#mtp analysis

[reireicryblood]

Moriarty the Patriot analysis...

It has been a while since I though about this theory, so I am making a post out of it.

My theory is simple : every mtp characters with an unnatural eye color is metaphorical.

By this I mean that the colors used for their eyes is here to comunicate something.

My though is : William and Louis eye color, crimson red, means, based on research I did, "the fire keeper" -> the one who carries burning violence in itself.

As some members of the fandom might have noticed, Louis eye color isnt quite clear in the manga, as it kept changing, balancing between a shade of red and purple. Apparently this shade means accomplishement in your True self. As to find your place in the world by creating your own. This might be the message behind his iris' shade evolution.

William, otherwise, kept this bright red shade for a longtime, burning anger I suppose.

Remember in the Final Problem, William Iris turned darker, deep crimson red. Its eyes losed their light, they became cloudy, heavy, as if any color was unbearable to carry, just like any meaning disappeared from his acts and the last thing consuming him was the weight of guilt.

Post final problem William, in the second part, starts to re-gain its old shade but recently we've been witnessing new changes concerning his gaze. It cooled down and his spark is redussing. Are we getting a new angsty arc ?

Did I forgot someone ? Could that be Charles Augustus Milverton ?

Amber iris, snake-like pupils. The embodiement of the snake from Eden. What is that supposed to mean ? Excellent conversationalist, attention keeper.

I tend to believe, as how evil Milverton is potrayed, we should not forget that his character is here to unveil the truth. As he is raised as a arrogant bully. There's a deeper meaning behind his eye shape and smile.

To me, Milverton embodies the fear of being seen as who we truely are, with our rotten side. Being seen as vulnerable once revealed naked to a sharp-teeth crowd.

[moransrifle]

Moran's masculinity

Whenever I hear the word 'masculine' leave someone's mouth I think of none other than Sebastian Moran himself. Which is not suprising given his appearance and my obsession with him, but if you think about it, he represents masculinity in many other ways than his appearance. He pretty much fits into the traditionally masculine model, so today we'll break that down just to talk. Basically, this essay is just me stating the obvious.

What does traditional masculinity mean?

I won't dig too deep into this as most people probably already know what it means, but I'll give a short explanation just in case- in western societies, traditional masculinity usually includes strength, courage, independence, leadership and assertiveness. And although it's not in the textbook definition, but if you've ever talked to a man- hell, even just watched movies- you know that having a high sex drive and the ability to charm women easily are also parts of the criteria, we'll call this charisma for now.

Now to the point.

Strength

This applies to him both physically and mentally. I don't think his physical strength needs much explanation, the man is 6'6, we've seen him destroy a bar, knocking people out with one jab, naked and showing his muscular build, fighting an entire troup on his own (right after his hand got blown off!!). The mental strength is also given knowing his upbringing and life- abusive father, the hardships he faced in battle just to come back to his homeland and live on the streets for God knows how long. After he heard the news about his dead men, he was angry and sought revenge (he did grieve of course, but that wasn't his first response)- those are emotions that society doesn't consider emasculating, as opposed to crying. Both of these reactions would be completely valid and reasonable, of course.

Courage

Is this man afraid of anything other than Albert and his cooking?

Indepence

Now this one isn't black or white in my opinion. In a sense yes he's independent, he's able to make decisions for himself, but as I said once (click here), he continuously made the choice to serve under something or someone. He relies on William emotionally and often financially as well. I mean he went rogue and lost himself after his death, that sounds like co-dependency.

Leadership

He used to be a military captain and is entrusted to supervise the 'newbies' in the LOC, he corrects his teammates in their mistakes and encourages them, I also talked about this in detail here.

Assertiveness

This one doesn't need overexplaining either, he's loud, confident, and never afraid to speak his mind.

Charisma

He has a way with words, he's very social and is able to create surface level relationships easily. This doesn't only apply to his success with women, just think about how easy it was for him to have the duke hooked in chapter 13. His looks are also a big advantage in that matter, but the way he carries himself and talks is also part of it. And what we already all knew, he sleeps around. A LOT.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk. The brainrot is catching up to me I fear..

[starlostlix]

COMPARING THE MORIARTY PLAN AND FUKUCHI'S PLAN!!!

Yes this is what I have been working towards! I started this powerpoint a few months ago, then left it for a while because of exams and generally being a bit busy, and now it's finally at a point where I consider it done. FINALLY. I kept getting new ideas but now I really think i've written all I currently have to say. I feel like i'm going back to my tumblr roots posting a powerpoint since it's kind of where I started out, and it's so fun to have another one to post (who knows how long it will be until I get another topic to write this much about).

The powerpoint appears in screenshots below (easiest way to post it tbh), and there is 16 total slides (slide 2 has a guide of all the topics covered really). Mentioning 'Moriarty' in this often refers to the whole Moriarty group and/or William in particular btw! The slides are as below:

Edit - I've had another idea for a difference. In MTP we are seemingly supposed to root for the Moriartys, as they are the morally grey protagonists of the show with noble intentions through immoral means. In BSD, we are to view Fukuchi as the antagonist until the true intentions of his plan is revealed, but even with the knowledge of his intentions it is unclear whether we are supposed to root for him. Sure the narrative tries to evoke sympathy, with revealing his desires of world peace and his manipulation at Fyodor's hands, but it was him who made the decisions that lead to his own downfall really. He's portrayed as both a victim and a perpetrator, and whichever one he is more of is dependent on who you ask - many leaning towards that despite his intentions he is a perpetrator. And that's perhaps the biggest difference between the two plans (which i forgot originally) - the Moriarty plan is designed to be the role of the protagonists and Fukuchi's plan is the role of the antagonist, yet both can be seen as morally grey in different ways.

So as a sort of conclusion here, some of the logistics and motivation of the plans turned out really similar! I kind of ran out of ideas for differences at the end as I'd explored so in depth on some of the similarities, but if anyone has any suggestions feel free to add in a reblog! And I hope people enjoy this post and find it interesting, since it's a topic I've not seen talked about... at all really. I hope this reaches all the people who like both BSD and MTP it would be really fun.

[charlieinabog]

Billy, in mtp for being an American character in a Japanese manga about Britain, feels very American.

He acts like someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere America. Friendly, kind of childish, but responsible and a damn good shot!

I can't really explain exactly why, but I look at this character and go, "Yep, he is 100% American in the best possible way!"