gaming is eaten by things like Roblox completely rebuilds the landscape but Bogost seems to have held onto that position and I think it's interesting to consider and talk about re: Horses because something we failed to grapple with at the time of The Debate That Never Happened" was how ludocentrism is a chiefly neoliberal idea. one which easily aligns with censorship. It's not a big leap to go from "games are only systems" to "markets will fix all of society's problems." We all understood this maybe but didn't quite attack for the foolishness it is. Because this urge, this impulse ironically aligns Bogost (a neoliberal professor) with forces of censorship and to some extent fascism. funny how that works. Time and time again over the years when formalists talk about their derision towards games stories, this comes hand in hand with what is frankly a kind of racism. this is particularly true with Bogost, who often slips into orientalist jabs.

Bogost cannot help, for instance, tossing a jab at JRPGs often and I think it's important to identify that for what it is. Bogost doesn't simply believe that only certain kinds of games are games; he also believes that only certain kinds of developers can make those games. there are people and there are fuckin' horses, y 'know? developers are people like him or Lantz. They are men, they are white, and they are American. This makes them better designers, smart people, and therefore The Only Real Designers. Atlantic writers and such. (the difference here BTW is that Lantz at least makes good games.) understanding his opposition to Horses becomes an easier task viewed in this light. He's not still simply opposed to story in games; he fundamentally believes on some innate level that the artists at Santa Ragione are not worth the default kind of respect that he gives to certain peers and implicitly deserved to have their game banned.

They made the wrong kind of game! is it even a game? This emotional garbage? Couldn't this have been a spreadsheet? Perhaps it could have but I think that playing Horses also reveals the ways in which that could have hobbled the story. You could totally make a suitable fascistic exercise in Excel but this does remove you from certain pressures that make Horses effective. proximity to the violence being done, proximity to potential danger that the farmer might enact on Anselmo. sound, music, movement. the theater of it all, that mix of sickening shock and comedy. breath in your ears. the undeniable complicity of holding someone down as they are tortured. holding the button, waiting for your accomplice to bring the sheers close. close enough to cut it's coming soon just hold the button don't let him squirm at least make it clean. that's not easily turned into an abstract system. to hold a button in order to hold a prisoner down creates a more active and unambiguous participation in Horses' violence which serves the text. and so in discounting these things —for instance, our multi-day bonding time with Linda the Horse (a character in a story!) shifting as we are forced to assist in violence against her—Bogost's neoliberalism sees him easily align with storefronts over artists. he aligns himself with capital over labor. and he deploys formalist language to the same end as he always has: to police creatives who are not "like him." he doesn't resent the market forces that led to Horses lack of support because he mostly agrees with it. This is a key factor to discuss with Horses because there's a lot of people out there who are not devilishly right wing that are nevertheless finding ways to contort themselves into positions that defend this game's banning from storefronts. the people who railed against itchio's payment processors missteps a while back seem fine with Valve axing Horses because it at one point contained something they maybe thought was icky which doesn't even exist in the text anymore. a former games writer defends to the death the decision simply because stores have the right (they're not doing anything illegal maaaan!) to remove whatever they want from shelves. a university professor aligns because this is happening not to people like him but people he doesn't respect. these are not villainous or "bad" people but they all reached the same bad conclusion and suddenly, this game about fascism and complicity is interesting not for the violence or sexual content but because it provided a case study for how a range of people—nominally online young progressives, academics, others—will find ways to say "oh, well it's okay this time." when it comes to censorship.

