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I'm really starting to disagree with the reaction I see around Mikasa's indecisiveness.

At first I got it and I still get it a little bit - the phrasing is mostly used as a proxy for Mikasa getting little to do, but I also don't agree with the interpretations of her character that sometimes come out of those complaints.

Mikasa never was this super proactive Battle Goddess to me. She was always what you call a "reactive character".

Conflict came to her and she dealt with it, rather than jumping into everything herself.

Since she lost her first one, her purpose in life was to protect her family - people even now reduce it down to her just being protective of Eren, I and many others have always thought it's more complicated than that, but now I personally think there is even more to it than that.

At this point her not just being protective of Eren actually is also a pretty common perspective around, too.

I think it's about stuff past that - the specific way she cares and why.

The people around her are the ones who give her meaning and direction and thus she acts depending on how they do.

Where they go, she goes.

Her moment of proactivity in Trost was her way of releasing tension; a reaction to trauma, not her "taking action" and again and again I see this cited as some super cool moment.

She was actually falling apart on the inside and her ultimate resolve was still to go on living for those she loved - in that case, Eren's memory.

She is someone who unconditionally lives for others and to me the contradictions around the criticism of her character start here.

People want her to grow to be more independent, but because of the nature of her trauma, her journey to independence will inevitabily contain a period of indecisiveness.

That's just how this kind of trauma works.

Eren is a constant, her friends are a constant. Tearing her away from that safety will naturally lead to indecision and she will have to do work to find another reason to act that doesn't involve them.

If you are torn away from the people you live for, you are going to be indecisive.

People don't want the resolution to be that she just cuts herself away from her connections and kills Eren, either because that might come across as her story just being about suffering and going through pain over and over again.

But for her to grow more proactive and "learn to be more decisive" as Armin roughly puts it, she has to go through a separation.

She can't learn to be more proactive when she is in state of mind where her only purpose for living is living for others.

So it's a catch 22 situation, where the solution to both is separation, but separation will lead to indecisiveness.

Which is then called meekness and what people usually call "sexist writing" because it involves the female character growing passive, but these are actually two very different things.

Meekness is delibrate passiveness and not even wanting to do anything, indecision is confusion and not knowing what to do.

Mikasa wants to do something, she just doesn't know what to do.

"What should I do?" she asks.

"What could I have done to prevent this?" she asks.

Naturally, what is meant by meekness is also a lack of retorts. She doesn't go around disturbing or questioning the chain of command or escalating situations for the worse with her remarks post-timeskip anymore like she did with Rico and Ian during Trost, with Kitz Weilman (the "my speciality is slicing flesh" situation), Levi in the forest (she got his ankle sprained), the "I have no heart to spare" when chasing Eren or even standing against Levi in the serumbowl.

This kind of "meekness" is actually something basically everyone in this story is going through right now, but for some reason people just mostly keep pointing at Mikasa as if she's the only character that way, but I get it, cold and sharp-tongued Mikasa is probably better written for some because well, maybe it just has more personality for some.

Character development isn't good when it "takes away" stuff you like the character for in the first place and people like the sharp tongue of the single-minded teenage Mikasa.

I'm really happy this chapter actively made her indecision as part of her character, before I might've thought Isayama just didn't know what to do with her at points - I can definitely see that complaint for the Uprising arc, especially, but now it's clear her indecisiveness is the point and Mikasa has a new thing going that's not just about her relationship with Eren. She will have to find a purpose to act and goal to strive towards when everyone she personally cares about is gone and I think we might've just seen that purpose when she called out Eren for causing so much harm to others.

She would live so no child would have to suffer like she has and could live a happy life.

This chapter actually made me kind of tear up for her.

I'm not even sure I like Armin calling her out for not being The Independent Woman Who Needs No Man because everyone she cares about is being split apart from her and relationships with other people are everything to her. Taken in a certain way, it could be just read as "stop having feelings".

