the NAMES in Hamlet are gonna kill me dead and Shakespeare should be tried for first degree murder.
So hello if you're new her I'm Garlick I'm obsessed with Shakespeare I probably have other character traits but it's mostly Shakespeare
ONWARDS
So Hamlet is great for tons of reasons. (Yes yes we're back on the Hamlet bullshit, now SHUSH).
One of the MANY reasons why Hamlet the play is great is cause of the names!!
Claudius and Polonius and Horatio have Latin names , showing them to be like.... In one group.
Claudius was the name of like a couple of Roman Emperors and the man's a king so that fits. Also Claudius comes from the Latin word "lame" or "limp"? My prof said 'cripple' but that word feels yucky so idk. Either way Claudius IS lame and he is crooked so it does work out!!
what of Polonius ?? I don't remember THAT much Latin (boo, Garlick!!), so onwards to Wikipedia! https://share.google/ugnliFJtHbLesIsFG
"Polonius" is Latin for "Polish" or "a/the Polish man." The English translation of the book refers to its author as a statesman of the "polonian empyre". In the first quarto of Hamlet, Polonius is named "Corambis". It has been suggested that this derives from "crambe" or "crambo", derived from a Latin phrase meaning "reheated cabbage", implying "a boring old man" who spouts trite rehashed idea.
A) fucking HILARIOUS is that part about cabbage. Gonna name my kid reheated cabbage and be like ITS AN IMPORTANT NAME FOR AN IMPORTANT SHAKESPEARE CHARACTER. Actually gonna name my cat that. He never shuts up.
B) Polonius and Claudius sound so similar. I know, Latin endings, but still. And they're both outsiders - Claudius on a throne he doesn't belong to, and Polonius is literally a Pole in Denmark (also weirdly close to the throne). And you bet your ass those shakespeare era Brits were racist as hell against slavs.
What about Horatio? His name means "timekeeper" or "man of time" and it meant to be like wise or stuff. But. "There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of by your philosophy". And... He's the one who dooms Hamlet. He's the one who brings Hamlet to the Ghost and then spends the rest of the play regretting that decision. He's the starting bell - and the end of the play, the last words are spoken by him and then it's his job to TELL THE STORY HELLO SHAKESPEARE WHY MUST YOU CAUSE ME PAIN AND SUFFERING
onwards to Laertes and Ophelia and Horatio!
So these names are all Greak. Laertes was actually the name of Odysseus' father (cool!!) and his name means... Uh... Gatherer of the people. Huh. I guess he does? After Ophelia dies, he jumps into the grave, bringing Hamlet to her body. And his duel with Hamlet brings *everyone* into that room. And I means EVERYONE. He brings people together at the cost of his life. Ouch! I'm suffering :)
Ophelia is also Greek! Her name means "help" or something? And she does try to help Hamlet. And Laertes tries to help her. Wow. I'm sad now.
we got Latin names, we've got some Greek names, time to move onto the German names. Are you sad yet?
Gertrude is actually a German name, something to do with spears and strength idk. But that's interesting! What a name to give to a FEMALE character! It suggests SUCH hidden depths - this woman who found her husband murdered, who kept her son alive by drinking the poison meant for him, this woman who married her husband's brother and killer, who must have been scared and alone - and Claudius would absolutely be willing to kill her and Hamlet if they were between him and the throne! Gertrude sacrifices her son's respect in order to keep them both safe(r). She IS a goddamn strong character. Good for her. She should have been given a gun. Au where Gertrude shoots Claudius through the head and then officiates Hamlet/Ophelia/Horatio's wedding.
Hamlet has two meanings. The first old German thing is from this Amleth legend, and guess what, Amleth is ALSO a prince who pretended to go nuts to get revenge on his uncle. Coincidence? I think NOT. also Amleth means "fool" or "trickster" hahaha that's Hamlet lol. But the SECOND meaning is an old French/English one and guess WHAT it means LITTLE HOME. like. THE SHIRE VIBES ARE OFF THE CHARTS
And HELLO? HAMLET DOESN'T GET A HOME. everyone he loves is DEAD (except Horatio) and his dad is dead and he's surrounded by enemies and. That's AWFUL.