Thinking about this helps underscore why I think Horses biggest stumbles come when trying to explain why the farmer is doing what he is doing to these people. We are told that this is an inherited violence; he is doing to his horses what his own father made him do to a family dog. He is pressured by forces of religion and sexual repression. some nights, he puts on a mask of his own and hovers around, particularly observing the sexual violence his dog Fido commits. her leers, chastity belt snug and secure. I think Horses isn't terribly interesting when it comes to trying to track down where this cycle began and how much a victim the farmer could be in his own right. and I think the stumbling is interesting to consider when viewed side by side with the variety of ways in which certain people have decided to acquiesce to Vale and Epic. they don't need much reason! sometimes the reason for their support is as simple as "well, they're allowed!" There doesn't need to be much of a reason for anyone to blindly align with power or else participate in violence. Many people who think themselves fundamentally decent will find all kinds of way to justify their behaviors. In Horses, this can be as simple as finding an excuse to lie when a priest asks if you believe in god. The priest clearly holds sway and is an ally of the farmer; if you say you don't believe will that change how they think of you? Will it make them turn on you? Horses is full of these little justifications. I'm just lying to keep safe. I'm just playing along until the moment where I can do something else. I don't believe in this stuff but I don't wanna end up like one of *those* people. And in the discussion around the game, we see small versions of these arguments and justifications. They technically have the authority to ban this game. Well, geez I heard from a friend online that there's some secret pedo shit in their. Oh, that's not true. Okay but there's still a reference to a blowjob and that's icky so I'm glad we banned it. Hmm, actually this game is not as worthy of consideration as the mobile powerhouses that steal money from children and grandparents alike. Why? Well, you see it simply is. I know because I'm a professor of this stuff! The truth, the content doesn't matter. There's just a powerful market force and the many ways we decide to justify the decisions it makes. Be it casual moral judgements, legal technicality whataboutism, or anything else. People don't really need much reason at all. They'll invent any of several! and if they're doing this about a mid-quality art game, you have to ask... what else will they do it for? and it's through *this* arrangement of circumstances that Horses becomes something else, something more interesting and more potent. life around the game imitates the absurdity within. oh, we put those people in masks because they were fuckin' freaks anyway. oh, it's fine to ban this game because it made me uncomfortable somehow. so it goes for art and beyond. and it's not just the fascists who will do it but the liberals and even some leftists too. and more than anything, as I watch them align themselves in the way they have... I hope these people get to live their entire lives as human beings.

[linnielemon]

Quick analysis of Kaoruko in the train scene in the Revue Starlight movie!

“It’s tasty.” | “We drink the poison our minds pour for us and wonder why we feel so sick.” — Atticus

Spoilers ahead! (This is my first actual non-academic analysis, so it may be a bit bumpy!)

Nana Daiba tells the Stage Girls that once the loop she has created concludes, they will die. We see the bodies of the Stage Girls lined up side by side, their cloaks drenched with blood and boots filled with it. Notably, all their shoes have been taken off and placed beside them. In Japan, shoes being set aside can indicate that a death was a suicide, a desire to not carry dirt into the next life. While this scene (and really, most of Revue Starlight) are up to interpretation, I always believed that this showed the Stage Girls a future where they weren’t able to handle being actors/stars once leaving Seisho (“Is it blinding?”) and chose to end the pressures and suffering. The Stage Girls believe there is a bright destiny awaiting them, but Nana shows them the harsh reality she thinks she is protecting them from.

Inevitably, all stars burn out.

The other Stage Girls look upon their own bodies standing up (Futaba lays against hers sitting up, but without looking at it, and Maya’s back faces hers, but that’s a whole separate train of thought), but Kaoruko lays beside herself, as if resigned to her fate. Now, we already know the blood is fake stage blood, but is nevertheless used as a metaphor for the suffering they might be forced to endure out in the real world. Kaoruko tastes this agony, contemplates how it feels on her tongue, and simply says, “It’s tasty.”

I always interpreted that Kaoruko performed less for the joy of being on stage and more to bask in attention and fame. If she had been in a similar prodigious position as Maya, she would absolutely rest on her own laurels instead of honing her abilities. When asked by the teacher what her future plans were, she fell back on the dance school she would inherit and expressed a desire to be the best in the world. The other Stage Girls accept their fates but seem surprised and almost horrified by it, while Kaoruko doesn’t seem worried that her art won’t be as pleasant as it seems. Probably because she cared a lot less about being on stage than she did what she got by being in the spotlight. The suffering is exquisite and delectable, she thinks, if it can fulfill what she craves. Maybe that’s what she’s been craving this whole time.

Moreover, the blood being fake made me think about how the joy Kaoruko might obtain from fame is a fleeting illusion, and knowing that it would only bring temporary happiness, she still accepts it. Claudine says it herself, while mocking Maya: “The love of the moon, the shine of the stars, are all pathetic, fleeting illusions through which no blood flows!” The blood isn’t real. To be a stageperson, you can’t be your real, authentic self. The shine of the top star they reach for is meaningless in the end. None of it is real.

Thanks for reading!! Kaoruko is a very interesting character and I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ ) Let me know if you want to further Kaoruko analysis or thoughts on another character, ship, or Revue!

EDIT: If you enjoyed this drabble, I’ve posted a full analysis of the FutaKao movie revue here!

[linnielemon]

An Analysis of the Revue of Resentment (or Kaoruko and the gluttony they talk about in the Bible)

Thank you to @is-nino-actually-luka and some Revue Starlight fans on Reddit for encouraging me to write this! After my quick drabble on Kaoruko, I knew I had to delve deeper. @tokyo-tower-symbolism already had some amazing thoughts on the FutaKao revue, so if you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend that you check it out!