Sasha died and she was sitting by her grave, holding her head because of a headache, experiencing the same pain she did all over again as she did with her parents, Eren's parents, as with Eren back in Trost and Armin in Shiganshina.

But now that everyone she cares about is going their own direction, she is helpless.

So, as said, her arc is about her finding direction again and learning to stand on her own feet and I think she will.

That... or we'll go the negative character arc route and she'll go insane from loss and isolation, which I don't think feels like the direction the story is going.

Oh, but Levi is like her and he doesn't have such an extreme reaction!

Well yeah, but Levi's principles are different and his arc is different.

I'd even argue that Levi doesn't even have an arc - we just learn how his principles developed, which is prioritizing survival at all cost (which he learned to do in the underground city) and don't regret your decisions (which according to No Regrets is from Erwin). Maybe he softened up a little bit, but even then we saw he already had a "soft side" the moment he was introduced.

Levi could've developed a unhealthy relationship with Erwin given more time, but his childhood was never defined by trauma and living for other people. It was trying to stay alive. The youngest we saw him, he was malnourished and taken in by a serial killer. A different arc.

Here you could argue why Isayama just didn't make Levi the same character, in which case you could bring up the good old sexism word, but also that he wanted to write each character differently.

Mikasa is the only female or male character that values the relationships she has that much except for, well, at this point, Eren. Whose perspective is deeply ingrained in experiencing loss just like Mikasa's. He wants to genocide the whole world so his friends could live.

Mikasa's arc is specifically *about* the trauma of losing someone dear to you and what it can do to a person and why it does that.

Those she loves are Mikasa's safety blanket and now they're all basically gone.

Sasha is dead and Historia is isolated from this incident.

Armin is panicked and stuck in his mind between all the possibilities, so he runs off on his own to get something done in his mind - Connie, Annie. It's all swirling together in his mind, in panic, when Mikasa is looking for support.

Connie ran off on his own because of his own trauma.

Jean is probably the most grounded right now, but stuck with a lunatic extremist and paralysed into indecision himself.

Hange and Levi are also off somewhere else.

This is the first time Mikasa is truly standing on her own and isolated and it made me sad.

I guess you could call me sexist, but I feel like her not knowing what to do in this situation is pretty human and delibrately good writing.

It just makes sense to me and I don't see this apparent "meek" turn Mikasa's character has taken, when she has always been a reactive character.

The "no heart to spare" teenager Mikasa is the better character for some because her character gives the illusion of "agency" because of her assertive, sharp dialog, but she's never been to actively go and do something that doesn't involve what she cares about.

But it's kind of hard to do that when the people you actually say these things for either told you they hated you or are preoccupied with their own issues and scatter off on their own.

For who will you go on a suicidal rampage, use your "speciality to cut flesh" for and to which enemy will you "spare no heart" when you have nobody left to fight for?

Man, writing this made me sad. All Mikasa wants to do is to be with those she loves.

Once again my full chapter thoughts will be out once the CR version/other versions are out.

There was also some nice juicy Annie stuff, which I'm looking forward to digging into.

Y'all ever think about how Bandai originally commissioned Shinichiro Watanabe to make a show about spaceships so they could sell a line of tie-in models and he came back with Cowboy Bebop

Bandai: We are a toy company that sells toy spaceships, so we were hoping you could make an anime about how cool spaceships are

Watanabe: Cool cool cool. But here me out: what if we made a noir-esque drama inspired by Honk Kong action movies and American television from the seventies with an original jazz score that explores the nature of loneliness?

Bandai:

Watanabe: It's okay, the main character has a spaceship. There's still a lot of spaceships.

I'm not even joking

Always be vague. Say I think they’re in today or not until later. If they press say it’s company policy not to give out the schedule. Most companies do have this and even if they don’t how would a stranger know. Don’t give out specifics, they can get people injured or even killed.

At my last job someone came up and asked when “Sarah” was working next. I didn’t tell him and then texted her a description, turns out he was an abusive ex who had been stalking her. Don’t do this shit please.