The digital circus is about this the digital circus is about that in my heart TADC is about a situation where you have to make eachother better. Even if you never wouldve before. Even if they don't deserve it. Even if you hate eachother. Because you don't have a choice—You're all they have.
so, it's been a hot minute since i last posted on here(not that i really need to but anyways!)
ya girl got into hsr a while ago and got addicted(FEIXIAO COME HOME PLSS) nd while in was doing the trailblazer quest where we meet sunday again, something he said struck me in an odd way.
now a pointed disclaimer, i'm not a professional theory crafter but this gen couldn't leave my mind so i had to share it :3
so! you all know march, right? pretty familiar with our in game companion and bestie.
and we all know that her past is pretty....lacking, in the sense that we know nothing about it apart from the fact that she was encased in ice when she was found by the express and had her memory erased and kept by a memokeeper.
now, back to something sunday said, and bear with me cuz this is relevant: where a place like Penacony harbors memoria(or sum along those lines), and due to the laughing prank by the Pepeshi, Tingyun's psych splintering off into different beings as well, it got me thinking(never a good thing btw).
did march become affected in a similar way as a possible punishment for something her original self did and have the memokeeper split her different personalities and then erase their collective memory so it can't be traced back?? as like a way for her not to be chased down again?
idk, march is js happy go lucky energy most of the time and has this air about her(at least to me) where it seems like there's something about her that we just can't see or conceive. because in such a narrative, esp like hsr, where the characters are always hiding something until the very end, it wouldn't be surprising for march to have such a....dark past abt her.
also, isn't it weird that she has a new skin, and more than 1 path to choose from? as a 4*, she's getting some vip treatment. and that's not js me ragging on her or anything(i truly do love march, she's so sweet)but i just think that the developers are trying their hardest to keep her relevant with a permanent event and all that jazz, so it might not be too far fetched that we might get a dazzling reveal.
at some point, when we do get a reveal, i wouldn't be surprised if there are other marches in existence just like the one we know, just with different personalities and backstories.
maybe the quest where we explored her mind with the matrix of prescience allowed us to witness the connection between the fractured personalities before the memokeeper felt that connection and severed it??
im grasping for straws here, but i think it's a silly theory that might be plausible, idk tbh.
Spoilers for Book 4 and 5
(im sorry jamil enjoyers. but im so biased towards kalim its not even funny)
(this spiraled into me talking all about kalim in the actual game so oops)
imagine how different the story would be if kalim was in RSA
and we just hear from jamil about these snippets about his 'master' (although itd be weird they'd be separated if jamil tended to him often to where he'd prob be like his personal servant? idk what situation would have jamil talk to us anyway but yknow maybe we get close, he's like the other friend who seems cool? he'll basically help us out with knowledge about things, fleshing out the world a bit more, as the only sophomore in the group cause he kind of feels responsible maybe? then BETRAYAL)
and then eventually partway through the school year KALIM IS THERE (we know why though) and he somehow ends up housewarden.
i have a dislike against RSA. its very petty and its kind of because they keep winning (and they dont even mean ill intent which is worse! …but its kind of like kalims kindness. and i like kalim but that might make me biased. SO. thus the existence of this.)
we probably wouldnt like him much right? (and i imagine he'd get his fair share of bullies. we find this out. he laughs it off like 'nah, im used to attempted assassinations and everything. this isnt nearly as bad.')
(id do the clapping between but ppl get annoyed, and i get annoyed)
CUE KALIM BEING MORE THAN SMILES AND WE LEARN THAT ABOUT HIM !!
HES aware enough that he can cook food good using JUST magic (which takes precision to use it as good or even better than your hands right??. its in his labwear vignette. ruggies teaching him ofc so ruggie wants it to be good cause hes taking leftovers, BUT CMOONNN he can learn. ..and yeah it took a few years for jamil to teach kalim antidotes to common poisons so he could do it easy but kalims hardly a master at making potions so i call that good)
AND in book 5 he noticed vil had like the same look as jamil to where he knew something was going to go wrong (aka the poisoning)
maybe its to show how much kalim doesnt belong in NRC and thats why they dont pull the 'more than he looks at first glance' like cater with glimpses in vignettes and etc
but like COME ON.
the sultan might be dumb (i recently re-watched aladdin) but at least he knew enough that he didnt want jafar marrying his daughter cause hes OLD and also he doesnt want to force jasmine into anything (good intentions. im sure if they just waited and she didnt find a suitor in time he would've just CHANGED THE LAW like he did IN THE MOVIE because he wants her to be happy!)
ALSo he tried to look through the law jafar claimed to say that would make her have to be married to the vizier or whatever (aka jafar) but then jafar just pulled it away before he could (and then attempted to mind control him when he refused)
mans was prepared to spend hours reading over it even if he didnt understand it but he wasnt given the chance
also kalim is worryingly nonchalant about stuff. i mean. you can get used to horrible things to where they just feel so normal and uninmportant i guess? but poor bby. hes been like 'i want to keep myself alive because if i die then someone else will get punished.' or like about poisoning, if someone has a change of mind and hes already dead, then he cant do something to help them, so he has to make sure he'll live.