DISCLAIMER: HUGE spoilers for the Revue Starlight movie and anime ahead, and my analysis expects you to have already seen it. If you know anything about Revstar, you’re aware of its highly surrealist and interpretive nature. If you don’t agree with my interpretation, I’d love to read your own, but don’t attack or send any hate to me. Furthermore, I’m organizing my thoughts thematically rather than chronologically, so they may be a bit out of order! I talk quite a lot about Futaba and Kaoruko as characters separately, so if you just want revue analysis, read Act I and then skip to Act IV!

ACT I. - Alcohol motifs and symbolism

ACT II. - Kaoruko and her motivations

ACT III. - Futaba and her motivations

ACT IV. - The Revue of Malice/Resentment

ACT I. - “We drink the poison our minds pour for us and wonder why our stomachs hurt.”

I want to start out by talking about alcohol and poison and how they relate to the revue. Since the Revue of Resentment occurs soon after the Revue of Annihilation, I believe some of the metaphors carry over. So this begins with Daiba Nana — after annihilating (get it?) all her classmates on top of a moving train, she declares: “It feels like… I’ve just drank a very strong sake.” It’s pretty clear she’s describing passing into a state of inebriation, submerged in the adrenaline after delivering such a dazzling performance.

But the thing about sake and alcohol is that it’s not good for you at all. Think about the inevitable kidney failure and hangover the next morning! And being drunk makes you do stupid things! So why do we keep drinking it? Because it makes it seem like it’s good. It tastes good, it feels good, and it’s so incredibly addicting. The system isn’t any good either, but the Stage Girls love performing too much to see it. Nana seems to know this but can’t really find it in her to stop. However, she’s thinks she’s wise enough to stop her friends from succumbing to the same fate, hence the time loop.

Junna pretty hilariously replies “but we’re minors.” I giggled at this on first viewing (Junna, guru of words, not understanding a metaphor!), but upon further reflection, it’s sort of heartbreaking. Maybe Junna doesn’t understand the metaphor, Junna who loves words so dearly, because she isn’t ready to yet. Junna’s perceptive enough and has the connection with Nana the others don’t, so while she’s just has surprised by the fact that all their stars might burn out and die, she understands quickly. But her words are reflective of her feelings — no one’s ready for that kind of life, or death. They’re too young and naive and hopeful. Junna doesn’t think her or any of the others are ready to consume that alcohol/drug/substance that Nana does. And I don’t think she’s quite ready to grow up. The Stage Girls are accustomed to basking in Starlight, but never actually grasping the actual Top Star (Hikari’s fate after becoming Top Star is a whole other post). After seeing what their fate might entail, they’re starting to doubt whether they have what it takes to make it in the industry. Will they burn brighter, or fizzle out?

Alcohol causes intoxication, like with Nana, or even alcohol poisoning. Which allows us to segue into my next topic — poison in the Revue of Resentment.

While it being alcohol poisoning is a bit of a stretch on my part, Kaoruko compares Futaba to a candy box. She lashes out at Claudine, exclaiming that Claudine has “eaten, destroyed, poisoned it.”

With the meaning of alcohol that I’ve already established, I can only assume that Kaoruko is claiming that Claudine has corrupted Futaba by imbuing her with an actual desire to perform and become a Stage Girl. The initial reason Futaba auditioned for Seisho, or the reason why Kaoruko believes she did, was to be with Kaoruko. However, later in the show, she falls under Claudine’s teaching and hones her skills, managing to snag a role that Kaoruko presumes to be hers. Though Kaoruko probably knows the truth deep down, she chooses to place the blame on Claudine’s mentorship rather than the fact that Futaba sought to advance her abilities herself. In some strange rendition of purity culture, Kaoruko refuses to accept that the apple is rotten to the core.

Let’s jump ahead to the scene in the nightclub, which looks too similar to a lesbian bar to be coincidental. (Kaoruko is literally in clubbing clothes, and Futaba’s in a suit that evokes “male impersonators” or just your average baby butch. I refuse to believe the imagery wasn’t intentional. But I digress.)

A bar, simply put, is a place where alcohol is served. Kaoruko’s already made herself comfortable, nursing a glass, while Futaba looks anxious, like a fledgling chick learning to walk. The bar is the stage, the alcohol served there is representative of the feeling of being a Stage Girl. Kaoruko is more aware, having been in the spotlight since she was a child, while Futaba isn’t as experienced.

