#work of genius

[busterverse]

CAN’T THINK OF AN ALLITERATION THURSDAY

[iam-satan-lordofdarkness]

So in rewatching Avatar as an Adult, Author, and Musician.

I've realized it is one of the few works of genius that has dared to grace our unworthy asses.

So I've decided to dedicate my entire blog to Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[beckmessering]

❝ alles

was ist

endet ❞

- das rheingold

met opera. 9/3/19

[storyofauke]

Jealousy Chapter 7

I’m still absorbing this chapter (sensei’s chapters are so nice and long and full of detail!) I really want to just go frame-by-frame but I don’t have time right now! Yes, Asami is badass and there’s more adorable Tatsuyuki than anyone could dream of! But for me, this is still Rogi’s story and there are a couple of gut-punches in here that I’m worried will get lost in the ticker-tape parade for ane-san’s awesomeness.

But first, yes, even Rogi thinks Asami is awesome:

I hope the haters* will take a minute to absorb this, that Rogi who is so very tied up inside himself, his needs, his disappointments, his confusion yet possesses the ability to recognize Asami’s qualities, even when they threaten his own desires. Rogi is intelligent, so much so that it can punch a hole through his mania and perhaps stop him or postpone him doing something really terrible.

Anyway, what really got to me, though was the monologue he goes into here, and it gets to Asami, too. She doesn’t know that Rogi only recently lost his parents when she asks about his family and for a moment, Rogi is forced to remember:

Rogi is so naked here, not even aware he’s speaking out loud. I love that upper left hand frame, showing him from beneath. He’s bent over, protecting that soft underbelly, his need, his nakedness nearly exposed. And then this:

The family he had, that wasn’t working for him in the moment but what might have been what he really needed, is now gone.  Don’t tell me you can’t relate to this! You hated your parents or someone close to you so much for whatever reason that you turn your back on them, you run from them, maybe you wish them gone, but you don’t really mean it. But for Rogi, it’s too late.

And again, the refrain that Akitora gets him. Akitora doesn’t treat him like everyone else, reinforcing Rogi’s belief that Akitora can and will be his family.

It’s to Asami’s further credit that she is so quick on the uptake here. It’s also to her credit that she can reach out to Rogi. In the largess of her security, she can be generous. She doesn’t have to, but she does. And there’s an echo, a Greek Chorus tinged with melancholy and foreboding, here:

This will come down the years, engraved in Tatsuyuki’s heart, the work his mother started here. Asami is the one who can’t turn away from someone obviously in need. It’s yet to be seen if that leads to disaster for her, but if it does, this moment right here might be the key to this whole manga. That what Asami began here, reaching out to heal Rogi even just for a moment, her son carried through years later. Between them, they give him chances to take. Here in the past, it will go off the rails, we know that. Will the circle finally close in the present?

Ugh, there’s so much going on in this chapter and I don’t have tiiiime to talk about it all! Asoda is so perfect. I love Tatsuyuki sucking on his buttons! And the revelation of Asami’s past is so interesting, that this was not an arranged marriage with another yakuza family but another rebellious move on Akitora’s part. (How lovely that it means nothing to Asoda that Asami was a prostitute. He treats her so beautifully.) I take her at her word that she believes Akitora loves her. He probably does. But when he wakes--knowing that Rogi held a gun on her--his first thought it not for her but for Rogi. Honestly, Akitora is the most selfish bastard in this thing.

It’s interesting, too, in terms of the title of this manga that in this chapter, jealousy swirls EVERYWHERE. Rogi is jealous of Asami. Asami is jealous of Rogi. Rogi is even jealous of Akitora! And Asoda is jealous on behalf of his people. And Akitora? He was jealous of Handa and now Handa is memorialized in cement and he has in his grasp this Rogi that represents his lost self. In a way, it’s another form of jealousy, this desire to possess what was lost.

Anyway, I need to wrap this up. Among so many other little details in this chapter (like take a look at Asami’s keychain! And that robe! Recognize it?) the very last frame is the one that gets me:

Everyone is asleep except for Rogi (the one who can’t sleep.) It’s a strange and absurd portrait of a family, but look at Rogi’s feet. He’s so happy. He has what he has always wanted. As warped as the dynamics are, he has been accepted in this moment. Damn, this is going to hurt.

*Re. haters: I will never understand why people who hate Rogi are even reading this thing.

[pineapplefulfillseveryneed]

HIPPOPOTAMUS

I just had to come here because THE ALBUM IS UNREAL!!! THEY HAVE OUTDONE THEMSELVES. I HAVE FELT EVERY POSITIVE EMOTION I AM CAPABLE OF. (And cried at the beauty while having goosebumps everywhere.) ALBUM OF THE CENTURY. WHAT A DREAM!

[busterverse]

Buster ‘n’ Marion, The General (1927).

[busterverse]

Free-For-All Friday.  Wish I knew who did this.  Full credit to the Unknown Author.

[beckmessering]

❝ du bist

das bild

das ich in

mir barg ❞

- die walküre

met opera. 30/3/19