..i really doubt that hes just. so oblivious. maybe in denial, but still.
anyway i got very off topic. my bad. and to be fair we do get to see more of him at some parts. but hhh
okay listen. denial. (i am also a believer that if when kalim confronted jamil, if he said he didnt do anything kalim wouldve believed him. bruh gave him excuses like '..i just got tired, right?')
"The real Jamil would never do such things!
He's a good guy. He's always helping me, giving me a shoulder to lean on, and—" (Book 4 • Chapter 33)
we just. dont see him really crumble?? he just. keeps being optimistic
we convince him jamil is bad. he resolves to punch him for being a traitor and THATS IT?
he sobs at the end of jamils overblot but then he goes back to being optimistic like 'lets be equals!' (..it feels like he didnt really learn much though as he's still 'I didn't notice--' 'I--' and i wish he couldve gotten more awareness. cause he makes it about himself yknow and blaming himself but COME ON put some blame on jamil PLEASE? or like. ANYONE ELSE. you also cant notice shit if no one ever tells you about it that you dont even know to look for it! he doesnt want to be cautious about who he can trust so like, why would he think to doubt the person who hes known his entire life??? especially if its something that was just always there that it feels natural, how could he know better? hes sheltered! so someone shouldve explained it to him, made him realize things! aghhh)
heres the book 5 one btw
"I got a real bad feeling when I saw the look on your face after Neige's rehearsal.
It was practically the same look I saw on Jamil's face when he lost control of himself over holiday break." (Book 5 • Chapter 62)
And I mean maybe he did learn in that he's more aware of this now than others because he knows what people could look like because of Jamil, but I feel like a lot of things were just so unsaid. That the first time blindsided him, but now he's kind of a little more worried about something happening while he's there that he didn't notice so now he's trying to notice things more??? Or like maybe having gut feelings that he'd ignored before because it was Jamil but now knowing better?
So he can be aware. but then the rest of the time he's just thought of as dumb or an idiot or forgetful and it just makes me sad. and i mean i get that he wants to see the best in people but we never really talk about how its more that its denial. a refusal to see it, and i want to understand why
or maybe its because he sees the good in people that he trusts they'll do the right thing. or he believes that the good outweigh the bad (although i dont know if it'd be the same case if it was someone he knew who got hurt)
like. okay back in book 5
"Besides, I would bet there isn't a single person in Scarabia who hasn't gotten help from Jamil at some point. Am I right?"
"See? There you go. He's been a model vice housewarden. In fact, he's put me to shame.
He let dark thoughts get the better of him for a brief time. Other than that, he's a perfectly capable guy." (Book 5 • Chapter 10)
He justifies it with that Jamil isn't the only one to blame (he also blames himself), and that Jamil hadn't done anything wrong before then
which. AGAIn. means that in his eyes the good outweigh the bad. jamils better at his duties so jamil should stay as vice housewarden.
this was the first time jamil did anything bad so it'd be fine, it was just an error in judgment
AGHHh
nothing about the fact that his closest friend he views as a brother
"He's grown up with Jamil since a young age, and considers him a brother in all but blood." (from the In-game Album)
who would be the last person he'd expect to do such a thing BETRAYS HIM, planning to make everyone (or well just the people in scarabia) turn against him
like. that has to be a shock right??? AND THEN HE JUST. welcomes him back into his life like it was nothing im just. kALIM. SWEETIE.
and i mean i get its for the best since if anyone knew what actually happened anything could happen to jamil (and jamil has his own reasons i get that but this is about kalim)
but he still hangs around him. has him as his aide. so while something did change, it also feels like nothing changed at the same time.
"I'm always chosen. Always. That's such an obvious truth that I never even consciously processed it.
But now I see that was only possible because of Jamil's constant sacrifices.
He created that "truth" in my mind by always holding back. By always letting me win.
...It stings. "Galling" doesn't even begin to describe it." (Book 5 • Chapter 30)
also like one of the very few times he expresses how he feels about something (how it hurts not to be chosen for the first time, and/or that he was only chosen because of someone else so he wants to work hard)
and then grim shuts him down with "You wanna talk about galling? Imagine how I feel not even makin' the cut for the audition to start with."
like. COME ON.
Kalim responds with, "Ah, you're right. My bad! I didn't mean to rub it in.
Goodness, there I go again! I'm super sorry, honest."
and yeah it can seem kind of spoiled but also. its probably because of that that he doesnt want to share his troubles because he's very privileged so it feels like he might not deserve to act like its anything when everyone else has to work so much harder, right?
