@lu-is-not-ok

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Why do you ask?

uh, i am pretty sure the manga didn't have so many objects sticking out of it's panels

#piracy efforts will keep media alive for far longer than corporations will even bother attempting

What makes us human is the Nintendo 3DS

Miron Białoszewski, Namuzowywanie -> Musing up

Oh Muse! Inspirouse

i just for you endinfying from unwritinging

do tell me ing o se

Reminder that steam is not only "no longer supporting windows 7" ,. they will be actively disabling all clients on this OS by end of this year. No, you can't run offline. No, you can't run the games standalone. The official steam position is go fuck yourself. Their reasoning is due to intertwinement with some google features, which imo is just making it even fucking worse, because why the fuck do google need to be involved in me playing a game I bought in 2013? And why do they get to say I can no longer access this game?

If you want a workaround, hit up this but in future, just use GOG.

This isn't about the OS, so don't even start with me. Deliberately disabling access to items you've already purchased with no recourse is the highest order of bullshit.

BSD 112: War and Peace

Now that the manga has finally caught up to the anime, I shall say that I am still pretty convinced Fyodor will pull a Jesus and be fine.

That said, I hella loved this chapter. The themes, man. Essentially Fukuchi is inviting Fukuzawa to become God, though I would NOT be surprised to see a certain new character show up considering this entire chapter is basically Fukuchi and Fukuzawa trading paraphrased quotes from A Certain Novel.

It's a battle of free will vs peace, and how we walk that line as individuals and societies... war is futile and hell, and pointless because what even is a state anyways besides some arbitrary idea we've all agreed to for... reasons, and yet if you remove the ability for war and conflict as a whole, you don't really have humanity but instead mind-controlled slaves.

War is not a polite recreation, but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to realize this and not make a game of it... as it stands now it's the favorite pastime of the idle and frivolous.”

Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own freewill is in the historical sense not free at all but is bound up with the whole course of history and preordained from all eternity... Man lives consciously for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for the achievement of historical, universally human goals.

It's true that people are born where they are born, and caught up in the stories that are grander than they are. Everyone likes to imagine what they know and what they experience and what they want and believe is True, but is it? Or is it merely a product of how they've grown? Is it a product of the centuries and millennia of people before us who create wars and conflicts and use us in them?

Yes, humans are used as unconscious instruments. But is that all they are? All they should be? Fukuchi seems to think yes. If they're currently used as instruments of war, then why not use them. as instruments of peace?

Fukuzawa, however, thinks otherwise.

It's an existential question humanity has been wrestling over since human beings have existed, and it won't be answered anytime soon because there is no neat answer. It's the paradox of human nature and human existence.

He had learned that, as there is no situation in the world in which a man can be happy and perfectly free, so there is no situation in which he can be perfectly unhappy and unfree.

Dictatorships are known, obviously, for suppressing free will and free expression.

Now, in War and Peace, Tolstoy's answer is love. And God, who is Love. But love first and foremost since Tolstoy himself wasn't super religious when writing it (later on he was though).

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.

Yet, if you remove the ability to choose love or violence, then:

A man having no freedom cannot be conceived of except as deprived of life. 

And it's pretty clear what lesson Fukuchi has to learn:

Life is everything. Life is God. Everything shifts and moves, and this movement is God. And while there is life, there is delight in the self-awareness of the divinity. To love life is to love God. The hardest and most blissful thing is to love this life in one's suffering, in the guiltlessness of suffering.

Life sucks. War is hell. It makes life feel like it's not worth living. But without free will, you are not alive at all.

For if we allow that human life is always guided by reason, we destroy the premise that life is possible at all.

Anyways, even if Leo Tolstoy does not appear as an actual character with the supreme ability of "War and Peace," well, he sure is influencing this arc a lot.

here various Big Important Authors occasionally take end-of-mandatory-education exams (the language/literary analysis part), including those whose works are in the curriculum AND on the exam.

Needless to say, they do not pass with full marks.

Or simply fail.

i learned that in 1963 a 16 year old sent a 4 question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English tutor that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books (x)

alternatively: he read the rumor mill post Dead Apple and knows Ranpo was yeeted out into the normie dimension, hence: not an ability user. So the angle would be more that he would shine brighter and dazzle more people if there was noone with magic bullshit powers to overshadow him, with the parry could be that then he'd be utterly alone (no way for Fukuzawa to come up with 'you're a wizard Harry' bit with enough confidence to not seem sus) and there would be no convenient explanation ('I'm magic, deal with it' vs ...do they even know autism exists?) to throw at people.

...but should it? That would be revealing an exploitable weakness.

...which could be parried with:

greatness would find greatness (to nod at C&P some more)

that's what the internet is for (wink at the camera :^) )

that he would end up making his own group, thus creating a place to be for others (wink at the litnerds in the audience + give this sort of 'selfdestruction for the benefit of others is fine, actually' vibe)

at which point the followup would depend purely on the demands of the plot/authorial intent, yeah?

also interesting we never had Naoto Shirogane moment with him - i.e. without ADA, even if he was let to crime scenes he'd be treated as a tool, not a person. In this context, it really is noticable how it seems Minoura is framed like his sole point of contact with the local force. Yes, it's to set up him rescuing Ranpo later, but...

now that i think of it Untold Origins does not include a single use of an ability that could not be explained via mundane skills - Flawless as raw skill+luck, for instance.

... ONE MORE THING: what are the implications of Ranpo basically RPing Dostoy out of necessity to get a result he needs, side effects be damned?