Futaba admits to not possessing the skill the other Stage Girls have, but this only angers Kaoruko. “From idealism to generalities,” she says. “You’re making a mess of reason everywhere.” Even after Nana’s warning, Futaba still idealizes what it’s like to be a Stage Girl and is irrational in Kaoruko’s eyes. Meanwhile, Kaoruko doesn’t stop trying to achieve her goals, but she’s self-aware of what it means to achieve them. I don’t think she knew what might happen to her before Nana Daiba basically tells all the Stage Girls they won’t make it with their current naivety and skill level, but she’s the least worried about it besides Maya, her foil.

Dousing herself in a tub of what appears to be sake under golden lights, creating one of the most visually stunning shots in the whole movie, she shows Futaba reality. Being a Stage Girl means indulging in intoxication that will only serve to ruin you in the end, but Kaoruko chooses to consume more and more because she can’t resist it. She’s practically drowning in it. After all, stars need their fuel.

(P.S: There is some significance to be drawn between sake facilitating the binding of the gap between the mortal and divine realms, and giraffes being messengers of the gods in some folklore. I’ve always felt the giraffe was meant to deliver some higher purpose to the girls, with stars being in the heavens. Maybe being drunk is the closest thing they’d ever get to getting there, a false illusion i.e “seeing stars”, but these are also late night incoherent ramblings by me so who knows if they carry any value.)

ACT II. — Kaoruko Alone

Kaoruko is far more interesting than anyone gives her credit for. To me, she’s one of the most realistic depictions of theater kids. As one myself, I can’t count on one hand how many people I know that are just like her. Think of a student who was gifted academically from their childhood and never had to study for a test, but as soon as they hit high school, they struggled with the more challenging material. Since they never learned to study, they just give up on learning all together and burn out. Kaoruko is similar with her art. She’s been in the spotlight ever since she was young, and she always thought it would stay that way without her having to put in extra effort.

Kaoruko has been basking in attention for beauty and dance prowess since she was young. Over time, she’s grown to crave it. If she’s neglected too much, I can imagine her experiencing withdrawals. Like alcohol withdrawals. (No, I’m not going to let the alcohol motif go.) However, as much of an attention whore she is, she doesn’t really want to do much to get attention. Low-effort, high-yield. RIP Kaoruko, you would’ve loved being a TikTok influencer.

Here, Kaoruko compares herself to a flower that needs to sunbathe and drenched in water (see parallel: the scene where Kaoruko drenches herself in sake) to flourish. This is the kind of gluttony they talk about in the Bible! I don’t really blame baby Kaoruko, honestly. It must be physically taxing and mentally exhausting to be enveloped in the world of performing arts since you were young (see: her foil Maya), but the issue isn’t that she didn’t want to as a kid, but that she carried over her sin of sloth into her adult years.

Shifting gears, look the snacks piled high beside Kaoruko, while Futaba is empty-handed. Kaoruko has been relishing the abundance of attention she has been receiving (the snacks being from Futaba reinforces the idea that Futaba is enabling her attention-seeking tendencies by feeding her what she craves), but poor Futaba gets the short end of the stick. There’s no one to pay attention to her.

Additionally, think of the progression of the sugary snacks and Kaoruko’s water bottle to the drink Kaoruko has in the Revue of Resentment, to represent her entering adulthood. As she matures, she needs something headier than the snacks of childhood.

I won’t get too into this unless specifically asked to write about Maya-Kaoruko and Futaba-Claudine parallels, but I see Maya as Kaoruko’s foil. Both grew up in performing families that encouraged their pursuit, both of them have partners (girlfriends) that facilitate their theatrical journeys, both teeter on the edge of narcissism. But the beauty of Maya’s character is no matter how much she surpasses her peers, she never rests.

Kaoruko wants the instantaneous destination without the journey. Claudine encourages Maya to go further and higher, but Futaba only enables Kaoruko’s laxity. Even more interestingly, Maya’s arrogance seems internalized with her silent and quietly smug personality, while Kaoruko’s is externalized by her need for outside attention and outward extravagance.