AND ITS JUST. REAFFIRMING TO HIM THAT his troubles are nothing compared to anyone elses and im just aghhauihduadhw
he also cares a lot about other people (people like him as housewarden because he listens to their troubles and supports them) so i just. want him to be able to take a moment to care about himself and just admit these things that he usually doesnt get the chance to.
throughout the show sasha often shows dependency on anne (and marcy) and was clearly upset when he had felt that his relationship with anne was ruined. he’s so controlling over anne because she’s scared of losing her and being abandoned by her and when the chance that anne left him came up, he forced herself to think “anne is actually the bad person” and distracted himself by training.
• distorted self image
oftentimes sasha will question his beliefs and whether his goals and values are good; he quickly went from wanting to reunite with anne and leave amphibia to wanting to die for hurting anne to wanting to be extra controlling of anne and wanting to rule amphibia. it’s said that distorted self image can be due to lack of stable relationships, nurturing and support: sasha, while having some sort of relationship with grime, didn’t see it as very personal until after they fought yunan and grime revealed himself to be a supportive uncle type figure for him but during the period in which sasha could have felt alone, he could have been very unstable and quickly had a dramatic shift of his motivations.
• unstable relationships with people
when sasha first met anne and marcy he most likely grew protective of them when he realized him protecting them from older kids was received well. even in the third temple, he showed signs of wanting to do everything for marcy and anne to keep them safe to prove his worth. but, as the relationship grew it became unhealthier due to sasha’s demands of anne to listen to him no matter what so that sasha can fulfill the protector role (even when it’s not needed) and so that anne cannot leave him. this behavior could also stem from sasha’s parents perhaps abandoning him or not paying attention him enough in childhood but his parents haven’t been introduced yet because “spoilers” so that’s just speculation.
• self-destructive behavior
you could say sasha’s and self destructive behavior comes from how he will randomly and impulsively will put herself in danger to get what he wants or to get what other people want so that he gets their validation; the third temple shows baby sasha hurting himself when attempting to fight the older kids then in reunion we see sasha breaking laws and rules to get what they want.
• inappropriate bursts of anger
when sasha feels as though anne had abandoned him, he gets extremely angry and makes some weird dummy of anne and kicks it. when sasha finds out that anne and marcy are doing well without him, he also becomes angry as he seemingly lost his one and only way of getting the positive attention he craves so badly because his mind thought “they’re doing well without me? they must not need me anymore? i can’t become useless so i need to make up for it by being extra controlling and ruling amphibia”.
• mood swings
this is a smaller example but i noticed in true colors he went from being confident/happy to then feeling rejected/sad to then becoming angry to then becoming down once again in a matter of minutes (maybe about 40 minutes). it shows that he has extreme mood swings when he has interpersonal stresses weighing him down: what was weighing him down in true colors was being in control but being rejected by anne once again.
• suicidal tendencies
him purposely letting go to fall to his death during reunion when he felt as though he was holding down anne (literally 💀) and that she was better of without him.
• favorite person(s?)
seeing how much i talked about his dependency on anne and marcy, his favorite person(s) are definitely anne and marcy.
• splitting
i’ll use his viewpoint of anne as an example:
loving/protecting anne -> anne is a backstabbing two faced loser -> back to loving/protecting anne -> anne is a backstabbing two faced loser -> i never want to lose anne because i love her.
to shield himself from the anxiety of being abandoned by anne, sasha quickly changed his opinion of anne as being a “perfect person” to a “terrible person” which was triggered by anne sparking his fear of abandonment
So, I really wanted to analyze Her Sweet Kiss but since the last time I needed to analyze anything is like five (5) years ago I ask you to bear my bad takes. I also have to say I read the song text and listened to it so often I sometimes forgot it’s from The Witcher and I just hope y’all can put yourself in that position cause for this bad analysis here y’all need to.
“The fairer sex, they often call it
but her love’s as unfair as a crook”
At the beginning I thought this first sentence would be the most easiest one of the whole text, but I assure you, I was wrong. “The fairer sex” clearly refers to woman in general and “they” are the people at large. “[H]er love’s as unfair” - at this point I wanna point out I love the fair-unfair relation used here – with this the author or also the protagonist wants to show us how, different to how women are normally shown as, this woman’s love is, how this specific’s woman’s feelings aren’t in good intentions. “[U]nfair as a crook”, a rouge one, a thief – that information is more one for me, since I haven’t heard the word “crook” before all this, okay? It seems to hind on this woman’s love being something she took from someone else, as if it wasn’t her own.
“It steals all my reason
Commits any treason
of logic, with naught but a look”
Here the protagonist firstly appears, possibly the self-inserted author in our case. “It” probably refers to “her love”, so the love is it that takes away all their “reason”. It betrays their “logic”, their thinking and decision making, with simply a gaze. In this moment we can only assume the protagonist is in love with the woman but she plays with their feelings, maybe comes near just to move away when the protagonist is finally sure she would stay.