You mfs talk too much stop giving out ppls info

writer: this is one of my male characters! he cares about his guy friends and loves them deeply.

tumblr: oh! so he’s gay!

writer: uh…no, he’s attracted to women.

tumblr: ….so he’s bi!

writer: uhh…no…….he loves his guy friends but he’s not romantically/sexually attracted to them.

tumblr: ….so you’re homophobic.

writer:

Healthy male friendships are almost as rare in mainstream fiction as gay male relationships, and maybe more rare in fanfiction. Let men be wonderful friends without pushing a romantic relationship, just like men and women should be able to be wonderful friends without the pressure of a romantic relationship.

*AGGRESSIVELY SLAMS REBLOG UNTIL I DIE*

This is literally the reason men are so terrified of being open about loving each other platonically, because they don’t want people to assume they’re gay just because they can be supportive of their fucking friends

writer: this is one of my male characters! he cares about his guy friends and loves them deeply.

tumblr: oh! so he’s gay!

writer: uh…no, he’s attracted to women.

tumblr: ….so he’s bi!

writer: uhh…no…….he loves his guy friends but he’s not romantically/sexually attracted to them.

tumblr: ….so you’re homophobic.

writer:

Healthy male friendships are almost as rare in mainstream fiction as gay male relationships, and maybe more rare in fanfiction. Let men be wonderful friends without pushing a romantic relationship, just like men and women should be able to be wonderful friends without the pressure of a romantic relationship.

*AGGRESSIVELY SLAMS REBLOG UNTIL I DIE*

This is literally the reason men are so terrified of being open about loving each other platonically, because they don’t want people to assume they’re gay just because they can be supportive of their fucking friends

can she just get an award or something

I reblog this whenever it pops up on my dash.

So many directions she could have gone with this joke…out of infinite possibilities…she picked the best possible direction.

This will forever be my favorite

Racist troll learns about consequences: a tale in four screen grabs.

Racist little boys experiencing consequences for the first time in their white picket, Pepe avatar lives never ceases to entertain.

men who are conventionally ugly still are seen as human whereas women who are conventionally ugly are worthless and if you can’t understand that you’re a dumbass 

Women who are conventionally ugly internalize their ugliness and maybe focus on cultivating humor or hobbies. Men who are ugly externalize their ugliness and turn into venom spitting incels who think females should be lobotomized and turned into fucktoys.

Plus the standards of being “good looking” for men are so incredibly low that the vast majority of them can achieve it by hitting the gym, getting a decent haircut, and wearing clothes that actually fit.

don’t be afraid, just begin.

I get why everyone is talking about Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun since both the anime and manga is really good but why is no one I’ve seen talking about Tsubaki Izumi’s previous manga??? Oresama teacher is like a gold mine of bad jokes + the main character is a previous banchou and a total sweetheart like- 

look at her

(also she has to crossdress sometimes!!)

All characters are as great tho

(There’s lots of serious fights too tho!)

The cover art is gorgeous

and also we have Usa-chan Man!

It’s still ongoing but I’ve read it like two times. It has 105 chapters so far

leo dicaprio was nominated five times in twenty two years

amy adams was nominated five times in eight years. 

it took her less than half the time it took him to get the same number of nominations.

her performances are poignant, subtle, always beautifully delivered. 

the fact she wasn’t even nominated for arrival is an absolute atrocity.

this is the hill on which i die.

#JusticeForNkosinathiKhomo I just thought I should leave this here.

If this does not get you focused on voting in 2018 and 2020, and every two years after, nothing will.

There are two big rules when it comes to email: Always proofread and never send an email when you’re upset. I’ve learned these lessons the hard way. I’ve sent angry emails that I’ve immediately regretted. I’ve sent emails to the wrong people. I’ve sent important emails with typos in them, completely embarrassing myself. Stop living in fear. There’s an undo button on Gmail, and I’m going to show you how to use it.

follow @the-future-now

IMPORTANT.