This line above can be interpreted either way, with Maya being a vessel of God or God itself, but I choose to believe she is the God. She has a pretty clear God complex, after all. Furthermore, “this vessel” makes it seem like she’s talking about something besides herself, and “reflects.. infinite multitudes of myself!” implies that she is speaking about a vessel of herself. Not to mention, the metal bird melts beside a burning cross, mimicking a crucifix, portraying the vessel a Christ-like figure. The mortal manifestation of the God Maya believes herself to be. Anyway, all this to say that Maya respectfully has her head so far shoved up her ass to believe she is God, and she doesn’t need anyone to tell her is. Meanwhile, Kaoruko desperately needs attention and validation to believe she’s worth anything at all. FutaKao and MayaKuro being foils to each other happens to be my Roman Empire, but I won’t write anymore than what’s relevant to this post unless asked. Just know if a Maya analysis or Revue of Souls analysis is requested, well — you haven’t seen the half of it. And if a full analysis on FutaKao and MayaKuro being foils is requested, then you asked for it.

Okay, I lied. We’ll talk about Maya and Kaoruko again for a bit. In episode 6 of the show, Kaoruko seems appalled that she hasn’t received a lead role, but as we’ve already established, it’s not really for the joy of performing. If she’s not in the center of attention, then it’s a waste of her time. Contrasting Maya, who has played supporting roles before but made them her own through her love for her craft, and strives to be the best actress in the world to have satisfaction within herself. Kaoruko also wants to be the best in the world—

— but she prefers to fall back on traditional dance instead of theater, to gain her own satisfaction through others rather than self-fulfillment. Why? Because it’s what she’s always been good at. In the show, she gets rejected from a role and told she should “stick to her dance,” so I guess she took it to heart. She doesn’t have an issue with switching her artform, because the artform doesn’t particularly matter to her in the first place. Just the status of being the world’s greatest. Though she’s grown as a person since the show revue and taking the responsibility of inheriting the dance school, Kaoruko before the Revue of Resentment is still a self-centered person.

I think I’ve given Kaoruko enough attention (lord knows it’s what she wants), but if you’re interested in any further thoughts, here’s my quick analysis of Kaoruko in the Revue of Annihilation!

ACT III. - Futaba, Alone

I’ll admit that this was a harder section to write than Kaoruko’s. I realize I’m part of the problem, but I never gave Futaba much thought compared to my Kaoruko ramblings. Writing this actually gave me a deeper understanding of her character.

I struggle to write Futaba and Kaoruko separately. Like Maya and Claudine, their lives are so irrevocably intertwined with each other, it’s hard to separate them. But unlike Kaoruko and her own foil Claudine, Futaba didn’t start out an artist.

In episode 6, the earliest memory of Futaba’s we see is her chasing after Kaoruko after she sneaks away to satiate her attention craving. While FutaKao babies are certainly très mignon, it’s depressing when you realize Futaba has based her identity around Kaoruko at such a young age. It fosters a toxic dependence on each other and an unhealthy attachment and possessiveness.

I’ve already discussed the pile that Kaoruko has and the lack of snacks Futaba suffers from representing how much attention has been lavished upon them. But let’s talk about what Futaba lamenting her empty purse while Kaoruko has more than enough to share with her. It’s representative of Kaoruko takes and takes and wrings Futaba dry without giving her anything in return (starving Futaba vs. greedy Kaoruko 🥀). And not to mention the practice Kaoruko complains about being something Futaba has never had the privilege of being able to attend.

So why does Futaba stay with Kaoruko? There is no doubt in my mind that Futaba and Kaoruko love each other, but love can be unhealthy. When you’re in an unhealthy relationship, there’s a tether attached to the “but I love them” that keeps you together — “I can fix them, they will change, I’m too scared to leave..” etc. But what is it for FutaKao? There isn’t much concrete evidence (It’s Revstar, nothing is concrete) but I’m going go out on a limb based off of Futaba’s personality and her foil.

Claudine is talented in her own right, but Maya blows her out of the water. Claudine even admits it. There’s no reason for Maya to have a rivalry with someone below her league. While that’s a separate post, I believe Futaba thinks Kaoruko is out of her league. While Kaoruko is surrounded by adoring fans, Futaba can only be a face that blurs into the crowd.

Futaba doesn’t think she’s worthy of Kaoruko’s affection or attention, so she doesn’t ask for it. But when Kaoruko exclaims that she’s going to marry into a family that gives her attention, it instills a fear in baby gay Futaba that Kaoruko is going to leave her. So she gives Kaoruko what she wants, what she thinks will make Kaoruko stay with her— the attention she craves, so she doesn’t have to get it from anywhere. This was the toxic codependency and possessiveness I discussed earlier manifesting.

Moving on from Kaoruko thinking her presence alone is enough to repay Futaba’s devotion.. When you put someone on a pedestal, you give them everything you have and don’t think you deserve anything more. With her low self-esteem, Futaba believes that she should be grateful that Kaoruko stays with her at all, and doesn’t ask for anything more. She should be grateful that Kaoruko chose her to be the one to see her shine. She follows Kaoruko where she goes like a loyal dog. She auditions for Seisho to be with Kaoruko, but since she never thought she’d have a future in performing and honed her own skills, she’s last considered.