“A storm is breaking on the horizon
of longing and heartbreak and lust”
“A storm” clearly refers to feelings, in this case “longing”, “heartbreak and lust”. Not too complicated to understand, right? Here we can still assume the protagonist is talking about their feelings for the woman and how their feelings for her will never be acknowledged in the way they want to. “[L]onging and heartbreak” in this case shows us how the feelings the protagonist has aren’t just in a sexual sense, how they want more out of this, but “lust” shows they also feel a want for something sensual, sexual. Since it is “breaking on the horizon” we can assume it just started, maybe isn’t even there yet. So maybe the feelings are already there and the protagonist only realizes them now, or they are new.
“She’s always bad news
it’s always lose lose”
This shows more how the protagonist feels about the woman. She is “bad news” and everything that’s connected to her seems to end poorly for the protagonist. There is no good outcome when it relates to her, in no possible context, “always lose lose”. Here we can assume the protagonist’s feelings for the woman aren’t really that lovely, aren’t as we assume in the parts that came before this.
“So tell me love, tell me love
how is that just”
Here we realize the woman isn’t the love interest, or is the protagonist speaking to love itself? I rather don’t think so. The protagonist speaks to someone they call “love”, asking them how it is “just”, fair, for the woman to act like that, to love in an “unfair” way. We may get in more depths with this here in a later part.
“But the story is this
She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss, her sweet kiss”
Let’s come to the refrain (we will only discuss this once since it isn’t changing). The woman’s kiss is “sweet”, but she “destroy[s]” with it. As we by now know the protagonist probably isn’t the one getting kissed, so we can assume it is the love who is. Since these kisses do “destroy” - we can’t be sure about what exactly – we at least know they aren’t wanted from at least one of these three persons, are maybe even feared or at least rejected. “[T]he story” is, that through whoever she is kissing she is destroying something else with it, possibly a relationship, probably the one between the protagonist and whom they call “love”.
“Her current is pulling you closer
and charging the hot, humid night”
Sure, you could assume the “you” is referring to anyone in general but I like to think it is about the protagonist’s love (maybe here my The Witcher wants come through lol). So, the woman’s power, maybe meaning her beauty, her confidence, the wanting she streams out is meant by that, is taking the love in. “[C]harging the hot, humid night”,,, I don’t think I needa say any more about that part? The love is pulled in by the woman’s ,,, how do you say that in english, someone needa help me out here, I would call it the feeling of the moment of Geralt leaving the swamp in ep. 1. Yea.
“The red sky at dawn is giving a warning, you fool
better stay out of sight”
This part really depends. In my opinion, if you read this together it seems as if the protagonist is talking to himself, the moment someone calls themself a fool for what they’re feeling even though they know – or should know – it isn’t worth it. But if it were two parts I would say the first one is told to the love and the second is what the protagonist is recommending for themself, to “better stay out of sight”, to not come between the woman and the love. The “red sky” could refer to love, but at least for sexual feelings, or maybe also hate, depending on who the message is meant for. Either it means the love is getting attached to the woman, or maybe that the protagonist’s feelings for the love are making things problematic for them.
“I’m weak my love and I am wanting
If this is the path I must trudge
I welcome my sentence
give to you my penance
Garroter, jury and judge”
Here I thing it’s the moment to clearly understand the woman isn’t the protagonist’s love interest and love is a person in itself. The protagonist is “weak” and “wanting” for their love, but they seem to know that it can never be. They say if their love can never be they will live with it, will “welcome [their] sentence”, let their fine be determined by their love. “Garroter, jury and judge” shows how their love is all three, what kills him, what judges over his sentence and what is choosing his punishment.
As we now found out the song’s story is about someone who is in love, but who’s love is together – or at least likes someone – who’s love doesn’t seem to be good for them – or maybe also bad for both of them.
Now we come to the context of the song to the series. At first I thought there might be two possible takes, it either being about Jask’s feelings towards Geralt and Yenn or the elf’s feelings towards them. Meanwhile I realized the second doesn’t make any sense, since Jask has no feelings for the elf and if it was about the elf’s feelings it wouldn’t refer to Yenn as the one with “unfair” love. Unless we wouldn’t take love as a person, in that case it could work, but as much as we know Jask doesn’t even know the elf loves/loved Yenn.
(Gods, I hate writing analysis, why do I do this again? Also it’s nearly 5 am and I need to work later lol.)
In conclusion, there is no other explanation but the text being about Jaskier’s love to Geralt, unless Jas has fallen in love with someone else on their way and that person fell for someone else – and let’s be serious, the only person Jask has deep contact with, as much as we know, is Geralt. Everyone else he meets, maybe sleeps with, and let’s go afterwards.