You can also set it up to check if it thinks you’re intoxicated. It makes you do math if you have too many errors.

PLEASE DON’T SCROLL PAST THIS!!

One of my friends has gone missing.

her name is candida gomez. 5'2", 15, curly dyed blonde hair, birthmark above her lips, brown eyes. if you’ve seen her or know anything PLEASE contact me!! we’re so worried about her!! she was last seen in South Jersey in a suburb of Camden.

PLEASE BOOST!!

Guys, this is really important. Until now, Google collected your data, but did not attach your name to it. Now, they can, and will. This new thing they’re doing will allow them to collect your data across searches, your email, Youtube, Maps, Google+, and all their affiliates, and build a complete profile of YOU.

If that doesn’t bother you, maybe this will: they own and can sell all that data, including anything you create and send (artists and writers, take note).

There is a way you can opt out of this ridiculousness. It’s described in the link, but if you’re still not sure about it, please ask me and I’ll guide you through how to turn all this off.

This is my wake-up call. I’ll be locking down my devices and scaling back what I put through the big Google machine, which means you may see less of me across social media. I’m going to keep researching this, but it may mean in order to keep the rights to my creative work, I’ll have to keep it out of Google’s hands. And that may take some doing.

Duckduckgo is a nontracking search engine….may be worth a try.

So according to the article there is an opt out for this. Instructions are I the last paragraph. I’m on mobile so I’ll edit this more later. EDITED TO INCLUDE OPT OUT INSTRUCTIONS

FUCKING BOOST!!!!!

Reblog if Black Lives Matter to you

Where are those woke white people at!?

The amount of notes this doesn’t have bothers me…

This is not saying other lives do not matter in any size, shape or form! There is a silent but implied “too”- as in “Black lives matter, too”. This encourages inclusion rather than exclusion. By saying “All lives matter” or any other variations of that phrase is a dismissal to the very problems that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is trying to draw attention to.

“What? Like, a disabled protagonist? How would that even work? How could someone with a disability be the hero in an action show?” local anime trash boy wonders while sitting next to his box sets of Full Metal Alchemist, showing no hint of irony or self awareness. 

but is Ed really disabled? sure I get he lost his arm and leg

but he’s still able to move and do things perfectly

He has prosthetics. Having prosthetic limbs (that more than once break amd need repair) doesnt make him not disabled

It should also be noted that Ed:

-had to undergo very painful and lengthy surgery to get automail 

-had to relearn how to write because of his prosthesis (there’s a post going around showing he had to switch hands etc) and his handwriting is likely a lot worse due to that. This means automail isn’t super good for delicate work, unsurprising, considering what it’s made of. 

-experiences phantom limb pain and therefore other associated stuff (this was only really shown in the manga)

-cannot go anywhere too cold without changing his automail or he’ll get really bad frost bite and it will stop working

-cannot go anywhere too hot, period, because the metal attached and under his skin will overheat and he will be badly burned

-Reattachment is painful, but needs to be done frequently if he breaks or outgrows his automail

- it’s HEAVY so much so that the strain has the potential to cause stress on his body, enough that it’s even theorized as possibly stunting his growth.

-it requires really frequent maintenance or it will break down, as shown by how when he first moved out he forgot to do that and it…broke down.

-when it does need to be repaired, it takes time to do that, during which Ed uses regular prosthetics (that usually don’t quite fit him).

-costs a lot of money (not a problem for Ed due to high state alchemist salary/having mechanics as surrogate family, but explicitly noted to being the reason why most people in the fmaverse stick to regular prosthetics along with the painful surgery)

So Ed can’t actually do everything perfectly and experiences a lot of extra hassle, problems and pain people without automail don’t have to deal with!  And any advantages he does have are more suited to fighting than day to day life (being able to incorporate weapons/fake out people who want to blow up his arm). 

Arakawa did her research and thought it through. Automail is by no means a magic cure that solves all problems associated with losing a limb.

Note that this stuff is admired and seen as a source of character development in fiction, but shamed in real life.