Listen. Ranpo wasn't born with an advantage. Ranpo's ability to understand cases rationale seems like an advantage, but actually it is not, because Ranpo is trying to hold on among the talented people with his brain, and he is fighting with people who have a gift in their hands. What happened like someone fighting against superior intelligence with their own analysis. A working person who makes the move with their ability to analyze against someone blessed with talent. Ranpo seems to have an advantage, but actually he also has disadvantages because there would be no world he can live if his learned talent gone. That's why I so want to see Ranpo and Fyodor talk. Imagine, Fyodor there are people gifted with ability, Fyodor see this as unfair, a sint and argues with Ranpo, who isn't actually gifted but has a talent.

are we going to notice that in the last chap Fukuzawa got hazy eyes as he was assuming direct control over a shitton of people despite his opinions on the matter of people controling others? No? Okay.

tbh it's giving too strong [S] Game Over vibes. For the uninfected by Homestuck: multiple high stakes/large showdowns resolve at the same time in a FAST, flashy manner. What was supposed to be mid-to-lategame tier improvement of the boardstate - so to speak - turns out to be the villains winning/not losing on ALL fronts and the setting getting chunked. This put the fandom in high hysterics, but theorycrafters kept cool heads, as sudden 'rock falls everyone dies' out the left field is a marker of "this is splinter timeline that will grandfather paradox itself out of existence".

We have not only Wells for that, but also sheer ??? on how the Page/Book works. Is the page tearing metaphorical, or literal? If the events break the Book's willing suspension of disbelief*, does it mean that entire bit gets snapped back? Since the Book exists, does that mean there's always a "in case there are no sentients capable of writing, load from a save point"? Is this to opportunistically smoke out whoever is holding it (if sb does), even before world domination enables rerolling the main objective, if only for "bruteforce the location of the Book with critical mass of perfectly loyal pawns"?.

Like, of course the world isn't going to get nuked. HOWEVER, the other thing noone is talking about is absolutely on the board: Fukuchi is stopped, vampires are unvamp'd, day is saved - but it's impossible to cover up.

Think about it: the broader populace gets to know/is forced to acknowledge there are funky magic powers, and they're dangerous. One (1) magic guy almost took over the world/ended the world, using a magic sword (probably also made by an ability user), with another ability user impaled onto it, using YET ANOTHER magic artifact. Even if you gloss over details, that's a large chunk of populace traumatized over it, which will make the issue very personal to many people at the same time (which as a meta read would double as shadowing at least western trends of populism/censorship. abilities as independent thought/communicating differences/mental illness, yeah? Given Fukuchi and Dostoy being like that, Gogol tagging along for shits and giggles, Sigma out of desire to belong, Bram out of resignation…). Like, what does Dostoy get out of DoA's stated goal? Only needing to manipulate 1 person('s perception). But if it fails late enough (like right now), suddenly countries keeping intel on ability users and Eyes of God become threats.

...wouldn't it be funny if intel from Teruko revealed there is in fact a Gambit Pileup ongoing, as in: the currently stated objective is fake to pull the rug from under Dostoy at the last moment?

And we still don't know what's the deal with Yokohama foreign settlement. Even if most ppl don't know the details behind the scenes, this has to be a political shitshow. Why did One Order fall into hand of terrorists? How did Fukuchi get into position for it? Why/How Hunting Dogs? Bram in his entirety is an enormous 'Failed a Spot Check' for SO MANY groups of interest. If the last one is answered with "This must be the work of an enemy stand! ability!" (Seventh Agency!), it's just going to reinforce 'abilities bad'.

As a bonus, when are we getting explanation on "14 years ago, Tokoyami island suddenly appeared" (c65p17) and is absolutely crucial to gain military control over, ASAP and regardless of frontlines elsewhere, Because Reasons. Sounds like a Page. It sets up the above, which timeline-wise is after V/sus screenplay mention in Untold Origins(?). With Teruko, characters have all the time in the world. Assuming we're not getting 'Yukio Mishima is the true mastermind, for realsies this time' with some ability that lets exactly 5 ppl [insert some enabler here], that is. (if you're going to literally objectify Bram, why stop there? If planning is so meticulous, why expect anyone getting caught before the key points, why it would be important for at least the members to acknowledge him as DoA? If Bram is not part of DoA, who cares?)

...wait a second. They're terrorists. The group is small and loosely organized👍. 'Kamui' identity implies minimal contact👍. With 5 members, why even HAVE a name? How did the knowledge of it leak outside the group? Why would any of them mention DoA to outsiders? If you need to namedrop a group, why not Rats? Why not form a fake DoA from Rats, as merely something to route the name DoA to, if Rats are already an established brand that doesn't gel with DoA, fake-goal wise? Why would ADA-as-terrorists need a name, either? When presumably the entire agency is into terrorism? If for claiming responsibility, what-for logicwise? Why go the extra mile when they're have been page-retconned to be caught red-handed? Why did the anime go out of it's way to establish Fyodor in the past, AND knowledgeable about how many ppl are in V? Which is just a rehash of all the previous questions. ...as per usual, start with with relevancy of nuclear war and somehow pivot to a completely different insight.

*i have THOUGHTS about this. Like, who is the final arbiter on whether what was written on the page sufficiently follows 'story-like logic'? if it's the writer, does that mean someone with head for horror can turn any scenario into Final Destination's nonsensical 'no matter how contrived, you will die.'? or get a bunch of authors, each with their own genre leanings and just madlibs the shit out of the plot?

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE NUCLEAR WAR THATS ABOUT TO HAPPEN IN BSD???? Seriously put the sad gays down and focus.

One Order has been unleashed, Fukuchi has ordered the launch of multiple Nukes, the ADA is about to loose this battle forever and NO BODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT! Where are the Theorists rn??

I also want to say this page makes me so uncomfortable, the dozens of helicopters filling the sky like a swarm of insects is a horrifying Idea

Also we've finally seen One Order, nothing can convice me this wasn't a person once like the holy sword