I would write more but I realized it would be intelligent of me to go to bed now, before Mica is k*lling me.
I actually had someone tell me that the Doctor regenerating into a woman makes no narrative sense because it’s not logical. The Master becoming Missy, they said, makes perfect sense, because “it’s obvious he became Missy because he used his wife to steal another regeneration, just like he’s done before, except with men,” but the Doctor becoming a woman is not narratively supported.
I wondered if River healing the Doctor with her regeneration energy, or the Time Lords granting the Doctor a new cycle of regenerations, couldn’t be used to explain the Doctor regenerating into a woman.
“No, that’s not logical, because he didn’t become a woman right away. If Twelve had been a woman, that would have made sense, but since that didn’t happen, it’s not logical.”
My Attempt At Fixing Youtube Anime Criticism Volume 1: Digibro (Pt 1)
(I do plan to get back to my typical content later today, but this has been floating in my drafts for so long I thought I might as well get it done.)
So like, Youtube anime criticism is kind of broken. I have watched a lot of it, so I feel comfortable making that statement. It is sensationalist, abandons all context in its analysis, and actively misleads people that swallow their bad criticism up wholesale. The thing is that the bad critics are just laughable and aren’t worth my time, and at best toss out very generic criticism. No, I have no interest in them. I have interest in the CinemaSins of anime criticism, the people that have a colossal subscriber count and genuinely convince people, because they at least sound like they are presenting cogent original arguments.
The issue is that either they aren’t paying enough attention to the show to actually make accurate criticisms or simply don’t understand media criticism enough to do so. My intent is not to mock them (though I won’t say I’ll never toss out a jab or two) or attack them for being disingenuous. Whether they are or are not is beside the point. My point is to hopefully highlight relevant critical practices, show how Youtube critics often fall short, and maybe educate about how I perceive proper critical analysis, or even maybe learn a bit more about the series I’m talking about in question.
Of course, I want to be fair and do this right, so these things will take a lot of work. So I’ll need an esteemed critic to make a video/video series that takes something apart, in my opinion a misguided and flawed way, that I care enough about to actually put a lot of legwork into responding to.
Enter Digibro and Steins;Gate 0.
Digibro is a pretty popular anime critic, with around 50,000 subscribers. That’s basically all I feel the need to say about him.
Steins;Gate 0 is a time travel story that is a spinoff of Steins;Gate, also a time travel story. Both of these are based off visual novels of the same names. He’s going to be making bad takes about both of them, and as a sequel of sorts Steins;Gate 0 is going to require background knowledge. So, if you haven’t at least seen the original, you’re probably going to be a little lost sometimes. Sorry about that.
The structure here will be a little messy, since his analysis is dependent upon both Steins;Gate and 0, since he’s focusing on characterization and its evolution. I’ll be separating the two, and then having sections for characters when appropriate. I’ll also have a plot section, both because characterization and plot can blend, and because Digibro tends to be rather unfocused. (He doesn’t actually start his review until 2 minutes, and doesn’t actually start really supporting his assertions until 3:36)
Let’s finally get to it. Here is Digibro’s video. For fairness, I will be including timestamps so my complaints can be checked. I will also be referring to the source material for both series when appropriate, and for those I will put SG or 0, the episode number, and then a timestamp. Slightly unwieldy, but it is how it is.
Steins Gate
Plot-
- Digibro’s summation of the plot (10:36-11:45) is lazy, mediocre, and lacks any sort of critical depth. I’ll leave it at that.
Characters
Okabe- Digibro makes a fucking bizarre take here, that Okabe’s chuuni act is not an act, and that he completely is the chuuni near psychopath he presents himself as. (7:26-9:55) This is going to take a bit to unpack, so bear with me.
- One point he makes is that if not for this event, there is no evidence that the characters would have still not been completely normal. This is rather strange, as in the original series Mayuri herself talks about “not needing to be [Okabe’s] hostage anymore” in the context of him actually having other friends. (SG, Episode 12, 7:41-8:10). It also ignores the best, most emotional moment of the entire series, where Okabe completely breaks character due to his grief over losing Kurisu, and clearly doesn’t believe a word he’s saying. (SG, Episode 22, 19:00-19:46). It’s one of the most powerful moments in the show, because the facade is crumbling right before your eyes due to Okabe’s raw despair.
His lengthy conversation with Kurisu earlier applies too. There is no show there, there is no chuuni. It’s just Okabe, talking about time travel and his struggles and his pain. (Ibid, 9:20-15:29). Like... it’s an amazing, long scene that makes no sense if the persona that is not at all present is his actual personality. I could find dozens of examples; the second half of the series barely has that persona unironically at all.