Surprisingly, Seisho is where the tables turn for Futaba. Under Claudine’s mentorship, she works hard for the talent that Kaoruko takes for granted. Even Kaoruko has to admit that Futaba has improved.

This scene occurs after Futaba claims a possible role in the production, while Kaoruko misses out. Kaoruko lays on Futaba’s lap, while Futaba never rests on hers, physical indication of how Futaba always supports Kaoruko. Notably, it’s Kaoruko’s head in Futaba’s lap, their relationship at this point consists primarily of Futaba feeding into Kaoruko’s mental demands and letting them go to her head. Kaoruko doesn’t ask but commands Futaba to give the role to her, to which Futaba continues drinking what appears to be a strawberry milk or juice carton. If we consider the same metaphor of the snacks —> alcohol representing attention and the experience of being a Stage Girl, Futaba doesn’t quite have a pile of snacks or a tub of sake. However, after her stellar performance, she’s having a tiny taste of what it’s like. And I think, deep down, she enjoys Kaoruko paying attention to her instead of the other way around.

Now that Futaba knows how it feels, she realizes that the wonder of a Stage Girl is being able to push forward to burn brighter. She doesn’t want to leave Kaoruko, but having gained some of her own autonomy, she decides that she wants to stand beside Kaoruko as an equal rather than watch her in the distance, a face in the crowd. Instead of succumbing to belief that she wasn’t worthy of Kaoruko, she would devote herself to becoming the best version of herself she can be to become worthy of Kaoruko. I think that’s beautiful.

I think I may have delved deeper into episode 6 than I need to, but Futaba’s history is critical to understanding to her motivations in the movie.

Back on track, Futaba has more uncertainty about what her future holds than Kaoruko. She wants to audition for New National, but is aware that it might be too competitive for someone of her skill level. Even under Claudine’s mentorship, Futaba still has to catch up to years worth of practice and experience her peers and competition will have. Still, like the bright-eyed and spunky high school graduate she is, she’s willing to give it a shot.

Though she might not be the most skilled, this is a good sign that Futaba is willing to branch away from Kaoruko and find a way to flourish independently. After all, both Kaoruko and Futaba realize that Futaba joining the New National theater troupe means they can’t stay together anymore. Afraid of Kaoruko preventing her from making the decision, she doesn’t it behind her back. As you can imagine, Kaoruko isn’t too happy about this.

ACT IV. - Futaba and Kaoruko, together (or the actual revue)

I’ve heard people describe the FutaKao revue as a divorce. I prefer to think of it as separation with promised reconciliation that they would return better partners for each other.

I’ve already talked about Kaoruko deflecting the blame onto Claudine and objectifying Futaba in the gambling house scene leading up to the first portion of the revue. But I haven’t introduced Futaba, in a totally badass fashion, crashing into the gambling house (or Kaoruko’s warped perception of reality) and apologizing for showing up Kaoruko and Claudine with all the lights. In a way, the modern, flashy semitruck destroying the walls of the traditionally styled gambling house is interestingly illustrative of Futaba making progress and destroying the traditional way of doing things in her relationship with Kaoruko. The American-style clothes Futaba wears versus Kaoruko’s yukata only makes me think more of the dilemma between globalization and technology and tradition. It’s an interesting comparison to draw.

Is it bright? Is it blinding? Futaba is shining more than ever as she declares Kaoruko a selfish inconvenience and clamors for an end to their relationship — the metaphor of saccharine sweet candy illustrating how their relationship rotted to nothing more than a one-way transaction of attention. Not only has Futaba grown more proficient in her abilities, she’s done it without Kaoruko. She claims that “this is a straight path of parting,” that there will be no issue ending the years-long relationship.

Kaoruko monologues herself, describing the fading of their relationship over time to foliage through the seasons. After proclaiming she will cut the “narcissus of winter and let it fall”, she echoes Futaba’s words that this will be “a straight path of parting.” Both of them seem confident that their feelings won’t get involved. But consider this — when characters are wearing costumes outside of their revue outfits (here in Kaoruko’s dealer ensemble and Futaba’s American-style number), they are playing characters. This is pretty evident in the MayaKuro revue — they aren’t being authentic to themselves. So is this what they really feel?

The location the first battle is in appears to be the same setting that the childhood home that served as the location for their first battle was in, or at least a with a similar style.