- There’s the issue of him performing his character in front of other people and when he’s alone. But that’s a weird assumption that it’s solely for Mayuri’s benefit at this point. It could very well be a coping mechanism of sorts, for example, or a way to display his self-confidence. When you do something for that long, it starts to have meaning to you as well. Also the claim that he does it when alone is rather strange, since there are plenty of cases where his internal monologue completely contradicts the implied argument.
- Digibro then cites a scene from 22, where Mayuri indicates that she doesn’t need him to do the bit anymore, she’s better now. (It’s worth noting that as Digibro explicitly states and then disingenuously ignores, Mayuri also says that Okabe can “cry for himself”. Which would indicate that she herself believes that it’s all an act. He then goes to massive contortions to explain this that I won’t dignify with a response.) Digibro argues that Mayuri’s character hasn’t changed, but completely misses the significance of that. If you think about when Mayuri talks about the bit seriously, it certainly sounds like she’s saying she played along with it for Okabe’s sake. HE has friends so she doesn’t need to be a “hostage”. SHE’S better (the implication is from her sickness) so he doesn’t need to do this bit and can just be honest with his emotions. In fact it really clearly IS a shield from something he doesn’t want to deal with, Kurisu, in both the scene Digibro points out and the scene later in the episode. He often uses it as a coping mechanism. This is no longer about Mayuri, even if it started that way. It’s about him.
I could go deeper into this, but this is a response and not a character study. This sort of butchering of a character is honestly criminal, especially for someone that claims to have loved the show. Please, if you love a show, love the one that actually exists.
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Steins;Gate 0
Plot
- (Here because it has to do with setting). Digibro asks why characters are wearing flip-flops in the cold and in the snow, where it would require boots. (6:03-6:27) Given that in many regions of Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, etc.) the snow is actually very minimal, flip-flops could be fine, as Digibro might have found out with a moment of research. Some places have a couple inches at most, some have typically literally none.
Honestly this was worth pointing out because at times Digibro’s nitpicks simply require him to have done literally no actual research, which could consist of a simple google search.
- Here he discusses an OVA for 0 so I’ll include it here. He argues that the OVA and Episode 23 of the anime are basically the same, and therefore Mayuri going from trying to get Okabe back to his senses by slapping him to defending him from Suzuha’s slap and supporting his choice is arbitrary and bad characterization, because it would mean that the only reason she chose the choice in the OVA was because of not getting the message. (13:00-14:55) I think I get why someone could have that impression, but it’s not how I read the scene.
The idea that Mayuri is asking “why it should be up to him” isn’t not NOT what she’s saying, but her main point is that he shouldn’t be forced into the decision. That is literally the first thing she says in her little speech. And you see it again- he shouldn’t be MADE to make this choice, and that’s exactly what Suzuha was trying to do. (SG, Episode 23B, 15:47-16:35)
If you look at 23, Suzuha isn’t moving to try and force him. Nobody is doing anything. And so Mayuri feels free to make the point that Okabe is actively making a choice to turn away, and that’s not like him at all. He isn’t being forced in either direction, this is the path he is choosing, and she believes it to be the wrong path, partially, at least, due to the message she is given in via 0′s plot.
Now her conclusions come across as somewhat different, but that could be the context of the moment more than anything else.
Characters-
Daru- This may seem like a petty complaint, but it’s actually kind of important. Daru’s clothes are criticized because they are too “ordinary” for the character, in a way that doesn’t really fit his personality in the original or his character type as an otaku. (4;00-5:35; yes he does go on about this for 90 seconds)
So, the thing is that this is actually a rather subtle element of Daru’s character. One key subplot in 0 is that Daru has met Suzuha’s mother, and well... Daru is desperately trying to make the relationship work despite being really bad at it. Because if he doesn’t make it work, Suzuha ceases to exist. This is something Suzuha pressures Daru on quite a bit, only making things worse for him. (0, Episode 15, 3:49-5:02)
And the Daru of SG is unlikely to be attractive. Daru pretty clearly recognizes this, and so awkwardly tries to act as “normal” as possible, while getting it wrong. (0, Episode 1, 8:33-8:52.) I could cite more examples, such as a good chunk of Episode 15. It remains a pretty important subplot element.
This is simply another example of Daru trying too hard to look “normal” and instead kind of screwing it up. It’s actually a subtle character beat, but works really well. Digibro is fundamentally not considering that the context surrounding the characters has changed, and is engaging in sloppy thinking. That’s why I put so much time into this nitpick; to a degree it exposes how sloppy and ill thought out his criticism often is, and how glibly he ignores relevant context.