As Kaoruko furiously expresses her betrayal over Futaba moving on to bigger and better things without her, saying the promises Futaba made to her were empty lies, Futaba attempts to console her. She claims that the only reason she’s leaving her side is to come back to her as someone more worthy of her. Whether that is or isn’t true doesn’t particularly matter, though, because Kaoruko doesn’t believe her.

As they advance up the stairs, up from their childhood home, from their childish promises, Futaba’s excuse grows flimsy. Them going up the stairs represents them growing up. The lyrics of the song the two sing, indicative of their true thoughts, imply that they knew the parting was a long time coming. Even though Futaba claims that she will eventually return to Kaoruko’s side, the same reasons she used a year ago in the show wouldn’t cut it. As they reach the top of the stairs, the setting switches to the bar.

The significance outside of the stage metaphor is the progression of the childhood setting they were once in to the nightclub of adulthood, representing them almost graduating from Seisho. Futaba and Kaoruko are growing up and apart, and the promises and hollow words that held them together before won’t cut it.

Honestly, the whole confrontation scene between Kaoruko and Futaba in the bar is uncannily similar to accusations of infidelity. The only thing missing is a giant WELCOME HOME, CHEATER banner next to the booth. Especially when Kaoruko complains, “What do I care about other women?” when Futaba describes her inferiority complex compared to the other Stage Girls. But unlike someone who cheated on their partner, Futaba’s only crime is trying have a life outside of Kaoruko. In that way, Kaoruko must feel like Futaba has been leading “another life” without her, like an adulterous partner with their “other family.” But the way I see it is Kaoruko making herself the victim in a situation where she is at fault, putting on a show (again, wearing non-Revue outfits means they’re playing characters) where Futaba has wronged her. I really do believe Kaoruko knows in her heart that she can be selfish and has made some bad choices, but she has a perpetual inability to accept that, so she deflects the guilt onto others.

I don’t think Futaba really wants to leave Kaoruko. I think they’ve just outgrown their current selves. Futaba is no longer the subservient dog she was for Kaoruko earlier, but Kaoruko is still largely arrogant and petty. At this point, unlike Claudine and Maya (who end up going to different countries as well), they cannot grow any further together.

Kaoruko accuses Futaba of being a liar yet again, this time preaching to her about idealisms while bathing in her sake tub. I still think this is such a beautiful clip.

In the sub translation, Kaoruko says: “Expose your true intentions. You got annoyed with me, didn’tcha?” In the dub, she says: “You got sick of me, didn’t you?” That stabbed me in the stomach like Anthy and Utena.

I love that that line shows a bit of Kaoruko’s vulnerability. Like I said earlier, she’s not as confident in herself as Maya. She needs someone to make her feel wanted and maintain her arrogant front. And now, she feels like Futaba doesn’t want her anymore.

They warn each other to “Keep away!” but they continue to drive towards each other, and they can’t really help it. Kaoruko even admits it by saying: “we’re useless, huh?” They claimed that this was a straight path of parting, and the lyrics say they’re indifferently passing each other on the highway, as if their relationship would only be a blip on the road for them. But the only path they’re taking is to each other. That’s been the order of things for years, after all.

As they crash into each other and plummet over the edge, Futaba holds Kaoruko’s hand to prevent her from falling. Protecting her as always, but here Kaoruko looks extremely vulnerable. Softly, she asks: “Did we cut ties?” She really is terrified of Futaba leaving her, of losing her rock and her love. Even if she’s loathe to show it. In the end, it wasn’t a straight path of parting, ending up clinging to each other in the end.

Mirroring Claudine calling Maya a greedy human, Futaba says that Kaoruko’s been greedy, unfairly hogging her all to herself. The little conviction they have snaps, and they fall down together. Their relationship needs to have a few downs, they need to fall, if they want to be “reborn” in the end. Unlike in the Mayakuro revue, they’re actually falling than flying like it seems in the Revue of Souls.

As they lay in a bed of sakura petals (which I think represents their childhood feelings. They’re still there, but Futaba and Kaoruko lie on top of them, meaning they’re bigger than them now), Futaba says that it’s her turn to be selfish. She doesn’t ask for permission. Kaoruko says she doesn’t know about all that, but she doesn’t reject the notion. She’s accepted that Futaba is ready to move on to the next stage.

Futaba gives Kaoruko her key and tells her to take care of her motorcycle, which I think means “don’t forget me when I’m gone.” The motorcycle is a more mature version of the bicycle Futaba used to drive Kaoruko around. Even as they grow up, and things change, their feelings and Futaba’s devotion to Kaoruko will remain stagnant. Kaoruko replies, “I’m not waiting, even if you leave this with me.” Even as she says that, the song lyrics, unveiling her true feelings, croon: “Until you return, I’ll always be waiting.” I think I cried when I first saw this.

I have to echo a thought I’ve read in other analysis before, since it’s just poignant. Futaba’s keychain is Position Zero. Position Zero is the place all Stage Girls return to, the final goal. Futaba reassures Kaoruko that she will always come back to her, that no matter where she goes, her place is by Kaoruko’s side.

The Revue ends with an adorable cut of baby FutaKao holding hands. Kaoruko repeats how useless they are, but in a different context. She has her naughty front, but she’s admitting that Futaba makes her weak (SEE: MAYAKURO).They can’t fully overcome their childhood feelings for each other, but they don’t need to. They just need to learn to handle them in a healthier way. They’re useless in the way that they can’t put aside their feelings for each other (see: Maya), they just can’t help falling in love. (Is someone cutting onions?)

(P.S: I couldn’t find anywhere to fit this, but in the color-coded subtitles, Futaba and Kaoruko have each other’s colors (˃̣̣̥ᯅ˂̣̣̥) They’re so sickeningly sweet!!)

ENDING NOTES: Aaaand those are my two cents on the FutaKao revue! Thank you so much for reading! I’m sorry that the revue analysis itself is short, I have more thoughts on the ship and characters than the revue. But, I really enjoyed writing this one. FutaKao is an interesting twist on the typical childhood friends dynamic with characters dependent on each other that are still compelling characters alone. As you can tell, I’m a huge Kaoruko truther. I adore her growth, albeit slow, because it just feels so realistic to me. If you enjoyed this analysis, please considering leaving a like, reblogging, or even following me for more! If you have a request for another Revstar analysis, message me or drop a comment ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ I’d also considering analyzing other media (especially Revolutionary Girl Utena) if asked! + always accepting constructive criticism, and if you have any other thoughts or you feel like I missed something, feel free to let me know! Thank you again!

[multibugorganism]

oughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[lilycomplex]

[shardsofglassheart]

I think the hardest part about addressing child abuse is getting people to acknowledge, not just intellectually but actually responding accordingly, is that the biggest threat to children, the biggest risk of abuse, is family and parents.

it is of course most often parents who are crowing about needing to protect children (often against far smaller threats than family), and pointing out that they are, statistically, the biggest threat to their kids is not gonna be received well.

[discoursedrome]

tbh I feel like most of society’s rhetoric around “protecting children” comes from the same place as deep-patriarchy rhetoric on “protecting women”, where the idea is that they’re sacred and valuable but also treated essentially as property, and the the desire to protect them is largely experienced as a desire to ensure that those property rights are sacrosanct

[lloydthevoid]

Wow thats it

[basedbluearchivetakes]

TL:

• In Pina's Relationship Story, there's a part where Sensei compares their bust size with Pina's

→Sensei is a likely to be a busty female teacher

• Asuna and Karin propose that Sensei wears a bunny suit (Karin offers her own)

→Bunny suits are basically corsets, so they're not flexible enough to fit just any body shape

→It's possible that Sensei's body shape is close to Karin's

→Sensei is a likely to be a busty female teacher

• Meru, who's a Yuri author, came to ask Sensei if she could use them as reference material for a doujinshi

→Sensei is a likely to be a busty female teacher

• Sensei thinks that Valentine's Day is a day where people exchange chocolate

→It's fundamental to Valentine's Day that only girls give chocolate

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Neru says, "What's with this softness?"

→She's talking about Sensei's boobs

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Sensei is extremely shocked when she hears that using the bathroom is forbidden

→Women have shorter urethras and have to use the bathroom more often

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Sensei is liked by the old men in Gematria

→Old men love girls with big boobs

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Moe speculates that the package FOX Squad retrieved from Schale was Sensei's underwear

→As expected, the package is ridiculously big

→If it's a huge bra, it would make sense

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Sensei has chronic knee pain

→It's possible that her breasts are too big, so her lower body is bearing a lot of responsibility

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• Sensei says to Izuna, "My heart feels full!"

→Sensei's chest feels completely full

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• When Sensei scolds a student, they scold her like a child

→I'd like to be scolded by a sexy, big-boobed, older woman in the same way

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher

• At one point in the final volume, Sensei gets naked

→I'm playing Blue Archive to look at women in the first place, so if Sensei gets naked they should be a woman with big boobs

→Sensei is likely to be a busty female teacher