Mayuri- Digibro argues that Mayuri, in essence, becomes a generic childhood friend character, and that they she is in love with Okabe when in the original they were clearly just childhood friends. (15:00-15:17) I agree, actually, that making Mayuri into another love interest was a super questionable and unnecessary choice; definitely one of the biggest flaws with 0 in general. In fairness though, she also feels incredibly lonely due to the people lost due to Okabe’s choice, and does want them back. (0, Episode 1, 14:57-15:07. This is touched on in episode 16 as well.)
But ignoring Mayuri... basically after Episode 17, because I guess she doesn’t matter for Reasons, Mayuri is something of a tag along character. She does invite people to a Christmas party, has a rapport with friends, starts to develop more of a motherly relationship with Kagari (0, Episode 12, 4:37-5:27 and there’s a similar short scene in 6). But that is admittedly not as much as most of the others (probable exception of Moeka) get in the show.
While she does have a lot less going on for much of the series than the others and that’s unfortunate, every single character in the know makes sure to keep her out of the loop, so there is no strong narrative role for her. And she DOES gain a lot more agency when she is in the loop, something Digibro conveniently ignores. So... as per usual, my agreement comes with quite a few caveats.
Okabe- Digibro questions the fact that the time machine is still there and whenever she can Suzuha is continually pressuring him to go back in time again. And finds it ridiculous that this one failure would completely shake his resolve when it hasn’t in the past. Logically it should be gnawing at his mind and he should be demanding a way to get Kurisu back. (15:51-17:10)
One thing that is genuinely hilarious is that when talking about Okabe just needing a “pep talk” to recover, which is true, he completely ignores the fact that the person giving the pep talk is... Kurisu. You know, the woman he murdered. This whole idea that Okabe has gotten results is laughable. He certainly felt like he was getting success, and then hey, it turned out that the end point is a Sophie’s Choice where he has to sacrifice either his childhood friend or the woman that he loves in order to set things right.
This isn’t my headcanon, he makes this viewpoint incredibly clear in episodes 22 and 23 of the original series, that all time travelling does is create more problems and lead to more loss and death. This is, of course, also a mantra in Steins;Gate 0, so it is awfully strange that Digibro forgot it.
And to compare all those other situations to, in his eyes, being directly responsible for the death of the woman he loves, after time travelling again, something he already had grown tired of doing and didn’t believe lead to good things is simply laughable. And to claim that Okabe’s personality was “wiped” is incredibly disingenuous too; the point of the story is that Okabe is running away from everything. Somehow killing the woman he loved kinda broke him, whoda thunk it, and on top of everything else at this point he just wants to get away, which is what he does.
He does want a way to get Kurisu back, of course he does. That is part of what that whole dream sequence in Episode 8 was about. He wants to be able to live a happy life with Kurisu, but he is too scared to make the sacrifices to get there. The reason why it’s powerful is that Kurisu is the one brave enough to force Okabe to have to make a choice, say farewell for now and let go, and make things better. And the idea that Digibro doesn’t get all this is laughable because a key motivation Okabe has for getting Amadeus is being able to see Kurisu again, because that’s something he’s wanted desperately.
Daru- The argument regarding Daru’s characterization isn’t even an argument. He just notes that he’s become far more determined about the mission and Okabe’s role in it. Digibro outright concedes that this could be due to influence from his daughter and her explaining his duties in the future. (also her talking about the future itself, a culmination of the events of the original show, also perhaps influenced by his situation with Yuki, but let’s let those slide.) but then just says... lolnope. No real explanation why that can’t be the case, just says that the content contradicts it. (19:16-19:58) This is a long series so I’ll assume he’ll elaborate on this at some point, but I kind of wish he just said he’d touch on it more later then.
In sum, I agree with Digibro on a couple points (a couple unstated ones, firmly agree on one, and can see the basis for confusion/interpretation on two). But he gets so much wrong and misreads so much of the text and even butchers the original series to the point that I just can’t give him credit for getting a couple things right in a 20 minute video.
So that’s it. I want to talk about something now. This is a 20 minute video that is ostensibly about character analysis. We got a detailed enough analysis of Mayuri and Okabe. We barely skimmed Daru’s character with the assurances that we’ll get to it later (hopefully), we didn’t even touch Suzuha, Ruka, Moeka, or Faris, who all play roles in the story, or even Kurisu, whose character and Okabe’s reaction to her is a lynchpin of the narrative.
If you want to cut that down to the most vital characters, at a bare minimum you still have Suzuha and Kurisu, where Digibro barely said anything about the former and absolutely nothing about the latter. He says that he loved the Mayuri-Daru-Okabe dynamic in S;G and disliked it in 0. But the issue is that it doesn’t exist in 0. Not really. And if you think it did or should, you kind of are missing the point.
God this is long and took forever. I’ll probably do part 2 at some point, since I bothered to start this. Don’t know when though, whenever I feel inspired.
